Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Mediocre Preacher [JesusFollowers]

The history of the world is full of testimony to prove how much depends upon pastors being industrious; not an eminent orator has lived that isn’t an example of it. Yet, in contradiction to this, the almost universal feeling appears to be that industry can affect nothing, that eminence is the result of accident, and that everyone must be content to remain just what he may happen to be. That's wrong.

Thus multitudes who come forward as teachers and guides, allow themselves to be satisfied with the most indifferent attainments and a miserable mediocrity, without so much as inquiring how they might rise higher, much less making any attempt to rise. For any other art they would have served an apprenticeship, and would be ashamed to practice it in public before they had learned it. If anyone would sing, he attends a master, and is drilled in the very elementary principles, and only after the most laborious process dares to exercise his voice in public. 

This he does, though he has scarcely anything to learn but the mechanical execution of what lies in sensible forms before his eyes. But the extemporaneous speaker, who is to invent as well as to speak, to carry on an operation of the mind as well as to produce sound, enters upon the work without preparatory discipline, and then wonders why he fails! If he were learning to play on the flute for public exhibition, what hours and days would he spend in giving practice to his fingers, and attaining the power of the sweetest and most impressive execution! 

If he were devoting himself to the church organ, what months and years would he labor, so he might  be master of its keys, and be able to draw out, at will, all its various combinations of harmonious sound, and its full richness and delicacy of expression! And yet he will believe that the grandest, the most various, the most expressive of all instruments, which the infinite Creator has fashioned by the union of an intellectual soul with the powers of speech, may be played upon without study or practice; he comes to it a mere uninstructed tyro, and thinks to manage all its stops, and command the whole compass of its varied and comprehensive power. He finds himself a bungler in the attempt, is mortified at his failure, and settles it in his mind forever that the attempt is vain.

Success in every art, whatever may be the natural talent, is always the reward of work and pain. But the instances are many, of men of the finest natural genius, whose beginning has promised much, but who have degenerated wretchedly as time advanced, because, like some who received talents from the King and did nothing with them but bury them, they received their gift of voice, and made no effort to improve them.

That there have never been other men of equal endowments with Demosthenes and Cicero, none would venture to suppose; but who have so devoted themselves to their art, or become equal in excellence? If those great men had been content, like others, to continue as they began, and had never made their persevering efforts for improvement, what would their countries have benefited from their genius, or the world have known of their fame? They would have been lost in the undistinguished crowd that sunk to oblivion around them. Of how many more will the same remark prove true! What encouragement is thus given to the industrious! With such encouragement, how inexcusable is the negligence which suffers the most interesting and important truths to seem heavy and dull, and fall ineffectual to the ground, through mere sluggishness in their delivery! 

How unworthy of one who performs the high function of a religious instructor upon whom depend, in a great measure, the religious knowledge, and devotional sentiment, and final character, of many fellow-beings to imagine that he can worthily discharge this great concern by occasionally talking for an hour, he knows not how, and in a manner which he has taken no pains to render correct, impressive, or attractive, and which, simply through the  lack of that command over himself which study would give, is immediate , methodical, verbose, inaccurate, feeble,  and trifling! 

It has been said of the good preacher that "truths divine come from his tongue." Unfortunately, they come forth ruined and worthless from such a man as this. They lose that holy energy by which they are to convert the soul and purify man for heaven, and sink, in interest and efficacy, below the level of those principles which govern the ordinary affairs of this lower world.

(adapted from a sermon by Rev. Henry Ware, Jr. 1794-1831))

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Seeking After, And Doing, Righteousness [JesusFollowers]

 

 "Then the Righteous will shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 13:43)

These words lead our thoughts to that awful and illustrious day when every person’s religious and moral character will be set in its true light, and made manifest to the world.

The eternal states of all the dead will be finally determined, and an open and visible distinction be made in favor of the righteous and the good, by the equitable and unerring sentence of that Supreme judge, Who knows the secrets of every breast, and will render to all according to how their Works have been.

The practice of righteousness is the only sure proof that we are born of God, as vice is an unquestionable proof of a person's belonging to evil. (1 John ii. 29.)

