Empty Praise

I meant to get this post up on the day it claims to be posted, but was not able to finish until after my high school missions trip, which ended on the 10th of July. This was posted the 11th. Read it as if posted June 30th.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go with the Sullivans and some of their friends to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. It was very good singing, especially considering the fact that every single one of them is a volunteer, and there was a great amount of coordination involved. Their claps were all on beat and the scariest part was when they would put their hands down, because they did it... really... slowly... like... this...

Anyway, the eeriest part was when they sang "worship" songs that I like to sing to my God. They sang these songs and I suppose I was expected to appreciate their spirituality for it. Well, I didn't . That singing was only deceptive. It was empty praise. If they were worshiping at all (and not performing), then they were worshiping a false god. I talked to a Mormon once and said that her teachings didn't line up with my Christian teachings, she insisted that Mormons were no different from Christians. That wasn't difficult to discount, but that experience only convinced me that the purpose of the Mormon religion was deception. That's why I couldn't appreciate what they were doing.

They were good, yes. But it didn't mean anything. It was just empty.

The God we worship doesn't care that we sing the greatest hymns or most powerful worship songs, he doesn't care how well we sing them or how many people we sing them in front of. We don't even have to sing in order to worship God. He cares about the heart. His Word says He is seeking "true worshipers" who "will worship the father in spirit and in truth." - John 4:23 I need to be careful, though. Just because I am a Christian doesn't mean I can't be presenting empty worship to God. It can be just as easy to sing the words of the song without meaning them, or doing good works in order to get something other than Christ. I need to constantly remind myself of God's attributes and worship Him for those, realizing how low I am and how much He really deserves it.

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night"
~ Psalm 92:1-2

1 Corinthians 7:17-40

All right. The last time I tried to write this, it got lost. That was Sunday evening. It's Tuesday afternoon now. Hopefully the bad "luck" has passed by now. But perhaps it was not simply a case of bad luck. When I wanted to continue writing this on Monday, I had already spent an hour on it and just wanted to finish it and move on. Well that should be a red flag right there. That kind of apathy is unacceptable, and will not help us to continue move closer to Christ. Now, the fact that I try to do this on a regular basis could have the effect of making it a routine and numb me to doing it, but is that any reason to stop doing it? I think not. Reading our Bibles every day could get routine, however that does not in any way imply we should not do it every day. This last Sunday at Bible study, Bobby brought up a great point. This is a relationship! As such, it should have all the aspects of a successful and exciting relationship... Like spontaneity! A schedule should be there to guide you, not control you!

This blog is supposed to be all about 1 Corinthians, but that did not stop me from taking a day to write my post about Faithfulness. After that I got right back onto my "schedule." Bobby and Christa's marriage (or any other marriage for that matter), he said, could be completely planned with a bunch of nice activities to do together, but how predictable! There's no room for emotion or surprise, and I doubt anyone would like their life or relationships to be like that. Sure, a plan is nice sometimes so you have some idea of what you want to do, but when that plan decides what you do instead of you planning what you do, well, that just sounds dangerous. At that point apathy can hit, and you will have no power to resist it, since you have completely committed yourself to doing something you no longer want to do.

On that note, let us dive in to the last half of chapter 7. Verses 17-24 are pretty straightforward, and seem to just be a continuation of the theme of contentment. Paul says that we need not worry about changing our social status simply because we are saved. The Lord has a place for each of us, and that place is where we should walk and serve the Lord (v.17). He reassures us that religious status and social status is nothing, "but keeping the commandments of God is what matters" (v.19).

On a side note: It seems that Paul has a tendency to repeat himself a lot, perhaps he got that from the Old Testament. I seem to remember it happening there quite a bit too. Verses 17,20, and 24 are very similar. I would not even start to accuse him of being a bad writer (we always learn not to be repetitious in English class at school), since he may have felt this was necessary. These Corinthians were hard-headed and proud, so he may have felt that it would take a few times to really make his point

In verse 25 Paul decides to give advice rather than a commandment, since he knew of no command from the Lord (Christ or the Old Testament) that he could give. He advises people to stay as they are, if single to remain single, and if married to remain married. He does say that if one decides to get married, that is perfectly legitimate, although marriage will inevitably produce some conflict. He again wishes that men could be like him, and not have to worry about the troubles of a marriage (v.28).

