Beware

Beware of the Scribes

Luke 20:46

"Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;"

When you have been around Christianity as long as I have, you begin to understand the frustration Christ must have had with the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes were people who copied documents, especially the Scriptures, so that people had something to read. Because there were no printing presses in these days, the scribes were very important to society. In the verse above, Jesus warned the people to be cautious of the scribes. His caution was because their actions were something that should not be copied. Let me show you what was so dangerous about the attitude of these scribes.

First, they loved to be known for their education. The wearing of "long robes" was something that educated people would do so they could be recognized. These scribes thought their education made them better than others. We must be careful that we don't let education cause us to look down on others. Truthfully, there are many educated idiots in our day. Just because someone has education does not make them smarter than others. I would rather have someone working with me who has common sense over someone who has education and no common sense. I'm not against education at all, but education never makes anyone better than someone else.

Second, the scribes loved to be recognized by famous people. The "greetings in the markets" was merely being recognized by influential people. This made the scribes feel that they were more important than others. Christian, you need to be careful about striving to be recognized by the influential. It is better to know God than it is to know someone famous. Stop trying to be recognized by an influential person and strive to be recognized by God.

Third, the scribes loved position. The "highest seats in the synagogues" were simply holding a position in the council of the synagogue. It would be like holding a seat on the city council or some board of the church. There is nothing wrong with having a position, but you should not strive to obtain it. You should simply strive to do your job. When you do what you are supposed to do, then you will find that position will naturally come. Don't do things so you can acquire position, and don't fight others to get it. Simply, be the type of person who works hard at doing what you are supposed to do.

Fourth, the scribes classed people. What I mean by this is they would have an "in" crowd, and then there was everyone else. Let me make this clear, in God's eyes there is no "in" crowd, there are only people. If you start to think that there are classes of people in Christianity then you will be guilty of thinking you are better, or not as good as, others depending on how you are classified. Jesus warns us not to be guilty of classifying people.

Fifth, the scribes ran over anyone just to get what they wanted. Christian, be careful about hurting others so you can get position or title. Don't make people your stepping stones; rather, make your life about helping people and you will be surprised how they will push you up.

Finally, the scribes lived their life as a show. What they were in public was not what they were in private. Be careful about living two lives. Always strive to be the same in private and in public. If you live a double life, you will hurt those closest to you, and most of all, you will hurt yourself.

When Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes,..." He was warning us not to act like them. Be sure that your life does not resemble the attributes of the scribes. If you will simply live your life to please God, then these things that the scribes strove for will only be a tool to better help people if God gives them to you.

Keys

Two Keys of the Successful Christian Life

Mark 12:28

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?"

If you were to study the Scriptures and make a summary of the successful Christian life, you would find that the answer Jesus gave to the question above is the summary. In an attempt to catch Jesus saying something wrong, the scribes asked Jesus which commandment was the most important commandment. Jesus answered by showing them that Christianity hinges on two things; your treatment of God, and your treatment of mankind. If you get both of these areas right, then you will be successful in your Christian life.

Jesus described how He expects you to treat Him by saying that you should love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. This is interesting because these areas make up your whole being. He wants you to love Him with your heart, which is your emotions. He wants you to love him with your soul, which is your character. He wants you to love Him with your mind, which is your intellect. Finally, He wants you to love Him with your strength, which is your effort and zeal.

However, it is interesting that God says you are to do these things to the best of your ability. Notice He uses the words, "with all."  Your all is not someone else's all. Some people are more emotional than others, but you are to love Him with all of your emotions. Some people who have only been saved a short time don't have the character of those who have been saved longer, but with whatever Christian character you have you are to live a life for God with it. Not every person has the same intellect, but with whatever intellect you have you are to love Him. Not everybody has the same level of physical strength, but with whatever strength you do have you are to love Him with all of it. In other words, God doesn't measure your love in these areas by comparing them to others, but He measures your love to Him by comparing them to what you can do. God wants all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Furthermore, God says that the second key to successful Christianity is your treatment of others. God expects you to treat others the same way you would treat yourself. For example, you are to treat the fallen the same way you would treat yourself if you fell. You are to treat the successful the same way you would treat yourself when you are successful. You are to treat the grieving the same way you would treat yourself if you were grieving. You are to treat the young Christian the same way you would treat yourself if you were a young Christian. A successful Christian will be one who considers how they would want to be treated in every situation, and use that as the guide to how they would treat others.

