Monthly Archives: March 2012

Contempt Problem: Calling Someone A Dirtbag

24 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Treasure In Earthen Vessels

God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul! ~ Genesis 2:7, MSG

You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. ~ Matthew 5:21-22, MSG

There is a wise old saying, which goes something like this: What we say could come back to haunt us. Put differently, angrily calling someone a dirtbag—a filthy or vile/contemptible person—later on might cause us to feel guilt or shame. Because we who are convicted by the Holy Spirit will feel guilt or shame, as a result of our name-calling, Christ Jesus wants to spare us from being adversely affected by our insulting words. For this reason, He gives reasons why our words that kill will incur human and divine judgments.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord makes it clear that God prefers that we don’t insult one another, especially since disrespectful or scornfully abusive words often are used as lethal weapons (cf. Matthew 5:11, 21-22). Indeed, because words kill, the Lord is telling us in Matthew 5:21-21 that when our name-calling attacks the character of others, and we do so without having sufficient evidence to prove that what we called them is true, then we have spoken foolishly and recklessly have put our livelihoods and reputations at risk. For example, just like those name-callers in Christ Jesus’ day, we also could be in danger of being sued for libel or slander, or worse—in danger of  receiving the wrath of God. 

Consequently, Christ Jesus teaches that murder begins in the hearts of mankind, which means that when we angrily accuse a person of being without the right moral compass (when we call him or her a dirtbag), our own hearts not only have murdered this person but also our own hearts have done something God says is Christ Jesus’ job to do. God not only appointed Christ Jesus to be the ONLY One who can save the world from sin and God’s wrath (cf. John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:10b; 1 John 2:2), but also He has appointed Christ Jesus to be the ONLY One who will judge mankind’s secret thoughts and motives. Additionally, God appointed the Lord to be the ONLY One who will administer judgment (cf. Romans 2:16; Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31; 1 Corinthians 4:5).

Furthermore, the harsh truth is that when we angrily call someone a dirtbag, we (believers in and followers of Christ Jesus) are demonstrating that we are absentminded. In other words, we are showing God and mankind that we have forgotten that we all come from DIRT.

The point here is that there never will be any reason for any of us to judge someone else as being a dirtbag, because what makes our soil or ground (heart or human spirit) “good” soil (fertile and rich dirt), into which God’s Word is sown, is God’s gifts of Faith and His Holy Spirit. Thus, because our individual measure of Faith and the power of the Holy Spirit nurture our need to have an abiding conviction of (a constant reminder about) our own moral corruption, our need for a Savior, and our need for the excellence of holiness, we experience spiritual growth. Growing spiritually by Faith and the aid of the Holy Spirit is why there also never will be any reason for any of us to be stuck up snobs who think we are better than someone else. Without a doubt, none of us can make ourselves holy like God is holy (perfect; innocent; pure)! 

In spite of the fact that we all come from DIRT, the truly Good News is that we serve a holy God who has shown us from the beginning of creation that He is not ashamed to work with people who are dirty. Then too, we serve an awesome God who has shown us from the beginning of creation that He is not ashamed to work with people who are awful! For these reasons, we ought to give God a hearty shout out, thanking and praising Him for not being afraid to get His hands dirty while placing into our earthen vessels (jars of clay; see 2 Corinthians 4:7) His heavenly treasures so that when we finally are transformed into the image of Christ Jesus our spiritual reality will surpass our physical reality!

Three Main Harvests Of Souls

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I will give you rains at the right season; the land will produce crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat and live safely in your land. ~ Leviticus 26:4-5, NCV

 

God can use a metaphor better than the most gifted writers. For example, He takes the Old Testament’s annual two grains and one fruit agricultural harvests and develops them into well-defined metaphors that describe the New Testament’s spiritual harvests of souls—those saved believers who enter into the Kingdom of God (see the rich harvest imagery in Matthew 9:36-38; John 4:35-36).

Now, in order to understand His metaphors, the three spiritual harvests of souls, believers first need to understand the significance of God’s three mandated major festivals that He situates within aforesaid agricultural harvests. The three agricultural-related mandated feasts that all Jewish men who, more than likely, are 20 years of age and older, had to attend are the Passover Feast, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:16). Moreover, the two different grain harvests and the one fruit harvest that are compared to three spiritual harvests of souls are the Barley Harvest, Wheat Harvest, and Grapes Harvest—these harvest metaphors depict God’s harvest times as a time of opportunity in the here and now, and a time of  final judgment.

It is important to note here that every crop of grain and fruit will have firstfruits (the grain and fruit of every crop that ripens early), and every crop of grain and fruit will experience a time of separation. When the crop is ripe, it is harvested by separating the chaff or the refuse. Thus, mature barley goes through a time of separation or winnowing. Using a wooden fork or “fan,” winnowers throw the gathered barley against the wind so that the wind can separate the chaff (husk) from the grain. On the other hand, mature wheat goes through a time of separation or crushing/threshing. Using a tribulum, a wooden board with holes in it, or using a wooden sled, both of which oxen often pull, threshers stand or sit on the board or sled as it is drawn over the grain that is laying on the threshing floor, causing the grain to be separated from the husk (chaff) and straw.

