Tuesday, November 25,
2014, 10:55 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “In Harmony.” Speak, Lord, your words to
my heart. I read Revelation 2:1-7
(NASB).
“To
the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
The
One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the
seven golden lampstands, says this:
‘I
know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate
evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they
are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have
endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against
you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have
fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to
you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Yet this
you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who
overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of
God.’
Your Toil
There is much talk these days of grace vs. works, as
though they are in opposition to each other. They can be, but they don’t have
to be. On the one end of the spectrum we read in scripture concerning works of
the flesh or of the law (See: Ro. 3:20-28; 4:2-6; 9:32-33; 11:6; Gal. 2:16;
3:2-5; Eph. 2:8-9). Keeping the letter of the law and/or following after works
of the flesh (man-made rules, regulations, and traditions) will not save us. We
can do nothing to earn or to deserve our salvation. Our salvation is a free
gift from God, which we receive by faith in Jesus Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9). We
do not gain brownie points with God via good works done in the flesh. He gets
no pleasure in them. He delights, though, in our obedience (See: Ro. 6:16; Heb. 5:9; 1 Jn.
2:3-5; 3:24; 5:3; 2 Jn. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:2).
On the other end of the spectrum, though, are works of
the Spirit done in and through our lives via our cooperation with and
submission to the Spirit’s work of grace in our lives (See: Eph. 3:20; Col.
1:29; 1 Tim. 2:10; 6:18; 1 Co. 3; 15:58). We are God’s workmanship. We were
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that
we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10). This involves action on our part, and
obedience. Yet, it is his power which is at work within us through which we are
able to do these good works – the works he prepared in advance for us to do,
not our own fleshly works.
God gives us various people within the Body of Christ to
equip us for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12). In the Body of Christ, we
each have our work (our assignments from the Spirit) to do. James said that
faith without works is dead (Jas. 2:14-26). Paul said we should work out our
own salvation (in obedience to God and to his Word) with fear (awe; respect;
reverence; and honor for God) and with trembling, “for it is God who works in
you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).
So, what I see here is that our faith and our works (of
the Spirit, by the Spirit, and done in the Spirit) work together. We can have
works without faith, but we cannot have faith without works, for true faith
shows itself genuine by what we do in submission to God and to his work of the
Spirit and of his grace in and through our lives.
This Against You
So, what’s the big deal here? It would appear from what was
seen outwardly that this was a church on fire for God, doing the works he
prepared in advance for them to do, because these things which they were
commended for here are what are taught us in scripture that we should be doing.
So, what went wrong? I believe 1 Co. 13 speaks to this issue. The problem here
wasn’t that they were following human-based rules, regulations and traditions.
They were following the teachings of scripture. Yet, they were lacking in what
was most important. They had forgotten their first love, or the love they had
at first.
We can do all these wonderful things taught us in scripture,
but if it is lip service only, or if it is out of human performance, to gain
acceptance or human appreciation or God’s approval, and if it is not us submitting
to the Spirit’s work in our lives, then it amounts to nothing. As well, if it
is not done in love towards others, and we are not truly walking in Christ’s
love by following him wherever he leads us in doing, being and saying what he
wants us to do, be and say, then it amounts to nothing – it is just a bunch of
noise. And, it profits us nothing. So many people pick and choose what they
will do for God. He is not pleased with our sacrifices. What he wants is our
hearts, submitted to him in humble obedience to his will.
The “love” being spoken of here is not human love and
emotion, though. It is not based in ourselves, in society’s norms, in our
culture and traditions, or in the values, belief systems and philosophies of
this sinful world. This is agape love, which is God-like love for others and it
is love for God/Christ. We can only love like this because God, who is love,
lives within us. Only in his power and strength and wisdom can we love with
agape love. This love prefers what God prefers, it seeks to please God in all
it does, and it seeks to show good will to its fellow humans in the same manner
in which Christ loved us and gave himself up for us to meet within us our
legitimate needs, especially the need of him and of his salvation. This kind of
love embraces God’s will, chooses his choices, and obeys them through his power
(Source: biblehub.com). We love, because God first loved us.
So, how did Christ love us? He didn’t love us because of our
own righteousness. It was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.
