Second-Hand Religion
If you grew up in a large family, you know exactly what hand-me-downs or second hand items are. If you grew up in the Depression Era, and you were the third son or daughter, your clothes might have been a bit threadbare after going through the wear and tear of two siblings. Lamenting about her overexposure to second hand things Second Hand Rose sang, "Even Jake the plumber, he’s the man I adore had the nerve to tell me he’s been married before."
Second hand things are not all bad or else no one would buy an antique. We are made up of second hand genes. We have our Mama’s smiles, our Daddy’s eyes and depending on our behavior the temperament of one or the other. Indeed when we are bad, we are our father’s children and when we are good we are Mama’s. C];-)}|>
We cannot escape some of the things in our lives that are second hand. In fact, we are often proud of whom we have descended from and what we have received from them second hand. If you have war heroes or great poets and writers in the family, you feel special even if you never served in the military or cannot write worth a hoot. Somehow, it feels like some of that greatness has rubbed of on you by just being a part of the family tree. In my case, my tree has borne a few nuts and some of them probably did some rope assisted tree hanging. How they would have loved to swap that rope with a bungee cord. As far as I can tell, we have few heroes. I would consider one of my maternal uncles a war hero. The rest of us are jist plain folks.
Some folks are proud of their godly heritage. They will tell you that there are many preachers, missionaries, deacons and Sunday School teachers in their family. Funny thing is many of those same people bragging on their kinfolk do not attend church anywhere and would maybe even call themselves agnostic or atheist. Yet, they are real proud of their tree. Go figure. In some circles, the terms PK and MK are used. In most cases, that means the person was a Preacher’s Kid or a Missionary’s Kid.
I was a PK and a MK, but in my case it meant a Poor Kid and a Mean Kid. My parent’s eyes or temperament may rub off on me, but other things cannot. No one will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame because they are third cousins twice removed to Nolan Ryan. No one is going to award a near kin of Audie Murphy a Medal of Honor unless he or she does something as great as Audie did. Likewise, no one is going to get into Heaven because his great-great-great-grand-pappy or even his twin brother was a preacher. Folks who get to the gate with second hand religion are going to be in for a big surprise!! John 3:3 clearly states that each of us must have a one on one meeting with Christ that results in a born again experience if we ever hope to see the kingdom of God.
Many folks are seeking the kingdom and even looking for Jesus, but they are listening to the wrong person. There have been more reported sightings of Jesus than of Big Foot. He has been seen in the sky even more than a UFO. One was even 900 foot tall holding a man hostage for ransom. Some have claimed that they are the returned Christ. Folks will flock to these people and the places where Christ supposedly has been seen like lemmings. They are following second hand religion. If they were seeking Christ first hand they would know these things are false because they would know what He said about His return.
Matt 24:23-26
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. (KJV)
He promised that everyone would know when He returned. No one would have to guess or hear it from his neighbor or the media. The media would try to deny it or downplay it anyway if they covered the event at all. There will be no doubt that He is back and that it is really He. It is sheer foolishness to follow after Jesus sightings and learn of Him second hand.
You must personally seek the Lord because it is the only path to wisdom. Only He can give it to you. James 1:5,6 says that if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of the Lord. He will gladly give all the wisdom a man or woman needs if they will but ask in faith. That is the breaking point for most people. God asks for trust first and then He will provide. People want Him to perform and then they will have faith.
The funny thing is that God has performed many miracles over the last few thousand years of mankind’s history. Yet, most of those who experienced them first hand and almost all of their descendant's or second hand experience folks rejected Him. If God snatched the loudest atheists up to the throne for a chat, they would write it off to alien abduction or hallucinations before they would ever accept Him. Don’t believe it? Read Revelation 6:15-17. Even when He reveals Himself the unbelievers will not repent, but rather flee to the caves. Even when their false gods fail and they are spared from judgments that slay a third of mankind they will not repent. (Rev. 9:20,21) Their lack of faith led them into sheer and absolute foolishness unto destruction. That is all second hand religion can do for you.
Not only did they lack faith of any kind, let alone unwavering faith, to ask God for wisdom they were not willing to use the wisdom if they were given it. Many folks both Christian and non-Christian ask the valid question how can they know the will of God for their life. There are so many people claiming to speak for God that contradict one another. How can they know His will? Simple. You personally seek the Lord asking in faith and then be willing to do His will.
John 7:17-18
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. (KJV)
The Jews accused Jesus of teaching His own doctrine and not God’s. He told them that if they were truly willing to do God’s will for their life, they would know the true doctrine or teaching. That teaching would bring glory to God, Whom sent the message and not to the one bringing the message.
