Having said that, I should also say that the blog is harmful in more ways than it is helpful. I say this because there are many Christians out there who do not want to evangelize, and look for any excuse not to. On its surface, Jon’s blog gives them 14 reasons, and the reasons are neither sound nor scriptural.

Jon’s blog is here.

Years ago, I decided to stop evangelizing my friends. Here are 14 reasons you might consider doing the same:
1. It makes them uncomfortable.
2. It makes you uncomfortable.
3. It makes you think about how to twist every conversation to Jesus rather than seeing how Jesus is already there.
4. It makes you believe you’re bringing God to them, rather than seeing how the Holy Spirit has already been active in their lives.
5. It pressures you into showing an unrelatable happy, plastic face rather than letting God’s grace shine through your struggles.
6. It makes you focus on talking rather than listening.
7. It leads you to answer questions they aren’t asking.
8. It makes you think about what to say rather than how to love.
9. It makes you think faith is a list of statements rather than a different way of living.
10. It puts you into the role of “teacher,” causing you to miss things your friends can teach you.
11. It makes them see you as a religious salesman rather than an apprentice of the Master.
12. It hurts your friendship.
13. It robs you of a good time.
14. It makes you think their lack of interest in your evangelism means they are not interested in Jesus or spiritual questions.
What do you think — do you agree/disagree? What other reasons can you think of?

One reason to evangelize your friends.
Jesus said to. (“He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15:16)
Anything else is not from God.

1&2. “It makes them (or) you uncomfortable.”

Jesus often asks us to do things that are uncomfortable. In fact Christianity is not about our comfort or making us feel all warm and fuzzy. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:21-22
BTW: Witnessing is not nearly as uncomfortable as you and they will be if they spend eternity in hell because you did not want to tell your friend the gospel because you might be uncomfortable. Real friends/Christians talk about Jesus to their unsaved friends.

3. “It makes you think about how to twist every conversation to Jesus rather than seeing how Jesus is already there.”

If Jesus is truly already there we will see the fruit of the Spirit evangelism has already happened and the Gospel has been received. If we do not see the fruit of the Spirit then Jesus is not present and we must evangelize. Galatians 5:16-26

4. “It makes you believe you’re bringing God to them, rather than seeing how the Holy Spirit has already been active in their lives.”

If the Holy Spirit is truly active in a person’s life they will be trying to live a holy and righteous life that shows the fruit of the Spirit. Those persons have already been evangelized and have allowed the Spirit to work in them. People who are unrepentant do not know Jesus, or the Spirit, they must be evangelized. (1 John 3:7-10)

5. “It pressures you into showing an unrelatable happy, plastic face rather than letting God’s grace shine through your struggles.”

We can talk about Jesus to our friends while showing God’s grace through our struggles. Isn’t it really very silly to think that telling our friends about Jesus causes us to be insincere or disingenuous?

6. “It makes you focus on talking rather than listening.”
7. “It leads you to answer questions they aren’t asking.”

These two reasons actually present us with two fallacies. Fallacy one, those who evangelize the Gospel of Jesus Christ are unable to do so while listening and then giving Godly and appropriate responses. Fallacy two, those who evangelize needlessly answer questions that were not asked. The truth is, the act of evangelism may very well involve saying things that the person being evangelized has not thought of or asked. But, those who need to hear the Gospel do not know many things about Jesus and must first be taught so they might then ask the correct questions.

8. “It makes you think about what to say rather than how to love.”

Evangelism is one of the greatest acts of love a Christian can perform. Those who know Jesus and love Him really do not need to think about what to say, their joy just flows out. And let’s not forget that we are promised the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

9. “It makes you think faith is a list of statements rather than a different way of living.”

This is an assumption that has no basis in truth. Oh I suppose for a few it might be true, but it’s unfair to place every Christians who speaks to their friends about Jesus in this category.

10. “It puts you into the role of “teacher,” causing you to miss things your friends can teach you.”

The best teachers are those who are constantly learning. There is nothing at all wrong with teachers or those who are in the role of a teacher. If a friend is unsaved having never known Christ or they are backslidden to the point where they no longer live a Christian life, then a true Christian and a true friend will certainly begin to teach them the Gospel and the way to salvation.

11. “It makes them see you as a religious salesman rather than an apprentice of the Master.”

