FOUNDATION TRUTHS

FOUNDATION TRUTHS


"Ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10.

T. Austin-Sparks

PAUL'S first letter to the Thessalonians has been divided into five short chapters which can all be read in about ten minutes. Certain things emerge even as we are reading. The first is that this was written to comparatively new converts so that we can learn something about how they started and had been progressing so far. It is a message about the beginnings of the Christian life. Then we are impressed by the exemplary character of these young Christians. The apostle had no fault to find with them, but everything to commend. He wrote that he gave thanks to God always for them all; and he went on to say that they had become an example to all that believed. Best of all we can find here some definition of the gospel which produced such Christians. Paul called it "our gospel" and recalled that it came to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the last two verses of the first chapter he made a few concise statements which represent an epitome of this gospel. It needed a master hand to gather such majestic truth into the compass of four simple clauses, but here they are:

1. "Ye turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God"

That is the first stage of the Christian life. It might be argued that these had been pagans in a pagan world with its system of idol worship, so the comparison cannot fairly be made between them and people of our own 'Christian' society. My answer is that it is quite right in principle and in fact to class all unsaved people together. The principle is that the idea behind the word 'serve' is that of worship, which is really 'worth-ship'. These people had devoted themselves to other objects than God, and wrongly imagined that these were the things of real worth. What belongs to God and is not given to Him but to some other object is really idolatry. And what all men do, in many forms and in different ways is to give their lives in service to false gods.

So the first stage of a true Christian life is this -- the realisation and recognition that God is worth your giving everything to Him. He is worthy to have the worth-ship of your life, to have all that you have and are laid at His feet. So when Paul and his companions (for he wrote in the plural) came to this people, he set forth in the first place the worthiness of God to have all their lives, and to have them altogether. As he spoke of the living and true God the Holy Spirit made them realise how different they had been and how unworthy had been the course hitherto. We can only see the worthiness of God in Christ, and it is to Him that the Spirit testifies:

'Marvel not that Christ is glory

All my inmost heart has won.'

That is where it all begins. Anything less than that, anything other than that as a beginning will find us out sooner or later. He is One who, by reason of His self-manifestation and of the great work He has done for our redemption, is worthy to have everything that we count worthwhile in life.

As we go on in the Christian life, it is upon that very thing -- our foundational beginnings -- that we are tested again and again. It comes up repeatedly -- Is Jesus Christ worthy of this? Is God worthy of this? Is this something which is too valuable to give up to Him or for Him? What place does He have in comparison with this? And if at the beginning there is any faultiness or weakness about that, we shall find ourselves sooner or later held up until we have got through on the sheer and direct question of whether He is worthy.

These Thessalonians made such a good start, and then went on to become such exemplary Christians because they settled it very thoroughly in their hearts at the beginning that there was nothing in the world worth receiving their worship compared with Him. It indicates the deep and large place which they gave to the Lord Jesus from the very start. All along the way we have to face this test -- 'is the Lord worthy of this? Is He big enough even for this?' So it comes back to the simple question -- which often is not so simple -- as to whether He has [13/14] captured and captivated our hearts and been given first place there. You can go bounding on in your Christian life if this is settled. You will make little or no progress if you have questions and controversies in this connection. If we harbour reserves, if we want our own way, if we want to serve our personal interests, then we do not go on but are held up.

These Christians made swift progress because there was no division of heart between them and the Lord about anything. Through the Scriptures the Lord brings us the challenge as to whether this is foundational in our walk with Him. After all the Lord is not satisfied for us just to have head knowledge about Himself and His truth. He does not accept our informed minds, even though they hold orthodox views as to His cross, His church and whatever. The Lord looks right down into our hearts to enquire what place is given there to Him. He is less concerned about the spiritual information which we hold in our minds and much more desirous of being given the full worship of our hearts. From the first moment the Thessalonians determined to worship God. That matter was fully settled, and so it was possible for Paul to thank God always for them. He saw that they had no personal interests and no wishes of their own. They were devoted to the Lord without reserve and were right out for Him. Such people always provoke praise to God.

