Sometimes the treatment is radical, often requires surgery, always it is a process. But, by the grace of God and increased knowledge, the disease can be arrested and the cancer cured.
There was a time it was not so. There was a time when you got it, you’d had it.
Set your house in order, make sure you left the silver to Aunt Ida, and close the blinds. Thank God and research, it isn’t that way any longer.
The one pre-requisite, catch it in time. Examine yourself. Note any suspicious lumps or unexplained weaknesses. And, for God’s sake and your own, if you find that you just may have contracted the dread disease, immediately (if not sooner) place yourself in the hands of Someone who knows what they’re about.
It is not mandatory that we catch up with this killer. And it isn’t as if medical science has progressed to this certain point and/or the skills of the physicians have increased all that much. No. It is simply that knowledge has increased. He who controls the flow of human understanding, whether secular or spiritual, has turned the valve to the on-position.
It is that simple.
And so it is with we who follow after. It is not written in stone that we of this generation will overcome that which has, heretofore, overcome us. It is not that we have come to some golden age, wherein all of the mysteries have been opened to us and last-word revelation burst upon us. No. We take too much on ourselves if we think so. No. We are simply come to a place, by the grace of God, that understanding has been delivered to us.
It is the time. It is the season.
It is not as if we have accomplished some great thing that no one else has ever accomplished. It is not as if we are a special breed of cat, a kind of spiritual superrace.
No! No! No!
If we persist in the thinking of such thoughts, we will all die like men.
But there is a cure.
Thank God, there is a cure.
By The Grace Of God
“…other foundation can no man lay…”
Someone has said that every revival begins in Romans. I cannot speak for everyone, but I am aware of the one which is continually going on in me. And, as far as I am concerned, the man was right. The moment I fail to remember that this great salvation has been ministered to me “by grace through faith”, I take a tumble. I begin to fret and stew and to think of all of those things I ‘oughta’ do, and to condemn myself for all of those other things that I do that I ‘oughta’ not do.
I get back on the treadmill of religion!
But when Paul whispers to me or Martin Luther raises up again in my thoughts, I revive. My arms that have withered, my head that has drooped, my feeble knees receive new strength. It is all right again between me and He “with whom my soul has to do.”
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” is a question David poses in the 11th Psalm. The answer is simple:
Build them again!
Grab the shovels, create new forms, and order the concrete! For this house cannot be built, I repeat, this house cannot be built on any other foundation. Whether you live near the sea or in the deepest valley or on the highest of mountains, YOU CAN’T GET ‘THERE’ FROM ‘HERE’ EXCEPT BY THE GRACE OF GOD.
Basic stuff!
Kindergarten curriculum!
I know.
But it is the first principle to be thrown overboard when the ship encounters heavy seas.
And so, you righteous, what will you do? My advice is to remember the former days. And no matter how many times the foundations have been destroyed, lay them again and again and again. Don’t let any man take your crown. Don’t let any contractor sell you on the idea he has a better blueprint. Don’t let any supplier sell you inferior materials. For this is a structure that reaches unto heaven itself. This thing has to be solid!
It is so simple, this amazing grace of God, or was, until we religionists got our hands on it.
A simple matter.
A matter of the Sovereignty of God.
A matter of “it is not of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
And of a hope sure and an inheritance certain.
Of ‘unmerited’ favor.
What the Baptist folk think of as Eternal Security.
Or, they held an election one day; God voted for me, and I won”!
Or, “man never climbs, but always is lifted.”
A simple matter.
Or, it was.
Now it is complicated, obfuscated, not to mention expropriated by some who insist on their right to parcel it out to a deserving few, that is, as long as they remain deserving. A plague on their house (and ours) they, (or we), anyone who would turn the grace of God into a subtle form of law or legalism. From such, as soon as it is possible for you to do so, turn away!
But the foundations, because they most assuredly have been torn down, require a bit of time to be built up again. A bit of sweat, a bit of tears, a bit of time.
Experience is still the best teacher. Revelation, by itself, will not do it.
Generations of ‘tutors and governors’ have instilled the “touch not, taste not, handle not” of legalistic religion into our minds and into our very souls. So much so that we invariably (and instinctively) think in terms of ‘doing’ something (that something varies from group to group) as if there simply must be ‘something’ we can do for God that will result in Him being beholden to us, rather than the other way around.
We are simply not comfortable with the free gift of God!
Our young dreamer was once caught up in such a proposition. One day, out of the blue, something very strange happened to him. He was translated, by the Spirit of God, into a different dimension. For at least three days he walked and talked as he never had before. Nothing could touch him. Absolutely nothing. He was simply elevated in his spirit to another place. Peace, joy, poise, contentment. A constant and consistent awareness!
After three days, sitting in his car waiting on a sister he was picking up for a mid-week prayer service, the glory lifted. Our young friend promptly panicked and cried out to his God as he tried desperately to retain the experience.
He had waited so long for the promised ‘rest’ to the soul. He had hoped against hope that this experience might just signal the end to fear and doubt and uncertainty.
And now.. ?
It was as if an astronaut had been suddenly thrust back into the earths atmosphere. He became aware, again, of all the things that pulled and tugged at a man, even a believer. He was very upset and cried out…why?
Why had this heavenly feeling left him?
It was then he asked the question that (sooner or later) religious man is bound to ask and which reveals more about his basic concept of his relationship to his God than any other:
“What have I done wrong?”
What have I done that has displeased you, and, as a result, has provoked you to retaliate against me?
“What have I done wrong?”
The answer, when it came, was a strange one indeed.
“You’ve done nothing wrong.”
And then a question for the young man:
“What did you do ‘right’?, i.e. what good thing did you do which resulted in the bringing to you of this tremendous experience in the first place?”
Well, that was a tough one. A tough question for which he did not have a good answer. Indeed, he could think of absolutely nothing he might have done that just might have put God under obligation to him. He had done nothing ‘right’!
And so it was that understanding came to our young friend. The raising and lowering of his consciousness had nothing to do with personal virtue or religious act. It had, rather, to do with the Sovereign will of God! It had been given (this incredible experience) by the grace of God, and taken away by the grace of God.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
I know that this is not familiar territory for the most of us. And, although we may have heard of it ‘by the hearing of the ear’, to walk and talk and live in this land is quite another matter.
Why?
Because most Of us still prefer our salvation (as the television commercial has it) the old fashioned way, we like to ‘earn’ it.
Why, again?
Simple. Earning it puts ‘us’ into the picture. It gives us a measure of control over the situation. To be told we have little or none takes a bit of getting used to.
But pride has to do with just that .. ‘us’ .. the personal. The more we inject ourselves into the redemptive process, the more ground we give the Destroyer to stand on. The Pharisee in the temple was convinced that his personal actions were of paramount importance to God. ‘I’ do this, he said, and ‘I’ do that. “I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all I possess.” But the line that set it all up was the very first one he uttered:
“God”, he said, “I thank you that I am not as other men are.”
Oh, my.
