There is the false wall of fame and the true wall of fame. Many women already have their reward, but if your name is in the Book of Life, you are eternally known
So many people, especially women, are hopscotching the globe founding important ministries, establishing orphanages, ’empowering’ native women, or teaching to packed arenas, that it makes some of the rest of us humdrum ladies feel, ahem, left behind. Should we be doing the big things? Can we do the bigger things? Are we doing enough?
All I do every single day, is go to work. I come home and I study my Bible and pray, I write, and if I have enough energy after that, I read a bit. Then I go to sleep and do it all over again. On the weekends all I do is grocery shopping, laundry, cooking the week’s lunches ahead, and study a lot more and write a lot more. I go to church on Sunday. Bed time. Repeat.
I wash dishes in obscurity in north GA and my job is to help kindergarteners tie their shoes and struggling readers learn their ABC’s. It’s not glamorous. It doesn’t seem like it’s very much at all of a contribution to the kingdom.
I mean, Beth Moore is a nearly 70 year old grandma busy helping her daughter through her unbiblical divorce & remarriage and interacting with her grandchildren yet keeps a packed schedule. Joyce Meyer is 81 and still spouting what she spouts. Younger women also seem to be doing the big things, the glamorous things, like Bianca Olthoff with the charmingly titled book “How To Have Your Life Not Suck” or Dancing with the Stars runner-up Sadie Robertson flitting around from conference to conference. As for me, I’m just trudging along in one small sphere.
Well, let’s hear it for the trudgers.
First, if you are a mother, you are in a highly esteemed Biblical position. You are doing such wonderful work for the kingdom in being a foundation block in society, in raising pure young women and strong young men for the next generation. I thank Lois $ Eunice, Augustine’s mom Monica, Elisabeth Elliot, Mrs John G. Paton, Paton and Mrs Susie Spurgeon and Mrs Patricia MacArthur and all the other Missus’ who raised men and women who in turn, impact the kingdom.
Secondly, mother or not, married or not, if you think of the life of Paul most often we think of the highlights. His speeches before thousands, his dramatic miracles, his appearances before kings and leaders.
However, Paul also walked. Thousands upon thousands of miles, he plodded. He trudged. He hiked. From one town to another, in all weathers. In addition, Paul sewed tents. (Acts 18:3). He did the mundane. He wrote letter upon letter to friends. He fundraised. The in-between miracle times in his three missionary journeys were rife with the mundane and the insignificant, except nothing about a Christian’s life is insignificant. Not Paul’s and not mine and not yours. The Lord cares for all our concerns. He clothes us and feeds us and He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. To Him, it’s all significant.
As for the women of the New Testament, Dorcas was beloved not because she was Raechel Myers on storytelling tours of Rwanda empowering women for great things, but because she sewed. She made clothes for the poor and she “was always doing good”. (Acts 9:36). She lovingly helped, humbly and quietly, within her own sphere.
Mary, mother of God? Do we hear of her going on her book tour, telling about the angel that came to her one day, and the miracle of the three wise men or hyping up audiences with her harrowing tale of narrowly escaping the massacre of the innocents? No. Whether she was in Egypt or in Galilee, Mary simply raised her Son. She brought Him up in the faith and managed her household and she raised Jesus’ siblings too.
A few times a year she made the pilgimage to the Temple and the rest of the time, she did what women then and onward have done, she lived in her home and she was faithful to the Lord through His word.
Here are two articles about the plodding kind of faith that endures. That kind of faith is cement. It’s bedrock.
It’s sexy among young people—my generation—to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.
This one is one of my favorites. It’s by John MacArthur, titled An Unremarkable Faith
Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry. Teaching osmosis to junior high students, playing Uno with his kids, and working in the yard with Cathy is paradise to him. But the real love of his life is Jesus. Larry’s a Christian. He’s been walking with the Lord for more than 20 years.
Not that founding orphanages isn’t worthwhile or something women or men can’t or shouldn’t do. Not that going on a missionary trip to Africa isn’t something Jesus wants us to do. But the big doers are fewer than we think, despite the hype. Most of the church is populated with plodders. As Kevin DeYoung concluded his article,
Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did.
Ladies, keep doing what you are doing, one dish at a time, one child at a time, one year at a time. You are preceded by many magnificent plodders who we will gloriously meet in heaven.
I wasn’t saved by love. The Gospel was not attractive to me. It was not made attractive to me by smiling Christians. I was saved by wrath.