Wow! That shoots down a lot of folks preaching out there. They are building their own kingdom and seeking their own glory more than that of the Lord. Be careful when a person quotes some religious leader more than the Word. If the leader is not a cult leader then the person quoting them is way off base. Jesus is Lord and His message is everything. Men only pass it on and possess it in clay vessels. The message is everything and the messenger nothing.
The bottom line is willingness to follow and obey. We want to window shop God’s will or have Him parade it before us like a fall fashion. If suits our fancy we will do it. If not, we will ask to see another and another until we get to where our will is God’s will. Sorry, God doesn’t play that game. His will for you is not up for grabs. He is not a clothier trying to sell you a product. He is a King and a Father seeking obedience from His servant and love from His child. In His love, He knows exactly what is best for His child and as a King He knows exactly where each of us is best suited to serve in His kingdom. We pit our limited tunnel vision wisdom against his omniscience and wonder in our pit of despair why our life is the pits. No faith, no wisdom. No willingness, no will.
Rejecting second hand religion and seeking Him personally is the only way to honor Him! This is how you show your faith or trust in Him. A lot of folks want to talk about Him, but not to Him. Many want to hear of Him, but not hear Him. Faith does come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, but then it should result in the fruit of faith that seeks Him.
The Roman centurion in Matt 8:5-10 had heard about Jesus. He may have even heard Him speak a few times. When his servant fell ill, all this hearing brought forth faith that made him seek Christ personally. Note, though he was a military man and understood authority and chain of command he did not seek out one of the apostles to go and speak to Jesus for him. The centurion went straight to the Commander-in-Chief!!! Oh that my Catholic friends learn from his example. See what faith he had! He believed that Christ could speak and his servant would be healed. Is it any wonder that Jesus marveled at this Gentile when His own people had no clue? He sought Him personally thus honoring Him with faith and acknowledging His lordship.
The woman of Canaan acknowledged His lordship. (Matt 15:21-28) She had no legal right to ask Him for anything being a Gentile, but she knew He was the one who could give her healing for her daughter. She first addressed Him as "Lord, thou son of David." Under that appellation, she had no rational or logical hope yet she had faith. She then pled with Him as Lord, only. He could respond to that for He is Lord of all people. He reminded her that His primary mission was to the Jews and that He was there for them. Her faith persevered and passed even this test. She was willing to humble herself to the level of a dog for her daughter because she knew she was in the presence of the Lord who heals us. May we seek such humility!
He wanted to be her Lord and not just the Lord of the Jews that would grant her a favor. Her personal faith in Him granted her prayer when no second hand acknowledgement of His ability to heal would have done so. She had no legal right, but her seeking Him personally in faith secured what no court of law could have secured. Her faith brought her into a share of an inheritance that was not rightly hers by blood or nationality. The centurion pled for his Hebrew servant and that servant was an heir to the promise. This woman had no part in Israel’s inheritance. That right to a share in the inheritance would not come until His resurrection and the grafting in of the Gentiles. She got a taste of her share early because of faith. Faith in His Lordship brings blessings that can never come from a second hand religion. Can someone say, "Glory!"
If she had trusted in her understanding of theology, she would have gotten nothing. Had she listened to any theologian, pagan or Hebrew, she would have gotten nothing because they would have said it was impossible. That is why we must personally seek the Lord because it is foolish to trust in men. Good men will fail and bad men will fail miserably!
Christ rebuked the Pharisees for teaching commandments of men rather than the doctrines of God. They worshiped God in vain because it was not only second hand, but they wanted to rewrite and revise God and His Word to suit themselves. (Matt 15:1-9) Sounds a lot like our generation, doesn’t it? Their tradition annulled or made of no effect the commandments of God. Today we want to make the commandments politically correct and gender sensitive annulling what God says to suit a society of syncretism and synthesis. Seek Him personally and reject such things! Worship Him as Lord with the honor He deserves! Do not follow the errors of men.
All men will fail. Psalm 118:8,9 tells us to put our trust in the Lord and not to put confidence in men or princes. The best of men can fail. Indeed, look throughout the Scriptures and you will see that all God worked with and through were failures at some point in their lives. Some failed more often than others, but they all failed. When men fail, God is still on the throne. God has chosen through the foolishness of preaching to win people to Christ and has called men into service to teach His people His Word. However, He has also sent the Holy Spirit into the world to lead us into all truth and has made all believers a part of His priesthood. (John 16:13,14; 1 Peter 2:5) He wants every believer to be a Berean. (Acts 17:10-12) He wants complete obedience to Him, but not blind trust in a man. We are commanded to try the spirits and told that false prophets would arise from among God’s people. (I John 4:1-6; 2 Peter 2:1-3) We always look for enemies outside, but it is more often the enemies or Judas’ inside that do the most damage to the church. Rome crumbled within before it fell to outside invaders. The US and the church are dangerously close to collapsing from within. We need to wake up soon or it will be too late.