I’m so glad that I’m not as other men are, i.e. I’m different!
And it is the myth of differentness that makes us so vulnerable. For if we are indeed ‘different’ (make that better) it is only the next step to assume that we have somehow and in some way contributed to that ‘differentness’. We simply must have done something that commended us to God.
When the bush burned, we turned aside, right?
When the Master called, we answered, right?
And now that we have turned aside and answered the call, we are ‘different’ (make that better) than other men.
Right?
And so say all of the Pharisees, past or present.
“I thank you, God, that I am not as other men are.”
But when the grace of God appears, IT IS ANOTHER MATTER! I would to God that all men could understand that simple fact. God, who had suffered through millenniums of half-hearted attempts by man to do His holy will and accomplish His good purposes in the earth finally concluded that if He wanted it done right, He was going to have to do it Himself. In the writings of the prophet Isaiah, He speaks of that day: “And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation to me…”
Now it wasn’t that He didn’t look for someone to help. He did. Someone to stand beside Him. Surely there were prophets, and to spare. And wise men and seers . .
Oh, my.
Perhaps you will not be able to recognize and to appreciate the sadness inherent in that simple phrase, “and I wondered that there was none to uphold.”
Until you make the trip yourself. Until you, too, look around and about, and then, finally, inside yourself. Into the highways and byways of your own mind. Until you are given the power to probe and to push and to prod, and to examine your own secret desires and hidden motives. Perhaps you will then discover what God has already discovered, that there really is none to uphold, “none that does good.”
No.
Not one.
And you and I are not the exception to the rule.
None that (truly) seek after God. No hero without his weakness. No idol without his feet of clay.
It is a discovery that will make you very sad. And it is a sadness that will remain with you throughout your entire journey. Especially will it be with you as YOU are forced, again and again, to return to that ‘fountain’ that was once opened in the “house of David” for sin (yours) and uncleanness (yours). It is a profound sadness, one that is always saying, “Oh, God, I am so sorry that I was not there when You looked for someone to stand with you. My heart breaks that there was not found in me virtue and strength and courage sufficient.”
But there wasn’t, and there isn’t! For God’s sake, hear it! No need to revise the old text. No use instituting a new search. There wasn’t and there isn’t a man to fit God’s bill. Indeed, He has discontinued the search long ago. He no longer even wonders. For His Own Arm has, indeed, brought salvation to Him. And to you and to me, and to every man who dwells on the face of the earth!
But, you say, there must be something I can do. Some duty I can perform Some re-payment schedule I can adhere to. No, my friends, the grace of God says no.
There is nothing. This is not the old covenant, but the new one. This is not one that demands, but one that gives. As it is written . .
“The gift of God is Eternal Life.”
Oh, we may speak of faith (and we do) but faith is not something that a man has (as of himself) and then gives to God in exchange for salvation. No. Faith is, rather, a gift that God gives to man and then receives back from him. “What do you have that you have not received?”
Where, exactly, did we get the idea that we have something valuable (of our own) that we may use in barter with God? No. Such thoughts are vain. “Blessing, I will bless you” is not a conditional covenant, however much we may treat it as such.
No. It is absurd to boast, obscene to brag, folly to trust in one’s self. But he who is dominated by the Spirit of the Pharisee does all three. Unless and until the grace of God really ‘appears’ to us, we will never be able to abandon ourselves and release ourselves into the hands of that One who works all (al-l) things after the counsel “of His own will.”
Unless and until that occurs, we will never be able to enter into that ‘rest of faith’, but will continue to wish and to want, to fuss and to fret, pray and/or demand indeed . . everything but trust.
But the grace of God that has ‘appeared to all men’ has been comprehended by some and will be by many. Only then will we be able to escape the curse of thinking ‘more highly’ of ourselves than we ought. Only then will we really know that ‘ourselves’ had little or nothing to do with the obtaining of a salvation so high and so holy that it could never come to us except as the result of a sovereign act of the Most High God.
And what shall we “render unto the Lord” for such an unspeakable benefit as this?
Not much!
Oh, I know how we are always pestering God to set up some sort of payback, but it is foolish and useless to do so. So great a salvation can not be purchased by gold or silver, nor by sweat, blood, and tears!
Period.
It can be accepted, enjoyed, rejoiced in, but never purchased!
But “What shall I render unto the Lord?” as our friend David puts it. Well, you might simply (as David was finally forced to do) “take the cup of salvation” from the hands of your God. But that kind of acceptance is alien to the religious man. It is simply. . . too simple.
As for recompense, forget it, Jack! There is nothing going on in you that is not God-planted, God-watered, God-harvested. Then why in the name of heaven do we pretend otherwise?
“For by grace are you saved through faith; and (even) that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
And so it is that understanding does save us. It does mitigate, it does antibody the poison of self-conceit. Oh, I know it is a bitter pill but we can swallow it. The old covenant can be disannulled and the new one ratified, and when it is, God will have infiltrated the soul, undercut the human ego, and undermined the confidence that one is always tempted to have in oneself.
A Thorn In The Flesh
There was never a man in the history of the planet as gifted as this one. He was the hand-picked successor to the Son himself. It was if the Ascended One understood that all of the pretty words and extraordinary events of his short ministry would never be more than a blip on the radar screen of life, except that someone come after him and establish his credentials. Oh, people knew him as a great teacher and gifted orator. And, yes, He was a miracle worker, there was no doubt of that. Just ask the once-blind man or the lady who used to have an issue of blood.
But all of those things had to do with the temporary, the expedient, with time itself. When and as the effects faded, what then? Other people would be born blind. Other women would be afflicted as the one who touched his garment that wondrous day had been.
Who would stop their issue of blood?
What’s it all about, Alfie?
Are we dealing with time only or more than that?
When His last follower has died and His name is only a footnote in the pages of history, what then?
What’s it all about, Paul?
And so it was that the amazing grace of God covered a man named Saul of Tarsus, who became known to us as the apostle, Paul. He was chosen to go forth and to bring forth. And so he did, and we are all the better for it. He, more than any other, gave us ‘the rest of the story’ as our friend Mr. Harvey put it.
He explained. He placed in context. He interpreted, he wrote concerning. He explored the whys and the wherefores. He also, in the process, got a bit carried away with his own importance!
Oh, yes.
One day something latched onto him. And, unlike the viper that had fastened itself to his hand on the island of Melita, this something wouldn’t let go.
The harder he shook, the tighter the grip. Finally, he recognized the fact that he simply couldn’t handle the situation by himself. And so he went directly to the One who had never failed him, God himself. He knelt down, he humbled himself, he made petition.
When he got up off of his knees, however, the problem remained with him. And so down he went again. This time he got serious. God, he said, this is really bugging me, and I just know that you wouldn’t want your main man bothered like this. Please, God, take this thing away!
Nothing.
No response.
Zip.
Once more he hit the deck. With increased urgency, he sought relief. With the same results. Nothing.
