“Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, “Wash, and be clean?”’” [1]
It is almost impossible for someone who has pastored as long as I have not to have accumulated an abundance of stories of incidents and of people that exemplify both the Faith as it was meant to be lived and the Faith as it is too frequently distorted by professed followers of the Master. My years of experiences ensure that I can readily recall a delightful catalogue of people who honoured God, even in difficult situations. Similarly, multiple experiences have ensured memories of people who seemed unable to walk the walk, though they were certainly eager to talk the talk.
One such negative memory involves a man possessed of an exalted opinion of his importance. Perhaps many such individuals have sought to join themselves to assemblies I have served, but this man stands out in my memory. Having united with the congregation, he was preparing himself for a new phase in his life. Unable to continue working in a prior trade because of an injury at work, he had studied to prepare for another trade. Completing the classroom phase of training, he had found a position as an apprentice on a job site. However, his experience in the new trade only lasted one day.
It is understood in the trades that an apprentice will be assigned to do much of the dirty work on a job site; this man, though somewhat older than most apprentices would be because of his previous work experience, was deeply offended at the requirement to do work he considered to be beneath him. He didn’t even complete the first day before he quit. Rationalising his decision to quit, he asserted, “I didn’t prepare for this trade just so I could dig ditches.” In short, he was too important to do what was required. To my knowledge, this man continues unemployed to this day. I could only conclude that in his opinion, he was too important to do hard tasks.
In any assembly, there seem always to be individuals who are too important to perform the tasks required to maintain a church in this day. They won’t wash dishes, or they won’t clear tables after a love feast. They don’t want to repair the front steps. Mowing the grass is beneath their station. Clearing snow from the parking lot is a task they will not perform. Cleaning the church is something that they would never deign do. They are too important to usher. Nevertheless, anytime a congregation meets in a building, whether they own the building or not, someone must attend to little details.
In one former congregation, a man informed me on the first Sunday he attended services that he had been an elder in his former congregation. Apparently, I appeared oblivious to his suggestion, because he felt it necessary to inform me quite pointedly on several occasions after that first meeting that he was prepared to serve as an elder in the assembly. He assured me that he was eager to begin making decisions for the assembly. However, participating in leading worship wasn’t something that he was prepared to do, and he didn’t feel that making repairs on the church building really displayed his talent—and he was a certified carpenter! Would you be surprised if I told you that he left not long after uniting with the congregation; it had become apparent that I was hesitant to appoint him to serve as an elder for the assembly. He was simply too important, and his self-importance would not permit him to assume any task that he considered beneath him.
Somehow, the message of the Master has failed to gain traction among the churches of this day. The Master has taught His followers, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” [MARK 10:42b-45a]. Let the message of the Master take root in your mind: “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.”
Too often, we who profess to follow the Saviour forget that He did not come the first time so that He might be exalted—He came to give His life as a ransom. Too many of the saints of the Most High God are uncomfortable with a Saviour who took upon Himself the form of a servant. We want a Saviour who conquers, a Lord who reigns; we want a God who wows others so that we can be exalted with Him and be exalted NOW.
Focusing on the death of the Master, Paul reminds readers that Jesus surrendered His life in the most ignominious manner possible. We read in the Philippian Letter, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” [PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8].
Well, what is the danger of being too important? What are the consequences when we are exalted above our pay grade? What dangers attend the life of the professed follower of the Lord Jesus when that one is just too important? I want us to explore the question, seeking the answer discovered through a study of the life of a very important individual who came to seek a blessing from the Living God. Seeing him respond to the servant of the Most High God and witnessing how God humbled him will serve us well.
SEEKING A BLESSING — “Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house” [2 KINGS 5:9]. It doesn’t mean much to modern people when we read that “Naaman came with his horses and chariots.” We don’t use horses for transportation today. However, in a day when horses were somewhat more rare, it meant something to say that someone arrived with horses and chariots. It would be the equivalent of saying that someone arrived in his private Gulfstream G450, hopped into his Lamborghini Veneno Roadster and instructed his driver to deliver him to a particular address in the slums. Everything about the arrival of Naaman screamed PRIVILEGE!
And yet, this powerful, privileged man needed a blessing. In his case, the blessing he required was deliverance from the blot on his life—leprosy! We are told he was a leper. Included among his household slaves was a little girl who had been taken captive during a raid into Israel. This child was assigned to work with Naaman’s wife. One day, seeing the sorrow that Naaman’s condition caused both he and his wife, this child opined, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy” [2 KINGS 5:3].
Well, that got some attention! You can almost see this great man’s wife sit up from where she had been lazing. “What? My Naaman can be healed?” Well, you can be certain that Naaman’s wife insisted that he pay attention as she told him what the child had said. I would have to believe that Naaman was somewhat like men today. Wives are notorious for taking note of the complaining their husbands offer.
