God and Google

This past week, Nancy and I were traveling in PA, and we had stopped for lunch at a little diner. While there, we were discussing where to go next, and since we didn’t have any good maps, we were somewhat frustrated. Then I remembered that I have a little program on my phone that finds restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and concerts. So I turned it on, it thought for a minute, and then on the screen there came up a very detailed map of the area, and right in the middle of the map was a little blinking light. I showed it to Nancy and said, “Guess what that little blinking light is? It’s this phone!” Does anybody else find that a little bit scary?

There is a reason these phones are called “smart” phones (my phone contains more computing power than the entire NASA program of 1969 when we landed men on the moon!), but sometimes they are a little bit too smart for my comfort – and this was one of those times! I found it very unnerving that there was a satellite out there somewhere that could pinpoint, to an intersection, the location of my telephone. That is a level of involvement in my personal life that is too close for comfort.

Technology really is a wonderful thing, but in the wrong hands, that technology can have very bad consequences. The scary thing about technology is that it has become predictive.

This morning we are going to be spending our time looking at Someone who has a level of knowledge about you, and a level of involvement in your personal life, that is going to blow you away. If you are impressed by what a smart phone can do, or what Google or Pandora Radio or Amazon can do, wait until you see what Psalm 139 teaches us about God’s involvement in your life.

In Psalm 138:8, David says, “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me, your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting, do not forsake the works of Thy hands.”

There are three distinct clauses here, and I want us to look at each of them very briefly as an introduction to Psalm 139.

“The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Note the tone of certainty here. There is not a hint of question in David’s assertion. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” There are at least two other passages that teach this idea, the first in Jer. 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope.” In the NT, we read in Phil. 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The point of these passages is that God has a plan for your life, and He will bring it about. Both the good and the bad are a part of the plan. We need to be careful not to make the mistake of thinking that God’s plan is working when my life is running smoothly, and that God’s plan has gotten off course when my life is full of difficulty. That isn’t the way it works. “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” What this means in everyday language is that there is nothing random or arbitrary about your life.

So in the first phrase, we see what God is going to do. In the next phrase, we see how God is going to do it. David goes on to say, “your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting.”

I want us to think first about that word “lovingkindness.” It isn’t a part of our normal vocabulary, is it? The KJV uses the word “mercy,” “Your mercy, O Lord, is everlasting” which is a legitimate translation, but our perception of mercy is not nearly broad enough to encompass the meaning of the Hebrew word. “Mercy” in English is “not giving someone what they deserve,” which is true of God, but we limit mercy to a judicial / legal context. The Hebrew word here is much broader and entails the concept of faithfulness, especially faithfulness to the covenants God established with Abraham, Noah, and David.

This is why the ESV translates it as “your steadfast love, O Lord, is everlasting.” The word conveys not only kindness, and mercy, and love but also faithfulness to a promise. The point David is making is that the plan God is working out in your life is going to be carried out within the context of love, and kindness, and mercy.

This is an important point for us to remember because many times we have the misperception that our setting in life is outside of, or beyond the scope of God’s love, or God’s mercy, or God’s kindness. But this phrase tells us otherwise, doesn’t it? “Your steadfast love is everlasting, O Lord.” One of the surprising things I have learned in the prison ministry is that many of those men there have learned the truth of this, and many of the men in the prison church will tell you that prison is the best thing that has ever happened to them. It was actually an act of God’s kindness, even God’s mercy to them, that brought them to a conviction and sentence.

So as we follow the flow of thought in this verse David starts out by telling us what God is going to do, in the phrase “the Lord will accomplish what concerns me.” Then we have how God is going to carry out His plan for our life by telling us it will happen within the context of love and mercy. And finally, we have David’s plea in the phrase, “do not forsake the work of Thy hands.”

The reason I am calling this a plea from David is because God’s plan for our lives often involves difficulty if not outright hardship, pain, and even suffering. David knew a lot about things of this nature, and this is often where we find ourselves when God’s plan for our lives takes a turn in a direction we don’t want to go.

I remember Elisabeth Elliott telling about her conversation with God right after her second husband had been diagnosed with cancer. They were leaving the surgeons office and he had just described the hideous surgeries he was going to have to perform, and EE’s question to God was, “Again?” In other words, “I’ve already lost one husband, am I going to lose another one?” When we find ourselves at this point in God’s plan for our lives, we can identify with David’s plea, “do not forsake the work of thy hands.”

And it is at this point that we come to Psalm 139. It is like the Holy Spirit gave David a microscope and the ability to peer into God’s invisible workings in your life. And it is a sight to behold! Let’s just skim through the first six verses and note how God’s knowledge of us, and His involvement in our lives is so much deeper, even intrusive, that most of us are aware of.

1 & 2 O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.

David’s point here is that God is aware of the mundane (“sitting and rising”) as well as the profound (“you understand my thoughts from afar”). The significance of God’s understanding your thoughts from afar is seen in that when a husband and a wife have been together long enough, they eventually get to the place where they can somewhat read each other’s minds. They can tell what the other person is thinking. But they can only do that when they are close enough to each other to see the face. God doesn’t have that limitation. He “understands our thoughts from afar.”

3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways.

I want us to think about this word “scrutinize” for a moment (the KJV uses the word “compasseth”). The Hebrew word for “scrutinize” has the idea of “measuring,” but with the ultimate emphasis on comprehensive knowledge. Here’s how it works. How many of you are familiar with the old carpenter’s adage, “measure once, cut twice?” What’s the point? Before you commit to making a cut, you better measure, and then measure again. And if you are working with mahogany, or teak, you better measure one more time just to make sure. So the idea of scrutiny grows out of this activity of careful measuring. And when you are scrutinizing something, the net result is that you end up with a comprehensive knowledge of the subject.

Think about the the difference between having a “comprehensive” knowledge of something, and a “working” knowledge of something? For instance, I have a “working” knowledge of plumbing, but certainly not a comprehensive knowledge. The same with carpentry and mechanics. That old saying “a jack of all trades and master of none” fits me well.

David’s point is that God’s knowledge of us is not a working knowledge! It is a comprehensive knowledge, based on His scrutinizing of our lives.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all.

This verse is telling us that God’s knowledge of me is not limited to my ability to express / articulate my need. Several years ago we were babysitting several children for a couple of days, and one of the children had some kind of condition where she would become extremely agitated and incommunicative. When she got like this she would moan and groan and gasp and writhe – obviously in great distress – but she couldn’t talk. And one night at bed time, she was having one of these times and I remember saying to her over and over, “I want to help you, but you have to use words.”

David’s point is that we don’t have to use words! There may be times in our life where we are so agitated or hurt or disillusioned that we can’t even articulate what is on our hearts. That’s not a problem with God! “Before the word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all.” The N.T. teaching of this is found in Rom. 8:26 where Paul says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” So again, we see how incredibly deep God’s knowledge of us really is.

5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before,

The concept here is complete protection. I really like how the various versions translate this.

“I am shut in by you on every side” BBE
“You surround me – front and back” CEB
“You hem me in, behind and before” NIV
“You go before me and follow me” NLT

David’s point is that when you have protection on one side only, you are still very vulnerable. So God surrounds us! And then note what David says. Not only is God completely surrounding us, note how close He is to us. “And laid Thy hand upon me.” Have you ever noticed how comforting touch is?

Something I have learned about painting houses is that the higher up I go, the less comfortable I am standing on a walk board. I don’t mind being on a ladder because I hold on to a rung with one hand and paint with the other, but when you are on a walk board, there is nothing to hang on to! One time I was about 30 feet up painting the peak of a house. I was standing on an 18” walk board, which is more than sufficient – it shouldn’t have been hard for me at all. But I couldn’t hold my paint pot in one hand and paint with the other. I had to keep a finger on the side of the house! And as long as I kept one finger on the side of the house, I could lean out to the side and paint, and reach up high overhead and paint, but the moment I took my finger off the side of the house I felt like I was going to lose my balance and fall.

