Our basement is drying out and there is no longer a small lake in our front yard. Monday June 16th 2014 was definitely an eventful- as well as discouraging- day as water ran into buildings and blocked or washed out roads. Twenty two years earlier when I lived in Murray county in southwest Minnesota, that same day was also discouraging. Many farms as well as the towns of Chandler and Lake Wilson were hit by numerous tornados on June 16th, 1992. Therefore, as I look back a couple of weeks and a couple of decades on the date of June 16th, I cannot help but think of disaster.
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During times of disaster it is easy to complain. Why didn’t the people who built our houses put more tile and larger sump pumps in the basement? Why don’t the stores stock an extra 10,000 sump pumps? Why can’t the county workers fix the road I want to drive on even though there are many other roads that are washed out as well, and the road I want to go on is still 3 feet under water?
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Instead of complaining we should actually be thankful. Our area experienced terrible flooding, but people in Nebraska had their homes leveled by powerful tornados. In other words, it could be worse.
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What about those county and city workers who did not seem to care about my road or the water in my neighborhood? Did we remember to thank them for the long hours that they were putting as they fought a losing battle to keep ahead of the water? The evidence is clear that they lost that battle, but it was a battle that no one could have won. We had some terrible flooding here in Worthing, but I was amazed how much better things looked the next day after the rain had stopped and I am thankful for the city workers and firemen who quickly pumped water away so things could dry up and get back to normal.
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I once heard that thankful people tend to be much more successful than complainers. Though thankfulness can help with success, there is an even more important reason to be thankful- God told us to. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV says, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It is hard to give thanks when your home is flooded or destroyed by a tornado. That is why it is important to let the peace of God rule in our hearts, realizing we can trust Him even when we do not understand why these things are happening. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:15-17 NKJV)
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Regardless of our circumstances and regardless of what we are doing, we should be thankful toward God and we should be encouraging each other with our examples of thankfulness. “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Ephesians 5:20 NKJV).
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The next time you are tempted to complain, be thankful instead. Remember to pray and thank God and then remember to thank those around for what they have done.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
Are Christians Hypocrites?
Are Christians a bunch of hypocrites? When Jesus was on earth, He accused the Pharisees of being hypocrites. These religious individual claimed to have high standards, yet their lives were actually characterized by sin and Jesus rebuked them for that. Would He do the same to many Christians today?
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We know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We also know that our sin is forgiven when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14 NKJV)
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I Corinthians 6 speaks of some sins that Christians had been involved in and then in verse 11 it says, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” So does that mean that once we are Christians, that the actions that we do are no longer sinful because they have been forgiven? Some would suggest that since Christians have been sanctified by trusting Christ, that then we no longer have to worry about sinful actions since everything is now under the blood. This is a very dangerous error. The Apostle Paul warned, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1 NKJV)
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I John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The parallel passage from the Old Testament is Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Sin is forgiven when it is confessed, but it should also be forsaken.
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Often professing Christians are looked at as hypocrites because they don’t even seem to be concerned about the sin in their own lives. It is true that we are saved by the grace of God without works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but as Christians we are created to do what is good and right (Ephesians 2:10).
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Though we are not saved by our works, there are still a number of passages that command us to do what is right as Christians, so we must be careful not to emphasize grace to such an extreme that we are not concerned with how we behave and live our lives.
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Some false teachers have suggested that since Christians are forgiven that they are automatically blameless before God no matter what we do and thus we do not have to worry about our actions. Hebrews 10:10 makes it clear that we are sanctified through Christ’s offering on the cross. That offering is what allows us to have eternal life with God in spite of our sins and purifies us before God, but that does not mean that every action we do is now blameless. Hebrews 12:4-11 speaks of God disciplining Christians for sinful behavior. If we were so blameless that our actions no longer mattered, why would God discipline the Christian?
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Consider II Peter 3:14, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” The scripture actually challenges us to put effort into living in a way that we ought to live so we are blameless in our behavior. Consider: Colossians 1:10 and 2:6; I Thessalonians 2:12 and 4:1; Philippians 1:27; and Ephesians 4:1. If we consistently obeyed these scriptures, we would not have be accused of being hypocrites because we would be living the way God expected us to live.
-
We know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We also know that our sin is forgiven when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14 NKJV)
-
I Corinthians 6 speaks of some sins that Christians had been involved in and then in verse 11 it says, “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” So does that mean that once we are Christians, that the actions that we do are no longer sinful because they have been forgiven? Some would suggest that since Christians have been sanctified by trusting Christ, that then we no longer have to worry about sinful actions since everything is now under the blood. This is a very dangerous error. The Apostle Paul warned, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1 NKJV)
-
I John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The parallel passage from the Old Testament is Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Sin is forgiven when it is confessed, but it should also be forsaken.
-
Often professing Christians are looked at as hypocrites because they don’t even seem to be concerned about the sin in their own lives. It is true that we are saved by the grace of God without works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but as Christians we are created to do what is good and right (Ephesians 2:10).
-
Though we are not saved by our works, there are still a number of passages that command us to do what is right as Christians, so we must be careful not to emphasize grace to such an extreme that we are not concerned with how we behave and live our lives.
-
Some false teachers have suggested that since Christians are forgiven that they are automatically blameless before God no matter what we do and thus we do not have to worry about our actions. Hebrews 10:10 makes it clear that we are sanctified through Christ’s offering on the cross. That offering is what allows us to have eternal life with God in spite of our sins and purifies us before God, but that does not mean that every action we do is now blameless. Hebrews 12:4-11 speaks of God disciplining Christians for sinful behavior. If we were so blameless that our actions no longer mattered, why would God discipline the Christian?
-
Consider II Peter 3:14, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” The scripture actually challenges us to put effort into living in a way that we ought to live so we are blameless in our behavior. Consider: Colossians 1:10 and 2:6; I Thessalonians 2:12 and 4:1; Philippians 1:27; and Ephesians 4:1. If we consistently obeyed these scriptures, we would not have be accused of being hypocrites because we would be living the way God expected us to live.
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