Good morning, it seems like forever since we last chatted. Here in BC, it was the Family Day long weekend, so there have been no Gleanings since Friday.
We got a skiff of snow last night. Most of it is already gone except for some shady spots on the lawn. It melted into thick, scraper-resistant ice on the windshield, making it harder than usual to get the car ready for Kathy to go to work. I found myself mumbling, rather than being grateful, to live in a place where snow is rare.
Ooops!
How easy it is to slip back into old habits, whether it’s grumbling or something else. I’m grateful that God is so patient with us and never gives up on His promise to conform us into the image of Jesus.
I can’t generate enough willpower to break all the old fleshly ways under my own strength. I need Holy Spirit power to break me through. Fortunately, he dwells in all believers.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will bein you.John 14:15-17
He transforms us from the inside out. Those are the places we can’t reach ourselves. We can modify our behaviors to some degree by willpower alone, but real transforming power comes from deep within.
Sometimes, he changes us instantaneously, and at others, it is a long process. I can be a slow learner.
I am grateful that I didn’t have to change and get my life cleaned up before approaching His throne of Grace. I would never be able to do it without the imputed righteousness of Christ.
He sees me covered by the blood and growing, and that pleases Him. He hears the Spirit groaning when I don’t even know what to pray for, and He answers.
I’m not all that I will be, but I’m far from what I was. All of that is His work in me (and you).
I’m learning to repent more quickly, and I’m likely to stand longer between falls, and that’s progress.
Praise god for the changes He is making in us all.
Yesterday, I spent time studying the tiny New Testament book “Jude”. Written by one of Jesus’s brothers. It is so short (1 chapter, only 24 verses) that it is often overlooked, yet it contains some very important teaching.
Much of the teaching surrounds false teaching and false fellowship in the church.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude 1:3-4
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.Jude 1:8-13
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Theysaid to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment[ stained by the flesh. Jude 1:17-22
Jude’s warning has grave implications for today. The church is awash in poor teaching. The word “sin” has become politically unacceptable in many churches and has been exchanged for a victim philosophy, i.e., “It’s not my fault … it’s my parents or the abuse I suffered.”
Please understand that I am not trying to minimize the damage others have caused to many people. There is no doubt that circumstances can be terrible and bring us to horrible places, BUT we need to take responsibility for our own actions at some time and deal with them. Our sin will never be forgiven if we will not admit we are sinners.
One megachurch that comes to mind has a huge international following, but its leader has publicly stated that people do not need to know they are sinners. The church preaches a gospel of self-esteem, allowing people to feel good all the way to hell. True self-esteem comes from knowing who we are in Christ and experiencing His forgiveness and unconditional love for us.
There are churches with Christian roots that have abandoned the “need” for Christ. They teach that there are many paths to salvation. In doing so, they do just as Jude warned they would. They “deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” These teachers pollute the truth, and their own destruction follows them. It has been ordained so from before the beginning.
What about those who choose to follow such teaching, either by choosing to ignore the truth or by simple ignorance? They need to hear the truth and be brought to safety. Jude had this to say to us …
But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment[ stained by the flesh Jude 1:20-23
We are to snatch them away from hell’s fires. We are to love them but hate what they have been taught and their sin. We need to be careful not to condemn the teaching, not the teacher.
If you know people stuck under these false teachers, pray for them. Encourage them to read the Word for themselves. Invite them to a church where the truth is proclaimed. Sitting under false teaching is not a small matter; it could be the difference between life and death for many.
Until next time, keep “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”
