Sunday, May 1, 2022

Wise Men Still Seek Him

 

                                                                                                              Title and Other images courtesy of Pixabay.com

I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things.  And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.  But he said, “No, don’t worship me.  I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book.  Worship only God!”  Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.  Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”  Revelation 22:8-11

I always loved the bumper sticker that says, Wise Men Still Seek Him.   

Apostle John was a wise man, except for several times that we know about.  In the Revelation he admits to two of those times, when he prostrated himself at the feet of an angel to worship[1].  I believe God allowed John to record those frail, human failures for our benefit.  If John could mess up, and still be used of God, there’s still hope for all of us!  Look what else wise people do...

Wise People Worship God

The angel calls John’s name, and he is mesmerized by the splendor of heaven and the sight of the throne.  He responds badly by kneeling in worship at the angel’s feet.  But John’s motive is to be reverent in God’s presence.  It is much better, when you are in the presence of a holy God, to err on the side of caution. 

And we must remember – worship is the response of a thankful heart.

Brother Lawrence was a cook in a monastery.  He learned to press meaning into virtually every action of his day -- even the menial tasks:

I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God.  When it is finished, if I have nothing to do, I prostrate myself on the ground and worship my God, who gave me this grace to make it, after which I arise happier than a king.  When I can do nothing else, it is enough to have picked up a straw for the love of God. 

People look for ways of learning how to love God.  They hope to attain it by I know not how many different practices.  They take much trouble to abide in His presence by varied means.  Is it not a shorter and more direct way to do everything for the love of God, to make use of all the tasks one's lot in life demands to show him that love, and to maintain his presence within by the communion of our heart with his?  There is nothing complicated about it.  One has only to turn to it honestly and simply.[2]

Worship is a privilege as well as a responsibility to which we all should pay close attention.  We are called to live in His presence.  Christians are accountable and blessed to stay in close communion with our Lord.  Giving reverence is the whole idea of worship.  It begins with the believer’s attitude, and extends to the believer’s acts.  It’s not hard if you desire in your heart to honor God.

The angel rightly told John to get up off his knees; simply put, the angel said:  knock it off, John, I’m an angel, not God.  I’m a servant of God

Worship is simple once we are turned in the right direction.  We must never forget that worship belongs to God, alone!

Wise People Witness of God

Some people treat the idea of witnessing for Christ as secondary at best.  They point to the great churches across the land, and the great evangelists.  They say: the job’s being done. 

If our job, winning the lost to Christ, was done, or even well along in progress, would we not see a decided improvement in the way people behave?  Yet, crime is on the increase, hate is the order of the day, and morality is on the decrease. 

We have a long way to go in proclaiming the message of Christ crucified, risen, and coming again!  And we are the only witnesses Jesus has! 

The mission of wise people is two-fold,

     1.    SERVE WHERE YOU ARE

Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.  Revelation 22.10

John is instructed to do differently than the prophets Daniel and Isaiah.  They were told to seal-up what they saw.  The angel makes it clear to John that his task will be to spread this word.  This is a picture of wisdom, sharing good news. 

Being a witness for the Lord is not as complicated as some make it.  It is simply a matter of finding ways to make Him a part of your everyday life. 

That takes many forms.  Susie Hobert is a missionary who believes that one of her responsibilities as a mother is to instill in her children a burden for their lost friends.  And she has done an excellent job.

Ten-year old Ryan was driving imaginary race cars with his friends. Several minutes later he came bounding into the house and yelled, Mom, you've got to come quick.  Isabelle wants to accept Jesus into her heart.   Skeptical of the child's sudden interest in spiritual things, Susie asked, Ryan, I thought you were playing race cars?   We were, Mom, but our cars wrecked.  The accident was real bad so I asked Isabelle if she would go to heaven if she died.  She said she didn't know.  I told her how she could know and she wants to ask Jesus into her heart.

 There are many accounts in Christian history of people who have exhibited a strong commitment to continually sharing an effective witness for Christ.  One of the ones that sticks in my mind so vividly is the crossed paths of a man only known as “Rigby” and pastor Alexander Whyte.

It was the end of the 19th century that Alexander Whyte pastored a large church in Edinburgh, Scotland.  During that time, a salesman by the name of Rigby would travel to Edinburgh regularly just to hear him preach.  He would often invite other businessmen to accompany him to the services. 