Righteousness in the heart is the Love of what is right, a love of Truth and virtue or of whatever appears to be right both in sentiment and practice.

The principles that are lodged and cherish in the heart, whether good or bad, will always produce different effects.

So it may be said of the doctrines of Christianity, or the principles of religion, when sowing them in the heart.

In some, they are wholly stilted and suppressed, and in others they produce the fruits of righteousness, more or less, according to the moral State and complexion of the mind.

The righteous and the wicked, good and bad men, of every degree, now pass under the denomination of Christians.

Much depends on the discarding or banishing from our hearts whatever may prove a hindrance or obstruction, two are receiving and embracing the truth.

Of this kind are all groundless prejudices, all evil or artificial suggestions, all malice and wickedness, all pride, obstinacy, and self-conceit. All who indulge in passions and bad examples are instruments of evil.

These, and other such things, have a pernicious influence. They tend to deprave and harden the heart, and prevent the doctrines of True religion for making any deep and lasting impressions.

If we would receive the doctrines and precepts of Christianity, to profit by them, we must root out, and discard those irregular affections towards the world which always obstruct a holy life, or tend, at best, to make people hypocrites in religion. 

And the concealed wickedness of some, and the secret piety and virtue of others, may be one principal reason of a future judgment that, however people may pass at present, Justice may be done to all at last.

Righteousness is a sincere and prevailing compliance of the whole soul with what we apprehend or perceive, upon an impartial enquiry, to be the mind and will of God, whether in things to be believed or done, abstracted from any undue regard to the opinions, sentiments, and practices of humanity.

Where these principles rule and govern the heart, they cannot fail to recommend us to God, and to all the wise, sober, and considerate part of humanity.

A sincere desire of righteousness is righteousness, as it argues a right state of mind and is always productive of suitable dispositions and endeavors.

By "righteous," we are not to understand it as an exact and sinless conformity to the law of God, or even such as made selling virtue, and are eminently good. But it is their upright and sincere, such as those who desire and endeavor to do the will of God, so far as they are acquainted with it, or can arrive to the knowledge and understanding of it.

As it is part of a man to think freely, so it always argues a nobleness and greatness of spirit to be true to the dictates of reason, and to all its wise and good resolutions. 

Next to our seeking and receiving the truth in love, it should be our great care not to hold the truth in unrighteousness. If we are in the truth, we should walk in the truth, or live in act agreeably to it, and always remember that he that does righteousness is righteous, and that he does not do righteousness is not of God. ( 1 John 3:7-10.)

Religion is, in substance, our imitation of God in His moral perfections of goodness, Righteousness, and Truth.

And this is that in which our present and future happiness consists. We are happy the same way as God Himself is happy.

Righteousness always supposes a principle of true piety, and inward reverence and regard to the Deity, a thorough subjection of the soul to the Father of our spirits, and an unreserved obedience to those eternal laws of Truth and Righteousness which are founded in the unalterable Reason, fitness, and relation of things.

Our righteousness, as human beings, is our conformity to the law of Reason, or to the law of our creation, which is the law of God. 

This constitute that religion which is the perfection of humanity, and it is what every person's reason tells them that they should aspire after.

Since Christianity is the perfection of all religion, tending more than any other to the refinement and perfection of the moral life, we all now enjoy the light and benefit of divine revelation.

Our righteousness as Christians is a hearty and unfeigned compliance with the declarations of the Gospel, or with that more pure and perfect institution of religion which God has given us - our Master, Jesus.

Since this is that unalterable and perfect rule which God has now given us whereby to regulate our hearts and lives, it will be, for us, the final test of everyone's religious character and conduct.

(Abridged and adapted from “The Distinctive Character And Honour Of The Righteous Man Considered,” by Rev. Paul Cardale, 1761)

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Is Our Faith Built On A Rock, Or Sand? #JesusFollowers

 

Could a familiar parable of Jesus actually be teaching the opposite of what most pastors teach us about our Good Works and Eternal Life?

Jesus taught his disciples, and all others who came to hear him, using simple stories – parables – that, despite being simple and relatable, also tended to shock those who heard them.