I suppose that would depend on the level of spirituality of both the person and the person being evangelized. The writer used a broad brush to paint all evangelists. If we are genuine, humble and sincere we really can’t help what others might think.

12. “It hurts your friendship.”
13. “It robs you of a good time.”

Christians need to see that there are more important things than temporal relationships and moments. Think eternally. BTW, if your friend is unsaved and comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus because you had the courage to evangelize them, your friendship will then be an eternal friendship.

14. “It makes you think their lack of interest in your evangelism means they are not interested in Jesus or spiritual questions.”

There are certainly times when this is true, right? The truth is we need to plant the seed so that the Spirit can then water it.

Christians, should be taught to know Christ’s heart, and to understand and believe what Paul wrote, “How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?” (Roman 10:14) Telling others about Jesus is the most important mission Jesus gave to us. He did not just give us a mission, He asked us to partner with Him in this mission.

Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:2-5)

This is sound advice that teaches us to spread God’s good news in a positive and productive way. Christians must be straightforwardly encouraged to speak about Jesus, in ways that are wise and godly, to everyone.

Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 2 Corinthians 13:5

I thank Jon for his commitment to Jesus and for his sensitivity to hurts we Christians sometimes inflict on others in our zeal to spread the Word. I just think we should be more cautious in the way we express our concerns.

Your thoughts?

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” Roman 6:1

Being a Christian does not mean that we will never sin again and as the entire world knows there is no Christian who is perfect. Just ask any atheist and he will quickly point that out, and remind us of all the TV preachers who have taken great and well publicized falls.

Being a Christian means that we will struggle with sin and we will not be happy or comfortable with sin that is in our lives. That’s what Paul is speaking about in verses 6:20 and 23. “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Overcoming sin by our faith in God leads to eternal life. Believing God’s grace covers your choice to keep on sinning does not.

There are those who say they are Christians, who do not struggle with the sin in their lives. They are quite comfortable in their sin and they believe that the grace of God holds them blameless for the sins they choose to enjoy. They believe that since we are unworthy of grace there is no need to try to be worthy. Worse (especially for them) they teach others that it’s OK to believe as they do. It’s as if they believe that Jesus is actually concerned about us pleasing ourselves with whatever pleasure the world offers and our pleasure is more important than us living holy lives.

The Christians who think that way are some of the false teachers that the Apostles and Jesus spoke of. Be careful of them. What they teach goes against what Jesus and his Apostles teach us. Wake up Christian and live your life for Jesus. Get rid of anything in your life that does not make you a stronger Christian, does not point to the Cross or, which might sling mud on Jesus’ name.

“So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”James 2:26

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1

When we think of Islamic extremists the picture we see is that of a crazed and violent person reeking havoc upon infidels and the thought of Christian extremists brings to mind those among us who say they are Christians, yet they blow up abortion clinics or murder in the name of Jesus. Those actions go against everything that Jesus taught. A person who has devoted himself or herself to imitating Jesus to the most extreme measure possible does not bring that image to mind.

The extremism that I’m speaking of is the extremism that Jesus spoke of when He said, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21) In Luke chapter 19, we read that Zacchaeus the Tax Collector climbed a tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus. Eventually Zacchaeus met Jesus and he responded with the type of extremism that Jesus spoke about and expects from us. Zacchaeus not only repented, he also gave half of everything he owned to the poor and to those people he cheated out of money, Zacchaeus gave four times the amount he had taken from them back to them.

Jesus was describing radically extreme devotion to God when he told His disciples, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:12-13) Early Church tradition is full of stories about men and women who stood firm to the end. Most Christ followers have heard how all of the Apostles, except John, were murdered for spreading the story of Jesus Christ. History books are replete with stories of Christians, who would not renounce their faith in Christ, being thrown to the lions by the Romans. Even today Christians are being killed and persecuted, in every sense of the word, in China, India and parts of the Islamic world. Fervency and devotion of that kind is what spread Christianity to every corner of the known world. It is that kind of passion and commitment that drives the Muslim extremist and is why Islam will rule Europe in just a few short years.

But, I do not want to address the apathy and unbelief that allows a pagan religion to take over a continent. I want to ask, “How do those Christian extremists of old compare to the American Christian of today?” In the seeker friendly, feel good church of today many American Christians are misled to believe that Jesus is only about grace and that His grace requires no sacrifice or change on our part. Many define their religion by the big sins that they avoid committing, going to church and throwing a little something into the offering plate.

