Tag Archives: Love of God

Resolved to Listen

01 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Happy New Year, Readers!  Welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue looking at the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a with my focus still on the Shield of Faith.

I cannot underestimate the importance of listening.  So few of us truly listen.  Far too many of us wait for gaps in the conversations or for the one speaking to take a breath so that we may insert our words, take control of the conversation, and steer it where we would.  Far too few of us listen in order to establish deep connections through conversations and far too few of us listen to hear whether or not those connections can even be established.

Take the definition of faith: there are conversational traps easy to fall into and difficult to discern until one has already fallen into them, unless one takes the time to listen.  Two people can come together both using the word “faith” and both can mean the word two entirely different ways.  How the word is meant by the one using it is not clear without careful, intent listening. 

My New World Dictionary offers up 6 definitions for faith and I find it is the first 3 which are used the most often.  The first is “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence”.  The second is “unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets, etc.”  The third is “a religion or a system of religious beliefs (the Catholic faith)”.  It does not take a great deal of listening time to understand which definition is being used.  Sadly, I find those deep connections are difficult to form with those entrenched in these three definitions.  They have no interest in hearing how faith is a covenant word and I have found it is best to remain a listener in these situations.  If you do try and share the truth, you’ll eventually have to take a breath and you will find your opportunity is gone.

When I am in these situations, I keep two passages of scripture close to my mind and heart.  The first is 1 Peter 3:5: “be ready with an answer to everyone who asks…” the second is 2 Timothy 2:23-26: “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.  And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”  Listening is crucial in these situations and I don’t mean mere listening to what the other person is saying: I mean listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit in the midst of these situations.  If He gives the words to speak He will also create the opportunity for speaking them.  Speak the truth in love!  If He does not, stay silent!

Silence is a difficult thing for believers.  If we come away from a conversation not having “shared our faith”, we have been taught we have failed God because it is our responsibility to fill the earth with the knowledge of God and make disciples.  After all, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).  I would ask, what does it mean to “share our faith”?  Definition 4 of faith in the dictionary is “anything believed”.  I find many believers cleave to this definition and use “faith” when they really mean “knowledge”.

Knowledge is not what the Greek word pistis translated as “belief” and “faith” in our Bibles originally meant.  As I’ve said, it is a covenant word and the closest dictionary definitions to the original intent of the word are numbers 5 and 6: “complete trust, confidence, or reliance” and “allegiance to some person or thing, loyalty”.  I shared J. Preston Eby’s definition of faith and I have not come up with a better: “Faith is the mental attitude of confident response which is evoked in you by what another person reveals himself to be.”

Faith is not knowledge.  When we share our faith with another person, we are not sharing what we know about God but rather who God has revealed Himself to be.  It’s a subtle but disastrous distinction and I believe with everything I am the key to recognizing what we are sharing with another person is love.  “Knowledge puffs up” the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “but love builds up.”

The Apostle Paul begins that beautiful description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 by writing, “But earnestly desire the best gifts.  And yet I show you a more excellent way.  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

I’ve been meditating on this passage since watching one of Malcolm Smith’s webinars (linked below).  I listened to Bishop Smith read the passage in its entirety and wondered if the Apostle Paul was saying love was more important than anything, including faith.  That couldn’t be because our God is love and is also the author and finisher of our faith.  Since both are found in Him, they had to both flow and work together.  I spent some time meditating and here’s what I think Paul is saying: since faith is our confident response to who and what God has revealed Himself to be, if that response is anything less than the love of God, then the Holy Spirit still has a great deal of work to do in us.

