John 3v6:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Unless we are consistently in the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to change our thinking so that we view all things from a spiritual perspective, we will constantly have trouble accepting the Word of God and the revelations the Lord gives. Not only this, but we will unwittingly start to worship, serve and obey according to the way that seems best to us (and even start to call it what the Lord wants!). The spiritual is so far apart from the fleshly, that the spiritual way of viewing life and all its important decisions it will always APPEAR WRONG to our flesh, and unless we can discern the distinction between both, we’ll frequently fall prey to those ways that are purely earthly. At the heart of it, the fleshly perspective always is selfish and self-seeking, and has at its centre man, while the spiritual understanding is always selfless and self-sacrificing, and has at its centre, Jesus. While the fleshly understanding consults only its own conscience and its own logic and wisdom, the spiritual understanding always consults the Word of God, through prayer, and submits itself to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the counsel of the Godly.
So often we hold beliefs that are simply held because they SEEM right to us, and right to the majority of those we hold with high esteem. If the majority believes it, whether those of the world or those of Christendom, it must be right! If the minority believes something different, it must be wrong! In the Old Testament, God’s people, the Jews, started to worship AT A DIFFERENT PLACE than where they had been instructed to. These places were called ‘high places.’ It didn’t seem any big deal to them not to worship at the place the Lord wanted them to worship at, after all, ‘what’s the difference?’ you could very well imagine them saying- ‘The manner of worship doesn’t matter, only the substance matters.’ But God was extremely concerned with both, for He knew that one intimately related to the other (as does the root of a plant and its fruit), and both are inextricably linked to the other (because the act doesn’t exist without the belief and vice versa). Not only does it matter that we worship with SINCERITY (the manner with which we worship), but it also matters WHERE we worship- IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. ‘Our’ way of worship, based off of what seems right to us, is nothing more than a deception and a deceptive fruit- the same fruit the enemy used to deceive Adam and Eve. When we eat of our own understanding, we believe that our eyes are ‘opened’ (and we rejoice in the NEW way of seeing things that we have found- be wary of NEW doctrines- all doctrine can be found in the Word, and no part of the Word will contradict another part) and that we now know the difference between good and evil. But if we believe this way, we are greatly deceived, for the Bible is very clear about how we are to learn to discern what is good, and what is evil:
Heb 5v 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
This is why it seems as though many Christians simply disengage from hearing (‘ears to hear’) and from loving and immersing themselves in the things of the Word, and instead become immersed in the love of the things of the world (and so become entangled in them, whether they know it or not). They would rather not have to bother with, and the hassle of, engaging, learning and growing, and instead remain ‘blissfully’ (although really it is ‘miserably’) ignorant, unaware and uninterested in the deeper things of God. Some choose to knowingly remain children, thinking to avoid the sorrows they believe those more mature in the faith receive because of their being ready to face greater trial and greater testing from the Lord. All they while they forget that in growing in the Christian faith, we come to know more and more of the glory and goodness of our Lord and King, in all the colours of His grace that attend such a magnificent, perfect and all-powerful person, Saviour, God and King. And contrary to their belief, such children of the faith (in maturity) may very well be in for greater sorrow than they can possibly comprehend, just as a child who loses much cannot cope with great loss (nor understand or even begin to comprehend it), so how will the children of the faith cope with great storms, sorrows and loss when they have no doctrine to support such things? How will they bear crosses they don’t believe they should have to carry? How will they trust a God who slays them? Conversely, how will they be used in more mighty ways? How will they be able to grasp the experience and knowledge of the facets of the glory of God? How will they understand greater revelations of His voice and power? And so we have all failed here, and yet His grace has remained, so much so that He even gives time for us to change our ways, so that we’ll not repeat such mistakes in the future.
So where do we worship from? Where do we serve from? And where do we follow from? If we love and learn of the Word, it is highly likely that we’ll do these things from the place of Spirit and Truth. If we don’t really know the Word well, then it is very likely that we’ll worship from the place of the flesh, even though we ourselves are spiritual beings. We will in effect contaminate the worship of God and not even know it. And many of these things the modern Church has already done, and we ourselves have done, so we must be on our guard. Jesus often looked strange and unlovely to those that tried to understand His Word and His ways according to how they saw life, and according to what they saw as right. Do we as Christians struggle with the same thing? This is evidence that we may be more of this world than we think, and it may be time to take drastic measures to extricate ourselves, so that we can be sure we follow Christ, and not an idol of our own making, being ourselves.
