Archive for August, 2024
Servants Not Celebrities – Part Two
Matthew 24: 44 – 47
Everybody serves somebody. We are all under authority. Some refusing to be under the authority of no one become subject to their own strong will. A mother exhorted her adult young son regarding his strong self-will saying, “Remember it’s not about me.” To which he replied, “It is about me.” He was living in a “Me tight” world.
Richard Foster: “Whenever there is trouble over who is the greatest, there is trouble over who is the least. That is the crux of the matter for us, isn’t it? Most of us know we will never be the greatest; just don’t let us be the least. Gathered at the Passover feast, the disciples were keenly aware that someone needed to wash the others’ feet. The problem was that the only people who washed their feet were the least. So there they sat, feet caked with dirt. It was such a sore point that they were not even going to talk about it. No one wanted to be considered the least. Then Jesus took a towel and a basin and redefined greatness.”
Right here we must see the difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in charge, we will worry a great deal about anyone stepping on us, that is, taking charge over us.
But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable.
Self-righteous service picks and chooses whom to serve. Sometimes the low and defenseless are served because that will ensure a humble image. True service is indiscriminate in its ministry. It has heard the command of Jesus.
Mother Teresa said, “I belong to Jesus, He must have the right to use me without consulting me.” That is the spirit of this text: “For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:8). Being His gives Him the right to use us.
Much of the Old Testament was Jesus’ pre-written biography. Numerous prophecies told of what He would be and do. Once on His earthly mission, He could choose to or not to do what was said of Him. Willfully, He was faithful under the authority of God’s Word. Every believer should be also.
The Father’s will was made known in the Old Testament. Jesus willfully put Himself under that authority.
Isaiah 61: 1, 2a identified specific things Christ was to come to do. He was obedient in doing them. We too are to serve under the authority of the Bible.
In Reno, Nevada, I heard of a partially-educated individual who had great faith. He was asked if He believed in the verbal inspiration of Scripture. He replied, “I sure do. I believe in the verbal inspiration, the adverbial inspiration, the noun and pronoun inspiration, and the conjunctional inspiration of the Bible.” Me too! If you believe it, obey it in doing so you are serving the Lord.
This World Is Not My Home
History is a marvelous mentor. There is no better teacher regarding money than the following. It comes from the lives of some of the wealthiest men of a past era, 1928. Consider the men who were:
President of the largest steel company.
President of the largest gas company.
President of the New York Stock Exchange.
Greatest wheat speculator.
President of the Bank of International Settlement.
Greatest Bear on Wall Street.
These men were considered some of the world’s most wealthy and powerful.
History’s pages have been turned long enough for us to learn from their lives. Consider their end.
The president of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, died a pauper.
The president of the largest gas company, Edward Hopson, went insane.
The president of the NYSE, Richard Whitney, was released from prison and died at home.
The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cooge, died abroad penniless.
The president of the Bank of International Settlement shot himself.
The greatest bear on Wall Street, Cosabee Livermore, also committed suicide.
However in the same year, 1923, the PGA Champion and the winner of the most important golf tournament, the US Open, was Gene Sarazen. What became of him? He played golf until the age of 92, died in 1999 at the age of 95. He was financially secure at the time of his death.
Moral of the story: Play golf instead!
Better still is the Scripture which advocated, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6: 19 – 21).
There is an old hymn that sets that truth to music, “This World in Not My Home”:
“This world is not my home I’m just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore
O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven’s not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
Creating a New Self-Image
In considering your “Must Do List” consider the example of John the Baptist who had his list in order. Crowds were flocking to him to be baptized. Suddenly his crowds got smaller. Nearby crowds were flocking to Jesus, John’s curiosity came to him to talk about it. John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3: 30).
That is a short, but all encompassing list. The result is Thy way, not my way. John knew his role and was content to perform it well. We each have a role that is not comparable to that of anyone else’s role. There is contentment in such a resolution.
Most of us play one of three roles: You are, I wish, and I am.
We grow up with people often saying of us “You are” followed by such opinions as smart, dumb, good looking, ugly, mean, polite and the list of variables goes on. We tend to believe what they are saying about us and tend to play the prescribed role.
Soon we look around and start playing “I wish.” This game involves us looking around at others and comparing yourself to them. “I wish I was as smart as, as good looking as, fast as, rich as,” and the beat goes on. Consequently contentment is forfeited.
The third game is “I am….” It may be a good wholesome spiritual image. If it isn’t you can change. Rather I should say you can be changed. It can be done only by applying the transforming power of Jesus Christ to our sinful behavior and negative emotions. Such is a “me” centered person. If so, aspire to fulfill the John the Baptist model: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” It becomes a “Thy will be done” world, and I am a child of the King of the world. Having established who you really want to be, commit yourself to prayerfully daily recommit yourself to that image. Studying Scripture, listening to the right music, reading the right material, associating with people who build you up spiritually, and praying. Develop your own way of reminding yourself who you are, ie, “I am a child of the King.” You might rephrase that byword, but regardless repeat it to yourself daily or perhaps more than once a day. By doing so you are affirming who you are. This helps your habits to be less self-consuming the more you pursue Christ.
Say, “I AM….” Thereafter as you seek to live by your new self-image life becomes based on faith rather than feelings.
You will encounter no person who will be a greater hindrance to living according to your new self-image than yourself.
If you fail at a point don’t give up, get up. Let failure itself be a support of your future faith. Go ahead and say it again, “I AM….”
