Not in Vain

"Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better? ¹² For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?"

Ecclesiastes 6:11-12

Reading through Ecclesiastes is a wondrous reminder of the new covenant we have entered into by faith in Jesus Christ today!  All the questions and wonderings of Solomon the preacher find an answer in our LORD Jesus who is altogether good, provides purpose, guidance and also reveals what is to come.  This world is passing away, but in Christ there is the hope of enduring fruitfulness forever.

While we cannot know what will happen after us under the sun, Jesus taught we ought not worry about tomorrow because sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  The Son of God Jesus came to comfort troubled hearts by faith in Him.  The more we learn and grow, the more we realise we need Jesus today more than ever.  All flesh is as grass and our days pass like a shadow, but the Light of the World Jesus can shine bright through our lives by His grace.

Because Jesus is the Author of life and gives eternal life to all who trust in Him, He knows what is good in this life on earth and in the next.  The command of Jesus for His disciples to follow Him dovetails nicely into what God said previously in Micah 6:8:  "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"  Praise the LORD our Good Shepherd will guide us now and forever to walk in His ways.

God does more than make a man better because He transforms us, and nothing He does is in vain.  He IS the good in life, the God who endures now and forever.

Reminded to Restore

On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter was guilty of doing something he believed was impossible:  he denied Jesus three times.  After Jesus rose from the dead, He never mentioned Peter's failure.  He did not bring up the incident as a joke, hint about it to embarrass Peter or shame him, but Jesus did initiate an opportunity for Peter to publicly affirm his genuine love for Jesus.

Three times in the hearing of the other disciples Jesus singled Peter out and asked if he loved Him.  After Peter affirmed twice he did love His LORD Jesus, John 21:17 says:  "He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep."  The Bible does not say precisely why Peter was grieved, but the fact the question was repeated three times was a reminder of his three denials of Jesus.

Jesus did not remind Peter to humiliate him but to lovingly restore him.  Jesus demonstrated His love for Peter and all sinners--even those who denied He was the Son of God and scornfully condemned Him to death on the cross--by dying on the cross.  God's active, sacrificial love is not expressed in one moment but continuously, persistently and graciously.  Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him because Jesus loved Peter.  The recall of Peter's failure was redemptive and intended for his restoration:  instead of looking back with grief Peter could look back with a smile because Jesus loved him, loved him, loved him.

When we are reminded of our sinful failures and am at our worst, having been forgiven by Jesus the painful recollection of the past is an affirmation of God's love at the present through the Gospel.  This morning I considered the words of the song "At the Cross:"  "I know a place, a wonderful place where accused and condemned find mercy and grace, where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us were nailed there with Him there on the cross."  We are glad to know our sins have been atoned for on Calvary, and it is good for us to know God made a provision for sins committed against us as well.  As we have received the mercy and grace of God, we are thus enabled to extend it to others as Jesus did to Peter--and us.

Love keeps no record of wrongs yet we often do.  Should we be reminded of our past sin, also remember how we have been forgiven by Jesus who continually affirms His love for us.  Sin is always grievous but God's love comes up trumps every time without fail.  Jesus did not desire for Peter to continue to grieve over his past but to rejoice in the love of Christ moving forward.

Carry on His Work

I recently read an insightful quote in Matthew Henry Commentary:  “We are apt to dote too much on men and means, instruments and external helps; whereas God will change his workmen, and yet carry on his work.  There is no need of immortal ministers to be the guides of the church, while it is under the conduct of an eternal Spirit."  While God employs the teaching and testimony of His saints long after He receives them into glory, I agree with the sentiment.  Many times I imagine many have wondered how the church or organisation was to survive after the passing of a much loved leader, but God is able to change His workmen and carry on His work.

One verse Oswald Chambers directed his listeners to take to heart was one that God ministered greatly in his own life were the words of Jesus in Luke 11:13:  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  Knowing the church is God's precious possession purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ, His Body of believers will be sustained by the Holy Spirit now and forever.  I enjoyed the journal entry from October 7 by Chambers during the Great War whilst in Egypt:

"A gem of an experience came after the evening service, a soldier came to see me under deep compunction of conscience, and after a talk we knelt in the deep and glorious moonlight at an old sun-bleached form in the compound and he transacted business with God on Luke 11:13, confirmed by 1 John 5:14-15, and his witness was undoubtedly John 14:27, 'My peace I give unto you.'  One never gets used to the unspeakable wonder of a soul entering consciously into the Kingdom of our Lord.  It was a great joy to experience it all again." (McCasland, David. Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God. Discovery House Publishers, 1993. page 255.

How awesome it is Jesus Christ has gone to the Father but has not left us alone, having provided the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and helps us be fruitful in our endeavours for the Gospel.  God's workmen come and go, but the Holy Spirit abides in us and is ever with us.  It is not "new blood" we need in the church:  the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse all sinners and cause them to be born again into God's kingdom, servants of the Most High!  As much as we might want Oswald Chambers or other believers to carry on labouring forever in their posts on earth, the world does not need another Chambers or Spurgeon to spark revival:  the world needs Jesus Christ and believers who may remain nameless, filled with the Holy Spirit, through whom Jesus will be made known.

Wisdom, Redemption and Sin

God's wisdom and redemptive power are attributes of the living, almighty God Who is worthy of praise.  His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways past finding out, yet He has graciously revealed Himself to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is able to take something intended for evil and use the same thing for eternal good.  Glorious!

Lately I have been studying through the opening chapters of Genesis and considering the fall of mankind into sin and the resulting curse.  Satan was exposed as being a deceiver, liar and murder from the beginning as he coaxed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in violation of God's command.  Many times as a youth I wondered how life on earth would have been different if sin had not entered into the world.  I can tell you one difference:  without sin in the world God would not have been provided an opportunity to demonstrate His love, grace, mercy, compassion, kindness and goodness.  If everything was always perfect and pain free, grace would not exist and the Gospel would be unnecessary.

Don't get me wrong:  sin entering the world was an absolute catastrophe.  It was a tragedy that could have been prevented if Adam and Eve continued in the fear of God and obedience to Him.  Sin led to separation from the presence of God, multiplied sorrow, conflict, fruitless toil and ultimately death.  These are all bad things, yet God proved Himself a wise redeemer.  To sinners who loved their sin and did not regard Him at all He came down, put on human flesh, walked among us and we beheld His glory.  The glory of God was made manifest in a world of darkness as the Light of the World Jesus Christ, the One who will by His very presence illuminate the new heavens and earth where only righteousness dwells.

God chose sinners--not angels--to be His saints.  Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, to free slaves to sin from bondage, to exchange beauty for ashes, to give hope to the hopeless and to raise the dead to new life by faith in Him.  The good cannot be seen for how good it is without us first realising how wretched, lost and hopeless we are in ourselves.  There is no need to be washed unless we are filthy; we would not have appreciated an offer of salvation unless we were once irrevocably doomed to destruction.  Without a stark comparison between God and the man created in His image mankind would have assumed we are like Him and can live independently from Him.  But God knew better, knowing all:  thus sin, redemption, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life with God are ours forever by faith in Jesus starting right now.