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Mob Rule is No Rules

​”In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” – Judges 21:25 NLT

What a troubling world we end up with when each man decodes for himself what is right or wrong for his particular moment,  situation, and circumstances. What a troubling and dark world we encounter in places where people have turned away from authority and morals. 

Can’t we see this in the lawless and immoral society that TV would like to sell us and convince us is right. Hasn’t the world tried to call what is wrong right,  and what is right wrong? 

“People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart. The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices. Haughty eyes, a proud heart, and evil actions are all sin.” – Proverbs 21:2‭-‬4 NLT

People are good at deceiving themselves into inconsistent and unjust behavior towards each other. People are good at justifying their sinful and wrong actions in their own minds. People are good at being swayed into all kinds of things when they claim themselves as the only ruler of their lives. 
And two things will prevail in that kind of self serving life – either lawlessness or a life waffling between pride and despair. This is because if we have no limits,  if there are no boundaries,  if we have no strong foundation on which to build upon, our own plans will prove to be our stumbling blocks. If we sell whole heartedly a life of self fulfillment and pleasure, others around us will suffer while we hoard for ourselves. If we seek a life of works and knowledge and self improvement, others will suffer by having to be around the proud,  arrogant,  and self righteous person we have become. 

Yes, there is something much better than the lawless rule of self endulgence or the rigidly legal rule of self improvement. I have Good News,  friend,  because there is a much better path. This path is narrow,  and you must choose to enter it by believing in Jesus Christ,  the Word of God, God come in the flesh to mankind to demonstrate the one way, the one truth,  the one life. 

Belief in this generates change,  because if you believe that He is Lord over your life and that you are no longer sitting upon the throne of your own life – you will realize that you don’t get to be the rule maker anymore. You don’t get to decide for yourself what is right or wrong in your own twisted mind. You have a straight path that has been laid out before you. You have a Lord who says,  “Follow me.” He gives us guidance and direction,  and we either prove that He is Lord over our lives or we prove that we serve a different master. 

So we should all all ourselves, “Do I believe? Do I love His instruction and want to follow His way? Or am I more interested in having it my way?”

I encourage you to know the heartfelt truth of these answers and see them played out clearly in your life today,  friend. Decide today who it is that you really serve. Do not claim one master by name and serve another in your heart – it will do you no good, friend. 

The Lord examines the heart. 

May He fill your heart today with conviction against sin, with peace and goodness towards one another, with forgiveness and mercy for the broken,  with boldness to share the truth with both the lawless and the legalistic. May He fill you with the fruit of His very nature and Spirit so that you might walk along His path and so that others might know today that you have been with the Lord and that you have chosen to abide with Him forever. 

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Barely Saved

For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? And also, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”
1 Peter 4:17‭-‬18 NLT

We have a lot going on right now. We are in the middle of so much change that I can barely keep up with all of the moving parts. I received a call in the middle of the day yesterday while I was at work and answered some questions without my full attention being on the call. After hanging up, and after thinking about what was asked, I realized that I had made a mistake in what I had said.

“Liar! Liar!”, the voice cried out in my head, “I’ve got you now!”

The old me wanted to hide from the mistake and attempt to cover it up – covering me in guilt by calling me a liar because I misspoke in a moment of the day’s fever pitched drone of work, stress,  etc. But there was another voice that spoke as well – convicting me that I needed to correct myself.

The enemy voice warned me that if I corrected myself,  it would look to the other person like I’m a liar even though I would know by making the correction that I was in fact, being honest. That voice wanted me to find a way to look honest to the person while remaining a liar in my heart.

Yes, this is the struggle. These are the types of challenges we face when we’ve let our guard down and are distracted. I was quick to speak without really listening and thinking about something – and as a result, I found myself in a trap. And the trap was whether I cared what I looked like on the outside or whether I cared enough to do what was right.

My decision was made, I would correct the situation. But how do I handle it in the best way? Do I try to explain myself in detail? Do I dance and make an over compensating effort to clean it up? Or do I just admit, do I just apologize for the lie – yes, a lie is a lie whether spoken with ill intent or good intent. Truth is truth, false is lying.

