Be A Disciple - Be A Berean

There are a lot of things going on in the world right now - crazy, scary things - but one of the most disturbing things that I see happening is what's going on in the church. Over the last almost thirty years I have seen the proliferation of many errant teachings in the church. When you couple those teachings with an insanely high Biblical illiteracy rate in the church bad things will happen – and they are.

Eastern religious practices such as yoga, centering prayer, and eastern healing techniques are embraces and promoted. New Age philosophies abound. And perhaps the most disturbing thing of all is that pastors and ministry leaders are justifying what's going on by using the Bible to suit their own needs. All of this has lead to church-goers and ministry supporters being left in a bad situation, believing that if they do the right things, if they say the right prayers, or just have enough faith then they will be richly blessed by God as evidenced by worldly wealth and happiness. Because after all, God wants us to be rich and happy, right?

God does care about us. In fact, he cares for us and loves us so very much that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him could be saved from eternal separation from God. That's love. But the Bible never states that God ultimate desire for us is to be rich or happy. Don't get me wrong. I don't believe that God wants us to be unhappy. I'm just saying that His Word, the Bible, isn't a manual on how to live a prosperous, happy life. But if we have accepted the sacrifice that Messiah has made on the cross on our behalf, and if we allow Him to be our Lord and we become true disciples, we will indeed experience a peace and joy that can only come from that relationship. How do we get there? It may not be how you think.

In Matthew 7:13-14, Yeshua (Jesus) says, “Go in through the narrow gate; for the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the road broad, and many travel it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” I don't know about you, but when I see the words “hard road” I don't tend to get all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Let's look at another verse.

In Matthew 10:24, Yeshua says, “A talmid (disciple) is not greater than his rabbi, a slave is not greater than his master.” On the surface this seems reasonable and I think that most people would agree with this statement. But if we stop and think about it, and look at it coupled with the earlier verses from Matthew 7, I think we get an excellent idea of what a true disciple of Messiah can expect in their walk with the Lord.

If we look at the road that Yeshua walked when He was on the earth 2,000 years ago, if we look at the discipline He had to exercise and the hardships He had to endure – including His death on the cross – we see that He indeed traveled a narrow, hard road. If we are truly His disciple, if we are allowing Him to lead us and teach us, we will also be traveling a narrow, hard road. And if Yeshua is truly our Lord, who are we, as his disciples, to expect that our life would exceed that which He had. We need to get our eyes off of everyone but Messiah and allow Him to lead us down the narrow, hard road. We need to stop taking for granted that pastors and ministry leaders are speaking the truth of the Bible and learn how to study the Bible for ourselves. In return I believe that we will begin to experience intimacy with God much like Yeshua did. That is wealth beyond measure.

If we know God's truth, we won't be led astray or chase empty promises that leave us unfulfilled and hurting. I would challenge you to make a commitment to learn what the Bible really says and teaches. An excellent place to start would be at Ariel Ministries with their Come and See teachings.

Now the Bereans were of nobler character than the ones in Thessalonica; they eagerly welcomed the message, checking the Scriptures every day to see if the things Paul was saying were true. - Acts 17:11

Romans 1:20

For ever since the creation of the universe his invisible qualities — both his eternal power and his divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made. Therefore, they have no excuse; - Romans 1:20 Complete Jewish Bible

Paul is addressing the problem of people suppressing the truth about God and the wickedness of that action because what is known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. How? Through what He has made, and because of this they have no excuse.

One of the biggest affronts to God is the theory of evolution, and it is just that - a theory. It is not a law because it cannot be proven, but it can be disproved quite simply - through the law of entropy. In very simple terms, entropy is the natural tendency of the universe to fall into disorder. Have you ever cleaned out your garage or a messy closet? They don't stay nice and tidy very long do they? It takes effort and intelligence to get them into a state of order. If entropy is the natural state of the universe then it would be impossible to move from chaos to order, from minimal design (a single-celled organism) to a design that has a built in self-correcting digital code (humans). There had to be effort and intelligence to bring life to the world. The effort and intelligence came from God.

In the verses following Romans 1:20, Paul goes on to explain the consequences for not recognizing God as the Creator, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Our nation, indeed the world, is seeing the fruit of this affront to God - they have become futile in their thinking; claiming to be wise, they have become fools; God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other’s bodies; they have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood; men and women exchanging natural sexual relations for unnatural (men with men and women with women). Verse 28 says, "In other words, since they have not considered God worth knowing, God has given them up to worthless ways of thinking; so that they do improper things."

This is no trivial matter for debate in the public square or in your church. It is a very fundamental truth that has dire consequences when ignored, one for which we have no excuse. Let's give up futile thinking and stop claiming to be wise. Let's give credit where credit is due - to God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.