New Thoughts (6/23/03-6/29/03)
The charges Paul lays out against these false teachers are horrible. They are an abomination, they are rebels against the lawful government of God. They are worthless, incapable of good, defiling all they touch. Such is the reprobate state. Think about it. These are the same charges Paul laid out in Ro 1:21-23, when considering the state of fallen man. They knew God was there, but did not give Him the respect and obedience He is due. They turned aside from His perfect wisdom in favor of their own foolish ideas. Determined not to worship God the Creator, they fell into the worship of creation instead. And mankind has never recovered. Those who reject God's rule will eventually fall into this creation worship. It's inevitable, for what other cause can we have not to accept God as God, except that we think something else higher than He. Since God created all things, anything we place higher in our esteem than Himself, we attempt to make a god of, and the thing we choose cannot help but be part of His creation.
This same charge holds against those who seek to impose their rules as more binding than God's perfect law. Those who come insisting on abstinence, be it from food, or marriage, or any other thing that God has ordained for our good pleasure, are in fact insisting on the rule of creature over the rule of God. It may not be a conscious decision on their part, yet that is surely the decision they have made. They declare the author of their petty rules to be of greater authority than God, which can only indicate that they no longer consider God to be God, but rather consider their own human authorities to be god, for nothing can be greater than true God.
This is the reason that their condemnation is so loudly declared in Scripture. They don't accept God as God. They are, in spite of their protestations, drowning in unbelief. It is by that very fact of unbelief that they are defiled, and made so utterly worthless in the economy of heaven. Faith and belief are one. Where there is unbelief, there can be no true faith, and where there is no true faith, there can be no purity in God's sight.
There is a comment in the footnotes of Calvin's commentary attributed to one "Fr. Ser." Who that may be, I don't know, but the words of that note are profound.
"It is a dreadful condemnation pronounced on men, when it is said that nothing is clean to them - that all is polluted and defiled, till God has renewed them. So far are we from being able to bring anything that is acceptable to him, that we can neither eat nor drink, nor put on our clothes, nor walk a single step, without corruption; and what is more, by dwelling in the world we infect all the creatures. And this is the reason why they must call for vengeance at the last day against all unbelievers and reprobates. We have, therefore, good reason to be dissatisfied with ourselves, and to be ashamed, when we see that they have become hateful on our account, and that we are so polluted as to have infected everything that God had appropriated to our use, and even that there is nothing in us but all corruption - nothing but a God cursed and disowned. When we are thus humbled, let us know, on the other hand, the inestimable blessing which God bestows on us, when he brings us back to himself, and, after having cleansed us, causes us to use all his blessings and bounties with purity of heart, and when we are assured that it is lawful for us to eat and drink, provided that we do so with all sobriety, and in a reasonable manner."
Consider this, then. The same charge that Paul lays out against the false teachers here, the same charge he lays out against the unbeliever in Romans, is the very same charge that applied to each and every one of us until such time as God chose to renew us. Consider the extent of the corruption that was in us, that was us. There was nothing we could do that was free of that corruption. Everything we touched was destroyed by our touching. It was the Midas touch in reverse. Do we ever consider this? Do we ever stop to think that it was not only ourselves that we harmed by our sinfulness, but everything around us? All creation groans, and it is we who have brought that groaning to nature. Our best deeds, however righteous they may have seemed, remained filthy rags in His sight. Why, Lord? How can it be that these good men, these doers of good deeds, are yet condemned before You?
It is because God does not consider the outward act, but the inward condition. It is the heart upon which He looks with great interest. The most vile of sinners is not condemned by God for his actions, but rather for the heart which motivated those actions. The most blessed of saints is not loved by God because of his actions. After all, those actions were only made possible by the intervening power of God anyway. What cause for boasting in that? No, it is the renewed heart of the saint that draws God's attention, draws His appreciation and love. This, too, is the working of God within us.
