The Poser - Purity 1355

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a close-up of a Fool Me Day Lily comes to us from yours truly as I capture this floral beauty that was on display in the front yard of my house down by the river back on July 16th, 2020. The previous owners of my new home were horticulturalists, and there were all kinds of varieties of flowering plants on my property when I first purchased I just did. Some of the flowers come back each spring, but I'm not big on outward appearances or yard work and have let nature run its course, or vehemently opposed it with a merciless use of the lawnmower, as I appreciate easy more than pretty when it comes to stewarding what the Lord has given me. Well, it's Tuesday, and speaking of outward appearances, last night the Wild at Heart book study at my local church focused on the poser, which is John Eldredge's term for mankind's tendency to try to manage life through performance, which all too often turns into showmanship, as we seem to believe that everything is okay as long as everything looks okay, even if things are far from okay. Jesus called such showmanship hypocrisy. In Matthew 23:23-26, Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law—justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Belying the Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. The scribes and Pharisees made a big show of being righteous with their tithes and outward appearances of piety, but Jesus knew their hearts were far from God and their fellow man as they used their positions for their own benefit and to hide their fleshly natures, extortioners and self-indulgence. In our, in our day, Facebook or Instagram posts can be used to present an image of prosperity or family harmony one day, only to be replaced by announcements of dysfunction, loss, or divorce the next. At the Band of Brothers weekend, one of the men I met was a contractor who was in and out of people's homes as part of his job, and he commented that he would— you would be amazed by the wide spectrum of differences that one neighborhood could contain. How everyone's front yards could give the impression that everything was neat and orderly in this quote-unquote "good neighborhood," but he would— he had access to behind the scenes, and he reported that you can't judge a book by its cover because the front yards could mask the fact that the interior of the house or the backyard was an absolute mess. The men's discussion group last night had us discuss the various ways we could pose for one another and encouraged us to be real with God and one another, because in the end, he knows the truth and there's no fooling him. Our performance and the appearances we try to keep up don't validate who we are. God does. And I was pleased to see our group leader pass out the Who I Am in Christ list to encourage the men to know who God made us to be and how we should identify with what God's Word says about us more than what we could manufacture from our place in the world. Our job, status, positions, or relationships could be stripped away in an instant, but our identity in Christ is forever. So we should stop posing and try to impress— and try to impress others, or ourselves, or our neighbors, and instead live from the new heart that God puts in us when we make Jesus the Lord of our lives. The fruit of the Spirit are peace, love, goodness, thankfulness, joy, patience, gentleness, and self-control. We don't earn those things by hard work. We grow these things out of being the people God created us to be. Today's Bible verses come from this, uh, come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse— verses come from the section on decision-making, and today's verses are Joshua 24:14-27 from the NIV. The Word of God says, now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you were living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' Then the people answered, 'Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. It was the Lord our God himself who brought us out.' and our parents up out of Egypt and from that, from that land of slavery and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us from on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord because he is our God. Joshua said to the people, 'You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you after he has been good to you.' But the people said to Joshua, 'No, we will serve the Lord.' Then Joshua said, 'You are witness against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord. Yes, 'We are witnesses,' they replied. 'Now then,' said Joshua, 'throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.' And the people said to Joshua, 'We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.' On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD. "See," he said to all the people, "this stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." Today's verses fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Decision Making. Our first point is Joshua called the Israelites to make a decision. Today's verses demonstrate the importance of making a decision to follow the LORD with the way we live our lives. While salvation may come through the grace of God, the joy of the LORD and our sanctification grow from a decision to believe and obey the Word of God. We all have to make a decision as to what we will believe and how we will live our lives, and if we are untrue to our decision, our words and actions will be witness against us. So be true to your word, and when you decide to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, make sure you understand that your decision is for keeps, as the one who grants eternal life will be the one we live with and for forevermore. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.com where I share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. Um, and in his devotional, uh, Alford directs us to read a chapter of scripture from the New Testament in the morning and the evening. And this morning's chapter is Acts 26, and from Acts 26 he shares a portion of Acts 26:18, which says, "From the power of Satan to God." And Stephen Alford writes, "In this verse is presented a fivefold ministry. The servant of the Lord should take note, for it comprehends the ground he should cover when preaching the gospel." illumination, to open their eyes. This is affected by presenting truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. Conversion, to turn them from darkness to light. The servant of the Lord should lead the seeking soul to the state— to at this stage, leading from the darkness of ignorance into the light of truth. Emancipation, from the power of Satan to God. This is where the greatest battle in salvation of the soul is fought. The weapons to be used are the stand, the blood of the Lamb, the sword, the word of God, and the sanction, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remission of sins. They may receive forgiveness of sins. Here is the cross where forgiveness of sins is to be found through the blood. Sanctification, an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me, with all the blessings that a holy life brings. And so after these thoughts, um, Alford shares a prayer: Enable me to preach the whole of your gospel, Lord, leaving nothing out. Amen. Amen. Yeah, and, uh, you know, he hits all these different bullet points of what our life in faith, you know, means or comes with. Illumination, you know, conversion, um, what was the next thing, emancipation, we're set free, and, you know, remission of sins and sanctification, you know. So we're not only, you know, we're shown the light, we're brought into the kingdom, we're set free, We're forgiven of our sins and we're to be sanctified. And that's basically the pathway of faith that comes from believing the gospel and putting your faith in Jesus. These are the wonderful things we receive. We receive the light of the world that changes our hearts and changes us and, you know, gives us a new life. So that's, that's the glory, and that's why we don't have to pose anymore. We don't have to try to impress anyone with the things we've done or the people we know or the things we own. And, um, we can stay content just knowing that we know the most powerful person in the universe, the Lord, and he has agreed to give us a good place in his kingdom forevermore. So that's where we're focusing today. Um, it's good to be back to a regular routine, but Man, am I tired. Work yesterday, it was very hot in the upstate, in the 80s yesterday. We're getting a glimpse of summer early here in May, a month before it arrives. We're getting summer-like temperatures. And after a long restful weekend, it's back to work, back to reality. But that's a good thing. Just I'm trying to adjust. Happy to have my laptop back today so I'll be able to share the Bible verse of the day and this portion from, uh, Stephen Alford's devotional. Um, the Lord is so good in terms of how he can feed us with his word and through these book studies that, you know, explain things about our faith. As we, you know, it's one thing to decide to follow the Lord, but we have to know him. And knowing his word is a big part of it, you know, knowing our testimony. Wow, Lord, you saved me and rescued me is great, but we should, um, we're going to be in a relationship with the Lord forever, so we should try to get to know him and not oppose what he says, but to believe and follow and obey what he says. And like I said, that will grow the fruit of the Spirit when we live from the heart that God gives us, the new heart, the good heart that God gives us when we put our faith in Jesus. Well, I am tired, and I'm gonna just pray for a good day for all of us. So let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the gifts you've given us, the revelation that we don't have to pretend or put on an act anymore. We can just be the people you created us to be, and we just need your help with that, Lord. So we're praying for that today. Well, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith. Help them, Lord, to be the people that you've created them to be. And Lord, while you're at it, help me too. Um, open my eyes to the things you want me to see today and lead me in the way I should go, because all I want to do is represent you in your kingdom. And I'm definitely going to need help with that. So Lord, we, uh, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.