“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalm 111:10
“The fear of man bringeth a snare.” Proverbs 29:25
Though we may deny it every one of us is, at any given point living in fear. The question is not, “Are you afraid?” The question is rather, “Who do you fear?” Scripture addresses these two fears, the one that is default, and the one that is supernatural. “The fear of the Lord,” we are repeatedly told, is the origination point of all wisdom. Anything claiming to be wisdom which sets itself against God and the fear of him is actually the antithesis of what it claims to be. The fear of the Lord is the one fear we need to embrace!
In opposition to this is another type of fear altogether, “The fear of man” which we are told “bringeth a snare.” This type of fear trips you up unexpectedly and then imprisons you forcefully, something none of us would want; but here’s the amazing thing, we frequently choose to live in this type of fear while rejecting the fear of the Lord at the very same time.
Scripture is saturated with tales of the fear of man ensnaring and imprisoning men under its iron fisted tyranny. From Aaron’s beloved golden calf to Pontius Pilate knowingly condemning the only innocent man who ever lived; Gideon’s Ephod, Peter’s denial of Christ, Paul’s imprisonment…the list goes on and on. Can any one of us examine our own lives and find good fruit from this twisted tree?
The fear of the Lord will always lead to good and the fear of man will always lead to sin. We need to realize the fear of man isn’t a bad habit we need to cut back on, it is a sin we must repent of if we ever want to live an abundant life. For the man who trembles before God will never grovel before men!
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” -Acts 20:28-30
Possessed of an other-worldly passion for the church, Paul addresses the elders of Ephesus, warning these brothers of two particular dangers. The first one being probably the worst of the two evils…wolves (the first half of this warning the general assembly of believers throughout history has weathered fairly well, albeit not without collateral damage.) Wolves that tear congregations to shreds. They enter in and bring in all sorts of visceral ham-stringing intentions. These are those who intend to destroy, these are those whom I believe God will destroy in kind (I Corinthians 3:17.)
The second type of man Paul warns against is more subtle, and probably far more difficult to recognize as they will tend to make a bit more sense (this is the kind of individual I feel we have not dealt with as well.) They are the type who arise from amongst those whom the Holy Spirit had appointed to be shepherds. I am not sure I understand what catalyst causes these shepherds to go A.W.O.L. but I think the resulting damage can almost be similar to the damage caused from a festal wolf. The pain an “ariser” inflicts is more damaging because a trust of love is broken. In our day and age, they do not even have to be ordained. I suspect there are scads of people who ‘congregate,’ with other believers on a weekly basis but have not a bit of desire to forbear other believers in love; rather they come into our churches with nothing but a desire to promote themselves, or the way they see things.
I think much is known by the body about wolves, but less is known and recognized about those who would make, “followers after themselves.” They are more subtle because they appear to say all the right things. My mind, when it reads Paul’s warning here immediately jumps to other portions of the New Testament where Paul says to follow him after he follows Christ. I wonder, art thou being a hypocrite Paul? Hardly! Those who would follow Paul would be following a man who is following the God-Man Jesus Christ. Paul’s concern wanted men to become like Jesus Christ as a result of his ministry. These perverse men are always frustrated people, who drag others down with themselves, always filled with bitterness and with wrath and doubting. Jealousy is their cologne, and pride is their alarm clock.
The word “perverse,” in this context probably reflects more of the idea of twisting, or making crooked. It is not that they are pedophiles or sexually perverse. It means more that they twist scripture to fit their own agendas, often to such a degree as to be hardly perceptible.
Scripture twisters and me-followers are less concerned with people becoming like Christ than they are concerned with people becoming like them. I suspect that these are more like wolf-kin…shepherds with a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Whether they know it or not they have been hostages of the devil, and are starting to appease him. They have completely lost sight of Christ.
We must take heed, that we do not become prisoners ourselves. Take notice of the tears of the Apostle, and let not those tears fall to the ground in vain…
Chris White from Nowhere To Run compiled this sermon from David Guzik on the First Word of the Gospel. Guzik, as many preachers before him, have re-connected missing aspect of today’s gospel preaching. If you leave repentance out of your evangelism, you are simply ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not typically a fan of Christ being represented in art, however I think this is a video worth posting.
Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death. Matthew 26:59
This verse is one of many which, by being familiar, we fail to notice the extraordinary content therein. What do I mean? Just this, the Sanhedrin needed somebody to falsely testify against Jesus in order to put him to death. Well…you may ask, what’s the big deal about that? Of course they would need someone to lie about him in order to get him killed.
