10250 North Freeway @ West Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
Peculiar
Misunderstandings
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1989
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Message #20
MISUNDERSTANDING
VOLUNTARY WORSHIP AND SERVICE TO GOD
Text * II Corinthians 9:7
Most all true Christians believe God's people should live holy and pure lives, which are separate from the low and general standards of the world. They know God's people should render their lives unto the Lord in worship and service. And, many Christians are watching other Christians to see how successfully they are separating themselves from the world and performing the service of God. If they do not see a pretty rigid performance, they conclude weakness and worldliness; and if they do see an exacting, orthodox lifestyle, they conclude true godliness and great spirituality in the performer.
As this message will hopefully show, God's people should be extremely careful in forming conclusions (judgments) upon the strength of what they see in others. Though desus said we can know a tree by its fruits (Matthew 7:20), he also said in the same discussion that we had better be extremely cautious in the field of judging, Matthew 7:1-5. A believer's maturity level can not be fully ascertained by observing his external performances, and those who think it can be are often deceived and guilty of very mistaken and evil judgments. And, since men act upon the judgments they make, terrible and unjust words and actions grow out of such false judgments. These words and actions are often met with equally evil words and actions, thus generating strifes, divisions, injuries, and untold hurts to individuals, churches, and the cause of Christ in general.
There's more to what a believer is than what you can see on the surface. Since it is "out of the abundance of the heart" that "the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34), there is also more to every word and deed than what we humans hear and see. What a man says or does is not all that's important; the heart out of which he does it is also important. A believer with an exceedingly hard and evil heart may be putting on a big front, doing and saying all the right things to the letter of the law. Just his external correctness does not avail with God and make him a great, mature servant of God. On the other hand, a believer may be down and struggling. His performance level of words and deeds may be low; yet his heart may be convicted and tender. His lack of external correctness does not mean he has no spiritual maturity or is some second rate, inferior Christian. King David was more godly when down and poor in performance than Saul was when up and offering sacrifices.
This is in no way intended to discredit godly words and deeds. What it is designed to do is cause God's people to realize that there is more to godly, holy living than mere external performance. This will hopefully put a damper on hasty judgments based on what one sees and hears. God's people should be very careful to make commendations or condemnations. Let none of God's people be "taken in" by external performances alone, be they good or bad. Yes, external performances are important, but they're not all that constitute importance. External performances alone, however exacting, correct, and to the letter they be, are not sufficient basis within themselves for anyone to decide on another's spiritual level. The heart out of which the performance was rendered is just as important as the performance itself. And, an evil heart renders the finest performance invalid and useless. Of course, we can not know the heart of others except as they share with us from their hearts, and this especially is the nature of Jesus' warning against judging others in Matthew 7.
I. SOME INDIVIDUALS AND CHURCHES SEEM TO IGNORE OR MINIMIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HEART IN WORSHIP AND SERVICE TO GOD:
A. They seem to equate great spirituality and maturity with careful adherance to the letter of the law in external activities:
1. They very legalistically insist on people attending church regularly, never missing visitation, giving their tithes, and keeping the Lord's Supper "just right". They're sticklers about doctrine. Every "t" must be crossed just right, and every "i" dotted correctly. They latch on to phrases or words which don't seem to express it just the way they think it should be expressed.
2. To many of these, clothes and body appearance are extremely big. They lay heavy stress on hair length and whether or not women wear pants.
B. Some seem to have a list of "thou shalt not's," whether written, spoken, or just understood; and one is judged to be in pretty good spiritual shape, if he adheres to the list and to be in pretty bad spiritual shape, if he does not adhere to the list:
1. Don't go to movies, don't let boys and girls touch in public, don't drink, don't smoke, don't let boys and girls swim together; and the list goes on and on.
2. On the other hand, there's a "thou shalt list." One must go to church regularly, pay his tithes, go to visitation, be involved in church work, and follow "the party line" doctrinally.
3. With many individuals and churches, as long as these "no-no's" and "yes yes's" are being kept, a person or another church is regarded as "o.k." As long as they can see the external to be pretty well in order, they're satisfied with themselves and others. Although, if they think enough of these surface signs are not being kept, they begin to doubt and become critical of that person or church. The external performances seem to be about the only thing that is of real concern to them.
