Revelation 12:10-11: “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Believers in Christ will not deny that the primary purpose of existence of the Church in the world is to witness to the saving grace of God in forgiving and cleansing the sins of all who come to believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour. A fundamental element of the Christian faith is the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse of all sin and unrighteousness. But the Holy Spirit often leads us into situations where we must confront the reality of whether we believe the Gospel we preach.
We show great zeal in going about telling sinners about the cleansing power of the blood and the mercy and grace of God to forgive them of their sins, forget their past, and make them completely new creatures. Then these sinners follow us to our church meetings only to hear us excuse our own ongoing vices as though by just joining a church and professing Christianity we obtain divine license to do the same things we ask them to repent of and told them the blood of Christ would cleanse them from. But that’s not all. And this is the issue being highlighted in this message.
If they stay around it does not take them long for the sinners we invite to join our churches to discover by the comments they hear us whisper about one another and the snobbery they see in our regards for one another that the cleansing of the blood is not all that significant in qualifying one for regards of trust and respect or recommendations for offices in the church. It becomes obvious to them that one’s faultless past and high social regards remain primary qualifications for treatments of respect and assignment to offices in the church rather than the cleansing of sinners by the blood of Lamb. In other words, to many professing Christians today, the ugly sinful past of others is never washed away by the blood of Lamb and buried in the sea of forgetfulness.
One night in a church service a young woman felt the tug of God at her heart. She responded to God's call and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. The young woman had a very rough past, involving alcohol, drugs, and prostitution. But, the change in her was evident. As time went on she became a faithful member of the church. She eventually became involved in the ministry, teaching young children.
It was not very long until this faithful young woman had caught the eye and heart of the pastor's son. The relationship grew and they began to make wedding plans. This is when the problems began. You see, about one half of the church did not think that a woman with a past such as hers was suitable for a pastor's son. The church began to argue and fight about the matter. So they decided to have a meeting. As the people made their arguments and tensions increased, the meeting was getting completely out of hand. The young woman became very upset about all the things being brought up about her past.
As she began to cry the pastor's son stood to speak. He could not bear the pain it was causing his wife to be. He began to speak and his statement was this: "My fiancée's past is not what is on trial here. What you are questioning is the ability of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin. Today you have put the blood of Jesus on trial. So, does it wash away sin or not?"
The whole church began to weep as they realized that they had been slandering the blood of the Lamb of God. Too often, even as Christians, we bring up the past and use it as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. Forgiveness is a very foundational part of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If the blood of Jesus does not cleanse the other person completely then it cannot cleanse us completely. If that is the case, then we are all in a lot of trouble.
When we dig up again the buried past of other Christians, snob them because of their past reputation, or even hold them in suspicion because of unfounded accusations, we are demonstrating our scepticism about the cleansing power of the Blood of the Lamb. In addition, we are joining with the devil “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night.” We are warned in Hebrews 10:29: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Broken Reeds and Smoking Flax
We read in Isaiah 42:3: “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.”
Isaiah is referring to the mission of Jesus Christ to bring life and restoration. According to Isaiah, the ministry of Jesus Christ would be a ministry of life and restoration and not of death and condemnation. “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.”
What are bruised reeds and smoking flax? A reed is a straight stalk of grass. A field of grass would have countless stalks or reeds. Obviously, in a field of grass the significance of one stalk would be minimal, and much less would be a bruised one which may likely wither quickly. Flax is a plant produced for its fibre. Smoking flax may appear useless for two reasons. One is smoke is a nuisance and may be a signal of unwanted fire. The other is if flax is being burnt for its heat, smoking flax may be a sign of smothered or dying fire and would be considered unnecessary. So for either reason one does not need smoking flax.
But why then would Jesus not break a bruised reed or quench smoking flax? While a bruised reed is just a faulty withering stalk of weed among many unscarred stalks in a field, it still has the potential to be restored to a healthy plant. In a similar way, while smoking flax is a nuisance it can be fanned into useful flames. Not to break a bruised reed or put out smoking flax is to demonstrate hope in the potential of the bruised reed to heal and the smoking flax to rekindle.
Now, what about the bruised reeds and smoking flax among us today? Bruised reeds and smoking flax are usually among the outcasts of religious establishments. Bruised and smouldering, their inner potential for life and restoration is completely dismissed. Their outward bruises and flameless cinders make them rejects by the Pharisaic standards of mainstream religions. This is usually due to two obvious reasons. One is that their bruises and suppressed spirits may be the direct results of persecutions from the cold and callous hand of loveless religious snobbery and authoritarianism. The other is that cold and callous religious establishments, void of the life-giving power of the Spirit to heal and revive, cover their shameful helplessness by shunning and condemning the wounded and the faint.
God, however, sees beyond the bruises and smoke which conceal the undying purpose and inextinguishable fire born of the Spirit of God in hearts of those who are His, yet are judged unfit by the uncharitable yardstick of men's religious traditions and arrogance. “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Usually, as history often shows, it is through the healing of rejected bruised reeds and the rekindling of discarded smoking flax that the ongoing move of the Spirit of God breaks out. Jesus Christ was rejected by His own people. Martin Luther, whom God used to provide leadership to the reformation movement, was thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century was despised as fanaticism. The Latter Rain movement of the mid-20th century was shunned as heresy.