Apart from His renewing effort, all we had in our hearts was 'a God cursed and disowned.' Under the influence of humanistic religious teachers, we had progressed no farther. We had no greater desire for the true God, but only occupied His rightful space with our own concoctions. It remained for God to cleanse us, for God to restore us to Himself. This, and this alone, has saved us, that He has chosen to give us a new heart, a new attitude, a new desire for Him. Indeed, as our author above comments, when we have been humbled by the recognition of who we were, how immeasurably wonderful are the blessings He has given us! Not only has He done all that was needful to restore us to His good graces, but He has also provided the wonders of His creation for our sober and reasonable use! How can we taste the goodness of this life and not give thanks? How can we taste the goodness of this life and not look forward with even greater anticipation to the perfection of the heavenly life to come!
How, indeed, can we know the goodness of our God, and not recognize that His creation is also good? Here is one place where the modern day Jew has a much greater understanding of God than many a Christian! They know it is just as sinful to refrain from the good things with which God chooses to bless us as it is to insist on the things He seeks to steer us clear of. As caught up as they are with their rules and regulations about which foods can be eaten, and which days must be observed, yet they excel in their enjoyment of the creation He has placed us within in order that we may rule over it. Indeed, there is that matter of separation, of peculiar distinction. It was the call of the Jew and it is the call of the Church. We are called to stand out as different. However, the call, like God's concern for us, is not a matter of outward appearance, but of inward reality.
This is a double-sided issue. This is not license to participate in whatever we see happening around us with no concern, because we are saved. No! Sin remains sinful even to the redeemed. The point is not absolute license to do what we will, it's that we are now free to do as He wills. If we are pursuing our own agendas instead of pursuing the work of our Master, then I would have to suggest that the inward reality isn't there. If the inward reality isn't there, then all the outward show we work up won't matter. That's the point, here. The problem is so prevalent that modern Christianity has coined a term to describe it: 'practical atheism.' It is the same complaint that Matthew Henry points out in his time, at the height of the Puritan era. It's the same complaint Paul is raising in this letter, at the height of the apostolic age. Put simply, it is this: Many profess Christianity, yet live their lives as 'practical atheists.' They gladly tell their neighbors and themselves that they know God, and then proceed to act as if He didn't exist.
There is no inward reality. Their profession is nothing but empty air, a vain wind coming from the depths of a corrupt and stony heart. This is why Paul doesn't stop at confession when he writes about salvation. Confession must be accompanied by belief, by faith (Ro 10:9). He continues, saying that our heartfelt belief results in righteousness, and that our vocal confession of belief results in our salvation (v10). Some will make from this a new law, requiring that w get loud and proud, that the faith God gives us is insufficient in and of itself. I don't think this can be made a real requirement, for, as Paul continues to note in v11, Scripture says that whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed or put to shame. At the same time, I would have to say that where that inward reality exists, I would think it highly unlikely that it would not result in rejoicing.
James, as we know, tells us that faith without works is a dead faith. The inward reality cannot help but show in outward action, and that action will be consistent. What Paul and Matthew Henry are complaining of are those who put on their church persona on Sunday, and drop it off at the door on the way out. Their good deeds are reserved for those occasions when the eyes of believers are upon them. When they think themselves alone, they revert to form. Such a way of living denies the reality of God. It shouts out that the practitioner does not believe one word of the message, doesn't have the least bit of belief in God's existence.
Face it, the most devout of us still has moments where this is what our life proclaims. We all have our moments when we are simply glad that nobody we know was there to see how we acted. We breathe a sigh of relief, and commit ourselves to trying to do better, or perhaps we simply shrug it off, and say, 'well, nobody saw that. It's ok.' The moment we allow ourselves to think this way, we are denying God's existence. We have slipped into practical atheism. Oh! May we wake up to this! May we learn to dwell, as the Sproul's like to say, 'coram Deo,' before the face of God. Yes, we are always there, whether we choose to acknowledge His presence or not, but may we be those who do acknowledge His presence. How close we are at every moment of being like those condemned in the opening verses of Romans: knowing God, knowing His power and His love, and yet refusing to honor Him and give Him thanks (Ro 1:21).
