If the Bible Says It, That Is Enough

Something that you may come across from time to time is a Christian asking God for a sign to confirm biblical teaching.

What happens is that the Christian thinks that the Bible teaches something, but because they don’t like what it teaches, they decide that they will obey its teaching if God provides a sign confirming that this is what He wants.

Some examples

As a case in point, I can remember some years ago hearing about a young Christian man and woman who were engaged to be married.

One evening they were feeling amorous and were tempted to sleep together before the wedding. Instead of choosing to resist this temptation and wait until they were married, they decided to pray that God would send someone to tell them not to sleep together if He really didn’t want them to do this.

They then prayed but no one was sent, so they slept together.

A similar situation that sometimes occurs is when a Christian starts to commit a sin, watching expectantly for God to give them a strong warning that they are outside His will, maybe by striking them down with an illness or something like that.

However, to their surprise, nothing seems to happen. The apparent lack of response from God then makes this Christian think that this sin probably isn’t actually a big deal in God’s eyes, and they keep committing it.

Two important points about biblical revelation

These examples highlight a couple of very important points about biblical revelation and Christian living.

Firstly, if the Bible says that something is wrong, that's all we need to know to decide not to do it.

Secondly, if the Bible says that something is wrong, it is a big mistake to expect God to intervene in our lives to confirm this.

We know from life experience, as well as from Scripture, that God allows us to go wrong in many ways. It is true that there are times when He does take action to stop us committing a sin. But there are also many occasions when, in His wisdom, He allows us to commit sins.

So for any Christian to think that a sin can’t be a big deal to God, because He didn’t take action to stop it, makes no sense at all.

Testing God

Asking God for a sign to confirm biblical teaching is not just pointless and foolish. It actually amounts to testing Him.

In Matthew 16:1-4 we read about a time when some Pharisees and Sadducees did this:

‘And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

So he left them and departed.’ (ESV)

These Pharisees and Sadducees were asking for a sign to point to something that should already have been obvious. It should have been clear to all who saw and heard Jesus that He was sent by God.

We must note too how strongly Jesus condemns what they were doing. He calls them ‘evil and adulterous’ for seeking a sign.

What these Pharisees and Sadducees were doing is really the same thing that I spoke about above, i.e., asking God for an unnecessary confirmation of something. So this Bible passage should leave us in no doubt that this is something the Lord deeply dislikes.

God will answer our prayers when we ask for something in faith and in line with His will (1 John 5:14-15). But He is hardly at our beck and call to do things that are completely unnecessary. We need to fit in with where He is at rather than expecting Him to go out of His way to pander to our desires. There is something really insulting to the Lord, not to mention arrogant, about asking Him to give unnecessary confirmations of things.

Did God really say that?

In Genesis 2:16-17, we are told that after God created Adam, He said to him:

‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it you will certainly die.’ (CSB)

Then in Genesis 3:1 the snake asks Eve, who has clearly learned from Adam what God had said:

‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’ (NLT)

The snake in this passage represents Satan, so here we see Satan trying to put doubts into the mind of Eve about the truthfulness of something God had said.

In this respect, nothing has changed. Today, just as ever since the days of the first humans, Satan and his subordinates, i.e., evil spirits, continue to lie to God’s people in this way. Revelation 12:9 says that Satan deceives the whole world, and one way he does this is by inciting doubts about what God has said.

If the Bible says that something is wrong, however, that is enough. That is all we need to know to make our decision about how to act. We need to accept what it says and obey it without testing God by asking for confirming signs.

 

See also:

Salvation Is Not by Doing Good but Only Those Who Do Good Will Be Saved

The Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation

The Radical Nature of the Normal Christian Life

Learning to Discern the Attacks of Evil Spirits

The Seriousness of the Sin of Hypocrisy

The Gospels make it clear that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, something that really infuriated Him was hypocrisy.

Of course, there is no doubt that Jesus hated, and still hates, all sin with a passion. But hypocrisy is one of the things that clearly made Him especially angry when He was doing His earthly ministry.

What is a hypocrite?

Before going any further, I think it would be good for me to try to give an accurate definition of what a hypocrite is, because a lot of people don’t get this quite right.

Many have the idea that a hypocrite can be defined as someone who does the same thing that they criticise others for doing.

It is true that very often someone who does the same thing that they criticise others for doing is being a hypocrite. But not always.

So, for example, suppose I am driving my car and I make a minor mistake and another driver hoots his horn at me. But suppose too that the next day I am driving again and this time another driver makes a minor mistake and I hoot my horn at him.

So I am criticising the other driver for a mistake that I myself occasionally make. Does that make me a hypocrite? Surely not.

Or suppose that a husband lets his wife down in some small way and she criticises him for what he has done. But suppose too that the next day she lets him down in a small way and this time he criticises her. Does that make him a hypocrite? Surely not.

Instead of defining a hypocrite as someone who does the same thing that they criticise others for doing, I would suggest the following as a definition:

A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be good in a certain way that they know isn’t true.

In other words, a hypocrite is essentially a fake, a fraud. This is unlike the two examples I gave above, where there was no pretence on my part to be a better driver than I am, and where there was no pretence on the part of the husband that he never lets his wife down.

Hypocrisy, then, is about fakery, about pretending to be good in some way, while knowing full well that this is a lie.

Bible passages on hypocrisy

As far as Bible passages on this topic are concerned, Matthew 23 surely stands out. In Jesus’s strong words against the scribes and Pharisees in this chapter, He uses the word ‘hypocrites’ (Greek: hupokritai) no less than six times, as well as the word ‘hypocrisy’ (Greek: hupokrisis) once. And just reading through the chapter, we can feel the anger that Jesus clearly had for the hypocrites that He was talking to.

The scribes and Pharisees Jesus was addressing pretended to be morally upright citizens, but they were a million miles from being that. And they knew it.

Jesus’s words in verses 25-28 give a vivid description of what hypocrisy is and what He thinks of it:

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.’ (ESV)

We can see clearly in this passage what Jesus made of hypocrisy when His earthly ministry was in progress. And there is not a shadow of a doubt that His attitude remains the same today.

The world is full of hypocrites

It seems to me that everywhere I look in the world today there are huge numbers of monumental hypocrites.

For example, take those feminists who claim to be appalled by sexism, but who will seize any chance they can to discriminate against men.

Or we could think of the protestors against the Israeli actions in Gaza, who claim to be outraged at the deaths of civilians there, but who would never dream of protesting against the regimes around the world that kill far more civilians than the Israelis do.

Or again, take those political pundits who claim to be horrified by the erosion of freedom of speech, but whose horror suddenly disappears when people they disagree with are not allowed to speak.

And the list could go on. We live in a world that is crammed full of people who are utter fakes, frauds and hypocrites.

Christians need to be stunningly different

In this context, in this dark world of ours that is full of fakery and deceit, Christians need to be totally different, stunningly different. We need to be who we claim to be, to the nth degree.

Where we have faults, we need to acknowledge them. And where we have principles, we need to put them into practice all the time and without favouritism. Basically, we need to be sincere and without pretence.

In 2 Corinthians 1:12 the apostle Paul says something about this sort of attitude:

‘For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.’ (ESV)

Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 4:2 he writes:

‘Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.’ (CSB)

And Joshua’s words in Joshua 24:14 are just as relevant today as they were when they were first spoken over 3000 years ago:

‘Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.’ (ESV)

Let all of us who are followers of Jesus, then, redouble our efforts to avoid being hypocrites. The Lord requires this of us, and He deserves nothing less.

 

See also:

The Seriousness of the Sin of Pride

How Serious a Sin Is Sex outside Marriage?

Some Steps That Christians Can Take to Avoid Judging People

The Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation

Are Christians Supposed to Try to Produce Fruit?

In John 15:1-8 we find the well-known teaching of the Lord Jesus about the vine and its branches, where He says:

‘1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.’ (CSB)

In this passage the Lord portrays Himself as a vine and His followers as the branches of that vine. 

Actually, strictly speaking He must mean that He is the trunk of the vine and His followers are the branches. He surely doesn’t mean that He is the whole vine, both trunk and branches, and that we are also the branches. That would hardly make sense of verse 2, where He says that God prunes the branches that produce fruit. Pruning here symbolises God’s discipline, and the perfect Jesus clearly needed no disciplining. So the metaphor, strictly speaking, must involve Jesus being the trunk of the vine.

Those who say that we produce fruit without trying

In verse 5 the Lord says that if we remain in Him, and He remains in us, we will produce much fruit. This fruit should be interpreted broadly as symbolising everything we do that is profitable in God’s sight.

So remaining in the Lord Jesus is clearly the key to us becoming the people and doing the things that please God.

There are some Christians who claim that this passage shows that it is a mistake for believers to put effort into trying to produce fruit. They argue along the following lines:

This passage says simply that Christians who remain in Jesus will produce fruit. Not a word is said about putting in any effort.

Furthermore, the picture of the vine and its branches supports this interpretation. The branches of a literal vine obviously make no effort to produce fruit. They just do this automatically when they are attached to the trunk of the vine. So it makes sense to think that the same is true of the branches of the metaphorical vine, i.e., Christians.

So what should we make of this argument? Does it hold water?

I would suggest that it doesn’t, as I will explain in what follows.

Not trying in our own strength

To begin with, it needs to be said that those who make the above argument are certainly right that in order to produce fruit we have to be united to Jesus. It isn’t the case that God is out there somewhere far away, demanding that we produce fruit that He approves of. Instead, we need His closeness and empowering in order to do things that please Him.

In other words, for us to try to produce fruit in our own strength would be a hopeless task. We need the indwelling Holy Spirit to help us (2 Cor 3:18).

The mistake of pressing the details of the imagery

But what about the fact that branches on a literal vine don’t try to produce fruit? Does that imply that Christians also shouldn’t try to produce spiritual fruit?

It actually doesn’t imply this. Importantly, biblical metaphors often don’t correspond precisely to what they are symbolising. It is usually a mistake to press the details too far.

A good example of this can be seen in Matthew 20:28. Here Jesus says:

‘. . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (CSB)

In this verse, Jesus’ death is metaphorically described as a ransom for people.

This is an excellent metaphor for illustrating what His death accomplished. Nevertheless, this metaphorical ransom doesn’t correspond to a literal ransom in every respect. A literal ransom has to be paid to someone. Yet if we ask to whom Jesus’ metaphorical ransom was paid, we are demanding too much of the metaphor. There is no one to whom Jesus’ ransom was paid.

This metaphor of a ransom, then, corresponds quite loosely to reality. It is a mistake to interpret it too precisely.

Another good example can be found in Hebrews 12:1. Here the author encourages his readers with these words:

‘Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,’ (CSB)

In this verse, the Christian life is described using the metaphor of a long distance running race.

This is also a great metaphor, but we mustn’t demand too much from it. In a literal race we run against competitors. However, in the metaphorical race being described in this verse there are no competitors we run against.

This is another metaphor, then, that corresponds quite loosely to the reality it is describing. And many more similar examples could be given from Scripture.

In view of how biblical metaphors often correspond imprecisely to reality, it is a mistake to simply assume that the metaphor of the vine should be interpreted very technically and precisely. And once we understand this, we see that the fact that the branches of a literal vine don’t try to produce fruit doesn’t automatically mean that the Christian branches of the spiritual vine should also not try to produce fruit.

Biblical passages that refer to effort

Most importantly, we must take account of the biblical passages that refer to effort that Christians need to put in.

For example, in 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul instructs Timothy:

‘Fight the good fight of the faith.’ (ESV)

And then in 2 Timothy 4:7 he says:

‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’ (ESV)

Fighting clearly implies the expending of a great amount of effort. So too does the image of running a race, both as found in 2 Timothy 4:7 and in Hebrews 12:1 that I quoted above.