The Amplified Bible says this clearly in 1 Corinthians 13:3: “Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to burned [or in order that I may glory] but have not love [God’s love in me], I gain nothing.”  Then comes the description of what the love of God is:

“Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.  It is not conceited-arrogant and inflated with pride, it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly.  Love [God’s love in us] does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it-pays no attention to a suffered wrong.  It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.  Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything [without weakening].  Love never fails-never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end” (Amplified, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

This is the love Jesus meant when in John 13:35, He says, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This directly follows His new command in verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have love you, that you also love one another.”  When we read through these passages, how are we doing on living that sort of love?  When we “share your faith” with another person, how do we think about that person?  Do we love that person?  Do we see that person as someone so beloved by the Father that Jesus was sent?  Or, do we share our faith in an attempt to get-off-the-hook with God e.g.; “I said the words: if they don’t believe them that’s their problem: my hands are clean”?  The scripture is clear: if we have not shown that person the love of God, we are the same as a noisy gong or clanging symbol. 

Of course this love is impossible for us: that’s why it’s called God’s love.  We do not have it within ourselves nor can we show it to others but “with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit” were the words of the Lord to Zechariah and those words are as true today as they were then.  It is possible to define faith as “being convinced by argument” and I think many Christians have attempted to do just that: convince others of the truth of Jesus through arguments. 

What about Romans 10:17 which says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”? Doesn’t that mean we should be speaking the truth at every opportunity?  I would ask; are we speaking the truth in love and by love I mean the love of God?  Are we speaking to point out transgressions rather than speaking the truth that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them”? (2 Corinthians 5:19).  Are we telling people what wretched, filthy sinners they are or are we speaking the truth that Jesus Christ has “once, at the end of the ages…appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”?   

James 1:19 says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”.  As the calendar switches to a New Year, I only have one resolution: that I would be given ears to hear.  Not just what the Father is saying but to what my fellow human beings are saying.  May I listen for that opportunity for the deep connection which is an agape connection.  May I pray this prayer for everyone who crosses my path: “Father, who so loves this person, how are you revealing that love to this person through me in this moment?”  When I receive the revelation of the love that He is, may my confident response-which is my faith-be that love.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

 Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

THE LAW OF FAITH Part 1 by J. Preston Eby (godfire.net)

The Comparative Study Bible, Zondervan Bible Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1953, 1976

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Do I Not Hate Them Who Hate You?

12 Monday Jun 2023

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Hello and welcome to another post on Renaissance Woman!

Psalm 139 is one of my favorite Psalms.  It is the first one I ever memorized in its entirety and I often use the verses contained within it as prayers and reminders.  However, there is a passage towards the end of the Psalm that does feel like it doesn’t belong.  It starts in verse 19 but, for the sake of this post, I want to focus on verses 21 and 22: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?  And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?  I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.”

There is an interesting story related in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 10.  Verse 25 states, “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’”  The complete Jewish study Bible begins this verse with; “An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking…” Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament describes the man as “a certain man versed in the Law (a Lawyer and a legal theologian; a Torah expert)”.  Jesus replies, “What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?”  The lawyer answers, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself’.”  Jesus says to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”  But the lawyer, “wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”

The story Jesus tells after the lawyer’s question is the one often called “The Good Samaritan.”  It is a fascinating story with many layers to it.  An important point to realize when reading it the deep and abiding hatred that existed between Jews and Samaritans.  For Jesus to use a Samaritan in His story, especially when speaking to an expert in Torah, was one of those times we must pay close attention because Jesus is making a crucial point.

Who is my neighbor?  As I carefully listen to the things being spoken today I do not think I stretch things if I rephrase this questions as, “who am I allowed to hate?”  The answer to that appears to be found in Psalm 139: we can hate those who hate God, loathe those who rise against Him, count them our enemies.  Of course, there is some difficulty in determining just who hates God.  There are times when it appears obvious who hates God but it gets trickier when we come across those who claim to be believers in Jesus but don’t quite believe the right things.  There are so many lines drawn and labels applied to people so we can distinguish our enemies from our friends.  If you belong to my denomination, if you look like me, sound like me, believe like me then you are safe but if you don’t then you are not only against me but against God.  The story of The Good Samaritan is a warning to take care because our neighbor is not who we might think.  After all we humans judge by the outward appearance but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).  

And yet, we do live in a time where the heart seems to have been put on display.  The headlines have been full of behaviors where I think we could point a finger and say, “those people there are obviously against God so they are the ones I can hate” but then we come up against John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” and 1 John 2:2: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”  But then, there are passages like Psalm 11:5 “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates” and Romans 9:13 where Paul quotes Malachi 1:2-3 saying, “as it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated’.”  So; God hates but His commandment to us was “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27-28).  Which is it?  Was David wrong in his Psalm or could it be we don’t have an understanding of what the Bible means by hate?

As I search for an answer to that, I have to wonder why “hate” was chosen in the first place by our English Translators.  My New World Dictionary defines hate as “to have strong dislike or ill will for; loathe; despise, to dislike or wish to avoid; shrink from (to hate arguments)”.  There’s a note under the definition that says “hate implies a feeling of great dislike or aversion and, with persons as the object, connotes the bearing of malice.”  Can this really describe our God as revealed in Jesus?

The Hebrew word used by David in his Psalm is sane (H8130, pronounced saw-nay) and is spelled Shin Nun Aleph (שנא).  The Strong’s concordance defines it as “to hate (personally) enemy, foe, odious” so isn’t all that helpful in trying to understand what sane means.  As I continued looking into the sane, I found articles that said “hate” was an incorrect translation of sane and “to love less” would be more accurate.  Others have said that the ancient pictograph of sane is a thorn and then a seed denoting something unsettling that would be turned away from.  One article says “the Hebrew view of hate was more about being hurt or wounded by something because of love being involved…When we feel pain, we want to withdraw; we are made in His image” (FirmIsrael).  Chaim Bentorah has an article devoted to Psalm 139:21 and the word sane and says his studies have suggested “reject” would be better than “hate” to translate the Hebrew.

I don’t disagree with anything I read in the articles linked below (and there are some wonderful points made about how God blessed Esau even though He supposedly “hated” him-worth reading) but I see something more in the picture formed by the Hebrew letters.  The Shin (ש) represents the totality of an entire process from beginning to end and means “whole, entire, intact” or “complete”.  It also carries the idea of repetition in that the process is completed over and over again.  Shin, with its three arms, also represents fire.  Nun (נ) means “emergence” but it also means “to sprout, spread, propagate, shine, flourish, blossom”.  The Aleph (א) is the letter that represents God but also is the letter that brings all of creation into unity with God.  Thus, in the Hebrew word sane, I see the picture of fire rooted in God.  His sane is the love of His Father’s heart that burns against anything that would keep His children from relationship with Him. 

What does the sane of God look like?  It does look like some harsh dealings as we read the Old Testament but each one of those instances describe the broken heart of God and His reluctance to act.  (I have touched on this in my studies on evil).  The fullness of the sane of God looks like Jesus coming to seek and save that which was lost.  It looks like the stories of Luke 15 where, when the precious lost sheep, coin, and son are restored to their rightful place, the call is “rejoice with me!”  United to Jesus Christ, One Spirit with Him, His sane burns in us.  The apostle Paul is a perfect example of the sane of God manifested in a human life.  As the zealous protector of the Temple, Paul hated the Christians in the dictionary definition of the world.  After His encounter with the living Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul had sane against everything that sought to keep anyone from experiencing the fullness of God.  He became the one who wrote, “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

There’s a quote that’s recently been shared a great deal and it has bothered me.  It’s from one of Billy Graham’s sermons and he says, “The closer you get to Christ, the more sinful you’re going to feel”.  The quote is taken out of context and I have not yet had an opportunity to hear it within the entire sermon but, as it stands, I don’t agree with it.  What I believe is the more the life of Christ is formed in you, the more you will sane.  That is not a bad thing.  Our God is a consuming fire and, as we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ from glory to glory, the more His fire burns in us.  We live rooted in Jesus Christ and His life in us shines out of us and lights the entire world.  We sane anything that would seek to destroy the precious treasure of His life within us and, at the same time, that life in us is an irritant to the world. 

There is so much more to be said on this.  I believe understanding the sane of God is the first step toward understanding spiritual warfare and is a subject I will continue to look at in the upcoming weeks.

