Inaccurately Appraised

Mark Dunagan
01/01/17 - Sunday Evening

Inaccurately Appraised

Believe it or not, godly people throughout the ages have been falsely accused of horrible things. It was the wicked King Ahab who called the faithful prophet Elijah the "troubler of Israel" (1 Kings 18:17). Aaron and Miriam spoke against the humble Moses (Numbers 12:1), and the early Christians were accused to being evildoers (1 Peter 2:12). So it should not surprise us if in our own times God's people are misrepresented or inaccurately judged by the world. Paul said, "He who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one" (1 Corinthians 2:15). The Christian is able to properly evaluate the importance of many common things in everyday life. Money, relationships, spouses and children (Hebrews 5:14; Psalm 119:99-105). “Can find out the real value of everything” (Beck). The key to this ability is not any inherent wisdom in himself, but his acceptance of the Word of God and the willingness to apply what it teaches to daily living. Yet this same Christian is improperly valued by others. Recently I ran across a video that I believe is an excellent modern example of where the world misjudges and is so wrong about the Christian. In bold I will give a sound bite from the video and then a response from Scripture:

"Why is there a church on every block, but Christians cannot figure out how to work together?"

First, this is an inaccurate overstatement. Churches do not exist on every block and many Christians from different churches are working together on the same goal of saving the world. Yet let's go deeper. Why are there so many churches that are wearing names, offering worship, having organizational structures, offices, and teaching things that are not found in the Bible? That is the real issue here.

• Jesus did not design or establish various denominations, rather He said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).
• Jesus did not pray for differences among churches, rather He prayed for unity among His followers. Yet, here is the key, it was a unity based on the teachings of His apostles (John 17:20-21). The fault for the division that is seen in the world that claims to be "Christian" is not with God, Jesus or the Bible. The Bible is clear and can be understood (Ephesians 3:4; 5:17; 1 Timothy 2:4).
• The problem is an old one. The problem is that many people, both religious and non-religious are not content to remain within what the Bible says (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Matthew 7:21-23; 2 Timothy 4:3; 2 Peter 3:16; 2 John 9). So there is a plan for there to be many congregations, and yet all them on the same page. That plan is to simply follow what the Bible says, no less and no more. Yet this same video gives a couple of excellent illustrations of how division starts among Christians and how other churches are formed which are not the church that Jesus established:

"Is not the main message of the Bible to love another?"

Actually, no verse says that. While loving others is very important, it is not the main message of the Bible. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, He did not say, "Love others", rather He said that one needs to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:36-37). Such of course includes obeying God (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3). And it equally then involves loving others (Matthew 22:39), yet loving others on God's terms, which includes:

• Loving others according to Scripture involves not leading them into sin (Romans 13:9-10). It equally involves warning them if they are doing something that God condemns (Galatians 4:16; Ezekiel 3:18).
• The love discussed in the Bible is rooted in God's truth (1 Corinthians 13:6) and therefore finds no pleasure in sin, and cannot excuse or approve of sin, in our own lives or the lives of others. None of us would consider a physician "loving" if they neglected to tell a patient they were dying of cancer because such bad news would hurt the feelings of the patient or be viewed as a negative thing to say. The loving thing to do is to tell the person the truth so they have a chance to successfully battle and beat the cancer.

"Why do I have to preach to people isn't showing my friends love and grace enough"

Being kind to people is important, yet this is another example of where all the truth on the topic is being ignored, and when that happens churches that don't follow the Bible and that don't work with other churches are started. Christians are exhorted to set a good example (1 Peter 2:12; Titus 2:7). Yet these same Christians are equally told to share their faith, which involves teaching and preaching and having conversations about Scripture and Jesus (1 Peter 3:15; Mark 16:15; 2 Timothy 4:2; 1 Timothy 4:12). The Christians in Macedonia were praised by God because "the word of the Lord sounded forth from you" (1 Thessalonians 1:8). One of the most gracious things I can do is to share the good news of salvation to a friend, because obeying the gospel will put a person into contact with God's amazing grace (Romans 5:1).

• It is essential to have faith to be pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:6), yet faith comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) and that demands that someone is sharing that word with you (Romans 10:14 "How will they hear without a preacher?"). In the Great Commission Jesus did not merely say, "Go into the world and be nice to everyone, rather He said, "Go and preach the gospel" (Matthew 28:19).

"Galatians 3:26-27 says that there is neither male or female in Christ, therefore sexuality and gender do not matter to God"

Here is another reason why there is a lot of division among professed Christians. The above is an excellent example of where someone is twisting a verse to mean something that it never meant (2 Peter 3:16).

• Sexuality does matter to God, for He created it. He is not against sex, rather He is the One who issued the command to be fruitful and He is the One who praises physical intimacy between and husband and wife (Genesis 1:28; Proverbs 5:18-19; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5).
• Christians are not afraid to talk about sex, rather when they talk about it they desire to be respectful. They have no desire to turn it into something cheap and casual (Hebrews 13:4). The idea that all Christians avoid talking about sex is simply not true. In fact a study in 1994 by the Family Research Council found that 72 percent of all married 'traditionalists' (those who strongly believe out-of-wedlock sex is wrong) report high sexual satisfaction. This is roughly 31 percent higher than the level registered by unmarried 'non-traditionalists'. The same study found that Christian women were very comfortable talking to their husbands about the topic and enjoyed the sexual experience far more than nonreligious women. For the entire article see: Focus on the Family Magazine, "Believe Well, Live Well", Marianne K. Hering, September 1994, p. 4.
• The Bible only condemns sexual relations when they are removed from the marriage relationship and as a natural result become lust and not love and instead of loving something we are now using someone (1 Thessalonians 4:4-7).
• God certainly does care about how we express our sexuality (1 Timothy 1:9-10; Hebrews 13:4).

While we all stand before God on equal terms, this does not mean that male and female roles have ceased to exist. The same writer, the same Holy Spirit who said that there is neither male or female in Christ, equally placed husbands as the head of the wife (Ephesians 5:22), children in subjection to their parents (Ephesians 6:2) and elders must be married men who have children that believe (Titus 1:6). I find it incredibly inconsistent for people to say that sexuality and gender do not matter to God so they should not matter to us, when at the same time in their own personal lives to discover that gender and sexuality really matter to them.

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net