When we choose to live like He isn't there, like He doesn't see what we do, we refuse to honor Him. When we refuse to enjoy the good gifts He has given us, we refuse to give Him thanks. I wonder which is worse in His sight. Is He pleased when we stumble? That will depend on where our heart is. If our stumbling is pleasure to us, then surely He cannot be pleased. If, on the other hand, our stumbling is in spite of our heartfelt intention toward purity, I don't know that He gives it another thought. God judges the heart, not the clumsy feet. However, how can it make Him feel when we look down upon the gifts He tries to give us, when we look upon the things He has declared good, and we call them sinful? Can we not see the arrogance in that? Can we not see that we are raising ourselves up as a higher standard than God?
Jerome wrote, in the early years of Christianity, "So often as we are conquered by sins, we deny God." That's a dreadful reminder for us, one we do well to remember at every moment. God said he would never test us beyond our ability to endure, that He would always provide the means of persevering through to the end of the test. When we choose to succumb, we deny His truth. I will add, that the same may be said in the opposite case. So often as we refuse to enjoy the good things God has given us, we deny God. We deny Him the right to declare what is good, and take upon ourselves an office that is rightfully His and His alone. We make ourselves the moral judge, and in doing so, declare ourselves guilty.
Of course, it would be very easy to simply consider all this as applying to the legalists and the licentious livers surrounding us and leave it at that. We could stop at making certain that we don't associate with such pseudo-Christians, and feel that we have thus protected ourselves and our faith. But there is another concern which ought to have an even higher place in our thoughts: what about us? How do we fare against these charges? Consider that the same Paul who describes the issue here, has provided us with other instruction as well. See for yourself if you are in the faith, he wrote to the Corinthians. Check yourself, and if you pass a thorough examination, know that Christ is in you (2Co 13:5). But, Paul, I've been redeemed, I'm a new creation! Yes, but remember that you were not always so. You used to follow the worldly course that those around you follow with equal vigor. You used to serve the purposes of the dark prince of this land with pleasure. He is still served by these sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2). Why do you dredge that back up, Paul? All that is in the past. True, it's in the past, but the flesh remains even into the present, and the flesh remembers its former ways. It takes a strong, well exercised spirit to keep that flesh in line. When it comes to obedience to the righteousness of God, the spirit is ever willing, but the flesh is weak (Mt 26:41). That is precisely because the flesh wars against the good which the spirit desires to pursue.
With that war ever present within us, with our awareness of that raging battle, how easy it becomes for us to seek some outward means of coercing the flesh into obedience. As with the Cretans, recognition of our state can leave us vulnerable to the attractions of legalism. We feel our need for such restraint, and may pursue that, rather than clinging wholeheartedly to the God who freed us from all such bondage. You would think that in Charismatic circles, this issue of legalism would not be very common, yet I find it is always there, disguising itself as one form of piety or another. We all seem to have our pet concepts of what activities define a good and active Christian. This group will tell you that you must speak in tongues or you aren't really saved. That group will insist that you must use one particular translation of Scripture, or you aren't really reading God's word. Another group will insist that you build up your own faith, that you pursue physical healing above all else. Don't they know? Don't they see? Scripture declares to us that all do not have the same gifts, how dare we insist that we must? Scripture declares that these bodies will be renewed in their own time. Any healing that we pursue in this life can at best be temporary, but Jesus keeps calling us to consider the things that last, to seek out the kingdom of God, and have no anxiety about the present. Is healing available from the hand of God today? Of course it is. He hasn't changed, has He? But who are you to insist upon His acting on your behalf? Who are you to insist on His using particular methods? Who are you to declare that going to doctors is evidence of weak faith? Away with your manmade rules, and allow the pure to pursue God in spirit and in truth!
Yes, the issue of legalism is alive and well even in the most free of churches. It is there every time that we insist that what God has called us to do, everybody else must do as well. It is there every time that we insist that what God has called us to refrain from, everybody else must refrain from as well. Are there things that every Christian really must refrain from? Absolutely. Scripture is clear on the subject. You can easily find lists of things whose practitioners will not find access to heaven. And, contrary to popular belief, the Mosaic Law, the moral code established by God when He called His people out, has not been set aside. Jesus declared to us that not one slightest mark would be removed from what God has established as His word. No, He came not to destroy and cast aside the Law, but to perfect it. He came to clear off the layers of misunderstanding that, through ages of manmade interpretation, had built up upon it. He came to make clear that all these petty rules were not helping anybody to become righteous, but were simply obscuring the real issues, were simply keeping men from seeing their true condition and their true need.
