With Psalm 121 as the backdrop, the hymn Unto the Hills (a song for going up to worship) delights in the protection and provision of God.

It’s also of particular interest that the Ninth Duke of Argyll is credited for the metrical paraphrase of psalm 121 (which translated into English means he wrote the tune).

You never hear much about the Eigth Duke and certainly no metrical paraphrase of any psalm from the Seventh Duke of Plaid.  The Duke of Earl on the other hand . . .

This was in my mailbox this morning from one of those enewsletters subscriptions.  It will be interesting to conduct some research:

If you don’t have that intuitiveness or innate ability to “read” people, what do you do? Toni Bowers, in her “Career Management” blog, quotes a new book by Carol Kinsey Goman, The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work, and here are a few of her more interesting observations:

• A fake smile is one of the most common expressions used to mask other emotions—especially if it lasts too long. Goman says that research has borne out that expressions that last between five and ten seconds are probably false.
• Another signal of deception is when adults casually cover or touch their mouths with their fingers during a discussion. She says, “People who are lying may also touch their nose, because the rush of adrenaline opens the capillaries, and it itches. Watch closely, and you’ll notice that when someone is about to lie or make an outrageous statement, they’ll often unconsciously rub their nose.”
• Liars avoid eye contact. We all pretty much know that, but Goman says that people who are really good liars will often over-compensate and hold eye contact for too long. Lying is not the only reason people avoid eye contact, though. Goman says they also do it when discussing “something intimate or difficult, when they’re not interested in the other person’s reactions, when they don’t like the other person, when they are insecure or shy and when they are ashamed, embarrassed, depressed or sad.”

Toni Bowers, Career Management, TechRepublic, 6/9/08.

The Guide You Choose Makes A Difference
Matthew 7:15-20

“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

The test implies that a person can figure out the true nature of an unknown subject by observing this subject’s readily identifiable traits.

If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck is true that it is always a duck?  Could something walk like a duck, swim like a duck, perhaps even quack like a duck and not be a duck?  What if it looks like a sheep, smells like a sheep but actually turns out to be a wolf?

• What you do is EVIDENCE of who you are.

Matthew 7:15-20 (NCV) “Be careful of false prophets. They come to you looking gentle like sheep, but they are really dangerous like wolves.  You will know these people by what they do. Grapes don’t come from thornbushes, and figs don’t come from thorny weeds.  In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.  A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.  Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  In the same way, you will know these false prophets by what they do.

• You will know literally means to FULLY know something without a shadow of doubt.
• The pseudo prophet is a false or fraudulent person, PRETENDING to be something he is not.

This is inductive reasoning at it’s best.

• GRAPES don’t come from thorn bushes.
• FIGS don’t come from thorny weeds.

Notice the contrast between fruit and thistles (fruit that nourishes thistles that harm).

In the same way . . .

• Every good tree produces GOOD fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.
• A good tree cannot produce BAD fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

In the same way . . .

• You will KNOW these false prophets by what they do.

In other words:  “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

• The false prophet (pseudo prophet) presents a veiled shadow of Christ but insights on SUBSTANCE that is not Christ.

How are we to make sense (interpret) and make personal (apply) this teaching of Jesus?  Remember, the path that leads to salvation is not marked by external requirements but by internal transformation.

• You can fake EXTERNAL practices in the observation of religious ritual.

As long as the externals become the standard I can appear righteous . . . look at how good he prays, sings, preaches, teaches, look at her church attendance, volunteer work

• You can’t fake the RIGHTEOUSNESS that comes from internal transformation.

This is talking about character that which is definitively tested and proven by the fruit you produce.  The good work that we do is not the sum of the total.  The fruit that is produced by the good work that we do is the sum of the total.

We can be involved in good things that don’t produce good fruit.  Just because it is a good thing doesn’t mean it’s worth the investment of our time and resources.

Colossians 1:9-10 (NCV) Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we have continued praying for you, asking God that you will know fully what he wants. We pray that you will also have great wisdom and understanding in spiritual things so that you will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.

Fill your life and your schedule with church activities, church events and other churchy opportunities and what is it that people know about you?  You are a religious person.

Fill your life and your schedule with those things that produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and what is that people know about you?  You are spiritual person.

• A spiritual person may be a religious person but a religious person is not NECESSARILY a spiritual person.
• Every tree that does not produce GOOD fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Just as Jesus warns for us to be careful and guard against false prophets he warns us to be careful and guard against unproductive lives as Christians.  It’s not just an issue of producing fruit, the issue is producing good fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NCV) But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.

People harvest what they plant.  The fruit you produce is the fruit you plant, water and allow to grow.  I think we’ve allowed church business and “busyness” to distract us from fruitfulness.  This is equivalent to following a false prophet (the end result is disastrous)

The purpose of assembly is not to check boxes, to fulfill rituals but to foster a climate and cultivate a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The purpose of ministry involvement is to foster a climate and cultivate a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The purpose of fellowship in Christ is to foster a climate and a cultivate a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Any church that demands leaves over fruit is leading people to ruin.  Any church leader that leads you to follow the footsteps of Jesus is guiding people to become fruitful and productive.

Like the path, Jesus Christ is GUIDE.

John 12:47-50 (NCV) “Anyone who hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge, because I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  There is a judge for those who refuse to believe in me and do not accept my words. The word I have taught will be their judge on the last day. The things I taught were not from myself. The Father who sent me told me what to say and what to teach.  And I know that eternal life comes from what the Father commands. So whatever I say is what the Father told me to say.”

What Jesus, our guide, says is of utmost important.  And our Guide says:

Matthew 7:19 (NCV) Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Let’s set out to figure out how to follow our guide.