It was only later that he revealed (to the Corinthians) exactly what had transpired between himself and his God during that very critical period of his life.
No. God didn’t give me the relief that I sought from him but He did give me understanding. And that, after all, was what I really needed. He made me to know that the personal ‘I’ was fickle, unreliable, and, above all else, desirous of vainglory.
“For though I would desire to glory…”
And, on the surface, at least, much to glory in. He really could have laid his contemporaries in the shade. After all, it was he (and not they) who had taken that tour of the spiritual dimension he called the Third Heaven. And it was he who had been entrusted with the message of the incredible grace of God and the efficacy of the cross of Christ.
Oh, yes.
Trot out your wisdom, Paul! Display for us your deep understanding of things spiritual. Surely such an exercise would stop the mouth of those who oppose you and those so-called apostles who insist on troubling those precious little ones you have birthed in the Lord. Indeed, why don’t you do that, friend Paul?
His answer? “For though I would desire to glory, I will not be a fool”!
“…I will not be a fool…”
Why?
Because I have learned not to be. And that was what the entire episode I have recounted to you was all about. I had a problem. Oh, I didn’t know that I had a problem. But I did.
The problem?
Self-exaltation! Pride! Vainglory!
The solution?
‘And lest I be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”
No, He (God) didn’t give me relief but he did give me understanding. And what about all of that pain and suffering caused by that ‘messenger Satan’ and the weakness it brought to you? Well, He (God) had an answer for that. And it was…
“My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Oh, my!
“My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.”
Now it was not all that evident that the Apostle was vulnerable in the area of spiritual pride. Indeed, even the most careful examiner might have missed the signs. He had downgraded his own accomplishments at times (or certainly appeared to). And made the distinction on more than one occasion between what he might have to say on a subject and what God might say on the same subject.
Little to indicate that Paul just might be a bit full of ‘himself’ and think a bit of ‘himself’ than he ought.
But he was.
And he did.
And so the Great Physician made a house call. He diagnosed the illness and prescribed the treatment:
Haughtiness. Pride in yourself and your accomplishments.
Self-importance!
That’s what wrong with you, Paul. And you need help immediately.
And so, by the grace of God, help was given and something was done about his spiritual condition. Something that was absolutely necessary. Something that provided the antidote to that proud Spirit which was attempting to invade him and to destroy him and his effectiveness as a servant of the Most High.
The old ‘thorn in the flesh’ treatment. In some cases, as in our friend Paul’s, was very effective.
Of course, this Physician, unlike some, took the patient into His confidence.
You see this little blue pill, Paul? Well, when it mixes with the acid in your stomach, a chemical reaction occurs, certain metabolic changes result, etc.
And the patient, in this case our friend Paul, saw and understood, and although it was a bitter pill for him to swallow, he did swallow it. Indeed, the more he came to understand the process, the more eager he was to continue the treatment. the basic understanding, of course, being that “My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.” For in the spiritual dimension, the polarities are reversed. Unlike Mr. Darwin’s theory concerning the life forms on earth, in the spiritual place, it is the ‘weak’ who survive, and not the ‘strong’!
When you bound up up on that platform, and exude all of that charisma, power and might coming out of every pore, you really do have something going for you…on the earth, that is. But, in the heavens, well, let us just say that your performance leaves a lot to be desired.
Oh, not that many will know the difference, but I will, and I still hate the ‘proud look’, and the woe pronounced on the ‘crown of pride’ is still in effect.
Our friend accepted the diagnosis and undertook the cure. Once he grasped the principle involved, willingly, and even joyfully. His basic attitude was simply that if that’s what it takes, Lord, pour it on. Now that I understand that this ‘messenger of Satan’ is really doing Your work, I freely acknowledge my vulnerabilities and accept the fact that I do need help…badly. If Your strength is made perfect in my weakness, then make me weak. Send those things and circumstances to me that will insure that I remain weak.
“Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for (as I am now made to know) when I (in the flesh) am weak, then I (in the Spirit) am strong”!
It is not a small thing to recognize the principle and glory in the concept.
The ‘thorn in the flesh’ is the perfect treatment for many.
I Am A Pharisee
“…..if we confess our sins…..”
Confession.
A very effective treatment, when properly administered.
Some time ago our young friend (not so young anymore) became aware that the Spirit of the Pharisee, in spite of everything that he had done, and everything that had been done to him, was still very much with him. And, although we speak of cures, surely the first step is to bind that very, strong man. Surely that is the first step that must be taken. Only then, after the initial steps, and after treatment is agreed upon and entered into, and positive results are obtained, there is another stage that is essential. And it is that of the follow-up.
The young lady who has had her breast removed as a radical but necessary first step, is still required to report back to her physician at regular intervals. He then does the appropriate testings, after which he makes a contemporary evaluation. Sometimes the decision is made to re-introduce the patient to radium treatment, chemotherapy, or, in the severest of cases, additional surgery is called for.
In the spiritual place, it is much the same. When the tests are run, further treatment may be indicated. Again, take our not-so-young friend. When the results of the follow-up tests were all in, it was discovered that the marks of the Pharisee were still very much on him, both in his attitude and in his actions. And so the following further treatment was prescribed:
“Confess your obvious sin. Say to the congregation, I am a Pharisee.”
I AM A PHARISEE!
Of course, they’re only words but, for all that, words that I would suppose most of us would just as soon not utter before the groups we minister to. But he did, reluctantly at first, and then, when the realization came to him that it wasn’t simply a gimmick the Doctor had come up with, more freely and without shame. After all, he was just telling it like it was.
He really was a Pharisee.
The power of confession lies not in the words themselves but in that simple realization. It is the gut-level reaction to that which the Holy Spirit has made obvious to you. So obvious, indeed, so plain, beyond any thought of denial or hope of refutation. Then, and only then, are we able to move on, not only to forgiveness of ourselves (which is a given to the grace child) but to cleansing, as well “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It is the cleansing we seek and confession is not only a powerful therapy but an effective cleansing agent, as well.
Now one might suppose that the confession (I am a Pharisee) is a bit much and that a more moderate phrasing might be more appropriate. How about, “I used to be a Pharisee, but God has miraculously delivered me out from the hands of pride?” Makes sense, when you think about it. You didn’t see any of the blind men that Jesus healed while He was on the earth running around confessing that they were still blind. Right? To the contrary, they made a very strong and effective declaration, namely that they ‘once were blind, but now I see, thanks to the man from Galilee’!
Yes, I would tend to agree with you. Except that was not what the Doctor ordered in this particular case. He told the patient to say to the people, “I am a Pharisee.” Period. Exclamation mark. Present tense. At this time, I am a Pharisee.
It was only later that he understood why. Later when a correlation was given him between what he was experiencing and what the man or woman who joins Alcoholics Anonymous experiences. It was then that he remembered that a recovering alcoholic was never allowed (at the meetings) to speak of his recovery as being in the past tense, i.e. he or she was never allowed to say that they ‘used’ to be an alcoholic but …
No. That was not the drill. What they were required to say was,
“Hi, I’m Bill, and I AM an alcoholic.”
