THEY REALLY NEEDED THAT

An elderly woman, who lived just a block from the church, never missed a Sunday service for most of her life.  Each week, as she greeted the preacher after church, she would always say, “Preacher, that was a wonderful sermon. THEY really needed that!”
One cold winter day, after a heavy snowfall with most of the town buried in deep drifts, she was the only one who showed up for church.  The preacher decided that he would take advantage of the situation by preaching a sermon on the evils of being self-righteous and hypocritical.
As she left the church, the woman greeted the preacher as usual and exclaimed, “Preacher, that was one of the best sermons you ever preached.  It was really great.  It’s too bad THEY weren’t here. THEY really needed to hear that!”

Are we guilty of applying bible teachings to others but not to ourselves? It is easy sometimes to fall into the trap of not seeing our own sins but seeing those of others. 
Matthew 7:1-5  "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. 
The bible directs commands specific to individuals on how they are to act. Husbands/wives; slaves/masters; parents/children; saints/sinners; elders/deacons; etc. the scriptures are intending for us to apply them to ourselves personally not to others.
We only profit from the scriptures when we apply them personally.

Hebrews 4:1-2  Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 

May we all strive to take the scriptures personally and apply them to ourselves as God intended. - LP

CHAUVINISM - PREJUDICED DEVOTION TO ANY ATTITUDE OR CAUSE. 

There are many attitudes and causes to which we should be devoted. There are also many that we should not be devoted to at all. We can’t properly distinguish the two groups if we are prejudiced for or against something. I imagine that when some of our brethren first began using radio as a way of spreading the gospel message there were some who were prejudiced against it even though there was and is nothing scripturally wrong with it. In fact, anything we can do to spread the gospel farther, faster is something we should consider. We may determine that it isn’t the best way for our congregation to do it and that is fine, but we should consider all alternatives and then chose the best ones. 

But, Chauvinism is not prejudiced against something, rather it is for something. There are those who will be devoted to some cause and not be willing to consider any other even though the cause they are in favor of is no longer effective. Certainly, we must be devoted to the truth regardless of how effective we think it is, but methods and manners of getting the truth out there can change. The Jule Miller Filmstrips are a good example.  The teaching on them is good, and some think they are the best thing since sliced bread. Maybe when they first came out they were, but now with the people in them dressed in clothing that is out of date by 3 or 4 decades people won’t hear the message for laughing at the fashions. One congregation wanted to do a remake video with live sound and moving picture, and they were quickly turned down because someone was chauvinistic.  Sadder still are those who try to use the Bible to support their sinful chauvinism. There are men who want to treat their wives in anything but a Christian way, and then claim they are doing as the Bible teaches. These men will read every verse in the Bible about how wives are to behave and be in subjection to their husbands and so forth, but they never bother to read the verses that tell husbands how they should behave. (1 Cor 7:4) “The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.” If a man thinks he can beat his wife, then he better allow her to do the same to him. (Eph 5:25) “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;” Can you imagine Christ running around on the church with other religions, or making cruel jokes about the church, or beating the church. These pictures are incomprehensible, yet the husband is to love his wife like Christ loves the church even to the point of giving himself for her. 

There are many other forms of chauvinism that we could talk about, but suffice it to say we shouldn’t be devoted to any cause before we have examined the evidence. Even our faith in Christ must be based on the evidence, as the Bereans’ faith was. (Acts 17:11) “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Don’t be a chauvinist. 

BAPTISM OF FIRE - (SPIRITUAL SANCTIFICATION AS A GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT)
REALLY, HELL
(Mat 3:10-12) And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. {11} I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: {12} Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Luke 3:16-17) John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: {17} Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

Even the casual reader can see that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire are not the same thing. Judging from the context it becomes clear that being baptized (immersed) in fire is not something one should be desiring. The fire described in these verses brings a vivid picture of destruction, not blessing.

