Be Holy (Part Three)

Good day

I hope you were challenged by the previous messages. We continue today with this passage:

Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Why did Paul mention ‘fear and trembling’ in this context? When we work hard, together with the Holy Spirit, at having ourselves saved/delivered from those things that keep us from becoming holy, setting ourselves apart to accomplish the purposes of God, our enemy will not like it and will work against us by affecting our circumstances and by increasing persecution. Because of this we may feel reluctant to continue with our pursuits in obedience to the Lord, due to fear of opposition and persecution that may follow.

This is Biblical, since Jesus said that we will have trouble in the world (John 16:33), Paul mentioned hardship to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:5, 2 Timothy 2:3) and many of us can testify to it. The natural reaction to facing huge challenges is fear, but we do not need to yield to it, for we read in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Then we need to face another fear as well – the Lord is not to be messed about and demands holiness and perfection (maturity). I think we rely too much on grace as previously mentioned. Will you forever get away with sloppy work at your job? Your employer certainly puts pressure on you to excel, and if you are self-employed your customers and the competition demands excellence. Therefore if we do not act excellently, the fear of getting reprimanded and disciplined, losing your job, losing customers and losing a market share cause you to improve in excellence, do they not? So how about our service to God? Do you fear His discipline when you are lazy or disobedient?

How do you experience God when you read through the books of the prophets? Do you see Him in there as a loving Father pampering Israel with words like: “Do not worry my dear people; I am tolerant of your serving of idols and you ignoring me, because I love you”? No, He revealed Himself as a jealous God exercising discipline on those who disobey. ‘But we are in the dispensation of the New Testament,’ you may say, ‘God has changed into a loving Father, full of grace and mercy.’ Has He? How about the example of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-9), or Jesus’ parable on the talents relating the consequences for the servant who hid his one talent (Matthew 25:24-30), His words in Matthew 7:21-23 where He cautions us to be obedient to the will of His Father or He will reject us at the day of judgement, or the warning in Hebrews 12 about the necessity of discipline as we have discussed a while ago. The list of references in the New Testament to God as a righteous God expecting results and obedience is quite long.

I have a temptation that I struggle with. I have fought it in prayer, worked hard at removing it from my life, but it keeps on being a thorn in my flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). I know God’s grace is sufficient for me, but I also know I cannot just accept sin (Romans 6:1-2). I have to work at getting rid of it. God is merciful and His grace sustains us whilst we work at our salvation from sin, but we need to keep working. At the occasions that I submit to this particular temptation, Satan and my flesh have all kinds of lovely justifying arguments why it is not that bad, but I still get disciplined. At times when I am too weak to resist and yield to it, I immediately repent and work it out, for I know discipline will follow and I dread the consequences.

I love my children and therefore had to discipline them so they would not proceed with unacceptable behaviour. They feared the discipline and therefore complied. The Lord loves you and therefore has to discipline you (Hebrews 12). Fear His discipline and work at getting rid of those things in your life with which the Lord cannot get along with.

Excuses are not going to have any benefit when we stand before God on the day of reckoning. We need to prepare to stand proud before God one day like the servant who handed his Master five more talents which he obtained through dedication to the expectations of his Master.

Next time we will look at why this is necessary in the light of our relationship with God and how to go about it.

Lord, please show me the truth.

Be Holy (Part Two)

Good day

In the previous message we said that because the Lord is holy and therefore set aside for His purposes, we need to be holy and set aside for our purposes.

What is the Lord’s purpose? Why did He select Abraham and from him developed the nation Israel? Why did He send His son to humiliate Himself and die the horrible death on the cross?

We read in John 3:16 the famous passage: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we are encouraged to pray so “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

The world is a war zone where Satan does his ultimate to prevent the abovementioned desires of the Lord to happen. God on the other hand does not fight Satan, but has always availed Himself to His people to use His power to resist Satan and to rule their own territory with the Lord as their support – first the nation of Israel, and now the gentiles in Christ Jesus as well.

