Be Careful Don't Cherry Pick

 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

                                                                                 Matthew 7:1,2 the words of Jesus.

Where do we draw the line when following the laws of the Old Testament? After all Jesus came to give us a new covenant. The writer of Hebrews saying,
“They(the priests)  serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”  
But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.” 
                                                                                             Hebrews 8:5,6
When I talk with members of the gay and lesbian community about Christ. They at times until they get to know me become defensive. And with just cause.
They see well meaning Christians constantly putting them down. Pointing out that they have a “special sin”.
The following is something that was passed on to me. It’s obviously sarcastic but it points out the slippery slope we can get on if we start cherry picking old Testament laws.

“Laura Schlessinger is a US radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a US resident:

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him or her that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to follow them.

(a) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

(b) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
(c) I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.

(d) Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

(e) I have a neighbor who insists on working on Sunday (the Sabbath). In the book of Exodus verse 35:2 it clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

(f) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't know. Can you settle this?

(g) Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

(h) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

(i) I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

(j) My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev.24:10-16). Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14).

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging, and we should do what the bible says.
Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

While the above is very sarcastic it points out to Christians that we must be very careful with regards to old Testament law.
Paul writing to the Galatians states,
"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” 
Faith or Observance of the Law 
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  
Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?  
Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?  
Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? 
Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  
Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.  
The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”  
So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  
Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”  
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”  
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”  
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” 
                                                                                         Galations 2:21- 3:14
The bottom line in all of this is that there is no grater or lesser sin. Moreover we cannot choose what sins are applicable in the twenty-first century.
Matthew notes, 
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 
                                                                                                  Matthew 28:18-20.
We are not called to judge anyone or to say for that matter what sin is.
It is the Holy Spirits job to convict men of their sins. It’s that simple. We are to present the Gospel of Faith.
Paul writing to the Ephesians states,
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.  
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” 
                                   Ephesians 2:8-10
This is the lot of the Christian, to present the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour to a lost and dying world without judging. For only God knows what is inside the persons heart.
Only God knows why we are as we are.
Think about it.

Hello

Read Philippians 4

Therefore, my brethren, you whom I love

you whom I love and long for,

my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the LORD dear friends!.

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the LORD.

Yes, and I ask loyal yokefellow, 

 help these women 

who have contended at my side in the course of the gospel, 

along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers,

 whose names are in the Book of Life.

Rejoice in the LORD always.

I will say it again rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. 

 The LORD is near.

                                                                         Philippians 4:1-5 (NIV)

The following is  from a book called Images,
Images of at Christmas 1995
Of a Woman
The service now over, the last hymn sung, the pastors and audience begins to fill the foyer.  Slowly, the once silent hall, becoming a symphony of sound and movement.  The congregation now a real life opera.
All around people greeted each other, laughed and joked, passed the time with family and friends.  There was, however, one conspicuous by her silence.
A slender slip of a woman, in her early forties, neatly, but plainly dressed.  She stood against the mirrored walls, beside the sanctuary doors staring at the floor, glancing only occasionally at the crowd, to whom she seemed invisible.
I watched for nearly ten minutes, as I went about my work.
People talked all around her, yet no one, not even an usher, once turned to say...
“Hello.”
I knew, I knew her from somewhere, but couldn’t remember where.  So my work finished, I approached her and said “Hello”.
Her smile went beyond words, a blessing from God.
Turns out, she’d been coming for several weeks with no one ever speaking to her.  We had a mutual friend with whom she’d travelled the world.
She was a missionary.  From age twenty to forty, she’d lived away from home, giving of her youth in Africa, Europe and in Asia.  Proclaiming the word of God.
Yet, here she stood in the middle of one of the largest churches in the area, with no one ever stopping to simply say...
                                    “Hello.”

