September 28, 2007 FB
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This note is written to correct the misinterpretation of the Bible in some recent notes floating around Facebook.com. Two in particular will be reviewed: “Freedom in Christ!” and “GRACE through FAITH.”
In both cases the authors took nearly each verse or passage of scripture out of its context to suit their own agenda (Romans 10:2-3): At its very core their agenda is to prove that Christians are not required to be a servant for God until the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts. Especially obeying the two great commandments and the great commission.
This note hopes to put the disjointed verses back into their original flow of thought and show a Biblical normal interpretation of the verses without bias.
It is not the purpose of this note to show HOW to act. Only God and each Christian knows their spiritual gifts and how to use them. This note is to convict TO act out the works already revealed in Scripture.
Before starting; 1) Go get your Bible because you must read every text presented for yourself in context. DO NOT READ ON UNTIL YOU HAVE YOUR BIBLE IN YOUR HANDS. As a good student of the Word of God you are required to look up every passage, even the one already used above. And 2) PRAY (As you always should before you read the Bible) that the Holy Spirit would show you the truth of the Word of God. Also pray that, if you are wrong, He will make you willing to accept and correct any conviction from the Holy Spirit. For it is in the Word of God alone that we find His truths, and by prayer that we submit to God’s authority. It is by our own will that we choose to obey the revealed truth from the Holy Spirit. YOU MUST PRAY.
“Freedom in Christ!”
In this the author bases their argument from Galatians 5:1 that we as Christians have been set free from the slavery of the law. That we are not called to produce, in slavery, works of the law, but that we are set free from the requirement to do them. This is a good interpretation of the particular verse, but where the author moved off the path and twisted Scripture was when they asserted the view that the works in question are works of the Spirit. The context clearly shows that it is the works of the Law of Moses, not the works of the Spirit. In the context Paul is talking about circumcision in particular which is found in the Mosaic Law (Lev. 12:1-3). Paul argues that if people try to make you live under that law, they are not living to serve Christ, but rather to follow a list of rules we have been freed from.
Christians have been freed from bondage to the 600+ rules of the Mosaic Law. Okay now what? Now they can fulfill Gods moral Law for all time; the Ten Commandments save one (The fourth, “Keep the Sabbath,” is not repeated as a binding Commandment in the New Testament). How? By following the two greatest commandments from Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40):
1. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” You will be keeping Commandments 1-4.
2. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You will be keeping Commandments 5-10
Another way to look at it is this: in the Law of Moses the majority of the works are Do Not’s and Serve Not’s meant to keep Israel pure. All negative. The works of the Spirit are Go’s, Do’s, and Serve’s meant to keep Christians from being impure. All positive. So what the author of “Freedom in Christ!” is saying is that we do not have to perform the works of the Spirit if we don’t want to.
Which brings up the next two verses in question: Matthew 4:19 and John 12:26. In the Matthew 4 verse Jesus simply states to His future disciples “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” In the John 12 verse Jesus calls us to serve by following Him. The author of the note in question uses these verses to illustrate that following means Christians should follow Gods footsteps letting Him lead them. The author misses out on two key factors:
1) Yes the word “follow” does mean walking in a path toward God, but follow also means to act in accordance with the example of another. In essence, follow means to become a shadow of Christ. The point is this: When a Christian follows God’s path they do it by following Christ’s example. What was that example? It comes in the second key factor that the author missed
2) Follow and what will happen? You will be free from works? You will no longer be under the Mosaic Law? You will have a great life? No, it is “serve” and “and I will make you fishers of men.” What is ‘fishers of men’ talking about? It means being a witness of Christ’s work on the Cross. Witnessing is part of the great commission from Jesus, which Christians are all commanded to do. Serving by witnessing is a joyous work of the Spirit.
Exodus 33:15-17 is the next passage in question. The verses are about Moses telling God that Israel will not leave Sinai unless He is with them. The author of “Freedom in Christ!” uses this to prove the point that we should just ask God to lead us, and He will. This is actually a great application of the the three verses, but not a proper interpretation of the entire passage. The author misses out on two more key lessons about following God.
