2004-03-05
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
Today, I’m led to take up the question: Can ordinary people on earth live the lifestyle that Christ speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount [MT 5-7]? While I’ve written about this question in an earlier part of this series, it is time to look at it in a different context. MT 24: 36 is very clear on the fact that no one but the Father Himself, not even the Son, knows the day or the hour that Christ will come. However, there are some charlatans out there who would try to tell us that they know, and thus, we should follow their bogus theology. I remember taking a taped class once on the book of Revelation from just such a man. He was a very prominent pastor in our area who presided over a huge congregation. His reasoning was entirely fallacious, something he had concocted based on the rites of a Jewish boy’s life. However, he was very convincing to my classmates who hadn’t spent much time in the Scriptures yet. Whenever I hear anyone placing a date on Christ’s second coming, it is clear to me that the point of our need to feel urgency about getting our spiritual houses in order immediately has been missed. Years later, that pastor was fired from his lofty position due to misconduct in an unrelated issue. I can’t help wondering if God was removing him from his position of influence, because of his apostate interpretation of His word. This whole incident causes me to recall MT 5: 3, 5, 6, and 8. Those are Christ’s comments that those who know they are spiritually poor, are humble, desire to do what God requires, and are pure in heart will inherit His Kingdom. Could this former pastor have told the truth and taught the Scriptures accurately? The answer is an unqualified, “yes.” He chose not to do that and suffered the consequences of his poor choices.
We must ask ourselves where our true citizenship is. The answer is found in PHIL 3: 20, “We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven.” It can’t be plainer than that. What this means to us is that we live as temporary “tent-dwellers” here on earth with a need to repent from our sins, come to faith in Christ, and to allow the Lord to sanctify us (that is to gradually bring us to perfection), so that we are ready to answer the call of that last trumpet to a “meeting in the air” with the Redeemer [1 THESS 4: 12-16]. Believe me, if my own experience with sanctification is typical, it isn’t easy for the believer. We each must face our own demons, whatever they are, before God is finished with this on-going process. There are times when this can be downright painful. But, in His infinite wisdom, God knows this is what is best for us, to allow us to be brought back to Him by our faith in His Son. I used to think that quitting smoking was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. Not so! As I began to mature in my faith, I realized I had to deal with issues that were buried so deeply that at times I didn’t know they were plaguing me and keeping me from getting closer to the Lord. There are still more of those issues, or the Lord would be ready to take me right away. Our forward progress in this process of sanctification demands that we examine the sin in our individual and corporate lives and work to expunge it. That is part of going through the narrow gate and down the hard path that leads to God’s eternal Kingdom [MT 7: 13-14].
Enduring in faith has both its earthly and heavenly rewards. This can be seen in 1 THESS 1: 9-10 when Paul is speaking of the life and faith of the Thessalonians. “All those people speak about how you received us when we visited you, and how you turned away from idols to God, to serve the true and living God and to wait for His Son to come from heaven-His Son Jesus, Whom He raised from death and Who rescues us from God’s wrath that is coming.” The earthly reward was the wonderful reputation the Thessalonians had earned even before Paul’s arrival there. The heavenly reward is following Christ as one of those “many brothers” [RO 8: 29] back to the Father’s side for an eternity of blissful fellowship with Him. Some questions we must ask ourselves are: 1) How will I spend my time between this moment and that when we hear that last trumpet? 2) How willing am I to face trues about myself which are often painful to get rid of the sin in my life? 3) Do I turn the knowledge that such examination brings into action in bringing my life more in line with God’s will for me? 4) What are my best ways to know God’s will, and do I follow them? 5) How discerning am I when I hear some kind of theology of which I am unsure? 6) Is my mind and heart opened or closed to change in these painful areas? 7) From where can I look for real help when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges in the course of this examination? 8) Am I placing myself in a lifestyle situation where I can have the most godly emotional and spiritual support while going through this process? We must remember that God never calls us to make difficult changes without first equipping us to make them. From Christ’s words in JN 6: 39-40 and the description of His main purpose in His incarnation in COL 1: 19-20, we are assured that we can always turn to Him when the going gets tough.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your throne as sinners desirous of coming back to You and living out eternity, taking up our citizenship in heaven. You already know this process is difficult for us, because we must go against our natural selves with all their bodily appetites. And yet, though Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection, You make the way open to us. PS 34: 19, words from the insight You gave David, give us insight too. “The good man does not escape from all troubles-he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.” PS 71: 20-21 adds texture to this message. “You made me suffer a lot, but You will bring me back from this deep pit and give me new life. You will make me truly great and take my sorrow away.” When we look back on our lives before we came to faith and compare them with lives in faith, the contrast is tremendous. You privilege us by allowing us to see what the unbelieving person thinks is foolishness. You give us pleasure at the thought of what our lives as permanent citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven will be. You even allow us to have a foretaste of this kind of pleasure right here on earth. The Psalmist describes this in PS 89: 14-16, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love and faithfulness go before You. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, who walk in the light of Your presence, O Lord. They rejoice in Your name all day long; they exult in Your righteousness.” Distress seems to come to us often, Dearest Abba, because we live in a society that is becoming increasingly under Satan’s rule. And yet, You love us so much that You won’t abandon those who endure in their faith in You [IS 49: 14-16]. The words of the Psalmist, in PS 59: 16, tell us we are not alone in adversity. “But as for me, I will sing about Your power. I will shout with joy each morning because of Your unfailing love. For You have been my Refuge, a place of safety in the day of distress.” This wonderful message is repeated many times throughout the Scriptures. You are an awesome God, and we love and praise You. We dedicate ourselves to You and seek to do Your will. In Christ’s holy and strong name, we pray. Amen.
It seems that I barely begin writing about a question, such as the one posed at the beginning of this devotion, before I run out of space and must continue on it the following week. The Lord gives me more to say about the question of can we live the lifestyle Christ described in the Sermon on the Mount today. So, that will be the subject of next week’s message too. As I am writing this message, Peter and I are coping with the loss of his sweet earthly father. Because he had professed faith in Jesus Christ, we have the assurance that he has only died physically and is now fully healed and at home with our Father in heaven. While we will miss Peter’s father, just as we miss his mother and my father who have gone on before him, we can take comfort in knowing that our separation from these loved ones will be temporary, if we will only endure in our own faith in Christ. What a great assurance this is that our loving Abba in heaven has given us! We will go down to Florida to attend a memorial service for Peter’s father and to use our deep and abiding faith in Him to comfort other family members. This doesn’t take away the pain of our loss, but it certainly gives us a different and godly perspective on it that families without faith don’t have at their time of losing a loved one. This is one further reminder to Peter and me of how very blessed people are when they have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and obey God’s commands.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn