The Cross Revealed

God has given us all that we need to lead a life pleasing to Him. We abandon confidence in ourselves or other men, and cast ourselves on Jesus, "The author and finisher of our faith".

Saturday, February 5, 2011

What Spirit?

“And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” (Lu 9:51-56 AV)
I came accross some brothers handing out tracts last night at the First Friday event in Wailuku. They said that they were not members of a church, but that they studied together every Monday night in Lahaina. At first, I was intrigued; could it be that I finally found some brothers who have a vision for a NT church, and who are living that vision? Not so much. They hadn't even thought about it. They only said that they believed their mission was to save as many souls as they could before the LORD comes back.

Nothing wrong with that, surely. But I wonder. Who would go fishing without a place to put the fish when caught? Without a NT church, or even a vision for a NT church, why bother? Only God knows their hearts. I don't. Many times, preachers seem to hate the audience they are preaching to. To be sure, the nonbeliever does face destruction, but is that the point of Jesus' coming to earth? He told the Sons of Thunder his mission was to seek and to save, not to destroy. So we are warned to watch carefully what manner of spirit we are manifesting.

God gives grace to the humble, but He opposes the proud. May we always concern ourselves first of all about the bolder of pride that is in our own eyes before we try to help someone with a pebble in theirs.