Watermelon test

 “O Taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

(Psalms 34:8, NASB20)

One of the joys of Summer is buying your first watermelon. Usually these arrive at Costco sometime in May, but often are not as sweet as those grown later in the year. So, if you buy one in May, you just don't know what to expect. Some say if the yellow spot, where the melon rested on its side, is large and well defined, you've got a good one. But here's the thing: Unless you slice it open and taste it, there's just no way to know. You pays your money, and you takes your chances!

the Bible speaks much about the Name of the LORD. In the ancient near East, a name was much more than a moniker by which a person was called. Your name in that culture is the essence of your character. Poor Nabal. His name means "vile person" and that surely is what he was. David had treated him well, but when he needed help, Nabal refused. So his name really was spot on. But not so the LORD. "The Name of the LORD is a strong tower, the righteous run into it, and are saved" (Proverbs 18:10). Strong in character. Reliable. Immoveable. Those who trust in His Name will never be put to shame, Isaiah 49:23. 

So the LORD challenges us. Try Him. Test Him. Taste Him. He is all that He claims to be. Well, that doesn't seem so hard, does it? When there is no turmoil blowing in, sure enough. But that is not life here on earth. We all know this. Most often we find ourselves going from the frying pan into the frier, from one trial to another. SOS. The LORD calls to us, "Come to me all ye that are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The promise is sure. He will never leave us or forsake us. But like Peter, with wind and waves swirling, we must get out of the boat and COME! 

Faith without works is dead, writes the apostle James. It's just not true faith. If we believe, we will take steps that demonstrate we believe, or our our faith is a mere theory, unreliable and moved by the slightest challenge. So just what might a life that truly believes look like? How can we tell? We might say we believe, but until we are tested, we just don't know. Maybe the melon is sweet, maybe not. Taking rest in Him is the surest thing we can do, but such trust cannot be passive. We don't yet live in the sweet bye and bye, but as believers in the LORD, that is our true position. 

Perhaps a man has heard a word from the LORD asking him to make a major move. He might say, "Yes LORD I will go", but like the first son in Jesus' parable, he never does go, and proves that he does not really believe. Our faith does not live in a vacuum. We also have an enemy who wants us to fall back, and be destroyed. Like Peter, he would sift us like wheat. When you do a word study on Faith, I have found that over 80 percent of the time, it's in the context of being challenged. So how then to obtain true faith, one that will not falter when "sorrows like sea bellows roll"? This faith comes from hearing, from a heart that is actually listening to His Word. We ask not for bread alone, but for revelation. In beholding Him, we become like Him, 2 Corinthians 3:18. This is not passive. This is not theory. St John tells us that we already are God's kids, I John 3:2. But when we see Him, we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. We dare not go to war without a weapon. The Word of the LORD will form us into mighty warriors, but this character is gained in the prayer closet, in that garden, early in the morning when "the dew is still on the roses". This is how the LORD transforms us from fickle to faithful. There is no other way, saints. Let us then go on to know the LORD. His going forth "Is as certain as the dawn". Only then will we be ready for the trial that is ahead. 

How to ID false teachers

 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 2 PETER 2:18-19

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. JUDE 16.

And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. GALATIANS 2:4

The errors that false teachers follow one of two paths. Peter and Jude are writing about the antinomians. These men are teaching that once you're a Christian, anything goes. We are completely free to do as we will. Want that sports car, brother? Zoom on over to the dealership, take out a loan you can't afford, and drive it away! Want that Gucci handbag, sister? Well, why not? You should look good, right? What is wrong with this picture? Hint: It's NOT the objects being considered, but the unsanctified desire with which they are being pursued. As Jude says, these teachers are walking after their own lusts. They do not love the LORD, they are using Him as their personal ATM. They pay no attention to St John's warning about not loving the world. Peter calls them "servants of corruption", for indeed they do preach a form of the Gospel that appeals to worldly, carnal people who give lip service to being believers, but who have never met the Lord Jesus Christ. These men don't know Jesus, and worse they are corrupting the Gospel so that their hearers will fall under the same illusion. A dark, dark judgment is sure to come upon them. 

The apostle Paul, on the other hand, was being attacked by the opposite error, legalism. Paul was a bulldog when he found out "ravenous" wolves were following along behind him. He knew why: the message of freedom was unfathomable to the religious crowd. Paul says "we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews (the religious) a stumbling block and unto the Greeks (non-religious) foolishness" I Corinthians 1:23. The message of total freedom in Christ came, as it were, out of nowhere. Paul did not find it in the Septuagint. He did not get it from Gamaliel. No man taught him. Instead, he writes to the Galatians, he got it directly from Jesus Christ Himself. 

