Wednesday, July 03,
2013, 7:07 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Come and See” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read 1 Corinthians 1-2
(NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%201&version=NIV;
The church in Corinth was divided over its leaders. There
were actually quarrels among the Christians there because some followed Paul,
others Appollos, still others Cephas, and then there were those who said, “I
follow Christ.” So, Paul addressed the issue, first by asking if Christ is
divided, and if Paul was the one crucified for them, and if they were baptized
in the name of Paul. Good thought provoking questions! And, they are so
applicable to today’s church, too. We just have to change the names to
Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian, Charismatic, etc. Or,
we could insert such names as Rick Warren, Kim Clement, Joel Osteen, etc., or
whatever preacher or teacher of the word you may follow. It is so easy to end
up following mankind instead of God, if we are not careful.
Paul added that he was thankful that he had only baptized a
few people so that the believers would not say they were baptized in the name
of Paul. And, then Paul made a statement which I believe is foundational for
this discussion here. He said, “For Christ did not send me
to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the
cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
The Mind
Intertwined in these two chapters with the discussion
concerning the true gospel of Jesus Christ is a discourse on human wisdom. Paul
stated that God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. He also described
this human wisdom in terms of it expressing itself by being influential,
eloquent, humanly wise and persuasive (perhaps manipulative). This human
thinking and reasoning is of the wisdom of this age, and the spirit of the
world, and is not of Christ or of God’s wisdom. And, yet, this human wisdom and
reasoning is predominant in the church here in America today, as well as the
church today largely follows after the teachings, reasoning, philosophies,
goals and objectives of humans, rather than God.
The church of the 21st century here in America
has largely bought into humanistic teaching and business marketing schemes for
how to build the “church.” This modernistic movement has swept across
evangelical Christianity in America, and across denominational boundaries, so
that if you go from church to church to church, you will find many similarities
in philosophy, approach, technique, and goals and objectives, which have
largely been prompted by man-made teachings and business plans. The church
targets the world with worldly methods in order to persuade, influence, and entertain
its attendees, in hopes that people will come back for more of the same. They
use gimmicks and focus largely on the “show,” stage presence, appearance and
making church fun, comfortable, and enjoyable so people want to come back. This
approach to church and to the gospel focuses largely on human wisdom in trying
to attract the world to the “church” and to “Christ.”
Yet, Paul said that if we preach the gospel with human
wisdom and eloquence, the cross of Christ may be emptied of its power. And, I
believe that is what is happening in the church today. The gospel is being
diluted to fit in with making people comfortable and with the intentional goal
of not offending people, so they will come back. Repentance and obedience are
being removed from the gospel, so that it does not slay the sinner, but
entertains him.
The Spirit
On the flip side of this human wisdom, which seeks to be
persuasive through worldly means and methods, is the wisdom that is of the
Spirit of God, which speaks the truth in love. It says we must die to sin and
self if we want to live for eternity. It says we must forsake our old lives of
living for sin and self, and we must follow Christ in obedience if we want to
come after him. It says we show we love God by obeying his commands and that if
we do not obey his commands, we don’t truly love him, and we are not truly one
of his. And, it teaches us that we must make disciples of Christ of all
nations, baptizing and teaching them to obey Christ’s commands.
This is the power of the cross Paul spoke about. Jesus
Christ died that we might be set free from the control of and slavery to sin
day-to-day. So, daily we must die to sin and self and follow Christ in
obedience. If we do not teach that, we have emptied the cross of its power,
because the blood of Christ set us free! And, it requires death to sin, a
transformation of heart and mind, and a new life lived in the power of God.
When we teach the true gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit of God
within us, and followers of Christ accept the true gospel into their lives,
then their faith rests on God’s power instead of on human wisdom.
The Called
We who have put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
are the called of God. Paul asked the believers in Christ to think of what they
were when they were called, not speaking of the fact that they were sinners,
but that not many of them were wise by human standards; not many influential or
of noble birth. This is not to say that God does not call those who have
tremendous influence in the world or those with vast human knowledge, but it is
to say, I believe, that we were not called of God because of our wisdom,
influence, stage presence, charismatic personalities, etc. When I was called, I
was a hurting child. And, I’ve never been particularly influential or
book-smart, charismatic or eloquent or persuasive. Yet, God does not judge by
human standards, and he does not choose as humans choose. In fact, I believe he
often uses those least likely to be chosen of mankind in order to show God’s
power through us. Then, it is God who gets the glory.
As I thought about this song “Come and See,” I thought about
the simplicity of it all. They just told the simple truth that they knew to
those in their lives, or whose paths they crossed. I remember a testimony I
heard once of a man who came to Christ. A young woman shared the gospel with
him. He said it was the worst presentation of the gospel he had ever heard, but
the Spirit spoke to his heart, he was ready, and he said “Yes” to Jesus. I believe
this is a great illustration of how God uses the weak, the foolish (by human
standards), the rejected, despised, tossed aside, and the forgotten to shame
the wise. We don’t have to have a college degree. We don’t have to attend an
evangelistic training seminar. All we have to do is to be in relationship with
Jesus Christ, to walk daily in his light and truth, and to share what light and
truth we know with whomever God puts in our path.
God will use us if we are willing and we are obedient. All
we may know is “Once I was blind but now I see.” Or all we may be able to
express is to say, “Come and see.” The important thing is to yield to the Holy
Spirit and to allow him to speak his words through us, and to then trust him
with the results. Yet, we should never dilute the gospel of Jesus Christ in
order to appeal to the flesh of humans, to be accepted of man, or to make the
gospel more palatable, fun, entertaining and enjoyable, because nowhere in
scripture are we taught to adjust the gospel to make it more appealing. We
should always speak the truth in love.
Come and See / An
Original Work / May 20, 2013
Based off John 1:35-51
John, the Baptist,
called of God to
Make straight the way
for the Lord,
Told his disciples
about Jesus,
So two of them
followed Him.
One of them who
followed Jesus
Told his brother,
Simon Peter,
Who then he brought to
the Savior,
Who had told them,
“Come and see.”
Jesus Christ, our
Lord, Messiah,
On his way to Galilee
found a man, Philip,
So he told him, “I
want you to follow Me.”
Philip then found his
friend,
And he told him, “We
have found the one
The prophets spoke of
– He is Jesus!”
Philip then said,
“Come and see.”
Jesus saw the man,
Nathanael,
While he sat beneath a
fig tree,
Even before Philip
called him,
So Nathanael did
believe.
Nonetheless the Lord
said,
“You believe because
of what I told you.
You will see much
greater things than these
If you will Come and
see.”
Jesus’ calling to each
one of us.
He tells us to believe
in Him
As our Lord and
Messiah,
And to follow where He
leads.
He says we must turn
from our sins,
Die to sin and self
each day,
And put on our new
lives in Jesus;
Bow before Him; humbly
pray.
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