Our church was full of gifted preachers and teachers, so we were almost never at a loss for someone to lead the men’s group with a strong, timely word. But one night, we resorted to a Youtube sermon, not for lack of better options, but because the leader of the group had seen the sermon and recognized the strength of God’s anointing on it.
When the meeting began, this leader gave us a disclaimer. He described how the tone and delivery of the preacher was rough and harsh, but that the words he was saying were gold. Our leader encouraged us to prepare out hearts, look past the form of the words, and focus on their substance.
The video began, and the preacher himself interjected to give another disclaimer about his own delivery. Recording after delivering the sermon and receiving criticism for it, the preacher described his state of mind during the sermon, and attempted to reveal what had been in his heart when he ‘flew off the handle.' Mirroring my leader’s words, he encouraged the viewer to look past his perhaps flawed delivery and turn their ear to the word itself.
At last, the sermon began.
The topic of the sermon was masculinity; how men relate to women and husbands to their wives in the Kingdom. The preacher was organized, direct, and detailed in his criticism of the false forms of masculinity that sneak into the church and proliferate among the men of God. He minced no words, frequently referring to practitioners of the errors he described as fools, cowards, chauvinists, and worse. His anger at the treatment the women of God received from these types of men was evident.
His criticisms were not limited to the most outrageous offenses, either. He was no gentler with the man who only gave his wife a dirty look or a condemning tone than with the man who beat or raped a woman.
At the climax of the sermon, he yelled with his whole chest, “How dare you!?” to the men in the audience.
The sermon concluded, and my spirit was stirred. I knew that God was initiating a conversation about these issues, even if nobody in the room could be accused of any dire offense. Most of the men in the room had extremely strong and loving marriages. On the surface, it seemed like a word that was ‘not for us.’ But I was in a season where I had become keenly aware of how even little areas of unsanctification in myself could cause undue pain to my wife. My ears were open for the Spirit of God to inquire after even the smallest, most seemingly benign manifestation of these errors in myself.
We circled up and began to discuss the message, and as you might expect, the conversation quickly turned to the preachers delivery. We engaged in a back-and-forth where each man was expounding upon why he thought the preacher was or was not justified in his tone. The question on everyone’s lips was, ‘was this the godly way to deliver this message?’
I felt myself being swept up in the conversation, but I kept trying to stay focused on the Spirit of God and that sense that there was a lesson, a bit of refinement, that God wanted to deliver through this sermon. I hoped that the conversation would turn to the word itself, but not being the leader of the group, I also did not want to be overbearing or dishonoring. I was patient, and willing to believe that the present conversation might be leading up to a big revelation.
Then, it did. I recalled the preacher’s explanation for his outburst. He had described, with the benefit of hindsight, how he had delivered that sermon many times before it was recorded that day, and each time, women had come to him afterwards in shocking numbers. These women confessed to suffering under the types of men he was describing. But most disturbing of all, many of them described suffering so within the church. Some even said that their current husbands were the kind of man that the preacher had described.
Filled with frustration at the men of the broader church, furious at the treatment the daughters of God were enduring, and overwhelmed with a paternal protectiveness, the preacher had taken the pulpit with a fire burning in his belly.
God showed me, then, that his harsh tone had not been for the men in the audience. In fact, the whole sermon had not been for the men who listened. God would certainly meet them in it, as He was doing for us, but the sermon was not meant for them.
It was meant for those wounded and hurt women.
The preacher’s shouting and finger-jabbing was not to break through the defenses of deception and self-righteousness that shrouded the crimes of the men in that room. It had been to communicate the Father’s heart to the women who had been hurt.
“This is not a part of God’s Kingdom,” the preacher was saying without saying. “What you experienced was evil, and there is no excuse for it. It was driven by deception. God opposed and opposes it in the strongest possible terms. God is on your side. He is angry, with the anger of a protective father, on your behalf, and he is desperate to see you safe and healed. What you have endured, He did not author or condone. He does not tolerate or invite this behavior in His Kingdom, and it I will not tolerate or invite it in my congregation.”