I have to be honest, it’s easy for me to sit in a warm comfortable house and write about being an extreme Christian, but I find that must ask myself, “if Jesus asked me to sell everything I owned and give the money away to the poor as He did the rich young man in Matthew 19, could I?” Instead, I might begin to count off the reasons why I am free from sacrificing half or all that I own. I might tell myself that I rule my possessions and they do not rule me. After all it is “the love of money” and not money itself that “is a root of all kinds of evil.” You see I too have been conditioned to believe that God wants me to have a big nice house, lots of stuff and the best of everything. I have earned my time off and vacations are God’s blessing to me. My collection of material goodies is essential to God’s Kingdom, the money I may spend on a 50 inch TV is not needed by the poor and the hungry and I gave my ten percent (and a little more!) already. Besides that, those homeless guys and the welfare mothers all deserve to be where they are anyway. What does it matter to the Kingdom if the unused space in my house is greater than the size of homes in poor nations or that my car has better housing than many people do? The fatherless, the widows and the lonely elderly will never see God’s glory if I live in a smaller house in a poorer part of town. (And what would others think of me if I did.)

Many of us won’t even give God our time much less half of what we own. We feel that if we make it to church on Sunday we are doing well, if we make it on Sunday night also then we are doing extremely well. How many of us would give up our recreation time and devote that time to serving God? How many would pull their kids from all sports (or other activities) and devote their kids to serving the Lord? Not many of us would do these things, even though that is completely in line with what Jesus asks of us.

Those of us who have gone into debt to buy our stuff are indeed ruled by our possessions and we are slaves to the lenders. We couldn’t give half away if we wanted to, because we do not really own it. Even worse, we believe that the work we must do to service the debts we have acquired has earned us the right to not serve God on our time off. That time and money is reserved for R and R (relaxation and recreation). For generations we have convinced ourselves that competitive sports, secular movies, secular reading, secular music and most any other secular extracurricular activity are of extreme value and that somehow they advance the Kingdom of God. As if any activity that makes us feel good or arouses emotion is of God. In short the Kingdom is all about us.

It’s time we ask ourselves what eternal value those things have, not only to us but to everyone. Where does all this self-indulgence and striving for more and better stuff fit into Jesus telling us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Sadly, we are so conditioned by our society’s materialism we now believe that the pursuit of more stuff is God’s will. We need to think in terms of how our allegiance to the NFL, our child’s soccer league, our house or our own entertainment fits into the Gospel picture. We need to re-evaluate our relationship with Jesus to see what it is based on. Do we bring up our kids for the sole purpose of what will bring the most glory and be most pleasing to He who we call Lord, or do we teach them to put themselves first and give Jesus what is left? The real question becomes, “What is it that we truly desire?”

I believe that there is one thing that Americans covet more than anything else, and that it is that “one thing” that drives us to accumulate more stuff and causes us to neglect those things that Jesus told us to hold dear, “image” is everything isn”t it. What Americans spend on make-up, hair dye, the latest fashion and keeping up with the Jones, annually, could possibly feed most of Africa’s hungry. It has been estimated that America spends more on landscaping and lawn care than it does on foreign aid. How much more could we give if we had not addicted our children to designer that and brand name this? Oh God, please forgive us and create new hearts in us!

If we could somehow convince ourselves and the mainstream American Christian that they are not divinely entitled to large homes, extreme (by third world standards) comforts, three cars, season tickets and a vacation home, then the churches of America could have an incredible impact on the world. Yes, I know we do have an impact on the world, but not anything close to the impact that Jesus expects or the impact that those book of Acts Christ lovers had.

Extremism starts with you and I. American Christians must divest themselves of their comforts, large homes, expensive cars, video games and the wide screen TV’s. God’s Kingdom is not advanced by any of these things. Wake up sleepy Christian. We have been lulled into believing lies excusing self-indulgence by advertisers, prosperity preachers and Satan himself. American culture drives us more than the Gospel of Christ Jesus does. We must wake up from our worldly slumber and be about Kingdom business. Jesus does not want us to conform to this culture or live our lives by its standards; He wants us to create a Kingdom culture here on earth. Many of us know what needs to be done, and we want to do it, but we just do not want be seen as fanatics by our friends and families. Jesus expects us to be fanatics though, so stop living for rewards that are not eternal or in Heaven. Jesus wants us to love and give so fanatically that even other Christians think we are too extreme.

