Posts tagged Manhood

The Apostle Paul Would Not Recognize Most Of American Christianity

Apr21
2012 Written by Warner Smith

A friend of mine who does research for a living told me of a conversation he recently had with a professional pollster.  The pollster knew that my friend was a Southern Baptist.  He told him that his company had developed a new strategy for checking the margin of error in results which also doubled for doing a poll immediately when clients wanted an instant result.  The method was to gather 15 Southern Baptists and ask them their opinions. The reason they can depend on such a shortcut in their research he explained was that the “Southern Baptist Church has the purest picture of America in the streets.”

This statement was not meant to be a compliment.  We have changed what the people in church believe but not how they live.  We have taught them to know better but not to do better.  This state of affairs explains why individual Christians can make statements like, “I know that this is not right but . . .”.  Think about how often you behave in a way contrary to your stated beliefs.  How quickly do you discount what you know to be right for a course of action that is either more convenient or more desirable?

Paul had discovered the true value of knowing Christ and it so changed his behavior that he could write:

8 . . . I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.    Philippians 3:8 (ESV)

Saul (who later became known as the Apostle Paul) was educated at the Harvard of his country.

3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 22:3 (NASB)

While no one can know for certain, it is reasonable to assume that prior to being knocked off his horse by Christ while on the Damascus road (and converted), Paul was well off and married.

All Pharisees were married as a matter of custom.  They did not think that one who was not married had either the social status within their community or the accumulated wisdom to teach others.  Although a Jew, Paul was also a Roman citizen.  His Roman citizenship provides us another clue to both Paul’s social standing and wealth.  Roman citizenship was purchased only at a very high price.  Either Paul or his family would have had to have purchased his citizenship.

When Paul says “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” we need to realize that his relationship with Christ really had cost him plenty.

23 Are they servants of Christ? . . . I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.  24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.  25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.  26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;  27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.                               2 Corinthians 11:23–28 (NASB)

Paul clearly placed knowing and obeying Christ above everything else in his life.  What are you willing to loose because you so value “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ?”  Some people mistakenly want to know Jesus without losing anything.  Southern Baptist’s whose lifestyle is so like American culture that pollsters can describe them as the “purest picture of the American street” are practicing a form of Christianity which would be unrecognizable to the Apostle Paul.  Today’s American Christian so values pursuing the American dream that he is unable or unwilling to be inconvenienced in order to gain Christ.

Think about your own lifestyle.  What have you lost and what are you willing to loose to in your pursuit of Christ?

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The Importance of Putting Away Childish Things

Apr10
2012 Written by Warner Smith

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 1 Corinthians 13;11

When I read this passage I want to ask the apostle Paul, “Tell me, how did you get there? How did you get from thinking and reasoning as a child to thinking and reasoning as a man? How did you know you had become a man? What does it mean to be a man? How does a man act? What does he do? How does a man feel? How does he express emotion? And what does he live for?” This verse doesn’t answer any of these questions.

Apparently, the people to whom Paul was writing understood what being a man meant, but I don’t. Do you? What is the compelling purpose for being a man today? No one seems to know.

I was raised by a man who overemphasized being tough (real men don’t cry), while my mother wanted me to be polite and sensitive to the feelings of others, especially females. I grew up confused and compartmentalized my behavior. When around other men I acted in one manner while around women in another. I believe that this state of confusion contributes to marital strife and makes Christian couples easy marks for Satan’s Modus Operandi of “to divide and conquer” our families.

Understanding your God given gender role is critical for building families that last a lifetime. Whether you are male or female we all need to put away childish things. For Christians spiritual maturity should be our goal.

Pray today for God the Holy Spirit to enable you to put away all those childish things which prevent you from becoming the mature disciple Jesus desires you to be.

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40 Days of Preparation Day 40

Apr04
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Warner Smith

Today, Wednesday April 4, 2012, is the fortieth day of preparing our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday. Today I need to “put off” anger and “put on”self control. When I speak of putting off anger I do not mean that you and I will never have anger or show anger again but that what causes us to become angry and how we behave when angered will change from our pre-Christian lives.

Jesus shows us the distinction between righteous indignation and selfish anger when He cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem.