"A living and true God." That is why He is worthy of worship. If we give our lives and pour them out in any other direction than for God, we are pouring treasure into the sand. There is going to be no return. That will be an end in itself, and will produce a death from which there is no return. God, however, is living and true. Everything else will prove false and empty. If there is one thing about Christian life it is the absolute reality of God. For our flesh it is not always quite pleasant to face that reality, but it is at least reality. Far better to come up against God as reality even in a painful way, than not to know who God is and where. Far better to have a living God who checks you up, if necessary who chastens you, than to have a god who is no God at all.

2. "... to wait for his Son from heaven ..."

Jonathan Edwards Sermon - God Glorified in Man's Dependence

Charles Spurgeon Sermons - Wrath to God's Glory

The Greatness and Glory of God's Name

By T. Austin-Sparks

      There are certain truths and concepts which dominate the whole Bible, and which are gathered into a single word. They are like a bunch of keys which, if you possess them, unlock the entire revelation of the mind of God. The most inclusive of these is the word 'Name' as relating to God. You have only to look at the pages of a concordance where the word occurs and you will feel overwhelmed by the number of occurrences in every book. And not just the number of occurrences, but the immense associations and connections of the Name. I wonder how many books would be needed to write something on all these statements about the Name! Here is indeed a theme that would keep preachers going for years! It is not only the titles of the Lord; that is wonderful enough; but it is what is meant by the Name of the Lord. We can do no more than approach it; never exhaust it.

      WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE LORD?

      1. The Name of the Lord is the full content of His character. It is what He is by nature and constitution.

      This has always been an idea in naming. Sometimes it is prophetic. The Lord led to the giving of a name because the named would be what the name meant or implied. The Bible has much on that line, both as to people and places. Sometimes He changed names with the implication of a changed nature. Without giving a specific designation, such as Jehovah, El Shaddai, etc., on numerous occasions it is just: "the name of the Lord", "My name", "My great name", "My holy name", and so on, meaning just what and who God is.

      Allied to this concept God is shown to be exceedingly jealous for His Name. Indeed, the great things which God is on record as having done for or against those concerned are said to have been acts of jealousy for His Name. The effectual ground of appeal to God for intervention and help has been that of His Name, His very character. God MUST be true to His character. To 'take the Name of the Lord in vain' is to use it out of harmony with His character. God has a reputation and He cannot allow that reputation to be injured. He called a people out of the nations for His Name, which meant showing forth what God is like. When that people, in character and conduct, violated the principle of the Name, He flung them from Him and no more called them "My people".

      This was the one and sole burden of the Prophets. They were raised up and anointed for the sole purpose of dealing with what was contrary to the Name - the character of God. The Name of the Lord is a solemn and glorious trust, a trust to be guarded and honoured. But we must remember that it is not only the TITLE of a Person, but the very character of the Person, which is to be guarded as a most sacred deposit or entrustment!

      This is the clue to Jesus Christ. Note His jealousy over His Father's Name! Note how that affected His own walk in this world. He came in and for His Father's Name, reputation, honour, glory and rights. His life and His work had His Father's vindication as all-governing. God has taken two thousand years to answer the discrediting of His Name as embodied in His Son. Israel has been, and is, God's terrible example of God's jealousy over this fact: that Jesus Christ bore, lived, died and wrought for the Name of God. He was a revelation of what God is like and THEY SLEW HIM! This is a clue to Christianity. Christians are said to be "baptized into His Name", and to have His Name called upon them. (Matthew 28:19 James 2:7). Hence, God is jealous over those who TRULY bear His Name. To touch them is to touch Him!

      But this is a trust and it should be an incentive to life and conduct worthy of Him. It should be the motive in our attitude toward ANY situation which involves His honour. A proof of this principle of the Christian life is that ANY TRUE Christian cannot hurt the Lord's Name and character without the Holy Spirit giving a sense of grief. 

GLORY OF THE TRINITY

By A.W. Tozer


The more I read my Bible, the more I believe in the triune God! With the prophet Isaiah, I am stirred by the vision of the heavenly creatures, the seraphim around the throne of God, engrossed in their worship and praise. I have often wondered why the rabbis and saints and hymnists of the olden times did not come to the knowledge of the Trinity just from the seraphims' chorus: "Holy! Holy! Holy!" 

I am a trinitarian-I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, begotten of Him before all ages. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified. Isaiah was an astonished man. He could only manage this witness: "Mine eyes have seen the King!,, Only the King of glory can reveal Himself to the willing spirit of a man, so that an Isaiah or any other man or woman, can say with humility but with assurance, "I know Him!"