In v. 4 of the same chapter of Hebrews the author tells his readers:

‘In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.’ (ESV)

If we are to struggle against sin, that obviously implies that we put in effort and try to fight against it.

Similarly, in Luke 13:24 the Lord commands:

‘Strive to enter through the narrow door . . .’ (ESV)

Again, to strive to do something implies that we should try hard to do it.

The combined weight of these passages makes it clear that there is very much a place for putting in effort as we live our Christian lives.

We shouldn’t just sit back

Without being united with Jesus, as a branch is united with the trunk of a vine, our goal of producing fruit as Christians is not going to work. We need to rest in God and let His Spirit help and empower us in many ways.

But resting in God doesn’t mean that there is no place for putting in great effort to do God’s will and to grow in the faith. It is absolutely right for us to try to produce fruit for the Lord.

The idea that we are supposed to just sit back and watch God produce fruit in our lives is a big mistake.

 

See also:

Getting into the Habit of Doing Everything with Jesus

The Radical Nature of the Normal Christian Life

The Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation

Lord, What Do You Want Me to Do Right Now?

Beware of Idolising Church Leaders

When we look in the Bible, we find that one of the sins that is most often mentioned is idolatry. To idolise someone or something is basically to exalt that person or thing inappropriately in comparison with God. It is to make someone or something a kind of mini-god, at least to some extent.

Making church leaders idols

I would suggest that in the church today one of the common ways in which this sin occurs is when church leaders are idolised. There are many Christians who put a certain leader on a pedestal in a way that they shouldn’t.

Of course, it is right to love and respect church leaders, especially those who devote themselves to working hard for their flocks and who set a good example of Christian conduct (1 Thess 5:12-13; 1 Tim 5:17). However, sometimes this goes too far. Sometimes Christians can actually start to engage in idol-worship of a leader they admire.

I expect that this has always been a problem down through the centuries. We sinful human beings are very prone to idolatry in a multitude of ways, including by idolising other human beings for all sorts of reasons. So it makes sense to think that in every generation the temptation to idolise certain church leaders is one that many Christians have given in to.

Some signs of this sort of idolatry

There are some common signs that a Christian may have fallen into the trap of idolising a church leader.

To begin with, there are situations when someone gets angry with a person simply for disagreeing with a leader.

I have seen this myself. For example, one occasion comes to mind when I disagreed with something a well-known Christian leader and teacher said. I didn’t accuse or blame this leader at all, and there was nothing nasty in my attitude. I simply took a different view from him on some issue that I can’t even remember the details of now.

What I do remember, however, is that a certain Christian became very angry with me for disagreeing with this leader. His attitude towards me seemed to be: ‘Who do you think you are, you nobody, to disagree with this wonderful teacher?’

The anger was completely inappropriate, and I am pretty confident that it was motivated by some level of idolatry.

There are also occasions when someone doesn’t go as far as actually getting angry with a person who disagrees with a certain leader, but they would still never bring themselves to admit that the leader could be wrong on anything, even on something minor. And they hate it when people disagree with this person. This is also a sign that idolatry may be involved.

Something else that can be a sign of this is when a Christian doesn’t stop going on about a certain church leader. I can think of one person I used to know, and it seemed that in most conversations he would make a point of singing the praises of one particular Christian leader and author. He was constantly referring me to books that this man had written, but I don’t think there was ever another author that he recommended.

There was something not right about this. My friend was just too infatuated with one Christian leader, and I suspect there was some idolatry there. And to be perfectly honest, I think that I myself have also gone wrong in this sort of way in the past, to a certain extent.

Failing to watch out for mistakes

Idol-worship of any kind is obviously wrong in and of itself. We are designed to worship God and not anyone or anything else (Matt 4:10).

To be in awe of God’s abilities makes perfect sense, but to be in awe of a church leader, who received all his abilities from God in the first place (1 Cor 4:7), makes no sense and serves to elbow God out of the way.

However, there is another reason why idolising church leaders is a problem. Importantly, every Christian leader will make some mistakes in his teaching, no matter how hard he prays against it. Sinful human beings are just too prone to error for that to be avoided.

