The Culture of Heaven: Part 1 |
|
Luke 8:12-15 Here we have presented from Jesus the meaning of a parable that He spoke to His disciples. This is the parable of the Sower. Most of us know this parable very well. The Sower or planter went to plant some grain. And when he threw the grain onto the ground the grain fell into various conditions. In some places the ground was rocky, other places it was good ground but the soil was very thin. Still in another place thorns grew up and choked the growing plants and in another place it was good, rich soil full of nutrients and the ideal environment for the plants to grow. Jesus here gives an explanation to the disciples of what He was teaching them. He told them that the seed is the word of God. There are many descriptions of what the Word of God is, “a lamp unto my path”, the “bread of life”. Most describe it being a life giving force with powerful characteristics and results to the one who hears and reads it. Yet here we find that even though the seed is perfect, full of life giving properties, in some circumstances it dies. It fails to impart its powerful properties and produce the desired result. It fails to take hold and become a permanent part of the environment to which it has gone into. We see that this interaction involves two parts; the seed or the Word of God and the environment to which it falls. We see that this environment has a lot of impact upon the seed. It makes a difference whether the seed will grow up into a plant and produce fruit some day or if it will continue for a while and eventually die. Although some in this parable don’t even make it until the seed germinates. The seed dies immediately. Let us stop for a moment and be clear here. The seed in each case is perfect but it is different factors that are at play within each environment that makes the difference. There are different cultures in effect. Environment Affects Behaviour We are going to look at a bit of the culture of Heaven. We are going to look at the seed that made it. I would like us to take a look at the seed that falls into the environment that enabled it to grow into a strong and mature plant and to produce good fruit. What kind of culture did it have? What kind of culture will there be in Heaven? We can find that environment in verse 15. It says; “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” I would like to pull out one very distinct character trait of this environment to which the seed of the word of God grows here. I would like us to focus on the word honesty. You see what comes first here is not that the person heard the word, kept it and then brought forth fruit but that the actual environment that the seed fell into was an honest and good one. It was an honest heart. The fact that the Word was heard and kept was a result of the honesty and therefore fruit was eventually produced. The word was kept and not discarded because it was fortified by honesty. Jesus uses the phrase “keep it”, implying that there is a struggle here. But the thing that allowed this heart to keep and hold on to God’s life giving Word or the “seed” is the honest heart into which it fell. At some point in David’s life, after many trials and persecution, he mistakenly exclaimed in Psalm 116:11, “I said in my haste, All men are liars.” David realized after living a life with God, through trials, failures and victories that indeed there are some honest people but he also realized that there are very few. Let us look at this character trait of where the seed had success. What are other concepts or ideas that we associate honesty? When we think of honesty we think of another word, integrity. We think of phrases like “my word is my bond.” We think of reliability, of truthfulness and commitment. We think of faithfulness and love. These are all concepts with which we associate the make up of the concept of being honest. Now the culture of Heaven is very different from the culture that we know. Honesty, how do we differentiate between what each considers right and wrong. Each of us has different backgrounds, different behaviour patterns that we have learned from the environment in which we have lived. The church that we are a member of, the local church that we frequent and even the smaller group(s) within that circle of membership, each has an impact upon how we judge and process the information around us. I don’t know how many times I personally have caught myself adjudicating a situation that I am in. Wondering how a particular person can act a certain way that is different from the understanding that I personally have. These are called expectations. And each set of expectations are what we think should happen. How a person should behave in a given situation, how they should dress, what their moral values should be etc. Each of us tends to develop our own scale with which we measure the people and world around us. But is this scale correct? How do we retrain our mind to be in harmony with God’s mind? How can our mind become like the mind of Jesus. How do we even know whether our perception of what is honest is correct? I will give you a really good example of what I am talking about. I would like you to think of a couple that have been married for a long time. When they were young and they first got married the two individuals had certain expectations of each