Labor Day Pains

To me, Labor Day always brings forth mixed emotions, as the joy of a three-day holiday may be tempered with discomfort, or even pain, over our labor. In our church, several young women have just given birth, and others are anxiously awaiting delivery, so I’m sure Labor Day has a special significance for them this year!

For people who have lost their job, there may be no Labor Day celebration, but instead the heartache of going without, and having faith stretched from one meal or rent payment to the next. For those blessed to be employed, there may be the aggravation of unappreciative employers or disgruntled customers, or the weariness of overwork on too little sleep.

Some may pour their whole being into their career, at the expense of family, social life, or even time for worshipping and serving God, only to feel the pain of being passed over for promotion by the rising star who captured the boss’ attention. Those who play by the rules, support the team, and pay their dues may be sorely disappointed when those in the favored clique, or those who outmaneuver their competition, advance unfairly, despite their lack of experience. Life in the working world is full of trouble and pain, and it seldom seems fair.

Thankfully, God isn’t fair either, because His grace gives believers what we don’t deserve (Ephesians 2:8-9), and His mercy keeps Him from giving us eternal punishment in hell, which our sins do deserve (Romans 6:23). No matter what our earthly situation, believers in Christ can find joy (Psalm 21:1;32:11; Isaiah 29:19; 61:10; Matthew 25:21; Romans 5:11; etc.) and peace (Philippians 4:7) in knowing that He is working all circumstances together for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

We can endure the “labor pains” because He has appointed us to a specific occupation, to serve Him with the unique gifts, talents, and opportunities He has given us (1 Corinthians 12:4-6;28; Ephesians 4:11), and to glorify Him in all we do (1 Corinthians 10:31).. As the bumper sticker says, “Our Boss is a Jewish Carpenter” Who has empathy for our struggles (Hebrews 4:15) and supports us through trials and hardships (Philippians 4:13).

His grace is sufficient, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). He sees, honors and remembers work done for Him and will reward our labor, if not in this world, then in the next, where we can enjoy the rewards forever (1 Corinthians 3:9-14).

Best of all, He knows our sinful, wicked hearts (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9-10), but He loves us anyway (Romans 5:8). We don’t have to prove our worth, for we have none on our own merits (Isaiah 64:6; John 15:5). He is not interested in our qualifications, but in our justification by His shed blood (Romans 4:25; 5:16-18). Once we commit our lives to Him, we are guaranteed payment of the richest treasure imaginable – life in His presence throughout eternity (John 3:16), no matter for how long or short a time we have been saved (Matthew 20:1-16).

So why is this life often full of pangs of disappointment, physical disability and sickness, and even Godly sorrow? (2 Corinthians 7:10) I believe it is because we long for His return and the blessed hope (Titus 2:13), meaning eager anticipation, of the Rapture, when He will wipe every tear from our eye (Revelation 21:4). Then we shall enjoy eternity with Him in glorified bodies that will never experience pain, sickness or aging (1 Corinthians 15:40-50).

In the meantime, His whole creation is going through labor pains (Romans 8:21-22), anxiously awaiting the day when all will be made new by His refining fire (2 Peter 3:10-12). We groan in our aging bodies (Romans 8:23), yet the quickening pace and intensity of these pangs brings us inevitably closer to that day when we can truly experience being a completely new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).

Once we place our faith in His death, burial and resurrection as the only way to Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; John 14:6), we are born again (John 3:3-8). But on that day when all His children shall be changed and meet Him in the air, we shall live forever and be as He is (1 Corinthians 15:51-54). In the meantime, anticipation of this blessed event, and knowing that our labor for Him is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:51-58) helps us endure and even embrace these Labor Day pains!  

© 2013 Laurie Collett

 

Triplets of Faith: Were Adam and Eve Saved?

As we have seen, God made different covenants with mankind throughout Biblical history. The common element is our faith in Him, as reflected in three true Gospels. Faith is our belief in God Whom we cannot see directly (Hebrews 11:1-3), although His creation reflects His excellence (Psalm 19:1). Without this faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

How do we demonstrate our faith in God?  Faith is manifest in our obedience to Him (1 Samuel 15:22; James 2), yet each of us has disobeyed God (Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3). Sin, or disobedience, is always the result of pride and/or unbelief. 

Thankfully, God can take the smallest seed of faith we can muster and grow it into faith that could move mountains (Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:5-6). Paradoxically, He shows His love for us by punishing us when we disobey, just as a loving Father does His children (Hebrews 12:5-11).

The specific requirements of what He asked the faithful to believe and to do differed with each covenant, or promise that God made to His chosen people (Hebrews 11). God did not reveal His entire plan of salvation or Who He is all at once (Isaiah 55:9), nor will we able to understand Him in His infinite glory until we see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Despite their disobedience that ultimately led to every person being born with a sin nature (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:18), I believe that Adam and Eve were saved because they knew Who God was, and they obeyed Him before the Fall. They recognized that He created them (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7) and everything else, and that He provided for them (Genesis 1:29; 2:9).

Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, it appears that they enjoyed daily fellowship with Him, speaking with Him as He walked in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). They obeyed God in that Adam named all the animals as God requested, and they both kept and dressed the garden (Genesis 2:15,19-20).

