“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
- Galatians 5:22-23
Faithfulness is a simple word, but it can often be a rare characteristic to find in our world today. Commitments are easily broken, promises often go unkept, loyalty bends when it becomes inconvenient, and truth gets changed to fit what we want to believe. Our world does not celebrate faithfulness in the way talent, charisma, or success are. But in God’s Kingdom, faithfulness is a pillar of spiritual maturity.
Faithfulness is consistency in a world of inconsistency, being steadfast when others drift. It is integrity when compromise tempts, it is loyalty when walking away feels easier, and it is one of the clearest reflections of the God we serve.
The Greek word for faithfulness has meaning nuances that include trustworthiness, reliability, loyalty, steadfast commitment, integrity, dependability, and confidence in God. Faithfulness means you can be counted on, not because of your own strength, but because your life is anchored in the unchanging character of God. Faithfulness is not just about what we believe, but how we live what we believe.
Faithfulness begins with how God demonstrates His faithfulness. Scripture tells us of God’s faithfulness in many places. “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does” (Psalm 145:13). “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13).
Because God is faithful, He is unchanging, reliable, steady, consistent, unconditional, and eternal. He never forgets His promises, never breaks His word, never abandons His people, and never stops loving us. God’s faithfulness is the foundation for ours; we are faithful because He is faithful first.
Jesus demonstrated faithfulness during His life on earth. He was always faithful to His Father’s will, faithful in teaching truth, faithful in obedience even to death, faithful in loving the broken, faithful to the mission of redemption, faithful in prayer, faithful in compassion, and faithful in sacrifice. Even when His closest friends failed, fled, or denied Him, Jesus remained faithful. Jesus is a great example for us to look at to see what faithful and steadfast love truly looks like.
How can we live out faithfulness in our everyday lives? We should first be faithful to God by consistently spending time in Scripture, developing a life of prayer, obeying His Word even when it’s difficult, worshiping not just on Sundays, but with our whole lives, trusting Him in trials, not just in blessings, and staying committed when feelings fluctuate. Faithfulness is choosing God again and again, not based on our ever-changing emotions but on our convictions.
Next, we should be faithful in our relationships with those around us. That means keeping your word, being dependable, showing up in both good times and hard times, being consistent rather than unpredictable, loving with commitment, protecting trust rather than breaking it, and encouraging instead of abandoning. This will build strong friendships and help our communities thrive.
Finally, we should be faithful in the daily responsibilities we have. God cares deeply about how we steward what He has entrusted to us: our work, our finances, our time, our gifts and talents, our influence, and our service in the church. Faithfulness means doing what is right even when no one sees, applauds, or rewards you. Faithfulness is often not glamorous, but it is transformative.
However, all of that definitely seems easier said than done! Our culture generally prefers instant results over long-term obedience. Feelings are often a higher priority than commitments. Convenience is idolized. Self-discipline is difficult because we have been trained to dislike and avoid any kind of discomfort. When things get hard, we often doubt rather than reminding ourselves of God’s faithfulness and how we should imitate that. Faithfulness requires perseverance, self-control, and trust in God’s timing.
Just as with all the other fruit of the Spirit, we cannot manufacture it by willpower alone. We need the Holy Spirit to produce in us what the flesh resists.
While the world celebrates what is flashy and fast, Scripture celebrates what is faithful and enduring. God values faithfulness over giftedness, obedience over achievement, consistency over recognition, and devotion over talent. Faithfulness may not always be seen by others, but it is always seen by God. We should all strive to be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
Strive to be faithful in the small things; small obedience grows into lifelong devotion. Perfection is not the goal but rather consistency – keep showing up, even when you mess up. Keep your word to the best of your ability, and take responsibility when you break it. Our faithfulness should be anchored in God and who He is, not in our own actions. It’s our job to strive for obedience to God, and He will handle the rest.
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The year 2025 is coming to a close, and with that are going to be some significant changes with Worldview Warriors and what is being done. For those who have been following Jason’s “return” to the scene, it seems the ministry is firing back up, but my role in the ministry is going to change. For 12 years, I have been a blogger for the ministry, and at the end of this month, I will publish my final blog post for the time being. I will still be involved and will continue writing, and I will share more of that at the close of the month, but as I close out my weekly blog, I want to leave you all with two critical messages for our day and age.
Those who follow me know that I am not one who readily minces words. I just say it just as I see it and don’t have much of a filter in a very “over-sensitive” culture that has trained people to believe that their emotions are their literal identity and anything that would make them feel bad is an attack on their person. I cannot tell you how many times I will address the tactics and actions people are doing, and they think I am attacking them personally. It gets comical at times, but it’s also frustrating.
Making emotions our identity has led to some excessively weak people who completely crumble just at the word “no,” and it’s been supported by taking the Christian command of hospitality, love, and gentleness and twisting it on its head into what some have called “The 11th Commandment.” What is this unwritten commandment that seems to hold all precedence above any other command? “Thou shalt be nice.” Let’s define this by how it is practiced and used.
Being “nice” today is very much like being “tolerant.” You have to be open-minded to all opinions, treating anyone’s ideas with equal weight, except for any ideas that come from God. Because that, by definition, is not “nice.” You cannot say anything that would dare hurt anyone’s feelings or say they are wrong. Everything must not be merely sugar-coated but made of nothing but sugar. If someone actually wants to kill you and hates absolutely everything you stand for, you cannot stand your ground, but you must love and accept them and let them into your circles and home, and you must not speak against their beliefs or lifestyles. That is what being “nice” means in how it is being applied. No matter what anyone else says or does, the Christian is to be the doormat, a softie, a pansy.
C.T. Studd wrote an excellent essay to counter this: “The Chocolate Soldier.” This whole 11th Commandment of “thou shalt be nice” and “tolerant” is telling us that we need to be made of chocolate – a dandy, a lollipop, taste good, feel good, always hospitable, but never sour, rough, challenging, firm. This is a chocolate soldier. A weak, effeminate man who melts with the slightest amount of heat. We are in a battle, the greatest battle that has been going on for millennia. A battle for truth, a battle for souls, and God does not build his men with chocolate.
Studd went on to describe several men who were made of chocolate. Reuben and Meroz were rebuked in Deborah’s song for their lack of support in the war against Sisera. Balaam sought the wealth of the world and taught Israel to sin because he didn’t have the guts to do it himself. Demas left the faith to seek his own pleasure. Mark quit on Paul early in his ministry but then chose to quit being a chocolate, became Peter’s primary translator, and then a good friend of Paul’s. An old prophet deceived a man of God who rebuked Jeroboam for his idols. The ten spies melted like chocolate before the giants of Canaan and drove the rest of Israel to melt with them. Jonah ran away from God to avoid the task given to him.
Each of these men and tribes showcased at least one time of cowardice, weakness, or softness, and the end result was sin. Disobedience, defiance, worldliness, and frankly, an easy trophy for the enemy. Satan and this world LOVE chocolate soldiers; they’re so easy to devour. There is another key characteristic in this description: cowardice. The “chocolate soldier” is a coward, afraid, weak, pathetic, and caves and surrenders to the opinions and pressures of men and this world easily. And the coward is the first in the list of those who will not enter the kingdom of heaven in Revelation 21:8.
