|
|
||
|
|
|||
Earlier this week, I was thinking about my time here in the local Adventist congregation as a member of the mainstream SDA Church. As I was doing so, I vaguely remembered a song that we used to sing back then. I had to look it up based on a line that I remembered, and the song was called “Will There Be Any Stars?” The lyrics of the hymn have the singer asking if there will be any stars in his crown when Christ returns, with “stars” referring to souls won to the truth through witnessing and evangelism.
This got me to thinking about a conversation we had last week about selfishness, and that the motive, even for many professed Christians who do the right things, who have the proper works, may be a selfish one. We have spoken before, of course, about people who do the right thing for the wrong reasons, seeking to avoid the destruction of hell, or to live forever merely for the prolonging of one’s personal existence. These aren’t bad goals, but they aren’t the primary motivating factor for the follower of Christ, which is love for the Creator, and love for one’s neighbor as one’s self.
Even evangelism can be selfish; in fact, we see this quite often. In some religions, missionary work is built into the obligations of being a member. I’m not suggesting that the people who participate in visiting homes and spreading their sincere beliefs aren’t legitimately dedicated to their causes, but for many they seek to teach the truth to others because it is expected of them, not because they genuinely wish to see others saved in the judgment. I remember participating in evangelistic activities as a member of the Conference Church, but it was for the adventure of doing something new, the pride of knowing I could win an argument about the Biblical day of worship, and to go along with the other members of the Church in an expected set of behaviors. I don’t think I ever thought about the souls we were trying to save as the point of it all. Of course, I would have been happy if we got a convert or two, but for all the Bible studies I attended, and all the sermons I sat through, for some reason I was never taught to love.
In looking over the lyrics of this song that came to my mind, it’s rather difficult to say whether a selfish motive is being promoted or not. The very last pair of lines read, “It would sweeten my bliss in the City of Gold, Should there be any stars in my crown.” Whether or not this is selfish or loving depends on the source of the bliss. Is my bliss going to be sweeter because I will receive a greater reward of glory, or is my bliss going to be sweeter because more precious souls are present to live with me in ceaseless ages? The hymn doesn’t make it clear, and so I suppose the meaning will depend on the spirit of the one who sings it. When I sang that song back in my days in the conference, my motive would not have been pure. Today, the meaning would be quite different.
I would like to share with you a parable from the Bible, but I would like to put a little twist on the traditional interpretation as I explain it. The understanding I am reading into it today is quite in line with the text, and probably more in tune with the principles of righteousness than the meaning it has often been given. It is this one: “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Mat 13:44-46)
Technically, I suppose those verses provide two parables, but their meaning is identical. There is something of great value to be found, and it is worth everything in the world to obtain it.
Traditionally, these and similar passages have been understood to refer to finding the truth, to finding Yahshua, to receiving the Gospel. The spiritual knowledge of the Father and Son, and coming into Covenant with them, is certainly explained as a thing of immeasurable value. As it is written, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mat 16:26)
Nothing is more important than finding and accepting the truth. The riches of the world cannot compare to the treasure of salvation. The most expensive and prestigious education cannot teach what the born-again Christian has received as a free gift – everlasting life. So yes, the treasure hidden in the field, and the pearl of great price, certainly refer to the discovery of a love for the Gospel and its Author. What I am sharing with you today does nothing to replace or dislodge that understanding, but I do want to suggest another way, an additional way, of reading this passage.
Consider the wording, which may just be an artifact of translation, but is interesting nonetheless, that “the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls.” It does not say that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure to be found by a merchant, in this second part. In the first parable, the Kingdom is compared to a treasure, and that is fitting… but in this second and parallel doctrine, the Kingdom is like a man seeking pearls, seeking treasure. Again, I don’t want to read too much into this, because even inspired writings can be imprecise, and can absolutely become less precise after many years and a change of language.
Nonetheless, the passage has been permitted to read this way, that the Kingdom of Heaven is not merely something to be sought, it is also something that seeks.
