Because of Him

"We speak louder so that they can hear us."

JULIUS CAESAR’s name became synonymous with power upon his death in 44 BC. Having won the Gallic Wars, he was told to step down from his position as general, but instead, he led troops into Rome and had himself declared dictator for life. He lived no more than four years after this, being assassinated on the Ides of March by men angry over his victory. After his death, the title “Caesar” went from dictator to dictator in the Roman Empire, no longer a family surname but a position of power held by men of, frankly, disgusting personalities and morality. Power did not get any of them into heaven. No matter how many fantastic buildings they constructed, and the Roman Empire is still known for its city structure, no matter how much money they brought into the city, no matter how many gods they worshipped, all of their choices and decisions made by emotions and pseudo-intelligence put them in the grave and, being spiritually dead, their hearts filled with sin, and having no Savior, a devil’s hell.

The name “Caesar” went on to create words in other languages of an equal meaning. From it, we get “tsar” and “kaiser,” titles of men who held positions that gave them legal authority over the affairs of men. These did not find paradise through their own efforts either. History is replete with such stories. There have been kings and queens of differing faiths, governments created to conquer lands, and armies of renown, and cultures like those of Egypt which built the pyramids, places meant to lead the dead into their idea of the underworld. But all of them, outside of belief in the true Creator and His gift to men, lost all they gained in life when death claimed them. Money doesn’t follow you to heaven. Nor does prestige, accumulated knowledge, or ancestry. Having a large family or a small one won’t save you from damnation. Nor leading an army, nor creating a fantastic invention, nor building a following among men.

God created a nation to send His Son as Redeemer and wrote a system of laws to help them walk uprightly. In it, He outlined sacrifices which would cover their sins and feasts meant to keep His name ever before them. He promised on the strength of His name, because there is no greater, to protect them and bless them generation after generation. But just as all those Caesars could not make their way into heaven through physical accomplishments and power they’d gained, just as titles and wars and human psychology could not make men gods except in their deceived thinking, the rules God gave His covenant people were pointless unless they looked to the only living God for cleansing through them.

As rules, they changed no one. The book of Romans tells us no man could keep them, but that the people were, instead, because of the rules, made aware of the extremity of their sins. A law against greed, only made men greedier, for example. Suddenly, they knew what was not acceptable and where their choices led. In Romans 7, the apostle Paul cries out at his inability to do right under his own strength. No matter how hard he tries, on his own, he is unable and is beside himself with grief.

“What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?” (Romans 7:24 CEV)

The purpose of the law was to lay the groundwork for salvation. Because for all men had ever done and ever would do to try to be good, because they would keep striving and failing under their own strengths, God in heaven knew it would take a work outside of what men could do to change the heart. From the beginning of time, people had built towers, trying to reach Him and gotten no further than the blue sky. Consumed by sin and the behavior of sin, they became so violent that all that remained of righteousness, preached among men, was Noah and his family, eight people among untold millions or billions. Yet, here we see God’s mercy. He intended to redeem, and so from the generations of this one family would, one day, when the Roman Empire had taken over the landscape, send His Son for that purpose.

Jesus came to earth to do the Father’s will. All around Him were people who could not make it to heaven without His sacrifice. Those who had studied the Law, who could quote its Scriptures, the most highly intelligent among them, gazed in His face, angry to the point of murder, and could not see why that was wrong. The broken, the diseased, and demonically possessed, surrounded them but they chose to seek power, to protect their position amongst the Romans, rather than hear the message He’d come to give. Though their religion had been written by God so that He could rescue them from sin and death, they reveled in choices and emotions directly contrary to it and called it correct. Blind, they led others equally blind, forward in a crooked path which only ended in a ditch.

Our behaviors can’t save us. We default to criticism, to strife and arguments, and call it justified every single time. We shake our head at those who don’t have God. We rail against those who do but they don’t look like us and don’t act like us. Rather than seek God for His point-of-view, we become convinced ours is wide, and we can see everything. But the truth is, all of our efforts are no more than filthy rags. All of our rules are meaningless without the love of God working in us. All of our words, well-written sermons, and harangues only let the devil work among us when they are devoid of God’s presence. For a Christian man or woman to point fingers at anyone, in the church or out of it, is WRONG. God will not work through offense.

I am not talking incorrect doctrine. There are many who believe pieces of the Word of God with a lack of understanding. They have “figured it out” in their human thinking when God’s truths are Spirit, and the Spirit of God is our teacher. What we must believe is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified for our sins and was raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father. What we must know is He did this because GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, and NO ONE WHO SEEKS HIM IS EVER TURNED AWAY. Does God show up on Sunday in a church where everyone wears a suit and a tie? Yes. Does He come to a church where the congregation has on shorts and t-shirts? Yes. Does the Holy Spirit work amongst men and women when only hymns are sung? Absolutely. Does He move in the people if it is more modern worship songs? Yes!

Jesus had dinner with Zaccheus, a tax collector who was despised by many. He forgave a woman who’d been caught sleeping with a married man. He spoke of Himself as living water to a Samaritan woman w who’d had five husbands and was living with number six. He healed lepers, men considered unclean. And many of the miracles recorded in the gospels were done on the Sabbath, a fact that enraged the religious leaders. But what was correct, to heal a man on the Sabbath or not? He was the reason for the Sabbath. Today, God rescues anyone who calls upon Him. He seeks out those who have turned their back and works to soften their hearts. He doesn’t tell them to fix their hairstyle first or buy new clothing. What He wants is to show how great His love is.

Second Corinthians 10:4 tells us to pull down strong holds that stand against the knowledge of Christ. These are mindsets inside of us. This is the behavior of the church becoming like God. Minister Bill Johnson says his eldest son has some hearing loss. Yet, as his father, he never condemns his son for not hearing. Instead, he makes the effort to talk louder. Here is what we must do. Not shouting, nor judgment, nor correction we’ve taken on ourselves. Not criticism because that one doesn’t do things like we did, not even if they are wrong in most of it. But we show the Father’s love which was laid on the cross in the body of Jesus Christ. We speak louder so that they can hear us.

Father, let our words be yours. Let us, your children, look and sound like you, and be willing to lay down who we are to that same extent, so that above all, your love shines out from us, a city set on a hill for all the world to see.

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)

Image by Nanne Tiggelman from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com