Wedding Clothes

We cannot comprehend the eternal impact of our earthly actions this side of heaven whether good or bad. We will never know what size of a ripple a small act of kindness will make in eternity. And we will never know how devastating a selfish act will have either, because the Bible only gives us a glimpse into what life after death will be like. We only understand the temporal; the here and now. But I would encourage you to keep your mind on your eternal destiny; to live primarily for what comes after this life. Yes, God wants us to enjoy life and to live it to the full, but we should never forget that this is not our home. God is calling us to the wedding banquet. He has invited us to prepare for what is to come. And those of us who accept his invitation must be dressed appropriately for the banquet or we will be denied. In a parable found in Matthew, chapter 22, Jesus says this in verses 11 through 14: 

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told his attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.” 

Often times in the Bible, God refers to the church as his bride. And Christians make up the church. If you have accepted the gift of salvation that Jesus provided when he died for our sins and rose again, you are his bride. And no bride will go to her wedding without wearing the appropriate clothing. There is no way we can sneak into heaven, we must accept the invitation. If we haven’t before we die it’ll be too late. In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus mentions several who had been invited but, for one reason or another, they were unwilling to attend. Are you willing to attend or are the pleasures of life more important than your relationship with your betrothed? Will you be wearing the right clothes, or will you be thrown out into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? I challenge you today to take your Christian walk seriously. I challenge you to always have your mind on God from when you rise in the morning to when you go to bed at night. Loving life and loving God are not mutually exclusive. You can, and should, do both. And if you are able, you will not find yourself at the banquet wearing the wrong clothes.

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In the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus highlights someone who tries to attend the banquet, but wasn’t wearing the right clothes. He was immediately found out and was immediately cast out. Are you wearing the right clothes? If you are the bride, then you are. John 2:29 says: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” We are the bride and God is the bridegroom. There is no way to eternally remain in his presence if we do not accept the wedding clothes that God is giving us, so to speak. How ready are you? How willing are you to wait and listen for him, as it says in John, and to love him like a bride loves her future husband? I encourage you to correctly prioritize your life today. I encourage you to make God the most important factor guiding your future; to love him with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength so that when you find yourself in his presence after this life, you will attend his banquet in eager expectation and that God can easily see with a glance that you belong to him.

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Yeast

I recently watched a video online from a pastor warning his congregation about false teachers. It was sent to me by a Christian friend who wanted me to understand why our church was questioning whether to continue singing songs produced by Hillsong and Bethel in our services. In the video, the pastor called out several famous teachers and preachers who he believed were teaching false doctrine, and for many of them he was able to prove it. Several of the people he claimed were false may be spiritual leaders and pastors that you follow. Many are household names and have hundreds of thousands of believers buying their books and listening to their podcasts. I appreciate the boldness of this pastor who preached an unpopular message in an effort to warn his flock about the dangers of false teaching. Jesus did the same. It says in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 6: 

“‘Be careful,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”

After Jesus chastised his disciples for not understanding his meaning, they eventually got the hint as it says in verse 12:

“Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 

There are hundreds of preachers, teachers and spiritual leaders who have gained quite the following. Some of them are teaching the scriptures accurately, but there are others who have strayed away from the truth. There are some who are subverting the scriptures, teaching what is false either on purpose or in ignorance. The preacher that I watched on YouTube warned his congregation about such people. Jesus warned his disciples concerning the spiritual leaders of his time. And now, I hope that you can consider yourself warned as well. The Pharisees and Sadducees were heralded as spiritual rockstars in Jesus’ day, people who were believed to have known what was right and true. Even still, Jesus warned his disciples about their teaching because even though they were clergy, they were teaching falsehoods. So I would challenge you also, to test what you hear. Make sure that what is being taught in your church lines up with scripture, because in the end, none of us wants to be deceived.

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When it comes to spiritual matters, Jesus, as well as Paul, teaches us to test what we hear. We are warned against false preachers and false teachings. They were present in Jesus’ time and they are present today. So I challenge you to test what you hear from your pastors. Test what you read in Christian books. Test the validity of the Christian songs you listen to. And test the truth of the Christian podcasts you hear, including this one. Many believers are being led astray. Don’t be one of them. Become intimately familiar with the Bible so that you can identify what is counterfeit when you see it because you’ll know the truth so well. We are living in a time where you can find Christian materials anywhere and any time with the click of a button. I encourage you to only accept what is biblically true. Because there is no other way to protect yourself from being led astray.

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Three Strikes

In First Corinthians 5:12 and 13, Paul tells us that we are not to judge those outside of the church, but that it is our job to judge those inside. He said: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked man from among you.’” But what does it look like to judge those inside the church? Is there some kind of protocol that we are to follow? Is there any mention of a method that could help us in this difficult task? I believe there is, and I believe that it is outlined by Jesus himself in Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15 through 17 which says: 

“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” 

It can be incredibly difficult to call our Christian brother or sister out on their sin. After all, who are we? We are imperfect Christians who are subject to sin as well. But the main difference between a repentant believer and a non-repentant one is our ability, or inability, to agree with God that we are in error. We must agree that we have sinned; that we have rebelled against God and that we need to adjust our ways. When a believer is unwilling to acknowledge his or her sin, Jesus outlines three opportunities we are to give them to repent from their behavior. First, talk with them one on one. Second, put together a small intervention with a few believing friends. And third, take the issue to the church itself. After three strikes, Jesus said that we are to treat them as we would a pagan. It is our collective job, as believers, to hold our Christian brothers and sisters accountable. If we don’t, we will begin to see what is happening in many churches around our country, where they allow sin into the church, and like yeast, it works its way throughout the congregation.