“And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourself were aliens in Egypt”

                                                                                                                              Deuteronomy 10:19
Something to think about:
How would you react to seeing such a person in your church? Do you even notice someone like that?
In the portion of Scripture I quoted from Philippians 4, Paul asks that the Philippians look after some people who have laboured with him and looked out for him.
This should also be an admonition to us to look after those missionaries and pastors who have laboured all their lives for the Gospel.  To ensure they have all they need.  To help them in anyway we can.
   All too often, unfortunately, this does not happen.  If we can’t ensure those in our church are greeted and looked after, how can we expect to reach out to those outside of the church.

Tame the Tongue

Read James 3

Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. 

 See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.  

The tongue is so set among your members that it defiles the whole body, 

and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind.

But no man can tame the tongue. 

 It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

With it we bless our God and Father, 

and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.

Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. 

 My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

                                                     James 3:5-10

Here James look at the tongue.
It is said the pen is mightier than the sword.  Certainly many tyrants and dictators in the twentieth century believed that, because among the first to be sent to jail or put to death in revolutions are journalists and writers.     Among the first things, they took control of was the media.  The oppressors of the twentieth century recognized that words can build up or destroy.
In fact most if not all of the horrendous dictators and tyrants of history have been great orators. Able to use their tongue well. As have been some of the greatest leaders. One only has to look at Hitler and Churchill to see how words can be used for good or evil.
For the Christian I believe that it is of paramount importance to control the tongue as the eternal resting place of someone’s soul may be at stake.
This is what James is talking about when he refers to the tongue.
“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not to be so."   James 3:19.
Sadly, all too many Christians curse more than they bless.
We don’t listen, we plunge headlong into our diatribe, following our well rehearsed ideological script and immediately, turn the person off, whether that person is a Christian or not.
Earlier in James 1:19, it states:
“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;”
I know I can remember some of the most hurtful words that have ever been said to me.  Even though, those words were said a long time ago and I forgave the person, when I hear them, they still bother me.  Likewise, I can remember hurtful words I have said to others and regret deeply.
The converse is also true.  I remember the word of praise given to me by many people. Especially, the words of the person who led me to Christ.
Something to think about.
Where do you fit in. Do you curse more that bless. Do you think about what you are saying and what effect it might have on the person you are saying it too.
How do you present Christ to the world. Are your words turning people to Christ or from Him?
Take a few moments to examine yourself. Is your tongue under control?

Love is the key

Read 1 John 3

“We know that we have passed from death to life,

 because we love our brothers.

 Anyone who does not love

 remains in death. 

Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, 

and you know that no murderer has eternal life in Him. 

This is how you know what love is;

 Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

 If anyone has material possessions 

and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, 

how can the love of God be in him?

                                                                              1 John 3:14-17

Love is the key to being a Christian. Love of God, Love of our fellow man.
It is interesting that quite often when the Scriptures want us to show love they tell us about how Jesus laid down his life and that we should be willing to do so.
It’s also interesting that the other thing that is referred to when it comes to love is giving of our money and possessions.
I think that it’s because next to our life it’s our money that we value the most. We are for obvious reasons reluctant to give up our lives unnecessarily.
We see money as giving us a good way of life it’s our security in this world. Someone said of money ‘you can’t take it with you when you go but you can’t go anywhere without it.’
Financial security is what most if not all people especially here in the West strive for. Yet it is so fleeting. Ask anyone who lost money in the stock market or investment schemes that went wrong.
Isaiah the prophet states,

“A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ and said, “What shall I cry?’

All men are like grass, 

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

 The grass withers and the flowers fall, 

because the breath of the Lord blows on them. 

Surely the people are grass 

the grass withers and the flowers fall, 

but the word of out God stands forever.”

                                                                                  Isaiah 40:6-8
We are nothing more that grass. Everything we own in life is nothing more than flowers in the field. We die and all our possessions eventually die also. Only what is done for God will last.

Something to think about.
The apostles set the example for us by following in the footsteps of Jesus. They never owned a sixty thousand dollar car or fancy house as far as I know. They never needed a cell phone or computer. And I’m sure they didn’t work a lot of overtime. Nor did they call for political reform.
Instead they gave of themselves, their lives, their money. They left their homeland and way of life to take the Gospel to the far reaches of their world.
In doing so they left a legacy that changed the world in a very real way.