A merchant who buys and sells pearls knows the value of a good thing when he finds it. I do not think it too much of a stretch, therefore, to apply some “Instructor’s License” to this. We may remain safely within the confines of Scriptural principle when we point out that human souls are also extremely valuable treasures. Indeed, verses like this one confirm the idea: “Behold, I will send My Messenger, and He shall prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, He shall come, saith Yahweh of Hosts.” (Mal 3:1)
This entire chapter is extremely relevant, and worthy of intense study, but for today’s purpose we will go to the very end and read a section that begins with a familiar verse, but then continues to the end of the chapter, “Then they that feared Yahweh spake often one to another, and Yahweh hearkened, and heard it, and a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for them that feared Yahweh, and that thought upon His name. ‘And they shall be mine,’ saith Yahweh of Hosts, ‘in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’ Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” (Mal 3:16-18)
With regard to the first verse we read from this chapter, CSDAs are the modern-day messengers of the Covenant. You have heard our recent studies. You have studied our writings like the book entitled A Sure Covenant. Who but the Church of Yahshua teaches the covenant between Yahweh and man, and the covenant among earthly believers? Thus, these passages in Malachi 3 refer both to Christ, and to His people who prepare the way for His return. This can refer to nothing but Christ, and His Holy Spirit as manifest in the persons of His faith, members of His Body on earth.
The souls of the believers are called “My jewels,” as in Yahweh’s jewels, and they are gems of infinite worth, pearls of great price, and stars that adorn the Church and its members. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars,” (Rev 12:1) with the twelve stars here representing the tribes of spiritual Israel, and the souls that compose this sanctified nation.
How much praise does each redeemed soul offer to the Father and Son? We know that the redeemed receive a life that never ends; thus, each individual soul offers an actual infinite amount of worship, an infinite amount of praise. Each soul that Yahweh has created is a universe of experiences, and of love. This is not something that we, in our current states can understand – we can understand the words that describe it, but not the experience that those words convey. Even so, what we can grasp is enough to drive us forward in our own sanctification, to be a part of that Heavenly company, and also to seek out others to share in that experience. The Kingdom of Heaven is both that which is sought, and that which seeks. We, who are of that Kingdom, have been seekers of that Kingdom, but are now seekers for that Kingdom.
When Yahshua was drawing His disciples out of the world, He said to them, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) It is a basic thing, taught to children in Sunday school or Sabbath school, but it is the most important thing for even the most mature and experienced Christian to remember and acknowledge. We were once fishes, drawn into the net of our Savior, and now we are the ones who cast His net into the sea, seeking as we once were sought.
I will read the second parable again, “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Mat 13:45, 46)
Without the least suggestion that we replace the original meaning, that the Kingdom of Heaven is a great treasure to be found and cherished, I would say – I would add – that each soul is a treasure with a value beyond our ability to estimate. Each soul is a pearl of equal value to our own. This is why we are “pro-life” in every sense of the word. This is why we are evangelists.
Now, what is the reality of our current situation? If treasures were a rare find two thousand years ago, and if a pearl of great price was a wonderful and unique discovery back then, what is the state of things today? Whether we see the Kingdom as the pearl, or the souls be sought by the Kingdom as the pearl, we know that it is a great and unusual event when it is discovered.
It has become increasingly difficult, to the point where it is just about impossible these days, to find a pearl willing to be polished and made ready for the Kingdom. We have to search larger and more barren fields, seek deeper beds of oysters, for these valuable stones, because one virtue that even the demons in their damnation possess is dedication. In this, they have an advantage over a Church that has oft-times slept, or missed the mark in doing the work of gathering our Father’s jewels. In falling into the ditches on the sides of the road of truth, in forming papacies and councils of elders that have attempted to control the consciences of others, the professed people of Yahweh have wasted decades and centuries on foolish questions and internal conflict. If they had understood even partially the value of the souls that were slipping through their fingers as they fought for scraps of power and influence, what would history have been like? How powerful an influence for good the Church and Christianity might have been! Today, we are barely acknowledged as a source of any wisdom, and rarely are we held up before the world as a good example of anything. This is the result of the dedication displayed by Satan and his fallen confederates.