other. Before they were married, while they were still single and were just dating those expectations were not as important. They were a lot fewer and seemed to be lost in all the other emotions that they were feeling. And then the bottom fell out! When they got married how things seemed to be completely different than they expected. That is because all of a sudden there were expectations from each other’s perspective. Because each was a different person, with different behaviour patterns and different minds their expectations were different. But gradually over the years, as each influenced each other and each got used to what the other person expected of them and the world around them, their expectations harmonized and maybe even changed. Each knew what to expect of each other given a certain set of circumstances. And there is a lot more harmony. So what is Honesty? How would we define if someone is honest. How do we know if we ourselves are honest? What is God’s attitude towards honesty? HONESTY WITH GODWhat does it mean to be honest with God? Our High Calling pg. 226 God’s chosen one’s will be the honest; they “will be His chosen treasures.” We fool ourselves if we think that God does not read our heart. We fool ourselves if we think that dishonesty will not have repercussions in our life. God does not want us to act out of policy. What does it mean to act out of Policy? The word Policy means a definite course of action adopted for the sake of expediency. God does not want us to make decisions and live our life because it is the expedient thing to do, the easy thing to do in a given set of circumstances. It says here that this type of behaviour and honesty cannot exist in the same person at the same time. They cannot act together. Having principles and acting upon those principles is never the expedient or easy thing to do. It is contrary to this world and it is contrary to our human nature. Lets take a look at an example of this in the Bible, from someone that is remembered as an honest person. Abraham Here we have the example of Abraham when they were traveling into and through Egypt. Abraham’s wife Sarah was a beautiful young woman and in those days kings pretty much took what they wanted in their kingdom. If there were a beautiful young woman that they wanted as a wife or concubine then they would just take her, even if that meant killing the husband if they were married. This was the thought that ran through Abraham’s mind when they were upon the border of Egypt. Now I want this to be clear to everyone. They were at the border of Egypt; they had not even entered the country yet. This was not just an emotional, spur of the moment reaction to being confronted by Pharaoh and his army. No this was a pre-thought out act. This was the nature of Abraham acting out of “policy”. This was a premeditated act. This was done out of expediency. He asked his wife to tell everyone, when they asked, that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. That way it would protect him and all of their possessions. You see it was a forgone conclusion that Abraham would be confronted while passing through Egypt because he was a rich man at this point with many animals, a large family and many goods. It was a large caravan that couldn’t just slide through undetected during the night. So Abraham decided to have Sarah act dishonestly. In other words lie for him because it was expedient to do so. Abraham thought that it wasn’t really a big deal if he and by extension his wife and most likely his whole caravan behaved dishonestly. God would understand. It was the only way that he could see that he and his entire family and goods could be kept safe. But something unexpected happened, something that he hadn’t thought through properly. Maybe he thought that he would be able to pass through unmolested and that all would be okay if this lie were told? But as we can see that was not what happened was it. The Pharaoh spared Abraham all right. Abraham saved his family and all his belongings, but he lost his wife to Pharaoh. What must Abraham have thought at that moment? On top of it all, that dishonesty resulted in plagues being sent upon Egypt by God. This was all the result of the dishonesty that started with Abraham. I wonder if some innocent people in Egypt didn’t die in those plagues? How many citizens might have lost their livelihood because of this dishonesty by the father of God’s chosen people. This is what expediency does. This is what dishonesty does. In every circumstance the truth will always come out. God always brings the truth out. Nothing good will ever come out of expediency and we fool ourselves if we think that God does not see this. Remember what it said about policy or expediency and honesty in Our High Calling; “Both cannot act together; they can never be in agreement.” Also from the book Our High Calling, pg. 226 All who act from the principle of expediency, to be honest only if it doesn’t affect their worldly interests “will have their names blotted out of the book of life.