He now understood why the group leadership insisted on that simple statement.
Instead of one that might appear to more accurate, namely, “Hi, I’m Bill, and I used to be an alcoholic but I’m not any longer, and haven’t had a drink in two years.”
It was, quite simply, a reminder.
A way of saying that there really wasn’t any ‘cure’ for alcoholism, Bill, especially yours. Because you, Bill, are not like other men. They can drink in moderation. You can’t. They can do the social number. You can’t. There is something about you that is different. You are vulnerable in a way that they aren’t. And you will never be free, completely free of that vulnerability of yours. That is why you are still an alcoholic, even if you never touch a drop the rest of your life.
“Hi, I’m Bill, and I’m an alcoholic.”
“Hi, I’m Bill, and I am a Pharisee.”
Yes, I am vulnerable. if someone pats me on the back or laughs at my jokes, or (God help me) cries out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” something happens inside of me. I begin to feel as if I, at long last, have received the recognition that I so richly deserve.
Or when I speak by the Spirit, and the room is hushed, and they begin to say, “Never a man spoke like this man”, oh, my, that really is a wipe-out.
I am vulnerable.
It isn’t nearly enough for me to demur with words.
“Aw, shucks! Gee wiz, folks, that really isn’t me adoin’ all that good stuff. It’s really the Spirit of God in operation, etc., etc., Most of the time, it is simply an attempt to garner even more respect, admiration, adulation, ala Johnny Carson, whose right hand is raised in an overt attempt to quell the applause while his left hand, out of camera range, is coaxing even more.
Yes, I am vulnerable.
I am a Pharisee.
I love to be ‘seen of men’.
I enjoy, indeed, revel in recognition.
I receive all of the honor I can get … from men.
I am a Pharisee.
An Auxiliary Effect
Confession has an auxiliary effect.
It deprives the Accuser of the power to blackmail the entity.
Most of us are ‘good’ (appear righteous before men) because if we are not, painful exposure might very well result. Even we who have rubbed shoulders with the grace of God, would rather our neighbor didn’t happen over at certain times. We say we don’t feel that our God condemns us but we are afraid our neighbor might. And, as a result, we have learned to disseminate, and to hide, and to speak the lie that is not quite a lie, all in the name of discretion.
“Let not your good be evil spoken of” is not such a big thing with us. We don’t even want our ‘evil’ spoken evil of.
And there is a good reason for this.
It is the same one our friend in the seventh chapter of Joshua had. Achan, old buddy, why is it that you don’t openly display that goodly Babylonish garment you’ve glommed onto? And that silver, and how about that beautiful (and quite valuable) wedge of gold? Why, any man would be proud of such possessions, Achan. So how come you’ve hidden them away, in the earth, in the midst of your tent?
What was that, Achan?
Oh. Oh, I see.
In order to obtain them, you did that which was against the law! Well, that is different. That surely is different. Under the circumstances, I reckon I can’t blame you for being so secretive.
Indeed, if one reads the entire account of Achan and his wedge of gold, etc., one finds that Achan had an excellent reason for hiding his treasures in the earth in the midst of his tent. What he had done was verboten, against the ordinance, absolutely contrary to explicit instructions he had received.
And that does, indeed, make a difference.
But what about a fellow who is not under such prohibitions, but still ducks and dodges, twists and turns. Still scurries about in the dark, still obsessed with hiding things from other’s view?
What about a believer who lives this side of the cross of Christ, but who deports himself as if the event never took place?
Now that is a sad, sad thing. But it is a sad, sad thing that is occurring everyday and in practically everyone’s life. Almost two thousand years after the event, Christ is still “dead in vain” to the vast majority of the church world.
It may be well for us to consider such a fellow. Such a fellow as still hides his Babylonish garment, his two hundred shekels of silver, and his wedge of gold, long after the prohibition against owning such things has been repealed.
Unless you are of the opinion that there is something inherently evil in the wearing apparel of the Babylonians (immodest, perhaps?) or that gold and silver are base metals, your reaction would be illogical, to say the least.
I think dumb is the word I’m reaching for.
Not that any of us are very smart, when you come right down to it.
We all do it.
And, because we do, there is still the grounds for mental and emotional blackmail. We still fear that someone is going to sneak into our tent some dark night and discover our terrible secret. Such fears keep us in bondage to hypocrisy.
So, why don’t we dig it up ourselves?
Why not confront our accuser?
Why not simply say, “Yes, I have this fine garment. I also have some silver, and this wedge of gold. Now, you may not think I have any business with Babylonish garments, etc. and that I should be punished in some way for possessing them. But (and this you may not be aware of) the particular ‘carnal commandment’ that once prohibited such possessions, has been repealed long ago. That being the case, I find I must refuse to be intimidated any longer by what you may think about it.”
Prohibition being repealed, I will no longer visit the speakeasy or do my tippling behind closed doors.
I happen to enjoy a snort every once in a while.
I don’t mind at all that you don’t.
Indeed, I rejoice with you.
But please understand and bear with me in my folly (an occasional drink) and I will bear with you in yours (an occasional lapse into self-righteousness).
My wife tells the story of a lady who gave one of the best retorts ever to the guilt trip her husband was trying to send her on. “You are simply not trying,” he said to her. “You won’t cooperate with me. You drag your feet always and make it twice as hard on me as it should be. You’re simply not trying.”
After the charge had been leveled, and duly noted by his wife, she slowly turned, looked up at her husband, and sweetly replied,
“So . . oo . . oo?”
There is a place reserved for each of us wherein accusations may be handled as effectively as that, whether they come from outside (friends, husbands, wives, brethren) or from inside (where, in most of us, the Accuser has set up shop). So – – oo – – oo?
Now there never was an ordinance against love, against sweetness and light, and all that good stuff.
No.
But what about that deep, dark secret? That unrevealed sin? Ah, yes. It is that we seek to hide. But from whom?
From God?
From the One who knows all there ever will be to know about each of us? That One who never slumbers nor sleeps? And can see around corners, and into tents?
The Omnipresent One?
Fat chance!
Maybe you should read that story about our friend Achan again. Out of millions of people, out of thousands of families, and then out of the many men of the same household, guess what?
You got it!
“Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.”
He was not only taken, he was over-taken, by the same Fellow you and I have to do with.
You don’t really suppose that we have anything going on that He doesn’t know about, do you? That being the case, why do that hide-it-in-the-earth-in-the-midst-of-our-tent number in the first place? Why not admit that we are what we are by the grace of God, are indeed human, and have certain weaknesses and assorted frailties?
Now I know it is such a drag, being human, and I know how much time and effort we have put into trying not to be, but, like it or lump it, we are! Even the treasure we do have, we have in an ‘earthen vessel’. If you happen to know anything at all about pottery, you will also know how fragile an earthen vessel can be.
Or, perhaps we seek to hide from our neighbor?
Do we not yet understand that everyone who comes must come through the gate?