The fascinating thing about this situation is not what they needed (false witnesses), rather it is that not one of them was willing to do it. They wanted him dead more than anything, but none of them was willing to lie about him. Why? As community pillars their word would have been accepted. So why wouldn’t one of them step up to the plate? The answer may shock you, none of them would testify against him because they were unwilling to sin.
They had to dig up some false witnesses against him in order to avoid breaking the law. The third commandment clearly states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Ex. 20:16 They refused to bear false witness because it was sinful. Their theology forbade them from lying but did allow them to hire someone to lie for them; forbade them from putting blood money into the treasury but allowed them to pay blood money to Judas; forbade them from going into Pilate’s Palace before the Sabbath but allowed them to conspire and carry out Christ’s murder at the very same location. The false dichotomy they created was rather stupendous.
In other words, bad theology has consequences. If it allows us to sin in certain prescribed ways but forbids us from sinning in other ways, our theology has to go. We must not find ways to explain away the clear teaching of scripture when it stops us from sinning as we wish. When we tailor our theology to allow us to do whatever we want, and forbid only the things we didn’t want to do anyway, we have created an idol, one which will only crucify the Son of God afresh.
Sorrowfully, I remember watching this verse being disobeyed more times than I wish to recall. On occasion I have seen hands laid upon a new believer, and even upon more than a few ‘untested’ young men. The results have been disastrous in almost every case, and though I have no intention of guiding you through the trauma ward of my memories, I do have a desire to understand at least a portion of the council of God on this topic, in order to confer to others a preventative against future disobedience.
Leviticus starts by giving us an understanding of what this means. “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” –Leviticus 1:2-4
If you notice here, the laying on of hands did not make the bullock a bullock. The laying on of hands was rather a confirmation that the bullock was one indeed, and without blemish. One way it could be worded, is that the Israelite whom did this was confirming that this was a worthy sacrifice. This bullock would then soon become a sacrifice ascending to God in flame at the hands of the priests.
In Acts chapter 13 the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they (the church at Antioch) had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” The parallel between the two passages I have drawn attention to is pristine. The Church at Antioch did not make Paul and Barnabas who they were, any more than the Israelite made the bullock a bullock. The Church at Antioch responded to what God the Holy Spirit had determined them (Paul and Barnabas) to be, which was, “workers whereunto He had called them.” The church does not make God’s giftings and callings without repentance, it only confirms them. We see in Galatians 1:15-18 that Paul says, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb and called me by his grace, and revealed his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter…” The Church at Antioch had no authority whatsoever in the calling of God upon Paul’s life. It could only affirm it.
Laying hands on a lay-about will not make them a bond slave. The laying on of hands will not turn a man given to appetite into a temptation resisting compassionate man of Godly authority. Laying hands on a man whom never leaves his house for fear of a lion roaming the streets will not give him the courage to charge the gates of Hell with the stalwart courage of William Booth.
Though it is true that a “gifting,” may and ought be imparted through the laying on of hands (1 Timothy 4:14) by the elders. It will not change the quality or character of a person. The laying on of hands will not drag Jesus out of heaven to procure his unrepentant calling upon a man. Neither will it produce godly character, or godly maturity. It can only recognize that which is, “unblemished.” Or in our case, “unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
I find it fascinating that Hebrews 6:1-2 says that the “laying on of hands,” is a “principle,” or beginning “Doctrine of Christ.” It is to be understood in Christian kindergarten, and yet this is so directly disobeyed, and un-apprehended. As a result I think it speaks profoundly as to the state of our maturity. If we cannot even grasp something as simple as this, I have deep concern for our direction and spiritual capacity as a body today. We have to stop being so utilitarian as Christians. We must stop offering to God un-worthy sacrifices. The book of Leviticus said to only lay hands on the qualified and unblemished bull.
“I’ve heard that before,” or “I already know that,” are frequent complaints directed to young preachers, if interpreted wrongly, such laments have the potential to damage him greatly. These erroneous comments imply that preaching is a form of mere entertainment designed to keep the hearers attention through freshness and relevance. But if the preacher and “church” are only scant entertainment, then the point of preaching has been utterly missed. In Paul’s exhortation to young pastor Timothy he reveals what the true purpose of preaching is
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
The job of the preacher is to preach the word! Not his own thoughts, ideas, opinions nor the latest avant garde heresy. He is not there to entertain, he is there to confront and correct. A much better picture is to view the preacher as a fitness instructor and the people as his class, they all have varied degrees of physical fitness but they all benefit from the exercise. So too with the preaching of the word (provided the preacher is not some godless heretic) every Christian can benefit from hearing the foundational truth’s of scripture addressed repetitiously.