“I’m so tired of my sore toes!”
“Well, honey, I’ve made an appointment for you to see the podiatrist.”
Then, despite his protests, the husband will go to the doctor and learn that there really isn’t much that can be done for his particular complaint. It could have just as easily been his complaints about halitosis, about breathlessness when he tries to run for a mile as he did when he was twenty-one, about how he is squinting whenever he watches television, or how he is constantly asking her to repeat what she just said. Wives have a distressing habit of making practical suggestions, and Naaman’s wife was likely much like wives to this day.
The point is, Naaman was compelled to speak with the king. Because he was a favourite of the king, the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel” [2 KINGS 5:5a].
Naaman didn’t simply go with a letter, but he was sent with “ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing” [2 KINGS 5:5b]. Even then, healing could be expensive, or at least, that was what the king of Syria thought.
Naaman’s arrival in Samaria created serious distress for the king of Israel. Naaman carried a letter, which simply stated the expectations of the king of Syria. “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy” [2 KINGS 5:6].
Talk about consternation! The king of Israel was flummoxed. It would be a bit like Donald Trump sending a cabinet secretary to Justin Trudeau with a letter saying, “When you get this letter, please heal my favoured cabinet secretary of pancreatic cancer.” Yeah, it was that serious!
The king of Israel was convinced that something evil was afoot. In fact, he tore his clothes and loudly complained to anyone within earshot, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me” [2 KINGS 5:7].
Fortunately, for the king of Israel, a prophet heard of his distress. God’s prophet doesn’t just hide out in caves, he speaks on behalf of the Living God. Therefore, we read in the verse that follows, “When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel’” [2 KINGS 5:8]. “Stop giving the royal tailor more business; send that Syrian warrior to me. He needs to learn there is a prophet of the Living God in Israel. Send him to me!”
Thus it was that Naaman came to the house where Elisha was then living. Naaman pulls up to the door, expecting deference from Elisha, just as he was shown deference by everyone else. However, God’s prophet didn’t even bother to come to the door. He sent word by a messenger that the great warrior would need to take some rather humbling steps. However, if he did what the prophet commanded, the promise was that his flesh would be restored, and he would be clean. If he humbled himself, he would go on his way shouting, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!”
Perhaps you will recall a similar incident recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. The account informs us, “A man came up to [Jesus], saying, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” [MATTHEW 19:16-22].
Mark identifies this wealthy young man as being a ruler. We get the idea that he may have been the son of a member of the Jewish Council, or held some official position. What is important for us to recognise is that he recognised that he needed a blessing. In this case, he needed assurance of eternal life. That is the blessing that each of us needs. We aren’t born into being followers of the Christ; we are born again and become followers of the Christ. We must be saved, delivered from our broken condition, born from above so that we will be fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.
We come to God because we recognise that we have a deficit in our life. Perhaps it is that we need physical deliverance from our fears. Perhaps it is that we realise that we are facing a situation for which there is no hope if God does not intervene. Perhaps we can’t meet the obligation we have taken on and we need someone to set us free. Circumstances drive us to come to the Lord to ask for help.
The tragedy is that for far too many of us, we only want a blessing for the moment; we are not aware of what is of eternal worth. When this young man approached Jesus, he thought he would present himself and Jesus would be glad to have such a person in His entourage. Perhaps he thought he could really help Jesus out. You know, give a little colour to his disciples. Their dress was rather tacky, somewhat plebeian, certainly not flashy such as the really important people dressed; he would be a great addition to the troop.
On occasion, I have had people plead with me to tone down the messages I deliver since what I say could be offensive to some powerful individual. A deacon or prominent person in the congregation might suggest that we can’t afford to lose this individual because they are so powerful. Really? There is someone in the congregation that is indispensable? There is someone among us who is so wealthy, so powerful that we must never cause that person to think about his or her relationship to the Living God? There is someone holding membership whom God just must have? The standard for participation in the assembly is the same for each of us—we must be born from above. We must humble ourselves, receiving the Risen Saviour as Master of life.
Dear people, we invite the lost to come to Christ, not because God needs them, but because they need God! We invite lost people to put their faith in Christ, not in order to bless the Lord, but in order that the Risen Christ may begin a work in their hearts that will lead to transformation. What is promised is a transformation that begins now and continues until we are perfected before the Living God.
We read in the Word, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” [ROMANS 8:26-30].
This is the message the Apostle presents when he writes the Romans, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” [ROMANS 12:2].
We may be certain that what God has begun in the life of the one who is redeemed, He will complete. With the Apostle, we can exult, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” [PHILIPPIANS 1:6]. The Christian life is a life defined by certainty! We know some things because the Spirit of God lives within, and He is teaching us. He is giving us confidence both by His presence and by what He is revealing through the Word that He has given!
