Romans 14:13-16 (15)
David and Jonathan both played soccer. Ben was four-years-old and this season he would be able to play as well. I signed him up with a team in the pee wee league and took him to the first practice. As a proud father I stood to the side and listen as the coach gave the little soccer players his list of rules for the team. Toward the end of the presentation I heard him say, “And I want you all to wear shorts when you play for me.” I saw Ben’s crestfallen look and knew I had to talk to the coach. After the practice I went to the coach and told him that I did not allow my boys to wear shorts. If shorts were required then I would have to withdraw him from the team. The coach was very gracious and made a concession for our family allowing Ben to wear long pants when he played.
Unfortunately not all Christians are as gracious as this soccer coach. When Christ has freed us from the rules and regulations that bind some we must be careful not to flaunt our liberty in Christ. We must guard their conscience by restricting our own freedom. We should never cause another to feel the condemnation of a guilty conscience because of our demand to exercise our Christian liberty. This is act of disregard outside the scope of divine love.
Dr. Gayle Woods
Job 13:15-18; 19:23-29
Job makes a sobering statement that the Church should listen to carefully. “He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.” Job is simply stating that even though others do not believe me, God will prove my integrity to be genuine for He will hear me and bless me and everyone knows that God will not tolerate the company of a hypocrite. It is not safe to play the part of an unregenerate person who is acting and claiming to be born again. Many do, some because of ignorance, some because of pride, and others because of a dishonest heart. But do we really understand what it means to be a hypocrite? A good look at the Hebrew word and its usage will be very helpful to our understanding of this concept.
The Hebrew word for hypocrite is hanep. It literally means to be defiled, polluted, profaned or corrupt. While we often think of the word as only meaning someone who is deceptive or who is acting out a part that is not genuine, this word points a the cause of the problem. The culprit is not misinformation, bad environment or poor training but rather a corrupt heart.
The main idea for hanep is to incline away from right. It refers at times to land that is polluted for various reasons. It includes breaking the laws of God and breaking His covenant which lead to a moral and spiritual pollution of the land. Five of the times that it is used in Job it indicates that the hypocrite is a godless man – one who forgets God and lives a life of sinfulness.
A different twist to the meaning of the word is found in Psalms. The Psalmist David talks about the upside-down character of godlessness. He likens the hypocrite to the coarse jesting that takes place among the godless at their times of feasting and revelry.
(Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament)
Dr. Gayle Woods
