Endgame Part 2

You may wonder why I bother to write these articles or what is my motivation beyond what I explained in part 1. There is that part about not really feeling that I have a choice but there is also a logic and I hope that by explaining it that some will be helped or encouraged in their growth. Growth is the operative word here. My concern and main motivation as a Christian beyond my own walk with Christ is to urge other Christians to grow in Christ. Don't I care about non Christians? Absolutely but non Christians don't want to be Christians and it's not really my job. No one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them and that's a flat out fact so our job is not so much evangelism as it is to live a holy life and be a good example and not give the unbeliever reason to find fault with Christianity and the Father will draw them in when He is ready. So my burden is with the Christian who believes that he is going to heaven but is doing nothing to make that happen. The root must bear fruit. Jesus told a story and it goes like this;

Luke 13:7-9



New King James Version (NKJV)
7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

The thing that Jesus is looking for is fruit not a bunch of leaves or more branches. Many Christians add  a lot of religious stuff to their lives that count for nothing. Only the fruit counts. There are two kinds of fruit to be considered and both are important and I cannot really prove which is more important but I am going to take a stab at it anyway.
1. The Fruit of the Spirit which is outlined in Galations.

Galatians 5:22-23

New King James Version (NKJV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

2. Then there is the fruit which is the actual reproduction in kind. In other words you are a born again child of God and through various means you have helped someone else to become a born again child of God. That is the second type of fruit. How does a seed reproduce itself? By dying.

John 12:24



King James Version (KJV)
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

This is about dying to self, accepting His ways and desires for you over the desires of your flesh.

So which of the fruits is more important? Neither, actually they go hand in hand. However if you focus on the fruit of the Holy Spirit then the other will take care of itself because you cannot bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit and live a life of carnality at the same time for they are like oil and water and will not mix.
If you are growing in the ways of God through relationship and fellowship with Him the fruit will be coming forth in ways that you cannot yet imagine. A person with a hot temper cannot understand how God can change him so that temper no longer has control over him. The scripture tells us that we become like that which we worship. There's a commercial on TV right now that shows a man and his son setting on a couch drinking a soda pop and junior is copying every move that dad makes. Mom is thinking "water would be much better" (a certain brand of course) and next thing you know they both are drinking and enjoying a refreshing water with their legs crossed and the same arm behind their head. The message being that small children adore their parents and if given the chance will become like them.

Worship your heavenly Father in Spirit and in Truth and you will become like Him. That is why it's called the Fruit of the Spirit rather than the fruit of religion. It is actually the Spirit manifesting His presence in your body. When this becomes a visible reality in your life then the reproductive kind of fruit will just happen because unbelievers that God is drawing to Himself will witness that and be drawn to it and you will become an instrument in God's hand to help them. This so different than the one who gets saved and says "I love God and I am going to go to work for Him so I will go to school and get a Christian education and then off to seminary and become a Pastor or teacher and spend my life working in the Church. That is man's way and may provide you a great career and a good income but may not fulfill God's purpose for your life at all. Matter of fact there's an interesting scripture that when I discovered it was almost the single thing that kept me from going into missionary work and here it is.

1 Corinthians 7:20



New King James Version (NKJV)
20 Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

In the first year after I was saved I started in bible college with full intention of going into missionary work. After I finished the first year I was praying about whether to continue on with the second and third and so forth. I had reasons to question the decision because of various difficulties I was encountering. Let me tell you that not all of the problems that you encounter when you start something like this is Satan trying to hinder you as some would observe. Sometimes God is trying to get your attention and say hey you are on the wrong road, you may have asked me but you didn't wait for the answer. Anyway I was praying fervently and fasted for a few days and one morning I just picked up my bible and let it fall open and this was the verse that was showing. It struck me like a lightning bolt. I was operating my upholstery business at the time and I decided to drop out of Bible college and wait and see what God had in mind. I could literally write a book on the experiences that occurred over the next 5 years and they were all good. I eventually became a pastor anyway but not because I sought it but because I was approached and asked to fill that role and that is another story within itself.

I must point out that the context of the above scripture is about the Jewish ritual of circumcision which was a requirement under the law and after Christ was no longer a requirement. It was sometimes a matter of debate when a non Jew became a Christian whether he needed to become circumcised or not and Paul wanted to put an end to the debate once and for all. However scripture can have more than one meaning and when God speaks it to you then you need to take heed regardless of the perceived context. I believe Paul did intend it to have broader implications for these reasons. Paul himself was a religious leader of influence and authority and traveled about exercising that authority. When he became a born again Christian he simply changed sides. He still traveled around and exercised his authority. It is just that his authority came from God instead of man. Most of Jesus disciples were fishermen and when they came to him they merely became fishers of men instead of fish. The little man Zacheous who was a wicked tax collector became a Christian and did not change his work but simply became an honest tax collector. As a matter of fact the only place in scripture that I am aware of there being some sort of religious training school is the mention of the school of the prophets spoken of at the time of Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind and Elisha is left behind. It says the students of the school of the prophets had told Elisha that his master was going to be taken up that day but when he in fact was taken up they asked Elisha if they could go looking for him and searched for him for three days. This is a great example of mixing the ways of God with the teachings of man. It produces a mixture and a lot of foolishness. Ask any honest pastor and he will admit there is a lot of foolishness that has to be endured to uphold the structure that is called the Church today. There is nothing in scripture at all that supports the idea of a religious training institute. A prophet is born, a leader is chosen based on his relationship to God, not his level of training. With man training or educational certificates is everything yet I personally know men with Dr. after their name who don't have a lick of common sense. With man everything is upside down. The greatest leader that Israel ever had was but a simple shepherd boy whose whole life was but a passionate pursuit of his heavenly Father.

