October 2, 2023
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You know, you and I are living in a, well, a pretty adjustable world. I mean, we have adjustable rate mortgages, and I have an adjustable wrench that changes sizes for different jobs. Good thing we have adjustable clothes, because it seems like we have adjustable bodies don't we? We have one size that fits all even . And, of course, negotiations that go on between nations, oh yeah, constantly adjusting their views, and their policies, and their public statements. And then politicians...you get it. As the situation changes, we all seem willing to change almost everything with it-sometimes including the truth.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Bible, My Bottom Line."
Now, our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Luke 5:5. And we find out that Simon Peter, for all of his weaknesses, had one thing that gave him the heart of a disciple. There was one bottom line in his life that simply was not negotiable. And that must have been what Jesus loved about him. Maybe you remember the incident where he had just been out all night fishing, and he came in and Jesus said, "Now, I'd like you to go out again." Okay, it was already the heat of the day, and Simon Peter could think of all kinds of reasons to do something else. It's going to be inconvenient, we're going to get the nets dirty again. You don't catch fish in the day if you don't catch them at night. I'm going to look foolish to the other fishermen. "Hello! Nobody goes out in the middle of the day, Simon." It's not going to work. No, and he'd already tried and he failed.
A lot of reasons; a lot of things that told him not to do what Jesus said. But listen to what he says, "Master, we've worked hard all night. We haven't caught anything" - which sounds like that's going to be the reason he won't do what Jesus said. But listen to the next sentence: "but because You say so, I will let down the nets." That's the heart of a disciple. "If you say so, Jesus, I'll do it." That's the bottom line no matter what anyone else says. Now, today there's kind of a dangerous drift from that kind of spirit-filled, scripture-anchored stability. "Thus saith the Lord." Well, that's often compromised by "thus saith society" or "thus saith the Gallup Survey" or the culture, or it's compromised by the latest best seller or what somebody said on a talk show or a website.
Sometimes I think we have a tendency to follow sociology more than theology. For example, you could take the issue of divorce. In the Christian world, divorce became accepted pretty quickly. Now, society says it's okay, but has God changed His mind? He uses strong language in Malachi 3, and He doesn't say he hates divorced people, He doesn't. But He does say, "I hate divorce." He hates to see a marriage break up. See, the problem is we tend to have an adjustable truth. There are a lot of examples of that if it's out-of-step with what's culturally cool or personally convenient.
God's truth has always been out-of-step with the culture. Like Peter, we must go to the Bible alone for our view, not to what makes sense to us or to say, "Well, now this is affecting someone I know, or maybe I could change my view." I always say, "When the verse gets a face, the verse is going out the window." See, the Bible clearly tells us what fulfilling womanhood is, no matter what sociology says. It tells us what manhood is; it tells us that marriage is forever. It talks about sex that is meant to be between one man and one woman within a lifetime, permanent commitment. Anything else is outside of God's boundaries. It certainly shows us that politics are not the focus of a Christian's energies. No, it's the Kingdom of God that we're supposed to seek first.
It's time that we returned, I think, with humility to an open Bible and say, "God, how do You feel about this? Whatever You say, that's it! I'll do it." Now, we have to always speak with love and with humility, but always with His authority too. We, who love the Bible, are the only ones with the whole story; we've got God's truth. And those things? They're just not adjustable. They are not negotiable.