Tuesday, August
14, 2018
And so, dear
friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to
be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives
people time to be saved. This is what
our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—speaking
of these things in all of his letters. Some
of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable
have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do
with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried
away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3:14-18 (NLT)
Peter, a fisherman by trade,
turned Apostle by Jesus, was quick to say it is hard to understand some things
his brother Apostle, Paul wrote. And,
truthfully, some of Paul’s writings do spill into the gray area when seen
against the backdrop of 21st century culture. Two thousand years makes for a huge
communication gap.
So, it seems like every time
someone has a new thought about Scripture, Scripture gets a new interpretation. That is particularly true when we sin, and try
to rationalize our rebelliousness towards God.
For validation of this human trait we don’t need to plow through the
whole Bible; simply check out the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve sinned by taking forbidden
fruit they were embarrassed and made clothes to hide their nakedness. That showed a sense of shame. But when God came looking for his rebellious
children one cool summer’s eve, they also hid from him; they inherently understood
their sinfulness and wanted no part of a face-to-face with their Creator. And when the accounting finally came, Adam
shifted the blame to Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. The fact at hand is, we humans never want to
acknowledge our sins.
Peter also pointed to the
fact that part of the distorting smoke screen we try to raise to cover our
sin-tracks is to twist Scripture’s meaning to give us some wiggle-room. The current culture’s controversy over homosexuality
is a vivid image of this posturing and attempts (by the unstable and ignorant)
to redefine moral behavior. Proponents
of throwing the door wide-open in this area do so by twisting Scripture to fit what
they want,
rather than obey what God has said!
A simple illustration is a
common argument I’ve been handed as a pastor.
The question is posed: Pastor…it’s
not really clear…do I tithe on my gross salary, or the net? Now, while that sounds like a pretty serious
Christian who just wants to get it right, it’s more like Adam and Eve hiding
from their sin while God is calling; it’s more a delaying tactic than an honest
question. If we can claim just the
slightest bit of ambiguity about Scripture we’ve got a foothold to stand our
ground to do nothing at all. We can just
be praying about the whole thing until God reveals it all. But, can we talk? How much clearer does the Bible have to be
than the
tithe is holy unto the LORD?[2] And the real problem, as Peter wrote about
the destructive path of twisting scripture, is that we are not really providing
a foothold upon which we can stand and buy time while we find another reason to
do (or not do) something about our rebellion; what we’ve really done is given a
foothold to the enemy – a wedge Satan can use to destroy our relationship with
holy God.
So, while Paul may be hard
to understand sometimes, it makes little sense to let our questions make sin
seem affordable. In many ways this is
what is happening to the church in today’s culture. Doubt, questioning, and half-hearted living of
the Christian life provide a sorry witness for those both on the inside or
outside of the church. It leads to destruction.
For You Today
God is all about accountability
with His creation. Sooner or later He is
going to come walking (and looking for us) in the cool of the evening, just
like He came looking for the first couple.
The question is will he find an empty church, while we’re
all out sewing fig leaves to cover our tracks?
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[2] See Leviticus 27 and Malachi
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