Truth Versus Reactionism

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Greetings to you in Christ's name. It's a blessing to be in God's house with God's people. With God's help we'll share this. I've titled this message, Truth vs. Reactionism. And I would like to look at the outset at some scripture. [00:00:33] I'm just going to quickly and briefly read through some scripture and just kind of to make a point. And I'm not sure if I should do this first or last, but I think I'll do this first. First, I'll read 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. We could probably recite some of these verses. I would hope that these verses are in our minds. They're not just, we've heard it. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, [00:01:06] that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Rather all encompassing, it just holds everything together. And what I would like to do is simply lift up this book to you. How many of you believe that this book is God's word, inspired word, and it's the ultimate infallible guide for our life? His word is solid. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away. I think we've all heard that one. But it's there. [00:01:38] If you have a question and you need to know what to do, here's the answer, if you look for it. Psalms 119.89 says this, Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. And Psalms 119, 105, it is a lamp unto our feet. It is the guide that we need to shine a light on our path. And I'm not quoting verbatim from Scripture and saying that. I'm just simply making a point. Jesus refers to it 11 times. He says, it is written. [00:02:10] It is written. And what I would like for us to grasp this morning, that the truth of God's word is serious. It is not to be reckoned with or changed or moved. It is powerful. The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4.12 It is not only for us to scrutinize our lives, but at the same time, God is scrutinizing your lives through his word. [00:02:49] It's not old-fashioned, it's up-to-date, and it speaks to us today. Now, I think by raising your hand, you would agree that this book that we're looking at this morning, trying to get direction from is a lot more than just a collection of ideas and stories. It is our guide. Now, it is the temptation of all mankind to know exactly what is right, what is here. [00:03:24] We know we're well trained, but the doing is where we kind of grapple with, or I grapple with it. And maybe I'm saying what I am this morning because I need to hear it, and that's many times what happens. But I think we all understand this, and we've heard it all before. James says this, but be ye doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving your own selves. And according to what James is saying, it's sin. To not do it. [00:03:55] Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. It's sin. If I know what God's word says and I disregard it, when I get before the Lord, I will be accountable. I think we all understand that principle. Now I was reminded of a conversation that I had, I guess I may say this, Brother Chester, Wednesday evening. We were talking about, I don't know what we were talking about. something and he said gave this example of this meeting that someone had and and I think maybe [00:04:32] I've heard the story before there were it was an Anabaptist meeting what's the difference between Protestant and Anabaptism and then he asked the question how many of you think it's all right to have a TV and they didn't think it was all right and I don't know if they raised their hand or And the question at the end was, how many of you are willing to do without your TV? They were not willing to do without. The Anabaptists were willing to do without. They looked at God's word and they said, if it's not according to his plan, we will have no part of it. [00:05:11] And that's what we should do as well. And that's what's on my heart this morning. That we get in our minds that this, if we're not going to get to heaven unless we use this book as our guide. We have to use it. And I think we understand that. Simple truths. How many of you brothers have heard that you're supposed to love your wives as yourself? Is it that easy? How many of you have heard that you're supposed to be submissive, you wives? Is it always that easy? [00:05:43] It's not that easy. It's not that easy. And the evils that exist in our society. Now you may tell me this morning that you may protest and you may say that you're making, the road is too narrow. You're narrowing it down too much. It's too narrow. But I challenge you to look around and look at the evils that exist in our society and then think about it. What happened? [00:06:14] What is happening? They did not go God's way. And I am especially reminded of this in divorce and remarriage situations and situations where there's fornication like Glenn was talking about. And think about it. Who's hurting? All kinds of people are hurting because of these situations. Well, you don't have to go that far. Just what Glenn said about evil speaking. People hurt each other. Look at the decay of society and the evil that exists when we don't go God's way, we suffer. [00:06:54] We ourselves do and the people that are affected by it. And I think just recently there was a brother here that had devotions and he said this, it's not that hard to find out, to have truth, to know where it's at, but doing it is the real challenge. Now, I would like to read Ephesians chapter 5. I thought for a little bit Glenn was going to invade my territory, but he didn't get quite that far. I'm just trying to get this in our mind that we need to have truth in our lives. [00:07:30] We need to not only know, but do and live truth if we are going to be victorious or make it to glory. I'd like to start reading Ephesians 5, chapter 5, verse 11, and I'm going to be reading after the list of sins that Paul was writing about here. Let's read. