Upheld From Birth

As we go through life, it is natural for us to become burdened by all manner of things because our understanding is finite, our strength is limited, we soon grow weary and can feel overwhelmed.  Even the most mighty workmen among us need a break in the heat and to sleep, and the cumulative effect of our exertions over time begin to weigh heavily upon us.  Because we are strong and able to do things, we tend to take more upon ourselves than we can carry easily and wear ourselves out.  Even Moses had to learn this lesson by experience.  Seeing the responses from people in the U.S. concerning the recent election, it appears people from all walks of life continue to feel the weight of the world rests upon their shoulders regardless of who is in office.  History has revealed having a majority in government does not ensure those in your own party will be willing work together (much less the opposition!), and this knowledge does nothing to lighten a taxing mental load.

In a world filled with worries, anxieties and cares, God causes His light to shine and unmasks idols that can be the cause of the burdens we carry.  For the children of Israel, this was literally the case.  God spoke through the prophet in Isaiah 46:1-2:  "Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast. ² They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity."  Bel and Nebo were idols that were more than dead weight:  they were false hope that only burdened man and beast.  Desperate people hoped in vain for help from these gilded objects that could not see, speak, hear, walk or do anything.  People fleeing from their homes to save their lives loaded the bulky idols onto carts that only wearied and slowed down their oxen.  These idols proved only to be a hindrance, and their misguided affections of God's people were exposed by treasuring images that could not save rather than trusting the God of Israel alone.

See God's gracious and encouraging response to weary souls in Isaiah 46:3-4:  "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb: ⁴ even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."  Regardless if God's people had been taken captive to Babylon or were the poor who remained in Israel, God told all the remnant of Israel to listen to Him.  While they toiled to secure their idols in a vertical position on their carts, God was faithful to uphold His people from their birth as a nation.  Each one of them had been personally knit together and carried by God from their mother's womb.   As sure as they had been born, God would faithfully carry them in their old age.  God preserved them during their most vulnerable and weak moments, and God could be trusted to carry them into the future.  God promised to steady and support them even when a day came when they could not stand or walk unaided.  God was never burdened, weary or tired of carrying His people:  it was they who grew weary of Him.  They were the ones guilty of burdening themselves body and mind when His yoke is easy and His burden light.

When you feel anxious and the weight of the world upon your shoulders, that it falls to you to support and carry others, know it is God who carries you.  Jesus taught that "sufficient for the day is its own trouble," and this reminds me of our physical limitations coupled with the tendency to take on extra burdens God has not called us to carry.  We are not called to right all the wrongs in a nation, change the hearts of men, and fight those who oppose our views or convictions:  we are called to trust God and rely upon Him.  Christians ought to be numbered among the most joyful, carefree people because we continue to respond obediently to the call of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-29:  "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."  Rest is impossible when we are collapsing under the weight of our burdens and anxieties, by the pressure heaped upon our souls by idolatry.  Knowing we are born again by faith in Jesus who will also carry and deliver us, we experience peace that passes understanding come what may.

Expanding in Service

There are many churches that operate well, are spiritually healthy and fruitful without having a permanent place of worship.  It is common in Australia for churches to hire out schools or rooms on Sunday because this is what is available and affordable.  That's how it was for the church I grew up attending, and I faintly remember the services being held in the cafeteria of a local high school.  Whether a church fellowship meets house to house, rents a hall, is in the midst of a renovation, building project, or settled in a permanent location, it is always a good season to serve the LORD in one accord with each another.

In a passage I read today, it was instructive on how the service of the Levites changed when the temple was built in Jerusalem.  During decades in the wilderness, one main role of the Levites was to haul the tabernacle and the articles around, to set up and dismantle the tabernacle as the LORD led His people like a flock to the promised land.  A lot of Christians in portable churches look forward to the prospects of having a place to call their own like the Hebrews looked forward to Canaan, where ministry (finally!) goes beyond stacking and unstacking chairs or setting up the sound system and rolling up the cords every week.  It is ironic should these people one day have their desire, they will look back with fondness to the portable season--not for the inconvenience of setting up, tearing down and hauling stuff around--but the blessing to be part of God's work in a practical way with people who love Jesus.  A church being saddled with a building and staff can result in reduced opportunities for regular people to get in the trenches and be part of the work.

With the building of the temple, the scope of the work of the Levites was not reduced but expanded in their service to God and the priests.  Also at David's command the age of the Levites began serving in the temple was lowered from 30 to 20.  Rather than having less to do because the tabernacle no longer needed to be carried and constructed, there was more help needed!  1 Chronicles 23:28-32 explains:  "...their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹ both with the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering, with the unleavened cakes and what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of measures and sizes; ³⁰ to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening; ³¹ and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the LORD; ³² and that they should attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the LORD."

A big shift of the focus of the service of the Levites was from carrying stuff to people--serving with their brethren the priests in the worship of God.  Regarding the church, it is important at all stages of development and growth the LORD Jesus be the one we focus on serving as well as edifying and supporting one another in love.  It would be a shame to be more intent on securing or renovating a building than to make disciples of Jesus, and for us to realise disciples can be made and strengthened in these very things.  When a day comes we do not need to load trailers with chairs and sound equipment, we can serve in different ways:  like helping project words during worship, host a prayer group, teach children, contribute financially, help clean, and make hospital or house calls to encourage others.  Having a temple, the Levite's scope of work increased and their usefulness grew instead of diminishing.  Their identity was not in what they did or how they contributed but in their awesome God.

