Right Things In Right Ways (God’s Will)
(1 Samuel 15:22-23)
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There is a very common attitude in the world today, that whether a person is right or wrong is not as important as whether they be "sincere". We can see this among unbelievers who think that, no matter what they believe or how they act, sincerity will ultimately save them when it comes time for them to face God. Their attitude is that God wouldn’t send a person to hell as long as he or she believes in something, and tries to live their life according to that belief. It doesn’t really matter to God what that something is, because after all, God is love. In the end, He’s going to accept anything that we do because He loves us. The important thing is that we be sincere about it.
My computer Thesaurus has a number of other words to describe the word "sincere." These words are "genuine, honest, truthful, earnest, straight, heartfelt, frank, open." I can accept most of these other words, except for the word "heartfelt." The heart of a person, that is, the human soul with its feelings and emotions, is evil and can not be trusted. The Bible tells in:
Jeremiah 17:9,
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (KJV)
The word "sincere" comes from the Latin word "sincerus", meaning "whole, pure, or genuine" (7/97, "Merriam-Webster’s Word For The Wise"). Its real meaning when applied to a person is that the person be honest, genuine, truthful, pure. It isn’t supposed to describe a person who "means well", regardless of whether that person is actually right or wrong.
Sadly, the word is misused today. The problem with today’s concept of being "sincere", is that it means "heartfelt", not things like "genuine, honest, or earnest". I think that today’s concept of the word "sincere" can be summed up with the phrase, "he means well", or "his intentions are good".
Unfortunately, that attitude is also prevalent in the Church today, among many Christian believers. For instance, it doesn’t matter how you pray, witness, preach, or worship, as long as you "mean well". I once taught a Bible class on the topic of prayer, and I showed them that God doesn’t listen to a believer’s prayers if that person has unconfessed sin. This is clearly taught in Psalm 66:18,
"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" (KJV)
After the class, a believer who I will call Bob told me that he agreed the Bible teaches what I said. However, Bob then added that he still thinks God will listen to the prayers of a believer with unconfessed sin, defending his unbiblical viewpoint with the phrase, "I think that God will look at their heart". In other words, despite what the Bible says, this Christian still believes that God will overlook a person’s failure to follow His word if that person "means well". Furthermore, God would then certainly forgive Bob for rejecting what His word teaches, because God would look at Bob’s heart and know that Bob "meant well". This view lets Bob or any other believer "off the hook" for not knowing God’s word, or for rejecting and not following the Bible when it goes against how we feel about something.
Sincerity is often regarded as some kind of a Christian virtue, although you won’t find the word or the concept in most translations of the Scriptures. The Bible teaches something very different, that God has a protocol for us to follow in doing His will. Protocol can be defined simply as doing the right thing in the right way. For example, if we were going to attend a dinner at the White House to meet the President, there would be a protocol to follow, a right way of acting and speaking. Pastor R.B. Thieme of Berachah Church in Houston, TX, often defines protocol in this simple way:
"A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong;
A wrong thing done in a right way is wrong;
Only a right thing done in a right way is right."
In today’s Church, too many believers first of all don’t even believe that the Bible alone and in its entirety is God’s infallible word. Of the remainder who do claim to base their faith solely on the Bible, many have a lazy attitude toward learning it. It is the exception when a believer seriously studies God’s word, and rests his or her faith and actions upon it.
The small pivot of believers who are true disciples or students of the Scriptures often find their greatest opposition, not from unsaved people, but from the majority of other believers in the Church. When you choose to know the Bible and live it correctly, pastors or other Christians who don’t study the Bible seriously will try to make you feel guilty for it. You’re likely to hear such smugly spoken statements as:
"A body of water that takes in but never gives out grows stagnant";
"You have head knowledge, but no heart knowledge";
"You’re causing discord among the brethren";
"You’re putting God in a box".
