Many years ago I saw on Christian television a man who
announced something to the effect, ÒIn the things of God, it is always your
turn.Ó That statement has always bothered me, but until recently, I really
didnÕt think I had an answer that could be readily understood. This declaration
is really just another means to state the purpose of the American religion,
whose fundamental precept, besides all good people going to heaven, is that
ÒGod (heaven) helps those who helps themselves.Ó This precept has some truth
outside GodÕs covenant community, GodÕs elect children. ÒThe god of my
perceptions allows me to do as I wish, and I wish nothing but good stuff for me
and mine.Ó The problem is of course, all we do is end up with stuff, that has
no everlasting value.
I suppose a statement more from my own personal aptitude
would go something like, ÒGod give me a level playing field and I will show you
what I can do for you!Ó But after
last weekÕs message, I got to thinking that this is really what we are trying
to do in all our actions, to level the playing field. All our actions, even our
most righteous and holy, are attempts to elevate our sainthood and bring God
down to our level. By those very works, we many times miss the fruit of the
blessing that God is performing in our lives. Then there are also external
agents and persons of evil that attempt to hinder the work of God. The playing
field is not and shall not be level in this life. God is in control, not we are
not, and neither is the devil. (So why do so many seem to give him so much
credit?)
In church history, HandelÕs ÒMessiahÓ perhaps most
sovereignly captures the greatness of God outside the pages of the Bible. That
quotation from Isaiah 9:6 in the ÒHallelujah ChorusÓ is our most popular sound
bite: ÒFor unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government
shall be upon His shoulders. And His name will be called, Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.Ó
The more we realize the unspeakable majesty of God, the
more we naturally become humbled in His presence. But it is His presence that
leads us to that humility, it is not inherit within our fallen nature. Moses
was known as the most humble man on earth. That humility came from forty years
on the back side of the desert wilderness, isolated with the Presence of God.
In that time Moses learned, that while Moses was GodÕs appointed and anointed
deliverer of the nation of Israel, living in bondage in Egypt. It would be by
God sovereign power that deliverance would be displayed. In that regard, it was
never Moses turn, nor Moses helping himself. But it was always Moses responding
to GodÕs leading or waiting for GodÕs direction. In Moses we see demonstrated,
GodÕs sovereignty, His infinity becoming known through Moses finite humanity.
Isaiah and Handel, illustrate the infinite God becoming a
man and dwelling among finite man. Through the gospel we learn of GodÕs
provision of restoration of fallen humanity through JesusÕ propitiatory dying
sacrifice, His bodily resurrection and how His holiness justifies me and is
imputed to me as righteousness. His righteousness, allows God to forget my
sins, to wipe them away..
Many times (most of the time) the good news stops there.
Praise the Lord! But as we have been in many ways trying to convey these last
few weeks, that gospel indicative rule is not a stopping point, but leads us to
the imperative exhortation. And this is where teaching and other means of
leveling our playing field become down right dangerous. For through our own actions,
we withdraw from most of the gifts that God has for His children. Salvation is
the free gift of God, so that none can boast, but from then on you must learn
to walk with God as Moses did.
Now there is no shortage of materials in modern
Evangelicalism promoting our Òexperience,Ó Òwalk,Ó Òpresence,Ó with God. But
most I presume, are in a sense testimonies of those who have gone before. How
well these intensions may be, by the nature our focus shifts from Christ and
His righteousness and toward our walk, and by that very step we begin to walk
away from God. And by that very step we begin to walk away from God. And by that very step we begin to walk
away from God. The Bible however does not shift that focus, for its words are
Word.
In Christ, we have the opportunity to be something now,
that Moses could only dream about, or view through eyes of faith. For in Christ
our redemption has taken place in time and history. The adoption proceedings
have been completed. It is now possible for normal finite human instruments to
become the minister of the infinite God. It is now possible for us to move
beyond ourselves and our own limitations into the infinite provisions of God
through Christ. But our problem comes when we think that the old rules still
apply. The rules of helping ourselves, and always making it our move.
In the process of growth in Christ, not only are we
conformed slowly into the eternal likeness of Jesus, but we also gain the right
to more closely witness GodÕs provisions for His children. More and more,
through our works and our actions, the manifest presence of God can be made
apparent in the finite world, this present age. If we took more time to
understand this, perhaps we might be less apt to pursue our own end and let
GodÕs presence control our lives.
This brings us to another modern Evangelical
misconception. ÒLet go and let God!Ó In the same way that doing our own thing
brings about, by our own limitations, what God will do in our lives. By giving
up ourselves to the winds of time, forces us to remain in our own being, or
selfishness. The rights inherit in Jesus Christ is to continually grow into
Christ, as recreated children. In Christ the passive also ceases. We are to move
beyond our present, continually, not only spiritually, but also really in
created reality. We were created in a real reality, that was subject to the sin
an fall of mankind. Eternally, we shall dwell in an eternal restored reality.
Not a pie in the sky in the great by and by. Put another way, even though
waiting on God, we must be continually ready to move forward, to pray, and to
see the little things that God gives, so that we may know that He has not
forsaken us.
ÒWell Jerry, that makes some sense, but how does that
relate to me and my circumstance?
That is the point, it relates to you and your
circumstances, right here, now in this instant, and your aspirations to be used
by God in the future. No matter who we are or what we are now doing, God is working
with us to overcome our present limitations. Those frustrations, with your job,
your situation, perhaps your bitterness about some circumstances, are all ways
God is working to move you beyond where you now are into something, more grand, with less natural limits. In that
process slowly God begins to manifest His attributes through your life and in
that small way GodÕs qualities begin to change not only ourselves, but those
who we come in contact with. The infinite becomes finite. (So that the finite
may see, and be without excuse.)
The focus then becomes not our natural gifts and
attributes, how considerable or inconsiderable they may be, nor the unsurpassed
gifts bestowed upon His children by God, but upon our works done for Christ,
currently visible through faith. I suppose that is just another way of saying,
as we have in many ways before, the Òpursuit of purpose.Ó If that pursuit is
God and His Christ then that frustrating, dead end job, is part of GodÕs higher
purpose. Just as is that wonderful executive position. The New Testament calls
all to the pursuit of the great commission, to the fields of harvest of
eternity, to the love of the brethren. We have not ChristÕs attributes, because
we seek them without commitment to not only GodÕs higher purpose, but in the
eternal sense, our own.
Every so often we share our particular vision of that
work God has put before us. That begins with community, the interaction with
the individual eternal personality and the unity that should be present in the
diverse body of Christ. Beginning next week we shall again begin a series to
try to put some tangible stuff into that perspective.
As I told my real estate agent last week, this time is
perhaps the most frustrating that I can remember. When we talked it had been
almost a month since anything had taken place concerning our ability to
purchase the property at the Little Dalles. That was really nothing visible,
good or bad. But after that conversation, I began to see again in very small
ways, that God had not completely forgotten our needs. In that I was, and am
encouraged. There is no money to secure the property or to do the work, but
that could all change in an instant, with GodÕs timing and provision. In a way,
my frustration could have been a way that God was using to keep me praying to
provide for this worthwhile project.
We are all in such a hurry to get things done (also many
times to get paid for them), and for the most part we do them with great zeal,
but in a world created by our own rules, our rules generally apply, unless we
in someway make them subservient to GodÕs desires. In that regard only can we
see GodÕs provisions manifest in our lives and more importantly those
provisions may be visible to others. Please continue to intercede for our
purchase of this property and the personal, financial resources to do this
work, but also to tie it into the Canadian church plant.