The End Justifies The Means

   A very popular teaching in the world today is that the end justifies the means.  What I mean by that is, as long as the end result is something good, positive, or beneficial, it matters little how we go about bringing this result.  On the surface level this may sound fairly reasonable but as we bring this idea into religion, it falls far short of what God truly wants.

    I would like to turn your attention to I Corinthians 13:1-3.  Paul says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."

    Just imagine being able to do the things Paul mentions in these verses.  Just imagine, as an example, knowing all the mysteries and having all knowledge.  Think of all that you could teach people.  Think of all the questions in your mind that would be answered and how you would be able to answer the questions of others.  The underlying theme, however, is that there is something more desirable than even the greatest act.  The physical act of giving all my possessions to feed the poor is one of great sacrifice.  But what if I had the wrong motive.  What if I did this great act just so people would look at me and say, "Look at that godly man?"  Maybe I want the glory involved in how people would think of me.  Does this great act, in and of itself, make me a righteous person?  If I give all my possessions and I don't do it out of love, what does it profit me?  It profits me nothing.  The end result (the poor being fed) does not make each and every way of producing that result right.  The sacrifice that I might  make would certainly benefit the poor but it would not benefit me from a spiritual standpoint.

    I am afraid there are going to be many people on judgment day who are very disappointed in the outcome.  I encourage you to read Matthew 7:21-23.  There are going to be many people who will claim to have accomplished great works.  There are going to be people who claim they  did all sorts of "good works" in the name of Jesus Christ.  The conclusion, however, is that not all of these individuals are going to make it into heaven.  Who is it that will make it to heaven?  Only the one who does the will of the Father!

    In our religious world today there are many who would do just about anything to get the desired result.  Car washes and bake sales to raise money for their "church." Gymnasiums (along with various sporting events),  kitchens and day care centers to try and get more people to attend their congregation.  To them, the end result looks good.  Why, what's wrong with raising money for the church?  Nothing except for what the Bible teaches.  The only authority given for the church to "raise money" is giving on the first day of the week as we have prospered (I Cor. 16:1-2).  Anything else is foreign to God's word and is of man's origin.  What's wrong with having more people attend our assemblies?  Nothing except what God's Word teaches.  After Jesus fed the five thousand in John chapter 6 many people came looking for Him on the next day.  They spent a good deal of time looking for Jesus (vv. 22-25).  Jesus knew their true motivation however.  They had completely missed the point of His miracle.  His miracle was not to show that the church is to be involved in feeding the hungry of the world.  It was to show that He was the Christ.  It was to show that He was the Son of God.  These people came looking for another free meal and would have liked it on a continual basis, like God sending the manna to the Israelites (vv. 31-33).  Jesus rebuked them for seeking after physical food instead of spiritual (vv. 26-27).  People today make the very same mistake.  They seek "the loaves and fishes" instead of the gospel.  Jesus never tried to give people a watered-down version of the gospel so that He could get a bigger following.  In fact, He did just the opposite because He wanted true disciples.  After all these things, Jesus actually lost some of His disciples.  John 6:66, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore." Do you think we should try and tell people what they want to hear so that they will attend "our" church?  What did Jesus do?

    It doesn't matter how great something may be that I claim to do in the Lord's name, what does matter is, "Has God told me to do it?"

                                                                --Shane Williams