Whose Perspective?
It’s not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, it’s that Christianity has not been tried. When you approach the Lord Jesus Christ from the world’s perspective, Christianity doesn’t make sense. We have to approach the Lord on his terms, not ours. The Word says that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the lord forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the lord.
There’s a story about a pig farmer who attended a church near his home for the first time. He was moved to action by the preacher’s sermon so he called the church. He said to the church secretary, “I’d like to speak to the big hog.” She replied, “I don’t think the pastor will want to talk to you if you’re going to insult him.” He said, “I meant no disrespect ma’am. That’s just what we call the boss in the pig farming industry. I called because I wanted to donate $50,000 to your church.” She said, “hold for just a moment, I think I see the big fat pig coming this way.” What’s the difference between a term of disrespect and a term of endearment? It’s just a matter of perspective.
Oswald Chambers said in his devotional on November 1, “ye are not your own.” When a man or woman is brought into the presence of Christ, we’re brought into the fellowship of his suffering. When you enter His world, you become a thoroughfare for the world to tread on. He’ll bring his broken people into our lives whether or not we think we’re ready to represent Christ. The world looks at us as if we’re professing Christians even when we don’t feel like it. The world expects us to turn the other cheek and to love our enemies. They’re looking for someone who actually lives the gospel. They haven’t seen it in the world. Ironically, the world will call us hypocrites whenever we do what conforms to the world’s perverted norms. The world also questioned Jesus. They asked him, “how many times shall I forgive my brother?” Jesus said, “you have to forgive your brother not seven times, but seventy times seven.” There are no bounds to God’s forgiveness. When they nailed Jesus to the cross he said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
We’re not sanctified for ourselves. We’re set apart to the fellowship of the gospel. It’s not about us, it’s about Him. The things of this world aren’t done for us. Trials and tribulation are for the gospel. The purpose of trials is to crush the self out of ourselves. When we come to him with a broken and a contrite heart, he will embrace us in his arms. He’ll pick up the treads of our broken hearts and weave them together again. He’s called us to be “gracefully broken.” As Paul said through his pain and suffering, “Thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me.”
When Mao came to power in China there were 50 thousand Christians. Mao attempted to stamp out Christianity by making Christianity a crime against his regime. After Mao died, there were 50 million Christian Christians in China. The underground church had exploded and had outlasted Mao’s oppressive regime.
When we suffer, either we can become discouraged and curse God, or we can acknowledge that we’re helpless in your own power. When we’re crushed and gracefully broken, then we will come to the realization that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed, for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
The grace of God is God’s gift given by the one who didn’t need to give it to the ones who didn’t deserve to receive it. We’re forgiven not because we’re forgivable. We’re loved, not because we’re lovable. It’s not because of who we are but because of who He is. Forgiveness, grace, mercy and loving kindness is the nature of God himself.
One way to get a donkey’s attention is to hit him with a two-by-four. Donkeys are notorious for their stubbornness. Through the pain of trials, God gets our attention. Pain tells us that we’re in need of deliverance. To resolve the problem we need to be like the crew of Apollo 13. They radioed their control center, “Houston, we have a problem.” The solution to life’s problems is Jesus Christ himself. The root of the problem is sin. Sin means to miss the mark. It also means to cross the line of God’s righteous standard. We inherited our sin nature from Adam. In ourselves, we’re doomed to sin and death. However, Jesus Christ paid the debt of our sin. Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. For he who was without sin was made the Perfct sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
Grace and mercy are all of thee and none of me. Grace relieves our burden of sin. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. What neediest thou? Grace brings us to understand that “All I need is thee.” Therefore when we’re broken we can come to him as David did. Even though he had committed murder and adultery, David’s confession was, “Against thee and thee only have I sinned. Create in me a new heart O God.”
In 2 Timothy 2 Paul exhorts Timothy that even though those with foolish and ignorant speculation will question you, the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, and patient. Through the trials of life, the question is, “Lord what are you teaching me through this trial?” We’ll learn humility through the trials of life. We will learn to serve God by serving those whom he’s called us to minister. He’s teaching us that the blessing is “if perhaps God will grant them repentance. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” The purpose is that they can turn from themselves and unto God.
Our challenge is to see ourselves, and those whom God has called, not according to our own worldly perspective. Through trials he will teach us to see according to his vantage point. Ephesians says that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Through the eyes of Christ in us, God will grant us the perspective to perceive the knowledge of the truth.
In the Old Testament God called his prophet Hosea and commanded him to marry a prostitute. This was to show Israel how they had committed adultery by worshiping other gods. Hosea’s message and example was not of condemnation but of mercy and forgiveness. Even though Hosea’s wife kept returning to prostitution, Hosea kept pursuing her and loving her despite her sin. The Lord God Jehovah kept pursuing the children of Israel even though they played the harlot and went “a-whoring” after other gods. He did not call Israel to condemnation. Rather he called them to repentance. It’s the love, grace, mercy and goodness of God that calls a man to repentance.
In 2 Timothy 4:7-8 the Apostle Paul says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” In the midst of the spiritual battle, when we fight the good fight, we will catch a glimpse of His eternal perspective. When we’re wronged as the song says, “try a little kindness.” To fight the good fight Romans 12 says, “recompense to no man evil for evil. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”
May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael