Most believers are
diligent to bring Jesus into their little corner of the world, but even with
all our efforts some towns, communities and regions fail to welcome the Lord. It
is then that some of us become afflicted with the James and John Syndrome. When
a Samaritan village did not welcome Jesus these two disciples offered, “Lord,
do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” Then as now, “Jesus
turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village” (Luke 9:54-56
NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----In the first place, it wasn’t time for the fire in Jesus‘ day. It was time for the good news to go out regarding the escape from the fire. It is still time for that good news to go out. And the good news needs to go out all the more as we see the day for the fire approaching. Of course, our minds have been so stuck on spreading the gospel that the rest of our responsibilities in the Lord have been more than somewhat shirked. Had the Christian community been historically involved in founding one another in the Lord, girding up one another’s faith, building one another up and encouraging each other in the Lord instead of founding and girding up the walls of our denominations against each other, the culture of this once great nation would have resisted the onslaught of debauchery and deceit which has now pretty much crumbled what once made us a rather upright people. If we had taken the Word of God for what the Word of God says instead of finding every way to polish off as much of its supernatural “blemishes” as possible so we wouldn’t have to go red-faced before the scientists, people would have understood that the closet is the proper place for abominations. They would not have opened wide the closet door and given abomination the chief place at the family table. This good news, encouragement, and up-building is what it has been time for ever since James and John were rebuked for desiring to burn the trash too early. We need to reflect on the fact that the Church at Ephesus never returned to its first love, therefore the lampstand was removed from its place (note that Jesus did not say He would remove it from them, but from its place.)
-----In the second place, when it becomes time for the fire, it won’t be the Lord’s children lighting it or spreading it. As all the mayhem of the Tribulation fires up, Revelation assures, “ If any one is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if any one slays with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” (Rev 13:10) Nobody should be fooled about the destruction quickly coming for this faithless world. “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him! As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God!” (Ps 68:1-2) God did not create this world to exist forever in wickedness. There is the set time for the destruction of wickedness. And that burning of the wicked will be by the Lord. It is not a duty delegated to His children.
-----Our delegated duty is to warn of the nearing doom. Warning is an interesting concept. It is not a mere focus upon destruction. It is a coherent connection of impending difficulty to what can be done to avoid that difficulty, or what must be done to hold fast to avoiding the difficulty, depending on to whom the warning is being given. The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. If we are going to love Him with our minds, then we are going to engage reality with our minds because He made both reality and our minds. Interesting thing about reality, it is filling up with cohesive signs portending the end of this evil age. Seeing those, we should have enough heart to girding up one another in the faith.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment