In particular, I would like to apologize to anyone who, for whatever reason, was sidetracked by my discussion of ways in which separating ourselves from the world may manifest itself in our daily lives. Yes, my wife and I are restricting our intake of television, and yes, we are planning and preparing to homeschool our children--and yes, we do see these things as a form of separating ourselves from the world. However, I do think, on reading that post again, that the section in which I articulated the necessity of not depending on institutions could have been better worded, and I am afraid that to some, the shoddy wording may have distracted from the real message that the Lord was trying to convey to them.
Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe that it is time for believers in Christ to choose whether they will continue to depend on the institutions of this world or depend on the Lord for their welfare. As I have said before in this blog, even if the United States were to remain a nation and government friendly toward Christianity, the social and economic situation in which we currently find ourselves is fragile at best. The governmental and corporate structures--things such as "retirement" or "credit" or "social security"--are tottering on very unstable legs, and eventually, as the baby boomer generation claims its retirement benefits, the economy will become increasingly strained.
I think that believers in Christ, under the circumstances, should not trust that the systems and structures of yesterday will remain in place tomorrow, and this, in part, is what brings me to the first of what we in the western world have come to call "the ten commandments."
In our first series of posts on the Lord's commandments to the ancient Israelites, we covered the Passover and its significance for the people of the Old Testament and the converts of the New Testament--and now, after covering the Lord's outlining of blessings and curses to the ancient Israelites in the desert, we come to what is arguably the most well-known, yet misunderstood, section of the Bible.
Let us begin by reading the account given to us in Exodus 19, leading up to the Lord's words in Exodus 20:
In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on the very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
Here in verses 1-6 we have a beautiful promise--the Lord wanted the nation of Israel to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." What does that mean? It means that he wanted Israel to be a nation that was striking testimony to the world of the reality of God--and ladies and gentlemen, the Lord succeeded in this regard . . . but at great cost.
You see, Israel was never supposed to suffer the things that she suffered during her history after the exodus from Egypt--Israel was never supposed to be divided into two kingdoms, or destroyed, or led into captivity. However, all of these things happened, and the Bible tells us that they happened because the people of Israel refused to obey the Lord and because they looked to other gods.
Nevertheless, the Lord did (and does) have a living testimony of his existence in the words of the Bible--he indeed was glorified through the nation of Israel, but not in the way that, I believe, He would have wished.
Exodus 19 tells us that the Lord called the people of Israel to Mount Sinai so that they could hear--as Moses heard--the voice of the Lord speaking to them . . . and indeed they did hear it. Verses 16-19 describe this experience in vivid, frightening detail:
On the morning of the third day [after they had purified themselves for two days] there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. [c]
Now, what was the very first thing that the Lord said to the entire people of Israel? What message did He first want to convey to them?
We find out in Exodus 20:1-3:
And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.
This is the basis of the Bible--of the Old and New Testaments--and it is sad that in today's world, so few people who claim the name of Christ Jesus for themselves actually heed it.
The sin that brought the Israelites into disrepute and destruction and the sin that pervades so many of our churches today are, I am afraid, one and the same: syncretism. Merriam-Webster defines syncretism as "the combination of different forms of belief or practice," and the American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "the reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief" . . . but I have a less euphemistic way of defining syncretism:
Syncretism is, simply put, an attempt by man (and woman) to have his/her cake and eat it, too--to have the vitality and blessed assurance of salvation that comes with recognizing the one true God and to have the comfort and riches of this world as well.
Some of you may find this to be a bit uncomfortable, but ladies and gentlemen, the God described in the Bible is a "jealous" God, meaning that He "jealously" guards what is His--and Christ Jesus Himself said, "He who is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30). Do you think He looks upon your worship of money or sex or upward social mobility as simply a "viable way" to "combine different belief systems"?
Or do you, as so many people in our society often do, assume that He understands that sometimes situations call for compromises?