The history of God's dealings with mankind indicates that mainstream religious establishments seemed to have always failed to recognize the true direction of the move of the Spirit of God, and have had the tendency to reject those in whom the Spirit of God is moving even when they themselves have had their historical origins in similar radical movements. It seems so common for spiritual movements which were once aflame and empowered by the life of the Spirit of God to become settled in a stagnant pool of accumulated traditions and forms which refuse to flow with any ongoing move of the Spirit in life-giving truths and power. It is in these stagnant pools of religious traditions and forms that unyielding structures of positions and arrogance arise.
A usual unfortunate consequence is that they who once were persecuted for righteousness' sake become the persecutors of them who are moved in the newness of righteous living in Christ and by the ongoing flow of the Spirit of God. Limited now by a narrow view by which they see their past experiences as the beginning and end for all God does in the Church they have no regard or tolerance for the ongoing move of the Spirit of God in new areas. They easily embark on a crusade of breaking bruised reeds and quenching smoking flax.
Someone wrote to me these inspiring words along this line: “Christ-like mentality produces life; the Law only produced death. Let no man try to destroy the dreams that are produced out of the relationship between you and your Father. Those who live under the Law will try to bring death to all of the God produced thoughts that pour out of your belly like living water.”
Isaiah is referring to the mission of Jesus Christ to bring life and restoration. According to Isaiah, the ministry of Jesus Christ would be a ministry of life and restoration and not of death and condemnation. “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth.”
What are bruised reeds and smoking flax? A reed is a straight stalk of grass. A field of grass would have countless stalks or reeds. Obviously, in a field of grass the significance of one stalk would be minimal, and much less would be a bruised one which may likely wither quickly. Flax is a plant produced for its fibre. Smoking flax may appear useless for two reasons. One is smoke is a nuisance and may be a signal of unwanted fire. The other is if flax is being burnt for its heat, smoking flax may be a sign of smothered or dying fire and would be considered unnecessary. So for either reason one does not need smoking flax.
But why then would Jesus not break a bruised reed or quench smoking flax? While a bruised reed is just a faulty withering stalk of weed among many unscarred stalks in a field, it still has the potential to be restored to a healthy plant. In a similar way, while smoking flax is a nuisance it can be fanned into useful flames. Not to break a bruised reed or put out smoking flax is to demonstrate hope in the potential of the bruised reed to heal and the smoking flax to rekindle.
Now, what about the bruised reeds and smoking flax among us today? Bruised reeds and smoking flax are usually among the outcasts of religious establishments. Bruised and smouldering, their inner potential for life and restoration is completely dismissed. Their outward bruises and flameless cinders make them rejects by the Pharisaic standards of mainstream religions. This is usually due to two obvious reasons. One is that their bruises and suppressed spirits may be the direct results of persecutions from the cold and callous hand of loveless religious snobbery and authoritarianism. The other is that cold and callous religious establishments, void of the life-giving power of the Spirit to heal and revive, cover their shameful helplessness by shunning and condemning the wounded and the faint.
God, however, sees beyond the bruises and smoke which conceal the undying purpose and inextinguishable fire born of the Spirit of God in hearts of those who are His, yet are judged unfit by the uncharitable yardstick of men's religious traditions and arrogance. “For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Usually, as history often shows, it is through the healing of rejected bruised reeds and the rekindling of discarded smoking flax that the ongoing move of the Spirit of God breaks out. Jesus Christ was rejected by His own people. Martin Luther, whom God used to provide leadership to the reformation movement, was thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church. The Pentecostal movement of the early 20th century was despised as fanaticism. The Latter Rain movement of the mid-20th century was shunned as heresy.
The history of God's dealings with mankind indicates that mainstream religious establishments seemed to have always failed to recognize the true direction of the move of the Spirit of God, and have had the tendency to reject those in whom the Spirit of God is moving even when they themselves have had their historical origins in similar radical movements. It seems so common for spiritual movements which were once aflame and empowered by the life of the Spirit of God to become settled in a stagnant pool of accumulated traditions and forms which refuse to flow with any ongoing move of the Spirit in life-giving truths and power. It is in these stagnant pools of religious traditions and forms that unyielding structures of positions and arrogance arise.
A usual unfortunate consequence is that they who once were persecuted for righteousness' sake become the persecutors of them who are moved in the newness of righteous living in Christ and by the ongoing flow of the Spirit of God. Limited now by a narrow view by which they see their past experiences as the beginning and end for all God does in the Church they have no regard or tolerance for the ongoing move of the Spirit of God in new areas. They easily embark on a crusade of breaking bruised reeds and quenching smoking flax.
Someone wrote to me these inspiring words along this line: “Christ-like mentality produces life; the Law only produced death. Let no man try to destroy the dreams that are produced out of the relationship between you and your Father. Those who live under the Law will try to bring death to all of the God produced thoughts that pour out of your belly like living water.”
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