Be relevant, be extreme.

To me it is an easy issue to see. I grew up in the 70’s and admired my rock stars. I believed the Beatles had all the answers, the Stones were cool and Dylan had insight that neared genius levels. I went there, did that, bought the tee shirt and partied till I puked (literally). The Beatles wrote about LSD so I took LSD, Dylan was anti-establishment so I fashioned myself to also be. Looking back, I see that my heroes, whose public lives I tried to emulate, only brought a level of misery, not only for me personally but for all of their followers. You might say that reality has set in. (Praise God, in the despair that the influence of that culture led me to, I came to know Jesus.)

With the Hippy/rock and roll era came a degree of decadence not seen in the world since Roman and Greek orgies were common. Drug and alcohol use skyrocketed; sexual promiscuity became the norm, and social standards dropped. With those issues came rises in the rates of teenage pregnancy, drug related deaths, divorce, abortion and suicide. I cannot begin to count those that I know who have been and are still being affected by one or more of these problems. Of those of you who of grew up in that era, which of you can count the numbers of friends who died in some drug/alcohol related incident, accident or overdose? For years I idealized the influence that the Hippies and rock n rollers had on me and on the world, I now see the devastation that era has left behind.

So what does this have to do with the well-grounded, mature Christian who is not as easily influenced as millions of teens in the 70’s were? Does secular music or secular movies affect our children or us? Does it matter to God? Paul wrote, “Everything is permissible”, and we must ask how that statement influences how we entertain ourselves and spend our time. A more important question we must ask ourselves is do we stop reading at that statement or does the Christ follower continue reading to the point where Paul wrote, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:14-33) Does listening to the Beatles, the Jonas Brothers, or Fifty Cent meet the standard that Paul’s statement set? Does what we watch or listen to even matter, because there is Grace after all and God does want us to be happy?

Modern Christians like to think in terms of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. For example some of us convince ourselves that the Beatles singing, “all you need is love” would be appropriate, but Ice T rapping “Die, die, die pig, die! F**k the police!” might not be. If we take an honest look at the “what is appropriate” approach we understand that the standards it gives the Christ follower are ever changing. The “what is appropriate” line in the sand differs from person-to-person, culture-to-culture and generation-to-generation. In other words the “what is appropriate” approach offers no standard at all that is based in Biblical truth and in the end is not a measure of what is right or wrong Christian behavior.

Modern Christians like to take the Pharisee’s legalistic approach also don’t they? Many Christ followers will tell themselves and teach others that it’s OK to listen and watch this or that, because there is no law (commandment) against it. That makes for a pretty shallow relationship with Jesus though and it is certainly against everything He taught and teaches through His Word.

Other modern Christians take the “hippy flower girl” approach, thinking and teaching that god is in everything that is beautiful and everything that is beautiful must be from god. Scripture never teaches this. In fact I think the lessons of Proverbs chapter six applies to this subject more that any other scripture does, “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes . . . Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?”

It’s easy to believe these approaches are sound, because with Jesus in Heaven and us here on earth we kind of lose our true perspective. He’s so far away and His heartbreak is not evident since we are unable to see the pain in His eyes when we do the things we do. Maybe it would help if we put things in the perspective of Christ being the husband of the church, which of course He is.

If you have a spouse or significant other you might be able to understand what I’m about to say. If I say that I love my wife, yet run off to dance with another woman when I feel the need to dance, is that love? If my wife tells me that she loves me and then entertains herself with my sworn enemies, is that love? If you leave the company of your sweetheart, whom you say you love, to go find pleasure in the company of those who are against your sweetheart, is that true love? What would you think of me if I taught my son to do these things?

Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me”, so those who truly want to love Christ must consider what kind of Christian love it is that runs off to dance with the devil. If love is “not self-seeking” (1 Corinthians 13) then can we say we love God when we entertain and pleasure ourselves with the music and movies (or even books) made by and about godless men and woman? What will He think of us if we have taught His children to accept that love is self-seeking?