Besides, if there were one church leader who is always right on everything, there could only be one of them, for the simple reason that no two leaders agree on every point. So we should be in no doubt that every leader will get some things wrong.

This means that if a Christian has put a certain leader on a pedestal, and is not open to the possibility of him making any mistakes, they won’t be watchful for any errors in his teaching. In other words, they will have closed themselves off to any insight that the Holy Spirit might give that something the leader has taught isn’t quite right.

How teaching works

It is important to understand what is supposed to happen when a Christian teacher teaches something correct. The Holy Spirit takes what is taught and persuades the listener/reader that this thing is true.

So if we are listening to a Christian teacher who is teaching something correct, the teacher’s belief that this thing is true should become our belief too because we are persuaded that it makes sense.

We should never end up in the position of believing something to do with the Christian faith simply because someone we respect believes that thing. It needs to become something that we ourselves have become convinced of for good reasons. Whoever else believes it is really beside the point.

Of course, it is very common for children to believe something to do with the Christian faith just because their parents believe it. We understand that this is how the mind of a child often works.

But for an adult this is not acceptable. Adults need to go deeper than that. And if someone is idolising a church leader and not weighing what that leader says, they are not going to spot any of the mistakes that he makes.

Respect, not idolatry

Let us by all means greatly respect good Christian leaders. Let us speak highly of them to the extent that it is appropriate. And let us love them deeply.

But let us be vigilant that the respect doesn’t become idolatry. The Lord requires this of us all.

 

See also:

Beware of Becoming Attached to Church Traditions

Christians Need to Put Everything to the Test

Imitation as a Principle of Christian Living

Is It Wrong for Women to Be Church Leaders?

Getting the Balance between Expecting Too Little and Too Much Moral Progress

When we become Christians, we receive the Holy Spirit, who then sets about transforming us into the moral likeness of Jesus. The Bible is very clear on this.

But this raises an important question. How quickly should we expect this change to happen?

I would suggest that on this issue, as on so many other issues to do with the Christian life, it is possible to go too far one way or the other. There are many Christians who are expecting too little from God in this area, and there are many others who are expecting too much.

Expecting too little transformation

Firstly, there are those who don’t expect enough from God in terms of moral transformation.

This attitude often ties in with a lack of expectation generally in spiritual matters. Importantly, however, the Bible encourages us to think big as regards what God is going to do, in various ways.

As far as moral transformation is concerned, we should be expecting God to act in a significant way.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul states:

‘And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.’ (ESV)

This is clear that the Spirit is making Christians ever more glorious, where our glory refers to our moral purity.

Similarly, in Galatians 5:22-23 Paul says:

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’ (ESV)

There is no doubt that as we live our Christian lives we should expect to increase in these virtues.

Again, in Romans 8:13 we read:

‘For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.’ (ESV)

This verse implies that if we put in the required effort, we can expect to grow in moral purity.

The verses I have quoted, along with many others, show that we should expect to change as times passes. We should be becoming morally better people.

It seems to me, based on conversations I have had with other believers, that there are many Christians who are expecting very little in terms of moral transformation, and this is a big mistake. The Holy Spirit is ready and willing to change us if we let Him, which we are under obligation to do.

Expecting too much transformation

Secondly, there are Christians who expect too much moral transformation.

This is a problem, because if we have unrealistically high expectations of things, it can be extremely discouraging when these expectations are not met. If, by contrast, we have more realistic expectations, we won’t be so disheartened by failures and will be quicker to dust ourselves down and get ready for the next fight.

One key Bible verse on this subject is James 3:2, where James says:

‘For we all stumble in many ways.’ (ESV)

Stumbling in this verse refers to committing unpremeditated sins of short duration, and James is clear that every Christian commits these. Importantly too, James himself had very probably been a Christian for many years when he wrote these words.

This short sentence makes it clear that there is a limit to how much moral transformation we can realistically expect.

