Loadicea must Repent: Part 7 |
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“Be zealous therefore, and repent” Revelation 3:19
Peter replied, “Repent” (Acts 2:37, 38). Specifically, they needed to repent in terms of the crucifixion of the Messiah. As we’ve seen in the previous message, repentance means a “change of mind” or a “change of direction”. In modern terms, we would describe it as a U-turn. This can be a physical turning around or a change of the mind. In what sense, then, is Christ asking Laodicea to repent? When we look at the specific context of His message to Laodicea, we see that He is calling on us to repent in two areas that are related. First we need to have a change of mind in regard to the conflicting evaluations of our spiritual condition brought out in Revelation 3:17. We say that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. We need to change our minds and agree that Christ is right and we are wrong. We need to repent of our wrong self-evaluation. Second, we need to have a change in direction from our works of the law to the works of faith Jesus describes in verse 18. This means to make a U-turn from our own self-righteousness to Christ’s righteousness. One of the most difficult things for a person to do – even a Christian – is to repent of self-righteousness. It’s one thing to repent of our sins; it’s another thing altogether to repent of our self-righteousness because these are things that look good, things that we are proud of doing! Jesus told the Jewish nation, “It will be easier for Nineveh in the judgment than for you” (see Matthew 12:41). Why? Because the people of Nineveh were guilty of terrible sins. They recognized that they were sinners and repented. But did the Jews repent? No. Why not? Because they didn’t realize that they needed to repent. They were filled with a sense of all the “good” things they did. They needed to repent of self-righteousness, and this is extremely difficult to do. God is testing even His faithful children and putting them through fiery trials. I’ve wrestled with the book of Job for a long time. I could never see why God allowed Satan to mistreat Job so badly and why Job had to go through all those terrible crises without any purpose other than to prove to Satan that God was right. To me, that didn’t seem to be enough; the whole story somehow didn’t seem to fit with what I knew of God’s character. Then one day I was reading The Desire of Ages, and I came across these words: “The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy.” (471). But Ellen White didn’t say exactly what that merciful purpose was in Job’s case. The only way I could find out was to read and study and wrestle with the book of Job for myself. The very first verse of the book says that Job “was blameless and upright and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1). This description of Job is repeated in verse 8 when God is having a dialogue with Satan. “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” And Satan replies, “Yes, but he does all this because You have built a hedge around him. Remove Your protection, and give him into my hands. You’ll see what he will do then. He will deny You and reject You. He will turn his back on You.” (see verses 9-11). So God said, “You can have him. Everything he possesses is in your power, but you can’t touch his body. You can’t kill him.Ó Immediately, Satan set out to destroy everything Job had – including his children (see verses 13-19). How would you react after losing your children and everything you owned? Job tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” (see verses 20 -21). Job didn’t turn his back on God. He was a righteous person. In chapter 2, God and Satan have a second conversation regarding Job. Satan says to God, “All right, Job hasn’t rejected You yet. But let me touch him – not just his possessions or his children. Let me get his own body in my hands; he will deny You then!” And God replied, “Go ahead. He is in your hands, but you can’t kill him.” Satan caused Job to break out in terrible boils from head to foot. At this point Job’s wife had had enough. “Do you still hold to your integrity?” she asked. “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). But Job didn’t listen. “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (verse 10). Three new chapters enter the story, the so-called friends of Job – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. The arguments of these “comforters” are typical of the Eastern mentality regarding human suffering. All through the book, they are arguing that Job’s intense sufferings are the result of some secret sin in his life. “You wouldn’t be in this condition, Job, if there wasn’t something wrong in your spiritual life. God wouldn’t be punishing you like this otherwise.” Does God punish us like that? Does He cause us to suffer physically for our sins? No. We need to remember that the arguments of Job’s friends are based on human reasoning, not biblical truth. That is why God rebukes them in the end. They were misrepresenting His character. But the important element in this story is Job’s reaction to all this. He doesn’t reject their reasoning regarding punishment for sin, but he defends his righteousness. That is why Job is so puzzled. Like his friends, he, too, believes that the wicked will suffer and the righteous prosper in this life. Yet he is suffering in spite of being righteous! That is what Job cannot understand. “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forceful are right words. But what does your arguing prove? “Is injustice on my tongue?” (Job 6:24, 25, 30). He defends his righteousness before his friends. He is saying, “Where have I gone wrong? Show me what sin you are