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Follow Me, Part II
HEAVEN: A GIFT FOR A RIGHT DECISION
You are one of the two above: a believer or not. If you are an unbeliever, you may ask yourselves, "What do I need to be saved from? I'm a good and decent person. God loves me and would never send me to hell." Well, let me answer that. If that is your belief, then you are drowning in a sea of misinformation, deceptive doctrines, and outright lies. You may believe that life is what YOU make it, and that the good go to heaven and the bad do not. But the facts are, heaven is not a reward for good behavior, but a gift for making a RIGHT decision.
If you have made the right decision, you have another one, just as important, but far more subtle : to live a carnal lifestyle within the Sphere of Carnality, or a spiritual one within the Sphere of Faith (see The Power Spheres). This decision separates the men from the boys, the women from the girls, the hero from the loser. Your motivation to live the spiritual life is simply the love for God, which manifests itself with a desire to please Him by faith through grace, not works. Let me illustrate this love from Luke 10:38-42.
Grace versus Works
Martha and Mary both loved Christ. I don't think we can questioned that. However they chose to manifest their love in two very different ways-ways which are of old and remain the same today. Figuratively, it is the story of Cain and Abel. We will get to that in a minute. For now, let's get to the heart of our scripture.
Martha desired to show her love and devotion to her Savior by preparing a big and elaborate meal. It involved a tremendous amount of work. There were well over fifteen people to serve. And remember, this was way before our modern kitchens. So, Martha had her hands full.
Mary, on the other hand, well aware of what was involved in food preparation for such a large party, was somewhere else. She could be found listening to mysterious and wonderful things from the mouth of Christ. No man spoke as Christ-not even the religious leaders could articulate and illustrate divine realities with the authority and assurance of the One called Jesus. And at His feet, she sat spellbound, her heart pounding with excitement at each revelation of the Kingdom of God. Whatever else was to be done, it would not distract her from this special moment. Her love for her Savior must not be disturbed.
Yet, this infuriated and frustrated Martha to no end. Why should she be left alone to prepare for such a large party? Mary needed to do her part. Why was she off with the men listening to Christ's teachings when her place was in the kitchen? And she interrupted Christ to tell Him so and demanded that He tell Mary to help her.
And now to the crux of the scripture. Jesus listened attentively
to Martha. He knew the tasks involved in preparing, cooking,
and serving their meal. And He appreciated that. He also knew
the importance of a good diet. And it certainly wasn't often
that He and His disciples got a good, hot, home cooked meal.
Yet, there was food of a different nature to be served and far
more important than that cooking over the fire. And that food
is the bread which comes from heaven-His words of eternal life.
Choosing the Good Part
Christ would have to set Martha straight. In all her activities
to do what she thought was right to please Christ, she had missed
a vital fact. It is better to sit at Christ's feet and be fed,
than to believe we can somehow gain Christ's attention through
good works. Therefore, Jesus answered Martha this way:
Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her, Luke 10:41-42.
Martha sought Christ's attention through service; Mary sought to attend to Christ's words, the good part. Works are not the means to love God; they are the results of spending time with God through study and prayer. Good works do not prove or illustrate faith, but faith produces good works. It is critical we know the difference.
Such a difference was not recognized by Cain. He sought to please God by offering Him the fruit of his labor by the sweat of his brow. Cain was a farmer and from his fields brought God the best of his produce. Yet these were rejected by God. Why? Because he refused to act in faithful obedience. God recognized only one offering and no other. Precedence for this offering was established when Cain's father and mother first sinned. God provided atonement for their sin by the killing of a lamb, a figure of Christ on the cross. From the lamb, God took the skins and provided clothing (representive of the believer receiving the imputation of Christ's righteousness) for Adam and his wife, Eve. Abel knew this and followed God's example. He offered a lamb which was pleasing to God. This infuriated Cain, and later, his anger would result in his murdering of Abel.
Let us learn here and now that submission under the tutelage of Christ is far greater than service. For it is the springboard for righteous deeds. This is the faith which is pleasing God (Heb. 11:6a) and advances the believer in his spiritual life. But let us take note from the above examples. You will be ridiculed by those who believe in works, service, and sacrifice as the means to please God. And furthermore, they would have you believe that it is those who avoid such overt sins as drunkeness, adultery, and other sins of the flesh that are worthy of God's approbations. But to their shame, a moral, non-believer can live up to such a standard, and without the self-righteous, judgmental attitude of the carnal believer, who quickly points the finger at those who fail to live up to their twisted viewpoint of scripture. Such an attitude carries a far heavier weight of sinfulness. See God's list of the seven worst sins in Proverbs 6:16-19.
We must be firm here. Living by works is of the flesh. Living by grace is the work of the Holy Spirit within our souls. Such work steers all credit from self and gives God the glory, honor and praise. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus so that His word and intimate counsel might transform our thinking, so that we might discern and come to know the futility of attempting to please God through good works. By grace we are saved, and by grace we must live our Christian life.
Our righteousness deeds will not profit
For the stubborn who believes his good works and sacrificial service will put him on top, read the following scriptures.
I will declare your righteousness and your deeds, but they will not profit you, Is. 57:12, and God further states in Is. 64:6, All our righteous deeds are like a disposed menstrual rag. Hear what God is saying in clear and graphic terms. First, God makes salvation possible because of Christ's righteousness, not ours. Christ died for all that those who believe upon Him would have eternal life. That's grace. And second, there is nothing we can do outside the filling of the Spirit that pleases God. All works outside the Sphere of Faith are rejected. A robust spiritual life will produce good works, but good works do not make a man spiritual.
The Empowerment of Humility
Let us here and now humble ourselves at Christ's feet, name
and cite all our known sins, so that we might be filled with
the Spirit and be empowered to follow Christ down the path of
righteousness unto the glory of God.