Christianity is not really hard to figure out. If you will treat God and mankind right, then you will be a successful Christian. If you get one of these areas wrong, then you will get both of them wrong. They both depend upon each other. If you treat God right, then you will treat mankind right. Likewise, if you treat mankind right, you will treat God right. They both hinge upon each other. If you want to be successful as a Christian, then focus on getting these two areas right and you will succeed.

Some Fell

And Some Fell

Mark 4:8

"And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred."

One of the important things that someone must do when sowing seed is to make sure that the seed is in good ground. Those who work in farming will tell you that some plants can't grow in certain soil. This is one of the reasons you will see produce grow in one part of the country and not in another part. The soil in which the seed is sown is vital to the fruit that it produces.

The parable of the sower says that there were different types of soil that the seed fell upon. I want you to notice that in every case the seed fell from the hand of the sower. The Scriptures do not say that the sower purposely planted the seed in each of these places, but apparently he was carrying the seed and some fell.

As we serve God, it is unfortunate that people with whom we serve will fall. You must realize that there are people with whom you serve right now who will not be serving the LORD is years to come. This should be no surprise to you. One of the reasons the seed fell in this parable was because the sower was not careful about guarding his seed. The sower should have been more careful with his seed. Likewise, we should be more careful with those whom we serve that we don't allow them to simply fall because of our carelessness.

I want you to notice that once the seed fell, there were two things that were common that determined whether the seed was able to recover and bring forth fruit; places and associations. Some of the seed fell in places where it could not grow. Other seed fell among associations that would not allow the seed to bring forth fruit.

Every Christian needs to be careful about their associations and the places they go. These two things will ultimately determine whether you will be fruitful, or whether you will be able to come back once you fall. The places you frequent and the people with whom you associate will influence the fruitfulness of your life more than anything else.

Are your associations harming your walk with God? You need to be careful with whom you associate because associations will often cause people to fall. It may be that you only have one association who is wrong, but that one association will hurt your fruitfulness and could keep you from recovering if you fall.

Is every place you go a place that is glorifying to the LORD? Where you go will also determine with whom you associate. If there are places where you go that you would not want your pastor or another Christian to find you, then you need to stop going there. If you go to wrong places, then you will meet the wrong people. Make sure that every place you go is a place where you would not be ashamed if the Saviour caught you there.

Finally, when helping people recover from sin, the two areas you need to help them change are their associations and the places they frequent. If they are not willing to change these two areas, then they will never recover from their fall.

Some will fall in the Christian life. You need to be extra careful that you are not one of those who fall. The best way to keep this from happening is to guard your associations and the places you go.

Some Doubted

But Some Doubted

Matthew 28:17

"And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted."

This is an interesting verse in that it seems some were so blinded by their negative attitude that they could not see the obvious. The verse above says, "...but some doubted." Okay, we can all understand having times of doubt, but you must look at the first part of the verse to see how their doubt doesn't make sense. The verse starts about by saying, "And when they saw him,..." These who doubted actually saw Jesus standing in front of them and beheld Him with their own eyes, but they still doubted. In other words, it really didn't matter how much proof they had, they were so negative that they were going to doubt the obvious.

Have you ever been around people who always see the negative and doubt the good that is going on right in front of them? What a sad way to live life! There is nothing more tiring than having to deal with someone who cannot see the positive in anything. You can show them the positives, but they are still negative about a situation or idea. This is a terrible way to live.

Perception is a choice. These people who doubted chose to doubt even though the proof was right in front of them. You can either see the negative of every situation and doubt, or you can see the positive and dwell on that. I am not saying that you should bury your head in the sand and not see reality, but what I am saying is that you don't have to be negative all the time.