The problem remains the same. We are still grasping about for something we can do to show ourselves worthy to God, we are still, by and large, trying to earn His approval. The heart that has truly grasped the significance of salvation, the heart that has already seen its real condition in the light of God's word, has plumbed the depths of despair, and found in Christ its hope against all hopelessness; that heart knows that all effort on its behalf was and is a lost cause, that nothing in man could ever hope to be righteous. We are truly powerless. Whatever good there is in us, it is all of Christ, and none of ourselves.
What truly amazes me, right at this moment, is how the issues of legalism and licentiousness coexist within us. This, too, is no new disease of the soul. It is the very same issue that we find in the scribes and Pharisees. They had built up their convoluted code of ethical law, and laid their complex web of requirements upon all who sought to be approved as pious. Yet, their own adherence to these rules was only for such times and places as they were visible to those they served. Out of sight of the faithful, how different was their behavior. It's this same issue we see playing out today, as a clergy that insists on abstinence finds itself incapable of abstaining. Why such problems? Because the abstinence upon which they insist is of their own making. They have placed upon themselves a burden God never enjoined upon them, they have denied themselves the good things that God provided for their use and their protection. They have tried to be more wise than God, and by such foolishness, they are upsetting the faith of whole families, indeed whole family trees!
These same twin evils dwell, I suspect, in each one of us. We all know our times of denying Christ by our actions. We all know our times of pursuing a rigid adherence to our own ideas of what it means to be pious. We all know what it's like to make our new year's resolutions, and to fail utterly to see those resolutions through. We're quite proficient at placing demands upon ourselves that God never asked us to take on. We're all well versed in working hard to please God. We all quickly forget that God's not overly pleased with our efforts, that our best labors remain imperfect, marred by the sinful flesh in which we do them. Our righteousness is not in action, but in Christ, in the faith He has planted within us, and in the redeeming work that He alone has ever been able to do.
Father God, I see I've been procrastinating, throwing out words to delay the inward viewing this passage truly calls for. I know there is still much within me that shares in the ways of these false ones. There is too much in my daily walk that fails to conform to the standards I profess to believe. How is it, my God, that I so often find myself saying things which, immediately as they've left my mouth, I am ashamed to have heard? Holy Spirit, I thank You that the shame I feel gives evidence that You have not given up on this man. Jesus, I am sorry indeed for the pain I cause You when I fail to stand up for Your ways. With all You've done on my behalf, how can I reject You so often by my actions? Am I making any progress, my Lord? It always seems so easy to lose the ground You help me gain. It's so easy to slip back into old habits that ought have nothing to do with me. Yet, I also feel new things arising. You have built into me a sense of duty and fairness that never knew its place in me in my youth. You have given me a concern for honesty, for my own honesty, that some doubtless thought would never come to me. Yes, I see that progress is being made, and I know - given my constant stumbling - that all that is progress in me is You. All that is good in me, I am by Your hands. Oh! Holy One! Would that Your work in this man were complete! Would that I could be in the place of knowing myself complete in You, of knowing Your work complete in me, of knowing that all fear of offending and all shame for offense are gone. Yes, I know that Your forgiveness has already covered me, that Your blood has already cleansed me of my sins, even those I have yet to commit. That in itself is an amazing mystery to me, but I know that is the power of Your gift. But, Lord, haven't I failed enough times? Isn't there something You could do inside me that would bring an end to the ways that displease You? Is it me? Am I yet rebellious? What is it, my Father, that is not subjected to Your will in me? Help me to subdue it, give me eyes to see it, and the strength of will to end it.