1) In the prior context of Exodus 32:19-33:15 Israel had disobeyed God by making a golden calf and had made God angry. So God commanded them to leave Sinai. Moses was uncertain about God's fidelity to Israel, so God reassures Moses that He will be with Israel.
You see Israel already knew what God wanted from them, and disobeyed. When Moses asked God to be with them, what God was doing in verse 17 was reassuring Moses that He would continue to be with Israel. The message of the passage is about God dealing with sin.
2) Following is a work of love on our part to obey the commandments God has already given us. Israel was given commandments by God. They did not obey and continually whined that they needed more assurance. Guess what happened to that generation? They spent 40 years wandering, eventually died off in the wilderness, and none of them saw the Promised Land save two: Joshua and Caleb. The two who had enough faith in God to trust and obey Him even if they didn’t have complete illumination.
The next verse in question is Nehemiah 8:10. This one is taken to mean that just worshiping God by praising Him is enough. This falls short because in the prior context of the passage (Read vv. 1-9) Israel had just found the book of the Law of Moses and were convicted that they had not being following it completely. Nehemiah told them not to be discouraged, but to be joyous because they could fix it! Now read the post context (vv. 11-17) They set aside a day to praise God for showing them they were wrong, and were eager to finish the work. The next day they set about the work as an act of worship. It is clear through this passage that a true following of the Law of Moses could bring joy, and even inspire them to serve as an act of worship, in a pure heart.
The final verse in question is Luke 10:40-42. This one is a little less obvious but it still needs a complete explanation. The author of “Freedom in Christ!” says that Martha was wrong in being busy about the work, and that Christians should follow the example of Mary and choose to stay at the feet of Christ. Before we come to that passage (Luke 10:40-42), read the first part of chapter 10 (1-40).
Following Mary’s example is false in numerous ways:
1) We should not follow the example of Mary. We should follow the example of Christ (John 13:15-17; 1 Pet 2:21.).
2) Jesus is not bodily present with us so we cannot sit at His feet and learn from Him, but He has revealed His complete will for our daily lives.
3) Martha was not wrong to be busy to serve Christ. Mary only had the order correct: Learn what Jesus wants first and then choose to obey Him out of worship. Now use your brain and think about this: These things happened before we had our written New Testament and because of this fact Mary had to learn right from Jesus Himself. Today we have His complete revelation for our daily lives and we must choose to obey.
4) In the next chapter (Luke 11:29; 33-36) Jesus states that His followers will be more blessed if they hear and obey the Word of the Lord (11:27-28). Much like the 70 He sent in the first part of Luke 10.
5) Later in Luke 11 Jesus gives Christians the true example to follow in two ways:
A) 11:29 Christians are not to look for signs of God’s WILL. It is right in front of us on the pages of the very Bible you are holding. When God’s new DIRECTION for our Christian walk is presented it will be unmistakable. To find his direction we have only to obey His will that is already presented in the Bible. What does the Bible say is God’s will? It is to 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 2) Love your neighbor as yourself, 3) Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to 4) Walk in the Spirit, not the flesh and so produce the fruit of the Spirit, and 5) Use the Spiritual Gifts God has granted to each of us for service in His body, and in the world. There are many more but this note is not about finding God’s will.
B) 11:33-36 Jesus commissions His followers to let their light shine in the world. How does the world know our light is the true light? Acting like Christ is not enough. Every Christian is called to share why they behave the way they behave. Otherwise the world only knows it as our own fleshly good works, and not Christ.
