The Real Purpose of Life

 What is it to learn the humility of Christ? Perhaps it is to share not only His Cross and His Mission, but His world view as well. His "other worldly" outlook.

Our life should be Christ. He who made the universe and spoke the earth into existence, laid no claim to continuing temporal possessions while he lived in the flesh. He owned no bed upon which to lay His head. We may have a house, but only as a necessity and not as a desire to possess. It is said that birds from the arctic caged in the zoo always look northward. So we look heavenward, to our true home.

This world is not our home we're just passing through. We are only sojourners. Wayfaring pilgrims on a trek to a better land. We have a city whose builder and maker is God. Paul in his letter to the Philippians church compared our residence on planet earth to colonists whose citizenship is in heaven. Just as early colonists always had a deep longing for the motherland, so we who are eternal children of the eternal God long for our eternal home. He also spoke of our life here as heavenly ambassadors and as living letters of the love of God. Not until we live our life in light of this other world reality, will we have a sense of the humility our Saviour spoke of and possessed.

It was Paul who said, "For me to live is Christ." Real humility always entails a oneness of priority and purpose. This is why the analogy of being yoke-fellows with Christ is so apt. Those who have had the experience, as I have, of trying to get a team of unequally yoked horses to work together, know how frustrating and futile the effort can be. Normally they are of different temperament and lack unity of purpose. In order for them to work in tandem one of them must sublimate his will to the other. So it is with children of God who would labour together in humility and submission with Christ.

"ONLY ONE LIFE, 'TWILL SOON BE PAST,

ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST, WILL LAST!"

What Is Freedom’s Price?

On this weekend as Americans honour those who paid the supreme price for their freedoms, it is appropriate to remember that freedom never comes cheaply. Perhaps we should remember some of the immortal words spoken by patriots on the subject. One said, “Give me liberty, or give me death” Another said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Someone else stated. “It is better to die a free man on your feet, than to live as a slave on your knees.” Mann said, “No man escapes when freedom fails, the best men rot in filthy jails, and those who cried, ‘Appease! Appease!’ are killed by those they tried to please.”

I read a time back that over 200,000 Christian clergymen were killed for their faith in the former Soviet Union between 1917 and 1988. In addition, tens of millions of simple Christians died during this era as well. Let us never forget our forefathers who paid the ultimate price that we might be free of such religious repression and persecution. Let us also remember there is a continuing price to be paid in each generation if these precious freedoms purchased at such a high price are to be maintained and passed on.

But there is another sort of freedom that is even more precious and costly. It is the freedom our Savior spoke of when He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free - If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.”

The price of this freedom has already been paid. It was purchased by the Father and Son at the most terrible cost. The ultimate sacrifice made by the Father and Son to procure our spiritual freedom is beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind. Yet, this incomprehensible freedom is offered to mankind absolutely free. Paul said:  “For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The spiritual freedom God offers to those who will repent and believe upon His Son is more than momentary and historical. It is eternal. When we are born again of His Spirit and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, we are justified by faith.

We are saved from:

The penalty of sin

The power of sin

The presence of sin

We are given eternal freedom from sin. We are  immediately saved from the penalty of sin. Daily we are being freed from the power of sin in our lives. When we are ushered into His presence eternally, we will be freed forever from the very presence of sin!

What does such spiritual liberty mean in a practical sense? God enjoined His Old Testament people to, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land.” Paul said to God’s New Testament people, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free...” And, “For brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not that liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”

The Power Of The Gospel

That the pen is mightier than the sword is an inarguable and historically demonstrable proposition. Unlike military power, the power of the pen relates more to quality than quantity. Powerful ideas placed upon paper in short pithy phrases are the stuff of great historical events. Catchy cliches' contained in incisive insights, are the crucial instruments of information used by visionaries in the crucible of crisis to achieve historical, earth-shattering, revolutionary and radical changes.

It was not the ninety-five theses nailed to the Wittenburg Castle gate, but Luther's short and simple quotation from the Word or God, "The just shall live by faith," that gave the necessary slogan and impetus for the Reformation. It was not a lengthy philosophical dissertation of Paine nor the founding fathers of the American Republic that made the real difference. But a simple cry, "Give me liberty or give me death," by a man of the earth. The speech of this man, Patrick Henry, uttered in the Virginia House of Burgesses, became the spark lighting the fire of the American Revolution. These simple words were the battle cry that fanned its all-consuming flames until victory was won and independence was achieved.

The lengthy and laborious phrases of the main speaker at the dedication of the battlefield of Gettysburg, have been long forgotten. But the sincere, simple sayings of an Illinois back-woodsman, scribbled on the back of an envelope in a train carriage, galvanized a people. His short and moving speech lives on as one of the classics of literary history.

The most significant and revolutionary words of all are the simple words of the simple gospel of Christ. The real power of these words has its source in the powerful God of this universe. In contrast with many words that have changed people and the course of history, these simple words are powerful because they contain and capture ultimate Truth.

