Doing the Word

Many people sought Christ and heard Him gladly, but that was no guarantee they practiced what He preached.  Jesus was not the first who endured this treatment, and men continue in this pattern even in our day.  The books we read and recommend to others are not necessarily as life changing as they could be.  The views we cheer or espouse are not always reflected in our own lives.  The pastors we enjoy listening to often go unheeded by us.  Agreement or knowledge of right and wrong is not sufficient to transform our lives.

When God put words in the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, people were interested to hear what he had to say.  It was not because they necessarily agreed with or believed him, but they enjoyed discussing and dissecting his remarks.  God told the prophet the truth in Ezekiel 33:32, "Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them."  If you go to a symphony to hear skilled musicians in an orchestra play Bach or Mozart, it is not because you necessarily agree with the political or moral views of the lead violinist or cellist:  you have gone to listen to music you enjoy.  Indeed, the personal views of those in the orchestra may be completely contrary to your own!  But the music they make can still bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.

The children of Israel were keen to listen to the "Word of the LORD" from prophets.  After hearing it, they would decide for themselves if it was worth heeding or not.  In Ezekiel's case, he spoke the truth but it was not believed.  He was like a famous musician people came from all over to listen to attentively.  They heard his voice, but they did not heed his words.  It would be like going to a concert with sound-cancelling headphones on.  Many people enjoyed the spectacle, the lights and atmosphere, but they did not heed God's word through the prophet.

Because this tendency is in all people, I realise the hearer who does not do God's Word could be me - and it also can be you.  James 1:21-25 provides a timely exhortation for all:  "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."  Most Christians have a preferred translation of the Bible:  are you being transformed by it?  We can have our favourite preachers or messages:  are you taking intentional steps to put into practice the changes they encourage?  Those books which you see fit to keep and read:  are they directly impacting your walk with Christ for good?

Let's not be like the children of Israel, prophet connoisseurs who enjoyed the show, were intrigued by new concepts and prophetic fulfillment, but weren't in any way changed by what they heard.  Let us put into practice the words we hear from God, for then we will be blessed in what we do.

Afraid of Heights?

The earliest version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" was written in 1797 by Samuel Arnold.  The first lines read, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."  The higher the wall, the greater chance of significant injury from a fall.  Humpty Dumpty is commonly portrayed as an egg, and considering his fragile condition he may have been better suited for a downy nest.  Once Humpty fell, irreversible damage was done.  There was no putting him back together again.

The well-known nursery rhyme has been around for centuries, but catastrophic falls for people and nations is nothing new.  This morning I read from Ezekiel 31, a passage where God spoke of how He had elevated Assyria as a towering cedar of Lebanon, the envy of the trees of Eden.  God had provided a tall, strong trunk and an ample water source to nourish the tree and cause it to grow.  Ezekiel 31:10-11 reads, "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have increased in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was lifted up in its height, ¹¹ therefore I will deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, and he shall surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness." God would make the nations shake at the sound of Assyria's fall - not because they had become mighty and were envied by others - but because the heart of the nation had been lifted up with pride.

When God lifts up a nation or elevates your status, a constant test is presented:  will our hearts be lifted up with pride or will we choose humility?  Humpty Dumpty it seems wasn't afraid of heights, and the Assyrians delighted in being the envy of nations.  They were lifted up with pride, and God brought the nation crashing down for their wickedness of pride.  God is not threatened or envious by the height of nations, for it is He who lifts them up.  Jeremiah 18:5-10 says, "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: ⁶ "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! ⁷ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸ if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹ And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it."

God's power extends over all nations and over every soul which comprises them.  Though He was the Son of God, Jesus humbled Himself and took the role of a slave.  For this reason God exalted Jesus above all others (Phil. 2:5-11).  Pride for any reason leads to ruin, and the soul which vaunts itself God is able to abase.  The man who hears Christ's words and does them will be established and endure, but those who hear Christ's words and pay them no mind will have a great fall.  Pride always comes before a fall, but God will exalt the humble.

The Freedom of Chastity

"Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly--and indeed you do bear with me. ² For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

2 Corinthians 11:1-2

When a couple was betrothed in ancient Jewish society, the man and woman after a legal ceremony were viewed as a married couple - though they did not live together or consummate the marriage until their wedding.  This betrothal period could last a year or more, until the father of the groom gave the command.  The husband had been preparing a place for them to reside in, typically a room attached to his father's home.  The bride also prepared during that time, ensuring she had a dress for her wedding, as well as gathering clothing and items to take with her on the day of her wedding.  As the wedding drew near, her close female friends kept a watchful eye on her.  Both husband and wife were to remain sexually chaste, having entered into the covenant of marriage.