accusing me of. I am blameless, even though I am suffering.” By the time we reach chapter 10, Job is defending his righteousness to God Himself. “I will say to God, “Do not condemn me; show me why You contend with me? You know that I am not wicked.” (verses 2, 7). Later he pleads with God to show him his sins. Actually, Job is quite confident that his righteousness is perfect. ÒGo,Ó Job says, “these friends of mine are accusing me of some secret sin. Show me where I am wrong. I would really like to know what my sin is.” Of course, Job was convinced of his righteousness; he didn’t think he was guilty of sin. Was there some sin in Job’s life that was the cause of his suffering? No. Job continues to insist on his righteousness and to defend himself against the accusations of his friends. They keep saying, “Job, you must have some secret sin in your life; look how you’re suffering!” And Job argues back, “No I have not sinned. I have kept God’s commandments; I have held to my integrity.” Notice what he says in chapter 23. “My foot has held fast to His steps, I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (verses 11, 12). Job was not self-righteous, and the proof of it is that God will never put a self-righteous person into fiery trials. Jesus had only one message to the self-righteous Pharisees, “Woe unto you.” But the people with Christ’s righteousness will be made more righteous by these trials. After we accept Christ’s righteousness, the fiery trials will begin to purify us more. By chapter 31, Job is strongly defending his own righteousness. He calls upon God to judge him. “Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know my integrity” (verse 6). He goes on to list the good works he has habitually done – fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cared for the orphans and widows, and opened his home to the homeless. This chapter is Job’s final argument against the accusations of his three friends. “So these three men ceased answering Job.” (Job 32:1). After Job’s three friends quit arguing with him, a fourth man steps in – Elihu. He asks Job, “Do you think this is right? Do you say, “My righteousness is more than God’s?” (Job 35:2). He continues this argument until chapter 38, when God steps in at last to settle the matter. If you read from chapter 38 to the end of the book, you’ll find that God rebukes Job’s three friends for their mistaken theology. They argued, “Job, you must be a sinner. The fact that you are suffering is proof of sin in your life because God punishes those who do bad things”. And God says, “No. You’re wrong. Suffering is not always proof of God’s punishment of sin.” So Job was right to reject the argument of his three friends. But God also rebukes Job. “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man, I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” (Job 38:2). And notice that Job repents. “Then Job answered the Lord and said” “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth” (Job 40:3, 4). God’s words silenced Job. The rich young ruler said to Jesus, “All these things have I kept from my youth up” (Matthew 19:20). Job was so focused on all the good things he did and the lack of sinful things in his life that he couldn’t recognize the source of his righteousness was self rather that God. But when he came face to face with God, he admitted, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know – Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3, 6). That is what Laodicea needs to do as well. Have we come to that point? Repentance is terribly painful because we have to swallow our pride – our spiritual pride. The things we have looked to as evidence of our goodness, we have to see as monuments to self. It was hard for Job to admit he had a problem in his spiritual life. It was hard for Peter to repent of his own opinion. It was hard for Paul to give up his righteousness of the law. But each of these realized that God was right and that He was their only hope. Are we prepared to take that hard step – both as individuals and as a denomination? God didn’t enjoy putting Job through this crisis. But Job had a lesson to learn, and this drastic method was the only way to teach him. God allowed Satan to touch Job for a purpose. When the lesson was complete, God blessed him again. He restored his health, his possessions, and his children. Christ’s message to Laodicea will also produce a shaking – a traumatic time for God’s people. I don’t know exactly how God will chastise us today, but I know that His purpose will be the same as was His purpose for Job. Out of that shaking time will come a people who will have repented of their self-righteousness; a people who will have turned to Christ’s righteousness fully and completely; a people who will abhor self and the righteousness it produces. The ultimate end of true Christianity is that the Christian rejoices in Christ and has no confidence in the flesh. (see Philippians 3:3). Have you ever wondered why God allows His people to be harassed after probation has closed? When probation closes, there can be no change in status. God has said, “He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11). Those who are righteous by faith will remain so until the end; those who have rejected Christ will remain in that condition. Why, then, does God allow His righteous people to go through a time of terrible crisis after the close of probation – a crisis the like of which has never been experienced by any previous generation? Is He simply trying to prove a point? Is He just proving to the universe that these people will remain faithful to Him, no matter what He throws at them? This statement from The Great Controversy helps us understand: Their (God’s people) affliction