Until then, let us remember “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 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 (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).  

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Jacob I Loved, Esau I Hated – Hebrew Word for Hate — FIRM Israel

Sanay: To HATE – Hebrew Word Lessons

WORD STUDY – HATE – שׁנה | Chaim Bentorah

Did God Really Hate Esau? – Israel Bible Weekly (israelbiblecenter.com)

What Does The Word ‘Hate’ Mean In Hebrew and Greek? – Misfit Ministries

The Complete Jewish Study Bible, Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2016

Bentorah, Chaim, Hebrew Word Study: Beyond the Lexicon, Trafford Publishing, USA, 2014

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1972, 1976

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995

Mitchell, Jonathan, The New Testament, Harper Brown Publishing, 2019

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Entering His Rest

15 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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I’ve been studying The Epistle to the Hebrews using, among other references, Andrew Murray’s “Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews”.  I quoted from it last week and have decided to do so again this week.  I have not moved much beyond Chapter Thirty-One which is entitled “Rest from Works”.  I understand the truth of “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) but living this truth out in my day to day life is a challenge. It is I who gets up every morning, gets ready, and then goes to work.  I am the one people are interacting with every day.  I hold on to that awareness of Christ in me but it is I who gets tired, it is I whose feelings get hurt, and it is I who is tempted to lose her temper.  I am diligent to enter into His rest and do not want to fail to do so through disobedience (Hebrews 4:11), but how do I do it?  What does it look like?

In order to enter His rest I must first see it and the only way to see it is to have the Holy Spirit open my eyes and to show me, as Andrew Murray says; “Jesus as our Joshua, who has entered into God’s presence, who sits upon the throne as High Priest, bringing us in living union with Himself into that place of rest and of love and, by His Spirit within us, making that life of heaven a reality and an experience”.  At the end of Chapter Thirty-Two which is Andrew Murray’s exposition on Hebrews 4:11, he says; “Jesus said, ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls’ (Matthew 11:29).  It was through meekness and lowliness of heart that Jesus found His rest in God.  He allowed God to be all, trusted God for all-the rest of God was His abode.  He invites us to share HIs rest and tells us the secret.  In the meekness and lowliness of Jesus is the way to rest.”

I understand.  I fix my eyes on Jesus.  I take His yoke and am lead by Him.  I learn of Him.  I know this to be true but neither can I deny I don’t always manage to perfectly live my life out of His.  Learning of Him is a process.  I have heard many teachers speak of this life in Jesus as a process but don’t think anyone described it as well as Andrew Murray.  In his chapter notes at the end of Chapter Thirty-One, he says; “’Not I, but Christ” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).  This is the rest of faith in which a man rests from his works.  With the unconverted man it is “Not Christ, but I.”  With the feeble and slothful Christian, “I and Christ: I first, and Christ to fill up what is wanting.”  With increasing earnestness it becomes, “Christ and I: Christ first, but I still second.”  With the man who dies with Christ it is, “Not I, but Christ:’ Christ alone and Christ all.”  He has ceased from his work: Christ lives in Him.  This is the rest of faith.”  This description arrested me and I’ve spent a couple of weeks now pondering it.

I can’t remember ever being unconverted and being in the “Not Christ, but I” mindset. My family moved a lot and church attendance was sporadic but my Mom made sure I was taught of the Lord. In terms of works, there are times I have acted selfishly and have been rebellious but I don’t remember ever thinking I could do whatever I liked because there was no God.

I spent way too much time in the “I and Christ: I first, and Christ to fill up what is wanting” mindset.  I thought it was right. As I got older, life got more structured, and I started regularly attending church, I was taught this was how the Christian life worked. The Bible laid out what my works were to be, I did them, and Jesus would bolster me when my strength failed. There were so many times when I “stepped out in faith” believing for my healing and every time I crashed and burned.  This, of course, meant I was double minded, had doubted, and thus Jesus couldn’t heal me.  My failure was proof I didn’t have enough faith because; couldn’t I do all things through Christ who strengthened me?  If He wasn’t strengthening me, then I had failed somewhere.  I knew of no alternative though because “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17) so I had to keep on. 

I find a perfect description of how I felt in Andrew Murray’s book.  Speaking of Christians, he says: “Their life is one of earnest effort and ceaseless struggling.  They long to do God’s will and to live to His glory.  Continued failure and bitter disappointment is their too frequent experience.  Very often, as the result, they give themselves up to a feeling of hopelessness: ‘It will never be otherwise.’  Theirs is truly the wilderness life-they have not entered into God’s rest.”

What a joy to see that it is not “I and Christ” and “Christ to fill up what is wanting”!  How I rejoice that He has shown me that I live by His life, His faith, His guidance, His strength.  I enter His rest and it is made a reality within me by His Spirit.  Since I know this is my reality, I had difficulty understanding what Andrew Murray meant by “Christ and I: Christ first, but I still second.”  Surely not.  I had ceased from my works and was utterly submitted to Christ.  I was already living in the “Not I but Christ” mindset, wasn’t I?  Yes and no.  I got to thinking of some recent experiences and, in remembering them, I think I have come to an understanding of what Andrew Murray means by “Christ and I: Christ first, but I second.”

While I would like my circumstances to be different, I cannot be sorry for them.  They have been the vehicle through which God has revealed Himself to me.  When He is ready, He will change them and, until then, so be it: I am submitted to the Spirit of God living within me.  I do that which He has put in my hands to do and serve those He has put in my life to serve.  Then there comes the moment when the person I’m delighting to serve overlooks the hundred things I have done and comes up with a hundred and first that I have not.  They are a little disappointed-not much, mind you-but still disappointed that I didn’t even think of the one thing that was most important to them which I ought to have done if I really cared about them.  They are disappointed and maybe a little hurt. 

Here is where I feel the “Christ first, but I second”.  Having just been blindsided, I am angry.  All the past hurts and put downs I’ve let go come rushing back.  The moment I can get by myself, I lay it all before God.  Does He hear how this person talks to me?  Does He see how I am treated?  I do not serve to be thanked-I do all things as unto the Lord-but neither has He called me to be a doormat.  When is it time to shake the dust off my feet and move on to better things?  I am submitted to Him.  I listen for His voice and strive to obey in all things, but don’t my feelings matter?  Christ first, but I second?

No.  Not I at all but Christ and He alone.  My feelings do matter and because I know He loves me and they matter, I can take my hurt and seething rage and pour it out to Him.  He listens, He soothes, and then He invites me to enter into His thoughts and feelings.  He shows me the situation from His perspective where I matter so much He gave His life for me just as He gave His life for the person who has wronged me.

I know who I am in Christ.  I know what I am worth because of what Jesus has done.  No one can affect this truth.  There are many who don’t know and I am to live the reality of “Not I but Christ” every moment, no matter what.  I am to see that what He did for me, He did for everyone else.  He loves the person who has hurt me just as much as He loves me.  I choose not to allow my Self to rule.  I remember that I am not only crucified with Christ but risen with Him.  Everything He has He gives to me.  My life is hid in His.  It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  I exchange the wilderness life of my own works for the rest life in which God does His perfect work.  Jesus came to give it.  His rest is mine.

All scripture quotes are from:

The New King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

All Andrew Murray quotes are from:

Murray, Andrew, Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, Whitaker House, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1996, 2004, Chapters Thirty-One and Thirty-Two, Pages 163-170

Relationship Not Religion

08 Monday Nov 2021

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I follow a Facebook page called “A.W-Tozer: A Man of God”; a page that is, as you would expect, devoted to A.W. Tozer’s writings.  The page recently shared a quote from A.W. Tozer’s “That Incredible Christian” which caught my attention.  The quote references 2 Corinthians 8:5: “And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” and then goes on to say:

“Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done.  In God’s sight my giving is measured not by how much I have given but by how much I could have given and how much I had left after I made my gift.  The needs of the world and my total ability to minister to those needs decide the worth of my service.

“Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it.  No man gives at all until he has given all.  No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice…

 “In the work of the church the amount one man must do to accomplish a given task is determined by how much or how little the rest of the company is willing to do.  It is a rare church whose members all put their shoulder to the wheel.  The typical church is composed of the few whose shoulders are bruised by their faithful labors and the many who are unwilling to raise a blister in the service of God and their fellow men.  There may be a bit of wry humor in all this, but it is quite certain that there will be no laughter when each of us gives account to God of the deeds done in the body.” 

What?  What is A. W. Tozer saying here?  It’s difficult to tell what his material point is without reading “That Incredible Christian” in its entirety.  As it’s not in The Essential Tozer, which is the book I currently have on my shelf, I’ll have to find a copy and may perhaps due a follow-up.  What I am going to address in this week’s post is how this excerpt left me feeling empty and anxious and with the idea that no matter what I did it was never going to be enough for God.  There was nothing in these words that tasted of the Fruit of the Spirit and I couldn’t help but compare them to words I had just read in Andrew Murray’s “Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews”.

Andrew Murray is commenting on Hebrews 4:9-10 which states: “There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For he that is entered into His rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

Andrew Murray then goes on to say: “It is this resting from their own work that many Christians cannot understand.  They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation that leads to the neglect of the duties of life and unfits for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls.  What an entire misunderstanding of God’s call to rest!  As the Almighty, God is the only Source of power.  In nature, He works all.  In grace, He waits to work all, too, if man will but consent and allow.  Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the highest activity.  We work, because He works in us to will and to do.  As Paul said of himself, “I labour…, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily (literally, “agonizing according to His energy who energizes in me with might” [Colossians 1:29]).  Entering the rest of God is the ceasing from self-effort and the yielding up of oneself in full surrender of faith to God’s working.”

What a difference I find in these two quotes!  I find they’re a perfect example of what I mean when I say “relationship not religion”.  I stick fast on A. W. Tozer’s words:”Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done.”  These words are correct if all we have are rules, regulations, the idea that we earn our place in the Kingdom of God through our works, and the deep fear that nothing we do is going to be enough.  I don’t find any joy in the A. W. Tozer quote, no trust in a relationship with God, and no rest.

Rest is the focus of the Andrew Murray quote. That rest is found in Christ and we rest because we trust the relationship we have with the Father, in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.  How can there be anything but joy once we know this?  All the scriptures that speak of our works being proof of who we are as Christians are not referencing works we do in order to prove we are Christians.  Rather, because of who we are in Christ, because we live in union with Him, because the Holy Spirit lives in us and is a fountain of living water, we can’t help but produce works.  Our works are the fruit of His life in us. 

I am not afraid that there will come a day when God judges me by how much I could have done.  Ever.  I know Him, I trust Him, and I trust the words He has spoken through the writers of the scriptures are true.  I trust that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:1).  I trust that “it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).  I trust that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).  I trust that His word still stands and will not return unto Him void but it shall accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto He sends it (Isaiah 55:11, paraphrased from the KJV). 

Amen.  So be it.

The A. W. Tozer quote was taken from the A. W. Tozer-A Man of God Facebook post dated Saturday, November 6, 2021.  That quote is referenced as being from “That Incredible Christian, 105”.

The Andrew Murray quote was taken from his book “Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews”, Whitaker House, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1996, 2004, Chapter Thirty-One Rest From Works, Page 164

All scriptures are quoted from The Authorized King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2003  

It’s Personal

01 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in Walking in the Way

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It’s been a few weeks now since a post included the passage from 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (KJV).  I have been meditating on the last part of that passage-the bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ-and focusing on doing so.

I don’t know if any of you have ever made this your focus but it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  I didn’t realize how often my mind wandered until I turned my attention to what I was actually thinking about and attempting to bring an awareness of Jesus Christ to every moment.  Even in prayer time with my church or with my family, I would catch myself mouthing the words while I was thinking about what to make for breakfast or what my plans were for the next day or a hundred other things.  It was not focused on God.  To paraphrase Yoda, my mind was never on where I was-what I was doing.