Which is completely illogical, when you think about it. Having my finger on the side of the house accomplishes nothing in the realm of reality when it comes to protection from falling. If I stumble, that finger on the side of the house isn’t going to do one single thing to help me out. But as long as the touch was there, I felt safe. That is the power of touch. So when David says “Thou has enclosed me behind and before, and laid Thy hand upon me,” he is conveying not only protection but also tangible comfort.

And then in verse six we see David’s conclusion. I really like the way the CMV translates it. “I am blown away by all of this.” By the way, CMV stands for the Contemporary Murray Version, the way the NAS puts it is, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.” And so as David meditates on the level of God’s knowledge of him, and the depth of God’s involvement in his life – it blows his mind. He gives up on trying to wrap his head around it.

Isn’t this an overwhelming answer to the plea of Psalm 138:8 – “do not forsake the work of thy hands”? God’s response is “not only will I not forsake you, I will monitor your most mundane activities, I will predict your very thoughts, and I will comprehensively envelop you and keep My hand on you.”

Are you starting to see that God’s knowledge of and involvement in your life is a little bit deeper than we usually think? In our introduction this morning, I talked with you about how far our technology has progressed, and that it has even become predictive, but warned you that too much personal information in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Isn’t it comforting to know that God knows more about you than Google or Facebook will ever find out? But you don’t ever have to worry about how God will use that knowledge. You won’t ever lose sleep at night wondering about it, in fact, you’ll sleep better!

Church Leadership in the New Testament

Church Leadership in the New Testament

This morning we are going to be doing a quick study of church leadership in the New Testament. Several months ago, the trustees presented a revised constitution to the church that we voted on and approved, and in the near future they will be presenting a revised set of by-laws that we will discuss and vote on as well. One of the matters that is covered in the by-laws is this matter of church leadership, and in particular, what labels should we use to refer to the men who lead this church.

And to start us thinking about this, I have some questions for you. Why am I called a pastor, but in other churches the man filling my role in the church is called “Father?” Why are some men in a church called a “bishop?” Why do some churches have “elders,” and “teaching elders?” Why am I called “Pastor Murray?” Why is Nancy sometimes called “Mrs. Pastor?” What does the word “pastor” mean? Is it biblical? Is it the best word to use to describe my function. Let‟s see if we can answer some of these questions this morning.

Let‟s start by looking at 1 Peter 5, and what I want to show you is that there are five different words used in the NT to describe male leaders in the church, the first one is found in 1 Pt. 5.

1. Elder – 1 Pt. 5:1

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

presbuteros – emphasis on age, wisdom, and maturity.

2. Deacon – Phil. 1:1

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons:

diakonos – emphasis on physical ministry to the body of Christ.

3. Overseer (the KJV uses the word bishop) – 1 Tim. 3:1

It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

episkopos – emphasis on oversight and superintendence.

4. Pastor – Eph. 4:11

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers

poimen – emphasis on shepherding, tending, protection.

5. Teacher – James 3:1

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.

didaskalos – emphasis on instruction.

Summary: according to what we have just seen, there were five specific leadership roles in the New Testament Church: elder, deacon, overseer, pastor and teacher. I don‟t think every church had one of each, and there is evidence that some of these roles overlapped. For instance, in Eph. 4:11 shows us that the concept of pastor and teacher was a dual role. In Col. 1 Paul refers to himself as a diakonos.

What I want us to do now is look at a very instructive passage in Acts 20 where you see three of these words used in the same paragraph to describe the same group of men. In verse 17 we read, “And from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders [our word presbuteros – what is the emphasis on? wisdom, age, and maturity – it was a clearly identified, select group of men] of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them . . .” From verse 18 through 35 Paul leaves his parting challenge with these elders.

Now, in verse 28 he says, speaking to this group of elders, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [episkopos – oversight, superintendence], to shepherd [poimein – tend, protect] the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

What do we see from this passage? First of all, we see that the “elders” and “overseers” refer to the same person, and secondly, we see that their responsibility is to shepherd. What this means is that the label to use for these men is “elder,” and the functions they perform are twofold: oversight and shepherding. So remember that the label is “elder” and the functions so far are “oversight” and “shepherding.”
Now, there is a third function an elder performs, and that is found in Eph. 4:11 and James 3:1 where we read that God has graciously given “teachers” to His church. In Eph. 4:11 we have the idea of the “pastor – teacher,” and in the James passage we have the admonition not to be too eager to become a teacher in the church because of the additional accountability you incur.

Summarize: so do you see that elder, overseer, pastor, and teacher are all synonyms for the same group of men. Only one of the terms (elder) is a label; the other terms (overseer, pastor, and teacher) are all functions. You can‟t “elder” a church, but you can “oversee / pastor / teach” a church.

Now, let me give you a curious note about elders: the word “elder” is used as a singular noun only four times in the NT.

 “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis . . .” 1 Tim. 5:19
 “. . . as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ . . .” 1 Pt. 5:1
 “The elder to the chosen lady . . .” 2 John 1:1
 “The elder to the beloved Gaius . . . “ 3 John 1:1

Otherwise, the term “elder,” used in connection with the local church, is always used as a plural. Fifteen times the male leadership of the church is referred to as “the elders.” A quick sampling includes:

 Acts 14:23 – “when they had appointed elders for them in every church . . .”
 Acts 15:2 – “go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders . . .”
 1 Tim. 5:7 – “Let the elders who rule well be considered . . .”
 Titus 1:5 – “I left you in Crete that you might . . . appoint elders in every church.”
 James 5:14 – “Call for the elders of the church . . .”
 1 Pt. 5:5 – “. . . be subject to your elders . . .”

Now, something significant that I want to point out to you is that never once do you see the term “pastor” as a singular noun in the NT, as in “the pastor.” It is seen only once as a plural noun, in Eph. 4:11; and there, the context is the universal church, not the local church. One of the gifts God has given “the church” is “pastors.”

Where then does the idea of “a pastor” as the head of the church come from?

Turn with me to 1 Tim. 3:14. In these verses we have Paul‟s purpose for writing to Timothy, and he says, “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

Paul‟s intent / purpose in these two letters to Timothy was to give Timothy instructions on how a church was to function. This is why we have extended sections dealing with

 prayer in the church,
 the role of women in the church,
 qualifications for bishops (church leaders),
 qualifications for deacons (church leaders),
 how to care for widows in the church,
 the function of elders (church leaders),

In other words, 1 and 2 Timothy is all about what a biblical church should look like. But these aren‟t the only books in the NT that address this issue, because the letter to Titus contains the same basic information. Look with me at Titus 1:5.

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” And as you read further through Titus you see many parallels to the letters to Timothy.

Now, here is my point. I‟m trying to answer the question, “Where does the idea of a pastor (as opposed to a group of men) as the head of a church come from?” and the answer is that when Paul was writing to a church to give them instructions on how they should function, he sent those letters to an individual, not to a board. Timothy and Titus were the acknowledged human leaders of the church in Ephesus and Crete.

In addition to this, when the Apostle John wrote to a group of churches in Asia Minor, he addressed his message to “the angel” of the various churches. In Rev. 1:20 we read "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Then when you go into chapters 2 and 3, each section dedicated to a church starts with the phrase, “to the angel of the church in ________________.”

The word used here can be translated as either “angel” or “messenger,” and the context indicates that this “angel” was the human leader of the church. So the point is that when John had a message to communicate to a church, he did not write to a board, or a group of men, he wrote to an individual.

This is where the idea of “a pastor” comes from. But understand that it is a role. It is a function a man fulfils in the church. Technically, it shouldn‟t be used as a label. Now, is it wrong, or unbiblical to refer to me as Pastor Murray? Not at all. That is the role I fill in this church. But what am I? I am a presbuteros (elder) who episkopos (oversee), diakonis (serve), poimein (shepherd), and didaskolos (teach).

Summary: By far, the term used most often to describe the leadership of the local church is “elders.” And the fact that it is most often plural (15 out of 19) is significant. What this tells us is that it is the plurality of godly leadership in a church that provides the most comprehensive care and the most balanced leadership.