“GRACE through FAITH”
First off, the author of “GRACE through FAITH” seems to judge that I, the author of this note, have preached works based salvation and sanctification. Let me be clear as to what I believe and what the Bible teaches. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation, and there is nothing we can do to keep it. It was by God’s grace that we are saved, it is by His grace that we are sanctified, and it is by His grace that we will one day be glorified in Heaven. That being said, let’s take a look at the note:
The first passage taken out of context: Matthew 7:1-5. The writer of “GRACE through FAITH” uses this to say that Christians should not correct each other because it is judging. Let it be known that I am not judging you in this response. I am trying to show you were you fell short of knowing the complete message of your texts. It is NOT in judgment, it is in correction out of love and in hope that the Word of God will receive a proper exegesis in the future.
1) The first mistake the writer makes is that some Christians ARE called to correct other Christians out of love. It is called Exhortation and it is a spiritual gift found in Romans 12:8. How can a Christian know when they are abusing the Word of God? Someone must lovingly show them so that God can better use them to perform His works and glorify Himself. They are not worrying about where others are in Christ. They are not thinking more highly of themselves. They are solely encouraging the one in error to correct themselves so they can have a deeper relationship with God. In fact it causes the people with the gift to act in a holier manner so as to remain above reproach.
2) The second mistake of interpreting this passage is that the author says Christians are free to make their own interpretation of Scripture. This fails because man is a sinful creature and his mind is in a fallen state of sin. So how do we know the truth each Bible passage is trying to teach? First; by praying for illumination (In the act of prayer you submit to God opening your mind for you), and Second; by testing their own interpretation against the perfect, inerrant, revelation of itself, God’s written word, to see if it really is true.
Ephesians 2:7-9 This is so horrendous that it should not even be looked at, but it will be examined to magnify the agenda of the author. The author of “GRACE through FAITH” stopped just ONE VERSE short. Just one verse. One verse.
The author in essence argues that Christians are free to do what we please with God, Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity because we have been saved by grace through faith, and if only we continue to live in the grace and love of God by faith we will stay on the right path.
Read the next verse; Ephesians 2:10. If we say that we don’t need to serve through good works we have stopped our Christian walk forward, we are not following God’s footsteps, and we are causing God to wait for us. James 2:20 (NASB) says that that kind of faith is useless. God cannot use a Christian to glorify Himself unless they are active in service using the works of the Spirit. James goes on to say that, not only is that faith useless, it is dead! (Jas. 2:26)
In the book of Revelation we find letters written to seven churches. These were written to believers by Christ Himself. We find this type of unserving faith in what is known as “The Dead Church” of Sardis in chapter 3 verses 1-6. Jesus uses extremely strong words. He says that he has seen their works, but that they were dead (v.1). Jesus says “WAKE UP!” He says to strengthen the things that are about to die because their works are not complete (v.2). This means they stopped their use of their God given gifts. Jesus warns them that if they do not remember what they have heard and repent he will come like a thief in the night to take them (v.3). Could this mean that Jesus would actually take a Christian out of this world if they continually refuse to use the works and gifts He gave them? YES!!! The harsh reality is that God will chasten those He loves even unto death. The authors of both notes examined, and the authors of other supporting notes floating around right now, are heading toward that mindset and must be careful because future severe discipline may be necessary if they do not heed correction from this passage in Revelation: Remember, Repent, Restore.
We should all be serving all the while proclaiming the Word and word of God because Isaiah 55:11 says this: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (NKJV)
It is better for a Christian to serve God in any motive, even a wrong motive, and still let the Word of God bear its fruit, than to not serve at all and bear no fruit (Phil 1:15-18).
CONCLUSION
The conclusion is that both notes totally miss the point of every passage they use. The point of the complete contexts show this message: To follow God the Father we must walk in the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ as our example to follow. Christians do not need to wait for God to call them to serve. He has already shown us what He wants for us to do through the life of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament explaining how to follow that example. Jesus himself says this in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
Fix it by following Christ's example:
Jesus the Perfect Man (The one and only example we should follow) was not seen only as a man who followed God only when God led Him. He also served mankind in order to proclaim the glory of God, He was also a witness for Himself, and He gave His life so that we could find ours. There are so many other ways that Jesus set an example but the core is this: We are to love, worship, extol, and glorify God by obeying His commands and losing our life daily only to have the Holy Spirit show Jesus’ life in and through us.