Adam believed what God had done in creating a wife for Him (Genesis 2:21-22), and he recognized the significance of that creation and of their union (Genesis 2:23-24) as one flesh – a forerunner or type of the union between Christ and His Bride the Church (Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-32)

Despite this blissful existence with God in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell prey to Satan’s deception when the serpent convinced Eve to disobey God by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-6). God, being holy and just, had to punish their sin (Genesis 3:16-19) and banished them from the Garden of Eden.

Yet their banishment from the garden was for their own salvation, for had they stayed there and eaten of the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever in their sinful, corrupted state, in their aging bodies subject to sickness and pain (Genesis 3:2-24).

In a futile attempt to cover their own sin, symbolized by their nakedness, with their own works, Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together (Genesis 3:7). But God covered their nakedness with animal skins (Genesis 3: 21), representing the blood atonement (Leviticus 17:11), or “scarlet thread,” that would culminate in the shed blood of His Son (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:22).

The perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), not only covered sin but removed it as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12). When God looks at all those who place their faith in Christ, He no longer sees their sin, but only the perfect righteousness of His Son (1 Corinthians 1:30; Hebrews 1:8; Philippians 1:11; 3:9).

Although the first couple was cast out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-23), Eve continued to show her faith in God’s promise that her seed would destroy the serpent’s seed (Genesis 3:15; 4:1, 25). Adam’s faith is not spelled out, but he is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:38), suggesting that he was also saved by faith.

The disobedience of Adam and Eve resulted in all their descendants being born with a sin nature (Romans 5:12-14). Except for Jesus Himself, all thereafter sinned and came short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and none has perfectly kept His commandments. So salvation cannot be based on self-righteousness or works, or none would be saved (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, it is based on believing what God has revealed about Himself at that point in history, as we shall see next week!

© 2013 Laurie Collett

 

Triplets of Faith: Three True Gospels

Christians believe in one God, yet He is a triune God: God the Father; Jesus Christ the Son; and the Holy Spirit. Aspects of His triune nature are reflected in His creation, attributes, incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection, to name but a few.

So it is not surprising that throughout Biblical dispensations, there are three true Gospels: the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:14), the Gospel of Grace (Acts 20:24), and the Everlasting Gospel (Revelation 14:6-7). All of these are “Good News,” which is the meaning of the word “Gospel,” to those who place their faith in God, but judgment to those who do not (2 Corinthians 2:14-17).

Paul also refers to “another gospel,” (Galatians 1:6-9, 2 Corinthians 11:1-4) or false gospel that results in damnation rather than salvation because it requires that good works must be added to faith for a person to be saved (Colossians 2:8;18-23; Hebrews 6:1; 9:14). The preacher of such heresy is condemned even more than those who believe it (Galatians 1: 8-9).

God is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), so how can there be three true Gospels? Although God made different covenants with mankind throughout Biblical history, the common element is our faith in Him (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:1-11; Hebrews 11). Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Previously, now, and in the future, salvation is by His freely given grace, solely through our faith in Him, and not in our own works in a futile attempt to earn our entrance to Heaven (Ephesians 2: 8-9).

What is saving faith? It is our belief that God is Who He says He is (Matthew 16:15-17; John 1:12; 11:27) and that He will do what He has said He will do. By definition, it goes beyond what we can see and fathom intellectually (Hebrews 11,1), yet it is supported by visible evidence throughout God’s creation of Him as the Supreme Designer (Psalm 19:1). Faith only results in salvation if the object of that faith is the one true God, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit.

Even unsaved people have “faith” that a chair they have never sat in before will support their weight, or that a pilot they have never met is capable of safely flying them to their destination. Evolutionists have “faith” that eons of time and astronomical odds result in creation of life from inanimate matter, and increasingly complex life forms from simpler ones, even though there is no observable evidence of these theories that defy known laws of thermodynamics.  

These types of misplaced “faith” do not result in forgiveness of sins or eternal life, for only the fool says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1).and worships the created being rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

When we try to determine whether another person will keep their promise, we examine their character, intentions and their ability to carry out those intentions. We may believe that a spouse wants to support and encourage us throughout our lifetime, and they may have a good and faithful character so that they sincerely want to do so. Yet humans have limited power and finite time on earth, so they may fall short of their promise due to physical or mental infirmities or even untimely death (Job 14:1; James 4:14).

When we believe the promises of God, it is because we have faith not only in His character and intentions, but also in His ability to fulfill those promises. We believe that He is love (1 John 4:8), truth (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 71:22; John 18:37), and light (1 John 1:5), and that He therefore wants only the best for His children (Matthew 7:11; Romans 8:28) and will never lie (Titus 1:2).

Because God is perfectly holy (Leviticus 11:44,45, etc.) and just.( Job 4:17;8:3, etc.), He must punish sin and separate Himself from those who sin, unless they are redeemed by the perfect sacrifice of His Son (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2; 4:10).

God has unlimited ability to fulfill His good intentions toward us because He is omnipotent, with infinite power (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17,27) omniscient, with infinite knowledge of all things past, present and future (Psalm 139:1-6); and omnipresent, so that He can be anywhere and everywhere, accompanying us in any and every circumstance (Psalm 139:7-11). He will never leave nor forsake His children (Hebrews 13:5).

Next week we will begin to explore how God progressively revealed and will reveal Himself to those who believe in Him. Praise God that His promises can be trusted, and that faith in Him brings eternal life!

© 2013 Laurie Collett