November 28, 2009

• we are a wilderness and a desolation today (lack of love in the Church | Isaiah 64:10-11)

  A couple nights ago I was reading in the last portion of Isaiah and came to this passage in Isaiah 64:

  10 Your holy cities are a wilderness,
        Zion is a wilderness,
        Jerusalem a desolation.
         11 Our holy and beautiful temple,
        Where our fathers praised You,
        Is burned up with fire;
        And all our pleasant things are laid waste.
   
  
  

  
  

  
  I know I can't do justice to even these couple verses, but I wish to give you a few thoughts here...

  Is not God's Church today a wilderness and a desolation of sorts?

  In many, many ways, yes, I know...

  For example I've written extensively about false gospels and false teaching in the Church (e.g. - please see my posts here, here and here), that's one way we are a wilderness and a desolation.

  But today I would like to focus on another way we are a wilderness and a desolation...

  When we fail to love one another are we not a wilderness and a desolation?

  While reading these verses from Isaiah the other night I couldn't help but think of the division in the Church today...unnecessary division...and I started to weep...
  

  As we continue to hate one another (If we're not loving one another, then we are hating one another, are we not?) and bicker and fight with one another, are we not a wilderness and a desolation?

  We make professions such as
  
  I believe in the Holy Ghost;
  the holy catholic church;
  the communion of saints...

  and

  I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church...

  But how often do our words and actions reflect our profession?

  If we truly believed in the Holy Ghost, would we treat our brothers and sisters who are born again by the Holy Ghost so miserably?

  If we truly believed in the communion of saints, would we seek to erect artificial barriers between "us" and "them"?

  If we truly believed in one holy catholic church, would we look down on some of our brothers and sisters as second-class citizens, or modern-day lepers?

  If we truly believed in one apostolic church, would we continue to focus on what divides us rather than the shared doctrine which unites us?

  (Ok, I admit I'm turning up the heat now...Anybody have a cup of cold water out there for me to drink???)

  Has our God commanded us to love one another or to hate one another?

  Did Jesus say the world would know we are His disciples if we had hate for one another?

  How often do our behaviors and attitudes toward one another bring reproach to and shame on the blessed Name of Christ rather than honor and glory?

  Did Jesus pray we might be separated or that we might be one?

  “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

  –John 17:20-23

  How can we show God's glory to the world if we continue to be vitriolic and nasty with one another? Should we, we who one day will be part of the New Jerusalem, be a wilderness and a desolation today? Do we have any excuse? Because we are Christ's, each of us has the life of Christ in us, the Spirit of God indwelling us who is working in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-14). Is it not God's good pleasure that we love one another as He has loved us?

  How long will we continue to make lame excuses for for our bad behavior toward other Christians such as...

  "I can't help it. It's my personality. I was born this way."

  "If that other person hadn't said that to me, I wouldn't have reacted as I did."

  "I'm right and they're wrong, so I'm going to keep pounding them with truth...Yes, um, well, the way I do it may not be so loving, but what else can I do? That's justified, righteous anger, isn't it? Like Jesus cleansing the temple..."

  "God forgives all my sins in Jesus. This is no big deal. It's covered by the blood just like all my sins. I'm good with God, ya know? Once saved, always saved."

  When the Bible tells us to love one another are there any qualifiers on that?

  I'm about to get back to Isaiah's words, but first let's turn to the apostle Paul's description of the Church at the end of Ephesians 2:

  19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

  Now here are Isaiah's words once again:

  10 Your holy cities are a wilderness,
        Zion is a wilderness,
        Jerusalem a desolation.
         11 Our holy and beautiful temple,
        Where our fathers praised You,
        Is burned up with fire;
        And all our pleasant things are laid waste.

  First off, I'd ask you: Are you grieved over the state of the Church today? Are you grieved as Isaiah was grieved?

