Cleaning Up Our House

It has been awhile since my last post.  It may be a while yet before my next.  I am going through a valley right now and covet the prayers of those who know Christ.  Here is a word that was upon my heart today.  May it be food for thought…

For those of us who still long to see a real movement of God, there is a major problem which exists in many churches and amongst Christians in general that is holding back the healing rain of the Spirit we so desire. Sin in the camp. In our present age, we hear people beat the drum within Christian and secular society saying, “We shouldn’t judge!” The problem is that it is almost always taken out of context and is the very thing that has allowed sin to be in our midst amongst churches. In the Old Testament, we are all familiar with how God brought down the walls of Jericho. And some of us may even remember how a man named Achan hid a wedge of gold and a Babylonianish garment under his tent. No one knew except God and Achan. However, when Israel went to defeat the next town, Ai, they lost and many of their men were killed. Joshua began to pray, wondering why God had not been in their midst fighting their battles. “And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.” (Josua 7:10-12) Notice the Lord says “Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.”

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What doest thou here?

photo: http://www.tonycooke.org

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? (1Kings 19:11-13 KJV)

Introduction

The question the Lord put to Elijah speaks to me. Elijah had, in the previous couple of weeks leading up to this moment, been used of God to defeat over 400 prophets of Baal but now had fled to Mt. Horeb in fear due to the threats of the wicked queen Jezebel. James said that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. Too many times we let the devil and this world get us cornered in a cave.  It is so easy to get in the cave and the roaring wind, shaking of the earth, and fires in our lives seem to drown out all else.

 

“Be Ye Therefore…” – Perfect

Photo: grantsplacemn.wordpress.com

Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Introduction

This is the second in the “Be Ye Therefore…” series.  Christ is speaking here during what is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. He starts out this part of His sermon with verse 20 of this chapter.  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20) He goes on to describe the kind of righteousness a person must have to enter the Kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is when Christ sets up His everlasting kingdom here on earth and heaven rules here. Anyone who enters will have to be perfect as the Father is perfect. When Christ brings up several points of the law such as adultery, He shows that God’s standard of righteousness is higher than we can attain to. Why, if a man even looks with lust on a woman he has committed adultery. The pharisees had reduced righteousness to just an outward showing of obedience to the law.

 

“Be Ye Therefore…” – Courageous to Keep and Do His Word

Introduction

Here at ServantsJournal.com we strive to possess a servant’s heart for service and for the things of God.  We also want to encourage fellow believers in their walk too.  I found something unique and fitting.  In God’s word numbers have symbolic meaning.  For instance the number five is the number of grace.  Eight is the number of new beginnings.  And seven stands for perfection or more properly completion.  Well, a while back there was this phrase that stood out in my mind, BE YE THEREFORE…

In searching for every instance of that phrase in the bible, I found that it only appears exactly seven times!  How appropriate!  When thinking of an encouraging thought, that which I would say to you appears seven times which is the number of completion.

The phrase ‘BE YE THEREFORE’ appears once in the old testament and six times in the new testament.  In each case, the phrase is used to encourage God’s people to be or do that which is for their good and for God’s glory.  There are, in total, seven short posts in this series.  I hope it will bless you the reader and help you to be a more complete (see why seven is important? 🙂 ) servant of God.

 

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” – Paul the apostle

A Servant’s Heart

Philippians 2:13-18 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.   Do all things without murmurings and disputings:  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.  Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.   For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.

Paul often referred to himself in introduction to a church as doulos theos or doulos Christos which is to say slave or bond-servant of Christ.  Paul had a servant’s heart.  His desire was for the local assembly and the individual in Christ to serve Christ with their whole heart not because of commandment but out of love for the savior.  Paul didn’t mind sacrificing of himself for the cause of Christ, in fact, it brought him great joy to know that his sacrifice of time, effort, and ultimately his own life would increase the faith of others and bring glory to Jesus Christ.  Paul esteemed his brethren in Christ more than himself… “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Philippians 2:3

This is the very essence of a servant’s heart.  Christ Himself told His followers that He came not to be ministered unto but to minister.  Here at Servants’ Journal we desire to possess that servant’s heart and to encourage fellow servants in the same.  In keeping with our new theme and focus to possess a servant’s heart, I thought it fitting to post a memorial to some heroes of the faith from the last century whose sacrifice help renew a fire for missions in our country.

 

Reflection…

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!  Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog and I am thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to serve Him.  One year ago today I posted my first blog post and felt led to call it ‘Think on These Things…’.  As Christians we are a part of the same spiritual body and are instructed in God’s word to consider or esteem one another more than ourselves.  We should seek to do and say those things which are spiritually edifying to each other.

The word edify means to instruct or improve someone spiritually or intellectually.  Over the past year, it has been my prayer that this blog will be a blessing and spiritually edifying to the reader.  I have also been blessed to have a good Christian brother agree to come on board and contribute posts under the pen name ‘The Servant’.  The Lord continues to use him in writing posts that are both timely and encouraging.  In these last days, we need to try to do more for our savior Jesus Christ and also more to be a help to one another.