This is NOT my Jesus
Glorious Jesus who was and is and is to come did not woo me to the cross. No one fulfilled my felt needs. No one befriended me and cajoled me into loving Jesus. He battered my head with a 2X4, dragging me kicking and screaming to the cross, where He made me face my sin. Once I saw my sin, I saw His coming wrath for it. Our sin is terrible, it renders us religiously dead. It angers the Holy God.
I repented. Veritably looking at the abyss then looking at heaven, I saw what’s what. But it was Jesus who opened my eyes to see it. Otherwise, we are blinded by our sin and never would appeal to God for relief in our pitiful state.
THEN I loved Him. After He opened my eyes I saw all His loveliness and grace and mercy and long-suffering and patience and grief over sin and sinners. But I was not wooed, nor was I loved onto Mt Moriah. It is not true that “Jesus won’t come where He isn’t welcome”. It is not true that “Jesus won’t force Himself on anybody.” He is sovereign God! He goes where He pleases! (Psalm 24:1). He drop kicked Saul/Paul to the ground AND blinded him! He didn’t ASK Mary if she’d like to become pregnant and an object of ridicule and rumor the rest of her life. No, He sent an angel to TELL her how it was going to be. (Luke 1:30-37)
He isn’t wringing His hands in heaven hoping that Jane or Tom or Mary will believe in Him, and maybe they will, if he just sends the Spirit to soften the pew cushions … or energizes the preacher with a louder “WOO!” … or if the musician plays one more verse of “Just As I Am.” Maybe if He can make church “exciting” then Harry will repent and believe. No.
It was the sovereign wrath that convicted me and convinced me. It is why I love passages like this.
The Great Day of His Wrath, John Martin ~1853
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)
Let us begin the marveling now. Marvel at a Savior who saves by His sovereign election, will, purpose, and plan! Marvel at He who is wrath and judgment and holiness and fierce anger! Be afeared of His anger over your sin. Marvel that El Shaddai… El Elyon …sent His Son to take on all anger for sin. Marvel that He is also Jehovah Rapha, and Jehovah Jireh, the LORD that heals, the LORD will provide. Marvel at the wrath. It makes marveling at the grace all the more sweet.
I was recently made aware of a youth conference happening this coming January called the CrossCon. Speakers at this conference aimed at 18-25 year olds include David Platt and Kevin DeYoung.
Kevin DeYoung has been a solid pastor, preaching truth for a long time. David Platt has been on a downward trajectory ever since his seminal book Radical was published, since he affirmed dreams of Isa as a legitimate evangelization method, and is currently outed as a wolf in the recent documentary The Real David Platt:The Hijacking of McLean Bible Church.
What is DeYoung doing partnering with Platt at this conference?
If you ever watch any cooking competitions and a chef contestant mixes cheese and seafood, you know it never goes well. Those two ingredients simply do not mix. They taste terrible. Or like our friends the Brits say, “chalk and cheese”, meaning, two things that are completely different from each other.
The Bible calls it discernment.
It’s the same with conferences. Uniting with speakers or musicians of questionable spiritual doctrine dirties the more solid speaker and reduces their religious credibility. It also disobeys God. Such partnering presents a confusion to the less discerning or new in the faith. Last, such ‘unity’ presents a false unity.
We live in the age of “tolerance”. It’s not the tolerance you and I might have grown up with. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines tolerance as
sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting with one’s own, or : the allowable deviation from a standard
Christians can have sympathy for people who believe in different gods, but we can never indulge them in their wrong beliefs. And any deviation from the standards set by God’s word is not tolerable either.
There is a throng of false teachers whose fetish in teaching is grace only, usually focusing on “love” to an extreme, and never mentioning sin/repentance/wrath. After a decade or more of love-love-love, people have just as twisted understanding of what love is as they do the new version of tolerance. For women, the ‘love’ teaching even drills further down into weird teaching that Jesus is my romantic boyfriend, a type of eros love the Bible never describes.
That, in combination with a lack of ability or willingness to study and understand scripture, has brought forth a horde of folks ready to squash anyone whose understanding on these matters is biblically based on scripture.
This effect of the false teachers’ teaching was brought home to me as I was having conversations on social media about the need to separate from some professing believers at prescribed times is a matter of command and prescription. When you look at the myriad scriptures, there are actually quite a few situations when brethren are supposed to divide from other brethren.
This fact was met with incredulity, horror, and anger as one after another of these women, and some men, pushed back against this notion. Sharing the scriptures does not resolve anything. It often actually makes them angrier. Many simply ignore the shared scriptures and resort to calling names.
