The Jesus Standard Part 2

Part 2: Argument: We should teach people to abstain from Alcohol and impose other rules to raise the bar/standard in these people’s lives so they can be world changers. Real Christians will not drink alcohol, listen to secular music, watch R-rated movies, use tobacco products, nor will they hang out with those who do.

Answer: Some feel that because alcohol is so commonly abused we should just say, “do not touch!” Funny cause… Jesus never said it. They feel that while tobacco is never mentioned in the Bible, it has absolutely no health benefit and is known to cause cancer and is therefore a sin to use (hmm… another product of this description comes to mind…Soda Pop!).

If we use this same line of logic toward other areas of known abuse, for example gluttony, do we demand people to abstain from food? In that case everyone would be dead! Or how about the abuse of sex, would we demand everyone stop having sex? Hello extinction! What about prescription drugs? They’re abused! Should everyone get off their medication and never touch it again?

Where do you draw the line? Say no to the person who drinks alcohol in moderation, but say yes to the known glutton when it comes to serving in leadership? What kind of hypocritical standard is that???

Most of the time we go above the standards that Jesus set for us because of fear. We know people are weak and have a tendency to cave in to selfish desires and so it’s easier to demand them to abstain than it is to place personal responsibility on their shoulders to live a balanced life that Jesus actually called us to. That fear may or may not be rooted in personal weakness.

If we look at it from the “don’t do it cause you might sin” perspective then we will be cutting out a lot of things from our lives. How does this measure up to the “life to the full” statement that Jesus made in John 10:10? How does a life that is missing a bunch of pieces, because we’ve cut it out, measure up to “life to the full”?

Let me also say that this legalistic religious approach where we’re telling people they shouldn’t drink alcohol or listen to secular music is being proclaimed by the same people that watch movies that have cuss words, sexual innuendos, or worse depicted in them and they regularly abuse the Chinese buffet! Often times they have even bigger issues in their lives like sexual immorality, addictions, gossip, pride, and so on. Jesus has a word for this type of double standard and overly critical judgmental spirit…hmm… hypocrite.

Luke 11:46 Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

It’s silly that these people want to impose rules on others when even Jesus didn’t. This so called “higher standard” for everyone to live up to doesn’t seem to keep these same people from having their own issues or help them or anyone else in dealing with them.

The Bible warns of this kind of standard and attitude… Colossians 2:20-23 20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

This kind of non-scriptural legalism is described here as being based on human commands and teachings, having an appearance of wisdom, self-imposed, and lacking any value and due to all of this it is destined to perish.

Do we really think God came to give us a big list of do’s and do not’s? He already did that and we couldn’t live up to it! There is right and wrong, but it’s supposed to be done out of love for God and conscience not some man-made list of rules. Jesus said the whole law was summed up in two commands “Love God” and “Love your neighbor” (Mark 12). Hmm, what about music, movies, food, technology, and all these other issues we’re going to have to face?

There are rights and wrongs and they are more issues of how not what. Sex is an issue of how it’s done, not if it’s done. Food and Drink is an issue of how it’s done, not if it’s done. Dress is an issue of how it’s done, not if it’s done. What’s our motivation, is it a demonstration of love or selfishness?

Paul addressed the issue like this: Romans 14:1-4 1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Note first of all that there are “disputable matters” (Vs 1). Secondly, note that we’re not to pass judgment. Thirdly, note: in this scripture who is of weaker faith, the one whose faith allows him to eat all foods or the one whose faith leads him to abstain?

The issue here is being led by the Spirit within and making sure that we use the biblical standard of 1Corinthians 10:31 (So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God), to compare our life with and make sure our motives are right.

You may want tell people they shouldn’t entertain non-Christian literature, music, movies, and so on, but even Paul was familiar enough with the non-Christian literature that he could quote it (Acts 17:28 As some of your own (Athenian) poets have said, 'We are his offspring.') and some of it was even from other religions (Titus 1:12-13 Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true.).

