Hearts Far

How is your Christian walk today? Are you close with the Lord or are you far away? Is your heart toward him and your worship of him true, or are you just going through the motions? If you find that you are faking your faith by saying and doing the right things, but your heart is far from God, I’d like to admonish you with these words from the Lord in Isaiah, chapter 29, verse 13 which says: 

“The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” 

If your Christian walk is only for show; if you come near to God with your mouth and honor him with your lips, but your heart is far from him, I want to encourage you to stop pretending. God knows your heart. He knows your spiritual state. You are not fooling him, and fooling others is ultimately fruitless. That is why the Bible explains that God likes a broken and contrite heart, one that is real before him. When we come to him and confess our sins, it is never a fun thing. But if we do it with a repentant heart, we are real before him. Only then can we be made clean. It is when we stop faking it, when we stop going through the motions, and we stop pretending to be in right relationship with God that he can truly restore us. If you are putting on a false front before God, it is time to be real with him. Because being honest before God is the only way we can truly be honest with ourselves.

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If you are pretending to be in right relationship with God before men, it is of no benefit to you. In fact, being fake before God will only hurt because God is interested in the true state of your heart. In Isaiah, God said that the Israelite people come near to him with their mouth and honor him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. Is your heart far from him? If you find that you are going through the motions in an effort to seem righteous in front of your believing family and friends, I would encourage you to be honest before Him. God knows the truth anyway, and to him faking it is just as bad as lying.

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Sold Out

If you are a believer, have you counted the cost of follow Christ? Most of us in the United States feel little persecution for aligning ourselves with Christ, but we might want to consider how much persecution it would take before we would bend or even break. What level of persecution would cause us to put our well-being before our faith in Christ? Like Paul, we might want to consider where that line is before we are put to the test. When the prophet Agabus warned Paul against going to Jerusalem because of a prophesy he had concerning Paul being bound and handed over to the Gentiles, Paul responded this way in Acts, chapter 21, verse 13 which says: 

“Then Paul answered, ‘Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’” 

Early on, Paul had counted the cost of following Christ. He had already decided in his mind and his heart that he’d be willing to die for the cause of Christ if it should come to that. How far are you willing to go for your faith? Are you willing to be teased and ridiculed? Are you willing to be avoided and ostracized? Are you willing to be condemned by your parents? Or like Paul, would you be willing to be bound and handed over to your enemies, or even killed for your faith in Christ? We may never truly know until we are put to the test, but I would challenge you to consider how far you are willing to go and whether you’ve truly counted the cost. Because it would be better to know now so that you will be prepared with your response should you ever find yourself needing an answer to that question.

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Have you ever heard the term, being “sold out” for Christ? It is a Christian phrase indicating that someone is all in for Christ; someone who has counted the cost, and has decided that there is no turning back. Are you sold out or is there a level of persecution that would cause your resolve to waver? Paul was sold out. He said that he was ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. God may not call us to this level of sacrifice, but it would be important for us to know that we would give up anything and everything for the cause of Christ should he require it of us.

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Christ's Ambassador

Often times in politics, the President is not able to do all of the traveling, the meeting and greeting, and making the initial contacts with foreign dignitaries. Instead, he’ll appoint an ambassador to go ahead of him to lay the ground work, or even to make decisions on his behalf, almost as if he were speaking for the President. In Luke, Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples ahead of him to every town and place he was about to go with a similar objective. It was as if these seventy-two were his representatives; it was as if they were his ambassadors, imbued with his power and authority. When sending them, Jesus said in Luke, chapter 10, verse 16: 

“He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 

The dictionary describes an ambassador as “a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity.” The seventy-two disciples that Jesus sent out were his ambassadors; they were his representatives. When they spoke, in many ways it was as if Jesus were speaking. When they performed miracles, it was by the authority Jesus gave them. You may have heard it said that we, as believers, are Jesus’ ambassadors today. When we show love in his name, when we do work in his name, and when we evangelize in his name it is as if he has given us authority to act on his behalf. And I would argue that even when we are just going about our day and living our lives, we are still his ambassadors. We never clock out. So if you are a believer today, I would encourage you to take on the mindset of an ambassador of Christ. He wants us all to go into the harvest field. As Jesus said earlier in the same chapter, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. We are his workers. If we are already few in number, what will happen if some, or most of us, decide not to go into the harvest field? So I would encourage you to go. I would encourage you to be his ambassador.

