The Necessity of Trying Harder

In this faith life that we are living, it is obviously and absolutely imperative that we constantly depend upon our God and not upon ourselves.  After all, dependence upon Him is the very definition of “living by faith.”  Yet, when we are full of the Spirit, our dependence can sometimes closely resemble independence.  Our rest can look like work.  Our grace might appear to some to be genius; blessings may feel more like burdens.  What I’m saying is that from a certain angle, Christianity appears to me to be 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.  In fact, there are some verses in the Bible that are so incredibly practical that they could be elastically interpreted as borderline humanistic.

Here are a few of those verses:

“Endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” - Ephesians 4:3 

“If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.” - Romans 12:18

 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” - Luke 13:24

Now, there is no debating the fact that leaning on the everlasting arms – in everything – is a necessity.  He said, “Without Me you can’t do anything.”  John 15:5, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”  There is, however, something to be said for this word “abide” (in John’s gospel).  One of the synonyms for the word abide is the word “endure.”  Logically and biblically, the straightforward decision to simply trust Christ as my Savior is naturally and necessarily followed by many subsequent and much more difficult decisions to continually obey Him.

I’m not sure where we believers dreamed up the idea that faith must not involve any actions.  Jesus never called even one disciple with the statement, “I will drag you!”  No, instead he said, “Follow Me!”  The resulting syllogism is a simple one: “Jesus said that if we would follow Him that He would make us into such-and-such… hence, no followee; no receivee!”  Follow?  Follow!  Doesn’t following, abiding, endeavoring, striving (and so on)… doesn’t all of these include both deciding and acting?  There is an effort to be exerted.  There is an involvement required.  There is energy to be burned.  Truly, faith doesn’t replace good works, no; but it certainly precedes, incites and qualifies good works.  Indeed, saved by faith, service by faith… but I convinced that both salvation and service in the Spirit (interior realities) will normally produce intense labor (exterior evidence). 

Think I’m off base?  Well, consider this verse: “Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” - Titus 2:14.  And Paul’s example of that, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you…” - 2 Corinthians 12:15a. 

(This sentence is long, but very important to my salient point – read carefully): when God says “stretch forth thy hand” that He might heal it and sanctify it for His own use, let us not piously rebuke Him by claiming that the choice to obey or the energy to lift the hand forth would somehow taint the glorious demonstration of His sufficient power and grace or that it could pollute the genuine expression of the invisible faith that we have been given.  Nay, let us simply obey.  (When combined with sincere humility) active obedience to God’s instruction is not only a permissible outgrowth of faith, it is the very visible motion of that faith itself.  No wonder Abel’s sacrifice was so important.  No surprise that Abraham’s offing was accepted.  And, God has similar works that He is attempting to accomplish through us.  When He gives us the energy, tools and opportunity to be a living sacrifice, we must staunchly avoid the temptation to expend those resources for our own self-gratification.  Equally, we must never slothfully bury our talent in the ground.

Question: are we endeavoring; striving; trying; pushing; pressing; exerting effort; exuding diligence?  While it is true that our fleshly “works” neither impress nor bless our Maker, it is also equally true that the great spiritual “WORK” to which He has called us (and in which He has empowered us) demands incredible commitment and literal sacrifice.

Honestly, when I fail in a moral or a ministerial area, I’m persuaded that it is generally because I simply wasn’t trying very hard to follow God’s leading.  Oh, the great and absent ingredient of spirituality – industry.  Is their a time for us to be still and quite in abject worship?  Of course!  But there are also times of task and of being about our Father’s business.  At one point Jesus commanded his followers saying, “…he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” - Luke 22:36b.  Why would faith in the Almighty require anyone to obtain a physical weapon… unless the Almighty commanded it of course?  At that point our philosophizations and contemplations quickly become moot. 