You can say that YOU don’t like people to drink alcohol, but you can’t say it’s wrong. Jesus drank alcohol and ate with the wrong crowd to such a degree that he was called a “drunkard, glutton, and friend of sinners.” (Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions.") Notice that last phrase, “wisdom is PROVED RIGHT by her actions”? What is Jesus talking about? He’s talking about something that makes us very uncomfortable.

It’s so much easier to just teach abstinence from all things potentially misused or abused, but the problem is where do you draw the line and who is it that makes the rules, since Jesus didn’t. In fact, not only did Jesus regularly eat and drink (alcoholic wine mind you) with the wrong people, but also his first miracle was to turn water in to wine, and not just a little! Scholars tell us it was between 120 to 180 gallons of wine. Here Jesus is hanging out at a wedding. The party has been going on for some time to the point that the host runs out of wine. You can’t tell me these people weren’t feeling a buzz. Then Jesus makes more, a whole lot more, of the best wine they had ever tasted! Was he endorsing drunkenness? Was he condemning them to hell? Was he sinning? The obvious answer is NO (Don’t even waste your time saying, “Well it was alcohol free wine.” Please, these people know the difference between the BEST wine and grape juice. This was an important statement God was making in making this the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry)!

Oh, there are lots and lots of guidelines and commands in the Bible to direct us in the proper use of every aspect of life, and we ARE to abide by them, but we are not to make up more rules. This was the sin of the Pharisee’s. They elevated their man-made rules to the same level (or higher) as God’s commands. (Matthew 15). Jesus wasn’t pleased. He was angry and condemned them and their teaching! Go read it!

Many will quote Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. But, the thing to remember is this stumbling block goes both ways. Those who know there freedoms must be careful, but so should those who want to live a stricter more rule oriented lifestyle. Those who don’t feel such freedom are not to judge those who do, nor are they to impose their religious rules upon others.

The inconsistent application of the legalistic standard these people want to impose just makes them look more like a hypocritical Pharisee instead of more like Jesus. You can’t drink alcohol, but you can drink pop, which is worse for you from a health perspective. You can’t drink alcohol, but you can abuse the all you can eat buffet. You don’t want people to be in leadership if they drink alcohol or smoke or chew, but you’ll over eat, look at porn, have sex outside of marriage. How can you judge and impose inconsistent standards. You’ll say don’t use a non-Christian song or video to share the gospel with others, but you’ll rent or buy movies that are far worse in content than either of the above mentioned.

This type of behavior doesn’t make us look good. It makes us look like hypocrites. And being legalistic, making up a bunch of man made rules or making our personal convictions into rules, is not making us more like Jesus it’s making us more like the hypocritical religious Pharisees.

There is nothing wrong with personal convictions; in fact that is what makes Christianity a personal walk with Jesus. There are fundamental truths that we adhere to, but there are a lot of areas where Jesus knows what is best for us as individuals, what we can and can’t handle, and it may not be the same for your neighbor, and we’re not to try to make them abide by this personal conviction because it’s not them with the problem.

I’m not making this stand to justify personal compromise. In spite of the fact that the scripture teaches that a person can drink alcoholic beverages and it’s not wrong, I have a personal conviction that I shouldn’t drink alcohol, but I don’t push this conviction on other people. I teach what the Bible teaches about alcohol, that the abuse is wrong, just as I teach what the Bible says about food, that the abuse is wrong, and sex, that the abuse is wrong. I do not teach abstinence from these things, I teach abstinence from the abuse of these things and the abuse is engaging in these things outside of what God says is the standard of what is right (the appropriate behavior) in a specific area.

For some reason my approach rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They want me to teach people to abstain from alcohol altogether, but they don’t expect me to teach people to abstain from food, sex, money, words, tv, music, medication, cars, guns, or any of the other many things that are abused/misused. They want me to make a right or wrong out of something that isn’t a right or wrong issue.

