Posts Tagged ‘Appearance’

19
Feb

Behind Closed Doors

   Posted by: Sonny    in Appearance, Belief, Body of Christ, Love, Relevance, witness

argumentA couple of days ago I asked some questions about alcohol and whether the bible condemns all consumption of it as sin.  On the face of this it seems pretty certain that it is not.  Any casual reader of the stories of Jesus would recognize the fact that His first recorded miracle was turning water into wine.  And there are other direct references of His very own consumption of it.  Yet I have read and heard many arguments about it being sin.

There are those that will use all kind of pretty far out excuses to say that this is not really saying what we think.  The scripture is not saying what it seems to say.  Grape juice?  Really?  Are we to believe that God is just trying His best to confuse us?

There are those that, in the past and probably still today, say that it is even wrong for a Christian to serve or sell alcohol.  Again, I point to Christ’s first miracle.  If I should not serve or sell it then why in the world would Jesus turn water into it?  We seem to still have tremendous problems with self-righteousness.

These thoughts and questions are not really the reason I raised this question though.  For some very thoughtful, adult insights about the consumption argument in general, please read Tuesdays post and comments.  Everyone who responded made points I not only believe to be correct but I hold to them myself.  And I especially think that when you vow or commit to something as Heath and Jason did as ministers, then you should adhere to those commitments like they pointed out that they did.

If the organization you join says you have to stand on one foot for 30 seconds and face east at 8:00 am every third Tuesday and you agree, then you must do it whether it makes sense or not, if you are a person of integrity.  The health and danger issues are also valid reasons why not drinking makes sense, and the witness in a culture that definitely glorifies alcohol as the means to get drunk is not one the Kingdom really needs.  I don’t drink myself for some of these reasons.

As I stated though, I brought it all up for the same reason I have brought up other things recently.  If we spent as much time as some do on defending these obviously unbiblical beliefs such as drinking being sin, with as much zeal and commitment, in reaching out to those outside the Kingdom, we could really glorify God. Instead we waste tremendous amounts of time on our own legalistic views and arguments.

Alcohol is only one small part of a whole host of things that some Christians seem to want to focus on in spite of the fact that they have a mission to do.  Appearances are important as some believe when talking about drinking, but what about the appearance of condemnation we portray that is not even biblically justified.  When the lost of this world see us bickering and fighting and even bringing the charge of heresy against a minister that obviously is not heretical, what do they think?  I will tell you what they think because it was not that long ago that I thought it.  They think that there is no God.  And if there is He is not that big, not that great, and not that powerful because His whole family is so hypocritical and unloving of even each other.

We must reach out in love to a lost and dying world and to do that we have got to stop adding our own lists of sins to Gods.  That is what Jesus condemned about the Pharisees and the bible even warns us about adding to His word, but we just don’t seem to get it.  This world of lost souls is not concerned about our petty arguments and disagreements about alcohol, about divorce, about creation, about (dare I say it) initial evidence.  What this worlds lost souls are concerned about, whether they even know it or not, is the eternal destination of their very being.  And even if they are not concerned, we must be.

As I said on my post about creation recently, let’s stop all the arguing about pet doctrines and interpretations in front of the kids, so to speak, and wait until we get behind closed doors.

Love you all

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22
Sep

How Do I Look?

   Posted by: Sonny    in Appearance, Identity, Spiritual Warfare

“You sure clean up nice.” 

 

Ever had that said to you?  I have and if you haven’t you have probably heard it or even said it yourself.  In my case, there are some people that have never seen me except when I am installing cabinets.  I can definitely say that I do look a little different when I go to church, or even out to eat. 

 

But I am not different.  I am the same person with sweaty, sawdust encrusted work clothes that I am when I have a suit and tie on.  You would probably rather be around me in the suit though. 

 

We look like different people sometimes due to the clothes we put on.  People do have a tendency to evaluate our worthiness based on what we wear; or to go deeper, in our outer appearance.  Is this fair? 

 

No, it is not.  As I said, what I wear has no bearing on who I am.  How someone perceives me also has no bearing on who I am either.  Therefore it is okay to wear what I want, do what I want, and look like whatever I want.  Right? 

 

Wrong.  We are to be examples.  As I said and as you probably know from personal experience, some people have, or get, a wrong opinion about us.  And that does nothing to advance the Kingdom.  When I hear a Christian say that they can just do whatever they want I am saddened.  There are a lot of people watching us that are lost and serving the enemy.  A lot of people that might just be persuaded to look at joining us, if we looked any different than they do. 

 

I read the book of Titus tonight.  There is a lot of information that Paul gives us in this book about how we should look, to the world.  If you haven’t read it lately, please do so.  But I want to pull out a couple of verses.

 

Tit 2:7  in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

Tit 2:8  sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

 

Show yourself to be an example…so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

 

This is simply more warfare strategy.  I am not sure if Paul is talking about the enemy of our soul or just about the deceivers he mentioned before these verses.  Either way, when we put any true opponent to shame, and limit the bad they can say about us, we have won a small battle for the Kingdom. Our enemy is all about discrediting us.  

 

As Christians we sometimes wear the wrong clothes.  We sometimes look just like the world around us.  We should stand out. 

 

Once when I was in the US Army, stationed in Tacoma Washington, there was a gang that was targeting soldiers.  They had beaten a couple of soldiers bad enough to put them in the hospital.  Our commander warned us to not wear our uniforms off base, if we would be alone. He told us that discretion would be the better part of valor. 

 

Soldiers also wear camouflage in battle to hide or blend in.  But we are soldiers in another army.  We are soldiers in the Army of God.  Jesus never said to be discreet.  Instead boldness is the very way we do battle.  And our uniform can never blend in because it is pure white.

Act 4:31  And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

 

Rev 3:5  ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

 

Rev 19:14  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

 

Are you wearing your uniform?

 

Love you all

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