We don’t want to play a pretend game with God. We want what is real. Period.
Salvation, when you put your faith in God, changes the Christian in a radical way. The ideas coming from different “Christian” churches are a mess, and it can be hard to navigate what is true, even with all the different churches saying they base what they believe on the scriptures. So, at least believers agree that the Bible is the word of God, and the Bible says Jesus is the living Word. This is the authority for the Christian and should be our starting place. Give yourself to God, pray, and study the word. Grow and learn how your life can glorify God; that is what all Christians are trying to do, which is the will of God, and pass this message on
My week started off with the prosperity gospel on YouTube. The speaker said that you start by praying to God for guidance, and if you are holy enough, you will have health, you will have wealth, and you will prosper. An idea as old as the Book of Job. Examples in scripture show wealth is a stumbling block. Why would God reward faith by making it harder to enter the kingdom of God? Job would note that there are evil people that prosper too; this can’t be what God means. It would give a totally different take on what happens to martyrs.
Next came Halloween. I watched a sermon from a conservative who said he would just as soon pitch it but wanted to keep an open mind to others’ opinions, he did make me think some on it. He said it is not a gospel issue. For some churches, it is their biggest ministry all year. They are not celebrating the devil.
Of course, the next YouTube video from a different ministry was titled: “I used to talk to Satan. Halloween? No.” What does Halloween stand for? What do people do to celebrate the day/night?
How does delighting in Halloween focus on God? What is the appeal of this holiday? Righteousness? No.
I remember going trick or treating when I was a kid, it was all play. My church, a conservative church, had the high school youth group put on a haunted house in the church’s basement for all the younger kids. There was a party and spiritual lesson after.
Everyone is at a different point in their spiritual walk. How do we discern the will of God? Does he even care about some of this stuff if our motives are in the right place on the big stuff?
In a letter to the Romans, Paul writes that in his mercy, God has given the gospel to Jews and Gentiles. The way he has done it is a mystery, but God’s ways are perfect. He then encouraged the Roman Christians.
Romans 12: 1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
So conformed to the world is bad. This is where cries of legalism or liberalism/progressives are made. It has nothing to do with what I think is right or what you think is right. What does God think is right?
What does God tell us is right?
The problem we have is that it is easier to see the conforming to the world in other people, and we ignore our own. I can pick out TV shows or books some Christians watch or read that are rationalized and totally conform to the world’s standards. However I then rationalize my own conformity.
The Corinth church was breaking up into factions. They were wanting to justify aspects of their culture so they could keep doing them. This can be applied to modern times, we get defensive about what we justify, and we think that people are being too judgmental. After all, it is just playing. It is not a gospel issue.
Proverbs 17:15 “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.”
Why do we have denomination disagreements? Why the splitting up of the Corinth church? Culture should not be the issue. We are to be holy and acceptable to God and not conform to the world. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. A change is needed, and we have the struggle because we start out conformed to the world.
What do we do? We certainly don’t want to be an abomination to the Lord. How are we to humble ourselves and know the will of God?
How are we to humble ourselves and know the will of God?
Don’t get too proud of what you think is right, the Old Testament was written to give us instructions on how to live. Paul is telling the Corinthians to read their Scriptures! Apply the Scriptures' instruction to the Christian today, and then he gives what I think is the greatest encouragement we could have in I Corinthians 10:13
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Some think this means we will always be strong enough to resist temptation, but that is not what this says. that is someone thinking they stand and then fall. God’s instructions in the scriptures are to help us renew our minds and become more like God, glorifying him with our lives.
James 1:13-15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Our worldly selves want to be tempted and stay conformed to this world. How do we spend our time? Our lives have developed habits that keep these things inside us. The world gets worse because it is broken. We must ask the Holy Spirit for help. Our culture may think it defines right and wrong, but it doesn't matter what culture thinks. It matters what God has said.
Christ died for our sins. Christ died for those sinful desires that are inside of us. To be free in Christ is to be free indeed.
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