I put myself in the place of those wounded women in the audience, and tried to imagine what they had experienced. I wondered how I would feel if I had suffered such abuses. Moreover, that I had suffered them while part of a church that preached about how well protected and shepherded I was by God. Moreover again, that I suffered such while the perpetrator of my suffering was embraced by that church.
It seemed inescapable that I would lose trust in that church and the church. That I would feel unsafe, because as I listened to the sermon each Sunday, the enemy would be whispering doubts in my ear. “Will this preacher notice? Will he care? Does he really believe what he preaches, or is it just a show? If you told him, what would he do? Protect you, or make excuses?”
But then, I imagined hearing this preacher’s sermon – how he compromised nothing in his strict judgment on the behaviors I suffered under. His words, his tone, his manner… they worked together to silence the enemy’s whispers and restore one certainty in my heart: that God was on my side.
I don’t know if the preacher saw his sermon this way as he spoke, but I knew from the perspective of God, this had been the intention. I knew because, as the preacher had said, it was the women who came to him in great numbers after the sermon to confess their struggles. This was because God was speaking to them, and they were responding with renewed trust in Him.
God was willing to offend some, perhaps many, of the men in that room in order to give uncompromising comfort and protection to the wounded and afraid.
I tell you this story to illustrate my purpose in writing everything that follows.
The church, and the believers who comprise it, are not perfect. The imperfections that remain with us as saved creations can and will cause offense and pain to each other and unbelievers. When we hurt each other, it is easier to deal with because each of us can go to God to receive healing for the wrongs that have been done to us. But when we hurt an unbeliever, rather than running to God, they run further away. Our errors, as we will discuss in the next section, can damage the reputation of God in the eyes of the world, and prove a barrier to peoples’ salvation.
In order to prevent this from happening, we must do two things.
First, we must diligently submit ourselves to God’s process of sanctification. I write in the hopes of encouraging you, the believer, to listen for God’s voice as you read and receive His correction when He highlights something. Through this process of listening humbly (in your daily life as much as while reading this), we can better represent His Name on the earth.
Second, we must recognize that this process will not result in us reaching perfection on this earth. So, we must also find a way to reduce offenses caused by errors. This is what the preacher in my story accomplished with his sermon. He clearly, and without compromise, condemned that which was evil and not of God, separating God from the errors of His people, and portraying a God who loves imperfect people, but is perfect Himself.
I write in the hopes of encouraging you, the unbeliever, to recognize that there is often a disparity between God’s will and the believer’s actions, and that this disparity does not mean that God condones or authors any of the wrongs believers commit in their imperfections. I beg of you not to let the wrongs of the church color your perspective on God, for He is much greater than any of us could ever represent.
Caused to Sin
As I came into my faith and God’s will for my life, I was very blessed to be immediately planted in a very healthy, very mature church. I quickly realized, though, that this was not a universal experience. I wanted to believe that the way I saw the church prior to my salvation, when I was a staunch atheist, was just a deception colored by selection bias. But even as a Christian, I was constantly disappointed by the body of Christ.
I still saw churches compromising on love. I still heard news of leaders falling into sin and hypocrisy. I still listened to story, after story, after story of how people, both believers and otherwise, had been hurt by the church.
I heard of a young woman who, after engaging in pre-marital sex, was brought to stand in front of her congregation to be publicly shamed and excommunicated.
A man told me of how his father, an elder in the church for decades, abused and neglected him, yet no other member of the church raised any concerns or questioned the man’s suitability for leadership.
Another, not raised in the church, had learned about Christianity from people of faith online. In that anonymous space, he found that far more often than not, Christians were harsh-tongued and judgmental. He developed his understanding of God’s people – and God by extension – from those discouraging interactions.
These stories are mundane compared to what's out there. As I’ve prayed and studied and written on this topic in the past months, I’ve seen report after report of the church’s most heinous crimes. A pastor of decades, revealed to have groomed and abused a minor. Another who drugged and raped a young girl. Another who had a secret reputation for verbal abuse among those who worked with him. Another who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from vulnerable, elderly congregants.
The news ticker-tape never seems to run out of stories about pastors in America being found not only short of Biblical standards, but living in antithesis to them.