It is, however, a Biblical fact that Israel had to be disciplined regularly because they deserted the Lord often. To put it His own words in Jeremiah 2:5, 7 and 8: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters? I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.”

After having used prophets the many times He tried to win His people back, God then sent His own son as the greatest Prophet to show His people Israel a new way where they don’t need to keep the law anymore. This privilege was extended to the whole world through the apostle Paul and the publication of the Bible. But has the Lord changed? No, He is still a jealous God who wants His people and His glory for Himself. He is still holy and set aside for Himself. 

And have the people changed? No, we still forsake the Lord and run after idols. Just have a look at your life and calculate how much time and attention you really give to the Lord and His Kingdom needs and how well you know Him and how available you are to change.

Therefore, as we mentioned in the last message, we are told in Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

What do we need to be saved from? It is from all the things that keep us from being holy - being set aside for God and His Kingdom. Israel served the gods of the nations around them. Who do you serve? There are many gods we serve today that are subtly introduced to us by the spiritual ‘nations’ around us: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 6:12). Like Israel had to decide not to ‘defile the Lord’s land’ by following idols and not to ‘walk after things that do not profit’, we need to decide the same.

God’s land is our hearts and bodies, and like the ungodly nations tempted Israel to serve idols on the land that belonged to God, so the evil spirits tempt us to serve idols with our hearts and bodies – land that belongs to God. This is why Paul encourages us to work at getting saved from all these things that stop us from being altogether holy – set aside for God.

What are these idols? They are anything of the world that does not relate to God’s Kingdom and can be very subtle and easily justifiable. What is it that stands in your way to serve God wholeheartedly? Is it maybe sport, socialising, television, a career or religion? Religion encompasses your ‘wonderful’ pastor or great church – anything that keeps you from accomplishing your personal calling and holiness. 

Holy Spirit, please show me my idols.

We will continue next time.

Be Holy

Good day

In the last two messages from 1 John 2:3-6 we have discussed the importance of obedience and the importance of walking like Jesus did. This should be imperative if we know Him and would like to know Him even better.

We are going to deviate slightly, but not really, because what we will discuss here is directly related to knowing the Lord.

Leviticus 19:1, 2: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’”

The definition for being Holy is to be set apart, and we generally see it as being set apart for the Lord and His purposes. However, God declared in this passage that He is holy, and this is general knowledge to Christians. How then can He be set apart for Himself? This is exactly what it is. The Lord is totally set apart and devoted to Himself. His entire focus is on Himself and His purposes. We simply need to read through the Bible to see the many references of God to Himself.

Is this then a bad thing? No, if the Lord's attention has to be divided by non-godly things that distract Him, how would He accomplish the amazing plan He has with the world, with His Kingdom as well as with the salvation and development of souls for unification with His Kingdom and His purposes. The Lord separated Himself altogether from anything that is worldly. He is not involved when we engage with things of this world, and everything He does benefits His Kingdom. God is completely focused on and dedicated to His calling, character and the reason for His existence.

He expects His people to be Holy because He is Holy. We need to be set apart for that which we are called for within His purposes and Kingdom, simply because God is set apart for His purpose. We need to be dedicated and devoted to the calling with which we are called simply because He is dedicated and devoted to that for which He exists.

In our small group we have discussed the fact that an unholy lifestyle is too easily justified by the fact that the Lord is full of grace. Grace seems to be a cop-out for our lack of commitment and obedience. But what is the standard that Jesus set for us? We said in our previous message that we will answer to Jesus on judgement day according to the standards He set for us in the commandments He personally preached, as well as the commandments the Holy Spirit gave us via the pens of the apostles as recorded in the epistles.

I do, however, want to lift out a couple of Jesus standards that we find in the Bible. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This is written in the context of Jesus' command on loving your enemies. If you look at man in his natural state, who is quite accurately portrayed by worldly people, would you say that loving your enemies comes natural? How can you feel love towards, and pray for those who seek your downfall?