How we follow Christ's example:
Romans 12:1 shows that Christians are to be living sacrifices to God, to show the world their need. How can they know the remedy for their need unless they hear the good news of our freedom from SIN? We must tell them! How can the body of Christ help each other grow unless every part WORKS together? We must serve each other as Christ served!
Now let the Bible speak for itself to show what has been purposed all along:
Stop, pray again, and then read Romans chapters 6-8 and 12-16 with the purpose to see the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). To see that obedience to this new law is required because God gave us gifts in order to keep it. To see that we are now slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:18). And to see that the Spirit’s works of service we should be doing are reasonable & joyous, to help us grow closer to God, and are out of a pure love for Christ (1 John 5:3). Romans chapters 6-8 and 12-16.
Now read John chapters 14-15. Look at how many times Jesus basically says "If you love me show it by obeying me."
Finally, in Philippians 4:9 we are commanded to do the things we know we should be doing, and God will be with us. The passage is not saying that God will only be with us if we obey Him, it is saying that as you obey God He will be there strengthening you. God will always support us when we serve Him.
To all of you who wrote those notes: When My mom disciplined me she always told me “Nehemiah, I love you enough to do what’s best for you”. If this note was not written, I would be letting you go on taking God’s Word out of context to justify your own personal view of living “free in Christ,” and I would be letting you live in that unworthy manner. I love you enough to correct you so that you don't end up like the Revelation 3 Christians. Please note that this is as an act of love for you and God and nothing else.
May our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified through a true serving love for Him!
Resources used to gain better insight:
-Old Testament Survey class notes by Dr. Keith Miller
-New Testament Survey class notes by Dr. Keith Miller
-“With The Word” by Warren Wiersbe
-"Found: God's Will" by John Mac Arthur
-"Unger's Bible Handbook" by Merrill Unger
-"Halley's Bible Handbook" by H.H. Haley
-BibleWorks 7.0
-iBible 2.6
-iLumina
-Notes from several different Study Bibles in different translations
Nehemiah Ryan © 2007
In both cases the authors took nearly each verse or passage of scripture out of its context to suit their own agenda (Romans 10:2-3): At its very core their agenda is to prove that Christians are not required to be a servant for God until the Holy Spirit stirs our hearts. Especially obeying the two great commandments and the great commission.
This note hopes to put the disjointed verses back into their original flow of thought and show a Biblical normal interpretation of the verses without bias.
It is not the purpose of this note to show HOW to act. Only God and each Christian knows their spiritual gifts and how to use them. This note is to convict TO act out the works already revealed in Scripture.
Before starting; 1) Go get your Bible because you must read every text presented for yourself in context. DO NOT READ ON UNTIL YOU HAVE YOUR BIBLE IN YOUR HANDS. As a good student of the Word of God you are required to look up every passage, even the one already used above. And 2) PRAY (As you always should before you read the Bible) that the Holy Spirit would show you the truth of the Word of God. Also pray that, if you are wrong, He will make you willing to accept and correct any conviction from the Holy Spirit. For it is in the Word of God alone that we find His truths, and by prayer that we submit to God’s authority. It is by our own will that we choose to obey the revealed truth from the Holy Spirit. YOU MUST PRAY.
“Freedom in Christ!”
In this the author bases their argument from Galatians 5:1 that we as Christians have been set free from the slavery of the law. That we are not called to produce, in slavery, works of the law, but that we are set free from the requirement to do them. This is a good interpretation of the particular verse, but where the author moved off the path and twisted Scripture was when they asserted the view that the works in question are works of the Spirit. The context clearly shows that it is the works of the Law of Moses, not the works of the Spirit. In the context Paul is talking about circumcision in particular which is found in the Mosaic Law (Lev. 12:1-3). Paul argues that if people try to make you live under that law, they are not living to serve Christ, but rather to follow a list of rules we have been freed from.
