Tim Hayes – Page 54

A Falling Away

Most evangelical Christians seem to believe the end of the age is upon us, that Christ’s second coming is just around the corner. I’ve found this common in bible-believing circles since the late 70’s … I’ve seldom met an earnest believer that felt otherwise. Evidently, Christians have been feeling this way ever since Christ departed, nearly two millennia ago.

Yet Paul begs us not to expect Messiah’s return prematurely. (2Th 2:1-2) Have we been overlooking something basic? Perhaps a little gullible in our exuberance?

God’s told us there’ll be a vast change in humanity prior to His return, a wickedness like nothing we’ve ever seen … what He describes as “a falling away.” (2Th 2:3) A city He calls Babylon the Great will rise to supreme dominance in world affairs, the cornerstone of global economic and political power, as well as the epicenter of a new global occult religion. These kinds of things don’t generally happen overnight; as of now, she’s nowhere in sight.

Yes, the world’s wicked (1Jn 5:19) and bad things happen: economies grow and collapse, global powers rise and fall, deadly new diseases appear, social norms drift and natural disasters disrupt it all … and it’s always been this way. (Mk 13:7-8)

Let’s be sane in the midst of this turmoil, no longer giving occasion to the world to mock God’s people by claiming Christ’s return is near. Let’s walk in wisdom, in hope, delighting in the goodness of God, knowing He’s sovereign and faithful, joying in Him and edifying one another.

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What Is Truth?

Two millennia ago, a Roman governor asked the Prince of Life a profound question: What is truth? (Jn 18:38) We’re still wrestling with the same kind of questions today. How do we identify truth? What does it mean? Why does it matter?

Truth is anything that is true … that aligns with reality. It’s good to be aligned with reality … the alternative, being at war with reality itself, can’t be good.

So when this Prince of Life (Ac 3:14-15) says “I am the truth,” (Jn 14:6) what’s He saying?

Christ is always perfectly aligned with all of reality … which makes Him the definition of truth itself; all truth is always perfectly aligned with Him. As we are aligned with Christ we are of the truth, in harmony with reality in all its shades and forms. (Jn 18:37) So as we cherish any lie we separate ourselves from Christ, misaligning our minds and hearts with reality.

Let’s value truth supremely, seeking it wherever we can find it. Buy the truth and never sell it, not for any price. (Pr 23:23) I alone will die with my beliefs — no one else; it makes me who I am. It’s the love of truth that parts children of light from darkness (1Th 5:5); everyone else will perish. (2Th 2:10-12)

Let’s walk in light, as He is in the light, and fellowship with Him. (1Jn 1:6-7) He is not just the truth, He is light itself. (Jn 8:12)

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Walk in the Light

To fellowship with God we walk in the light. (1Jn 1:7-8) What does this mean, to walk in the light?

Light enables us to see; we discern our environment as light reflects off of it. Similarly, God’s revelation in Creation (1Ti 6:20), in Scripture (Ps 119:105), and in Christ (Jn 8:12) enables us to see our spiritual world; as we meditate on Him in every circumstance of life, evaluating and discerning in light of God’s ways and laws, His truth reflects off all about us and enables us to see.

To walk in spiritual light then is to be aware of, inclined toward and aligned with truth, with God’s revelation in all its forms. It’s being honest and open with God, with facts, with science, with history, and with His Word — both Scripture and His Son — with all of reality, aligning ourselves with Him as best we can through truth … all truth.

It’s looking at all sides of every question without fear or bias, refusing to accept inconsistency and contradiction in our faith, prayerfully and humbly exploring every mystery, welcoming healthy debate and constructive criticism. It’s seeking Him as He is; not as we wish for Him to be.

Every lie we cherish becomes a stronghold of darkness; in neglecting truth we stumble away from God. He is light; in Him there’s no darkness at all. (1Jn 1:5) He invites us to come, to walk with Him in spirit and in truth, enjoying every moment with Him as a perfect gift. (Is 2:5)

As we ask God to reveal Himself in truth, He does; as we seek, we find; as we knock, the doors will open. (Mt 7:7-8) Buy the truth; let every place in our hearts and minds rejoice in His light. (Lk 11:36)

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A Sweet Savor

When we’re aligned with God, walking in the light with Him (1Jn 1:7), as others react to us they remind Him of His Son. (2Co 2:15) Just as Yeshua Messiah walked among men, we so remind His enemies of their deathly end that they can almost taste it, and in the elect we’re the fragrance of life itself. (2Co 2:16) God sees a delightful reflection of His Son in all of it, and is consistently glorified in us.

