NEWS The Unshakeable Kingdom
I've noticed a great tendency among many people that call themselves Christians to want to take something spiritual from God and make it an earthly thing - a religious thing. Today, as I was doing some morning reading and meditation, I came across a passage from one of T. Austin-Sparks' books that talks about this issue. Sparks, as usual, goes right to the heart of the matter. Here's what TAS says (bold added for emphasis):
This universal shaking is said to be in order that there shall be nothing left but what God Himself has established. This letter (Hebrews) is a comprehensive comparison and discrimination between the passing and the permanent, the shakeable and the unshakeable; and it is important to recognise that it was written to a people who for a long period had held the position of a people whom God had taken out of the world unto Himself, showing that even such a people may make their separation an earth-bound thing and have to be warned that that kind of separation is not God's kind of separation. God took them out of the world to be a people for Himself, and then in the course of time they gravitated earthward, so instead of being a heavenly people in the earth they became a religious people on the earth, and there is a great deal of difference. And such a letter as this had to be written to them to tell them, the people who were once taken out of the world for God by God, that they are to have their whole foundation shaken and their whole system of things, in the shaking, removed. On the other hand, the letter is a statement of permanent and final things, and the things which constitute the Kingdom which cannot be shaken.
We can see the problem clearly. Trying to make something spiritual from God an earthly and religious thing will separate us from the Lord. It is in direct conflict with the Kingdom - with the purpose of God through Christ Jesus. Every time somebody tries to make a spiritual thing from God something earthly and religious, we see the same result: it fails. The Lord has no choice but to move on.
The truth is the Lord is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
I would urge all those people that are seeking the Kingdom to resist the temptation to take a gift from God and try to make it earthly and religious. It is wasted time and energy. You will fail. It's just a matter of time. The Lord guarantees it.
May you see Christ as all in all.
Agape,
Steve
This universal shaking is said to be in order that there shall be nothing left but what God Himself has established. This letter (Hebrews) is a comprehensive comparison and discrimination between the passing and the permanent, the shakeable and the unshakeable; and it is important to recognise that it was written to a people who for a long period had held the position of a people whom God had taken out of the world unto Himself, showing that even such a people may make their separation an earth-bound thing and have to be warned that that kind of separation is not God's kind of separation. God took them out of the world to be a people for Himself, and then in the course of time they gravitated earthward, so instead of being a heavenly people in the earth they became a religious people on the earth, and there is a great deal of difference. And such a letter as this had to be written to them to tell them, the people who were once taken out of the world for God by God, that they are to have their whole foundation shaken and their whole system of things, in the shaking, removed. On the other hand, the letter is a statement of permanent and final things, and the things which constitute the Kingdom which cannot be shaken.
We can see the problem clearly. Trying to make something spiritual from God an earthly and religious thing will separate us from the Lord. It is in direct conflict with the Kingdom - with the purpose of God through Christ Jesus. Every time somebody tries to make a spiritual thing from God something earthly and religious, we see the same result: it fails. The Lord has no choice but to move on.
The truth is the Lord is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
I would urge all those people that are seeking the Kingdom to resist the temptation to take a gift from God and try to make it earthly and religious. It is wasted time and energy. You will fail. It's just a matter of time. The Lord guarantees it.
May you see Christ as all in all.
Agape,
Steve
posted by Steve at
11:34 AM
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