1 Corinthians 8:9-13 - But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

‎In Christ we have the freedom to do lots of things. With the context of this passage in view, we know that idols are not alive nor do they have any real power; knowing this, in our freedom, we are then able to eat the food that is sacrificed to idols by others because we know to us it is just meat. Yet, not every Christian brother or sister has come to this knowledge, or it may have been something that they used to wrestle with, so they view doing such things as sin.

‎Knowing this, we should be careful of our liberties in Christ so as to make sure that we are not causing our brothers and sisters to fall into sin or struggle even further because of our actions. While we cannot know everyone’s struggles, if we are made aware of such things, we should take measures to lay aside our Christian liberties so that we don’t cause them to sin.

‎As an example, there are many believers who strongly feel that consuming any amount of alcohol is a sin; that is their biblical conviction and they hold to it. Other believers are aware of the command not to be drunk & take it as such, so they feel it is okay to drink. So, what should the Christian who thinks it’s okay to drink do when he is around the other? If he is obeying this passage of Scripture, he would refrain from consuming alcohol while in the presence of this believer, so as to not offend his brother in Christ.

‎As Paul states here, it is better to abstain than to cause our brother to stumble. This sentiment is also expressed by Jesus (Matt. 18:5, 6), so this is a matter that we should be sure to take to heart.

How could I become a legalist in my Bible reading? First, there was the matter of personal legalism and beating myself up if I happened to miss a day for whatever reason. There were some days where I would miss my reading and I would get quite discouraged because I’d fallen behind on my schedule. I had to quickly learn that I couldn’t & shouldn’t do that to myself. I had to remember the purpose of my Bible reading: to learn the Bible & know God more intimately. I doubt he was condemning me for missing a day, so I shouldn’t be condemning myself. Once I learned that it was okay to miss a day due to circumstances it gave me more freedom, and, as a result, I’ve actually missed fewer days & have been successful in making it more of a priority in my life.

The second lesson I had to learn was to not burden others or look down on them because they weren’t reading as much as I was. That whole relative holiness is a bad place to go. Why? Because there is always someone doing more/better than you. Reading the Scriptures should not be creating within us a sense of pride & boastfulness about the amount of time that we are spending with the Lord. No, instead, it should be creating humility within us and molding us to look more like our Maker. This was a tough lesson to learn, especially in regard to those closest to me. Here, I had to learn & remember that we’re not robots and everyone is at a different place in their relationship with God; plus, I don’t know what they are doing to spend time with the Lord & grow spiritually.

So, why did I share everything I did in these three posts? It’s not to be prideful or show you how great I am. If anything, I want to show you that making the Bible a part of your life can be a reality. You just have to find a method that is going to work for you. What works for me may not work for you; but, there is something out there that will work. If you’re not interested in reading through the entire Bible, then find something you do want to read or study and dedicate yourself to seeing it through. I mentioned YouVersion.com in my previous post in this series; they are a great resource for finding a reading plan that can suit your needs. Another great thing about YouVersion is that you can earn badges, which can serve as motivation, or even do it with a community of others who are reading too.

Just remember two things: 1) the Bible is God’s Word to us, and 2) our goal in reading it is to get to know God better. I say that because there are many that read the Bible in ways that do not promote growth or transformation in one’s life. Jen Wilkin wrote a great piece on this at the Gospel Coalition’s blog titled “Why Bible Study Doesn’t Transform Us” that I think is worth checking out as a follow-up to this series. However you decide to do it, just read the Bible & make it a part of your life.

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Matthew 16:21-23 - From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

‎At this point in his ministry, Jesus knew that he was going to the cross and he was beginning to prepare his disciples for this. Unfortunately, Peter did not believe that these things should happen to the Christ. His understanding, like many others, was that the Christ was coming to rescue his people and to reign on the throne of David. With that, the thought of suffering never entered the mind of Peter concerning the Christ.

‎Too many of us are like this today. We are setting our mind on the things of this world, thinking that nothing bad should ever happen to us because we are Christians and God’s children. This is so very far from the truth. Jesus tells us himself in Scripture that if he was hated, then we should expect to be hated too (John 15:18). We should also expect suffering as a part of the Christian life (1 Pet. 2:21 & James 1:2-4), and not our “best life now.” We must remember, that like Jesus, our cross (suffering & enduring) must come before our crown (reigning with Christ). Until we realize that, we will be like Peter and looking at things from a fleshly perspective, instead of from God’s.

I’m a loner, I don’t mind saying that. I have a tendency to want to do things on my own and by myself, without the help and interference of others. I’ve always had that mindset, even after putting faith in Christ; but, a lot more recently, I have come to the understanding that even in my “loner” state, I’ve always had others around me whom I fellowshipped and shared with, so I was truly never alone. In the body of Christ, fellowship is one of those things that we need to have a lot more of, and that’s what we’re going to be looking at today.

