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 Robbers of God
Here are some questions which we should all ask ourselves:
The Purpose of SalvationMany modern day professing Christians have lost sight of their original goals and have become centered on themselves instead of God and others. TV and radio preachers often spend great amounts of time and expense promoting themselves as well as selfishness in their followers. What they are really saying is "Look out for number one." That's OK to do, as long as you know that Number One is none other than God Himself. The message we often hear from these radio and TV preachers is "God wants you to feel good" or "God wants you to be well" or "God wants you to be rich." There used to be a book in the Christian bookstores entitled It's Your Turn To Be Blessed. Another book was How to Give and Grow Rich. There used to be (and may still be) so-called Christian radio and TV programs titled Success In Life and Million Dollar Idea. All of these messages and books feed on one's greed and promote covetousness. They are a far cry from hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and bearing one another's burdens, and presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. Many preachers preach the doctrine of fame and fortune, sometimes called the prosperity message. Some of the verses that they frequently use are:
But here's a warning - we must not be self-righteous like the fellow who once told me that anytime he heard a preacher on the radio, he immediately changed the station. I wondered what he changed it to - rock and roll music, or country and western music? I wondered if he had ever listened to the false doctrines being taught in the programs he listened to. He was obviously not aware of the fact that everything in life has spiritual implications and lessons. There is nothing that is not spiritual in its most basic elements. I've been talking here about religious programs on the radio and television, but none of us are exempt from this poison of glorifying self and robbing God of His glory. In Alaska, there is a 1042 mile long dog sled race that is run every year. It is called the Iditorod race. There is a song that they sometimes sing during the race festivities which says "I did, I did, I did, I did, Iditorod." I sometimes think of that song when I hear people tell stories about what a great Christian they are. What runs through my mind is the song "I did, I did, I did, I did, I did it for God." It's enough to make one want to ask, "Where is God's glory? What part did He play in your victories?" My Mother, who was a very spiritually minded person, told me that the way she figured it, anytime she did a good deed for someone else, she was laying up treasure in heaven, and anytime she told someone about it, she made a withdrawal and pulled it right back out of heaven, taking the glory for the good deed unto herself instead of giving it to God. I think she had it figured out pretty well. We need to be wary of anyone who preaches himself, and not the Lord! They are spiritually bankrupt, regardless of how many good deeds they may have done. They rob God of His rightful glory. Sometimes, particularly during the closing announcements of a worship service where we have had a guest speaker, we hear something like "Bro. So-and-so sure is a great speaker. We are glad that he has come our way." We should not refrain from giving credit to those to whom credit is due, nor should we fail to recognize great God-given talent wherever we find it, but what is really great to hear after a particularly upbuilding worship service is "Isn't God great!" We should be wary of those who preach themselves and lift themselves up instead of lifting up the Savior - they rob God of His glory. It is the preaching of the cross that changes people's hearts. Paul said that he had determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. This is the gospel message that glorifies God and saves souls. Teaching which is self-centered not only robs God of His glory, but it also leads to the thought that "I was saved for ME. God loves ME so much that He wants ME to live with Him." Is that the way we should answer the question that we asked at the beginning - Why are you a Christian? Is the reason we are Christians just to save our soul? There is nothing wrong with wanting to save our souls, but we need to grow beyond that. If we spend our entire Christian lives right there, we can get ourselves into some serious trouble. This thought only promotes greed, which is covetousness, which Jesus said was Idolatry (note the first letter of the word - I). This is nothing new. The devil has been using this line a long time. He will do anything he can to rob God of His glory, and keep us from being dedicated to glorifying God. 'Christianity' and 'covetousness' are almost synonyms in today's world, and many professing Christians see nothing wrong with it. They want more and more of this world's blessings, and professing to know Christ seems to be the way they are going about getting them. Christianity is looked at as an investment that pays dividends. We need to bear in mind that the apostles did not live in great big palaces and ride around in golden chariots, and have servants waiting on their every need. In fact, just the opposite was true. We cannot expect God to fulfill our covetous wills and give us every physical thing we can lay our eyes on. He is not a Cosmic Monty Hall, where all we need to do to obtain all of the goodies behind the magic door is to say the right prayer and perform the right ceremony. One of the problems with all of this self centered God robbing teaching is that there is some truth in it, just enough to make it sound like it's right out of the bible. Certainly, it is true that God loves us, and wants us to live with Him. And it's true that God wants us to be well, and to feel good, and to be blessed, and many other things that these people are preaching. And it is true that God is able, and willing I might add, to do exceeding abundantly above all that we are able to ask, or even think. But the thought that "we were found to be so good that God just had to have us, so He saved us" is totally wrong. We were not saved for our benefit, nor because we were such good people or pleasing to God in some way. That bears repeating. We were not saved for our benefit, nor because we were such good and obedient people. To think otherwise robs God of His rightful glory. To believe so puts the glory for salvation on us instead of on God. Here are some other ways we might rob God of His glory. One way to tell a lot about a person's beliefs in regard to glorifying God is to listen to their response to the age old question, "Are you saved?" If they answer "No," or "I hope so," or "As far as I know," then there is a lot they need to learn about salvation based in Jesus Christ, and the security of what He has done for us when He died for us on the cross. That lesson is