Paul laboured to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would listen.  Those Jews or Gentiles who believed the Gospel, repented, and trusted in Christ were born again and became part of the Body of Christ - the Church.  Jesus had ascended to heaven, but the church remained on the earth.  Like the betrothal period of an ancient marriage covenant, the New Covenant in Christ's blood involved a period of physical separation.  Jesus is in heaven, awaiting the day and the hour the Father bids Him to return for the church who is pictured as a bride.  Jesus has not left us alone, for the Holy Spirit has been sent to fill every believer.  Paul emphasised the necessity of purity and chastity of believers for Christ's sake, so when Jesus is united with His Church she would be as a chaste virgin presented to her husband.  He kept a watchful eye on his fellow Christians, ensuring they were not wooed away by illicit lovers, and bid them reserve their hearts for Christ alone.

The commitment of betrothal and marriage had a massive impact on how people lived.  The Jews traditionally were restrictive concerning interactions and physical contact between members of the opposite sex.  Being betrothed took this up a notch.  Instead of being a restriction, betrothal and marriage was an invitation to express love and desire in a way which would have been sin outside the confines of the marriage relationship.  Our modern western society in many ways sees marriage as being restrictive and confined, and in a worldly sense this is true to a point.  From a spiritual vantage point, however, those who give their bodies sexually outside of marriage place themselves in bondage to sin.  An exclusive relationship need not be restrictive, but is a safe place for love to flourish.  Only in the marriage relationship can sex be pure and the bed undefiled (Hebrews 13:4).

Our relationship with Christ is not a sexual one, but the intimate relationship between as husband and wife is a picture of the close relationship God desires to cultivate with us.  Instead of loving the world or the things of the world, we are to place our affections on Christ first and foremost.  We are to trust Him rather than lean on our own understanding.  We are to love what God loves and hate what He hates.   We must guard our hearts, put off the old man, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:20-27)  In Christ we discover the freedom and divine power to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus.  By His grace we can make a positive impact on others and remain unspotted from the world (James 1:27).  Our eyes must be fixed on Jesus alone, for it is He who gives rest to our souls.  Sin brings bondage and death, but Jesus gives life and freedom forevermore.  When we reserve ourselves for Jesus, He reveals more of Himself to us.

Do you suffer from a wandering heart which leads to wandering thoughts and eyes?  If you are a Christian, you have been spoken for; you have already been taken.  In fact, we have been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, having entered into Christ's Covenant by grace through faith.  God has washed and purified us, and He will someday present us before the Father with exceeding joy.  Let us be circumspect and wise, knowing we have a responsibility to refuse all potential suitors who beg us to run off with them.  May we say with the Shulamite in Song of Songs 7:10, "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me."  In light of Christ's eternal, infinite love, all other worldly loves fade away.  Jesus is coming soon, and may we be found chaste and loyal to Him when He calls us home.

The Answer Who Comforts

Nothing is too hard for God.  What is impossible with men is possible with God.  Psalm 135:6 says, "Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places."  God has absolute power, and His power is always governed by justice, righteousness, mercy, grace, and love.  Such power would corrupt any mere man, but God is more than a man.  He is altogether not like us - finite beings conceived in sin - yet He created man is His own image.

God's ways are past finding out, and His decisions and motives are righteous without question.  Daniel 4:35 records the observations of Nebuchadnezzar, a man whose eyes were opened to God and His glorious ways:  "All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"  We have as much right to question God as our ability to stop Him!  We cannot rightly ask, but we still do!  Familiarity and ignorance can breed contempt.  Romans 9:20-24 says, "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? ²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"

Today I was asked by a child, "How could God allow that three-year-old on the beach to die?"  I do not know.  I do know sin has come into the world and death by sin, but I do not have a sure answer to the specific question - especially to those who are grieving a terrible loss.  Even if I knew all things and could explain God's plan in full, it would be unsatisfactory to those blinded by pain or unbelief.  I can only turn my eyes to the revealed character of God who allowed His own Son Jesus Christ to die as a revelation of His divine love.  As Jesus placed Himself willingly in His Father's hands to lay down His life for sinners, I know I can do the same.  Answers in themselves do not bring comfort:  only God comforts.  Time does not heal all wounds.  But the God of the impossible is a healer, a restorer of souls, a giver of life.

We do not need to defend God, nor did He make man responsible to explain why He does what He does.  But as His child I am called to trust Him, draw near to Him in faith, and thank Him.  I ought to testify of the good, gracious, and just character of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.  We should not be cavalier with the pain of others, and we should walk softly around wounded hearts.  I am convinced God is able to heal my hurts as I cast my cares upon Him.  I have tasted, I have seen, I have experienced God's comfort.  No matter the struggle or pain, I want to echo the immortal words of Job in Job 1:21, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."