What Should We Hate?

What is your attitude regarding things that the Bible tells us are sinful and evil? Do you have different standards depending on whether it is you or somebody else doing what is contrary to God will?

Do you sometimes make excuses or overlook behavior, writings, or speech that you know offends God? Do acknowledge that we, especially Christians, should try to do better and hope that someday we will?

Surely we should want to sin less than we do. If you think you don't sin, then take a look at 1 John 1:8-11.
That passage lets us know that if we confess our sins, Jesus will forgive and cleanse us. But should we be content knowing that His sacrifice is sufficient to pay for any sin we have done or will do?

Yes, it's wonderful that Jesus paid the price for our sins and gives us the faith to believe it.  However does the wonderful grace of our Lord in forgiving us of sin give us permission to be unconcerned about things that are evil? What sort of an attitude should we have in regard to what is evil?

Psalms 97:10  O you who love the LORD, hate evil!  ESV

Now that is an interesting command. If we love the Lord we are not just to dislike and avoid evil, we are told to hate it. Oh, but that verse of Scripture is in the Old Testament. Now that the grace of our Lord Jesus has come do we have to be that passionate against evil?

Romans 12:9  Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ESV

Again we see the right kind of love being written about and then followed by the command to hate evil. Abhor it. The Greek word used for abhor in this verse is very strong, and is the only time it is used in the New Testament. We are to detest evil, be revolted by it. Love honors God and people. Evil offends God and condemns people to hell.

Satan and the world wants people to think that those things the Bible identifies as "evil" are just the opinions of those who wrote the Bible a long time ago. But God divinely inspired all of Scripture, and God is altogether holy and therefore hates evil. If we love God we are also to hate evil.

Although it may be fairly easy to hate some things that are evil because they are so obviously hurtful to ourselves or people we care about, it is not so easy to hate other things that offend God. Just as we need God given grace and faith to love God and our neighbor, we also need the same to abhor evil the way He wants us to hate it.

God uses His Holy Spirit along with the hearing of the Word of God to bring us to salvation, and to grow us in faith, understanding, and obedience to His will. He does the same thing in regards to our coming to hating whatever goes against Him and His will.

Psalms 119:104  Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. ESV

Let's not be indifferent regarding what is evil or false (what is false leads people to believe and do what God knows is evil).  Let's be in prayer about our attitude to what God says is contrary to what is righteous and holy. Let's pray that God gives us and others the faith to believe and to be obedient in both loving God and others and also hating evil the way He wants us to hate it.

Outdo One Another In This...

In what should we try to outdo one another?

Many people try to outdo other people in one thing or another. Sibling rivalry is exceedingly common in families. Students at school try to get ahead by getting better grades, excelling in sports, or becoming more popular. Workers compete to get promotions. Politicians seek to get more votes to get elected.

However in the Body of Christ there is (or should be) more emphasis on loving and serving one another than competing with one another. Just like in a human body, things go much better when both eyes look in the same direction and when neither foot tries to get too far ahead of the other.

Nevertheless there is a benefit for members of the Body of Christ to compete with one another in one area. Paul wrote about it in the second half of Romans 12:10:

Romans 12:10  ...Outdo one another in showing honor.  ESV

Outdo one another in showing honor. The NIV translation renders it "Honor one another above yourselves." The Greek conveys the meaning of taking the lead in honoring others. Doing so isn't easy for us, but that never stops God from requiring it because it is what is right. It is humbling to honor others rather than seek to get others to honor us. As it happens, that is a good thing because "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

If a person is to excel in any activity he or she needs become committed to it. For believers that should mean praying for God's help, and giving thought to what God has said in Scripture that can assist them to do what is required. God doesn't expect us to depend on our own strength and determination. He knows how weak we are and knows we need Him to accomplish what He commands us to do. He even gives us the faith to believe and do what He says is true and right.

So let's give thought to God wanting us to outdo each other in showing honor. Let's think about how doing so will please our Lord. Let's consider what it will be like when the Holy Spirit enables us to do better at honoring others. Then let's do it. Then do it again. And again.

How shall we honor others in ways that please God? Well, doing things for them and with them in a humble manner. Checking Scripture for instructions on both our attitudes and actions, and not getting ourselves all puffed up when we do a few things Biblically.

Honoring others does not mean always agreeing with others about everything they say and do, but it does mean that when correcting or rebuking is necessary that it be done without a "I'm better than you are" kind of attitude.

I hope all of us in the Body of Christ will seek God's help in obeying the call to outdo one another in showing honor. Let's go to it!

Christian Unity -- God's Way to Become One

How should we seek to have Christian unity? Should Christians stop making a fuss about what this preacher or that preacher teaches? Should we overlook what the Bible says about controversial issues? Should we simply agree to disagree?  Is that the way we should become one?

Let's look at part of a prayer that Jesus made regarding being one.