beyond the scope of this treatise. But if they answer the question with a certain "Yes," then the next question needs to be asked, and that is "How were you saved?" If they answer with something like "Well, I obeyed everything God said to do, therefore He has to save me," you can rest assured that they do not understand the basis for salvation. God wants us to live a perfectly sinless life, but we can't by our own efforts. And the thought that we somehow managed to do so anyway STEALS GLORY FROM GOD! It, too, is idolatry. And it makes us proud and boastful. As soon as we think we are obedient in all things, we become guilty of the sin of PRIDE, and as such are disobedient to God. Sometimes our own shortsightedness steals God's glory. We may be having some kind of problem in our lives, maybe an illness in our family, or difficulty in our finances, or in our relationship with someone, or trouble in school, or on our job, and we may become very discouraged, or despondent, or depressed, and think "What's the use of trying to live right, and do good for others? Nothing good for me ever comes of it. Why should I bother with trying to please God? He certainly hasn't done much for me lately." We may actually steal God's glory by our own shortsightedness - our inability to see the 'big picture.' But if we believe Rom. 8:28 "For we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose," then we have to believe that God hasn't forgotten us, nor has He gone on vacation, nor is He ignoring us, or unconcerned about us. And we can still praise Him, and glorify Him, and rejoice in the fact that He is the One in Whom "we live, and move, and have our being! (Acts 17:28)" When things are going bad for us, it may be because we are being chastened of the Lord, for He chastens those whom He loves. Or it may be because we are being tested and tried, as gold that has been tried in the fire, or as Job was tested. WHO ARE WE to be dissatisfied with what God has done for us? He is the potter. We are just the clay. We have nothing to glory in and have done nothing, nor CAN do anything (without His enabling power) to reap glory to ourselves. Paul said that he had learned to be content in whatsoever state he found himself. He had learned both how to abound (be rich) and how to be abased (be poor). Why? Because for him to live was Christ. His whole life was dedicated to glorifying God. So, if we have NOT been saved for OUR benefit, why then were we saved? If salvation is not something that God owes to us, and it's not something that we can earn, nor indeed, even deserve, then why would He do such a great thing for us? Please look with me at the answer in 1 John 2:12. "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake." That's the point. We were saved, not for our benefit, but for the glory of God - for His name's sake. Another verse that shows the same thought is 2 Tim. 1:9 "(God) hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Also, Eph. 1:5-6 "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." The NIV says "...in the One he loves" showing that "the beloved" is referring to Jesus.
The Purpose of Everything
Spiritual GrowthTo see how we grow up in the Lord, look at 1 Pet 2:2. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." What does a newborn baby want? Milk! A newborn baby never has cried because the economy was bad, or his or her daddy lost his job, or his room was painted the wrong color, or he didn't have the latest toy to hit the market, or his diapers were not the latest fashion. A baby cries most often because he or she wants milk, that he or she may grow thereby. When was the last time that we cried because we didn't get enough of God's word, that we might grow thereby? Jesus said "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness." Seeking after God's righteousness and not our own should be the burning desire of every Christian. Until it is, our lives will have no focus, no direction, no purpose. We will never be able to fill the emptiness that results from a self-centered life. Let's consider what happens when we mature spiritually. Look at 2 Cor. 3:18. This chapter deals with Moses coming down from Mt.Sinai (after having received the ten commandments written on stone tablets) with a veil over his face to hide the glory of God which had been transferred to him while he was on the mountain communing with God. Verses 15 and 16 say "But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it [their heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." Verse 14 says that the veil is done away in Christ. When our hearts turn to Jesus Christ, and we decide to make Him the Lord of our life, and His receiving of His glory is more important to us that us receiving our glory, the veil, which prohibits us from seeing and understanding the glory of God, is taken away, and we can see it. Now notice where it appears! Look at verse 18. "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." WOW! Notice:
As fantastic as that is, that's the way it is supposed to be. Notice the following three verses:
The natural result of our spiritual growth is the increased glory of the Lord seen in our lives. How does it work? Jesus said (Matt. 5:16) "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Lives filled with good works glorify God, not us. Works which glorify us are not good works. Look what the world's greatest Christian, the apostle Paul, had to say. Phil 3:7-10: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death." It is His righteousness and faith which save us. One of my favorite songs (The Solid Rock) says:
O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness, alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.
Luke 2:14 (The birth announcement of Jesus to the shepherds) "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." And when the shepherds had been to see Jesus, they returned (Lk. 2:20) "glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen." One reason we don't glorify God more is because we don't look at Jesus frequently enough.
Consequences of Failing to Glory GodSome folks are right now under strict judgment because they didn't. Notice Romans 1:18-23 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things." That's idolatry. Remember what we said earlier about idolatry? Covetousness is idolatry. It steals God's glory. It reveals the wrath of God (Rom. 1:18). There wouldn't be any lack of volunteers for church work if we thought like Paul, that for us to live was Christ. There wouldn't be any financial shortages in the church treasury if we all thought like Paul, that every "thing" that we have already belongs to the Lord. If we all work for the same thing (i.e. the glory of God), we can get something done, but when we all have our own agendas, we will never amount to anything. Horses pulling in the same direction can plow a field, but if in different directions, they will never get anything done. So, what have we seen in this essay?
1999 Aug 27 |