One thing I was not aware I was doing was separating in my mind time with God and time to think about whatever I wanted.  I would do my bible reading, some prayer time, some study time and then I’d make no attempt to control my thoughts throughout the rest of the day.  It was like I’d scored my brownie points with God.  It had become habit to give Him His allotted time and then I was free to think about whatever I wanted.  Since I was thinking about a story I was writing or blog posts or poems-all things that had to do with God-I didn’t think what I was doing needed to change.  I recently heard one of my teachers say “religion is easy: relationship is hard” and that struck me. 

I had already realized how much of my thought life was consumed of planning all I was going to do for God.  Upcoming studies that would be turned into blog posts, which books I would read after I finished my current ones, what all I needed to do to share to good news of Jesus with those around me.  And then, when my brain was overwhelmed with all of these plans, I’d escape into a story or a television show: anything to give my brain a break.  Realizing I was thinking this way and having this experience, I realized how true that statement it: religion is easy: relationship is hard.

It is so easy for me to keep God intellectual.  I have stacks of books at my fingertips.  I could spend the rest of my life in study of Him and learn things that would fill blog post after blog post.  I might even write something that helps someone else.  What does any of it matter if I spend so much time working for Him that I don’t have anything left over for spending time with Him?  For so long I acted like, somehow, I was in control. I’d get up in the mornings and read my studies and devotionals, and then pray He’d help me get through my day. Hadn’t I earned His blessing?  I’d put Him first, checked my “aren’t I a good Christian” boxes, and now He had to hold up His end of things.  My relationship with Him, if I can even call it a relationship, was contractual rather than covenant.  I was living out of a “because I then He” rather than living life from Him.

Do you know that if I never picked up a Bible again, God would still love me?  It is amazing to me, I sit in utter wonder of it, to know that there is nothing I can ever do or not do that affect God’s love for me.  He loves me because He is love.  That is terrifying. I can’t do anything to control when or how He loves me. I do not earn His love by prayers or readings or studies or memorization.  I don’t present my Good Christian Resume and tell Him I’ve kept the rules so He has to keep His promises.  No, I am in relationship with the living God.  I almost can’t bear to type it.  THE LIVING GOD!  The covenant God.  The God who gives Himself to me in love.  This God lives inside of me now.  I do not bide my time performing for Him so I get to go to heaven when I die.  He and I are one right this moment.  We are in covenant relationship and because He is all that He is to me right now-all His promises are “Yes” in Christ Jesus-therefore I live my life from Him.

Knowing this-really knowing it-sitting with it until it became a reality in my heart not just an idea, changed how I look at Paul’s words in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge: and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, KJV).  And then comes that beautiful passage describing agape which is the Greek word translated “charity” here.

1 John 4:8 ends with the words, “for God is love” and that word in the Greek is agape.  Malcolm Smith will often stress that God is love: He doesn’t have it, He is it.  I sit in realization if this and see that the love (or charity) Paul is talking about isn’t a feeling or even an act of my will: it’s the very person of Jesus.  He is what I need.  Without Him, I am nothing. 

And so, of course I read my Bible but to know Him not to appease Him.  I read where Moses says, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15, KJV).  My heart says a hearty “amen” and then I rejoice knowing that because I am joined to the Lord, I am one spirit with Him and I have the relationship Moses only anticipated.  I make David’s words in Psalm 27 my own prayer: “When thou saidist, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek” (verse 8, KJV).  And, I bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  Not in an attitude of “Sir, yes sir!” but in the true meaning of the word obedience: attentive hearkening.  I don’t want to wander off into my own thoughts: I want to seek His face and hear His voice.  Only then, because He speaks and has inclined my ear to hear Him; then will I do.

Obedience

G5218 hupakoe, from 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by impl.) compliance or submission;–obedience, (make) obedient, obey (-ing)

G5219 hupakouo, from 5259 and 191; to hear under (as a subordinate), i.e. to listen attentively…

Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990