Incorruptible Seed

It continues to amaze and sadden me just how many so-called professing believers I run into or hear of who base their salvation in Jesus the Christ upon what is often expressed as, “Oh, I made a decision for Christ when I was young.” Yet, the vast majority of these with whom I am personally acquainted and who tell me this are caught up in besetting sins and are living like the devil himself. I am talking rampant sexual immorality or they are chronic liars and see nothing wrong with doing one or both of these sins while professing Christ as Lord and Savior.

Christ, in other words, has had NO impact upon their personal morality or ethics and their behavior betrays their profession of faith. Why is this so? Why is it that so many think that just because they prayed a prayer, raised a hand, walked an aisle, or signed a card in an evangelistic presentation that they are saved? That sounds good, right? What's wrong, if anything, with a scenario like that?

I can sum up the answer to those questions in one sentence:

“God has done all He can for you, now it is your turn.”

I have heard hundreds of variation of this; two are:

“God has done His part, now you must do your part.” … “Belief now is what God requires of you and that's all He expects as your part in this.”

And the list can go on and on.

A false, watered down, weak and emaciated gospel is presented in almost every professing evangelical church around the world. An appeal is made to man as if he or she had the ability to make a righteous decision to come to Christ. The results of this message are the shipwrecked lives so dominant in evangelical churches today.

Besides having no real sense of the crushing weight of their sin in their “decision for Christ,” no conviction, there is no understanding of the high calling of the believer in Christ. There is no sense of the New Creature that has been planted into the souls of True believers.

Listen to this:

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” ” (1 Peter 1:13-16)

This is what a valid profession of faith should look like: 1) Resting your hope fully upon the unmerited favor of God; 2) Resting as obedient children; 3) Not walking as we did when we were non-Christians in our former lusts; 4) Walking as holy New Creations because He who called us is Holy. Do not miss this last point: “...be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

The idea here is that if in all your conduct you are not walking as “holy New Creations” in Christ, then you cannot profess to be a Christian. (Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 5:17).

It would do the true believer good to keep his or her focus on the high calling of our new natures (New Creations) in Christ. We would fall less and grow more if we devoted our daily devotions less to physical needs and more to our spiritual ones. Take unto one's heart, thinking long and hard, that to be Regenerated, to be born again, is to have a new birth of an incorruptible, not corruptible, seed.

“having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,” (1 Peter 1:23)

Do you see this? Someone born again, has had a spiritual re-birth, is of an incorruptible seed. If he or she lives as though he or she is of a corruptible seed, then a profession of faith in Jesus Christ cannot be made because He is that incorruptible seed.

We have to understand this calling if we are to be Christians and live like we are Christians. We cannot deny in word, thought, or deed that we are of (born again) an incorruptible seed and then not live as though we are. This we must keep in the forefront of our hearts if we are really born again.

We have to “carry ourselves,” in our conduct, as someone from a high and regal calling, heavenly speaking. In the world, we must, we have no other choice, to live as someone who is not “of the world.” As believers, we must live as though, and we are, of another world—heaven. As those distinguished by and in Sovereign Grace, we must—no alternative—live as holy princes and princesses of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

“It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up to it … Let the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believer in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil. ” (C.H. Spurgeon)

“Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” (Spurgeon)

I blogged recently about this woman who called to ask me why God keeps testing her faith when she was sure that He knew that she had already become a woman of “great faith?” I can't get her out of my mind. Just how is it that someone can come to the conclusion that they had arrived at such a state of perfection that they no longer needed to be tested in their faith?

It is indeed a very dangerous thing to reach the conclusion of such a prideful and false notion that you have mastered such an important aspect of the Christian life, is it not? Never is the true believer in a more dangerous position than to be deceived into thinking he or she has mastered anything to do in the Christian life. One can never gloat that he or she has reached the point where there is no longer any need to have trials and tribulations in his or her daily life. The path of anyone's life is not so pristine so as to stop dirtying one’s clothes. To keep one’s hands clean in such a defiling, filth-ridden world, there has to be much watching and praying lest one fall into temptation (Mark 14:38).

At every turn, corner, or juncture in life's road is something just waiting to steal away joy, peace, patience, and contentment. Everything we encounter in life has within it the potential of taking away joy and peace. If we survive trials and sufferings, it is only due to the Sovereign working of God in preserving us that the fruit of the Spirit would be seen in the midst of seeming impossibilities. In this God is glorified.

When the believer stops watching and praying lest he or she fall into temptation is exactly when the fall comes, and great is the fall thereof. Just like a man who walks around with a stick of dynamite in his hand and has to watch lest he venture too close to an open flame so the fuse doesn't ignite, so the Christian can never give up watching and praying lest the fuse of temptation is ignited and the explosion of iniquity occurs.

Everyday affairs in life must be considered as potential land mines for nothing in this life and in this world works to foster any God-glorifying godliness in the life of the Christian. Nothing must be assumed to be safe enough to stop watching and praying lest we fall into temptation. The world system seeks to offer death and destruction to the life of joy and peace.

Instead of false and arrogant protestations of not needing trials and tribulations any longer in your life, there should be supplications directed heavenward desperately seeking God's sustaining Grace through the pain and sufferings of life. You should pray,

“Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” (Spurgeon)

That and that alone should be your prayer when you are tempted to think you have arrived at spiritual perfection of not needing the testing of your faith.