As I spoke with people who had grievances against the church, it was apparent that these grievances kept them from seeking God. At first, this was confusing to me. Surely most people could understand that even if those who claim the name of Christ are imperfect, that does not prevent Christ Himself from being worth any price!
But as I’ve studied the scripture more, I’ve realized that not only is this problem far from new, it is also an issue that God directly and frequently addresses.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Numbers 20:12
Moses’ sin seems fairly minor when viewed from a human perspective – he struck when he should have spoken. It’s a disobedience born from lack of faith, but the water came anyway, right?
But God says that this action had a profound effect on how the congregation of Israel, which was under Moses’ authority and leadership, saw God. To be clear, the mistake of a man, who was bearing the name of God, directly affected how people perceived God.
Specifically, this failure by Moses caused the people of Israel to see God as less holy. The word translated to ‘hallow’ is qadash, which means to consecrate and show as holy.
Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house. Judges 8:27
Just a few verses before this, Gideon expressly refuses to take on a role of permanent, official leadership over Israel. Yet still, his error causes all of Israel to fall into idolatry because of his prominence and influence in bearing the name of God.
No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord’s people transgress. 1 Samuel 2:24
Eli was high priest over Israel, but he would not restrain his own sons from sinful misuse of their position. Speaking to them, he lays responsibility for the sins of Israel at their feet, saying that they have made the people transgress by their transgressions.
Shortly afterwards, God sends a prophet to Eli and delivers a confirming message of judgment to Eli, holding him personally and directly responsible for his sons’ sins, which caused all of Israel to sin.
Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people? 1 Samuel 2:29
Eli did not even participate in his sons’ sins, but because he was over them and Israel, and their sins were harming Israel’s relationship with God, he was held accountable for what he failed to prevent.
However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die. 2 Samuel 12:14
Nathan says this to David during his rebuke of the king for his infidelity, murder and deception surrounding Uriah and Bathsheba.
‘Who would even know?’ This is surely the question the enemy asked David when convincing him to commit this crime. A secret killing only Joab would know anything of, and an adultery that could easily be passed off as the remarriage of a widow. Yet Nathan discerns that by doing this, David has created an opportunity for blasphemy against the Lord. Surely these blaspheming enemies are both of flesh and spirit.
Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray. 2 Chronicles 21:11
This was said of King Jehoram – that by his idolatry, he caused all of Jerusalem to become idolatrous, and led the entire nation of Judah astray.
The historical record is clear – the kings and priests of the land cannot simply rule over an idolatrous people and then wash their hands in the presence of God and say, “I cannot control them, Lord. They are sinners, what am I to do about it?” God holds the leaders he has entrusted with his people, his flocks, to an exceedingly high standard. An impossible one, even, for though it is true that we can control no man, our hypocrisies are consistently said to cause sin in others.
Do you wonder, though, if you are a king or a priest? Can this word truly apply to you if it is about such lofty people, far above your own station?
To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 1:5-6
You may not occupy the worldly title of ‘king’ or ‘priest,’ but when you come into submission under the High King and High Priest Jesus Christ, He entrusts you to participate in carrying out His duties on earth. Those are the duties of a king and priest.
Look to the example of Gideon! He refused the mantle of leadership, yet he still caused those around him to sin. This is because it is not about titles, but your spiritual influence which you cannot abdicate. No matter how small, you have a group of people that you have a degree of influence over, and that influence can have great or dire effects on their relationship to God. Further, God is seen to consistently hold people directly responsible for the effects of their influence.
Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Luke 17:1-2
Do not be deceived by the slight change in language in this verse – it is speaking on the very same topic! The word translated to ‘offenses’ here is skandalon, which means a snare of stumbling block. It is the cause of sin and transgression – the first domino to fall. These are words straight from our Lord, said for the context of our New Covenant of today.
Woe to him through whom comes the sin of another!
Our hypocrisy – the church’s hypocrisy – has the power to cause sin and transgression in those around us and those under our influence. We are meant to be the spiritual leaders of our time. We spend so much time and effort raging and kicking against the sins of the world around us and the nation we live in, but we never take responsibility for any of it when God’s word makes it clear that we bear a part of that responsibility.