Why isn’t the Bible good enough? Why isn’t Jesus’ standard of proper use and moderation good enough for us? Why do we feel the need to impose (out of fear or some other wrong reason) rules that God didn’t give, just like Adam did to Eve, and look where that got us. More rules doesn’t make anything better, just look at the lives of those who are clamoring for this “higher standard”.

We’re not justifying sin or saying there are NO RULES! By all means, hold fast to, teach, enforce, and live out the rules or standards the Bible gives us and in NO WAY compromise them, but don’t start judging others because in the area of “Disputable Matters” (Romans 14:1) people don’t see things your way or want to live up to your personal convictions. That’s not going to make them or you more like Jesus anyway! It’s going to make them more like YOU or turn away from the faith! Live out your personal convictions with great discipline and zeal in the grey areas, but don’t push them on to other people. Accept that there is flexibility in some areas.

Let’s truly ask the question, how close can we get to Jesus, and stick with the Jesus standard.

What will it look like? In a lot of areas it’ll look the same from one person to the next, but in a lot of other areas it’ll look very different. What are we to do? Love one another, pray, share, hold one another to the indisputable standards, and trust Jesus for the rest!

This isn’t easy or comfortable. It leaves a lot in the hands of the individual believer. It forces us to trust Jesus that he knows what he’s doing.

The Jesus Standard Part 1

Recently I’ve had several conversations where people charged me with asking the question, “How close can I get to the world”. Nothing could be further from the truth. My heart passion, and the constant question I challenge people with is: “How close can I get to Jesus?” But, I do not understand why so many feel the need to impose man-made standards or rules on the lives of others when even Jesus didn’t demand these things.

The basis of this accusation is that I do not tell people they should abstain from alcohol, movies (or just R rated… there goes my Passion of the Christ DVD), tobacco products, or secular music (or that I’ll use a music video performed by a non-Christian artist in the church).

I’m going to respond to this argument in two parts. Part 1 is concerning the argument that we shouldn’t use music, video’s, movies, etc from a non-Christian source in the church to minister and Part 2 is going to address the argument that we should tell people to not drink, not smoke, not watch R-rated movies, etc.

Part 1: Argument: You shouldn’t dishonor God’s House, or God, by using music, videos, etc that come from a non-Christian source. It is irreverent and opening the door for the devil and could lead someone to listen to other material from this non-Christian source and it would in turn lead them astray.

These people feel the church is a sacred space, God’s House, and that we should reverence it. To bring anything into that place that is not “Christian” in its source is dishonoring and irreverent and also opens the door for demons to come in and cause trouble. Some will even distinguish between sin committed in that building from sin committed in other places and deem the former as worse because it has taken place in “God’s house”, while the latter has only taken place in my house.

Answer: First, We’ve all been “in Church” and heard a speaker quote someone… a president, religious leader, politician, artist, poet, etc. Were all these people being quoted Christians? Did the person being quoted have other quotes that were not Christian in nature? Did the person being quoted have lifestyles that contradicted Christlike Character? The answers are obvious.

As I understand it, Jesus said the Greatest Commandment of all was to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength”. So, the standard of behavior is not determined by WHERE you are, but rather WHO you are… are you a lover of God or aren’t you.

The Bible tells us that God is truth. Therefore, no matter who says it (Christian or Non-Christian), no matter what the source, ALL truth is God’s truth. So, whether I’m quoting a non-Christian, using a music video or movie clip, the bottom line is: if it is truth, it belongs to God.

The concern that someone may pick up this non-Christian CD or Video or book and entertain it is valid, but does it mean we don’t capitalize on the familiar ground? Do we not redeem the truth contained in these sources and use them for Jesus?