God has a better plan of checks and balances than our government. He has made His constitution or Word non-amendable. It is the foundation of the faith because it is the record of our chief cornerstone and foundation, Jesus Christ. All His priests must rightly divide the Word. While some men are called to be pastor-teachers, they can still be called into account if the other members of the priesthood find them to be in heresy.
It does not matter what the man says, but rather what God says through His Spirit and His Word. If the man does not match the Word, he is wrong. When I trained to be a contract specialist for the government, my supervisor, Art Nalley, always repeated "What does the contract say?" It did not matter what the vendor or contractor said. It did not matter what the government representative said. It only matters what the contract says. What the preacher or the congregation says does not matter. It only matters what the contract says. Everything else is opinion and hearsay and will not be admissible in that final Court. Seek Him personally in faith through His Word and do not put your trust in men.
If a lost person does not seek Him personally and they cling to second hand religion, it will mean their eternal damnation. They will hear, "Depart from me for I never knew you." (Matt 7:21-23) They will claim relationship and expect reward for their works in His name, but they really did not know Him and He did not know them. However, even saved folks that have experienced a one on one meeting with the Lord and have had that born again experience can fall prey to second hand religion. A believer must also personally seek the Lord because it is the way to fellowship! Sitting at His feet brings fruitful service! (Luke 10:38-42)
Too often a believer will become so wrapped up in the things of ministry that they lose sight of the very one who called them. Like Martha, they become troubled about many things and they are rapidly approaching burnout as they burn the candle at both ends working in their own strength. They need to become like Mary. She knew that she could not be fruitful until she knew more about the Vine to whom she was attached. She needed His power to flow through her and burst out from her to touch her world. How can you have fellowship with someone you do not know?
Other believers try to live off yesterday’s manna. God did something for them twenty years ago and that is enough for them. They ate of the Bread of Life and believe that one meal is all they need. They are spiritual anorexics. They are undernourished and they bear the marks of hunger and deprivation while claiming to be fat and full. They need to remember that the Lord told us to ask for daily bread and eat at His table more than they eat at their dinner table.
Others seek to live off other’s manna. They are like baby birds receiving only regurgitated meals from their mother. They wish to only eat what the preacher or Sunday School teacher regurgitates. The preacher and teacher are describing their meal and seeking to whet your appetite to where you dive into the Bible pantry and find your own juicy T-bone steak and sweet tater pie! If I tied you to a chair and spent days eating in front of you and reading you the menu from the finest restaurant you would starve to death. Eat freely, my brethren! Personally enjoy the table the Lord prepares before you and grow fat! It will lower your blood pressure and give you energy like no other diet will do! There is a spiritual all you can eat buffet before you! Eat until you burst forth into your world filled with the fellowship of Christ and the Holy Spirit driving other hungry souls to find the health they see in you!
We enjoy the prayer, praise and singing at church, but never do any of that on our own. Is there any wonder why we have no fellowship with Him? Any wonder why we are so fretful and stressed out? Not only will seeking Him personally bring us into fellowship and fruitful service, but also it will bring us rest.
Learning of Him brings rest! (Matt. 11:28-30) Many believers are living in the bondage of guilt and they serve like wild men because they are trying to assuage that guilt. If they can just do more and give up more they will be accepted before God. Oh, my brothers and sisters, give up that yoke and heavy burden! When you were saved, you were accepted in the Beloved! (Eph 1:6) I urge you to read the whole first chapter of Ephesians and have a Hallelujah fit! Then go into chapter 2 and have a second fit! We are in the Beloved and He loves us with an everlasting love!! We serve out of love and His yoke is easy and His burden is light! Rest in that!! Rejoice in that!
Some are carrying burdens and wearing yokes devised of men. Break them off. You are bought with a price and you belong to God and not men! Men who seek to control you through guilt and their own commandments are not of God. Throw off their shackles and seek Jesus personally and He will bring you to freedom, love and light! He will share your load. You will become yoke fellows. Leave the work of men and enter into the rest of God!! (Hebrews 4:10,11)
Seeking the Lord personally will keep you from ruin! You will be given discernment! In I Kings 13, we are told of an unnamed prophet that God called to prophesy against an apostate king of Israel. When that prophet acted on the message he received first hand from God he destroyed an altar of idolatry, performed a miracle before the wicked king, and headed for home in victory.