Now, what about deacons? In the New Testament, deacon refers to the men charged with the physical dimension of church ministry. Most Baptist churches mistakenly label these men as trustees. But when you study the scriptural accounts of how the work was carried out in the early church, you see there is a clear division of labor between spiritual ministry and physical ministry. We see this most clearly in Acts 6:1-6.

Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 3 "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. 4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word." 5 And the statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

Something interesting about this passage is that none of the terms under discussion are found in this passage, but what we do see is that there is a clear difference between “serving tables” (v. 2) and the “ministry of the word” (v. 4). The parallel between the work to which the apostles wanted to limit themselves, and the work of the elders / overseers / pastors / teachers is very obvious -it is the “ministry of the word.” What that leaves is the “serving of tables,” or the physical ministry of the church.

The word “deacon” (diakonos) means “one who executes the commands of another.” It is often used to refer to a servant, as in Mt. 22:13 – “Then the king said to the servants (diakonois), „bind him . . .‟” Mt. 20:26 – “It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant (diakonos).” John 2:5 – “His mother said to the servants (diakonois) „Whatever He says to you . . .‟”
Several times diakonos is translated as “minister” showing the spiritual dimension of the word. Col. 1:25 – “Of this church I was made a minister (diakonos) according to the stewardship from God . . .” Eph. 6:21 – “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minster (diakonos) in the Lord.” Mt. 4:11 – “Then the Devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister (diakonoun) to Him.” His qualifications for the position are listed in 1 Tim. 3, but how he actually serves the church is found in how the word is used throughout the NT.

So that is a summary of what the NT teaches about church leadership – two clearly defined roles that overlap from time to time. What does all this mean for us? How closely do we want our church to follow the model for church leadership established in the New Testament? In a couple of months, you will be voting on a new set of by-laws that reflect this understanding. I look forward to your feedback and questions.

How To Conquer A Critical Spirit

How to Conquer A Critical Spirit
Psalm 139

This morning we are going to be finishing up our little series on a critical spirit. Just to make sure we are all on the same page, we have defined a critical spirit as a negative attitude / perspective that focuses on real or perceived problems, with no thought given to a biblical or practical solution. The key phrase is the last one because what separates the critical spirit that God judges from genuine concern that God blesses is the presence or absence of a proposed solution.

So far in this series we have seen the danger of a critical spirit and the roots of a critical spirit. The danger of a critical spirit is seen in the severity of how God dealt with it [Miriam and Michal], and the roots of a critical spirit is usually either envy, pride, or hypocrisy. If you missed either of these two messages, please download them from my blog. All this leads us up to where we are today as we think about how to conquer a critical spirit. As I shared with you last week, there are four steps we can take to do this. Now, I need to point out that the title of this message isn’t “Four Easy Steps to Conquering A Critical Spirit.” It involves a lot of hard work and a humble spirit. And for the first one, I want us to turn to Psalm 139 as we consider the practice of rigorous self examination.

1. Practice Rigorous Self-examination – Psalm 139

O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. 2 Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. 3 Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, And art intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all. 5 Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

In verses 7 – 12, David spends some time talking about the impossibility of getting away from God’s presence. You may try to hide from God or ignore Him, but it’s impossible! In verses 13 – 16 he addresses God’s creative involvement in the fetus. If you have ever wondered about a good passage dealing with life before birth, this is it.

In verses 17 – 22 there are some thoughts about the wicked, but then note how David ends the psalm with a request. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

What is interesting about this Psalm is that it starts with an acknowledgment of God’s intimate knowledge of us, but ends with an invitation for God to investigate his life. This needs to be our prayer. The first step to conquering a critical spirit is to humble yourself before God and ask Him to “probe” your heart. That is what the word “search” literally means.

When I was sanding our floor and got a huge splinter in the heel of my hand, it was broken off so deeply that I couldn’t see it. The doctor took a scalpel and cut the length of the bump, and then took a long needle and started digging around to find the splinter (which felt like a plank!). What was he doing? He was “probing.” It was difficult, and it was painful, but it was necessary to fixing the problem.

That is what David is asking God to do to his heart. Dig around. Probe a little bit. Pull away the layers of flesh and see if there are hurtful, grievous things in his life. And if you are serious about dealing with a critical spirit, this is where you start. You ask God to reveal to you if you are struggling in this area.

Next, I want you to turn to Mt. 23. In this passage we are going to see another important factor in conquering a critical spirit, and it is the discipline of distinguishing between gnats and camels. Look with me at verses 23 – 24.

2. Practice Distinguishing Between Gnats and Camels – Mt. 23:23 - 24

23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, but have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Here we see Jesus rebuking the religious leaders for a practice that is pretty familiar to us. In v. 23 we see how the scribes and Pharisees were punctilious, even obsessive in their tithing – even going to the point of separating out 1/10th of a portion of some of the smallest spices they had. Why would they be preoccupied with something so minute? It was because of their hypocrisy. One of the primary indicators of the hypocrisy / pharisaical spirit is a fixation on the visible. They pray on street corners to be seen of men, instead of in their closets. They mope and have long faces when they fast so that everybody will know they are fasting, instead of fasting in secret. They make a great show when they bring their offerings so that everyone will be impressed with their generosity instead of giving in secret so that only God knows of their generosity. Pharisees want to be seen, and their thinking was that if people saw them obsessing over something as small as their spices, surely the observers would conclude that the Pharisees were equally serious about big matters, and therefore quite spiritual.

But in verse 24 Jesus exposes them for their hypocrisy by mentioning two unclean animals, the gnat and the camel. In Lev. 5 God tells the nation of Israel that the swarming insects are unclean, and even if you inadvertently touch one, you are ceremonially defiled. In Lev. 11, God tells the nation of Israel that camels are unclean as well. So what we have here are the two extreme ends of the size spectrum of unclean things, gnats and camels.

The Pharisees, true to form, would put gauze over their drinking vessels to make sure they didn’t accidently swallow a gnat. But when it came to the huge issues that would defile a person, they couldn’t care less.

This concept has great application to a critical spirit, and if you struggle with this, it is important to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. Were gnats legitimately unclean things that could defile you? Yes. But all unclean things were not equal in their “badness.” How do we know this is true? Because the requirements for being restored were different depending on the infraction. For instance, sometimes when you became defiled, you were unclean until evening, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to bathe, sometimes you were unclean until evening and you had to wash your clothes, sometimes you were unclean for a week, but at other times you were unclean for a month, sometimes you just had to wait for a period of time but sometimes you had to bring a sacrifice.

All unclean things were not equal in their gravity, and the same is true with the issues we encounter in life that we are tempted to have a critical spirit about. Some things are gnats, and some things are camels, and a person with a critical spirit needs to develop the ability to distinguish between them.

I had a co-worker one time who continually bugged me because I ate ham. He told me I was violating scripture, that the swine was unclean (he couldn’t even bring himself to call it ham, or pork, or even pig – it was swine), and it was a huge issue to him. Yet he smoked pot every night because it acted as a sedative for him. In fact, he tried to argue that his smoking pot every night to get to sleep was no different than me drinking coffee every morning to wake up. Do you see the inability to distinguish between gnats and camels? The critical person needs to understand that all problems are not equal in gravity, and he then needs to give his energies to the big things and let the little things ride.

So as we think about the steps to conquering a critical spirit, we have seen that we need to practice rigorous self-examination, and secondly, we need to learn how to distinguish between gnats and camels. The third thing we need to focus on is found in 1 Thess. 5:18, and I’m calling this step practicing the discipline of gratitude.

3. Practice the Discipline of Gratitude – 1 Thess. 5:18

“In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”

How many of you see the comprehensive nature of this command? The verse doesn’t say, “Give thanks in most things,” or “Give thanks in many things,” but “Give thanks in everything.” Something else I want you to note about this verse is the phrase, “for this is God’s will for you.” That is a very rare phrase in the Bible! In fact, I think the only other place you see the phrase “for this is God’s will for you” is in 1 Th. 4:3 which talks about abstaining from sexual immorality. What this tells me is that there are at least two issues where you will never have to worry about what God’s will is – being thankful and keeping yourself pure.

But I point this out because God takes gratitude very seriously. It is God’s will for you to give thanks in every situation. I don’t know of too many things that will cure a critical spirit as quickly as this matter of deliberate gratitude. I learned this principle in the context of my migraine headaches. I knew I could either lie in bed and stew and complain and gripe about my condition, or I could “give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” So I decided to give it a try one day and started thanking God for the chemists who have discovered codeine to deaden the pain, and a soft bed to lie on instead of being on a bumpy road, and for being self-employed which gives me the flexibility to lie down for a couple of hours. And it is amazing what the discipline of gratitude will do to improve your outlook on life.

Let me challenge you. The next time you find yourself about to complain or gripe about or criticize something (regardless of how legitimate it is), see if you can find ten things about that situation to give thanks for. And to make this really practical, let’s work through a situation that is facing us right now.
When I got home Friday night, I saw that our governor had signed this Marriage Equality Bill and I was very disappointed about it. I don’t know if you appreciate the magnitude of what happened in Albany on Friday, but it was huge. In the realm of culture, and society, and freedom – it was bigger than 9/11. 9/11 was simply terrorists who hate the United States, so they destroyed two landmark buildings and killed a lot of people. Without diminishing the grief of those who lost loved ones in the tragedy, 9/11 did not fundamentally alter our culture and set in motion a series of events that will eventually bring about the end of our freedoms as we know them today.

But my point is that as easy as it could be to have this critical spirit, is it possible to find ten things about this scenario to be thankful for?
1. Expressing my opinion without fear of arrest and torture.
2. I’m on the right side.
3. This world isn’t my home – no matter how bad it gets here I’m in heaven for eternity.
4. I can stand before God with a clear conscience in this matter.
5. It was a huge educational opportunity for my children.
See how that works? It takes our focus off the negative and onto the positive. We aren’t ignoring reality here, we are creating a spirit of optimism through the discipline of gratitude, even in the face of defeat or serious problems.

Now the final truth I want to share with you comes from the book of Nehemiah, and it is here we see the idea of focusing on solutions, not merely the verbalizing of the problem. So why don’t you turn to chapter one and we’ll skim through several chapters of this short book to look at how Nehemiah faced his problems.

4. Practice Focusing on Solutions – Neh. 2:17

If you aren’t familiar with the context of Nehemiah, here it is in a nutshell. The nation of Israel has been conquered and the people have been deported to foreign countries. The capital Jerusalem, and even worse the temple, have been destroyed.
In chapter 1, we see that Nehemiah is a Jewish official working in the palace of King Artaxerxes. The king graciously gives Nehemiah permission to go back to his homeland to start rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Starting in chapter 2 verse 12, you can read about Nehemiah’s survey of the damage.

In verse 17 we read “Then [Nehemiah] said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach." That was all he had to say about the situation. He wasn’t asking “why” it had taken so long to start rebuilding, he didn’t try to analyze the work ethic of the people, he didn’t deride the people who had been living there for not starting the work, he simply said, “let’s get to work.”

So in chapter 3 you see his solution to the problem. Various groups of people were assigned to various sections of the wall to get the job done. Some worked while the others stood guard, but they had definite goals to accomplish. What I like about Nehemiah is that he was a doer, not a talker. He was not an armchair quarterback. He could see the problems very clearly, but his focus was on solutions, not merely verbalizing the problem! Anybody can verbalize about a problem, and many people excel at it, but few people are willing to go on and do the hard work of coming up with a solution.

I remember when God highlighted my tendency to do this. Several months ago, there was a bill in the senate that was granting broad powers to the Child Protective Services. Part of the bill established that if a parent refused to let a CPS worker into the home, that refusal constituted probable cause and immediately established grounds for a search warrant. This is a huge invasion of privacy, which is why so many people in NY were having fits about it. So I called the Senator responsible for sponsoring the bill, spoke with his administrative assistant and expressed my opposition to the bill. I pretty much repeated verbatim the little paragraph that had been sent to me, and the woman on the other end of the line said, “And sir, what do you suggest instead?” And for a moment, I was stunned.

I could see what the problem was. I felt strongly about the situation. I could have spent some time telling her the problems this was going to cause in the future, but I had given no thought at all to an alternative solution to the rampant child abuse that takes place in the homes in our state. Fortunately, I was able to recover and said something about finding different language that protected our freedoms, but it was a powerful lesson to me about this problem of focusing only on the verbalizing of the problem.

So what does it take to overcome a critical spirit? Rigorous self-examination, the ability to distinguish between gnats and camels, the discipline of deliberate gratitude, and a focus on solutions, not simply spouting out criticisms.

May God help us at Cornerstone Baptist Church / Greenville Center Baptist Church not to harbor critical spirits.

The Roots of A Critical Spirit

The Roots of A Critical Spirit
James 4:1


Last week we were in Numbers 12 where we were looking at the danger of a critical spirit. In this passage we saw that Miriam and Aaron were "speaking against" Moses. The nature of their speaking against him doesn't seem all that bad, does it (something to do with his Cushite wife)? Yet it was significant enough in God's eyes that He responded to that criticism very strongly. One of the thoughts I had this past week is that this kind of response on God's part may seem foreign to us because of our growing up in the United States where "freedom of expression" is one of those inalienable rights that we hold so dearly.


There are two issues here that come into play. The first has to do with speaking against duly ordained authority, and the second has to do with spreading dissension. We developed the spreading dissension aspect by looking at Prov. 6:16-19 where we saw that "sowing discord among the brethren" is an "abomination" in God's eyes, but what about this matter of speaking against your authority?

How many of you have ever heard a sermon taken from 1 Sam. 24:1-7. This is the story of David and Saul when David is on the run. Saul wants to kill him because so many of the nation of Israel are enamored with David. And even thought the people of the nation want David to be king, and even though God has already chosen David to be the next king, and even though the prophet had anointed David to be the next king, Saul is king. As such, he is David's duly ordained authority, and as such, David has to live under Saul's authority and treat him with due respect.

Well, the opportunity comes up for David to kill Saul. Saul is asleep, and David sneaks into his camp, but instead of killing Saul, he humiliates him by cutting off a part of his robe. In this little scenario, David articulates a timeless principle. When his soldier says, "The Lord has delivered your enemy into you hand, kill him," David says, "I will not lift up my hand against the Lord's anointed."

That is the principle that was being violated when Miriam and Aaron "spoke against" Moses. And that is why God responded so strongly. He publicly, visibly, disciplined her for a prolonged period of time. And so the entire nation of Israel sat in neutral for a week while God dealt with Miriam.

Today, we are going to be looking at the roots of a critical spirit. In other words, the critical spirit is a surface issue, there is something beneath the surface we need to address. The critical spirit is a manifestation of something deeper. And it is silly to treat surface problems, right? We don't put band-aids on basal cell carcinomas, do we? We get out the scalpel and treat it conclusively.

So let's look at this passage in James 4:1 where we see the root of all sinful expressions, especially a critical spirit. "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?" These two words, "wars" and "fights" refer to prolonged conflict, as well as smaller conflicts. They span the spectrum from armed conflict like we see all over the world, to the verbal conflicts that may have taken place on the way to church this morning! James is telling us that these things happen because in our heart, we have desires that are fighting for supremacy, or control.

"We want what we want, when we want it. And when we don't get it, bad stuff happens if the Spirit of God is not in control of my life."

Let's look at three heart issues that generate a critical spirit. The first is found in last week's text, Numbers 11 &12, where we see a spirit of envy in Miriam and Aaron. This spirit of envy isn't explicitly recorded for us, but when you look at the flow of these two chapters, you can see something interesting. Listen to this series of verses while I read them.

11:1 - Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord hear it, and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed, the fire was quenched."

11:16 - God gives Moses 70 assistants to help with the administration of the nation. "So the Lord said to Moses, "Gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone."