I know that many will come up with well-reasoned arguments against what I just wrote. If you are one of my brothers or sisters who has already done that or is doing that now, I hope you will ask yourself if you are coming from a self-seeking perspective or a God-seeking perspective. You see our relationship with Jesus is all about love. In every decision we make love will guide the approach we take, if our relation with Jesus is what it should be.

On “The Day of the Lord” when we stand before Jesus, we will no longer believe that listening to our favorite secular music, reading a best selling novel or seeing the newest greatest movie is so important. At that moment all we will see is the opportunities that we lost and the examples we failed to set. We will find that our heavenly rewards and crowns have been lost. Only then will we see that Jesus could care less that some awesome riff or a suspenseful moment in a movie enthralled us. I believe that at that time, on that day, we will completely understand the pointlessness of our quests to find pleasure, when compared to what He has called us to do. On that day we will fully comprehend who it was we served when we engrossed ourselves in the “art” of those who are against Jesus.

Be Relevant, Love Jesus
Steve

I warned earlier about preaching that is weak on the subject of sin. I now want to warn about something that is even worse. I want to expose those among us who are no better than anti-Christians. They are those who throw water on the fire that the Holy Spirit sparked in you.

These are strong words I know, but it’s true, and these anti-Christians have affected most of us in a terrible way at one time or other. These people are people we love and people who love us. Those I am speaking of are those who convince us that it’s OK to compromise. I’m also speaking about those people in our lives who convince us to tone down the talk about Jesus and who make us feel guilty or extreme if we live by scripture and follow the Word of God for all we are worth. In reality they convince us that it’s normal and proper to not “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

How many of us were once on fire for God and refused to compromise what we believed, only to have our resolve chipped away by “well intentioned” others, who convinced us to “tone it down.” Some of us never had the chance to live uncompromised lives; we may have lived in a compromised position, around compromised Christians, our entire Christian walk. If we fall into either group it’s time for us to turn around and start living lives of uncompromised purity and righteousness. No matter what the anti-Christians and the world have convinced us of, Christ still calls us to a different standard.

We live in a world where Christians are taught early not to be dogmatic about their beliefs, because it may offend others. We feel embarrassed about telling others about Jesus. We feel that it is improper to tell others that He is the only way and the Hell awaits those who do not believe in Him. Christians explain that they do not witness to unbelievers because they “do not feel led to.” The Holy Spirit of God did not stop them from witnessing, what stopped them was the cowardice that is born from compromise and complacency. Compromise broke their will and complacency sapped them of their boldness.

Christians have been taught that it’s OK to walk with one foot in the world. Many of us know Christians who compromise themselves, in small ways, to save or make some amount of money. We know those who spend more time watching world events on the news, playing video games or being entertained by sports than they do praying or reading God’s Word. We see our Christian brothers covering themselves with tattoos, and our Christian sisters wearing cloths designed to highlight their sexual parts. To many Christians this is perfectly normal and acceptable. Anti-Christians have convinced them, in conversation and by example, that these things are quite acceptable.

These or other compromises are not acceptable, except by the world. Christians must redefine what is acceptable and what is not. Many of us define what is acceptable by whether or not it is sinful, or whether or not we will get caught. That is legalism. Some allow modern culture to define what is right or wrong. Fear of being unacceptable to friends and the world motivate us. That is worldliness.

To us Christians those things that are acceptable should be those things that bring glory to God. Acceptable things are those things that we know would please God and best represent the nature of God. Our obedience should come from love and not fear of reprisal.

God loves us as we are. He loves us though we are still sinners; God’s love for us is not in question. The questions are these. Do we love God as He loves us? Have we been convinced to love both Him and the world? Are we convinced that we must live our lives for our own comfort, our own self-image and our own sake? For whose or what’s sake do we make our choices?

We must live our lives and make our choices only for the honor of His name. We must die to the expectations of the anti-Christians and the world, and we must begin to live for the sake of His name. What we do to our bodies, what we watch and listen to, what we say and do; these things all represent Christ to every one who sees us.

In the past I have been associated with, and for a while, I was taught in the same “belief system” that the young man is now in. It is common to hear those in that “belief system” to say things like “I went this or that church and I didn’t feel the Spirit there” “that church doesn’t have the Spirit” or “We didn’t feel the Spirit when we sang in that church.”