Because barley and wheat still will have certain amounts of chaff, little stones, and/or some tares mixed in them, these grains must go through an additional time of separation or sifting (sieving). The sifters sit on the floor and shake the sieve, which contains the grain, until the chaff begins to appear on the top. Then the sifters blow away the chaff by using the power from their breath. Shifting, thus, is necessary before the grain can be ground into meal.

Lastly, the mature grapes also go through a time of separation or crushing (treading). Using a winepress, treaders crush the grapes until the grapes’ juice is separated from the grapes’ skins, which results in the pressed juice running into the vats.

Having said that, here, in a nutshell, are the three main spiritual Harvests of Souls:


FIRST HARVEST — BARLEY HARVEST (@FIRST FRUITS FEAST)

 

See ~ Ephesians 5:27; ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:23, NCV; ~ 2 Peter 3:14, NCV

 

The Barley Harvest represents the overcomers. These are the saints whose hearts are tender—the repentant on-fire believers, whose body, soul and spirit are without spot or blemish; completely sanctified unleavened lives driven by the Wind of the Holy Spirit. Like Christ Jesus, they too are Firstfruits; they are the Bride of Christ; they are the redeemed, resurrected, never-to-die again, glorified sons and daughters of God, and they are the FIRST PHASE of the spiritual Harvest of Souls who participate in the 1st resurrection. Furthermore, some of them will be the resurrected dead in Christ AND some will be the raptured alive in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15:51- 54; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

More important, these overcomers have been winnowed, which means they did not need to be harvested by using a “TRIBULUM” (Latin word from which comes the English word, Tribulation). In other words, the Barley Harvest of Souls will NOT have to go through the seven-year TRIBULATION, of which the last 3½ years are going to be the time of great distress and great pressure that this world has never seen before, and will never see again.

 

SECOND HARVEST — WHEAT HARVEST (@FEAST OF PENTECOST)

 

See ~ Matthew 3:11-12; ~ Matthew 13:38-39; ~ Revelation 14:14-16, NCV

 

The Wheat Harvest represents all the rest of the believers—the left behind hardhearted and/or carnal believers who were not ready when the Bride of Christ was raptured. These believers must endure the seven-year Tribulation, and for them the Great Tribulation (the last 3½ years) is a judgment that can be compared to the most severe action of Wheat threshing that is done in order to make the Wheat easier to separate (easier to winnow) away from the chaff. The Wheat Harvest, thus, represents those believers who are asleep, in the spiritual sense (see Matthew 13:25). Furthermore, the Firstfruits of this Wheat Harvest will be the martyred (beheaded) saints who are the SECOND PHASE of the spiritual Harvest of Souls who participate in the 1st resurrection, and the remaining mature Wheat will be those surviving Tribulation saints—the left-behind believers who have been thoroughly purged; see Revelation 7:13-14).

Also mixed in with this left-behind Harvest of Wheat are many left behind evangelized unbelievers (Jews and Gentiles) who, during the seven-year Tribulation, finally will accept Jesus the Christ as their personal Savior! Together with the surviving Tribulation’s left-behind believers, these Tribulation converts will be those Tribulation survivors biblically described as “…a great multitude, which no man could number…” (Revelation 7:9).

 

THIRD HARVEST — GRAPES HARVEST (@FEAST OF TABERNACLES)

 

See ~ Revelation 14:17-20; ~ Revelation 19:15

 

The Grapes Harvest represents the unbelievers who, for the most part, will be part of the massive crop of unbelievers who are in the 2nd resurrection—those centuries of unbelievers who will be judged according to their works (see Revelation 20:11-13). Moreover, many of these Grapes are Tribulation unbelievers who have heard the Gospel but made a choice to not make the Gospel a part of their lives—they chose not to accept Jesus the Christ as their Lord and personal Savior. These Grapes, thus, are the Tribulation’s unspiritual Harvest of Souls who have been thrown in the great winepress of God’s wrath, which thoroughly extracts juice (life) from “crushed” Grapes  (see Revelation 14:19). Put differently, the Grapes and their seeds are UTTERLY and TOTALLY CRUSHED!

In contrast, the Firstfruits of the Grapes Harvest are the 144,000 last days’ redeemed unmarried translated/raptured Messianic Jews (see Revelation 14:3-4). These blameless, undefiled, and faithful followers of Jesus the Christ are the THIRD PHASE of the spiritual Harvest of Souls who participate in the 1st resurrection, because just like the alive Bride of Christ these 144,000 saints will be raptured (redeemed or resurrected; raised up) alive!   

Are you breathing? Then a word to the wise should be sufficient!!!

