A two year old had two working parents. While they both went to work, they would leave him with a baby sitter. The poor boy was terrified. He wailed as he recognized the street that led him to the babysitter’s house. He did not want to leave his mommy. As she went to drop him off, he would cry and cry and hold on to her with all of his strength. He was desperately clinging to her, not wanting to be left with anyone else. This is the attitude that Paul was describing when he told us to cling to what is good. Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of the most important, yet easily overlooked, commandments that Paul gave. It is crucial that we abhor what is evil. Paul leaves us no doubt as to what our relationship to evil is. It is not a vague discomfort. It is not a slight dislike. It is most definitely not a flirtation. It is an absolute abhorrence. Evil has no place in the life of a Christian. We are to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Sin is repugnant to God. It should be the same for us. Read the rest of this entry »

Luke 17:27

they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

     Eating food can be a tricky thing. People can often times get away with eating something really unhealthy. For example, if someone is on a diet and then they eat a doughnut, they do not immediately gain five pounds. Because of that, not only can it be a temptation to eat one, but they can lose track of their eating. Before they know it they ate more doughnuts than they thought humanly possible. Since there were no negative effects as it was happening, they continued to eat.

     Anyone who has binged in such a fashion knows that they will reap what they have sown. While the damge may not be immediately noticeable, it has been done. In many ways this is what happens with sin. We may test the limits of God’s law to see what happens. When we are not struck down by lightning we gain confidence that what we have done is okay. In fact, sin can sometimes have a temporary positive result. When this happens, we are even more blinded to the eternal ramifications.

     Jesus warns that this is what happened in the time of Noah. They lived in their sin completely unaware of what they were doing to themselves. They lived just as they always had. They were confident that tomorrow would come. They were caught completely unaware when God brought justice to them. No longer would their sins be without consequences. Jesus tells us that we can fall into the same trap. We must always be diligent in making sure our lives are in accordance with God’s will. If not, our sins will catch up to us, just like it did to those in times past.

they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Proverbs 28:9

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

     When times are hard, people will go to God in prayer. Sometimes even those with the hardest of hearts will ask God, hoping desperately that He is there and He will answer their prayers. It is ironic that people can spend so much of their lives ignoring God. God hangs in the periphery, something they know about but never really pay attention to. Yet when things go terrible long and they have no other help, they will pray to God.

     Even Christians can have this mentality with their Father. They view God as a wishing well. If you need something go to Him, throw a penny in, and then have Him answer your prayer. No need to think about Him or pay attention to His laws. They do not even really pray to Him again unless they need something else. Their relationship with God is reduced to someone who you only see when they need someone. We do not appreciate that from our own friends, so we can not expect that God would like that in us.

      God wants and expects us to keep His law. We must obey the commands that He has given. If we refuse to listen to Him and do as He tells us, why would He listen to us? God has given us so many blessing already, and salvation on top of that. When we ignore His goodness and live our lives according to our own pleasure, then we dishonor Him. Our prayers become an abomination to Him. For God to listen to our requests, we need to obey His laws.

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

Matthew 23:27

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

      One day I had to replace the brake pads and rotors on my car. With some help I was able to manage this task. It was way overdue. The breaks had been making a grinding and squealing sound whenever we were trying to stop. It was actually dangerous to have left it for as long as it was. However, I was amazed when we finished. We had put in hours of work, and in fact, it didn’t look any better than it did when we started. It may have even been dirtier. People unfamiliar with the car would have had no idea that we had put any work into it at all.

      Imagine if I had tried to sell my car before the brakes were fixed. You might not have noticed that there was anything wrong with the car just by looking at it. However, as soon as you took it for a test drive you would know that everything was not okay. By being inside the car and trying to get it to perform, you would realize that it was a fraud. Even though it looked okay on the outside, you would not want anything to do with a car whose insides were so messed up.

      We are very much like that car. People have no idea what our inner workings are like. All they see is the exterior. Often they assume that if the exterior is nice and neat on the outside, then the inside is matching. This is not at all the case. If they could get inside our hearts and minds, they would know whether or not we are truly able to perform the task we were created for: serving God. While people may not know how we are on the inside, God does. The thoughts of man are not hidden from Him. We must make sure we are well on the inside or we will never be acceptable to God.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Matthew 5:13

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty {again?} It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

      When Jesus is giving the sermon on the Mount, it is easy to forget that He is talking to the Jews. What he teaches is so practical, that it seems like it was spoken to a group of modern day Christians. However, it is always important to remember the context, as such context can illuminate us further on what Jesus was saying. Here Jesus tells the Jews that they are supposed to be the salt of the earth. It had been such since the time of Abraham.

      God’s chosen people were to be a peculiar people. God expected them to be different than the nations around them. Most of the time they were not that different at all. In the time of the kings, the people often worshipped idols just like the nations around them. At the time of Christ, their willingness to listen to Jesus was no better than that of the Gentiles, and sometimes even worse. They crucified Him because of what it was He was teaching.