John 17:17-21  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (18)  As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (19)  And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (20)  I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, (21)  that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ESV

This prayer that Jesus made to His Father lets us know how important the Word of God is. Jesus prays that His apostles would be sanctified, set apart, in truth, and that it was His Word, God's Word, that was truth. He also prayed this for those who would believe in Christ through the word that they received from those apostles.

In the Bible we have the truth God used to set apart those He chose as His apostles to send out, and what He continues to use to set apart those He has called to be His. He didn't just pray this for those who would lead and teach the Church after He returned to Heaven. Jesus wants all who believe in Him to be sanctified by the truth that is in God's Word.

Let's not be content with snip-its of Scripture knowledge. Let's not tolerate a mixture of Bible truth and teachings that sound good but are merely the clever concoctions of men. God uses truth, His truth, to sanctify us. He uses the truth that is in His Word. Indeed, His Word is truth.

That is why expository preaching can be so effective at helping believers become more set apart for God. Expository preaching when done by those who believe God's word is truth can explain and expound upon Scripture by using Scripture to understand Scripture, along with information about the meaning of words, phrases, and the history of the people and places of the Bible.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?  Then God has called you to be sanctified by the truth that is His Word. Read Scripture. Study it. Listen to teachers and preachers who believe all of Scripture is true and seek to grow in understanding it and living it out obediently. Also pray for me that I can do the same. This is the way God wants for us to be one. There are teachings that tell of other ways we can become one but those are inventions of men. If God has called us to be His, then He wants us to do things His way, not any other way, no matter how appealing any of them may sound.

When we become one God's way, that is when the world will know Jesus was indeed sent by the Father, and therefore what Jesus taught is true.  Whatever is contrary to what Jesus and His apostles taught is false, and those who teach them are false teachers whether they know it or not. True Christian unity can only come one way. Let's seek to have that unity, become one, God's way.

Many Members -- One Body of Christ

At First Baptist Church in Weymouth we have a new senior pastor, Jeremy Garber, who does expository preaching from Scripture that instructs, exhorts, and encourages those of us who get to hear him. People are taking notes and going online to hear his sermons over again because there is so much good material in them, even when some of the content makes us uncomfortable and realize we need to seek the Lord's help to live in ways more pleasing to Him.

Pastor Garber certainly doesn't seek to entertain us with his preaching. He seeks to be faithful to God, to help us learn and live out what God has for us in His Word. He is helping us wake up spiritually to give more thought to what it means to have faith in Christ and be followers of Him.

He knows God doesn't want him to go it alone in serving and reaching out with the gospel to the people in this area. Pastor Jeremy prays for a revival in New England, and knows that true revival begins with the Spirit of God and the exposition of His perfect Word.

It is wonderful to be in a church with a pastor who has such a heart for God, His Word, and the people who God has called to be part of His Church. Such passion should be shared by all the members of the Body of Christ, not just those who preach and teach from pulpits, Bible studies, and Sunday School classrooms.

Although not all are called to be preachers, teachers, or leaders as their ministry within the church, all believers should be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks for the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15-16).

We can become better prepared to give a defense of the hope we have in the gospel with the help of other believers when we work together in the Body of Christ. God has given us different gifts and using them as He directs us through Scripture can help all of us to do what He wants us to do.

Romans 12:4-8  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  (5)  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  (6)  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;  (7)  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;  (8)  the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.  ESV

Jesus doesn't want us to sit back and let our pastors, elders, and deacons do all the speaking and serving in the church. He wants all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior to be active members of His Body..

When we use the gifts God has given us we can support others in the Body and also encourage them to use the gifts God has given them. We are one Body in Christ and we are members of one another. God wants us to do all He enables us to do to serve Him and each another. It is a glorious privilege to have been chosen as members of  the Body of Christ. Together we can honor Him by working together to do His will.

I am so thankful to be in a church where the leaders wholeheartedly believe in and want to obey the Word of God. And I am ever so thankful that God is making me ever more willing and eager to serve in whatever way He wants me to serve Him in the Body.

Are you a member of the Body of Christ? If not, are you ready to accept that you can't save yourself and that only the sacrifice of the sinless Jesus Christ on the Cross is sufficient to pay the price for your sins against God? If by His grace your are now or one day become a member of His Body, then I invite you to join me in seeking God's help to use whatever gifts He gives us to honor Him and serve Him and one another.

What Kind of Love Should Abound?

Philippians 1:9-11  And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,  (10)  so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  (11)  filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  ESV.  

God has much to say to us about love in the Bible. The two great commandments are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as our self. (Mark 12:30-31)  It also says that "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8)

Jesus gave His disciples the highest standard of love that could ever be given. He told them to love one another just as He had loved them. And He told that by their loving one another people would know they were His disciples.(John 13:34-34)

Although we cannot love as perfectly as Jesus, we should be so thankful for how He loved us in going to the Cross and enduring the wrath of His Father in our place that we should seek to do whatever he enables us to please Him and express love to Him and others.

Of course not everything that people call "love" is what God means by love. In the name of "love" there is adultery, fornication, and the tolerance and acceptance of many other things that offend the one true holy God. In order to love in ways that actually please God we need to see what He says in His Word.