But the religious crowd just could not handle it. The issue of circumcision was the spark that caused the great Jerusalem council found in Acts 15. I can understand them. All their life they had lived under a set of rules. The Jews were to be separate, not like the Gentiles in any way. They were not even to eat dinner with them. And now this Paul is claiming keeping the law actually detrimental to being saved. Galatians 5:2 - If ye be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. 5:4, ye are fallen from grace, Christ is become of the effect unto you. So Paul's enemies, perhaps well intended, were following along behind him to correct his "error". 

Antinomian and legalistic false teachings are in many ways opposite. One encourages hedonistic pleasure, while the other rigid adherence to a moral code. But saints, here is what they have in common: their followers are carnal. They don't know Christ. If they did, their hearts would automatically be in lock step with Him. They would not pursue worldly pleasure because "friendship with the world is enmity with God", James 4:4. Nor would they insist on adding ANYTHING to the Gospel. No law, no rules, just Jesus, and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2). 

Saint Augustine once wrote, "Love God and do as you please". I think this pretty much sums it all up. If we love Him, we will obey Him. Hedonism will not appeal to us, and legalism will not restrain us. We are completely free, ironically, because we have become bondslaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world thinks this foolish. The carnal religious crowd finds it offensive. But here we must stand, saints. We can go nowhere else. 

Revelation

 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. I John 5:19-20

For some, Heaven is like a dream, Earth is real. Actually, only Heaven is real. Earth is like a dream. For the saints, our citizenship is not on this planet, but in the Heavenly City. 

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Philippians 3:20-21

John invites to an understanding. What we experience here on Earth, al the vileness, the violence, sin, wars - fill in the blank. All of that is the result of the deception of the evil one. And it is indeed very dark. Our subjective experience lies to us. The devil tries to convince us that based on what we see on Earth, God is not good, He is not kind, He is not love. When we get into trouble, we might offer up prayers of desperation, but we inevitably give up. This is because this hideous lie is imprinted on our hearts. Thus strongholds entrap us. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Idolatry. Vanity. All based on the lie that God is not good. How can we break free, saints?

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. 

Our victory begins first of all with a revelation of the nature of the battle. 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph. 6:12.

This makes sense. You don't fight a chemical fire with water. No, firemen use firefighting foam. Water is useless. In the same way, you don't fight spiritual battles with carnal weapons. Someone may be going through a hard time. If we offer up human compassion and help, the battle might abate for a while, but the devil will be back later. If on the other hand we speak the truth, in love, we equip that person with the tools to set back the enemy's lies, rendering them useless. 

The armor of God is not some etherial myth. No. The weapons of our warfare may not be carnal, but they are very real. Once we have identified the lie that the enemy is using against us, we fight back. The helmet of salvation protects us against any thought that is not true, rejecting it immediately. The breastplate of righteousness protects our heart against accusations, knowing that in reality we are His, and answering the enemy by standing on that fact. The shield of faith extinguishes the weapons thrown at us because we know they are lies, and by faith we see beyond the immediate battle to the victory Christ already won. The sword of the spirit, God's Word, tears down the strongholds of evil. The shoes of the Gospel of peace ensure that our feet are standing on Truth. And finally the belt of truth holds all the armor together. 

My greatest desire is to so pray that there be, as it were, a hole in the darkness. I would that the Light of God would pierce the darkness and show people God's true nature. He is LOVE. He is GOOD. He is KIND. He is full of compassion. He is steadfast. He is true. Because here's the thing - if only they could see, they would run TO God, not AWAY from Him. 

My friends, we should all be filled with holy indignation. The devil's future is the lake of fire and brimstone, Revelation 20:10. But we don't need to wait to undo his lies. By the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we can set back the schemes of the evil one. We can see every chain broken, every stronghold smashed when we speak the Truth, in Love. Let's get started!

Life Chain Reaction

 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. II Peter 1:4-8

Partakers of the what, brother Peter? Can the very nature of God be found in His saints? Well, saints, this is what he is saying. How to understand this? To me, a list such as the above text seemed to be very flowery and other-worldly. I mean yes, brother, in Heaven after we shed away this body of sin, sure. But the Bible is not written to the dead, but is a guide for the living. 

The foundation is faith. This is "The evidence of the unseen, the assurance of what we hope for" per the writer of Hebrews. So this chain of character begins with something that is NOT seen, but is nevertheless the most real thing about the saints. With this foundation as a starting point, Peter invites us to "add to" our faith qualities that take it from the invisible to the visible. 

