Friday, July 12, 2013,
9:02 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Hear my Voice” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (NIV):
Since,
then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we
are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not
trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to
take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen
rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say,
it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love
compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all
died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So
from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once
regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this
is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the
message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God
were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be
reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.
We know what it is
Paul said that since they knew what it was to fear the Lord,
they tried to persuade others. This came on the heels of his statement
concerning us all appearing before the judgment seat of Christ, and us each
receiving what is due us. Thus, to fear the Lord must be directly related to
our eternal destiny and us having to face God one day, and some people facing
the reality of eternal punishment apart from God. Yet, the fear of the Lord
entails so much more than just concern over where we will spend eternity. To
fear the Lord means to take God seriously, to take his words seriously, and to
take our sins seriously. It also entails reverence, respect, awe, obedience, devotion,
commitment, love, dedication, and fidelity, et al. When we truly understand who
God is, and who we are in relation to God, what God requires of us in thought,
word and deed, and how that relates to our eternal destiny, then it should
instill within each one of us a strong desire to see others come to know Christ,
too.
Pride in what is seen
Paul was under enormous scrutiny and condemnation from those
who did not accept the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Many went to great lengths
to try to discredit him and to try to destroy his ministry. This concerned Paul
greatly, not because he had an ego trip and he needed human strokes
(compliments) in order to keep going, but because these false teachers of the
gospel were trying to lead new believers away from the true gospel and away
from pure devotion to Christ to something that had the appearance of the
gospel, but was not the true gospel at all. If they could discredit Paul in
some way, then they could allure these young Christians to follow them and
their gospel instead, or so they thought.
Paul referred to these false teachers of the gospel as those
who took pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart, and the
same is true today, and not just among those who teach a false gospel, but
among those who accept, tolerate and/or comply in some way with the false
gospel of humans. Performance is still important, even among those who make
claims to religious liberty and freedom from the confines of works-based
salvation. The church of today is still very much led by man-made religion.
Appearance, stage presence and public performance is central in many churches. “Worship”
services are often nothing more than stage productions geared toward attracting
the world to the worldly church. And, the church is run and is marketed just
like big business.
So, many take pride in what is seen rather than, or at least
over and above, what is in the heart. How this translates to today is that the
gospel is diluted so as not to offend people with the truth of the gospel, so
that people feel comfortable in the church. The goal appears to be to appeal to
human flesh, to entertain, and to make church fun so that people will want to
come back. That is why the stage and the performance (what is seen) is often
the major focus of church and where a large part of the money is often or frequently
allocated. When we dilute the gospel in order to not offend the people of the
world, whom we are trying to “reach,” we are taking pride in what is seen
rather than in what is in the heart. For if we truly cared about people’s
hearts and their relationships with Jesus Christ and their eternal destiny, we
would tell them the truth so that Christ could set them free from slavery to
sin, and so they could be free to love, honor, value, worship and obey their
Lord Jesus.
Out of our minds
Paul and Timothy were accused of being out of their minds.
So was Jesus, and I’m most certain that many of the prophets before them faced
similar accusations. One commentator (NIV Study Bible) suggested that “Paul’s
enemies were probably asserting that he was suffering from religious mania.”
This brought to mind a modern phrase, i.e. “hyper-religious.”
Based upon my limited research on this subject so far, if I
were a psychiatrist in the time of Jesus and Paul, and the prophets before them,
I would diagnose them all as hyper-religious, because by definition it seems to
be related to those who think God is a God who will one day judge us and will
condemn some people to hell, who experience God on a personal level, who trust
in God to lead them instead of using their own intellect, who believe God
speaks to them through his word directly, and who display passion and
commitment to God, and certainly would include those who preach the full gospel
of salvation. Yet, Paul did not let that accusation bother him, but rather he
embraced it, saying that if they were out of their minds, it was for God. Amen!
I would rather be among the “insane” truly living for God, rather than be among
the “sane” living only for the world and its pleasures.
Christ’s love compels
us
In answer to these accusations of the apostles being out of
their minds, Paul asserted that it was Christ’s love that compelled them to
preach the full gospel of salvation, because Jesus died on the cross, taking
upon himself the sins of the entire world, so that we would no longer live for
ourselves, but for Christ who died for us and was raised again. And many of us
today, who take God, his word, and our sins seriously, and who believe that God
will one day judge us all, and that many people will face eternity in hell
(eternal punishment) without God, are also compelled by Christ’s love to reach
as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ before the day of
judgment. And, yet, some of us, too, may be accused of being out of our minds,
or of being hyper-religious, just because we are doing what Jesus did, and what
he has charged all his followers to do, and that is to make disciples
(followers) of Christ of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey
all of Christ’s commandments.
The old and new
The goal of our service to Christ as ministers of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, to which he has commissioned us all, and has equipped us for
his service, is to see people saved from their sins and walking by faith in
Jesus Christ their Lord. Our goal is not just to hear that someone prayed a
prayer, or that they made an intellectual assent to acknowledge what Jesus
Christ did for them in dying for their sins, but to hear a testimony of faith
proclaiming that, in Christ, the old way of living for sin and self is gone,
and that Christ has transformed hearts and minds away from sin and toward
obedience to Christ, and toward walking in his righteousness. This is all from
God, it is the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and this is not
self-generated, lest we should boast. Yet, faith involves cooperating with the
Spirit of God in this heart and life transformation, i.e. we must choose to
daily die to sin and self and to follow Christ Jesus in obedience (cf. Lu.
9:23-25; Ep. 4:17-24; Ro. 6; Gal. 2:20, et al).
So, knowing what Christ requires of us as part of believing
faith, we are obligated to then share this knowledge and understanding of the
truth of his gospel with those he brings into our lives, so that they, too, can
be in genuine faith relationship with Jesus Christ, and can have true hope of
eternal life with God in glory. We, thus, serve as Christ’s ambassadors, as
though he were making his appeal through us. In other words, he uses human
instruments to get out his message of salvation to the masses. So I, too,
implore you on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” God had Jesus take upon
himself all our sins so that we could be free from slavery to sin and free to become
the righteousness of God, i.e. to daily walk in Christ’s holiness and
righteousness in his power and strength within us. So, let us honor God by
forsaking our sins, and by walking daily in his truth, sharing the full gospel
of Jesus Christ with as many as possible, even if it means we are accused of
being “hyper-religious.”
Hear
my Voice / An Original Work / July 9, 2012
Based off Psalm
27
The
Lord is my great salvation.
He’s
the stronghold of my life.
When
my enemies attack me,
My
heart will not fear at all.
Though
a war break out against me,
Confident
in Christ I’ll be.
Of
the Lord, I ask that I may
Live
with Him eternally.
Hear
my voice, Lord, when I call you.
Merciful
to me You’ll be.
Though
my relatives forsake me,
My
Lord God will receive me.
Teach
me Your way, O my Jesus.
Lead
me in Your righteousness.
I
will sacrifice to my Lord.
I
will sing with joyfulness.
I
am confident that I will
See
the goodness of the Lord.
All
the richness of His blessings,
My
Lord has for me in store.
He
asks me to be of courage;
To
be strong and to take heart,
Patiently
as I wait for Him,
And
from Him to ne’er depart.
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