The majority of Ghanaians, around sixty percent, claim to be Christian. In a few months, we will be voting to elect a new president and new members of parliament. The campaign has already started and we are being told that not all that we hear is really the truth. Are Christians not expected to speak the truth? Are the majority of our politicians not Christian? Are the stories we hear about greed, bribery and corruption true? We should stop deceiving ourselves that only a few people are responsible for the greed, the lies, the bribery, the corruption and all the other ills in the society. We are all part of the problem and sadly, this behaviour has become an accepted lifestyle in our society. This places an obligation on our Churches that are filled to capacity on Sundays, to re-examine our practice of Christianity.
The foundation of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ and there is no other foundation that anyone can lay. (1 Cor. 3:11) He is the Truth and those who worship Him must worship Him is Spirit and in Truth. The foundation of the devil on the other hand is one “that does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him”. (Jn. 8:44) Speaking a lie is speaking from the devil’s resources for he is a liar and the father of it. Every person decides whether to stand with Christ in the truth or to stand with the devil in the lie.
The difference between the truth and the lie is that the truth does not change. The lie, on the other hand, is always changing and telling new lies in an attempt to oppose the truth. It misinterprets and denies the truth to create doubt and unbelief. If we are honest with ourselves, we will agree that we have all fallen for the lies that are being peddled around by the devil. We have often accepted lies that succeeded in making us doubt the Truth of God’s word. The devil is very subtle. He first casts doubt on the Truth, then misinterprets it and finally makes us believe the lie.
Let us focus our lives on the Truth and not allow any lie to control us. The devil has human agents he uses to make us doubt the Truth of God’s Word. However, no human being with limited wisdom and knowledge can change or edit God’s Word. To presume to make changes to God’s Word is to assume a position of authority over God. This was what the religious leaders at the time of Christ tried to achieve. They elevated their own perceived ideas of the Law to the same level as the Law that God had given. They misinterpreted and added to God’s Truth and deceived the people to obey them rather than God. By the time of Jesus, God’s Word had been so often misquoted and misapplied that they had lost their real meaning. The religious leaders attached greater importance to the outward observance of certain traditions and ceremonies than what the Scriptures required, the inner transformation of a person.
We can observe what happened through the ceremonial washing of hands by the Jews before meals. The ritual washing of hands was more important to the religious leaders of the time than the spiritual purity of the people. The religious leaders failed to realise that spiritual purity is a problem of the heart and not the observance of rituals. Unfortunately, this behaviour still continues to this day. Today, we recognise the level of spirituality by looking at the external circumstances and behaviour of a person. However, behaviour can be very deceptive. It can be different when among outsiders and different when at home. It is not so much what people do, but why they do it. The outward observance of certain actions is not an accurate indication of a person’s purity or righteousness. A person can go to church and be actively involved in Church activities, sing in the choir, be on committees, give money, give time, observe the ordinances, and outwardly be as faithful and committed as any believer; and yet, do it all for the wrong reasons because the condition of their heart is not pure. While believers will find their way to church, it does not necessarily follow that all those who come to church are believers.
Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. He is more concerned about the condition of the heart. All of our actions and good deeds cannot make us pure and holy. Only God can and He does that by giving us a new heart when we acknowledge our sin and accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. He gives us a new heart where the Holy Spirit can live and transform us from within. What we really are is the result of the condition of our hearts. Who we are determines our attitudes, our thoughts and our character. What is inside a person will always manifest itself. If they are sinful attitudes, they will manifest in sinful actions and if they are godly attitudes they will manifest in godly actions. Without an inward change all external changes would merely be superficial. A transformation of the inner man draws us to the things of God, namely His word, prayer, fellowship and service.
In the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ a man is not made unclean by what goes into him but from what comes out of him.... “For from within, out of a man’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly”. All of these evils come from inside and make a man unclean. But from a godly man’s heart come “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”. A godly heart is filled with compassion and sees people as Jesus sees them and relates to them according to His word. The Scriptures tell us to honour our father and mother. Part of that honour obviously means to take care of them. Yet the Pharisees’ allowed those who were selfish or angry with their parents to disobey this command by simply declaring their resources to be Corban meaning it was dedicated and set apart for God’s use. This meant that it could no longer be used to assist their parents financially or materially. They would however continue to use those same resources on other things. It was not only hypocrisy, but also self-deception. Interestingly, many today still distort the real meaning of Christianity in the name of God.
Let us re-examine our practice of Christianity by examining the condition of our heart. God wants to deal with the heart “for out of the heart are the issues of life”. Jesus wants to give us a new heart and is more concerned about who we are on the inside than who we appear to be on the outside. He cares more about our heart condition than the observance of rituals and traditions. The religious leaders in the days of Christ did not know this although they claimed to know God’s will. They knew about God but they did not know God. Today the situation has not changed and there are many believers who are side-tracked to add rules and regulations to God’s Word, thereby changing the message of God. Changing the message of God is to change the God of the message and as the theologian A. W. Tozer reminds us “the essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
God deserves our worship but what is the motive for our worship today? Is it motivated by love or by the desire to meet a selfish need? If we really loved God, we would want to do things His way by obeying His Words of life. Only God can transform us and strengthen us to obey Him and He did so when His Son Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross for our forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us value the sacrifice of Christ and obey Him to the glory of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!
