2002-09-09
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
From time to time, I like to remind you of how much your willingness to stay in the word and read my messages each weekday morning (or once a week if you're on the weekly list) means to me. The Holy Spirit has called me to quite an undertaking in this arm of my ministry, and it's awfully nice to know that the work I'm doing for God is serving you too.
Yesterday, I was led to begin a new segment of our spiritual warfare series called "Righteousness." This deals with the breastplate of the full armor of God, also mentioned with the "belt of truth" in EPH 6:14. In GN 4: 9, Cain responded to God's question about the whereabouts of his brother, Abel, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Of course, God already knew that Cain had committed two horrible sins-offering the work of his hands, rather than an acceptable blood sacrifice and murdering his brother. When Cain scowled, God's response in (7) had been to say, "If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling, but because you have done evil, sin is crouching at your door." I bring this story up, because of the question Cain asked: Are we our brother's keeper? We each of us in assessing the depth of our faith and willingness to obey God must deal with that question. Because of what I believe about engaging in a faith-building lifestyle (building my own faith and that of others) and my firm belief in the essential nature of the "koininea" that supernatural bond (relationship) which exists between God, the believer, and other believers, my answer to that question is an unqualified, "yes."
When we look at what happens when someone doesn't answer that question in the affirmative, we can see some pretty awful results. Note the example of a gay man who became an airline steward back in the 1970's. He was booked to work a flight to Africa with a short layover. I can't remember which African city it was, but that's not important. While there, this steward engaged in a homosexual act with another man who carried a disease unknown outside of Africa and surely not understood there. Later, this steward returned home to his promiscuous lifestyle in New York, spreading the disease to the people with whom he had sex. This kind of irresponsible, unrighteous behavior was the beginning of what would become the AIDS pandemic. RO1: 24, "And so God has given those people over to the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other." Sadly, our society has passed from morality to immorality to amorality. One need only look at where the media (particularly TV, movies, and some magazines) to see where this is going, as "the envelope is pushed." That is one way that Satan tightens his grip from the inside. Terrorism and fanatical fundamentalist Islam is a way he tightens his grip from the outside. Two questions, to which I personally don't have answers are: How far will this go without an appropriate response from the community of faithful believers? Are we willing to allow sin to destroy our society?
Let's take a look at some of what God has to say about the issue of righteousness. God inspired Paul to get at the mechanism of Satan's attacks in RO 1: 22-27. "The (evil people) say they are wise, but they are fools; instead of worshipping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortal manor birds or animals or reptiles. And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other. They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator Himself, Who is to be praised forever! Amen. Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts. In the same way the men give up natural sexual relations with women and burn with passion for each other, and as a result they bring upon themselves the punishment they deserve for their wrongdoing."
God has been very clear on the subject of unrighteousness. 1 COR 6: 9-11, "Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves-none of these will possess God's Kingdom. Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." God intends for us to see the wide difference between an unrighteous person and one of obedient faith to Him. This is to be done without our passing judgments, for that is to be left to the only One with the God-given authority to judge, Jesus Christ. I believe that just as God hoped traditional Jews would see the happiness and peace in the lifestyle of those who believe in Christ and want it for themselves, those who are living wrongly would see how much better life is with righteous faith and want to come to faith for themselves. When Christ said in JN 8 :32, "You will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," He was not only referring to those who now believe but also to those who might potentially believe in the future. We are running out of time and should thus look carefully at our own lives to see if any sin still is in them. God has ordered us to get rid of it, so that we can inherit the Kingdom as joint-heirs with Christ, the "first among many brothers" [RO 8: 17 & 29].
PRAYER: O Lord, some of the issues of righteousness are plain to see by those who have faith in Your word. Others are more subtle and harder to deal with. We come before You to ask for Your help in being self-disciplined about staying daily in the word, in gaining the wisdom You want us to have in recognizing when there is sin, in having the courage to take action to expunge that sin from our lives. We are imperfect, which is why You bless us by Your efforts to sanctify us. The challenges to our faith that You allow to happen are so that we can work through them, gaining more spiritual strength, endurance, and maturity. We know that we must take responsibility for our own choices, and thank You for giving us the opportunity through Your Son's death on the cross to choose morality and right living. We are given great encouragement in RO 5: 3-4, "We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval, and His approval creates hope." What You think about ourselves and what we do matters more than anything else to us. We dedicate ourselves to being both Your obedient servants and Your dear friends. Christ made that possible for us, as we learned in RO 5: 10-11. "We were God's enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! But that is not all; we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has now made us God's friends." David expressed truths that are in our hearts today in PS 15: 1-5. "Lord, who may enter Your temple? Who may worship on Zion, Your sacred hill? A person who obeys God in everything and always does what is right, whose words are true and sincere, and who does not slander others. He does not wrong to his friends and does not spread rumors about his neighbors. He despises those whom God rejects, but honors those who obey the Lord. He always does what he promises, no matter how much it may cost. He makes loans without charging interest and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent. Whoever does these things will always be secure." With humble confession and our offer of adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and thanks, we are Yours today an always. In the holy name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow, I will go on with more about what God has to say about righteousness. His love for us is all over everything He does. Our Lord has demonstrated His faithfulness toward us throughout mankind's history. No other entity has the love or capacity to do that. We are truly a blessed people to be His children. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn