In the Garden of Eden, mankind stood at the crossroads of good and evil
with a choice. We still stand at that crossroad every day of our lives and
many times we make the wrong choice as did Eve and Adam. The most
important aspect of the decision is whether we listen to truth or error, the
Lord God or to Satan. As we reduce this choice to it's lowest common
denominator, we find it is whether to listen to the contemporary "wisdom"
of the world (system) or heed the wisdom of God as revealed in his Word.
We have the same choice as they of the Garden. God said there are two
trees, life and death, you choose. Satan convinced Eve to make the wrong
choice based on his words and the appeal of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. There is a difference is our circumstance, for
our choice is made with knowledge of the disaster that followed the wrong
choice they made. We may further reduce the decision to a choice of works
instead of faith in God and his Word.
When ego or pride enters the equation, we find man would be in charge
of his own life, refusing to listen to the true wisdom of God, listening to the
"wisdom" of the world. This results in the world as we see it today, groping
in darkness without light, following the path to destruction. Is there anyone
holding the standard high or steady enough to attract children of the world
to a loving Father who stands ready to light their path with His wisdom?
In Matthew 12: 25, Jesus says “a house divided..” cannot stand. In some
ways, this is what we find among professing Children of God. While it is not
our responsibility to try to determine just who among us are born again, nor
is this even possible, we must consider the issues causing schism in Churches.
In the past there were issues such as baptism of infants, baptism by immer-
sion, baptisimal regeneration, inerrancy of the Scripture, the doctrine of the
security of the believer and other beliefs separating the denominations. The
issue we consider here divides the local church as well as divisions between
and within denominations. It is not as simple as Salvation by faith or works.
It is a refinement of this issue as follows:
Is our primary responsibility to God or to His creation? On the one hand we
find believers acting as though we may get to know God in a personal way,
study our Bible and pray without getting our hands dirty serving creation.
On the other, we see believers, social activists, in a good sense, that seem
to believe our duty is to others. They are caught up in the social issues such
as poverty, education, racial equality, working to stamp out health problems
and the like. This is the short list, but you get the idea. The former will, at
times, ignore social issues in favor of the “Deeper Life,” feeling this is
enough to satisfy God’s demands. The latter, are disposed to work with peo-
ple, directly or indirectly, to get things done and at times neglect their walk
with the Lord, worship and what some might call Spiritual matters. The
schism is not a result of the varied gifts dispensed by the Holy Spirit, crea-
ting balance in the body, but error in both camps. It causes one group to
look on the other as misguided and is of a source outside the Spirit of God.
The idea that we have this problem is not original with me and is treated in
an excellent book, “The New Man for Our Times” by Elton Trueblood. It is
published by Harper & Row in 1970. While Dr. Trueblood gave a scholarly
view of this problem , I would take a more practical or pragmatic view.
It seems clear to me; persons who will not obey the plain teachings of Scrip-
ture are either uninformed or in disobedience. In Southern Baptist Churches
in the ‘50s this was called backsliding. The Lord gave a definitive statement
on this issue in Matthew 22: 36-40. When asked, a trick question, “Which is
the great commandment in the law?“ The Lord gave the 2 great commands,
summing up the Law and Prophets. (He could do this since He is the Author)
“Love God with all your heart... and love your neighbor as yourself.” Since
our issue is addressed here, we need to look no further in the Scripture for
our answer. We cannot be in obedience to God if we neglect either command.
(Christ even said in another place, “How can you love God whom you have
not seen and not love your neighbor whom you have seen?) If I do not love
our neighbor, I do not love God. If I do not love God, it is impossible to love
my neighbor. Love is of God.
Trueblood points out, that those who ignore the deeper life and fail to walk
with the Lord, have a tendency to denigrate the Spiritual side of life, and
those caught up in the Spiritual or devotional life seem to think it is enough.
The proponents of a deeper life have not time, nor inclination to get their
hands “dirty” by service to those whom God loves, His creation. The issue
is; both extremes ignore a great body of truth in the Word requiring the total
life, worship and service. The extremists have a tendency to become smug
and proud as they compare themselves favorably with those who do not have
the same ethic.
We saw this in the ‘70s with charismatics entering into churches outside
the Pentecostal movement. Charismatic believers used the gift of tongues
as a litmus test for true Spirituality and many were divided along these lines.
Now there are charismatic believers in all known denominations and there
seems to be an uneasy truce. This is not apt to happen with the present day
movement, since the divide is a chasm. If the Church does not recognize that
we must fulfill the great commission wholly, we are left with new “babes” in
Christ who will never mature, for lack of a balanced diet of faith and works.
James said “faith without works is dead,” Paul states; "Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Note that Abraham, as did
the other Patriarchs, added works to faith and nowhere in Scripture are we
shown a person of faith who failed to combine his faith with works.
The focus of our personal experience must be Jesus Christ. We must acknow-
ledge who He is; God in us. Then determine what His purpose is; “to seek and
to save sinners.” How did He accomplish this on the earth? He gave his life for
sinners. As we say, He gave His life for others, it does not refer only to death
on the cross. He gave His life in service to others, healing the sick, restoring
sight to the bind, making the lame whole as well as seeking and saving those
who were separated from God.
His job description has not changed. He is doing those same kinds of things
from the vantage point of heaven and is working through His church, you and
me, to do them. Our Lord had a close walk with his Father and a vital prayer life.
This is from where the strength, wisdom and love came for his service and for
ours.
We must also learn two more things:
Where is He now and how will all of this end? Our Lord, Jesus Christ is sitting,
and at times standing at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us
and at the end of our lives we will stand before Him to give account for what we did
with our lives here. We must be doing His will here which includes the Spiritual life,
and He was known for that. We must use the Spiritual energy from the overflow of
that life to serve His creation, mankind, as He did. He is living in and through us.
We have few options as to the thrust of our lives if we are going to live like Him.
Finally, we must realize that being a Child of God never adheres to a “cookie
cutter” approach. Every child of God, members of His body or the church, is as
unique as are various “parts” of the human body. If every one were an ear, from
where would come the sense of smell. If everyone were a mouth, etc... You and I
cannot be the persons in the place where our Lord can make best use of us until we
understand the Scripture and become mature doing each day the things He has for
us to do. If we fail this daily quest for excellence in everything we do, our Spiritual
maturation will be retarded as a baby who is not given balanced nutrition in order to
develop physically or mentally. A steady diet of Bible study, prayer and obedience
to our Lord will bring each of us to the full stature of maturity in Christ, which is
our goal.
“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it:
except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain"
Psalms 127: 1 edited 3.28.13 donporter 11.27.14
No comments:
Post a Comment