So I thought I’d do a study on what the Bible says about our associations with other people and when to leave a brother alone. This is hopefully to show that as with many other circumstances in our earthly life as humans, the Holy Spirit has given us wisdom and understanding about our associations, friendships, and fellowship.
While it seems “unloving” or dare I say “intolerant” to separate from a brother, there are sometimes good reasons for it, as we’ll see.
Unity at all costs? No.
In many cases, when discerning brethren warn about this or that false teacher, the person will say, “Did you go to him?” meaning, did you have a private conversation with that public teacher before you said anything negative about his or her public teaching? This refers back to Matthew 18. Going to a false teacher prior to critiquing his or her lessons is not necessary, because they are public teachers. They are outside your own church. The Matthew 18 process is church discipline for sinning Christians inside your church. FYI, the Matthew 18 process for sinning church members does end with separation, with an excommunication if the church member is unrepentant and uncorrectable.
It’s baffling to think that naysayers will cling to Matthew 18:15-17 in the first place (‘Did you go to him?’) but avoid the end result of that same process just 3 verses later, which is separation (You’re so mean and intolerant!’).
The individual person’s involvement in this Matthew 18 scenario is in step 1 and 2. When it gets to steps 3 and 4, it is the pastor’s duty to make this judgment call, and the individual sister’s responsibility to submit to the assessment of her leaders in church. The reason for this called-for separation; to prevent sin from spreading.
A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. (Galatians 5:9).
Separating from the sinning professing believer is sometimes necessary
In another case of called-for separation, we see in 1 Corinthians 5:9, 11 of Paul that,
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
Paul expected the Corinthians to disassociate with all who said they were brothers but had a consistent pattern of sin, particularly sexual sin. In the culture of the day eating with someone was a sign of acceptance. Therefore if breaking bread with a homosexual, an adulterer, incestuous person, fornicator etc it was a sign that their behavior was accepted by Christians, who otherwise called for holy living.
Paul said that sexual sin was a sin that brethren were not to tolerate, even to the point of breaking fellowship, because as he explains the verses in 1 Corinthians 6:15-19,
The believer’s body is not only for the Lord here and now (v. 14), but is of the Lord, a part of His body, the church (Eph 1:22,23). The Christian’s body is a spiritual temple in which the Spirit of Christ lives, therefore when a believer commits a sexual sin, it involves Christ with a harlot. All sexual sin is harlotry. (John MacArthur Study Bible note.)
So, that’s pretty obvious why we are to separate.
Here is another example regarding the limits of Christian fellowship.
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).
This is the famous case of a man sleeping with his father’s wife. The Corinthians were tolerating it. In today’s parlance, were they trying to “be loving”? Would they think it “mean-spirited” to ostracize this man from their fellowship? Paul pulled no punches with what they were to do.
And of course, we know not to associate with false teachers, as Apostle John instructed in 2 John 1:10 where even participating with the unrepentant sinner for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds as verse 11 states
Turning a believer over to satan puts him back into the cold world to be on his own, apart from the care and support of Christian fellowship inside the warmth of the church, as John MacArthur explains in his commentary.
That person has forfeited the right to participation in the church of Jesus Christ, which He intends to keep pure at all costs. MacArthur, Commentary
As always, the goal is reconciliation. Making this shocking move would let the believing sinner know the limits of tolerance. It bears repeating, there are LIMITS to our tolerance for false teaching and for sin in professing believers
We have another example of separation in 2 John 1:8-11.
Here in this epistle John is giving limits to Christian hospitality. We are to separate from people who go beyond the teaching of Jesus. Do not even greet those who teach beyond what is written. Back then hospitality was important because there were no hotels, so traveling teachers lodged with believers.
John isn’t prohibiting people from sharing the Gospel with unbelievers, or even those in cults and false religions. We always want to evangelize. But do remain apart from and do not even welcome those false teachers, because welcoming them to your home affirms their teaching and gives them credibility. Housing and welcoming false teachers who labor in the faith (to deceive followers) would confuse people and offer a massive stumbling block.
In-person housing of itinerant o traveling pastors happens today, as we learned about Robert Morris who stayed over at his friend’s house when traveling, or Steve Lawson who lodged with hospitable friends also. But both are now outed rebels who we sadly learned were behaving in monstrous ways.
But most of us do not host traveling teachers any more like in the Bible days. ‘Do not welcome them into your house’ more often means do not simulcast their speeches into your home, or buy their books and bring them to a women’s study, and so forth.
