I Will not Boast in My Works

Ephesians 2:4 (KJV)

[4] But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, [5] Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) [6] And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: [7] That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: [9] Not of works, lest any man should boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

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Lately, I have been reminded again how often we as Apostolics can become a little too much like the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus day. We look at how we look and act and don’t consider the reason for us doing the things we do.  Then when someone questions us as to why we do what we do, we consider them a heretic and look our noses down at them.  Jesus gives the Pharisees warnings and even condemns them for their lack of understanding.  We would be wise to listen to these warnings.  See the following:

Matthew 23:13 (KJV)

[13] But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. [14] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. [15] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. [16] Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! [17] Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? [18] And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. [19] Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? [20] Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. [21] And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. [22] And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. [23] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. [24] Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. [25] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. [26] Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. [27] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. [28] Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. [29] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, [30] And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. [31] Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. [32] Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. [33] Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

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These are known as the seven woes of Jesus Christ.  I will attempt to go through each woe and provide a commentary on them

  Matthew 23:13 (KJV)

[13] But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

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1.       The scribes and the Pharisees made it too difficult for people to be saved.  They laid heavy burdens on people and said it was a salvation issue when there was no scripture for what they were saying the person had to do.  It virtually became impossible for any man to be saved.

The sad part is that we as Pentecostals have done much the same thing.  We say that unless we dress a certain way or do our hair a certain way, we can’t make it to heaven.  The problem is that we base this on one Scripture and call it a salvation issue.  Those who do this, I truly believe will stand in judgment before God one day for the heavy burdens they placed on people.  Be careful what you say is a heaven or hell issue.  It better be based on the Word of God, not your own personal conviction or preference. 

It is my opinion that the United Pentecostal Church International has not seen the revival it did prior to 1960 because we made it more difficult for people to be saved without doing things that were unbiblical.  These things were put in place out of fear due to the hippie movement and the advent of television.  These are weights that are too heavy for people, and we put these weights on people when we should have taught people to be careful how or what they do and to do all things in moderation.

Matthew 23:14 (KJV)

[14] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

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2.       The next woe Jesus mentions here is that of how the Pharisees and Sadducees took advantage of other people, especially those who had already lost everything, for financial gain.  Here Jesus mentions that the Pharisees went in and gained the trust and affection of those they should be helping and basically stole from them.  Here Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their actions.  The saddest part here is that after doing this evil act of stealing from the widows, the Pharisees try to act all spiritual by being great prayer warriors. 

Instead of taking advantage of God’s children, we need to bless and help those who are left behind after they have lost someone they have loved.  We need to be people of compassion.  We need to be helping the widows and those who have little.  It is the responsibility of the church to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves or who are in need.  We need to be people of compassion.  When we gain an understanding of who we are and who our fellow man is in God’s sight than we understand our responsibilities to our fellow man.  Jesus instructed us to first of all love him with all our hearts, souls and minds.  Then we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  

Matthew 23:15 (KJV)

[15] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

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3.       Here Jesus gives it to the Pharisees for going out of their way to get converts, not a bad idea, but then they teach their converts to look down at other people who are not doing what the Pharisees think they should be doing. 

We best be careful not to teach new converts things that are not Biblical.  In other words, we better be sure that we are not teaching new converts to boast and become arrogant in works that are not Bible based. 

We need to teach new converts on how to study the Word of God and have a relationship with Him instead of just listening to the rhetoric that comes from an evangelist trying to get a shout or a pastor who is so domineering that they have become lord over God’s heritage instead of shepherd of the sheep God has given them to protect.   

 

Matthew 23:16 (KJV)

[16] Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

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4.       Jesus here warns the Pharisees of not taking an oath based on the gold of the temple.  In other words, the Pharisees had forgotten about the Temple and the God of the temple and began to focus on the gold of the temple and how they could get gain based on it.

It is understandable that our churches need money to pay the bills.  The problem lies in catering to the givers instead of ministering to everyone equally.   It becomes a sad day when pastors will spend more time with those who have given the most and less time either in prayer or ministering to people who are struggling.  Keep in mind of something, the riches of this world pale in comparison to the richest our heavenly father has.  Too many times we are so worried about the gift or the money that we lose sight of the face that the giver who gives the most  is Jesus and we lose out on financial blessings because we focus on temporal and financial gain from this earth.  This is why Jesus said, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust can’t corrupt. 

