Awake in Christ's Likeness

What rest and peace God gives those who trust in Him who only does wondrous things!  In an ever changing world Christians have an anchor for our souls forever in Jesus Christ who loves us and has given us exceedingly great and precious promises.  His resurrection from the dead and ascension in glory gives us confidence through the Gospel our sins are forgiven, we have been justified by faith, and have a sure hope of eternal life in His presence.

When the church was birthed in the book of Acts after Jesus ascended to heaven, Christians faced intense persecution in Jerusalem:  none of the apostles, deacons or unnamed disciples were exempt.  It was not like the church was an organisation where leaders were insulated from the threat of beatings, arrests or execution as they were primary targets of those who hated and killed Jesus.  A man filled with the Holy Spirit named Stephen was falsely accused of speaking blasphemy against the Temple and the Law of Moses, and he was hauled before the Sanhedrin for examination.  His divinely inspired proclamation of truth can be read in Acts 7 that enraged his hearers and resulted in him being martyred for Christ's sake.

As Stephen's eyes were opened to see heaven opened and Jesus Christ standing in glory, the respectable mask of the Sanhedrin slipped and revealed them to be a murderous, hateful mob against Christ and His disciples.  They screamed, covered their ears, rushed upon him, cast Stephen out of the city and stoned Him to death.  Acts 7:59-60 tells us, "And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep."  In the midst of murderous chaos, Stephen was the one at peace and full of forgiveness.  Without regard for himself or any attempt to dodge the large stones hurled at him from all around, Stephen knelt and prayed with a loud voice to intercede for those who were killing him--even as Jesus had from the cross.  Suddenly a stone hit the mark, and Stephen fell asleep.  The implication is those who sleep will wake.  Though Stephen died, through faith in Jesus Christ he lives now and forever.

I was reminded of this as I read Psalm 17:15:  "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness."  Christians have the wondrous expectation that when our eyes close in death, we will awake in the likeness of Christ--satisfied, sinless, glorified and immortal!  Having been deemed righteous by faith in Jesus, there is no fear in death because our Saviour has defeated it.  Our death happened before our birth when Jesus Christ died on the cross, and having been born again and raised with Christ He now lives through us.  Since our death spiritually speaking is in the past, we have only life before us we will enjoy with Him and His people forever.  One day our eyes will close, and miraculously when we open them pain, trouble and sorrow will be a thing of the past, not remembered nor will come into mind, for we have been made new creations by God's grace through faith in Jesus.

Let us not be like those who are asleep spiritually as Paul exhorted believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-11:  "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."

Fearful Imagination

I have heard people say children have a great imagination, and I would agree.  Kids can be amazingly imaginative, creative and perceptive from a young age.  I would also say that adults also have a great imagination--except it isn't always great.  A child imagines a red-eyed monster is in their closet, and an adult can worry if other people are judging them or what will happen in the future.  How many times, as an adult, has your wandering mind, twinged with fears, concocted great horrors that never remotely came to pass?  While there are many fearsome things in this world, most of our fears and worries live rent-free in the realm of our imagination.  We can know our fears are irrational, but we can choose to submit to them anyhow--as if God is powerless to help, protect or change us.

This struck me as I considered Saul of Israel, a man of the tribe of Benjamin God chose and anointed to be king over His people.  1 Samuel 13 describes a key turning point in the life of Saul two years into his reign.  Initially Saul was a man marked by great humility who was faithful to serve his father, showed respect to Samuel the prophet, and preferred to avoid the limelight.  The passage spoke of Saul going to Gilgal in a valley to wait for 7 days in accordance to Samuel's directive, and over the course of a week the children of Israel began to scatter from him.  The men of Israel were skittish and flighty over the thousands of chariots, horsemen and fighting Philistines who gathered against them.  Saul was among the fearful men of Israel:  afraid of the Philistines at Michmash (though over 6kms away), fearful of being abandoned by his men, and worried that Samuel was not coming.  So on the 7th day, Saul foolishly decided to offer a burnt offering and a peace offering to God to rally his troops and ease his mind.

After Saul completed the burnt offering, Samuel arrived and confronted him for his unlawful sacrifice.  1 Samuel 13:11-13 reads, "And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." ¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever."  Instead of looking to the LORD in faith, Saul looked to his scattered people, that Samuel was not present, and the Philistines gathered at Michmash.  In his mind he had no choice but to offer the sacrifices because his circumstances demanded it.  Samuel exposed Saul's folly in disobeying God, and his action revealed a heart that did not trust, obey or rely upon God.

As we read on, what Saul feared never came to pass:  the Philistines did not attack him in Gilgal despite his military vulnerability and lack of weaponry.  The LORD protected him and his people in Gilgal even though they did not trust or obey God to wait according to the word of the LORD.  Saul's vivid, fearful imagination ran rampant without faith in God.  Only 600 men remained with Saul at that point, and only Saul and Jonathan were armed with swords.  But it seems Saul forgot how God defeated the Midianites by the sword of the LORD and of Gideon when he and his 300 men carried no swords--they only wielded a torch in one hand and a trumpet in the other!  Saul's impatient, foolish decision to offer sacrifice was spurred on by fear of man and not the fear of God which is marked by humility and obedience.  Saul allowed fear to run like squealing, feral pigs in his imagination, and we can repeat the same mistake.  It is good to live our lives in the real world ordered by the almighty God who created all things, submitting to and waiting for Him rather than fearing imaginary outcomes.  The greatest foes Saul faced was his own unbelief, pride and his fearful imagination, and Saul lost to them all big time even when God was faithful to protect him.

Convinced by Christ

"I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean."