II. THERE ARE THOSE OF US WHO ARE CONCERNED ABOUT EXTERNAL PERFORMANCES; BUT WHO ARE EQUALLY, IF NOT MORE, CONCERNED ABOUT THE SPIRIT OR HEART OF THE PERSON PERFORMING:
A. Yes, we think a person's external performance is important:
1. We think people should adhere to a "thou shalt" list. We too think people should go to church regularly, tithe, visit, be involved in the work, and follow "the party line" doctrinally.
2. We too believe in a "thou shalt not" list. We do not think Christians should drink, smoke, dance, or swim together as boys and girls in scant clothing. We are against believers viewing pornography, whether at a movie house, on T.V., or in a magazine. We think men should dress and look like men, and that women should dress and look like women. There are many worldly things we believe God's people should avoid; and we believe they ought to live holy, separate, pure lives which conduct sets them apart from the world.
B. But, we believe that if these things are done legalistically, apart from a true, godly motivation in the heart, these things do not count with God, nor do they prove in any sense that one is spiritual or mature in the Lord:
1. Yes, we want people to do right; but because they're convicted in their hearts before God to do right; not because the church demands it, because it's the "in thing" to do as a member of a given church, or because they'll feel the scorn of the brethren, if they don't.
2. We want people to serve God from the heart, and for no other reason. Therefore, our focus is not just on what a man says or does; it is more on what he is. Our emphasis is on principles more than on practices. We believe that if we can get the principle of truth truly into a man's heart, then we can change his practices for the better. But, if we just get him to fit into a certain rigid mold without getting the "why and wherefore" into his heart, we've really done him no good, nor will his rigid mold activity ever honor God, however good or sincere it may be.
So in this church, we emphasize cause over effect; the issue above its symptoms; although, to us both areas are important.
C. The embracing of this position gains us considerable scorn from some of our brethren:
1. Because we spend more time emphasizing principles and the "why's and wherefores" than we do preaching "thou shalt's" and "thou shalt not's" some think we do not take a strong stand on separation.
2. Though there are certain public acts which are so disgraceful to a church that the church is commanded by God to bring disciplinary action against un-repentant ones who commit them (I Corinthians 5:11), and we do this; we do not kick people out nor apply the scornful peer pressure on those who do not dress or speak just as we think they should. We do not spend the bulk of our teaching or pulpit time harping against T.V., movies, smoking, drinking, short skirts or slacks on women, or long hair on men. Far more of our time is spent teaching what modesty is and why it's right, what constitutes wholesome viewing for believer's eyes, what is wrong with body abuse and why it shouldn't be done, why a person should honor God with his substance, why a child of God should be faithful to and active in one of the Lord's churches, and other such core issues, the embracing of which revolutionizes one's conduct for the better.
3. What we are trying most to do here is get men to do right for the right reasons; yet because we do not come down like a sledgehammer on offenders and go after them with our claws and fangs showing, especially using the pulpit to shame and embarrass such ones, making them afraid to violate a "do" or "don't"; many of our brethren think we're soft on sin. And, they are pretty critical of us because some of our people are not as separated as they should be, and we as a church are not making it as hard on them as it is thought we should.
III. BUT, WE DO NOT TAKE THIS PATIENT, "AIM-FOR-THE-HEART" APPROACH TO CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHURCH PRACTICE BECAUSE WE ARE SOFT ON SIN OR BECAUSE WE HAVE NO STRONG CONVICTIONS ON HOLY LIVING AND SEPARATION. WE TAKE THIS APPROACH BECAUSE WE ARE CONVINCED IT IS THE PROPER BIBLICAL APPROACH, AND THE APPROACH WHICH WILL BEST PRODUCE TRUE AND LASTING RESULTS BOTH IN THE INDIVIDUAL AND CHURCH, AND BEFORE GOD:
A. We believe all acceptable worship and all acceptable service must be rendered to God out of a free heart:
1. Deuteronomy 10:12 asks, "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?"
2. The heart is the wellhead from which our words and actions flow. Remember Matthew 12:34 where Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Jesus said in Matthew 15:19-20, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man."
3. Because the heart is the true seat of man from which his conduct springs, Jesus went right after the heart pointing out how vital it is that the heart be right. He said in Matthew 12:35, "a good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." He said in Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'
B. To us, it seems unthinkable that one could spend much time in the Bible, God's word, and fail to see the emphasis upon worship and service from the heart:
1. Paul calls for sterling conduct, but not mechanically and without heart. He said in Ephesians 6:5-7, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men."