      Each time the Israelites became like the world rather than remaining as the salt, they were trampled under foot by men. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans all brought judgment to the Isrealites when they no longer remained a peculiar people. For Christians today, having taken up the mantle of God’s chosen, peculiar people, there is a valuable lesson. If we no longer live according to God’s way and instead lapse into worldliness, we too will be judged. What good is tasteless salt?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty {again?} It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

John 15:20

“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.

     We all want to be liked. We can think back to times when people rejected us in the past. Perhaps it was our personality or popularity. It could have even been the gospel that drove a wedge between us and someone we cared about. When we look back, that rejection hurts. We do not like how it made us feel and possibly even how it still makes us feel today. Remembering that feeling can be a hinderance to teaching the gospel.

     The word of God is divisive. There are no two ways about it. Jesus even said us much, saying it would divide families. The family bond should be one of the strongest. If something has the power to separate family, it easily has the ability to do the same with friends and acquaintences. We know that when we talk about the word of God, it will cause some people to reject us. This can be scary and sometimes even terrifying.

     Servants of God have to confront this fear. Sometimes people let this fear paralyze them. They lose their ability or desire to teach others about God’s great grace. This is sad, because first of all, we need to recognize that we have a personal relationship with God. No one likes their friends or family to hid them out of shame. God likewise does not appreciate it. Even worse is that we may lose an opportunity to show someone the path to the greatest gift ever know: eternal life and a relationship with their Creator.

Judges 1:28

It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

     When people have bacterial infections, doctors today describe antibiotics. These are designed to kill the bacteria that has grown in the persons body. The antibiotics generally last a week or two, and the physician always emphasizes how important it is to take all of the prescribed amount. Some people are tempted to quit taking the medicine when they feel better, but just because they feel better does not mean that the bacteria has been completely removed. By leaving just a little bit, the bacteria can actually grow stronger by building a resistance to the medicine that has been taken.

     This has a direct correlation to the people of Israel. When they were commissioned to enter the promise land, God told them to drive the Canaanites completely out of the land. Yet they did not. Sometimes they enslaved them and others they lived in peace with one another. Whatever the case is, they did not fully remove the Canaanites as God commanded. This came back to haunt them later, as throughout the book of judges, these people draw them away from God with idols and then, ironically, end up ruling over them again. By not removing them, they came back more powerful than before

     The example of the Israelites is important for Christians to heed. God commands us to remove all sin from our lives. Many people do not carry this directive out completely. They allow small pockets of sin to stay undisturbed in their lives. They may have appeared to obey God, but they have not done as he asked. Just like the bacteria and the Canaanites, that sin will come back to haunt us. Satan knows our weaknesses and if we give him a foothold, he will exploit it. We need to fully remove sin in our lives so it will not longer cast its shadow over us.

It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

Romans 1:27

and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

      In Romans 1, Paul explains the sin of the Gentiles by telling them that they have perverted God’s intended purpose for them. They have dishonored God by disobeying Him and profaning His creation. The staple of Paul’s argument is the act of homosexuality. Notice that Paul says they “abounded the natural function” and committed “indecent acts”. He is making quite clear that this action is unnatural. We can see that just by looking at a man and a woman and their bodies. They were made for one another.

     Homosexuality, then, ignores the fact that God created man and woman a certain way for a certain purpose and uses it any way they want. Yet Paul is not picking on homosexuality. It is just that this particular act so clearly represents the perversion of God’s creation quite vividly. Yet Paul would be equally harsh on those who defile the purpose of marriage through pre-marital and extra-marital affairs. They took the natural function of marriage and defiled it for their own desires. The same could be said for those who took the ability to speak and use it to say harmful or distasteful things.

      We could look at sin after sin and see that they spoil the glory of what God intended with His creation. God created each and every one of us, and He has created us with many gifts, blessings and talents. Some are universal and apply to everyone while others may be specific to us as individuals. Whatever the case may be, God expects us to take what He has given us and use it for His purposes, not our own. When it comes to living our lives, who’s desires are we fulfilling? God’s or our own?

and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

John 8:44

“You are of {your} father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {nature,} for he is a liar and the father of lies.

     When Jesus tells the Jews here that they are of their father the Devil, we expect Him to be talking about the vilest of people. When applying the father and son relationship in New Testament times, they often meant that someone imitated another. We acknowledge the similarity between son and father when we say that someone is a “chip off the old block”. They would use it as a metaphor. So when Jesus calls these people the sons of the Devil, He is saying that their character and actions are those that the Devil would do as well.

     That is why we would expect Jesus to be talking about a group of villianous opponents. Maybe someone like the Pharisees. It could be people who were reveling in the lusts of the flesh. What we do not expect, however, is that He is talking to people who believe on Him. Yet if we look back at John 8:31, the group that He is addressing are the Jews who believed in Him and the works that He had been performing. What caused Him to treat them this way?

     As we read through the text, we find that their faith was limited. Yes they believed in what He had done, but their faith did not go so far as to accept some of His harder teachings. It was this lack of faith that He condemned. It should serve as a reminder to everyone that not all faith is created equal. Just because we “believe” does not mean that God finds us acceptable. Our faith needs to show up in our words and in our actions. If we reject His more difficult teachings for our lives like those believing Jews did, should we expect to be treated any differently by God than they were?

“You are of {your} father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {nature,} for he is a liar and the father of lies.