Beth Moore reading the epistle at her church last week. False teachers love to be front and center, don’t they? But separation must occur even if it means declining a speaking invitation to a conference or church
This separation edict applies also to standing on a stage with obvious false teachers, as John Piper did with Beth Moore and Francis Chan at Passion conference 12 years ago. Or as Piper did with Mark Driscoll 2 years later. Despite hundreds of emails and internet concern that Piper was publicly platforming and supporting Driscoll, Piper unabashedly went ahead. Piper later even said he had no regret. Is there anyone that Piper will separate from? Apparently not. Piper said in his ‘no regret’ interview that he only wished he had been a better friend to Driscoll.
Biblically, a good friend is one who will obey God and separate to display the seriousness of the person’s sin and that there are biblical limits to tolerating it, in hoes that grace will come and re-infuse that person’s life with truth.
And now here is Piper scheduled to speak with Platt at CrossCon, where Platt has affirmed Isa dreams as an evangelizing method, and has been outed in a documentary as being a conniving, thieving, CRT loving liberal who excommunicates people who question Platt’s actions which were contrary to their church’s constitution. (More here).
It might seem “unloving” to say that there comes a point where we don’t offer the Gospel to a lost person but there are even limits to associating with the unsaved.
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)
Jesus’ point is that certain truths and blessings of our faith are not to be shared with people who are totally antagonistic to the things of God. … Jesus did not give all of his teaching to everyone who happened to be listening. (Matthew 11:25, 11:11-13). … There will be times when the Gospel we present is absolutely rejected and ridiculed and we make the judgment to turn away and speak no more. MacArthur Commentary
We are given the same admonition in Matthew 10:14 where we are told to shake the dust off our feet and move on.
Even Jesus closed His public ministry at a certain point, after He had given sign after sign and miracle after miracle and taught all the days long, and many were still questioning, demanding, and rejecting. So He closed it down and privately taught only the believers and eventual apostles. After His resurrection He only appeared to believers.
One commenter gives a word of caution though,
But while the indiscriminately zealous have need of this caution, let us be on our guard against too readily setting our neighbors down as dogs and swine, and excusing ourselves from endeavoring to do them good on this poor plea. Jamieson Faussett Brown Bible Commentary
We have seen that with love and discernment, there are times to make a judgment call and separate from people who profess Christ but persist in unrepentant sin, and to separate from even the lost who consistently reject. Against the backdrop of the ‘lovey tolerance’ of today, doing so seems harsh and cruel to those who seemingly have no limit to sin. But do we today care more about the feelings of the unrepentant professing believing rebel than the Savior who died to give us power by the Spirit to slay those sins?
Look at Acts 5:13,
But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.
The watching pagans respected the followers of Jesus, but feared to join them. Why? Were they scary? No, they were respected, not feared. The fear came because it was obvious that the followers were serious about sin and hypocrisy in the church. Ananias and Sapphira had just been killed dead in front of everyone in the church. The followers were obviously part of something that was holy and pure. Bystanders respected their witness and were counting the cost of joining. Only serious sin-slayers need apply.
Nowadays people are encouraged to follow Jesus and bring their sin with them.
We love our neighbor in the next pew, yes, but loving that believer doesn’t mean overlooking their sin. Sadly there are times and cases when separation from the believers we associate with is called for. With everything, do so cautiously, in love, and after study and prayer. Some of these situations are pretty clear and others are more gray. Err on the side of love, but remain strong in respecting biblical limits of associations and fellowship. We strive to be strong in both doctrine and life.
James Tissot (Nantes, France, 1836–1902, Chenecey–Buillon, France). Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees, 1886–1894. At Brooklyn Museum
A sermon nugget for me is a moment during a sermon when my attention is grabbed even harder than my usual attention. It’s because the preacher makes a connection to something or gives me new information. It’s an ‘explode the moment’ like we were taught in writing class, when some smaller part of what I’m learning takes over the moment and becomes a fascination.
This past Sunday that happened during our church service when our pastor made a connection from Mark back to Daniel 7.
The following is summarized from the sermon I heard where the preacher made the connection, and summary of some Commentaries:
In Mark 2:10b-11 we read,
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.”
Jesus heals the Paralytic. Artist: Harold Copping, 1863-1932
I underlined ‘the Son of Man’ above because that is the nugget. The term Son of Man was Jesus’ favorite name for Himself during His incarnation. For this nugget we go back to Daniel 7:13 and make a connection there. The Prophet Daniel sees a vision involving the Ancient of Days … and Someone else.
