How Sloppy is Your Faith?

December 8 (John 15)
As I read Leviticus and Numbers yesterday I couldn’t help but notice how meticulous God expected Israel’s worship of Him to be. They had to kill in a particular way and provide a particular kind of animal of a certain age. It had to be brought to a specific place, given to the priest, whose job it was to make sure it met all the requirements of the specific type of offering it was intended to be. He had to slaughter it exactly as prescribed, taking care to remove specific inner parts (all the fat, the lobe of the liver, the stomach, the blood), carefully sprinkle some of the blood on the front of the altar seven times, put some of it on the four corners of the altar (dedication offering), pour the rest of the blood on the ground at the side of the altar, and carefully cover the blood with dirt when finished. Then, depending what kind of sacrifice or offering it was, (there were about twelve different kinds), he either waved it, heaved it, burned it whole, or burned only the inner parts. He had to offer a particular grain offering with a particular meat offering, and an oil and wine offering. The part of the offering that belonged to the priest depended on the kind of offering being presented. Over and again God warned the priests to do everything exactly as He had commanded.

Every offering had a specific order in which things had to be done. If it was not offered exactly as God directed, the offering was not acceptable and the sinner had to bear his sin. He would not be forgiven for that sin, if it was indeed a sin offering; his freewill offering would not be accepted, and the priest would be guilty of sin for which two of them got instantly fried for ignoring these precise instructions (Leviticus 10). The Israelites were so afraid of God (and He commended them for their fear), they begged Moses to go up on the mountain, far away from them, to speak to Him and not force them to hear His is voice out of the cloud again. They literally believed they would all perish in an instant of time if they had to listen to His mighty voice from the midst of the burning cloud as He descended to speak with them at the foot of Mount Sinai.

There are two things I’d like for us to glean from today’s lesson: 1. I believe most of us take God way too lightly; 2. I believe our worship of Him is way too sloppy. And please understand, I am fully aware of my own propensity to do that. Regarding our first point, I have noticed most of my life, even before I got saved, people who call themselves Christians tend to be very non-chalant about what it means to actually be one. I literally tremble and look up to heaven quickly, expecting lightening to strike every time I hear someone call God the man upstairs. We all tend to engage in things each day that are clearly ungodly and counter productive. We join with fellow workers whose language is disgusting and in some cases downright blasphemous, listening to crude jokes and even laughing at them.

We tend to be rather flippant about the things we view on TV or listen to on radio. I’ve noticed lately even commercials are becoming too racy for my taste. I immediately turn off anything that shows more of a woman’s body than it’s healthy for a man to see. Even news anchors nowadays wear clothes that give leave little for the imagination. We apparently think anything that is animated is for children. Disney and most of the other cartoon whizzes present animated stories glorifying sorcery, magic, astrological reading, violence, and blatant disregard for all kinds of authority. I wearied of students, when I was a teacher, who told me they didn’t have to respect me until I earned it. God only knows where that ignorant philosophy came from. I think I’m going to throw up the next time I hear someone say they watch movies about witches and warlocks and they're Christians. We get such great pleasure watching violent sports like football, wrestling, and boxing; and we cheer and stomp frantically when someone is getting pummeled. Beloved, such things ought not be.

When we go to church, our children run in the isles, have to go to the bathroom two or three times during service, cry and talk so loud it’s a struggle to hear the sermon. Some actually come to meetings dressed like they’re on their way to the local tavern to get sloppy drunk. I’m certainly not advocating men need wear a tie and coat or that women need to wear fancy dresses. Far be it from me to suggest any such thing. And certainly if a man or woman off the street wanders into our midst in dirty, ragged clothes, we need to welcome them with open arms as would Jesus. However, I unless we are actually attending services on a beach somewhere, we need to wear dress moderately as indicated by Paul's words in I Tim. 2:9 and Peter's in I Peter 3:5 . Women most certainly should not be wearing mini-skirts, low cut blouses, blouses that ride up so skin can be seen if they have to bend over for any reason, or spaghetti strap tops. For that matter, I don’t think godly women should wear those kinds of clothing anywhere. Most church gatherings have someone to care for children who haven’t been taught or are too young to sit still and quietly while the church is meeting. Whether it is in a home or a large traditional building, it doesn’t allow for focused worship of our Lord when children are running wild.

In closing, I suggest it’s time we considered what kinds of things we can do in our personal and church lives to cause others to look at us and recognize that we are in Christ and He is in us. The way we dress, the words we speak, our personal demeanor, every aspect of our lives needs to be brought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as He dwells within us. The best compliment one can pay me is to suggest I spend way much time acting like a holy roller. I know they're usually being caddy, but I find their comments quite reassuring, and consider them compliments. Some suggest I’m obsessed because I strive every moment of every day, avoiding even the appearance of evil, and preaching to anyone who’ll listen. I believe the reason the New Testament Church of the first century grew so rapidly is the same reason, though opposite in course, today’s church is dying on the vine. Jesus put it this way,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

It’s words like those recorded in John 15 that make me tremble when I go more than a few days without speaking to someone about Jesus. If we are not bearing fruit (witnessing regularly), we need to recognize it’s because we are not abiding in the vine. Call it legalism if you like. That only indicates you don’t know what the term means. I tremble because I know God will bring someone several miles out of their scheduled path to cross mine if I’m just ready to speak boldly to them as I ought to speak about the coming kingdom of God and Jesus, His only Son. Even while retired, spending massive amounts of time writing and studying, God seldom fails to bring someone daily to my door or to my ear via the phone. And I’ve discovered, when I’m abiding in the vine, the opportunity always presents itself to tell them about Jesus. I tremble because I know witnessing is our way of telling our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that we love Him above all else.

Of course, we could stand on corners every day, shouting out some semblance of a gospel for great multitudes and not be doing it out of love for God. We might just be crazy, stark raving, demon filled lunitics. But one thing I consider over and again almost daily is how Paul insisted we need to be striving for the upward goal of our high calling in Christ. It is the mark for which we are to be ever aiming. Two final thoughts will close this lesson for today: 1. If we are abiding in Christ, we will be bearing fruit; 2. If we aren’t bearing fruit, it's because we aren’t abiding in Christ. The truth couldn’t be simpler, and Matthew 28:18-20 wasn’t a suggestion. Oops! There goes another minute; now go and serve your Lord.