Gal 1:7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Troubled believers: used of the mind, to stir up, trouble, disturb with various emotions such as fear, put in trepidation.
Distorted gospel: To turn about from one direction to another
Tit 1:9-16 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. (10) For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. (11) They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. (12) One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." (13) This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, (14) not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. (15) To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. (16) They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Remedy: YOU
Eph 4:12-14 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
2Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (17) that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Tit 2:1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.
I regret to have to say it but to too great a degree, followers of the Redeemer are not as much “little children,” as they are “Cretans.” I know, “OUCH!” But somewhere along the live too many believers have come to equate coming to Him as , “little children,” as meaning they get to remain, “little children.”
But this is completely contrary to scripture.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb 5:12-14)
Certainly there is much in scripture that provokes a resounding, “Huh????” but those are not issues about which we have to worry. But it is the issues of:
What really is the gospel?
What is salvation?
3. What is redemption?
4. What is justification?
5. What is sanctification?
6. What is discipleship?
7. What are the best practices for the believer?
8. What are the key doctrines of the faith?
9. What are the false doctrines to be cautious of?
Jesus did not say, “You will have the truth in a reference book of study bible and it will set you free.” He did say, “You shall KNOW the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
“Bondage,” is a biggy in the church to day. Bondage to that, bondage to this. But why are we so attracted to this when we are clearly told:
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (Joh 8:36)
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14)
But, perhaps it’s just more fun to tickle the devil than serve the Son. It’s easier to be “poor little me,” than “more than conquerors.” Perhaps we prefer to have our ears tickled.
Being “anti-church” is a biggy today. We need more intimacy, more Jewishness, less authority, less structure – which actually reduces down to less responsibility and accountability which is just fine with too many.
Over the course of 2000 we haven’t gotten it “right,” yet. So we need to go back – not to the beginning of the church, oh no, but back to Sinai and start over. If perhaps we were just more Judaic, relevant, contemporary, whatever, we’d get it right.
I wonder if the problem is not really one of ingratitude. Yeah, that’s right. See, it’s not enough that the Son of God died and paid the price for my sin that I might stand before God redeemed. Oh no, that’s not good enough. I want to feeeeeeeeeeeeeeel something, have stuff to show for it, prove Him by my circumstances, be like the Joneses only christian, not be peculiar, not offend, not be persecuted --- ad infinitum. Oh and don’t forget, “I want the world to really like me!”
If I had to vote, I’d cast my ballot for the attitude of , “Not good enough!” being the root cause of the stupidity, childishness, compromise and even heresy we see in the mass of so called believers today.
The mark of a believer is simply a faith inspired and based working devotion to the God of the scriptures. A commitment to Him above any other. A submission to Him before any other. A loyalty to Him beyond any other. He ain’t your pal, your bud, you bff. He is your GOD – the GOD. How did that ever lose its power to humble us and even embolden us?
God belongs in a box. The box He built. He determines who and how He is and thankfully He communicates it quite clearly to us.
But, we don’t like His box – especially the box (boundaries and expectations) He has for us.
We want a big ol fluffy God that we can snuggle up to and tease and joke with. Well, there’s no reason we can’t do that with THE God as long as in doing so we don’t diminish who He is and His right to command us and our obligation to obey.
There is gravity – if I hold a rock shoulder height and let it go it falls. This is the way it’s supposed to be – there is NOTHING special about it – nothing.
There is God – He made me, He sustains me and as uncomfortable as it makes us, He owns me. He commands, I obey. This is the way it’s supposed to be – there is NOTHING special about it – nothing.
What is wrong, unnatural weird and scary is when the apple floats and I disobey. There is no merit in the apple falling, we don’t say, “Good apple, special apple.” Neither is there any merit in obedience. We should have comfort in obedience and perhaps encouragement because that is the normal state of things.
OK, I know – enough already. Why do I subject you to these all too frequent rants???
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-- of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Heb 11:36-38)
We might well find ourselves among these “others,” all too soon.
In the words of the TV show:
“Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”
Or, even worse
“Whatcha gonna do if they don’t come for you?”
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