Guitar Jams! "the very appearance of evill?"

This is actually a question that a person in my church asked me... and I wound up preaching a message on it... enjoy.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 (KJV) "Abstain from all appearance of evil."

The point of this passage-Be holy! Live a life that exalts and pleases and reflects well on God!

What it does NOT say-"Make sure that no matter what you do in life---everybody sees it as good and not as evil."   I.e. make sure you meet the approval of everyone around you. That's a recipe for neurosis and an early death.

Matthew 12:1-7 (NLT) At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off heads of wheat and eating the grain. 2 Some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, "Your disciples shouldn't be doing that! It's against the law to work by harvesting grain on the Sabbath." 3 But Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read in the Scriptures what King David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, and they ate the special bread reserved for the priests alone. That was breaking the law, too. 5 And haven't you ever read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6 I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7 But you would not have condemned those who aren't guilty if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.'…"

NOTE:   Jesus didn't say, "Oh, I'm sorry… did that appear evil to you-us eating some corn on the Sabbath? Here, let me put those grains of corn right back… there… now are you happy with me?" NO! Because he wasn't doing anything evil-even if in the Pharisee's misguided mind it appeared that way to them.

The Law was given to bless and guide, not to enslave… and mercy/relationship with God - and not empty religion were what the LAW was intended to promote. But the Pharisees didn't understand the Scriptures or who Jesus was-so in their ignorance, they wrongly accused Jesus of evil.

Jesus didn't do anything that appeared evil to those who knew the Word…

So, many times people will say, "that appears evil to me"-because they are ignorant of God's Word.

That certainly would be the case with our question today. The only people who would have accused Mary of sinning were those who didn't understand the prophecy that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.

Luke 1:26-35 (NIV) "In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

Notice a couple things:
Mary didn't say, "Well that can't be right … I'm a virgin and that'll just look horrible to people!" No! She said, "Okay God… so how's this gonna work-since I am a virgin…?"

And notice that the Angel never said, "Now Mary, the first thing we need to do is mount a gigantic public image campaign throughout Jerusalem to make sure that everybody knows-the what's happening here is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah."

God simply said, "My Word stands… the Scriptures are there… the prophecies are clear-The Savior will be born of a virgin… let those who eyes to see that-see in and rejoice!

Friends, Jesus himself said,
Luke 6:26 (NIV) "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets."   Why? Because they told the people whatever they wanted to hear… wanted to appeared good in everybody's eyes… so they would LIKE THEM, SPEAK WELL OF THEM.

God doesn't call you to suck up to a sinful world… He calls you to stand up for a Holy God in the midst of a sinful world. And often times that kind of life will draw all kinds of fire and false accusations---People will say all kinds of things about you-

Matthew 5:11-14 (NIV) "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

When you live as Salt-and you bring a distinct godly flavor to your surroundings-you're going to stir some people up---and when you shine for Jesus around people-some people are gonna cuss you out because they don't like it when light get shined on their dark deeds.

So when Paul said, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." He wasn't saying suck up to everybody and make sure everybody approves of everything you do---He was saying fall in love with Jesus and live a life that pleases HIM and brings glory to His name!

And when he called Mary to be the mother of the Messiah-he called her because he knew her heart-he knew she was a believer---and that she would receive the mission to be THE VIRGIN (Isa. Spoke of in 7:14) who would give birth to and raise the Savior of the World… God knew that she would receive hat mission in faith and with joy-and that she would NOT be worried about what people who didn't understand the Scriptures would think of her.

And the example of Mary-is a wonderful example for us-God wants us to live with that same faith and desire to please Him. He wants us to dig into His Word and grow in our knowledge of it-so that we can be wise and discern what is TRULY GOOD and TRULY EVIL… and NOT be tossed back and forth by the endless opinions of people in this world.

God wants you to be strong and courageous and to live a life that is full of purpose-and if that happens to draw some criticism from people who don't understand what knowing and living for Jesus is all about-then so be it… Love them, be good to them… but never feel bad… if in your obedience to God… you don't always make them happy.