But First - “What You Need
to Know About
The Purpose of Your
Sanctification”
You are the Light in Darkness
You really need to know
who you are in Christ. You are first His image bearer, created in His image
(Genesis 1:26). Once you accept Jesus as your Lord, you receive eternal life,
then what? That is where many pastors fail to remind their congregation, leaving
them in the dark, without a purpose of their calling. Are you the Light in the
darkness, (Romans 2:19?
“Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the
light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you;
he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going,” John 12:35
Pastors need to teach what
Jesus preparing us for. Without knowing who we are to motivate us, and the
purpose of our fellowship, where can we find the courage and the determination
to face the everyday challenges of this world? After all, didn’t God instruct us
to be holy as He is Holy? (Lev 19:2). These rules of good stewardship applied to Israel, but also apply to Christians:
‘but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in
all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Pet 1:15-16
Immediately after Jesus’
teaching to His disciples on the parable of the lost son mentioned in (Luke
15:11), He went on teaching the parable of the unjust steward. I believe the
order Jesus used to link the two parables was significant. At the end of the
parable of the lost son, the older brother was angry toward his younger brother
who returned after spending his inheritance to usury. What really upset him
most is that he finds his father delighted and thankful by preparing a great
and magnificent feast to celebrate his brother’s return. Is that the end of
Jesus' teaching? Not exactly, we learned that the younger son would not be
reinstated at the same level of stewardship to his father's domain as his
older brother.
“And he (the father) said to him (the older son),
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that
we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again,
and was lost and is found,” Luke 15:31-32.
“All that I have is
yours,” meaning that the older son owns his father’s entire domain. His younger
brother would receive none of his father's inheritance. Many Christians have the assumption that God rewards
His children equally since He loves us equally. This is not so. God is a God of
justice and love. God is NOT a socialist nor a communist. There is no
partiality with Him, (Eph 6:9). For example, “if anyone will not work,
neither shall he eat, but should work in quietness and eat their own bread,”
(2 Thess 3:10,12).
Soon after our
resurrection (1 Thess 4:16), we (the believers in Christ's resurrection) will all
be judged for the choices made throughout our Christian life; the good works
made for our Lord and the works that we assumed were God’s will. It’s all going
to be judged for rewards or disapproval - all accordingly, (Acts 10:42, 2 Tim
4:1).
“and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive
the crown of glory that does not fade away,” 1 Pet 5:4
If you are part of the
resurrection of the saints, of those who had heard the testimony of the gospel
and believed it – those who sleep or are alive at His return (1 Thess 4:14, 5:10),
you will take part of the Bema seat of judgment. One by one, standing before
our Lord, the books will be open, and Jesus will review our life of service for
Him. Reassure yourself, that this will not be a review of our sinful behaviour. Our
sins have been forgiven, forgotten and remembered no more, (Heb 8:12).
However, our disobedience did hinder our stewardship and consequently our
reward.
This judgement is not to be compared with the end-time
judgement when all unbelievers will be standing at our Lord's throne. All their
sins will be reviewed - all their sinful conduct. Understand this, they will
not be judged because they’ve sinned but rather because of their unbelief. They
will view the list of sins accumulated throughout their life only to realize
that all their sins could have been forgiven if only they had believed
and accepted Jesus as their redeemer who took away the sins of the
whole world, theirs included, (1 John 2:2). Sad, isn’t?
Now, are we to shine our
light within the four walls of the church building only. Nonsense! Here is a
comment I wrote in an article titled, “Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
vs the Canadian Human Rights Commission”1
I heard at the opening and closing prayers pastors
giving thanks to God for the freedom to worship unaware that God has given them
much more than the simple right to worship in Canada. I believe that it is God who
wrote the Constitution on His behalf - for His purpose, not ours. He gave us,
not the government the freedom of religion.
The Constitution was founded upon the principles that
recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law. Not any gods, but the
Christian God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life, Jn 3:16. (CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982
PART I).
The Constitution of Canada was signed by Queen
Elizabeth which holds the title of the 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme
Governor of the Church of England’.
What is the difference between freedom of worship and
freedom of religion? The difference is that freedom of worship restricts
Christians's sphere of influence by living according to their beliefs, ethics and
moral standard values within the wall of a building, while the freedom of
religion gives Christians the freedom to carry their right to beliefs, ethics
and moral standard values everywhere in our society. It is our civil right.
Have you not noticed how often we hear from the secular to keep our religion
at church? It is a constant attack on our rights. Event Christians among
themselves demanded not to mix religion with politics… go figure.
We have the fundamental right to peaceful assembly in
a church environment and the freedom of religion in a social environment, in
particular in our school.
In my next blog, I will write about our rewards for
being a good steward, (the Light in Darkness) especially the defender of the
widows the orphans, the unborn babies, and the oppressed.
1
https://www.simplicityinthegospel.com/2019/02/canadian-charter-of-rightsand