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever does make manifest is light. [00:08:06] Wherefore, he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. He ends it there, and I'm going to stop reading there. The end of verse 18. I'd like to notice several things here. Two verses especially. Verse 15. See then that ye walk circumspectly, and I'm going to read it in the Amplified. Look carefully then how you walk. Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise, sensible, and intelligent. [00:09:03] And I know that's a bit more wordy, but it's in language that I understand. More of an everyday language. So Paul is saying that in light of all this, be wise. Be careful what you do. And it is imperative to do that, to stay on the narrow way. We can't stay there if we don't do that. And then the second one is the end of verse 18. Be filled with the Spirit. [00:09:34] And again, the Amplified says this, but ever be filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit. Gives us some direction. And I guess that's what I would like to, in saying what I have this morning, that is my desire for not only my life, but all of us here at Rosewood and the larger Christian community. That we be filled with the Spirit and we're able to surmise what is wrong and what is right in light of God's Word. [00:10:08] Now you heard the title, I haven't spoken about reactionism yet. But I would like to talk about reactionism. And I believe that it's a tool that the devil uses to get us off course. To get us going a different direction. It's a trap. If we're guided by our circumstances versus truth, it's a trap. It gets us off course. And it has destroyed churches. Reactionism has destroyed ministerial teams. [00:10:43] It has destroyed families. It has done its work. And it's a tool that the devil uses to get God's children going in the wrong direction. Now, unfortunately, I think I can say this with, it may not be true for all of us, some of us are more emotional, or we tend to be more emphatic about things. Well, let's just say it this way, I think to some degree all of us, including myself, are guided a little bit by our circumstances. [00:11:16] Things that we have faced, peer pressure, positive peer pressure and negative, we at least have to deal with it. And especially politicians, if you read the newspaper, you will understand that they operate on reaction many times. Okay, so the Democrats are doing this, and so the Republican Party kind of steals their message and kind of twists it a little bit to put their spin on things, But they're merely reacting. They're not necessarily looking to help their citizens. Well, I want to be careful [00:11:52] I'm not here to Make any statement about a political party, but what I'm how many of you have heard of compassionate conservatism In in terms of that idea has a whole story behind it if you study compassionate conservatism And I I just looked at it briefly. I'm not I pay scant attention. That's not the point this morning. I'm not preaching a political party or their ideas. [00:12:22] But think about compassionate conservatism and think it through and think about the message that those two words have for the for the broader spectrum spectrum of politics. That term in itself was borrowing some democratic ideas for the Republican Party But part of it was a reaction And they were trying to counter something I'll leave that there for your consideration That's politics [00:12:55] Are there ever politics in church? I think we would agree that there are times when there's politics in church And because, well, I get ahead of my message here, but let's just look at reactionism. Some of you may know that reactionism isn't in the dictionary. It's not. If you look at it and you study the word now, it comes from a French root. and reactionism in French was something had to do with a government that was, the government was set up, [00:13:35] they had gone from a monarchy to a dictator and then back, they went back to a monarchy after the dictator, I believe, and they called that a reactionism because it was this push and pull and they came back to where they were. But we understand reaction and we was it Sir Isaac Newton that said for every action there's a reaction. I'm not a school teacher. I know that's in physics, but I'm not that's not necessarily what I'm talking about. [00:14:06] But there are let me read several definitions of reaction. The first one and I think there were like seven different definitions of reaction in the dictionary. The first one is an emotional or intellectual response to something that arouses. The second one I have is active response, a response to something that involves taking action or action or an action taken in response to something. And the third one, opposing action, an act in opposition to somebody or something. [00:14:42] So