I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. - Galatians 1: 6-10 (ESV)
These three sets of verses all deal with the approval of God. Paul instructs Timothy that an approved worker knows how to divide the Word of God correctly. He instructs the Thessalonian Church that he is approved by God through the entrusting of the Gospel. Lastly, he explains to the Church at Galatia that the one who seeks the approval of God does so by sticking to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we see the theme? God has already approved us because of the work of Jesus Christ. The ongoing perfection of that approval is found in His Word. If we want to grow up more in Christ it is found in His Word. If we want to have stable relationships - the answers are found in His Word. It is a mindset change; a paradigm shift. To no longer seek the approval from the world but instead, seek approval in His Word. Christians often talk about seeking the will of God. If we truly break that down what we are seeking, it is His approval for what we want to do. It doesn't work that way. The two main categories of God's will (not including His permissive will - things He allows to happen) are His decretive will and His revealed will. His decretive will is what He decrees to happen and His revealed will is the Word of God. The mistake we make all too often is in seeking His decretive will when in most cases He has no intention of revealing it. That is the journey. That is our walk. The reality is that He has given us His revealed will for a reason yet we ignore it all to often. We seek false prophets instead of what He has already prophesied in His Word. We seek false teachers instead of what He has already taught us in His Word. We seek a "spiritual experience" instead of seeking the Holy Spirit within us to lead us into all truth. The reality is that the more we find ourselves in His revealed will the closer we will be to His decretive will. Our approval is always found in Christ alone; through His revealed will.
Lastly, as humans we seek acknowledgment. This is all about recognition. It is about significance. How many people become disillusioned at some point in their life. Mourning the passing of time that cannot be recovered and feeling like our lives should have amounted to something more. That is why so many people live vicariously through the lives of their children. They essentially trade in their own significance for simply being the mother or father of their child's significance. That is not the answer beloved. God created all of us for our own purposes.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2: 10 (ESV)
When you break this verse down what we find is that our new creation in Christ was done for a purpose. That purpose was a life set apart (good works) and of holiness and that we should walk the rest of our lives as such. We are to shine the light of Christ for others to see. There are no earthly rewards that do not rust or fade with the mere passage of time. Eternal rewards for lives brought to the foot of the cross are the only thing that will matter in eternity. You do not have to be a master theologian or an expert preacher to live a life worthy of the significance of Christ for all to see. That is our purpose beloved - not serving in the security ministry. Because here is the thing. Man can always take away our ministry but only we can choose to remove our holiness. Only we can choose to make our lives insignificant for eternal considerations.
I find it ironically sad that so much of the seeker friendly church movements preach so much about purpose and even personal significance yet still miss the mark so widely. That is because under the purpose driven models we still find our purpose and significance outside of Christ. It is usually found in serving in a church ministry and we are taught that we are putting our hand to the plow but the reality is that we are still merely serving man. That does not even take into consideration that the vast majority of purpose driven churches are not really serving God at all! Our ministry leader cannot give us the acknowledgment we seek from God. Neither can our pastor. We can serve diligently but still feel empty because our significance and purpose is found in Christ. In being set apart for His use. For doing good works that will stand the test of fire. No greater acknowledgment can we experience then when we finally hear - "well done good and faithful servant."
We only get there however by becoming a servant. We only get there by realizing that the cycles the devil keeps us in are rooted in who we have made this life to be about - even as Christians. Too often the watered down church does not provide the true words we need. That we need to die to self daily. That we need to pick up our cross if we are to truly follow Christ. Beloved, God has accepted us and made us a new creation. He has approved us and we can continue to find that approval by being found in His Word. He acknowledges us through a life set apart for His use. For the development of an eternal perspective.
I conclude today with the key verses which introduce us to Mary Magdalene. These verses are important for this discussion because of where Jesus found Mary. He found her with seven demons. He cast out seven devils from her. We read things like this and gloss over them too quickly. Ponder this question my pastor asked recently about Mary Magdalene. I wonder what devils had to be cast out of her. Maybe there was a demon of lust. Maybe there was a demon of self loathing. Maybe even a demon of suicide. Of worthlessness. Of depression. Of anxiety. Yet despite this introduction to Mary Magdalene, we essentially only see her two more times. She is one of the few people bold enough to stand at the cross and watch Jesus die. Nearly all had forsaken Him but she stayed until the end. The other appearance is then on Resurrection Sunday as she defies the intimidation of Rome to go an anoint the body of Jesus, only to discover that He has risen! I point this out because Jesus found all of us somewhere. Maybe we didn't have seven demons and maybe for others it was more. We all know that one is quite enough. But even the new creation we are must continue the spiritual war we are in.