For detailed information, please read my blog entries: The Three Most Important Crops of Israel’s Seven Major Crops, and Jewish Menorah Mirrors 7 Feasts: Reflections Made On 2011’s Feast of Trumpets

Marginalized Believers

19 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sold Out To Christ Jesus Marginalized Believers

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. ~ Isaiah 61:1-3, ESV

 

If we are being honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that there are marginalized believers in the 21st century institutional “church.” By marginalized, this blogger means that these believers have suffered adversity, depression, hopelessness, discrimination, displacement, grief, invisibility, and poverty solely because of their beliefs, ethnicity, gender, language, and/or social class.

Based on the above definition, this blogger believes that today’s marginalized believers are those Christians who no longer wish to conform to the institutional “church’s” limited vision of Christianity. Instead, they prefer to do what they know God says is “right,” even when that which God says is “right” is difficult to get the masses to believe in, accept, and apply because, by the institutional “church” and the world’s contemporary standards, these marginalized believers are doing that which is unpopular! 

Nevertheless, if today’s institutional “church” ever hopes to obtain a deeper communion or koinonia, like the Holy Bible’s first-century believers in the book of Acts had, then every institutional “church” believer must learn from these first-century believers, for these first believers were the most marginalized believers in their day. Widely recorded is the well-documented fact that validates this historical truth: The first century’s marginalized believers faced constant persecution from their political and religious authorities. Yet, despite everything they faced, daily they remained committed to spreading the Gospel of Christ Jesus; daily they remained committed to sharing common meals; daily they remained committed to sustaining one another through the spoken Word of God, through their daily fellowship, and through the use of their monetary and spiritual gifts; and daily they remained committed to emulating their teacher, Christ Jesus, by reaching out to the most marginalized believers in their society.

Then too, telling others about the life of Christ Jesus also was the first-century believers’ central focus. Like the spoken Word of God, their oral narratives about the life of Christ Jesus they either witnessed or heard about played a principal part in sustaining (maintaining, supporting, nourishing) the first century’s marginalized believers.  More important, it was the oral narratives about Christ Jesus that reminded the first century’s marginalized believers that, like them, Christ Jesus also was marginalized by the political and religious leaders of His time. For sure, Jesus the Christ’s life and teaching not only were at the margins but also for the benefit of the marginalized people in His day. In fact, the marginalized people in the Lord’s time were considered by the Lord to be those most worthy of receiving His love, attention, gift of salvation, and the power, authority and gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. Isaiah 61:1-3; Isaiah 58:6-9; Matthew 25:34-36; Luke 4:18-19). 

There can be no doubt that God’s kingdom, which the Lord preached and taught, was not only about the life of the Holy Spirit inside of every born again and saved (justified) believer but also about Christ Jesus’ ekklesia, or His faith community—those so-called marginalized believers who actually were His true believers who were experiencing and communicating the saving intention of God. That is why an ekklesia is not a brick and mortar building, but rather an ekklesia is the Lord’s called out human community that is committed to and enthusiastic about living out (faithfully obeying) God’s kingdom values.

However, today, when people speak about the marginalized believers who have left the institutional “church,” instead of speaking favorably about them, the left-behind churchgoers often use negative terminology. These marginalized believers, thus, often are described as self-centered, malcontented, misfit Christians who vote with their feet; moreover, they are the unchurched believers who are nothing more than quitters and nonconformist revolutionaries.

Contrary to these aforesaid negative popular opinions about marginalized believers, the modern day marginalized believers are really those Christians who are so sold out to Christ Jesus that they are lifting Him up against every ideology and belief system that is contrary to God’s Divine Truth and contrary to God’s saving Grace and Faith. In other words, these marginalized believers have been saying, and are continuing to say, that they want to be the spiritual children God has created them to be, and that they want to have the biblically described intimate relationship with God that produces the mature spiritual knowledge of God. In view of that, it is clear that these marginalized believers also want all of the supernatural power, authority, and spiritual gifts, which God has made available to the entire Body of Christ so that the Lord’s believers can live the same kind of life Christ Jesus lived.

What is more, it was while today’s marginalized believers were in the institutional “church” and expressing their new mindset and new attitude about their God-given purpose that the traditional pastors, ministry leaders, and the majority of their congregations have denied these marginalized believers their right to be treated as equal brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Eventually, marginalized believers’ frustration with the “church” as usual mentality is no doubt what caused their mass exodus. In the wake of their leaving, the traditional pastors, ministry leaders, and the majority of their congregations have resorted to labeling these marginalized believers as unchurched quitters and revolutionaries, or members of an “alternative faith community.”

How frustrating it is to see so many of modern-day believers forgetting that the Scriptures often show God preferring the marginalized (cf. Isaiah 61:1-3; Isaiah 58:6-9; Matthew 25:34-36; Luke 4:18-19). For sure, the sufferings and afflictions of the 21st century’s marginalized believers just prove that these children of God only are being treated the same way God is so often treated in this world.