1. We add to faith virtue. Because we have faith, we can reject the lies that tell us we are less than what we are. Sure, our natural experience falls far short of the character of God - but what of it? The Word says if we are in Christ, we are new creations. The old has passed away. We can take this promise to the bank, and must reject the devil's lies. We may not yet see this in our experience, but the first step is to affirm what the Word says about us, and to stand on that. 

2. We add to virtue knowledge. We know our faith will be tested. When it happens, we are not lost in the dark, nor are we tempted to jump ship. We have taken our stand on the promises of God, and knowledge of what is going on when we are tested is like a helmet around our thoughts. This does not alleviate the suffering with which we are being tested, but it does give us an opportunity for praise. Yes, Paul, our outer selves are decaying, but our inner selves are being built up (2 Corinthians 4:16). This is how "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world" (I John 5:4). 

3. We add to knowledge temperance. This is not the calm before the storm, but the calm within the storm. Why? We KNOW that the storm is only temporary. Though all around us rages, we stay still. Jesus does give us peace, but NOT as the world gives. The world only understands being calm when there is no wind! But the calm Jesus gives is WITHIN the storm. "I am with you, I have overcome the world". No amount of temporal tempest need shake us off our base. Here we stand. Here we praise His Name. 

4. We add to temperance patience. There is no need to run from our trials. Indeed, as James writes, we even consider them all a JOY, knowing that the testing of our faith produces that patience. We have stood up in the midst of the trial, knowing that we are already winners in the Eternal City. The body they may kill, God's Truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever. Amen. This is the source of our patience. 

5. We add to patience godliness. So here the faith is beginning to be visible to others. No person rejoices in the midst of a trial, unless he has an understanding of what is going on. The world will surely notice this. They have no playbook for someone who is actually happy about suffering. I suggest this really shouts at them, "here is one who really knows the God he claims to worship". When struck in one cheek, we turn the other one. When forced to go one mile, we go two. When we are hated, we love. Blows every fuse worldly people have. They can only give the glory to God. 

6. We add to godliness brotherly kindness. The Greek word here is "Philadelphia", loving our brother. Jesus told us this is how the world would know that we belong to Him. The Roman Tertullian was writing to his Roman superiors about the Christians. He writes, "See how they love one another". The world again has no answer for a body of believers who may be quite diverse, yet move in unity with love for one another. All glory to God!

7. We add to brotherly kindness charity. The Greek word her is agape. This is the highest form of love. Totally selfless. Expecting nothing in return. We love because we know God, and have become love. Love is the greatest. Faith is the foundation, and hope carries us through, but when we love we are most like our God, who IS love. 

This then is the progression Peter has in mind. Let us then not fall short of the mark, saints!

"For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things " Ph. 3:18-19

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof, but he who does the will of God abides forever" I John 2:15-17

Old time preachers used to orate fiery sermons warning the congregants about the dangers of worldliness. I am sure they would have quoted the passages above in their admonitions. I grew up in the Mennonite Church, where often these words were interpreted in a very legalistic way. The way one dresses, the cars one drives, not dancing or playing with cards, etc were commonly understood as ways to avoid worldliness. If it were only that simple, my friends. It is not. A fight against the world must begin with the heart. What clothes you wear, or what games you play are all external things. 

"Love not" begins not with a set of rules, but with a heart that no longer values anything this world offers. Why? Well, John said it best: These things are passing away. I think it was Jim Elliot, who was martyred preaching the gospel to the Auca Indians, who said, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose". If the eyes of our hearts are upon that Eternal City of God, well, as the song says, "The things of Earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His Glory and grace". Loving the Kingdom that is coming makes a whole lot more sense than loving the world, which is passing away. 

How then to pass the test: Are we lovers of the world, of loves of Christ? September 11, 2001 the whole world watched as 19 misguided young men flew planes into the WTC and the Pentagon, and crashed another one meant for the White House in a field in PA. This was quite a revelation for me. Indeed, here is evidence that indeed, as John says, this world is passing away - and I found my soul very much in distress over its loss. Ouch. Moravian missionaries used to sing, "Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill, God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever", but that song was not on my heart when it looked very much like Babylon was falling. No, 911 was very painful for me. But it was also helpful. I simply did not realize how much in love with the world I was until I saw it slipping away. Since then, I believe God has graciously led me away from the City of Destruction mentioned by John Bunyan. Where my heart is now, I do not say for sure, but I'd like to think I'd not miss this world at all should He call me home tomorrow. 

How then shall we live, saints? We look to Jesus Christ, who is the "author and perfecter of our faith". Our prayer life will be directed towards Heaven, not Earth. We pray not for resolution of whatever cross is before us, but that we understand that all our affliction is only temporary, and that it is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. Paul writes that any suffering we might walk in here on earth is not worthy of comparison with the glory that is to be revealed in us. We ask only that God be glorified in and through all things. When we fall we call on His Name, and he is very much there for us. He cleans us up and sets us on our way. His intention is not to hear "Lord, Ill do better next time but "Lord help me to trust you more". 

