Praying Pint

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Psalm 66:18-19

Why are witnesses in a courtroom required to swear to tell “the whole truth” when they testify? So that what they say is true matches up with what they know to be true. If they are found to be lying—saying one thing but knowing another—they can be convicted of perjury and suffer serious penalties.

A judge and jury cannot see into a witness’ heart or mind to tell whether or not the truth is being presented. But God can. In the Old Testament, there were clear warnings about coming before God in prayer while hiding sin in one’s heart. That is, attempting to act holy in prayer while being unholy in practice. In such cases, God turns a deaf ear to the prayers (Proverbs 15:29; 28:9; Isaiah 1:15; 59:1-2). And the same is said in the New Testament (1 Peter 3:12). The first step in prayer is confession leading to cleansing.

When you pray, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything that would hinder your prayers.

Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.

There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

–1 Timothy 2:5

According to the false teaching of mysticism, faith in Jesus Christ is not enough to be a spiritual Christian–you also need some kind of supernatural experience. Paul battled mystical teachings in the church at Colossae. In Colossians 2:18, he wrote, “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.”

One component of mysticism in Colossae was “self-abasement and the worship of angels.” In the New International Version, the phrase “self-abasement” is translated as “false humility.” My predecessor at First Dallas, Dr. W. A. Criswell, kept a beautiful, leather-bound book in his office titled My Humility and How I Achieved It. When you opened the book, all the pages were blank. That book could have easily been written by the Colossian mystics. They prided themselves on their humility.

How does that relate to the worship of angels? These mystics were saying, “God is so great that we could never come to Him. So instead of worshiping God, we will worship the angels.” That tendency continues even today. There are people who say, “We can’t approach God on our own; we need a go-between.” So they try to come to God through angels, saints, or spiritual leaders.

The fact is, God is too holy for us to approach Him. We do need a go-between. But that go-between is not a priest, a saint, or an angel; it is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

The Bible talks about the reality of angels, but they are no substitute for Jesus. Hebrews 1:5 says, “To which of the angels did [God] ever say, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You’?” God never said that to an angel–only to Jesus. The writer continued, “Are [angels] not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?” (v. 14). Angels are like God’s AAA service: He dispatches them to render service for those of us who belong to Jesus Christ. But as wonderful as angels are, God never meant for us to worship them. We are to worship only God.

The world, in the last few years, has reverted to a sort of barbarism. As practical Christianity has declined, rudeness and violence have increased. Neighbors quarrel with neighbors. Fighting is a major problem in our schools and the “gang wars” of the teenagers have come to present a serious menace in our cities. Fathers and mothers wrangle and bicker. Homes are disintegrating. High government officials in Washington engage in name-calling and in heated disputes not at all in keeping with the dignity of their office. Why and how has all this savagery crept into our social life? It is because we have forgotten Jesus’ words, “Happy are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” I have seen tough, rough, hardened men open their hearts by faith, receive Christ as Savior, and become gentle, patient, merciful gentlemen.

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32

We will occasionally hear of a tragic event perpetrated by one person against another, whether intentionally or accidentally. The harm is so deep that the hurt party will say, “I don’t think I can ever forgive that person!” Humanly speaking, we can understand how pain can motivate such a reaction, but there is no biblical justification for it. The Bible clearly teaches that there are to be no limits—no exceptions—to our forgiveness of others (Matthew 18:21-22).

Because of a statement Jesus made to religious leaders in His day, some people think there is a sin so grievous that God will not forgive them. That is, they wonder if there is an unpardonable sin in God’s eyes. Yes, Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Matthew 12:31-32). But He was referring to people whose hearts were so hardened against God’s revelations of Himself that there was no coming back. There is no unforgivable sin for those who want to be forgiven. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

The standard for our forgiveness of others is the way God forgives us—without exceptions (Ephesians 4:32).

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.

–Colossians 2:18

Twelve years ago, Jefferson Bethke released a spoken-word poetry performance entitled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” Within two weeks, the video had more than 16 million views on YouTube. Bethke’s poem clearly struck a nerve with modern audiences, even though his message was at least two thousand years old. Though there’s no record that the apostle Paul ever performed spoken-word poetry, in his letter to the Colossians, Paul explained why he hated man-made religion but loved the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

In our study of Colossians, we’re in the heart of Paul’s letter to a church that was being infiltrated by false teachers. These false teachers weren’t Satanists or occultists; they were professing Christians who said the gospel of Jesus Christ is essential but not enough.

One group of false teachers was trying to add human philosophy to the gospel. They said, “You need Christ, but you also need human wisdom.”

A second group, the legalists, was trying to add rituals and regulations to the gospel. They said, “You need Christ, but you also need to adhere to the Old Testament laws and festivals.”