Now, let us consider the critical comments at the beginning from our new point of reference…the Word. Who, in an exercise class, would be likely to object: “I’ve heard about a jumping jack before”, or “I already know about push-ups, they’re boring?” You would likely hear these objections from the pasty overweight gentleman in the back, who lives in his mother’s basement and invests most of his free time into his level 72 death troll on World of Warcraft.
There is much that physical and spiritual fitness have in common. Just as those who desire to be physically fit do not despise the lowly push-up; those who desire to be spiritually fit do not despise repetitive sermons regarding fundamental Christian truths. Here is the hinge on which the entire argument turns; such complaints do not reveal a problem in the preacher, but a problem in the recipient . . . a hard and calloused heart. Itching ears which desire to be scratched by the latest thing or newest “truth” do not indicate great spirituality but great carnality.
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Luke 7:24-26
I find an irony in Christ’s description of John the Baptist, reminding me so much of our day. People desperately need a fresh word from the Lord, desperately need a prophet, yet they often reject them, because unlike the shaking reed they are insensitive, and unlike the nicely dressed, cultured, refined men of the court, they are uncouth or plainly dressed. People want a sensitive, tolerant, refined prophet of the Lord, but they will never find one for such a creature does not exist.
What does desiring this flavor of prophet say about us, and why won’t we find him? The question is valid. Why do we want Oprah friendly prophets? We want them because we don’t want to offend anyone. Being closed-minded is nearly equivalent to murder, and intolerance to child molestation. We want divine guidance and exhortation to do things which even the hedonists, feminists, and communists will applaud. We want our prophets to injure, “Thus saith the Lord . . . be nice.” or “Thus saith the Lord . . . Recycle.”
But this friendly prophet mentality completely misses the point of the prophet’s job. The prophets’ job is not to attach God’s name to whatever is culturally acceptable, the prophet’s job is to confront society’s accepted sins and anger nearly everyone in the process. According to no less than Jesus Christ a false prophet is one whom “all men speak well of” A politically correct prophet of God will not exist because a politically correct prophet of God cannot exist! The Prophet is an emissary from a perfect and perfectly immovable God who enforces laws so righteous that no one else can possibly keep them. The only refuge from his wrath is to commit yourself to His son, be bathed in His blood, and cry out for His mercy. Any emissary for this God will declare a message guaranteed to bring hatred, slander, and often death upon himself. After all the greatest prophet whom ever lived said to his unconverted brothers that, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” This prophet’s name was Jesus…
Now do you see why we don’t accept this type of prophet? Here’s the dilemma, we want a prophet but godly prophets make us look narrow minded and un-cool. What are we to do? The frequent solution to this dilemma is what truly frightens me. Knowing that a true prophet will hurt our reputation but wanting a prophet nonetheless we accept a different sort of prophet altogether, one who will never offend, never challenge, and always affirm. In other words . . . a false prophet.
A number of years ago, my wife and I experienced a tragedy in our lives as we witnessed the still-birth of our daughter seven months into her gestation. She had a genetic disorder called triploidy. According to healthline.com, the longest an infant with this condition has ever lived outside of the womb is ten months. Attempting to explain the range of emotions I felt that day as I watched my daughter enter the world already dead is impossible. To even look at her was one of the most difficult things I have ever done. And it has taken me years to now even be able to admit that.
Triploidy is a complete genetic fluke. What it meant was that rather than having two sets of chromosomes in her cell structure, her chromosome sets were tripled, hence the name. The severity of retardation that occurs under this kind of situation is genetically apocalyptic. Thus it is a mercy of God that children who are born with it do not live. Were they to do so, their lives would be complete and total misery.
You can then imagine my reaction when my wife told me that someone inferred to her that the reason our child was dieing was because we did not have enough faith in God. For the record, I completely forgive this person now and have no bitterness, however it really begged a question…what exactly is faith? Is, as this individual suggested, faith some exasperated internal force of will that makes God our marionette? I know that we see God’s hand move in response to the faith of men, so I can say that I understand the tension of this question. However I will say that God responding to our faith will always have His purposes in mind as the ultimate end of His response rather than our own self-gratification…period.
Trying to wrangle faith to the ground so it cries uncle and defines itself is a rather slippery task. If you have not noticed, scripture uses the word faith so much, and we know that faith is the only way to please God, yet scripture rarely seems to actually define faith in cerebral terms. I think the closest it gets to being defined is Hebrews 11:1.
