Raising the Bar
Wherefore God has highly exalted him, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The politically correct of this world always attempt to silence the gospel of Jesus Christ. The leaders of the temple in Jerusalem commanded Peter not to speak in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered and said, “whether it be right in the sight of God to harken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” As Jesus said, “if we don’t speak, even the rocks will cry out.” The devil can stand anything except the gospel of the Word of God rightly divided. Even the demons fear and tremble at the truth of Jesus Christ the living Word.
Many aspire, but few attain. Many begin well, but few end well. Paul said that I buffet my body to keep it under control, so that I might run well and then finish well. In the disciplined walk, we need to condition ourselves to follow after Christ and not be distracted by the things of this world. Paul saw all things in light of eternity. In Phil. 3:14 he said, “I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” The path to the heart of God begins with total abandonment and absolute trust.
The mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is a high bar. The Christian church in America has lowered the bar to appeal to the “average guy.” What is the characteristic of the “average” guy? Average means “typical of the group.” By this definition the average guy is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. The church at Laodicea was lukewarm. They were an “average” church. Because they were neither hot nor cold, God said that he would spew them out of his mouth. Church is an easy target for the adversary when their “target demographic” is the “average guy.” If a church is focused on donations, age-specific outreach programs, missions, and attendance, then its members miss the mark of the high calling. There is nothing wrong with serving and giving to the “work of the ministry.” However, God does not want your money or your obligation, rather he wants your heart.
God did not call his men to be “Casual.” Casual Christians become casualties in the spiritual warfare. “Casual” means feeling little or no concern, indifferent, and lacking a high degree of emotion. A casual person is spiritless, careless, reckless, and apathetic. To the Casual Shepherds of the flock of Israel God said in Ezekiel 34, “woe to you shepherds who feed yourselves but not the flock. You have not bound up the broken, nor healed the diseased, nor sought those who were lost. Rather, you have forcefully and cruelly ruled over them. In Ezekiel 22 the people of the nation of Israel had turned their backs on the truth of the Word of God. God said through his prophet, “I look for a man who will stand in the gap and build up the hedge wall so I would not have to destroy Israel but I found no one.”
Isaiah 6 describes Isaiah’s vision when he saw the glory and the majesty of God filling his holy temple. He beheld in awe the seraphims worshiping God saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty and the earth is full of his glory.” Upon witnessing this spectacle, Isaiah, overcome with shame and unworthiness, said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” The angel took a hot coal “And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” The angel touched a hot coal to Isaiah’s lips so that he would be purged to speak forth the Word of the Lord.
According to Jeremiah 1, God had called his prophet to speak on his behalf no matter what the audience of unbelievers thought about the message. We, like Jeremiah are called to deliver the message and to be the message. We’re no longer independent agents keeping our options open. For him to live in us, we need to relinquish our wills to his will by delighting ourselves in the Lord. As Jesus said to Peter, “lovest thou me more than these?” Do you love me more than these fish, this fishing business, your fishing buddies, your livelihood, your paycheck and your worldly influence? Your love is your delight.
God did not call us to “be delighted in Him.” Rather he said, “Delight thyself in the Lord.” This is a command from our Commander in Chief. We must deliberately focus our minds to intentionally, deliberately, and purposefully, actively delight ourselves in the Lord. Only when we obey his command to delight ourselves in him will we receive the promise of God… Delight thyself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. When our delight is his delight, and his desires our desires, then he will give us the desires of our heart.
The focus this year is to raise the bar of the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Our first priority is to raise the bar in our own lives. We do not have the luxury of being casual. O Lord, make me the man I knew to be… totally devoted, not to the things of this world, but totally devoted to you. Jesus said, abide in me and I in you and you will bear much fruit. Pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus is to blaze a trail to God’s inner chamber. Those who dare enter into God’s inner chamber of the holy of holies must enter in with total abandonment and absolute trust… Nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee.
May God richly bless you.
Your brother in Christ,
Michael