This was a bible study exercise I did on my own a couple of years ago but have never published.  My goal was to be as accurate as possible in communicating the thought of the text, while paraphrasing into modern conversational English. I’ve converted all Old Testament references and illustrations into principles that a modern reader could understand.  This a loose, but carefully worded paraphrase, that is not meant to replace scripture, but to serve as a devotional study tool. or simply an encouragement for your personal walk with God. I’ve provided a link to the ESV translation if you would like to compare it to a real translation.

Listen up, all you who are God’s people. There is only one true and living God and there is no other. You must love God with every single fiber of your being. You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands. Repeat them to yourself and to others. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are out with friends, at school, at work, or wherever you go; also when you go to bed and when you wake up. By all means, be creative and do whatever it takes to remember these things.

God has promised that you will experience blessings, that can only be attributed to God’s provision. It is God’s desire that you enjoy His blessing, but never forget who it was who blessed you. You must fear the Lord your God and serve him. Live with integrity and keep every promise you make. Live as if you fear God’s wrath if you break that promise.

You must not allow the religious or secular practices of your surrounding culture to steal away your attention and devotion of the one true God.  For YAHWEH, your God, desires your absolute devotion, and is displeased when you stray after worldly desires.  It is very unwise to test God’s anger by being unfaithful, as He has every right to judge sin at any moment. You must diligently obey the commands that God has given to you. It’s pretty simple actually; Do what is right and good according to the scriptures, and all will go well with you.

Deut. 6:4-18 ESV

Is it ever appropriate to speak out about sin even though we all have sinned?

Worded this way most of us would say, “sure!, of course. Especially if the Bible calls it sin.” And I would agree.

What if I worded the question like this?

“Since we have all sinned, and many of us sin terribly in secret, is it hypocritical to condemn the sin of someone else?”

This one should make us all think a little more before answering.

I think Jesus spoke to this matter. In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 7:1ff

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

It would take a lengthy post indeed to explain this section of scripture in-depth, so I’m just going to make a few observations, and hopefully encourage you do dig further on your own.

People love to throw out Matthew 7:1 whenever anyone points out someone else s sin. “Judge not, lest ye be judged”…always in the King James too, it seems. This has become the most often quoted scripture in public discourse…now quoted more often than John 3:16. I love Paul Washers response to people that misuse this verse.

“Twist not scripture, lest ye be like Satan!”

So how are people “twisting” scripture when they use this verse to silence people who condemn sinful behavior in others? It takes a careful look, because reading the illustration that follows, could further lead one to the wrong conclusion. In one of Jesus’s most humorous moments, Jesus crafts a word picture that is fairly simple to understand. The simple meaning, “consider your own sin–which we can see clearly, before rashly condemning sin in others–which can not always be so clearly seen.” This advice, along with this entire “sermon”, was apparently spoken to his close disciples, even though in the movies. and Sunday-school flannel-graphs Jesus is always preaching to a huge crowd. The key to a balanced understanding of this section, is to focus on the idea of “seeing”. The passage concludes with the statment, “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly…” We can’t see into the mind of another person, and we are never to pretend that we can do what only that person and God can do. That is the offence when we “judge” someone else. There is only one Judge. If we pretend to see the motives of someone else’s heart, we attempt to unseat the one true and righteous Judge.

So back to the question I first posed. “is it ever appropriate to condemn the sin of someone else?”

It depends. If dealing with a brother or sister in Christ, then YES! Outward public sin, or hidden sin proved by many trustworthy witnesses must and should be “rebuked” (censured, admonished)…always with a goal to encourage repentance and restoration. If it’s on a personal level, a humble, loving, exhortation is appropriate.

1 Timothy 5:20 Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.

2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

1 Corinthians 5:6b. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump…

Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love,

We can’t truly know the state of another persons soul, but when dealing with someone that most likely is a non-believer, I would say it’s probably not the best idea to confront sin unless you are evangelizing that person, or trying to protect the innocence of children. And even then, done with love.

Proverbs 9:7 Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.

* This is a tough subject for a short blog post and it was not meant to be comprehensive. Please feel free to comment and add your own thoughts.

Remember that sin is what required the sacrificial death of our Lord on the cross. As Christians we need to see the temptation as the nails that would be driven into Christ’s body, and see ourselves as the Roman Soldier about to drive them in.

We give into temptation when we are not believing sin is as abominable as God believes it to be. When we choose sinful pleasure, we (at least temporarily) reveal our disbelief that Christ suffered the full wrath of God to purchase our freedom from the clutches of Satan and the eternal suffering of hell.

We defeat temptation only when we are so repulsed by sin that the disgust of that sin outweighs the temporary pleasure that it brings.  We will always choose to do the thing we desire most at any given moment, so giving into temptation is desiring temporary pleasure over felicity in your relationship with God.  And worse yet, it is a betrayal of the one who rescued you from the just penalty of your sin– death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 6:23

“Go, and from now on sin no more.”, John 8:11″

Over Ten Million people have viewed Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address on YouTube and other places on the web. In this speech Steve tells his life story and gives the hearers a glimpse into the philosophies that drove him. Many of the statements were very motivational and inspirational to the audience, but I want to take a closer look and see how this “wisdom” compares with the true wisdom of God through the bible.

“Trust In Yourself”

One of my personal philosophies resembles something Steve Jobs said in his speech:

“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

This is great. However, this statement preceded it:

“Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did.”

It’s fairly clear that the “faith” spoken about here is faith in one’s self, not in God. In other words, “trust in your own abilities and in the hope that following your personal affections & desires will somehow work toward your personal success.” The book of Proverbs has something quite different for us:

“‘Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” Prov. 3:5

“Follow Your Heart”

Here is what looks like some good advice from Steve Jobs:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

I understand the advice here. “Don’t try to be someone else or just lazily fulfill what others expect of you.” This is good in that it encourages creative thinking and frees up the individual to pursue greater things. No problem there. However, it’s the subtle and underlying, “follow your heart”, humanistic philosophy that troubles me. Here’s what the bible says regarding how we should trust our heart:

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)  “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”

I think the balance here is to follow your dreams, but always realize that your carnal human flesh will only seek to satisfy it’s own cravings, so seek and submit to follow the “dogma” found in the scriptures.

“Live For Today”

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” Steve Jobs

This is good advice. Even the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote in his 99 Resolutions:

19. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.

Which translated into American English means, “I vow to live in such a way, that I will always consider each moment of my life as if it were my very last.”

Steve also has this to say about death:

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

My translation: “Live for the moment because that’s all there is, do what you want”

Steve: “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.”

My translation: “Death motivates me to remember that all I truly have is today.”

This is the logical conclusion that anyone without hope in God arrives at. “Live for the moment, Do what you want, Carpe Diem!” This is the philosophy of the Godless, for it totally contradicts the message of the bible, which is, “life is a vapor, and your eternity is all that really matters.”

Here is an enlightening documentary on this philosophy and how it has been woven into our culture

Steve concluded with this quote: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”  I’m well aware that this quote is not meant to be taken literally, and represents an encouragement to stay creative and playful. I’m good with all that, and have given that advice to people myself. But I want to encourage everyone not to get caught up in the moment and neglect to be discerning when is comes to embracing ideas that run contrary to God’s Word, which is our only true source of wisdom.

So, instead of “Trust In Yourself, Follow Your Heart, and Live For Today”, I would say, “Trust Jesus, Follow Jesus, and Live for Jesus!”

I was really hoping for a redesigned iPhone 5 to show up today, but my prediction is that we’ll see an iPhone 4S that looks exactly like the 4. I do not like the design of the 4, and would really like to see the return of rounded back and chrome bezel. I think Apple will dazzle everyone with new voice activation/speech to text functions. Also, I expect some spec upgrades like a bigger dual-core processor and upgraded camera. 10 minutes to go, so let’s see what happens.

“So, which one of your children did God create to go to hell?”

I guess that’s supposed to be the ultimate gotcha question from the anti-Calvinist.  I, without hesitation, politely answered, “God does not reveal to us who is elect and who isn’t, so I have no idea.” My aquaintence squirmed a bit more and replied, “I just know that God does NOT create people just to send them to hell.” At this point, to debate further would have made the situation terribly uncomfortable, so I wrapped things up by saying something to the effect of, “people are always going to have disagreements when it comes to the deep matters of theology.” The conversation ended amicably, but afterward I myself thinking about what could have been said.

After thinking about both statements, I’ve come to the conclusion that this person basically is not willing to believe in a God that doesn’t match up to their own definition of what’s right and fair.

I was very tempted to ask this person, “where in the scriptures, do you find support for your statements?” I might have continued, “when I read my bible, it says in Romans chapter 9,

14   What shall we say then ? There is no injustice with God , is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses , “ I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY , AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION .” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
…
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22  What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called.

So, according to scripture, the only conclusion that can honestly be drawn from this text is that God, in fact, creates some for destruction, and some to show mercy.  According to the inspired author, to argue with this truth is as absurd as telling a potter that he has no right to do what he wants with his pile of clay. This is as plain as anything written in scripture, yet a clear argument from scripture has no effect on someone whose theology comes from their own thoughts and reasoning. This person wants to make God into the image they want…and that’s just good old fashioned idolatry!

So, did God create my children to go to hell?

I don’t know. I certainly hope not. Here’s what I do know. I am responsible to proclaim the gospel to my children until they die or are born again. I will raise them up in the admonition of the Lord, I will pray daily for their salvation, and I will do my best to show Christ to my family by the life I live. I rest easy knowing that is all that God expects of me.  Their salvation is not in my hands, and according the only authority (God’s Word), ultimately it’s not in their’s either.

Romans 10:20 And Isaiah is very bold and says , “ I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.”

The question to be asked by the Christian should be:
What does the bible say about this subject?

The bible does not give a list of cuss words to abstain from using. The bible wasn’t written in English, and we’re not interested in legalism anyway. In the bible we find several passages that give us principles to apply to this matter.

It is my belief that anyone who calls him or herself a Christian should completely abstain from using any word that is, or even sounds like a cuss word…in public and in private, no matter who you’re with or what you’re doing.

Sound too rash? There are several reasons why I came to the conviction that I just stated regarding cussing. They are all based on principles that I have found in scripture. I will briefly mention 4.

1. The Hypocrisy Principle

• We should always behave and speak as if we were constantly walking in the presence of Jesus. True believers know that they are ALWAYS walking in the presence of Jesus. To act one way at church and another somewhere else betrays unbelief and displays hypocrisy.

James 1:26

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

James 3:6-12

⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

2. The Ambassador Principle

• As Christians we represent Christ to the unbelieving world. Our mission is to display Christ’s saving power and communicate the Gospel. When we carry the name “Christian,” yet act and talk like the Godless worldly culture, we are actually working AGAINST the cause of Christ.

Matthew 12:36

“I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by yours words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Titus 2:6

Encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned…

3. The Relationship Principle

• Having a filthy mouth damages the personal relationship we develop with our Heavenly Father. Shame causes the worldly Christian to avoid intimate communion and prayer with his/her Creator.

Isaiah 6:4 (after a lucid vision of God in heaven..,)

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

4. The Obedience Principle

• True Christians have a God-given desire to obey the Bible’s commands. This desire proceeds from the motive of love and reciprocity. God’s Word says it, I desire to obey.

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

Psalm 119:167
I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly.

Proverbs 4:24 Put away perversity; keep corrupt talk from your lips.

Ephesians 4:29a – Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for (encouraging others)

Ephesians 5:1Be imitators of God…v4 …nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or course joking, which are (all) out of place, (for a Christian) but rather, thanksgiving.

The principle is really simple. Cussing is out of place for a Christian and should be abstained from. However, I admit the practice is sometimes difficult. The benefits of trying are worth the effort, I promise. If you want to clean up your mouth, I would suggest, as much as possible, stay away from anything or anyone that would expose you to unwholesome talk. Screen your entertainment choices. Avoid “friends” that have filthy mouths, and block “friends” that post obscene language to social networks. Avoid music with dirty lyrics, and games with cussing. Establish personal convictions and stick to them even if it creates an awkward or embarrassing situation.

I had a few more thoughts regarding 9/11 that I wanted to get out.

On Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011, I watched a documentary about how people responded to 9/11 from a spiritual perspective. There were some that grew closer to God through the tragedy, and many that became bitter and turned away from their faith. The ones that turned away just couldn’t seem to get good answers to the questions they were asking about what happened that day and why.

I am of the strong belief that we should always use the bible to inform our world-view. That way, we can at least hope to understand the world around us as close as possible to how God sees it since He made it. Otherwise, it’s just guesswork. The scriptures provide a firm foundation on which to understand not only the world around us, but how God interacts with the world.

So, what does the bible say about 9/11? Here are two thoughts.

1. There is the story about the tower of Siloam. In Luke 13:4-5 we read:

“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse  culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem ? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

We see here that, perhaps not a complete parallel to 9/11, but we see Jesus speak to a common misconception among the Jews that “bad things happen to bad people.” We still believe this today, but we call it Karma. While it’s generally true that living a righteous life leads to long life and goof fortune, Jesus points out that meeting an untimely demise, through any circumstance, is not as important as the state of your soul BEFORE you perish.

2. God is angered when innocent people are murdered. While I do believe that God seems to have shown our country special favor throughout history, I do not believe that America is God’s new chosen nation, even though our country does do much in the name of good. And while we ought to remember the people that lost their lives on 9/11/01, we also must not forget that we are also a nation that has made legal the right to murder innocent human life. When you consider that more people are murdered through abortion every single day in this country than were killed on 9/11, it makes me wonder how long will God hold his hand in judgement. I’m not saying 9/11 was God’s judgement for abortion, I’m just trying to make a point that we might be asking the wrong question.

