Bearing Good Fruit

Over the past year or so my mind has been periodically harassed by a nagging guilt of not producing enough 'good works'.

The New Testament undoubtedly puts a lot of emphasis on not neglecting our duty of good works:
"And already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Matt 3:10
"'I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!'.....'So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags....And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" Matt 25:24-30

I know quite well that salvation is not a remuneration for good works, but still, such verses do give the grim impression that the slothful servant is in danger of being tossed into the fiery pit of perdition.

But much to my joy, God, according to His relentless benevolence, pacified my conscience with this realisation:
It's that producing 'good fruit' isn't strictly just performing outward work like philanthropy; but rather it also includes the inner 'work' of behaving in a virtuous manner.
For example, behaving in accordance with the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) is certainly also what God considers to be in the sphere of what is defined as producing 'good fruit'. It also seems that this inner work is probably an even more important part of producing good fruit than purely just outward philanthropic work.

I think it would be safe to deduce, without diminishing the importance of our philanthropic duty, that living our lives in accordance with these spiritual fruits for the non-believing world to observe, is also a significant part of the Christian's evangelistic duty. In fact I'm sure that if we were to adhere to only one of these two duties, that God would much prefer us to have the spiritual fruits than the philanthropic fruits. I could scarcely imagine that the later would be at all effective without the former anyway.


So whenever that nagging guilt rears its ugly head again, I've got to be sure to remind myself of all this!

Worshipping Angels?

The following passage in Revelation has always puzzled me a little:

"And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets"
Revelation 22:8-9

The traditional interpretation of these verses never made too much sense to me; that St John made the foolish mistake of worshipping an angel. Surely a man of such high standing with God and so learnered would never make such a schoolboy error. Maybe a neophyte in the faith may make such a mistake, but one of the Apostles?!!
Then I read somewhere a much more cogent explanation (I think it was in David Chilton's 'Day's of Vengeance'): It's that back in those days angels were considered to be superior beings to us wretched humans, and it was customary that we were to automatically bow (the bible sometimes translates this as 'worship'. The Greek word translated as worship in this verse specifically means to fawn or crouch, or to literally prostrate oneself in homage) to any superior person as a sign of submission (Gen 18:2).

But what it seems that John was getting at in this verse is that Christians have been washed clean of their sins and are perfect in the sight of God, so are no longer are lesser beings than angels. We are equals, or as the angel said "for I am thy fellowservant", thus bowing in their presence is no longer required!

I was reminded of all this this morning when meditating on Psalm 8, where verse 5 says that humans are lower than angels; "For thou hast made him [mankind] a little lower than the angels"
But no more! We have been fully restored by Christ!

ALL Things for Our Benefit

Now that I have come to see that God is in control of ALL things, I have also become convinced that I should be thanking God for ALL things, not just the things that I perceive to be good.
While this may seem obvious to most Christians, often our actions betray a lack of application of such beliefs.

So strong has this new application of my belief become, that I often actually feel guilty now when ever I thank God for only the things that I see as good, it's like saying to Him "thanks heaps God, but about time you turned up, where have you been?"
Despite the fact that we constantly attribute things we see as 'bad' to satan or luck and chance, our actions need to be dictated by KNOWING that God works ALL things to our benefit (Romans 8:28), not just the few things that we recognise as good. It must feel like such an insult to God when we only thank Him for what we see as good, He must feel like saying "but my child, I love you, why do you doubt that I have your best interests in mind? Trust me, haven't I already proven my fidelity?"
It feels so liberating now to praise God when things don't go my way, because I know that things have actually gone His way!!!! To KNOW that God is working things to my benefit even when they seem bad to my woefully corrupt eyes.... now that is the faith that I'm after! That is the child-like faith that God so desires!

One Thing That I Desire

After reading Psalm 27:4 "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." it made me think about what I want to achieve in life. In the past I would have had the same response as most people; pay off mortgage, career, travel......all mere worldly ambitions. But now my ambitions are more in line what the above verse describes, and probably should be for anyone who is a follower of Christ.
It's interesting how easily duped and deluded we can become by worldly secular influences, even when the bible clearly teaches something to the contrary!