Neither can the Lord feel love towards any sinful human being, of whom many hate Him, but He chose to separate Himself from any form of human nature and be different. Therefore He chose to act love toward them and, in spite of feeling like destroying them, like he did with the flood (Genesis 6:6-7) and with Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and like He wanted to do with Israel in the desert when He spoke with Moses (Exodus 32:10), He acted in love by sending His only Son (John 3:16).

In the same way He desires of us to be perfect in separating ourselves from being human and being more godly. Therefore we are told is Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Read the last passage carefully again. Is this not a description of the process of holiness, also called sanctification? The “salvation” referred to here is being saved or delivered from those things that keep us from becoming holy, i.e. separated from the earthly things.

Would you please consider the chilling passage in Hebrews 12:14: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

Where do you stand?    

Lord, help me realise the essence of becoming Holy.

Getting to Know Jesus (Part Two)

Good day

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked, (I John 2:3-6).

Last time we came to the conclusion that the way to get to know the Lord is to copy what He has done, through obeying what He has commanded as well as done. In that way we understand how He thinks and why He has given the commands, and therefore get to know Him.

When I read this passage once more another truth struck me and I was amazed once again at how alive the Bible actually is.

This passage tells me that if we really know Jesus we will keep His commandments. It portrays to me a characteristic of Jesus that is not often mentioned in Bible based messages. John, the apostle, knew Jesus very well. A few messages ago we discussed how John was very much loved by Jesus and that he probably preferred to spend time with Jesus rather than to fool around with his friends. It would therefore be safe to deduct that John knew Jesus very well and therefore cautioned in the passage above that ‘if you know Jesus, you would not dare to ignore His commandments’. As I read this passage recently I became so intensely aware that Jesus was and still is not to be fooled around with. Most good leaders I know are firm and do not fool around with their job or with their followers.

Paul referred to the Lord in 2 Timothy 2:3-4 as a commanding officer and in Matthew 7:21-23 it is very clear that the Lord does not take nonsense:  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

How do you perceive a commanding officer? Would he tolerate slackness and lack of discipline? Would a military commanding officer accept deliberate disregard of his instructions and commands? No, disciplinary action is bound to follow. No army is a democracy and it is so for a reason. If instructions are obeyed at the leisure of the soldiers’ discretion, how effective would such an army be on the occasion of an enemy attack? Therefore the soldiers are trained to respond to orders. When the commander says jump, a soldier does not ask why, but simply how high?

The Kingdom of God is not a democracy either. It is simply a case of God commands and we obey. But does it actually happen that way? I don't experience much of that kind of discipline among Christians. The Lord, however, is gracious while we are still on earth, but when judgement and reward time comes, we will experience the consequence of our level of obedience. Jesus compares Himself to a master who goes away for a long time in Matthew 25:14-28. I don't have space to quote the whole section here, but we see that Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like this man who handed out the talents. A talent at the time was a form of money and we tend to compare it with what we call talents these days.

The message Jesus wanted to bring over, however, was that whatever we receive from the Master of the Kingdom - be it a talent, a gift according to Romans 12:6-8 or an on-the-spot instruction - need to be consciously multiplied faithfully and fruitfully to the benefit of the Master, and it usually requires work from everybody. As we read this parable we see that both received and reproduced according to his ability. We also see that the talents were returned to their original owner. It did not belong to the servants, but the owner rewarded the faithful servants with increased authority and the privilege to have brought joy to the Master. Our reward is the Master’s joy and this should be sufficient to us.

Our time and resources do not belong to us, just as a soldier in active service does not own anything pertaining to his calling. He just uses what is given him to the benefit of the commanding officer.

Something else that we need to keep in mind we read of in Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

What has been written in your book? We will not be judged, for Jesus took the judgement for us, but we will answer to Jesus for what we did, because He took our judgement. He will follow the standards He set in His commandments when He measures our obedience and determines our rewards. Think of the standard He set for the person in the parable of the talents, who hid his talent instead of multiplying it, i.e. having been disobedient.

Lord, please give me grace to obey and have understanding of what Jesus expects of me.