“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.”
This term Son of Man occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament where it refers to the Second Person of the Trinity. When it occurs it refers to the Prophet himself (Ezekiel). It does occur many times in the New Testament. It was Jesus’ favorite expression or title for Himself.
In Daniel’s vision it’s obvious that the title refers to the Messiah. In the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary they explain the Daniel verse, “Son of man” expresses His VISIBLE state formerly in his humiliation hereafter in His exaltation. He “comes to the Ancient of days” to be invested with the kingdom.”
So now notice the difference in language from Daniel to Mark. In Daniel the prophet wrote one LIKE A a son of man was coming.
In Mark we read But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralyzed man,
Here Jesus is identifying Himself as THE Son of Man, that He is here, and that He has the authority [from heaven] to forgive sins. This makes Him God.
The Scribes even knew that only God can forgive sins. When Jesus said the paralyzed man’s sins were forgiven, they internally wondered, But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
Jesus’ statement in reply was to formally answer their mental musings (and His omniscience is on display, they should have gotten a clue at that stage!], but Jesus cements it when He used that title by calling Himself the prophesied Messiah. In an in your face confirmation, He healed the paralytic too.
Remember, signs and healings were to confirm Him as Messiah, and to confirm His designated Apostles as His true ambassadors carrying heaven’s message.
He is not like a son of man, He IS THE Son of Man! A prophecy fulfilled, a promise fulfilled, a vision in heaven realized on earth. Him calling Himself the Son of Man was the beginning of the end stages of the long-prophesied Messiah. How heartbreaking the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes missed it.
Jesus is who He says He is. He accomplished what He came here to do. It is finished!
It’s hard to describe the level of contempt the Scribes felt for Jesus. They were blasphemous, to their eventual doom. But until that day, the Scribes were a gang like no other gang, and they poured out their invective on their own Messiah!
Copyright The Cooper Gallery / Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
The Scribes were THE authority of the day when it came to scriptures. They were learned and revered and if they weren’t revered, they expected to be. Lots of ego investment in their job.
Being a scribe came with a high esteem, the people regarded them highly because of their literacy, their education, and their influence in the community
The scribes taught the Law, and did so since Ezra the Scribe (who was also a priest) through to the time of Jesus and beyond to today. The scribe’s job was to copy and recopy the scrolls, preserve them, and interpret them. But that was not all. They were the interpreters of the Law.
We always think of the Pharisees’ collusion against Jesus then second, the Sadducees for their hatred and collusion to get rid of Jesus. But probably the Scribes exceeded or at least equaled both of those groups in their hatred of Jesus.
They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. 22And they were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22)
Here is a transcript from a sermon of a pastor I know describing how seriously the scribes hated Jesus. It’s based on Mark 1:21-22 verses above. Here is a transcript from a sermon describing how seriously the scribes hated Jesus. Once you see it all listed you can almost feel their hostility through the screen.
Begin sermon excerpt-
“The people contrasted Jesus’s teaching with that of the scribes. Now, when you hear the word scribe, you probably think of someone who copies manuscripts or writes documents. And that’s one way to use the word. And that was certainly true in the day of Jesus.“
“But in the Jewish religious system of those days, the scribes were considered experts in the Mosaic law and the traditions handed down by the rabbis. That was their chief role. They were part of the elite religious authority and were looked on as authoritative teachers.”
But Mark’s gospel exposes them for what they really were, corrupt teachers who denied Jesus’s power and authority. They’re never cast in a positive light throughout this book.
“In the pages ahead, Mark shows, for example,“
They accused Jesus of blasphemy. Chapter 2, verse 6.
They condemned him for eating with sinners and tax collectors. Chapter 2, verse 16.
They spread the rumor that he was possessed by the prince of demons and derived his power from Satan. Chapter 3, verse 22.
They demanded to know why he didn’t walk according to the tradition of the elders. Chapter 7, verse 5.
They rejected him. Chapter 8, verse 31.
And were responsible for plotting his death. Chapter 10, verse 33.
They feared him and wanted to find a way to destroy him. Chapter 11, verse 18.
They demanded to know by what authority he taught and performed signs. Chapter 11, verse 28.
They tried to trick him and entrap him. Chapter 12, verse 28.
They came with Judas to arrest him. Chapter 14, verse 43.
They tried him unfairly. Chapter 14, verse 53.
And sentenced him to death. Chapter 15, verse 1.
They even mocked him on the cross. Chapter 15, verse 31.