But we are not called to be “nice.” We are called to be men of actual substance. Studd describes what a real man of God looks like with many examples: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Nathan, Daniel, John the Baptist, and Paul, not to mention Jesus of Christ. There was no sugar or chocolate in them. And when there was, that was when sin came out (except for Jesus, of course). But there was no softness, no sugar, no “niceness,” no “tolerance” as this world wants of us. Instead, there is the rock-hard, firm resolve that changes this world. There is a refusal to back down without any regard to how it is received, and the only care is to be obedient to what God said to say and to do. Now, in this, there is the warning to be innocent as doves, so we are to do all we do without sin. But beware, our culture and many in the church consider standing your ground to be “toxic,” and to say “That does not belong in the church” to be “inhospitable” and “unloving.” And how dare we actually tell a professing Christian they are in error, let alone in heresy and outside the faith, when they have denied, directly or indirectly, Christ, the work of Christ, or even the necessity for Christ. It’s one thing to pursue Christ and be wrong. But when someone is intentionally teaching something in error and has no regard for correction, regardless of which “tone” is used, that must be called out.
Now, to be clear, every one of us has chocolate in us. Every one of us has those moments where we put our guard down and join the “chocolate brigade.” David did, Jonah did, Mark did, but they hated it and repented and rejoined God’s army properly. As for me, it doesn’t take long to see that I am not easily made of chocolate when it comes to truth, but I also know myself in other areas where I certainly have too much chocolate in me. We are to be kind and loving and draw people to Christ, but NEVER are we to be “nice” and cowardly. We must make a stand and not back down, telling this world, “We aren’t going anywhere.” And that is what we are seeking to do with Worldview Warriors. Even as I step down from blogging soon, it only means my job description is changing, not my position or my resolve. I’ll explain more on that in the upcoming couple of weeks.
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During the Last Supper, Jesus carried out His most humiliating and final act of servitude in His human life: the washing of the disciples’ feet. After this night, Jesus would go face-to-face with His enemies and surrender His life to them. Then, upon His resurrection, Jesus was no longer the “passive servant” that some had made Him out to be, but the royal King making His final rounds before ascending. Yes, He would serve a couple of meals, but after the Resurrection, Jesus was no longer the lamb. He was now the lion. Here at the Last Supper, Jesus gave the final example of what true leadership looks like: taking the lowest spot and doing the things that were often reserved for the lowest menial labor. It is this moment, along with Philippians 2:5-11, that gives rise to the phrase, the Servant King. That title is nowhere found in Scripture directly, but there is truth to it. Jesus was and is the King, and He is a king who did serve. But understand that Jesus looked down on no one, and while He served and supported, He absolutely did not bow to anyone’s command.
Multiple ministers and missionaries I have encountered knew precisely what to do with anyone who wanted to come serve with them. When they asked if they could preach or evangelize, they would hand over the toilet brush. Because if they were not willing to do the work behind the spotlight, they were undeserving of the spotlight. Too many people think ministry in the Kingdom is a glorious spotlight of fame and TV/YouTube spots. But it’s not. It’s often a dirty job. The pastoral position is like being the father of a family. It gets messy when you deal with people day in and day out. The people who don’t want to do that only see the speaking part, the celebrity part, and the “get taken out for lunch” part, and then they can leave and leave the dirty work for someone else. Jesus never promoted any such notion.
Jesus’ final act of service was to wash His disciples’ feet, including those of Judas, whom Jesus knew would betray Him within a few hours. Peter realized what Jesus was doing, and good old foot-in-the-mouth Peter insisted that Jesus should not bring Himself down to such a position. He would rather do it himself. Then, when Jesus corrected him, Peter asked for a whole-body washing. Oh, how many of us sound just like Peter, if not more bone-headed?
One thing Jesus made clear was that His kingdom was not of this world. It works completely backwards from how mankind would plot it or plan it. All the Jews and even the disciples thought Jesus was going to rescue them from Rome and be who they thought David would be. But David was just a picture of defeating physical enemies, and Jesus would defeat far more powerful enemies. The Jews wanted to rule with force, but Jesus would rule with love and authority. The kingdom of God would spread by preaching and loving each other. When Pilate questioned Jesus, he was afraid of a Jewish revolt – not that it would succeed, but that it would be a headache for him to deal with. But Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world, and Jesus’ final act of service was just that – an action that is not of this world.
Jesus’ model for ministry was to genuinely help people and to lift them up, at first with ONE round of physical needs, and then with spiritual needs. He was the antithesis of the “social justice” movement that has usurped His name. The social justice movement has never been about actually helping people, but a Marxist ideology to remove individual wealth and distribute it “among the poor.” The pretense is to help the poor, but the actual agenda is to keep the poor poor and make the middle class subject to the state, so the state controls the resources. It’s Communism pretending to be generous to the poor. That’s not what Jesus was about. Jesus was about the individuals helping the poor as they saw need and as they had ability. If Jesus saw a wagon that was broken down, He’d get under it and fix it. He didn’t just say “go the extra mile” to carry a Roman soldier’s gear, but would actually do it. Jesus was about going above and beyond helping true needs, but Jesus also had limits. Jesus fed the 5000, but when they came to get seconds and treat Jesus as a welfare system, Jesus didn’t give them another bite. Jesus was a servant, the servant king, the King who served, but He was going to be nobody’s call boy.
Jesus is not a genie. He does not serve upon command. He serves by choice, and He will draw a line at what He does. He never demanded that anyone follow Him with any threats or even bribes, but He certainly warned and called out those who deliberately refused to even consider Him. He wept at those who loved their sin too much to let it go, but He held nothing back at those who would hold back His sheep from the truth and from Him. Yet Jesus treats His sheep with tender love and care, and sometimes that means taking them through some brutal areas so that they can graze and eat their fill and rest by very good waters. This model is how we are to handle others. We are not to be doormats, but we are to serve those whom we can, and sometimes that includes our enemies. We are not to lord anything over others. This is part of why I don’t like apologists who have to boast their credentials as though they mean much. I especially have no respect for those who think their credentials make them deserve some kind of respect or attention. That’s what the Pharisees did. We don’t need to show our credentials; that’s worldly thinking. Our credentials are our love for each other and our love for others as we deal with their actual needs, physical and spiritual.
Let us take Jesus’ example and serve one another, even doing the menial tasks without complaint, even if it means taking a step back in our professional career, and build up those who are around us. Yes, even those pagan administrators and managers who don’t know a thing about the real world or what we actually have to do. Because if God told Israel to support Babylon because they would be blessed if they blessed Babylon, so will we. If we make our bosses, our managers, and our leaders proper, so shall we. We serve a higher authority, and if we serve Him, He will honor us.
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Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
- 1 Corinthians 7:17-24
When a passage starts with a word like “Nevertheless,” it’s important to get the context of what was written before it. Paul started this chapter by giving instructions for marriage as Christians, and then he addresses single people, widows, and everyone else in the context of romantic relationships, including a brief discussion on divorce.
The first part of verse 17 summarizes all of this well: “Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them.” Whether you are married, single, divorced, widowed, or anywhere in between, we should live as believers in Jesus! Whatever relationship status God has given you in life, that is where you should be content and be obedient to God until He calls you to something else.
As believers, we are called to live lives that honor and glorify God no matter what specific circumstances we’re in. This is a rule that Paul is giving to all the churches who would read this letter in the first century, but it also applies to us today. This rule from Paul goes along with God’s commands throughout the Scriptures.
