All Bark And No Bite

Philippians 3:2-4
"Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they're interested in is appearances--knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The REAL believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it."

I will never forget the nasty Boston Terriers our neighbors, the Smileys (real name!) used to have. We used to live in a house right next door to the Smileys. From the age of four until I was seven years old, I dwelled within earshot of those nasty, fiendish, little beasts. Every day, when I was coming home from school, I would have to walk right by their house. And every day, there the little buggers were. To this day, when I see a Boston Terrier, thoughts of canicide fill my mind.

Here I am, a little 6 year old kid, coming home from school, minding my own business. I'm carrying my school bag filled with my Tip and Mitten book, three stubs of pencils, and the leftovers of my lunch in my Hong-Kong Phooey lunchbox. And there is the Smiley's house. It looms there ominously, like the Psycho house up on the hill, housing the two monstrous predatorial canines. I swear, that each day at 3:30, the sky would turn to black, the lightning would crackle down around me, and the very winds of Hades would whip up just to instill an even greater fear within my soul. I would walk silently, tip-toeing my way towards my house, which sat just beyond the Hell that was the Smiley's yard. I would creep closer and closer until...grrrrrrrr...what was that? Was that them? No, it was just the sound of a distant car...bark, bark, bark! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! And there they'd come, the hounds of Hell, flying down the hill of their front yard, snapping at my heels, barking all the way, chasing me right up to the front steps of my home where my mother would be waiting for me holding the door open, to then slam in the faces of those foul little beasts.

Each day would go by and I would be safe for another twenty-four hours.

You know, it was interesting, I was never bitten by those dogs. They would chase me every day, but never was I bitten by them. Oh sure, they snapped at my heels, but never did they really bite me.

The little Boston Terriers were more concerned with appearing to be ferocious, than with actually being ferocious. They were more concerned with barking and looking nasty, than with actually being nasty.

They filled the air with barking which had no real bite to it. Their bark was much bigger than their bite.

Do you know Christians like this? They chase you around, telling you that you're not worthy, that you're not focusing on the proper things of the faith, when in actuality, it's difficult to discern what they see as important. They spend so much time decrying your cause that it becomes difficult to discern theirs. Or, they focus on one or two rules for the faith, forgetting the most basic parts of the faith, like being in a love-relationship with Jesus and telling others about Him.

There are folks who focus on worship services who talk about the kinds of things we can and cannot do in worship and they spend so much time barking about worship, that the bite of their own worship becomes a mere snapping at the heels of God. There are folks who focus on Christian behavior who spend all their time barking about what we can and cannot do in our living, and forget to simply live with Jesus everywhere and all of the time. There are those who bark and proclaim "Godly" visions of church buildings filled with people but forget the bite of the Gospel into someone's soul...the actual, transformational, life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ, which tells us that we are radically loved by a wild and crazy God who not only barks His love for us from the Heavens, but bites into our souls with His love, actually coming to earth to love us directly as the Son.

God tells us to forget appearances here in this passage. We are told to focus on the actuality of who we are and how we're living. We are told to fill the air not with the empty barking of diluted theologies, but with the saturated praises of a Living God who promises New Life.

This passage from Paul to the church at Philippi tells us that there is a difference in those who believe: there are those who are all bark and no bite, and there are those who work away at the ministry, filling the air with the praises of Jesus Christ. There are those who talk about "Godly" things who do not really know God. And then there are those who talk about God, so that Godly things can be known. There are those who say they know God, who in reality haven't a clue. And then there are those who are in an intimate love-relationship with Jesus, spending every minute of every day with Him.

These are the people who do not need to bark, because their bite is louder than their bark.

Do you know Jesus? Do you know Him well? Do you recognize His constant presence in your life? Do you feel His constant love for you? Does He feel your constant love for Him? Do you proclaim "Godly" things but in reality have no idea who God is? Or do you know Him so well, that by simply proclaiming His name and walking with Him day-by-day, Godly things are proclaimed in your living?

If you superficially know Jesus and only guess at His love for you, then you can only guess at what it means to live a God-honoring life. And your proclamations of "Godly" living will be empty. Your bark will be louder than your bite.

But if you intimately know Jesus and love Him with all your heart, then you will be one of those Paul talks about as "working away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise." Because you will proclaim Godly living by living with God. Your bite will be louder than your bark.

Which is louder...your bark or your bite?

Be WILD For Christ!

Pastor Shane