Christians have been freed from bondage to the 600+ rules of the Mosaic Law. Okay now what? Now they can fulfill Gods moral Law for all time; the Ten Commandments save one (The fourth, “Keep the Sabbath,” is not repeated as a binding Commandment in the New Testament). How? By following the two greatest commandments from Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40):
1. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.” You will be keeping Commandments 1-4.
2. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You will be keeping Commandments 5-10
Another way to look at it is this: in the Law of Moses the majority of the works are Do Not’s and Serve Not’s meant to keep Israel pure. All negative. The works of the Spirit are Go’s, Do’s, and Serve’s meant to keep Christians from being impure. All positive. So what the author of “Freedom in Christ!” is saying is that we do not have to perform the works of the Spirit if we don’t want to.
Which brings up the next two verses in question: Matthew 4:19 and John 12:26. In the Matthew 4 verse Jesus simply states to His future disciples “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” In the John 12 verse Jesus calls us to serve by following Him. The author of the note in question uses these verses to illustrate that following means Christians should follow Gods footsteps letting Him lead them. The author misses out on two key factors:
1) Yes the word “follow” does mean walking in a path toward God, but follow also means to act in accordance with the example of another. In essence, follow means to become a shadow of Christ. The point is this: When a Christian follows God’s path they do it by following Christ’s example. What was that example? It comes in the second key factor that the author missed
2) Follow and what will happen? You will be free from works? You will no longer be under the Mosaic Law? You will have a great life? No, it is “serve” and “and I will make you fishers of men.” What is ‘fishers of men’ talking about? It means being a witness of Christ’s work on the Cross. Witnessing is part of the great commission from Jesus, which Christians are all commanded to do. Serving by witnessing is a joyous work of the Spirit.
Exodus 33:15-17 is the next passage in question. The verses are about Moses telling God that Israel will not leave Sinai unless He is with them. The author of “Freedom in Christ!” uses this to prove the point that we should just ask God to lead us, and He will. This is actually a great application of the the three verses, but not a proper interpretation of the entire passage. The author misses out on two more key lessons about following God.
1) In the prior context of Exodus 32:19-33:15 Israel had disobeyed God by making a golden calf and had made God angry. So God commanded them to leave Sinai. Moses was uncertain about God's fidelity to Israel, so God reassures Moses that He will be with Israel.
You see Israel already knew what God wanted from them, and disobeyed. When Moses asked God to be with them, what God was doing in verse 17 was reassuring Moses that He would continue to be with Israel. The message of the passage is about God dealing with sin.
2) Following is a work of love on our part to obey the commandments God has already given us. Israel was given commandments by God. They did not obey and continually whined that they needed more assurance. Guess what happened to that generation? They spent 40 years wandering, eventually died off in the wilderness, and none of them saw the Promised Land save two: Joshua and Caleb. The two who had enough faith in God to trust and obey Him even if they didn’t have complete illumination.
The next verse in question is Nehemiah 8:10. This one is taken to mean that just worshiping God by praising Him is enough. This falls short because in the prior context of the passage (Read vv. 1-9) Israel had just found the book of the Law of Moses and were convicted that they had not being following it completely. Nehemiah told them not to be discouraged, but to be joyous because they could fix it! Now read the post context (vv. 11-17) They set aside a day to praise God for showing them they were wrong, and were eager to finish the work. The next day they set about the work as an act of worship. It is clear through this passage that a true following of the Law of Moses could bring joy, and even inspire them to serve as an act of worship, in a pure heart.
The final verse in question is Luke 10:40-42. This one is a little less obvious but it still needs a complete explanation. The author of “Freedom in Christ!” says that Martha was wrong in being busy about the work, and that Christians should follow the example of Mary and choose to stay at the feet of Christ. Before we come to that passage (Luke 10:40-42), read the first part of chapter 10 (1-40).
