I should preface this commentary with the fact that we, as a family, have truly been seeking what God has for us concerning where we worship, how we present ourselves, and how to go beyond simply avoiding sin in our lives, and truly following Christ's example of how to live. The major struggle has been with the difference between our own preferences and what is truly being disguised as church when it is no more than a social club.
2 Peter 2:
1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2And many shall follow their pernicious(evil) ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3And through covetousness(greed, unearned gain) shall they with feigned(counterfeit, false) words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
This sounds much like the modern church. Every time I turn on the TV (which we are undecided whether to throw out the window or not) I see Joel Osteen or Robert Schuller or some other preacher using the name of Jesus to lure people into their churches. while completely disregarding the issue of man's separation from God through sin. These churches disregard the methods of Jesus, Paul, Peter, and all the other writers of the Bible. Jesus spoke against sin and talked about damnation, hell, judgement, yet these folks (always selling some new video, cd, etc.) talk about the God of the universe as if he is just some wonderful Santa-type figure who is always jolly and pleasant. This is not the God of the Bible.There has been a drastic shift in people's perception of God. A.W. Tozer wrote in "The waning authority of Christ in the Church" wrote the following:
"What we do is this: We accept the Christianity of our group as being identical with that of Christ and His apostles. The beliefs, the practices, the ethics, the activities of our group are equated with the Christianity of the New Testament. Whatever the group thinks or says or does is scriptural, no questions asked. It is assumed that all our Lord expects of us is that we busy ourselves with the activities of the group. In so doing we are keeping the commandments of Christ.
To avoid the hard necessity of either obeying or rejecting the plain instructions of our Lord in the New Testament we take refuge in a liberal interpretation of them. Casuistry [tricky reasoning] is not the possession of Roman Catholic theologians alone. We evangelicals also know how to avoid the sharp point of obedience by means of fine and intricate explanations. These are tailor-made for the flesh. They excuse disobedience, comfort carnality and make the words of Christ of none effect [Mk. 7:13]. And the essence of it all is that Christ simply could not have meant what He said. His teachings are accepted even theoretically only after they have been weakened by interpretation"- Tozer
This is what I see in the passage in 2 Peter. In an effort to make Christianity more palatable, we have taken the things we like and applied them to our lives. Those things that are more difficult or challenging to practice have been tossed by the wayside and considered legalism or too old to be relevant. 2 Timothy 3 speaks about the WHOLE Word of God being profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. We cannot customize the Scripture to say what we want it to. It is imperative that we take up our cross daily and follow Christ.
This is something that I often battle in my own mind. The Bible does not specifically say that alcohol, when used in moderation is sinful. It does talk a lot about what we should avoid, what we should strive for, but what we should continue to ask is, in the words of Charles Sheldon:" What would Jesus do" and the way to find out what Jesus would do is to use the examples He gave us in His Word. What DID Jesus do (thanks to Ray Comfort) has been on my mind more and more lately. Jesus knew no sin, he rejected the ploy of Satan in the temptation described in Matthew 4. Jesus rebuked the devil with Scripture. It is this same source which is available to us today. The answers are all there. If we pattern our lives after the teachings, sayings, and goals of the Lord Jesus, we surely cannot go wrong.
In conclusion, I just have to say that if we truly strive to be Christians, being more like Christ, we must honestly step back and re-assess why we do what we do. If it is just for the sake of tradition, but it is not honoring and glorifying to God, we should throw it out and start over. It is with this attitude that I (and my family with me) are pressing on with our lives, trying to make the most of the time we have on this earth. I pray that this post challenges you like it has challenged me in writing it.
May God richly bless as you continue in His Word.
Mark