Another passage that points in the same direction is 1 Corinthians 7, where Paul discusses marriage and singleness.

Generally speaking, in this chapter Paul clearly rates the unmarried life more highly for a Christian than the married life.

In v. 7 he says:

‘I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.’ (ESV)

When Paul says ‘as I myself am’ in this verse, he means unmarried as he is. And the fact that he implies here that being married and unmarried are both gifts from God doesn’t negate what he says about a preference for Christians being unmarried.

Similarly, in verses 32-34 he says:

‘The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.’ (ESV)

There is no doubt that Paul has a preference for Christians being concerned with ‘things of the Lord’ rather than ‘worldly things’. So, all other things being equal, Paul clearly has a preference for unmarried Christians remaining unmarried.

However, other verses in the chapter show that all other things are not in fact equal. In v. 2 he says:

‘But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.’ (ESV)

Note the phrases ‘each man’ and ‘each woman’ in this verse. Even allowing for some hyperbole in the word ‘each’, it seems clear that Paul is thinking that because of sexual temptations it would be best for most unmarried Christians to get married. If possible, he would like most unmarried Christians to remain unmarried, but he realises that sexual temptations make this unrealistic.

My point is that Paul is making a remarkably big concession to human weakness here. We might have expected him to say something like this:

It is better for unmarried Christians to remain unmarried. And if you are struggling with celibacy, look to the Holy Spirit’s empowering and transformation. Expect God to cause you to rise above your struggles and temptations.

But Paul doesn’t say this. Instead, he implies that if Christians are struggling with celibacy, it would be good for them to get married, even though this means that they won’t be able to have such wholehearted devotion to God. And he thinks that most Christians will actually be in this group!

So Paul clearly has very limited expectations of how quickly Christians are going to be transformed by the Spirit to gain sexual self-control.

This is another passage, then, which clearly implies that there is a limit to how much moral transformation we can realistically expect.

Summing up

There are many other biblical passages that could be used to make the points I have made in this article. Basically, the Bible is clear that as we live our Christian lives, we should be expecting God to transform us morally for the better, but this is typically a slow process.

On the one hand, where we have moral weaknesses, we mustn’t resign ourselves to thinking that these will continue for the rest of our lives.

But on the other hand, if we don’t see dramatic progress, we shouldn’t be discouraged. Instead we should persevere, fighting forward.

 

See also:

Getting the Balance between Expecting Too Little and Too Much from Prayer

The Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation

The Importance of Learning All We Can from Sins and Mistakes

What Does 1 John Mean When It Says That Christians Do Not and Cannot Sin?

The Importance of Learning All We Can from Sins and Mistakes

Whenever we commit a sin or just make some sort of honest mistake, we will usually want to put that thing to the back of our mind and forget about it as soon as possible.  After all, thinking about what we have got wrong is hardly a pleasant experience.  

Nor is it healthy for us to dwell on our failures.  As Christians we should be trying instead to spend most of our time thinking about positive things.  This is what the apostle Paul encouraged the church in Philippi to do, when he wrote: 

‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.’ (Philippians 4:8) 

Spending time dwelling on our sins and mistakes can hardly be reconciled with Paul’s instruction in this passage.  Besides, we know that when we confess our sins God forgives us (1 John 1:9), and we should join Him in forgiving ourselves, which will mean banishing thoughts of what we did from our minds. 

Learning from what we do wrong 

Nevertheless, before we finally let go of what we have done wrong, we should still take time to learn what we can from it.  All of us have weaknesses in our characters, and unless we are careful we will tend to commit the same sins repeatedly.  I am sure that Christians often fall into the same sin time and again partly because they are not learning, or even really trying to learn, from their mistakes. 

Unpleasant though it may be, if we make an effort to think through the build up to a sin or mistake, as if on slow-motion replay, it may be possible to pinpoint the exact moment when we stepped out of line.  We will then become better aware of exactly what sorts of situations and temptations are dangerous for us personally.  And in some circumstances we will then be able to do things to avoid being tempted.  