Friday 6 September 2013
Thursday 5 September 2013
HOW TO RECOGNISE TRUTH
John 3v30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
The test for determining whether what we hear is truth is quite simple- is the teaching we hear based on and centred around how our lives can become better or is it based on and centred around the Lord Jesus, and how we can serve Him? If it is based around the later, then whatever comes from it, including the subject of our lives and God's love and care for us, then we can trust that it is ok, as long as it is based on scripture. If, however, it is based around the former, then whatever comes from it, will be poisoned, and is dangerous for consumption, and in short, is not truth. Jesus did not preach from man's perspective or from His point of view, but preached from the basis of the will of God, and in accordance with obeying that will and laying down our lives for the ruler of that will- the Father. Jesus even went so far as to say that He didn't say anything or do anything unless He heard it from His Father, or saw His Father do it. And yet what great liberties men take today in shepherding and serving His people! They think of a way of doing Church, and they presume it is ok, as long as they can twist the scriptures to support their way of doing it. If there comes a passage they don't like because it doesn't support their way or their preaching, they dismiss it as irrelevant, or as doctrinally outdated, or they simply choose not to respond to it in any way. Men buy and sell in His Church, and yet Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out- calling them thieves! Men preach certain sections of the Word and leave massive portions out, and yet the Word says that we must love and accept the whole counsel of God (and they call their choosing of what to preach led by the Holy Spirit! God said all of His Word is LIVING AND ACTIVE, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO EDGED SWORD). Jesus said that the worship of God wasn't about a place, but about worshipping in Spirit and in Truth, and yet men have made worshipping at their places of worship and Church buildings, an idol unto themselves (benefitting themselves, their lusts, pride and their pursuits much more than the desires of God). Jesus said that we should seek the honour that comes from God, and yet men have loved to honour themselves and make themselves seen and heard, and take great titles to themselves, and to say whatever will endear themselves to others at the great expense of truth, and the honour of God and His benefit. Jesus preached a Word that was always hard for the flesh to hear, and yet words are now preached that men lap up and that cause no offence to the flesh. Jesus came to lead men to God, but now men lead people to themselves, and call it honouring to God. Jesus came to teach men that we should hide ourselves and yet glorify God, and yet men strut around with their personalities as though the whole world should stand amazed at their grand and awesome personalities and their amazing gifts and abilities. Jesus came to show men that in this life, ultimately we are called to die to ourselves, and to live for God, but now men are taught that we must save our lives at any cost, and follow God in order to enrich our lives at any cost. Jesus came to give life through the Spirit, and now men try to give life through places of worship that are more akin to nightclubs (and the values of nightclubs), now men try to gain life through everything but God, and through all the things the world has to offer. Jesus came to give the Word, but men now come to give their own word.
All too easily much of the Church has now swapped the glory of God, for the glory of this world- a glory that is false and quickly fading. When the storm comes, the glory of this world will falter and will be proved false, and everything built on that foundation will fall and fail. Men will be severely shocked and alarmed to realise that what they so readily relied upon will so easily be swept away. The shallowness of what the Church loves will fail to provide in that day, and will offer no protection and will offer no solutions to the problems that arise. The glitz, glamour and fun that the Church has relied upon to prop up its services and bring the world to its doors will be revealed as a lying friend and a traitor to the sober, serious and important doctrines and pure truths of His Word. Jesus did not come to set up a Kingdom of men in the world, but He came to set up a Kingdom, and a highway for that Kingdom, in the hearts and lives of men, so that whatever may come in this present world, might not shake people from their following and service of Him. Much of the Church and leaders of it have deceived the people of God in the grossest manner, and they shall themselves realise the deception they accepted and promoted in that day when the storm arrives. They shall realise that all the doctrines and truth they hid from Christians and ignored in the Word because they considered them too hard and unnecessary for people to hear, were actually those very things that above all (apart from salvation itself) where vital for His people and vital for themselves in order to be prepared and in order to be given the courage, conviction and the strength of His grace that will be needed to see those times through. The people of God will themselves realise how much deception they swallowed in the name of God in that day, and they shall very much regret it. They shall realise their own grace error, and the errors of their 'leaders' in that day, and only the grace and mercy of God will be able to step in, in order to see them through in that time.
The House of God and the following of God will always be called something that is according to the Word, to prayer, to obedience to that Word, to grace through faith, and nothing more. Everything else that is built upon it will fall, either in this life, or the next. How much will fall will depend entirely on how much we decided to build on it that is of our own ways (earthly), devices, imaginations, ill-gotten and deceived perceptions of His Word and all the justifications therein (motivated by our desires and lusts)- things that have absolutely nothing to do with the worship of God, but only the worship of humanity and the worship of ourselves.