Perhaps the most common condition in which we find our fellow professed believers is a state of slow strangulation. An alternative title I had considered for this study is “Choking on Milk.” The idea comes from these verses:
“I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” (1Cor 3:2)
“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” (Heb 5:12)
When considering the last days of earth’s history, Yahshua asked, “When the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) I can say, I understand why He asked the question. I have lamented this before, so I do not want to go on too long about it, but what is it that professed Christians are spending their time these days doing and saying? What occupies their time, and their efforts?
I see them, at least the ones with an online presence, locking themselves into increasingly small echo-chambers of self-congratulatory, circular posting. If I consider Facebook Christianity, rarely do I see a statement or testimony about overcoming sin. Rarely do I see an example of praise for the Creator. Almost never do I see anything valuable for the sanctification of the soul.
Every time I see a post in one of the groups of which I am still somehow a member, it is about how terrible the Trinity doctrine is, the mistakes and apostasies of this or that group, reminders that it is important to keep the Sabbath holy, pork will kill you, the Sunday Law is coming, or something about earthly politics.
Where is the Gospel? Where is the hope? Where is the Desire of Ages? Where is the love for Yahweh above all else, and love for our neighbors as ourselves? Where is the standard being held up, that the Law of Yahweh, and the faith of Yahshua, are the true marks of Christian character?
Some think it their mission to tear down a false doctrine. Where does this notion come from? Some will say, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3) They will then say, “Yes, and that faith, once delivered, was anti-Trinity, vegetarian, and super conservative,” by which they mean legalistic. Well, I don’t see any of those things in the Bible. Christianity was not anti-Trinitarian, because the concept doesn’t exist in the Scriptures, and we are certainly right to reject it, but to twist every quote Ellen White ever said into an attack on that doctrine is an exercise in imaginative fiction. Neither were Christ or His followers particularly “conservative” in the proper sense of the word. Their actions and teachings dismayed the legalistic Pharisees often enough. I think the only thing Christ said that really shocked His followers because of its “strictness” was that people should only get divorced because of sexual impurity. Their response was interesting: “His disciples say unto Him, ‘If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.’” (Mat 19:10) It was sort of like, “What? We can only get divorced because of adultery and fornication? Then, it’s better not to get married at all!” They had things to learn about the significance of a “Covenant.”
When the prophets witnessed against wickedness, they were standing in a position of authority, and they themselves were called of Yahweh to do so. Furthermore, they were preaching to a people to whom righteousness was known. The people knew Yahweh’s Law, and rejected it. Today, people largely transgress the Word of Yahweh because they are ignorant of it, because they do not know what it says, and when they do read it, they do so through a lens of false teachings and apostate theology. They are told, repeatedly, that the Law of Yahweh is a part of the Old Testament and has nothing to do with Christians. They are not to be condemned for their ignorance; to be sure, if they die in ignorance of the character of Yahshua, they cannot be saved, but it will not draw them closer to the light to attack them for their lack of knowledge.
In these days, righteousness must be taught to the world from first principles, because it has been lost, and the light upon it grows dimmer every day. As the darkness grows, though, the points of light, even if they cannot shine as brightly yet, become all the more precious.
The modern Christian cannot be fed the “meat” of the Gospel. They cannot be taught about the investigative judgment, and certainly not the judgment of the living. They cannot appreciate how “free” they are in Christ, because they will either abuse that freedom, or they will cling to the Law for comfort rather than guidance. So, they cannot be fed the meat; the problem is, they cannot digest the milk either. They will take a doctrine, one thing they believe they understand well, and make a crusade against the world out of it. They will throw all balance and often tact out the window, and push forward in a blaze of self-ignited glory, hoping to set something on fire. The modern Christian is choking on the milk, the very basics, of the message, caught up in a cycle that will prevent him from ever truly growing in grace and knowledge.
