I want to be honest with you, dear reader, about something. This week I got discouraged. I have said in church before that the biggest difficulty for me when it comes to pastoring is my desire to make people happy and for people to like me. It is a weakness of mine. I understand that making people happy is not a bad thing, but at the same time we must have an understanding that when you do the right thing and you stand up for it there are going to be times, plenty of times, when you will not be liked for it. My family was at Disney World a few weeks ago, as we were walking to an attraction we came across a cast member who had a big grin on her face, she was holding a bubble wand that blew bubbles all over the place. Children and parents alike were giggling and playing with the bubbles and having a good time. I thought to myself, “Man, that sure is the life! Your job is simply to make people happy!” But the truth is, and this is nothing against this girl or any of those cast members for that matter, a smile is short-lived doing right has eternal rewards. I say all of that to say this: My desire to make people happy is strong, but I have to constantly keep that in check with God’s calling on my life, and that calling is to do right. As Ron Hamilton wrote in song, “Do right til the stars fall, Do right till the last call, Do right when there’s no one else to stand by you. Do right when you're all alone, do right though it’s never known, Do right since you love the Lord. Do right, DO RIGHT!”
It is times when I am discouraged in doing right that I am reminded of these verses, I want to share them with you today.
- Joshua 24:15, “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua was giving the children of Israel his final address. He knew that the children of Israel were prone to wander and to rebel against God. It was in light of this that Joshua stood and made an example of himself and of his family. He told them that they needed to choose who they would serve (something they would truly struggle with for generations to come) the Canaanite gods or the Lord. But then he says this, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” What was he saying? Basically, “If you all choose to worship the false gods of the Canaanites, me and my family are still going to serve the true and living God!” Joshua was committed to serving the Lord, even if it meant doing it alone. I’ll be honest with you today, the path of doing right is a lonely path. There are many who will oppose you, there are many who will walk with you for a little while and then turn back, unsaved people will mock you, many in the church will scorn you, even hate you. But you must determine to do right. Remember the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus”? One of the most touching verses to that song, yet one of the most difficult to sing is, “Though none go with me, still I will follow, no turning back.” Determine this, “Even though I stand alone, I will do what’s right!”
- 1st Peter 1:16, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Some Christians get saved and then after that go about living their own way. Time does not permit me to delve into the churches that propagate this false teaching, but suffice it to say that these people believe they can do whatever they want because, “Jesus died on the cross for all my sin, therefore all of my sins are forgiven, I can do whatever I want because my sins are forgiven already.” What a carnal way to look at salvation and the Christian life! But this is part of the mindset behind Christians being involved in much of the wickedness that the unsaved world is involved in. Name any sin that an unsaved person regularly commits and you will not struggle to find a saved person who has, is, and relishes in doing the same. The reason I point out this verse is because it is a direct command of God. It is not a suggestion, it is not a good idea, it is a command. And it is a command to be HOLY. Holy means to be set apart. What basically God is saying is that we ought to be set apart from the world, we ought to be different from them. We ought to look different, act different, talk different, and be different. Why? Because we ARE different thanks to the blood of Jesus Christ! When I am tempted to hang in the towel on doing right, maybe just ease up a little, I am reminded that God has called me to be this way. To not do right is to go against the command of God and why would I want to disobey the one who has given everything for my salvation?
I don’t want to misrepresent myself here, I do fail sometimes often. I am by no means perfect, some of you who are reading this know me pretty well and you can attest to that, I am a sinful person. But I still strive to do right, and it is this command that helps me continue on.
- Daniel 3:17-18, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”
We know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (their real names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and I am sure they would be offended by us calling them by Babylonian names, but that is a different post for a different day) they did not bow down to the idol and so they were thrown into the fiery furnace, and, as we know, God spared them from the flame. Before they were thrown into the furnace, they testified to Nebuchadnezzar the verses that I posted up above. What are they saying? Basically, “We know that our God can deliver us from the flame of the fiery furnace, but even if he does not WE WILL NOT BOW!” They believed in the power of God, which we all should, but they determined that even if it was not within the will of God to protect them from the flame, they would do what is right. The truth is, doing right sometimes hurts. You will sometimes face real troubles for doing right. The eternal rewards are wonderful, but let’s be honest, it is difficult to think about the eternal rewards for doing right when you are hurting right now for doing right! The three Hebrew boys said, “Do whatever you want to do, you can kill us, you can throw us into the fire, but we will not disobey our God!” What steely determination! It makes me think of the martyrs who burned at the stake for standing up for the Word of God and their beliefs. They would not recant for anyone, even if it meant burning at the stake, being drowned in the lake, or being cut with the sword. And when I think of the testimonies of these brave Christians it breaks my heart that so many times I am so quick to give up on doing right over the smallest of oppositions! We must be like these three boys and determine to do right, no matter what difficulties may come our way for doing so.
Do right! We see that we ought to do right even when we must stand alone, we see that we ought to do right because it is commanded by God, and we see that we ought to do right although we may face hardships for doing so.
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