We see the Apostle Paul doing this on several occasions… One example is where Paul is speaking to a group in Athens and he quotes an Athenian poet (this was not a Christian poet, the phrase “your own” refers to one from their group): Acts 17:28 As some of your own (Athenian) poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Paul is sighting a Non-Christian Poets poetry and declaring this statement is true. This has several implications. 1) Paul was familiar with non-Christian entertainment, 2)Paul viewed this truth as redeemable (usable for God’s glory), and 3)Paul exercised little to no concern that some of them may look at the rest of the poets poems or the poets lifestyle and get a mixed message because other poems may be vulgar, or contridict the Christian faith, and his lifestyle was most likely completely off base. Note that Paul didn’t go into an explination about how “not all this poets stuff is good, but in this part he got it right. Stay away from the other poems.” Or, “You need to know this poet’s life is completely wrong, so don’t let this little piece of truth make you think this poet is completely right.” No, instead we find him doing it again in the book of Titus.

Titus 1:12-13 Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true.

Once again Paul is using a non-Christian source to confirm his message, and this source is a religious one that might lead someone away from Christianity to that other religion.

Did Paul defile/desecrate scripture or dishonor God by using quotes from non-Christian sources? Was he being irreverent? By quoting these non-Christian sources did he make the scriptures polluted, impure, and no longer authoritative and reliable?

Paul was being smart, capitalizing on the little truth they knew and using it to help them better understand the Kingdom of God.

Paul recognized that all truth is God’s truth, no matter what source it comes from and he didn’t seem concerned that in using this source it may lead people to entertain the other poems or prophesies of these non-Christian sources.

Was Paul wrong or in sin? No! Paul learned from Jesus! From his learning Paul said, I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 1Corinthians 9:22

Interestingly, one translation in 1 Corinthians 9 refers to Paul finding familiar ground to connect with the people, without breaking the law of Christ.

How did Paul draw the line? The issue was: did it violate his conscience or the law of Christ?

Paul began to have his worldview changed by the work of Jesus Christ.

Remember, Paul was trained as a Pharisee (the strictest sect of the Jewish faith) and was full of the knowledge of the Law. He knew all the “Do’s” and “Do not’s”. His experience with Jesus helped him to find balance and to see life and following God in a whole new light.

It’s NOT an “anything goes” teaching by any means. There are rights and wrongs that are absolute, but there are a lot of things that are left between a person and the Lord. We call these things “disputable matters” based on Romans 14 and call the personal standards that you embrace a “personal conviction”. Whether to eat meat or not, drink alcohol or not, watch a certain movie or not, listen to a certain band or not, celebrate a certain holiday or not, all of these things are not issues of right or wrong, but rather personal conviction.

There are most definitely movies and songs to avoid, ones that are blatantly wrong to entertain. The ones that are vulgar and anti-God, but if a vulgar band puts out a good song do we not capitalize on the common ground and use that to communicate the Good News of Jesus? Do we not take the opportunity to connect Jesus and his truth to that song in the minds of the people so that every time they hear it they are reminded of Jesus and His truth? I think most people are smart enough to discern that the rest of the vulgar songs don’t represent Christianity.

Some would say don’t use it and they would use scripture to support their position. Others would say absolutely use it and they would use scripture to support their position. The bottom line then is the direction the leaders of a particular church family feel that God has called them to do ministry. This is their philosophy of ministry and something that does vary from one church to the next.

We as believers need to know that God has called us to a particular church family and then learn what He wants us to learn from that experience, but we shouldn’t try to argue and create division over these debatable issues.

1Corinthians 1:10 Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

We’re not to be spending our time arguing and being divided. We’re to be in harmony (maybe all playing a different note, but not saying ours is the only note and not clashing with all the other notes being played). We’re to be of one mind, thought, and purpose.

So, what about the fact that so many are joining churches only to find they don’t fully agree. Well it’s like this… If the ship is rowing in a direction you don’t want to go, you have to ask yourself a couple questions: 1) am I on the wrong ship? Or 2) does God have me here to learn something new? If the first, then go somewhere else, it would be sin to create the division over your personal preference or convictions and constantly make waves because you disagree with the leadership. If the second, humble your self, ask questions, learn, and serve. Work with, not against, the leadership and vision, and don’t be a source of contention.