The Eternal Security of the Believer
There are approximately 100 Scripture verses affirming the fact that once a person is saved they are saved for all eternity. There are a few “gray area” passages that people tend to relate to as proof this isn’t true.
A basic principle of Bible interpretation is when you come to a verse you do not know what it means go to a verse that speaks on the same topic you do understand and interpret the one of unknown meaning in light of what is known.
Pivotal to this topic is John 3:16 and the little word “hath,” meaning “once and for all.” The meaning is obvious. That being the standard all difficult passages should be interpreted in light of it.
Another verse with clear meaning is Romans 8: 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of God….” After listing possibilities the conclusion is “nothing.” Absolutely nothing.
John 5: 24: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life.” It is hard to overlook that verse.
Key words are “everlasting” and “is passed.” The latter is aorist tense which means “has once and for all passed.”
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them … and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).
Operative expressions in this verse are “eternal life,” and “they shall never perish.” “Never” translates to the Greek word which means literally “not ever at any time.” In the Greek text it is a strong declarative negative used for emphasis meaning it just doesn’t happen; they just don’t perish —- ever.
John 1:7 notes, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”
When He gives a gift He doesn’t take it back. Once we “become the children of God” when we do things unbecoming of God’s children, we don’t un-become His child.
Our salvation is not based on what we do or don’t do, but on what Jesus has done.
Now a question posed by Scripture for those who believe you can lose your salvation.
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6: 4-6).
If you can lose your salvation how many times can you lose it and be saved again? The Scripture answers with a clarion “none.”
Note the obvious. “If” a person could be saved and lost no one can “renew them again to repentance.” That precludes being saved and lost, saved and lost, lost and saved, etc.
The little word “If” is the basis for understanding. In the Greek language there are four cases. The one used here gives the following meaning to the word “If.” “If a person could be saved and lost, if he could, but he can’t, but if he could, he couldn’t be saved again.”
Now use your imagination and draw the following on the chalkboard of your mind or better still get paper and pencil and draw it out to keep.
In the upper right hand corner of the page write the reference John 1:12: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” “To become” is the aorist tense which means “at a point in time, divorced from time, and perpetuated into eternity to once and for all become.” That point in time is when the individual trusts Christ as Savior.
To visualize this draw a large circle. In the middle of the circle put an “X.” Make it look good; it represents you, the believer, one who has been saved.
As the “X” is in the circle so the believer is in Christ.
On the outside top of the circle write the word “Relationship.” As the “X’ is in the circle so the believer is in relationship with Christ. The believer has become the child of God.
Believers do things unbecoming of children of God. What happens then? Is their salvation lost? NO!
Now, inside the circle draw a square so that the “X” is in the middle of it. On the top outside of the square write the word “Fellowship.” When a believer is doing God’s will, living according to the Scripture, being filled with the Spirit he or she is in “Fellowship” with God. There and only there is a person truly happy, fulfilled, and productive.
To envision what happens when a Christian sins, place a large dot outside the square but still inside the circle. This represents the believer who has sinned. At this point the believer’s fellowship with God is broken, but not the relationship. Communion with God is broken, but not the union. They are still God’s child, though His disobedient child.
It is in this state believers are most unhappy and unproductive. They have placed themselves in a position to merit God’s discipline. Hebrews 12: 6, “Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”
The words “discipline” and “disciple”come from the same root meaning “to train.” Because God loves His children He trains them using chastening and scourging as two techniques. Chasten refers to light discipline and scourge to severe discipline.
The purpose is to direct people back into “Fellowship.”
First, digress and put a check outside the circle. It represents an unsaved person. Such a person is not the world’s most unhappy individual. Satan will give such a person “kicks” lest they realize a need and turn to Christ. The world’s most unhappy person is represented by the dot in the circle but outside the square; the Christian out of fellowship.
God’s discipline is intended to train the believer to return to “Fellowship.”
I John 1:9 tells how. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The confession of sin relates to salvation. The cleansing “from all unrighteousness,” that is negative righteousness, is a reference to the sins of believers.
“If” means it is optional. “We” means it is personal. No one can do it for us. “Confess” means to agree with God about it, acknowledge it is sin, repent, and ask forgiveness. In that moment the believer is back in fellowship.
The practice is called spiritual rebound. It means to get back on the mark. There is where God wants believers because He knows it is the state in which they have the optimum joy of their salvation and are most fulfilled.
Every Christian should ask and answer as to where they are now. Which represents you? Is it the check mark, the dot or the “X?”
The Devil You Say
Are you inclined to ask questions for which there are no answers? Keep in mind God has told us everything we need to know. All “need to know” questions have answers. There are questions seeking to know what we don’t need to know. All we really need to know about God is found in this text.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1: 18 – 21).
First, He opposes all unrighteousness. That is logical in that “God is love.” The very essence of love is God.
Next, what can be known about God has been made known in Scripture and creation.
Finally, in this passage the issue is not what is unknown, but the rejection of the known. Why and how? The answer is found in this text: “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Revelation 12:9).
Speaking of the Devil metaphorically Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10: 10). That is the primary role of the Devil.
Scripture, speaking of the devil’s minions, says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6: 12). The Devil’s allies are thus depicted.
We are counseled to: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6: 10, 11).
The most effective tactic of the Devil is noted in my italics in this text. He schemes to deceive. If he deceives acts of deception are of the Devil. In our national politics do you see deception? If so, it is of the Devil. Opposing acts of deception is fighting against the Devil.
Our choices are obvious. The design of the Devil is to scheme how to deceive.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Do you want to follow deception or the truth, the Lord Jesus or the Devil?