“First remove the plank from your own eye and then you are able to remove the plank from your brothers!”
These are no doubt famous words of Jesus of Nazareth used and miss-used over the years. When I read this passage it tells me that as a person I can be quite hypocritical in how I judge others. That hypocrisy can be so blinding that I can no longer make proper judgments towards others. And at worst this passage warns me that there is a continual potential of living in a state of blindness, of obliviousness.
I not only apply this truth of Jesus to me personally, but also to his Church. Can the Church have a plank in it’s eye that renders it’s ability to judge properly? Is the crust in the eye so normal that we simply have become used to it?
I was reading a article from the pro-porn group in Australia that has caught on to this hypocrisy within the walls of the Church. They have a link to a site that is called “Deception” that is dedicated to the facts of case after case of sexual abuse within the holiest of institutions. One particular quote from one of this web site says it all:
“However, there are also people involved in religious orders who, for reasons best known to themselves, use their positions of trust to molest and defile the most vulnerable individuals in our society – young children. Some of them have stooped so low as to have molested intellectually handicapped children.”
What this tells me is that although those outside the Church need to understand that those within the Church are in many ways no different from them, we in the Church have to realize that due to our own failures to uphold the holiness we preach that our testimony to those outside the Church is very hindered. I find this is the reason that legislative work is not the most important think the Church should be doing. I believe that as the Church needs to focus its attention within its walls and not without. If we really have a pleasure in Christ that is ‘better’ than the world, then wouldn’t it come to reason that this joy and pleasure in God would shine to those that do not have it.
The Church needs to govern itself, not those outside the Church! I find great Biblical merit for this in 1st Corinthians Chapter 5. We should be looking at how we do ‘sex’ in the Church instead of judging those whose eyes are not opened to Biblical Truth.
Just think if we all within the Church looked to how we conduct ourselves! Especially us as leaders of the Church! Within every Church there are plenty of areas where we can help people gain a deeper understanding to what God intended for sex, and the incredible joy in it to the Glory of God. Why do we continually need to look at passing legislation that tells those outside the Church to live to a standard that we ourselves within it are not able to conform too?
Here are some examples that I think off:
I am against abortion. I believe that within the Church it would be awesome if there was a pro-life group within every Bible believing Church where there main concern would be that none within that body of believers would consider aborting a child but instead the Church would bring such help to pregnant ladies that they would not need to consider an abortion any more. What love and impact that would make! What a dream that is; the Church would not need to abort any children because of the outpouring of concrete acts of love in the self sacrifice for others!
I believe Pornography is a trap to so many which distorts God’s intention for Sex. If the Church taught their congregations what Sex is for and how it glorifies God, and helped those that were within its walls that desire to break free from bondage to pornography then I believe there wouldn’t be much time left to do much else, especially trying to conform others to our beliefs through legislation.
The Church lacks so much in looking at our own issues that we tend to find the mission of converting the ‘lost’ through law, the way to go. This is not a new phenomenon for sure. In Jesus day it was the Pharisee’s, in the Dark Ages it was the Catholic Church, and today if we are not careful, it will become the evangelical Church repeating the old way of making change in this world. But will it be lasting change?
One thing I know for sure I was once blind, but now I see. Jesus came into my life and changed my heart and desires. What was once of value to me no longer seemed like a treasure. No legislation did this; it was the sharing of the gospel of Jesus. I find it refreshing to read the gospels and see Jesus going from one town to another with just a small group of people, teaching, healing, and talking with those that needed him desperately. Did he go to the Jewish religious scribes to get a new law in the books for those pagans to live by? Did he go to Rome in the hopes of banning the practices of Rome?
When the rabbi Paul was in Rome we are told he preached to all the gospel of Jesus. How cool is that!
As the Church falls in love with its Lord, there groom; Jesus, Change will happen. Abortions will stop in the Church and porn will not seem so pleasurable as it once was. And wouldn’t it be so cool for those outside the Church to look at it from afar and say, “What a particular people those Christ lovers are.” “Within their walls there is no abortion, molestation, or any other harm, but a love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” “I want that.”
Tag: bondage
Training in lust
“Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” 2nd Peter 2:14
I would like to take the time to say something here that I think is quiite importanat to point out for us from the writting of Peter.
These false teachers had:
Eyes full of adultery – they didn;t have porn movies or internet porn per say, but they consistantly put themselves in places of sexual stimulation. We have TV & Interenet that do just fine in supplying us all the fullness of adultery behavior. How many times do you think you have seen Adultery being committed in your life? This is crazy to think about, but I would guess that most of us living in this 21st century have seen the ‘act’ of adultery hundreds of times in movies before. It is no longer marginal, but common. What are you and I viewing? Has it changed the way we think about the subject? When I used to watch porn, I would think, “hey this really is not that bad. It’s making be a better lover to my wife.” Oh, what justificaiton for viewing adultery over and over and refusing to believe there is a consequence in it.
They Cannot cease from sin – Here is the problem of viewing sexually stimulating ‘acts.’ It is addictive. We will soon be in bondage to the behavior. It’s not that we will not cease, but we “cannot” cease. (akatapaustos – unable to stop, unceasing)
Continued viewing brings us to consistent behaving, leading to bondage. We now think adultery behavior is the way things were designed, we have seen so much of it. My culture bears this out completely. Growing up I saw behaviors over and over and assumed that was the way things were done. I had to re-learn what I had seen for years and years. The brain is a magnificant sensory organ in the body, capturing images and storing them in our hard drive, over and over this happens. We tend to emulate those we see on the screen. But the end of this is destruction. This behavior really was not what we were created for, but a ploy of the Matrix so to speak, to keep us in our so called happy blindness.
Enticing unstable souls – This is where it gets bad. What is porn there to do anyway. Make money? Only one way to do that, and that’s to entice. To entice means to arouse desire. That sounds like porn to me. Not only porn, but those that are ‘in the church’ that continue in sin with no heart for confession to the glory of God and their own joy. I’m talking specifically about chuch leadership that has gone this direction as to not offend anyone, but has gone the total opposite way, enticing those to continue in a world of sin by not willing to confess their own adultery themselves! I know, you say that sounds hard core. But how many Pastors are caught in sexual sin? Heterosexual sin? Homosexual sin? Whatever the case, we will continue to entice unstable souls until we are ourselves no longer being enticed ourselves by the culture. Oh, I have a long way to go.
Trained in covetous practices – When learning guitar, I practiced. I did not practice once a week, but for hours a day. Now picking up a guitar and playing something takes no thought at all. It comes easy and naturally. How great is that? But what if it’s adultery, lust, sexual immorality? Don’t you think this too becomes natural to us who have been practitioners of this? We cannot just think the input in the brain has not changed the way we export behavior. Something is training you and I! What is that? We get so used to mediocrity in porn that we cannot see the beauty in our own spouses or a precious older couple that has weathered the storms of life for 65 years. Oh, we have compromised through a deception, our hearts have become hard. It’s like those that listen to American Idol singers never realizing the greatness of the Hillard Ensemble of works of Puccini.
We need re-training.
Kill your TV! haha – I remember that bumper sticker. Maybe there is a inner crucifying that we need to do within the church to find something far greater, or rather someone!
Jesus is beautiful…precious is He…1st Peter 2:7