Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 1-2
“I only like positive preaching. Negative preaching is so unloving.” The one who thinks this doesn’t know much of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet” because he loved God’s people very much, and it broke his heart to see them in a state of stubborn rebellion to God. His deep love for Judah notwithstanding, what instructions does God give Jeremiah concerning his preaching? “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and plant” (Jer 1:9-10). As my grandpa used to say, “Would you looky there?” God gave Jeremiah four negatives (root out, pull down, destroy and throw down) but only two positives (build and plant). Gus Nichols once preached it like this, “Sometimes we have to be positively negative” (“Upholding Sound Doctrine,” 1974 Freed-Hardeman Lectures). Those who think negative preaching is unloving will need to take up their case with God. This also shows us that the negative has to precede the positive. The first word of John the Baptizer and Jesus in their preaching was “Repent!” (cf Matt 3:2, 4:17). When one desires to grow a garden, he must first remove the weeds. Whoever considered removing weeds as a negative thing? When we consider the good received from biblical rebuke, we won’t consider such as being negative either.
New Testament reading: Matthew 22-23
I must love what Jesus loved, but I also must hate what Jesus hated. If the amount of ink given to the things Jesus hated is any indication of where it ranks, then hypocrisy and self-righteousness are at the top of Jesus’ list. Matthew 23 is dedicated to Jesus’ denunciation and condemnation of the Pharisees (“the separated ones”), the most hypocritical and self-righteous sect among the Jews (cf Luke 18:9-14). Jesus described them as “do as they say but not as they do” hypocrites. They knew were unwilling to live according to the standards to which they held others. Full of themselves, they dressed the part to draw attention and admiration from the “common” Jew (vv 5-7). We must take care not to allow such “Look at me!” attitudes destroy our good light and influence (v 28; cf Matt 6:1-5).
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