Then he ran into an old prophet that had slid into second hand religion. God had told the unnamed prophet to neither eat nor drink until he returned home. This old prophet told him that God had sent an angel to him and said to bring the unnamed prophet back to his house for lunch. (18)
Now this might have sounded logical to the unnamed prophet. It made sense not to eat at the king’s table for he was wicked nor at any other house on the trail because most of the people were in idolatry. However, this was a prophet with a message from an angel inviting him to lunch. This must be from God. Wrong! When he got to the house God spoke through that old prophet to rebuke the unnamed prophet. Thus, a mission that was successful ended in failure because the unnamed prophet went from first hand experience with God to trusting in second hand information! He should have had discernment and his body would not have suffered early interment.
Beware the brethren who bring you messages contrary to what God has told you! They can say they heard from a legion of angels! You best go back to the Lord before you change anything that you originally heard from Him. Some folks claiming to be brethren went to Galatia preaching a Gospel of legalism contrary to the Gospel of grace that Paul had preached to them. Paul told the Galatians that if an angel came to them and told them anything different then the Gospel they first received to not listen to that angel. He went even further and said that if he came back later with a change not to listen to him!!! He said that the angel or him that preached a change to that Gospel should be accursed!!! (Gal 1:8) There are a lot of groups claiming to be Christian and blaming angels for a change in the message that need to hear this because they are accursed! The Gospel has not changed since it was first delivered to the saints. Any changes or upgrades, that are really downgrades, come from satan and not from God. If you are in such a group get out or be condemned with them.
Seeking God personally will keep you from ruin because as he gives you that discernment your life and ministry will be spared! The unnamed prophet missed this truth, but he was not alone. In II Chronicles 16:12 we read of Asa, who started out well in the Lord. He led a revival after hearing a sermon. Because of this, he had peace in his land for 35 years. When that peace was threatened in his 36th year instead going back to the Lord for discernment and help, he made a treaty with a pagan nation. The Lord rebuked him and the rest of his reign he had wars and ended up dying of a disease in his feet because he trusted in doctors and did not seek the Lord. (James 5:14) He started out with the Lord and had peace and health. He leaned upon his own understanding and the ways of his culture and died early with his kingdom torn by war. His life and ministry was ruined by lack of discernment.
Finally, and all the people said, "Amen!" you must personally seek the Lord because He is the final authority! He wrote the book! Jesus spoke and taught as one having authority. (Matt. 7:28,29) He could do so because He was highly involved in writing it! The scribes could only hem and haw and teach what they thought it might mean or what they wanted it to mean. Jesus knew exactly what it meant.
We live in an age where very few men preach, "Thus saith the Lord." They cannot because they are not sure if they have the right manuscripts or what verse should or should not be there. They are not sure if it is literal or figurative. Is it cultural and thus not binding? Is it future or is it past? Maybe we need to revise it to make it pleasing to our culture. Maybe we should make it genderless since God is such a sexist. Indeed, they are scribes and not speaking as the oracles of God as Peter taught a man of God should speak. (1 Peter 4:11) In fact, they may be in need of being taught the first principles again. (Hebrews 5:12) Therefore, go straight to the Author to get the answer and avoid the many foolish questions and word wresting that men do. (Titus 3:9; 2 Peter 3:16, 1 Tim 1:6; 6:20,21; 2 Tim 4:3,4) He wrote the Book and He has instructed the Holy Spirit to give us the proper interpretation. (John 16:13,14)
Though we live in an age of confusion, seeking the Lord personally will not leave you confused because He will not confuse you! God is not the author of confusion. (I Cor. 14:33) The author of confusion is the devil. He started that in the Garden and he continues it here using men. One of my favorite Pauline quotes is, ’I would not have you ignorant, brethren." (Romans 1:13) That is a theme in every one of his epistles and I believe throughout the entire Word of God. If God had meant us to be ignorant, there would have been no Scriptures. There would have been no Law, no sacrifices, no incarnation, no resurrection, no prophets, or indwelling Spirit. We would have just gone along our merry way until we died and met Him. We are only ignorant if we want to be and if we are willfully ignorant then we are stupid. The Word was given to us and the Spirit indwells us that we might come into full knowledge of the one who saved us.
Be not ignorant, my Brethren! Seek the Lord personally that you may be wise. Seek Him to honor Him. Seek Him to enjoy His fellowship and the rest and fruitful service that follows. Seek Him for discernment that will spare your life and ministry. Seek Him because he is the final authority and because it is foolish to trust in men! Brethren do not starve and wither in second hand religion.
Lost friend, do not lose your soul clinging to second hand religion be it Christian, atheist or other. Seek Him and find life! Seek Him and find peace and love! Just seek Him and He will be found! Amen and Amen! Maranatha!