His love is not based in the objects of his love, but in the one doing the
loving. The same applies to us. We don’t love just the lovely. We are to love
our enemies, too – pray for them, do good to them and bless them. Yet, we can’t
do this in our own human flesh. We must yield control of our lives – thoughts,
actions, attitudes and emotions – over to the Lord Jesus, allowing his desires,
his will, his purposes, and his pleasure to be what rules our hearts, minds and
actions. We also don’t love in order to be loved in return. We may even be
hated in return for loving like Christ loved us. He said the world hated him
because he told them that what they did was evil. Sometimes love involves
speaking the truth about sin, but it must be coupled with grace and mercy.
Jesus Christ was loving, kind, gracious, merciful,
compassionate and sympathetic. Yet, he was also honest and forthcoming, and he
cared enough about those he loved to tell them the truth about their sin, and
to let them know the only way to salvation and to heaven. He did not withhold
the truth about sin or its remedy from people so they would like him or so he
would not offend them. People are walking down the tracks of life and a train
is barreling down toward them and they don’t see it or hear it, so he is
calling out to them, warning them to get off the tracks, and to follow him on
the path of righteousness. He died, not just so we would go to heaven and
escape hell. He died to free us from bondage to sin, and to free us to walk
holy lives pleasing to him – all in his power within us (See: Ro. 6-8; 2 Co.
5:15; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; Tit. 2:11-14; & 1 Jn. 1-5).
Repent or Else
The word “repent” literally means to have a change of mind.
It is nearly always used in scripture in the context of agreeing with God about
our sin, humbly grieving over it and confessing it to him, and willingly
turning from sin (dying with Christ to sin) and turning to God to walk in his
ways, according to his truth, and in his power within us.
The lampstands were the churches themselves, so if he is to
remove our lampstand from its place, because we refuse to repent of our sins of
idolatry and spiritual adultery, it would seem to me that we would lose our
effectiveness for Christ and for his gospel, and/or the church will suffer some
type of spiritual decline, which I believe it already has in many places
throughout the USA. Perhaps this is Christ turning the worldly church over to
its own devices, and to suffer the natural consequences of its sinful choices, so
that it might eventually be brought to its knees in humble repentance and then
be revived.
The problem with much of today’s church is not that they are
not doing some of the right things, according to the teachings of Christ and
that of the apostles, but that they do what they do in their own flesh, and
they pick and choose what they are willing to do and what they are not willing
to do. This is not love! If a man or a woman does good deeds toward his or her
spouse, but regularly and consistently commits adultery, is this love? – Not
according to God! He doesn’t need our sacrifices, i.e. the things we are
willing to do for him. He requires us to die to what we want, and to live for
him and for what he wants – living holy lives, pleasing to him - no longer
conformed to the ways and thinking of this world, but transformed in the
renewing of our minds so that we can discern God’s good, pleasing and perfect
will for our lives (See: Ro. 12:1-2).
This carries over, too, into how we choose to love others,
or to not love them. We are to love each other truly, which means in truth,
with no lies (including no flattery or white lies). If we tell people what they
want to hear, instead of what they need to hear, that is not love. That is
selfishness! If all we do is entertain them, make them feel good about
themselves, make them laugh, and play games with them, etc., but we never tell
them the truth about their sin, about hell, and about their eternal destiny
without Christ, if they do not believe, then that is not love, for truly we are
loving ourselves more than we are loving them. To truly love others, and to be
in harmony with them means we must first of all be in harmony with Christ and
with his purposes and his will for our lives, then we can truly love others by
following after his perfect will (See: 1 Jn. 5:2-3).
In Harmony / An
Original Work / September 2, 2012
Based off Ro. 12:9-21; 1 Pet. 3:8-15
Love each other truly.
Cling to what is good.
Hate all that is evil.
Never lack in zeal.
Serve the Lord with
fervor.
Joyful in hope be;
Patient in affliction;
Praying faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
Share with all God’s
people
Who are found in need.
Do not be conceited.
Sympathetic be.
Love, and show
compassion
In humility.
Keep your tongue from
evil.
Peaceful you must be.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
God sees who are
righteous;
Listens to their
prayers.
But He’s against evil
–
Is His to avenge.
Do not fear what they
fear.
Suffer patiently.
In your hearts, make
Christ Lord.
Serve Him faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.
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