There are many reasons why people want to preach about Jesus Christ, but not all reasons are meant to glorify Jesus. I would like to explore a few of these motivations.
The most obvious one is for monetary gain. There are many prosperity preachers that do not care about the condition of your soul, they only want your money. They refuse to preach about Hell and want to tell you there is grace for all your sins whether you repent or not. They do not want to make you feel guilt for your sins because they fear that will keep you out of the pews and therefore, put less money in their pockets. It is better to speak the Truth that we need to daily repent of our sins in order to obtain salvation and risk people walking away from the message, than to spout lies that keeps people listening, but sends them straight to Hell. No one should try to make money off the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. II Corinthians 2:17
When my husband and I try to convince people that watching television and movies is wrong when you consider yourself a Christian, the only reason is to teach others about holiness. We are trying to get people to love the Lord more than the world and to keep their eyes on Jesus, not on the filth of Hollywood. We are not into conspiracy theories that the CIA is trying to control Hollywood and manipulate the public. Our motivation is not to focus on why people feel compelled to flood their eye and ear gates with garbage, the only thing that matters is that they need to get rid of all forms of entertainment that glorifies the lusts of the flesh instead of glorifying Christ. It is a growing trend to put too much focus on conspiracy theories. While I believe we need to be aware that our freedoms are more limited than we realize, and someday the Anti-Christ and the One World Government will have a scary amount of control, we need not to dwell on unhealthy obsessions and take the focus off of what Jesus can and will do and what we can and should do in His name. Most of these theories are nothing more than distractions keeping people dwelling on the government or the media rather than on the Bible.
But avoid foolish controversies... because these are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:9
Another reason someone may want to preach their beliefs is to make him/herself look better than others. They want to glorify themselves as the Pharisees did in Jesus' time. They want to point their fingers at everyone else's sins while ignoring their own. I hope I never come across this way. I am full aware of my issues that need a lot of work, and I do not feel like I am better than anyone. Christians so often come across as judgmental when we speak out against worldly pursuits, but as for my husband and me, we are not judging people. Our motivation is to help people see the light and live a life full of joy and free of habitual sins that chain them down. Our goal is not to expect you to be like us, but we are attempting to point you to the attributes of Jesus. That's why the description for this Blog/Facebook page states that I am not the teacher of the School of Holiness, Jesus Christ is.
"And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5
Before Jesus was about to ascend into Heaven, He told His disciples to spread the gospel to all the world (see Matthew 16:15). The gospel message centers around the birth, lessons, death, and resurrections of Jesus. We are not to focus on issues that take the focus off of God. Jesus did not tell us to spread the message of Moses or any other Biblical figure. It is good to teach others about the entire Bible, but we should never put the words or actions of any other person, dead or alive, above the deeds and words of Jesus.
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:32-33
While it is true that we live in a state of spiritual warfare that we cannot ever fully grasp (see Ephesians 6:10-17), we are not to focus on demons or worship angels. We need to be fully aware they exist and realize they do impact our lives in many unseen ways, but it is unhealthy to blame every bad thing that goes wrong on the devil or to praise angels. We are to pray for angelic protection, and be thankful for their help, but we are only to praise God as the angels are acting on His orders.
Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Colossians 2:18
Bottom line, our motivation for preaching should always be to lift Jesus higher than ourselves and to point people to follow the words and deeds of our Savior and Lord. We should not distract others from the gospel. Our good works are not to shine the light on money, angels, others, or ourselves, but should only be meant to bring glory to the Father above!
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
No comments:
Post a Comment