To read the parable of the house built on the rock with new eyes and fresh ears may be shocking to many Christians who are used to hearing a rather watered-down interpretation. 

Viewing this parable in its clear form is uncomfortable to hear, and perhaps that’s why it and its messages is avoided or touched on so lightly by today’s pastors.

Jesus says: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27/ESV)

Faith on the Rock means that good works – DOING what Jesus tells us to do in his teachings – actually matters, and are required for entry into the Kingdom. This flies in the face of much teaching from today’s Pastors, but Jesus’ words are clear, and can mean nothing else.

The parable cannot simply mean “right belief” or the mere assent to man-made doctrines or creeds. Jesus elsewhere condemns "vain words/empty phrases" (Matt. 5:7) and in a verse just previous to this story, we are told by Jesus that not all those who simply shout, "Lord, Lord" but do not follow his commands, will enter into the Kingdom.  But only “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)

And just so that he was clear – and that by “the Kingdom” we would understand that he was referring also to Eternal Life – Jesus elsewhere answered the question, “what must I do to obtain eternal life,” with clarity: Obey God’s commandments. (Mark 10:17-19; Matt. 19:16-17; Luke 18:19-21)

Mere belief in a set of theological statements or accepting stories ABOUT Jesus is not all that God asks of us.

And in truth, Jesus taught that our Eternal Life begins HERE, with the earthly establishment of God’s Kingdom. (Matt. 6:10) Our final destination with God, however, is judged by God alone, and it is according to our Works alone, though we do not get to judge our own fitness for Heaven. (Psalm 62:12; James 4:12; Matt. 7:1; 16:27)

Jesus himself in this parable says we must “DO” the will of God, our Father, by obeying Jesus’ commands, or we will not be fit for God’s Kingdom.  Jesus tells us he did ALL things our Father and his Father, God, told him to do; and he assures us that we, too, may do all that he did. Therefore, he is our perfect example and model in all things.

We, today, cannot avoid or explain away this or any other message our Master tells us, even if it makes us uncomfortable or challenges us to do Good Works and serve others, just as Jesus did.

If we claim we love Jesus, but choose NOT to hear AND DO what he says, we've built our lives on shifting sands, not the Rock of his words. (1 John 2:4) We don’t honor him at all if we don’t seek to do as he modeled for us with his life and teachings.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

#Jesus Calls Us To Active Service! #JesusFollowers


From the first day of Jesus’ ministry to his last, he preached that we must make serving others the core of our religion.

Jesus constantly preached that we should help the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and the hurting.

Jesus calls those who follow him to a life of struggle and service, not a life of easy words and empty phrases. He challenges us to be better than we are now, not remain as we were before we met him.

A faith that fails to challenge us to bold, radical service isn't worth having. Inherent in Jesus' parables is the duty - not just casual, optional advice, but the duty - to go above and beyond in our service of others.

"If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." (Matt. 5:41)

We must, if we love Jesus, serve others first, and do so with a perfect self-sacrifice, as modeled by Jesus himself. (Matt. 20:28; John 13:15)

Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve.” His ministry “ransomed” us from ignorance of our sinful actions. (Mark 10:45) Jesus gives us the example of complete sacrifice and service that leads to our salvation.

And Jesus calls us to do just as he has done, because it pleases God, our Father and Creator.

“For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. ... If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:15, 17)

Knowing, but not doing, the Will of God is not enough. (Luke 6:46-47)

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21) It is not enough to have his commands, but ignore them. The teachings of Jesus are active, and are meant to be acted upon.

By Jesus' example, we learn to be humble servants of God, and by his example, we are saved from our previous ignorance of our sins. When we are “saved” from this ignorance, we can go to God in prayer and be forgiven for our past ignorance and sins.

Once saved from our ignorance of sin, Jesus calls us to both love to please God, and to put others first in God's name. Jesus teaches us that we should humbly perform Good Works and holy service. Our Good Works and acts of service enlighten the world, and show God’s love to others.

It is only our righteous acts that make us righteous before God. And it is God alone Who determines whether we are truly worthy of eternal life by the performance of our acts.

