Interesting questions someone raised about the underestimation of man's lusts (money and woman) & issues of Commandment #10 on coveting and how to guard against it.
I was reminded about the word "overcome" in Rev many times.
I was reading the 7 churches mentioned in Rev again today. All 7 except one pass the test.
Of which the first church in Ephesus - God mentioned that he also hate the practice of the Nicolaitans. (Rev 2:6) The thing Jesus hated about them was their "deeds." The word "deeds" is the Greek word erga, which means works. This word is so all-encompassing that it pictures all the deeds and behavior of the Nicolaitans - including their actions, beliefs, conduct, and everything else connected to them.
It is all about 2 main Cs.
1. Compromise
2. Conviction.
At the end of the day - will we be a CARNAL Compromising Christian or Christ-Centred Christian who will receive the other C later in life on the other side? ie the Crown of Life?
The capital C also connotes the main freedom which we as humans have in life - it is called Choices!
Many a times in life milestones we will be presented with this one C - Crossroads decisions (Be it career, family ones since we have passed that of the structured education phase of our life) And I am reminded of the wonder verse in Jer 6:16 each time we stand at crossroads " Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths , ask where the good way is, and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls" But you said ,"We will not walk in it"
So there again, the choice of freewill from the King above is that for us - "mere subjects" to choose. All we need to do is active stuff. The life of a christian is not just the floaty faith of cheap talk. It is actually a rigorous 'heartwork' process. And also very "hard work" indeed as one struggles with the "I know what to do yet I seem not able to do it" because Paul in Romans already forewarned us about it. The Bible teaches that Christians are supposed to "die" to sin and the deeds of our "flesh": "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1-2) "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:11-13) The truth of the matter to guard against the deceitfulness of our hearts and not to fall into diverse temptations is also more than what Ps 119:9-11 exhorts us to do - "to hide the word in our heart so that we may not sin against the Lord"?
In fact the hiding of the word in our heart requires more than that. We can go for bible classes from one to another , recite and memorise verses, dutifully perform our QT. But is that it? What do you think? Well, I think It requires more than all mentioned earlier. It requires one to act upon it. Without that active action, The "walking in it " as Jer puts it as we stand, ask ourselves those heart questions during crossroads times of our lives - we may not be able to find the rest for our souls! That is why in James , he said "Faith without action is dead". So we still have a restless spirit and not that of a spirit of "restedness"!
The Challenges we christians today faced is that of Compromise and Conviction in such a fallen world. Compromise is indeed a spiritual Cancer. Conviction is the Chemo for killing that cancer.
When we got to know the Lord in the beginning of our spiritual journey, we can promise almost anything to our Saviour! But as times goes, the carnal enticement of the world crept in. Like the Laodicean church which became lukewarm, like the Ephesus church which lost its first love, like the Pergamum and Thyatira church which allowed Balaam and Jezebel false teachings to be crept in and like the Sardis church which went into a slumber! We are supposed to to the "called out ones" - the ones set apart for the Lord. He is Holy. Be Holy as He is Holy. The righteousness inputed upon us thru the blood of Jesus Christ becomes wishy washy. We forgot that no one is righteous except the Lord Jesus Christ. Man began to find fulfillment in work-centred church or community charitable activities. Nothing wrong with that but the carnal church of today at times behave so much as a corporation that she also invited nicolaitan standards into it. The KPI is numbers as measurement of souls saved, increasing number of attendances in outreaches or seminary classes as a yardstick of one's charism in gifts of teaching, evangelism etc. We become a self serving christian in the church too. We start to allow compromise to engulf the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that which we earlier "promise" to the Lord has now added a new dimension of "Com-promise" The community of the world had come in and edged out that awesome promise. We worship the work of the Lord more than that of the Lord of the work. Deeds.
Jeremiah was a prophet who spoke around 580BC. IN Jer 1:5 He was assured by the Lord " Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born , I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" He spoke of repentance , righteousness , return and restoration.
The word Nicolaitans : The name "Nicolaitans" is derived from the Greek word nikolaos, a compound of the wordsnikos and laos. The word nikos is the Greek word that means to conquer or to subdue. The word laos is the Greek word for the people. It is also where we get the word laity. When these two words are compounded into one, they form the name Nicolas, which literally means one who conquers and subdues the people
. It seems to suggest that the Nicolaitans were somehow conquering and subduing the people.
So why we do feel being conquered and subdued? Why cannot we rise above the situation? We must learn to overcome as exhorted in Rev.
God only promises "to him who overcomes" - the right to eat from the tree of life, not to be hurt by the second death, the hidden manna and a white stone with a new name written on it, know only to him who receives it, the authority over the nations! given the morning star! Be dressed in white and will never be blot out from the book of life, be acknowledged before His Father and his angels, , be made a pillar in the temple of our God, has the name of our God, the name of the city of our God, the new Jerusalem written on us, and be given the right to sit with Him on His throne! Oh Wow Oh Wow Oh Wow! This last words of the late Steve Jobs - he must have seen something awesomely glorious to leave such an exclamation as his last breath! And these promises to an overcomer in the hall of faith with great men in Hebrews and that promise in Revelation - wouldn't you want to overcome? and be a conqueror rather than be conquered? And to rule rather be subdued other than that to submit to our King of Kings and LOrd of Lords?
Reflection
Crossroads are not uncommon to us. In fact they are there for us to build bridges to learn to crossover as we made those choices.
So what kind of spiritual cancer of compromise are you having? Different cancers require different chemo drugs . Convictions in life are liken to those of the types of chemo drugs. And mind you, many a times today, such chemo drugs can be hell of a expensive! And Convictions are costly matters. They are formed after one goes through the fiery furnace of life journeys. And as one goes through them, either you are fallen into the sinkhole and be dead or you managed to crossover and be an overcomer . And when we detours or avoided the right bridge ie we made a wrong choice at certain times of our lives, it does not matter so long as we return back to Him and allow that deeper work of conviction of hold us up even higher. Crossover and Overcome. "Not by my might nor by power, but by my Spirit" (Zech 4:6). His Spirit is in us. So we submit. And not that we are able, but He is.
I have adopted a principle of Life Conviction which can be found in Jer 9:23-24.
This is what the LORD says:
"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this;
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD , who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight," declares the LORD.
Learn not to compromise or covet for the things of the world but to be convicted and boast about the only one thing : We understand and know Him - one who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth. Listen to this song "OUR GOD" - the bridge in this youtube says it all. What could stand against us if our God is for us? Be a convicted Conqueror for the King of Kings of this universe.
No comments:
Post a Comment