In verse 29 Paul makes a little shift, encouraging the Corinthians to seek the Lord fully. He says that "those who have wives should be as though they had none" (v.29). This is not to say that marriage is not important or that physical needs should not still be met, but to say that the marriage should not take away from one's service to the Lord. This is not a problem if the one we marry encourages us toward that end in the first place! This is an urgent message, too, to be started immediately, not put off until some future date, because the "time is short" (v.29).

Paul urges that there be no distractions coming between us and the Lord (v.32). Marriage is not inherently a hindrance, although it does bring up potential distractions that could get between us and God. One of these is seeking to please our spouse (vv.33,34). That could be an encouragement to humble oneself and be Christ-like and more of a servant, or it could dominate our thoughts, and become an obsession taking higher precedence in our lives than God. Single people need not worry about this distinction, because they can simply focus on seeking the Lord and keeping themselves holy in body and spirit (v.34). At the end of this paragraph Paul once again reiterates that this counsel is not meant to hinder them, but to encourage them to remove distractions from their life in whatever way possible (v.35).

Verses 36-38 are Paul's advice on what to do in the case that the father had dedicated his daughter to lifelong chastity. If histhe man's daughter had a problem with this, and wanted to get married, he should not feel that breaking his vow would be sinning. It is no sin to allow one's child to marry. However, if the daughter was not bent on marrying anyone, he should not feel compelled to have her marry. Keeping her as a virgin would not be wrong. This was simply a matter of preference, not a choice between wrong or right.

Verses 39-40 are about the wife and restrictions on marriage and remarriage. Basically, the commitment lasts until one person dies, at which point the living spouse may remarry if they please (v.39). Paul says that he thinks they would be happier staying single, and for many that may be true, then adds (and this is actually funny, as it would seem obvious) that he thinks he has the Holy Spirit in him.

This passage at a first glance may seem somewhat dry, focused on an aspect of human living that does not specifically apply to me, but distractions are anything but missing from my life! The idea that we should "be without care" (v.32) and "serve the Lord without discation" (v.35) still apply! Jesus Christ once told us to be radical about dealing with distractions and sin. He told us we should cut off any inlet it has into our lives, so that we can serve Him perfectly without worrying about other things. He used an analogy of eyeballs being plucked and hands being severed. That is how radical I should treat these things that are getting in my way of serving Christ and getting to know Him better (Please note that it was just an analogy ~ He was not condoning self mutilation). What I can continue to do at all times is search for ways to destroy those sinful desires that creep up to take away from the joy I have in this relationship with my Lord.

A Change of Heart

Today was the first day of summer where I could honestly say it was the first day I had nothing to do. Nothing planned anyways. I always have a blog I can write, always a Bible to read, and always food to eat. Aside from that, I mean, I had nothing to do. That meant that today was the today I had to start my summer reading. Now, if anyone has ever been in school, they know how awesome it is to finally get to that summer vacation: those few, seemingly short weeks of freedom that we have before we must once again carry the burden of homework and tests on our backs. Basically I think homework and tests are the only reason people really despise school. If there were no homework or tests, if we could go to school every day and be done with it at the end of that day, everyone would have a good time! After all, you get to learn cool things like how to make explosions in Chemistry and socialize with your friends regularly and often. There's nothing bad about that. But the reality is that those things are there, because most people don't want to learn voluntarily. Therefore, when summer break comes along, it's that much sweeter, because we aren't carrying any school-related stress burdens.

Well, I have something to say about The King's Academy and academic freedom. It doesn't exist until you graduate! And even then you get to go to college, and bam, you are back in the system. They had to take homework one step further and invent the most horrible homework assignment man could possibly have invented: Summer Reading! That means, we get a list of books that we are required to read, and we read them all before summer is over (in my case before August 17, even though school doesnt start until later - August 22nd - which is still too early), and they check this by giving you more work (i.e. book report type papers to complete). Well this is a problem isn't it, and being a male, I am inclined to solve such a problem. Well, it is technically homework, so I should apply the same principle I do to regular homework and this is what?: To bring God into it. Well, the first time I tried that didn't work out so well. I had no idea how to do that: I was reading Frankenstein for heaven's sakes. So, what was there to do. Well I got up and tried again, but instead of trying the same experiment expecting different results like a bad scientist, I sought out a different book to read.

