Tuesday, November 27,
2012, 7:47 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me this morning with this old hymn
playing in my mind:
With Eternity’s
Values in View / Alfred B. Smith 1916-2001
With eternity’s values
in view, Lord,
With eternity’s values
in view,
May I do each day’s
work for Jesus
With eternity’s values
in view.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Psalm 2 (NIV 1984):
Why do the nations
conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth
take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.
“Let us break their
chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”
The One enthroned in
heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
Then he rebukes them
in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my
King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will proclaim the
decree of the Lord:
He said to me, “You
are my Son;
today I have become your Father.
Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your
inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
You will rule them
with an iron scepter;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
Therefore, you kings,
be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with
fear
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he
be angry
and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can
flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Why?
Nations consist of governments, laws and/or
constitutions of various localities of people throughout the world. The people
mentioned here are the people of those nations, and the kings are the rulers of
those nations or groups of people. This constitutes all the peoples of the
world who stand in opposition to Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. They stand against
his gospel of salvation and his work on this earth carried out by his
followers; his servants; his witnesses. These governments, people and rulers
conspire and plot against God and against God’s people, the saints of God –
followers of Jesus Christ. They plot destruction, ruin and the removal of the
gospel (the whole message), of the word of God, of the Lord’s servants and his witnesses,
and of his anointed ones’ (see 2 Co. 1:20-22) testimony for Jesus Christ.
So, why do they do this? Why did the
Pharisees do this? The Pharisees had great power and authority. Jesus Christ
stood as a threat to their positions of power and rule and control over the
people. Also, Jesus Christ took disciples after himself and he taught the
people to not be like the Pharisees, and he warned against their false
teaching, and he taught the people the truth, so this stood as a threat to the
Pharisees’ credibility and positions of honor among the people. As well, many
people followed after Jesus. Some followed him because he fed them and/or
because he performed miracles, while others followed him because he told them
the truth. This stood as a threat to the Pharisees’ popularity among the
people, so the leaders were jealous of Jesus, which is one of the reasons they
plotted to kill him.
People, rulers, governments, institutions of
men, the institutional church, and its leaders today are all potential
candidates as those today who may stand in opposition to Jesus Christ and to
the truth of his gospel and the witness of his true servants. And, they do it
for many of the same reasons as the Pharisees did, because they are jealous,
they are threatened, they fear losing disciples, they fear having their lies
exposed, and they fear their earthly kingdoms might be destroyed if the truth
be known. So, they will stop at nothing to destroy, kill, silence and remove
all those threats against their earthly kingdoms and positions of power, and I
am speaking here of this happening in the institutional church of today, as
well. The church and its leaders are not unsusceptible to this kind of jealousy
and feelings of threats to their positions of power resulting in them plotting
against those who would expose their lies and who would lead the people toward
the truth.
Many earthly kingdoms, including earthly “church”
kingdoms of men, are built upon lies, deception, manipulations of people and
their emotions, bribes, greed for power or for money, etc. It is a highly
competitive world out there, including inside the institutional church, where
people are constantly trying new methods to gain customers and followers. With
the stress of competition also comes the temptation to cut corners, manipulate,
or to do whatever is necessary to get ahead. The sad reality of it all is that
this earthly kingdom building is strong within the institutional church, and so
is the competition to have more members (bragging roles), baptisms, etc. Even
if gaining more people does not mean great financial gain, there is a lot to be
said for popularity and power, rule and control over people among reasons why
the people and the rulers plot in vain against the Anointed One.
How?
So, what are some ways in which the people,
rulers, nations and institutional church and its leaders conspire and plot in
vain against the Anointed One?
Governments lie and deceive and manipulate
all the time. Not every government leader is a liar and a crook, but many are.
And, they gain power, popularity, authority and control over the people via
their lies and manipulations. And, they have many expensive tools at their
disposal to help facilitate their deceptions, as well. They can use TV, the
news media, advertising, social networks, the internet, and even the
institutional church to help promote their lies and to help them gain the trust
of the people. Much of it is subtle manipulation and some of it comes through
subliminal messages, but nevertheless it exists, and many of us have fallen
prey to it at one time or another until our eyes are opened to the truth.
