Permission to Honor God 5-18-08
Christians are today largely ignorant of how many of their beliefs are based on traditions and environment rather than on the Bible. According to one survey, 65% of Christians have never read the New Testament (http://collegehills.org/302012.ihtml); is it any wonder that many of our people are so easily swayed by false doctrines dressed up to masquerade as truth? The only thing more disturbing is the ease with which basic principles of biblical truth are discarded.
The apostle Paul says: “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial (NIV). He says this not once, but twice (1 Corinthians 6 and 10). The first quote is from the sixth chapter in which Paul warns the church to avoid sexual immorality (and specifically mentions prostitution); the second quote is from the tenth chapter in which he warns the church that while eating meat (specifically what was offered in sacrifice to an idol) is perfectly fine, doing so with someone who is weaker in the faith (and will thus be spiritually hurt) is not okay. What do these have in common? The basic principle that while the old ways of worship (with its endless laws and procedures) were gone, the purpose behind those ways (reverence for God and a need to be holy) is very much alive.
But therein lies a major problem for the church: we need to have a reverence for God and to be holy, but how do we know what either of those two things are? We can only know God through the Bible and we can thus only know what holiness is through the Bible. Which means that we have to read the Bible in order the know these things. Sixty-five percent of Christians do not really know Jesus; I fear to know what percentage have never read the Old Testament!
There are hundreds of churches proclaiming to follow the truth; how do we discern which ones are right? A church is the body of Christ only insofar as it follows the teachings of Christ as found in the Bible. That means that the true disciples of Christ do not allow others to bind on them what is not bound by Jesus and the apostles.
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
If we are the disciples of Jesus, we will follow the teachings of Jesus, not what men have told us about them – and the only way to know the difference is to read for ourselves, examining everything by the light of the scriptures. Throughout the history of the church dangerous heresies have popped up. Concepts such as the denial of the divinity of Christ and a complete rejection of the concept of a wrathful God have been with us from the beginning. In recent times, newer versions of these (and other) ancient heresies have been given a makeover and paraded as fresh and insightful. Some think themselves wise to call the truth “allegorical.” Others respond to the world by loosing dangerous and cultist ideas – such as those who respond to modern feminism by stripping women of any responsibility or godliness and making of them mere chattel to be used in any godless manner.
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. (2 Peter 2:17 NIV)
The true disciples of Jesus, however, reject such lies and know them for what they are by examining them by the light of the Word. Unlike those ruled by human laws and manmade tradition, mature Christians “set their hearts on things above” (Colossians 3:1 NIV). If we are to be the people of God, then we must know who he is and who he wants us to be! You see, we do have permission to honor God with our lives, conducted in true reverence and holiness; and if God has opened the door to his kingdom, can any man close it?
-Charles Peterson