11:18 - when the people were complaining about not having meat to eat - "Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat."

It is in the context of Moses stopping a plague simply by praying, and Moses providing meat for the nation simply by praying, and Moses having so much of the Spirit of God that he can share it with 70 other men who are going to help him with the nation, that we come to chapter 12:1 where we read, "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses and said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses and not us also?" The envy is pretty obvious, isn't it?

Envy produces a critical spirit. I remember the first time I saw how this worked, and it was 43 years ago! I still remember it today! I was about 7 years old, and my older brother had just received his first shotgun, a .410, and I was so proud of him. In fact, I was so proud I immediately ran down the road to tell my friend Mark. And to this day I can still see Mark's face and hear his voice as he said, "I wouldn't have it." Even at that young age, I saw the dismissive contempt in his voice was really nothing more than envy. And that spirit of envy was producing a critical spirit.

What I have learned over the years is to look for envy at some level whenever I see a critical spirit. If it isn't envy driving the critical spirit, it's probably pride, which is what we see in our next source of a critical spirit. Look with me next at 1 Sam. 18:5-9.

"So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. So the women sang as they danced, and said: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him: and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" So Saul eyed David from that day forward.

Do you see how Saul's pride had been wounded? And what did that wounded pride generate in his heart? A critical spirit.

We see another example of this in the life of David in 2 Sam. 6. This is the story of David coming back to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant, and he is so thrilled that the Ark is back in the Tabernacle that he sets aside his kingly decorum, and in verse 14 we read that, "David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter [who also happens to be David's wife], looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart." How's that for a critical spirit? Now drop down to verse 20. "Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today [just in case you can't see it, this is sarcasm], uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"

Do you see how her wounded pride as generated a critical spirit? Her husband was the king, and in her estimation, the King doesn't take off his ephod and dance in the streets. That is what the "underclass" does (she uses the term "base fellows"). And as a side note, God severely chastises her. Look in verse 21. So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, bu them I will be held in honor. Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."

Do you see the pride that has been wounded, which in turn generates the critical spirit? It is no coincidence that proud, or arrogant people are also very critical people. We don't have time to look at it this morning, but spend some time this afternoon in Luke 7:36-50 where you have the story of the Pharisee Simon and the woman who anoints Jesus' feet. As Simon watches Jesus' interaction with this woman, you can hear his critical spirit as he says to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."

The final heart issue that generates a critical spirit is a spirit of hypocrisy. For an illustration of this one, we are going to look into the New Testament, so let's look at Mt. 7:1-5.

"Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye?" Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

We see an example of this concept in action in the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:2-11.

Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery [This is significant that it was the Scribes and Pharisees, two groups of religious leaders known for their hypocrisy]. And when they had set her in the midst [this is a public humiliation], they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded that such should be stoned, but what do you say?" This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear [I love this dismissive act on the part of Jesus]. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heart it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."

Did you see how Jesus gets right to the heart of the pharisaical, hypocritical issue here? These men, because of the planks in their own eyes, couldn't see clearly enough to see the speck in the adulterous woman's eye. Which is really interesting when you think about it, because adultery is not small sin! But Jesus masterfully makes a statement that exposes the motives of these men when He said, " he who is without sin can cast the first stone."

Do you remember me saying last week in our definition of a critical spirit that a critical spirit is marked by a lack of a solution?


So what does all this mean for us this morning? A critical spirit is like a warning light on the dashboard of your car. When that little orange light comes on, you know there is something wrong under the hood. It may be that you are low on gas, or that it is about time to change the oil, or that you have a slow leak in your radiator and the engine is overheating - but the presence of the orange warning light means that something isn't right with the engine. That is what the presence of a critical spirit indicates. Either there is a a spirit of envy in the heart, or a spirit of pride that needs to be dealt with, or simply the presence of a hypocritical, judgmental attitude.

Whatever it may be, just understand two things. 1) It needs to be dealt with. You dare not let it go unchecked. And 2) remember that God takes the critical attitude seriously. He doesn't overlook it by saying, "Well, Michal was having hormonal issues, she'll feel better tomorrow." No, she was childless until the day of her death. He doesn't minimize the critical attitude by saying, "Miriam is really tired and has been stressed recently, she'll be more optimistic in another day or so." No, God struck her with leprosy and publicly chastised her. This is a serious matter in God's eyes.

And finally, let me challenge us to work together to deal with this matter. What I mean by that is, don't leave it up to your pastor to deal with critical attitudes! When somebody comes to you with that negative attitude and they haven't given any thought to a biblical or practical solution, would you stop them in their tracks? Remind them of what we talked about last week in spreading discord in the body. Remind them that they need to speak to the person who is the problem, or to the person who is a part of the solution to the problem. Another way you can help us work together on this is to get a copy of this message to those who weren't here last week or this morning. Now, do it in a gracious way. Don't hand the manuscript to them and say, "Here, you really need help with this. You're the most critical person I've ever met!" There are better ways to do it than that. But the idea is for all of us to get on board together with it so that we can be in a place where God will bless us.

The Danger of a Critical Spirit

The Danger of A Critical Spirit
Num. 11

Several weeks ago we were studying the issue of contentment. I shared with you that as humans we have a tendency toward being discontent. It is part of our old nature, and when you grow up privileged, as we Americans have, this can really be a problem. We defined contentment as “a heart that was satisfied with Jesus because we could acknowledge His sufficient care for us in every realm; physical, emotional and spiritual.” This truth is taught repeatedly in the Bible. In 2 Pt. 1:3 we read that God’s “divine power hath given unto us all things concerning life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” In Phil. 4:19 we read, “And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” In 1 Pt. 5:7 we read that we can cast all our cares on Him because He cares for us. And the list goes on and on - contentment in this life is possible.

What I want to speak about this morning is on the other side of the coin, and that is the danger of a critical spirit. And just like this matter of discontent, a critical spirit comes to us naturally. We don't have to be taught how to gripe, do we? Your parents never sat you down and said, "Here's how to whine about the humidity." This ability comes to us at birth, so let’s start right in with a definition of a critical spirit. “A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution.” Let me repeat that. "A negative attitude that focuses on real or imagined faults, with no thought toward a biblical or practical solution."

There are several things I want to point out about this definition. First of all, note that a critical spirit isn’t limited to perceived problems. We can have a critical spirit about genuine, real problems. Another way of putting this is that the existence of an actual problem does not justify a critical spirit. For instance, we have a genuine problem with our church cleaning system. We used to pass a clip board but that can be disruptive, so we went to a voluntary signup sheet. But for a variety of reasons, no one was signing up. So the church either doesn’t get cleaned, or the same person cleans it week after week. So then we went back to sending the clip board around, but we usually only get one family per week to clean, which isn't optimal. This is an actual problem, not a perceived on. The church still does not get cleaned on some weekends. But just because this is a real problem doesn’t mean that we can harbor a critical spirit. We can't gripe about the leadership of the church, or the policies of the church, or anything else.

And this leads us to the second half of the definition. How do you know if your feelings about a situation are a critical spirit or “righteous indignation?” I mean, even Jesus himself got angry from time to time, right? It has to do with where you go with your feelings. This is what we see in the phrase, “with no thought toward a biblical / practical solution.” This is a critical distinction. A critical spirit focuses on the problem only! What separates griping / complaining / whining / critical spirit from legitimate concern is the presence of absence of a solution. So let me challenge you right here at the beginning of this message to learn how to evaluate your concerns and focus on solutions, not simply the airing of your grievances.

So with this introduction to a critical spirit, let’s go to the book of Numbers and look at an example of a critical spirit and God’s response to it. Let's read chapter 12 verses 1 - 16 together. What we are going to see in these verses are the effects of a critical spirit. Then, as we have time, we are going to go to some other Scriptures and look at the roots of a critical spirit, and finally we are going to see the cure for a critical spirit.

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman) 2 and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so, with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my household; 8 with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” 9 So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. 16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

In these verses, we see at least four effects of a critical spirit, so what I want to show you this morning is how a critical spirit can affect Cornerstone Baptist Church.