Who in themselves is worthy or able in this? What a privilege to be chosen out of this world, adopted and transformed by God! (1Jn 3:1)

Fearing to be ourselves in Messiah is to hide His glory; we can only reflect Him by being authentic as He works in us. (Php 2:13) We’re His workmanship, created in Messiah to glorify Him in words and deeds, works chosen for us according to His sovereign purpose before the dawn of time. (Ep 2:10, 2Ti 1:9)

Let’s unashamedly joy in our God, each in our own holy calling, priceless and unique, every moment a perfect gift to glorify His name, walking worthy of our God as a sweet savor of Christ.

Thank you Father, for always causing us to overcome in and through Your Son, and for spreading the sweet aroma of knowing Him everywhere through us. (2Co 2:14)

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Proud in Heart

There’s only one safe place in the universe: the place of humility, of lowliness. All who abide elsewhere are abominable to God and subject to punishment. (Pr 16:5) Certainly, there are degrees of pride … and so degrees of being loathsome to God. Where then do we dwell?

StairwayToDestruction — Arthur’s Steps in Edinburgh Scotland

Pride is thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought (Ro 12:3), and what exactly does that look like?

Refusing to accept the fact that we might, in fact, be the most evil person who has ever lived — this is pride. It’s rejecting the label: chief of sinners. The apostle Paul himself didn’t do this. (1Ti 1:15)

Being smug, conceited, overly pleased in ourselves; lifted up in our own sight; better than some other, this is the pride of life, and it’s entirely unacceptable. (Php 2:3) If we can look down on another with disdain (1Pe 2:17), with contempt (Ps 123:4), thinking we’d never do what they’ve done, we don’t know ourselves. Blind to our own sin we don’t grieve over it, we grow lukewarm, losing our joy and taking God’s love for granted.

Let’s be plain: if left to ourselves there’s no telling what we might be like. Any good in us is the free gift of God. (1Co 4:7) In our free will, apart from God’s restraining and enabling grace, we’re all totally depraved (Je 17:9); abominable, filthy, drinking iniquity like water (Job 15:6); we’re all as an unclean thing; all of our self exaltation is disgusting to God. (Is 64:6)

When saints see themselves as they are in the presence of the absolute purity and holiness of God, we abhor ourselves (Job 42:6, Is 6:5); we cry out with the Psalmist, “Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins! Let them not have dominion over me.” (Ps 19:13)

If we’re not behaving as badly as another, this is the undeserved grace of God (1Co 15:10); we’ve nothing to glory in but Jesus Christ. (1Co 1:29-31) Forgetting this, taking any credit for ourselves, is pride.

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Love the LORD

God is amazing, breathtaking, spectacular beyond our wildest dreams. To neglect His glory, splendor and excellence in any way violates the first and great commandment: to love God with our whole heart (Mt 22:37-38); it’s a vast insult to God, “the infinite outrage in the universe, that human beings prefer something else to God.” (John Piper; Why Hell Exists) Not loving Him supremely, not cleaving to Him, is the greatest of our sins; it’s the root of all other sin. (Ro 1:21)

How ought we to glory in God? By rejoicing in and enjoying Him. Our ability to perceive beauty is given us by Him so that we can enjoy Him; any glimpse of His glory in Creation should move us to worship. We can also see in His dealings with Man that He’s all-powerful, infinitely wise, merciful, loving, and supremely just. It’s joy unspeakable to delight in His ways, in the inexpressible infinitude of God.

But it’s not primarily in worship that we love God; this is love, that we keep His commandments (Jn 14:21), particularly the parts of His Law that seem the least self-serving to us. (Mt 5:19) We cannot value Him in disobedience (1Jn 2:4), only in obeying can we walk worthy of Him. We do so dimly appreciate Him, seeing through a glass darkly (1Co 13:12), yet knowing that He’s infinitely precious. (1Pe 2:7)

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God Is Just

The human heart longs for justice, to see evil punished: we say, “Don’t get mad; get even!” We demand that wrongs against us and our loved ones be righted, that sin be paid for, that the crooked be made straight. Our sense of injustice, that evil goes unpunished in this life, can be maddening, driving us to both wrath and bitterness.

