Faith Is, Chapter Twenty Two
The
Apostle Paul made a very profound statement in 2 Cor. 5:16-21,
"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded
Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled
us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though
God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled
to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God."
Just what do we do when we regard one another from a
worldly point of view? We look at all our faults and motives and family
background. We look at what our standing in society is and how successful we
have been in business and how many houses we have and what kind of car we
drive. Paul even said that they once viewed Christ the same way. Remember in Mark
8:28, when Jesus asked His followers, "Who do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist: but
some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets."
In Mark 6:2-3 the people of Jesus's own town said,
"When the sabbath day was come, he began
to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying,
From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and
Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they
were offended at him."
This is what Paul meant by viewing someone from a worldly
viewpoint but he said we no longer do this. Why do you no longer do this
Paul? Because if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new
has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ!
This is why it is so important for us to get our
mind off worldly things and look at everyone from a spiritual standpoint. Why
should we do this, because if any man be in Christ he is a new creation and all
the old has passed away and everything has became new! Does this mean that he
is now perfect? Yes it does! In God's sight because God now sees Jesus in that
person. However, we still see the same person. If he was fat and balding before
he was baptized into Christ he will still be fat and balding after he is
baptized.
The change has taken place on the inside and has to
be worked out in order for it to be seen on the outside. This doesn't change
the fact that the inward man has been made new. This is why Paul said in Phil.
2:13,
"Work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which works in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure."
The Apostle Paul said in Rom. 12:2,
"Be not conformed to
this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
The transformation of our mind is a constant process
as we study and become more acquainted with the Lord. As He reveals Himself
more and more to us our knowledge of His ways and His purposes become clearer
and clearer. As we begin to share with others what the Lord has revealed to us
we learn to discern when the Lord is using us and speaking through us in order
to minister to others.
Jesus was asked what the greatest of the Ten
Commandments is and He answered in Mark 12:29-31,
"The first of all the
commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment. And the second is
like, namely this, Thou
shall love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment
greater than these."
I have been most privileged to have lived during the
40's through the 60's in what many have referred to as, "The Beaver
Cleaver Days". Life was very simple then and our morals as a nation were
quite different than they are today. Man had not walked on the moon as yet and
curse words were uncommon even in the movies. The greatest expression of sex in
the movies was a casual kiss. TV was in it's infancy. Ed Sullivan would only allow
the cameras to show Elvis above the waist. If a young girl was so unfortunate
to get pregnant she would usually move out of town and go live with a relative
until after the baby was born because of the shame.
Was it a perfect age to live in? No, but our moral
standards as a nation were much different than they are at this time. Our
school systems were much different. The teachers had the authority to
discipline the students without fear of being sued. We were taught to respect
the flag and to say the pledge of allegiance and were taught about our
constitution. We had prayer in school and was not given homework on Wednesday
evening because it was church night.
That is a far cry from what is happening today.
Everything on TV is geared to sex or implications of it. Our political
atmosphere is one of who can out slander the opponent the most. Most men and
women consider the cost of running for public service is too great a price to
pay because their lives will be exposed to the public. Commercials on TV need a
psychologist to explain what they are talking about. Sex appeal is used in
every commercial. People live together without the thought of ever getting
married. Sitcoms are filled with propaganda to promote the gay life or some
political position. Everybody seems to mistrust everyone else. Seems as though
most always question the motives of others without just trusting them.
As a result of all of this if we are not careful we
will fall into the trap of always being suspicious of everyone else. That is not
what Jesus was talking about when He said that we are to love our neighbor as
our self. Paul tells us about love in 1 Cor. 13:4-8, (NIV)
"Love is patient, love is
kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not
rude, it is not self–seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never
fails."
Why is it so important that we love one another?
Because we are family and we have one Father and He is Love. How can we say we
love Him and not love our brothers and sisters? Jesus said in Matt. 7:15-20,
"Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know
them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings
forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn
down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them."
