Are You Robbing God And Being Destroyed In The Process?

I believe that the vast majority of us desire to give our all to Jesus. I believe we want to lay it all on the line and say "Jesus, use me". I believe we are sincere in our desire to love him with all that we are. But I also believe we are lousy with the application of that desire. We have the emotion of it, we feel it, but we don't know how and we get distracted so easily. Because of it, we are falling into traps and we are getting ourselves in trouble. We have to accept that there is some work to this. In order to live by the Word we have to know the Word. To know the Word we need to be meditating on it. After meditating on it, so we have a good understanding through the Spirit, we apply it.

The first words Matthew records Jesus saying are:

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

We have already considered Joshua 1:8 several times:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 

Meditate on it so that you know what you are suppose to do. Jesus says that we live according to the Word. You notice that to Joshua was given the promise that if he lived by the Word it would result in prosperity and success. There was no greater general than Joshua. Even David did not accomplish what Joshua did.

Considering this I want to point out one possible reason why many Christian are finding it hard to push forward. There are many reasons and most of them come down to Christians not knowing the Word just as Yahweh warned us:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

We are being destroyed as a result of our lack of knowledge. Allow me to give you this one example.

Do you know that tithes and offerings are not an invention of the Church or of some greedy pastor who wants your money? Do you know that the children of Adam and Eve tithed? Do you know that Abraham tithed? Do you know that these people lived long before Moses brought in the Law? Do you know that there are people today who teach that because we are no longer under the Law that we do not have to tithe? Do you know that these people are cursed of Yahweh? They are being destroyed because of lack of knowledge.

In Malachi chapter three we find Yahweh trying to turn his people back to him. They are in ignorance, not evening knowing how they are offending him. He tells them that they are stealing from him. How are they stealing from him?

You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me. (v. 8) 

In fact, he tells them that because they are failing to bring in their full tithe and their voluntary contributions, the whole nation is under a curse. The lack of tithes was an indication of their heart condition. Tithing is a response of love. It is not part of some religious system but a response to Father's love for us. Lack of tithe shows a disregard of that love and reveals an ungrateful heart. Do you know there are always promises for obedience to the Words of Yahweh:

Bring the entire ten percent into the storehouse, so there will be food in my house. Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing. (v. 10)

Christians should understand that their tithes and offerings are like "food in the Lord's house", the Body of Christ. It enables the work of the Church to go forward. Some people want to act like Yahweh and dictate how their tithes and offerings are used, however, these gifts of love belong to Yahweh and he will take care of them. If there are abuses he will deal with it. Are we really saying that the Lord is incapable of looking after what belongs to him?

No, we only need be concerned with walking in obedience. If you continue reading this passage you will see that Yahweh promises protection and prosperity to those who obey. This is the Word of God. Jesus says we are to live by it. The passage also says that we will be so blessed that nations will look at us and call us blessed. Why are we so stuck on money that we are willing to be under the curse instead of walking in the sweetness of obedience?

This is only one thing out of the entire Word that is causing us to be destroyed because of our lack of knowledge of the Word. There are no short cuts. There is no getting around it. You need to take a good chunk of time every day to be reading, hearing, meditating, memorizing the Word and then applying it every single moment of your days. We live by every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh and it is by doing so that we move forward in our spiritual growth.

Why I Don't Like Superheroes

I'm about to get a lot of people upset at me. I was reminded yesterday why I don't like superheroes. Yes, there I said it: I don't like superheroes. There is one very good reason that a number of people will not understand. Superheroes are a bunch of vigilantes who disperse their version of justice. They are all about justice; punishing the bad guy, if not straight out killing him. We love to cheer the good guy on, even if he has taken on the role for himself and has been given no legal authority. We also cheer him on as he seeks the destruction of the bad guy. As a Christian you should be offended by such a notion.

Now I am not telling you to stop watching superhero movies but I am telling you to be careful of allowing the notion of justice to settle in your heart. If you were to live with this same mindset you would end up living in opposition to most of what Jesus taught and what the Spirit empowers us to live. Father has always had a heart for reconciliation with his enemies over applying justice.

Without a doubt Father has every right to bring justice against the evil doer but before you say Amen to that you had better realize that it was while we were still sinners that Jesus died for us. It is the sinner who is the enemy of Yahweh. Hear the words of Father as Jesus taught us to love our enemies, just as Father was doing through Jesus. He loves his enemy so much that he laid down his life for us. We didn't deserve it. The only thing we deserved was death but instead he chose to reach out with life. This has always been his heart:

For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you. (Malachi 3:6-7)

Apply those verses to your own heart. So many Christians are consumed by guilt because they adhere more to their fear of a just God than they do to a compassionate Father. Yes, we need to feel the conviction of our sin, our rebellion, against him but we must also hear his voice calling us back to him. Don't hide in a cave licking your wounds. Stand in his light; let your shame be exposed; and he will clothe you in his compassionate forgiveness and grace. If he was not the God who never changes, we would be destroyed for our rebellion. Instead we hear him say, return to me and I will return to you.

Father is justice. Those who do not seek his forgiveness will be destroyed. But justice is not what he desires. He has always desired reconciliation and restoration. Why do you think it took him so long to finally send his people into captivity? Why do you think he sent prophet after prophet with great warnings and the call to return to him? He would rather forgive his people then to apply his justice to them. Even then he sent them into captivity to turn their hearts back to him instead of destroying them.

He does not change.

Perhaps you have not been the best Christian. Perhaps you have been a Christian in name only. Maybe you are one who has the appearance of godliness but in private you are a very wicked person. Maybe your sins are not the public sort but Jesus has promised that whatever is done in private will be exposed in public. Perhaps you believe you are a lost cause and you would rather pretend that God does not exist than to deal with your rebellious ways. I'm here to tell you, despite your rebellion, Father still loves you. He is calling to you right now to turn back to him so he can return to you. He does not want to punish you, he wants to be reconciled with you. He does not want to bring you low, he wants to restore you.

If we lived in a world of super heroes there would not be many of us left alive. We would be tracked down by these vigilantes and killed or jailed. You may not think our rebellion is all that major but it is. Praise the Lord we live in an age of grace where Yahweh seeks to forgive the offence instead of punish it. And we who have been forgiven must in turn forgive. We need to seek reconciliation and not justice. We must love our enemy and pray for those who persecute us. We need to let go of our desire for justice and become agents of restoration. We are not agents of Shield seeking justice; we are agents of Grace, desiring to shield.