Obedience is not Legalism

Legalism is following man's rules that were not commanded by God and making it a rule for everyone. Obedience is when we want to please God by living as He commanded.

When someone accuses us of "legalism" for bringing to bear the Word of God on a situation in life, they attempt to intimidate us into silence so they can feel comfortable in their sin.

The Holy Spirit in us makes ungodly rebellious people feel troubled and even depressed. Sadness overwhelms those who know the truth but refuse to obey it. They desire to be seen as a good person even though they have no interest in Christ.

All unsaved people are insecure, which is why they must surround themselves with those who accept and even praise their sin. We know they are insecure when they detest us merely because we desire to live for Christ.

Many years ago a friend told me that her family decided that television was becoming too much of a distraction. The children were neglecting their school work to watch it and wasting time. Because of this, they got rid of their television.

One day some extended family members came to their house and noticed the television was gone. My friend didn't say anything about the television to them but they noticed it's absence. The family members chided my friend for thinking they were better than others because they removed the television.

I saw that the TV was gone and felt nothing about it except that perhaps it would be good for everyone to do that. I have a television but restricted it to certain clean shows that we would watch with them and never on a weeknight.

Why was I not offended by what someone else had decided for their home? I was not convicted by what they did, I had my own rules for this problem of television.

Here, was a good example of "family-mobbing" when we do what we see best for our own family and extended family wants to make us feel foolish for our choices that have nothing to do with them and that honor God. Sadly the people who chastised my friend for getting rid of her television attended church every week, even heavily involved in the church.

This gives us an idea what gatherings are like in our region, they are social clubs that expect their attendees to live like the world during the week and come to church all dressed up on the outside and black as coal on the inside.

Matthew 23:27-28

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Don't quote me as saying it doesn't matter how we dress for church, I am a fan of looking our best when attending the gathering. The reason I am is that I believe it reflects an attitude of diligence in our appearance, but this does not mean we judge anyone else about clothing. If we would dress up to go to an office job why would we dress down to worship God.

When we are born again we desire that everything about us is in order.

Matthew 23:15

"15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

Everything in our lives ought to reflect our inner heart. However, sometimes our outward appearance is merely a pretense of what we want people to believe is in our heart without any actions taken to cleanse the heart.

Matthew 23:1-11 "23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,

2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

3 Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and comply with it all, but do not do as they do; for they say things and do not do them.

4 And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.

5 And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

6 And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues,

7 and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people.

8 But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.

9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

10 And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

11 But the greatest of you shall be your servant.

12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

What should be our prayer?:

Psalm 139:23-24

"23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there is any hurtful way in me,

And lead me in the everlasting way."

Hallelujah!!!

Co-dependency Ruins Our Walk

Co-dependency is when a person is so connected to another person or group of people that they cannot think on their own, they must have support from the group or their co-dependent partner to exist without guilt or shame.

Group-think is very common in our world today. It is very rare for someone to do their own thinking and even more rare that they want God to impart His wisdom to their hearts.

If you wish to be a person following after God's Own heart then you must break away from co-dependency and group thinking.

It takes the courage that only Christ can give to be able to think independently from the group, the community, and the family.

Those who never step out in faith and follow the heart of God will always be stuck in the community standard that reflects everything that is evil in this world. Even if they are not committing "big-bad" sins, they are indulging in self-exaltation to be accepted by those around them.

When we must have the approval of others we will end up not having the approval of God. The only way to have the approval of the community and family is to become just like them, a thought that is repugnant to me since these entities almost never care what God thinks.

1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them."

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Mark 8:36 "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"

The world has nothing to offer us, Christ has everything to offer us. His wisdom is worth more than all the gold in the world.

The Heart of Man is Seen in His Actions

A person's heart cannot be different from their actions. So many times I would correct someone about their behavior and they would say I was judging and couldn't know their heart. They say only God judges the heart. I remind them that Jesus Christ is God, He judges the heart and He lives in us. We are able to discern the heart of people through their lifestyles.

The entire book of Proverbs is an expose on how the believer is able to judge the truth about themselves and others.

Matthew 7:15-20

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 So then, you will [c]know them by their fruits."

Galatians 5:22-26

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

26 Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other."

If we were not able to discern the heart of another person then God would not have given these words to us to be able to judge righteously. We would be fooled all the time without discernment and the deception would cause us to lose our footing.

John 7:24

"Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment"

We are to judge according to God's word. We are not to judge things we have not seen for ourselves and we are not to judge based on gossip.

Matthew 7:6

6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."

