The Whole Counsel of GOD

 

Ezekiel 2:7 "But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 8 "Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.

Have you ever been around a preacher or teacher that seems to hit the same topic over and over again.  I am not speaking of the gospel, but of something such as tithing, modest clothing, love, or sovereignty.  Really it could be most anything.  But they seem to go out of their way to bring up the subject not matter the section of scripture or the topic. 

Maybe it was a teacher or preacher that will tend to skip over sections of scripture that might be controversial or difficult.  Or it might be that they never go to some subjects at all due to fear of upsetting somebody. In either case we have an out of balance view of scripture.

Yet there is another group that seems to teach every doctrine down to the smallest detail, yet they lack any application of what they know.  They seem to get lost in having all the right doctrines and somehow they think that is enough (Revelation 2:4 – they have lost their love).  This application anemia is killing many reformed churches today.

We cannot pick and choose what we like and exclude what we don’t.  The church today suffers from a lack of knowledge and a lack of application.  You don’t have to go out of your way to hammer home some pet doctrine.  You shouldn’t be afraid to speak the truth in a loving manner, no matter the audience.  We should expect that people who trust in Christ for salvation should grow in Christ-likeness as well.  The same power that saves us, makes us able and yearning to obey.

It all starts at the Word of God.  In your own personal studies do you skip over something that might be convicting or key in only to those things that apply to someone else.  God wants us to grow up into a mature believer in all ways, not just in a few.  That means sometimes we are going to have to hear some difficult teachings, repent, be more diligent at following, pay attention to our own lives (others do).

So why this topic?  I was reading in Ezekiel 1-2 this morning.  I noticed particularly that God gave a message to Ezekiel.  He even told him that they wouldn’t listen to Him.  He even warned him not to be stubborn and stiff necked like them.  It made me examine myself.  How to do I approach scripture?  Do I teach the whole counsel of God – starting with myself?  You and I are accountable to God with what we teach to ourselves, family, friends, classes, churches, etc.…

Obey what you know.  Learn what scripture says and put it into practical application in your life.  Teach what you have learned to someone else and help bring them along as you follow Christ. You are teaching others something just by what you live out.  None of us were meant to do this alone.

Acts 20:26 "Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Saying All The Right Things

Ever walk into a church with all of the right doctrines, ministries, associations and trappings.  From the outside everything looks like it is right where it is supposed to be – sounds like the way a lot of people are when they go to church.  An outward conformity to a list of rules or a set of principles – but missing the heart.  It is symptomatic of our society.  We all want to be accept and to excel in the eyes of others.

This all came to mind today when I visited a church out here in California.  It was a reformed theology church.  Their focus above the entrance – the five SOLAS – Faith Alone, Grace Alone, Scripture Alone, Christ Alone, the Glory of God Alone.  Very true thing, very good things, this is the way they wanted to be known.  But it appeared to me in my short visit that somewhere in the process they had lost their heart.

God speaks of this in Revelation 2:1-7.  The church of Ephesus had a lot of things going for them:  good deeds, hatred of false teachers, perseverance for the things of Christ, but they lost something in the process.  It is something all of us can lose sight of, it slips away so quietly and easily while in our minds we are doing the work of Christ.

“They Lost Their First Love”

So what are we to do?  Jesus says to them remember where you came from, who you were when Christ saved you, repent and go back to the basics of loving Christ, spending time in the word getting to know Him, slowing down enough to listen to Him.  Peter sums it up this way in 2 Peter 1:1-15:  Our lives start with the foundation of faith and in all things that we do it is to look like love.  When we forget to love God with everything we have and to love others better than ourselves we have misrepresented God and the Gospel. 

So where are you at in your walk?  Does your life look like love?  Do you need to repent and go back to the basics?

Think about it.  I know I am.  Examine yourself before God does it for you. 

Does your life look like love – the love of God?

sherman