First of all, in verses 1 - 3, we see that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians. Because of the envy Aaron and Miriam had toward Moses (and this is something we are going to develop further next week), there was division now between these family members. What is the purpose of the family? Turn with me to Prov. 17:17 where we see the answer. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” That does not mean that brothers are born to fight with each other, it means that a family is supposed to be a cohesive unit so that when adversity comes, you aren’t facing it alone. These three siblings were the recognizable leaders of the nation. Moses and Aaron were a team, and Miriam was a prophetess, and now at this critical point in the history of the nation, the unity had been jeopardized. And had this division not been dealt with the consequences could have been disastrous. This is why Jesus said in Mt. 12:25 that “a house divided against itself will not stand.”

That is how a critical spirit works - it separates us from our fellow Christians. If you have a chronic critical spirit, nobody wants to be around you! You will find yourself becoming a very lonely person. From time to time you will find another critical spirit who will give you an ear, but generally speaking, nobody wants to hear it. Over the years I have met multiple people who have church all by themselves, in their living room, every Sunday morning. Why? Because their critical spirit has made it impossible for them to have any significant level of relationship with other Christians.

So the first effect of a critical spirit we see in these verses is that it separates us from our fellow Christians. The second effect is found in verses 4 – 9 where we see that a critical spirit separates us from fellowship with God. One of the things this passage alerts us to is that God is aware of a critical spirit. Did you catch that at the end of verse 2? “And the Lord heard it.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Can you imagine how careful we would be in our conversations if God still worked this way today? God is the “unseen listener of every conversation,” and when He heard this critical spirit being expressed, He dealt with it strongly. Note especially in verse 9 where we read that the “anger of the Lord burned against them.” God was angry with them for their words about Moses.

When you are harboring a critical spirit, you can forget about having any kind of good relationship with God. Your fellowship with Him is gone, He isn’t going to be hearing and answering your prayers, He isn’t going to be communing with you through your Bible reading. The only thing you can expect in the relationship is to be “called out” (cf. vv. 4-5) and dealt with strongly. So in addition to a critical spirit affecting your relationship with other Christians, it also brings separation between you and God.

The third thing we see in this passage according to verses 10 - 15 is that a critical spirit brings serious consequences to the one practicing it. God struck Miriam with leprosy. This was a public, visible punishment. The entire nation was aware of it. It is similar to Paul’s advice to Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:20 that when you have a person in a place of leadership that continues in sin, he is to be “rebuked in the presence of all.” Why the public rebuke? “So that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.” That is the price of leadership, and as a leader in the nation, Miriam is publicly chastised by God.

This tells us that this matter is significant in God's eyes. It is no small thing to have a critical spirit! Please don’t dismiss these messages as “Murray is making mountains out of molehills again.” Let me share with you a very sobering passage from Proverbs. Turn with me to chapter 6, and let’s read verses 16 – 19. “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife (discord)among brothers.”

Proportionately, there aren’t too many things in the Bible that are labeled as abominations in God’s eyes, so when an activity gets that label, we ought to pay attention to it! Few things spread strife among the brethren more effectively than a critical spirit!

And finally, note in verses 15 - 16 that a critical spirit hurts the progress, of others. Verse 15 says that “the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again, and afterward, the people moved.” The entire nation of Israel had to sit there and wait until Miriam was done being disciplined by God before they could move on. For seven days, they were shut down and went no where. And what a sad reality it is that the entire nation, not just the guilty parties, suffered the consequences of Miriam and Aaron’s critical spirit.

So the four effects of a critical spirit are that a critical spirit separates us from our fellow Christians, it separates us from fellowship with God, it brings serious consequences to the one spreading the criticism, and a critical spirit hurts the progress of those around us. But what does all of this mean for us this morning? Let me give you several points of application.

• In a church setting, you are in the midst of sinful, selfish leaders; and sinful, selfish brothers and sisters in the Lord. Because of this reality, you aren’t going to have to look too hard to find problems. Some of them may be real problems, some of them may be perceived problems, but how are you going to deal with them? Are you going to harbor a critical spirit and spread dissension in the church, or are you going to deal with it in a biblical way?

• When you see a problem, deal with it the right way – don’t pull a Miriam and Aaron who spoke against the person they had the problem with. Let’s say that you don’t like how long I preach, or you don’t care for the music that Ray / Mary picks out for our choruses, or you think that some of the deacons are unqualified to be serving as deacons. How are you going to deal with problem? Well, keeping in mind our definition of a critical spirit let me give you two important reminders.

• There are only two people you can talk to in each of these situations: the person who has the problem (Murray, Ray / Mary, or the deacon), or a person who is a part of the solution to the problem. This is vital to keeping a critical spirit from spreading in the church. If you discuss your concern with anyone else in the church, and please hear me carefully here, you are demonstrating a critical spirit and spreading discord among the brethren, which God takes very seriously.

• The second thing to keep in mind is that what distinguishes a critical spirit and sowing discord from genuine concern is the presence or absence of a practical or biblical solution. Let me let you in on a little secret. I don’t need anyone telling me there are problems at Cornerstone Baptist Church. Do you know what I need? Proposed solutions. Do not talk to me about the sound system unless you are also prepared to talk with me about possible solutions. Make sense?

By way of conclusion, I want you to turn to Acts 20:28. Have you wondered why God dealt so severly with Miriam and Aaron? Or let me ask it this way. Was the punishment proportionate to the offense, or did God overreact (cf. how God dealt with the men making fun of Elisha)? The severity of the punishment tells us something. It tells us that God takes a critical spirit very seriously. Please understand that this is no small thing we are talking about this morning. And the reason He takes it so seriously is because of how precious the church is in His eyes. Look at the truth we see in Acts 20:28. “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.” Think about this. This flawed church (your pastor, your deacons, your trustees, that person sitting next to you) that is so easy to have a critical spirit about is so precious in God’s estimation the God sent His Son Jesus to create it. And because of this, you don’t want to be found guilty of “messin’” with His church! Which is what a critical spirit does.

So let me leave you with this challenge this morning. If you have a problem with anything at Cornerstone Baptist Church, handle it in a way that is pleasing to God. The presence of problems is not a problem – that is a part of the human experience – how we handle them can be. We know how God feels about a critical spirit, and we know the effects of a critical spirit, so let’s each do our part in making sure we conduct ourselves in such a way as to generate God’s blessings on our church, not His judgment.

Loving the Unlovely

Loving The Unlovely
Phil. 2:1-11

One of the hallmarks of true Christianity is the ability Christ gives his followers to love the unlovely. Something that sets Christianity apart from the other world religions is the Jesus fueled capacity to treat others the way we want to be treated. There is a reason why the caste system still operates in India today, and it is connected to Hinduism.1 One of the closely guarded secrets of our day is the prevalence of the sex trade in fundamentalists Islamic countries. Why is it that a country like Iran, that will stone a teenage girl to death for walking down the road holding her boyfriend‘s hand, has seen a 635% increase in legalized prostitution in the years it has been in power? Why is it that in Tehran you can find over 200 houses of prostitution with over 80,000 prostitutes working the streets? Why is it that the head of Iran‘s Interpol bureau believes that the sex trade is one of Iran‘s most profitable activities?2 It has to do with Islam‘s view of women. There is a reason why the slave trade is flourishing in Islamic countries, and it has to do with their belief system.3

Contrast this with the influence Christianity has had over the years. Who was the driving force behind the abolition of slavery in England? William Wilberforce. Was he just a social ―do-gooder,‖ was he a wealthy philanthropist who had a soft heart, or was there something more important driving him? There was something more compelling him to stand up for the dignity of all men, and it was his commitment to Christ. Wilberforce came to Christ for salvation under the ministry of John Wesley, and in fact, the last letter Wesley ever wrote was to Wilberforce encouraging him to carry on in his work.