Case in point, from 1994-2012, this blogger regularly has been reminded of how marginalized she has become, all because she has been faithfully obedient to the preacher and teacher callings God has appointed and ordained her to fulfill. More important, she has been faithfully obedient in spite of the fact that there still are spiritual leaders and their “church” congregations that only respect male authority, and even then the respect goes only to their own male preachers and teachers or the institutional “church’s” highly celebrated male preachers and teachers! Similarly, God often is marginalized when human beings only turn to Him when they need Him to meet their deepest needs. Otherwise, He is feminized, dethroned, and/or pushed out of His children’s lives so that they can idolize themselves, other people, and/or things.

The point here is that the real truth about marginalized believers or so-called unchurched quitters and/or revolutionaries is that these marginalized believers had come to know and understand that the 21st century’s institutional “church” unfortunately was missing the necessary faithful obedience to God’s Divine plan for His children’s lives. This missing essential and far-reaching building block of faithful obedience was that which had led to the roller-coaster ride that today’s marginalized believers, while in the institutional “church,” had become sick of riding. They indeed were sick of the rise and fall of several “churches,” the rise and fall of several “Christian” movements, and the rise and fall of several congregational roles and patterns of behavior, of which the institutional “church’s” current congregational roles and patterns of behaviors have been very similar to today’s non-Christian world’s various kinds of clubs and associations’ roles and patterns of behaviors that are demonstrated by their affluent, sophisticated, well-educated, and well-dressed members!

The bottom line is that, in the modern day version of the institutional “church,” what might seem like marginalized believers is really those totally sold out to Christ Jesus believers who not only have believed and received God’s promised profound supernatural power, authority, and spiritual gifts, but also they are believers who have sought to restore what has been missing from their “church” experience. Their new mindset and new attitude is why the Lord, once again, is moving His true followers out of the Temple (institutional “church”) and back into the highways and hedges. Put differently, Christ Jesus via God’s Holy Spirit is moving these once considered to be marginalized believers back to their God intended missional spirituality (being transformed from the inside out) and missional living (living a 24/7 missionary lifestyle in order to engage the unsaved world with the Gospel message).

Thus, these once referred to as marginalized believers’ “new normal” (or that which has been labeled as subversive spirituality, or the missional spirituality and missional living of the emergent “church,” or an “alternative faith community”) is really the “old Way” that first-century believers followed. Today’s marginalized believers, therefore, have returned to the ekklesia, and an ekklesia consists of believers (people) who are not members of a brick and mortar “church,” but rather they are believers who live in Spirit and in Truth, sharing a common Leader—Christ Jesus! 

That’s why marginalized believers’ goal is not escapism (is not about creating a Christian utopia), but rather their goal, which also is Christ Jesus’ goal, is to show institutional “church” believers how to accept, receive, and submit to the kind of kingdom living God intended for His children to live. In other words, their goal is to encourage holy dissatisfaction that God, no doubt, divinely has planned for the purpose of taking His true believers from a member-centered club spirituality to a Holy Spirit-centered sanctified spirituality, which focuses on living a genuine Christian lifestyle that produces the kind of ministry works (fruits/good deeds) that supports the biblical vision of missional spirituality (the kingdom of God culture)!

Finally, the institutional “church” needs to embrace (accept, support) the reasons why its so-called marginalized believers are leaving their local churches, instead of allowing the left-behind churchgoers to demonize these unchurched believers by calling them haters of Christians and Christianity, false believers who think they are better and more righteous than the left-behind churchgoers, and/or irresponsible quitters and dissenting revolutionaries. The contemporary marginalized believers are nothing like that at all. Once again, they are just sold out to Christ Jesus believers who are committed to doing what God says is “right,” even when that which God says is “right” is difficult to get the masses to believe in, accept, and apply.

Furthermore, the institutional “church” needs to recognize its so-called marginalized believers’ hunger for a genuine experience with God, their hunger for the spiritual knowledge of God, and their hunger for an authentic connection with a faithfully obedient community of believers. For sure, the only way that the current institutional “church” will be able to survive is if it prepares itself for its much needed transformation, which is making the change from the very unhealthy and powerless organized traditional “church” of today to the healthier and more powerful ekklesia that experiences a deeper communion or koinonia, as demonstrated by the first-century ekklesia in the Holy Bible’s book of Acts!

Christian Snobbery: So, You’re Better Than Other Believers, Because You’re . . .

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Christian Snobbery

I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, A people who continually provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day. ~ Isaiah 65:2-5, NASB; cf. Romans 10:21

It would be hard to find many believers who would admit that the major reason why there is so much division in today’s institutional “church” is because there is so much Christian snobbery. Nevertheless, the harsh truth is that, in the institutional “church,” the Lord’s true followers are divided primarily because of these three forms of Christian snobbery: (1) Intellectual snobbery 2) Partial snobbery, and (3) Spiritual snobbery.