Paul then applies this principle to the nationality crisis that was occurring in his day between Jews and Gentiles. In verses 18-19, he brings up the issue of circumcision, which was a huge issue then. Any man who was a Jew would have already been circumcised, and any man who was a Gentile would not have been, so this was a divisive issue for them. Now that both Jews and Gentiles could be a part of the body of believers in Jesus, what happens with the circumcision issue?
A group of people known as the Judaizers tried to force all the Gentile men to be circumcised when they became followers of Jesus – see Acts 5:1-5 and Galatians 3:1-3 for more on that. Paul’s point is that this outward sign no longer has any meaning, so it really doesn’t matter. If you were already circumcised, that’s fine. If you weren’t already circumcised, that’s fine too. It’s not something that really matters anymore, now that all who believe are one in Jesus Christ. As Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Verse 20 repeats what Paul has been saying to give it added emphasis. Whatever situation you have in life, you can still be a believer and do what God is calling you to do.
Paul gives another illustration of applying this principle as it relates to slavery in verses 21-23. Remember that slavery in Biblical times was not what we in the modern United States think of as slavery. For more on what slavery is, check out this post by Charlie Wolcott and the entire series he’s currently writing here. Slavery was more of a social status, and it was often temporary to pay off a debt to someone.
Paul’s emphasis here is that a person does not need to worry about their social status when they come to faith in Jesus Christ. Wherever you are in life, you can still be a believer! Becoming a Christian does not guarantee that your social status will get better, though Paul does encourage those in slavery to be freed from it if possible.
Verse 22 is one that may make us think a bit: “For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.” We know that Jesus has set us free from the penalty of sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and we have been bound as slaves to Jesus. Everyone is a slave to something, as Paul writes in Romans 6. When you became a believer in Jesus, you were set free from the grasp of sin and death. But you also became a slave of Jesus rather than a slave of the world.
The distinction of who you are a slave to is an important one for the believer. As Paul writes in verse 23, our priority needs to be that we are slaves to Christ and not slaves to our fellow humans. Jesus should have all authority over us, not other people. We should serve faithfully in whatever station in life God has called us to, but we do so because God bought us for a price and we are now His servants and His slaves.
In verse 24, Paul repeats almost the same thing he already said in verse 17 and verse 20: “Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.” This further emphasizes Paul’s point that your station in life is not relevant when you follow Jesus Christ, as long as you are obeying what God has called you to.
This still applies to us today also. Whether you are a student, a factory worker, unemployed, a stay-at-home parent, a manager, a top-level executive, or anything in between, your goal should be to live that life for the glory of Jesus Christ. You are a part of God’s family no matter what your station in life. You should live as a true believer no matter what the circumstances of your life look like, and God will be glorified through you.
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“Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it ‘Today.’ This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.’
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” -Hebrews 4:6-11
The previous sections of this book have been discussing the people of Israel and how their disobedience to God prohibited them from entering the “rest” of the Promised Land, and how that relates to our obedience to God and our faith in Jesus. The previous passage told us to live out our faith in Jesus Christ so we can enter God’s rest – eternal life with Him. Now, this section starts with a “therefore” that builds on all of that.
Some will not enter that rest, but some will enter it because it would go against God’s character for His plan for humanity to go unfulfilled. God prepared His rest for humanity, so that means at least some will enter into it. Nothing can stop God’s promises from being fulfilled. But, we should also have a healthy fear of God’s promises; just because they will be fulfilled does not mean that they’ll always be fulfilled for us if we choose disobedience over obedience and faith.
The author of Hebrews is focusing on two specific generations in this passage: the generation of Israelites that wandered into the wilderness and was prevented from entering the Promised Land, and those alive in his own generation in the first century. That early generation of Isrealites set the pattern for disobedience even after God did miraculous works for them. The word used here for disobedience could also mean disbelief, and the two are tied together. The only reason Israel would disobey Almighty God was if they didn’t fully believe in His provision for them, in spite of seeing it with their own eyes.
The author is using this example of the people of Israel to encourage the believers in his own generation to believe in God and obey Him in all things. He quotes Psalm 95 yet again, encouraging the people to not harden their hearts but to obey God when He speaks to them. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (For more on this, check out this post.) There is always time to repent and begin a life of obedience to God, as long as the day is called “Today”!
The use of the name “Joshua” in verse 8 is very interesting. The names Joshua and Jesus are very closely related; Joshua is the Hebrew form and Jesus is the Greek form. The two names both have the same meaning – one who saves. Using the name Joshua in the English brings back memories of the people of Israel, as Joshua was their leader right after Moses, and Joshua led them into the Promised Land. The Greek text, however, says “Jesus” here. What’s up with that?
The original readers of this text would have gotten the connection between the two. Joshua brought them into God’s rest of the Promised Land, but he could only go so far. Jesus is the one who truly provides salvation and will bring us into God’s rest of eternal life! Joshua could only go so far in the physical world; Jesus saves our souls as well.
In verse 9, we see the author clarifying this “rest” a bit. There are different kinds of rest that people would experience – the sleeping kind of rest, rest as in peace rather than a time of war, etc. It appears that the author of Hebrews made up this term for “Sabbath-rest” to explain this a bit more. It’s like when we don’t have a word for what we want to talk about, so we make one up; Biblical authors did that, too. It is likely that the author was referring to the rest that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This rest is for the people of God, which refers to all believers in this New Testament context.
The author explains this idea of Sabbath-rest a bit more in verse 10. To enter this rest means to rest from our works, just as God rested on the seventh day of Creation (Genesis 2:1-3). In our productivity-driven culture, we often think of resting as lazy and it has a negative connotation. We need to keep striving and doing all the things, right? Wrong! If the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, could take a day off, then so can we. We often forget that taking a day of rest each week is actually a command from God; for more on that, check out this post and Exodus 20:8-11.
There is some question as to whether this verse refers to taking a Sabbath day’s rest while here on earth, or whether it refers to eternal life as has been implied previously. I believe it is both. Taking a Sabbath rest while living on this earth is being obedient to the command that God has given us and the model that He set for us, which will lead us to living out our faith in Jesus Christ that will get us to God’s rest of eternal life. It’s a both-and situation, not an either-or.
Finally, the author wraps up this section by exhorting people to do just that: “Make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience” (verse 11). The example he is referring to is that of the people of Israel; don’t follow their disobedience, but instead live out God’s commands in order to demonstrate your faith in Jesus Christ.
What pattern are you following in your life? Are you following the Israelites’ pattern of disobeying God? Or are you following the pattern of living out your faith in Jesus Christ through obedience to what God commands you?
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“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12).
The author of Hebrews has just quoted a portion of Psalm 95 that encourages the reader to follow the ways of God instead of falling into rebellion against God. He continues on that theme as we begin today’s passage of Hebrews 3:12-19.
This passage starts out with a command to see to it that we don’t have a heart that turns away from God. This verb translated here as “turns away” has the idea of a rebellion - purposefully and intentionally turning away from God and rebelling against Him as a lifestyle choice, not just an occasional mistake. It can also mean to abandon, leave, withdraw, or revolt. We are commanded not to abandon, leave, rebel, or revolt against God - but this is what we end up so often doing in our sin.
