"I can seek my needs and serve God at the same time". To Hell with your vile, disgusting, abominable double-minded lukewarmness!
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8).
He who lives by the flesh is dead in his sins, not merely in a dead sleep, or a coma in his sins, but dead. He is a corpse, with no hope of being alive, but for the grace, mercy and power of God (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13).
The flesh itself is dead towards God. That is why it means to be put it death. If anyone wants to walk with God, he needs to kill the flesh, not merely suppress it. The flesh needs to be put it to death, stoning it to death with all ruthlessness, mercilessness and zealousness.
Setting one's mind on one's earthly needs is itself to feed the flesh. Yes, even seeking one's basic earthly needs is itself to feed the flesh. It is to not full trust in God's Provision. This manifests in not seeking first the righteousness of God. Jesus said:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:31-33).
Seeking one's earthly needs, and those for who one loves is diametrically opposed to seeking first the righteousness of God. This is exactly why Jesus said, after commanding people to not take thought of seeking their earthly needs, to instead, seek first the righteousness of God. He was rebuking these people for their faithlessness in God: "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30)
Jesus made this command in the context of explaining what it means to serve God and mammon. He said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:24-25).
Many in the modern Church only like to speak of what Jesus said in Matthew 6, starting from verse 25 to 32, or maybe 33, if they are honest enough with themselves. However, they almost always skip Matthew 6:24, the verse preceding the commands to not be anxious.
When Jesus was telling people not to be anxious in Matthew 6:24-34, He is not trying to soothe people and make them feel good about themselves, that God will provide all they need. No! Such is the humanistic interpretation of today. No, he was rebuking people and warning people about not being anxious for earthly needs, because it a vile, wicked thing to be anxious for one's needs. It is absolutely vile, wicked, abominable and evil to be anxious for one's needs. That is what Matthew 6:24-34 is communicating to us. It is not meant as a soothing passage as many people in the modern Church think, in thinking that God must somewhat provide for them.
God's provision is only by His grace. God provides to vindicate His character. It is never to vindicate our character, or "good works", and never ever because we "deserve" it. By no means! God does not need to provide us with anything. He is absolutely entitled to not provide us our earthly needs, and us ask to serve Him.
The issue is whether one serves God, such that God provides. Even if serving Christ meant starving to death, having no home, and no where to rest, He is to be served. Such is the glory of Christ. Even if serving Christ meant going to Hell, He is still to be served above all things.
One cannot be seeking these things, which itself is to serve the spirit of mammon, and serve God. This is because seeking earthly needs itself is a deed of the flesh, and to feed the flesh.
To Hell with your earthly "needs"! To Hell with your wants! To Hell with your false doctrines that if one serves God, He will give you want you "need" or "want"!
If you are still wanting to seek things of the world, but yet want good things from Christ, you are like the Church of Laodicea. Here is what Christ said to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-19:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The modern Church is exactly like the Church of Laodicea. It wants peace, joy, comfort, forgiveness and love from Christ. Yet, it wants earthly comfort, riches, wealth, success and prosperity - things of the world. Many in the modern Church cannot even understand why it is wrong it want both good things from Christ, and "good things" from the world, which are all rubbish, and not should not even be called "good things". This is because they think they are entitled to such things, out of their own pride, arrogance and self-serving.
Only when one counts such earthly, worldly things as garbage, all worthless things, as the Apostle Paul did can one really be said to be living a life worthy of Christ who said " Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8). This is by no means saying that one is saved by works in part. By no means! It is saying that if one cannot count such things as dung, worthy only to be thrown out, one is not showing the evidence in one's life to be seeking Jesus and the righteousness of God as He commanded (Matthew 6:33).
The idea that one can seek one's earthly needs and God is a very subtle form of the prosperity "gospel". A professing "church" which tells us that one should come to Jesus for health and wealth is an obvious blatantly heretical one. However, a church which teaches all the true doctrines of Salvation and accepts them, but yet thinks that one can still hold onto earthly things, and seek them, not denying them, and serve Jesus, is one that is far far more dangerous than an blatantly obvious prosperity apostate heretical "church".
Many local churches today fit within this category. As long as one thinks one can still seek earthly needs, and that one need not totally deny oneself to serve Christ, one is under the spirit of mammon, whether one is active in serving one's church, giving much money to one's church, or actively seeking to do "good works". Such doctrines lean towards the prosperity "gospel", setting the groundwork for it.
Do not think that you can never fall for the prosperity "gospel" or a subtle form of it. As long as you do not acknowledge you must completely surrender your whole self to God, you will fall into some form of it, as did the Church of Laodicea.
The belief one can seek one's needs and serve God at the same time manifests in the acceptance of easy credit, believing that there is nothing wrong with simply getting into debt, because one "can pay it off". Getting into debt just to purchase what you think you need or want, rather than what God wants to give you is itself to serve mammon. The spirit of mammon makes debt slaves out of such people. Such are many in the modern western Church.
