“Remember this, and show yourselves men;…."

There has been a lot written over the last few years about the feminization of the male Christian and of the Church as a whole.  I happen to think that it is an issue as well. 

Here are a couple of examples.
http://www.crosswalk.com/family/marriage/in-search-of-manliness-the-feminized-male-11602193.html

http://jwwartick.com/2014/06/09/feminizing-christianity/

I wonder what God might think of that?  Did He mean for there to be no difference between men and women?  Would He think it sexist and wrong for a man to be a manly man instead of a girly man?

I think this verse might give us a little clue.

Isaiah 46:8(NKJV)

8    “Remember this, and show yourselves men;      Recall to mind, O you transgressors.

Man Paul Drives Me Nuts!

As I've shared before I really have trouble with some of Paul's writings.  It just seems to me that Paul is way more liberal than Jesus.  And quite honestly I fund some of Paul's writings to just be psychobabble gobbldy gook. 

Let me give an example from Romans.
 

Romans 14:1-23(NKJV)

1Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 

2For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 

3Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 

4Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

5One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 

6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 

Seems to be saying let your conscience be your guide and don't be judgmental of those who see things differently than you.  I can go along with that to a certain extent.

7For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 

8For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 

9For to this end Christ died £and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 

10But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of £Christ. 

11For it is written:      “As I live, says the Lord,     Every knee shall bow to Me,     And every tongue shall confess to God.” £

12So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 

Here he ties it all in to following Christ.  He seems to be saying don't judge your brother, let Jesus sort it out at the end.  That seems to contradict what is written in 1 Timothy.

1 Timothy 5:20-21(NKJV)

20Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.

21I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. 

Is Paul suggesting that when we see people sinning we should just ignore it and let God sort it out at the end?

13Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

OK, that sounds nice.

14I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 

Really?  Nothing?  Isn't that then the same as the battle cry from the 60s and 70s?  If it feels good do it?  If nothing is unclean as Paul says then are there no limits whatsoever?

15Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. 

16Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; 

17for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Really?  So then shouldn't all Christians immediately stop eating shell fish so that there is no chance of that standing in the way of even one Jewish person converting to Christianity?  Since Christian symbols "grieve" Muslims is Paul suggesting that we totally hide all references to our faith in the hopes that it might lead a Muslim or two to our faith….which we are now hiding? 
 

18For he who serves Christ in £these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

19Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 

20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 

21It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles £or is offended or is made weak.

22£Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 

Excuse me?  Did Paul just say keep your faith to yourself?  And talk about psychobabble.  Condemned by what he approves?  I approve of righteousness.  Why would I be condemned for that?  I approve of tithing.  Why would I be condemned for that?  I approve of reading God's Word.  Why would I be approved for that?
 

23But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is £sin.

  
This final verse I can agree with but even here I think it could use some clarification.  I think ultimately that is what he was trying to say all along but I just think he does a poor job of saying it.     

What I think needs clarification is that if you do something that the Bible has already declared as sinful, no matter how much faith you have it is still a sin. 

Some Stuff I Just Don't Get!

Here is a hunk of Scripture that just makes no sense to me at all. 

Romans 13:1-4(NKJV)

1Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 

OK, I get that.

2Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 

3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 

4For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 

This part all makes sense regarding Godly leaders.  But what about leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, and others who have murdered and tortured millions of their own citizens? 

The above Scripture seems to make the assumption that all leaders are good leaders.  It doesn't seem to make any provision for ungodly and evil leaders.  I find it hard to believe that God is going to be terribly upset with anyone who helped topple Hitler. 

I think this might be part of why I have more trouble with Paul's writings than any other part of the Bible.

Juxtaposition

 

Romans 12:3(NKJV)

3For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 

VS.

Mark 12:29-31(NKJV)

29Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 

30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ £ £This is the first commandment. 

31And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ £ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

I find the juxtaposition of these two passages interesting.

On the one hand we have Scripture telling us not to think too highly of ourselves.  I think that is good advice to a certain extent.  However I think too many Christians take that to the extreme and refuse to think even moderately highly of themselves. 

Can you see why that could be an issue in the context of the second passage?  We are told to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Well if we don't love ourselves, that is think very highly of ourselves, we aren't going to have much love to give to our neighbors.

I think it is perfectly healthy to have a great self image.  We just need to constantly look to Jesus to make sure we don't cross the line from great self image to blowhard!  :)

Kumbaya Jesus or Just(ice) Jesus?

 

Isaiah 42:1-4(NKJV)

1    “Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,      My Elect One in whom My soul delights!     I have put My Spirit upon Him;     He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.

2    He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,     Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.

3    A bruised reed He will not break,     And smoking flax He will not quench;     He will bring forth justice for truth.

4    He will not fail nor be discouraged,     Till He has established justice in the earth;     And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

I have written many times about my belief that those who believe in a Kumbaya Jesus are mistaken.  That God doesn't take a live and let live approach to the rejection of Jesus.  I think the above Scripture is just more evidence against a Kumbaya Jesus.

Notice the focus on justice.  God says specifically that he is sending Jesus to establish justice on earth. 

How does that relate to Kumbaya Jesus?  The Bible is very clear that God is a just God.  Someone has to pay for our sins with blood.  We have a simple choice.  We can pay for it with our blood or we can pay for it with the blood of  Jesus.  But justice requires that it be paid for. 

I believe that this Scripture just reaffirms that Jesus is just as committed to justice as God is.  Therefor when someone rejects Jesus, Jesus doesn't just shrug His shoulders and say "Oh well".  Nope.  According to the Scripture above, Jesus will be demanding justice in the end.

The question is, will you be ready?

Excellent in Guidance

 

Isaiah 28:29(NKJV)

29    This also comes from the Lord of hosts,      Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance.

If you are going to follow somebody through life do you wan to follow someone who just gives average counsel and average guidance or do you want the best of the best?

Isaiah tells us that God is wonderful counsel and excellent in guidance.  That sounds like the best of the best to me!

Who is and who isn't a child of God? What does the Bible say?

There are many misconceptions that have developed about what the Bible says and doesn't say over the years.  One of those misconceptions is that we are all "children of God" simply because we were born here on earth. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  As I shared before, the phrase "children of God" isn't even used in the Bible until the book of John, the last of the four Gospels.  The phrase is only used 10 times in the whole Bible. 

 As I shared last time, the Bible tells us very specifically who are the children of God.  Take a look.
 

John 1:12(NKJV)

12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 

That seems pretty clear to me.  The only ones entitled to the name "children of God" are those who believe in Jesus.  But is the Bible equally clear on who are not the children of God?  As a matter of fact it is. 

Romans 9:6-9(NKJV)

6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 

7nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” £ 

8That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 

9For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” £

Doesn't get much clearer than that does it?  Just because you are born of the flesh does not automatically make you a child of God.

So how do you become a child of God?  By asking Jesus to come into your life an lead you.  How do you do that?  Have a conversation with Jesus and invite Him in.  "Dear Jesus…."