13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. John 2:13–22 (NIV)

Zeal for God’s house ignited Jesus’ anger and not His own sense of being personally wronged. When you or I become angry it is for our own self interests. It is this form of selfish anger that I am suggesting you and I need to “put off.” It is selfish anger to which the writer of Proverbs refers when he writes:

22 An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins. Proverbs 29:22 (NIV)

Whenever we become converted the fruits of the Spirit begin to manifest themselves in us. As we mature in Christ these fruits grow and become manifest more and more. If you are a Christian you need to compare your spiritual maturity by the presence of the fruits of the Spirit in your own personal life.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22 – 23

It is by putting on self control that you and I are able to allow God the Holy Spirit to control our natural flesh’s tendency to lash out when wronged or when we perceive we have been wronged. The practical reason why you and I need to “put off” anger and “put on” self control is that to fail to do so causes us to live our lives preoccupied by defending our own honor and being offended whenever our defenses prove unsuccessful. If, however, we are able to “put off” anger and “put on” self control we will live our lives for God’s glory and count it all joy whenever we are offended for His great names sake, and the sake of His gospel. I believe the world needs more mature Christians who have “put off” anger and “put on” self control! Do you agree or disagree?

 

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40 Days of Preparation Day 37

Apr01
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Warner Smith

Today, Sunday April 1, 2012, is the thirty-seventh day of preparing our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday. Today I need to “put off” lying and “put on” speaking the truth. You and I live in a society where honesty is in short supply. Today the two major political party’s version of reality is so diametrically opposed to one another that the only logical conclusion which an unbiased, outside third party can draw is “one of them is lying.” The problem is determining who.

The prevalence of lying has become so great in America that a former president of the United States, and fellow Southern Baptist, Bill Clinton became famous, or infamous, for so carefully parsing the words of his legal testimony that in one specific area he said its truthfulness depended on what ones “meaning of the word ‘is’ is!”  Our predisposition for lying has even become the butt of jokes. Mark Twain wrote that their are “lies, d*** lies, and statistics.” We have become so comfortable with lying that we use a color code to absolve ourselves from a lie’s severity.  A “white” lie is widely believed to be harmless, perhaps even healthy. The problem with this logic, however, is that any lie and every lie is a sin. This is yet another reason to value silence.

Such a casual attitude for the truth is clearly in violation of God’s word and reveals why you and I need to “put off” lying and “put on” speaking the truth. Writing to the people in the Church at Ephesus Paul reminds us that speaking truth is a prerequisite for holiness.

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:22–25 (ESV)

Lying is part of our old nature. Whenever we lie we are guilty of keeping rather than putting off our old nature. Lying is more insidious than this, however, because when we lie we are not only hurting ourselves, but we are also hurting our neighbors as well. The entire community is harmed by our falsehoods. Clearly lying is no joking matter.

After the children of Israel have returned from their Babylonian captivity (punishment for their continual idolatry) and are beginning to reorder their society God tells the nation of Israel what they should do.

16 ‘These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. 17 ‘Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.” Zechariah 8:16–17 (NASB)

Do you understand what you have just read? God hates perjury, God hate injustice, God hates it whenever we do not speak the truth to each other. If God hates it, then I should hate it also! God’s desire for Israel then is also His desire for America today. Therefore, because God hates it I need to “put off” lying and “put on” speaking the truth.

 

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40 Days of Preparation Day 36

Mar31
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Warner Smith

Today, Saturday March 31, 2012, is the thirty-sixth day of preparing our hearts, souls and minds for the most high of all Christian holy days, Easter Sunday. Today I need to “put off” showing favoritism and “put on” loving others as yourself. It feels good to be the favorite.  Secretly we may desire to be the favorite, but favoritism can wreck relationships in a family.

The most famous example in the Bible of how destructive showing favoritism can be in a family is the relationship of Esau and Jacob.  Esau was his father Isaac’s favorite and Jacob was the favorite of his mother Rebekah (Genesis 24;25:19-34;27:1-46). Some of the ramifications of the favoritism shown in this family still exist in the ancient enmities of the Middle East region today. Instead of showing favoritism you and I need to “put off” favoritism and “put on” loving others as ourselves.

Loving others as ourselves is the Christian ethic taught throughout the New Testament. Philosophers have discussed the wisdom and elegance of Jesus’ statement which has come to be known as the “Golden Rule.”

31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31 (NIV)

No one wants to be the one who is left out while our sibling, relative, friend, or co-worker is doted over by whomever is showing favoritism. Since none of us want to be left out, we should not play favorites with others.

James explains it this way.

1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. James 2:1 – 9 (ESV)

James reveals the bottom line problem with showing favoritism. It is not that it disrupts family harmony but that playing favorites is sin. As we prepare to celebrate Easter as the highest of all holy days we need to “put off” all of the sin we find in our life.  That includes the sin of showing partiality (i.e. playing favorites).  So as you and I prepare for Easter lets “put off” showing favoritism and “put on” loving others as ourselves.

 

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