Sometimes when I am driving I flip on the local Christian radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yesterday, (1/6/22), for the third time, I heard two talk show hosts explaining the Bible to their listeners. They told their listeners they must be born again. They extolled holding to Bible "sound doctrine" as a safety net. They spoke of hell and implied that the people in the audience were going there if the didn't come on board in agreement their version of "God."
They were into "sound doctrine" for sure. So am I: I agreed with their doctrinal statement. But I felt sick to my stomach because I saw nothing of the winsome beauty of the real Lord Jesus in them. My radar flashed a "bad vibes" warning.
God does not want us to "try harder." Entire congregations adhere to very sound statements of doctrine and belief, but only a few members are actually walking with God. That means that church is misrepresenting the one true God. He is not impressed by your best efforts on His behalf! "You can not serve God because He is holy." Jesus calls us to come to Him so He can express His endless life through us. Paradoxically our uniqueness, our individuality is not erased but enhanced.
See if you agree with some perceptions of the visible church gained over the past half-century. The Church Papers.
Yes, Love covers a multitude of sins. For sure most of us are "works in process." And "he who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." Frequently misquoted are the words of Jesus:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:1-7)
May I suggest balancing statements about love with sobering truth that our sins run deep. We don't know ourselves well at all! At least I don't! (Quite a few people see right through me even when I think I am well-hidden!). Motives matter, and I don't seem to know my heart all that well!
"For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin." Romans 7:14-25)
Turns out, hypocrisy is a big deal with God, but so is Apostasy.
Joshua was certainly a powerful, influential, and godly leader for the preceding period of the occupation of the promised land land. He sensed what would follow his demise, (Joshua 24). In response to his warnings, given as his life was drawing to a close, the people responded by saying essentially the same thing they had promised Moses at least twice before,
"So the people answered [Joshua] and said: "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; "for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. "And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."
But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. "If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."
And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD!" So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses!" "Now therefore," he said, "put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel." And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!" (Joshua 24:16-24)
But this is a vast problem today! There was, in that day, "No King in the Land. Every Man did what was Right in his own Eyes."
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them;
but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;
and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:1-13)
...he who has entered His rest has ceased from his self effort...
One Flesh, One Soul, One Spirit
The Flesh, The World, The Devil
Unmasking the Flesh
Then Came Amalek
Elements
Christ in You
The Crossed Out Ones
The Normal Christian Life
Christ in You
Disconnected
The Exchanged Life
The Last One Percent
The Great Disconnect
The Crucified One
The Dry Tree
New Body Life
The Plight of the Homeless / The Plight of the Rich
Lexicon Info1: σαρκικός (Strong's #4559 — Adjective — sarkikos — sar-kee-kos')
akin to No. 1, under FLESH, signifies (a) associated with or pertaining to, "the flesh, carnal," Romans 15:27; 1 Corinthians 9:11; (b) of "the nature of the flesh, sensual," translated "fleshly" in 2 Corinthians 1:12 , of wisdom; in 1 Peter 2:11 , of lusts; in 2 Corinthians 10:4 , negatively, of the weapons of the Christian's warfare, RV, "of the flesh" (AV, "carnal"). See CARNAL. Note: The adjectives "fleshly," "carnal" are contrasted with spiritual qualities in Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 3:1,3,4; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Colossians 2:18 (lit., "mind of flesh"). Speaking broadly, the carnal denotes the sinful element in man's nature, by reason of descent from Adam; the spiritual is that which comes by the regenerating operation of the Holy Spirit. Flesh 1: σαρκικός (Strong's #4559 — Adjective — sarkikos — sar-kee-kos') akin to No. 1, under FLESH, signifies (a) associated with or pertaining to, "the flesh, carnal," Romans 15:27; 1 Corinthians 9:11; (b) of "the nature of the flesh, sensual," translated "fleshly" in 2 Corinthians 1:12 , of wisdom; in 1 Peter 2:11 , of lusts; in 2 Corinthians 10:4 , negatively, of the weapons of the Christian's warfare, RV, "of the flesh" (AV, "carnal"). See CARNAL. 2: σάρκινος (Strong's #4560 — Adjective — sarkinos — sar'-kee-nos) denotes "of the flesh, fleshly" (the termination, inos signifying the substance or material of a thing); in 2 Corinthians 3:3 , RV, "(tables that are hearts) of flesh," AV, "fleshly (tables)," etc. See CARNAL. Note: The adjectives "fleshly," "carnal" are contrasted with spiritual qualities in Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 3:1,3,4; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Colossians 2:18 (lit., "mind of flesh"). Speaking broadly, the carnal denotes the sinful element in man's nature, by reason of descent from Adam; the spiritual is that which comes by the regenerating operation of the Holy Spirit.
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Hiding in the Rock
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