Greetings,
Hope I can keep this up. Blogging everyday is a daunting task when your working 11 hours driving 2 and sleeping 4-8. YAAAAAAAAAWN!
But those two hours in the car allow me time to meditate on God’s Word. I have two versions, the Alexander Scoursby KVJ version which I tagged and converted from CD-ROM to MP3, as my first project after getting an iPod two years ago, and an untagged MP3 ESV version by a gent who’s name escapes me.
MATTHEW 16
Christ said:
Matthew 16:1-4
1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
WOW. How many so called Christian churches are you familiar with which advocate not only seeking signs galore, but make a big “draw your attention” deal out of the services, and ministries. After all they reason, we need to get peoples attention.
I recall a pastor saying to the congregation I was attending,
“we need everyone to bring lots of candy for our alternative night. We need to send those kids home with more candy than they can get out trick or treating so they will want to come here instead!” (paraphrased)
I didn’t agree, and after participating in the “alternative night” and witnessing the greed of the kids in attendance, I lost a lot of respect for the methodology of the “give to gather” evangelisim and ideology. Christ never said, come on lets give them more than they can get anywhere else. Christ knew everything they had they owed to God alone. They were adulterous because they were not faithful to the one who gave them everything.
Christ, in Matthew 16, was telling the descendants of Abraham, “you want a sign for all the wrong reasons,” he used the terms “wicked and adulterous,” unmistakably. Christ was telling them, their hearts were in the wrong place, they were seeking after the wrong things. God was there in their midst, and they wanted a sign.
Christ delivers the same message to us today through His Word. Are you a Christian? What kind of signs are you seeking?
Ask yourself-
Why do I go to Church?
Why don’t I go to Church?
How do I worship God?
What is worship?
Do I expect God to preform for me?
Am I God’s servant or is He my servant?
I could go on, but these simple questions if considered prayerfully will reveal a lot to those who are seeking to know and understand what God requires of us. For extra credit compare your answers to what the Bible says about such things. (Let me know if you need help with finding the scriptures.)
I ask these questions of myself all the time, and harder ones too. But my purpose in asking you to reflect on them is not to puff up before you since, my answers vary over time and continue to do so. My hope is in Christ alone, so there is no justification which can result from my reflection. There is only the possibility of growth in humility since a true heart felt, and measured reflection, can reveal our personal failure to know as we are known, or respond as God responds. In short as sinners, we cannot, CANNOT, know the answers to these questions perfectly. Just as we cannot be perfect, even as Christ admonished us to be.
We can ask them to keep ourselves alert. We need to be alert, because those who want to creep in and destroy us are in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are raging wolves.
