I Don't Care How High You Jump On Sunday

On Sundays across America you will find all manner of people enthusiastic in worship. Some will clap loudly. Others will shout. People will raise their hands. Some will kneel. You will start dancing. Some will help the preacher preach with "amens". There are also those who jump up down.

I don't care how high you jump on Sunday. How straight do you walk on Monday and the other days of the week. Preachers can shout with the best of them and put forth a theatrical sermon of eloquence. He can wow the  listeners and draw quite a crowd week after week.  He can also live like the Devil on Monday. He can treat staff members poorly. He can suffer from egotism. He can by a tyrant. Degenerate behavior can spiral downward from there.

Musicians and soloists can play and sing flawlessly hitting every note with perfection in their performance. They can inspire and move the crowds with their performance. They can also live in hypocrisy the rest of the week dishonoring the Lord and the message they played and sang in worship.

Sunday School teachers can teach with deep insight and stir the hearts, minds and imaginations of their classes. They can also curse like a sailor on the job and use unscrupulous methods in their business dealings like pagans do.

College students can worship with whole hearts abandoned in passionate singing and expressions. They can also engage in sinful behavior on campus, on dates and in private that dishonor the Lord.

We put so much emphasis on what happens in the Sunday service. God puts equal emphasis on what happens the other days of the week. Why is there so little written or preached about holiness these days. The modern church is anything but holy.

In churches today members engage in homosexuality, adultery, fornication, pornography, alcoholism, drug use, embezzlement, investment fraud, slander, gossip, idolatry and abortion. At the same these same members avoid such things as; missions, evangelism, discipleship, tithes and offerings, service, sacrifice, presenting their bodies as a living sacrifice, seeking closeness with God, discovering and following the will of God and avoiding the appearance of evil.

Hypocrisy abounds in the church while holiness is nearly extinct. We are challenged at this point.

Matthew 23:13-36 (NASB) 
¹³  "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
¹⁴  ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
¹⁵  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
¹⁶  "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.'
¹⁷  "You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
¹⁸  "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.'
¹⁹  "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
²⁰  "Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
²¹  "And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it.
²²  "And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.
²³  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
²⁴  "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
²⁵  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
²⁶  "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
²⁷  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
²⁸  "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
²⁹  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
³⁰  and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
³¹  "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
³²  "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
³³  "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
³⁴  "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,
³⁵  so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
³⁶  "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

1 Peter 1:15-16 (NASB)
¹⁵  but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
¹⁶  because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

Hebrews 12:9-10 (NASB)
⁹  Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰  For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

I could fill up pages and pages with other  scriptures calling the people of God to holiness. Should holiness not be highly prioritized in the lives of followers of Jesus. Should holiness not characterize the lives of Christians. Shouldn't preachers preach on holiness more and songs focus on holiness. Shouldn't the altars often be filled  with repentant people. Shouldn't authors write about holiness challenging the people of God to live Christ honoring lives. 

Like I said in the beginning, I don't care how high you jump on Sunday. How straight are you walking on Monday and other days of the week between worship services.