This isn’t about depriving unbelievers of free will. It’s about returning accountability to the church. We cannot continue to whine towards heaven about the iniquity of our homeland while we cavort in hypocrisies, large and small, which cause and give opportunity for iniquity. To God, so many of our prayers must sound like the crying of a toddler who is hungry but refuses to eat what is in front of him.
We are eager to berate unbelievers about their immorality, and pine for an opportunity to legislate the sin out of them, but I tell you that the world cannot hear what we are saying over what we are doing!
Brethren, this should not be.
Because of You
Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. Romans 2:17-24
When he wrote this, Paul was addressing the Jews in Rome for a particular reason. As the word of Christ was spreading, many who were not Jewish were beginning to declare themselves for the Jewish God through His Son. The Jews of the day, understandably, had a mixed reaction to this. In this church in Rome, as with many at the time, some Jews had also submitted to Christ and believed in the gospel.
Joining these congregations which included many Gentiles, the Jews brought a heritage of wisdom, knowledge and tradition with them. Even the least educated among the Jews had more understanding of the old scriptures than these new gentile believers, and this set them apart from the other congregants. Whether by their own initiative, or at the invitation of the hungry Gentile believers, these Jews began to teach the Law of Moses to the new believers. Reading Paul’s writing in this and other letters, it seems that almost his entire ministry was dedicated to combating this issue. By preaching justification through the law to the Gentile believers, the Jews were not helping to mature these young Christians – they were burdening, confusing and discouraging them. Most importantly to this passage, though, was their hypocrisy.
These Jews were preaching one thing, then doing another. And just as we saw from the scriptures in the last section, this was directly causing the Gentiles to lose faith and respect for God.
The word ‘blasphemed’ that Paul uses is blasphemeo, which means to slander, mock, speak ill of, or to refuse to acknowledge good report. It can also mean to take something sacred lightly or without due respect.
The reputation of God was being measurably stripped down in the eyes of the Gentiles because of these hypocritical preachers and leaders.
Here, I must confirm once more that this is addressing us, the Christian of today, and not just the Jews of ages past.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. Romans 2:28-29
‘Jew’, as Paul is using the term here, is one who is inwardly dedicated to God, with a circumcised heart, living in the Spirit rather than in the law.
In other words, you. The believer of today.
Additionally, we cannot escape from Paul’s rebuke by simply saying, “I am not a preacher, I am not a leader.” Paul adds many descriptions to the ‘Jew’ he is describing, all of which apply to the average believer today.
We ‘rest on the law,’ using the word to find our understanding and perspective on life.
We ‘make our boast in God,’ declaring that He has saved us and is the source of our life.
We ‘know His will,’ through both the scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We ‘approve the things that are excellent,’ using the word and spiritual discernment to judge between what is life and what is death.
We are ‘instructed out of the law,’ being taught from scripture each week.
We consider ourselves ‘a guide to the blind,’ taking the responsibility of leading a lost world, and the lost people around us, to Christ.
We consider ourselves ‘a light to those who are in darkness,’ believing and we are meant to bring joy, love, provision and peace to whatever place we go to.
We consider ourselves ‘an instructor of the foolish,’ always ready to tell anyone who will listen about the better way of Christ.
We consider ourselves ‘a teacher of babes,’ eager to involve ourselves in the rearing and education of children.
We ‘have the form of knowledge and truth in the law,’ understanding Christ and the Kingdom of God through the types of shadows of the Old Testament.
We cannot ignore Paul’s difficult questions here just because we do not bear a certain title. It is the responsibility of all believers to shine our light before the world, and hypocrisy darkens that light. No Christian can escape their duty to be washed and sanctified by the word.
Further, we must recognize that damage to our testimony does not just come from the terrifyingly dire sins of some leaders who have fallen. Paul quotes from scripture in verse 24 above, and there are two potential scriptures he could be referring to.
In Isaiah 52:5, God says that His name is blasphemed because of the oppression his people live under. Declaring personal redemption through Christ but then living an oppressed life can deeply harm your testimony and harm the name of God among those who know you.