For a while now, I’ve been listening to Excelsius’ album titled In Conjunction, and the whole idea is to put forth the purpose of Joined At the Hip (JATH) Ministries, which is that we need to be joined together as the Body of Christ and build one another up. Malcolm (Excelsius) and I have been joined at the hip for some years now, going back to when I was in college and he was just another emcee on mp3.com; since that time, we have been an encouragement to one another and keep the other focused on Christ and the Word of God. By no means are we a David & Jonathan (mainly because of our physical distance from one another), but it’s a close bond that we have. Needless to say, that bond that we have leads to something special: fellowship.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (ESV).” In essence, that’s what fellowship is all about; it is about stirring up our brothers and sisters in the faith to do good works, but we can only do that when we get together and spend time with one another. I’ve heard lots of people say that they don’t need to go to church because they have the Holy Spirit and can study the Word for themselves; this is true, but it’s not the only reason why church is important. Next to getting sound biblical teaching from the pulpit, the most important thing that we can get from going to church is the fellowship with other believers. It’s a blessed thing to be able to spend time with like minded believers who can help push you towards good works and holiness. I love all of my brothers and sisters in the faith who have pushed me in the faith, and it has all come from my fellowship with them, even through Internet fellowship (instant messaging and message boards). Our fellowship has forced me to dig into the Word more and find a more accurate theology than what I had held to. It also helped me to know that I have family who has gone through similar things as me, which gives me the courage and strength to know that I can make it through by faith.

As a former athlete, I think of the analogy of a team. In a sport like basketball or football, the team can only be as good as the individuals who work together to make that team. If you just bring together a group of people off the street to make a team, and expect them to play without practicing, there’s a pretty good chance that they will lose, especially if they’re playing against a team who has been together a while. Why is that? A good team consists of teammates who practice together often, and even when they are not practicing or playing together, they spend time getting to know each other off the court. When I played basketball in high school, our team was inseparable; you could always find us on the wall together just chopping it up because we were all of a like mind. We wanted to get to know each other and build each other up because it breeds trust which translates to success on the basketball court. We wouldn’t have been as good of a team if we didn’t like each other, practice together, trust each other, and know the strengths of each teammate. The same thing needs to happen in the body of Christ through our fellowship. We’re all “1st Round Draft Picks” but if we’re going to be a championship team, we need to have fellowship with one another and push each other towards a high level of holiness and sanctification.

If you’re not a member of a church, then find one, especially one where there are people you can fellowship with; it’ll be one of the best moves you can make. Next to that, find other believers that you can build and fellowship with; you should be able to have them push you, and you should also be pushing them towards holiness. God wants us to grow together as a single body, but that is impossible if we continue to live and walk as if we’re in this all alone. Amen? Amen.

1 Corinthians 2:14 - The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

‎We should not be surprised when we try to share spiritual things with unbelievers and they do not understand them. We are told that these kinds of things can only be spiritually discerned, so we cannot expect for them to understand it. The only thing that we should be discussing with an unbeliever is the message of the Cross and how they can be saved from the penalty of their sins, as this is the only thing they can understand as the Father has drawn them to himself. Discussing anything else from the Bible with an unbeliever will prove fruitless & a waste of time.

1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

‎The gospel is definitely foolish and ineffective for those who are unbelieving, but that does not mean that we should not be sharing the gospel with people. Like in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:1-9, 18-23), some of our seed is going to fall on different types of soil, or like in 1 Corinthians 3, it may take someone else to come along and water the seed before it begins to grow. Nevertheless, it is still our responsibility to preach the gospel because it is the Father who draws men (John 6:44) and gives the gospel its power in their lives (Romans 1:16), but it is our responsibility to deliver the message and be an example of its power.

Matthew 11:17-18 - For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

‎As Christians, we are always going to have our critics. There will be some that hate on us because of the things that we do, and there will be others that criticize the things that we don’t do. It’s a catch 22 because they are going to find some way to find fault with you. Yet, we can take comfort in the fact that as long as we are following intently after the will of the Father we are justified in his sight. If we are walking in his wisdom, we have nothing to fear and can disregard the haters and continue doing the ministry work that the Lord has called us to.

John 13:4-9 - … He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

In this act of love, Jesus Christ (the Son of God, God in the flesh, and God himself) had lowered himself to the status of servant/slave by washing his disciples’ feet. This wasn’t something that a rabbi or teacher should be doing, let alone God. Yet, Jesus used this act of humility & love to demonstrate to Peter the kind of sacrificial love & humility that he would need to have in his own ministry. Jesus didn’t think anything of it to get down and clean his disciples’ feet because he was being obedient to the Father’s will, and we need to be willing to do the same when the Holy Spirit calls us to do so. So, let’s follow Jesus’ example and be willing to lower ourselves from any status we might think we have, even if it is rightfully ours, and take the role of a servant so as to be pleasing to our Father.