This world is indeed passing away. We know this. But we must be honest. Where are our hearts today? Are we placing our happiness in the future, when situations that are unpleasant are resolved? Or do we, like Our LORD, pray, "Not my will but thine?" Are we complainers, or do we rejoice in our sufferings". Is it not essential to know where we are at? Would anyone want to leave this world, as we all must, looking back like Lot's wife? I'd hope that doesn't describe any of us here today. Would it not be better to be singing and rejoicing that our Eternal Reward is at hand?

Let us pray. Father, we really want to be honest in our prayers. If our hearts are not fully after you, show that to us, and lead us towards repentance. May indeed all the things of this world grow strongly dimmer and dimmer and our hearts long more and more for your coming. Be merciful to us, Lord, for so often our hearts have NOT been after you. Amen. 

 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. I Peter 5:6-9

Peter teaches us in verses 1-5 about the responsibilities of elders as shepherds and congregants who they lead. We are to be "subject one to another". This is for our own safety, as verses 6-9 make clear. A lone wolf will sooner or later be taken out by a roaring lion. Together, we can resist the devil. 

So he is walking around "as a roaring lion". He is saying, "This is my territory". Back off. Stay away. They can be heard five miles away. In the same way, the devil uses our sufferings. "If God is good, why then are you in this mess". Etc. We might fight him off in the short term, but he never gives up. If we are standing alone, in our own strength, we will eventually fall. 

Fellowship. "Fellows in the same ship" says brother Watchman Nee. The afflictions we are enduring our brothers are also experiencing. We can take comfort here: Our sufferings are making us perfect. They are TEMPORARY. There is an end. In the meantime, we walk with our brothers and sisters, encouraging and supporting each other. AMEN. 

The Cross before me

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The message of the cross is ubiquitous in the Bible. There is the cross upon which our LORD died, and most believers can correctly point to that event as their hope of salvation.  We know that we were sinners, and so we all came down that sawdust trail, and accepted the finished work of Jesus Christ as the payment for our sins. We were all once lost, but now we've been found, we were blind but now we see. 

Great. Then what? Our consciousness has been awakened to our sins. Were it not so, why then would we have come to Him for salvation? We may enjoy a honeymoon period where we feel so close to him, but that soon fades. What are we left with, saints? The zeal for the new man is gone. The reality of life sets in. Sure, we are now in Christ, and one day He will bring us to Heaven. But doesn't this seem a distant promise? How then shall we live now?

Saul of Tarsus was "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;". When it came to looking good, Saul had it made. But then sojourning down the road to Damascus, he encounters the LORD. His old life is shattered. He begins to preach the faith that he once tried to destroy. So far, so good. But he is far away from being the Apostle Paul. 

Off to the deserts of Arabia for 14 years, brother. Go make tents. How long until he begins to wonder if what happened was just an illusion? Listen to his testimony: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Saul cannot become Paul until he reckons with this very real struggle: Eschewing evil and embracing good is not easy. In fact, he writes, it is impossible. The accuser is right there. Maybe it was all fake, Saul. Go back to your old, comfortable life. You are still a card carrying Pharisee. Hiss. The revelation of the Cross awaits you, Saul. After much suffering you will be able to understand. 

After all that trial, Paul discloses God's objective: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 

This is God's economy, what He does, why He does what He does. He has set Eternity in our hearts. We are eternal creatures who walk in a temporal world. This world is where we live, but it is not, and cannot be our home. Until we apprehend this fact and let go of the illusion that we belong here, our life as believers will be one failure after another. Not because God doesn't see our trial, doesn't love us, does not care that we are failing, but because there is a way life in a temporal world works. This is what the Cross is teaching us:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

After much trial and testing of our faith, every saint is brought to the foot of the cross wherein we must acknowledge that we simply cannot live the life of a saint until we surrender all and leave it there. One Christian prophet suggested that it is like a battle. When we are fighting in our own strength, we are in the valley. The enemy is raining down arrows of accusation upon our heads as we go from one defeat to another. Until we see that there is a higher place from whence we can fight. He calls it the Galatians 2:20 plane, the place where we are not vulnerable to Satan's arrows, because try as he might, he simply cannot kill a man who knows he is already dead. 

No, the battle does not stop. Our outward circumstances are most often the same. But now that we see that the battle does not belong to us, we set the LORD ahead of us, and He does the fighting. Our bodies he may kill, God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever. Amen.