“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
James 3:11-12 KJV
Today, we will continue our lessons on living a dual life with some more examples of duality:
5. MATURE AND YET CHILDISH
Samson judged Israel for twenty years. It takes maturity to be a judge, and to be able to lead a nation for this number of years. Looking at Samson’s life, you may get the impression that he was just lustful, chasing one prostitute after another. But he was a judge for twenty years. That is maturity in ministry.
Most Charismatic churches in Ghana have not been in the ministry for twenty years. But Samson was! However, Samson had another side of his personality which made him behave like a child.
In Judges 15:1, he caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails in pairs. Then he set them on fire and sent them into the Philistines’ farms. This was Samson’s revenge on his father-in-law for giving his bride to his best man.
His behaviour was childish. It is a child who would think of running around to catch foxes, tie their tails and light them up with fire. There are simpler ways of burning a farm. The man was clearly childish in his thinking. Yet at the same time, he was a very mature man who gave reasonable judgement for at least twenty years.
There are many Christians like that. Their level of understanding of God’s Word is excellent, yet they are so childish. A child is very unsteady and unstable. A child cannot sit at one place for a long time. There are many childish Christians who despite their knowledge of God’s Word cannot settle down in any church.
Today, you will meet them in this church, the next time, you will find them in another church. They just cannot belong anywhere. Theyareunsteadyandunstable,yettheyhavegreat knowledge. It takes maturity to belong to a church.
One Sunday evening, I ‘tuned-in’ to a Christian talk show on my way home from church. (I usually leave church very late). That night, the discussion was on churches and pastors. As I listened to the discussion I marvelled at how wise and mature the arguments sounded.
Then I suddenly recognised the voice of one of the contributors. He was one of the most unstable Christians I had ever known. He had once been a member of my church, but had since moved to at least two other churches. This fellow had such wise commentaries to make on the behaviour of pastors and churches. Yet he was like a child — unable to belong to any church for a long period. Perhaps, he knows too much to belong anywhere. He is mature and yet childish.
6. LOYAL AND SLANDEROUS
Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued… 1 Timothy 3:8.
There are people who claim to be loyal and yet are very slanderous and double tongued. They have two tongues: one speaks good and the other evil. The Bible describes duality of the tongue as being double- tongued. There is only one animal that seems to have two tongues — the snake!
Some years ago, I was in a fellowship meeting when the pastor took a second offering. I got angry and complained to a sister sitting by me. But the look she gave me shut me up. Immediately, my heart smote me.
After the service I went up to the pastor and confessed to him what I had said. He was very surprised. Stretching out his hands, he told me God was going to use me. I could have complained bitterly about the man of God as I sat there. Then after the service, I could have approached him with a big smile, telling him how much I enjoyed the sermon.
To him, I would have sounded very loyal. But I would have been ‘stabbing him in the back’, pretending to have a loyal tongue. A person with two tongues is a follower of the devil; who slanders the saints before God. The devil is described as:
…the accuser of our brethren… which accused them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10
7. GOODNESS AND BADNESS
The dual person exhibits both goodness and ‘badness’.
…your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Hosea 6:4.
The morning cloud and the early dew were things that appeared for a short while and then vanished almost immediately. Some people would know the dual person to be bad and wicked. Another group of people would know him to be a very good person.
If you went to the home of a person living a dual life, the members of his family would readily supply you with tales of his evil deeds. But if you also went to talk to his colleagues at school or in the church, they would tell you of his/her goodness and kindness.
8. GOOD START, POOR FINISH
In Judges 13, we observe the beginning of Samson’s ministry. But in Judges 16:30, we see his end.
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines…
When Samson began his ministry, the Spirit anointed him for service.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Ecclesiastes 7:8 (ASV)
It does not matter how you start this journey of life, God is interested in how you finish. There are many people who started so well. They were anointed. But because they lived dual lives, just like Samson, they died in the midst of demons and their enemies.
I heard a story told be a pastor who visited a man who has been diagnosed with some dangerous sickness. In their conversation the sick man said to the pastor “ I have prayed to God to heal me, if he heals me I will dedicate all my life to serving Him”
The next time the pastor visited the hospital a week later the man had died. The moral in this case about finishing well. Don’t waste your life on other things and when you have nothing to offer God you make promises you can’t keep. What is the use of starting well and ending very badly?
Samson died in the midst of unbelievers, he died in the midst of his enemies. He was killed by the enemy! It will never be well with us if we play a double game with God. God is not blind! God is not a fool! God is not a man! God can not be mocked. He sees what we are doing.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15: 3.
Behave like a True Christian
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”Romans 12:9-17 NKJV
You may click on the following link and listen to the podcast sermon: https://spotify.link/C9IxdhAvdzb
May the Lord help us all. Rev. Ron
Virtuous Living 