what I, the burden that's on my heart this morning is that we see where we're going and what is happening and we have a reaction to that versus looking at God's word and seeing what does God say about it. Now where would you go in scripture to look for a reaction? I would guess most of us would know Probably the Pharisees were about as reactionary as anybody that you can think of [00:15:13] And so I think I'm going to speak just snippets here and there of what we can glean from that First of all, I didn't do a lot of research, but the Pharisees were a group that were formed And I think about 300 B.C., they were, and don't hold me on the numbers, but they were formed for what? They were formed for a good cause, because at that time, that point in time, they were getting away from the law. [00:15:47] Let's see, I'm trying to think. The Pharisees come from the scribes, I believe, and the priests and the scribes were two different things, maybe. I think if I have it right, that's what was happening. And they were alarmed. We've got to get back on track. We've got to do something to get this. We have to get people to get back to the law. And so they did. They did that. Good intentions? Yes. They had every right to be concerned about what was going on. [00:16:21] Commendable. It was commendable what they were doing. But it was also a reaction to what was going on. They moved, I think we all understand that they moved beyond the law and they added how many more laws because of this reaction. Well, let's look at some things that happen as a result of these reactions. And I want to say this, I want to temper this with this statement at least. Jesus had a strong response to sin. [00:17:20] I would say it's pretty strong if he had a whip and chased the money changers out of the temple and overturned the tables. I think that's pretty strong. But he had a reason for doing it and he wasn't just reacting. Look at Matthew 23. Matthew 23 speaks a lot about the Pharisees and what they did. I'm just going to pick out a few verses here and move quickly through this as far as, well, let's just read Matthew 23, 3 and 4. [00:17:54] All therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not, for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers And then in verse 24 it says this Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel Now you have to remember that this reactionism had been going on for maybe [00:18:29] I don't know how many years But probably 150 years So they had their traditions and they were steeped in their traditions and part of what they did was right. But the Amplified says for verse 24, filtering out a gnat and gulping down a camel. As a result of this reactionism, this is what happened. And this is what happens many times in my and all of our lives if we give way to reactionism. [00:19:03] We're able to see maybe one thing, or one area, and we get very, very strong on one area. But we're oblivious to the camel that just about goes down. May I say it in that language? That's pretty graphic. But that's a result of reactionism. Inconsistency was another one. And that often happens. And, you know, maybe, like I said, this is probably for me, but when I start reacting and going on a reaction to what someone else is doing, almost immediately, there's some inconsistent inconsistency in my life. [00:19:50] Whereas, if we depend on this, there's stability. If we depend on the word of God, we don't have to worry that, we don't have to change with that reaction. We're guided by God's word. And that's where we need to stay. In truth, there's stableness, not change. We stay there. And may I temper that, may I say this, we say, we talk about truth. [00:20:26] The principle that comes out of truth is what is always recognizable in every setting that you go. If, well I should be careful with that too. In Bible believing churches, they may have a different brotherhood agreement, but the principles stay the same. It stays the same. There's stability there. If it's true that we're supposed to dress modestly, then that shows up. And you could keep going there. [00:21:01] Jesus said in John 8, 32 and 33, what did he say? And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. But I didn't realize who he was speaking to, really. But if you read on in 33, he was talking to the Pharisees, and they said, they answered him, We are Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? [00:21:33] They felt free. They were free. Well, I suppose they were free in some areas. But you know what? Were they free? I don't think they were free. They weren't free at all. They weren't free. And let me say this morning that bondage is invariably a result of reactionism, bondage. And I think that most people that are in this mode of reactionism, reacting to something, don't even realize the bondage that they're in. [00:22:12] They don't understand. And I'm not saying that lightly. I think that has happened to me. I didn't even understand that I was in this thing. I think we get to the point where we are not able to allow ourselves to be guided anymore. We're stuck in bondage. You know, it's this reaction. This bondage is now, we're in bondage to the person or the things that we're reacting to. Think about it. [00:22:43] You, you move and many of our people have moved from one setting to another. And it's this thing of if they had long hair, we'll have short hair. If