–end transcript of sermon
Now, that is not to say that the Pharisees also didn’t blaspheme and point their invective toward Christ, also.
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” (Matthew 12:24).
They could not deny a miracle had occurred, but they decided to cast aspersions on Jesus rather than glorify Him for casting out demons!
Barnes’ Notes on that verse says,
“Here was a manifest miracle, an exertion of power unquestionably superior to what people could put forth. The common people were fast drawing the proper inference from it, and coming into the belief that this was the Messiah. The authority and power of the Pharisees were declining. Unless, therefore, some way should be devised of accounting for these facts, their influence would be at an end.” Source Barnes’ Notes
Uh-oh! Can’t let that happen!
“Whatever way of accounting for them was adopted, it was necessary that they should acknowledge that there was “superhuman power.” The people were fully persuaded of this, and no man could deny it. They therefore ascribed it to the prince of the devils – to Beelzebub. In this they had two objectives:” (Barnes)
–To concede to the people that here was a “miracle,” or a work above mere human power. –To throw all possible contempt on Jesus. Beelzebub, or Beelzebul, as it is in the Greek, and correctly rendered in the margin, was an opprobrious name given to the leader of the devils as an expression of supreme contempt. (Barnes)
Unable to deny that a miracle occurred, there were only two options, its power came from heaven. or the power came from hell. They chose hell. Gill’s Exposition says of the Matthew 12 verse,
but to deprive him of the glory of the miracle, and even reproach him for it, and to bring him into contempt with the people they not only speak of him in a scornful manner, “this” sorry man, “this” vile fellow; but ascribe the miracle he wrought to familiarity with the devil, to diabolical influence and skill in magic art: they pretended he was in confederacy with Satan source Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This shows that the Pharisees and Scribes knew that satan and his demons had supernatural (magical) power. That they could do miracles. In fact, let us remember the wizards at Pharaoh’s throne who performed miracles along with Moses…until the power of God through Moses outpaced the wizards and they could not keep up, as we see in these verses (Exodus 7:11, Exodus 8:18).
Imagine being so invested in your ego, your position, your title, that you’d rather deny the glory of Jesus standing in front of you and point to hell instead.
But the power of sin is so great. We love ourselves. We love ourselves almost more than anything. It’s why Jesus said “love your neighbor as yourself” – that is a most powerful love but we are supposed to turn it outward instead of inward (like the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees did).
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Enjoy our God from heaven and praise Him that He saved us from declaring He operated from hell.
Artist’s statement: This was the very first Christian piece I ever composed. I began it as a poem of heartbreak about my son, but as I wrote and edited, it moved away from my sorrow about him to my sorrow about my spiritual immaturity and subsequent failures. Then it continued on to the approaching darkness of this age and my inadequacies and weakness relative to my witness for Christ. I still am panged when I read this piece, but determined to continue on and strive against my “self” and honor Christ.
Poetry by Kay Cude. Used with permission. Right click on image to open larger in new tab. Or read the text below. Artist’s statement:
I keep returning to our (me!!) needing to “remember” God’s promises and provision. GOD THE I AM is the only fortress in Whom we find a righteous protector, defender and provider. He is the only place of eternal refuge from the world’s continuing tragedies and chaos. He is the stronghold Who is and Who will provide peace, wisdom, understanding, instruction and endurance.
FACING FEAR: IN THE MIDST OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE As waves of fear rolled nearer still, as deep its swell approached us nigh; our hearts near failed as we cried out, “O Lord, Your servants rescue now!” And crashed the waves of terror strong, our lives at risk — we knew death’s tide; yet stilled our hearts Your Glorious Word and on we clung and Truth prevailed.
As deep and dark, as depth of brine, we battled ‘gainst the foe’s onslaught; its torrents fierce as bounding main, — with cruelest rage this foe can slay. Yet in Your Will, O Saviour ours, Salvation’s Light’s our mighty Ark; afloat we stay midst evil’s gale, for You prevail within its rage.
Afloat we ride with knowledge sure, we look ahead with strength not ours; Endurance meets us Face-to-face, ’tis You our Strength our sure Bulwark, The fears we face — our spirit’s gain, makes strong we resolute of heart, to live God’s Will through providence — and triumph through His Will’s Intent. ~kay cude, October 1, 2017
OUR FORTRESS PREVAILS Refer to Psalm 46. FEAR NOT, GOD IS OUR ETERNAL REFUGE AND STRENGTH. “We will not fear, for God hath willed His Truth to triumph through us; The body they may kill. God’s Truth abideth still, His Kingdom is FOREVER.” ~Martin Luther
IT IS the grace of God through His unfathomable mercy through the power of His predetermined love that urges us to remain and stand in His will concerning providence! WHAT THEN
IS IT that assails our thoughts with such unrelenting vengeance that can tempt us into overbearing fear when trials overtake us?
IT IS not remembering His Word — that He is Sovereign over all circumstances and issues we will encounter during our lives, during our service to, for and through Him…
Allie Beth Stuckey published a book that’s out this week, called Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion. The book is making waves and causing a hearty discussion on social media.
That’s good. Stuckey explores the concepts of the current cultural mantras, “love is love”, “trans women are women”, “abortion is health care”, “social justice is justice”, and pointedly, that empathy is not always empathy. Love, justice, empathy are good words, but they can and are appropriated by bad people who use those words to manipulate the people around them, especially Christians. Stuckey wrote in her introduction,
But empathy alone is a terrible guide. It may be part of what inspires us to do good, but it’s just an emotion and, like all emotions, is highly susceptible to manipulation. That’s exactly what’s happening today. Empathy has been hijacked for the purpose of conforming well-intentioned people to particular political agendas. Specifically, it’s been co-opted by the progressive wing of American society to convince people that the progressive position is exclusively the one of kindness and morality. I call it toxic empathy. Source: page xii)
Of course the culture will push back on a Christian re-redefining the words that the progressives have appropriated and redefined. Here we see one reaction-
Mason Mennenga@masonmennenga wrote on Twitter, “if you think empathy is toxic then you’re going to hate this guy named jesus christ“.
According to our own understanding of the word ’empathy’, of course the guy is right. But then again, this is a situation that calls for thought, not knee-jerk reactions such as “Yeah!” then press ‘like’.
The ever wise Ron Henzel @ronhenzel replied to Mennenga, (≠ means ‘does not equal’):
“toxic substance” ≠ “all substances are toxic” “toxic waste” ≠ “all waste is toxic” “toxic relationships” ≠ “all relationships are toxic” “toxic empathy” ≠ “all empathy is toxic“
We must, MUST think things through. Christians are a thinking people, (Philippians 4:8). As Stuckey said, emotions can be manipulated.
Emotions are a part of life. But I bring this to your attention…what were the first emotions seen in the Bible? Shame, guilt, blame. Genesis 3. Satan manipulated Eve’s curiosity into a temptation and we know what happened from there.
Of ‘toxic empathy’, the American writer Flannery O’Connor said,
“If other ages felt less, they saw more, even though they saw with the blind, prophetical, unsentimental eye of faith. In the absence of this faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is a tenderness which, long cut off from the person of Christ, is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced-labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.”
AI explains the quote-
This quote, by Flannery O’Connor, argues that modern society, lacking a strong religious faith, governs itself through a detached “tenderness” that, without the grounding of Christ, ultimately leads to horrific consequences like violence and oppression, symbolized by the gas chambers of concentration camps.
And haven’t we seen that? “Love thy neighbor” was the covid-flu mantra pressuring the populace to ingest untested or unwieldy vaccinations, to close down society against common sense, and to become isolated robots. What happened was the elderly were left to die alone and society’s children were impacted negatively for a generation to come. That’s just one example of how progressives used toxic empathy against the people in their society.
Moving away from toxic empathy to examining toxic zeal, Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a 2 part series on true zeal versus false zeal.
There IS such a thing as false zeal. False Christians who seem so zealous for God are actually not zealous for God. It’s a manufactured zeal cloaking their zeal for themselves, or for satan. See this verse-
Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (Romans 10:1-2).
By this verse we see there is such a thing as a zeal that is not of God. There can be zeal, or fervor, or energy around religious things, but not according to what we know from the Bible. AKA knowledge.
Zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective. Synonyms: passion, fervor, enthusiasm.
They went across the world to make one proselyte, but wound up making him twice the sons of hell they were. (Matthew 23:15). That verse is the example of zeal without knowledge. You can be passionate, you can be busy making disciples, but a false zeal will make disciples who miss the mark completely and will wind up in hell as a son of hell. Zeal, no knowledge.
Beth Moore has been consistently described through the years as “energetic”, “charismatic”, “passionate”. She puts out an energy as zealous for God. But because we know she is a false teacher, her zeal is without knowledge. She is full of emotion but lacks the tether to the Rock via faith.
