In Him Only: What Will You Do in 2020?

It took years before I felt comfortable wearing reading glasses. In my younger days – my 40s and 50s I call my younger days – I usually carried them in my shirt pocket and pulled them out only when absolutely necessary.

That's where they were, in my shirt pocket, while Nancy and I enjoyed our meal at a local Italian restaurant many years ago. It wasn't until my eyes started to burn from the eyestrain that I finally pulled them from my pocket.

And then – for the first time that evening – I saw them: Water droplets on my iced tea glass. Spots of tomato sauce beneath my plate. Creases in the tablecloth.

How did I sit at the table for nearly an hour and not notice them? Stains and wrinkles which had blurred into nondescript shapes and patterns suddenly danced and shouted for attention. For a few moments I played with my glasses, shifting them on my nose, marveling at how different things look when you can really see.

So, what is my real point? How many spots and wrinkles within the fabric of our lives blur into unrecognizable shapes and patterns because we neglect to wear our spiritual glasses? When our Bibles lie closed on the bookshelf and we view our world – AND our lifestyle – through the filters of friends and news broadcasts, sitcoms and movies, is it any wonder that the crisp lines of God's "Thou Shalt Not" blurs into "Why Not"?

Which brings us to our text for today in 1 Corinthians at chapter ten and verse one: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were . . . Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction . . ..

Read verse 11 again: Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

The Lord Jesus is coming for a people without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27; 2 Peter 3:14), and He warned those who claim to have sight – but in reality are blind – to receive from Him salve to anoint their eyes that they may clearly see (Rev 3: 17, 18).

Listen! When it comes to questions of morality, of righteousness, of justice, of sin and eternal judgement, the Bible alone is our eye salve. And if there ever was a time you and I need to see ourselves and our culture with clear vision, it is now. If there ever was a time to acquire Holy Spirit anointed eye salve, it is now. If there ever was a time to continually open His word and seek a 2020 vision of His truth, and turn from the culture’s, it is now.

In early January I read a report about the new Anglican Archbishop of York regarding contemporary views of same-sex relationships. The Bible, he said, must yield to the cultural beliefs of society on matters of sexual behavior.*

In another corner of the church, the United Methodist church is planning to split into two major factions: the one teaching the Biblical mandates regarding sexuality, the other allowing homosexual relationships – even in their leadership.**

And if you have been following some of the things Pope Francis has said and done in the last few years – most recently to say true Christians do not proselytize others to the Christian faith,*** then you will know the days are growing darker.

As I said, if there ever was a time to acquire spiritual eye salve, it is now.

Please, listen. God demands holiness and obedience from His children. Nothing less. Our text in 1 Corinthians illustrates that Israel, as a nation, ate from the same spiritual food, drank from the same spiritual drink. Sounds like Holy Communion, doesn’t it? But their religious activity didn’t CHANGE them. That’s why many fell into idolatry and sexual immorality.

Fourteen hundred years later, the Lord Jesus warned us with similar language. “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; (sounds like Holy Communion, doesn't it?) and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ (Luke 13:24-27)

Please! This is important. God is not at all concerned about our religious activity – whether we do good works or teach or pray or even receive holy communion – He is not at all concerned for ANY of those things if our HEART is not continually – continually changing and moving toward Him. He is not impressed with our outward religiosity if we do not come to Him with a proper disposition of heart.

Here is what God says through His prophet Amos (5:21- 24): “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Justice and righteousness – not the culture’s idea of them, but God’s definition of them.

In my nearly 50 years of walking with the Lord, I am convinced there is no better way to mature in our knowledge of God and our obedience to Him than to learn of Him though His Scriptures. It is through the Scriptures AND the historic (and not current) interpretation of the Church that God actually speaks His thoughts to us.

To that end, I often encouraged people to read two chapters of the Old Testament (OT) and two of the New Testament (NT) each day. Doing so gets you through the OT once a year and the NT three times each year. But I realize that reading plan might be too ambitious for some, so I have an alternate suggestion: Set for yourself a goal for the next 12 months to read only the following FIVE books of the NT: The Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of John, the book of Romans, the book of Galatians, and the book of Colossians.

That’s it. Only five books of the 27 books in the NT. Reading them should not be a sprint. Plan for it to take a year to read them. As you read, keep a notebook and a pen with your Bible. Take time to reflect on verses or paragraphs that arouse your interest. Listen as the Holy Spirit speaks to you. Underline the verse(s) in your Bible or make notes in the margins. AND – if a particular verse really speaks to you, take several days to commit it to memory.

It will be a year well spent.

The choice is always before us: The small gate or the wide one, the narrow path or the broad. And unless we are fluently familiar with His Holy word, we can easily follow others toward the wrong path and the wrong door. I urge you to renew your decision to live in obedience to Jesus, learning from the Scriptures how to know Him better with each passing year.

Two thousand years ago the apostle James wrote words that remain timeless: “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 2:14). And after the vapor disperses, Scripture tells us, we will each stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give account of our lives – and our lifestyles (2 Corinthians 5:10).