What should we do instead, to counter that rebellion? “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (verse 13). The way to keep our hearts right and pointed toward God is to encourage one another every day. Note that it doesn’t say to encourage each other when you meet weekly on Sunday mornings; encourage one another daily.
The phrase “as long as it is called ‘Today’” adds a sense or urgency to this command. Each day often seems to go by very quickly, especially when looking back. Have you encouraged a fellow believer today? How about yesterday? Is this something we’re making a point to do every single day? This is the only way that we can fight against the natural inclination of our hearts to turn away from God and toward the sinful things of this world that seem to so easily draw us in and deceive us.
How can we encourage each other in this way? “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end” (verse 14). This sharing in Christ can also be translated as participating in Christ together. None of us should be trying to be a Christian alone; we’re all in this together! It is important to hold onto that conviction that we had when we first became followers of Jesus. For some people, that was a dramatic and transformational moment, and we need to keep that conviction in mind and encourage one another to not let it go. For others, like myself, coming to faith has been a gradual lifelong process without one defining moment. But God will still give us moments where we have greater confidence in our faith and what God is doing in and through us than in other moments, so we need to hold onto that conviction to get us through the times where we struggle more.
The author then goes back to a quote from Psalm 95:7-8 in verse 15, the beginning of the quote we looked at last week: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
Perhaps he thought that quote needed some more explanation, which he then begins to discuss by asking questions in verses 16-18: “Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?” All of these questions relate to the people of Israel. They were in a great position and relationship with God, and then they chose to give all that up to rebel against God.
The first question is who were they who heard and rebelled? This is answered with a rhetorical question that gives us the answer - those who Moses led out of Egypt, the people of Israel. The second question is who was God angry with for 40 years? Again, the answer is Israel, but given in the form of a descriptive question - those who sinned and died in the wilderness. The third question asks about the ones who disobeyed, and again the answer is Israel, of course.
God did so much for the people of Israel, yet they still chose to go their own way and rebel against Him. The depressing conclusion of this passage is found in verse 19: “So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” This is not just God overreacting and getting mad that they disobeyed Him; this is the inevitable outcome of not believing in God. This is true whether applied to the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness, to the first-century Church, to us today, and everyone in between.
This section of Hebrews is a warning for all followers of God for the consequences of falling away from our faith in Him into unbelief, disobedience, and rebellion. We need to continually be on our guard against this, as it is so easy to do! Our enemy, the devil, is constantly working to deceive us, so we need to be in fellowship with other believers so that we can be encouraged and fight that temptation to wilfully rebel against God.
What are you doing in your life to fight that temptation to rebel against God? How are you encouraging others as you walk in faith to keep fighting the good fight to stay obedient to God? I encourage you this week to work on even small ways to encourage yourself and others to stay on the path of faith and obedience.
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Earlier this year, I did a verse-by-verse independent study through Jeremiah, and I found that chapter 35 gives a very interesting lesson. Jeremiah called in the clan of Rechab to the Temple in the days that the Babylonians were closing in on Jerusalem. Their ancestor, Jonadab, made a vow that neither he nor any of his family would ever taste or drink wine. Jeremiah brought them over and had a table full of different wines and said that God had told them to drink. This family said that their father had made that vow and they would be sure to not break it. Jeremiah was pleased and then made a proclamation to all Judah that if this family would keep their vows and their word, even when a prophet said to break it, then why would all of Judah so readily break their vows with God?
This passage stood out to me because loyalty to our word and loyal to God’s Word are virtually non-existent today. I all but totally understand Jesus’ grief when He asked, “When I return, will I find any faith in Israel?” Jesus is asking, “Will I find anyone actually believing me when I come back?” I’ve heard talk of a great/grand revival that will be a 3rd Great Awakening for America, and more people will be saved than in the history of mankind. The primary verse cited is in Revelation 7:9 when John sees the great multitude at the throne worshiping God beyond count. But I find such a notion of this “great revival” to have no backing because Jesus said, “Narrow is the gate and narrow is the way. Few are those who find it.” The number in heaven will be numerous, but they will be very few in comparison to those who go to hell. There has never been a majority of believers, true born-again believers, in any society and there most certainly won’t be as the end times approach. Unlike all those around them, the Rechabites kept their vows to stay faithful through the generations. Jeremiah pointed out this clan as a group who stayed on the narrow way. Who here is like them?
A key point here is that this clan kept their vows despite a prophet, a man of God, telling them that it’s okay to break it. Now, Jeremiah was testing them, not tempting them. There is a difference. If any of the clan had stepped forward, Jeremiah would have stopped them. But any other prophet of his time would have said the same thing then let them drink. There are many who claim to be prophets, or preachers, or pastors, those who claim to speak for and represent God and do nothing of the sort. Jeremiah was the only one of his time to do so. But I also want you to note how powerful the deception is.
In 1 Kings 13, an unnamed man of God, a prophet, confronted Jeroboam about his false idols. Jeroboam had just been made king over the newly formed northern Kingdom of Israel, and he made two golden calves to be centers of worship instead of the Temple in Jerusalem. This man of God rebuked him, but in and among this, God told him not to rest or eat or drink in that area. Then another prophet intercepted him and said an angel told him to come get him and for him to eat and drink. Yet he was lying. The man of God believed him and returned to eat and drink. God confronted him and before he returned home, a lion killed him on the road because he disobeyed God’s word.
I am also reminded of Nehemiah as he was building the wall. A very crafty tactic from Sanballot was to hire Shemaiah, a prophet and a man of prayer, to tell Nehemiah to come to the Temple and hide. Shemaiah was hired to say that, and Nehemiah perceived it. A man of God, someone who had been in prayer, came to Nehemiah and gave him a false message. Nehemiah spotted it.
We live in times where people “hear from God” all the time, yet none of them ever get anything real about it. If you have the time, watch this video from Justin Peters. He goes through the “Word of Faith” preachers, namely Kenneth Copeland, Sid Roth, and Paula White, who through the whole of 2020 butchered nearly every statement they made about what God told them. They never had a hint about what COVID would do, and they tried to “pray” or even “blow” it away. Didn’t happen. Then they all jumped hard onto the Trump bandwagon, and I dare say turned him into an idol. They all proclaimed he would win a second term and guess what? It didn’t happen. (Exactly how that played out was a clear case of cheating and fraud, but God put it in front of our faces and let it happen.) Yet so many still listen to them as though they “are from God.” And I’m asking, “Why do they still listen to them?”
I especially hear this issue coming from the origins debate. In recent debates I’ve had with Old Earth Creationists, they purpose to declare their position to be Biblical (when it’s not) and to say they “followed the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, we are to welcome them in. Yet, as I listen, it’s the same thing. I have made my vow as a born-again believer that I will believe and submit to the authority of Scripture (this is part of the job description of being a Christian) and this stuff is contrary to that vow. I cannot and will not partake in it. When I listen to these arguments, I can tell they are not hearing from God. Here are some clues: They love to cite “their opinions.” They often say, “I think.” When confronted with the clear text, their arguments have the form of “I don’t understand it, therefore that text must not say that.” Yet, they insert things that are not explicitly stated as being equal to the text. Quick caveat: this is also leveled at the young earth creationists for “adding geologic models” to the text, however, none of the YEC geologists I know ever put their models as being “equal” to Scripture. I hear old earth geologists do so all the time. They call it “nature,” but they aren’t talking about the full study of the natural world, but their own models.