Now, while God’s Word teaches His sons and daughters that His people literally are taken into captivity and/or utterly destroyed because of a lack of knowledge (cf. Isaiah 5:13 and Hosea 4:6), this lack of knowledge refers to not having the knowledge of God operating in believers’ lives. For this reason, the apostle Peter warns born again and saved (justified) believers that the only way they can become spiritually mature is by growing in the grace and spiritual knowledge of God. That is why where believers who are being targeted by false teachers, who are ignorant and unstable about the spiritual knowledge of God, are concerned, Peter writes:

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…. ~ 2 Peter 3:17-18, NASB

So then it stands to reason that most believers in the institutional “church” are not growing spiritually because they are seeking academic knowledge instead of seeking the spiritual knowledge of God. As a result, today’s institutional “church” has many intellectual snobs who don’t like to fellowship with the less-educated believers, because these educated elitists think that they know more about Christianity and the Holy Bible—that they know more “facts” and much more “truth” than the average believer.

For this reason, these intellectual snobs also don’t want to fellowship with believers who do not have advanced degrees, because these snobby churchgoers think that the less-educated believers cannot comprehend their highbrowed thoughts, words, and deeds. Moreover, because these educated elitists think they are superior (that they are better qualified to understand God’s Holy Bible and therefore better qualified to explain/teach His Word), they often tend to use their so-called sophisticated knowledge as a hammer to beat on others who have not studied “certain” subjects, and/or who have not read, for example, the scholarly works of Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Paul Tillich, Rudolph Bultmann, Søren Kierkegaard, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, and etcetera. (BTW: This blogger has not read many of the works authored by these mentioned scholars).

The real truth is that many of the people the undergraduate and graduate students study, as well as many of these students’ professors, are unprincipled and/or unsaved people, and yet these intellectual snobs effortlessly and confidently continue to regurgitate what theologians, philosophers, and other great thinkers have written and/or what their professors have said these theologians, philosophers, and other great thinkers mean, as if what has been written and taught is the gospel! More important, many of these intellectual snobs think that their scholastic knowledge is superior to the less-educated believers’ spiritual knowledge of God, because many of the less-educated believers usually claim that the Holy Spirit is their only teacher, helper, and guide!

Though it is very rare, there can be a reverse intellectual snobbery, where the poorly educated won’t want to fellowship with those believers who have advanced degrees, because they ironically find many college/university believers to be too snobbish. This inverted snobbery glorifies the poor in spirit believers, as well as the economically poor believers, in whom the Holy Spirit seems to give more supernatural power, spiritual gifts, and heavenly knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

The point that needs to be noted here is that it is the intellectual snobs’ blatant arrogance that always will lead to the sin of partiality (being biased, prejudiced, or racist). For sure, the sin of partiality possibly is more prevalent today than it was in the days when James wrote the epistle of James. Moreover, while the Scriptures make it clear that there was a partiality problem between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, James also makes it clear that in the local ekklesia there was some preferential treatment (favoritism) shown to well-dressed visitors, as opposed to the typical cold-shoulder treatment poorly clad visitors received. Concerning this sin of partiality, James writes:

My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? ~ James 2:1-4, NASB

For sure, intellectual snobbery will lead to the second most common form of Christian snobbery in the institutional “church,” which is showing partiality/favoritism based on preconceived biases and prejudices, and even sometimes because of ethnicities. Indeed, in the 21st century institutional “church,” there are partial (biased and/or prejudiced) snobs who don’t like to fellowship with believers who do not share their same beliefs about money and tangible possessions, because these usually wealthy and well-educated believers think that their personal preferences are good enough reasons for why they should show favoritism to other wealthy believers, even if it is at the expense of their poorer brothers and sisters. In other words, these respecters of persons have allowed their personal preferences to make them not only partial to some believers but also partial to the “things” of this world, which conflict with the spiritual treasures of Heaven.

For the above reasons, there can be no doubt that these partial (biased and/or prejudiced) snobs are churchgoers, possibly even saved believers, who make economic and materialistic distinctions. They gravitate toward those believers who drive matching or almost equivalent brand-name cars, who wear the exact or near enough similar designer labels, who live in identical or just about comparable homes located in identical or just about comparable residential areas, who have children who attend the same or as good as similar private schools, and so forth.

The saddest commentary on the lives of these wealthy, partial snobs is the fact that they often despise those believers who are financially and materialistically disadvantaged. Perhaps the above examples of the contemporary institutional “church’s” partial snobbery are why the Holy Bible contains a host of other examples that thoroughly demonstrate the insidiousness—the subtle and cumulative harmfulness—of this sin of partiality.

Then too, often a reverse partial snobbery takes place. That is to say, sometimes the poor believers will receive preferential treatment, instead of the rich believers. These poor believers often gravitate toward those believers who are just as, or often more, financially and materialistically disadvantaged as they are. This inverted snobbery seems to glorify poverty, giving the impression that God is showing preferential treatment to the economically poor believers, but the Scriptures clearly teach that God is impartial. Indeed, according to James, God’s impartiality (the fact that He is no respecter of persons) is revealed by Him selecting those individuals whom the world labels as poor (needy; underprivileged) to be “rich in faith,” or rich because of their faith, and “heirs of the Kingdom” (cf. James 2:5).

