So, this series is here to help us gauge if we have fallen into “religion” rather than being captivated by Jesus. My goal is to expose areas of our lives where, we are saved by the gracious blood of Christ through faith; however, we continue to live a life of religion. I am attempting this goal through audio, visual and written forms of communication. This is my first written installment.
With that said, this post is about your Bible Study attendance. You may be in a church that doesn’t use that term, if you are in that kind of Church please supplement “Bible Study” with “Small Group” or “Whatever” your church calls it. The basic idea is a gathering people who are there to learn and experience Jesus. That is my focus.
Do you know these people? Those who come to a Bible study. You know the type, the ones who come don’t pay any attention, stare off into space, NEVER make eye contact with the teacher; perhaps, they don’t even bring their Bible. I tell women who are looking for a husband to look for man who has a Bible in his hands when he comes to church, because if he doesn’t have one – then he probably doesn’t know where it is.
So, how is a “Bible Study Attender” being “religious” rather than captivated for Jesus? Let me break this down, what is the purpose of a “Bible Study”? Is it fellowship? What about learning or perhaps is it a comedy show? What about conviction? Is it even a Bible study if the Gospel is spoken about? I would say a Bible study is an engaging experience between believers, where one’s intellect is prodded by the Word of God causing conviction, joy and reminding us about the gospel. Now, if you are a Bible study attender it is easy to come, sit in your chair, listen to someone speak for 40 mins; throw up some superficial prayers always about what you want or about health but never about repentance, spiritual growth, Jesus or the kingdom of God, never participate, groan at the opportunity for group prayer and then when class is “dismissed” and the teacher says “amen” – you stand up and begin to engage others about what they did over the weekend or where one should go to eat afterward.
Let me ask you this, why are people more excited or talkative or engaged when class ends? Why is it, when class ends, people begin to pull out their party confetti poppers and an explosion of chatter shatters the silence of a class room? It is because of religion. It is the superficial, religions, worldly act of sitting in a room hearing someone teach and walking out that condemns us. It is, as John Macarthur writes in The Gospel According to Jesus (pg. 21), that we have “been conditioned to believe that because they recited a prayer, signed a dotted line, walked an aisle, or had some other experience, they are saved and should never question their salvation“.
This has spawned mass of people who believe a “Professing Christian’s” character does not have to be changed; rather just they must attempt to watch their speech in front of pastors, hide their sexual sin from the teacher and put their shot glasses in a high cabinet above their fridge and not allow the teacher/preachers EVER get a glass of water on their own. It is this cheap grace that completely ignores Titus 2:11-14
Titus 2:11 -14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
It is this demonic grace, that instructs us to NOT preach the gospel to ourselves everyday, but preach Self Satisfaction to ourselves. It is this evil grace, that teaches us that we NEED to get baptized to make our parents happy or to fulfill our dieing grandmother’s last wish.
Jesus made it clear, His will for us is to be saved (1Timothy 1:15), sanctified (Romans 12:1-2) and submissive (2 Peter 1:5-11). We are to practice such a life of obedience and transform our character into Jesus. Jesus did not call us to such an easy life. His call is a radical call of discipleship. Radical discipleship will expose the sins of hypocrisy and because of that, they will be exposed for the frauds they are and then they will begin to clamor, scoff and speak evil about you. But it is Jesus who said
John 15:18
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you”.
Jesus is not impressed, convinced nor approving of the confession of your mouth. He is interested in the confession of your life. It is sad and is such a burden in my heart to see “Bible Study Attenders” who are there for the “After Party” and could not care less about the “lesson”. These are the ones who come because they are forced by their boyfriend or girlfriend, mother or made to feel guilty by a friend if they do not come. God help these people, because they are duped into thinking their attendance, their butt in the seat is a sense of obedience – when God doesn’t give a rip about your self righteous deeds (Isaiah 64:6). Like the prostitute in Proverbs 7, she says she paid her vows and is now “ok” to sleep with another man while her husband is out of town. Such deception must be exposed. This type of belief system cannot be tolerated. It is evil and demonic it is hell bound and such evil must be exposed. People try to justify this lifestyle, devoid of any type of active life altering response to Jesus by quoting Romans 10:9 that ALL they need to do is intellectually believe audibly say Jesus died and rose from the dead. They will ABSOLUTELY deny the words of Jesus (Matthew 7:21, Luke 6:44), James (James 2:14-17), John (1 John 2:4, 3:10), Paul (Romans 8:29, 13:11). When it is exposed, this is when the “Bible Study Attender” says “Maybe we need a new class” or “I think it is time to move on” or begin to find some other “thing” wrong with the Bible study, church or worship style and go to another church. But if such a person were engaged by Jesus Christ, taught the holy scriptures and paid attention to the words of God they would know:
Proverbs 9:8 “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”
Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid”.
Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
So my challenge to you, get engaged. Fulfill the Ephesians 4:17-32 call of the local church and if you do not see that in your life – then you MUST check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Ephesians 4:17-32
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Then ensure you are not like the Galatians:
Galatians 1:6-9
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
I will leave you with a quote from A.W. Towzer (I call it Heresy!, pg. 18-19):
“The Lord will not save those whom He cannot commnad. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on half-Christ. We take Hiim for what He is – the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of all lords! He would not be Who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives.“
All Glory To God Alone
Judson
With that said, this post is about your Bible Study attendance. You may be in a church that doesn’t use that term, if you are in that kind of Church please supplement “Bible Study” with “Small Group” or “Whatever” your church calls it. The basic idea is a gathering people who are there to learn and experience Jesus. That is my focus.
