The Plumb Line That Counts

What is the true measure of our spirituality? Is it a numbers game or a matter of statistics (my Bible study has more attendees than yours!)?  Is God pleased with emotion or with faith?  Don't keep score like life is a sport or game!  Don't keep track of credits and debits, if you will, as in a ledger-book mentality!  Should we size up our competition, like some women are wont to do? Should we ever be jealous of someone else's gift (this is called gift-envy)?  Should we compare ourselves with ourselves and see if we fall short of some self-imposed standard of so-called perfection?  Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:12 (NASB) the following in this regard:  "For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding." We can think pretty highly of ourselves if we are the standard (but we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought per Romans 12:3).

But the plumb line, which is used by construction workers to verify a wall is vertical, is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit's power to convict and the ultimate judge is Jesus Himself. We are to mind our own business and not worry or fret about what Christ is doing in our brother's spiritual life the way Peter wondered about John after the resurrection and Jesus said, "What is that to you?"  We don't know the will of God for someone else or their calling and maybe not even our own, no one knows the complete will of God for their whole life--we are to live day by day and one day at a time.

The Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword... according to Hebrews 4:12.  That is why God's will is not laid down all at once and we are to abide by it and let it be our very life.  Jesus said that we are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God in the same vein.  The problematic scenario occurs when a weak brother thinks he is superior because of his standards and ends up judging others or looking down on them from his narrow interpretation of Scripture.  In other words, you can always find someone to look down on and feel superior to and make you feel good.

But Jesus is the standard and direction is the test; therefore it is written:  "Be ye perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect."  What direction are you going (you are either gaining ground or losing it, going forward or backward--there is no middle neutral territory where you can tread water, so to speak); therefore, it is likened to walking because you can walk backwards or forwards, but not in one place or standing still!

We are progressing if we are faithful to our individual calling and spiritual gift and fulfill the ministry (yes we all have a ministry of reconciliation according to 2 Cor. 5:18) that God has given us.  Jesus said,  "He who is faithful in little, shall be faithful in much." If we are not faithful in marriage, as someone in our care, how are we to be faithful with bigger and better things?  If God has entrusted you with lots of money, it could be a test to see if the real treasures of the spiritual kingdom can be entrusted to you--for this life is just a staging area, a preschool, a rehearsal, or a trial run for eternity and meant to be lived out in light of eternity.

What amazes me is that there are Christians who are relatively ignorant doctrinally and quite wise in knowing their God and in having a personal "hands-on" relationship with Him from encounters in the "real world."  There are seminary graduates who are literally scholars and hardly know their Lord at all, for it is all second-hand knowledge and little hands on real experience in the trench warfare of real life and have O.J.T. or on-the-job training in the spiritual battle of the Christian pilgrimage to maturity.  The goal is not to see how much we know, but how much we sow!

It may seem like we are unimportant and have a position of lowlife, but in Christ, we have true dignity.  We are all members of the body, and each individual members thereof--each with a unique gift and purpose to fulfill.  No one can say he doesn't need another member of the body!  What matters is not what part we are, but whether we are faithful and do it in the Spirit or not--God isn't against works, just against ones done in the flesh.  When we sow it is a win-win situation for us because whether the person accepts or rejects, we are obeying God and doing our part to fulfill the Great Commission.  One may plant or sow, another water or cultivate, and finally another may reap the rewards; however, remember God gave the increase and we owe it all to Him.

We are to be faithful in what we do know and not think we have to know all the answers or have expertise in the Bible to be mature because the Bible wasn't written to increase our knowledge, but change our lives.  Much of our learning should be trial and error and, even though it is best to learn from the Bible, we may end up learning the hard way by experience or the school of hard knocks. Paul said that he doesn't even judge himself, and he is correct because only Jesus sees the Big Picture of our whole contribution to His plan for our life.  This is why it is said that some who are first shall be last and some last, first, simply because we are not in a position to judge or measure our brothers and see their progress, and some are getting their reward in the here and now, while others will go to their reward in eternity.

Jeremiah 23:29 says that God's Word is like fire and a hammer because it can penetrate our souls and see the real person we are; likewise Hebrews 4:12 says it is like a two-edged sword because it can pierce between our soul and spirit.  The Bible is not true, it is truth and there is a distinction.  Only truth transforms, not being true. Jesus didn't say He was true, but truth.  Knowing Him is knowing the truth, and it is knowable in spite of Pilate saying, "What is truth?"  Absolute truth exists and we are to realize that it is our life and it is life-giving.  As we read the Bible, it reads us!  We are revealed for what we are and cannot be ingenuous to the Truth.

Case in point:  One believer may seem to be doing demeaning and servile work, but God is only testing his humility and meekness!  Remember, the way up is down!  John the Baptist uttered:  "He must increase, I [my ego] must decrease"  (John 3:30.  Our crosses pale in comparison to others and no cross means no crown.  The test of your greatness is not how many people serve you, but how many people you serve!  In God's economy, the world seems topsy-turvy!  It is said that the poor of this world will rule the rich in the life to come--there is some truth to that, for it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, so don't get too attached to it or at home--this is not our home.

 Our judgment will be at the bema or the Judgment Seat of Christ in eternity where our deeds done in the flesh will be judged, no our sins, not at the judgment of the condemned at the Great White Throne Judgment after the 1,000-year reign of Christ.  Find peace in the fact that the only canon that counts is Christ's; it doesn't matter what others think--Jesus' plumb line is the only one that validates and as the final or ultimate arbiter.