We call people to come to Christ that He may make them what the Lord created them to be. We are taught in Scripture, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21]. God is in the business of changing us into the image of His Son. And for that, we lift our voices in praise.
UNMET EXPECTATIONS — “Elisha sent a messenger to [Naaman], saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage” [2 KINGS 5:10-12].
I suppose each of us is acquainted with someone who “used to be a Christian.” They appeared to walk with us in the pilgrim way—they said prayers, they shared in the ordinances that we love, they were actively engaged in directing various ministries. Then, they quit! They simply ceased being part of the Body. When we drill down on the reasons individuals give for quitting the Faith, it is a common theme to hear people argue that they were disappointed in God. Other professing Christians were hypocrites, the church didn’t do what they thought it should be doing, they didn’t like the preacher, but in the final analysis, they didn’t get out of the Faith what they thought they should get.
These are individuals who served God for what they could get, and not because God is worthy. This is a much more common response than we might ever imagine. Multiplied individuals who are disappointed in the Faith once participated in the services of the churches; but they participated because of the benefits they supposed they would receive. The tragedy is that they failed to fall in love with God. These aggrieved souls somehow missed understanding that they were included in the command, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” [DEUTERONOMY 6:5]. We serve God because of Who He is, and not because of what we might receive. Moreover, when He does give gifts (and God graciously provides rich gifts), we imagine that He must give what we want and in the way in which we want it.
Let’s admit something that is often left unspoken—when we pray, when we ask God to provide us with something we believe we need, we almost always have an expectation of how God will answer; or at least we have an expectation of how we want God to answer. Christians who have received answers to their request at some point in the past could testify that God seldom answers as we expected. We can rejoice that God’s answers are often far better than we could have anticipated. Nevertheless, the answers we receive are not always, perhaps not often, what we thought we would receive. Though we know this, we are still disappointed when we ask the Master for a boon and what we sought isn’t provided in the manner we expected.
It is a sad reality to admit that we are prepared to instruct God not only for what we want, but how we expect Him to answer. No one should ever imagine that we modern followers of the Lord are unique in this harbouring this dreadful condition. Saints have always struggled with the disappointment of unmet expectations. We want security, and the security we expect is tangible. We struggle if we are compelled to count knowledge of God’s love for us as sufficient security to allow us to stand firm.
For instance, the words of the Shepherd’s Psalm drop lightly from our lips.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.”
[PSALM 23:4]
However, living as though these words actually mean something is much more difficult. When we are actually treading through the “the valley of the shadow of death,” undoubtedly we will be fearful. At the very least, we will be leery, tentative, alert to danger that seems press down on our senses. Why is this? Can it actually be that we are walking through the valley alone and not in the company of the LORD?
Perhaps we imagine that we provide for ourselves the rest we so desperately need. Perhaps we actually believe that our own efforts have procured the refreshment our souls needed so desperately. Perhaps we are truly convinced that our wisdom, that our skill has guided our steps through the dangerous paths we must tread. If that is the case, then we have reason to be fearful. However, if we are twice-born, we have done nothing on our own. If we are truly part of His flock, He has guided us, He has provided all we need, and He is always with us. Why are we fearful?
Being yet an unbelieving pagan at this point, all Naaman was capable of doing was look on the outward, physical aspects of what he was commanded to do. Washing in the Jordan was not an exercise meant to wash the filth from his flesh, but that was all he could see. What he could not see until he had become a worshipper of the Living God was that dipping in the Jordan River was meant to lead him to obedience to God.
In a similar fashion, those who stand on the outside of the Faith looking in can only see the rite. They imagine that somehow the rite is “magical,” somehow they think the rite must do something that transforms the individual. However, once we are armed with this information we are equipped to make an appropriate connection to baptism for believers. We call those who have believed the Risen Saviour to identify with Him in baptism. Baptism does not save an individual. Receiving baptism will not make the one submitting to the rite a better person. Baptism by itself, divorced from faith in the Risen Son of God, will not make the individual acceptable to the Lord nor will it advance the individual in the Faith. Baptism is an identification with the Master! Baptism is a step of obedience after one has exercised faith in Christ the Saviour!
The Apostle to the Gentiles speaks of the advantage of baptism when he writes,
“The Messiah also suffered for sins once for all,
an innocent person for the guilty,
so that he could bring you to God.
He was put to death in a mortal body
but was brought to life by the Spirit,
in which he went and made a proclamation to those imprisoned spirits who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water. Baptism, which is symbolised by that water, now saves you also, not by removing dirt from the body, but by asking God for a clear conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, who has gone to heaven and is at the right hand of God, where angels, authorities, and powers have been made subject to him” [1 PETER 3:18-22 ISV].
