Called… To The Cross

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after widom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 1 Cor. 1:22-24

Someone asked me why so many people who profess to follow Christ end up in clearly unbiblical churches. Quite specifically, he asked, “Why doesn’t God reveal to them the gospel which the Apostle Paul preached, the gospel of the cross? How come so few believers seem to understand this gospel of the cross?”

I had also struggled with this same question, but at the exact time that the brother asked it of me, God gave me the answer. Actually, I realized the answer had been lying in open sight right in front of both our eyes all along; yet we had never been able to see it.

At that very moment, I answered the brother, “The Bible says that God reveals the understanding of the cross to those He calls. That’s what it says right there: ‘But unto them which are called…‘”

In every generation, the people whom God has called to Him have learned to deny themselves, to take up their cross, and follow Christ. That was exactly the command that Christ gave to those whom God would call.

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mat. 16:24)

These believers were not taught in Bible class to deny themselves. They did not have even have beautifully designed blogs like this one that talked about the cross. On the contrary, the ‘education’ of the cross came to them naturally, by the power of the Holy Spirit in them. They were taught by the Holy Spirit. They learned through God to live the crucified life.

As I said, this grace is there in every generation. Even today, God is calling men and women to Him, and when He calls them to Himself, the Holy Spirit teaches them to deny themselves. (Even in the lowest of periods, God has always had a remnant – 1 Ki. 19:18). And so we must question whether a ‘church’ that is running merely after miracles, signs and wonders – a church that would want to make this ministry the bona fide calling of God – is truly of God.

It is very telling that in all the apostolic epistles nowhere does the Bible mention miracles, signs and wonders; certainly not to the extent that the church today would want to trumpet these things. Rather, the New Testament emphasis is on the cross. Little wonder, then, that Paul could boldly state:

“22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after widom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified…”

Paul could simply have said, “We preach Christ crucified…” without dragging in the beliefs of the Jews and the Gentiles. But Paul was no PC idealist. On the contrary, he wanted to make it clear to the church that the only gospel that had any impact on the spiritual lives of believers was the gospel of the cross, the gospel that would teach believers to follow Christ in denying themselves through taking up their cross. Any other gospel – including the gospel of signs and wonders – has zero impact on the spiritual lives of believers.

Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul says:

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Cor. 1:17)

The subject of Paul’s statement here is the cross of Christ, or, rather, the power that was in the cross of Christ. He says he preached to the end that the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Again, any other gospel has nothing to offer to the man or woman who would be spiritual.

Now, in this materialistic generation, where people are going to church to “receive” and to be “blessed” in Jesus’ Name, the cross cannot but be set aside in favour of the gospels of signs and wonders. At the other end of the spectrum are those who love to have their grey cells tickled. For these the doctrine of human wisdom takes precedence.

We need to become un-politically correct and ask this modern-day church: Is it too hard a thing for we believers to agree with the Bible? Is it really just too hard to side with Jesus’s command? Or with what the Apostle Paul and all the other apostles taught?

And now, to end…

[The church is not a place for miracles. It is a place for the church to mature and be perfected]

The Eminence Of The Cross – Part 1

38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Mat. 12:38-40

Our lives are bound up with God to the extent that we live the crucified life. That was what Jesus was telling these Jews here. They – just like many believers today – believed the Kingdom of God consisted of signs and wonders. But Jesus here set the record straight: when it comes to the Kingdom of God, the only true sign that would be given this generation was the suffering, death and resurrection of our souls.

Actually, Jesus reprimanded the Jews for seeking after a sign. He said that seeking after a sign is the mark of “an evil and adulterous generation”.

That’s quite telling. That’s talking of people who are not interested in seeking after the holiness of God. Rather, they are using God (religion) to seek after their own gain. Material, financial and physical gain, to be exact. But Jesus said,

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”.

Even seeking after bodily healing of itself is a form of selfishness. Seeking after your own healing first (you will know you are doing this in your heart of hearts) is a form of idol worship. Today, there are so many believers who worship their bodies. But we are to seek for God’s Kingdom first to be established in our hearts.

