- Socrates
Who is Your Saviour? - Socrates or Jesus?
- The New Jeweled Cross
The Old Cross and the New
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egotist it says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill-seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.” The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
The Old Rugged Cross
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him.
What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.
Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.
Tozer, A. W. (2007). The Best of A.W. Tozer Book One (p. 178). WingSpread.
- It is Appointed Unto Man Once to Die - Hebrews 9:27
Holiness in Death
Drawing Nigh Unto Perfection
The Call
Fundamentally, the local Ekklesia is a gathering of Born Again Brethren who now have ears to hear the Father's call to Communion with Himself - the one Triune God. (John 17:3; Matthew 16:18; John 10:27; Revelation 22:17)
They who can hear, assemble with one heart and one mind in one place in the interest of responding to God's call toward perfection. (Acts 4:32; Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 3:8)
Their drawing nigh to God is preceded by His call to come, much as their love for God is preceded by His love for them. (1 John 4:19) If the Shepherd did not call first, none would come. There would be no flock, no true Church.
This call and response forms the basis of the communal relationship which Christ gave His life to establish between Himself and His Bride, the Church.
Consider the Following Passages
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. (James 4:8)
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: His going forth is prepared as the morning; And he shall come unto us as the rain, As the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:3)
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (John 15:4)
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
I sleep, but my heart waketh: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: For my head is filled with dew, And my locks with the drops of the night. (Song of Solomon 5:2)
Draw me, we will run after thee: (Song of Solomon 1:4)
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, The companions hearken to thy voice: Cause me to hear it. 14 Make haste, my beloved, And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart Upon the mountains of spices. (Song of Solomon 8:13–14)
Gathering Unto Perfection Himself
The call to gather is a call toward perfection for He who calls is absolutely Perfect and He calls us unto Himself. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
But drawing nigh to Perfection is necessarily a life-long journey for perfection cannot be reached in three easy steps.
It is not compromise or weak heartedness to point out that an all-too-ready zeal which easily claims, as did Israel at the foot of Sinai, "All the words which the Lord has said will we do" is more in the direction of self-confidence than it is an evidence of true piety.
Gathering with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28) involves gathering with a realistic sense of how high the calling is and how continuously we must press forward through difficulty if we would apprehend that for which God is apprehending us.
Taking up the cross involves a realistic counting of the cost. (Luke 14:28)
It is not taking on too much at once, but a patient continuance in well doing that reaches glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life. (Romans 2:7)
It is not force feeding meat, but a steady growth from babe to glory that brings us to genuine Christ likeness. (1 Corinthians 3:2; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18;
Ephesians 4:11-13)
Indeed, it does not help our long-term growth when we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think: boasting of our attainments and certain that we will conquer the last incline to perfection in a week (Romans 12:3; Luke 18:9-14). For it is not of him that wills and runs and talks, but it is of God who shows mercy. (Romans 9:16; James 1:26)
Recall that Paul himself said, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect…Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended". (Philippians 3:12-14)
It is good for us to be humble in the sight of God's absolute perfection rather than attempt a sprint to the peak only to fall back in exhaustion before we reach the first level of real and lasting change. (Hebrews 12:1; Ecclesiastes 7:16)
It is good for us to steadily add line to line, here a little and there a little, rather than bite off paragraphs at a time that go down sweet with vain confidence, but become bitter in our belly when we find it hard to digest a meal too quickly devoured. (Revelation 10:10)
By all means, pursue holiness, but pursue peace too, for without the one or the other no man shall see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14; Romans 5:1)
And as you do, consider the following sound advice from godly Robert Leighton lest your zeal for the top lands you flat on your face.
Robert Leighton's Counsel
Robert Leighton (1611-1684)
Put all your trust in the special and singular mercy of God, that He for His mercy's sake, and of His only goodness, will help to bring you to perfection. Not that absolute perfection is attainable here; but the meaning is, to high degrees of that spiritual and divine life which is always growing and tending towards the absolute perfection above; but in some persons comes nearer to that and rises higher, even here, than in the most. If you with hearty and fervent desires do continually wish and long for it, and with most humble devotion daily pray unto God, and call for it, and with all diligence do busily labour and travail to come to it, UNDOUBTEDLY IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU. ... [emphasis added]
Though at first you feel no sweetness in such exercises, yet be not discouraged, nor induced to leave them [i.e., don't quit], but continue in them faithfully, whatsoever pain or spiritual trouble you feel; for, doing them for God and His honour, and finding none other present fruit [i.e., not detecting amazing results thus far], yet you shall have an excellent reward for your diligent labour and your pure intentions. And let not your falling short of these models and rules, nor your daily manifold imperfections and faults, dishearten you; but continue steadfast in your desires, purposes, and endeavors; and ever ask the best, aim at the best, and hope the best, being sorry that you can do no better; and they shall be a most acceptable sacrifice in the sight of God, and in due time you shall reap if you faint not. And of all such instructions let your rule be, to follow them as much as you can; but not too scrupulously thinking your labor lost if you do not exactly and strictly answer them in everything. Purpose still better, and by God's grace all shall be well.
The Whole Works of Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow, to Which is Prefixed A Life of the Author by John Norman Pearson, M.A. [1846] (pp. 732-733)