Perhaps we grow too exceedingly academic in our attempted definitions of biblical faith.  In the garden Eve was deceived, but Adam rebelliously doubted and disobeyed God – that’s the antithesis of faith… unbelief expressed through defiance.  Even so, repentance and a return to faith should be just as simply defined.  Do we take God at His Word and act accordingly?  Ah, we complain, “But, I can’t!”  Wrong!  You couldn’t!  But, you can.  You just aren’t trying.  Jesus enabled us when He entered our bodies as our parakletos.  Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”  Second Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ…” First Corinthians 15:57, “Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

It’s not that I think that our trying produces anything at all.  I don’t for one moment imagine that it does.  However, our sincerity of faith (if we have it) will automatically drive us to effectual and fervent labors.  Our earnestness, humility and obedience frees the Spirit up to bless abundantly and to produce fruit.  “Quench not the Spirit.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:19.  Can you and I expect the Spirit to feed our weary souls if we’re too blasted lazy to turn off our TVs in order to spend vital hours laboring in prayer, studying in the Word and sharing the gospel.  Last time I checked we were saved “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Are you trying as hard as you can?  Am I?  Should I be asking God to do for me what He has clearly commanded me toward and empowered me in so that He might do it through me?

Is there a place in the kingdom for the free loader?  Well, sure, salvation is free!  But the opportunities that come with it make wise investment obligatory!  The love of Christ CONSTRAINS us! 

When I worked in secular jobs I had no respect for fellow employees who only worked hard at avoiding work; those who did just enough to get by and not a iota more.  How about in the Christian world of service for the King?  Is it OK for 90% of the church to let the other 10% to do 90% of the work?  I look around at the busiest believers who volunteer in the ministry of the local church and I shake my head.  I ask myself, “How do they find the time, strength or inspiration to do all of that?”  Yet, it is those ones that I see God blessing.  But the pew warmers… not so much.

We need more participators; fewer spectators!  Amen!?

Now, VBS ’09 is drawing to a close.  Some of the volunteers have expended themselves tirelessly to make sure everything came together.  For these servants of the Master, I’m intensely grateful.  I trust that their ministry has been a product of a genuine love for the Savior, for the truth, for souls and for the church.  Let not the diligent accuse the stragglers.  Let not the stragglers judge the diligent.  Galatians 6:4 & 9 deals with both perspectives, “Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another… and let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  When you’ve worked your fingers to the bone, get yourself some much needed rest (and don’t feel guilty about doing it), yet, at the same time, never forget the counsel of Jesus in Luke 17:10, “…You, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.’”

Well, I’ve made my point I think.  Here are a few good verses in closing that echo the same message:

Romans 13:11, “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

Ephesians 5:15, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Romans 12:11, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord…”

Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.”

John 9:4, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night comes, when no man can work.”

Proverbs 14:23, “In all labor there is profit…”

Well, with that… I’ll be taking a hiatus from blogging.  I’ll be back with you in about a month.  Bless you all!

 

Phases

Yesterday I stopped on the road to talk to a friend who I caught checking his mail.  I’m thinking, “I used to do that…”

Seriously, “I did check the mail in the past.”  When I was a child, going to mailbox was a big deal.  The first time I ever received mail with my own name on the envelope – WOW!  And, you know, I checked the mailbox many times a day when I was in college.  I remember checking it when I got home from work – when Tonya and I were in our first (and only) “own house” (even if it did and does actually belong to a bank).  I checked the post office box daily for the church and for myself when I moved to Maryland almost four years ago.  But, somewhere along the way I stopped checking the mail.  Tonya went to check the mail, and I didn’t.  I didn’t plan on quitting.  It just happened.  Now, I never check the mail.  She brings it to me presorted and usually opened (and, I like it this way).  I have entered a new phase.

Life is full of phases.  Back to my friend at the mailbox – our conversation drifted to a gentleman that he had recently visited in the hospital.  The man is now old, weak and frail.  He is shriveled up and (I got the impression) unresponsive.  Yet, Don (my friend at the mailbox) said that the fellow had spent his whole life as distinguished and devout military man.  Oh, but those days are long and forever gone…

Last night I had another confrontation with the reality of life’s phases.  Another friend of mine was describing how many people who are dying go through steps of losing interest in things that they have been very dedicated to all of their life… lifelong hobbies, habits, interests and even necessities can become totally irrelevant (now, I know what is happening to me – JUST KIDDING, take it easy :-).