Where the bells go off, and the sirens wail, and the gendarmes come running?
There is absolutely nothing that will not be uncovered, nothing hidden that will not be revealed.
Nothing!
Honestly, sometimes we act as if this great salvation is in the hands of men, rather than God. It isn’t, you know.
And then there is the piece de resistance (or something). What one might call the quintessential hiding place, the deepest hole in the center of the most isolated tent in the darkest night, i.e. hiding it inside ourselves. Still attempting to hide ourselves from ‘our own flesh’.
Oh, my.
That does, indeed, present a problem.
A problem we will continually face as we struggle to come up ‘some other way’.
And seek a reconciliation between that most holy law of God and this most unholy flesh of ours.
Oh, my.
Unable to admit even that which is obvious to everyone else. Not willing (or able) to drop the fig leaf.
Please. Come to the seventh chapter of Romans with me. It seems that so few of us are able (or even willing) to settle for that one-foot-in-heaven, one-foot-in-hell experience that our friend speaks of there.
But we, like Paul, must do so. We are forced into it. We simply cannot long abide the torment generated by the religious exercise. We must, simply must, escape the “body of this death.”
Paul did. Finally and at long last, Paul did. Through understanding and by revelation, the grace of God which came “by Jesus Christ” came to him. The tug-of-war was over, the mental anguish gone. And he entered the ranks of the ‘blessed’, as in “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom THE LORD WILL NOT IMPUTE SIN”!
Wow!
Some understanding! Some revelation! Little wonder the chapter ends with . .
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord who may have failed to make me perfect ‘after the flesh’ but who HAS made me perfect ‘in the mind’.
Or, man, that’s what the grace of God is all about anyway!
The ‘outward appearance’ jazz is our number, not His.
He’s into freedom.
“For the son of Man came not into the world to condemn the world” . . but to give to those in it the intestinal fortitude to say to all, defiantly, if necessary, “if I have a wart, paint me wart and all!
If I have a withered arm, (God helping me) I will not hide it any longer in the folds of my robe, but will stretch it forth for all to see.
I will go ‘naked’ in the world.
I will, with open face, behold my God, my neighbor, and myself.
I will dig up my own wedge of gold, wear my own Babylonish garment, and spend those shekels of silver myself.
I will reveal my own secrets and uncover my own sins.
So, welcome to my tent!
Dig up what you will!
If you discover something that I haven’t, God bless you, and thank you.
I DO NOT INTEND TO LEAVE ANY PLACE FOR THE ACCUSER TO STAND.”
Yes.
Confession has an auxiliary effect and full disclosure is a virtue.
Person, Personna
“For there is no respect of persons with God.”
The disease is deadly. There is no simple, work-every-time pill that one can take. No miracle drug. And because the disease is deadly, and the recovery from it so difficult, drastic measures are sometimes called for. Sometimes the breast cannot be saved, but the woman can, etc. And so we are forced, on occasion, to look at that which we would not ordinarily look at, were it not for the desperate seriousness of the situation. The following revelation may well fall into that category, the category of ‘hard sayings’ and difficult choices.
One of the most puzzling aspects of the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and the Pharisees was the extraordinary amount of animosity that was generated between them. Of course, the Jews were a volatile people, especially when it came to their religion, but shouting and shoving, and consigning each other to the pit, simply because they didn’t see eye to eye on the scriptures? Not to mention a bit of scourging and stone throwing added for emphasis?
Oh, yeah, the Pharisees said, we know he is a smooth talker, and that he is reputed to have cast out a few devils, etc. But you don’t see any of us folks ‘in the know’ following after him, do you? That’s because we know enough about the law and the ordinances of our God not to be swept off our feet by the first religious ‘rabble-rouser’ to walk down the streets of Jerusalem. Indeed, if you folks knew a little more about the history of our beloved city, you might not be so easily swayed either. Does the name Theudas mean anything to you? And how about Judas of Galilee? They also rose up, and boasted great things, just like this Jesus character is doing. But they didn’t last very long, and neither will he. As for his magic show, of course he can do such things, seeing as how the devils are cooperating with him.
Why?
It’s simple. He is one of them.
Jesus, on the other hand, reckoned as how he knew why they (the Pharisees) did not recognize Him and receive Him as coming forth from God. You don’t even know the Gentleman in question, He told them, and never did. Indeed, you are not the children of God at all, but the “children of the devil.”
Wow!
Even the Baptist folk don’t talk that way about the Catholic folk anymore, and vice versa.
No. There must have been more to it than a simple disagreement over the interpretation of certain scriptures. And there was more to it. Much more.
That ‘much more’ having to do with ‘person’, as in “there is no respect of persons with God.”
But person isn’t a simple matter to deal with. It goes far beyond the traditional understanding or meaning, i.e. that God was simply saying that He didn’t deal with a man according to whether he was rich or poor or held some high position in life or dug ditches for his living.
Far beyond.
And I must confess that few have fully explored the subject with us or explained it thoroughly to us, up to and including the son of Man himself. The dictionary does what it can, and the philosopher is always in there pitching, but it does not appear to be that simple. Indeed, even our own experience of selfhood or ‘personhood’ is confusing to the most of us.
Not that there haven’t been a long line of distinguished (and otherwise) explainers. There have been. Dr. Freud says that we are pretty complicated, us homo sapiens, but did what he could to discover our component parts. Val, de vay I see it, das ist de id, de ego, und de super ego. Which means something, I’m sure, to someone. And our good friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, labored and brought forth a concept that some of us find more palatable. He imagined us all as individual expressions of what he called the Oversoul (a philosophers term for what we religious types call God). Further, he tells us that we are connected to that Entity whether we are aware of it or not.
The Bible doesn’t do much better. It rambles on about this and that aspect of our personality, separating that which is ‘good’ from that which is ‘bad’, all the time forgetting or remembering . . whichever seems appropriate at the time . . one of it’s own concepts, i.e. that we are all made in the ‘image of God’.
Or are we?
All of us?
En toto?
If not totally, then which part of us? If the body is, in most cases, destined to be returned to the earth, and the spirit (whatever that may be) is going back to ‘God who gave it’, than what about that other part of us we keep hearing so much about, the soul? Did it get lost somewhere in the shuffle? Are we or are we not triune beings, even as our God is purported to be?
You’re right. There is, generally speaking, more heat than light in such discussions. But there is something. You might call it a basic. A basic which has very much to do with our subject matter.
When we say that pride has to do with ‘person’, it isn’t a dark saying. It is simply a recognition of the fact that none of us would ever be bothered with feelings of pride or self-importance were it not that we have all become conscious of ourselves as person. Just as there would be no cancer for us to concern ourselves with except for the fact of the physical body.
But now we say, “I am an individual. I am a person.”
In the dictionary, the definition of ‘person’ is very revealing. Along with the standard and traditional meaning, “a human being, a particular individual, a human being as distinguished from things or animals”, there is another one that comes much closer to explaining just what was going on between the man, Jesus, and the Pharisees. And it is that ‘person’ is the mask that an entity hides behind.
