Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Friends and Associates”
Our Bible verse for today: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as fit for hell as you are!” Matthew 23:15 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We must help each other to stay doctrinally pure and Biblically accurate.”
Would it surprise you if I told you that human reasoning is flawed? No, you don’t need me or anyone else to point that out, the world itself is filled with examples of flawed human reasoning. It’s simply amazing how we can find ways to rationalize and justify the most outrageous beliefs and conduct.
As whacky, perverted, and even dangerous as some beliefs, practices, and fads can get, few things do as much damage as the actions some people take in the name of religion. Weird cults have perpetrated some of the most unbelievable lies and yet have managed to attract hundreds and thousands of followers. Radial Islamic Jihad, as practiced by ISIS and Al Qaeda today, is a current horrifying example of religion having become twisted and sick. Author Eugene Peterson once wrote:
“More people are exploited and abused in the cause of religion than in any other way. Sex, money, and power all take a back seat to religion as a source of evil. Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind. The moment a person (or government or religion or organization) is convinced that God is either ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anything goes. The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering.”
This is the kind of thinking Jesus was condemning the Pharisees for in Matthew 23:15. They had taken the pure and perfect Word of God and twisted it according to their own desires. They had added to it immensely, creating an extensive and complicated system of rules and regulations designed to regulate and control virtually every aspect of life for the people – with them, the Pharisees, ruling over it all.
In the Bible God has given us everything we need to know in order to live lives that honor and please Him. He didn’t forget anything and He doesn’t need our help to improve upon it. Therefore we don’t have the freedom to take away from what He gave us, and we also don’t have the freedom to add to it – at least not as a system of rules that we expect other people to follow. (If we feel the need to impose some additional structure or restrictions on our own conduct that’s one thing, but as soon as we begin creating rules and regulations that go beyond what the Bible itself teaches, and we attempt to require other people to obey those rules, we have become modern-day Pharisees.)
As a community of believers we must know what the Bible actually says, and what it does not say. Then we must base our faith and practice on just that, nothing more and nothing less. We also must hold one another accountable for sticking to the Bible and the Bible alone. When others among us begin to venture in extra-Biblical rule-making, or they begin to twist Scripture to conform to their own personal preferences and biases, we as a community must take a stand against that.
The Bible itself is pretty clear. God didn’t write it in secret code that only a privileged few can understand. Individually we must pray and study and genuinely trust God to give us accurate understanding. Then we must keep company with others who do the same.
As a community of believers lets insist that we all stick to what the Bible actually says – nothing more and nothing less.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 