Food for Thought
Keeping the message
pure
by David Churchill
One
day while browsing through the radio stations, I came across
a famous denominational preacher talking about the one
and only gospel of Christ and discussing Galatians 1:6-10.
Personally, I prefer to listen to preachers who handle
the Bible more accurately than he does. But, curious as
to what he might possibly say on such a topic and always ready
to consider with an open mind any message genuinely taught from
Scripture, I listened a little longer to him than I normally
would have done.
He and his companions mentioned
how that we as people seeking to do Gods will
must test the spirit of the message of preachers claiming to
proclaim Gods will. They pointed out how
many of TVs and radios so-called evangelists
preach a gospel of money rather than of Jesus Christ.
Quoting from 1 Cor. 15, they discussed briefly how the
gospel of Christ refers to the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ and how any sincere understanding of the real gospel
must be based on all three aspects, and not just one. They
talked about how real faith in God comes from heartfelt study
of Gods Word, the Bible. And they emphasized that
if a preacher doesnt teach the gospel as revealed in the
Bible then hes preaching a different gospel, a false gospel,
a gospel that sends people to hell instead of heaven. About
that time, deciding that this radio preacher was a blatant hypocrite
and a boldfaced liar about what he really practiced, I turned
the radio off and went about my business.
Why in the world did I reach
such a harsh assessment? In those few particular minutes
I didnt hear the man or his companions say anything that
was anti-Scriptural. They quoted relevant passages of Scripture
and they presented correct interpretations of those passages.
In fact, I would have been proud and pleased to hear any
member of our congregation give the same clear and concise arguments
in the same manner in an informal discussion with a non-Christian.
However, my assessment came not from what I was hearing
him say at the moment, but from my previous knowledge of this
mans mistakes my prior understanding of his ongoing
incorrect teachings and practices.
As it turned out, I was right after
all. Later, when I turned the radio back on, he was presenting
his anti-scriptural method for being saved which contradicts
the same gospel he had just claimed to teach and his usual indiscriminate
appeal for money which puts him in the same group he had just
labeled as so-called evangelists. Those
few valuable minutes of purer teaching were being made void because
he refused to apply that same teaching to his own ministry.
We all occasionally hear a denominational
preacher demonstrate some inconsistency in his teaching or practice,
but this time it got me thinking about what happens when the
shoe looks to be on the other foot.
What happens if someone classifies
us as hypocrites, not because of what they hear us saying
at the moment, but because of their prior assessments of our
past mistakes or of their current perceptions about our present
difficulties?
The fact is that each and every
one of us in Christs church has led a spotted life. While
learning to live as Christians helps us to splash fewer spots
on ourselves, it also makes any new spots seem to stand out more
boldly to those who watch us. All too often, others may
refuse to consider the truth we speak from the Scriptures because
they knew us before we started to learn and practice that truth.
Many seem to find relief in using our shortcomings as an
excuse to avoid confronting their own sinful lifestyles. And
those times when people occasionally confuse our clean patches
as dirty spots hardly help us look worthy of imitation.
How then can we hope to present
a clean, pure message of the gospel when weve been so dirty
from sin? Or as Isaiah writes of himself in Isaiah
6:5 Woe
is me, for I am undone! Because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips;
when God asks him to deliver His message.
First, we must make sure
the message is pure by ensuring its source from the Scriptures.
Matthew 17:1-8; John 6:60-69; 1 Corinthians 15:12;
Philippians 3:1; 1 Timothy 3:14-15; 2 Timothy 3:16-4:5; Hebrews
1:1-4
Second, we must keep the
message pure by handling it correctly as the Scriptures instruct
us. Mark 12:24; Ephesians 5:6-21; Colossians 3:16-17,23-24;
2 Timothy 2:15-16; Hebrews 2:1-4
Third, we must occasionally
point out that the purity of the message is separate and apart
from the dirty spots we gain whenever we fail to apply the Scriptures
correctly in our own lives. Galatians 6:1-5; Philippians
2:1-6; Colossians 3:1-17
Fourth, we must demonstrate
the purity of the message to cleanse our lifes spots as
we repent and resume correctly applying the Scriptures where
we had left off. Ephesians 4:25-32; Philippians
2:12-16; 1 Timothy 4:12-16; 2 Peter 1:2-11
As Christians sincerely seeking
to genuinely follow Gods saving instructions, we need to
daily remind ourselves: Your iniquity is taken away, and your
sin purged (Isaiah
6:7). Just as God cleansed Isaiah from sin so he could
be free to deliver Gods message, He does so for us:
For the love of Christ compels us, because
we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He
died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves,
but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no
one according to the flesh. Even though we have known
Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of
God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore
you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him
who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him.
(2 Corinthians 5:14-21, NKJV) |