It is interesting to consider all of the religious practices in Christendom and man’s attitude toward them. On the one hand, you have individuals that believe membership into their communion will assure salvation. Others believe it doesn’t matter what you believe, or even if you believe, just so long as you are sincere. As you travel about, you will see church marquees with little catch phrases, such as, "The Bible Our Only Rule," "We speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is silent," "Nothing but the Bible taught here," or "Christians Only." The phrases are intended to tell the public something about what the group stands for, a marketing ploy to get the community to come in and get a taste of that "ole time religion." So, you polish up the car, put on your best duds, and head out to church. When you get there, you have flashbacks of going to the grocery store, picking up a can of corn, anxious to savor the taste when you get it home, only to peel back the lid, and find that someone has switched the labels! "This isn’t corn," you say, "it’s beans!" Now, you can call it a vegetable, but it is not what the label promised. A lady once commented concerning a local religious group she attended, "I would take my Bible with me, but it would feel lonely." That’s a sad commentary for the condition many "churches" get themselves into. It reminds me of the scripture that says, "For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4). With some folks, going to church is no more than a social function, intended to leave the impression with other people that we really are who and what we want them to believe we are. When in reality, "ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27).
The concept of saying one thing and doing something else is by no means new. When the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt, by the hand of God, Amalek was the first of the nations to rise up against Israel. As a result, Moses said, "Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:16). During the time when Saul, the son of Kish, reigned over the nation of Israel, Jehovah gave him charge when He said, "I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey" (1 Samuel 15:2-3). "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen…" (1 Samuel 15:9). When the prophet Samuel came to Saul, "Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of Jehovah: I have performed the commandment of Jehovah. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear" (1 Samuel 15:13-14). Saul attempted to justify his actions when he said, "the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God" (1 Samuel 15:15). What could be greater? Today, Christendom says, "we follow the Bible as our only rule of faith!" Yet, in many cases, what is being practiced is not even hinted at in the scriptures, and many things are in direct violation to it. Yet, the worshippers say, "the worship I offer is a sacrifice unto Jehovah, I just know God will accept it." When Saul violated the commandment of Jehovah, he was told, "Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim" (1 Samuel 15:22-23).
When we consider our relationship to God, we need to remember that we have been created "to do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31), not the other way around. The apostle Paul said, to the brethren in the first century, "in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). It does, therefore, behoove the true worshipper of God to take heed to their teaching and practice and know that "Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Can you find the work and worship you offer unto God in the scriptures? In many cases, it is as simple as writing your doctrines and practices on one side of a sheet of paper, and what God says on the other: are they from heaven, or from men? In our next article, we will consider what the Bible says about the whole counsel of God, and its consequences.
Ross Triplett