I chose Two Gentlemen of Verona by Shakespeare. Now, I have always had a hard time reading Shakespeare, but when I started reading this, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps God opened my eyes for a time, or perhaps this is one of Billy's simpler writings, or maybe I'm just progressing like that. In any case, I could read it and understand it! I actually laughed at Shakespeare at one point! I never would have dreamed of that happening. I remember always saying stuff like: "This is supposed to be comedy? This is ridiculous! A guy growing donkey ears isn't funny. That's just stupid" [A Midsummer Night's Dream]. Well, there was one segment in the passage I read - that being Act 1 - where this guy Proteus is proving that this guy Speed is a sheep.

SPEED
Sir Proteus, save you! Saw you my master?
PROTEUS
But now he parted hence, to embark for Milan.
SPEED
Twenty to one then he is shipp'd already,
And I have play'd the sheep in losing him.
PROTEUS
Indeed, a sheep doth very often stray,
An if the shepherd be a while away.
SPEED
You conclude that my master is a shepherd, then,
and I a sheep?
PROTEUS
I do.
SPEED
Why then, my horns are his horns, whether I wake or sleep.
PROTEUS
A silly answer and fitting well a sheep.
SPEED
This proves me still a sheep.
PROTEUS
True; and thy master a shepherd.
SPEED
Nay, that I can deny by a circumstance.
PROTEUS
It shall go hard but I'll prove it by another.
SPEED
The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the
shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks
not me: therefore I am no sheep.
PROTEUS
The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd; the
shepherd for food follows not the sheep: thou for
wages followest thy master; thy master for wages
follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep.
SPEED
Such another proof will make me cry 'baa.'

Now, whether or not Speed is a sheep, I do not care. What I care about is the fact that I enjoyed reading that passage, and it inspired me to read more. Now, I quickly learned that Shakespeare has quite a difficult time staying off the subject of love. I have also been taught that any ideas a person presents that could or could not be trueshould be checked against the Bible. So, when someone in the story is talking about love, whether or not the author intends to be presenting a truth about love, I must check their statements against the Bible to be sure I am not sending myself any subliminal messages. Don't laugh. It happens. In any case, this is the quote:

JULIA
They do not love that do not show their love.
LUCETTA
O, they love least that let men know their love.

What surprises me - and what might surprise you as well - is the fact that these two lines are entirely true. They are both supported by the Bible and carry spiritual weight. I knew this as soon as I read both. The line by Julia is so directly applicable to the life of a Christian. It is the idea that if we are not bearing spiritual fruits, we are not a good tree. A change of heart results in a change of action. Love after all is an action! If we claim to be Christians, if we claim to love Christ, that will manifest itself in works (works on the other hand, will not bring forth a love for Christ).

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." ~ John 14:15
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." ~ John 14:21
"Jesus answered and said unto him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word...'" ~ John 14:23

Powerful indeed. This to say that if a brother is destitute of works, he should be cautioned to examine whether or not he has love for Christ, not to start doing good works. "But Evan," you say, "what about the next passage you introduced to use from Billy?" Well, with the idea of the Pharisees in mind, the quote I gave makes perfect sense. The Pharisees always tried to show how religious and spiritual they could be by doing works and following their law perfectly. They had a fake love, that was based on other people affirming their goodness. This is not how it should be with us, and this is what Lucetta was cautioning Julia about. If someone is very showy about what they do for someone else, it cannot be said that this doer loves. Let us take Matthew 6 as a great passage of example for this situation.

"Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men... And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men." ~ Matthew 6:2,5

These hypocrites wanted to show off their deeds and good works to other people, proclaiming their love for God, and hopefully raising themselves up to a higher spiritual status. But that is selfishness, and true love is selfless.