“ This is how God views our life. This is part of the culture of Heaven. It is something that doesn’t come natural but it must be there present if the seed of God’s word is to grow within us. 1 John 2:3-5 If we do not keep His commandments then the truth is not in us and we are a liar, dishonest, or not honest. In other words, if we do not see the effectual working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, manifested in the keeping of the commandments in our life there is no truth in us. This applies to us, right here and right now. HONESTY WITH OURSELVESReview & Herald, December 29, 1896 “Strict honesty” is not something that comes naturally to humans but must be “cultivated.” It takes time to grow within us, to change in our characters. What is the difference between honesty and strict honesty? Doesn’t it mean that there will be no situation in our life when we will not be honest? That seems quite a tall order doesn’t it? Can you imagine living your life like that? Can you think to yourself if there is any situation during this past week or this very day in which maybe you didn’t quite hit that goal? The next step that we need to go through in changing over our life to the culture of Heaven is to be honest with ourselves. And like the title of this article, it is a culture shock! It is shocking to us that we are not the people that we thought we are. We are shocked to think that all we have become in our life might still need to be changed. That the culture of Heaven might be so different than what we thought it was and even more disturbing that we ourselves might be different. How can we be honest with anyone else and especially God if we are not honest with ourselves? Proverbs 19: 21-22 The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon came to the conclusion that it is better to be poor, with little food or shelter, constantly struggling to get by each day than to be a liar or dishonest. Review & Herald, December 16, 1890 We must be willing to admit and accept when we are wrong or have done wrong. We must not let satan win the struggle for our lives. Satan wins when we do not admit to ourselves and to God when we are wrong. You know, being honest with God, and ourselves, that is the beginning of repentance. And without repentance there is no new life. This quote from the Review & Herald is speaking to “those who really love God and the truth“. This is not speaking about someone who doesn’t believe in God or whom has a limited understanding of God, this is talking about those who really love God and the truth. That is a really a sobering statement isn’t it? I can’t emphasize that enough! “Those who really love God and the truth.” There is a great need for us to start humbling our heart. Doesn’t that mean being honest? Honest with God and honest with ourselves? And the worst part of all of this dishonesty that we have amongst God and ourselves is that because of this “many souls are endangered, and the presence and power of God are shut away from his people.” Just as in the case of Abraham, our dishonesty affects the salvation of others. And the result is “the presence and power of God are shut away from His people.” Are you looking for the presence and power of God? Wonder where it has gone? I think we know the answer. I want us to think about that for a while. HONESTY WITH EACH OTHERWhy is it important to be honest with each other? Does it really affect our life all that much? Why should I be honest with others if they are not honest with me? 2 Corinthians 8:21 God wants us to provide for honest things. Its is a requirement of God for us to not only be honest in our dealings with each other but to provide the environment (there is that concept again) in which honesty may flourish. But what does that mean? An environment where honesty can flourish? Messages to Young People, pg. 420 The true rule of honesty is to put yourself in another brother or sister’s place. Approach each other as if viewing the world from their perspective. Walk a mile in another’s shoes. This speaks about a tremendously personal interaction amongst each other. “Identify yourself with them.” We must identify with each other. Treat each other as if we would trade places and look from their perspective. Empathize and sympathize with them. Remember what I said about expectations? Don’t just share the good places but enter into the painful places. This is the true rule of honesty! “It is a principle of Heaven.” It is part of the culture of Heaven! This doesn’t just happen but it must be developed. So when are we going to start? In The Upper Room Acts 2:1 Acts of the Apostles pg. 36 and 37 These days of preparation were days of deep heart searching. The disciples felt their spiritual need and cried to the Lord for the holy unction that was to fit them for the work of soul saving.” When the disciples were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, they became in one accord. They searched their hearts; they were honest with themselves, with God and with each other. Only then could the Holy Spirit be poured out in its fullness. We need to come to this point in our lives. We need to be honest with each other, nothing less will do. We need to confess our unbelief. We need some heart searching with each other. John Formosa, Canada |
The Culture of Heaven: Part 1michael2010-10-28T01:07:49-04:00
Each one of us needs to become acquainted with a new type of culture, one that is very different from which we have become accustomed to. I call this the culture of Heaven. What will the culture of Heaven be like? Do we see any of that culture here amongst us? What do you think?