If we were never to judge the character of others then we would not be able to discern whether or not someone was swine. God was speaking of those who have rejected Him and refuse to listen to correction and instruction, especially the gospel.

When someone has rejected the truth, staunch against the things of the Lord then we know God's command is to stop speaking to them about the Lord and keep our distance so that we do not become complacent in our walk with Christ.

In order to remain faithful to the Lord, moving forward in our Spiritual walk we must withdraw from those who would come against our walk.

John 7:24

"24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

God never at any time told us never to judge, He did say not to judge others for doing things we are also doing, that would be hypocrisy.

When we walk in the Spirit of God Who is in us we do not have to carry guilt or shame, we are free to follow Christ even if no one else comes with us.

Romans 12:12

"rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,"

Continual Reviling Breaks the Family Bond

We still love those who revile us but we have no Spiritual connection and as time passes we also lose the emotional connection.

Sometimes people keep cogitating on what they think is a loss when really it was a gain.

The culture brainwashes us to think we must have a family who loves us as though no one outside the bio family can do that. But we know that born-again believers do love one another and have become our real family for eternity.

Bio family often reviles us but we keep them close anyway because the culture pressures us to do so. They say things like "but he's your brother" as though his character doesn't matter, how he treats you doesn't matter, as long as he has familiar blood running through his veins. This is irrational at best, genetics does not determine who is our brother or sister or whether they will make a supportive friend in Jesus Christ.

How we relate to one another in love and deep concern tells us who is our brothers or sister. In Christ we share the same God living in us Who shed His blood for us, we share the most important thing there is and that is Christ. And, because it is Christ this includes His commands and principles in His Living Word.

Jesus Christ shed all His blood to save anyone who will place their trust in Him. His blood matters, the blood in the veins of humans does not matter.

We can treat with respect everyone we come in contact with but we do not have to make them our close companions. Our dearest companions must be those who love Christ, not just say they do but live as though they would die for Him.

Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Our love for the brethren is a passionate love driven by our love for Christ. There is no love like it in the world.

Proverbs 17:17

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity."

John 15:12-13

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Job 16:20-21

"My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend."

Notice these verses speak of friendship not family. It is wonderful when a family is a godly friendship but often even most of the time it is not. Bio Family often works against us when our desire is to walk with Christ, obeying His principles and seeking Him in all things in our lives.

Even "Christian" family will come against us when we bring Scripture to bear on a situation in which everyone in the family is supporting the sinful thing rather than God's principles and standards.

Matthew 10:35-36 "…35 For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;…"

My advice to anyone suffering the loss of family because of our Christianity is to stop grieving over the loss of their friendship and begin praising God for those He sent to be our real brothers and sisters.

Sadly many keep the grieving going for many years when the grieving is producing nothing but discontent and a distraction from what God has called them to do. Let them go and get on with serving Christ and those He has placed in your sphere of influence. There might not be many but there are some and that's enough.

Luke 14:25-27

"25 Now large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

Let There Be No Divisions

"Let there be no divisions" does not mean compromising the word of God it means seeking the Holy Spirit and the Bible to find the truth that we can all agree.

Those who are divisive are those who are bringing wrong doctrines and humanistic ideas.

Those who bring truth are not the divisive ones.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

"Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

Romans 16:17-18

"Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting."

We must agree in the Lord without compromise to appease an ungodly culture.

Don't Let the Devil Have a Foothold

Often the narcissist will pretend you are the person they want to believe you are when they are really describing themselves in their own minds.

When we encounter those who will not tell us why they are angry with us or treat us disrespectfully, even denying that they do it, we are experiencing someone who is controlled by the devil and lacks all the fruit of the Spirit and the love of Christ.

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8a Love never fails."

When someone is constantly showing contempt and disregard for someone else we know this person is not walking in the Holy Spirit. When someone is exacting revenge for not following them, we know we have met someone walking fleshly without the love of God.

May we as born-again believers walk in the Spirit of Christ no matter what anyone else is doing around us. May we not respond in ungodly ways to personal attacks or demeaning. The devil wants us to do back to others what they do to us, but God wants us to do the opposite to others than what they do to us.

Luke 6:31

"31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."

Tell the truth with kindness in your voice and ignore the response to what we say. The response is not our business, only our obedience to Christ is our business.

Never let the narcissist turn us into them, this is what the devil wants, frustrate the devil by continuing to walk in the kindness and love of the Lord no matter what.

Christ's Love vs the World's Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

The world's love is nothing like the Love Christ places in every born-again heart. What the world thinks is love is always self-seeking, even the good deeds they do for others are done to glorify self. It is not a pure love from a selfless heart as is the love of Christ in those who have trusted in Him.