The Prostitutes Distracting God's Soldiers (Part Two)

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The desire to satisfy the flesh. How much time and energy go into this purpose. Jesus said: "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well," (Matthew 6:31-33).

An unfortunate thing that happened to Christians, especially those in Western countries, is that we got merged strongly with materialism, entertainment, and sport. In the above reference Jesus distinguished between pagans and Christians. This distinction is something that only a few Christians through the ages were able to make, and because of it many were rendered powerless.         

                        

Jesus said to the rich young ruler, after he declared that he does live a good life and obeys all the rules: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me," (Matthew 19:21"), and also to his disciples when he sent them out: "Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; Take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff;  for the worker is worth his keep," (Matthew 10:9-10).  

We learned in the previous message that Jesus was completely content with the presence of the Holy Spirit in Him. This is the distinction between the Christian and the pagan. Both need something to bring contentment. Jesus said:  "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head," (Matthew 8:20). 

        

I’m sure Jesus could have had a wife and a home if he wanted to. He could have had cattle and other belongings too. It was within His power to decide. But He had the Holy Spirit as his companion and much too much to do in order for carnal satisfaction to get in the way.

The pagans do not have a Holy Spirit to fulfill their needs. So, as Jesus said, they must find something to bring fulfillment and therefore run after material things. In Matthew 6:32-33 Jesus’ words can be rephrased as follows and one can almost sense contempt: “Listen, if you want to ‘lower’ yourselves to the level of the pagans by seeking carnal satisfaction in order to get fulfillment, suit yourselves. But you, being kings, have a Father who will fulfill your every need as long as you just busy yourselves with making known His kingdom and building a relationship with Him.”

Our problem, however, is that our standards concerning carnal needs are much higher than those of God. We think we need much more than God thinks we need because we are influenced by the pagans. And, like the rich young man, we have difficulty to let go of our carnal contentment in exchange for Holy Spirit contentment.  “Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'  When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth," (Matthew 19:21, 22).

I have focused on materialism in the above discussion, but satisfying the flesh includes any excess interest in entertainment of any form at the cost of obedience to the Lord and serving Him actively with your gifting. How much precious time is wasted on self indulgence in any form? Having and doing too much of anything that is not of God puts us in the shoes of the rich young man.

"When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth." Lets put your name in this sentence: When YOUR NAME heard this, he went away sad, because he had to sacrifice watching television, OR When YOUR NAME heard this, he went away sad, because he had to let go of a certain sport addiction, OR When YOUR NAME heard this, he went away sad, because he had to sacrifice a social lifestyle. As you can see there are many things that satisfy your flesh, standing in the way of an adventurous relationship with the Holy Spirit in obeying His continuous instruction.

There is, however, a much subtler deception when it comes to satisfying the flesh and entertainment. We have mentioned in the previous message that Christianity outside a personal relationship with God is boring. Some churches therefore make their services fun to attend. How entertaining can mass worship, led by a dynamic music band and worship leader be? How entertaining can a charismatic preacher be? You feel so good when you leave the church service. You feel better about yourself.

But what difference has it made to your relationship with the Lord? Are you serving and obeying Him, according to His plan for your life, during the week as a result of attending such a church? Do you use your gift to make a difference in the lives of those the Lord loves so much? Or do you live for the kick you're going to receive next Sunday. The same applies to Christian television and radio.

Can you see the danger? Is your life really about the Lord and His desires? Is your two-way radio switched on, or is church just one of the prostitutes to satisfy you? (To be continued)

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The Prostitutes Distracting God’s Soldiers (Part One)

I think it is time we look inwardly. Is our relationship with the Holy Spirit of such a nature that we will hear and learn from Him? Or are we so bound to the doctrines we have learnt from men, that we are snugly following the deception of “just doing our religious duty of going to church and God will do the rest”. The latter is the easier way out. Why would we then dare out of our comfort zone and try something different that the Holy Spirit might want to teach us?

Last time we stressed that, to be effective, one needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In John 14:25, 26 we read: “All this I have spoken while still with you. “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Jesus, the tutor of His disciples, also taught them methods, but in this passage He was busy with the last teachings and was saying that, whilst they had heard all of His teachings, it was important that they kept on listening to the Holy Spirit because He would proceed to tell them what the Father wanted them to hear. The Holy Spirit, in this context, has two purposes:

1) To teach us new things.

2) To remind us of Jesus’ teachings.

Immediately I hear you saying: “Everything is written down. God does not give new revelation.” You are 100% right. ‘New revelation’ by so called angels was the cause of many false religions, but the Holy Spirit teaches us new applications of old truths and new approaches. He gives us tips on how to handle situations, how to be more effective in ministry, to correctly understand the Bible, and show us where needs are that we should meet. “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come,” (John 16:13). Man, because of his strong will and laziness, tends to traditionalize and then the Holy Spirit needs to help us break those habits and think differently. He guides and directs our ways - He is in control.

Imagine a police vehicle patrolling the city. With them they have a map of the city and knowledge of the procedures of arrest and of general policing. Happily they drive around town with their car marked “Police” with blue lights on top. They, however, have switched off the two-way radio because they do not believe that central control will be of any help, or maybe they are just careless or lazy - not to be disturbed. How effective will they be in their calling? How will they know if their help is needed elsewhere? How will they get help if they confront a situation they cannot handle? Imagine there are a number of patrol vehicles in the city believing like that. What control will their authority have? For a police force, an army, or any organization to be effective there must be constant central control.                        

             

How can the Kingdom of God be effective if each of God’s people sits on their own thrown, just doing what they think is right, guided only by teachings of men, tradition and comfort? God’s Kingdom is centrally controlled by the Holy Spirit, but most of the policemen or soldiers are not in the vicinity of their two-way radios - they are out with the prostitutes. Through the prophets God often mentioned that His people (bride) are prostituting with foreign gods.

Out with the prostitutes.

Let’s imagine a bit more. These patrolling officers drive around town finding nothing to do, simply because they are only aware of their immediate surroundings due to the fact that they have no contact with central control. They are therefore unaware of what is going on in other areas of the police service’s division. How long before they become bored? Then they drive past a night club and see a few nice girls on the side walk. These girls love officers in uniform. The officers decide that, since nothing is going on, they can just as well have some fun. It will definitely break the boredom somewhat. Meanwhile the central control operator has lots of exiting, productive tasks for these officers and he is calling in vain into the microphone...

Many Christians are following the ideas of men, not tuning into Central Control, and definitely also become bored with Christianity. There is not much exiting about the Christian’s life outside of a personal relationship with his Maker. 

There are also pretty girls waiting for the bored Christian officer, ready to keep him so busy that he will not be able to tune into his two-way radio into the Holy Spirit in order to find out what there is to do. Most Christians, unfortunately, are already preoccupied with these girls. And these girls come in very subtle forms.

Who are these girls? Some of them have been the same used throughout all the ages, starting with Adam and Eve:

·         The desire to satisfy his flesh. 

·         The desire for power.                   

·         The desire for material riches.

There are lots of girls in this night club/brothel. The main reason why these girls are sent our way is to steal our resources - the time, energy, talents, abilities and finance we could and should have used to facilitate God’s purpose for our lives. (To be continued)