One Sunday morning he asked a fellow traveler to go to church with him.  Reluctantly, the man said yes.  When he heard Whyte's message, he was so impressed that he returned with Rigby to the evening meeting.  As the preacher spoke, the man trusted Christ as his Savior. 

The next morning, as Rigby walked by the home of Pastor Whyte, he felt impressed to stop and tell him how his message had affected the other man's life.  When Whyte learned that his caller's name was Rigby, he exclaimed, You're the man I've wanted to see for years! 

He went to his study and returned with a bundle of letters.  Pastor Whyte read Rigby some excerpts – all telling of changed lives.  They were men Rigby had brought to hear the gospel.  Like the Samaritans who had been led to Jesus by the woman at the well, these men believed in Him because of the word of Rigby.

When God’s witnesses live a life-principle of intentionality…a constant awareness of our responsibility to use any means, and any opportunity to share the Gospel, God does that which is super-natural, he takes our efforts, to serve where we are, and live, and sees to it that the world beats a pathway to the kindness.

Our mission is to serve where we are, and:

     2.    SHINE WHERE YOU ARE

Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”  Revelation 22:11

There is a very startling truth presented here.  The principle is,

People die as they have lived.

Witnessing is a matter of a saved person simply displaying with his or her life, or telling with his or her words, what the Lord has done for them.  The startling part of that principle is unsaved people will do the same thing…in the opposite direction…fully ignoring God’s grace and providence. 

I have seen that principle (people die as they have lived) as a pastor for the past 40 years, both in people whom I’ve tried to lead to Christ, and even in the church.  You cannot hide (for long) what you think of Jesus.  And there are consequences to ignoring His claim on your life and witness.

People who, all their lives, decide against Christ (in favor of selfishness) also decide against salvation.  Choices in the spiritual realm are forever.  To think that a person could live an unjust, filthy, unrighteous, unholy life, and then decide to become a Christian so he won’t go to hell, stretches the whosoever will invitation a little too far. 

The positive injunction in this passage is for Christians to shine, as a matter of focus for their witness.  Some of us are bashful about that. 

William Barclay said, Christianity is something which is meant to be seen.  As someone has well said:  ‘There can be no such thing as secret discipleship, for either the secrecy destroys the discipleship, or the discipleship destroys the secrecy.’  A man's Christianity should be perfectly visible to all men.

Keith Miller, in his book, A Second Touch, tells of a businessman who one night turned his life over to Jesus Christ.  The next morning he was late for his train. In his hurry, he bumped into a small boy with a puzzle in his hand, scattering the puzzle pieces across the sidewalk.  Instead of rushing on, he stopped, stooped down, and helped pick up the puzzle while the train moved out of the station.  After he had finished, the little lad looked up into his face and asked, Mister, are you Jesus?  Then said the man, I realized that at least in some small way, Christ truly was in my heart.

A member of a church I served once said loudly, and clearly, before a group of believers that his religion was a private thing.  I’ve thought about that often since hearing it years ago.  There are only three possibilities of what that meant:

a.     He’d never truly committed his life to Christ, and therefore did not know the full extent of God’s gift of grace, and did not understand his eternity would not be in glory with God, so he had nothing to say.  Let’s face it, you cannot be a witness to something that never happened.

b.    He was truly a Christian who was also introverted and afraid he’d be ridiculed; he just couldn't bring himself to speak up.

c.     He was still a baby Christian.  I use the term “baby” because he’d been baptized about 40 years prior.  He’d never grasped the reality that when you’ve been saved, you grow into Christ, and you grow-up to serving Christ because you have recognized your responsibility to share what God has done for you. 

I tend to think it was this third possibility that was what was wrong with the man’s thinking.  He was in his 60’s and had never accepted any responsibility for serving in his church.  You may not start out preaching in the pulpit, but you can certainly start somewhere in serving.  You leave the spiritual diapers behind. 

God made certain the Gospel is so simple that everyone can understand it, and can recognize when they’re around it.  The only thing He hasn’t written in stone is our response, whether we will share it with lost people.  That, He wants to be a response of love. 

Every one of us in this room who has truly been saved is responsible to grow-up, and grow-into shining witnesses for Christ.  The apostle Paul gave us God’s word on that truth:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

Wise people still seek Him.  Those who love Him respond by growing-up in Christ, and growing-into serving and shining for Him. 

And we do that by sharing Him with others.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!  

 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.




[2] Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, E. M. Blaiklock (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982) p. 85.


 

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