I write these articles for one reason only and that is because I am concerned with the complacent attitude that plagues God's people. You may ask "what business is it of mine"? In a sense it is none of my business and I realize that but it is not a matter of judging anyone or condemning anyone but rather the desire to inform and encourage. There is so much time to eternity. So much time to either enjoy the fruits of your life on earth or the opposite, so much time to wish that you had done things differently. Life on earth is but a vapor that quickly vanishes and yet because we don't have a vision of eternity that is wrapped in some form of reality we ignore it and spend most of our time trying to grab more of the world before we pass from it. We really should be longing for heaven instead of more of earth. That can become a reality for you if only you will give the Lord more of yourself because He will begin to change your perspective. Your daily experience with Him will begin to trump your experiences with worldly things until those gradually fade into insignificance. The problem we face today the the people of old did not face is the ease that we experience today. Life is simply too easy and full of conveniences that they did not have so for them to look forward to a heavenly kingdom was ever before their eyes and like a man in prison looks forward to the day of his release and his imagination is always at work and this is probably what motivates him to behave himself in order to get time off for good behaviour. This is a very poor example because it is very limited in scope. The apostle Paul was taken up to the third heaven wherever that is and said he saw and experience things that could not be spoken.

Ephesians 3:19-21



New King James Version (NKJV)
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I can do great things with my imagination but this scripture tells me that my imagination is incapable of grasping what is awaiting those who are faithful in their pursuit of God. I like to use the word "Pursuit" in terms of our relationship with Him because even though we are told that He is right here and waiting to hear from us there is a sense of having to be passionate in our attempts to find Him. Paul's speaks of a race that is run.

1 Corinthians 9:23-25



New King James Version (NKJV)


23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.

The imperishable crown is not eternal life, it is something more that distinguishes one person from another. There's only one prom queen at the prom, there is only one rodeo queen crowned at each rodeo though at our local rodeo we have a parade where the queen and her court come from a variety of other places with rodeo's to participate in the parade and advertise their particular rodeo as well. The point being that a crown is a distinguishing feature and is given for standout performance and not everyone will have one.

We must make a distinction here between faithful service and work. They are not the same. Someone may spend his entire adult life working for God and receive nothing as a reward because his reward he received from man through praise and monetary reward because he was perceived to be a great minister or whatever but never did anything under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Then there's the one who never gets noticed at all but goes about his daily life hand in hand with Jesus just doing the simple stuff that no one else even wants to do and lo he gets the crown because he did it cause Jesus wanted him to do it.

I have gone far away in a sense from the direction I started out and I will try to get back to it. As I stated earlier there was an event in the heavenlies that resulted in a huge evacuation of one third of heavens population. I believe that every single one of those beings had a divine purpose in the universe. I don't believe that God created anything that had no purpose and therefor His plan entails replenishing heavens population but this time rather than with untested beings it will be with tried and true, through the fire and refined beings that when they enter His presence there will be such adoration, having already seen the severity of God will joyfully serve and worship Him throughout eternity.
What we have going here on earth is designed to bring forth the best. As cream rises to the surface and heat brings out the dross and pressure produces the diamond and time produces the oak tree the events of our lives here on earth are designed to get rid of the junk that is the result of self will. This is what God is after. He was kind and wise enough to give us self will and not interfere with that and then lead us down a path that gives us the opportunity to give up that one thing that sets us apart from all the rest of creation and that we hold most dear. That is why it is called the narrow path because few choose it. mankind values self determination above almost everything else. Even a lot of money only means anything because it increases our ability of self determination and therein lies the trap of wealth. No one likes to hear someone say to them "you go here or there and do this or that" unless they have a different view of life and eternity. No one can trump up that different view or attitude for it is a gift that is given to those that will ask for it but once you receive it there's nothing to compare with it because life becomes a continuous adventure. I want to encourage everyone to begin to consider the shortness of this life with the length of eternity and to ask yourself if what you are doing right now is what you want to be looking back on when you enter into those gates and the opportunity for change is forever lost. If you aren't sure or are even reluctant, if you would simply speak to the Lord about it and ask Him to help you to be willing you might be very surprised at the result.

May you all be blessed with an increase desire to Pursue Him.

john
email: justjohn@eoni.com