We may fall into a dangerous trap (like those who pray for a baptism of fire) of asking for something without fully understanding what we are asking to receive. James and John did this, (Mark 10:36-40) “And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? {37} They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. {38} But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? {39} And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: {40} But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.” One of the stages of Jesus’ glory was the cross and without doubt the Sons of Thunder didn’t want to be on Jesus’ right and left for that. They were looking for honor, but Jesus reminded them that true honor comes with a price much higher than anyone wants to pay and higher than some are willing to pay.

The old adage is valid here, “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.” When we pray we need to be sure we are not praying selfishly or without heed to God’s will. We often pray for God to keep a loved one who is suffering alive. If that individual is a faithful Christian, we may be praying for the wrong thing. It may be time for that saint to depart to be with the Lord. Let’s all strive to think of the consequences before we ask, and always be willing to submit to God’s will knowing that He knows best.

ASTIGMATISM - A DEFECT IN THE EYE THAT CAUSES LINES IN SOME DIRECTIONS TO BE  FOCUSED LESS SHARPLY THAN LINES IN OTHER DIRECTIONS.

In  case you are wondering as I was, there is another word that is along similar  lines ‘stigmatism’ but is not the same as astigmatism. (I never knew they  were two different words.) Anyway, I had opportunity to be at the eye-doctor  last Friday and found that I had missed this word. Maybe I just couldn’t  read it because of my astigmatism. But, I digress.

There are many lines that must be drawn in the religious world and in the  church, unfortunately, sometimes we don’t see those lines very clearly. The  reason usually is that we have a defect that is interfering with our  spiritual vision. The defect could be any of the following and possibly you  can think of others: ignorance, misinterpretation, learning from false  teachers, love of the world, love of money, or lack of resolve. Many of the  lines that God has drawn; and that we must duplicate in order to please him,  seem somewhat insignificant to human wisdom and that to can interfere with  our ability to see sharply and clearly what God has drawn.

When I was with the doctor he had me read, or at least try to read a chart  of letters and numbers. As a result of my vision problems (in case you  didn’t know, I have had glasses for all of my adult life), there were times that I  couldn’t make out the letters. I would say, “That is either a ‘G’, a ‘Q’, or  an ‘O’. Wait maybe it is a ‘C’.” It was tough. It took several minutes and  several lenses before finally, I could see everything clearly. James likened  the Word of God to a mirror that reflects the truth to us, but some people  don’t ever look in the mirror, some just ignore what they see, some glance  at it every once in a while, and others distort the mirror to their liking.  If we want everything to come into focus we have to look deeply into that  perfect law of liberty, and whether we like it or not, change ourselves for  the perfection of God.

God has drawn some lines for salvation, some for worship, some for service  of our fellow man, and some for constructing the church. There are some  areas where he has even given authority to the elders of the church to draw  some lines, and to husbands and parents to use their judgment to draw  others. Where we are free to draw our own lines we need to apply any  biblical principles that fit. Where others have the authority to draw lines,  we need to respect their authority, and in the areas God has drawn lines no  one else can change them. We need to continuously study God’s Word in order  to have clear vision. We also need to remove any other devotions that are  keeping us from reading God’s lines.

The Bible teaches that baptism is essential to salvation, but sometimes we  are tempted to try to blur that line when our loved ones have not obeyed the  gospel. God hates divorce, but when we are the ones involved we want to put  what we want before the oath we took ‘to death do us part’. We may make any  number of excuses for crossing God’s lines, but none of them make it  acceptable.

Time for a short quiz for all of you English scholars out there. Since most of us have been speaking and writing in English all of our lives, this should be really quite simple. I’ll put some sentences and you just pick the one that sounds right to you. Ready or not here we go. 

On this first one imagine you called me on the phone and asked, “Is this James Pasley?”. Which of the following would be the right way for me to answer? (1) That’s me., (2) This is he., or (3) This is him. 

Okay, let’s just do one more and then we’ll check our answers and see what we’ve learned. This time suppose I ask you, “Didn’t I see you and the president together yesterday?”. Which answer would be right grammatically? (1) It wasn’t me., (2) It wasn’t he and I together., (3) It wasn’t us., or (4) Maybe it was me, but not him.

