QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The
tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on
fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell..." (James 3:6)
We are entering a greater level of His glory which will be accompanied with a
greater level of persecution. I was reviewing some of the persecution of our
hero's of the Bible; Paul, David, Moses, etc. Do you realize much of their
persecution was reasonable or even justified? David murdered and committed
adultery. Actions that would warrant imprisonment and the tabloids today. In
other words, they had every reason to persecute him! But David was still a man
after God's own heart and chosen of God as king.
Moses murdered, abandoned his family in Egypt, fell from his lofty position of
ministry and authority. Paul was a mass-murderer. He was the one carrying the
warrants for their arrest and lampooning the early Church. They had every moral
and legal reason to hound these early Christians! But God chose the foolish
things to confound the wise! Their persecution put them in a place of greater
grace and glory. We do not associate that with God's blessing today. Like Job's
friends, we look at the obvious, his suffering, as God's judgment and wrath when
in reality it is His favor. Again: "And they departed from the presence of
the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his
name." (Acts 5:41).
Yes, they were persecuted for the preaching of the word, but they were also
breaking the law of the land by preaching it! It's the lifestyle that these
people lived that merited the persecution that deemed them fit for the honor of
"suffering shame for His name..." I tell you this, all of us must ARM
ourselves with this mentality, for the fire is coming on all that desire the
greater works and the greater glory, it will cost you everything, including your
reputation and status. "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in
the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered
in the flesh hath ceased from sin..." (1 Pet 4:1).
Today in contemporary thinking it is who likes you and approves of you that
qualifies you for ministry or Christian service. We pass out Christian resumes
and accolades that say, "I am a great guy, have me come and speak at your
church!" In Paul's day it was quite different... "Being defamed, we
intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all
things unto this day. I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved
sons I warn you... (1 Cor 4:13-14).
This same warning is echoing through history today. It is looking at us in our
well-to-do faces and saying, "Are you ready to die? Are you ready to lose
everything for the call? Are you prepared to be hated and scorned so as to be
entrusted with My secret treasures of grace and power?" We must pass
through the eye of the needle of suffering and persecution if we desire to enter
into the fields of favor and harvest that are waiting for this generation.
In the New Testament it was who hated and despised you that set you apart for
ministry not how many people loved and adored you. Today it is how many men
speak well of you. In reference to the scripture in Luke 6 I wonder who really
is qualified for service then? "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well
of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26).
Paul faced the same dilemma in his time. Many were clamoring for Christian
service and position. Men desired position more than they desired His power.
That is obvious today. It is not how many people have been saved or the moral
climate of cities that have been radically altered by your ministry, but to the
contrary, who is you covering? Who approves or disapproves of you? The fruit no
longer has any weight, only how others approve or disapprove of a person. There
is a powerful lesson to learn here: "But if I do, though ye believe not me,
believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and
I in him." (John 10:38).
It was what Jesus did not what He appeared to be that changed the world. If who
he appeared to be was the proof of His claims, then He was a devil, a false
prophet, a mad-man. But rather it was what He did, His fruit, the Father's
approval through the signs, wonders, and fulfilled prophecy that elevated Him to
Messiah. Men seek appearances, God walks through the wilderness of people's
hearts and finds Himself. Jesus defied appearances. We chase them. Jesus scorned
those that esteemed themselves. We worship them. Jesus said it better,
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
(John 7:24).
Everything that appears to be good today could be hated tomorrow. We must strip
ourselves of this modern day theology of approval and disapproval and begin to
see people through Christ's eyes. Jesus defined this kind of generation:
"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they
like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each
other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a
dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor
drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and "sinners." ' (Luke 7:31-34).
Things are never what they appear to be. The scales of modern day thinking must
be peeled off first and the eyes of our understanding enlightened if we are ever
to see clearly the radical generation that is now appearing. Even the ancient
prophet Samuel had to have these scales taken away. He too was looking at
appearances to determine who was approved or disapproved by God. He nearly
missed the king! "But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his
appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the
things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at
the heart..." (1 Sam 16:7).
The characters that will lead the march into harvest at this junction will be
the ones totally rejected by man. They will be the mis-fits and offscouring of
all things. They will not have chosen this road, no one ever does. But it will
be the cross that faces them on their journey. Many will turn away from this
cross of persecution and rejection and will go back. Others will count the cost,
and because of the joy set before them, will endure the shame. They will be the
last great army that ushers in the King of Kings to forever reign. Like John the
Baptist they will have had to pledge their heads to heaven. And mark this, God
will take it. It is time to gird ourselves up and arm ourselves with the mind of
Christ. Only then will we see beyond the portals of persecution into the fields
of His favor. God grant your servants this grace.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction,
whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind
on earthly things... (Phil 3:18-19). |