 

And They Rose Up to Play…

I Corinthians 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

This Sunday morning, referred to as the Lord’s day in Revelation 1:10, will unfortunately be a time when many who call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ forsake His altar and instead, like the children of Israel at the base of Sinai, will rise up to worship the golden calf gods of this world ie. the beach, the lake, the ball field. They will, like Paul says here, rise up to play.

Would to God they showed as much devotion to the one they have been known to call ‘Lord’.  Many Christians have supposed in this day and age, possibly due to the humanistic style of gospel preaching and teaching, that their happiness is paramount in God’s eyes and that, as long as they ‘love’ the Lord, they can do what makes them happy.  Faithfulness in their intentions rather than actions is considered sufficient.  They suppose that being faithful to God’s house is not as important as being faithful to tell others they love the Lord and His church.  Many have supposed that being a faithful servant or bearing the disciple’s cross is archaic and no longer required of the modern American Christian.  Why is this?  Why, my friends, would you suppose that when we have scriptural evidence to the contrary?  Take Luke’s gospel for instance:

 

Have You Died Yet?

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

The modern social gospel being promoted across the land in many churches today speaks of a religion that has no costs, brings no change, and seems to give all glory to the wrong party… us.  In fact, to hear most Christians discuss styles of worship, contemporary or traditional, you would think that worship itself was for the sole benefit of man.  The humanism that has crept into the contemporary sermons, has led many a lost soul to believe that they need only to believe and they have their ticket punched for glory.  Most then fall well short of what the apostle Paul called the ‘new creature in Christ Jesus’.

Why is this so?  It goes all the way back to the Old Testament.  Many of our gospel songs speak of crossing the Jordan River as though it was the passage from life on earth to life in eternity in heaven.  This is flawed because unlike Canaan, Heaven doesn’t have enemies to be destroyed.  Rather, the crossing of the Jordan River in the book of Joshua more aptly typifies our passage from the death of sin to the newness of life in Christ Jesus.

 

No Revival without Reformation

The following is an excerpt written by A.W. Tozer which I shared with a few men of God a while back but felt led to share with you all now. It sums up what is truly the dire need of today among Christians.

No Revival without Reformation – A.W. Tozer

“WHEREVER Christians meet these days one word is sure to be heard constantly repeated; that word is revival. In sermon, song and prayer we are forever reminding the Lord and each other that what we must have to solve all our spiritual problems is It “mighty, old-time revival.” The religious press, too, has largely gone over to the proposition that revival is the one great need of the hour, and anyone who is capable of preparing a brief for revival is sure to find many editors who will publish it…

…I believe that the imperative need of the day is not simply revival, but a radical reformation that will go to the root of our moral and spiritual maladies and deal with causes rather than with consequences, with the disease rather than with symptoms. It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years.

 

“I have written to him the great things of my law; but they were counted as a strange thing.”–Hosea 8:12

There are over 400 different versions and paraphrases of all or part of the the Bible in the English language today. Some think this is a positive development, but I think it has served to create confusion as to which represents the true word of God. The devil is the author of confusion… 1Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” The production of so many different versions and paraphrases has also led to a culture within modern Christendom of ‘tailored’ Bibles. In other words, man is searching for something to worship that he has control over. This is part of our sinful nature and is not too different from the pagans in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 10:2-5), or even today in foreign lands, who go into the woods, cut down a tree, and carve themselves a god to worship. These efforts by publishers to produce ‘Bibles’ tailored to particular audiences are also copied by many churches who, worshiping the ‘god of growth’, tailor music, sermons, and services to the tastes of the world in an effort to be ‘seeker friendly’.

All of these things are, in essence, putting the cart before the proverbial horse. First, Christ told us in John 3 that man loves darkness rather than light. Our sinful nature would rather the truth bend to our will than the other way around. Second, the apostle Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Paul was explaining that the unsaved man cannot understand God’s word and that it is foolish to him. Fallen man, since the tower of Babel, has been trying to reach heaven on his own efforts or works, to justify himself. But God has preserved His word and we should seek for the truth, not for a version of the truth which will justify our lives. For that kind of ‘truth’ is not truth. The only way we can know justification is for Jesus Christ to save us. Then we will know the truth and the truth will make us free.

Charles Spurgeon said it best, “Strange that there should be men so vile as to use the penknife of Jehoiakim to cut passages out of the word, because they are unpalatable. O ye who dislike certain portions of Holy Writ, rest assured that your taste is corrupt, and that God will not stay for your little opinion. Your dislike is the very reason why God wrote it, because you ought not to be suited; you have no right to be pleased. God wrote what you do not like; he wrote the truth. Oh! let us bend in reverence before it, for God inspired it. It is pure truth. Here from this fountain gushes aqua vitae–the water of life–without a single particle of earth; here from this sun cometh forth rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed Bible! thou art all truth.” (from the sermon ‘The Bible’ delivered Sunday evening March 18, 1855)

“I have written to him the great things of my law; but they were counted as a strange thing.”–Hosea 8:12

Think on these things …