Truth has become a poison to them, and so when they hear a testimony of victory, a record of success in Christianity… that itself is probably something they have never even considered. Can one “succeed” at Christianity? Isn’t it just a life of hard trials, and trying, over and over again, to sort of be okay? No, not at all… the Bible describes the Christian life as one of success, of victory. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Rom 8:37) Where is that Christianity today? It is rarer than a pearl of great price.
Imagine being in a congregation where the weekly sermon amounted to no more than, “Remember to pray. Try to be good. Don’t forget to pay your tithes and offerings.” At some point, it all becomes useless. Even though the words themselves are true, and certainly better than the opposite advice, even the most newly-born of Christians needs something more substantial than this. We have been told by inspiration that the last movements in earth’s history would be rapid ones, and that people would need to learn in days what took the saints of previous experience weeks and years. And yet, because people are stuck on milk, and are willing to hear nothing but that which confirms their already accepted beliefs, what can the righteous do?
I said I was not going to spend too much time on this – we all know this lament. The point is that the world has become more and more hostile to the testimony of Yahshua, to the testimony of righteousness by faith.
The good news is that none of this has caught our Father by surprise. We have been well-informed from the beginning. We have been advised from the beginning. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” (2Tim 4:3-5)
This is a wonderful passage. As dark as our eyes tell us it is, as loud as our ears tell us it is, as hot as our skin tells us it is, our Father says, “Do the work of an evangelist.” Stay the course. Steady on and forward. Continue to seek, as agents and angels of the Kingdom of Heaven, those precious jewels. Continue to seek after those peals of great price; and, when you find one, do all that is in your power to bring it into the safety of the Covenant of Yahweh. Do not be forceful. Do not be hasty. Do not splash about and scare away the fishes, but cast your net widely and confidently. We cannot give up the search. We cannot abandon the harvest.
The same Book that told us that things at the time of the end would be dark, and cold, and hostile to the truth, also told us this: “And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” (Gal 6:9, 10)
Because we are not selfish, because we are not seeking reward for its own sake, because our evangelism is not merely for stars in our crowns, we cannot fail, nor can we be discouraged. We see each soul as equal in value to our own, and we will not fail them. We will not fail to gather them in, should they in the least be willing to be made willing to see and accept the truth. As frustrating as it may be to see the world lying in ignorance, and our potential brethren sputtering about in the milk of the message, we continue to hold out hope that there are pearls out there to be found. They depend on our stubbornness, they depend on our diligence, so that, when they do appear, someone will be found seeking them. Someone will be ready to bring them inside, and polish them for the Kingdom.
And most importantly, whenever we do feel the temptation to discouragement, or frustration, or weariness, let us remember that whatever we may feel, Yahshua felt it also, and all the more intensely. Nevertheless, because of love for mankind, He overcame those feelings, and He finished His Father’s work. As it was with Him, so also shall it be with us.
David.
An Enduring Witness
“Those in the darkness of error are the purchase of the blood of Christ. They are the fruit of His suffering, and they are to be labored for. Let our canvassers know that it is for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom that they are laboring. He will teach them as they go forth to their God-appointed work, to warn the world of a soon-coming judgment. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, the evangelist’s work will not, cannot be without fruit. Think of the interest that the Father and the Son have in this work. As the Father loves the Son, so the Son loves those that are His, those who work as He worked to save perishing souls.” [Letters and Manuscripts, Vol. 18, Manuscript 46, 1903]
“The parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls has a double significance: it applies not only to men as seeking the kingdom of heaven, but to Christ as seeking His lost inheritance. Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In man, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption.” [Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 118]
“For the conversion of one sinner the minister should tax his resources to the utmost. The soul that God has created and Christ has redeemed is of great value because of the possibilities before it, the spiritual advantages that have been granted it, the capabilities that it may possess if vitalized by the word of God, and the immortality it may gain through the hope presented in the gospel. And if Christ left the ninety and nine that He might seek and save one lost sheep, can we be justified in doing less? Is not a neglect to work as Christ worked, to sacrifice as He sacrificed, a betrayal of sacred trusts, an insult to God?” [Acts of The Apostles, p. 370]