A third group of false teachers was trying to add mysticism to the gospel. They said, “You need Christ, but you also need a mystical, supernatural experience with God to be a truly spiritual Christian.”

In Colossians 2:18, Paul issued this warning against mysticism: “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.”

The Greek word translated as “defrauding” in this verse is an athletic term. It means to give a judgment against, the way a referee or an umpire makes a judgment in a sporting event. You probably know what it feels like when a team you support is on the wrong end of one of those calls. If a call by the referee ends up costing your team the game, you feel like you were cheated out of a victory.

Similarly, Paul was saying to the Colossian Christians, “Let no one rob you of the prize that belongs to you.” The prize is knowing that all is right between you and God and that you have everything you need to live the Christian life. Don’t let anybody rob you of that prize by saying you need an additional mystical experience. In Christ, you have everything you need.

When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” (Genesis 19:15)

God sent two angels to Sodom to inspect the city and to remove Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family before the Lord’s judgment came.

One significant reason the judgment of God was coming against Sodom and Gomorrah was because of their depraved sexual immorality, which included homosexuality (Genesis 19:4-5). In Ezekiel 16, God later condemned and rebuked the great sin of Judah in the latter days of the divided monarchy. God compared Jerusalem to the ancient city of Sodom, saying they were like sisters.

Ezekiel 16:48-50 describes some of those shared sins: pride, idleness, and injustice to the poor. Yet, those were not the only sins of Sodom that made them targets of judgment. Instead, those were the sins of Sodom also shared by her later “sister” Jerusalem. The Genesis text makes it plain that God was also grieved by their sexual violence and immorality, which is included Ezekiel’s list of sins under the words committed abomination(Ezekiel 16:50). In addition, Jude 1:7 clearly states that sexual immorality was one of the sins God noted at Sodom and Gomorrah, connected to going “after strange flesh.” The open and approved practice of homosexuality was one of the many sins of Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbor cities.

The morning dawned on the day judgment would come, and the angels had to beg Lot and his family to leave the soon to be destroyed city. The only ones to escape would be Lot, his wife, and his two daughters. Lot’s sons-in-law would be left behind as the angels urged Lot to escape the coming destruction and judgment

In how they urged Lot, these angels may serve as a pattern of evangelism.

The angels went after Lot, going to him and his house. Believers might wish that sinners would come to them, and some will. But Jesus didn’t say, “Sit back in church and let sinners come to you.” Jesus told His disciples to go out to all nations, preaching the gospel and making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

The angels warned Lot of what was going to happen, and in plain words. Today, it’s common to mock the “hellfire and damnation preacher,” but there is an appropriate place to warn others of God’s coming wrath (Colossians 3:6). Evangelism can and should include warning.

The angels urged Lot, urging him to flee destruction. The angels didn’t make a lifeless appeal, saying “Come or don’t come, we really don’t care.” With great passion and urgency, they did all they could to persuade Lot and his family. Our evangelism should have a note of urgency and passion, working hard to persuade others for Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:11).

Dear believer, let these three things mark your sharing of the gospel. When you find evangelists who do these things, support and encourage them.

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.

–Romans 14:22

This week, we’ve been looking at the problem of legalism in the Colossian church. Now let me point out two important principles from this passage for us today.

First of all, we ought to deal with other Christians on the basis of grace, not the law. Romans 14:13 says, “Let us not judge one another anymore.” In those areas the Bible is silent about, we are to quit judging other people. If you feel it’s wrong for you to drink alcohol or gamble, then I’m happy God has led you to that conviction. But don’t make your conviction somebody else’s command. We ought to deal with other people on the basis of grace.

Second, we need to differentiate between legalism and obedience. Somebody might read this passage and think, That means I’m free to do whatever I want to do because I’m under grace, not the law. No, we are to obey God’s commands. Even though the only Old Testament laws that apply to us today are the ones repeated in the New Testament, there are some rules we follow–not to earn our salvation but to merit God’s favor in our lives. God says if we follow His principles about morality, attitudes, and family, we’ll have better lives than if we disobey those principles.

We’re also to obey those whom God has placed in authority over us. For example, if you’re a teenager, don’t tell your parents, “Pastor Jeffress says it’s okay for me to have a can of beer.” Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” If your parents say you can’t have alcohol, that means no alcohol.

We’re to obey governing authorities as well. Romans 13:1–2 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. . . . Those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God.” In the United States, the law says you’re not to drink under the age of twenty-one. We are to submit to that authority. It is the same way with our spiritual leaders and our employers. Obeying God means obeying those who are in authority over us.

Remember this: grace is not the freedom to do what we want to do. Grace is the freedom to obey God out of love rather than fear. So many Christians are still living as slaves to sin and slaves to the law. If you’re a Christian, you are free from the burden of trying to earn God’s approval. Instead, you are free to serve God out of genuine appreciation for all He has done for you.