The room erupted with clapping and affirmative shouts and amen’s. Immediately I joined in on the affirmation. Apparently, the Pastor had reached a climactic point in his sermon and I wanted to be sure that he knew I was with him. Then a thought struck me, I had no idea what he had just said. It seemed I had allowed my mind to wander off for just a moment and missed one of the main points of the sermon. I had no idea what the point was, but there I was clapping and nodding my approval whole-heartedly. Wow, how many times had I done that before and never even realized what I was doing? Furthermore, how many people in that sanctuary were just like me? My intentions were good, I thought, and I trusted this man, after all he was my pastor, but what if? What if what he had just said did not line up with scripture? What if there were hundreds of people in that room who were just taking him at his word and I was only deepening the impact by applauding in confirmation of its truthfulness. The Holy Spirit continued to nudge me, gently rebuking and teaching, as he so often does. Are we living out our Christian lives in like fashion, simply ambling along, nodding, receiving what we have been taught, and never really searching it out for ourselves in scripture? Even the most well intentioned, God-loving men are fallible. We are all capable of being in error, even mislead sometimes by our own opinions and emotions. God’s word, in contrast, is infallible, everlasting and never changing. That is why we must seek out contextual evidence in scripture for every teaching.
I believe this is what God meant in his word when he said, “work out your own salvation, with much fear and trembling.” I’ve often seen people use this bit of scripture as some kind of justification for sin that they just don’t want to let go of, saying things like ‘well I’m not convicted about that and God said for me to work out my own salvation, so I feel this is just between me and him.’ I actually see no evidence in the context of this scripture that points in anyway to such a meaning. Instead I believe what the Lord was saying is this; get into my word yourself, seek me and my truth out for yourself and do so fearfully. Don’t let a man alone direct your path but let my word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. I pray I am not misunderstood here, God gave us pastors to be our shepherds and to help guide us in the right way but Jesus is the great shepherd and ultimately everything must line up with the truth of scripture.
I heard a message given by Francis Chan in which he shared a story that I would like to share with you. He told of a time when a couple of Jehovah’s witnesses came by his home seeking to share their beliefs. He said they went back and forth for a while sharing teachings and why they believed them to be true. One of their beliefs was that Saint Michael the Archangel and Jesus were one and the same. Finally, Francis looked at them and said, look me in the eyes and be honest with me and tell me that you’ve read the bible and come to this conclusion for yourselves, or is this something you believe just because you’ve been fed it. He then says they went away saying that they did need to study for themselves and they thought they would do so. Francis said as they left he was feeling pretty good about his point until he begin to think, was I fair to them? I mean have I truly read and proven everything I believe thru scripture or am I also believing some things that I’ve just been fed?
This is a dangerous time we live in, to just take what we are told at face value.. Our beliefs are being questioned at every turn, our Christian faith is being labeled as old-fashioned and intolerant and God’s word is being twisted and perverted even by many who claim to be his messengers and followers. It is especially dangerous for those who are not personally well grounded in God’s word, for if you build your house without a good foundation it will surely fall. His word warns us that, in the last days even many of the elect, if it were possible, would be deceived. How could this be? Could it simply be because his word is not hidden in our heart. Even King David himself understood this necessity when he said, ‘hide your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.’
With more and more false religions, false teachings, and hypocritical preachers who seek only to please men and tickle their ears, we must be ever vigilant in standing guard. Let us say that we will not suffer the defilement of his true and holy word, not on our watch. We must know his word in order to proclaim it and we must proclaim it without relent for it is the power of God unto the salvation of men.
The God of the universe is sending us a wake up call, his message: no more clapping. Stop sleepily clapping and nodding away, it’s time to wake up and address the deception. There is no time for apathy, no room for compromise. His word is uncompromising, and sovereign. It is not, nor will it ever be subject to man’s will or opinion.