PATIENT TEACHER AND SLOW DISCIPLES (1)

PATIENT TEACHER AND SLOW DISCIPLES (1)
Bill Thompson

"Jesus saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they say unto him, Seven. And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand? " (Mark 8:17-21)

IN these remarkable verses we have nine consecutive questions which the Lord fired at His discomfitted disciples. Now the Lord was perfect in His patience; He could, when necessary, be angry, but He was never irritable or impatient with any man. Yet on this occasion He challenged His disciples in very strong terms, putting to them a series of questions which revealed their total lack of understanding. What does it all mean to us?

To appreciate the whole incident we need to go back to what is said about His walking on the water and calming the storm, for the comment on their unbelief on that occasion is: "they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened" (Mark 6:52). It appears, therefore, that the hardening of heart of which the Lord complained, was connected with the feeding of the multitudes.

The miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves to feed five thousand men seems to have a central place in the Gospels. It took place at Passover time, right in the middle of Christ's years of ministry. It is the only miracle described by all four Evangelists and John, who rarely repeated what is related in the Synoptic Gospels, actually places it as the central of the seven sign-miracles of which he writes. Furthermore this was the central of the only three miracles which dealt with nature; the other two being the changing of water into wine and the withering of the fig tree. This miracle was done entirely at the Lord's initiative. No one asked Him to feed the multitude, and no one exercised any faith in the matter. In the case of healings there was always the voiced or unspoken appeal, and there was a ground of faith in the ones concerned which co-operated with Christ's power; but in the cases of the five thousand and the four thousand, nobody asked Him to act. Indeed it was the other way round, for it was He who told the disciples to undertake the task of feeding the hungry: "Give ye them to eat".

To them this command seemed quite absurd. They appear here as only having five small barley loaves and two fishes, but in actual fact they had nothing at all, since the later Gospel of John discloses that it was a lad who supplied this small contribution. "Give ye ...". How could they? And yet, in the end, they did! For while it was the hands of the Lord Jesus which broke the bread, and His divine power which multiplied it, yet the groups of hungry people were actually ministered to by the Twelve, who received the supplies from their Lord and then carried them to the people. A major challenge to all of us who desire to be servants of God is how to obtain real spiritual 'bread' which can give life and strength to those to whom we minister. Nothing else will do. This is the Lord's command to us also: "Give ye them to eat". It is humanly impossible, and yet He says that this is what we must do. What seems to have appalled the Lord Jesus is that, having participated in this miracle and then had it confirmed by repetition in the feeding of [48/49] the four thousand, the disciples gave no evidence at all of having profited spiritually. Somehow their hearts were hardened. This was so amazing since, as Jesus reminded them, they themselves had profited so much from the miracles, collecting their share of the food on both occasions. The Lord forced them to confess this, that at the first they had each collected a personal basket of what remained and on the second occasion there had been seven large baskets, or hampers, over. Even so, they seem completely to have failed to grasp what He sought to teach them.

Now before we come to the vital spiritual implication of these miracles, it may be profitable for us to consider the practical lessons which are to be learned from the very detailed account which is given us. There are those who are so overwhelmed by the spiritual, or mystical, lessons to be learned, that they are in danger of ignoring the practical points. For my part, I am greatly impressed by the balance of spiritual and practical teachings in the Bible. Even concerning these the Lord may have to challenge us as to whether we have become stale or insensitive to truths which are very familiar to us. "Have ye your hearts hardened?" He may say to us too, "Do you not yet understand?" I suggest, therefore, that before we concentrate on the purely spiritual, we should consider some of the practical lessons which our patient Teacher urges us to learn,

OUR HIGHEST SERVICE

OUR HIGHEST SERVICE
J. Alec Motyer

Reading: Psalm 103

OF all spiritual activities, the one which most honours God is that of blessing Him. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." More is involved in that than just thanksgiving. To bless the Lord is certainly to speak His praise with words, but it is also to take up an attitude toward Him. The word translated 'bless' is somehow related to a word denoted 'to kneel', so that the person who blesses the Lord is doing more than open his mouth, he is bowing his knees to God. Blessing God gives Him the honour due to Him because the lips are opened to praise Him and the knees are bent to worship and adore Him.

