NEWS Reduced to Love
Here's a meditation for you inspired by something T. Austin-Sparks said to a group of Christians in Asia back in the mid-1960s. May it be light to you. Sparks said (Caps in original):
"The very center of everything for the Jew was the ceremony of circumcision. That was the sign that you were a Jew and a true Jew. You could never be a real Jew unless you had been circumcised. The Apostle Paul says this: Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Hear the Jew saying that. You are not surprised that they try to kill him. Now it is not the thing, and dear friends, in Christianity baptism takes the place of circumcision; but baptism as baptism is nothing. In Ethiopia, the Christians are baptized every year. You could be baptized every day if you like. You could be baptized every hour of every day, and it may make no difference. If you go to the Lord's Table every week, it may make no difference. You can take up all the forms of Christianity, and really know nothing about it.
Christianity has become very largely a legalistic system. You must do it here! You must be here! You must do it in this way, or you are not the Church. The Lord Jesus had wiped this out in the beginning. He says the only ground that is necessary is in spirit and in truth in Me. Christ has taken the place of all other systems. CHRIST IS THE ONLY SYSTEM."
Amen to that! We know the apostle Paul told us he counted his former religion and religious traditions as "rubbish" - garbage - in the light of seeing Christ. I would ask you to meditate deeply on Philippians 3. It's illuminating, to say the least. Jesus had some mighty strong words for the religious leaders of his time, as I have noted many times before (cf. Matthew 23).
When God reveals His Son, you let go of religion and religious traditions. They aren't important. It is excess baggage that gets left behind at the Cross. The Lord desires to remove any impediments that prevent us from seeing Christ and walking in love. Listen to the Spirit pouring through the heart of the prophet Amos:
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
(Amos 5:21-24)
Enough of the religious stuff!, says the Lord through Amos. I hate it! I despise it! No more tithing, please! I will not accept them! No more worship music - it's just noise to Me! The Lord said essentially the same thing through the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 1:11-16). And, yet, what do most people do? They keep on going through the religious motions, year after year after year. Truly remarkable!
Now you know the primary reason Love suffers long. What the Lord says often times falls on deaf ears. There were multitudes who walked away from Jesus. They just couldn't understand what he was saying. The eyes of their hearts were completely shut. They were spiritually deaf and blind. The Lord has a solution for the spiritually deaf and blind. He said, through the prophet Ezekiel:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
A new heart and a new spirit. That is Love's solution for curing those who are spiritually deaf and blind. Revelation supplies us with a new heart and a new spirit that allows us to enter into Christ and walk in love. Importantly, the new heart and new spirit is something God provides - it's not something any man - priest, pastor or minster - can provide. The new heart and new spirit come directly from heaven. They are a precious gift directly from the Lord. The apostle Paul, a former zealous Pharisee, was on the receiving end the new heart and new spirit prophesied through Ezekiel. How wonderful!
Our only desire in this life should be to have the Lord reduce us to nothing but love - to reduce us to what He is. Being One with God, in Christ, is what it is all about, beloved. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
May you be reduced to Love.
Agape,
Steve
"The very center of everything for the Jew was the ceremony of circumcision. That was the sign that you were a Jew and a true Jew. You could never be a real Jew unless you had been circumcised. The Apostle Paul says this: Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Hear the Jew saying that. You are not surprised that they try to kill him. Now it is not the thing, and dear friends, in Christianity baptism takes the place of circumcision; but baptism as baptism is nothing. In Ethiopia, the Christians are baptized every year. You could be baptized every day if you like. You could be baptized every hour of every day, and it may make no difference. If you go to the Lord's Table every week, it may make no difference. You can take up all the forms of Christianity, and really know nothing about it.
Christianity has become very largely a legalistic system. You must do it here! You must be here! You must do it in this way, or you are not the Church. The Lord Jesus had wiped this out in the beginning. He says the only ground that is necessary is in spirit and in truth in Me. Christ has taken the place of all other systems. CHRIST IS THE ONLY SYSTEM."
Amen to that! We know the apostle Paul told us he counted his former religion and religious traditions as "rubbish" - garbage - in the light of seeing Christ. I would ask you to meditate deeply on Philippians 3. It's illuminating, to say the least. Jesus had some mighty strong words for the religious leaders of his time, as I have noted many times before (cf. Matthew 23).
When God reveals His Son, you let go of religion and religious traditions. They aren't important. It is excess baggage that gets left behind at the Cross. The Lord desires to remove any impediments that prevent us from seeing Christ and walking in love. Listen to the Spirit pouring through the heart of the prophet Amos:
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
I cannot stand your assemblies.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
(Amos 5:21-24)
Enough of the religious stuff!, says the Lord through Amos. I hate it! I despise it! No more tithing, please! I will not accept them! No more worship music - it's just noise to Me! The Lord said essentially the same thing through the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 1:11-16). And, yet, what do most people do? They keep on going through the religious motions, year after year after year. Truly remarkable!
Now you know the primary reason Love suffers long. What the Lord says often times falls on deaf ears. There were multitudes who walked away from Jesus. They just couldn't understand what he was saying. The eyes of their hearts were completely shut. They were spiritually deaf and blind. The Lord has a solution for the spiritually deaf and blind. He said, through the prophet Ezekiel:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
A new heart and a new spirit. That is Love's solution for curing those who are spiritually deaf and blind. Revelation supplies us with a new heart and a new spirit that allows us to enter into Christ and walk in love. Importantly, the new heart and new spirit is something God provides - it's not something any man - priest, pastor or minster - can provide. The new heart and new spirit come directly from heaven. They are a precious gift directly from the Lord. The apostle Paul, a former zealous Pharisee, was on the receiving end the new heart and new spirit prophesied through Ezekiel. How wonderful!
Our only desire in this life should be to have the Lord reduce us to nothing but love - to reduce us to what He is. Being One with God, in Christ, is what it is all about, beloved. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
May you be reduced to Love.
Agape,
Steve
posted by Steve at
5:37 PM
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