Whether we are perpetually stacking and moving chairs or settled in a building on property owned by the church, at every age there is always good, profitable work we can do in serving our LORD Jesus and supporting one another in His service.  Just being present and demonstrating love for one another at church in obedience to Christ is a greater encouragement than most people realise.

Weary of God?

God looks for people who love, desire and seek Him willingly.  In the book of Isaiah, God pointed out the irony wild animals like owls and jackals (considered unclean under the Law of Moses) honoured Him for water He provided them to drink, but He received less honour from His people whom He redeemed and created to worship Him in spirit and truth.

The LORD, the holy Redeemer of Israel said in Isaiah 43:22-24:  "But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob; and you have been weary of Me, O Israel. ²³ You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings, nor wearied you with incense. ²⁴ You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; but you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities."  God observed people of Israel who had not wearied themselves for the sake of God.  People often embrace weariness to work and obtain their desire, like working long hours to gain wealth or physically exercising to exhaustion to improve health.  For them, the God of their fathers was more traditional than personal and relational.  Rather than wearying themselves in God's service joyfully, they were weary of God.  Obedience to the Law was empty and meaningless without love for Him.  He had not wearied them with demands that were greater than ones freely met for their own ends, and their response was to weary God with their sins and trespasses.

Our government is pleased to receive fees and taxes regardless of our attitudes, yet God looks upon the condition of the heart that gives.  God loves a cheerful giver, and He does not regard the selfish soul that begrudges giving to God who freely gives all things for us to enjoy.  It was ironic God's name would be magnified and great among the heathen and His own people held contempt for Him.  Malachi 1:12-13 says, "But you profane it, in that you say, 'The table of the LORD is defiled; and its fruit, its food, is contemptible.' ¹³ You also say, 'Oh, what a weariness!' and you sneer at it," says the LORD of hosts. "And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this from your hand?" says the LORD."  This observation could be made concerning the church:  people are willing to go great distances for Christian fellowship when they are first born again, yet people raised in the church forgo worship at church because it is boring, tiresome or unnecessary.  We offer God scraps rather than our best.

It is a good thing to ask ourselves:  are we willing to weary ourselves for God's sake?  Could it be we are weary of God because our desires are elsewhere?  Galatians 6:9 exhorts us, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."  Our weariness of body and mind can grow from a lack of dependance and reliance upon God for strength, when we take on labours God has not called us to.  Admitting our weariness--even of God and what we know is right to do--is an important step in repenting and turning to God in faith for restoration.  The wisest believer can stumble in sin; the most faithful Christian can grow weary in doing good even though God daily supplies strength.  Our limitations and folly prompt us to turn to God like never before, trusting in His word and wisdom to guide us always.  God always has encouragement for those who know, hear and believe Him.

To all who are weary, there is encouragement and rest in our great God as it is written in Isaiah 40:28-31:  "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. ³⁰  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, ³¹ but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

According to the Spirit

Jesus has done a marvellous thing by the power of the Gospel for all sinners who repent and trust in Him.  As a man raised under Judaism and the Law of Moses, he realised the Law could not save him but only condemn.  It was extremely effective to reveal to self-righteous sinners their sin, yet it gave no reprieve, mercy or hope for the guilty before God or man.

After coming to faith in Jesus Christ, Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-2, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."  In the previous chapter Paul provided an example of a woman who was bound by the law to her husband, but if her husband died she was free of that law.  It was considered adultery under the Law of Moses to marry another man while married.  A widow under Law, however, was not be deemed an adulteress to remarry after the passing of her husband because the Law no longer applied to her situation.  Paul began chapter 8 with "therefore" because Christians have been made dead to the Law of Moses by the life of Christ.

The Law of Moses cannot condemn those who have died to it, and that handwriting of ordinances has also been taken out of the way--nailed to the cross and crucified with Christ--never to rise again as the way Christians are to relate to God.  Having been born again by faith in Jesus, we are spiritually regenerated by the Holy Spirit and have a relationship with the living God guided by His love.  Our death to the Law of Moses does not make us lawless, for we are called to be governed by the Gospel to walk in step with Jesus whose words trump the letter of the Law of Moses.  Notice how Paul explains this change concerning who and what we are to submit our lives to in the fear of God:  no longer walking according to our flesh, but according to the Holy Spirit.

The New Testament has many exhortations to "walk worthy" of our calling as children of God, having been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus.  Rather than working to uphold the letter of the Law of Moses, we are to obey the call and leading of our LORD Jesus as it is written in Ephesians 4:1-3:  "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ² with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³ endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."  In God's view, how we walk is as critical as what we think, say and do because He looks upon the condition of our hearts.  We are called to judge ourselves and receive correction from the LORD that we should not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:32).  Condemnation means to judge, and it also means to pass sentence.  There are actions that can be condemned and rightly judged as sinful, but we ought not to pass sentence on other Christians as if we are God and know perfectly the hearts of men based on what we can observe.

Since there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, let us choose not to condemn others Jesus Christ died to save.  Who are we to judge another man's servant?  To condemn others is to condemn ourselves!  It is before God people will stand or fall.  Rather than condemning sinners, we ought to make our focus to walk worthy of the calling with which were were called by Jesus with all lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  This is an accurate snapshot of what walking according to the Holy Spirit looks like, a way of living made possible by the Gospel of Jesus.