Pure Religion
by Michelle Stace
We all enjoy fellowshipping with other believers. We enjoy praying
and singing with them. We enjoy the encouragement and love in such gatherings.
And this is wonderful! But I fear a very important element is lacking
to a great degree - serious study and especially APPLICATION of God's
word into our lives. His word is all about change, from the unclean, unholy
thing, to being clean and holy. The true believer is holy, in position,
by Christ's blood. But then it's to be manifested day by day and more and
more in our lives. We are to be "partakers of His holiness," "without which
no man shall see the Lord." We aren't to come to a point of comfort, saying,
that's as far as I want to go. It's a life long process of growing more
like Jesus. How can an unclean thing truly fellowship with our pure, most
Holy Jesus? There is nothing in common. That's why He makes us new
creatures, so that we can become like Him through the cleansing work of
the Spirit.
The apostle Peter says, "as obedient children,
not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your
ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation (behavior); because it is written, Be ye holy: for
I am holy." God's word, His commands, define what is holy. Christ
obeyed this word and we are to imitate Christ. Peter goes on to say,
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit . . . being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever."
The Truth is the Word and this must be taught in the heart by the
Spirit. The reaction of seeing obedience in a person's life often times
has the response of being called a "legalist" by others, either out
of misunderstanding, or as an excuse for themselves. Was our Precious Savior
a legalist, He who is the fulfillment of Divine Love? Legalism is an outward
act done in order to earn salvation, which of course is impossible.
It is also man's way of condemning each other. On the other hand, true obedience
is first an inner, then an outer response to the workings generated by the
Spirit in one's heart. Please understand the difference, otherwise we cannot
be wholly, holy, vessels of love for the One who gives us Life. Obedience
from self effort is self-righteousness. Godly obedience occurs only
as we are freed from the shackles of selfishness and lust. Here is the
freedom of Christ!
The end product of pure religion is not to be
so shallow as just a fun social event for us to enjoy. It is serious
and has a purpose. It is all about sacrificial love - not just
a warm sympathy. It's to be a consuming, life changing, purging fire.
James 1:27 says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world." Here is a religion of action and
service. It's hard work and it's a battle against the flesh. Do we visit
(relieve) the fatherless and widows? (I think it's obvious to include in
this group the ill and housebound, the elderly whose children do not care
for them, and families who are poor and struggling.) Do we support them
with time, help and money? Or do we just give our money to support a building?
These situations require us to roll up our sleeves, deny some of our pleasures
and get involved. It involves suffering with that person. "Being all things
to all men, that I might save some." Here is application!
Think about the life of Jesus. He was where
the needs were. One of the times He visited the church of the day, He
was very upset and angry. He cast out them that sold and bought,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers - Mk. 11:15-17. He called
it a den of thieves. It was to be a house of prayer . . . . and what
has the church become since then? Now apply this thought to yourself,
if you are a believer. Since you are the temple of God, are you
a "house of prayer?" Do you sacrifice time from your duties or coveted
activities to spend in communion with the Creator of the universe who actually
desires to commune with you? Do you sacrifice time in earnest prayer
for others? Our rate of growth in the Christian life is in part determined
by the amount of time spent seeking Jesus is prayer. Here is application.
"And to keep himself unspotted from the world."
This is the other part of pure religion. But what does it mean? Let's
start with I Jn.2:15-16 "Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but
is of the world." According to Scripture the physical world is in the control
of Satan, as opposed to the Spirit of God, and the flesh - our flesh - is
a primary tool of Satan. The works of the flesh are these: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
dissension, emulation, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, reveling, and such like - Gal.:5:19-21. These are the things
which must be rooted out of each of us because "they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven" - Gal.5:21. The sins of our flesh
run far far deeper that we know, and we must constantly be at the feet
of Jesus seeking His cleansing power and Light to shine in our darkness.
The Bible tells us we are pilgrims and strangers. As such we cannot be comfortable
or at home in this world. Yes, we must function in it, but we are not to
be of it.
Keep yourself unspotted from the world by "Proving
all things, holding fast that which is good. Abstaining from all appearance
of evil . . . fleeing from evil" II Thess.5:21,22; I Pet.3:11. We
"prove" or test things in the light of scripture. A casual look at scripture
is not near enough. If there is not a specific "do" or "don't",
there will be a principle to glean from and apply. Once something is determined
to be wrong, we are to stay away from it. Besides the things that are clearly
wrong (such as the obvious
listed above from Galations ), there are other things
that have been so assimilated
into our culture that we can't see them or understand why they wrong. We
are each accountable to walk in the light God has given us and not just
go with the flow with no thought at all, or just because my friends do it,
or even because the church does it. Never use other people or things as
a comparison or a way to justify your actions without seeing for yourself
what scripture says. Pray for God's wisdom to see. As you are reading scripture,
think how it might pertain to you now. Bring God into every detail of your
life. Ask yourself questions. Pick a topic and study it through. Then pick
another and another. Use the Bible as your guide, not man-made study notes.
Let the Spirit open your mind to the things of God and He will give you a
willingness and the ability to obey and apply what you have learned into
your life. Then it will
be done in God's strength - not human effort - so He receives all
the glory. It is for our best well being that God wants us to do this.
Some may think God wants to take away all our fun, but that
is so untrue. He does want to teach us that He is to be our ALL in ALL.
He is enough - more than enough! He is our fulfillment. And there are times
when we've given over something to Him that really wasn't wrong in itself,
that He will later give it back to us because now He knows we can have
this thing or take part in this activity without being controlled by it.
The "thing" is no longer our objective or all important, but rather pleasing
God is and we hold everything with an open hand for Him to give and take
as He pleases. Here again is application.
Look
now at the first chapter of II Peter. He says we have been given the things
that pertain to life and godliness (holiness). He says we have been called
to glory and virtue. He says we are partakers of the divine nature and have
escaped worldly corruption and lust. This is certainly not the life of one
foot in both camps. He exhorts us to virtue, knowledge, temperance (self-control),
patience (cheerful endurance), godliness, brotherly kindness
and charity. So then we will be neither barren nor unfruitful in Christ.
It's not God's intent that our walk with Him be
aimless and haphazard. We need to have a "life plan" as it were. But how
many of us have deliberately sat down and set out goals for our Christian
walk and then followed through with them. Most have a vague objective of
ultimately getting to heaven and in the meantime doing a little here and
a little there to "serve" God. And yet how much more thought do we put
into planning our daily schedules, our vacations, our expenses, etc. How
sad! Yes, the cares of life must be attended to, but a deepening relationship
with God should be our number one priority and we only hurt ourselves and
grieve God when we neglect Him. If we could only grasp how much we are
missing out on by continuing in our blind, willfulness, rather than living
out His word as Jesus did.