If we get away from the Bible we are entering dangerous territory where we don't have the enlightening ministry of the Spirit in our lives and will experience many unnecessary pitfalls due to our negligence--believe me it doesn't pay and you can't ever make up for lost ground--opportunities lost can never be regained.  "A wise person is hungry for the truth, while the fool feeds on trash" (Prov. 15:14).  We should aim to love the Word of God and make it our joy and delight to feed on it as Jeremiah did:  "...And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart..." (Jeremiah 15:16, NASB).  Thy Word was found, and I did eat it, and it became to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart."  The psalmist in Psalm 119:97 says that he loves the Word so much he meditates on it all day long!  

Our growth parallels our relationship to the Word as to how we allot our time according to the opportunities given us.  Some people love Shakespeare, but it is quite another thing to love the Word of God enough to want to be in it on a regular basis--but this takes maturity and is not an automatic fruit of salvation,  The infant believer longs for the pure milk of the Word (cf. 1 Peter 2:2). "Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble" (Psalm 119:165, NASB).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Is Preaching Unique?

A disclaimer:  I am not anti-intellectual or anti-scholastic, but realize God uses all types of personalities and people.   I am not trained in what is called homiletics in seminaries and, though it is considered a what I like to call a no-no to read a sermon, unless you can read like Jonathan Edwards or the Senate chaplain Peter Marshall,  I have witnessed the Spirit's unction regardless--it is the Spirit doing the work, not us.

The prophetic preacher knows how to make the comfortable feel ill at ease, and the needy and poor in spirit to get the good news of encouragement.  There is something for everyone: that's why Jesus said to feed His sheep and His lambs.  We never get tired of the milk of the Word, though only the mature can handle the meat.  The preacher never gets tired of repeating things because even Paul didn't.  It is good to shock the sheep out of their comfort zone and so they are challenged by the message, and not be satisfied only in an academic manner.

Only upon mastering his theology and honing it to perfection, being immersed in the Word and prepared by prayer can he communicate effectively (with illustrations that make you identify with the sermon) what God has laid on his heart and deliver the goods, having a purpose in his preaching.

Preaching is more a thing of the spiritual health of the preacher and not his intellect, though God uses what intellect he has (we are to love God with our whole mind), it is necessary, but not sufficient.  "Where is the wise person?  Where is the teacher of the law?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Cor. 1:20).  Paul learned on Mars Hill (Acts 17) that he was to proclaim the gospel and not debate it, that it wasn't an intellectual thing:  He then resolved to know nothing (i.e., keep the main thing the main thing and not to major in the minors), but Christ and Christ crucified (cf. 1 Cor. 2:2).

To say:  "You are a great speaker!" (George Whitefield was known for his oratory, but he had the Spirit too) is not really a compliment, unless one has the concurrent or simultaneous unction of the Holy Spirit.  Discern whether he has the Spirit, not whether he is a brain, or worse yet, an intellectual parading his learning  Some parishioners are impressed with their preacher's brains, not their relationship with Christ or their wisdom--they are to be men of God.  If he wants to be known for his brains, he should really be a prof in a seminary.


There is a difference between being spoon-fed the facts in an encyclopedic or systematic way and listening to a Spirit-led sermon--Jesus didn't lecture (you may get a lot of info, but nothing practical to apply), but preached and taught because the sheep don't need a lecture but a Savior.  If an unbeliever can do it, such as lecturing, it is not preaching.  The preacher should be able to assert divine inspiration or illumination to be "led by the Spirit" to expound on a message as a "word from the Lord"  (if he doesn't recognize the leading of the Spirit he has no business in the pulpit and should at least wonder if that is his gift).

They can get strong impressions and illuminations or even feel a burden they can't resist sharing.  People want to hear what God has been speaking to you about, not just what the so-called scholars have to say (they may be good to cross-reference, mention in passing,  or footnote though)--the better we know our Lord the better we will be able to preach, but learning to depend on the unction or anointing of the Spirit is paramount to good, sound preaching.

We should never attempt to preach in the flesh or without God's leading ("As many as are led by the Spirit are sons of Gods," which implies to be "filled with the Spirit").  The good preacher knows his audience, class, or congregation and where they are spiritual.  He doesn't preach over their heads, nor try to "wow" them with his scholarship and appear pedantic.  He may have to condescend or reach down to their level, but not be patronizing or insulting to them.  It is always a fine line to walk and he is bound to offend some no matter what.

Some preachers never preach well enough to get rejected and just gather crowds not families, which are bodies of Christ. The aim is not to be popular but to speak in the name of the Lord.  He cannot please them all and even Christ didn't go for quantity, but quality!  Only a man of God can say,  "I was led by the Lord to expound on so-and-so or such-and-such."  This doesn't mean he had some mystical experience, but that he knows the Lord well enough to recognize His leading and impressions created to do something about a subject matter.

Being called a gentleman and a scholar is not a spiritual complement, because the Pharisees were scholars and knew what the famous revered rabbis had to say too.  On the other hand, Jesus spoke like no other man to His day and didn't footnote, but dared to claim His own authority (He would indirectly quote by saying, "You have heard it said...")--He didn't say, "Thus says the Lord," but "I say unto you." He dared to be different and broke the mold, thus raising the bar for preaching and prophesying.  His listeners should be eager to hear "a word from the Lord." If he has the gift, he may even prophesy during the sermon.  In the last days, a word from the LORD will be rare: See Amos 8:11.   Soli Deo Gloria!