by David Brenneman
"After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” Matthew 15:10-20.
Probably everywhere Jesus went and there were Pharisees and Sadducees He ran into the trappings of their legalistic society.
In our world today it's not difficult to run into legalistic groups. Groups that tell their members how to dress, what Bible to read, and other such nonsense.
Yes it's nonsense. It does nothing to point people to Jesus for salvation so therefore its fluff, it's window dressing, it's of no use whatsoever.
We can easily go along with such things because they give the appearance of piety. They give the appearance of some degree of holiness. They can instill warm feelings of doing "the right thing" all the while they do...nothing appreciable towards finding salvation in Christ Jesus alone.
The thoughts that mankind comes up with in regards to what they think needs to be done to attract people to Jesus can easily go beyond the ridiculous.
Jesus never dressed up to go meet people. Jesus showed a pattern for what was important in the content of prayer to His Father. He showed us a much better way to live life and what priorities ought to be regardless of what life throws at us.
No where in the Bible does it state that we need dress clothes to attend church.
No where in the Bible does it point to a specific translation. It DOES make mention to be sure that the Word of God hasn't been tampered with, that nothing pertinent has been removed or things added.
Reading in Acts, in the Epistles that came afterwards, many Jews tried to influence the Church to observe portions of the Law that had no place anymore in the light of the resurrection of Jesus. Those parts had no place in the New Covenant that was in the blood of Jesus Christ.
We can easily try things to appease the conscience. To get us to not feel as bad about the true state of our lives before Jesus. We do enough to remove or mitigate the guilt. We do things that make our ideas of righteousness be the standard. We have introduced idolatry and get away with it by justification.
Our lives are not our own. We were bought with a price, the blood of Jesus Christ.
We will give an account of our lives before Jesus.
How often have you thought of praying that the Spirit would open your eyes to the truth about you before Jesus?
My Dear Reader...our sin nature is still with us until either the Rapture of the Church or if He calls us home. We cannot truly trust our own perceptions of what is right and good. Our thoughts will always slant us towards the idea that our choices are good. That consequences do not apply due to our goodness.
There's many so-called churches in our world that have encouraged such thinking. They, in truth, do not preach the whole counsel of God. They have watered down the Gospel both with their idea to attract people and to not offend those they did attract.
The Word of God is what?
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Hebrews 4:12-13.
We need a Church that preaches the whole counsel of God. All that Jesus commanded.
Are you among those who desire water-down Scriptures or are you wanting to know the truth about your life and what Jesus really wants to accomplish through you?
There's unfortunately going to be vast amounts of filled 'churches' after the Rapture occurs. Millions of people only then learning that they really didn't have a right, real, relationship with Jesus Christ.
That day is now one day closer.
As much as the promises of God in the Old Testament concerning Jesus's first coming proved unalterable, so are the promises of His second coming. We don't know the day nor the hour. But we know it's a Biblical certainty. We know that even in his time of writing what he was even Paul lived in anticipation.
We too should live in anticipation of Jesus Christ returning. We should be a part of His plan and purpose not man-made plans of which He isn't a part of.
We should be living life in Christ in such a way that people see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. We should be doing our purpose in Christ with the Spiritual Gifts we WERE given. If you are saved you have one or more Spiritual Gifts to be used to the glory of God. No exceptions for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There's no man-made ideas or ideologies that make us better Christians. We were cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ not our own piety or goodness.
We will give an account of our lives before Jesus...what we did or we didn't do. What choices we made.
We aren't going to get brownie points for useless deeds done to make ourselves look better. The point of our lives in Christ is to point people to Jesus not ourselves.
Rituals, what we wear, what we eat, how we wash our hands, what we wear or don't wear, what we don't eat, don't drink...these things all can be abused and twisted in all directions in order to keep people from the righteous life that God desires for us.
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness...look to Jesus for the answers as to how to live your life in Christ. If what you are being told is right or wrong in living life doesn't line up with the Word of God. Leave it.
My prayer doesn't change for all who find these posts...I pray for those in Christ who have wandered away to come back to Jesus and I pray for those who haven't yet come to Christ that they would have their eyes opened to the love of Christ waiting for them in Christ.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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