Do you know these people? Those who come to a Bible study. You know the type, the ones who come don’t pay any attention, stare off into space, NEVER make eye contact with the teacher; perhaps, they don’t even bring their Bible. I tell women who are looking for a husband to look for man who has a Bible in his hands when he comes to church, because if he doesn’t have one – then he probably doesn’t know where it is.
So, how is a “Bible Study Attender” being “religious” rather than captivated for Jesus? Let me break this down, what is the purpose of a “Bible Study”? Is it fellowship? What about learning or perhaps is it a comedy show? What about conviction? Is it even a Bible study if the Gospel is spoken about? I would say a Bible study is an engaging experience between believers, where one’s intellect is prodded by the Word of God causing conviction, joy and reminding us about the gospel. Now, if you are a Bible study attender it is easy to come, sit in your chair, listen to someone speak for 40 mins; throw up some superficial prayers always about what you want or about health but never about repentance, spiritual growth, Jesus or the kingdom of God, never participate, groan at the opportunity for group prayer and then when class is “dismissed” and the teacher says “amen” – you stand up and begin to engage others about what they did over the weekend or where one should go to eat afterward.
Let me ask you this, why are people more excited or talkative or engaged when class ends? Why is it, when class ends, people begin to pull out their party confetti poppers and an explosion of chatter shatters the silence of a class room? It is because of religion. It is the superficial, religions, worldly act of sitting in a room hearing someone teach and walking out that condemns us. It is, as John Macarthur writes in The Gospel According to Jesus (pg. 21), that we have “been conditioned to believe that because they recited a prayer, signed a dotted line, walked an aisle, or had some other experience, they are saved and should never question their salvation“.
This has spawned mass of people who believe a “Professing Christian’s” character does not have to be changed; rather just they must attempt to watch their speech in front of pastors, hide their sexual sin from the teacher and put their shot glasses in a high cabinet above their fridge and not allow the teacher/preachers EVER get a glass of water on their own. It is this cheap grace that completely ignores Titus 2:11-14
Titus 2:11 -14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
It is this demonic grace, that instructs us to NOT preach the gospel to ourselves everyday, but preach Self Satisfaction to ourselves. It is this evil grace, that teaches us that we NEED to get baptized to make our parents happy or to fulfill our dieing grandmother’s last wish.
Jesus made it clear, His will for us is to be saved (1Timothy 1:15), sanctified (Romans 12:1-2) and submissive (2 Peter 1:5-11). We are to practice such a life of obedience and transform our character into Jesus. Jesus did not call us to such an easy life. His call is a radical call of discipleship. Radical discipleship will expose the sins of hypocrisy and because of that, they will be exposed for the frauds they are and then they will begin to clamor, scoff and speak evil about you. But it is Jesus who said
John 15:18
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you”.
Jesus is not impressed, convinced nor approving of the confession of your mouth. He is interested in the confession of your life. It is sad and is such a burden in my heart to see “Bible Study Attenders” who are there for the “After Party” and could not care less about the “lesson”. These are the ones who come because they are forced by their boyfriend or girlfriend, mother or made to feel guilty by a friend if they do not come. God help these people, because they are duped into thinking their attendance, their butt in the seat is a sense of obedience – when God doesn’t give a rip about your self righteous deeds (Isaiah 64:6). Like the prostitute in Proverbs 7, she says she paid her vows and is now “ok” to sleep with another man while her husband is out of town. Such deception must be exposed. This type of belief system cannot be tolerated. It is evil and demonic it is hell bound and such evil must be exposed. People try to justify this lifestyle, devoid of any type of active life altering response to Jesus by quoting Romans 10:9 that ALL they need to do is intellectually believe audibly say Jesus died and rose from the dead. They will ABSOLUTELY deny the words of Jesus (Matthew 7:21, Luke 6:44), James (James 2:14-17), John (1 John 2:4, 3:10), Paul (Romans 8:29, 13:11). When it is exposed, this is when the “Bible Study Attender” says “Maybe we need a new class” or “I think it is time to move on” or begin to find some other “thing” wrong with the Bible study, church or worship style and go to another church. But if such a person were engaged by Jesus Christ, taught the holy scriptures and paid attention to the words of God they would know:
Proverbs 9:8 “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”
Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid”.
Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
So my challenge to you, get engaged. Fulfill the Ephesians 4:17-32 call of the local church and if you do not see that in your life – then you MUST check yourself before you wreck yourself.
Ephesians 4:17-32
So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Then ensure you are not like the Galatians:
Galatians 1:6-9
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
I will leave you with a quote from A.W. Towzer (I call it Heresy!, pg. 18-19):
“The Lord will not save those whom He cannot commnad. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on half-Christ. We take Hiim for what He is – the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of all lords! He would not be Who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives.“
All Glory To God Alone
Judson
Matthew 7:21, Luke 6:44, Romans 8:29, Galatians 1:6, James 2:14 and 1 John 2:4
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