Sensitivity to the "sought."

Ok  - behind this is the belief - based on scripture - that no one seeks after God.  I won't list all the texts that make that clear, the argument has be faithfully and fully made by many many Christian writers.

But I will state that what is missing in many ministries and churches is a sensitivity to the "sought."  We see in Jesus a clear example of how we are to see and deal with the unbeliever.

Mark 6:34 ESV
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Matthew 9:36-38 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

They, those to be harvested, are out there and if we are to believe our Lord they are ripe for the harvest.  We are to go and labor in the field to bring in what God has prepared.  

But one does not harvest different produce in the same way.  You harvest wheat one way and tomatoes in another.  One does not harvest everything in the same way.  If you attempt to you can damage the crop.

I believe there is a lack of sensitivity on the part of many believers to the condition of those they would seek to reach.  We have tried the canned methods and have found them lacking.  What we haven't tried to any great extent is taking them as they are where they are and "harvesting" then in the appropriate manner.  We have failed to pray for the sensitivity we need for the harassed and helpless.

What a wonderful picture of the ripe fruit mixed with harassed and helpless sheep.  

No, we don't not water-down the gospel.  We do not dance around the issue of sin and hell.  But we do not use it as a club to beat them into the kingdom either.  

"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling."  There's a hint at how we are to go about the work of the harvest.  Think of tender grapes being carefully cut from the vine and gently places in the basket.  Think too of acorns which are harvested by beating the limbs of the tree (not the acorns) to get the ready ones to fall to the ground for harvest.  Different fruit, different harvesting methods.

My main point is that we need to be sensitive to the ripe ones and the not yet ripe ones as well.  

This leads me back to the sheep thing.  Sheep can be spooked so easily and when they are spooked they can easily injure themselves - severely.   We often do more harm than good in how we deal with these harassed and helpless ones.  This is not acceptable.

How much good does the pro-life protest do when it vilifies the patient and the provider?  Sinners?  They most certainly are.  Condemned?  Who outside of Christ is not?  But objects of cruelty they must never be and yet some think they are doing God's work when they shout epithets and vilification at these men and women.

Yes, I know, there are lots of goats out there with the sheep but can you really tell the difference?  Can we in good conscience treat every unbeliever like a goat.  Would we not honor Jesus and do better if we treated everyone as harassed and helpless?  Would we not do better to call them (for Him) softly and tenderly?

We can not change the gospel, leaving out or softening the hard parts.  To do this is to cheapen the gospel and cheat the hearer.  But the hard parts of the gospel do not have to be communicated in a hard way.  They are hard enough without our adding our own perverse passion to them.

I believe the following verse can not be limited to converse between just believers but applies to how we speak the good news of redemption to everyone:

  Ephesians 4:15 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

We grow into Him, Christ, when we speak the truth in love whether we are speaking to a brother or sister or to a goat.  But helpless and harassed sheep especially must hear the good news softly and tenderly.  Anyway else would cause them to stumble and we all know what that brings us.

OK - so the idea above is not well developed - hope to do better with it as I pray and think on it.  But I am convinced that we must be sensitive to those we seek in His name.  It may mean we spend years in harvesting one grape but it is His grape and needs to be harvested rightly.

Yeah - grapes - sheep - mixing a lot here but Jesus saw the connection - I pray you do as well. 

Just a note - He taught these helpless and harassed sheep "many things."  what "many things" should we be teaching?

Later

M

Examine yourselves!!

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. (2Co 13:5-6)

Examine:  peirázō = to ascertain the character of some hing, someone 

In the faith:  a true believer

Test:  dokimásō = to prove a thing worthy

Fail the test:  adókimos = prove to be spurious; unapproved

As I pray and study the Word and read the works of our Puritan fore-fathers I grow more and more convinced that somewhere along the way we have so cheapened and minimized the "Way" (Acts 19:9) that the designation "christian" is for all intents and purposes, meaningless.  

The term "christian" was originally used as a pejorative term intended to vilify followers of the Christ.  Today it most aptly commonly describes those whom can only be called false believers or hypocrites.  When someone asks you if you are a "christian" ask them what they mean by "christian."  My experience has been that what they describe bears little resemblance to the "Way" as it is taught by the Word of God.

What passes for common christianity today is but a sorrowful caricature of the true faith.  

Through what I see as the cultural compromise of the faith we have fallen into the condition of Israel at the end of the book of Judges.

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  (Jdg 21:25)

Though it is still proclaimed as true, in almost every practical sense Christ is not held as King and everyone does what it right in their own eyes.  We have moved further into a faith that has no crosses in it.  We have moved deeper into a cheapening of grace and a rejection of God's sovereignty.

What passes for the "Way" is not the "Way" we find in the Word.  Indeed in our making Jesus our own, we have made a Jesus of our own.  In even supposing and implying that we "make Him Lord and/or Savior" we have, at the very first, denied God's sovereignty in the redemption.

To "accept" Jesus as Lord and/or Savior has come to mean that we "allow" Him to save us.  We do Him a kindness by accepting His death so He'll feel good about Himself.  It no longer means that we fall to His feet in utter recognition of our sin and our need for His salvation and His absolute right to condemn us.  No, we do Him a good turn by joining His team - by telling Him He, "did really good," so we'll let Him save us.

Let me put it plain and main - If you do not recognize the utter hopelessness of your sinful state before God and your deserving or His righteous condemnation - then regardless of what you "say" about Jesus, you are none of His.  Unless your heart has been broken by your sin and His taking it upon Himself on the cross, you are none of His.  Unless you have acknowledged that He has every sovereign right over all of your life - that he is indeed King of Kings and Lord of Lords - and you kneel before Him in surrender of your self to His authority, you are none of His.  Unless, by His gracious providence, the Holy Spirit has convicted you of the worthlessness of your every effort in redemption and sanctification apart from the provision of God and His power - you are none of His.

Unless, in relation to Him, you hate everything and everyone, you are none of a His.  Unless you live in Him, by Him, under Him and for Him - you are none of His.

Do you pray much, study the word much, examine yourself much, give much?  Then you may well be none of His.  Are you raising your children in the Lord?  if not you may be none of His.

Is your walk with God the absolute priority in your life?  If not you may be none of His.

I will say this - and I do so because have been convicted and I am convinced by the Word of God, that unless you are humbly, depending upon His promises and power, seeking to obey Him in all the duties and obligations appropriate to a citizen of His Kingdom you may well be none of His.

If you are not healthily obsessed with His glory and honor, you may well be none of His.

His Word and His Spirit must be working in His to enable them to serve Him with all their minds, hearts and strength - and we must know that our minds, heart and strength, apart from His providence and power, are never enough.  

Where is the zeal for Him and His Kingdom?  Where is the single focused commitment to be conformed to His likeness?  Where is the crushing conviction of our sinfulness and His graciousness?  

Where is that cry, "Not I but Christ!"

I do not have any pleasure is writing this for it is indeed as much about me as it is anyone else.  But it is about all of us who would claim He is our Lord - utterly.  It is not about your goodness but His.  It is not about our righteousness but His.  It is not about us but Him.

Are you a tare of a stalk of wheat?  Are you a sheep or a goat?  Are you His or are you still your own?

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 

(2Co 13:5-6)