John Piper writes of Wilberforce like this. ‗What made Wilberforce tick was a profound Biblical allegiance to what he called the ―peculiar doctrines‖ of Christianity. These, he said, give rise, in turn, to true affections—what we might call ―passion‖ or ―emotions‖—for spiritual things, which, in turn, break the power of pride and greed and fear, and then lead to transformed morals which, in turn, lead to the political welfare of the nation. He said, ―If … a principle of true Religion [i.e., true Christianity] should … gain ground, there is no estimating the effects on public morals, and the consequent influence on our political welfare.‖‘

Wilberforce wasn‘t the only reason behind the abolition of slavery. Thomas Sowell says, ―The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called ―the religious right‖ and its organization was created by conservative businessmen. Moreover, what destroyed slavery in the non-Western world was Western imperialism. Nothing could be more jolting and discordant with the vision of today‘s intellectuals than the fact that it was businessmen, devout religious leaders and Western imperialists who together destroyed slavery around the world.‖4

The reason Christianity operates this way is because of its founder, Jesus Christ, and we see the example he set in Phil. 2:1-11. Read these verses along with me.
If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself (do you see how this flies in the face of other world religions?); 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Note the example Jesus sets for us as his followers:

1. He left a place of comfort and honor to go to a place of privation and derision. Think about what it would be like for you to leave your life and all its creature comforts and move to the Sudan. Now, multiply that by several thousand times and you see what Jesus had to go through to leave heaven and live on earth!

2. He associated himself primarily with the working class, the socially marginalized, and even the outcasts. He certainly didn‘t receive the royal treatment when he got here.

3. He focused ministry on the receptive needy, not the affluent indifferent. Jesus seemed to focus his ministry on those people who didn‘t have the capacity to reciprocate. What a difference between the groups of people Jesus targeted for ministry and the people most church planters target for establishing new churches.

The point I am making here is that Jesus sets the example for us emptying ourselves, crossing social barriers and loving the unlovely. This example runs 180 degrees opposite to our human nature.

Sociologists have a term called the ―homogeneity principle.‖ In a nutshell, it says that human beings like to hang out with other people just like them. The statistic is that you can go to any group of humans on the globe (e.g., a volunteer fire company, a local church, a bar, a neighborhood, a health club) and you will find that 80% of the people in the group are just like each other in three categories: their level of education, their level of income, and their ethnicity. 10% of the people in that group will be lower than the rest, and 10% will be higher than the rest. What this tells us about human nature is that we like to be with other people who are just like us!

But the example Jesus sets for us compels us to do things that are contrary to human leanings, and history is full of examples. If you‘d like to do an interesting study, look into the life of Father Damien, a catholic priest who ministered to the lepers of Hawaii. He ended up contracting the dreaded disease and eventually died as a result of his leprosy. But his Christianity compelled him to love the unlovely. Think of the Moravian men who sold themselves into slavery so they could be shipped to the islands to work on the sugar cane plantations, and minister to the slaves there.

There is a movie currently out called Of Gods and Men, and it is a great illustration of this point. It is the true story of a group of monks living in a monastery in Islamic Algeria during the 1990‘s when there was a bloody civil war. They have to decide if they want to leave or stay with their community when that community comes under threat by militant Islamic terrorists. They stay, because that is what followers of Christ do. When the mayor of the village offers to station government troops at the monastery for their protection, they decline the offer, and sure enough, seven of them get kidnapped by the terrorists, and they are found two months later, beheaded. Sometimes that is where following the example of Jesus will lead you. It‘s certainly where Jesus ended up.

I think of all the orphanages that were established by Christians meeting practical needs of society. Think of all the hospitals that were founded for the same purpose. Think of the social programs churches used to run that provided food, shelter, education, and clothing for the destitute. It all has to do with following the example Jesus set of ministering to the needy. And when the church relinquished its responsibility in these areas and gave them to the government, poverty exploded, the cost of health care exploded, and the cost of social services exploded, and the cost of adoptions exploded. What is the connection?

The connection is that when the motive for each of these changed from selfless ministry in the name of Christ to revenue producing enterprises, the cost of these activities exploded. It shouldn‘t cost $20,000.00 to adopt a baby from Russia, but why does it? Because adoption agencies aren‘t serving Christ, they are generating revenue. It shouldn‘t cost $24,000.00 for an appendectomy, but it does. Why? Because hospitals aren‘t in the business of Christian, physical compassion anymore, they have boards of directors to answer to and have to show a profit. It shouldn‘t cost $99 billion to take care of poverty in America, but it does. Why? Because welfare is big business.

Are you starting to see the difference Christ makes in practical ways? Jesus set the standard when he left his place of comfort and went to a place of deprivation, when he associated himself with the socially ostracized, and when he focused ministry on the needy who couldn‘t minister back to him. And there are times when Jesus calls on us to follow Him in this manner. So I‘d like Shaun to come up at this time and share with us his testimony of where he spent last weekend, because it is a perfect illustration of being obedient to the call of Jesus.

I want to end our study about loving the unlovely with a powerful passage in Luke 6. It is found in verses 31 – 35.

31 "And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way. 32 "And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.33 "And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 "And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive back the same amount. 35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Do you see the difference between ministering to those who have the capacity to reciprocate, and ministry to those who can‘t reciprocate? Ministry to those who can minister back isn‘t wrong, it‘s legitimate ministry. But that isn‘t what distinguishes a follower of Christ – even unsaved people do that. What makes us stand out is our willingness to

 love the unlovely,

 do good to the ungrateful, and

 lend without any expectation of return.

The promise of Jesus is that if we will do that, our reward will be great, we will be demonstrating that we are sons of God, and we will be truly following the example of Jesus.

Footnotes:

1 http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/dharmadata/fdd53.htm

2 A measure of Islamic fundamentalists‘ success in controlling society is the depth and totality with which they suppress the freedom and rights of women. In Iran for 25 years, the ruling mullahs have enforced humiliating and sadistic rules and punishments on women and girls, enslaving them in a gender apartheid system of segregation, forced veiling, second-class status, lashing, and stoning to death. Joining a global trend, the fundamentalists have added another way to dehumanize women and girls: buying and selling them for prostitution. Exact numbers of victims are impossible to obtain, but according to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution. The magnitude of this statistic conveys how rapidly this form of abuse has grown. In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city. The trade is also international: thousands of Iranian women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery abroad. The head of Iran‘s Interpol bureau believes that the sex slave trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today. This criminal trade is not conducted outside the knowledge and participation of the ruling fundamentalists. Government officials themselves are involved in buying, selling, and sexually abusing women and girls. http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slave_trade

3 Tragically, Muslims are still enslaving blacks today in Africa. African-American economist Dr Walter Williams of George Mason University writes in Black Slavery is Alive in 2001:‗Slavery in the Sudan is in part a result of a 15-year war by the Muslim north against the black Christian and animist south. Arab militias, armed by the Khartoum government, raid villages, mostly those of the Dinka tribe. They shoot the men and enslave the women and children. Women and children are kept as personal property or they‘re taken north and auctioned off. http://creation.com/anti-slavery-activist-william-wilberforce-christian-hero

4 http://creation.com/anti-slavery-activist-william-wilberforce-christian-hero

Clean and Unclean - Part Two

Studies in Leviticus
Clean and Unclean – Part 2
Lev. 11 - 15

I‟d like you to turn in your Bible this morning to Lev. 11:44. Two weeks ago we were in Lev. 11 – 15, and we started to consider the concepts of “clean” and “unclean” in the life of Israel. We saw that things that were “clean” were acceptable to God, and the things that were “unclean” were unacceptable to God. It really is a very simple concept. Sometimes you had control over being clean or unclean, and sometimes you didn‟t. These five chapters deal with food, skin disease, bodily discharges, mildew, and procreation. We ended our survey of these chapters here in Lev. 11:44 where I shared with you God’s rationale and Israel’s response. The thinking behind these guidelines, stated generally, is that the God who created the nation of Israel and delivered them from bondage in Egypt had the unequivocal right to regulate their lives as He saw fit. When you are the creator and deliverer, that is your prerogative! We see this in the phrase, “For I am the Lord your God.” The response on the part of Israel is seen in the next phrase, “Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy.” They were to separate themselves from their surroundings (the concept behind “consecration”) so they could be in fellowship with God.

