Men will JUST NOT LET GO of the idea that all of our
problems will eventually be solved by slow and steady progress. Think about it.
We are told that blind and random and gradual evolution
brought man to our current pinnacle of intelligence and power, and that one day
all will be solved as we evolve to greater heights… Really?
In all the recorded history of man’s dealings with man, have you seen
any evolution that progressed toward solving our basic problems? Well, maybe on the whole we are taller than
we were years ago, but what progress did that bring to our greatest needs?
We are told that civilization is the key. That eventually when we have built enough
roads and farms and factories and schools, and when science and technology are
king, that will give us the answers we need.
Those savage tribesmen just need progress in societal and industrial
infrastructure and they will be much better off.
Then again, we are told that politics and government can
bring all this to realization. If the
right people are in power in the right form of government, they will gradually
pass laws and make changes in our countries that will allow us to realize the
Great Society. Social ills, poverty and
crime will be destroyed and progress will prevail.
But others tell us, “No, what will really solve our problems
is real progress in education.” If
everyone got a good high school or college education – especially the
underprivileged – then over a period of a few decades, we will gradually
progress to lifting people out of the lifestyle of crime and immorality.”
You can think of several others. Fix the economy and we will be ok. Improve healthcare coverage and we will
elevate our nation and our people. We
hear such stories ad nauseum from
nearly everyone in our world who is able to think and speak to put two
sentences together. But these arguments
come straight from the devil!
Now it is a very shameful
thing that these very arguments are being brought to us by many CHURCHES in the
world today! Many churches of Christ are
infected with it. They have given themselves to solve the world’s problems by
politics, secular education, community building, and healthcare. They are
preaching that what we really need is a little more progress in these
areas, and program by program, that is exactly what they are going to major in.
The plight of the poor and downtrodden should no doubt be a
concern of any child of God. The heart
of our Lord was moved with compassion for the poor and the sick. But he was under no illusion that his
mission was social reform, soup kitchens, hospitals and clinics, economic
development, or secular education.
He saw a deeper need. As he went
on his way, he used what he had to help the needy, but his mission was clear
and sharp and bold. “You sought me, not
because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and fishes, and were
filled.” “Be not anxious about what you
shall eat, or what you shall wear. Seek
first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you.”
In sharp contrast
to the idea of salvation by gradual building, climbing the ladder of progress
to solve our problems, the Bible gives us a different idea about our needed change:
it uses words like repentance, crisis, conversion, taking up our cross,
obedience, sacrifice, forsaking all. None
of these are gradual progressive processes.
They are points of decision, surrender, humility, and change. Suddenly a newness of life. A new creature.
Note that this says something to us about conversion, and it
says something about our redemption. We
need a crisis, a point of decision. In
conversion, we need to come to our knees, to realize our deep need of
salvation, and the great shame of our dishonoring
of the Father.
And wonder of wonders, we have a redemption that is just
suited to bring us to a crisis before God.
Where? Sharply focused on ONE
point in history. A crisis of the Father
and Son, a shaking of the order of all nature, a convulsion of the holy
universe – when THE man, the Son of Man, the Holy God, the creator, the
sustainer of the universe went to the cross!
Slow and gradual progress toward salvation? Forget
it. Look at the cross. Let it shake
your foundation. Die with Him! Be buried with Him! Be raised up with Him!
And when that is done, then never cease to take up your
cross daily; continue in daily walk with him; never cease to “eat his flesh and
drink his blood”. Until you COME to Him
as Lord and Savior and are redeemed by His blood, you cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven.
REDEEMED, HOW I LOVE
TO PROCLAIM IT! REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF
THE LAMB…
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