The bottom line is that it is ONLY in God’s Kingdom that His purpose and plan for His sons and daughters will be realized the most. Once again, God always has intended that the rich, the poor, and those who are in the middle, would receive God’s rich spiritual blessings, and because He is not a respecter of persons (not a snob; not biased or prejudiced; and not a liar) God keeps His Word! 

Concerning the third most common form of Christian snobbery, it once again should be noted here that there can be no doubt that God always intended for His sons and daughters to have all of the spiritual knowledge, wisdom, understanding, power, authority, and spiritual gifts (heavenly treasures/riches) that would help them to grow spiritually. There also can be no doubt that God indeed understood that each one of His sons and daughters wouldn’t automatically start out at the same spiritual level, nor mature at the same speed. Yet, there are many believers who think that EVERY believer should be at the same spiritual level, and these so-called mature believers think that if believers are spiritually immature it is either because they don’t have enough faith or because they don’t read their Holy Bible enough; or because they don’t come to “church” enough; or because they don’t listen to the “right” kind of music; or because they don’t watch the “right” kind of movies; or because they are not members of the “right” denomination; or because they don’t believe in the “right” doctrines; and the list goes on and on and on, ad infinitum. Concerning this kind of spiritual snobbery, the apostle Paul writes:

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. ~ Romans 12:3, NASB

Even Christ Jesus touched on this kind of spiritual snobbery. For example, He teaches on spiritual snobbery in the parable about the Pharisee and Publican (a Tax Collector who was a crook; a Jew who worked for the Roman government). The Lord tells this parable solely for the purpose of convincing the pharisaical (holier-than-thou) spiritual leaders, who were strict observers of the Mosaic Law as well as individuals who trusted in themselves, that because they were so full of themselves and their own goodness/righteousness, and because they despised the Publicans, that their proud or at the least a little bit arrogant human goodness/righteousness was dead wrong! Moreover, the Lord is saying that no pharisaical goodness/righteousness would ever be enough to save them or the world, and neither would the world be saved if everyone’s goodness/righteousness were like those of the Pharisees. For these reasons, Christ Jesus uses the parable to contrast the hearts of the proud and the humble.

Concerning this spiritual snobbery that the Lord speaks against, Luke, the author of the Gospel According to Saint Luke, writes:

And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.’ ~ Luke 18:9-14, NASB

Based on what the Lord says in the above verses, there can be no denying that, in this modern day, there are spiritual snobs in the institutional “church” who don’t like to fellowship with believers who do not share their level of spirituality, primarily because these hypocritical self-righteous individuals believe that their own goodness/righteousness is so impressive that it could not fail to make them more acceptable to God. Their exalted sense of spirituality, however, causes them to despise those believers who do not live like, speak like, or act like these so-called spiritually mature believers. Consequently, these spiritual snobs often end up thinking that the less-spiritual churchgoers must not have had a true “conversion” experience.

For sure, on a regular basis, these self-righteous “holier-than-thou” believers will be wearing their spirituality on their sleeve for everyone to see. As earlier stated, they often harshly criticize other believers whom they do not believe are as spiritually mature as they are, and they harshly criticize other believers whom they do not believe have (or who are not using) the same kind of spiritual gifts they have and use. For example, if a believer does not speak in tongues or lay hands on the sick, then these spiritual snobs will conclude that these no tongues speakers and no miracle doers are not even born again, saved (justified) believers.

Then too, often a reverse spiritual snobbery takes place. That is to say, sometimes the spiritually immature believers will harshly criticize the spiritually mature believers for being too heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, and usually this harsh criticism is because the spiritually immature have not surrendered their lives to Christ Jesus’ Lordship so that the Holy Spirit could do His supernatural work within these believers. These spiritually immature believers also will harshly criticize the spiritually mature believers for being tongues-talkers and/or healing miracle workers, and usually this harsh criticism is because the spiritual immature believers have not accepted and/or do not operate in their own spiritual gifts. 

The bottom line here is that even though the institutional “church” has intellectual, partial, and spiritual snobs in it, all of these intellectual, partial, and spiritual snobs won’t be truly born again and saved (justified) believers, nor will they all be spiritually mature believers. Furthermore, those intellectual, partial, and spiritual snobs who are born again and saved (justified) believers are without a doubt the ones who are chasing away people who want to come to Christ Jesus, and they are chasing away potential believers with their own false portrayal of how a totally surrendered follower of Christ Jesus behaves.  

Finally, it is important to note that NO human being could possibly know EVERYTHING. More important, even though some intellectual churchgoers might know a great deal about Christianity and/or the Holy Bible, that knowledge won’t make a bit of difference with God, if this intellectual believer doesn’t live the way Christ Jesus lived. That is why all believers need to seek and obtain the spiritual knowledge of God, because by seeking and obtaining the specific “truths” that are contained in this spiritual knowledge all believers then will be able to understand and know how to use/apply this spiritual knowledge so that God can change/alter the course of their lives. Once again, this knowledge of God is needed so that they can be set free to live their lives like Christ Jesus lived, and He lived a supernaturally empowered, gifted, anointed, obedient, compassionate, forgiving, loving, giving, holy, and righteous life. 

