Moving On - Kindred Spirits

Matthew 11
28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I am about to retire, moving to Texas.  And I have been giving some thought to both my future and my past. This is a time to look not only forward but also to look back. It is time to move on, and it is also a time to look back and to say some goodbyes.

As part of looking forward to a new future, planning for a life that will be so different, I have given some consideration to my experience at  the little Baptist church I've been going to these past four years.

I found, in this church, a loving people that were right with each other and right with God, a people working for the good of the community and for the glory of God.  I found a Pastor with a wonderful, inspired message, based on the Bible, ably leading his flock.  In this church, I did find some spiritual peace, some little bit of rest on my walk in His path, in His Spirit. This was a good church to find one's salvation.

But, sad to say, I found no kindred spirits in this church. There was never much to say.  I guess I was just passing through. It's just a fact, an odd, sad fact of my life.

If you give life, in its deepest sense, some thought, God's essential message in the Bible is not about church, universal or local.  God's essential message in the Bible is not about the rapture, or speaking in tongues or election or evangelism. In the end, you only have your Bible and the holy message that God left for you.  In the end, it is just you and your God.

Thankfully, for some of us, he is a gracious, loving God.

Isaiah 2
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths....

Amen

Moving On

Matthew 19
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

I'm taking a break. I'm getting old, feeling my age, and I'm about to retire.  It's time to think, to pray. What am I going to do for the next few years, or at least 'til God takes me home. New directions. Setting a new course. Hopefully serving the glory of God. And, somehow, I sense that this blog is coming to an end.

Final note. It seems to me, when you make big changes in your life, when you think about your future, what you are to do, what you should be doing with your life, the above passage is good to consider.

Need For New Macedonian Church

2 Corinthians 8
1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

The events of the day and daily Bible study, do not mix well, for me anyway.  Daily Bible study, I think, is a refuge, quality time between a sinner and his savior.  And that is the focus of this blog.  It time to get away from the news of the day, the politics, the murder, the mayhem.

Be that as it may, I came across this sad news item the other day. It is from New York Newsday, August 21, 2011:

Large numbers of less-educated white Americans are abandoning religion, a new study says. Since the 1970s, religious service attendance has declined among all white Americans, but the rate of decline among those without college degrees has been more than twice that of college graduates, according to the researchers. The study, which was to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association ( ASA ) in Las Vegas, focused on whites because religiosity among blacks and Hispanics is less affected by education and income, the researchers said.

Part of the problem may be that churches, above and beyond their valid, wonderful, soul-saving spiritual purposes, may function as clubs with members pay their dues during each service. My guess: the group discussed in the above article - less educated white Americans - just may not be able to comfortably, spiritually, and financially participate in churches.

After giving this issue some thought, I think it is maybe more important than I initially thought.  But I can't even begin to imagine how church members and those who might want to go to church might approach this issue. 

The Will Of God

Joel 2
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

As my faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ grows, the more I try to live a righteous life, the more I love my church, the more I love my fellow Christians, the more I pity the lost.

And, as my faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ grows....the less inclined I am to share my deepest thoughts on the will and the ways and the working of God it this cruel, evil world.

The argument would waste my strength....

The Works And Will And Way Of God

Ecclesiastes 3
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

This passage is about our God, whose works and will and ways are unfathomable.

More From Ecclesiastes 3
13 ....every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

It is acceptable, in God's sight, to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

But, we must be careful. There is a thin deadly line between humbly enjoying the fruits of your labor and abject iniquity. A very thin line.

More From Ecclesiastes 3
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

Question. Is the use of the phrase "works and will and ways" a copy write violation?

Finally From Ecclesiastes 3
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

Good Church Order

1 John 3
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Here is rule number 11 for a happy, humble, Godly life: Never, ever, disturb good church order. This is not rule number 1 or 5 or even 8, but rule number 11. But, that still makes it a very important rule.

Psalm 133
1 Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2 [It is] like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, [even] Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3 As the dew of Hermon, [and as the dew] that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, [even] life for evermore.

When we think of good church order, we should think of Israel after the death of Absalom or the captivity of the Jews during the time of Zarubabbel and Joshua the high priest. That is good background for thinking about the church.

The Kosmos

John 3
16 For God so loved the world, that....