He who lives by the flesh is dead in his sins, not merely in a dead sleep, or a coma in his sins, but dead. He is a corpse, with no hope of being alive, but for the grace, mercy and power of God (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13).
The flesh itself is dead towards God. That is why it means to be put it death. If anyone wants to walk with God, he needs to kill the flesh, not merely suppress it. The flesh needs to be put it to death, stoning it to death with all ruthlessness, mercilessness and zealousness.
Setting one's mind on one's earthly needs is itself to feed the flesh. Yes, even seeking one's basic earthly needs is itself to feed the flesh. It is to not full trust in God's Provision. This manifests in not seeking first the righteousness of God. Jesus said:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:31-33).
Seeking one's earthly needs, and those for who one loves is diametrically opposed to seeking first the righteousness of God. This is exactly why Jesus said, after commanding people to not take thought of seeking their earthly needs, to instead, seek first the righteousness of God. He was rebuking these people for their faithlessness in God: "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matthew 6:30)
Jesus made this command in the context of explaining what it means to serve God and mammon. He said: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:24-25).
Many in the modern Church only like to speak of what Jesus said in Matthew 6, starting from verse 25 to 32, or maybe 33, if they are honest enough with themselves. However, they almost always skip Matthew 6:24, the verse preceding the commands to not be anxious.
When Jesus was telling people not to be anxious in Matthew 6:24-34, He is not trying to soothe people and make them feel good about themselves, that God will provide all they need. No! Such is the humanistic interpretation of today. No, he was rebuking people and warning people about not being anxious for earthly needs, because it a vile, wicked thing to be anxious for one's needs. It is absolutely vile, wicked, abominable and evil to be anxious for one's needs. That is what Matthew 6:24-34 is communicating to us. It is not meant as a soothing passage as many people in the modern Church think, in thinking that God must somewhat provide for them.
God's provision is only by His grace. God provides to vindicate His character. It is never to vindicate our character, or "good works", and never ever because we "deserve" it. By no means! God does not need to provide us with anything. He is absolutely entitled to not provide us our earthly needs, and us ask to serve Him.
The issue is whether one serves God, such that God provides. Even if serving Christ meant starving to death, having no home, and no where to rest, He is to be served. Such is the glory of Christ. Even if serving Christ meant going to Hell, He is still to be served above all things.
One cannot be seeking these things, which itself is to serve the spirit of mammon, and serve God. This is because seeking earthly needs itself is a deed of the flesh, and to feed the flesh.
To Hell with your earthly "needs"! To Hell with your wants! To Hell with your false doctrines that if one serves God, He will give you want you "need" or "want"!
If you are still wanting to seek things of the world, but yet want good things from Christ, you are like the Church of Laodicea. Here is what Christ said to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:15-19:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
The modern Church is exactly like the Church of Laodicea. It wants peace, joy, comfort, forgiveness and love from Christ. Yet, it wants earthly comfort, riches, wealth, success and prosperity - things of the world. Many in the modern Church cannot even understand why it is wrong it want both good things from Christ, and "good things" from the world, which are all rubbish, and not should not even be called "good things". This is because they think they are entitled to such things, out of their own pride, arrogance and self-serving.
Only when one counts such earthly, worldly things as garbage, all worthless things, as the Apostle Paul did can one really be said to be living a life worthy of Christ who said " Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8). This is by no means saying that one is saved by works in part. By no means! It is saying that if one cannot count such things as dung, worthy only to be thrown out, one is not showing the evidence in one's life to be seeking Jesus and the righteousness of God as He commanded (Matthew 6:33).
The idea that one can seek one's earthly needs and God is a very subtle form of the prosperity "gospel". A professing "church" which tells us that one should come to Jesus for health and wealth is an obvious blatantly heretical one. However, a church which teaches all the true doctrines of Salvation and accepts them, but yet thinks that one can still hold onto earthly things, and seek them, not denying them, and serve Jesus, is one that is far far more dangerous than an blatantly obvious prosperity apostate heretical "church".
Many local churches today fit within this category. As long as one thinks one can still seek earthly needs, and that one need not totally deny oneself to serve Christ, one is under the spirit of mammon, whether one is active in serving one's church, giving much money to one's church, or actively seeking to do "good works". Such doctrines lean towards the prosperity "gospel", setting the groundwork for it.
Do not think that you can never fall for the prosperity "gospel" or a subtle form of it. As long as you do not acknowledge you must completely surrender your whole self to God, you will fall into some form of it, as did the Church of Laodicea.
The belief one can seek one's needs and serve God at the same time manifests in the acceptance of easy credit, believing that there is nothing wrong with simply getting into debt, because one "can pay it off". Getting into debt just to purchase what you think you need or want, rather than what God wants to give you is itself to serve mammon. The spirit of mammon makes debt slaves out of such people. Such are many in the modern western Church.
Comments
Post a Comment