Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Think About It, Obey and You Won't Be Chastised
Follow Christ Not Men
Rejecting Cultural Christianity
Having rejected the cultural Christianity I grew up with to embrace and enjoy a relationship with Jesus Christ, the joy has been mounting ever since the Lord showed me the superficial and impotent nature of cultural Christianity.
What is cultural Christianity you might ask?
A cultural Christianity is one in which rules are followed to fit in with the cultural standard. These rules change as the culture changes and have no depth of meaning past appearances.
When we are deeply invested in seeking Christ we have no interest in following rules to be accepted. We want only to please God so we seek His word for truth. The culture has no pull over us when we are seeking Christ alone.
Cultural Christianity tends to lean heavily on judging people for silly foolish things that God never commanded. These self proclaimed judges make up their own rules misinterpreting the Bible to fit their desired philosophy.
When challenged with the Word of God these self proclaimed judges become angry, they rage or exclude those who do not accept their unbiblical assertions.
God never said we should not judge, however He did say we are to judge righteously according to His word. Those who are hell bent on personal knowledge to impress and control others cannot look into the word and see truth. They will interpret the Scriptures according to their own desires, twisting and mocking truth to gain power and influence.
When challenged to seek Christ and pray for wisdom they become enraged that anyone would dare to question them. These people do not spend time in prayer asking God to show them or they would take any challenge as a blessing to hone their knowledge and seek even more the Holy Spirit.
Cultural Christianity works against God and His principles. These self righteous types always violate more Scripture than they obey, their rules and their ego take center stage on the performance of their lives.
These are the modern day Pharisees, do not take them seriously, do not allow them to control your emotions or your direction. It is Christ we seek not the favor of men.
John 12:42-44 "42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.…
Luke 11:42-44 "…42 Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk across without even noticing.”…"
What is cultural Christianity you might ask?
A cultural Christianity is one in which rules are followed to fit in with the cultural standard. These rules change as the culture changes and have no depth of meaning past appearances.
When we are deeply invested in seeking Christ we have no interest in following rules to be accepted. We want only to please God so we seek His word for truth. The culture has no pull over us when we are seeking Christ alone.
Cultural Christianity tends to lean heavily on judging people for silly foolish things that God never commanded. These self proclaimed judges make up their own rules misinterpreting the Bible to fit their desired philosophy.
When challenged with the Word of God these self proclaimed judges become angry, they rage or exclude those who do not accept their unbiblical assertions.
God never said we should not judge, however He did say we are to judge righteously according to His word. Those who are hell bent on personal knowledge to impress and control others cannot look into the word and see truth. They will interpret the Scriptures according to their own desires, twisting and mocking truth to gain power and influence.
When challenged to seek Christ and pray for wisdom they become enraged that anyone would dare to question them. These people do not spend time in prayer asking God to show them or they would take any challenge as a blessing to hone their knowledge and seek even more the Holy Spirit.
Cultural Christianity works against God and His principles. These self righteous types always violate more Scripture than they obey, their rules and their ego take center stage on the performance of their lives.
These are the modern day Pharisees, do not take them seriously, do not allow them to control your emotions or your direction. It is Christ we seek not the favor of men.
John 12:42-44 "42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.…
Luke 11:42-44 "…42 Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and rue and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk across without even noticing.”…"
The Way I Have Chosen
Rejecting the cultural Christianity I grew up with to embrace and enjoy a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We Cannot Fix Others, Only God Can Do That
We cannot fix others, we cannot even fix ourselves. It is Christ Who fixes us, but only if we want Him to do it. It is not our responsibility to fix anyone or to force anyone to see and understand truth.
We must stop trying to fix people. We must begin speaking truth and leaving the response and consequences to the Lord. YES, we are to speak truth boldly, but our motivation is to obey Christ, not to fix someone.
1 Corinthians 3:6-8 "…6 I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.…"
Acts 28:31
"Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance."
We cannot make someone understand the nature of love if they have no desire to learn it from God's word.
The understanding of love in our culture is to give someone continual validation even if they are in sin. According to our culture correction is the new hate speech. God's principles teach that the highest form of love is instruction and correction in His ways.
God does more warning and correcting than anything else in the Word. He does this because mankind is continually rebellious and stubborn. In these last days we will see more of this self indulgent aggrandizement as the people grow in evil attitudes. These evil attitudes morph into evil activities.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
“Difficult Times Will Come”
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Acts 4:13
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."
Hebrews 13:6
"So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Proverbs 28:1
"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion."
The Solution:
Hebrews 4:16
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
The more we realize what is happening in the world and with family and friends the more we can feel the joy of Christ working in us. When we know we are staying close to the Holy Spirit we also know that the angst shown toward us is not about us at all, but rather it is about Christ Who lives in us. We do not have to believe the lies of the devil that we are at fault for the anger and vitriol of the unsaved who are controlled by the devil.
We can remain loving when others are hateful. We can remain calm and steady when others come after us to harm our witness. We have a choice to walk away and pray for those who are against us. We can love people from afar while continuing to become closer to Christ with each passing day.
Praise the Lord for the wonderful guidance of the Holy Spirit. May we seek Him every day all day!!!!
We must stop trying to fix people. We must begin speaking truth and leaving the response and consequences to the Lord. YES, we are to speak truth boldly, but our motivation is to obey Christ, not to fix someone.
1 Corinthians 3:6-8 "…6 I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.…"
Acts 28:31
"Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance."
We cannot make someone understand the nature of love if they have no desire to learn it from God's word.
The understanding of love in our culture is to give someone continual validation even if they are in sin. According to our culture correction is the new hate speech. God's principles teach that the highest form of love is instruction and correction in His ways.
God does more warning and correcting than anything else in the Word. He does this because mankind is continually rebellious and stubborn. In these last days we will see more of this self indulgent aggrandizement as the people grow in evil attitudes. These evil attitudes morph into evil activities.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
“Difficult Times Will Come”
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Acts 4:13
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."
Hebrews 13:6
"So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Proverbs 28:1
"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion."
The Solution:
Hebrews 4:16
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
The more we realize what is happening in the world and with family and friends the more we can feel the joy of Christ working in us. When we know we are staying close to the Holy Spirit we also know that the angst shown toward us is not about us at all, but rather it is about Christ Who lives in us. We do not have to believe the lies of the devil that we are at fault for the anger and vitriol of the unsaved who are controlled by the devil.
We can remain loving when others are hateful. We can remain calm and steady when others come after us to harm our witness. We have a choice to walk away and pray for those who are against us. We can love people from afar while continuing to become closer to Christ with each passing day.
Praise the Lord for the wonderful guidance of the Holy Spirit. May we seek Him every day all day!!!!
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