This concept of separation from our surroundings lies at the heart of our memory passage, so let‟s say it again before we start to make some practical application from these five chapters.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, „Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, „I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.‟”

What I want to do this morning is go a little further and show you that there is more going on here than God simply doing whatever He wants to with His people. There is more here than some autocrat exercising the whims of his power. So let me give you four secondary purposes behind the laws of the clean and the unclean.

1. God was building a barrier between His people and the surrounding cultures.

As I mentioned several weeks ago, if a person practiced these stipulations rigorously, it would be impossible for him to have any significant level of relationship with the surrounding nations. Why?

A. Because of the very limited diet. The nations around Israel did not have such a structured diet, so an Israelite was running the risk of contaminating himself any time he accepted an invitation to have a meal with someone of the surrounding nations. Take for instance the coney, or rock badger. It was a delicacy in that part of the world, and could easily be a meat the Canaanites would serve if they were having a guest over for a meal. But the Israelites couldn‟t eat them. Their limited diet served as a barrier between them and their surrounding cultures.

B. Because their cleanliness could so easily be compromised. Any time an Israelite touched something that had been touched by something unclean, he himself became unclean. Remember the point I made about how uncleanliness could be spread to inanimate objects as well as other people. If you had an open sore on your body and were under observation by the priest, if you sat on a stool, that stool became unclean. And if someone in your family came along and sat on that stool, he himself became unclean for the rest of the day. So the chances are very high that if you visited the home of your Canaanite neighbor or spent time shopping in their marketplace, you would become unclean.

C. Because of the public nature of being unclean. When you were unclean, basically everybody around you knew it. It was hard to keep it a secret. You were forbidden from tabernacle activities. In some cases you had to verbally announce your uncleanness. In some cases you were physically separated from the entire nation for observation. If you were sensitive to those around you were very cautious not to spread your state of being unclean. Do you see how this point would restrict your contact with the nations around you?

So the first thing God was doing with these guidelines was creating a barrier between His people and the surrounding nations. The next thing God was doing, which is very significant, maybe even the most significant, is that He was demonstrating the impossibility of holiness through human effort.

2. God was demonstrating the impossibility of holiness through human effort.

Probably the most startling dimension of this concept of cleanliness is the reality that the people of Israel were incapable of maintaining lasting fellowship with God. Look with me at 14:33 where we see a very interesting verse that illustrates this. “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, „When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, „There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.‟” Did you catch the significance of that? It was possible for you to be doing everything you were supposed to to maintain fellowship with God, and then bam! Here‟s mildew in the house, everything in the house is unclean, and because I have touched it, now I‟m unclean. And my separation from God is not because of something I have done, it is because God has put a case of the leprous disease in my house.

Last week I shared with you that normal, bodily functions made you unclean. In certain instances, obedience to God‟s expectations made you unclean. I want us to appreciate the reality of this situation because if you disobey, you are separated from God, and if you obey, you are separated as well. What‟s the deal with that? God was sending a very powerful message, and then illustrating it physically, that holiness by human effort is impossible. The nation of Israel couldn‟t do it 4,000 years ago no matter how hard they tried, and we can‟t do it today either!

So we see that God is doing some very important things with these rules for cleanliness and uncleanliness. He is building a barrier between His people and the cultures around them, and He was showing them that holiness through human effort was impossible. The third thing I want to show you this morning is that God was instilling in his people a profound reverence for human life.

3. God was instilling in His people a profound reverence for human life.

I‟ve spent quite a bit of time over the last month meditating on Lev. 12 which deals with childbirth, and Lev. 15, which in part deals with procreation. As I expressed several weeks ago, I was struggling with why something that was created by God, and ordained by God as holy, and blessed by God - would put you into a state of dis-fellowship with God. The immediate answer that came to me I shared with you – conception and birth brings another sinner into the world. So I understood the childbirth part, but what about the other parts in chapter 15 that deal with male emissions and female cycles and the consequences of marital intimacy?

To understand what is going on here, we need to contrast the culture of Lev. 15 with the culture of the evangelical church. From our perspective, marital intimacy is viewed primarily from the perspective of pleasure. It is a God ordained activity that is the pinnacle of the human sensory experience, and we need to appreciate that God created us this way deliberately. He could have created us in such a way that the female of the species went into estrus, and the male of the species could sense that. But we aren‟t animals, God created us differently, and we are right to perceive this as God‟s gracious gift to us as humans. But what we evangelicals have lost, though, is the procreative potential that accompanies that intimacy. By embracing the concept of contraception, we have inadvertently downplayed the primary purpose of our sexuality. We like the idea of conception, but only on our terms! In other words, if the mother‟s health is conducive to it, or if the house is large enough, or if the family income is sufficient, or if the father has health insurance, or if we don‟t already have several children – then we like the idea of conception.

Contrast that perspective with Lev. 15. In Israel‟s culture, every single dimension of conception, both male and female, both married and single, was marked by one day of being unclean! Why? Because it is a God thing. Every single month, each woman of childbearing age spent a week reflecting on God‟s role in conception. Every time a husband and wife were intimate, they both spent a day contemplating the spiritual dimension of conception. It was impossible in Israel‟s culture to separate marital intimacy from the potential for human life. This is why Judaism as a culture has a profound respect for life, as these statistics show. In the US,

 Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions,

 Catholic women account for 31.3%,

 Women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7%,

 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical," and

 Jewish women account for 1.3% of all abortions.

This is why I say that the rules of clean and unclean created in Israel a profound reverence for human life.

The final thing I want to show you about these rules guiding what is clean and unclean I am saving for last on purpose, because it really is the least significant of these four points. And that is that God was protecting the physical well-being of His people.

4. God was protecting the physical well-being of His people.

As you read these chapters, you can‟t help but notice that something in the physical realm was taking place. What kind of animals were they prohibited from eating? Generally speaking, bottom feeding, scavenging, and predatory animals. In other words, those animals who were at risk for disease because of their own diets. And if you eat a diseased animal, guess who gets that disease?

We see more of this practical dimension in that infectious skin diseases were very closely regulated or even quarantined. Why? Because of how easily they can spread throughout the family and even an entire community. The same is true for how mildew or mold was to be treated. In addition, it makes sense not to touch dead animals because of the possibility of contracting disease yourself. So its easy to see that God had built into His nation some basic rules for the prevention and containment of disease.

But I mention this last because I want you to see it in its proper perspective. I think it is very unfortunate that some people come to these chapters and all they see is this last point. Or maybe they see a little more, but they hold this last point up as being the focal point of the entire passage. How do we know that this point is the least significant of the four? Because Jesus himself rescinded it! Out of these four points, three are still in effect today. God still wants a barrier between His people and the world. God still wants us to realize that holiness by human effort is impossible. God still wants his people to have a profound respect for human life. But when it comes to mildew in my closet, or my wife not being able to go to church for 40 days after the birth of a child, or picking up a dead cat and burying it, or eating bacon wrapped, cheese stuffed jalapenos – those things don‟t separate me from God like they used to.

I want to remind you of one of the first messages I brought from this book of Leviticus. I shared with you that one of the dangers of the book was to focus on the particulars and miss the big picture. Do you remember the illustration of the huge picture window that looks out over the ocean and the person standing there was preoccupied with the woodwork around it? This warning is especially true for these laws of the clean and unclean.

I want us to close by looking at 1 Peter 2:9. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Can you appreciate this morning that you are holy, not because of your human effort to maintain your holiness but because God has declared you as such (Jn. 15:3). What the Israelite struggled for his entire lifetime, you obtained with a single declarative statement on God‟s part. And it is all because of Jesus.

Prayer: Father, thank you for Jesus. Where would we be with Him? We‟d be locked in a depressing, endless cycle of trying to maintain our own holiness. Thank you for your Son who made it possible for us to be in fellowship with You in this lifetime as well as the next. Amen.