Following Mary’s example is false in numerous ways:
1) We should not follow the example of Mary. We should follow the example of Christ (John 13:15-17; 1 Pet 2:21.).
2) Jesus is not bodily present with us so we cannot sit at His feet and learn from Him, but He has revealed His complete will for our daily lives.
3) Martha was not wrong to be busy to serve Christ. Mary only had the order correct: Learn what Jesus wants first and then choose to obey Him out of worship. Now use your brain and think about this: These things happened before we had our written New Testament and because of this fact Mary had to learn right from Jesus Himself. Today we have His complete revelation for our daily lives and we must choose to obey.
4) In the next chapter (Luke 11:29; 33-36) Jesus states that His followers will be more blessed if they hear and obey the Word of the Lord (11:27-28). Much like the 70 He sent in the first part of Luke 10.
5) Later in Luke 11 Jesus gives Christians the true example to follow in two ways:
A) 11:29 Christians are not to look for signs of God’s WILL. It is right in front of us on the pages of the very Bible you are holding. When God’s new DIRECTION for our Christian walk is presented it will be unmistakable. To find his direction we have only to obey His will that is already presented in the Bible. What does the Bible say is God’s will? It is to 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, 2) Love your neighbor as yourself, 3) Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to 4) Walk in the Spirit, not the flesh and so produce the fruit of the Spirit, and 5) Use the Spiritual Gifts God has granted to each of us for service in His body, and in the world. There are many more but this note is not about finding God’s will.
B) 11:33-36 Jesus commissions His followers to let their light shine in the world. How does the world know our light is the true light? Acting like Christ is not enough. Every Christian is called to share why they behave the way they behave. Otherwise the world only knows it as our own fleshly good works, and not Christ.
“GRACE through FAITH”
First off, the author of “GRACE through FAITH” seems to judge that I, the author of this note, have preached works based salvation and sanctification. Let me be clear as to what I believe and what the Bible teaches. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation, and there is nothing we can do to keep it. It was by God’s grace that we are saved, it is by His grace that we are sanctified, and it is by His grace that we will one day be glorified in Heaven. That being said, let’s take a look at the note:
The first passage taken out of context: Matthew 7:1-5. The writer of “GRACE through FAITH” uses this to say that Christians should not correct each other because it is judging. Let it be known that I am not judging you in this response. I am trying to show you were you fell short of knowing the complete message of your texts. It is NOT in judgment, it is in correction out of love and in hope that the Word of God will receive a proper exegesis in the future.
1) The first mistake the writer makes is that some Christians ARE called to correct other Christians out of love. It is called Exhortation and it is a spiritual gift found in Romans 12:8. How can a Christian know when they are abusing the Word of God? Someone must lovingly show them so that God can better use them to perform His works and glorify Himself. They are not worrying about where others are in Christ. They are not thinking more highly of themselves. They are solely encouraging the one in error to correct themselves so they can have a deeper relationship with God. In fact it causes the people with the gift to act in a holier manner so as to remain above reproach.
2) The second mistake of interpreting this passage is that the author says Christians are free to make their own interpretation of Scripture. This fails because man is a sinful creature and his mind is in a fallen state of sin. So how do we know the truth each Bible passage is trying to teach? First; by praying for illumination (In the act of prayer you submit to God opening your mind for you), and Second; by testing their own interpretation against the perfect, inerrant, revelation of itself, God’s written word, to see if it really is true.
Ephesians 2:7-9 This is so horrendous that it should not even be looked at, but it will be examined to magnify the agenda of the author. The author of “GRACE through FAITH” stopped just ONE VERSE short. Just one verse. One verse.
The author in essence argues that Christians are free to do what we please with God, Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity because we have been saved by grace through faith, and if only we continue to live in the grace and love of God by faith we will stay on the right path.
