This morning as the pastor stood to preach his sermon I noticed he was casually dressed. The outfit was very nice, but there was no suit, no tie. I leaned over and commented to Gary that I wondered what was going on with the pastor? As the sermon began on the screens behind the pastor appeared the title, "Managing My Legalism" and the scripture taken from Galatians, Chapter 3. Gotcha! That's all I could think...I leaned back over to Gary and said, "he's dressed like that to make a point and I walked right into it."
How many times in life do we judge others based on a preset, unwritten list of rules that we deem to be correct? Numerous, I would guess. I have always been taught to dress up on Sunday mornings....in fact, we "dressed up" whenever we attended church. It wasn't for show, it was because my mom and dad believed you needed to look your best and wear your best when coming into the Lord's house for worship. Nothing but our best effort for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that thought process. However, we need to welcome others into the Lord's house that may dress differently, look differently and/or act differently.
Jesus spent a great deal of his three year ministry tour with those outside the Jewish faith. He came to seek and to save those who were lost and that included the Samaritans (the woman at the well), the Greeks (the Syrophecician woman), Gentiles (the demon possessed man on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee) and all of life's outcasts and outsiders. Should we do any less?
We need to remember that life changes, but God doesn't. Our hymns may be in the form of more upbeat worship choruses that are shown on screens, our times of services may even include Saturday evenings and not just 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and the dress attire might be jeans when we would like to see suits/ties or dresses with stockings. Whatever our "hangups" we need to ask the Lord to break down the walls of our own personal legalism and work through us to be His mouthpiece, His arms, His legs, His sight to bring others to the foot of the cross. Thanks, Pastor Greg, for wearing your casual attire this morning presenting a visual lesson I'll remember for a long time!
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:26-29
How many times in life do we judge others based on a preset, unwritten list of rules that we deem to be correct? Numerous, I would guess. I have always been taught to dress up on Sunday mornings....in fact, we "dressed up" whenever we attended church. It wasn't for show, it was because my mom and dad believed you needed to look your best and wear your best when coming into the Lord's house for worship. Nothing but our best effort for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that thought process. However, we need to welcome others into the Lord's house that may dress differently, look differently and/or act differently.
Jesus spent a great deal of his three year ministry tour with those outside the Jewish faith. He came to seek and to save those who were lost and that included the Samaritans (the woman at the well), the Greeks (the Syrophecician woman), Gentiles (the demon possessed man on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee) and all of life's outcasts and outsiders. Should we do any less?
We need to remember that life changes, but God doesn't. Our hymns may be in the form of more upbeat worship choruses that are shown on screens, our times of services may even include Saturday evenings and not just 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and the dress attire might be jeans when we would like to see suits/ties or dresses with stockings. Whatever our "hangups" we need to ask the Lord to break down the walls of our own personal legalism and work through us to be His mouthpiece, His arms, His legs, His sight to bring others to the foot of the cross. Thanks, Pastor Greg, for wearing your casual attire this morning presenting a visual lesson I'll remember for a long time!
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:26-29
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