Sometimes it is hard to know what sounds right and even more often, at least with grammar, what sounds right is not correct. If you guessed number two on both questions you got the right answer, but those two don’t really sound right to us, do they? Most of us would have chosen any of the other choices before choosing number two. My wife is a certified elementary teacher and a writer and she missed them, so don’t feel too bad. Because of the rampant practice of misusing these pronouns in everyday speech even strict grammarians have begun to accept this usage.

What is the point of all this, you may be asking? The point really is quite simple. If something sounds right to us or we think it is right that doesn’t make it right. Even if the majority of people believe something is right that doesn’t make it right. Now in the area of grammar or even man-made laws like the speed limit if enough people make enough of a fuss those rules and laws can be and have been changed. There are some laws, however, that are beyond our ability to change. Gravity is one example of this kind of law. We can accept it, deny it, or ignore it, we could even all vote to abolish it. Regardless of what we say or do the law of gravity is unchanged, and stepping off of a cliff will still result in a nasty fall. That is the way all of God’s laws are. 

God told Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River to cure his leprosy, but Naaman didn’t think that sounded right, so, he headed toward home, rejecting the law God had given for his recovery. He even suggested some alternative rivers that he thought would be better. One thing that he couldn’t change was the fact that he still had leprosy. He continued to have leprosy until he submitted to the will of God. In the same way today we have people denying God’s laws, ignoring them, and suggesting alternatives. Unfortunately, as long as we do so we are lawbreakers and guilty of sin against God.

God established marriage, defined it as one man and one woman, and set it as the only acceptable outlet for sexual expression. Our society has tried to change any and everything to what sounds good to them or what they think should be right. What we have to get through our thick heads is that no matter what laws we pass in our country, no matter what is acceptable to society as a whole, and no matter what churches and their leaders compromise on; God’s laws regarding sexuality and marriage will still remain the same. His laws, not ours, will judge us on the day of judgment.

The congressional delegates of the state of Massachusetts may say that two men can marry, but that does not make them married(Matthew 19:4-5). Our society may accept that two adults who love each other are not wrong to become sexually involved even though they are unmarried, but God still calls it sin(1 Corinthians 6:19-7:3). 

Marriage and sexuality are just the tip of the iceberg. Space doesn’t allow us to deal with all of the moral and religious standards that God has put in place, but we will all stand before Him to give an account of the things we have done(2 Corinthians 5:9-11). Until we understand that God’s laws are immutable (unchangeable) and eternal, we will continue to be in danger of receiving his wrath. How do we think that we can receive God’s promises and blessings while we disregard his warnings, disrespect his ordinances and, in essence, spit in His face like rebellious teenagers. We’d better wake up and realize who is in authority; and who is not!

When Jesus was about to be arrested the gospels record that He went to the Mount of Olives and prayed. Many may recall that He asked His Father to “let this cup pass” 3 times. It must have been important for Him to mention it 3 times. But, did you know that there was something else that He prayed for that night that He mentioned not 3, but 4 times? Something so important to Him that even with His impending death only hours away He prayed about this thing more than the crucifixion itself. Was He asking God to be sure to raise him up again? No. Was He praying for some other need that He had? No. He was praying for His followers. In fact, He was praying for everyone who has ever been a believer. He prayed that all the believers might be one, and He prayed it at least 4 times (John 17:11-23). How sad Christ must be as He looks down on the hundreds of divisions among the people who claim to follow Him.

This is certainly nothing new, it has been going on since the first century (1 Corinthians 1:10-13), but that is no excuse for us to allow it to continue in our lives. He was not pleased with division then and He is not pleased with it now. In one county there are at least 20 different kinds of churches with 20 different doctrines about how to become a Christian, how to worship God, and/or how to get to Heaven. There are over 40 churches listed in the phone book and oddly enough some with the same teachings have divided for various other reasons. This county is certainly not unusual in this regard. Churches split almost daily for one reason or another, and new denominations spring up nearly as often. I have a book almost 2 inches thick full of information on different denominations in the United States. 