We also need to be very careful not to look at those who do not have as much as we do as being of lesser value than we are.  God loves everyone equally, no matter how much they have or have not.  Jesus taught a pertinent lesson on this in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.  God takes notice of how we treat those who do not have as much as we have.  

 

Matthew 23:23 (KJV)

[23] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

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5.       Here Jesus states that the Pharisees pick and choose which laws to obey and which laws not to obey.  They boast in that they pay their tithes to the Lord, but refuse to show judgement, mercy and faith.  It is easy to see someone put a tithing envelope in the basket on Sunday, but harder to see how they act on Monday. 

Too often we want to talk about certain things as “holiness” and not mention other things.  A good example of this is moderation.  We always want to talk about our “outward holiness” but we don’t like talking about gluttony.  We want to say that drinking and doing drugs is a sin, but we fail to mention over eating.  We want to talk about the importance of tithing, but we don’t mention the importance of paying our bills on time as well.  Be careful, our actions and our words will be judged by those outside of the church.  They see us not just on Sunday but all through the week.

Matthew 23:25 (KJV)

[25] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

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6.        Jesus here instructs the Pharisees not to  try to get the outward appearance cleaned up before the inside is cleaned. 

There are a couple of considerations here.  First, get your heart right with God.  We focus so much on our appearance that we forget that if we are not doing it for the right reasons, we might as well quit wasting our time.  God wants us to do what He asks out of love for Him, not out of our own pride.

The second thing to notice here is that Jesus never says not to get the outside cleaned up.  He just says get the inside clean first. 

So often we get a new convert in the door and pray them through and then start trying to get the outward fixed up to look like everyone else. The problem with this is that their heart needs to have an understanding of it first.  When a baby is born you don’t put a pair of big boy underwear on them and expect them to go to the bathroom like an adult.  You have to put a diaper on them and then change the diaper periodically.  It is a process and a maturing.  There must be understanding before a change is made. 

 Matthew 23:29 (KJV)

[29] Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

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7.       Jesus here says that you build up the tombs of the prophets and make statements such as, if we had been there, we would not have done this.  Yet, they will turn around shortly and do the exact same thing to Jesus.  They would not have killed the prophets of old, but will kill Jesus. 

We shouldn’t judge anyone.  It is not our place.  These Pharisees judged their forefathers for killing the prophets.  When we start judging, we are placing ourselves in a much higher place and we will be judged based on how we have judged others  Romans 1:32-2:1 explains how we better be sure not to judge others because what we could end up doing the same thing.  It is easier not to judge others, therefore you have not set a baseline by which we ourselves will be judged. 

 The key thought here is what we do should not be boasted about.  A good example of this from Scripture is Hezekiah.  God says set your house in order.  Hezekiah prays and God hears his prayer and adds an addition 15 years to his life.  Hezekiah becomes proud that God would listen to him and it becomes a stumbling block in Hezekiah’s life. We need to be very careful that we do not become prideful or arrogant for who we are or what we do.  If we are only doing things so we can look our nose down on someone else, we are doing it for the wrong reasons.  If we do something, it should be because God says so in His Word and we want to be pleasing to Him.

We must be different from the world.  It is instructed to us in God’s Word:

 2 Corinthians 6:14 (KJV)

[14] Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? [15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? [16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, [18] And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

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But the warning still remains, do it because of our relationship with God, not out of arrogance.

Don't Grow Up.

1Co 14:20 20 Brethren, do not be children [immature] in your thinking; continue to be babes in [matters of] evil, but in your minds be mature [men]. (AMP) We often tell our children to grow up when someone or something happens and they don't know how to deal with it. We as parents try to help them mature and deal with difficult situations. I remember my seventh grade teacher often saying "grow up" to a student who was telling on another student for something extremely not worth the time to be concerned about. Paul tells the church in Corinth to grow up when it comes to spiritual things but to stay naive when it comes to wicked things. We need to gain knowledge of the right things. Study the bible and not the things of the world. We are admonished to set our affection on things above not on things of the earth. So today learn and grow in heavenly things and have the childish knowledge of the worldly things.