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We are Christ’s ambassadors. Jesus said, “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” So, when you share about Christ in love, don’t take it personally if someone rejects his message. They are not rejecting you, they are rejecting him. Our job is to be his vessels; to be his workers in the harvest field. And if we are walking in step with the Spirit, the result of the work is totally up to him. Remember, it is the Father who draws men unto himself. But more often than not, he chooses to use us to guide them by the hand.

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Self-Taught

I taught for ten years at our local university. And if you’ve ever taught a class, you may agree that there is a need, or even a responsibility, to become an expert on your subject. You may have endeavored to have an elevated grasp on the material, even beyond what might be necessary, so that you can accurately and thoroughly teach what you’ve prepared. But what does in mean to be an “expert”? How much training does one have to have before they can be considered an authority on a subject? Does one have to earn a degree or certification to prove their expertise? I’m sure a degree helps, but I would suggest that anyone can become an expert on a topic by basically teaching themselves. This can be true for anything; from building your own recording studio, to discipling others in the way of the Lord. Apollos, a Jewish believer mentioned in the book of Acts, knew this to be true because it says in chapter 18, verses 24 and 25: 

“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.” 

Apollos may have been instructed by other theologians, or he may have only been instructed by the Holy Spirit. But I wanted to mention his story to highlight the truth that you don’t have to earn a doctorate in theology to teach others about the scriptures. You don’t have to be a pastor of a congregation to lead others to Christ. Just like you don’t have to be a master carpenter and electrician to build your own recording studio. I have a friend who taught himself how to build his recording studio by watching YouTube videos and volunteering as a sound technician at our church. He didn’t have a degree. He only had the drive. And that was enough to motivate him to become an expert in what it takes to build a studio. Now he records albums for music artists across the region. The same idea can be applied to the scriptures. I’m not suggesting that by watching YouTube videos someone can become an expert on the Bible. But you, and I, can study the scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us so that we can share what we’ve learned with others. I pray that God will give you, and me, the passion that Apollos had for the word of God. It says that he had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and as a result, he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. Let us do the same.

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I know of several individuals who have never taken a college course in Christianity, theology, or public speaking, yet they are teaching the scriptures with authority. And I know there are scores more around our country and the globe who are doing the same. This isn’t to say that there isn’t a place for institutional learning. As a matter of fact, that is a huge benefit. But God has called us all to make disciples. And to do that we need to understand his word; we need to be Holy Spirit taught so that like Apollos, we can teach about Jesus accurately. You don’t have to be a pastor to teach and disciple others. You can do it, and I can do it. I would encourage you to become a scholar of the Bible. I encourage you not only to read the Bible, but to study it. Allow the Holy Spirit to educate you and lead you in what to say as you share about him to others.

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God Is Love

I’m not entirely sure that we, as believers, can truly comprehend the love of God. He loved us even in our rebellion and rejection. He loved us even when we were metaphorically spitting on him and cursing him. He loves us so much that he sent his son to not only die for us, but to show us how to live. Even now he loves us with a jealous love. The Bible even describes God as love. But what does that mean? How can we wrap our minds around God’s love for us and his mandate for us to love one another? First John, chapter 4, verses 7 through 12 may help. It says: 

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 

So, God is love, love comes from God and if we love we know God. If you have been a believer for a while, you might be able to attest that the more we follow God by becoming less like ourselves and more like Jesus, the more we inevitably love our fellow man. Even still, godly love doesn’t come easy for some. At times, I’ll admit that it doesn’t come easy for me. But we can rest easy. We do not have to try to generate love. We don’t have to fake it or go through the motions. All we have to do is press into God. If we love him our love for others will follow. First John tells us that love comes from God. So if we try to manufacture it in our flesh, we are pulling from the wrong source.

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John reminds is that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That is what Jesus did for us. And in First John, we’re reminded that God is love, and our ability to love one another with godly love, comes from him. The kind of love that John is talking about is reflected in Paul’s words from First Corinthians, chapter 13, which says in part: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.” This is the kind of love we are to show; the kind of godly love that reflects our creator. If any of the scripture that I shared today is new to you, I would encourage you to explore it in more detail and in its complete context. It is so important for us to understand love, because after all, God is love.

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