Taking steps to avoid temptation 

The Bible makes it clear that normal Christian living should include taking steps, sometimes radical steps, to avoid temptations when that is possible.  

In Matthew 18:8-9 (paralleled in Mark 9:43-47) Jesus has powerful words to say on this subject: 

‘If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell fire.’ 

This is a very striking way of putting things, and Jesus’ instructions here are clearly not meant to be taken literally.  However, when reading something in Scripture that obviously contains hyperbole, i.e., language that is deliberately exaggerated for effect, Christians can often fail to take what is said as seriously as they should.  An over-compensation for the hyperbole can occur when interpreting, with the result that the forcefulness of the words is not properly recognised.    

The reason why Jesus uses such powerful language in this passage is both to show the seriousness of sin and also to underline that if necessary His followers should be taking radical steps to avoid sinning.    

All of us are vulnerable to temptations in various ways, and we will be aware of at least some of the sins we are most in danger of committing.  We should ask ourselves if we are doing what we can to avoid getting into situations where we are tempted.    

In some circumstances, we might find that there is not much we can do, such as when the temptations concern only thoughts in our minds.  However, even in situations like these we can experiment to see if doing anything helps us to avoid being tempted.  For instance, we might find that trying to fix our mind on something good is a help. 

When temptations concern actions, it is much more likely that we will be able to take steps that greatly reduce the amount we are tempted.  And some of these steps might need to be radical.  I know of Christians, for example, who found that they were yielding to temptations to watch bad programmes on TV, or to watch more TV than they should, and who got rid of their TVs as a result.  I think this is a good example of how Jesus’ command can be put into practice in the modern day.     

It is not enough, then, for us to fight temptations that we experience.  We should also be taking steps to avoid being tempted in the first place. 

And on those occasions when we do, regrettably, yield to a temptation, or even when we just make an honest mistake about something, we should try to learn everything we can from what has happened.  

 

See also: 

The Importance of Taking Steps to Avoid Temptation 

The Radical Nature of the Normal Christian Life 

Getting into the Habit of Doing Everything with Jesus

Is It OK for Christians to Celebrate Christmas?

As we come towards the end of each year, most Christians start making preparations to celebrate Christmas. The vast majority of believers just celebrate this festival without thinking twice about it.

There are, however, some Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas. They claim that doing this is against the will of God, and they give a number of arguments to try to make their case.

I am someone who sides with the majority in believing that there is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas. In what follows, I will give some objections that are sometimes made to doing this, along with my responses.

When I have done that, I will then say a few words about some problems that are often connected with how Christmas is celebrated.

Objection:

The word ‘Christmas’ derives from the words ‘Christ’ and ‘mass’. ‘Mass’ here refers to the Roman Catholic rite that wrongly claims that the bread and wine eaten at the Lord’s Supper literally become the body and blood of Christ. So in times gone by ‘Christmas’ referred to an occasion when the problematic Catholic rite of mass was performed.

The bad origins of what this word referred to show that it is wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas today.

Response:

It is true that the word ‘Christmas’ used to mean this. And it is also true that there are serious problems with the Roman Catholic rite of mass.

Importantly, however, the meanings of words often evolve away from their root meanings. What is important is what words mean today, not what they used to mean.

There are actually some striking biblical examples of where words that once referred to something evil are used to refer to something else.

For example, in Revelation 20:13 John uses the Greek word ‘hades’ to refer to the realm of the dead. However, at an earlier time (and actually also sometimes still in the first century AD) this Greek word was used to refer to Hades, the pagan god of the underworld, i.e., a false god of a false religion.

Clearly, John had no problem with using this word, despite its history. At the time when John wrote Revelation, this word could be used to refer to the realm of the dead, and that was good enough for him. And it was obviously also good enough for the Holy Spirit who inspired his words.

In the same way, the fact that the word ‘Christmas’ used to refer to mass is irrelevant. Today, when people refer to ‘Christmas’, they are not using this word to refer to mass, and that is what counts.