The test for determining whether what we hear is truth is quite simple- is the teaching we hear based on and centred around how our lives can become better or is it based on and centred around the Lord Jesus, and how we can serve Him? If it is based around the later, then whatever comes from it, including the subject of our lives and God's love and care for us, then we can trust that it is ok, as long as it is based on scripture. If, however, it is based around the former, then whatever comes from it, will be poisoned, and is dangerous for consumption, and in short, is not truth. Jesus did not preach from man's perspective or from His point of view, but preached from the basis of the will of God, and in accordance with obeying that will and laying down our lives for the ruler of that will- the Father. Jesus even went so far as to say that He didn't say anything or do anything unless He heard it from His Father, or saw His Father do it. And yet what great liberties men take today in shepherding and serving His people! They think of a way of doing Church, and they presume it is ok, as long as they can twist the scriptures to support their way of doing it. If there comes a passage they don't like because it doesn't support their way or their preaching, they dismiss it as irrelevant, or as doctrinally outdated, or they simply choose not to respond to it in any way. Men buy and sell in His Church, and yet Jesus drove the buyers and sellers out- calling them thieves! Men preach certain sections of the Word and leave massive portions out, and yet the Word says that we must love and accept the whole counsel of God (and they call their choosing of what to preach led by the Holy Spirit! God said all of His Word is LIVING AND ACTIVE, AND SHARPER THAN ANY TWO EDGED SWORD). Jesus said that the worship of God wasn't about a place, but about worshipping in Spirit and in Truth, and yet men have made worshipping at their places of worship and Church buildings, an idol unto themselves (benefitting themselves, their lusts, pride and their pursuits much more than the desires of God). Jesus said that we should seek the honour that comes from God, and yet men have loved to honour themselves and make themselves seen and heard, and take great titles to themselves, and to say whatever will endear themselves to others at the great expense of truth, and the honour of God and His benefit. Jesus preached a Word that was always hard for the flesh to hear, and yet words are now preached that men lap up and that cause no offence to the flesh. Jesus came to lead men to God, but now men lead people to themselves, and call it honouring to God. Jesus came to teach men that we should hide ourselves and yet glorify God, and yet men strut around with their personalities as though the whole world should stand amazed at their grand and awesome personalities and their amazing gifts and abilities. Jesus came to show men that in this life, ultimately we are called to die to ourselves, and to live for God, but now men are taught that we must save our lives at any cost, and follow God in order to enrich our lives at any cost. Jesus came to give life through the Spirit, and now men try to give life through places of worship that are more akin to nightclubs (and the values of nightclubs), now men try to gain life through everything but God, and through all the things the world has to offer. Jesus came to give the Word, but men now come to give their own word.
All too easily much of the Church has now swapped the glory of God, for the glory of this world- a glory that is false and quickly fading. When the storm comes, the glory of this world will falter and will be proved false, and everything built on that foundation will fall and fail. Men will be severely shocked and alarmed to realise that what they so readily relied upon will so easily be swept away. The shallowness of what the Church loves will fail to provide in that day, and will offer no protection and will offer no solutions to the problems that arise. The glitz, glamour and fun that the Church has relied upon to prop up its services and bring the world to its doors will be revealed as a lying friend and a traitor to the sober, serious and important doctrines and pure truths of His Word. Jesus did not come to set up a Kingdom of men in the world, but He came to set up a Kingdom, and a highway for that Kingdom, in the hearts and lives of men, so that whatever may come in this present world, might not shake people from their following and service of Him. Much of the Church and leaders of it have deceived the people of God in the grossest manner, and they shall themselves realise the deception they accepted and promoted in that day when the storm arrives. They shall realise that all the doctrines and truth they hid from Christians and ignored in the Word because they considered them too hard and unnecessary for people to hear, were actually those very things that above all (apart from salvation itself) where vital for His people and vital for themselves in order to be prepared and in order to be given the courage, conviction and the strength of His grace that will be needed to see those times through. The people of God will themselves realise how much deception they swallowed in the name of God in that day, and they shall very much regret it. They shall realise their own grace error, and the errors of their 'leaders' in that day, and only the grace and mercy of God will be able to step in, in order to see them through in that time.
The House of God and the following of God will always be called something that is according to the Word, to prayer, to obedience to that Word, to grace through faith, and nothing more. Everything else that is built upon it will fall, either in this life, or the next. How much will fall will depend entirely on how much we decided to build on it that is of our own ways (earthly), devices, imaginations, ill-gotten and deceived perceptions of His Word and all the justifications therein (motivated by our desires and lusts)- things that have absolutely nothing to do with the worship of God, but only the worship of humanity and the worship of ourselves.
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