"...love does not parade itself, is not puffed up" ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4

I think I've pretty much driven my point into the ground by now. I just thought I would share the ways I was looking for God today in what I was doing (however boring it might otherwise be) and encourage others to do the same!

1 Corinthians 7:1-16

I definitely won't have time to write on the entire chapter today (It's 39 verses long!). But I'll get through as much as I can, stopping at 16 or 24 depending... Here we go!

The Classic Opening Verse: #1 ~ "It is good for a man not to touch a woman." That sounds radical, but it's actually a Jewish eupemism for intercourse. So... It is good for a man - and we'll use the English euphemism - not to sleep with a woman. Paul is referring to single people here, as in the next verse, he condones marriage in order to avoid immorality. In the next few verses he goes over how sexuality in a Christian marriage should be. Married people can read verses 3-5. I'll just move on. In verse 6, Paul clarifies that he is not commanding people to get married (i.e. Marriage is not required for the believer. It would not be sin for a man to remain unmarried his entire life). On the contrary, Paul wishes that all men could be single like him, but each man has his own God-given abilities (7/8). He agrees that it would be better for them to fulfill their passions the way God created them to be fulfilled than to remain single and unable to concentrate on working for the Lord.

The next section (verses 10-16) is about faithfulness in marriage. Verses 10 and 12 might seem confusing, like Paul is denying inspiration in verse 12 but affirming it in verse 10. However since this is Scripture, and all scripture is God-breated (2 Timothy 3:16), we know then that this cannot be the case. John MacArthur says that what Paul means by these phrases is that verses 10 and 11 are him reaffirming what God has already stated in older Scriptures, while verses 12-16 are new information coming through Paul. That makes sense.

Verses 10 and 11 are pretty straightforward. Christian couples are not to divorce. And if they do for any reason other than marital unfaithfulness (see Matthew 5:32), they are to remain unmarried to anyone else or be reconciled again to eachother. Paul makes it clear in verse 11 that neither partner has special priveleges for divorce (e.g. The woman isn't allowed to divorce, but if the man wants to he can). You have to clear this up with people. No loop holes.

Verses 12-16 address unequally yoked couples. Being married to an unbeliever (hopefully due to a conversion after marriage) is not defiling, and the Christian is to remain faithful to their spouse if s/he is willing. In verse 13 Paul once again clarifies that this applies to both the believing husband and the believing wife. Neither has special priveleges over another in divorce. Verse 14 should not be mistaken with salvation, although it can sometimes be including in the "sanctification." By saying that the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing one, he means that the blessings received by the saved spouse will pour over and be shared with the unsaved. The same is said of the children. One Christian spouse will bless the children and possibly save them. The Christian parent doesn't need to fear what the non-Christian might do to make the children "unclean," but remain faithful.

He also then says that if the unbelieving spouse wishes for divorce, the believing one need not hold on (although I can't imagine it would be easy to simply let them go). Paul is speaking morally here in verse 15: the believer doesn't have to worry about sinning because a divorce is occurring. He says they are "not under bondage in such cases." Also, the believer need not be preoccupied with saving their spouse: that is not their job. There is no guarantee that they will be the one to save their spouse anyways. God decides who is saved, so it would be better to be at peace with that believer than to create more strife by resisting the separation.

A common theme in these verse is contentment. We as Christians should be content with our social or marital or whatever status that God has placed us in. There is no need to fight the circumstances God has placed us in, but we need to trust Him and do our absolute best to serve Him wherever and however we are: in this case, single or married. I as a highschooler can be content with simply being single and being able to serve the Lord with all my heart, without loyalty owed to another person. I don't need to worry about searching for a girlfriend or getting married because God has provided my singleness as a blessing and a time to focus on growing in Him (possibly even to prepare for such a relationship). My job is to wait on the Lord, and I can do so eagerly with great anticipation and excitement. What a way to live!

"My soul waits for the Lord
More than those who watch for the morning -
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning."
~Psalm 130:6

1 Corinthians 6

Another day, another chapter! I haven't had much time this week to do these studies, but bear with me, the busyness is coming to a close.

