It seems that in these last days before Jesus returns to the earth, the church He died to birth is undergoing a crisis of faith. Peter wrote that judgement was about to begin upon the earth, but before that great and terrible day arrives, “Judgement will begin at the House of God”.
What is our reaction when we undergo trials? When everything around us begins to collapse and turns chaotic, how does a person who claims to know Jesus as Lord of their life respond?
Scoffers of the Bible often point to the fact that the New Testament account of Jesus Christ is a fabrication made up by those who were desirieing to begin a new religion. They say that the biblical person Jesus Christ, never actually existed and that his resurrection from the dead is a hoax.
If this be the case, that what is written in the New Testament descripotion of Jesus is a lie, then why is it that those who wrote the accounts of Jesus life all died horrible deaths because they refused to acknowledge that Jesus did not raise Himself from the dead?
I would imagine that it is possible for a group of people wanting to establish a new religion, to be able to convince some to go along with a charade that claimed they had seen someone raised to life after they were crucified. How though would this entire group continue in their lie by dying for that lie?
Would not a person who was under the threat of death for claiming someone raised from the dead, recant that claim to save their own life, if it was just a fabrication?
In the book of Job, satan made the statement that “Skin for Skin, all that a man has, he would give to save his own life…” In other words, when it comes down to life or death, all human beings would do anything that they could to save their own life. That would include the recanting of a claim that Jesus had risen from the dead, if the continuation of this claim would cost the confessor their life.
Peter who caused more problems for Jesus than all of the other disciples, ended up dying by the same method that Jesus Himself perished from, crucifixion. With one small difference, Peter not believing that he was worthy to die in the same manner as one so holy as Jesus, made one final request. If you must put me to death by crucifixion, let it be with my body upside down. Peter felt that he was not worthy of the same manner of death as the One who had been so loving and faithful to him when he had denied and apposed the Lord on so many occassions.
All of the other men who had written that Jesus had died and then was seen three days later raised from the dead, each died equally horrific deaths themselves.
James refusing to recant his claim that Jesus had risen, carried his confession to the feet of the one who beheaded him.
Matthew who so eloqently described by eyewitness account, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, was chopped to pieces by a Halberd, a spear with an axe head attached.
Mark, dragged alive behind a horse until he was completely dismembered, Paul beheaded, Thomas thrust through with a spear, Luke the Physician, hanged on an Olive tree, and all others who claimed a risen Lord, dying by equally horrifiic means.
Now, I ask you as a logically thinking human being, does it not stand to reason that the purpose for each of these deaths by those who claimed to be eyewitnesses of Jesus resurrection, each perished themselves by cruel means, in order to make the specific point that their willingness to die for what they believed, proved the truth of their confession. Surely if the resurrection were a lie, at least one of these men would have recanted to save their own life. Quite the contrary, becauce they knew that they had seen, a risen Jesus who had been crucified, they were not willing to let go of this incredible truth, evern if it cost them their own life.
Today, if someone who cliams to believe in Jesus Christ stubs their toe or is made fun of for believing in Jesus, they immediately begin to question whether it is worth following Jesus at all. We live during a generation of people who very easily fall away from faith in Jesus Christ and are an uncommitted lot.
Peter wrote: ”That the genuiness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ… Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the Grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ…but as He who called you is Holy, you also be holy in all your conduct…”
What is the net effect of suffering in your life? Does it draw you nearer Jesus or push you farther from Him? May I suggest to you that should the later be true, then your faith is not really genuine.
The purpose of trials are to draw us nearer to the Lord, if in fact we really belong to Him. When Job suffered the loss of his entire Material world, as well as all of His children, he sat on a pile of dung and proclaimed “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
In the book of Philippines, Paul wrote “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them a rubbish that I main gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness… that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death…”
Where is this kind of confession today? There are not many who count their sufferings as an opportunity to commune with Jesus. Are our material posessions viewed as rubbish in comparison to gaining Jesus? I can only speak for myself, but I whine and complain far to much when I suffer loss and endure my trials.
The birth of the relevant church, the seeker friendly church and the emergent church are all indications that the people of God are moving away from a desire to simply gain Jesus and count the things of this world as rubbish.
I cannot imagine a pastor from the emergent church taking his congregation through a study in suffering and the victories of endurance under trials. The church would empty and the ministry would fail in a short time. Today the church has become a comfortable place, an accomodating venue, a place where relevancy is more imprtant than inerrancy.
There is a process that Jesus desires that His church go through, that is designed to bring us into an awareness of our deceitful heart and our tendency to fall away from Him so easily.
In these very last days before the return of the Lord, the church is only beginning to undergo the trials that will come in short measure, upon the whole earth for seven years It appears certain that before the end of the year 2009, this judgment at the house of God, will be underway.
The only way that we can survive as a church and be ready when the Lord comes for us, is to put off all our former lusts and begin to daily purify our lives, so that we might be His own Holy people, ready to enter into the wedding when our bridegroom comes for us.
