How To Reduce Effectiveness Through Prejudice
2010-02-06

Father, as I read your words today, let them impart wisdom and knowledge of you to my spirit.


First, a prayer from the Presidential Prayer Team.

American Missionaries in Haiti Seeking Freedom
Ten American Baptists who said they wanted to save orphans after Haiti�s earthquake were charged with child kidnapping yesterday. The Americans were arrested last week after they tried to enter the Dominican Republic in a bus loaded with 33 children, ages 2 to 12. The group�s attorney, Edwin Coq, told reporters that nine of his 10 clients had little idea what they were doing. Coq said the Americans came �to give support to people in difficulty� and did not know that the children were being transported out of Haiti without proper documentation. He said that the only American who had knowledge of the plan was Laura Silsby, the group�s leader. She said that the group had not sought travel documents for the children, explaining that her organization wanted to offer help as quickly as possible after the Jan. 12 quake, which left tens of thousands of children without parents. �I think nine of those people have nothing to do with that question,� Coq said.

Pray for the safety and comfort of the American missionaries that are being held in Haitian jail. Pray for the quick legal settlement and release of American missionaries so they can return to their families. Pray for protection of other Americans who similarly want to show the love of Christ by helping the earthquake victims.

Ok. I'm really not sure what exactly is going on here, but these folks definitely need our prayers. It could take a very long time to get out of jail in a foreign country.



A Musician Looks at the Psalms

Psalm 24 Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

David speaks of what we, today, call integrity. "He concludes that only a person marked by integrity can stand before God's absolute holiness."

Whoops. Sorry, Mr. Wyrtzen. I can't agree with your reading today. Because you insist that integrity and purity are prerequisites to knowing God. I say that knowing God is a prerequisite to integrity and purity. I do not disagree with the initial quote. However, possession of that integrity is impossible without the knowledge of God through faith in Christ Jesus. We cannot be pure enough to know God. So to insist that purity is a prerequisite for knowing God would put us all in a position of never being able to know God. It's kind of a "Catch-22." (In case someone is not familiar with that, "Catch-22" said that you could only be released from Army service if you were crazy; however, if you wanted to be released, you were not crazy, therefore you could not be released.)

Bottom line is this: The only prerequisite for knowing God and standing before his holiness is a relationship with Jesus Christ. We cannot work our way up to standing before God by being pure. When we are washed by the blood, then God sees only the holiness of Christ all over us.

It's called "grace," and it truly is amazing!



Matthew Henry Daily Readings

I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. Ecclesiastes 2:4 (from the commentary on Psalm 80:8-16)

"The church is represented as a vine and a vineyard. The root of this vine is Christ, the branches are believers. The church is like a vine, needing support, but spreading and fruitful. If a vine does not bring forth fruit, no tree is so worthless. And are not we planted as in a well-cultivated garden, with every means of being fruitful in works of righteousness? But the useless leaves of profession, and the empty boughs of notions and forms, abound far more than real piety."

I believe the point being made here (and I confess, I could misunderstand, but it is what I'm getting out of it) is that we have allowed form and appearance to become more important than worship and service. And I have felt this way about the "institutional church" ever since I first laid my hands on Frank Viola's book, Pagan Christianity. And Matthew Henry seems to agree. He calls form and "empty bough." He calls profession (and by that, I take it he means insisting on degreed ministers) an "empty leaf."

We need to pray for God to restore the Church to a place of effectiveness in this world. We need to pray that the Church begins to move away from its unhealthy obsession with form and formality.



Daily Readings from the Life of Christ

Today, John MacArthur tackles prejudice, taking from the account of the addition of Bartholomew (also known as Nathanael) as an apostle. When he was first approached by Phillip with the word about Jesus, Nathanael's first response was, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" This was, apparently, a very common question repeated amongst Galilean Jews.

"Such prejudice is an unjustified generalization based on superior feelings, and it can be a real obstacle to truth. Prejudice wants to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to any information that doesn't fit cherished and preconceived notions. Satan often appeals to human prejudices and gets people to reject the gospel without even listening to what it really is."

Even today, Jews reject Christ based on man-made prejudices regarding the coming of the Messiah, even though Jesus clearly fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.

Nathanael's desire to find God overcame his prejudice.

In the section, "Ask Yourself," it says this: "We tend to think that prejudice lost its grip on us and our culture following, for instance, civil rights legislation in America or the end of apartheid in South Africa. But can you truly declare yourself free from sizing people up by class, race, and background? In what ways does prejudice continue to dampen the effectiveness of the church?"

Yeah. Ouch. I try very hard to be free from prejudice, but I have to admit that I am not alwasy successful. It is very difficult. Unfortunately, people don't make it easier, either. I catch myself, daily, having thoughts about people based on preconceived notions. Fortunately, I usually "catch" it, and make attempts to correct it.

But as far as the church is concerned, how does prejudice affect the effectiveness of the Church? Remember yesterday's entry? How effective is the Church going to be around people that attended the funeral that was picketed by Westboro Baptist Church? How likely will any unbelievers at that event be to be receptive to a gospel presentation?

I grew up with a pastor who proclaimed that "a dancin' foot never grew off of a prayin' knee." But didn't David dance before the Lord, pastor?? I once heard a pastor declare from the pulpit, "I condemn any Christian who sees an R-rated movie." I felt pretty condemned that day...

Point is, we really shouldn't let our emotions dictate our doctrines. Our doctrines need to be exclusively based on Scripture, and nothing else. If it can't be substantiated from Scripture (and I don't mean twisting it to mean what you want it to), then it is nothing more than opinion, and should be stated thusly.



Father, I pray that I will never let opinions corrupt my understanding of your words. Let the doctrines that I hold be purely dependent on Scripture. I pray that prejudice would be nonexistent in my spirit. I also pray that you keep your Church from prejudice in all areas. I especially pray for your body of believers called Wings of Freedom Church. May we live up to the name that we possess, and be truly free. For, as you told us in your words, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free!

I also pray that we, the Church, would be a healthy vineyard for you. Let us be fruitful, and let each of us be a fruitful branch, sustained by your love and care for us. I am grateful to be part of a body of believers that is not so dependent on form or formality. We aren't quite where I would like to see us, yet, but we have made great progress toward being more like the Church is described in the New Testament.

Let us be always aware that any "purity" that we possess has come from the righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to our spirit. We could never be pure enough to stand before you, Lord! Let us never think that we are. Only in Christ, can we stand before you, and even then, any so-called "good works" that we do do not add to that righteousness. They are merely fruit that we produce that proves that we are, in fact, linked to the main vine.

I pray, Father, for those missionaries in the Haiti prison. They were trying to do a good thing, Lord, even if it was ill-advised, and possibly not quite legal by the standards of the Haiti government. I pray that you would intervene on their behalf (unless, of course, they truly were doing something willfully underhanded...) and get them released from the prison. I continue to pray for the rescue and relief missions in Haiti. Give the people of Haiti some hope, Lord.

I pray for a good day today, as we have a visit from my parents. I pray that Stephanie will have a good day.



Let us endeavor to always be free from prejudice, both towards people around us, and in regard to opinions and doctrines.

Grace and peace, friends.



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