I believe it grieves God’s heart the way many believers today throng to these miracle-working churches. All they are seeking after is a sign, a miracle, a healing, or an awe-inspiring wonder. According to scripture, these are “an evil and adulterous generation”.

In fact, let’s up the ante. Or, rather, let us see how the Bible judges today’s generation of miracle-seekers. Yes, God judges all miracle-seekers, as we shall see. Firstly, the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 1:22-24 declares something which is very contrary to popular charismatic belief:

“22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified… 24 Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

In his day, Paul’s generation was demanding a sign. Today’s generation loves preaching Christ; but not “Christ crucified”. Today, the gospel is all about being blessed – materially, financially and physically. They preach another Jesus. The cross is out. And so is God’s wisdom and power.

But the real killer is 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. Here scripture says:

“9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

What, pray, is the “truth” the Bible is talking of here?

The truth is Jesus. He Himself declared,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (Jn. 14:6)

And, who, pray is the Bible talking of here? Is the Bible addressing pagan sinners? By no means. The world is already deceived. Satan’s work is to deceive those who have been called to the truth. Here, therefore, the Bible is talking of God’s people who refused to love the truth (Jesus), but had pleasure in a lie.

There is no shortage of believers today who are so deceived even the drunkard in the bar can see what is going on, for it is happening in broad daylight. In Africa, congregations of the deceived are so vast that some ‘churches’ use football fields to hold their services. So many people running to receive a lie! There is so much damnable folly and unrighteousness going on in these charismatic churches today. Just to mention a few: People are persuaded to eat grass and snakes in church. Apparently, this is done under a form of hypnotism for no one in their right minds would do such a thing. Many other things are done to God’s people in these churches under this particular form of hypnotism.

Merchandise, purportedly from the holy land, is sold in churches: flags, oil, sand, water, etc. Women are raped in church under the guise of being healed and receiving other ‘blessings’. And preachers live the high life at the expense of fooled believers. The list is inexhaustible. There is a church whose members worship naked. They read the Bible and they discovered that Adam was naked (although Adam was not naked; he was covered with the glory of God). Then there are the mainstream established churches, who have taken centuries to establish each their own particular form of lie.

The common factor amongst all these groupings is that they have refused to affirm the singular Truth that was preached by the Apostles: Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. They have cast aside the cross of Jesus Christ. They have cast aside the singular thing that connects them with the living God.

So what is that scripture we just read in 2 Thessalonians saying? It is warning us. It is stating that you cannot fool God. God can see when His people have no love for the truth, and he is not happy about it at all. God saw through the mask of people’s worldly desires and He realized people did not really love His Son, Jesus (the Truth). All they wanted were the miracles. The Bible here says that, for this reason, God let loose a spirit of “strong delusion”. A spirit of signs and wonders. They had refused to believe in the singular gospel of the cross, so God let loose Satan (in a spirit of “deceivableness”) upon them. This spirit is at work in the church today and, as we just saw, it is not working in parables. It is plainly see-able.

But it is the cross and what it does in our lives that will usher us into the presence of God. We saw in our last post that Jesus has received the ultimate reward from God the Father: He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And the Bible makes clear that Jesus did not receive this honor on account of the miracles that He performed when He was here on earth. Rather, it was on account of the cross that He allowed to work in His life.

Many believers, as we just saw, make a big fuss out of miracles and signs and wonders. But when we get to heaven, these (whether we worked or whether we received them) will be of very little consequence to our final accounting with God. What will determine how God receives us in heaven will be how we denied ourselves by partaking of the sufferings and death of Christ when we were here on earth.

This was what Jesus was trying to tell the scribes and Pharisees here.

[Our reward is to live forever with Jesus after we have taken up our cross]

Interlude: The Last Days… (Part 1)

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. Amos 8:11-12

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified… 1 Cor. 1:22-23

“SURELY, THESE ARE THE DAYS OF HIS DREADFUL SERVANT”.

Really?! Unless you are talking of the dreadlocks.