Jesus calls us to serve and lose ourselves in the service of others. The early disciples of Jesus left ALL - friends, family, material goods, homes, jobs - to follow Jesus (Luke 18:28.)

Jesus calls us to a life of Good Works in humility and compassion. (Matt. 5:16; 6:5) Service to others leads to spiritual completeness. (Matt. 5:48)

“I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me" (Matt. 25:36.)

The world must not be viewed as a dreary waiting room for death. It's our first home, a place for joyful service, spiritual growth and a celebration of God's gifts.

If we do not follow his words, we are not following Jesus. If we do not obey his calling, we are not worthy of his name. Jesus is meant to be followed, not just admired.

“If you love me, keep my commands,” he says (John 14:15) But If we claim to know and love him, but reject his teachings, we are liars, unfit for his name. (1 John 2:4)

Let us show our love to Jesus by obedience to his teachings, and let us by this, show that we are worthy of bearing his name.

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Fighting a "wide gate" religion in churches


Jesus, the man chosen by God, is our example that we are challenged to actively follow with our deeds to become like, not a risen, distant and mystical "Christ figure."

One is human like us,  the other is a Magically born, inhuman DemiGod created by men, who isn't at all someone we can become like.

Jesus says we can become morally perfect like God. The Hebrew Bible said we can be Holy like God is. So who's right, man's theologians, or God's chosen Prophets?

All of us initially fail once we start, that's a truism that is often thrown up as a huge failure of our Natures, but it's not.

The temptation to choose a "wide gate" and easy religion is difficult for many to resist, but not for those who followv the words of Jesus as a guide to both life and eternity.

If we simply decide we can "claim" his righteousness as our own (denying his requirement of us to do Good Works) and "claim" to be instantly "saved" by our mere words of adoration of this Christ - a belief "on him" without following him daily as our God-annointed Master - we deceive ourselves and demean God and Jesus, His chosen one.

But millions do this. Why? Because Jesus isn't their only Master - he's not their final arbiter of Truth, including what Salvation is, and how it is obtained. In truth, Jesus himself says God our Father is our final judge. And our eternal destination is determined by our deeds, tempered by God's vast mercy. 

If we doubt it, we doubt Jesus, and it's him we are second guessing. They are changing it into "Another Gospel."

The Prodigal Son and God's Merciful Justice #JesusFollowers #parables

 

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus teaches us that we are to rejoice and be accepting of those among us who return after wronging us. The parable also teaches us that God is ready and waiting for those who return to the path of righteousness. 

In the parable, a son asks for his inheritance early and goes away, only to squander it on lustful living. He exhausts his money and returns to his father's house, seeking a job as a servant. But the father, even before he reaches his gate, runs out to greet him, and immediately forgiving him, prepares a feast for him.

In this way, Jesus teaches us to endlessly and without hesitation forgive others, in the same way God forgives those who return to him in repentance. When asked how many times we must forgive others, Jesus said "70 times 7 times."

Our repentance for our sins - just as the boy who return to his father - satisfies any Justice God requires for transgressing his moral Law, because God is not a monster, but a loving Parent who wants us to live in peace with Him and with our fellow human beings.

Mercy is given by God to those who ask for forgiveness and accept it. That's the contract; that's the "price" to be paid, just as the price the Prodigal Son paid was returning to his father in humility.

The first and most solemn declaration of God to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7) is that of "God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering - forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin." David constantly prays for the pardon of sin, for God's "mercy's sake," (Psalms 44:26) and finds forgiveness for his sins upon repentance, living thereafter with "clean hands" before God (2 Samuel 22:21.) In the story of Jonah, that God is shown to be merciful to Nineveh if only they repented from their sins (Jonah 4:1.)

But the way that Forgiveness, Justice and Mercy are understood by many Christians would force us to radically re-tell the parable, because, like Jonah, some Christians are very angry that God so easily forgives.

Seeking inspiration not from Jesus' teachings, but from angry medieval lawyers and kings, they have created, and spread, a doctrine of God's Justice that is the enemy of God's Mercy. It is a doctrine in which God CANNOT simply forgive without a blood sacrifice - someone MUST pay the "price" for a sin.