And, having expressed your anxious need for God's help, you must watch diligently and vigilantly taking every word, thought, and deed captive to Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

And when required to venture into a situation where temptation is most intense, never go forth without the Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Deliver Me From Tribulations

Have you ever noticed that during prayer meetings, small groups, or mainline church services, the majority of prayer requests and subsequently offered prayers are those to be delivered from the trial and tribulations of illness, failures in business, martial relationships, kids rebelling, or any other thing which seems to be plaguing the believer and his or her family? Why is that?

What I mean is why do we as Christians, children of God, want the "bad thing" to go away? And just why do we perceive the trial or tribulation brought by the hand of God to be a "bad thing?" But, most importantly, why do we want it to "go away" and for it go away as fast as possible? If the number of prayer requests made at gatherings of God's people for "deliverance" is any indication of how the trials and tribulations in our lives are regarded, then this is a subject worth a moment of consideration.

In November 2009, in our adopted country of Mexico, we began attending a new church. In this assembly of God's people, I was sharing in an informal conversation with a few of the men the issue of my chronic and incurable illness with which I have been afflicted for more than 20 years. I have a disease called Fibromyalgia Syndrome. This is a pain, fatigue, and sleep disorder that more or less tortures me with unrelenting pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances night and day. The symptoms never go away. The meds I take sometimes control the symptoms, but mostly they work very minimally.

As I explained to this small group of men, the illness with which I must contend, God's thorn in the flesh for me (2 Corinthians 12), I could tell that they were entering into a state of horror from the looks on their faces. Then after I finished with the explanation, one of them said something to the effect, "The church will be in prayer for your healing." To which I responded, "This illness teaches me humility and dependence upon God, why should I want to be healed from that?"

Their collective looks of horror that I had been suffering with this illness for more than 20 years turned into looks of abject disbelief. You would have thought that I had just uttered a denial of Christian Historical Orthodoxy itself and uttered heresy. That was my perception of the situation at the time.

In the following weeks and months as I listened carefully to the prayer requests offered by this congregation during the prayer part of the service, almost all the prayer requests, with very few exceptions, were to be healed of an illness for themselves or a loved one. Not once did I hear (nor have ever heard) anyone ask God to use the illness to develop godly character in his or her life. Never once did I hear (or have ever heard) any of the congregation "thank God" (1 Thess 5:18) for bringing the illness into their lives. Not once.

This most certainly makes one ask the question, "Why not?"

In all fairness to this church, I must mention that I have seen this throughout all the churches I have belonged to over the past 40 years. People in general, even professing believers, want quick deliverance from the pain and agony of trials and tribulations. Now, I get this, I really do. If my wife became ill, seriously ill with a life-threatening disease, I would want God to heal her. I could not bear even the thought of losing her to an illness. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and heartache of someone whose child was afflicted.

But, even in something as dire as a life-threatening illness, what should be our attitude? What should the Christian do?

One more point is that during church prayer meetings, how many times have you heard someone get up and ask prayer for a habitual sin in their lives and to ask for prayer to "put to death that deed of the flesh" (Colossians 3:5-10)? How many times? We want instant relief from illness but we don't even mention our struggle with habitual sin as a thing worth requesting prayer.

The Apostle Paul was sick or had an incapacitating injury. We are not told exactly what was wrong. When you read Paul's account of this illness in 2 Corinthians 12: 5-10, you read:

"And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." - verse 7

Paul honestly makes the proclamation that to prevent him from boasting in pride of the richness of revelation God had been giving him through Divine inspiration, God afflicted Paul with a "thorn in the flesh" to prevent any self-aggrandizing or self-exaltation. Paul calls it a messenger of Satan.

"Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me." - verse 8

Now we see that Paul did pray for healing or deliverance of this thorn in the flesh or messenger of Satan. Paul wanted this illness or injury to "depart from me."

"And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." - verse 9

Do not miss the two parts of this verse: Rather than healing Paul, the great Apostle to the gentiles, God said to Paul that "My grace is sufficient for you," and that "My strength is made perfect in weakness." Then Paul says, "I would rather boast in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

You simply do not hear this in church prayer services! You do not hear anyone get up and thank God that they are sick, proclaim God's grace is sufficient for them in this illness given to humble them, and a boasting in their infirmities so that the power of Christ may rest upon them. You just don't hear this.

Then, in verse 10, you hear Paul's conclusion. It is something that makes me wonder if an entire congregation could be made to swoon hearing it uttered in modern day churches:

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - verse 10

Paul's conclusion, his "therefore" signaling to the reader that this is how he sums it up, was that he takes pleasure in infirmities. But he doesn't stop there. He mentions his pleasure in reproaches, needs, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake. And his reason is, "For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Tell me when the last time you heard someone get up in a prayer meeting and say all that?

Paul did pray for healing or deliverance, but when God said "no," Paul settled down into a thankfulness of heart that enabled him to see why God was not, anytime soon, going to relieve him of his infirmities, whatever those were. He came to the Biblical conclusion that "power" is made perfect in weakness. If he needed the power and the strength, to endure the infirmities, then he would take pleasure in the weakness of the illness so that the power of God may be manifest in his weakness.

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I wonder why professing believers do not understand that if they claim to be justified by faith in Christ why they do not glory in their tribulation?

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5: 1-5)

Because of our justification by faith alone in Christ alone, we have peace with God. No matter the circumstance, no matter the trial or tribulation, we have peace with God. Our justification by faith in Christ and the resultant peace with God is bigger than anything life can throw at us.

"Not only that," says Paul, "but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Again I ask, when was the last time you heard someone stand up during a church prayer meeting and glory in his or her tribulation?"

Tribulation, whether a life-threatening illness, losing your job, or whatever, produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; character produces hope.

And yet, we get up in a prayer meeting and ask God's people to take the tribulation from us.