Person . . mask (used by actors).
Persona . . person, the characters of a novel or play.
When we understand that Jesus refused to deal with the mask of person and insisted on dealing with that entity which was behind the mask of person, then (and only then) will we be able to understand what the conflict was all about.
Not only with the Pharisees, but with others as well.
Beneath the surface ‘person’, behind the mask, there was an entity that was always and in every place set against the will and purpose of God in the earth. Jesus was given to see that ‘entity’ and dealt with the Pharisees accordingly. They (the Pharisees) would and could not see, did not make the distinction that He made, and dealt with Him (Jesus) on the basis of that which appeared on the surface, that which emerged as person or personality. Not given to see the other, that ‘on the surface’ person was all that was important to them.
In a play, or course, we are all familiar with the premise.
We know, for instance, that the players (actors) must subordinate themselves (their own personalities) to the characterizations that are assigned them. A highly moral woman may seek to convince you that she is the shadiest of ladies; a trollop (in real life) may make an excellent Joan of Arc on the stage.
It is the art of the player to produce the illusion.
But the part is not them! It is role-playing, it is acting-as-if.
George C. Scott, acting-as-if he was a famous general in World War II. What a performance! How creative, how believable! But George C. Scott was not a military man. He did not even sympathize with many of the views expressed by him in the movie. But he hid himself, as every good actor must, behind the mask (or person) of General Patton.
Jesus was simply saying that although you Pharisees ‘appear’ to have it all together, and act-as-if you are a very dedicated and sincere group of people, whose sole aim and purpose is to glorify your God and promote His interests in the earth, you’re really not! What you are is a group of very good actors, engaged in role-playing!
But behind the mask of person, you are quite different than you appear to be, and I am come to deal with people as they ‘are’ and not as they appear to be. That is why neither I nor my Father have any respect for any man’s ‘person’, including yours. I (and He) see them (and you) sans make-up, sans costume, sans props. Viewing you from that perspective, it is apparent to me that you are all hypocrites! That is why the gifts you bring are tainted and your works do not appear before God.
When Jesus waxed eloquent against the Pharisees, as He was wont to do, it is apparent that He did so from that unique vantage point. That is, He was able to see that which was not visible to others. In that sense, it was not the individual Pharisee, no more than it was His friend Peter, (“Get thee behind me, Satan”) that He was angry with. No, it was not the individual but the ‘spirit’ that had captured them and now operated out from their bodies.
It was as if an enemy soldier had obtained the proper uniform and, using forged papers, had infiltrated the allied lines. He would, of course, still be an enemy solider. And his intent and purpose would certainly be to do harm to the allied cause. And, also of course, he would be effective only as long as he remained undetected.
That was essentially what Jesus found in the Pharisee, i.e. an enemy of the will and purpose of his Father, but an enemy well concealed behind an elaborate facade of appropriate actings-as-if. The facade or mask behind which that enemy soldier hid himself was the ‘person’ of the Pharisee.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because there is a discrepancy between that which you ‘appear’ to be and that which you ‘are’. You are an outward oriented people. That was the charge, the basic charge, repeated over and over again. In first this context and then in the other. You pass your judgments, you bless and you curse, you give out your honors and assess your blame according to the “seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear.”
What I am come to explain to you is this, that way of doing God’s business is no longer acceptable!
From now on (because I am come) he that enters into judgment must do so properly, i.e. according to the new and better way that has now been opened. Simply put, that new and better way is God’s way. He that judges must be able to render a true verdict and a righteous (as God sees it) judgment. The only way he can do that, obviously, is to possess the ability to see as God sees, i.e. beneath the surface of things as they appear to be.
In imposing this new and terrifying method of evaluating both people and circumstances, Jesus exposed the Pharisee. In lifting the mask of ‘person’, He brought to light that which was before times hidden, which was the world of thought and idea and purpose and motivation. For the very first time, man was confronted with a God who demanded more, much more, than he could deliver.
Don’t just bring your tithes, come with the proper attitude!
Don’t just speak the words with your mouth, but mean them from your heart!
Don’t just abstain from committing adultery, but be you also cleansed from the spirit of lust!
Little wonder that some closed their ears and beseeched Him not to speak to them any longer. It’s still too much for the most of us. We who keep insisting that the scriptures ‘mean what they say and say what they mean’ continue to close our ears to He who speaks ‘from the heavens’.
But we must come to understanding!
There really is a world of spirit. There really is a place where the judgments rendered are God’s, and not man’s. It is a different place than most of us live in.
And we who are still insisting on a normal, traditional presentation of the God of Jacob continue to miss the mark. A normal, reasoned judgment concerning the Pharisee of Jesus’s time would not have been nearly as harsh as His was.
There was simply no way you could have come up with the characterization, “children of the devil.” That Jesus did so was the result of Him being able to see further than others could. He simply refused to be taken in by the ‘person’ of the Pharisee, i.e. the religious mask they wore.
When He told the rich man that he didn’t give as much in the offering that day as the widow with her two mites did, that was simply not a judgment one would make on the earth plane, with the possible exception of one who had flunked third grade arithmetic. No. Jesus was looking at a ‘higher’ law than the people on the earth were able to see.
Although it is said that grace “came by Jesus Christ”, it is apparent that it was not something that He brought with Him, but rather something that came to the people of the earth as a result of His having been here. Indeed, in more ways than one, He was the greatest Law-giver of them all. He brought a law so high and so holy that it superseded and invalidated any and all of the laws that had been before Him. And, although the prophets who had come before Him were forerunners of the new system, inasmuch as they made their predications and based their declarations on what had been delivered into their hand by the Spirit, Jesus was the first to bluntly state, “My kingdom is not of this world”!
His Kingdom not being of this world, His judgments also were not ‘of this world’. They did not conform to the wisdom of the world and they were not those one might find written down in the world. No Jewish ‘book of the common law’ could set precedent for Him.
Looking at that which was invisible, He made His pronouncements in correlation with that invisible, or spiritual law. Little wonder that no one understood Him, including His disciples, unless and until they were able to ‘see’ the same things that He ‘saw’. When He accused Peter of allowing his body to be used by the arch enemy, Satan, He was simply rendering a judgment on, the basis of what it was given Him to see.
I see you, He was saying, behind the honeyed words of my disciple, I see you!
What seems, on the surface, to be an understandable and commendable concern for my personal safety is, in reality, (the reality that I live I in) an attempt on your part to thwart the purpose of my Father in me and in my life. BUT I SEE YOU!
No one can walk with God who is a spirit, unless he walks ‘in the Spirit’.
And that is not the world of appearance.
That is not the world of the outer.
It is not the world of reason or common sense, as valuable as they may be on the earth plane. We of the logical bent have a lot to unlearn. Wisdom is not a product of much study or an ability to organize one’s thoughts properly. It is, rather, an attribute of God. And, despite our repeated efforts to muscle our way into the ‘inner’ counsel, no one can really ‘know’ God except it be given him.