When Elijah went up Carmel to give God the praise for the great victory of the fire, the king could go off to feast but the prophet only wished to worship. We do not read of any words which he spoke, but we are told that he put his face between his knees. That is more than some of us are able to do, for one reason or another, but he did it. Those who are still young and supple should try it. They should sit down on their heels and put their head between their knees, and they will then appreciate just how low before God Elijah came. It was not just that he wished to say: 'Thank You, Lord', but he wanted in the deepest sense to bless the Lord. There is nothing that gives God the honour that is due to Him more than that we should bless the Lord. This is more than just thanksgiving; it also contains that all too rare activity, the adoring of God, the appreciation of His true greatness, the worshipping of Him not only for what He has done but for what He is.

When we read: "forgiveth ... healeth ... redeemeth ... crowneth ..." we should know that as all these verbs are participles, they point to something which is characteristic of His person, showing that these are not merely things which from time to time He does, but they are permanent features of His nature. He forgives because He is a Forgiver; He heals because He is a Healer; He redeems because He is the great Redeemer. Blessing the Lord dwells on the person of the Lord Himself in all the fullness of His character as it has been revealed to us. There is nothing in the spiritual life that more honours God and there is nothing that is more beneficial to man.

Look what is involved in this activity: it is 'my soul'. This blessing is something which comes out from the very heart of the believer. It is not a superficial matter, something on the outside, but that which expresses the fullness of one's whole being. "And all that is within me ..." implies what we often call wholeheartedness. The believer brings all that is within him into contact with the holiness of God. This is surely the way of sanctification. There is nothing more beneficial to us, and yet there is nothing that we more rarely do. Why we seldom extend ourselves in real thanksgiving, let alone in this far greater exercise of blessing the Lord and adoring Him for what He is.

The Soul which Knows the Blessing of God is the Soul which Blesses God.

This heart worship of God Himself arises out of a personal experience of His blessing. If God blesses us, then we can bless Him in return, not in the sense of bestowing on Him something which He did not possess before, but of appreciating His great mercies. "... and forget not all his benefits." If the benefits and blessings which God has given us have passed out of our memories and we no longer meditate on the goodness of God, we will have no cause to bless Him. Forgetfulness of the goodness of God deprives us of such opportunities. "For he that [42/43] lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sin" (2 Peter 1:9).

Let us remember again these blessings: forgiveness, healing, redeeming, crowning! I often think that we value God's material blessings higher than these spiritual ones. You read, say, the story of George Muller and find that in answer to prayer God bestowed on him millions of pounds. You say: 'How, wonderful! What a marvellous God He is! Fancy, millions of pounds!' And it is as though you had suddenly awakened to the dimensions of God. What a great God He is! Fancy, millions of pounds! But to God it was nothing to give millions of pounds compared with what it was to give us His Son. It is the spiritual blessings which He gives us in Christ which are the real index of His greatness. Consequently when, in his exalted moment, David wishes to bless the Lord, he does so in the light of God's spiritual mercies. In his case God had granted him marvellous material benefits. He had raised him from the pastures to the palace: He had delivered him from enemies on every side: He had made him a wealthy ruler; but there was one thing above all others which called for blessing, and that was the fact that all his sins had been forgiven.

God deals with sin in its totality. In this psalm David refers to three features of his sin:

1. Sins (verse 10)

This speaks of specific acts of wrong-doing. These are the actual things which he should not have done. When David admitted to sins he referred to precise acts of wrong which he had done and which could be definitely identified.

2. Iniquities (verse 10)

This is the root from which the sins come. Why did David sin? Because he was a sinner. This refers not to the outside features of his life which others could see, but the inward infection of his heart and nature. Men take note of sin from its fruits, but God has taken knowledge of it in its roots and has dealt with it there.

3. Transgressions (verse 12)

This word means rebellion; sin as destroying peace between man and God, making man an enemy of God and God the enemy of man. This was what David meant when he cried out: "Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned" (Psalm 51:4). He had committed a sin, a precise act of wrong-doing. He recognised that he had done so because of his own sinful nature; but more than that, he realised that sin has another dimension, a dimension Godward. So he had to confess that what he had done had been an outrage against God. Sin is rebellion, and it constitutes man a rebel against the law and will of God.