One mark that shows a person or a group of people are off base is when their main emphasis is on some thing other than the two greatest commandments — loving the Lord with all your heart, mind, and strength (living a holy life) and loving your neighbor as yourself (reaching out to the lost, living a life of self denial and being given to helping others).
A few examples of this are the Pentecostals that emphasize speaking in tongues, Saturday keepers that emphasize not working on Saturday, Baptismal Regeneration groups that want to get you baptized in Jesus name for the remission of sins, one true visible church groups that emphasize they are the only church and every one needs to come to them, and the Sacred Name movement that want you to use Yahweh instead of God and Yahshua instead of Jesus. Each of these type of groups tend to over emphasizes their hobby horse at the expensive the first two commandments.
I have been accused of over emphasizing the need for personal holiness and living a sin-free life and I consider that a complement. Jesus came to saved us from our sins not in them (Mat 1:21) and to equip us to be workers for him in his harvest field. To be able to help others we must first get the help we need as no one can lead another person any higher then they are themselves.
In our labors for Jesus we will not be able to influence people to a deep life in Christ than we have ourselves. If we are carnal, prayerless, lacking self denial, and inconsistent in our Christian life that is what we will influence others to be.
November 7th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Sadly, that is why we often develop ‘undernourished’ believers. They only grow to the same depth as we have grown.
Oh to learn what it means to love my Lord with all my heart mind and strength. Amen
November 7th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Hi Dennis; People usually are not able to raise people higher than they are themselves.
The first step to loving God will all our heart, soul, mind and strength is to be obedience. We show our love by keeping Gods commandments.
The teaching of sin-you-must and the Romans 7 experience as the best the power of God can do must be cast out. We must also put out its sibling unconditional security.
We must silence with true conversion the Antinomians who accuse God’s little ones of legalism and salvation by works when they insist that by grace and faith the moral law of God much be kept. These Antinomians are the children of the bondwoman which are in bondage to sin. We have found freedom from the law of sin and death for the Spirit of life in Jesus have set us free (Rom 8:2). Glory!
With these two non-biblical teachings removed we can help new converts see the seriousness of sin and teach them to be more willing to die than to sin. Then with a right foundation we can disciple new converts into sin-free, sanctified, on-fire, zealous Christian who love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. God will spew all the lukewarm out of his mouth (Rev 3:16).
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
well put! It is hard to imagine that a all-knowing, all-powerful God doesn’t have power to keep you and i out of sin. That’s what sent Jesus to the cross was our sin’s. God’s plan was never for us to continue in sin. his power has never diminished and there is power for those that believe yet today
February 11th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
God’s intention was to create a world without death and so He gave the seed bearing plants for us to eat. It is His stated intention that there will be no death in the New Earth (and the lion will lay down with the lamb) and so man’s practise of killing living beings and eating them is indefensible and is symptomatic of the advent of SIN. Why do Christians intentionally choose to live in a post-sin lifestyle and defend it by saying God said they could. The change from what God intended to what it is now, is not what He wants.
February 17th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Hi Debrah,
So how do you feel about Jesus eating Lamb at the passover and fish on the seaside?
Bob.