Interestingly, I was reading some material from A. B. Simpson last night, regarding the symbolism of the Old Testament as it relates to the New. The particular section I was reading was about the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and about their reaction. In looking at their sudden need for cover, as they tried to hide their nakedness behind the leaves of the fig tree, he notes the effects of the knowledge of evil on the conscience. That knowledge came by way of experience, the experiencing of sin, and that knowledge defiled the conscience. Suddenly, what had been pure and lovely in their sight, and in God's, became filthy to them. Long had they wandered unclothed and unperturbed by that condition. Now, their consciences defiled by their sin, that same condition was made shocking and repulsive to them. Isn't that the very thing Paul speaks of here! To the pure, those untouched by sin, everything is pure. But once the conscience has been defiled, nothing looks pure any longer, and our awareness of our guilt erodes our faith and belief. We cannot believe that He would be bothered to help us, and so we abandon Him who is our only help.
However, there's a most beautiful corollary to this. To the mind of faith, as Mr. Barnes writes, 'everything may become a means of grace.' This is one of the most under appreciated gifts God gives to us. Joseph understood it. Job struggled to grasp it. Paul felt the truth of it to his bones. Here was a man plagued by a 'thorn in the flesh,' buffeted by a 'messenger of Satan,' yet, in that very attack, Paul sees the goodness of God. He doesn't complain of this ill treatment. He doesn't remind God that he is His adopted child, and shouldn't God be doing something about this. He doesn't even bother binding demons and rebuking devils. He simply rejoices in what God is doing through that means. To the mind of faith, everything becomes a means of grace. To the mind that comprehends the providence of God, there is peace in knowing that everything in our lives is a matter of Him working all things together for our good (Ro 8:28). That is the great joy and comfort of this calling He has placed upon us. In the darkest of circumstances, we can yet know that He is there and He is working in and through those circumstances. We can admit to the evilness of the evils that beset us without falling into whining and complaining. To call painful things painful is not a lack of faith, it's a presence of mind. We are not called to deny the reality around us, but we are called to look beyond it, to know the reality of the God who creates and maintains that reality that our flesh is so wrapped up in. We are called to know that there is reality beyond what our eyes can presently see.
We are called to know that even the prince of the power of the air must, in the end, answer to the Creator of all things. He may delude himself into thinking himself free from God's rule, but he knows that it is only delusion. He seeks to draw us into his delusions, for us to join him in his rebellion. He tries by his torments and attacks upon us to turn us from our belief. How shall we count it all joy when it all hurts so much? How shall we declare that all things are working for our good when all we can see is our lives falling apart around us? How will faith survive the death of a spouse, a child fighting for her life in the hospital, dreams crushed and our best plans laid waste? There is one way. That is to know that through it all, God is indeed working everything together for our good, that in spite of present pain, there is a future blessedness that is so great that none of the hurt we are experiencing will even be recalled at its revealing.
At present, we are in the throes of looking for a new house. While this does not begin to compare with matters of death and illness, it is an incredibly stressful matter. Temptations toward deceitfulness are ever present where bargaining must occur. Frustration and anger are a constant threat as hopes and dreams are built up and then suddenly knocked down. For the last couple of days we have been working an offer for a particular property which seems ideal for us. Yet, at the last minute, we've found it necessary to withdraw our offer at least for a time. There are preparatory steps we really should have taken before attempting this part which are now in process, but the seller has no peace of mind, and wants assurances we cannot give on the timetable that is being required of us. We can only do what we can do.
There is temptation there to jump through whatever hoops they are demanding of us, lest this property slip through our hands. I was almost willing to play along. But, my conscience spoke out against it. Enough! Where is my faith? We have, as we have long since learned to do, constantly placed the outcome of this matter in God's hands. Our eyes are delighted, but if He is not delighted to place us there, then our eyes are deceived. Our greatest strength, in these negotiations, lies in remembering our Lord is Lord. As it is in His hands, if He desires for us to occupy this new property, we shall do so. Let them put it back on the market over the weekend. If it is ours, it will remain when we have our affairs better in order. If not, God is good! He has kept us from doing something foolish. And, in doing so, He has prodded us to take the steps we had been putting off. Either way, it's all good, if we can but see Him working in it all. To the eyes of faith, indeed, all things, as they come to us by His hands, are good things, a means of grace, and an opportunity for growth!