Is this what Jesus was praying for when he prayed that “they all might be one”? I can’t believe it is. Many people say “one church is as good as another”, or “choose the church of your choice”, or “we are all serving the same God”, or “we are all Christians just taking different paths to get to the same place”, or something similar. That sounds nice and most people like to hear that. The question we have to ask ourselves is, “Is that true?”. Can we choose any way we want to get to Heaven or does God specify? Can someone become a Christian 20 different ways? Who gets to decide what is acceptable worship and what is not? In other words, what standard of authority, if any, are we following.

Interestingly enough, the answer is in Jesus’ own prayer in John 17. He asks God to sanctify(literally, ‘make holy’) His followers by God’s truth (John 17:17). Then He gave the source of God’s truth, “thy word is truth” (John 17:17). So, Jesus asks God to make His followers holy by using his true word. If we believe that the Bible is God’s word then when we have disagreements we can look to the Bible to give us the answers that are right with God and that will make us holy.

Jesus promised to build only one church in Matthew 16:18. He prayed for unity no less than 4 times the night he was betrayed(John 17). He said we must not only call Him, Lord, but also do the will of His Father to enter the kingdom (Matthew 7:21). Ephesians 4:4 tells us there is only one body, and Colossians 1:18 teaches that the body is the church and Christ is the head of that body. Any other arrangement causes deformity. Christ is not one head with multiple bodies, nor can the church have any head other than Christ. One more thing along this line, in Matthew 7:14 Jesus makes it clear that there is only one gate that leads to life and one way to that one gate. He also said we must find it. We can’t make our own path to get to heaven because no man has ever been there. We must follow the path that Jesus laid out for us.

Just remember God is not the source of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Here is something for you to ponder as you go through the week. If Jesus only built one church, as he promised, and there are over twenty in your area; assuming one of them is the church Christ built, who is responsible for building all the others? We should all want to be a part of the church Christ built of which He is the head and savior. Study God’s Word and see if you can find the church that you are a member of mentioned and described there.

I regret that I do not have a copy of the article that is referenced in this one as being written in response to a series of articles on the Old and New Testaments that I wrote. You can, however, view the three articles on the Old and New Testaments here, here, and here. Those 3 articles as well as the one following were written in 2004.

A short time ago I wrote an article about the Old and New Testaments, three articles in fact. I thought they were precise and clear, but apparently was mistaken. There was an article, which you may or may not have read, entitled, “In Defense of Biblical Truth” and written as a response to my article and some other article that I have not seen and certainly did not write, though their article does not make that clear. The defense of Biblical truth is important, which is the reason for the articles I write and the reason for the article to which these men objected. I don’t know if they read all three of my articles or just one, since they don’t say in their response. What I do know is that they say that my article, “seemed to attempt to destroy the value of the Old Testament in our Bibles.” Within the same paragraph as the above quote their response says, “It is true that salvation is no longer obtainable through the ‘Old Testament Law and Ordinances,’ (moral, civil, or religious)....” I thought that this latter idea and not the former was the very idea that my own articles had covered. Though the accusation is made that my article, “was written as if all the Old Testament was completely fulfilled, and would seem to suggest that we had no further need of it in our day”, there is not anywhere a single quote from my article to substantiate the claim. 

I do firmly believe that the Old Testament is “completely fulfilled”, but that does not mean that I do not believe it is the inspired Word of God, nor does it mean that I don’t believe that it is a valuable portion of our Bibles, nor that we have no further need of it today. I should think that would be clear from the fact that I quoted from or referred to 5 different sections of Old Testament scripture and used them just as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”, but I suppose not. Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” There is no doubt that the Old Testament is scripture, and no doubt that we are to learn from it even though we are not saved by it or under that law any longer.