Now just as it is snobbish to think that academic knowledge is better than the spiritual knowledge of God, it also is equally snobbish to judge by appearances (to show partiality based on what someone is wearing, or driving, or living in, and so forth), because this kind of judging is a false and fallible standard. The point here is that partiality is inconsistent with Christian faith, and even Christ Jesus Himself contrasts the way the rich and the poor are treated in life (cf. Luke 14:7-14; Luke 16:19-31). This false and fallible standard is why all believers should avoid partiality based on economic distinctions (or any other human differences), and this false and fallible standard is why all believers need to learn how to judge others based on God’s standards, which Christ Jesus demonstrated during His life on Earth.

Lastly, it also is snobbish to judge people’s spiritual growth via a hypocritical religiosity—to judge others by false standards that only tend to cause the often self-righteous believers to look down their noses on any and every person who is not like them. For sure, these spiritually snobbish individuals are showing by their attitudes or by the manner in which they treat someone they despise that this loathed person has no worth or merit.

Without a doubt, this form of Christian snobbery does not have a place in the Household of Faith, nor in the Kingdom of God, because it is by God’s Grace, the power of His Holy Spirit, and the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus that EVERY believer receives a regenerated spirit and salvation. Furthermore, it is the Holy Spirit’s mighty ministry work that when allowed and cooperated with will change believers inside out. It is this manifested change that ultimately determines the level of spiritual growth in every believer, rather than mankind’s false standards.

The best that a more experienced and spiritually mature believer can do for spiritually immature believers who are not prepared to move far from the worldly attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of so many of their family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors is to continue to feed them those biblically good, wholesome beliefs and principles/practices, which, just like milk, are good, nourishing, and necessary, until they are ready for a different diet–until they are ready for solid food. This is how apostle Paul handled the spiritual immaturity that he encountered (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

The Divine Truth, then, is that no one who is not living a genuine Christian lifestyle will ever be able to receive the great abundance of God’s knowledge, wisdom, and understanding that He intends for every believer to receive. In other words, he or she will never be able to come to the full knowledge of God! Without coming to the full knowledge of God, no one will ever become spiritually mature. Without becoming spiritually mature, no one will be able to see the bigger picture (see, meaning understand, that there is a “dark or sinister picture” and a “bright or good picture” within this bigger picture, and this bigger picture is about a real God, a real Devil, a real Heaven, a real Hell, a real Lake of Fire, a real Savior, and a real Holy Spirit, as well as about the fact that there truly is godly good and satanic evil, and a testing that every person must experience. Consequently, without coming to the full knowledge of God, no one will ever be able to avoid becoming an intellectual snob, a partial (biased and/or prejudiced) snob, and/or a spiritual snob!

No Longer Acceptable To Exchange And Negotiate Inside The Temple

05 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Spiritual

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. ~ John 2:13-16, KJV

At the beginning of Christ Jesus’ ministry, while cleansing the Temple, He accuses the Temple moneychangers and the sellers of doves, oxen, and sheep of turning God’s Temple into a house of merchandise (cf. John 2:13-16). The word merchandise in the Greek New Testament’s language is “emporion,” from which we get the English word “emporium.” So, in essence, the Lord is saying to these sellers and moneychangers that they have changed the Lord’s House/Temple from a place of prayer and worship to a place of exchange and negotiation!

In context, it is evident that the Lord had a Divine purpose in mind, when He left the wedding at Cana (cf. John 2:1-12), where He changed ordinary water into superior wine. It is important to note here that the water in the pots at this wedding represents the old purification ceremony, while the wine the water becomes symbolizes the fulfillment of the ceremonial purification process (represents a new order). For these reasons, after Christ Jesus leaves Cana for Capernaum, and then goes from there to Jerusalem, it is obvious that His Divine purpose is to set spiritual natters in order, which He immediately does by replacing the old Jewish Temple system, because it has been superseded by the wine (Holy Spirit) of the Gospel, or the new spiritual system (the Kingdom of God that has come on earth). In other words, Christ Jesus replaces the old wineskins so that He can pour new wine into new wineskins (cf. Mark 2:22). That is why, when the Jerusalem Jews ask Christ Jesus by what “sign” could He show them that He has the authority to chase the sellers and moneychangers out of the Jewish Temple (cf. John 2:18), the Lord answers: “…Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19, ESV).

Now, the word “sign” is an English translation of the Greek New Testament’s word “semeion,” which is the term that is used when speaking of miracles that are accepted as evidence of divine authority.  Thus, in the context of John 2:6-13, Jesus the Christ has performed His first “sign”—the “miracle” in Cana that manifests His glory (the glory which fills Him via the Holy Spirit who came upon Him like a dove; see  Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). Furthermore, this first “sign” symbolizes who Christ Jesus really is, which is the prophesied Messiah, and this first “sign” represents the fulfillment of the Jewish religious institutions, traditions/customs, and annual feasts.