Read the next verse; Ephesians 2:10. If we say that we don’t need to serve through good works we have stopped our Christian walk forward, we are not following God’s footsteps, and we are causing God to wait for us. James 2:20 (NASB) says that that kind of faith is useless. God cannot use a Christian to glorify Himself unless they are active in service using the works of the Spirit. James goes on to say that, not only is that faith useless, it is dead! (Jas. 2:26)
In the book of Revelation we find letters written to seven churches. These were written to believers by Christ Himself. We find this type of unserving faith in what is known as “The Dead Church” of Sardis in chapter 3 verses 1-6. Jesus uses extremely strong words. He says that he has seen their works, but that they were dead (v.1). Jesus says “WAKE UP!” He says to strengthen the things that are about to die because their works are not complete (v.2). This means they stopped their use of their God given gifts. Jesus warns them that if they do not remember what they have heard and repent he will come like a thief in the night to take them (v.3). Could this mean that Jesus would actually take a Christian out of this world if they continually refuse to use the works and gifts He gave them? YES!!! The harsh reality is that God will chasten those He loves even unto death. The authors of both notes examined, and the authors of other supporting notes floating around right now, are heading toward that mindset and must be careful because future severe discipline may be necessary if they do not heed correction from this passage in Revelation: Remember, Repent, Restore.
We should all be serving all the while proclaiming the Word and word of God because Isaiah 55:11 says this: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (NKJV)
It is better for a Christian to serve God in any motive, even a wrong motive, and still let the Word of God bear its fruit, than to not serve at all and bear no fruit (Phil 1:15-18).
CONCLUSION
The conclusion is that both notes totally miss the point of every passage they use. The point of the complete contexts show this message: To follow God the Father we must walk in the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ as our example to follow. Christians do not need to wait for God to call them to serve. He has already shown us what He wants for us to do through the life of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament explaining how to follow that example. Jesus himself says this in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
Fix it by following Christ's example:
Jesus the Perfect Man (The one and only example we should follow) was not seen only as a man who followed God only when God led Him. He also served mankind in order to proclaim the glory of God, He was also a witness for Himself, and He gave His life so that we could find ours. There are so many other ways that Jesus set an example but the core is this: We are to love, worship, extol, and glorify God by obeying His commands and losing our life daily only to have the Holy Spirit show Jesus’ life in and through us.
How we follow Christ's example:
Romans 12:1 shows that Christians are to be living sacrifices to God, to show the world their need. How can they know the remedy for their need unless they hear the good news of our freedom from SIN? We must tell them! How can the body of Christ help each other grow unless every part WORKS together? We must serve each other as Christ served!
Now let the Bible speak for itself to show what has been purposed all along:
Stop, pray again, and then read Romans chapters 6-8 and 12-16 with the purpose to see the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2). To see that obedience to this new law is required because God gave us gifts in order to keep it. To see that we are now slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:18). And to see that the Spirit’s works of service we should be doing are reasonable & joyous, to help us grow closer to God, and are out of a pure love for Christ (1 John 5:3). Romans chapters 6-8 and 12-16.
Now read John chapters 14-15. Look at how many times Jesus basically says "If you love me show it by obeying me."
Finally, in Philippians 4:9 we are commanded to do the things we know we should be doing, and God will be with us. The passage is not saying that God will only be with us if we obey Him, it is saying that as you obey God He will be there strengthening you. God will always support us when we serve Him.
To all of you who wrote those notes: When My mom disciplined me she always told me “Nehemiah, I love you enough to do what’s best for you”. If this note was not written, I would be letting you go on taking God’s Word out of context to justify your own personal view of living “free in Christ,” and I would be letting you live in that unworthy manner. I love you enough to correct you so that you don't end up like the Revelation 3 Christians. Please note that this is as an act of love for you and God and nothing else.
May our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified through a true serving love for Him!