The only real argument in the entire response deals with whether the prophecy of the Old Testament has already been fulfilled or is yet to be fulfilled. Only one supposed proof that it has not been fulfilled is given even though we are to believe that there are “too many” to put in the article. The one prophecy they mention is Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." The argument is made that since “They never mourned, they mocked. There was no bitterness but hatred. They killed him.” this scripture has not been fulfilled. Of course, I believe that the Bible teaches that it was fulfilled. So, let’s see.

First, since the Old Testament, including Zechariah, is inspired by God we should start with the immediate context. Certainly we could look at the whole chapter or even the whole book, and perhaps we will in another article. For now let us just examine the few verses around this one. Zechariah 12:9-13:1 says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. {10} And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. {11} In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. {12} And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; {13} The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; {14} All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." (13:1)  "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." 

Many of these verses speak of ‘that day’, but what day? There are several clues. Verse ten itself says that God will pour out his ‘spirit of grace’. Chapter 13 and verse one says, there will be a fountain opened for sin. Verse ten also says that they will ‘look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,’. All of these things are to happen in that day. So, if I may be so bold as to ask, which day (past, present, or future) did, are, or will all three of these things happen. Try this answer if you don’t have one of your own, or compare this one to the one you came up with. God poured (past) out his grace and the spirit of his grace on the day that he opened (past) a fountain for the forgiveness of sin, the same day that the inhabitants of Jerusalem looked upon me (Jesus) whom they had pierced. 

Second, John 19:34-37 clearly says that the piercing part took place on the day Jesus died on the cross and all of the rest was to be on the same day the prophecy said ‘that day’. It should also be noted that even though there were many who mocked, hated, and schemed to kill Jesus; those who were the remnant who remained faithful did mourn at the death of Christ. Jesus during his life had made it clear that not everyone who called himself a child of Abraham, or of the house of David, or a Jew was really and truly one (John 8:39-44).

What an odd question to ask. Acts chapter 8 is one of the richest chapters in the entire Bible. It contains so much teaching on so many topics that I could probably write an article a week for a year just on this chapter. But for now let’s just look at this question asked by the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8:36 reads, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" The answer Philip gives is in the next verse, but let’s look at a few other things before we get to that.

First, let’s consider the kind of response this question might get today. Some preachers would simply say, “There is no point in being baptized.” Others would say, “You don’t want to be baptized in water, but in the Holy Ghost. Still others would say, “You can, but you have to wait for baptizing Sunday.” There might even be some who would say, “If you want to get baptized you need to go to another church, we don’t allow your kind in our church.” Then, there would be some who would say, “We will have to wait for the church to vote on you.” You can probably imagine some other responses this question would get from our mixed up religious world today. None of these answers were the ones Philip gave. We’ll get to it in a minute.

Second, let’s look back to see what caused the eunuch to ask such an interesting question. How did he know what baptism was? How did he know water was necessary? Wasn’t the water bottle he had for drinking on a long journey enough? Why would he make mention of another water source? If we look back a few verses and use some reasoning, we can answer these questions. 

In Acts 8:32-35 we read, "The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: {33} In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. {34} And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? {35} Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Notice that Philip preached ‘Jesus’. We don’t know how long he preached, but it was long enough to tell the eunuch all about who Jesus was, how He had lived, what He had taught, how and why He had died, how He rose again, what instructions He left for His disciples, and how He had returned to Heaven. That could take a good while. But, why did the eunuch respond to all of this teaching about Jesus by asking about being baptized? There is only one logical explanation that fits with the text. Somewhere in Philip’s sermon about Jesus baptism had been taught, and with enough emphasis that the eunuch felt compelled to have this done to him. He also understood that the baptism he needed was not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but baptism in water. Holy Spirit baptism was special and Philip may well have taught the eunuch about it, certainly he would have taught about the Spirit beginning with the virgin conception and birth; but which one did the eunuch understand was for him? Water baptism.

As for the amount of water and the necessity of water, that also must have been included given the response the eunuch has and the action in verses 37-38. The Greek word for baptize (baptizo) literally means “to make fully wet, to cover in a liquid, or to dip” according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary in the back of the Strong’s Concordance. Given this understanding of the word it no longer seems surprising that the eunuch knew he needed water and a large amount of it. Oh, if only translators had accurately translated how much less confusion there could be today.

