When we teach, it is absolutely necessary to consider all that God’s word says about the subject we are explaining. Ignorance and lack of spiritual stability may cause us to teach a harmful error instead of giving people the spiritual food that can help them grow and be strong in their work for the Lord.<\/p>\n
The Spirit gave these words to Peter in 2 Peter 3:16:<\/p>\n
in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, which are some things hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable wrest (twist, pervert), as also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. <\/p>\n
Therefore, we have to be careful when we teach as we find in 2 Timothy 2:15:<\/p>\n
Be diligent to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.<\/p>\n
An error can arise not only by saying something that the Bible does not teach or by directly contradicting what it says, but also can be caused by twisting or not properly using the word of God. This is what happens when one emphasizes a part of the law of Christ in the New Testament more than the rest of the teachings. Some did this type of thing when Jesus lived here on earth by paying more attention to the sacrifices and ceremonial things than to the purity of the mind and soul. They had left the main point of the purpose of God, thus creating a religion that did nothing useful in the lives of people. Jesus condemned such ideas. Matthew 23:23:<\/p>\n
\u201cWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone <\/p>\n
We must always remember that God’s purpose in communicating with us in His word is to cause us to be more and more like Him in our mind and life. Today we are faced with a similar emphasis change. The popular teaching about God’s grace is being used to create belief systems that are very comfortable for people. The problem is that these systems require little or no change of heart or life. The purpose of the grace of God in Jesus Christ always was to teach us to leave evil (Titus 2:11-12):<\/p>\n
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,<\/p>\n
For years we have continually heard from the pulpits the popular subject of grace, sweet grace of God, while people have strayed further and further from the truth of God in their way of life and are content with just living their lives as they please and pursuing their own purposes. Therefore, it is difficult to ask anything that involves a personal effort of such persons, who are in their view, are already “saved by grace alone” and think they have to do nothing but wait for that great moment when they will be called from the comfort of their padded pews of their religious buildings into a mansion in the sky. But this belief system does not seem anything like the life of Jesus, or Paul, or Stephen, who dedicated their lives to obedience to the Word of God with serious personal consequences.<\/p>\n
When people who believe the doctrine of faith only hear the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 “And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” they do not understand. Equally incomprehensible to such people would be the words of Christ: “If anyone would come after me must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23<\/p>\n
How long will we tolerate the teaching that life in Christ is easy and we should live it without any major concerns because we are saved by grace alone, or that it is God’s will is that all prosper economically and have a life of ease? When Peter tried to convince Jesus that he did not have to suffer for doing the will of his Father, this was the reply of our Lord:
\n22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke him, saying: Lord, have mercy on yourself, in no way will this happen. 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan: thou art an offense to me, because you set your mind not on the things of God, but those of men.
\n24 Then Jesus told his disciples, If any man will come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give for his soul? 27 For the Son of man cometh in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Matthew 16:22-27)<\/p>\n
Peter, not knowing he was taking the Devil’s side, told Jesus he did not have to go through what his Father had given him to do. Those who try to convince us today that we should not be very concerned but rather just relax and live happily are today taking the same side. Many people will be surprised in the judgement day when they are rejected for not doing what God commanded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When we teach, it is absolutely necessary to consider all that God’s word says about the subject we are explaining. Ignorance and lack of spiritual stability may cause us to teach a harmful error instead of giving people the spiritual … Continue reading