A Lesson for Christians from the Talmud

“An aged man, whom Abraham hospitality invited to his tent, refused to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God.  Learning that he was a fire-worshipper.   Abraham drove him from his door.  That night God appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: ‘I have borne with that ignorant man for seventy years: could you not have patiently suffered him one night?”
                                                                                                                            The Talmud

Do Christians drive people away from their door because of what they believe? I think so.
Case in point the same sex marriage debate. The gay and lesbian community have been lobbying governments for years to be able to be ‘married’.
Christians and other religious groups have a very clear definition of marriage. It is the union of a man and a woman. And to Christians in particular marriage is a very sacred thing. To violate what they feel is it’s true meaning is to put a red flag in front of a bull. It’s the equivalent of a Christian asking a gay man to stop being gay.
Now before I go any further. Let me make it clear I am not asking Christians or for that matter members of the gay community to give up their beliefs.
What I am asking is that Christians, of which I am one, recognize that we live in a free and democratic secular society. A society where governments try to work in what they consider is the best interest of all people.
As Christians I don’t think we should be standing with placards in front of parliament trying to restrict the rights of others.
To do so is to like Abraham throw the person out of our tent and potentially sentence them to an eternity separated from God.
I feel we need to reach out to the gay community agreeing to disagree at least on the same sex marriage debate.
I also believe that until we put the placards down and stop protesting against everything except our right to worship freely, our ability to reach others will be at least limited.
We cannot stand on street corners, scream in the media, and yell from the pulpit, in a secular world such as we live in “because I disagree with you, I want your rights restricted!” Which is exactly what people see when they see us protesting against anything.
Christianity is not a “do not” belief system.
Christianity is a lifestyle. It is a belief that God himself reached down to man saying, Jesus himself saying, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16, 17.
How can we as Christians possibly hope to get that message to anyone when they see us protesting against anything and everything we dislike.
Question: Do you really think the apostle Paul spoke against anything he disliked when he was in Athens or any other part of the Roman empire. Read Acts 17: 16-34. And think about it.

Rights

Read 1 Peter 2:18-25

"But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating

for doing wrong and endure it?

But if you suffer for doing good

and you endure it

this is commendable before God.

1 Peter 2:20,21

I live in North America where particularly in the United States Christians feel like they are a Christian nation. The same is true in Canada but not to the same degree.
Those who espouse to this belief feel it is their right to scream at secular authorities over anything that disagrees with their point of view. Voicing their disagreements is perfectly fine in a free and democratic society like the United States and Canada.
The trouble comes when those voicing their disagreements try to restrict the rights of others they disagree with.
Then if the authorities push back they feel they are being persecuted.
The United States and Canada are democratic secular societies who’s governments do their best to give the maximum amount of freedom to all people.
They do this at times by passing laws that Christians and others may disagree with.
Case in point the whole same sex marriage debate. It’s a very hot button debate right now. It is a debate that will change the definition of marriage in secular law. But does it matter?
God knows what is right and wrong.
Yes we can disagree that’s our right but let’s look at the wider picture. We need to reach the world for Christ be they gay or strait.
If we push too far the authorities and other groups will push back and ultimately it could lead to our rights being restricted which in turn will make it hard for us reach the lost.
So if we are going to suffer persecution let us do it for the right reasons. When I see a quote like verse 1Peter, 2,20,21 I go back to what I see is the basics of being a Christian.
Do not Judge,

Matthew 7:1,2

"Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

Show Love even for your worst enemy,

Matthew 5:43,44

"You have heard that it was said,

`Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13

Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Go

in to your world.

Mark 16:15,16

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Something to think about

If we are going to be accused of doing wrong. If we are going to be brought before magistrates and others in authority and beaten for doing wrong. Let us suffer for what is right.
Let us never be accused of judging anyone, be it for their lifestyle, religion or anything else they do.
Let us show nothing but love even to our worst enemy. Let us show that love in the truest sense of the word. As Christ did before us.

Let us present only the pure word of God. Offering Gods salvation to all who will listen.