You cannot understand your salvation, you cannot bask in the sunshine of God's love, you cannot appreciate God's grace until you confront the whole world, the kosmos in Greek, the world that God loved so dearly. This is the definition of the World, From Strong's Reference:

2889   //  kosmov  //  kosmos   //  kos'-mos  //
1) an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government
2) ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. 1Pe 3:3
3) the world, the universe
4) the circle of the earth, the earth
5) the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human family
6) the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to  the cause of Christ
7) world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly
7a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ
8) any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort
8a) the Gentiles as contrasted to the Jews ( Ro 11:12 etc)
8b) of believers only, John 1:29; 3:16; 3:17; 6:33; 12:47
1Co 4:9; 2Co 5:19

The world is our stage, it includes good and bad, health and sickness, joy and sadness, evil, enmity, justice and injustice, along with all of God's gracious gifts. And we are sinners in this wonderful, awful world.....

One final point. This passage does not read: And God so loved his elect....

The Day Of Visitation

Isaiah 10
1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness [which] they have prescribed;
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!
3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

This passage is a warning to those who do not deal with the poor and the needy in a charitable, righteous way.  It is specifically directed to Hebrew leaders, but is a good lesson for us all. 

Prepare now, live righteously, treat those in need with kindness, be ready for your judgement on the day of visitation, the day of God's judgement.  As Hebrew tradition has it, the day of God's judgement is "the day when the Holy One, blessed be He, visits upon you your iniquities." (Amos 3:2).

But there is, always, hope for the Hebrew remnant:

Isaiah 11
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

And, there is, always, hope for the righteous of God, Christian or Hebrew.  Are you righteous?

Helplessness - And Bible Prophesy

Matthew 24
42 Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Here is the problem. I don't have a mind to figure out much. This especially applies to Bible Prophesy, and especially to the books of Daniel and Revelations.

I believe Jesus is coming, like a thief in the night. And I believe He is coming in a cloud, with great power and glory. But for any understanding more than this, I have come to the conclusion that I must rely on others, trusted others: Scofield, Larkin, Gill, my Pastor, Chafer.

And so, I read my Bible and Scofield, and now mostly Chafer, and say, ah ha, yes indeed, now I understand God's prophetic word to man. I truly understand the seventieth week. And a month later? I still believe Jesus is coming, like a thief in the night, but I can't remember the significance of Rome, the fourth kingdom, much less Medo-Persia, the second kingdom. Or is it the third?

Here is John Gill's explanation of Jesus' coming in Matthew 24 that I find oddly comforting:

for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come; [Here Jesus says He is coming] to avenge himself of the unbelieving Jews, and fulfil what he in person, and by his apostles, had predicted and warned them of. I will not deny, but that what follows may be much better accommodated and applied to the second coming of Christ, and the last judgment, and the behaviour of men with regard to both, than anything said before. And, it may be our Lord's intention, to lead his disciples gradually, and as it were imperceptibly, to the last scene of things on earth, to make way for the parables and description of the future judgment, in the next chapter; still keeping in view, and having reference to, the subject he had been so long upon.. 

I find Gill's 18th Century Baptist view of the millennium and beyond comforting. This, in the end, is my view of Jesus' Second Coming. It is tentative, but then again it is more than sufficient to guide me in my daily life....

Jesus and His Office

Hebrews 9
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

I wish I had written down my thoughts about Jesus before He came into my life as my Lord and Savior. I wish I had written down my thoughts about Jesus before I was quickened, before I started my Bible studies. I have always believed in Jesus, but I did not understand His sacrifice for my transgressions. I did not understand that He was mediator of the Gospel; I did not understand that Jesus was Christ, the reconciler of heaven and of earth.  I did not understand the Offices of Jesus, as prophet, as priest and as king. I just did not give much thought to any of this. I just did not give much thought to Jesus, what He is, what He does, who he is to me. And, I really did not give much thought to his sacrifice for my sins.  And, indeed, I did not give much thought to my sins and my own sinful nature.

In my early years, I did not struggle with atheism or agnosticism.  I did not struggle with the existence of God.  I always believed in Jesus who was somehow divine. But, for so many years, he was distant.   When I started my daily bible study, but before I was saved, I remember just the idea of Jesus being vaguely discomforting.  Jesus and God were over there, beyond the far ridge. And the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit was a warm breeze that would slowly blow past me, comforting, but only once in a while.

Hebrews 8
6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

One thing about those years before I was saved:  they were accompanied by southern gospel music and hymns.  I would listen, sing along, filled with the Spirit. I always had my records, then my cassettes and finally my CD's. And in those songs, one might not quite grasp the sacrifice of Jesus.  In those songs, one might not grasp the need to be born again.  In those songs, one might not feel the need to repent your sins.  But, in those songs, somehow over the years, I could feel the Christian love of the singers and especially I could feel the love of Jesus Christ.

When all of God's singers come home....