Resources used to gain better insight:
-Old Testament Survey class notes by Dr. Keith Miller
-New Testament Survey class notes by Dr. Keith Miller
-“With The Word” by Warren Wiersbe
-"Found: God's Will" by John Mac Arthur
-"Unger's Bible Handbook" by Merrill Unger
-"Halley's Bible Handbook" by H.H. Haley
-BibleWorks 7.0
-iBible 2.6
-iLumina
-Notes from several different Study Bibles in different translations
Nehemiah Ryan © 2007
ORIGINAL NOTE COMMENTS
Liz FinchUm.... okay... so maybe we should ingore the verse in John that says that "if you have something against your brother, go to him privately"?Person. If you need to attack someone, attack someone who can take it. I've been delt a lot of crap in my life, I can take more.
but you so much as touch my friends. and I wll be all over you. and I'll turn my daddy lose on you too (oh, wait, I already have).
Okay. here's the thing. facebook sucks. I hate it.
But honestly. if someone posts a note it's their THOUGHTS. Is it truth? Maybe not. we don't trust everything we read (thank God). Does this mean we should post other peoples notes and break them down for the world to see? No. The correct approach would have been to talk to them about it quietly.
I want to attack you. Dang, I wanna hurt you. I'm watching some of my closest friends who have been there for me be ripped apart.
But. I'm forgiving.
I have nothing else to say.
Only, dear. please take a long step back and pray.but you so much as touch my friends. and I wll be all over you. and I'll turn my daddy lose on you too (oh, wait, I already have).Okay. here's the thing. facebook sucks. I hate it.But honestly. if someone posts a note it's their THOUGHTS. Is it truth? Maybe not. we don't trust everything we read (thank God). Does this mean we should post other peoples notes and break them down for the world to see? No. The correct approach would have been to talk to them about it quietly.I want to attack you. Dang, I wanna hurt you. I'm watching some of my closest friends who have been there for me be ripped apart.But. I'm forgiving.I have nothing else to say.Only, dear. please take a long step back and pray.have you ever read a scripture that says, "if you don't agree doctrionally with another christian, rip them apart for the whole world to see?". No. We have read scripture that teaches us godly resolutions of problems though.please, dear, don't keep hurting people like this.
This is not how you should be acting. Nor how it should be.
It is not your job to disipline people. That job is the Lord's.
And here I rest my case.This is not how you should be acting. Nor how it should be.It is not your job to disipline people. That job is the Lord's.And here I rest my case.
Jack-Anna Ryan
Yesterday I posted a comment on Derek Brewster's facebook article "GRACE through FAITH." I was shocked that within a few minutes everything connected to that post was either blocked or deleted.
There were no personal attacks on Derek. No judgmental words. I simply stated that truth is absolute, not relative. We cannot approach the Bible and say that it can mean different things to different people.Suppose you are at a Bible study and two people come up with totally different interpretations of the text. They cannot both be true. That would make truth relative, robbing the Bible of its authority. How do we know who is right and who is wrong? CONTEXT. The context of the passage must determine the meaning of the text, not the presuppositions of the reader.
Suppose you are at a Bible study and two people come up with totally different interpretations of the text. They cannot both be true. That would make truth relative, robbing the Bible of its authority. How do we know who is right and who is wrong? CONTEXT. The context of the passage must determine the meaning of the text, not the presuppositions of the reader.Is it judging a person if we say they are mistaken in their understanding of a text of Scripture? Absolutely not. In fact, this is exactly what Aquila and Priscilla did with Apollos in Acts 18:24-28. Apollos received their instruction and went on to become one of the greatest teachers and preachers of the early church. If we have a teachable spirit, we can learn from every experience in life.We are on slippery ground when we say someone is being judgmental, since that makes us judgmental of the person we think is being judgmental. It's a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. Instead, let's stick to the matters at hand--the careful study of God's Word. Like the Bereans, we should search the Scriptures daily to see if those things are so (Acts 17:11).
We are on slippery ground when we say someone is being judgmental, since that makes us judgmental of the person we think is being judgmental. It's a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. Instead, let's stick to the matters at hand--the careful study of God's Word. Like the Bereans, we should search the Scriptures daily to see if those things are so (Acts 17:11).
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