In reality what is being said is “our church is Spiritually superior to those other churches”
and “that other church does not give me an emotional high like mine does.” I have two things to say to this.

First, Jesus and His Spirit are wherever two or three are gathered. Our faith tells us this is true. Even though we never see the Spirit or Jesus we know that they exist, by our faith. Even though the music might be the old songs our grandparent listened to and do not stir us up, our faith should tell us that God is among the body of believers that we are with. The person who wrote Hebrews wrote, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We need to understand that the certainty of our hope is not in what we see or feel, but in the promises of God. Jesus does show up because a certain kind of music is played or clothes are worn.

The second point I would like to make is about the similarities between us thinking, “our church is spiritually superior to that church” and the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee did not know the heart or life of the tax collector and judged on what he saw and felt about the man. Another similarity is the Pharisee lacked true godly humility and the way he judged the tax collector was based in pride.

If a church or a body of believers has doctrine or teaches things that are against scripture then we must speak out against those things. But, if a church’s music and services are different than what we are accustomed to and they don’t evoke the same emotion and feelings that we are accustomed to, we need to understand that they are not wrong. They are only different. Being different is not wrong. Understanding this and accepting our brothers and sisters who are different is a sign of our Spiritual growth and our Christian maturity.

Peace, Steve

“Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

Two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. I go without eating for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn.” The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.” Then Jesus said, “When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.”

Luke 18:9-14

We see little preaching today that convicts the heart of it’s sin. To much of the preaching we see today is, instead, a reaction to the preaching of days gone by that did indeed convict a sinner’s heart. Or we may hear a self-help lesson designed to draw a crowd, to who the gospel will not be preached.
Those young people of yesterday, who’s hearts were convicted by the fiery sermons of yesteryear, mistakenly believe that the Holy Spirit conviction they felt, back then, was a bad thing. They now react by spreading a watered down gospel that is void of any speech that condemns sin and worldliness in the life of those who are Born Again. The young people, of today, often hear empty sermons that are void of the calls to purity and righteousness that Paul and Peter cried out so long ago.
It is becoming rare for us to hear preachers exhorting the body of Christ to live pure and holy lives. Gone are Paul’s messages of “Keep yourself pure.” (1 Tim 5:22) and “…let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1) No longer do we hear “..train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure…” (Titus 2:4), or “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7)
Paul wrote, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” Romans 7:13 Too many of today’s Christian’s skip over this scripture. They do not want to see that exposure of sin is a good thing, sanctioned by God, through the law, in order to help the Christian live in Christ. Many view the exposure of impurity and sin in the life of a Christian as legalistic and wrong.
Love, grace, righteousness, holiness and purity must always be spoken of together. They cannot be separated and one does not outweigh the other. They are all equal attributes of our most Holy God and Lord. We must teach and expect all of those who call themselves Christians to live lives that are motivated by love, grace, righteousness, holiness and purity. Peter wrote, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
WAKE UP YOU SLEEPY CHRISTIAN! In this time when the Body of Christ is shrinking and the sins of prominent preachers are spread all over the internet and in the headiness, it is all the more important for us to heed the calls of Peter and Paul. We do not show the world the qualities of Christ by being like the world, the world will see the qualities of Christ when we start becoming like Christ, when we expect our preachers to teach others to become like Christ, and when we teach others to become like Christ.
Peace in Christ, Steve

My Prayer for us all:

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. ~Peter

We should ask ourselves what it matters if we’re better and richer than anybody we know, but we lose our souls.  Jesus teaches us that the first will be last and the last will be first.  There are so many references to peace in the Bible that I couldn’t read them all at one time.

Life is not us against them, life is us and them.  Success is not rising to the top on the back’s of others, success is rising to the top together with mutual respect and help.  All for one, one for all.

Our prayer for each other and ourselves:  Father teach us to continually bless each other in deed and in prayer.  Teach us that true success comes when we learn to put others before ourselves.  Give us your wisdom and heart Oh God.  Makes us feel silly if we look down on others.  Destroy that lie, in us, that competition is good.  Heal us and destroy those ungodly strongholds we’ve been taught.

Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Philippians 2:3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Galatians 6:4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else…….

Mark 9:50
“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

Acts 10:36
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

James 3:17
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.