The Amplified Bible renders 2 Corinthians 5:10 like
this: “For we must all appear and be
revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may
receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or
evil, [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has
achieved, been busy with and given himself and his attention to
accomplishing].” Please read it again,
very slowly. Let the gravity of those
words sink into your mind and spirit.
If suddenly you were revealed as you really are, what
would people see? Would it be a
different you than they were used to? What
have you achieved? What are you giving
yourself to accomplish? What or who has
your attention? What are your motives
and purpose in what you are busy working toward? We all have carefully learned answers to such
questions. Of course, we are giving
ourselves to the work of the Lord for His glory. Really?
That’s the right answer, but is it true?
Certainly it is the goal of every real Christian – to please God above
all else. But Satan is doing everything
he can to turn us from that goal. He is
fighting hard because it is so close to the end. He wants to lull us to sleep to keep us from
accomplishing eternal purposes.
When religion replaces relationship with Christ, we have
been lulled to sleep. When “getting out
of the box” really means trading in tradition for the newest fad, we have
become drunk with the world system, reeling from box to box and fooling ourselves. When motivational speeches have replaced the
message of Jesus Christ crucified, dead and resurrected to save us from our
sins, denying ourselves and becoming one with the Father, we are severely
lacking in truth.
We seem to have forgotten passages of scripture like 1
John 2:15. “Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” If we believe that scripture, why would we
want to copy the practices of the world by developing our Christian version of
it? We try to offer a “Christian
alternative” to every holiday and trend of the world, but wouldn’t it be better
to simply offer them Jesus in the power of His Spirit? If we want to give them something different,
why don’t we, instead of trying to wrap Him in their trappings? We are not to live in darkness, but in the
light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is not a message to condemn, but an urgent message to rouse us out
of our sleep to arise and follow Jesus.
We are living very close to the day of Jesus’ return, the
coming of antichrist and the judgment of God upon this earth. It is of grave importance that we wake up
from our slumber and become the people He has called us to be and do the work
He has called us to do. The hour is too
late to offer emotionally charged but spiritually empty performances in Jesus’
name. It is too late to offer messages
that are only “bless me” oriented and leave out the teachings of Jesus that we
are to sacrifice to bless others and selflessly do the work of the Kingdom. It is too late for our churches to be passive
rather than places of pure worship and equipping the saints to take the message
outside the walls. It is too late for us
to be striving for positions, money, power and the honor of men, rather than
taking on the role of a servant. It is
time to be kind to God and not always be asking Him to be kind to us. We need to wake up!
“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but
let us watch and be sober. For they that
sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the
night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the
hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians
5:6-8
Those who sleep are in a state of partial
unconsciousness. Spiritually speaking,
they are carnal (thinking from a darkened mind) and indifferent to the things
of God’s Spirit. They are sluggish in
their understanding of spiritual matters and the times and seasons. A person who is drunk has lost their
self-control, their balance and their ability to think or express themselves
because they have put poison inside them.
The word ‘intoxicate’ comes from the root of two Latin words; one
meaning ‘in’ and the other meaning ‘poison’.
When we as Christians give our attention to the things of the world
rather than the things of God, we are filling our spirit with poison. We lose our ability to think and comprehend
clearly. We even lose our ability to
walk in the Spirit and communicate clearly. In either case, whether asleep or drunk, we
are not fit to do the work of the Kingdom.
We are instructed to be alert and sober.
That may mean renewing our faith in a Holy God and giving Him the
reverence He deserves. It may mean
renewing our passion for Him alone. It
may mean renewing our hope in His promise of salvation - His way, not our way.
2 Peter 3
tells us “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation [behavior] and godliness”.
We Christians need to shake ourselves and wake up. Where is our zeal? Where is our power? Just as alcohol is never the answer for the
flesh, filling our minds with worldly things is not the answer for our spirit. We need to keep intoxicants from our spirits
so we can be spiritually alert. Satan
has offered us a sedative to make us comfortable in this world, and we have
taken it. His real intention is to take
our eyes off Jesus. Jesus never promised
us a comfortable life in this world, but the power to overcome. The only place we can find the power to
overcome is at the feet of Jesus, learning of Him and being filled with His
Holy Spirit. Then we can have our minds
transformed to the mind of Christ and be free from the influence of
intoxicants.
We are warned
further in 2 Peter 3, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things
before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall
from your own steadfastness.” We may
know the dangers ahead of time, but that alone will not save us from the enemy.
A soldier who
studies the enemy’s tactics and learns how to conquer them, then settles down
to sleep will be captured by the enemy and will put many others in danger. Knowledge in itself will not get the job
done. It takes putting that knowledge
into action. The scripture here tells us to “beware”. That means to stay alert and be prepared for
danger and the wiles of the devil.
We need to
watch. The meaning of watching is not
only to stay awake, but to stay awake because one is so intent upon
something. If we put all our emphasis on
the enemy, we won’t have the offense ready.
The positive side is to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory
both now and for ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18
As we are
watchful of the enemies’ devices, we are also watchful in readiness. If we want to be ready, we have to make the
effort it takes to continually grow in grace (the Divine touch on our hearts
and its outflow from our lives). If we
will observe the example of Jesus, we will discover He made time with the
Father a priority. His whole purpose was
to do the Father’s will, so He had to know what it was. Our relationship with Jesus Christ is our
lifeline. It is everything, because we
get our strength, wisdom and guidance from Him.
We need to become one with Him in character, in purpose, in service, in
love. We can only do that as we are
consistently influenced by being in His presence. The things of this world are passing away,
and if we want to invest in something eternal, we must stay connected with
Jesus Christ. Just doing and saying the
right things won’t work. We must have
the anointing (the touch of God) on our lives to give power and substance to
our work. As John the Baptist observed,
we must decrease and Jesus must increase.
Our wants and desires must fade away as we merge into His will and
desires. In this close fellowship and
walking it out in our lives, we will be set free from the bondage of the
temporary to soar with the eternal.
“Wherefore he
saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. See then that ye walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time [buying up each
opportunity], because the days are evil.”
Ephesians 5:14-16
No comments:
Post a Comment