Our instinctive longing for justice is beautiful; it’s God’s image at work in us, even proving His existence, but there’s a problem: we’re unjust. We seldom see our own sins rightly, and our response to evil is usually warped; we exact more than we should.

So God says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” (Ro 12:19) He wants perfect justice more than all the rest of us combined, but only He knows what it looks like.

God is perfectly just, and only God is perfectly just; He will make all the crooked places straight (Is 40:4); He will right all wrongs … even our own. It’s an awesome mystery how God’s justice and mercy work together (Ps 89:14), how He can offer eternal salvation to sinners, His own Son taking our place and satisfying His own indignation against us. We do well to receive His mercy rather than the second death, and to rejoice when others do … especially our enemies. (Mi 6:8)

How and when God makes everything right is up to Him; when He does it will be supremely satisfying, beautiful beyond thought! (Re 15:3-4) Enjoying it now in hope, before He does, glorifies Him and gives us peace.

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Man of Sorrows

Our Lord is a man of sorrows (Is 53:3); grief is His companion. He weeps over our sin and stubbornness (Lk 19:41-42) and He’s looking for us to be afflicted with Him. (Ez 9:4)

Does human brokenness move us to grief, sorrow and weeping? (Ps 119:158, 136) Or does a certain smugness, contempt or disdain pollute us? When we sense someone’s in error, is our first instinct to triple-check ourselves, hoping we’re missing something? Or do we jump too quickly to find fault? When we must discuss another’s brokenness, is it reluctantly … with tears? (Php 3:18-19)

Loving our neighbors as ourselves means being as grieved in others’ failings as we are in our own. In seeking holiness and truth we often find ourselves confronting and exposing brokenness, but enjoying and feeding off of this is ugliness, enmity and pride. (Php 2:3) As C.S Lewis so elegantly observes, we must not wish black was a little blacker, for soon we’ll be wishing grey was black … and in the end inherit darkness.

The high calling of God is perfection (Mt 5:48), so through Christ we strive after it by faith. (Col 1:29) Christ’s love shines through holy sorrow (Ec 7:3); without it we’re nothing. (1Co 13:1-3) Let’s fellowship with Him in His suffering (Php 3:10), giving all diligence to add this virtue to our faith. (2Pe 1:5-7) It may not seem possible to get there from here, but God is willing and able to help us. (Ep 3:20)

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The Second Death

Yeshua uses unmistakably graphic language to describe Hell. (Mk 9:43-44, 45-46, 47-48) He’s warning us to do all we can to avoid it. Who among us will go there? (Is 33:14) What would it be like do die the second death?

Before coming to faith I dwelt here, meditating on the terror of the Lord; it moved me to repent and seek God until I found salvation. This is, in fact, God’s norm in evangelism. (Jud 1:22-23)

The Lake of Fire is the dreadful fate of all who fail to find their eternal home in Christ. (Re 21:8) Fear of spending eternity in Hell drives the wise to ensure their election, until they’re as sure of Heaven as Christ Himself. Take no chances: perfect assurance of eternal salvation is available; nothing less is acceptable.

Only a few diligently secure their place in Heaven; whatever it takes, strive to enter: be one of them. (Mt 7:13)

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God Is Faithful

God is faithful (1Co 1:9): true to His word, keeping His promises, trustworthy, dependable; we can safely trust Him to do what He says He’s going to do.

We can see this both in Scripture (2Th 3:3) and in Nature: for every need He’s designed fulfillment. YHWH is good; we need Him to be faithful, and He is, more than we can know. (Je 17:7-8)

But the enemy lies to us about God’s nature, twisting God’s promises and promoting wrong expectations so when God doesn’t meet them we’re tempted to mistrust Him. Falling for his lies steals our joy and traps us in bitterness; it’s too painful.

So God set His bow in the clouds to remind us of His faithfulness (Ge 9:13); scientists still don’t fully understand how He does it. Jehovah’s gone out of His way to assure us that He’ll never break His Word; He makes no promise lightly; He puts His reputation on the line in every single one. God’s promises are exceedingly precious gifts, open doorways inviting us into His nature. (2Pe 1:4)

As we wait on the Lord, expecting Him to be faithful, we’re saved by hope; it’s an abundant life of faith rooted in the character and nature of God. (Jn 10:10)

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