You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me

 

 

 

While no one that I know actually prostrates themselves before carved idols and national demi-gods as in ancient times, I have always been aware of how relevant the first commandment still is in today’s Western society. We would all probably agree that this commandment is applicable to anything that relegates God to a position of lower priority in our life, but I was never aware of how much of our life that God seems to wants us to dedicate to Him.

 

 

 

 

It’s one thing to go to church Sunday morning, read the Bible once a week, say a prayer before bed, all the while spending the largest portion of the day at work, the rest of the day watching TV and the weekend engaged in sport. But it’s something entirely different to sincerely focus and dedicate one's life to God as Scripture teaches.

“Blessed is the man …. his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2

“Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase” Proverbs 3:9

“My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” Psalm 62:5

 

The closer that God draws me to Him, the less imperative that the rest of life becomes. Sure, I still have my hobbies and pursuits, but the focus on my Father is central and dominant in my new life. All other things are peripheral and merely complimentary. And that is how I now see that God wants our lives to be.

It’s not just that God takes a higher priority in my life, but that the portion of my life that I give to Him is equal to what I give to all other pursuits combined, 50/50. 50% to God and 50% to the world, well that’s the ideal anyway, I’m not quite there yet. But what I’ve noticed is that the more of God that I get, the less of worldly pursuits that I want. The less fulfilling these worldly pursuits actually are.

 

Is it wrong to want to spend all my time in pursuit of God alone? Is that just an unrealistic fantasy, something impossible and even irresponsible in this hectic modern world? What is the right balance between the world and God? Does God actually want us focused on a career which the modern world considers all-important? Whether that career is a mundane labouring job, or serving others in social welfare or as a pastor; it seems to me that our main goal in life should be our personal relationship with God.  This may sound like a platitude to modern Christians, but how many from within the church actually practice it? Many people even make the same mistake that the Pharisees made in worshipping and serving the church rather than God Himself.

Even marriage is discouraged because it takes our focus off of God:

“But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:33-34

 

 

 

I have always been fascinated as to why God’s chosen people, Israel, never really seemed to achieve much. History holds no special place for them. They never conquered the world like the Romans, they didn’t build magnificent structures like the Egyptians, they never produced amazing trade products like the Far Eastern lands, they never explored the furthest parts of the planet like the English or French. Surely being God’s people they should have left an awesome mark on history commensurate with the awesomeness of their God?

But I realised that these things are only great in the eyes of humans, God wants something more, something greater than merely worldly achievement. God only wants a relationship with us, and this is was what the Israelites were better at than anyone else. They were a priestly people, a people dedicated to their God alone. In fact God designated them as a nation of priests for the whole world; “ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6

At Israel’s zenith, when they were closest to God, at a time when the great spiritual works of the Bible were produced, Israel was seen throughout the world as a source of spiritual superiority, they were sought out for their wisdom; “And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” 1 Kings 10:2

God didn’t want Israel to waste their time focused on pursuing worldly achievements, rather He wanted them to be focused on Him alone. And only when they did, then did God richly blessed them with the wealth of the world: “So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom…..And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.” 1 Kings 10:23,27

 

 

 

 

            Looking at all the things that humans have achieved in modern history, I wonder what God thinks? We understand the mechanics of the planets, the workings of the biological cell, we have put man on the moon, built magnificent structures, designed amazingly complex computer systems; but is this of any significance to God? I tend to think that God sees all our pursuits as nothing more than detrimental distractions from our real purpose as humans; to know God.

Maybe the Amish have it right in their rejection of technology?

 

I see now that worldly achievement isn’t to be our focus, but rather God alone. It is only then that God will bless us with wealth and the things that the world desires above Him. Seek God first, and richness will follow. In fact Jesus stated this principle perfectly: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

 

 

 

So when God asks us not to serve any gods other than Him, He is asking more than just belief in Him, more than spending Sunday morning worshipping Him, more than a prayer before bed. He seems to be asking for something that is antithetical to our modern life, something that the first Christians joyfully did; solely focus on God:

 

“And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers…. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple” Acts 2:42-46

 

 

Maybe I’m just turning into a hippie! A Christian hippie!