But God's mercy is NOT the enemy of God's forgiveness. Both exist in equal measure in the heart of our loving God, Who is eager to forgive us upon our repentance alone.

In their telling of the story, it must be re-written, so that the Prodigal Son's vengeful father would stop the boy at his gates and then demand that his eldest son be slaughtered in order to satisfy the sins of the youngest who sinned against his father. Only then, when the elder son's blood was spilled, would the payment be accepted.

This may have been a perfectly reasonable way to achieve justice in the ancient world, but if we put our belief solely in Jesus' teachings, and not in other mens', we know that this is not how God shows Mercy OR Justice.  While we may decide that some people do not deserve God's mercy, and must first "pay a price" for falling short of His high standards, God does not condemn based on our whims or theories about who is "in" and who is "out" of his loving embrace, either now or eternally.⁰

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," God tells Moses. "And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Exodus 33:19)

In the parable, even when the son "was yet a great way off," the father ran to meet him, and "fell upon his neck and kissed him" (Luke 15:20.) When Jesus calls us to forgive others as God has forgiven us, does that mean we have a duty to exact a blood payment from those whom WE wish to forgive? The opposite is true. We must forgive 70x7 times, joyfully and without hesitation.

God cannot be held to our human standards of how Justice and Mercy should work. And we should be extremely grateful for that.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

What Is Love? #JesusFollowers

"Love" is one of those words in the English language that can leave us easily confused.

As we prepare to celebrate Valentine's Day Tuesday, let's examine the various ways in which this word is being used in contemporary society, and how Jesus used the word.

Love can mean a strong attachment to pancakes or pickles, a deep emotional attachment to another person like a spouse, parent or neighbor, it can express a deep “fan” relationship with a movie franchise like Star Wars, or it can mean lust for a drug, a person, an object, or a stranger.

This imprecise definition didn’t exist in the oldest manuscripts of the words of our Master, Jesus, which were preserved in Greek. 

Love most often was conveyed in the Gospel books with a word, agape [agapaō] which means a pure, all-consuming love. 

It’s this word that is used when Jesus calls us to, "Love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

It was not limited to our friends, or to those who love us, because it’s agape that is used when Jesus says “Love your enemies.” (Matt. 5:43)

The Fourth Gospel records, “For God so loved the world,” using that same word, agape, showing that God has deep, abiding and unlimited love for us. God chose and sent out Jesus as our special example to us, so that we might not live in darkness, but in light

But it’s not just God than can show this love, however. We are called by Jesus to “Love one another; JUST as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John 13:34)

The fact that we are to love “JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU” is a powerful calling to us. We are told by Jesus that we may indeed love just as he loved; act just as he acted; serve just as he served. Our love is to have no bounds, just as Jesus’ love had no bounds.

This is all important to understand, given the many misconceptions about “love” – even among those who attend the churches of Christendom today – and even among those who do not.

"Love" having so many meanings, many today believe the love we are called to show is the shallow love we have for food, movies and other things with which we have a strong emotional attachment.

It would be a serious mistake, however, to assume that ALL we must do is express a light, shallow Love towards God and towards others. "Love is All You Need" is the name of an awesome Beatles song about emotional attachment between two lovers, not the imperative that Jesus calls us to embrace.

The Power of Love, the kind of Love that God shows us through His son, Jesus, is the kind of Love that is deep, unattached to emotions. It’s not an erotic love, or a shallow love, or a "love" that has no meaning or caring behind it, but it is instead the deepest and most pure Love there is. 

This kind of Love must be the cornerstone of our faith. Love of God and love of our neighbors is what Jesus calls us to actively show in our daily lives.

The faith that Jesus teaches challenges us to love God so much that we love others just as God does, and show it by doing Good Works in the service of others.

And we are called to love and obey God and serve others, using Jesus' perfect example as our guide, and then we are to accept that GOD ALONE is our judge, and our God is a God of mercy, if we ask for it.

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me." (John 14:21)

"If you keep my commandments," says Jesus, "you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." (John 15:10)