Romans 14:14

God had taught Paul many things by the time he wrote the letter to the Romans as led by the Holy Spirit.  As a Pharisee, Paul would have likely fought tooth and nail against the suggestion some things or people were not unclean in themselves.  The Law of Moses was full of clear statements that described kinds of birds or beasts as unclean for eating, and how a person could be made ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body or due to illness.  There were detailed washings and sacrifices required to cleanse the unclean, and a complete paradigm shift coupled with humble faith in Jesus was needed for Paul to write what he did.  The LORD Jesus Christ needed to convince Paul of the truth nothing was unclean of itself, and so he held forth this truth boldly to the brethren--even those who had not yet been convinced.

Paul confronted Christians in Colossians 2:20-23 whose actions suggested things were unclean in themselves and their spiritual purity was maintained or lost by objects they touched or food they ate:  "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--²¹ "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," ²² which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ²³ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."  The problem wasn't that believers in Colossae established wise boundaries for themselves, but the issue was they subjected themselves to self-imposed religion, not realising what Christ accomplished on Calvary.  The Law of Moses that condemned them was nailed to the cross, they had died to sin, and now were risen with Christ who lived through them.  The teaching of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount shows freedom from the Law does not bring lawlessness, for the Holy Spirit guides God's people to a standard far higher than law.

I have observed in Christian circles an appetite for legalism when it aligns with their convictions, for it is easily justified as wise boundaries.  There is an attraction for us towards black and white, to strike a stark contrast and clear line between what is deemed acceptable and sinful.  We can feel a degree of confidence or safety by avoiding what is seen as bad in itself, and we can view ourselves as morally or spiritually superior when we do what is considered good.  Both of these are a snare, for it puts self at the centre and relegates righteousness by our own arbitrary standard.  It is good for us to acknowledge God created all things to be good, and if something is unclean for us we ought to observe it as unclean without fanfare.  We do not condemn a person for avoiding food when they have a severe allergy, and we also should not condemn a person who does not drink alcohol because it could lead them or others to sin.

I remember years ago a person who believed music, when set in a minor key or played with certain drum rhythms, was in itself an "evil beat."  This clearly stands at odds with Paul's statement that nothing is unclean in itself.  God is the God of the hills as well as the valleys; He is the God of the major and minor chords, the God of the acoustic and electric guitar.  He is sovereign over the light and darkness, the day as well as the night.  He is LORD over every atom, the entire spectrum of visible and invisible light, of all things seen and not seen.  Every vibration, frequency, element, chemical, creature and spirit has been created by God for His use.  Even the world, governments and wicked forces of darkness are all under God's rule, and God's people are sanctified by Him for Him in the midst of everything that is.  Rather than fearing things God has made or what man has made can defile us--we ought to fear the LORD and be led by the Holy Spirit in what we do and choose not to do because He is our righteousness.

By faith in Jesus Christ, we can have a clear conscience before God whether we eat meat or only vegetables--or a mix of both!  A Christian can listen to classic music and heavy metal without feeling condemned by God because both can glorify Him.  Paul concluded in Romans 14:21-23, "It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. ²² Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. ²³ But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin."  For Paul, being convinced by Jesus meant he had the freedom to eat whatever foods he wanted, but he took pains to avoid stumbling those who expressed concerns.  It is the love of God and others as led by the Holy Spirit who guides us rather than legalism, fleshly desire or the fear of man.  May we all be convinced by Christ nothing is unclean in itself and to live to please and obey Him!

God's Compassions Fail Not

In my Bible reading this morning, I considered Psalm 107:17-19:  "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. ¹⁸ Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. ¹⁹ Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses."  The Bible describes the fool as people who say in their hearts, "There is no God," those who live as if God does not exist, has not spoken, and proudly exalt themselves in God's rightful place.  It is a very predictable and guaranteed outcome, that sin embraced brings affliction and trouble we cannot escape.

When we see people experiencing trouble as a direct consequence for their actions, we are less apt to show compassion on them because they "deserved" what they suffered.  A parent who warns their child not to bring a balloon into the kitchen or swat it towards a burning stove would likely remain unmoved when their child disobeys and cries when their balloon pops.  "That's what you get," a matter-of-fact parent might say.  Now if the child burns themselves on a hot stove or pot, a loving parent will administer first aid and seek to comfort their little one.  If the injured party happens to be a teenager or adult who knew better than playing around with fire, again, we would be less considerate of their self-inflicted wounds that stand to teach a valuable lesson.

God's grace and love towards us sinners is amazing, for even when we have played the fool--knowing better and without any excuse--He continues to extend compassion and help to those who are afflicted as a consequence of their own sin.  When we cry out to God in our trouble, He will save us out of our distress; He will give the word to heal us.  At times in Israel's history when God's people departed from Him and served idols, He told them to cry out to the idols they had chosen so they would learn how worthless and incapable they were to deliver or heal.  The season of their suffering pained God, for His heart yearned to save and help them.  But like a father corrects and disciplines a son in whom he delights, so God is willing to allow self-inflicted wounds to draw sinners to Himself through repentance.

Lamentations 3:30-32 says, "Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and be full of reproach. ³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever. ³² Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies."  God is grieved by sin, and He is also grieved when we suffer as a result of our sin.  Because of God's immutable, righteous character, when we are afflicted as God's people there will be an end to it because God is merciful.  Even in the midst of suffering we deserve (and we deserve far worse than we receive as Psalm 103:10 says), God shows compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.  It is because His mercies we are not consumed because His compassions fail not (Lamentations 3:22-23).  Having freely received such compassion from God, let us extend compassion to others--even when they are responsible for their own affliction.