The ability to see past the outer layer, the person, and to judge from that perspective, is not a man function but a God function. The physician may be ever so skillful, but without the X-ray and the Cat-scan, etc. (the ability to know, rather than guess) he will never really be able to accurately assess the damage to the inward parts. In like manner, he who is not able to see that which is hidden beneath the surface of life, will not be able to judge righteous (as-God-sees-it) judgment.
We must wait for it!
For there are simply times when ‘sheep are not sheep’, nor ‘goats goats’. They are not “Jews” that are Jews in appearance (outwardly) but they are truly Jews who are Jews (inwardly). How foolish of us to assume a position on any matter of this nature without the proper data in hand. There are those we curse who may not be worthy of such cursings, and those we bless . . . ?
In matters of judgment, then, the person or personality (that part of us that is both seen and heard) is, in a sense, irrelevant. Not to us, of course, but to God. His attitude being, as one of His spokesmen put it, that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” That may not keep it (flesh and blood) from trying to, but it does speak as to the end result, without reference to the amount of energy expended in the effort. The person-persona is nothing, i.e. is not taken account of before God. With Him there is none of the ‘respect of persons’ that we on the earth have toward one another. Whether we be engaged in planting, or watering, or whatever … the power to bring forth that which has been planted and watered is in the innermost center of the seed itself. Therefore, the planter, or the waterer, whether Apollos, Paul, or you and I, is not to be considered, but God, who gives the increase, is. This was the concept that Jesus was always promoting, and after Him, Paul.
In that savaging of the Pharisee in Matthew 23, Jesus exposed their attitude as one diametrically opposed to that holy principle. They DID think themselves important. They DID consider their ‘person’ to be of considerable value and worthy of respect. They sought the “upper room at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues” because they really felt that such was their due. They loved to be greeted in the marketplace and called Rabbi (or Master) because they really thought of themselves as such. And the reason they were always scouring the “outside of the cup and platter” was because they considered that outside ‘person’ as very important, indeed, before both God and man.
Of course, you and I know that the ancient Pharisees were, as Jesus called them, “blind Pharisees.” And we know that they should have begun with the ‘inside’ of the cup and platter in their attempts to please God, seeing as how that was the part He was (and is) primarily concerned with. But they, being blind, were not able to see that which, by the grace of God, we are given to see. And that is, that the ‘outward appearance’ is nothing, and that the person or mask that we wear is not considered worthy of respect before God.
That is simply not His perspective on the human condition!
And, whereas man is always looking on and considering that outward appearance, He (God) is always looking ‘on the heart’.
I realize that we have not seriously considered the subject of ‘person’. It is simply too much for a once-over-lightly, one chapter-in-a-small- booklet treatment. But the treatment, as inadequate as it is, is necessary. There is a sense in which the understanding of ‘person’ from God’s perspective is the key to our eventual recovery. For if we continue to think in the same way as the Pharisees of Jesus’s day did, we will still provide sanctuary for and give aid and comfort to the enemy of the entire purpose and plan of God in the earth.
While we persist in the ‘me und Gott’ of Kaiser Wilhelm, we will continue to view our ‘selves’ as worthy of respect. We will insist on our ‘rights’ and demand the ‘honor’ that men give to one another. We will be hurt if we are not recognized’ and will exult when we are. We will still be ever so grateful that we are not “as other men are.” We will insist on celebrity status when our book is published and/or our picture hung.
That is, until we come to truly understand that all we really did was to type the manuscript and/or hold the brush. The creative spark was God, as were the eyes to see with, the ears to hear with, the heart to understand with, etc. …all God. As it is written:
“It is He who has made us (the book, the picture, the speech) and not we ourselves. “To such a One be the honor and the glory and the power forever, world without end.
Oh, yes.
Understanding will save us and will assist us in depersonalizing the issue.
Depersonalization
Complete union may indeed be the Ultimate, the light in the window of that house on the top of the highest mountain. But no one approaches that Most Holy Place without first going through that “valley of the shadow of death” we call depersonalization. Oh, we may make foolish gestures, say dumb things, indulge ourselves in religious fantasies, reckoning ourselves to be either dead or alive (as the mood strikes) but we do not ascend until we first descend. That descension is into depersonalization.
The psychiatrist doesn’t care much for the term. He equates it with mental illness and emotional instability. Which it may very well be, from his viewpoint.
But Jesus practiced it, as did Paul, and so must we.
It is a simple (?) matter of losing your life and denying yourself. It is what is basic in that quaint little concept, you won’t be able to ‘find’ your life until you first ‘lose’ it.
Of course, most of us assume ourselves way past such considerations. Some have even taken to speaking in the First Person, and I AM is become a catch-phrase.
The swelled head does not easily entertain the sober thought.
And depersonalization is a sobering thought. It divides and disconnects and disassociates. It drives home the ultimate: sobering thought, i.e. that this is not a ‘personal’ thing we’re dealing with! No matter what ‘I’ might imagine or what ‘I’ assume that ‘I’ may have accomplished, the terrible truth is that ‘I’ had little to do with it. When ‘I’ lay my hands on the sick, and they recover, or when ‘I’ speak and the house is shaken, that recovery and that shaking had little or nothing to do with me, i.e. the personal ‘I’.
There is simply no personal virtue involved!
I know it is a hard saying, but it is a true one. Jesus was the first to use the concept in its purest form. When the crowds began to gather, as it had been determined that they should . . . and when the miracles began to occur, as it had been prophesied that they would . . . Jesus recognized the extremely dangerous position that placed him in.
And so He began to practice the art of depersonalization.
He began the exercise by informing the people that they really didn’t understand what was going on with Him and the miracles, etc. I realize you cannot see what I’m seeing or hear what I’m hearing, and, as far as you are concerned, these marvelous acts originate with me. You think that I am doing them!
But I’m not!
Please hear me and let these words sink deep into your ears, IT IS NOT ME!
Jesus, as all of us, was given a face and a form and a personality. And if anyone ever had a hook-up with the Most High, it was He. But He still insisted on making the distinction that all of us give lip service to, but few have gotten around to doing. In most cases, the very best we can come up with is the aforementioned Kaiser Wilhelm number (Me und Gott) or, as a friend of mine is fond of putting it, “Boy, when God gets through with me, I’M gonna shine!”
Always with the personal. Always with the thought, sometimes secretly harbored, sometimes openly expressed, that we, as individual ‘persons’, are going to get some great reward for our service to God.
Oh, I know the scriptures seem to encourage the perception. And every hireling looks forward to the time when he gets ‘what’s coming to him’. I know.
But there is something going on deep in the heavens that is not of that order. And it is not connected up to a person or persons, or whatever it is that they may have seemed to have accomplished.
The wise will understand. Jesus did. And that is why He depersonalized the issue. That is why He denied ‘himself’. He knew that there was no one doing anything on the earth but God Himself.