You won't hear this kind of talk in most American churches today. Most prominent pastors and televangelists are more concerned with being popular than with telling the truth, and so they will not tell you that repentance, not a few simple words muttered at the front of a tent or chapel, is what the Lord ultimately desires from each and every one of us.
If you have not put the Lord first in your life, my friend, than no matter how many Bibles and devotionals you have, no matter how many times you uttered the "sinner's prayer," and no matter how faithful your attendance at church has been . . . you are sinning against the Lord, and you must repent of that sin if you want to be right with Him.
I understand that you may find those words very difficult to accept . . . just as I once did.
I wasn't a very Christian or holy man for most of my life--in fact, I even went so far as to delve into some very dark spiritual things--but for much of that time, I was a faithful church attender.
I could even quote Bible verses . . . at least the ones I had taken in from my years at a Christian liberal arts college in Virginia.
I had other gods, however--gods that, in my heart, came first. One of them, as you may have gathered from reading my original Sabbath Breakers blog, was sex--I wanted endless sex and endless pleasure, any way I could get it, and I didn't care what kind of harm it was doing to my life, and my relationships with my family and others around me, and I didn't care what my obsession was destroying inside of me.
Another god, however, was freedom.
Freedom has become a very popular word in our culture today, but I wonder if we understand to the extent to which we abuse this concept in our daily lives, using it as an excuse for socially (and personally) destructive actions. Abortion is undertaken in the name of freedom, divorces often occur in the name of "liberating" one spouse from the other, and of course, the United States has waged a number of wars in the name of preserving freedom.
I wonder if we truly understand Paul's words to the believers in Rome when he said,
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Romans 13:1
These words, of course, were written in a time when "the governing authorities" were military generals who ruled by force, using fear, intimidation, and cruelty as instruments of order.
More to the point, I wonder if we understand the words of Christ, as recorded by Matthew:
A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!
So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid--you are worth more than many sparrows.
Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law -
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
verses 24-39
Most megachurch pastors and televangelists will quote the softer-sounding portions of this passage, such as "the very hairs of your head are all numbered" and "what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs," without providing the context. Unfortunately, what many people are then left with in our society is a "Christianity" in which Christ can exist in the same room with "career" or "materialism" or even "my own political beliefs."
Note, in particular, the words at the end of the passage above: "anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." These are among my favorite words of the Bible, and whenever I hear them, my soul is stirred with a longing for the Christ who took up His cross for me. So often, we hear in our churches today that the "cross" Christ is talking about is metaphorical--it can mean anything from problems at work to difficulties in the home--but when Christ said those words, they had a very concrete meaning to those who heard them.
The cross was a public method of execution designed to humiliate and torture its victim--and everyone in ancient Judea knew the kind of suffering Christ meant when he said "anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." You see, Christianity is hard (as I have said before), and very few people can meet with the real suffering, real persecution, and real pain that comes when we fully allow Christ to shine in our hearts. We live in a world, after all, that is cruel and heartless--and love, real love, is often tinged with tears.
I wish, ladies and gentlemen, I could have relented and listened to this message sooner--I wasted so many years of my life attempting to seek fame and fortune--but the Lord has been very gracious, and with His help, my children won't have to learn the hard way as I did . . . and, I hope, neither will you.
Listen to your heart. Do you have other gods? If so, I believe the Lord is asking you to lay them aside.
I have said at numerous times that I believe that we are increasingly seeing a spirit in this nation that is hostile to Christianity and to Christ, and that one day, if believers in Christ are not willing to make their loyalties clear, we may see a time when the Lord will use the persecuting hand of non-believers to winnow out those in the ranks of Christendom who never really held Christ first in their hearts. Please, ladies and gentlemen . . . let's not make that kind of hard hand from the Lord necessary.
In Christ, we have a redeemer--one who cleanses us from all sin.
Let us not allow the pressures or pleasures of this world so great a place in our hearts that we fail to see our need for that redemption.
No comments:
Post a Comment