Paul said, “If anyone or even an angel were to preach another gospel, let him be accursed.” In every single book of the NT, except Philemon, there is a charge to stand for the truth and don’t let ANYONE tell you otherwise. The Rechabites stood for their vows. The saints throughout the ages stood for their vows to the point of death. They refused to recant. Despite all the people who claimed to be for God telling them to do otherwise, they held to their convictions and God praised them for it. Their reward? They would never fail to have a man stand before God, representing and honoring Him. God will not leave those who stay loyal to Him unrewarded.
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by Eric Hansen
First, I want to say that I cannot speak on behalf of women, and so I will only be discussing men and not cover the other half of the biblical world.
However, as a man who knew only a sinful life for decades, it brings moments of retrospection. Would my life have been different if I knew God before some event? Would I have married my wife? If I grew up in a Christ-focused house, would I have been a different child? While I hate what if’s, they are a fact of an over-thinker’s daily life.
As a son, though, in what ways can I instill Christ as my focus, even though I’m considered an adult by all legal means? This is something that I never considered until my wife brought up how I’m still a son to a worldly father and mother, and not just the Father.
I find it much easier to help guide my wife along a Christ-focused life compared to my mom and dad, yet I’ve known them much longer. Take a look at what Paul speaks to us about in Ephesians 6:1-3: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’” This will be the main focus of how we can be Godly sons.
Where does the focus lay on who is pleased by an obedient child? Of course, the mother and father are excited that they can take their kid to church for a few hours, or a movie, and their little one will be able to sit through it when the parent tells them to. But more importantly we see Paul making the statement that we are “in the Lord” (v. 1) and that us being obedient “pleases the Lord” (Colossians 3:20). As with most of the life-application verses in the New Testament, this isn’t without prior knowledge of God’s revelation. For this, we can see in the 5th commandment: “Honor your father and mother” (Exodus 20:12). This isn’t something new that Paul or Jesus was instilling in us; it’s been a foundational decree from God since the very beginning of Israel.
When I read through these passages, though, I often find it difficult to think that this applies to me, being the age I am and of legal responsibility. But truly it holds me even more accountable the older I become. If you think about it, when was the last time you depended on your parents for anything of substance? In this world, man is often thought of as very self-sufficient, even to the point of sin (separation from God). But as we as sons grow older, we should truly be seeking more wisdom from our parents (Proverbs 6:20). We all know that soon enough our parents won’t be with us in this world, and we shouldn’t take them or their knowledge for granted. We must stop asking ourselves what we can do to become better and instead seek wisdom from our parents. Even if they made horrible decisions, that knowledge can help guide us as to what not to do, much like the bulk of the Old Testament’s teachings.
Through this I am not saying we are to blindly listen to what we are told, whether we are a child or not. We should test all teachings we hear against the Bible, which is the authority worthy enough for rebuking (2 Timothy 3:16). Instead we should listen to what we are told, question what doesn’t sound correct, and pray on what to do with what we know now. The same goes for when we are corrected. Whether it is our parents or a stranger who comes to us and tells us we were wrong, we need to be open to the possibility that we were wrong, but also question it if we disagree with the statement, not bicker and argue because our ego got scratched.
The Messiah was no stranger to being submissive to His earthly mother and father as well. Luke 2:51 highlights this, and Jesus further exemplifies the laws; even more, Jesus was obedient to the Father and His will even until He died. As Jesus did then, we must now too still submit to our parents regardless of how old we are. If you disagree with this statement, then I ask you to find a verse in the Bible that demonstrates righteousness that comes from ignoring our parents. As Christians, we can often think we’re doing the right thing but yet actually be acting against His will. A common aspect of this is “I feel in my heart God is saying …” But in reality God speaks to us through the Bible, not through our hearts. There’s no new revelation bestowed upon us that isn’t in His Word, so when we “feel” these things, we should seek God’s Word above our feelings or emotions.
Whether you’re 5 or 75, we will always be considered a son to the Father. We are an infant He wants to see dependent on Him instead of trying to survive off of their own well-being. This isn’t to say we cannot grow our own crops, build our own churches, or start our own families. But we need to seriously remember who we are the son of and where that takes us in both times of joy and strife.
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by Chad Koons
The door flung open as he strode into the office, holding an envelope. I greeted him but he did not respond, staring at me with a face overcome with emotion. “What’s this?” I asked him. He went to speak but found no words, instead slapping the envelope on the counter and walking back out the door. I knew that it must be about his grandson, Clint.
What was inside of that envelope blew me away. We look for God to move inside of our church buildings, and He does, yet what if He most often prefers to move outside of them?
I try to remain open to the Spirit’s leading. Quite often the Lord will have me pray for someone, speak a Scripture, give Godly counsel, or outright share the gospel when I am out and about.
On this particular day, it happened while I was at work, just a couple of months ago.
While working with a particular customer, the conversation had somehow shifted off of his project and onto the funny things that little kids do. I don’t remember how this happened, but when a conversation shifts to something off topic, I have learned to pay special attention for this may be the leading of the Lord. And in this case, it was. He told me that he has a 3-year old grandson named Clint. “Please pray for him,” he said softly, “he’s undergoing surgery right now.”
This information alarmed me. He said that Clint had been having pain in his ear, nasal trouble, and a loss of hearing. The doctor suspected a tumor or cyst, some mass that needed to be removed, though they would not know more until they got in there to find out.
“You said that he’s undergoing surgery now, did you mean right this instant?” I asked him. He confirmed that Clint was literally on the operating table at that very moment. “Then let’s pray for him right now,” I said. The man seemed surprised by this but said, “Yes, let’s pray.” We stood in the parking lot while I began to pray out loud. Being careful to listen to the leading of the Lord during my prayer, I was slow to speak as the right Scripture and words came into my heart and out of my mouth.
A great urgency came in my heart just then during my prayer, and in my mind, I briefly saw an image of a gloved hand performing surgery. The hand suddenly moved towards a different section within the surgery area, then the image went away. I sensed a need to pray accordingly, so I did: “Fill the surgeons with wisdom and foresight, bring all things back into their remembrance, move and guide their hands to the right areas, directing them to see exactly what they need to see for Clint’s situation.” I felt relief after praying this. I knew in my heart that something significant had happened just then.
Upon concluding the prayer, the man thanked me and left. However, the situation remained upon my heart. A dear little 3-year old boy, the same age as my little son, it was a burden that I could feel.
A few days later, the man returned. He quickly walked into the office and delivered an envelope to me, leaving without saying a word, as he was overcome with emotion. Inside the envelope was a card:
“Thank you for praying for Clint. The doctor’s hand was clearly guided during the operation. At first he couldn’t find the obstruction and thought maybe it had resolved itself, but his hand was led to a spot he did not imagine could hold the cyst. He found and removed the obstruction and Clint will be fine. The obstruction was against a major nerve and if the Spirit had not moved his hand forward, Clint would have been stricken with both facial and brain issues. May God be glorified.”
Amazing.
God moves right where you are, regardless if you are at work, play, rest, or church. This may surprise you, but as the ministry of Jesus shows us… God especially “works” in mundane places, like the workplace. Have a look in the Gospels and identify the many individual people that Jesus encountered. Most of these occur within a place of work, so to speak.
Simon, Andrew, James, and John were at work fishing. (Matthew 4:18-22)
Matthew was at work in the tax booth. (Matthew 9:9-10)
The lame man was at work begging. (John 5:1-15)
The woman from Samaria was at work drawing water. (John 4:7-42)
We seem to think that we need to have the proper setting for God to move: the gathering of believers, the worship team, the pastor, and all that comes with the corporate assembly of “church.” Make no mistake about it, there is much power within the corporate assembly, and special things happen therein by God’s design (Psalm 133, 1 Corinthians 14:26, Hebrews 10:24,25). However, the Lord works through His people wherever they may be, regardless of numbers or location.
Sometimes it will come as a small voice leading you to do something. Perhaps a normal conversation shifts, and you will recognize the Lord in it. Maybe a Scripture will pop into your mind and you’ll be compelled to share it. Do not hold back when these things happen; these urgings can be the leading of the Holy Spirit, directly connected to the work of God being performed within another’s life! We want to be used of God, as if it was some clear cut, organized thing. Yet most often it is not! Look closer, it’s right there mixed among the mundane, ordinary, everyday duties of life, where the Lord shows up with an opportunity for wonder and power that we so quickly discard if we are not listening. But when we do listen… great things happen.
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When I came to this section of Ecclesiastes with the title in my Bible of “Obey the King,” my first thought was that this doesn’t really apply to us today; we don’t live under a monarchy with a king. But many of the principles in this section do apply to our leaders in general, so let’s take a look.
Verse 2 starts out by showing us that we should obey the authorities over us because we desire to honor and obey God. As a follower of Jesus, we have pledged ourselves to follow Him, which means we should also follow those in authority over us because that honors God. You can read more about this idea here or here.
Verse 3 tells us that we should obey our authorities even when it’s something we don’t want to do. We shouldn’t rush to leave their presence, but stay to make sure we are following their orders and ready to do everything they ask of us. We are serving for the authority’s pleasure, not our own. Verse 4 echoes that idea, reminding us that the authorities over us don’t have to answer to us. They may respect us enough to hear our opinion, but it is ultimately up to them and not us.
Verses 5-7 tell us that we would be wise to do what the authority wants, at the right timing, and in the right way. We don’t necessarily know the whole picture, so we cannot know the full purpose of what we may be asked to do. Sure, I could question the actions of the President of the United States, but I don’t know a lot about what’s going on in our government, so I don’t have the full picture of the situation.
Verse 8 reminds us that as humans, none of us are really in control, even those in authority positions. Just like we can’t contain the wind, we can’t know when someone will die.
This analogy of obeying the king also shows us how to obey God. We do not know anywhere near the whole picture that God knows - His knowledge is infinite, and He knows the entire past, present, and future of our time, and even beyond time! There’s no way we can compare with that. Even the smartest among us have zero knowledge of the future, and we only know what has been recorded for the past. We cannot even know everything that is happening in the present time when we live. But God knows all of that.
Because of God’s vast knowledge, we should always obey Him as our supreme authority. We may think we know better than Him at times, but we never really do. He ultimately knows what will happen in the future, so we should trust His guidance. He may tell us to do things that we don’t want to do, but because He is a loving God, we should trust that He does have our best interests in mind at all times.
Verse 9 continues, “All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.” When someone lords it over others and exercises his authority to the detriment of others, that will ultimately hurt himself. If you are in any kind of authority over others, acting wrongly toward them will end up hurting yourself. If you don’t trust in and follow the ultimate authority of God, then you will likely end up acting selfishly, which will come back and bite you in some way. The only way to fully rule in a just manner is to follow God’s ways.
Verse 10 concludes our section, “Then too, I saw the wicked buried — those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.” Even wicked and oppressive rulers would often receive lavish funerals, even being honored in their death. This does not give a good example to the people, however, as it shows them that they may still be honored and praised even for wicked actions.
How do you relate to the authority figures in your life? Authorities in your life may be your parents, teachers, work supervisor, or those holding government offices. Do you honor God by honoring the authorities in your life? Do you respect authorities, realizing that they know more of the big picture than you do? Give God glory and honor by honoring His authority most of all, and also by honoring the people who He has placed in authority over your life.
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Nobody likes to go through trials and testing. Those are challenging enough, but to be “sifted like wheat” is another issue. My pastor says this: “If you squeeze a lemon, what comes out? Whatever is inside of it.” We are going through a squeezing right now, so let me set the scene.
Peter went through several tests throughout his discipleship with Jesus. He was sent out with the 12 to go preaching. He walked on water, only to sink once he started seeing the waves. But Peter’s biggest trial came the night Jesus was arrested. He followed Jesus from a distance but quickly denied even knowing Him when identified by a servant girl. When it was done, Peter heard the rooster crow and he realized what he did. He left weeping bitterly.
What happened? Jesus told him beforehand that Satan was asking for him to sift him like wheat. Sifting is a process where the wheat plant is broken up so the pure wheat grain can be separated from the husk and chaff. The tool used for sifting is called a tribular, which is the source of the term “tribulation.” Peter was going to be hit and shaken down to where his true self was exposed, and all the cosmetics, façades, and masks would be removed.
John Bevere in his book The Bait of Satan brought an angle to this incident that I had not thought about. Jesus knew the trial was coming, and he didn’t stop it. He instead prayed that Peter might endure it. That is the total opposite of what most of us would ever say to someone going through a trial. We call to rebuke the Devil for causing us problems. We pray that God remove the trial or the thorn. I have not often heard people pray that God will teach us what we need to learn through this. Now there is a point where we must rebuke the Devil and not let him steal from us, however, most of the time, we are asking to not let our comfortable lives be disturbed. Yet when this sifting comes, God is going to simply hand us over and put us on display whether we are going to be faithful or not (He does know the outcome, for the record).
Job was sifted like wheat. He lost everything: family, wealth, health, and prosperity. Everything the “prosperity preachers” call for us to get today, Job lost. Why? Because God and Satan were making wagers in heaven. God put Job on display for the world and the hosts of heaven to see that there is a man who worships God for who He is, not because of what He gives. Job was stripped down to just his person, yet he never once sinned with his lips against God.
I have been sifted like wheat twice so far, and I expect it will happen again. The first time, back in 2007, I was at my last summer working at a grocery store and I wanted to see one of my co-workers get saved. But in the process, I stirred up a demonic stronghold which had been laying dormant in his life and it began to manifest itself through him. The story takes about an hour for me to tell, so this is hardly the space for that, but to cut to the chase, my faith was stripped down to its core and I came out of it more confident and stronger in it than ever before. I did not get the demon out but that’s another topic.
Another time of sifting came while I’ve been writing for Worldview Warriors. I was a substitute teacher for 6 ½ years, most of that at one school. I had applied countless times for full teaching jobs, had 20 interviews, and nothing came forth. Even when I taught physics for nearly a full year and applied for the opening 7 times, I got nothing. I only had one hint of a job offer in the whole time. It was clear that there was no interest in me being a teacher. And I had to wrestle through my heart and attitudes about the situation. It wasn’t easy. What was happening here? I could say the school and the district were exploiting me, but ultimately, God was preserving me, holding me for my current position. The process helped strip away my dependence upon total structure and to rely on God for when curveballs come my way. I’ve not mastered the lesson, but I’ve come a long way.
