2006-06-04 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church 

John 7:14-18 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?  Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.  If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.  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. 

In our Bible studies on Wednesday evening, we just finished reading about the life of king Saul.  The moment anyone mentions his name, in my mind, the first thought is negative.  You see, I have an opinion about Saul based on what I’ve heard about him.  Even if he were still alive today, there is probably nothing he could do to redeem himself in my eyes.  My attitude toward him is stuck on negative, even though truthfully, I am no better than he is.  What makes it worse for Saul is that he died 3000 years ago!  His story is practically set in stone, recorded in the Bible, the most popular book ever published, and poor Saul goes down in history as a bad example. 

There is an old adage in the business world; if you give good service to one customer, he may tell a friend or two about your business.  Word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind, because it really doesn’t cost you much (if anything) to treat your customers the way you would like to be treated.  -  The flipside to that old adage is this; if you give poor service to a customer, or even just leave that customer with the impression that he got bad service, you can be sure that he will tell ten or twenty people.  That’s just the way it is in this old world.  Bad news travels fast.  A lie can travel around the world before the truth can put its shoes on.  Criticism and negativity keep the conversation going longer than anything else does. Whenever that mistreated customer is within earshot of any conversation where the name of your business comes up, he’s tempted to badmouth your business, and he usually will. 

The world holds Christians to a higher standard, and the world receives joy whenever they can point at a Christian and say, “See, they think they’re better than everybody else, but they’re worse than me”.  It probably began when some “holier-than-thou” person talked down his nose toward them, so I can’t really blame the world for wanting to see holier-than-thou types brought down.  -  When unbelievers spot even the slightest fault in me, from that point on, their mind is made up; I am labeled a hypocrite.  They pass judgment, and from then on, I have no integrity, no ability to effectively witness Jesus Christ to them. When they see faults in their unbelieving friends, they may remember it, tease them about it, or even use it against them later, but they will probably remain friends.  You only get one chance as a Christian.  It is such a delicate balance.  The world will accuse you and judge you at the drop of a hat.  This is why Paul emphasized how important it is for the elders in the church to have a good report (reputation, witness) with those outside the church. 

One example of the double standard in these matters is how the world speaks of the “da Vinci Code” novel.  I’ve heard so-called experts admit that it abounds with inaccuracies, even saying that the novel is to religious history what James Bond novels are to Cold War history.  They admit to the glaring errors in the book, but in the same breath insist that we shouldn’t ignore the tidbits of truth in it.  It inspires people to read the Gnostic gospels (the ones that surfaced later, flunk every test of scrutiny, and therefore were not included in the Bible).  People search everywhere for “tidbits” of truth, but reject the one book that’s filled with truth.  Why is this?  Well, at some point in the lives of “da Vinci Code people”, Christians probably offended them in some way.  In their eyes, bad-behaving Christians forever spoiled the integrity of the Word of God.  Now they give heed to the things that speak against the Bible, choosing to overlook the obvious flaws in them, even to the point of suspending their intellectual honesty (deceiving themselves). 

2 Timothy 4:2-4  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 

In droves, people today are turning to the Gnostic gospels and the daVinci Code - fables.  Paul is saying that we need to be fountains of truth now!  People are going to turn away from the truth, but we need to be concerned with our culpability in these matters.  We have to stop asking ourselves, “Why don’t they see?”, and start asking ourselves, “Am I the cause of their blindness?”  Have I been speaking and acting to my own glory, or to the glory of the One who sent me?