What's Love Got to do With it

This morning I read from I Corinthians 13.  This chapter is considered the "Love Chapter" of the Bible.  However, I found that it was more instructive as to how the Gifts of the Spirit operate in I Corinthians 12. 

I Corinthians 13 basically tells us that we can have the Gifts of the Spirit but without love it makes the Gifts void.  So love trumps the Gifts. 

As I sat and read this chapter the thought popped into my brain that had the question, why do we seek the Gifts of the Spirit?  Do we do this because we want to bless and help others or do we do it to try to elevate ourselves.  I must be honest, this made me think very strongly concerning my own motives.  We cannot be truly effective in being used in the Gifts of the Spirit if we do not have the right motivation. 

The Bible has one main theme and that is LOVE.  God instructs us to:

1.  Love God

God desires to be loved by us.  We were created to love God not out of obligation but because we want to and get to.

2.  Love Ourselves

It is important to have a good self esteem and love ourselves.  However, we have to becareful not to have pride. 

3.  Love Others

We need to love others and care about their well being and look out for the best of that person. 

So today, go forth in love.  Love God, love yourself and love others and when God works through you it will mean something. 

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/21137291/devin-aryal-oakdale-random-shooting-victim.

This story happen just up the road not far from Apostolic Bible Institute where I used to live just 8 months ago. This is a sad story for our country and our world. 

In the past year we have seen violence arise in our country that involve children.  It is unnecessary violence.  Violence that is filled with ignorance and psychosis.  After doing some thinking about what happened yesterday here in Minnesota and not far from where I live and did live, I have come up with three reasons for this type of violence.

1.  Gun safety.

We do not have enough people who lock away their guns securely.  Those who have psychosis should not be able to know where guns are or know how to gain access to the guns.  The problem is not the guns.  The problem is the access to the guns.

I recently went to the firing range with a friend of mine.  I noticed that on his gun case he had a padlock. This makes it safe so that the guns cannot get into the wrong hands.  Only he and his wife know where the key is at.

2.  The media

When I mention the media I am not just talking about television and movies.  There is so much violence on the television and then if a person goes to the movies they are bombarded by horrible violence.  However, this violence goes beyond television and movies. Our children and many adults spend hours playing video games that have become so realistic that there is no disconnect from what is reality and what is play. 

The media needs to be held accountable for the unnecessary violence that it produces and broadcasts in every medium.

3. Political correctness and the hatred of religion

The last reason is that we have become too politically correct in our nation.  We can't say anything for fear of hurting some one's little feelers. We can't call a spade a spade anymore.  God forbid that we call this person who shot people, including a nine year old boy who died in his mother's arms at the Rainbow Foods store that I pass on my way to church every Sunday, a psychotic freak.  He does not deserve to be called a normal human being.  He has problems and he needs to be called out for it.

However, the other problem with political correctness is that we have taken God out of our society for fear of hurting the atheist's little feelers. Well, when you take God out of any situation all that you come up with nothingness including not know right from wrong.  We have stopped placing God in our world because of a few who don't believe in God.  Well fine, don't believe in God if you don't want to, but don't try to stop me from believing in God. 

The reason an atheist doesn't want to believe in God is because they do not want to have an authority figure in their lives.  They want to do whatever they want without having to answer to anyone. 

To the atheists let me tell you something, you will always have someone to answer to in life.  For instance you have to answer to yourself for the things you do.  How do your actions affect you?  You have to answer to your fellow man.  How do your actions affect the people around you? 

Let me tell you that we need to be talking about God more.  We need not be afraid of offending people.  We need to be afraid of offending God and having His judgment fall on us.  We need people to turn back to God and God become an intricate part of our daily lives so that people will know the difference between good and evil. 

So, in conclusion, please pray for the people in Oakdale.  Tonight I will be going to a vigil in Oakdale to pray and commemorate the life of this nine year old boy.