Flattery will get you Nowhere

Posted by anointedplace on December 27, 2012 · 4 Comments 

Galatians 4

¹⁶ Have I then become your enemy by ^(X)telling you the truth?^{[d] 17} They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. ¹⁸ It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and ^(Y)not only when I am present with you,

Who are the types of ministers people always talk about? Who are the ones that we find in interviews and talk shows? Who are the pastors we lift up and elevate? Name the well known pastors and think about their ministries. What do they have in common? I will help you out with the thinking. They all make much of us. They make much of us so that we would make much of them. They speak words that are easy to hear and tell us all the things we want and desire to hear. Paul says that there is a time and place for the man of God to edify us. But the purpose should always be good and God glorifying. They should love on us in words and deeds. They shouldn’t call you a conqueror one minute and pretend to not know you the next. We go around talking about how good they make us feel. We go around talking about how empowered we are when we leave the church. We get affirmations and we get confirmations as to what we are doing and what we wanna do no matter if we are doing it in sin. We leave their services feeling ok with how lukewarm we are living. We never feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and we find ourselves chasing the high of being in church. We will do whatever it is these pastors want at the expense of no longer worshipping God but the golden calf that they have promised. We never wonder why we don’t hear about the deep things of God. We never wonder why we don’t hear more about his grace and we don’t know about the Holy Spirit. We never wonder why we don’t know about the wrath of God. We never wonder why we don’t hear about sin and hell. We don’t understand that the Gospel is about healing the sin by making much of the sinner as God keeps them out of hell because the Father made much if the Son. All we care about is faith and blessings, so they promise us that in exchange for our praises for them.

Jesus’ brothers wanted him to go out before people and preach to gain fame. They wanted Jesus to go to Feast of Booths to make his ministry known before the people. But Jesus knew that his ministry wasn’t for everybody.

John 7:2-10 Now the Jews‘ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” After saying this, he remained in Galilee. But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.

It is rare that you would find a church filled with people willing to hear a message about the world and their evils as Jesus says. No one flocks to hear truth, they are drawn by God to hear the truth. Jesus says it and knows that the world hates him because of the Gospel he preaches. Jesus saves his sermon on the mount for his disciples not the gathering crowds. For the gathering crowds he delivers The Gospel of John chapter 6. There are many hard to hear sayings of Jesus Christ, which all caused people to turn away and stopping following him. See the world chooses its leaders both worldly and spiritual ones. Our hearts are harden against truth and open to self serving lies. It is easier to say how great we are and that we are only human than it is to say that we are sinners in need of Jesus Christ and the renewing of our minds.

Filed under Christian · Tagged with Galilee, God, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit of God, HolySpirit, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jew, John 6, Judea