For these abovementioned reasons, the Lord, in John 2:18-19, boldly is telling the Jerusalem Jews that He is the messianic sign they are looking for (the prophesied One who would perform a messianic purification of the Temple; see Malachi 3:3), and He is telling them that His body is the new Temple of God. As such, He also is telling the Jerusalem Jews that He is the without spot or blemish sacrificial Lamb who would be slaughtered/killed on the Feast of Passover yet resurrected three days later on the Feast of Firstfruits.

Then too, in The First Book of the Maccabees, the Hebrew author writes:

Therefore, the Jews and their priests are happy to have Simon and his descendants as their leaders and High Priests, until a true prophet appears. Simon shall govern their country, have charge of the Temple, and shall be their military commander. He shall be in charge of military supplies, fortifications, and public works. ~ 1 Maccabees 14:41-42, GNT

In Deuteronomy, an the Old Testament book, God says through Moses that:

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. ~ Deuteronomy 18:18-22, ESV

Thus, based on the verses quoted above, Christ Jesus also is telling the Jerusalem Jews that He specifically fulfills the ancient prophecies about the One who, in Old Testament writings, along with other traditional Jewish writings, is to be the Prophet who would come having more power and authority than all of the past and existing religious Jewish authorities. Christ Jesus is indeed the Prophet who would have caused the religious Jewish authorities in His day to step down from their places of leadership, if they had not already become corrupt, power hungry religious leaders. That is why these religious Jewish leaders’ inability to recognize Christ Jesus as the Prophet who has been prophesied about is what causes the Pharisees, for example, to ask John the Baptist if he is that prophesied Prophet (cf. John 1:21).

Be that as it may; what is more important to note here is what the Lord actually has done in John 2:13-22. He has let the Jerusalem Jews know that He has the Divine Power and Authority to cleanse the Jewish Temple by stopping the animal sellers and the moneychangers’ corrupt buying and selling (exchanging and negotiating), which have been going on in the court of the Gentiles. Moreover, He has let the Jerusalem Jews know that He has the Divine Power and Authority to change the emphasis on the Temple from being about a physical building where Jews go to worship God, to being about the Lord Jesus’ literal body, which is now God’s new House of Prayer (the spiritual temple’s outer court where there no longer is any need for exchange and negotiation tactics). Indeed, Christ Jesus is saying that He is the true replacement of the Jewish Temple! Put differently, the Lord is saying that inside of His body, which is the outer court portion of God’s new temple, lives the Lord’s inner spirit, which dwells in God’s new inner holy place. Also, He is saying that the Holy Spirit, who lives inside the innermost holiest of holy place of God’s new temple, is the new wine, or the glory of God that now fills the Lord!

Even the apostle Paul says:

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, KJV

By all of these above verses we can understand that what Christ Jesus is saying in John 2:13-22 is that because of Him believers NO LONGER can go to a temple or a “church” to worship, for just like the Jewish Temple in the Lord’s day would eventually no longer be a place to go to worship God, which actually comes to pass in 70 A.D., the so-called “church,” which began on the Day of Pentecost and continues until this very day, NEVER has been a physical brick and mortar building in which believers worship God, either. This spiritual replacement of the physical Temple is the reason why, especially since believers’ bodies no longer belong to them, believers no longer have any right to use their individual bodies as a piece of merchandise—as something with which they can exchange and/or negotiate.

Lastly, because the “church” in the Greek New Testament’s language is the word “ekkelsia,” then it is important to note here that from its inception every “ekkelsia” has had NO steeples, no walls, no doors, no stained glass windows, no aisles, no pews, no pulpits, no bathrooms, and so forth. From its Day of Pentecost beginning, every one of the Lord’s “ekklesia” has consisted of His “called out ones.” Put differently, to Christ Jesus, His “ekklesia” ONLY is made up of His born again, saved (justified), and being sanctified believers in whom the glory of God (His Holy Spirit) also has filled!

Therefore, since the Holy Spirit is Father God’s Spirit who not only is inside of but also the One who has filled believers with the same power and authority Jesus the Christ has, believers also are able to worship and, thus, glorify God with their bodies. Moreover, this godly kind of in Spirit and in Truth worship (cf. John 4:24) only can happen when born again, saved (justified), Holy Spirit indwelt, and Holy Spirit-filled believers daily are presenting their individual bodies as a holy and acceptable living sacrifice, for according to apostle Paul it is ONLY each believer’s every day LIVING sacrifice that God will recognize as each believer’s true and proper spiritual worship (cf. Romans 12:1-3)!

For additional information, please read my blog posts: Is Begging for Money a God Anointed Spiritual Gift?, and God and His Temple Are NOT Brands, So Stop Making Secular Businesses of Payer and Worship