WTFMT 57 (FOR HGM ON 23 OCT 2018)

WILDERNESS TRUTHS FOR MODERN TIMES-57

TEXT: "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." (Titus 3:9)

 

I. DON'T BE CONTENTIOUS AV - strife 4, debate 2, contention 2, variance 1; 9 contention, strife, wrangling.

A. A contentious person will be contentious to people. Avoid this attitude. Our life is not to take root in such characteristics and find its activities there. Our life is not to be motivated by that which we want to accomplish, but by God. At all cost avoid antagonism and contention, which are most costly to life.

B. The contentious heart is made manifest toward the enemy, toward a brother, and in the verse in Titus quoted above, toward God's word. Believers argue and contend over the Word. Contention jumps out of the contentious heart in almost every circumstances and situation.

C. Believers reveal their hearts to others. "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:" (2 Corinthians 3:2) That which is characteristically manifested in one area is generally moving in the whole of that person's life.

D. Jesus said, "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." (Luke 16:10) The truth of His statement rests upon the fact that you are what you are, regardless of the circumstances in which you are operating.

E. In the Church, in the home, on the job, your character remains basically the same, with differences in the wrapping. Some wrappings are designed to hide the real character, which may fool some people. But many folks see through the covering to see the character for what it is.

F. A contentious heart can be seen even in prayer, and in reading and discussing the Word. The-real-you can be nothing more nor less than the-real-you. There is no helping that. ". . . for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matthew 12:34)

G. Do not be dissatisfied and disgruntled in what you do in this present life. Be dissatisfied and disgruntled in what you are. If there is a real dissatisfaction in what you really are, that is the beginning of change. He can correct a malignant (cancer) heart. We cannot affect the change simply by acting differently. It takes the creative powers of God. "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10)

H. A life surrendered to the burning coals of God's altar will be purified. But there must be a willingness for the fire to burn our dross, a willingness to let go of our malignancy for the sanctification and purity God desires to establish in us.

I. The peaceful approach to Sihon by Moses is rebuffed and the king sets himself against the children of God. "But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day." (Deuteronomy 2:30) His heart is contrary to the character of God, and becomes more cemented in its malignancy by a continuous refusal of God's dealings. Thus he becomes the enemy to this peculiarly peaceful people.