It seems from last weekŐs message that our blessings, in
a common grace way, flow from our work. My Scotch Protestant ancestors would
probably endorse this concept whole heartedly. I suppose along with AmericaŐs
great natural resources, that work ethic, transported to our shores, indeed has
had a great impact upon the bounty that is present in AmericaŐs abundance.
What has gotten lost over the generations however, is the
fact that this drive to excel, was originally a means to give glory to God
through our mundane, or worldly work endeavors. Once that pretense of GodŐs
glory is lost, we are left at best with JeffersonŐs pursuit of happiness, and
in its blatant form, just down right greed, seeking honest or dishonest gain.
This points to the fact that just work, outside the Godly
restraints of His Glory, is not only a burden, but leads to a type of bondage
that goes nowhere. So what is required is a type of enterprise symbiosis, in
the relationship between God and man, which at least from our perspective, produces
a blessing far beyond what could naturally be expected. I have written about
this extensively, and this work is available on the web site.
So how is this proper balance between God and man,
obtained and nurtured? The prophet Jeremiah, looked forward to such a time when
he prophesied in Chapter 31:31-34:
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant
which they broke, though I was a husband to them,[1] says the LORD. But this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says
the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD,' for they
all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the
LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more."
1. 31:32
Following Masoretic Text, Targum, and Vulgate; Septuagint and Syriac read and I
turned away from them.
As most of you know, this New Covenant established the
church (which is generally recognized to have become the new or spiritual
Israel) through the propitiatory sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. His
righteousness became my justification before God the Father. Hence, my work, to
be righteous in my own merit, to save myself before GodŐs holy judgement,
becomes heresy.
The church is also known as the Bride of Christ,
reestablishing that marriage relationship, of which the prophet speaks, which
we also mentioned briefly last week in the context of the fulfilling nature of
a couples love. Flowing out of GodŐs love for the church, the potential for
that love can change the family, the church, and the world much more than is
presently visible.
One thing however, that much of the church has lost as it
sought, and seeks, its own merit with God outside ChristŐs righteousness, is
that this scripture still prophesies to the natural nation of Israel, before
the end of time. Before Jesus Christ returns the second time, the nation of
Israel will become part of the New Covenant.
The church, in its efforts to complete the time of the
Gentiles (Luke 21:24), and thus initiate the rapture and the fulfillment of the
seventieth week of Daniel Chapter 9 (The Great Tribulation), seems to have
forgotten that in this Luke passage, Jesus was speaking to His disciples. It
was, in context, a Jewish conversation. Christianity severed from its Jewish
roots, is not true Christianity at all, but a westernized sect of religious
people, ironically much like the Old Testament nation of Israel.
This points to GodŐs loving miraculous work toward
mankind, in which we bring no merit ourselves, but God displays His miraculous
love. It must be in that context that all love, exhibited in, and through
mankind should be interpreted.
In the New Covenant, or New Testament context, we see
this transformation of manŐs heart and mind in the words of the Apostle Paul in
2 Corinthians 5:12-21:
For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give
you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those
who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is
for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ
compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and
He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but
for Him who died for them and rose again.
Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to
the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we
know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now
all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,
and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to
God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.
This concept, that death leads to life, is a concept that
does not compute in the mind of man. It makes not one bit of logical sense.
Hence, it is a mental stumbling block to an understanding of the gospel
message. Paul discussed this concept with the church of Corinth at the
beginning of his first letter to them in Chapter 1:18-31:
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those
who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it
is written:
"I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent." (Isaiah. 29:14)
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the
disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it
pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks (Gentiles) seek after wisdom; but
we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks
foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser
than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God
has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are
mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God
has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that
are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. but of Him you are in Christ
Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption-- that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in
the LORD." (Jeremiah 9:24)
Rational man does not, or cannot believe in the
miraculous, at least as a common place occurrence. But that is just what these
biblical passages indicate. Through the heart of man God works by grace to
change not only manŐs heart, but his mind as well, and this miracle happens
often, many times by diverse methods.
Thousands spent considerable resources last month on the
Luis Palau and Franklin Graham Festivals in the State of Washington. These
expenditures make no sense, except in the context of foolishness. ThereŐs not
so much a demonstration of their effectiveness, but instead, they are a demonstration
of GodŐs gospel message working through the works of redeemed mankind.
Therefore demonstrating the foolishness of revivalism as a whole, but only as
one foolish means, among many, by which God enlarges His kingdom.
It may seem foolish to admit, but over these last few
weeks I have found it exceedingly difficult to live what most people would
consider a normal life. But in that same light these changes seem to be leading
somewhere, and as of now I really have some clues, but those outcomes are
indeed miraculous. That just leaves the necessity to trust in GodŐs love,
working through myself and others to perform these supplications. Please
intercede for these provisions for myself and this ministry.