This nation has been going through the “tribular” for the last three years. No, I am not talking about persecution of the church. But I’ve noticed something since Trump’s election: the façade and the masks that people have been hiding behind are being stripped away. The United States has been through some major foundational changes in our lifetimes. Our Worldview Warriors president, Jason DeZurik, has been explaining some of that in blog posts this year. But regardless of what anyone thinks about whether Trump has been doing a good job or not, what has come out of his administration is a revelation of who really is who. Masks are coming off. People are revealing who they truly are. Take note that I am not saying Trump is doing it himself; God is doing it through Trump.
Little has really shown this more than the corona virus. Over the last few months, many people have had their confidence in their comforts shaken. So much fear is on display (often driven by the media) and panic toilet paper buying has only revealed what was already there: greed, selfishness, arrogance, and a total lack of dependence upon God to have control over things. Many Christians have bought into the hype as well, stirring up fear and warning everyone to take shelter. These people have been squeezed, and fear and panic came out. But not all have bought it.
There are many others who are showing their true hearts not of wickedness but of compassion. We are seeing people who were once divided coming together during this crisis. We are seeing Christians do what Christians do: go support people in this time of plague. I have read many biographies and a number of them deal with plagues. And one thing I did not see in any of them was a “go congregate with self” mode. Instead, I saw a “Lord, what shall I do?” mode. They saw a need and went out to do something about it. They didn’t try to solve the problem; they just sought to be Christ in the midst of a broken and hurting world. They were squeezed and Christ came out.
We are going through a sifting as a nation right now. We are being squeezed as a lemon. What is coming out of us? Christ, or something else? Let it be Christ. Are we going to pray that God remove the trial? Or are we going to pray that God take us through it? Let’s go through the storm, not try to skirt around it. When the winds and rains come, whose house will stand? These past three years have shown that only those who built upon Christ are staying strong. Let us turn to the Solid Rock so as we go through this sifting, we will be found faithful.
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by Steve Risner
Are you a foot washer?
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James further drives this point home in the following verses, making sure we understand that the Word is of little use to us if we don’t actually apply it to our lives. Other translations say, “Be doers of the Word.”
A question I’ll pose today is: are you a doer of the Word? Or do you get your ears tickled on Sunday, agreeing with every word the pastor speaks, knowing God has revealed something to you that He wants you to either do or forsake doing and you then go home, not having changed a thing? That could be a point all by itself; in fact, I’ll leave that there for you to ponder for a moment. What has God been saying to you either in your prayer time, Bible reading time, or listening to your favorite pastor or discussing life’s challenges from a Biblical perspective with a friend that you’ve thought to yourself, “Boy, I really do need to ________. That was a great word.” But then you’ve walked away exactly the same as you were before you heard it? Move!
So, my reason for this intro is to apply it to something Jesus did and further commanded us to do along with His apostles. In the Gospels of Matthew and John, we see an event that I’m sure the Disciples had a hard time figuring out at first. In John 13, we find the following:
“So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him… When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.’”
I’ll first point out that, again, Jesus tells us we need to be a DOERS of His Word. I’ll repeat what He said, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Be a doer and not just a hearer.
Jesus served. A great way to serve the Lord is by serving others. The Word is replete with examples of commands and illustrations of how we are to serve others. In fact, James says that taking care of widows and orphans (serving them) is pleasing religion to the Father. So, my real question—the whole point of this blog post—is who are you serving? Let us take a closer look at some of the examples in the Bible of this other than Jesus washing the feet of His disciples:
1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.” But he further states in verse 11, "Let him who serves serve in the strength which God supplies so that in everything God will get the glory." It’s for the glory of God that we serve. The whole point is to point people to Christ.
Galatians 5:13b-14 says, “Serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” In loving your neighbor, you will certainly find opportunity to serve them. Service is an act of love.
Matthew 20:28 tells us Jesus came to serve and not be served. This goes along with His statement that it is more blessed to give than to receive. It’s better to serve than be served, although it takes both for the action to work, right? Are you looking for opportunities to serve those around you (whether you know them or not)?
In Mark 9:35 Jesus says, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” A servant is humble, and this is a hard thing to be, especially in today’s America. But humility is critical to having the heart of Christ.
Jesus and James seem to be in agreement with each other on being doers of the Word. Jesus says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” James says, “What good is it… if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” It sounds like they’re both saying, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.”
John says, in 1 John 3:18, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” John writes this right after asking the question, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” Let’s be about the business of meeting needs. Let’s be the Church we were called to be—one that serves rather than criticizes or judges in pride.
Paul tells us in Philippians, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” This, again, goes along with humility and thinking of others AND doing something to meet their needs.
Paul further says in 1 Corinthians that in serving all, his goal is to win some to Christ. Here we see that service’s end goal is for Christ to receive glory and for Him to receive another person’s heart. He emphasizes this in 2 Corinthians by saying that “we ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
I’ve gone a little long this week, but I want to encourage us all, myself included, to seek opportunities to serve. We should serve those that are part of the family of God because we’re directed to but also those who are outside the faith so we might win them to the Lord.
Who are you serving? Are you pouring yourself into someone? Are you finding opportunities regularly to serve others, considering their interests and needs? Whose feet are you washing? Service can be a one-time thing with someone, or it could be something you do for someone for a season. Wash their feet and share His love.
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Last year when I read John Bevere’s The Bait of Satan, there was a segment that caught my attention. He was a youth pastor at the time and was counseling one of his kids. The kid wanted someone to tell him what he wanted to hear, but Bevere asked him this: You can have a youth pastor’s reward or you can have a buddy’s reward; which is it? The kid thought about it and realized what Bevere was asking. He said he wanted a youth pastor’s reward.
There is a reward for believing those whom God has put in authority in our lives. I am not talking about a blind, ignorant faith, but a trusting, loyal faith. The Bible speaks so much about listening to Godly counsel that entire libraries would not be able to contain the depths of it, let alone just this blog post.
Bevere got this message from Matthew 10:41: “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.”
We live in perilous times where each man does not listen to God but each man is doing what is right in his own eyes. We also live in times where people want to hear something that pleases them and will heap up for themselves teachers who tell them what they want to hear. And who the people listen to will get the reward of such a person.
Jesus constantly reprimanded the Pharisees because one of their primary sins was doing their religious acts in public for the purpose of being seen. They wanted the praise of their sheep, and Jesus said that was all the reward they were going to get. That would be the only benefit they would get out of all their legalism, rules, regulations, and religious pretense: their own pats on the back. Paul used to be one of them and he was the most zealous of them all. He eventually saw the futility of it all and counted it all as loss compared to knowing Christ. The word “loss” here is more accurately translated as “dung” or bodily waste. He learned that to receive the praise of man was utterly worthless.
After Christ, Paul sought a different reward – an eternal reward. That is why he was able to endure such suffering and encouraged Timothy to do so as well. He completed the race that God had him run, and he received a reward that is beyond what any of us could imagine. Paul’s reward was after his death, yet the reward Christ is talking about is also for the here and now.
The young man Bevere counseled would have taken a very wrong direction if he had not listened. He would have sought his dream too early and been too immature to handle it even if he got it and would have lost it all in the end. You never want to jump the gun on God. Instead, he listened to wise counsel. While Bevere didn’t say what happened to the young man, any obedience he did would have benefited him in the long run.