In Ezekiel 36:20-22, God says that His name is blasphemed because of the people’s sin and iniquity which caused them to be removed from the Promised Land. This refers to the more commonly understood definition of hypocrisy that we shall primarily discuss. Nevertheless, is important to keep both issues in mind, as both are hypocrisy and can harm the name of God.
The Name
What is the enemy’s goal when he attacks Christians?
He can’t steal our salvation – that is sealed and secured the day we believe and received the Holy Spirit.
He can’t mess with God’s plan. God can always override and overpower him. Anytime the enemy appears to have defeated God, it is really just the setup to a bigger victory that God has planned for the future.
We know that the enemy’s goal is to lead us astray and distract us from God, but the question remains; why does that matter? Since our salvation is secure, we are going to heaven anyway. How imperfectly we live on this earth is not going to steal the eternal outcome of our lives.
I’ve often considered that the enemy messes with Christian’s in order to grieve and distress God. While it is true that seeing His children stumbling does grieve God, this is not the enemy’s primary goal. The enemy is not just a spiteful bully. He is also, and primarily, a jealous impersonator.
The enemy wants his own kingdom, his own worshipers, and his own throne. Everything he does is to steal from God’s kingdom for his own, and to destroy anything he cannot steal.
So, how does deceiving, frustrating and tempting believers achieve these ends?
If the enemy can cause a believer to compromise, to indulge, to live in hypocrisy and transgress before the eyes of the world, he can turn other, undecided people away from God’s kingdom and towards his own.
When the enemy attacks you, he isn’t really gunning for you. He’s going after the unsecured salvation of every unbeliever around you.
This radical shift in understanding is one of the keys to winning the spiritual war on this earth. We can’t win a war against an enemy whose goals we misunderstand.
When we believe that the enemy coming at us is about us and our salvation, we have already accepted a lie – that he can steal our salvation!
When we believe that the enemy coming at us is about stunting our spiritual growth and whittling away at our inheritance in heaven, we become introspective and locked into the selfish focus of personal development.
But when we realize that the enemy is trying to use us as a tool to prevent other people from seeing God rightly, we can begin to see sanctification in an unselfish, godly way. With this perspective, we are no longer trying to walk uprightly for our own sake, but for the sake of others, and this heart-motive is one that God loves to bless and support because it aligns with His word.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13
Many Christians experience an increase in spiritual warfare after they convert. Modern Christian culture often leads us to believe this is because the enemy is trying to prevent you from attaining your great calling. This is true in a sense, but the larger truth is that the enemy’s attitude towards you has actually become more indifferent than before you believed. He knows he can’t steal or destroy you anymore. But, he does want to steal and destroy something you now have – the Name.
When the enemy attacks you as an unbeliever, he isn’t attacking you. When the enemy attacks you as a believer, he is attacking the Name of God that is written upon you. You bearing the Name means that if the enemy can get you to sin, he can get people to see God as sinful, or unable to cleanse sin, or uncaring, or anything number of other negative adjectives.
The enemy’s favorite and most effective strategy for keeping people out of the Kingdom of God is to dress up like Jesus and hurt people. He does this by deceiving and controlling the believers who wear the name of Christ and carry His Holy Spirit within them.
Consider this parable – some members of a high school sports team were caught with drugs.
Once the evidence was collected and the culprits were determined, the guilty parties were gathered to meet with the coach. They were sat down to get the tongue-lashing of a lifetime. But where they expected to be berated about their futures, the harmful effects of drugs, how they had disappointed their parents, and so on, they instead got an unanticipated question.
“What does this jersey mean to you?”
They didn’t understand at first, but their coach made it clear over the course of that meeting. Of course he was worried about them personally, and concerned for their futures. But what he really wanted them to understand was that by stumbling in this way, they hadn’t harmed themselves nearly as much as they had harmed the jersey.
It seems foolish at first. Who cares about a jersey? But it was more than that, and it took quite some time for the teens to get it. That jersey represented the collective work of hundreds of athletes just like them. People who, over years and years, had practiced, played and lived in such a way to give esteem to that jersey and their team’s name.