“Asking God for a clear conscience!” That is such a richly suggestive statement. When we receive baptism as one who will henceforth follow the Saviour, we are being obedient to what is clearly commanded. We are demonstrating obedience so that nothing stands between us and the Father. We are openly confessing that we believe the promise of God to receive all that come to Him through Jesus Christ His Son. We are confessing that we want to be free of all guilt and free to come before the Living God knowing that we are accepted in the Beloved Son. This is why the Word calls people who have believed the promise of the Risen Christ to receive baptism.
We do not baptise our babies, because we are not attempting to coerce them into the Faith. We will instruct our children in righteousness. We will pray for them and with them. We will point them to Christ the Lord who saves all who come to Him in faith. The congregation of the faithful receives those possessing maturity as they openly declare their allegiance to the Risen Saviour, obeying His call by submitting to baptism as one who believes Him. That was precisely what Naaman was called to do—to believe the call of God. And he was to reveal his faith through accepting what God called him to do.
WHEN REASON PREVAILS — “His servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, “Wash, and be clean?”’ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” [2 KINGS 5:13-14].
They may have been servants, “little people,” as some arrogant souls are tempted to designate them, people without power or authority in the eyes of powerful individuals, perhaps these were even “little people” in Naaman’s eyes, but these servants provided wise counsel to the proud warrior. They urged the mighty man to reconsider his rash threat to blow off the instructions Elijah had given. They reasoned with him to accept that it wouldn’t hurt to try what was commanded. Perhaps he would even be cured.
Naaman was very important—especially in his own mind! As the old saw goes, “He was a legend in his own mind.” Whenever an individual begins to think too highly of himself, he cannot serve God. We must be humble enough to confess our need of a Saviour if we will be saved. Having received Him, we must cultivate that humility. Whenever anyone begins to imagine themselves to be essential to the continued progress of the work of God, that individual is sure to fail. There are no essential people among the people of God; each of us must one day leave behind the things of this life to stand before the Saviour. How often we hear that truth in the writings of the Apostle Paul.
As an example of the call for humility, you need but recall the words written in the Apostle’s first letter to the Church of God in Corinth. The passage to which I refer is 1 CORINTHIANS 3:10-23. There, the Apostle writes, “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”
Have we who follow the Risen Saviour forgotten the admonition that cautions us, “By the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them” [ROMANS 12:3-6a].
Soon after this, in this chapter, we who follow the Saviour are cautioned, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” [ROMANS 12:16-17].
The instruction recalls the LORD’s words to Baruch through the prophet Jeremiah. “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, ‘Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD” [JEREMIAH 45:2-5a].
Among the Psalms of Ascent is one which addresses this issue of thinking too highly of oneself. Surely we can agree that David had reason to think highly of his own abilities; yet, in this 131st PSALM, David has written:
“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
[PSALM 131:1-2]
Apparently, David communicated this vital instruction to Solomon because we find him writing in the Proverbs:
“Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”
[PROVERBS 3:7]
Among the admonitions the LORD delivered through Isaiah is one which is apropos to this current discussion. Listen to the word of the LORD!
“Thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
‘I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”
[ISAIAH 57:15]
If we wish to dwell in the presence of the Living God, we must cultivate a humble spirit. If we expect to receive His blessings and to enjoy His rich gifts, we need to avoid being proud; we will be required to deal ruthlessly with the spirit of pride that rises within our heart, we will be compelled to see what pleases the Lord, and it is not our pride that honours Him.
If I wish to be proud, let me take pride in Christ who redeems me. Here is sound counsel to the one who would follow the Saviour. “In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ” [ROMANS 15:17-19].
I urge you to determine to so live that I am able to take pride in you; and pray for me that I may honour my calling before the Lord so that you may take pride in me. Pray that I fulfil my calling which I received when Christ appointed me to this service. I do not want you to take pride in me because of any accomplishment I may have attained, but I want to so live that you are able to take pride in me because I have pursued Christ’s glory with my whole heart. This is in accord with Paul’s admonition to the Philippian saints, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” [PHILIPPIANS 2:14-16].
Here is sound counsel that is often acknowledged, but which is difficult to accept. “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” [1 CORINTHIANS 1:26-31].
Within this congregation, there is ample room for saints who pursue Christ’s glory; there is no room for professed followers of the Master who pursue their own glory. There will always be a place for the follower of the Risen Saviour who seeks to fulfil the ministry given by the Master who appoints each one to service within His Kingdom. There will never be enough room to accommodate the individual who seeks to exalt himself or herself, and especially if that self-exaltation is at the expense of humble saints who are seeking God’s glory. We call each person who hears our message to seek Christ’s glory, to seek to build the brother hood of believers, to honour the Saviour. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
