One of the
things that really ministered to me in church yesterday was considering another
one of the contrasts between God’s work in us, and the world’s work around us.
For a while we
have been considering the book of Philippians through the central thought of, “work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his
good pleasure.”[1]
This means
that, no matter what we read of God’s will for his church, we must always
receive it with fear and trembling, or seriousness and reverence, because there
is some very specific and personal way God is working those things into us
individually, and as gatherings of his church, so that we will have the will
for the things he is doing, and will express this mutual will in specific work
that needs to be done.
Every family
God’s children are in, every job we go to, every school environment, every
community demographic, every relationship dynamic, every world event or issue,
there is some way that God is personally working in his children to draw us to
have his will about our lives in this world, and to put his will into things we
can do to honor him, and complete our own joy.[2]
When we came
to this phrase, “children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,”[3]
I suddenly saw this huge spiritual battle that is even bigger and more
threatening than the present war on terror around the globe.
As we hear God
speak through his word when we meet with him on our own, or we feel the
conviction, or teaching, or reminding, of the Spirit[4] as
we hear a pastor’s sermon, or the message of a song pierces our hearts with some
clear affirmation of the will and work of God, we will leave those experiences
under the influence of either the will and work of God, or the will and ways of
the world.
On one side of
the believer is God working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure and
our complete joy. On the other side is a “crooked
and twisted generation” that continues to go from “bad to worse,” just as God’s word prophesied.[5]
When we hear
God speak through his word, and by his Spirit, and in fellowship with the body of
Christ, we will either put our minds on the Spirit,[6]
and keep in step with whatever God is doing inside us,[7] or
we will put our minds on the sark, the flesh, and keep in step with whatever
the world is doing around us.
The wonderful
encouragement to me is that there is not only such a huge difference between
God and the world, but also between the location of God’s work, and the
location of the world’s work.
There is not
only a wonderful difference between God’s “good
pleasure,” that gives us “complete
joy,” and the world’s deception that steals, kills, and destroys[8]
whatever joy we could experience in God’s perfect pleasure, but the opportunity
to experience the complete joy of God’s good pleasure has the added benefit of
God working in us, while the world’s “crooked
and twisted” activities are limited to working around us.
Yes, God’s
children are living in a “crooked and
twisted” generation, just as Christians were at the time of Paul’s writing.
But we have “the riches of the glory of
this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”[9]
Christ “in us” gives us the decided
advantage, does it not?
What I want to
help us all with in this regard is that, identifying that we are facing a
corrupt and twisted generation that is trying to turn us away from God helps us
to see the value in constantly working out our salvation with fear and
trembling in relation to whatever God is working in us to will and to work for
his good pleasure and our complete joy. We are more likely to recognize when we
are getting off track, or distracted, by identifying that the crooked and
twisted generation we are in is just as interested in winning our affections,
our wills, and our work, as our Father in heaven.
Since
everything the world does is aimed at our demise, and everything God does is
aimed at our complete joy, this crooked and twisted generation, far from
appealing to our hearts to join them in their evil work, actually gives us all
the more reason to join our Father in his.
Now, to be
like Satan, the prince of this crooked and corrupt generation,[10]
or to be like Jesus, the Prince of peace who is presently preparing a home in
heaven for all who belong to him[11]? Not
so hard to answer when we look at it that way.
“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”[12]
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Philippians 2:12-13
[2]
John 15:11; I John 1:3-4
[3]
Philippians 2:15
[4]
I Thessalonians 1:5; John 14:26
[5]
II Timothy 3:13. Romans 1:18-32 gives a clear picture of the direction the
world would go.
[6]
Romans 8:5-6
[7]
Galatians 5:25
[8]
John 10:10
[9]
Colossians 1:27
[10]
Ephesians 2:1-3; II Corinthians 4:4
[11]
Isaiah 9:6; John 14:1-3
[12]
Psalm 16:11
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