All things work to our good, but we must not fall into the error of thinking this passage gives us permission to partake and participate in all things. The context limits the message. Paul is speaking on a topic often addressed in his writings, because it was an issue often encountered in his travels. He is addressing issues of ceremonial observances and ceremonial cleanliness. Although rooted in Scripture, these matters of Jewish religion had become encrusted with layer upon layer of scribal additions, until the original intent was lost. Even if one were to restore these to their Scriptural form, they were just that: form. They were matters that foreshadowed the things which Christ has fulfilled. They were a tutor for us, intended for a time, but now that the real is here, they are no longer of concern.
We must, however, recognize that it is only these matters of 'form without the power' that Paul is addressing, matters of dietary law, and the observance of various and sundry days. Wherever he speaks of our liberties, it is in respect to these concerns. He always bounds the discussion, never giving his audience full license to do whatever seems good in their eyes. But the audience equally often held those who heard with selective hearing, just as it is even to this day. There are those who, having sat through the whole message, will depart having heard only that everything is pure, only that all things are permissible. They will go off, thinking that they have the apostolic endorsement of living a wanton life in the name of Christ, of thinking that salvation is the 'get out of jail free' card, and they can go and sin as much as they like, because it's been covered. But, the message of Christ is 'go and sin no more.' The new life He has breathed into us must bring change in us, cannot help but bring change in us. Paul is simply addressing the inconsequential externals that men tend to focus on. These, he says, are of no concern. The concern is the heart, the concern is what God has declared to be his concern. Pay no attention to these laws of man's making. Neither pay attention to liberties of man's making. Have only the liberty that God has given, and heed only the law that He has declared. There is freedom.
There is a statement made by Adam Clarke in regards to this section that is worth consideration. Given this matter of supposed knowledge that is shown to be ignorance, we ought to feel a need to check our own understanding of God. As we increase in learning, what is it we are learning? Are we learning from our Lord, or are we learning the ways of the world? This needs to be a concern for the Church of the godly. With the warning of enemy combatants dressed as messengers of light, how dare we sit complacently and assume that every word from every pulpit must be truth! There are men in the pulpit today who speak any number of things that are utterly contradictory to Scripture, and will yet turn around and claim to follow Christ. Many claim to preach in His name, yet rarely mention His name. Their concerns are so wholly upon this life that they've lost all belief that anything else really matters. Countering this dangerous message becomes our duty, a matter of life and death to us and to those we have charge of.
The words of these false teachers sound good, the speak of doing good deeds. They give us sound and seemingly well reasoned arguments for their statements, sound quite knowledgeable to us. But upon what is their knowledge based? Upon what is our knowledge based? Clarke points us in the right direction. Knowledge, to be knowledge, must know truth, and for that knowledge to also be meaningful, it must be founded on faith, ruled by godliness, and aimed squarely at eternal life. There, then, are some good tests for the various truth claims that assault us every day. Those that claim great knowledge, is their knowledge based on truth? Let us see for ourselves! Is that knowledge founded on faith, on faith in Christ as defined in His Gospel? Well and good, yet this in itself is not sufficient. Many have believed firmly, even founding their beliefs on Scripture, and yet been wrong to the detriment of their soul. Almost any pseudo-Christian cult you care to consider founds its version of faith on Scripture, but it is upon Scripture misunderstood and twisted.
So, then, is this knowledge of truth they profess ruled by godliness? Here, we must cast aside all who would give free license to the Christian, all who allow that the Christian may do whatever he pleases. This is the issue upon which many attacks are leveled at the doctrine of Permanent Election. Many look upon this as precisely such free license, seeing in it permission for the believer to go and have a "sin party" without concern. They miss the point. The 'believer' who would do so is no believer. The teacher who would offer them such cover for their darkened souls is no teacher. It's no better for those who think the Church must bend to the winds of change in our fallen culture, must fall itself so as to be accessible to those who refuse to get up from amidst their own filth. How else can we view pulpits where God's hatred of the abomination of homosexuality is denied, where gay marriages are supported! Of all the sins known to man, Paul places these sexual sins right at the top, because the poison they inject into the soul is closest to the core. God declared that marriage, the holy covenant established by Him, is the joining of two into one shared flesh. When we allow ourselves to participate in sexual perversions, we are allowing our flesh to be joined with the evils of those we participate with. We enter into unholy union, and that unholiness, becoming one flesh with us, becomes a part of us; not only our flesh, but our very being. Sin corrupts utterly.