Now I quickly want to address the issue of sacrilege or defiling the house of God statement. So…

Second, The Bible is very clear that as far as a temple building or any kind of building being the “house of God”, it’s just not true.

In the New Testament Steven made this argument:
Acts 7:48-50 48"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: 49" 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?
50Has not my hand made all these things?'

And again the Apostle Paul stated:
Acts 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Even Solomon who built the first building for the Lord said:
2Chronicles 6:18-21 18 "But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

Even at the time frame when God said, “Build me a temple” they recognized it wasn’t the House of God. In that day it WAS sacred space, but that changed when God established the new covenant through Jesus Christ. Remember, the curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn in two? Now everyone has access to God Almighty! Now there is no one place that is sacred over another. The earth is the Lords and all that is in it! (Psalm 24:1)

In fact the real sacred space in the world is not a building, but a body… You! According to 1Corinthians 3:16-17 16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

Church is not a WHAT or a WHERE, but rather a WHO. You are the church! You are the temple of the living God! And it is not what is being done or where, but rather by who that makes it sacred; Going fishing, going to a football game, eating dinner, going swimming, watching a movie, you name it! It’s all sacred not because of what is being done, but because of who is doing it.

If a Christian sings a secular song and uses it for Jesus then they’ve taken what was meant for evil and are using it for good. They are redeeming it. They are making it sacred. Not the whole CD or the band, but that song!

You can’t redeem sin, but you can redeem the tools of sin; people, cars, tv’s, computers, movies, music, holidays, etc.

So, there needs to be a shift in our thinking. I refer you back to a previous blog of mine called “Sacred Vs Secular”. If we don’t shift the thinking we’re all in a lot of trouble because I don’t know of any Holy Toilet Paper or such companies.

The fact is, there is a sacred (with and for God) and a secular (without or against God), but it has nothing to do with a building or piece of decoration. Remember Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel? It had a naked man in it!

Today many people hold church services in High School Auditoriums or Gyms or Movie Theaters. Are they wrong for using a Movie Theater to have church services? Don’t they know that there are bad movies played there? Is that place defiled and unusable or are they seeing an opportunity to redeem that space and use it for God and His glory?

What is the Jesus Standard? How do we be more like Jesus? Read Part 2.

Good News

It’s interesting that Jesus used the term “gospel AKA: good news” to classify His message to the world. Yet, if we are honest, most of the world gets a different message from Christians.

It would seem that many churches and church people are communicating through attitude, word, and deed that God hates the world, is angry with everyone, and is against them, but the Bible teaches something different.

According to Jesus, “God so LOVED THE WORLD that he gave his one and only Son.” (John 3:16) In this most familiar verse of scripture in the whole world Jesus communicates God’s attitude toward the world. He loves us, all of us, with a love that initiated a pursuit and redemption of every human being.

Jesus took it a step further. Not only did he teach that God loved the world and was at work for their eternal good through Jesus Christ for the life to come, but is at work in our everyday life for the good of every person, not just the saint, but the sinner too! Jesus said it this way, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)

God is at work in our world for good… for the good of every person. He’s at work in the life of each person for good; to draw them to himself and to help them experience life to the full being all God created them to be.

Most of us are blind to the works of God in our life. Most go unnoticed and the few we stop and recognize we quickly pass off as being the product of something else. We need to learn to see the unseen! Develop those spiritual eyes.

How will we experience this “goodness of God”? Two ways, 1) through the direct operations of God himself (God does things in our life that go unseen. Like stalling us in a traffic light to miss an accident, working healing in our body beyond what a doctor can do, and causing certain factors to line up that are favorable, to name a few) and 2) Through the avenue of Nature: This happens in two ways…A) God has established order in the world to our benefit and B) He works in the hearts of people to bless us at various times in various ways.

While we have little to no control over nature we do have control over ourselves. So, the question is… Am I open to being used by God to demonstrate His goodness to others?

What message, as a Christian, am I communicating? By attitudes, words, and deeds do people experience the good news/gospel or bad news?