  Isaiah wrote of holy cities and the holy and beautiful temple. The cities and the temple of Isaiah's day were holy because God had chosen to put His Name there. In the same way God has chosen to put His holy Name on us. Because we have believed on Christ, we have His Name. We are Christians. Let us never forget that God's name is holy. Yes, we've come to Mt. Zion but only through the blood of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God for His provision of Jesus Christ so we can come boldly into His presence, but we ought to come reverently, and not flippantly. Consider the attitude of the tax collector. Do we ever bow before God and realize that apart from His great mercies and abundant grace, we are unworthy, we would have no right to enter into His presence? Let us never forget our God is a consuming fire. We come to Him by grace but may we never cheapen grace and say it doesn't matter how we live our lives. We're not to use our freedom in Christ as license. Whoever names the name of Christ is to depart from iniquity. We are children of God, we ought to be purifying ourselves and resembling Him more and more.

  The Church is a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. How often do we think of ourselves like that? Perhaps we might need to ask Him to teach us a little more of what the fear of the Lord is. Do we tremble and quake at His presence (Isaiah 64:1-3)? Perhaps we ought to ask the Lord to sanctify our vision so we might see Him as Isaiah did (Isaiah 6) rather than seeing Him as our homeboy? Do our lives reflect that we have seen God seated on His throne, high and lifted up? Do we reflect and manifest the holiness of God in all our thoughts, all our words and all our deeds?

  God has commanded we be holy as He is holy. We are called out of the world to be a holy nation. Let us remember that His commandments are not burdensome because we have His Holy Spirit living in us to make us holy, to do His will.

  By the grace of God, may He help us examine ourselves, our attitudes and behaviors toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. Are we seeking to love them as our Father has loved us? Are we convicted when we speak or write an unkind word to a brother or sister? Are we convicted if we even think an unkind thought about a brother or sister? Can we say we are truly Christ's and have the love of Christ in us and continue to not be bothered by these things? Does our sin grieve us?

  How holy are we when we continue to hate those who have been born again into the same family?

  How holy are we when we continue to hate those who have the same Father?

  How holy are we when we continue to hate those who are members of same Body?

  How holy are we when we continue to hate those who are covered with the same blood?

  How holy are we when we continue to hate those who are filled with the same Spirit?

  and so on . . .

  Isaiah wrote of the holy and beautiful temple burned up with fire...Isaiah was writing about the actual physical place of worship. However since Christ has come to dwell in us, we as believers today are that holy and beautiful temple...Yet when we fight and bicker and argue over nonessentials, as we continue to be divisive and contentious, we are anything less than holy and beautiful. Are we not in fact guilty of committing arson against the Lord's temple – not with literal fire – but with our tongues?

  

   
  

  5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

  –James 3:5-6

   
  

  Isaiah spoke of the temple as a place where Where our fathers praised You [the LORD]. How much praise is taking place in the holy temple today? Have we not been called out darkness into His marvelous light so we might proclaim His praises? (Again, this is wide open in regard to lots of other things: How much real heart worship is happening vs. outward show? How can we say any praise at all is happening when Jesus Christ is not being given the preeminent place in our churches, how can genuine praise take place where the Gospel is twisted, polluted, diluted –  when Christ and Christ crucified are not lifted up as the main thing? That's not my main emphasis here today, however...) Are our put downs and angry criticisms of one another rising as a sweet smelling incense to the LORD? Is not much of what we say, do and think a stench in the nostrils of the Lord of hosts? How much real praise is happening or can truly happen in the temple, in our churches and in our lives, so long as we persist in dissing our brothers and sisters?