2. Faith is a matter of hearing and believing what God said. Faith in action is a matter of acting upon what God said with confidence that the result will be exactly what he promised. But, one is not to act mechanically and cold-heartedly in faith. Galatians 5:6 says it is "Faith which worketh by love" that avails with God. Folks, its not a matter of just going through the motions, it's faith with a right heart that counts: doing right for the right reasons. Thus, Paul spoke in Romans 6:17 of obeying "from the Heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."
3. How can we approach God? Hebrews 10:22 answers that by saying, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Notice well: it is first a right heart, then right actions.
4. Listen to Hebrews 13:9, "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines: for it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein." What anchors a believer? Not ritualistic action: the eating of meats and refraining from certain things; but rather the establishing of the heart. Folks, what believers need is not just a "do's" and "don'ts" list. They need someone who'll teach their hearts the great principles of Christian living.
5. God does not want us to impose a rigid stand of conduct upon those who do not see it for themselves. To the contrary, he wants us to teach them to render their praise and service to him out of a free heart of love. He wants them to walk holy and circumspectly as children of light (Ephesians 5:15, 8), as sparkling examples of holiness (I Timothy 4:12) in a crooked and perverse world, Philipplans 2:15. Listen to the Bible say so in II Corinthians 9:7, "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." We are not to impose legalistic requirements upon men; we're to teach them to freely worship and serve God by conviction from their own hearts.
C. In fact, God pronounces his woe and scorn upon those who go through the sham of worshipping and serving him apart from true conviction in the heart:
1. King David said to God, "Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering," Psalms 51:16. That is not to say that God was not interested in the very things he had personally previously commanded his people to do. It was God who had earlier commanded both sacrifices and burnt offerings. As the next verse (17) explains, God does not want sacrifice and burnt offerings (worship and service) apart from true commitment in the heart. As Verse 17 says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise."
Folks, God does not want church going, tithing, correct hair lengths and styles, correct clothing, abstinance from liquor, tobacco, or risque scenery apart from a pure free heart. As Paul explained in I Corinthians 13:1-3, "Though I speak with the tongues men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
2. Look to Isaiah 1:11-15 where this truth stands out like a beacon. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood." Yes sir. These people were going through all the right motions, but their hearts were far from God. Thus, all of their worship and service to God was a stench in his nostrils.
We have no intentions in this church of leading men into that kind of vain, legalistic approach to worshipping and serving God. We want giants in the faith: people whose lives shine as beacons of holiness and separation; but we want their worship and service to be genuine from the heart; never a superficial sham or pretence. We'd rather risk the scorn of the brethren who think we're soft on sin and not a separated people because we advocate and practice voluntary worship and service from the heart than face the scorn of God by forcing or co-ercing God's children into some false role of pretence when the heart is not truly in it.
3. Listen to Hosea 6:6-8 on the subject, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. Gilead is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood." Yes, God wants holy worship and service; but only when it comes from a true heart.
Just because an individual or church is practicing a rigid set of correct religious activities and restrictions, doesn't mean they're spiritual and pleasing God at all. They may be or they may not be. It depends on whether or not these things are coming from the heart to the glory of God. If they are, then praise God for the successful effort; but if it's happening for any other reason, then write it off as vanity. Yet, sadly, too many of God's people today are taken in to believe careful and legalistic performances are a sure sign of spirituality and the lack thereof is a sign of unspirituality. That is just not so. One with a right heart, whose conduct has not yet matured to a high degree may well be far more spiritual than a cold-hearted Pharisee who is crossing all the "t's" and dotting all the "i's" just right.
D. So, what we do in this church is teach men to stand fast in their Christian liberty while worshipping and serving God from their hearts:
1. With Paul in Galatians 5:1 we say, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
2. We teach men from I Corinthians 10:23 that all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient.
3. We teach men from II Corinthians 3:17 that, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" but that, "as free," we are never to use our, "liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God," I Peter 2:16.
4. Our concept, and we know it's biblical, is that it's the love of Christ which is to constrain us or be our motivation in the heart to worship and serve our God, II Corinthians 5:14. I Corinthians 10:31 says it well, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
5. Yes, we want all of God's people to worship and serve God to the absolute maximum of their capacities in true holiness and separation; but they're to do it only out of a free voluntary heart of love and devotion to God.
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"