So, no sugar coating is necessary. I just need to swallow this pill and learn to pay closer attention to what I’m saying. It’s almost like this tongue is hard to tame unless I’m focused and intent. Imagine that. I think that I’ve read something about that before.

Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
James 3:1‭-‬12 NLT

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Cornerstone or Stumbling Block

You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”

And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
1 Peter 2:4‭-‬12 NLT

This idea of grace, of forgiveness of sins, this testimony of Christ who is God come in the flesh that died on the cross for us – it will either be the stone that we build a new holy life upon – or it will be an excuse people use to continue in their lives of sin.

Knowing about Christ will either push us  into a life of grateful obedience – or we will use it as an excuse to justify our remaining in captivity.

And it all boils down to belief, true belief in our hearts,  not just that he existed as a good and wise teacher – but that He is who He said He is, and that is God come in the flesh, who is risen and who will judge the whole world on that day to come when we will be changed in an instant, when we will be in the presence of the Lord.

What is Christ for your life today?

Won’t you build upon the foundation that He had provided by walking His way in your life today?

Won’t you deny your flesh and surrender your life to produce the fruit of His nature?

Won’t you yield to His will and be His Kingdom representative to the world today?

Whatever you do today, let it be done in Truth and in Love, because our lives are that living sacrifice, that reasonable service, that true worship that we lift to Him in Spirit and in Truth.

Go, let your day be that worship. Let them see that YOU are the church,  and that Christ lives in you!

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Who do you serve?

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord , in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face.
For there  is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You.
But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. For You, O Lord , will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
Psalms 5:4‭-‬12 NKJV

Yes, the Psalmist equates “put your trust in the Lord” with “loving the Lord” and with being led in a righteous life. And this path is contrasted harshly against the path of the wicked who do not trust in the Lord or love Him.

And this message is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, because He taught that if we will turn from our evil ways to instead trust the Lord and love Him that He would come and live with us and abide with us and lead us along the narrow path of righteousness.

There are vessels for holy use, and there are vessels of wrath. Both are very different in their nature, their desires, and their thoughts – which are all hidden from us. But some are very good at hiding these in their words and actions of they are concerned about what people think of them. A vessel of wrath may dress up the outside to look good,  but still be a white washed tomb with only death inside,  void of any Holy Spirit fire, void of any fruit of the Spirit.

A born again Christian life does not just produce emotional praise on Sunday and a life of lawlessness the rest of the week when away from the eyes of others.

It also does not produce a religious life full of measuring and judging that leaves no room for the very mercy and forgiveness that imperfect people claim to have received for themselves through Jesus Christ but are happy to keep away from the “undeserving”.

But the Psalmist boldly proclaims:

Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You.

Yes, this is our attitude towards sin,  towards the wicked, while still preaching and offering the Good News of Christ to those who have ears to hear. Because He tells us that those who says:

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are one.”
John 10:25‭-‬30 NKJV

Isn’t it clear that the wicked do not believe? That they do not trust in the Lord? That they do not love the Lord? That they do not seek His Kingdom and righteousness,  but they seek only for themselves and their own bellies? That they do not listen and hear and obey His voice? That they are headed to destruction?

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.  But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.  The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.  I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.  As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.  And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:7‭-‬18 NKJV

Have you entered by the gate,  friend?  Or are you trying to climb over the wall a different way?

Do you hear His voice?
Does He know you?
Do you follow Him?

These are the things that He says of His sheep.

He lay down His life for the sheep, because He lives and cats for the sheep.

Do you love and care for the sheep?

Will you feed his sheep?

Will you encourage and equip, honor and rebuke accordingly,  standing bold and firm on the foundation of Christ our Lord and Savior because you are a vessel of the Holy Spirit set apart for His Holy use?

Will you share this Good News with the nations so his sheep might hear His voice in your words, might feel His love in your service, might know His love in your mercy and forgiveness?

Who do you serve?