Now let’s look at Philip’s answer. The question implies that the eunuch is not sure if he meets all of the qualifications. ‘Hinder’ indicates there may be something holding him back. Is there something else he must do first: some fee to pay, some committee to go before, or some religious experience? No, Philip simply says, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest" (verse 37). He already knew what he had to believe from the preaching he had just heard. The eunuch did, so, they got out and went down into the water and Philip baptized him (verse 38). They did it right then and there with no delay. The eunuch went home rejoicing (verse 39). And why shouldn’t he? He had found the truth and obeyed what he had been taught: he was saved. Sounds just like what Jesus said in Mark 16:16,  "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." The eunuch believed and was baptized, and I hope to meet him in Heaven.

Jesus asked the people about John the Baptizer 3 times in Luke 7:24-26. He asked them what they had gone out into the wilderness to see. Then He made some silly guesses. Did you go to see a reed shaken with the wind? Of course that was not it. Was it a man dressed in fancy clothes? No, you wouldn’t go to the desert to see that. Well, was it a prophet? Ah, yes that was it the people thought of John as a prophet, but what would Jesus say about him? Jesus not only acknowledged that John was a prophet, he said John was much more than just a prophet. In fact, He said John was the greatest prophet that had ever lived. According to verse 27 Jesus believed John was “the prophet,” the one that was supposed to come and announce the messiah, the second Elijah (Matthew 17:10-13). Yes, Jesus thought John was a pretty important person. 

Remember that there is no record of John ever performing a single miracle. Miracles are not what makes someone great. So, what made John such a special prophet? His message. The other prophets had prophesied about that great time off in the future when God would establish his kingdom (Genesis 49:10; Daniel 2:44, Zechariah 9:9, Joel 2:28-32,  etc.). John was the one who got to preach, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”(Matthew 3:1-3). He got to tell people that the glorious time promised for centuries was finally coming. Even though the kingdom was close and many that heard John’s teaching would enter that kingdom when it was established on the day of Pentecost some 3-4 years in the future(Mark 9:1; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:4), John himself would not get the opportunity to be a part of the kingdom that he preached about. John was executed by Herod(Matthew 14:1-12) before Jesus built his church, the kingdom of God on earth (Matthew 16:18-19). This explains the statement that Jesus closes with. Regardless of how great John was, Jesus says that the least important person who was IN the kingdom would be greater than John. 

Imagine that! Every true Christian (not every one who claims Christianity) who has ever lived is greater than John the Baptist. Christians have access to things that John and the prophets never dreamed of. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Paul explains in (Ephesians 1:9; 3:3-12; 6:19-20 and Colossians 1:26-27; 4:2-4 ) that the mystery that was hidden from the foundation of the world has now been revealed through the apostles and inspired Christian writers of the New Testament. Christians have access to the blood of Christ and to Christ Himself as our High Priest. The list could go on and on. Suffice it to say we live under a better covenant with better promises and a better mediator (Hebrews 8:6). If you are not in God’s kingdom you better get there before it is too late.

Now, let’s switch gears and ask a similar question for all of you “church goers” out there. Think about the last time you went to church. What did you go in there to see? Did you go to see who else would be there? I hope not. Did you go to see who would have the best clothes? For shame. Worse yet, did you go because your favorite team won a game and you want to rub it in? Did you go to be entertained by a choir and a preacher’s anecdotes and jokes? Some do. Maybe you only went because you didn’t have “anything better” to do. Did you go to see what you would get out of it? That seems increasingly to be the primary reason people go to church. 

If you are going to a church where the focus is on the “audience” or if you want the focus to be on you, then you need to make a change. Jesus built the church so that the focus would be on HIM not us. What do you go to see? I hope and pray that each of you will begin thinking of worship as something for God and not something for you. When we change our focus in this way we should realize that many of the things that are being done in many churches are done not because God wants them done, but because of human arrogance and selfishness. When we go to worship God he is the audience, not those sitting in the pews.

