A new article from Pastor Gary (Extra commentary and editing for emphasis by Derrick)
“Cut It Off?”
In Matthew 5:29-30 we read, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (N.I.V.) It is important to understand that Jesus was not advocating gouging your eye out or cutting off your right hand. He was using hyperbole. An understood communication tool common in his culture and era. Hyperbole emphasized the importance of the thought being conveyed. What Jesus was saying is, there is nothing on this earth that is worth one’s missing heaven.
In the Book of Micah, the prophet declares the coming judgment on the children of Israel because of their secular life styles. They were prosperous and secure. Their society, however, had moved away from it’s founding ideals and had lost touch with God himself. They were left with a religion that had little impact on societal norms. (This sounds too familiar for today.)The result was moral decay and a dubious flirtation with a variety of religious beliefs. God told them, through the prophet Micah, that because they had forsaken Him, they were going to be taken down.
(Sounds like the mish-mash of religious sounding language that many "professing Christians" spout off with no real understanding; no real trust of, or in, Jesus of Nazareth)
In chapter 4:10 there is an interesting statement, “You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.” (N.I.V.) It was the will of God for them to be attacked by another nation, their cities destroyed, and for them to be taken into exile in Babylon. Why would God allow such devastation in the lives of His people? The answer is found in the statement, “There you will be rescued.” They had been acting wickedly and it was just, and appropriate, for them to experience the consequences of their behavior. (We don't like that) The purpose, however, was not judgment, but redemption. God knew that through their captivity they would see the error of their ways and they would cry out to Him. Their captivity would be their salvation. They lost an eye, but could see more clearly, a hand, but had a firmer grasp on reality and truth. (I like this imagery) We see the same principle reiterated in 1 Corinthians 5:5, “Hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
In Micah 7:8-9 we see the heart of God expressed in a promised destiny, “Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in the darkness, the Lord will be my Light. Because I have sinned against Him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until He pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see His justice.” When we take responsibility for the consequences of our behavior, and we demonstrate true repentance, it is God’s great joy to plead our case and bring us into the light. “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19 (N.I.V.) God does not need to make bad things happen to us, we do a good enough job of that on our own. (Heh heh, that sure is true. And some folks just like drama. Like I tell my 2nd graders-save the drama for your mama. :-) ) He will, however, use the bad to lead us to His love and forgiveness. Whatever it takes to get us into right relationship with the Lord for eternity, is worth whatever earthly price that needs to be paid. Whatever stands between you and heaven, let Him “Cut it off.”
Pastor Gary
Ouch...The truth is painful. And if we are truly His, He will often cut things off without our consent. He's God and He can do whatever He wants to whomever he wants whenever He wants. Thanks Pastor for sharing.
Derrick
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I'm afraid I can't totally agree with this premis. Be it food, drink or other; one who indulges in the detriment of the Temple has no means to tell others what is correct until they themself corrects their own destruction of their own Temple. I can't instruct others on their own personal habits until my own are totally in order. I expect others to do the same. In as much, I don't preach bodily correctness to others. Mine is not, and I have not met any individual that has any any reason to preach otherwise. That, being exclusive of Jesus Christ.
I think you may be missing the point here. I do not think this post is primarily about doing anything to the "detriment of the Temple". (Perhaps Gary can elaborate more on this.) His point seems to be more about using exageration to illustrate the importance of living godly lives with Christ as the focus. I could be wrong in my understanding.
Plus, I would ask that you to show biblically where Gary is wrong as he has offered his understanding of biblical passages. I think he has done a good job of fairly representing what the text is saying. If he is correctly interpreting the word of God, it does not matter (in one sense) what his bad habits are. Your disageement is not with him, but with Him. Biblical interpretation is not about personal opinions; it is more about trying to understand what the words say, what the author's intention was.
And I don't think it makes sense that just because someone does not have their "personal habits in order" that they cannot teach someone else about what is correct, for two reasons, if I may be so bold:
1) My dad was a functioning drunk. If he were to ever tell me to not start drinking because of the way he is and what it can do to a person; I may think he's an idiot, but he makes a good enough point. (Also, it seems Jesus even told the disciples to do what the religious hypocrits talked about, but not do what they did.)
2) With all due respect, by your own admission, you say that your "bodily correctness" is not as it should be (whose is completely?) and no one should tell others what is correct until they do, and yet you seem to be correcting Gary.
Plus, I think the 1 Corinthians 6 passage you are alluding to is sometimes misused. I could be wrong, but the reference to the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit seems to be in the context of having sex with prostitutes and other sexual immorality.
Perhaps the case could made to include food and drink, but I don't think it is a strong one. Though I could be wrong.
Thanks for posting.
Derrick
Derrick,
Points well made :-). I have never had as good of a Temple as I know I could have. It is not that I disagree with Gary, but have personal issues as of late with how a doctor who smokes and drinks tells me that I am 30 pounds overweight when I am 6 feet tall and 195 pounds. That is preposterous. Not that he was advising me in Christian basis, but we all fall in line to Scripture anyway.
1 Cor. 6 verses 9-20 explain to me many things about my Temple being my responsibility. In my own estimation, th pluck away things that hurt my Temple includes that one drink too many, super-sizing my fast food order, or indulging in an occasional all-you-can-eat crab leg special. I know better, my Temple suffers because of it, and I am actually violating Scripture by doing any of those and many more items on my list. Alas, I have known close people as of late who have dropped dead even having as perfect of a Temple as I have ever seen. Is it possible to destroy the Temple by trying too hard to make it as perfect as possible? Or, is The Temple mostly in values and spirit? Is The Temple a "way" rather than a physical manner? Or, is it a Scriptural combination of both? I fully admit that what sometimes may not be good for the Temple may be what keeps The Temple going at times. This is true at least in my case. Maybe actually exercising rather that just thinking about it.
This is a good article to direct our attention to things in our lives that need to be cut off. To me, this means any behaviors, activities, or people in my life that are causing an attitude change in me that is not glorifying God. Even though it is always hard to get your toes stepped on and hear something one needs to change, it is good for us. I would definately rather "lose an eye" than go to hell.
I would also rather lose an eye, arm leg, or anything else which detracys from my going to heaven. These days, I am a bit in a quandry as to what is expected of my in scriptural terms. I have one doctor who insiste that I take gobs of vicoden to assist in my daily functions. I have another doctor who tells me to injest 4-6 ounces of alcohol every day to assist in cardio-vascular healing. Who do I trust? Indeed, what would Jesus do?
Further Thought.
Honestly, I suppose I tire of being told how to act, think, and take care of myself. We all are subject to scriptural basis. This is not subject to this Blog. I don't mean or suggest that. Derrick's blog is awesome. I think that I have done the best I can with what I have. This includes the Bible. I'm proud of what I have done with my life. Indeed, I have made MANY mistakes. My life's bottom line if if I were to die today would be that I am indeed a Christian, I Love The Lord, and I defy anyone to challenge that. Look to my family, their beliefs and honor. Yes, I scored. My life, if it were to end today, could honestly say that I love Jesus, I commend my family that they also do so, and that I love all without my judgement of anyone. So, please, as a human, do not judge me.The Lord does that. I forgive all for everything. So, I am at peace.
Post a Comment