Much of the institutional church of today, as
well, has fallen into the trap of feeling as though they need to market the
church and the gospel as one would market big business. Much of the money that
goes into the church is spent on esthetics, on performance, and on the big show,
i.e. the stage production on Sunday mornings in many of our institutional
churches. Their goal is often to make the church seeker friendly and for it to
appeal to and be attractive to the world. Yet, the church is the body of
Christ, not an institution of men, and its purpose is for the edification and
encouragement and strengthening of the body of Christ so that we can go out to
the world to share the gospel. Then, as the world accepts Jesus Christ, they
become part of the body of Christ. We have it so backwards.
So, in appealing to the world and to the
flesh of men, much of today’s institutional church has watered down (diluted)
the gospel of Jesus Christ to where it is no longer the gospel so that they could
make it more palatable and acceptable to their listeners. They have turned the
church into a marketplace instead of into the house of prayer that God intended
it to be. The church has become a modern blend of the world and the church. God
spoke many harsh words against his people throughout history because they
blended their worship of God with worship of other gods or with pagan rituals.
And, the church of today is still doing the same thing. Yet, in many of our
churches it has become the norm, so anything different from that would now seem
not normal or not like “church.”
Break
the Chains
“Let
us break their chains and throw off their fetters,” they
say. Do you know what this is saying? As followers of Jesus Christ we are the
Lord’s servants (his bond slaves), and slaves of righteousness, and we bear the
yoke of Jesus Christ on our lives. The goal of these nations, rulers and people
(including in today’s institutional church) is to break these bonds of slavery
(servanthood) to Jesus Christ, to his gospel of salvation and to the truth of
his holy word. They want nothing more than to get us to compromise with the
world and to accept the blending of religions and the blending of worldly
practices with the worship of God. They want us to participate with them in
their pagan rituals and their ungodly practices and to accept a diluted gospel
in place of the true gospel, because it is less offensive. They teach tolerance
of other religions and/or of worldly practices and even of a diluted gospel all
in the name of Jesus Christ in order to draw in large crowds of people. If we
stand for what is true and what is right, we are often ostracized and among
those who are plotted against.
God
Laughs
Yet, all of these plots against the Anointed
One and against his gospel and against his messengers are in vain (empty;
unsuccessful) in destroying God’s work. People, nations, rulers and
institutions of men (including the church) have no power, authority, rule or
control but what God permits, he permits for a time, and that one day he will
bring to judgment and will destroy these kingdoms of men. In fact, the true
church tends to escalate and is often empowered through persecution, because
that is when people really begin to get serious about their God and not take
their salvation and their relationship with Jesus Christ for granted. So, the
more Satan comes against the “Anointed One” and his followers, the more the
saints of God are convinced of their need to stand firm in their faith and to
proclaim with even more zest and zeal the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As well, God is absolutely sovereign over all
things, including over all nations, people and rulers of the people (including
inside the institutional church), and he has a day of judgment in mind for all
those who would stand in opposition to his Anointed One and to the true gospel.
So, everyone needs to be wise and to realize that, although God may appear to
be silent, at times, and to allow evil to exist, for a time, a day of reckoning
is coming when all men will have to give account to God for what they did with
his Son, Jesus Christ. So, we should never take God lightly, but we should all
serve the Lord with awe, wonder, respect, and honor of God for who he is,
because we love him, because we desire him, and not without thought to the
reality that one day he will judge us all.
One day Jesus will return to the earth to
gather his elect to himself, to judge the world, and to set up his kingdom on
the earth, at which time he will rule and reign over the kingdoms of the earth
for a thousand years, and his saints will rule with him. So, God is the victor
and one day soon he will judge the world, so take what he says to heart and
obey it.
Blessed
are all who take refuge in him.
Seek
the Lord / An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off
Isaiah 55
“Come
to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen
to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And
your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give
ear to Me, and you will live.
I
have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash
in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek
the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let
the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let
him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely,
God pardons him.
“For
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor
are your ways My ways,”
declares
the Lord, our God.
“My
word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It
will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My
word will accomplish all that I desire,
And
achieve the goal I intend.
You
will go in joy, and be led forth in peace.
The
mountains will burst into song… before you,
And
all of the trees clap their hands.”
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