You know, come to think of it… even Jesus had a life distinctly divided into geographical, occupational and directional phases.  Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, Cana, Jerusalem, heaven; or… in Mary’s womb, infant, child, adolescent, adult, leader/teacher, savior, mediator, king (to come)… you get the point.

The Father who planned IT ALL also has seems bent toward utilizing phases.  He clearly divided the eras of history into distinct sections: (without getting to technical) innocence, conscience, government, promise, law, incarnation, grace, wrath, peace, eternity…

It’s no wonder God inspired His wisest follower ever to write these words:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace…  He has made every thing beautiful in His time...” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 & 11)

My brief life has already seen many phases.  At this moment I would label those phases thusly: before I can remember, playing all the time, loving school, hating school, not fitting in, rebellion, driving, girls and sports, renewed interest in learning, knowing it all, knowing a little, knowing nothing, real love, real jobs, real bills, real kids, real devotion, real spirituality, a real call from God, great blessings, trials… each phase very different from the previous one.  One thing I have learned, no phase is even remotely close to what I anticipate.  One example: when I graduated from high school, I was honestly afraid that I wouldn’t make it in college (the old “not college material” thing); then when I got there, it wasn’t bad at all.  And, when I finished it seemed like I had been in a kind of paradise for 4 years.  Now, I realize that I had more free and discretionary time in college than I had ever had before or have ever had since.  It just wasn’t very similar to what I had expected. 

Well, what about tomorrow?  I don’t know?  I’m not even sure I care.  The only one who is there (in tomorrow already) is God.  What about having teenagers, having grandkids, old age, disease, change, losing what little mind I have, being alone and saying a final goodbye to friends and family… what about it?  I suspect that my expectations in these matters are equally misplaced and inadequate.  Oh, I know, at 34 I’m too young to be thinking these thoughts, but I am thinking them nonetheless.  I see young families growing up around me.  I see the definition of “young family” changing.  I see my volitional bald head (the one that is supposed to hide my actual and involuntary baldness).  I see my own daughter turning into a beautiful young lady (that I know will appeal to all the unworthy boys out there)…

Seasons change, the weather changes, people change; politics, philosophies, economies, styles, technologies… everything changes.  While I have a horrible memory overall, I can in fact be quite nostalgic at times.  However, I’m not so reflective that I foolishly wish for the past to become the future.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7:10, “Don’t say, ‘What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.’”  He is saying that time has clouded our perception of past realities.  I once heard an elderly lady say that the “good old days” weren’t nearly so good as some people want to make them out to have been. 

Regardless, whether we like it or not… life is full of phases; phases that demand transitions, changes, adjustments.  Old things become obsolete and irrelevant; new things stretch our mind and heart, try our patience and test our level of tolerance.

This Sunday our church is experimenting with a possible new phase.  We are commencing (on a three month trial basis) an “early service” at 8:30 AM.  Two AM worship assemblies that will be basically the same… it’s not new for many people, but it is for us.  There are natural fears and excitements; suspicions and questions.  There is great potential in splitting the service; latent blessings from God… and yes, underlying damage from Satan himself.  But, we're trying it nonetheless… hoping for best, wondering how it will go.

In a world were so many things do indeed change, isn’t it wonderful to have a few things that don’t?

·         God’s Word never changes.

·         Our purpose for existing never changes.

·         Even the consistency in the laws of nature can be refreshing at times.

·         There are even a few people in my life that I have come to trust so deeply that it never crosses my mind that they would ever change (though I know in my mind that they really could). 

Ultimately though, the greatest concrete foundation that I have is my glorious and majestic God; THE ONE AND ONLY GOD.  God never changes.  He said so himself.  Malachi 3:6, “I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.”  He means His consistency to be a comfort to us.  The God of grace, mercy & love has guaranteed His presence and my sanctification… I hang my being thankfully upon His promise: “…God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise [including me] the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil…”  Aren’t you so glad that THAT will NEVER change?!  Faith will become sight, true!  In that sense, there is a transition and a phase in the future.  But, Hallelujah, the promise, the person and the prize – they are absolute.  Hallelujah!!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! 

I pray, “God (who doesn’t change), change me!  I know you have a new phase in mind for me.  I’m afraid, forgive me.  I’m willing though… at least, I want to be willing…”