In Paul's letter to the Philippians quoted above, he not only prayed that their love would abound more and more, but that their love would be with knowledge and discernment. Only by gaining the knowledge that God has given us in the Bible can we properly discern what expressions of love are godly and which are not.

The love that God wants us to have is not what may feel good to us. It is not necessarily what we or other people consider to be acceptable expressions of love. God's love is perfect. God's love is excellent. When He teaches and enables to love His way we can know it is excellent. Abounding more and more in loving God's way can help us be pure and blameless as we progress toward the day of Christ.

Jesus is altogether righteous. He loves purely and perfectly. We don't have to settle for loving with corrupt motives and methods. We can turn to Him and to His Word and He can fill us with the fruit of righteousness that will help our love to grow in ways that will truly be to the praise and glory of God. 

God's Gifts to Us and Our Churches

Ephesians 4:11-14  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  (12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  (13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,  (14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

God gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. Therefore they are gifts to us from God.

What do apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers all have in common?  A vital aspect of all their ministries involves speaking. Sometimes it is to preach the good news that God uses to bring people to repentance. Other times it to explain to believers how to grow in in their spiritually maturity. And other times it is how to avoid or get out of false teachings..

Preaching, proclaiming and teaching are all essential ministries within the church. Service to those in need is also crucial and of course should not be neglected. But without evangelizing there would be no church because God has decreed that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). And after we come to saving faith in Jesus God wants us to grow in the knowledge of Him, His holiness, and His will. Without godly preaching we remain spiritual babies and are susceptible to all manner of deceptions.

Prior to the coming of Jesus in the flesh, God used prophets to exhort the people of their day and give us much of the Bible. Jesus chose certain men, including Paul, as His apostles, or ambassadors, and gave them the power to proclaim the gospel and help raise up His Church. Later the church also sent out some who they referred to as apostles, who apparently served in ways like those we call missionaries today. Evangelists then and now are gifted by God to share the gospel of repentance from sin and the salvation that only Christ provides by He death on the Cross.

Pastors (shepherds) and teachers are particularly essential in ministering to the local church. Pastors usually are gifted to both preach and teach to their flocks, but also to counsel, comfort, and at times confront individuals within their congregation. Teachers are gifted to help people understand God's Word, but may not be gifted to care for others in the same way that pastors are apt to be.

Not everybody who calls themselves apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are actually gifted and called to be such. Some people portray themselves as such because they have good intentions but God does not grant them them what is needed to serve in those ways. Other people are actually false prophets and false teachers, and their motives are self serving.

Churches who have shepherds and teachers who are truly called and gifted by God should be exceedingly thankful that God has so blessed them. Leaders like that will help them learn more about how holy God is and how we can have lives that are pleasing to Him.

I am so thankful to be in a church where those who serve as elders are men who seek to meet the Biblical standards of elders including that an elder "...must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." Titus 1:9 ESV

The church now also has a pastor to serve as a senior elder for all in the church. From his preaching it is evident to us that he is called, gifted, and has been and intends to continue to diligent to study, prepare, and present what God wants us to know so we can grow in spiritual maturity. I gladly respect him and will support him in whatever ways I can, as I am sure many others in our church will. One passage of Scripture that comes to mind as I ponder how blessed we are to have this man as our senior pastor is the following.

1 Timothy 5:17-18  Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.  (18)  For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

What Kind of Rut Are You In?

Are you in a rut? That question is generally used in a negative way. It conveys the idea that you are doing the same thing over and over such that you are stuck doing it, locked into it. That sure sounds boring, doesn't it?

What is a rut? Well, if you are on a road that has ruts in it, they were most likely formed by wheels going down that road for years, eventually forming the grooves. I used to spend summers at the place my grandparents had on Cape Cod and there was a long driveway which went from the road, around the house, and back to the road. It was an old piece of property and the ruts in that driveway were certainly formed by wagon wheels. The cars my grandparents family used on that driveway made those ruts deeper and harder.

Ruts can tend to keep a wagon or other vehicle restricted to going in the direction of the ruts, rather than to one side or the other. Deep ruts in a road can make it difficult to turn and go off in some other way. Of course if the direction of the ruts leads to where you want to go then that can be a good thing. You are less apt to go off and end up in the wrong place.

Are you in a rut that isn't good for you? Or are you in a rut that helps you get to where you ought to be, and where God wants you to be? What kind of a rut are you in?  Hopefully you are in a rut that helps you to be what God wants you to be, to develop the character He wants you to have.

Psalm 119:9 has something to say about this. It starts with a question: "How can a young man keep his way pure?"  The word translated "way" is the Hebrew word for rut. So there is a rut that we should want to be in. A rut that can help us have the pure way of living that pleases God. Being in God's Word can help us get in and stay in that rut.

Psalms 119:9-16  Beth. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.  (10)  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!  (11)  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  (12)  Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!  (13)  With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.  (14)  In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.  (15)  I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  (16)  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. ESV