If everyone was doing what God wants in religion, then there wouldn’t be dozens of churches in every city. Division comes from men doing what they want instead of what God commands in scripture.

I am never so glad that God is not under man’s law as when I read the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew chapter 20. Jesus begins by telling us that he is using this earthly example to describe the way things are in the kingdom of heaven. Then he describes a man who owns a vineyard going out to find people to work for him. This man represents God in the story. Early in the morning he finds some workers and makes an agreement with them that if they will work they will receive a ‘denarius’ (the King James says penny) which was the average pay for a days work. The men agree and go to work. Later in the morning he goes to find more workers and they agree to work for “whatsoever is right.” He did this again at noon, 3 in the afternoon, and 5 in the evening. Then when it got dark they came to get their paycheck so to speak. 

This is where it starts to get really interesting because we would expect that if he was going to pay a day’s wage to the first group, then naturally he would pay less to those who worked less. But Jesus surprises us by telling that the man gave the ones who had worked the least a day’s wage. Well, then he is surely going to give the others who have worked longer more, right? Wrong! He gives them the same amount and they get mad. Be honest you probably would too. But was he “unfair”? Didn’t they get what they had agreed to receive? And wasn’t it his right to be generous and kind to the others who would not have had enough to feed their families if he had not? Would they have been mad if after being paid they had seen the same man give a beggar a denarius? Probably not. So, why were they so angry about this situation? They apparently thought that he was paying the others a higher hourly wage than they were getting. Then he asks the great question, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” Remember that this is a description of how things work in God’s kingdom.

If someone asked this question today the answer would have to be a resounding, “NO!” Let’s look at some of the laws this man in Jesus’ story broke. The ACLU and workers’ unions would have been all over this guy. There is no indication that he did the proper paper work on these workers, some of them might have been illegal. He also didn’t make sure that he was getting an equal cross-section of the population (i.e. - women, minorities, handicapped, etc.). The real problem though is the pay. Can you imagine what would happen if Wal-mart or any business hired 10 people who worked from 8 AM - 5 PM and 10 more people that worked from 4 PM - 5 PM and then gave them the same pay? The people who only worked an hour would be ecstatic, but there would be 10 others who would quickly be involved in a lawsuit, and they would surely win. No, it is not lawful to do what you will with your own in our country, there are thousands of regulations.

But these laws and regulations are exactly the reason that we should be grateful that God is above man’s law. Let’s look at the spiritual teaching in this parable for a minute. God goes out into the world to find people who will work in his vineyard, some come in the morning (at a young age) and work all day long (their whole lives). Others may come at later times (twenties, forties, sixties, even eighties) and only serve a short time. When the accounts are settled on judgment day, however, only the faithfulness of the service and not the length of the service will count. We must be faithful until the close of day to receive the reward. How sad if one who came early and worked most of the time were to quit and leave before receiving the reward.

Wouldn’t it be sad if we couldn’t receive a home in heaven because we didn’t come early enough, as some teach. What hope would there be for some one 50 years old who had never been taught the gospel? What could we tell them? “You can’t go to heaven, but maybe God will let you look in for a while at the gate.” How horrible that would be. Praise be to God that He accepts us at whatever age we learn and obey in faith.  This is not an excuse to “sow our wild oats” and think that we will get right with God later. There may not be a later. There are many benefits that come from serving God from the early morning hours, that may be lost if we don’t come until late in life. How many have come to Jesus late in life and regret that their health has been wasted by their sinful living, or that they raised worldly wicked children that they can not reach now. Those regrets may haunt them to the grave, but Heaven can still be their eternal home. 

God is just and He is fair and it is lawful for Him to do what He wants to with what is His. The labor laws don’t apply to Him, and no one will be able to sue or appeal to the government to overrule His decisions. Acts 10:34-35 says,  "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: {35} But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."