August 10, 2010
Volume 6 Issue 1
(It has been awhile since our last issue and for that I do apologize. The Lord has assigned me to a project that has taken my time from this venture. That assignment is now at a place where I have more time, so if you are still interested we will try to renew our acquaintance.)
Life has many interesting paradoxes. Church is often about work and service. In fact, church is mostly about duties, works, responsibilities, and fixing what isn’t really broken. Because of this as Christians we are taught that life in Christ is more about some type of indentured servitude than freedom. Of course to most pastors we were saved to work. To others it is about a way of keeping people in the pews and involved in church programs. The more that you do, the more spiritual you will be. (And of course if you can’t serve your money can!) This is the life presented at most churches and yet this is not the life shown in the Gospel message!
We will look at two areas of great interest:
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Hebrews 4:9-11
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
These of course are explained away as “spiritual” principles and are never applied to our “actual” life. We were saved to work and churches need workers! We need to feel involved, to have a say, and to be seen as important to the cause! Our flesh needs to be noticed so the demand of church appeals to the carnal mindset. The spiritual becomes servant to the flesh as we work to satisfy everyone’s needs and ideals of church. Yet Jesus came preaching a different message. He did not separate into spiritual and everyday principles. What He taught was to the person! Each person is spirit and flesh. His word was not split into categories that lead to lessening the force of His word! What was His message?
Luke 4:18-19
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Matt 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
These words were not directed to the inner man while the outer man stayed in bondage to need, sickness, addictions, or even forced or manipulated service to religious duties! The Words of Life are given to man! All that we are and all that we are made of!
2 Peter 1:2-4
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
The Good News is to our entire person! Freedom is real freedom! Rest is true rest! We are complete in Christ and have no need to work for our supper or labor for righteousness to please God!
Colossians 2:8-10
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. (NKJV)
“But I love to work for Jesus!”
Yes, of course you do – if you are truly free!
Out of true freedom in Christ a great gift arises, it is the gift of choice. We are not compelled by duty or need to do anything for our Father but by love. We choose to give and we choose to serve because we have received such a great and wondrous love that has brought us from death into life! We may indeed feel that we simply have to labor for the Lord, but in true freedom it is not out of the need to work but because of the love of God! In fact, if a work that we are involved in is burdensome to us in body and spirit then we should look carefully at it and judge it in the light of freedom.
When we are at true rest, not just an inner sense of well being, we can then know full willingness to get up and out and take on whatever the Lord has given us to do. There can be no undo stress associated with the task for the one that undertakes it is still in rest! When we are outside of rest then we leave joy and peace behind and our glorious adventure becomes simply a chain about our necks. In fact, if you take the above reference from Hebrews seriously then if we do not live in rest we can fall through disobedience. How many works are people involved in that have led them into disobedience, failure, and total discouragement because they are works of duty and religious need rather than missions of love from the realm of rest?
True freedom and rest cannot be understood through the veil of law. These precepts of life in Christ cannot be understood through participation in any organization or work – no matter how worthy and how needed. The mission of Christ can only be understood through our relationship with God as our Father. In Christ we have the freedom and rest of being sons and daughters of God! The children of a loving father respond to their father’s desires because of the love that he has given to them. It is a choice and a privilege to serve. This the duty oriented will never understand while those that seek to lift up themselves will only pause long enough to retool their act.
More to come . . .
Yours in Christ,
Danny Thompson
(Unless noted all scriptures are given in from the New International Version.)
Gospel Notes is an email publication from Danny Thompson Ministries and Believer’s Church P. O. Box 7326 Abilene, Texas 79608. All material is free to copy, share, and use for the glory of the Kingdom.