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It may sound like an incredibly daunting task to speak to a Christian brother or sister who has sinned and is unrepentant. But that is what Jesus calls us to do. Even in our imperfection, through the Holy Spirit and through the words of the Bible, we can discern what is right and wrong; what is permissible and what is sinful. It is our duty to make an effort to bring our brother or sister back in right relationship with the Father. In truth, it is an act of love. And I would submit that if the body of Christ were active in practicing this principle, we wouldn’t see so many churches who have veered away from what is right and true. We wouldn’t see so many congregations accepting the values of the world over the steadfast truth of the scriptures. So I would challenge you, as I challenge myself, to exercise the kind of love that Jesus has for us toward our fellow brothers and sisters. Follow the principle Jesus outlined in Matthew and lend a helping hand to the one who seems to be unrepentant. Who knows, you may be the very person God wants to use to bring them back in right relationship with him.

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Worship Him

I was reading Matthew recently and as I arrived at the birth of Jesus, the motivation of the Magi who went to visit him in Bethlehem made me pause in consideration. Their unwavering faith in a prophesy proclaiming the birth of the Messiah and the star indicating the time of his arrival was incredible. Without ever seeing him, they packed expensive gifts for a long journey to meet the king of the Jews motivated only by faith. And their plan when they were to finally see him was not to expect anything from him, or to ask anything of him, but to simply worship him. It says in Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 and 2: 

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw the star in the east and have come to worship him.’” 

When we seek God in prayer, most of the time we come to him with requests. But what if we adopted the attitude of the Magi? What if we came to him with the sole purpose of  worshipping him? I’ll always encourage you to set aside time to pray to God, but next time, consider dedicating all of your prayer time worshipping him. There will be plenty of time to share your requests with him later. But I believe that every believer should consider the power of admiration. Consider Jesus’ response when he healed the ten lepers and only one came back to worship him. He is God and he created us to worship him. My question is, how are we doing on that front? Many of us worship him on Sunday, but what about the rest of the week? I’d like to challenge you, as well as myself, to try to make our prayers as much about worshipping God as we do requesting something of him. Jesus modeled it and as we can see in Matthew, the Magi did too. So what do you say we practice it as well with our hearts engaged and our love and adoration evident toward the one who saved our soul.

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When the Magi came to find Jesus lying in a manger, their primary intent was to worship him. What is your intent towards our Lord and Savior? How often do you truly worship him, love him and adore him? Just like a good earthly father loves to have his children lavish their love upon him, God, our heavenly Father loves it when we love and worship him in spirit and in truth. After all, the greatest command is for us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Are you doing that? I would challenge you to focus your heart upon him today; to pray with thanksgiving and uplifted hands; to lavish all of the love and adoration you can muster on him. He is worthy.

The Inside

One of my favorite verses in the Bible comes from Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33; “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” One of the reasons that verse impacts me so much is that it does an amazing job of simplifying a truth we tend to complicate. We learn that instead of concentrating on all of the worries of life; instead of taking our eyes off of God and striving in our own strength to make sure we have our physical needs met, we should turn our attention to just one thing: seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. If we do, Jesus explains that the very thing we were worrying about will take care of itself. There is another saying from Christ that helps to simplify a truth we tend to complicate. It comes from Matthew, chapter 23, verses 25 through 26, where Jesus says:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

So, just as when we seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, we don’t have to worry about our physical needs, if we focus on cleaning our insides, we won’t have to worry about our outsides. Many of us spend an enormous amount of time making sure that we appear holy and righteous. We can participate in highly visible ministries and Christian activities. We can learn to speak using all of the right Christian words and phrases. We can dress formally and modestly making sure we don’t have a hair out of place. We can make every effort to appear as though our Christian walk is impeccable. But in Matthew, Jesus called the Pharisees who did that, “hypocrites”. Because though they looked righteous on the outside, it was their insides that were dirty; it was their insides that were full of sin. He told them to clean the inside, then the outside would take care of itself. We need to heed these words as well. We need to concentrate on our insides. We need to make sure that our heart, or our insides, line up with the character of God. If we do, the outside will clean itself.

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Have you ever met a physically attractive person who looks amazing on the outside, but when their personality is revealed and you find out who they really are, you are repulsed? In your mind you might’ve wished that the inside of the person was as attractive as the outside. You may have felt disappointment because you didn’t find what you were expecting. When it comes to our spiritual walk, we need to concentrate on our heart first. As Jesus says, we need to make sure that we “first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean”. I encourage you to spend the majority of your Christian efforts working on cleaning the inside of yourself, or cleaning your heart. That is what matters most to God, and that is what should matter most to us. Because when we are clean on the inside, people will be genuinely attracted to the outside as well. It may not be an attraction that can be seen with the naked eye, but it will be a much deeper and a more genuine than mere physical beauty.