Objection:

In ancient times the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which involved worship of the false god Saturn, was celebrated on 25 December. Then Christians, influenced by Saturnalia, started celebrating Christmas on that date.

There is therefore a connection between Christmas and the demonically inspired Saturnalia. So Christians should steer clear of Christmas.

Response:

First, although Saturnalia was celebrated in mid-late December, it seems mostly not to have been celebrated specifically on 25 December.

Second, it is actually debated whether Christians started celebrating Christmas on 25 December because they were influenced by the timing of Saturnalia.

Third, even if Christians were influenced by the timing of Saturnalia, the choice of date for celebrating Christmas could have been intended to rival Saturnalia rather than because Christians were compromising on their values.

Fourth, even if some Christians did compromise on their values at that time, it is what people understand Christmas to mean today that counts. And today Christmas has nothing whatsoever to do with Saturnalia.

Objection:

The Bible knows nothing of celebrating Christmas. In the absence of any biblical instruction to do this, it is a mistake.

Response:

First, Christians who celebrate Christmas are, above all else, celebrating the coming of Jesus to earth, and the Bible obviously does celebrate this.

Second, as far as celebrating Jesus’ coming to earth on a certain day of the year is concerned, this objection, to a certain extent, misunderstands the nature of the Bible.

The Bible was never designed to give us a complete list of things to avoid or not avoid. Life is too complex with too many variations. If Scripture had been intended to do this, it would need to be many, many times longer than it is, and it would be unusable.

As far as Christian living is concerned, the Bible gives us principles that we need to build into a healthy, God-honouring way to live our lives. So the fact that Scripture gives no specific instruction to take a day of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ is beside the point.

Third, a verse that is relevant for this topic is Romans 14:5, where Paul writes:

‘One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.’ (ESV)

It is true that here Paul is referring first and foremost to days of the seven-day week. But we can certainly expand what he says to include days that occur just once a year. And Paul clearly thinks that whether or not to treat a day as special is down to an individual Christian’s conscience.

Objection:

The practice of bringing trees inside the home stems from pagan customs that celebrated evergreen trees in some superstitious way.

Therefore, Christians should keep away from this aspect of Christmas, because of its pagan roots.

Response:

Again, it is what things symbolise today that counts, and today Christmas trees are typically just ornamental with no deeper meaning.

Problems connected with how Christmas is often celebrated

None of the arguments that I have listed leads us to think that it is wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas.

That said, there are certainly some highly relevant moral issues to do with the way that Christmas is celebrated in Western countries.

For a start, the way that Christmas is commercialised is nothing short of horrendous. Many people, in effect, use remembering Jesus’ coming to earth in self-sacrifice as a means of making as much money for themselves as they can. There is a real irony in this.

One thing I personally hate is when anything to do with Christmas appears in the shops before December. Sadly, however, this often happens several months before December. And the motive is all about making money. It really is bad.

Christmas is also used by many as an excuse for immoral behaviour. Workplace Christmas parties, for example, often lead to drunkenness and sexual immorality. And at Christmas time many people allow their greed for food to go unchecked. There is no doubt that these are things that deeply grieve the Lord.

Another thing I think is problematic is the whole idea of Santa. It doesn’t seem right for parents to lie to their children to make them think that some supernatural figure has travelled through the air to give them presents.

It is absolutely right that parents should want their kids to have a great time at Christmas. But there are many ways to do this that don’t involve creating a deceptive story in which a character behaves supernaturally without any reference to God.

Doing it right

Celebrating Christmas is all well and good. It’s not compulsory for Christians to do this, but it’s not wrong either.

But for those of us who do celebrate it, we need to remember that it is mainly about how God humbled Himself to become Man for our sake.

It isn’t wrong to meet up with family and friends, give and receive presents, eat plenty of good food, take some time to rest, etc., etc. But at its heart, Christmas is a story of the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ Himself.

 

See also:

Christians Need to Put Everything to the Test

The Bible, God’s Voice and Useful Information

Should Christians Treat One Day of the Week as a Special Day?

Nothing Is Sinful Because It Is Pleasurable