Through a combination of skill, discipline, and upright competition sustained over decades, those athletes had attained a good reputation; a good name. And year by year, the people who held that name and contributed to it entrusted it to the next groups of players. All their hard work, now in the hands of someone else, with no way of making sure that it would be honored, respected or upheld.
By engaging with those illicit substances, these teens had spat on the hard work of hundreds of people who came before them. They had stained what took generations to polish. Because of that, now there were people out there who might boo instead of cheer when those jerseys ran onto the field. They might scorn the kids who followed in these delinquents’ footsteps; kids who had done nothing to deserve such ire, just as these current teammates hadn’t deserved the cheers their forebears earned for them. There might be parents who reconsider signing their kids up to play for the team, and so the team might lose out on the skills and talent of great players. There might be colleges who think less of the team and its players, being a little more hesitant to recruit or offer scholarships.
This one mistake had put a stain on the jersey that might take years to wash out. And the kids who stained it wouldn’t even be the ones to do the washing. They got to graduate and move on.
That was what the coach had meant when he asked them, “what does this jersey mean to you?”
Those kids didn’t really understand what they had done, or what it had meant to put that jersey on at the beginning of the season. But their coach understood. He wasn’t scolding them because of the harm they had done to themselves. One dumb jaunt with drugs in high school could be overcome. He was scolding them because of what they had done to the jersey, which was much more severe than what they had done to their own lives, and much more important than their selfish desire to get high, or win, or live successfully.
So I ask you, “What does the Name mean to you?”
Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name’s sake!
Psalm 79:9
When we resist the devil, we aren’t guarding ourselves or our salvation. We are guarding the Name. When we live a saved, delivered and sanctified life, we aren’t glorifying ourselves, but the Name.
For all the power God has, He doesn’t mess with free will, and that means that He can’t just snap His fingers and have a perfect reputation. He is perfectly good, but it takes work to prove that to people, especially when the enemy is constantly telling them otherwise. One negative experience can take years of patient trust-building to overcome, and God wants to do this work through us.
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ Matthew 23:1-7
We preach sermon after sermon about the errors of the Pharisees but I fear that we fail to realize that the Pharisees do not represent the world of today. It was not the world that crucified Christ. The Pharisees represent the fallen church. The Pharisees were concerned with their personal holiness, public image and spiritual stature. Rather than dedicating their lives to exalting the Name, they wore the Name to uplift themselves. They lived under the lie that the Name served them, rather than the other way around.
The errors of the Pharisees are the errors we must be vigilant against, because these are the errors that are as easy for us to make as they were for those that crucified Christ.
The church is the modern Pharisee if we block the way to the Kingdom. By occupying the place of spiritual authority and leadership in our culture – by bearing the Name – we become a prime target for the enemy to tempt, because if he can cause us to fall, we will fall across the path to the Kingdom and turn away many.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us… Hebrews 12:1
A Higher Standard
I have heard it said that the only reason there is so much offense against the church is because the church is held to a different standard than the rest of the world. That which offends people when practiced by the church is often also practiced in worldly systems and by worldly leaders, yet comparatively little offense and condemnation comes from the people.
This is true, but it does not matter, nor does it change what we are called to do. Further, there is a good reason for this disparity.
It does not matter because regardless of the reason or cause of the problem, the problem remains. The world is offended by the church and people are being driven away from the Kingdom. This is caused by the enemy and by the flesh, probably much more so than it is caused by the imperfections of God’s people. But we cannot control the enemy. We cannot change the flesh and the way the world thinks.
But by the Spirit of God living within us, we can control ourselves.
But the fruit of the Spirit is… self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
In this list of causes for the problem we wish to solve, we therefore have two that we cannot control, and one that we can. Should we not do the one because we cannot do the other two? No! Better to give less thought and effort to that which we cannot control, and invest more thought and effort into that which we can control.
Rebuke the enemy and teach the curious. But above all, walk in the Spirit before all men so that you will not be blamed for offenses. We cannot use the inevitability of offenses as an excuse to cause them, nor can we use the poor discernment of the world as an excuse to lower our standards and become what the enemy says we are.
