T H E O P H I L U S

Today’s Scripture Reading: Job 11 

“…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Matthew 18:6

The common mistakes of many evangelicals today are much more serious that we ought to pass by. In fact Christians must be more vigilant and be much more critical by assessing one’s own actions and motives day by day so that we can truly be a blessing to others. This is called spiritual discipline. As many as the people who are turning to Christ, there are even more being turn away day to day. There are more times than there should be that our faith and self-proclaimed identity of righteousness becomes our greatest crutch and hypocrisy. People watch today’s mainstream evangelicals and think to themselves: “really? did you just say that? are you seriously calling yourself an evangelical Christian?”. There have been one too many times I have been so outraged by what we politically label common day evangelicalism. We find this not only in the media, but is only exemplary of what is in our churches.

Hypocrisy and contradictions not only make people upset, it turns people off from the faith because we have often been more than none, distrusting. In fact, even as a Christian myself I often look at whether I am repeating the same mistakes of people from both modern day and old-timer evangelicalism. We can only hope that we do not repeat the same mistakes over and over again throughout history. The troubling matter is many of us do not even believe we have made an error or have done anything wrong.

Today, I may be a little critical of the common Christian but only so that we may look carefully and be shaped and formed in the likeness of Christ of how we speak and minister to those whom we claim to love and care for with the gospel, or to test if we truly do care at all. Here are four tools to challenge the heart and avoid sinning against others:

1. Choose Grace over Judgement

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” – Matthew 7:1-2

Judging someone is a sin that can be committed in so many different instances. We can judge someone while they are speaking, before they have spoken, or after they have spoken. In any instance, we must double check our heart and attitude and the way we speak to someone.

People are led to sinfulness because of a void. We try to make due with our emptiness and fill it with temporal and godlessness. Why? because we do not fully know the redemptive grace and power of Christ. We often overlook the wonderful and everlasting love of God. We have also bought into the lie that we are way too sinful to deserve such grace and salvation.

There are many times we fix our attention so much on the judgement of God to the point we have become judges ourselves – both to ourselves and to others. What we ought to be weary of is pointing out someone’s sin and driving a spike into the area that is already filled with guilt and pain.

2. Compassion over Preaching (James 1:19, Ecc. 5:1-3)

In Job 11, some of us may agree with Zophar’s sentiment, and frighteningly enough repeat the same mistakes. Zophar is the coldest of the three friends in his response to Job’s ranting. He does not understand nor even attempts to have compassion on his circumstances. Though one could presume the same things as Zophar did, and even though he may be right about certain aspects of Job’s response to God, there is a lack in compassion in his choice of words and in his assumptions about Job.

Sometimes it does not matter how much it is true or whether we are looking out for someone’s wellbeing; there are things to be said and left unsaid. We desperately require compassion in times when people are going through suffering and even more wisdom and patience when people are bitter from their suffering. To have compassion means that we practice acceptance regardless of whether we approve or not. To have wisdom and patience means that we ought to know when to listen even when something is hotly said by those who are hurt in heart and thought.

3. Gentleness over Guilt tripping (1 Cor 14:1-4)

Zophar’s problem is that he is quick to assume and point out Job’s sins – even when Job is unapologetic of his certainty that his hands were clean. Although Zophar is right in that “God has even forgotten some of your sin”, somehow these words are discomforting and rather offensive. Truth can be told in ways that are hurtful rather than uplifting.

We can tell someone that God forgives them, but if they have done nothing wrong in such a circumstances – this is accusation and dangerous presumption and not gospel. We must be weary to use grace as a means of pointing out one’s guilt and introducing shame into someone’s already broken state.

4. Prayer as Surrender, Not Prosperity (1 Tim 6, Deut 10:12) 

To accuse someone that they are not “praying enough” and is the reason why they are unresolved is false. It is utter heresy to think that because of one’s prayer or lack thereof, they will be prosperous or destitute. In fact, the number of hours one prays does not bear any answers from God at all if the motive is self centered. Although perseverance in prayer is an important spiritual discipline, the counting of prayers and the motive behind those prayers is of even more importance. The perseverance of prayer happens because of a deepened relationship and a genuine heart of worship with the Lord.

Prayer is recognizing who God is. Zophar accuses Job of not making himself holy before he reaches out to God as the reason why he is still destitute and in pain; That if he somehow “scrubbed” his hands clean, his life would be so much better. The ritual acts of prayers themselves do not bring us sanctity. In fact sin cannot be washed away by one’s own scrubbing – it is only God who can make us holy! We draw closer to the one who sanctifies us, and that is the very reason why we pray. The temptation is to think that I have not made myself perfect enough to prayer. Rather prayer is recognizing that God is the only one who can make me righteous and pure, and is the only one with the power to help me through these times.

God is not a source of prosperity. We don’t approach him simply because there are benefits to saying we believe. We worship him because of who he is, not in the false hope of someone who can fulfill our desire for wealth, success and emotional comfort. The truth is that whether we are in wealth or poverty, suffering or in gladness, we ought to still be praying and surrendering ourselves in worship. This is a true sign of unconditional faith, and such faith regards the presence of the Lord even in the most difficult of times.

In Conclusion

Today, let us begin to think carefully about the way we speak and counsel others in times of difficulty and especially when we preach the gospel. If we truly believe in the Love of God, we must begin to pursue the reflection of His love more accurately day by day. Let us not make the same mistakes of the past by being hypocrites and pharisaic in our attitudes towards those whom we reach out to, or how we speak to unbelieving persons. They are not our enemies, our competitors, but our brothers and sisters whom are both made of the same flesh and blood. Our duty is to love them and share in His grace with them as the Lord has also done for us.