I experienced such choices too. When in college, I was studying civil engineering and I got to a point where I didn’t like it anymore. I was just learning to write, and I considered changing to a creative writing major. But some advice I heard, even though it was not directly given to me for this situation, was this: when you do not know what to do, go back to the last thing you know for sure God told you to do and do it until it is finished. I did not have a new direction to go so I stuck with the program for another year. After that, I changed my major to computer science where I finished my degree.
I can now see the benefits of the patience and obedience. Had I just stayed with my degree plan, I would have graduated one or two years earlier during which I would not have gone to the 2009 Urbana Convention where God started the chain reaction of events that led me to my current career as a physics teacher. Because I was obedient to Godly advice, I received a “prophet’s reward.” I got to see God move and be positioned where God wanted to use me. He’s not done positioning me, but I can see God’s hand in directing me in every step I have taken. Of course, I was far from perfect in either obedience or learning what I needed to learn. Had I known what I know now, I’d have taken my college courses far differently than I did then. But God is faithful even when I am faithless. As long as I stay in my walk of obedience, I will reap a “prophet’s reward” not just here in this life, but in the life to follow.
Everything we do is not done in a vacuum. God is going to use it one way or another for His glory, but He’s also going give us what our deeds, actions, and faith deserve. If we choose to live in sin, actively living our own way and doing our own thing, we will get the reward for such actions and it will be death and decay. But if we choose to live by the wisdom God has given us, we will hear the greatest praise that can be given to us: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Who is your counselor? Whose reward are you seeking? A buddy? A mentor? A pastor? A man (or woman) of God? God Himself? It disturbs me how many people claim to be Christians and yet they are so concerned about others’ opinions about them. The fear of man is a powerful vice, and it has destroyed the faith of many. They wanted the reward of their peers and they got it. But it will cost them the true reward of heaven. And just as Achan received the “spoils” of war from Jericho, it lasted him only a few days, he never got to enjoy it, and it cost his life, his family’s lives, and the lives of 36 soldiers from Israel. Had he waited just a few more days, he’d have the rewards and the spoils from the rest of the cities along with his brethren.
Go after the prophet’s reward, even if the word of obedience requires you to do something foolish before others. God is a faithful rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and He never gives out skimpy prizes. Obey and follow Christ and you’ll get the riches and the blessings that come with Him. Every person who has tasted that will never go back. That’s where I’m heading. The things of God and the person of God are the best things to pursue and to have it is better than the entire world’s praise and resources combined. Go after God.
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“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’” ~Matthew 23:29-30
It is a sad reality that a prophet is only recognized after he has died. During his lifetime, a prophet is typically hated and despised because his job and calling is to call out sin and confront the culture and the comfortable. My pastor made a comment a few months back about the prospect of bringing Voddie Baucham to our church because he was so touched by Baucham’s sermon on brokenness. I said that would be awesome, but here was my pastor’s response: “He would not come as a celebrity but come to break us.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Same with Paul Washer. Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson were among the prophets of the 20th century as well. Many hated them because of their strong stance for truth and unflinching fire to call out sin.
Washer practically laughed at the notion that our generation today cannot handle the true Gospel so we have to water it down so they might receive it. The excuse is that the people today are not as hardy or as “spiritual” as they were in the days of John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, etc. Washer’s response to that was, “No one has ever withstood the Gospel, preached correctly. It can only have one of two results: they will hate it even more or they will be converted.” When Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he simply read the sermon in a complete boring monotone, yet the power of God so fell that people were falling from their pews clutching to anything because they felt they were being dragged to Hell that very moment. Wesley would preach for 3-5 hours, and in some cases, it is reported that numerous people were lying on the ground totally unconscious because of how dreadful the weight of their sin was that had been put upon them.
Such prophets are not appreciated today. They really weren’t appreciated back then either when they were active. It is far quicker to count a prophet’s allies than enemies. Their enemies are even from within their congregation, because of how few people appreciate a man of God willing to stand up and defend a soul from Hell. So many of us say we would love to hear from Wesley, Luther, Peter, Ravenhill, Spurgeon, or any of the big-name missionaries or preachers that are known today. But would we hear the message they preached then? There is an easy way to tell. How are you handling those who preach the same message today? Or do we prefer to find pastors who preach a message that helps us cope with our problems, not deal with the sinful roots? Do we call those who preach the truth and call out false teachings as being judgmental? Or do we check them out against Scripture and if they check out, support them?
Jesus lashed out at the Pharisees and Scribes again for hypocrisy and play-acting. All their honoring of the prophets of old was just for show. It wasn’t real. They declared they would not have joined in with their fathers and literally slaughtered the prophets. Jesus said they declared their own guilt by associating with those who committed the deeds. But it is worse than that. These very people who said they never would have slaughtered the prophets as their fathers did are the same people who demanded He be crucified and then later assisted in the persecution and slaughter of the early Christians including the stoning of Stephen and the imprisonment of Peter and John. They sent Saul out to persecute Christians as far as Damascus. When Saul met Christ and became Paul, they later sought to put him to death but for Paul’s appeal to Caesar. The apple didn’t fall very far from the tree.
How do we handle those who preach the true message? I love listening to them, but I have to constantly remind myself of Paul Washer’s warning against idolizing celebrity preachers. Truth only listened to is worthless without being obeyed. In fact, truth left unobeyed can condemn you. I’m cringing as I’m writing this. The United States has had more light of the truth shed upon it than any other nation in the history of mankind. We have so many preachers we can listen do due to the internet and technology, so many sermons preserved in books and notes and audio recordings, and conferences and books galore. Yet it is not inappropriate to say that the U.S. is perhaps the most immoral country in the world. With our nation’s lust for sexual pleasure and deviancy, our lust for drugs, our lust for money and power, and our lust for blood, exactly how could anyone think that the “good” this nation does is going to counter that? This nation currently despises any voice who speaks the truth and we are fast approaching the day where the persecution will cease being censorship but instead a vicious physical persecution. Our nation is doing exactly what those who despised God’s prophets did then.
As a nation, we are not listening to these preachers, because we aren’t obeying them. There is only so much God can do to restrain His judgment before enough is enough. I would suggest that most of us are not ready for that day. We can see it coming, but are we ready? I’m not convinced I am, but I got one step closer by paying off my student loans. It is a terrible thing for your world to be turned upside down when you still have debts to pay. I am currently debt free and I have no plans to get into debt again no matter what. I’d rather pay for it all up front. That is part of my action of obedience to the urgent warnings of not being tied to this world. If we are, when the day comes, we’ll go down with them.
Do we love those who bring the Truth, even if it’s not popular? Will we obey the message God sends through these preachers, or are we just going to esteem it and sit back doing nothing? I am not innocent of the latter. But there has been truth spoken to my heart that I have obeyed. So, while I am far from perfect, I can say I have taken steps of obedience. I need to do more so I cannot be “comfortable” in what I have done so far. But I can take solace in the fact that I have not been dismissive of the truth I have been given. God rewards and is pleased with and honors those who obey Him.
Let us end our hypocrisy and our empty claims. Let it be that when God removes the veil that what we proclaim will be what we practice and what we live out, regardless of who is watching. If any of these woes spoke to you, repent and let God do His miraculous work of salvation. It’s not too late, but time is running short and fast.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