  9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
  

  –James 3:9-12

  Isaiah lamented that the pleasant things are laid waste. We're to be presenting ourselves as living offerings to God and part of that is loving one another. In Romans 12:1, Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God so we might be able to test and approve what God's good, acceptable and pleasing will is (NIV). How do we do that? Move to Romans 12:2: we're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (which is an extension of Romans 5-8, the life of Christ in us...Philippians 2:12-14...it is God who works in us so we might will and do of His good pleasure...I don't have time to expand on that now...if you have questions, please, please ask me). So what is God's good, acceptable and pleasing will? what is God's good pleasure? Yes, first of all loving God, of course. But how do we show we love God? What is the evidence we really do love God? We show we love God by love our brothers and sisters who are part of God's family. Remember John's words to us in I John 4:20-5:4:

  If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

  Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

  Certainly a big portion of walking in God's pleasing will for us is walking in love in our relationships with others, particularly with those in the Body of Christ. I would encourage you to read prayerfully through Romans 12 and 13....here's a small portion...

  Romans 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others... 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves...

  Romans 13:8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

  How can we say bitter and spiteful arguments with one another are pleasant things to God? When we're not loving one another as God has loved us, how can we possibly think we are pleasing to God? When we don't love one another, are not the pleasant things laid waste? Is it not good and pleasant for us to dwell together in unity?  (I wish to make it clear here: we're not all going to agree on everything, there is plenty of diversity in the Body (that's part of the marvel and beauty and glory of the Church), but there are those basic doctrines on which we must agree, the essential doctrines of our faith. For example, we must agree that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became flesh, was fully God and fully man, and was the atoning sacrifice for our sins, that He is the one mediator between God and men, and we are saved by grace through faith in His blood, and that there is salvation through no other name but His.)

  There are truths to be spoken, but they must always be spoken lovingly, graciously and humbly.

  15 ...speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love...29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

  –Ephesians 4:15-16, 29-31

  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

  –I Corinthians13:1

  But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. 24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25  in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

  –II Timothy 2:24-26

  
  
  As I was lamenting the disunity in the Church I was reminded of the great hymn "The Church's One Foundation." I could very much relate to this verse:
  
  

  Though with a scornful wonder
  men see her sore oppressed,
  by schisms rent asunder,
  by heresies distressed;
  yet saints their watch are keeping,
  their cry goes up, "How long?"
  and soon the night of weeping
  shall be the morn of song.

  So we keep watch and we cry. But that's not all we do. We pray for ourselves and for one another so we might increase in our love for one another, so we might endeavor to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As much as it depends on us, may we live at peace with one another.

  As much as the current schisms may rent us asunder, as much as we are distressed by heresies, let us never doubt. God is guarding His Church and He will continue to guard and keep His Church, so we might stand before Him holy and blameless to the praise of His glorious grace. Our Savior will present us to Himself a glorious Church. God will complete the work He has begun in us. We look to that day expectantly...that day of consummation of peace for evermore.

  'Mid toil and tribulation,
  And tumult of her war,
  She waits the consummation
  Of peace for evermore;
  Till with the vision glorious
  Her longing eyes are blest,
  And the great Church victorious
  Shall be the Church at rest.

  By the grace of God, may we submit ourselves to His Holy Spirit so we might be transformed into that holy and beautiful temple God intends us to be, so we might be pleasant in His eyes and a praise in the earth and bring glory to His Holy and blessed Name. Amen.

  ---

  Related posts...

  On unity:

  • May the mind and word of Christ dwell in us so we might arise as one man
  • forgive us for dividing Your Son, our Lord
  • ALL God's people singing, "He reigns" (Letter 28 on assurance & joy)
  • Behold, how good and pleasant it is when we dwell in unity!
  • an "ici" good-bye | a lesson in warm catholicity
  • The Gospel and the Lord's table
  • Happy 500th Birthday John Calvin (some thoughts from John Wesley)
  • Lent IV.-"If you love Me you will love the church"

  On the tongue:
  

  • William Perkins on Isaiah 6 and the tongue
  • Christian, are you bearing fruit in keeping with repentance?
  • "As soon as the ball left my hand"....The Power of the Tongue

  
  Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  • 11:05 PM
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