2005-07-29
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Living with real integrity means recognizing that we are called to a higher law, that is we are called to live "in Christ." This is not a new law, but a higher one. To better understand that notion it's necessary to look into the question: Did Christ come to alter or to fulfill the existing law? I won't be able to answer this in only one message. Paul, in 1 COR 10: 32-1 COR 11: 1, said, "Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God. Just do as I do: I try to please everyone in all that I do, not thinking of my own good, but of the good of all, so that they might be saved. Imitate me, then, as I imitate Christ." If we were just looking at how believers are supposed to act, then one might mistakenly assume that Christ had made some change to God's laws. We find the same message in PHIL 3: 17-19, "Keep on imitating me, my brothers. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you. I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's death on the cross. They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world." Does that come across as a description of a lot of what is going on in today's world? It does to me.
If we were to do a careful study of God's teachings, looking for inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and changes, we would be quite surprised not to find any. Research into this has been done over the years to back up what I'm saying. If there were any problems of this sort, they are always due to mankind's foolish efforts to alter the Scriptures or take them out of context. One of main reasons the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls is so significant is that the text of books like Isaiah, for instance, were found to be accurate word for word. When such books as the New World translation of the Bible [the one used by Jehovah's Witnesses] and the comments made on the Bible by Mormon writers are written, what has happened is that a lie is being told of monumental proportions. Truth from the Bible is mixed with lies which take the Scriptures out of context and place them in an artificially constructed context. This ranks right up there with the Gnostics of the past who believed that only a certain segment of the population was given the secret truths, and you had to become a believer in that movement in order to get to know that truth. Gnostics believed that Christ lost his Lordship when He physically died on the cross-hardly the truth! The bottom line is found in 2 TIM 3: 16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in instructing, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." This statement refers only to the OT and the NT. No other human-crafted work is meant here.
Some people have looked at the OT and stated, "God and the people were so harsh in it. I don't like the OT." The problem is not God being any different than He is now. Instead, it's people who were wholly uncivilized needing to be better at obeying what God teaches. We have to realize that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow [HE 1: 10-12]. His love for mankind and desire to see as many of His creations return to Him for a blissful life of fellowship for eternity has remained the same, most especially since the fall of mankind at the time of the original sin. After all, He sacrificed His only Son on the cross for us, so that we could be saved. So, the problem needs to put squarely where it belongs, in the lap of sinning mankind. The question remains: What should we do about this? God answers it in LV11: 44-45, LV 19: 2, and 1 PET 1: 16. "Be holy because I [God] am holy." We need to remember that God never calls us to anything that He didn't first equip us to be able to answer, "Yes, Lord. I'll do as You say." Can you just hear Isaiah in your minds? IS 6: 8b, "Here I am, Lord. I will go! Send me!" Isaiah knew at that moment that he was equipped to answer the Lord's call. So should we!
PRAYER: O Lord, we are so very imperfect, and yet, You know that we are now capable of answering Your call to a higher law. What You mean by this is Your call to live imitating Your Son, Jesus Christ. His very name means Savior. He is "God With Us," Immanuel, the One Who set the example of living in holiness for us. Because of His death on the cross and You resurrecting Him, we are freed from the slavery to sin. We are enabled, equipped, and empowered to answer Your call to a higher law, the law He modeled for us. This call to holy living is not natural to us, because we are still sinners. However, we recognize our own spiritual poverty without You and how spiritually rich our lives can be with You in them. Trusted theological researchers have never proven any inconsistency in Your teaching from beginning to end. Even though the OT seems harsh and difficult, it is no different from the NT. The only difference is that as time goes on, You are making some headway in civilizing mankind. Even so, there is an appalling amount of evil still in this world. Otherwise, things like the Holocaust and other kinds of evil wouldn't be a part of modern history. Today, the seeds of destruction of a large portion of mankind still are present. As believers, we do not want to be a part of that horrific fate. Instead, we ask You to forgive the sins we know about in our lives and pledge to do what we can to expose and get rid of the sins we don't yet know we are committing. In HE 8: 12, You made a wonderful promise. "I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs." That promise gives us impetus to continue in our efforts to eradicate sin from our lives. We know we can't do this without You, so we beseech You to continue being the loving, guiding, encouraging Presence in our lives that You are. We praise and thank You, in Christ's holy name. Amen.
Next week, I'm led to write more about being holy and answering God's call to a higher law. We must never forget the loving Holy Spirit that God has given to us as His gift to help us do this. Nor must Christ ever leave our conscious minds. He is there for us at every turn. Part of that call is to seek Him and place our burdens on His shoulders. When we call to Him in prayer, He will listen to our prayers and answer us in His own perfect time and way. All we have to do is to listen.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn Johnson