Not self-care, but Self-examination
Death of Stephen by. Gustav DoreWe live in an unprecedented time. I recently heard a comment from an expert linguist stating that we are the first culture and generation that is trying to eradicate the terms male and female. We can expect this from the world seeing that they are enemies of God who hate his image and war against it. However, when this type of shenanigans show up in mainline churches and denominations, it is truly a cause for evaluation. I'm not going to focus on the male / female subject today as much as the issue of non-biblical thinking in the visible church in general. Three critical texts for us to examine will be...
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in THE faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. (2 Cor. 13:5)
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from THE faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,... (1 Tim. 4:1)
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for THE faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (JUDE 1:3)
The heart of this article will be coming from (2 Cor. 13:5) with a call to examine ourselves. I hope also to come with the same spirit that Paul had for the Corinthian church, concern, and great care.
The first thing to notice is the definite article THE in front of faith in all three verses. In today's Post-modern society that believes everyone has their own truth, it can be offensive to tell someone their belief, strategy, or DESIRE is wrong and contrary to God's word. This flies in the face of the example we are given in scripture. At one point Paul called the Galatians “fools” and said that even if he returned and told them something different than what he had already preached, he would be under a curse. What Paul is saying echoes the words of Jesus “I am the way”. One Savior with one gospel who delivered one faith. I've heard it said that sometimes we have to agree to disagree. Well if we are talking about the color of carpet for the sanctuary I will gladly concede. However, when it comes to matters of Christian Orthodoxy, we must never agree with heresies, but rather expose them. One might think that being 500 years away from the Great Reformation, the church would have had time to weed out all the bad doctrines. This, however, is not the case. Not only is the Roman Catholic church still practicing the same methods but many in Protestant churches have fallen prey. Two issues that grieved Martin Luther are still being propagated to many in the church today. The issue of indulgences has been cleverly repackaged into “Seed Faith Offerings”. This is a teaching in the word of faith crowd, along with many other heresies, that somehow you giving money to a “preacher” can stimulate God to act on your behalf. That somehow an offering can override the 10th commandment. I mean really, why else would you need to bribe God except for the fact that you want something you don't have? You are not content with the daily bread he has given you.
The other one is Justification by your works rather than by God's gift. Entire denominations have sprung up from this mindset. See it is intrinsic in the fallen heart of man to want to control his own destiny. Religion always puts it in the lap of man, but God put it on the back of his Son!
See how in (1 Tim. 4:1) Paul says “in latter times some will depart from THE faith,” ? Its not a matter of people departing from the faith. We live in a time where there is a religion for anything and everything. Many people go to a church week after week and participate in some very spiritual activities, and they believe they are in tune with the Holy Spirit.
But please remember dear friends, Paul's warning in 2 Corinthians 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims ANOTHER Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a DIFFERENT spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a DIFFERENT gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
In this passage, Paul is chastising the Corinthians for receiving false Jesus', spirits, and gospels. The point is they do exist! They also destroy families and lives. Don't be enchanted by signs, wonders, prophecies, feelings of ecstasy, and the like. The true Holy Spirit is a person who guides you into sanctification by rebuking you, convicting you, and teaching you all things. It is not a force that overwhelms you and makes you lose control.
In this faith, there will be a debate. We are called specifically to contend earnestly for this faith. The idea here is a boxer in the ring. Over and over we must defend and also advance the fight against opponents. The new age teaching that has infiltrated the church wants to make the Christian life all peace and warm fuzzy feelings, this, however, is explicitly contrary to biblical teaching.
Every new city Paul went to he would first find the synagogue and reason among the Jews that Jesus from Nazareth was indeed the promised messiah. Next, he would branch out to the local hangouts for the gentiles. We see in ACTS 18:1-8 After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he REASONED in the synagogue every Sabbath, and TRIED TO PERSUADE Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
What a picture! Paul was not feeding the hungry or marching for justice but trying to persuade them that Jesus was the Christ. Notice also that first he went to the religious people. These were God's chosen people and they were religiously following the law, however, they were not yet regenerated. They were looking good on the outside, yet they hadn't bent their knee to the lordship of Christ. They, like many today, we're still trying to earn their salvation. Paul was just as concerned for them as he was the pagan who had never heard of Jesus or His gospel. You see, the Jew had to repent and turn from his works, and the pagan had to repent and turn from his wickedness. And to God, they were one and the same. Dear friends, there is only one way to be reconciled to God and that is through FAITH in the completed work of Christ.