He also said in Matt. 12:33-37,
"Either make the tree
good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is
known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how
can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart
brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth
evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shall be
justified, and by your words you shall be condemned."
It is so important that we learn to declare what the
word has to say about the will of God that Jesus instructed us. The carnal mind
wants to walk by experience and judge all activity by what it has learned by
experience through it's five senses. The carnal mind knows very little about
walking by faith. It is very quick to judge and to criticize others. It looks
on the negative side of every circumstance and judges every thing according to
what it has experience in the past. The carnal mind is filled with doubt and a
lack of trust in anything. The carnal mind is pessimistic about everything.
If we want to be pleasing to the Lord we will be very
careful to study to show our selves approved before the Lord. We should learn
to mediate on what His word has to say about us even if we have to walk by
faith until it becomes manifest in our lives. You see, it's one thing to
believe what Jesus had to say is true for us today and an entirely another thing
to accept it and to walk by faith until it comes to past. Just two things that
Jesus had to say to prove my point.
He said in Matt. 19:26,
"With men this is
impossible; but with God all things are possible."
For those of us who have studied His word this is easy to accept
and to believe in! Most Christians will agree that all things are possible for
Jesus because He is the Son of God. But Jesus said this in Mark 9:23,
"Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth."
Wow, it is easy to believe that Jesus can do anything but to
believe that we can do anything is something else. You see, if we can do all
things then it puts the ball in our court and we become responsible for what
happens in our lives because we have been given the power to overcome anything
that might come our way. That's a big responsibility. It means that we must
learn that what we say has the power to make things happen in our lives. It
means that we have been given the keys to the Kingdom of God and can unlock any
door of opposition that comes our way.
Jesus said in Mark 11:23,
"For verily I say unto you,
That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those
things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he
says. Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever you desire, when you
pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall
have them. And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought
against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses. But if
you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your
trespasses."
This passage of scripture recording what Jesus said
is very difficult for most Christians to accept because it again places the
ball in our court once again. Jesus said that if we want our mistakes to be
forgiven by our Father then we must be willing to forgive others for their
mistakes against us. This is often very difficult for us to accept because of
what others have done to us in the past and some of these things are very
difficult to forgive. However, we have no choice in the matter but to forgive
others for their trespasses against us. Why is this so? Jesus said in John
20:22-23,
"And when he had said this, he breathed
on them, and said unto them, Receive you the Holy Ghost: Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted
unto them; and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained."
I bet you have not heard many sermons on this subject!
Do you not see that if we are filled with the Holy Spirit or with the love of
our Father we will have the same mercy on others that he expresses to us. Why,
because we are children of the most high God and whatever He does we will find
His children doing. This is why what we say about others is so important
because as we judge them we are likewise judged.
We must learn to see others in the light of who they
really are and not what we often see manifest through their flesh. Dolly Rambo
wrote a song which is one of my favorites which expresses the way we should
look at our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's called, "He Looked Beyond
My Fault and Saw My Needs!"
Amazing
grace shall always be my song of praise, for it was grace that brought my liberty; I do not know just why He came to love me so, He
looked beyond my fault and saw my need. I shall forever life mine eyes to
Calvary, to view the cross where Jesus died for me, how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul; He looked beyond my
fault and saw my need."
The closer we come to our Father the more we will
act like Him. It is said of Him in Lamentations 3:22-23,
"It is by the LORD’S mercies that we are
not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness."
We sing a chorus that says,
The steadfast love of the
Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, They are new every
morning, New every morning, Great is thy faithfulness Oh Lord, Great is thy
faithfulness!
The point that I am trying to make to you is that we
must learn to be who we really are in this life and stop waiting until Jesus
comes. We are like Him even now and it's about time we begin acting like Him.
His love and mercy should be flowing through each of us toward others
especially those of the household of faith. This includes all who have accepted
the Lord Jesus Christ even if they have not learned all that we have about Him.