Question: Can you encourage teachers and preachers, especially in this season when it is hard to speak truth and there is a lot of destructive forces that are trying to take down teachers and preachers?
Answer: “Keep asking the Lord to give you fire in your bones, to teach and preach and communicate the Scriptures so that you can’t keep it to yourself. Ask him for it when it wanes, and it’s going to wane…Nobody just keeps that naturally on their own.“
It’s love for scripture, love for Jesus, that drives the Christian to search the scriptures and then the scriptures fire up that proper zeal.
“Is My word not like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29).
You get a ‘fire in the bones’ when you open up the scriptures!
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?(Luke 24:32).
But Moore said it is important that “we’re not just going to the scriptures to prepare a lesson.“
To be fair, she was talking of the teacher having a right relationship with Jesus as one prepares the lesson. I can intuit that she means not apathetic, in prayerful humility, regular church goer, etc But she didn’t say those things. She just muddily talked of the overflow (whatever that means). Consulting the scriptures is primary. But for the false zealer, it’s secondary. Emotions tops the list.
I was struck by what she said and what she did NOT say. Any thinking Christian must think of both- what is said and what is not said. Moore did not say it was crucial for the leader to pray for perseverance in staying in right doctrine. To ask for moral righteousness. Begging to rightly divide the scriptures. Her reply focused on emotion. ‘Fire in the bones’ (whatever that means) was most important to her because, as we know, she is driven by emotion. Zeal misapplied is false. Zeal untethered from the Rock will lead you nowhere good.
False teachers appear to be doing a religious effort, they look like they are on the right track, and part of that appearance is because of their fervent energy.
The Bible says that satan and his demons masquerade as angels of light. That means behavior, outward appearance. The thinking Christian must look deeper.
Do not fall for toxic empathy. Do not mistake toxic zeal for righteous fervor. Above, all, THINK!
Here in this article What do you think about emotional sensationalism in the modern church? Stephen Nichols of Ligonier says there are valid emotions, but “especially in the American church, we seem to be very susceptible to this. There is a difference between emotion and emotionalism.”
I often take stock. Taking stock is something we do ‘to review or make an overall assessment of a particular situation, typically as a prelude to making a decision‘ as it’s defined.
Sometimes the process is called “personal inventory,” when we go through some self-examination to reflect on one’s thoughts, actions, motivations, and other aspects of yourself. In other words, How’m I doing in life?
People go through a spiritual accounting as well. I used to do that before I was saved, and of course, after I was saved too. But though the process is the same, the outcome is totally different.
The main difference is the pronoun. Before salvation if one takes stock, every item in the spiritual inventory will begin with “I”, as in I did this or I did that. Afterwards, it focuses on “You” as in Jesus, the Redeemer. Let’s take a look at some examples from scripture.
The Rich Young Ruler. First of all, notice his emphasis even in the beginning, his question focused on himself:
“Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18). Jesus answered, referencing the Commandments, and the Rich Young Ruler replied, And he said, “All these things I have kept since my youth.” (Luke 18:21).
EPrata photo
His was a spiritual accounting that was of no account.
Of course, we are all familiar with the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees. Let’s review the Pharisee at the Temple.
The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, crooked, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12)
Did you notice the verse in the NASB says the Pharisee prayed in regard to himself? The focus (and the pronoun) is I-I-I.
Saul before he was Paul, prior to salvation, thought he was earning his way to heaven with all his spiritual deeds,
If anyone else thinks he is confident in the flesh, I have more reason: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6).
Before salvation it was all about him, wasn’t it? But Paul found out different, didn’t he? His spiritual accounting was based on wind.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; (Isaiah 64:6).
Boasting in one’s self displeases God, but relying on God does please Him.
Job’s spiritual accounting changed from the beginning of the book to the end, where Job, though spoken of as a righteous man by God, finally acknowledged his inadequacy.
Therefore I retract, And I repent, sitting on dust and ashes. (Job 42:6).
Humility. Focus is on God. Not self.
The Tax Collector near the Pharisee who was boasting in himself, had a total focus on God and a right view of himself. He knew he was a sinner, he knew he was unworthy.
But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes toward heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!‘ (Luke 18:13).
In all of Paul’s post-conversion pleadings, his repentance and please were bundled into one word, CHRIST.
In our repentance, in our prayers, when we take stock or do a spiritual accounting, let us (me) be focused on our Good Savior, the only good, the only worthy, the only One who can receive our prayer AND do something about it- Jesus, The Trinitarian Godhead persons who delight in humility and penitence.
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