It would probably take me pages and pages to explain what I am about to say, but for the sake of this being a blog I will just throw it out there that it seems to me as if there are a couple facets of faith, and God responding to our faith is really one facet, however, I think that the most important facet of faith I have come to understand is that it is a positive/obedient response to God.
Galatians 3:5-6 says, “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Did you catch that? The hearing of faith? What in the world does that mean? I looked up numerous commentaries on this tonight and every one of them utterly dodged and failed to explain what the “hearing of faith,” even means. Verse six gives us a clue, in order for Abraham to believe God, what first had to happen? God had to say something…He, in His almighty sovereignty made a claim…He made a promise. What was that promise? Abraham would have a son. Abraham believed that God would do through him, what God had promised, and that son would bring forth a nation.
I forgave that individual because they knew not what they were saying, it seems that she, like many people in our society have imbibed more theology about faith from Yoda and Luke Skywalker lifting an X-wing out of a swamp than they do from the Bible. They think that faith is the force of personal will.
According to Galatians, faith is hearing God, and responding to His desires…this is the dynamic of walking in the Spirit, and growing as a Christian, this is what Paul is getting at when he asks, “Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” NO!!! And yet so many today have been swayed and lulled into a near demonic belief system by thinking that faith is a product of fleshly force of will.
A number of years after this tragedy, God blessed my wife and I with a healthy daughter, and not just any daughter, she is mind blowing. When she was about a year and a half old she had a fever over 105 degrees, my wife took her to the doctor’s office, and while she was waiting for our family practitioner to come in, my daughter had a febrile seizure. My wife said it went on for minute after hellish minute. We spent the rest of the day in the emergency room as my daughter lay upon my chest crying hour after hour in an almost non-coherent fashion, until the fever broke and we took her home safe.
About a week or two later, since I was not there when this occurred, I asked my wife what she was thinking or feeling when the seizure was in full swing. I had waited a while to ask her, because all the while I had been personally thinking about our first daughter, and the subject has been a very tender one for my wife over the years. Her answer utterly shocked me, “I just prayed, and thanked God for the time He gave me with her.” The implication being that the thought of my daughter becoming a vegetable or worse, dieing, had crossed her mind.
If that is not true faith, then I do not know what is. My wife, out of the abundance of her heart, simply responded to the sovereignty of God with the faith of a child, utterly, totally, completely trusting Him, regardless of the outcome.
Why do so many modern Christians formulate their doctrines about conversion by completely ignoring Jesus’ teachings on the subject? He said entering the Kingdom was “difficult”, we say “it’s easy”. He warned us to “count the cost,” we push, cajole and manipulate anyone with sweating palms or an increased pulse to “receive Christ,” and thereby inflate the value of the currency in the economy of heaven. He warned that it would cost us everything; and we act like it will cost us nothing. Is a five minute long, four step message, comprised of John 3:16 and a peppering of verses from Paul’s epistles really The Gospel?
Working in a nursing home, I regularly spend time with the dead and dying. I was thoroughly converted before I began working there, yet it has had a huge impact on the way I live my life day by day. Considering ones death, can give you wisdom in life. After all, how can you know which path to take, if you don’t even know where you’re going? Living like a demon does not make one a saint, any more than swimming through sewage teaches you to fly!
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, . . . Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14
In the above verses we are instructed that Christ’s end in dying for us was to make us a purified, good-work performing people; and Paul exhorted us to deny our ungodly lusts so that we can live self controlled, upright, and Godly lives. And we are told that God’s will for our justification, is not to live a sinful life in order to show how good grace is, rather, it is to live a godly life, in order to show the world what God is like! Do you get it? To the thinking Christian one thing should be obvious, by commanding us to live like this; we know it is possible for us, and expected of us. It has been said, and it bears repeating, “Gods commandments are his enablements.” 1
So where do we want to end up? Our lives don’t end at death, our bodies temporarily stop there, but our life goes on. Our time-line passes through death and turns one of two directions. Which destination do we wish to arrive at? I am frightened for many, by their continual purposeful indulgence in the flesh, followed by a proclamation of “It’s all grace bro.” I can see no honest way of untangling Christ’s extensive teachings on the requirements of discipleship from salvation. I could be wrong, maybe God wants us to live carnal lives in order to showcase his grace: But if I’m correct and Jesus’ commands are meant to be obeyed, many will say to him on that day, “let me in” only to hear “I never knew you, depart from me.” And like the sons of Korah they will see the dark maw of hell open underneath them and consume them into the fiery darkness and blackness forever!