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11-12
We must behave honorably among those who do not believe, because our good works will cause them to glorify God when He comes! Do not grow lax because you see little fruit now. Wait for the day He comes and you are vindicated, and the seeds you planted that they trampled spring up from stony ground at the behest of the LORD!
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 1 Peter 3:15-16
Let the truth of your good conduct put those who accuse and take offense to quiet shame.
Also, consider that the world holds us to a higher standard than it holds itself for a very good reason; because we claimed that standard!
“We are the children of God! The Son of God died for us and made us holy! His righteousness dwells within us and we are His good pleasure! We are His image, and we invite you to a Kingdom in which there is no evil!”
All of this is true. All of this should be said. All of this is an implicit invitation for examination.
Being a Christian comes with all these declarations, and thus with examination from all who hear us make that declaration! We can let this examination terrify us and drive us into deception and pride, or we can let it humble and cleanse us, aiding in the process of becoming what we have been called to be.
But do not blame the world for wishing to scrutinize our bold claims! Wouldn’t you?
Remember Your Salvation
Here I must pause. I am speaking boldly to you, and I will continue to do so. But if I am to speak this way and not be guilty of the very sin I am now accusing the American church of, I must establish some truth.
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
Even if you examine yourself and find that you are guilty of every hypocrisy which I mention, nothing will have changed about your salvation or the security of God’s love for you. Do not fall into reliance on the law out of fear for your salvation. I do not write about salvation today, but about sanctification, which is a separate process that has only been initiated in your life because you are saved. Believe the Word and know that you are secure. From that place of security, read out of a loving desire to honor God as His child, not to become His child or raise your status in His eyes. None of what we will discuss in the coming teachings is about pleasing God – He is pleased with you because of the blood of Christ, not your works on this earth.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Do not let the enemy read this to you. I write not to condemn you, but because there is an urgency in my spirit to speak to the church on this issue. You are strong in the LORD, and your curiosity about this book says all I or God needs to know about the state of your heart.
Let the Word and this word wash you, without tallying the dirt.
If you are wondering while reading, ‘what should I do with all of this?’ here is your answer.
Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.” But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No.” For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Matthew 5:33-37
All God needs is ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ When you find agreement with what I write, look to God and say, ‘yes.’ When you find disagreement with what I write, look to God and say, ‘no.’ Engage with God on these topics, rather than engaging with your own mind or with my writing. Take these prompts before God and let Him guide you on how to handle them (or to not handle them at all!)
I believe that the power of the word is not to give you instructions, but to help you shape your prayers and steward your perspectives in order to enable God to give you the grace and equipment to live according to the word. Living up to any word is not a matter of implementation, but of receiving by faith.
My purpose in writing this is not to direct you into a new way, strategy, or step-by-step program of godliness. My hope is that my writing would be like that of Malachi, who revealed the perspective and heart of God in opposition to the assumptions and limited perspectives of man.
Malachi preached a stirring word, and it has pierced the hearts of men and women for thousands of years, driving them to repentance and communion with God. But Malachi did not provide strategies for how to overcome these issues, instead promising that God was going to come and deal with things.
“But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 4:2-3
He encouraged those who heard the word to gather together and discuss it. To take it seriously and treat it with weight, not by striving in their own strength to achieve it, but by talking about it, letting it sink into their heart, kneading the revelation into their spirit like dough being prepared for the oven. And it is written that this pleased God and revealed who truly served Him!
Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
Malachi 3:16-18
So do not make great oaths pertaining to your plans for obedience. Do not develop strategies or multi-step programs. These will only become laws and death to you. Even should they succeed, it would glorify you and your program rather than God! Our success only glorifies God if it comes from God. Set aside your methodology and self-made zeal. Simply say yes or no, and let the Holy Spirit do His work in you. Discuss these topics with your brothers and sisters, and let the revelation of God’s heart fill your heart. Neither you nor I can accomplish this word on our own.
I confess freely that I fall woefully short of the standard I now reveal to you! This is not about attaining a goal, but about fixing our gaze, casting our crowns, resting our hope upon the One who can and has attained the standard of perfection in the eyes of the Father – Jesus Christ our salvation and strength!
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