The first attitude, that "a body of water that takes in but never gives out grows stagnant", is intended to make you spend less time studying the Bible, and more time running around the local church being busy in programs. In actuality, it’s really a blasphemous insult to God because it suggests that constant intake of His word will make you a stagnant pool of water, that is, a cesspool. The Bible itself tells us in 2 Tim. 2:15 and 3:16,
2 Tim. 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (KJV)
2 Tim. 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (KJV)
We are further told in
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (KJV)
The second attitude, "You have head knowledge, but no heart knowledge", is based on the ignorant notion that some parts of our soul are in the bodily organ of the heart (our emotions), and some parts in the bodily organ of the brain (our mind). When the Bible speaks of the heart in symbolic terms, it is referring to the soul, not the bodily organ. This second attitude is really an attempt to make us change our attention away from our thinking, and toward our feelings and experiences. But God Himself tells us in
Isaiah 55:8-9,
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (KJV)
The third attitude, "You’re causing discord among the brethren", is in essence saying that, "If you question any non-Biblical church teachings, then any problems that result are your fault". In other words, it’s not the responsibility of the people who choose not to study the Bible, but YOU are to blame for "upsetting the apple cart." This attitude is intended to make you re-focus your priorities away from studying and living the Bible, and toward "keeping the peace" or "maintaining the love" among the church. In actuality, the real root of the "discord" is ignorance of God’s word on the part of the majority, but this attitude puts the blame on you for pointing this out.
My response to the last attitude, "You’re putting God in a box", is simple. Neither I nor any other pastor-teacher can put God in a "box". God put Himself in a box. It has four sides, a top, and a bottom. It’s called the Bible! Because God can not lie, can not change, can not make mistakes, then once God says something, and gives it to us in writing, even He can not change it because to do so would compromise and violate His perfect essence.
If you are trying to learn God’s right way from His word, the Bible, then you are going to encounter pressure from the very Christians who claim to believe what you do. But take heart - you are not alone! You are in the minority of a small group of believers who are trying to be true disciples in the Biblical sense, who are "students" of God’s word. However, as part of this minority, you will grow spiritually and experience the peace and joy that comes only from being part of God’s protocol plan for you. You are like Job, Joseph, and Noah, who knew God and would not veer from the right course that God has for them and for you.
A Scriptural example of not following God’s directions, of doing a right thing in a wrong way, is David’s first attempt at moving the ark back to Jerusalem:
1 Chr. 13:1-14
1 Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader.
2 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is from the LORD our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us;
3 and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul."
4 Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
5 So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
6 And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, {that is,} to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the LORD who is enthroned {above} the cherubim, where His name is called.
7 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.
8 And David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all {their} might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets.
9 When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset {it.}
10 And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.
11 Then David became angry because of the LORD’S outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day.
12 And David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God {home} to me?"
13 So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
14 Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had. NAS)
It was a right thing to move the ark, but David did it the wrong way. God did not overlook Uzza’s transgression because Uzza was "sincere" or "meant well". God’s word specifically commanded the right way to do it:
Ex. 25:14-15
14 "And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
15 "The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. (NAS)
Ex. 25:27
27 "The rings shall be close to the rim as holders for the poles to carry the table. (NAS)
A Biblical example of a wrong thing done in a right way, is King Saul’s making a burnt offering to the Lord:
1 Sam. 13:7-14
7 Also {some of} the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he {was} still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.
10 And it came about as soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, that behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him {and} to greet him.
11 But Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash,
12 therefore I said, `Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering."
13 And Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." (NAS)
It was a wrong thing for the king to perform the sacrifice, even though Saul did the offering in the right way. Saul should have waited for Samuel. Samuel tells Saul that God delights more in our obeying His commands than in our rituals or gifts:
1 Sam. 15:22-23
22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, {And} to heed than the fat of rams.
23 "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from {being} king." (NAS)
Notice what Samuel didn’t do or say. He didn’t say, "Well Saul, I know you meant well, that you were sincere, so even though what you did went against God’s word, don’t worry about it!" Instead, he told Saul that because the king had "rejected the word of the Lord", that God had also rejected Saul from being king. Samuel told Saul that when it comes to God’s word, "to obey is better than sacrifice". In other words, knowing and obeying God’s word is better than following our own actions or feelings, no matter how we try to rationalize our own intentions.
SUMMARY
In summary, God requires protocol in the Christian life. There are right things to do, and right ways to do them. Remember this simple definition of protocol:
"A right thing done in a wrong way is wrong;
A wrong thing done in a right way is wrong;
Only a right thing done in a right way is right."
Copyright (c) 2000, Frank J. Gallagher
Abiding In The Word
http://members.aol.com/abidingitw
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