Colossians 3:1-17
I was asked to speak at prayer meeting this week, and since I usually speak on something that God has shown me this week, I decided to write it down and those who read this blog will also benefit from it. I consider it a privilege and responsibility to teach accurately from the Word of God. It keeps my perspective correct when I stop thinking about "looking stupid" or "was that OK?" and keep my eyes fixed on proclaiming God's Word for His purposes.
It is this subject that I will be addressing today. It is easy to get mixed up in what people expect from me, who will approve or disapprove of what I do and say. While I do consider and respect those around me in the assembly, still I have but one person to glorify, God. Encouraging other believers and showing them things that are encouraging from the Bible is great, and has its place, but sometimes the Lord lays it on our hearts to show them truths that may cause them conviction, stress, or anger. Many would lay aside any difficult teaching because they fear man's approval, but the standard we need to look to is God's, not man's.
If we expect to be used of God to proclaim His truth to all people, we cannot just pick and choose the nice encouraging passages to speak on, but be led by the Spirit of God to what He wants us to say. I am one, like most of us, that generally likes to be liked, and sometimes I have avoided certain truths in order to make someone like me more, or to avoid them disliking me altogether. I also am able to speak the truth when it is hard to do so, when I know someone will be offended and maybe choose to not talk to me anymore. I need to work on my consistency in this area.
This is how it has been with my personal witnessing experience. I have been rejected, blown off, and made fun of for what I believe in and share with others. I have family members that, even though I shared the truth in love for the right reasons, have avoided me and will not return correspondence with me. I would rather they be happy with me, and not have to confront them, but the truth is if you love someone, you would not avoid talking with them about life's most important subject, that being salvation and where they will spend eternity. Still, I know that it must be said. I am getting off topic, so let's get back where we started.
In my pursuit to speak the truth from God rather than make people feel better, I sometimes have to speak to fellow Christians also. I have been spoken to in the past, and have experienced the right way and the wrong way to be chastised. God makes it clear how we need to prepare ourselves, not just jumping out in anger at a brother, but with clarity of mind and a heart truly seeking restoration, seeking what the Lord wants rather than what I want.
In order to be used to bring a brother back into fellowship, I must first get myself right with God. It would be hypocritical for me to be living in sin and try to correct others. So, when I see a brother living apart from God's will for them, it is not easy to approach them. The approach must be one of love, for the purpose of seeking restoration with God. It can never be a selfish desire to be proven right, or feel "holier-than-thou" but instead reaching to help another up.
Man's standards will never live up to how God wants us to live. If we want to know how to raise our children, we need to seek the truth from the Bible. If we want to know about finances, we need to consult the Word. If we want to know how we should deal with problems, sin in the church, modesty, or a host of other subjects the best and most complete source we have is God's word to us, the Bible. 2 Tim 3:16 tells us that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness" I notice that we are not told to use the Word for revenge, proving ourselves right, or anything else, but only to show God's standards as the benchmark.
This is a principle that is far too often misused. I mentioned earlier being chastised the wrong way. Let me explain a bit with a story. Suppose someone didn't like the way I dressed at church, that it was much too casual. At the time, I didn't own anything that would be considered appropriate, but instead of trying to help me, they just wanted to let me know that I was somehow a lower class of Christian for not having enough money to buy nice clothes. While I do think it is a good idea to look presentable at the church services, it makes me think that if a homeless person, or a family burned out of their home came to the service that they would be spoken to in the same way. I have seen this happen, and it sickened me. Being high and mighty and judging someone based on their clothing is not God's standard, but man's.
A more Biblical example could be a brother in the church, who refuses to put off lying. He doesn't think anyone is hurt by a simple little white lie. You may begin to question anything this person says, their motives and why they feel like they need to fabricate stories or lie. Are they in need of acceptance, are they covering up something in their past? Maybe, but the point is still the same. The Biblical standard is "You should not bear false witness" Exodus 20:16 and "all liars will have their place in the lake of fire" Rev 21:8 Sin is sin, and we need to help each other stay out of the Devil's trap, and keep our eyes on the Lord.
The approach needs to be one of honestly looking to help your brother be restored, not to make them look bad, but should be done privately, with God's standard as our standard. None of us will be perfect this side of heaven, and we need to be honest with ourselves about that. Matthew 18 outlines how we should approach others, and you can read that independently, but what I wanted to stress mostly is that we should use God's standards, not man's. God has given us His Word to show us how we should live. I have to be careful sometimes myself not to impose my preferences on anyone else, but also to be faithful in searching my own life that I am acceptable to the Lord. After all, that is who we are to living for, and in the example of.
With God's standards, set forth in His Word as our standards, we will not have to fear what people will think. We can stand firm knowing that God is the judge, and we should judge ourselves according to His standards. We can know that no matter what may come, if we are following God with all our hearts, using His word as our guide, we have the peace that comes with a right relationship with God, and with His Son that gave His own blood to buy us back from the debt of sin.
In Acts 5:29, when Peter and the apostles were brought in with the charge of preaching about Jesus, Peters answer should show us the example "We must obey God rather than man" Couldn't have said it any better myself, that's for sure.