they, if, if they dress this way, we're not going to dress that way. We're going to make sure we don't do that. We're in bondage to what is back here. We're not examining God's word and going from there. And the same thing happens if we have a brother that's maybe strong in this area or sister [00:23:17] and we see that and we react to that, we're in bondage to that thing. We just, for some reason, human nature just wants to correct that problem but in correcting we go to the other ditch and we lose it. We have to make sure that we're standing on truth. If the church we left had four activities a week and they were gone and they had their families out doing things, [00:23:48] we're not going to have any activities. We react to that thing and we keep, it holds us in bondage or the other way around. If we all sat at home, we didn't have anything to do, now we're going to go do things. We're going to go play ball with our families or do, but we can't allow that thing to guide us. It just does not work. The list could probably go on, but there's something that happened to the Pharisees in this thing, and I think it happens and has happened probably to me. [00:24:21] When we move from here to here, there's a sense of freedom, and there is freedom maybe in one area. But let's be very careful that in break, and I'm not saying this morning that we should never make a move. I'm not saying that at all. We have to be careful. But, you know, maybe we left because we had a craving for personal freedom. And I always wanted to drive that red car. [00:24:52] And now I can drive that red car and I'm free. I can drive it. But in a sense I'm still in bondage and I'm going in the wrong direction Whereas when we're guided by the principles of God's word we just don't do those things We don't go into that kind of bondage Reactionism is in a sense, I've mentioned this already, going, jumping from this ditch to this ditch And, you know, legalism is an awful thing, I think. [00:25:28] I think all of us would admit to that. But if we react to that thing and move to worldliness because of that, we're still in bondage. We haven't gained anything. And may I just inject this. In our constituency, legalism is almost the byword. It's something that I hear over and over and over again. Be very careful. I've heard it used and expressed and expounded upon about things that weren't actually legalism, [00:26:03] were based on truth, and it was truth. I would just say this. If we have, if we need to move from one situation to another, be very careful. Don't just go on reaction, but stand on truth. Be very careful. Be conscious of what God wants you to do. I would like to look at Luke 18, just briefly, 9 through 14, and I'm going to read it here. [00:26:34] And again, this was kind of an eye-opener to me. I've heard this since I was a little boy, praise the Lord, but I didn't notice what it said. I didn't notice the words as much. What I'm getting at is I want to note what Jesus said before he said what he did in Luke chapter 18, verse 9 to 14. It says, and this is the account of the publican and the Pharisee in the temple. He said, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. [00:27:13] I never noticed that. He was speaking to a people that trusted in themselves. Now let's read. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess, and the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, [00:27:51] God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted there is in reactionism a sense of self-righteousness what I'm doing is much better than what's over here and I just justify myself in doing what I'm doing. [00:28:22] But if it's merely a reaction to what this brother or sister is doing in the church or the job, this co-worker, it's just a reaction, it probably isn't the way it should be. It just won't hold. I noted another thing in this and that is pride. Pride often goes with a reaction. Pride. You know, we see this, let's just say it this way. [00:28:57] We see this family that struggles maybe and we would like to help them with their clothes. When we wear our clothes, we have everything in order. That's reactionism. We're reacting to that thing where we should be trying to see what God's word says about it and go by that. Maybe we should allow ourselves to be humble and understand that contentment is something that's worth a lot. But pride is an outworking of reactionism. [00:29:30] It is the result of reactionism, I guess you could say. And there's another one that I don't have necessarily in front of me But hypocrisy is another result of reactionism If you think about the Pharisees and their hypocrisy And think about how that affects me Trying to be something that I am not Is what hypocrisy is And it shows up when there's a reaction Now I've spoken quite a bit about reaction and the Pharisees. [00:30:04] And we can't just leave it there. How can we counter this type of thing? How can we stand when other people are reacting? And I will admit to you that I don't have the answers. Not a complete answer except what I've been trying to say. If you think that there's a brother or a sister in the church that is stumbling, is faltering, [00:30:41] I challenge you to take God's word, not to justify yourself, but to give you an honest answer about that situation. Maybe I've gotten ahead of my message again. I guess that's what I was trying to say all morning.