Not me. . . but He.
The words that I speak . . . they are not ‘mine’.
The works that I do . . . they are not ‘mine’.
Jesus simply refused to accept the credit for what another was doing. In this case, his Father-God. And, because He did honor his Father, as the Son always does, He was free to say and to do those things which had never been said or done before. Why was He so successful, while the rest of us (including the so-called greats of all the ages) are always coming up short of the “glory of God”? One reason was that He clearly understood, as most of us don’t, that “I can, of my own self, do nothing”!
Most assume that being “endued with power” is simply a matter of a little extra starch in our backbone, or a little help in the delivery of what is already a powerful sermon. We look on it as an adjunct to our personal will, a complement to our natural abilities.
But it isn’t.
And Jesus knew that. He knew that Jesus of Nazareth (as Jesus of Nazareth) … no matter how clever or articulate he was … or how determined … or how bright, didn’t have a prayer of accomplishing anything of a spiritual nature on the earth.
“I can, of my own self, do nothing.”
We do confuse the religious man with the spiritual. Religion is man at his best, but spiritual man is Something Else Again. That ‘self’ that Jesus referred to, that one that could do ‘nothing’, was the self or person of Jesus of Nazareth. It was His face, His form, His personality. It was His intellect, His will, all of those things that men get hung-up on, men who are always worshiping the thing created (the creature) “more than the Creator.” And this was some creature! My, my. Charismatic, bold, decisive, a born leader of men.
Oh, yes. But it was precisely that ‘self’ that He had in mind when he said “I can, of my own self, do nothing.”
It is something we think about, on occasion, and talk about, on other occasions. But it is a very difficult concept for us to get a handle on. It certainly takes more than the telling of it. Indeed, there is something very deceptive about ‘ministry’, especially our own. Difficult for us to come to understanding, very difficult for us to grasp the essential fact that we (of this face and this form and this personality . . this self) can literally ‘do nothing’ of a spiritual nature.
Oh, I do not mean that we cannot preach, and teach, and we all can certainly convince and convert. But that may very well not be a spiritual matter at all! Indeed, it may fit into the same general classification as that smooth-tongued rascal who seeks to sell you that real estate in the swamplands of Florida. Or the man with the toothpaste smile who attempts to convince you that your life simply won’t be complete without that new toilet water that just hit the market.
Et tu, Brut?
Or perhaps you do not think that we of the religious persuasion have our share of hucksters? Or that 99% of the bible-thumping and the verily-i-say-unto-you-ing is either ill-advised or wrong-headed?
Oh, my.
How many words does it take? How many precepts, thoughts, and ideas, to equal the power of one small whisper from the Spirit? How many years will we spend in the ministration of the “tongues of men and of angels” before we realize that we have become as “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals”? How much faith exercise and how many mountains move before we come face to face with the terrible truth that it has profited us (not to mention God and His purpose) nothing? What was it (do you suppose) that moved the son of Man to say such a shocking thing as “all who came before me were thieves and robbers”?
Oh, my.
How hung up we are on this ‘personal’ salvation. Our ‘personal’ commitment, our ‘personal’ place in the sun! We are become as those who refused to give the fruits of the vineyard to the owner of the vineyard.
The personal is the province of the Pharisee, whether past or present. I (the personal I) do things, I (the personal I) say things, and I (the personal I) render certain services, ergo … I (the personal I) should be commended and honored, before both God and man.
The only problem being that the personal I does not even appear before God!
That personal I, the person (that which God is no respecter of) is only a mask that an entity hides behind. That form, that personality, that ‘person’, is only here for a moment, and then disappears. It comes up as the grass does, or so the preacher tells us, but is soon cut down, and is no more.
Oh, there may, indeed, be something within that blade of grass that does not die, and something in man that lives forever. And there is, indeed, behind the mask of the ‘person’ of Jesus of Nazareth, the very Christ of God!
And behind the mask or ‘person’ of the Pharisees and their great and terrible need to be recognized and applauded and reimbursed for their religious service, another entity. An entity who would steal from God. Behind the mask of ‘person’, the Evil One himself. You are not the children of God, at all, Jesus told the Pharisees, but the “children of the devil”!
I am sorry.
I know how much time and effort we have put into it.
I know how many dreary miles some of us have walked and how many things we have suffered.
And I know how fervently we have wished that “Ishmael” might live before God.
But he won’t. That place is reserved for the “Righteous Seed’, and that, my friend, is not you . . nor is it me.
While the religious world seems headed in the other direction, it is not a simple matter to make the distinction that must be made. Since “I and my Father are one” has become so popular, it is even more difficult. As if a man may assume himself to be a mountain climber simply because he has read after or parrots the words of one who is.
But the life experience of Jesus of Nazareth is His, and does not lend itself to mimicry. My name is William Moss. I also am possessed of face and form and personality. I am not a clone of anyone, or a carbon copy. Oh, I do preach (as He did) and testify (as He did) and there have even been those times when I have stood in the Holy Place (as He did) and hearings were manifest, and miracles did occur. But I do not confuse myself with He who, as Jesus taught us, really does the work.
If there be virtue, and if the woman with the issue of blood is healed, and if angels come and attend those who are the called of God, and if the pillars move and the smoke ascends, let there be absolutely no confusion as to Who is present with us. And let it be equally clear that, Whoever it is, IT IS NOT YOU AND IT ISN’T ME!
Depersonalization may not be required of all but it is essential for most. We need to know, not just say. We need to have it written on our foreheads and branded into our very souls. We need to keep the truth ever before us . . . it is not me!
Some will call it dualism.
Call it what you will.
There is the Usurper
And there is the Son.
There is only One who stands firm in the face of adversity, unmoved in the very shadow of the cross.
There is only One who is impervious to the whims of time and circumstance, who rejects the subtle counsel of pride in the day of exaltation.
There is only One who is unalterably opposed to sin, and whose only reason for existing is to do the will of He who sent him.
HE IS ABLE!
There is one who is easily awakened, but who soon slumbers again.
There is one who, at this time, hurls the challenge (triumphing gloriously) and, at that time, flees the wrath of the alien king (behaving cowardly).
There is one who, anointed king by the prophet, rules wisely and well, for a season. His end, however, is filled with the torment of rejection and futile warring against the will of God.
There is one who chases the mechanical rabbit of ‘perfection’ round and round, hoping that someday, someone, or something will happen that will enable him to catch it.
There is one who dreams he eats, but awakens hungry.
There is one who sees, but cannot comprehend.
One who hears, but cannot interpret.
One who professes loudly, but produces little.
There is the messenger who runs, but is not sent.
The seer whose vision cannot penetrate the religious overcast.
The priest who cannot continue his ministrations ‘by reason of death’.
HE IS UNABLE!
I hear the Boss-man say, “Away with him.
Get me someone in here that can do the job”!
And, as if awaiting the cue, I see One stride from the wings and accept the challenge.
Surely you don’t think that One to be you? Or me?
A word to the wise. Depersonalize.