Again, we must take note that the appearance of godliness may be just that: appearance. Is it real? There remains the third test. What is the aim of this knowledge that is being taught? Is it focused on this life, or upon the eternity which is our hope and joy? Here, we wind up casting aside a great deal of what is being taught in our day and age. The social gospel disappears, because it never gave a single thought to what comes after. It was solely concerned with making this present life as comfortable as possible. Like any other good psychologist, the concern is not necessarily with fixing and correcting the patient, but with making him comfortable with who he is.
Here, we also need to cast aside much of what is taught in the faith movement. All these messages about prosperity, where are they focused? What has the accumulation of wealth and property in this brief life have to do with our eternal condition! What is the great concern with healing this earthly body which, if we are truly saved, will be shed in favor of an eternal resurrection body! Lazarus was raised from the dead, but he didn't stay that way. In his time, he returned to the grave to await the true resurrection. Jesus alone, to this day, left the grave and stayed out. All whom He healed in His ministry are in the ground. All who are healed in modern day 'revivals' will, barring Christ's imminent return, be put in the ground as well, if they haven't been already.
Are healing and prosperity available today? Assuredly. Are we to show concern for the hurting around us? Most definitely. But if this is all we are concerned with, we've missed it entirely. There's that old adage that tells us that if we give a man a fish we've fed him for a day, but if we teach him how to fish, we've provided for him for life. It's the same here. If we heal a man, give him shelter, we have preserved him for a day, but we have done absolutely nothing about his eternal condition. Notice this, though. The adage doesn't say that if we give the man a fishing pole, we've provided for him for life. No, it's a matter of teaching him how to use the tools. It's the same with the message of salvation. If we give only the message, the tool, but don't teach the lost how to take hold of that tool and make use of it, we've left them for dead.
When I consider the examples of Jesus' own ministry, I find that healing is ever and always a means to His real end, the saving of the soul within the body that was healed. Certainly, He sorrowed for the suffering of the flesh in those who surrounded Him. Here was visible evidence of the corruption of sin, of the great price being paid by all of creation. Here was the Creator witnessing up close and personal just how much devastation had come upon His works, just how much damage had been done by that one injection of sin back in the garden. The poison had spread utterly. But, Jesus, the Creator standing amidst His creation, did not stop there in His concern. Had He desired, He could as easily have simply breathed out and corrected all that was wrong in an instant. But the corruption would not have been addressed at its root. The seeds of evil would have remained in the hearts of men. No. When He healed, His eye was on higher goals, eternal goals. Just as He taught in parables, taking examples from the realm of man to teach the truths of God, so did He minister in His healings, touching upon the physical infirmities and correcting them, to lead the healed ones to comprehend their spiritual infirmities, that He might also bring correction there. In all that Christ did on this earth, His attention was never taken from matters eternal. In all we teach and do, we should likewise have that heavenly goal and purpose in mind.
In teaching as he does on this topic of ritual cleanliness, Paul echoes Jesus' own teaching. As might be expected, in Jesus' teaching, this matter of food is but a passing concern, as His focus is ever inward and upward. In Mark's gospel, the lesson is related thusly: Don't you see? What goes into the man from outside can't defile him, because it doesn't go to his heart. It only goes to his stomach and gets eliminated (Mk 7:18-19). Here, Mark finds it necessary to point out that what Jesus was teaching indicated that all foods were to be considered clean. Jesus' message continues by pointing out that it is what comes forth from the heart that defiles. It is the heart come our vile thoughts and our vile deeds. Pride and envy, deception and foolishness; all of this is from the heart within, and this is the stuff of our defiling (Mk 7:20-23).
The message comes across a bit differently in Luke's gospel (Lk 11:39-41). Here, Jesus begins by bringing charges against the Pharisees. You are so careful to clean even the outside of your cups and plates, but your own interior is filled with theft and evil. Don't you see that He who made the outside, also made the inside? I must say that it seems that the majority of translations have failed to note the shift in focus here. Jesus briefly notes the concerns of their rituals of cleansing, but switches immediately to the spiritual. God, who created the outside created the inside as well. Are we talking about cups and plates any longer? No. It has clearly become more personal. He speaks of the man himself. Now comes the verse that really caught my attention. In v41, Jesus comes to His point: Give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.
It is interesting to me that any number of translations have felt it necessary to provide the words 'the dish' to this, as though Jesus' primary concern were that they give their food to the poor. This seems to join the Pharisees in utterly missing the point. Jesus is totally focused on the heart. He is showing them how their outward actions reveal their interior motives. He concludes in v44 by telling them that they are like hidden tombs, the death inside not visible to those passing by. They look good, but they are rotting away. With that in mind, consider again the message of v41. Give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you. Would you consider it charitable to give of what is within you?
What an awesome challenge Jesus throws down for us here! Consider the two passages together, in what they tell us of the heart. From Mark, we learn that all of the evil that so corrupts us flows from the heart. From Luke, we learn that we are to give of what is in our heart as a charitable act. Clearly, He is not asking us to give our evil intentions to others, to spread our disease, and call it blessing. No. He is calling us to cleanse the heart, to wash it clean of every evil intent, so that the giving of what is within us would not be a curse upon the recipient. We know that there is only one way to achieve that cleansing, to receive of the atoning work of Christ, to be reborn in spirit, renewed in mind, and restored in heart. It is the washing of the Word of God which will cleanse the heart. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit which will keep us from defilement. It is the very presence of God, dwelling in the temple of our soul, which will truly make clean, and if this is our possession and our reality, then truly we have within us that which is most charitable to give. We have received abundantly of God's gracious mercy that we may overflow with mercy. We have been forgiven by Him that we might forgive others. We have been reborn that we might carry the news to those who haven't been. We have been healed and raised up to bring good news to the lost; healing for the sick, especially the spiritually sick, freedom for the spiritual captive, prosperity to the spiritually destitute! We have been seeded with a heavenly message, planted in the heart, growing in the rich soil of the soul. Indeed, if you have this, if you can give of this internal state and know it as charitable to do so, all things have become clean for you, for you have become clean.
If we say we are Christians, if we make such claims to being righteous, redeemed members of God's household, then truly, nothing less than all of our heart, all of our strength, all of our soul, and all of our mind will serve. We could argue over the order in which these portions of our being are brought under the divine influence, but it doesn't matter. Unless all have joined in submitting to the wonderful will of God, then it may as well have been none. When the mind is convinced, the heart renewed from its stony callousness, and the soul refreshed, our strength will indeed be bent to the purposes of God. All our labors will share the sweet aroma of holy service, whether our labors be in the official efforts of the Church, or simply in the employments God has provided for us as our means of sustenance. All will be done as unto Him, and that which is within us will overflow to touch the lives of those around us.
Father God, I left myself with a portion of an earlier prayer of mine to consider this morning, and I thank You from prompting that. Last night, as we labored to set up the worship equipment for today's service, I once more spoiled the effort by my grumbling. Yes, all the equipment is once more up and running, but what does that really matter? How can I grumble and complain my way through, and still claim to be serving You? This is service? No, I once more made what should have been a service into nothing more than a work - an ugly, self-propelled work. There was nothing inside me last night that I would wish to give another. Oh God! Forgive me for my spoilage. Wash me again. Remind me once more of why I'm doing these things, for I forget in my weariness, and it is my forgetting that I grow weary. I don't want to work myself to exhaustion in hopes of attracting Your approving glance. It's not necessary, and it won't work anyway. Your gaze is already there, lovingly looking upon my struggles.
I prayed to You once, to work upon me such that where I serve You, it would be only in Spirit and Truth. I add to that now, my Lord, the desire that You would keep me ever in mind that everything I do is a service to You, whether it be in the home, or at work, or at church. The distinction is ours alone, one You never made. Help me to set aside this foolish notion that church work is somehow holier than the other work You have given me. Bring correction where it's needed, my King. And once more I come to You, asking that you remove me from this habit of 'holy' acts. I know such nonsense is not pleasing in Your sight, and I choose, insomuch as it is within me to do so, to cast such foolishness aside.
Purify my heart, Lord, that I may know You more.