To close, in reading this passage, I was reminded of a line from Stephen the Levite’s song “Commissionary” from The Last Missionary, which I will quote in closing:

So in resemblance to the Son of the Father/ we know that us as the chosen play roles like Prince and the Pauper/ proper it is for us to consider it as an honor/ to follow the greater Master and serve the way that He taught us// modeled for us humility, serving the Father willingly/ still in His Deity, the second person of the Trinity/ so even we, as a royal nation of priests/ gotta see that it’s not beneath his peeps to scrub on some feet//

Matthew 7:13-14 - “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

‎The way that leads to death/destruction is easy to find and follow after. The way that leads to eternal life is difficult to walk because there is only one way to get to it, which is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). In other words, we have to be willing to walk the road less traveled if we want to be pleasing to God. In today’s culture, this is essentially the epitome of being a true rebel because it goes so much against what is acceptable and the status quo. Be a “holy” rebel today & take the narrow road.

We don’t like to think about it, but we all have our prejudices. There are times when we stereotype people and try to put them into our preconceived boxes. We even do this in the church, a lot of times without even thinking about it. Certain people gain our favoritism because of their looks or charisma; others get looked down upon or ignored because they don’t measure up to our standards. This is an issue that I want to look at today, and I want to use the Ambassador’s song “My Clothes, My Hair” from his album The Thesis to help illustrate this point from the urban and hip-hop point of view, while of course backing it all up with Scripture.

There is a certain stigma and typecasting that comes along with being a part of the hip-hop culture. In the eyes of a lot of people, people who are a part of this culture are often assumed to be delinquents, uneducated, poor, and the list goes on. It is because of this that so many of them get ignored, passed over, or even exploited. For example, someone may see a person dressed a certain way and assume that they’re not smart or educated, when the exact opposite could be true. Seriously, you could look at a dude like Ambassador who rocks jeans, a tall tee, and a fitted cap and not even realize that this man has a master’s degree.

This plays out in the church & Christian culture too. All too often, people look at the urban culture and write them off. These people make the conscious (or unconscious) decision to ignore them and not share the gospel with them, for whatever reason. They let their stereotypes and favoritism step in, all while ignoring that Jesus shed His blood for these people too, just like He did for them. This is the kind of stuff that we see being addressed in James 2:1-13, but that’s not where I want to take this today. Instead, I want us to go to the Old Testament for some Biblical application.

1 Samuel 16:7 – But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

Looking at this verse in context, we find that the prophet Samuel is examining Jesse’s sons to see which one will be anointed as the next king of Israel. In order to do this, God told Samuel to not look at the outward appearance, as one might obviously do, but to look at the heart of the man. Why? The reason is because God was looking for someone who had a heart for Him, instead of just having the looks and the physical capabilities. If we go back to 1 Samuel 9, we find the story of how Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel. God chose him, but in many ways God gave the people what they wanted by giving them someone who looked the part (1 Sam. 9:2). As the narrative plays itself out, we eventually find out that Saul doesn’t have a heart for God and disqualifies his family & tribe from the throne. Getting back to our passage at hand, David, the youngest child of Jesse, was anointed to be king over his brothers because he had a heart for God; and, it wasn’t based on his looks at all, even though he was handsome (1 Sam. 17:42).

In today’s society, God is looking at us the same way. There are many churches that are turning away people because they don’t look & talk the way that the “church” thinks that they should. These churches are wrong. We, as believers, need to look at people the way that God looks at them. Jesus went to the cross to die for everyone, whether we agree with their culture, choice of clothing, musical tastes, etc. God doesn’t look at the outward appearance of a man or woman, but He looks to see if their heart is passionate for His. That is to say that God has no problem with someone wearing corn rows or baggy jeans with a jersey & fitted cap, or whatever look they may choose; God has no problem with any of that. Why? Because our body is an external shell of our inner being; and God is more concerned with having that molded & shaped to look more like His Son. It shouldn’t matter to us what someone else’s clothes or hair look like; Christ died for them & if they are serving and worshipping God with their whole heart, that’s all that matters!

As a reminder today, it doesn’t matter what you look like; be yourself and love God! If you’re down with the culture and style of hip-hop, then it’s okay to express yourself in that manner of dress. God doesn’t care about your clothes; He just wants your heart, so give it to Him! Also, don’t let someone else’s appearance be a deterrent from sharing the gospel with them. Be blessed!