is great, the flames of the furnace seem about to consume them; but the Refiner will bring them forth as gold tried in the fire. God’s love for His children during the period of their severest trial is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest prosperity; but it is needful for them to be placed in the furnace of fire; their earthliness must be consumed, that the image of Christ may be perfectly reflected. (621) When you are going through a crisis, it doesn’t mean that God loves you any less. God’s agape love never changes; it is eternal, unconditional, changeless. (see Jeremiah 31:3). So the time of terrible trial following the close of probation doesn’t indicate that God is not concerned about what happens to His people, any more than Job’s experience showed a lack of concern on GodÕs part for him. Self must be consumed so that the image of Jesus Christ may be reproduced in our lives. The world desperately needs to see Christ, but it cannot see Him in you or me unless every particle of self has been crucified. That is why God allows us to go through the refining process now, and that is why He will allow His people to go through the time of crisis following probationÕs close. In the time of trouble, Satan will point us to our feelings. Even after probation closes, we will still feel sinful Even after probation closes we will still feel that we aren’t good enough to be saved. But the question is not how we feel. The question is: “Who is our righteousness?” The answer must be: “Christ”. Every bit of self, every taint of earthliness must be consumed. We cannot look to ourselves or our experience. Christ can be fully reproduced in us only when we have said goodbye to self completely. In this, as in all other aspects of our lives, Christ is our example. How was it possible for Him – not as God, but in our humanity, which He assumed – to perfectly reveal His Father? Paul gives us the steps in Philippians, chapter 2 and holds Christ up to us as our example. He says: “Let this mind (attitude) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant; and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (verses 5-8). The Greek word in verse 6 translated “equal” means “absolute sameness”. Paul is saying that Jesus was one with the Father, equally divine in every regard. It was not sin for Him to make Himself equal with the Father. During His earthly mission, He was walking in the Spirit. That is what Paul admonishes us to do as well. (see Romans 8:1,4, Galatians 5:16). It was the Holy Spirit who controlled Jesus, and that is why He could reveal the Father perfectly. Through the Spirit, Christ was totally dependent on His Father. He told His disciples, “Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doÉ I can of mine own self do nothing”. (John 5:19, 30). And just as Christ was totally dependent on His Father, so we are to be totally dependent on Christ. “Without me,” He says, “ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6:57). It is not our righteousness that the world needs to see; it is Christ’s righteousness. Throughout His ministry on earth, Jesus repeated that He lived by the power of His Father, that the works He performed were done by the power of His Father (see John 10:32,37,38; 14:9-11). The same is true with us today, we must be clear about that. So God calls on Laodicea to repent. Specifically, He calls on us to repent of our false self-evaluation. We are not rich and increased with goods, and we need to admit and repent. He calls on us to repent of our works of the law – our self-righteousness. We must move from works of law to works of faith; from self-righteousness to Christ’s righteousness. Now that we have seen what Christ is asking of us in terms of repentance, what will be our response? Our problem is that we are not guilty of gross sins. Like Job, our problem is that self-righteousness has deceived us. Do we need to repent of self-righteousness? Yes. It is crucial that we do so, and God will do everything in His power to help us. He will rebuke us first, as He does Laodicea. Then He will chastise us if necessary. To what extent will God chastise us? I don’t know, but if we look at Job’s experience, we realise the chastisement can take drastic forms. Job lost his children, his possessions, his health, and almost his life itself. But God didn’t allow these calamities to come to Job because He was angry with him or in order to justify Himself to Satan. He did it out of love. He knew that Job needed to learn this important lesson for his eternal good. And Job did learn the lesson. He did repent. He said, “God, You are right, and I am nothing.” May God give us the wisdom to follow in Job’s steps. God has told us what His goal is for our lives: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their god, and they shall be my people”. (2 Corinthians 6:16). This is the precious covenant, the “new covenant” that God wants to make with us. It is His promise to dwell in us through the Holy Spirit just as the Spirit totally controlled Jesus during His earthly life. “Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ (agape) in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from within – when the sunshine of heaven fills the heart and is revealed in the countenance” (Christ’s Object Lessons, 384). He wants to fulfill this promise in our lives; He wants to fulfill this promise in our church. And when that happens, the whole earth will be lightened with God’s glory, and the end will come. Amen Anonymous |
Loadicea must Repent: Part 7michael2010-10-28T01:05:04-04:00
Bible repentance is always specific. When Peter preached at Pentecost, telling the Jews that they had crucified the Son of God, the people cried out, “What shall we do?”