The truth is that these are the days of the fulfillment of Amos’s prophecy in Amos 8:11-12 This prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes. Imagine all these millions of people waiting… for nothing. Even if the fire had come (no sign of it in the video) still it wouldn’t change them, for God is no longer in the signs and wonders, but in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the revelation of the cross, working mightily in us.

The church in these last days would do well to stay put and pray for the revelation that the Apostle Paul had.

These are the days when an astonishing number of false prophets shall rise up to deceive the elect. But these are also the days of the truth of God’s Word.

Take Up Your Cross And Follow Christ

9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19:9-13

This scripture says that as the Lord passed by the prophet Elijah, three powerful forces attended the Lord’s passage – a powerful wind, an earthquake, and a fire. But the Lord was not in any one of these things!

These ‘powers’ were with God all right, but God was not in them. That’s what the Bible says right there. The wind “rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD” – but God was not in it. The earthquake and the fire must have brought on an even greater manifestation of the power of God but – wonders! – God was not in them.

It is clear that God did not reveal Himself in the fireworks, nor in the drama.

God was in the last one… “a still small voice”. No ‘power’ there.  No drama. Just “a still small voice” – and here God spoke.

Talking of voices, let us see what the New Testament has to say. In Hebrews 1:1-2 we read, “1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…”

And at the Transfiguration we read, “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Mat. 17:5)

“Hear ye Jesus!” And Jesus said clearly, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mat. 16:24). In other words, if we want to be like Jesus; if we want to carry the character of Christ in us, we must arrive at an understanding of what the cross needs to do in our lives.

Let us consider another scripture: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Cor. 5:19

Mark that, “God was in Christ”! God is involved in all (or at least much) of the drama we find in church, but God is in His Son. Simple and clear. In other words, God is in the character of His Son! Simply, a change – a transformation – is required in us. The drama might be needful for other purposes, but the heart, or the core of God’s purpose in us is for us to be transformed to become like His Son Jesus Christ.

But humankind has a problem. In 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 we read: “22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

You notice that there are 3 classes of people clearly delineated here: those who require signs and wonders, those who seek after wisdom, and lastly, “them which are called”, those who take up their cross and follow Christ.

As far as the Bible is concerned, there are only two natural groups of people in the world: Jews and Gentiles. This third group, therefore – “them which are called” – is not a part of either of the two natural groups; it is a spiritual group. That means that those who have been called into the New Covenant with Christ are not in the miracle- or wisdom-seeking groups. They seek after only one thing: to crucify the flesh and to be transformed so they may walk in the perfect will of God.

And this is the group, apparently, that God is interested in.

There are many things happening in church today, and God is not in any of them. They could be of God all right (some clearly are not), but even with those that are of God, still God is not in them. That might sound contradictory, but actually it is not, in the light of Elijah’s experience in i Kings 19. Now, signs and wonders are not a bad thing, nor is seeking after wisdom. But God is not in them. They are not sin, but they are of no value in combating sin.

In recent years, wave after wave of ‘the power of God’ has been manifested within the Body of Christ, but the spiritual condition of the church has only gotten worse. The levels of sin and confusion are mounting to the extent where certain sins, like divorce have been ‘legalized’ in a large portion of the church.

Recently, I heard of a church where believers were made to eat grass like goats! Now that is total confusion.

The Bible tells us where the real power and wisdom of God is: it is when we are denying self, and taking up our cross. If one is not taking up their cross and following Christ, they are very weak Christians, no matter that they may be working miracles!

The Apostle Paul walked in this revelation and that was why he said, “…for when I am weak, then am I strong” (1 Cor. 12:10). This was a man who worked miracles, but he was not talking about miracles here!

God was in Christ, Christ crucified. God is everywhere; but “seriously speaking” God is in the revelation of that cross alone! This was the reason Paul would preach no other gospel other than Christ Jesus and Him crucified. He understood the power of the cross in transforming people and bringing the character of Christ into their lives!

Today you hear much talk about many things in the church, but God is not interested in any of those things. God is interested in one thing. He is interested in a spiritual church.

[Below: The ultra-modern Sam Nujoma highway in Dar es Salaam]