Who is Jesus to You?

Matt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

There are few things that have done greater harm to The Church down through the centuries than hypocrisy.

The impact of hypocrisy is everywhere. It causes so much damage because it goes against the will of God. In fact, if we were to define hypocrisy, we might say it is the space, (or distance,) that exists between God’s will for man, and man’s willingness to perform God’s will. Another way to describe a hypocrite might be to say he is a “fake.”

Since following God is by faith, that which is fake within The Church does great harm because our faith is in The Genuine Truth of God in Christ, and anything fake reeks in a place where faith in Truth must not only exist, but also be exemplified.

It also does so much harm because human beings are wired to spot a hypocrite from a mile away. “The church,” it is said, “is filled with hypocrites.”

That might sting a lot more if it were not true for all of life. The reality is all of life is filled with hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is MORE prevalent outside the church than it is within. But hypocrites always look elsewhere for hypocrisy rather than themselves, and so they readily see it within The Church, because The Church presents itself as an institution of sincerity.

The root cause of hypocrisy in The Church has to do with ‘Lordship,’ (which could also be attributed to a LACK of genuine faith. How ironic it is to think of living your life according to fake faith.) The question is, “Do you KNOW Jesus?”

All kinds of people believe in the literal existence of the Son of God, and that He came to earth. The Bible tells us quite frankly that Satan believes in Jesus. Obviously, believing in the literal existence of Jesus is not enough. Being ‘saved’ means making Jesus not only your Savior, but your LORD. IF He truly is your Lord, than you will do what He says, because that defines ‘Lordship.’ (There is great promised blessing in DOING what Jesus says, likened to living your life upon a strong, solid foundation.)

Jesus defines His followers as those who do what He commands. PERIOD. These are the only ones He “knows.” Merely claiming you have done whatever you have done, “in the name of Jesus,” does not impress Him at all. He hears his name on the lips of men all the time, most often as a form of profanity.

-Pastor Bill

Popularity

Matt 7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

When you take a look around and see everyone going your way, you are on the wrong road.

True, Biblical, Christianity will ALWAYS be unpopular. This is what Jesus is saying. Rest assured your choice to follow Jesus will always keep you in the smallest of minorities.

This is what makes this “road” so narrow and difficult to follow. Since opinion polls have such a dramatic impact on the decisions we make, choosing to go against all available demographic data will never be an easy decision. It will make you an outsider, and it will affect your life greatly.

Why do most refuse TRUE Christianity? That’s easy. It’s because true Biblical Christianity calls for following Christ - while DOING the things He does. There is a cost involved, and the greatest part of that cost may be popularity.

The less radical version, (which we may call ‘professing’ Christianity,) calls for far less, and is much more popular. It simply calls for “following” Christ, without defining what “following Christ” even means.

And that’s the real problem with the popular version of being a “Christian.” It isn’t anything like Christ, (which is what being a Christian means in the first place.) People who think they are following Christ don’t even really know what Christ stands for. They probably haven’t been told, and they haven’t bothered to find out. Unfortunately, they may not even know they need to.

You are not a Christian by attending a church, even if the church is very large and very full, and even if the church has been THE de-facto “church” for hundreds of years.

You are not a Christian by being an American, even though that is a very popular thing to believe. (It CAN be popular to BELIEVE you are a Christian – it will never be popular to KNOW you are one.)

The only way you will ever KNOW you are a Christian is by making a difficult choice. (An unpopular choice, even to ourselves.) It is not easy to make the choice to deny the self. It is not easy to choose against feeding fleshy desires and sensual lusts. It is not easy to deny our rights to anything – let alone everything.

But this is what Jesus calls for. Abject poverty in the ways of the world. Extreme unpopularity. Being born again. Life in Christ. Knowing Christ, and desiring His will and not our own. It is choosing against this world, and choosing for the kingdom of heaven. And it is the greatest life known to man, even if unpopular.

-Pastor Bill

The Mirror of Life

Matt 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

After teaching us of God’s perspective on our lives, Jesus goes on to show us ourselves for ourselves, in ways that even we ourselves cannot deny. (Unless we lie.)

Just as there is no denying what we see of ourselves in a mirror, there is also no denying what the mirror of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit reveal to us about ourselves.

Sometimes we may imagine what we may be looking like, but when confronted by the truth of the mirror we are left with the whole truth and nothing but the truth. God’s Word, and in this case Jesus’ teaching, provide that invaluable truth-service for our lives.

One of our greatest blind-spots is how judgmental we are about others, and how forgiving we are of ourselves. This kind of behavior cannot continue in the church, because it will not continue in the kingdom of heaven.

In order to discourage judgmental behavior or thinking, Jesus informs us we will ourselves be judged by the measure we employ to judge others. If we judge according to mercy, we will be judged in mercy. If we judge according to righteousness, we will be judged according to righteousness.

Since we ourselves are so patently and obviously unrighteous, Jesus is making it plain that He discourages such behavior in the strongest possible way. Treat people in the way you yourself to be treated. This is radical, life-changing, and eternal.

-Pastor Bill

Heavenly Perspective

Matt 6:22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I spent the first 18 years of my life in Washington, D.C. Every now and then we would be visited by out-of-town family members or friends who wished to tour the city. One of my favorite places to show tourists was the Washington Monument.

If you went to the top of the Washington Monument, which is 555 feet tall, you gained a whole new perspective of the city, which I loved. Your perspective of the horizon was completely changed, and you could see for, (I’m guessing,) perhaps hundreds of miles in every direction on a clear day. You could look down and see the teeny little people milling around on the ground, and you could see the roof-tops of famous institutions like the Capitol Building and the White House. In short, you could see tons of things you could never see standing on the ground. (Ummm…duh? Pretty obvious, eh?)

This is what Jesus is talking about when He speaks of having a “good eye.” Sometimes we think of having a ‘good eye’ pertaining to our aim in target shooting, or perhaps shooting a basketball - but what Jesus is speaking of is perspective. He is speaking of being able to see things as God sees.

The marvelously wonderful thing is God DOES want us to see as He does, and to see what He sees. Were we to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity He provides to reveal to us His perspective, I’m sure there would be less sin in the world. There would be fewer examples of people taking advantage of other people.

One thing we would definitely understand, (that we really should already know,) is that God sees everything we do, and not only that, He has seen everything we have ever done. Clearly. Without any obstructed vision. He has the perspective of our lives that we lack. He knows what is going to happen tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that – and He knows the repercussions of the sin we are about to commit today.

If your eye is good you will see this. If it is bad you never will.

-Pastor Bill