The sad part about negative people is that they don't see how negative they really are. Negative people think that they are generally positive, but if they were to look at everything that comes from their mouth with an honest outlook, they would see their negative attitude.

Furthermore, being negative is contagious. When one person starts doubting and spreads the negative, it is amazing how others immediately begin to doubt. Christian, stay away from those who always doubt. Stay away from those who never see the good in anything. Stay away from those who are always pointing out the negative in every situation or doubting the obvious. This may sound harsh, but spending time with a negative person is not worth you losing your positive outlook on life. If they don't like this, then they can change their outlook to see what is right before their eyes.

Finally, you need to be one who forces yourself to see the good in everything. By nature we are negative people, because our sinful nature is negative. So, you must not allow your fleshly sinful nature to rule your outlook on things. You must purposely find the good in everything. If you look hard enough, there is positive in everything. Don't be guilty of spreading the negative about your church, rather work at always finding the positive about every service and tell others about it. You must also work hard at finding the positive about people. It won't be hard to find the negative about people because they are sinful human beings, but if you purposely look to find the positive, you will find it. Don't be guilty of having the obvious in front of you and doubting it because of a negative spirit. Choose to look at the obvious of God's works and spread it so everyone can see His great works in the lives of people and in your church. Don't ever let it be said about you, "...and they doubted."

The menu

The Menu is Just Fine

Matthew 22:2-3

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come."

A few years ago the fast food restaurant chains changed their menus to try and make them healthier. McDonald's was one of the chains that tried to make their french fries healthier for their patrons hoping that it would cause more people to come to their restaurant. What they found out was that people didn't come to McDonald's because they were looking for healthier french fries. Their sales went down because they changed the menu. It didn't take them long to go back to the proven recipe which resulted in their sales going back up.

The story from the verse above is about a king who had a son who was going to get married. He sent his servants to invite people to the wedding, and to his surprise there were many who would not come. What I like about this king is that he sent his servants back out, but he sent them out with the same message, but to different people. This king understood that anyone who was to come to his son's wedding were all going to have to come the same way. He wasn't going to change his menu to draw a crowd. This king realized that his menu was just fine, and those who didn't want to come would suffer the consequences.

All too often there are people in Christianity who try to change the menu of who we are to draw a crowd. There are many independent Baptist preachers who think the old-time ways of doing things just won't work today. With this mentality they change their menu hoping to draw more people. They find out that changing the menu also changes their product to an undesirable product. They find out that the newer menu of doing things doesn't work.

Several years ago I was golfing with a friend of mine who commented about a preacher who went to Heaven. He told me that he felt God sent him to Heaven because this older preacher wouldn't make needed changes in his methods to draw more people to his church. This friend of mine said that the times had passed up this older preacher. I responded by telling this friend that whether or not the methods of the Word of God draw a crowd is not the issue. Truth is the issue and truth never changes. I told this friend if he changes the methods of this older preacher that he would quickly find out that his product would change as well.

Christian, we must be careful about always looking for newer ways of doing things. God's menu of doing things always works. Purity still works today. God's standards of dress and living still work today. Door-to-door soul winning still works today. Old-fashioned preaching still works today. On and on we could go, but we must understand that God's menu is just fine. It has worked for many centuries, and it will continue to work.

You may say, "Bro. Domelle, we can draw a bigger crowd if we change the menu." You may be right, but that doesn't change right and wrong. A dead carcass on the side of the road draws a crowd of buzzards, but that doesn't mean I want to be in that crowd. Drawing a crowd is not the issue. It seems today that many are more interested in building a mega-church than they are in doing things according to God's menu.

Christian, don't be guilty of looking for a new menu. God's menu of living and building churches has worked in the past, and it will continue to work today. Don't let suave preachers beguile you into believing that truth changes with the times. Always stand for truth. Even if God's menu doesn't draw a crowd, His menu is still right. Let's just stay with God's menu that has been tried and tested and has proven that it produces a great and desirable product.