"Starstruck"

I spoke with a young person recently who was, as it were, spiritually starstruck. He had been in contact with someone who knew and often fellowshipped with several famous contemporary Christian communicators, and who obviously dropped the names on a regular basis. You could see the wonder in the young believers's eyes as he spoke of the matter, and he clearly expected me to bask with him in the shared glory.

I couldn't do so, although I well understand the temptation. We are living in days when names and human personages are marketed in Christendom no less than in the world. This is a far cry from the days of the New Testament when the apostles, rather than attaining to fame and honor, became "the offscouring of all things," that is, they became dirt to be rubbed off (I Corinthians 4:13). It is also a far cry from our eternal future when the sole heavenly passion of our purified hearts will be to honor the name and person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone suffered and died for our sins.

Certainly it is acceptable to appreciate those who bless us with the Word of God. It is not acceptable, however, to forget that the teacher or preacher who helps us is just as much in need for continual grace and mercy as we are. More vividly, we must never directly or tacitly glorify anyone whose sins made necessary the tortured forsakenness and death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The authentic communicator will speak, write, and act in a manner that ensures we do not do so, and will seek to hide his own name and person in order to exalt his Lord. He will hope to be forgotten, as was the dew that brought God's manna to the children of Israel (Exodus 16:14). He will often look at his hands, and see no nailprints on them. He will constantly affirm within his own heart and mind that any good thing that comes from him is not of him. He will recognize the inherent danger in affirmation and acclamation, and view both in the awareness that grave temptation often accompanies them. Most of all, he will aggressively seek ways and words to ensure that he does not become a source of idolatry to unsuspecting saints who forget that the lust of their flesh is always seeking to worship any and everything other than the living God.

In every human field and endeavor, communicators are believed to have ascended to a plane of knowledge and being that separates them from the masses. While the former may be true in some cases, the latter is not, particularly in spiritual terms. "In Him, we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). We do well to remember this, and also to pray for those who teach and preach the Word of God. In times such as these, they will need continual reminders that the light which shines through them is not of them. They will require much remembrance that their sins led to the horror, agony, forsakenness, and death of Calvary. And we will need to remember this also.

"And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man."
(Acts 10:23-26)

"Why?"

What we do matters. Why we do what we do matters more.

"But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7).

"The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

Apparently godly acts and behaviors are not necessarily authentic acts and behaviors of godliness. While it it is true that "ye shall know them by their fruits," it is also true that our capacity to evaluate the quality of produce is far from perfect (Matthew 7:16). There may well be a worm in the shiniest apple, and the seemingly righteous actions of ourselves or others may one day be revealed as having come forth from motivations other than those wrought in our redeemed spirits by the Holy Spirit. Again, our "What?," or that of others, may seem genuine. But our "Why?" may be faulty.

"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults" (Psalm 19:12).

There are few Biblical truths that more reveal our complete dependence on our Lord. We cannot understand our errors, that is, we cannot look into our own hearts, or the hearts of others. Thus, we cannot by ourselves know why we do that which we do. We require the penetrating gaze of the One whose eyes are "as a flame of fire," and unto whom "all things are naked and opened" (Psalm 19:12; Hebrews 4:13). We must approach our Heavenly Father often for His searching and cleansing of thoughts and intents, and the purification of our motives. He alone can accomplish the task, because He alone can perfectly see the "errors" and "secret faults" that compromise our relationship with Him and others.

While challenging, this truth is also greatly liberating. We trust the Lord to do His searching work, and we leave the matter with Him rather than attempting to see that which we cannot see. We have a role, of course, and the Holy Spirit will lead us to His Word and to fellowship with likehearted believers as we seek to walk with the Lord Jesus in purity of heart and motive. However, we do not exercise the excessive introspection that is paralyzing to authentic godliness, and devastating to our experience of the peace and joy of Christ. We rather "examine yourselves" from the same basis whereby all things are fulfilled in our lives (II Corinthians 13:5). We trust and submit ourselves to God, rest in His faithfulness, and then actively respond to His illumination and moving within our hearts and minds by the enabling He provides.

"Why?" Only God can reveal the answer. And only God can ensure the proper answer. We do well to approach Him often with request for the searching of our thoughts and intents, as David so perfectly and beautifully asked in as he acknowledged our Lord's gaze upon the heart...

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting: (Psalm 139:23-24)

"With All His Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength"

"Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deuteronomy 6:5).

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30).

The "first commandment" to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is not repeated in the New Testament epistles, and after the cross, the resurrection, and the giving of the indwelling Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

The reason for this is that after this saving grace of the Lord Jesus became available to human hearts, we are now to love the Lord our God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength.

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

"I live, yet not I, but Christ. And the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

"By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (I Corinthians 15:10).

The human faculties of our heart, soul, mind and strength are still engaged, of course, and even more so because they are energized by the "exceeding, abundantly above" power of the risen Lord Jesus (Ephesians 3:20). Thereby we love God in a manner not possible before the gift of the permanently indwelling Holy Spirit was given to all who believe in the Savior. We love God as enabled by God, but nevertheless in a manner that returns to Him hued and fragranced by our individual person and personalities, as uniquely designed by Him.

There is no greater joy than to love our Heavenly Father through the dynamic presence of the Spirit of His Son, "sent forth... into your hearts" (Galatians 4:6). We were made and redeemed for this, and eternity will involve the continual knowing and receiving of the love of God, and the continual returning of it to Him by the Holy Spirit's joyfully leading and enabling. Wonderfully, it is the answer to a prayer, the sublime request of the Lord Jesus in His high priestly prayer of John 17, uttered just before the cross that made the answer possible...

"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24-26)