Psalm 106:38-40
“…And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they became unclean in their practices…
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people.”

I share this passage knowing this was specifically talking about Israel. Just because our’s is the idol of ‘convenience’, the point can be made that God abhors violence to innocent children, and also we see that His righteous anger can be provoked.

So, are we asking the wrong questions?

Instead of asking, “how could you let this terrible thing happen?” we might instead praise Him for continuing to show mercy and grace toward sinful people, including ourselves.

Most importantly, instead of shaking our fist at God demanding to know why this or that happened, we should consider whether or not we are ready to meet Him.

If you have asked any of these questions to yourself, I’d like to offer a few thoughts on this.

So let’s look at the question everyone is asking? “Where was God?” I believe the honest question is, “why did God allow this to happen?” it is my opinion that most people get their idea of the character and nature of God from one main place…their own mind. Most people conclude that God is supposed to be good and fair, and they fashion a deity that conforms to their idea of what is good and fair. They then expect God to behave in this way. Ideas of fairness and goodness are often adopted from cultural norms. So, when something happens that seems unfair, we get angry at God because he didn’t behave as we would have if we were God. I think that’s the problem. Most people believe in a God that they’ve created themselves. A kind God, that never let’s anything bad happen. A God that loves and protects America because, well, were America…were the good guys, A Christian nation, right? So, where was that God on 9-11-01? Nowhere! That God doesn’t exist.

There is a God, however, and He was well aware of the events well before they took place. He not only permitted them, He ordained that they would occur. If God didn’t or couldn’t ordain those events, then He isn’t fully sovereign and therefore, not God. Does this make God bad, just because the bad guys seemed to win on that day. I say “No”!

So, Why did it happen? Certainly God did not ordain this as an act of judgement? That’s crazy talk right? Several evangelical leaders suggested this as a possibility and were ridiculed and rejected as kooks by the culture and the church as well. Most of them recanted their position to avoid further scorn.

For the record, I have no idea why God allowed those attacks. I would have liked to have seen a great big hand reach out and guide those planes safely to the ground, but He didn’t. There were many people praying on the planes as they were racing toward their final destinations. Did God ignore those prayers? No, he heard, but ultimately accomplished His will that day. God sees all things, through all time. Why do we think we know better than God? We have a very limited knowledge and view of events. Perhaps we should trust that God knows what he’s doing, even though it seems to us like He doesn’t.

It is rare indeed that people look to the bible as the only source of information on the nature and character of God. Let us learn about the one true God from the bible, and not from our own minds which are a jumble of cultural influences.

To conclude, I believe that God loves the people of the world, enough to send His son to be sacrificed taking on the penalty of our sin and making effective the salvation of those that would believe in Him. Let us trust in that love, even when things happen that we don’t like or understand.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”– 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

Peter has just been saying that his martyrdom was imminent and that his goal was to remind Christians of the things he thought were important. From what I can tell, Peter thought that it was important to live in a manner worthy of Christ. The other item, that was very important to all the original apostles, was the preservation of the true gospel message as given by Jesus. The passage today begins the emphasis on this subject that carries through as the main theme of this entire book.

In today’s passage Peter sets the foundation for his rebuke of false teachers and “prophets” by establishing his authority as an eyewitness to Christ’s transfiguration.

You can read about the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17.

Peter begins by telling Christians that the things that he says are not “made-up” stories. The “we” in this section is Peter and the Christians that followed Peter.

As I grow older, I see more and more how deception and manipulation are used to get people to believe something (which often precedes a request for money). We are emotional creatures, and a good, well crafted, story can have a strong influence on our minds. That is why the most effective way to sell something, (including a system of beliefs) is to have someone give a heartfelt testimonial. We tend to trust and believe people who seem to be sharing something from their heart. This emotional weakness has been exploited all throughout time to manipulate people in one way or another. I’ve experienced this first hand recently in my life.

Peter is pulling out his “trump card” to claim his legitimacy. This being that he was one of three people to have witnessed Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Basically, Peter says, “I saw Jesus, I heard the voice from heaven! I’m the one who you should listen to, not these guys who have come along with some clever made-up stories.”

Let us all be reminded that there are those that would deceive us with lies and stories that will seem to be very convincing. My advice… Be on your guard, and don’t believe everything you hear; especially if someone asks for your money at the end. How do we know who or what to believe? It’s tough sometimes to know, but we can always trust that God is telling us the truth through His Word.

Continue to the next post.