I don't really have any explanation for the first verses. Paul says that we will judge the world (alongside God I assume) and angels. John MacArthur says that the Greek word could mean "to rule or govern," so who knows what Paul actually meant. From the context it looks like he means judge since he's talking about judges and court and such, but I don't know for sure. Paul then says something along the same lines Christ did. He says we should actually let ourselves be wronged and cheated, if it avoids going to court before unbelievers. Instead of this, the Corinthians had been cheating, and that to each other! Paul then addresses a critical issue, stating clearly that those in habitual sin will not go to heaven (not because they have disqualified themselves, but because this is clear evidence that Christ is absent from their lives). He then goes on in verses 9-10 to list a bunch of examples of actions that characterize people who will not enter heaven. And then verse 11 ~ awesome news! We used to be there! We used to be on our way to hell. Now we're justified through Christ, washed clean of our sin, and sanctified for his purpose! This is the story of every Christian's life, and what a great story it is! I heard Bobby today talking to his 4th graders about what happens when a person gets saved, and he compared it to being saved from a fire by a fireman. "If that happened, wouldn't you want to tell everyone about it? That's the way it should be with Jesus!" Good point, Bobby.

If you're ever in a tight spot, wondering what you should do, which choice to make, turn to 1 Corinthians 6:12!!! This is such an awesome verse and seriously brings to light what things we should be living for. We should be wondering "Is this right (beneficial, helpful)?" If so, then that's what we should do. If not, then why waste our time? An attitude of "there's nothing wrong with this" is probably not the best attitude to take, since you can see someone letting themselves slide into sin a lot more than someone who asks "How is this working for my good? How is this encouraging others? Is this going to control me?"

A practical application in High School would be with... Dating! So many people it seems want to know who to go out with. Scratch that. Lots of people know who they want to go out with ~ that person they've got this crush on of course! Many people, however, don't know why to go out with people, and they want someone else to validate their desires. Well, often times they won't find that validation or encouragement because the relationship is not centered around Christ. The other person is not ready to encourage them towards Christ (and vice-versa), or this relationship will only be a further temptation for sin, or this relationship is going to take hold of their life and everyone else will seem insignificant. Probably the most common pitfall of high school relationships is that they turn idolatrous. It's very easy for this to happen and can be very subtle, and often times the relationship with that person becomes more important than anything else - including the relationship with God. The other person is supposed to be encouraging that spiritual relationship, not distracting you from it! In any case, this verse (12 if you forgot) is a great way to test your intentions and your motives in order to see whether or not you should do something. I caution you, though, be prepared to accept the answer you don't want to hear if it comes to that.

Wow... Ok that was a lot for 1 verse its time to move on.

The last verses from 13 to 21 all deal with the issue of sexual immorality in the church. The Corinthians had bought into lies about sex and allowed themselves to become promiscuous. Verse 13 seems strangely placed in this case, but apparently it's actually a reference to a false philosphy of the day. This theory was the idea that sex is only biological and is morally and spiritually inconsequential, since it is purely physical (like eating). Paul doesn't even wait until the next sentence to rebuke this idea. Our bodies were made for God and God alone. Our bodies are members of the body of Christ (the church), so to make them members of a harlot through sex is out of the question. Sex has many spiritual implications that cannot be ignored - it is not just a physical act. We are commanded to "flee from sexual immorality" (v.18). It of all sins has the greatest potential to corrupt, control, and destroy, physically and spiritually. We are to treat our bodies as temples of God, taking care of it, because it is not ours to defile! It belongs to God! He bought us, therefore we should seek to glorify God physically as well as spiritually, because both our body and spirit are His (v.20). We can do that by waiting until marriage and celebrating this act that God created under the circumstances that he created it to be celebrated.

Well, I hope you find that insightful. If you didn't, I don't know what to tell you! It's straight from the Bible. It was good to get another post up today and I hope to have many more coming in the future. There are 10 more chapters left in this book, so that means at least 10 more days of blogs for me to write, not including the ones that I may be inspired to write apart from 1 Corinthians like "Faithfulness." Tomorrow is chapter 7! I'm exciting to see what other wisdom Paul has to share with the Corinthians (and myself).