The power entailed in these few simple words is an ultimate mystery to historian and philosopher alike. They are foolish to the pseudo-intellectual. They are illogical to the studied logician. They are unreasonable to the worldly prudent and wise. They are weak to the mighty and self-sufficient. After all, who were those simple folk who with a few simple words turned the Roman world upside down? How could a simple Galilean speak words that would change the calendars, coins and conditions of civilisations?

But much more than this, how could such life-changing simple words, also change the eternal souls and destiny of men? But to the foolish these simple words are words of wisdom. To the dying, they are words of life. To the weak and insecure, they are words of safety and security. To the lost, they are the power of God unto salvation!

The Mystery Of Immortality

In Paul’s resurrection chapter he brings us face to face with the shocking common denominator of all men, death. He speaks to those who have seen all earthly hope collapse and lie in shattered fragments at their feet. He encourages those who in one moment of time have had their world turned upside down to come crashing down around them.

He speaks to those who have realised that eyes that once smiled have closed, lips that once spoke have fallen into cold silence and the warm loving grasp of a vibrant hand has forever relaxed. He addresses all men who, no matter how lightly they may treat the matter or how desperately they may try to circumvent or delay the issue, must someday stand on common ground as their hearts ponder the same age-old question of the mystery of immortality.

The stark reality of man’s mortality is made evident in the life of even the most sceptical. He cannot avert his eyes from the spectre of death that overshadows his every step. He cannot silence the voice that shatters his self-imposed naivete.

The timeless question of Job of old breaks loudly into the false sanctity of his consciousness with all the force of a wailing siren:

"If a man dies,

shall he live again?"

Job 14:14

Paul and Job urge man to break out of the shell of self-deception and face the issue squarely. He implores man to come to grips with the implications of man’s mortal existence, no matter how painful the encounter with reality might be. He insists man admit the hopelessness of his dilemma, unless an answer comes from a higher source and authority.

Theirs is not a question flung as a scornful cry into the face of an unyielding fate. But rather, it is framed as an intelligent appeal, from the heart of a man of spiritual wisdom. A man who recognizes that the answer to life’s central question can only come from the one from whom life issued.

Are we, as Paul, justified in holding that in spite of death, we have a valid hope of immortality? Some scoff at such a proposition as a ridiculous paradox. Some shudder at it as a dreadful possibility. Some, not as wise as Paul, turn to history outside God’s Word and are led only to the grave and left there. Because secular history is merely mute about the matter. It neither confirms nor denies the prospect of an afterlife.

Some turn to science, but find no laboratory, apparatus or technique for analysing life or death or discovering the fate of a soul. Some rely upon philosophy and find themselves free to speculate, postulate, formulate and posit theories, but in the end find their hypotheses unreliable, for philosophy has no reliable means of testing its conclusions.

Some of us turn to the only true and reliable source, the Word of God, to find there the only authoritative and satisfying answer to man’s perpetual quest for immortality. We cherish this hope as the established answer. Our hearts vibrate within us as we contemplate Paul’s climatic cry, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be unto God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" 

- John White

Our Blessed Hope

There rests within the breast,

Of those who wait for Him,

A fervent, burning hope for rest,

From sin in every limb.


Longing ever to be free,

From the prison of the flesh,

Through faith’s eye the empty tomb we see,

And our hearts are filled with bliss.

And echoing as we pause and listen,

The angel’s cry - "He is risen!" - John White

Over-comers In Christ

God has never guaranteed Christians immunity from trouble. Although Jesus said we could come to Him to have life more abundantly, He wasn’t inferring that life would be a rose garden or that we would be borne to heaven on flowery beds of ease. The person was right who said life wasn’t meant to be easy.

But just why is this so? Jesus says that in this world we shall have trouble didn’t He? We are, as the writers of the New Testament said, in the world, but are not of the world. This world is not our home. We are just sojourners, pilgrims, seeking a city whose build and maker is God. Paul envisioned us a colonisers in the Phillipian letter. And as ambassadors and living love letters from heaven in his Corinthian letters.

As the old saying goes, we are cannot hold on to God with one hand and the world with the other. We cannot be neutral. Jesus 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.” (Matt. 6:24)

God is asking us to take a stand for Him in this world. You see Jesus called it like it was. The tug of the world and the pull of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in\ opposite directions guarantees inevitable trouble for a Christian.

Experimentally we can all confirm the veracity of Job’s statement that man is born for trouble. He’s often caught up in the geography of circumstance and finds himself surrounded by the meteorology of trouble. He frequently feels the heat in the crucible of crisis.

He’s dropped into the test tube of trial. He’s called upon to navigate the shoals of loss and sorrow. Often he finds there is no easy way to build a detour around\sorrow or tragedy. He must go through it in order to come out safely on the other side. The three Hebrew children were not saved out of the fiery furnace, but in and through it. The lives of Daniel, David and all the patriarchs of the Old and New Testaments confirm the universality of this dilemma and the purifying experiences that often result form it.

In his Roman letter Paul gives a liturgy of the sort of tragic occurrences the Christian may expect in life. (See Ro. 8:35-39) In this list, He gives no indication any will escape trouble. Rather, he says we will suffer through them. He warned that Christian martyrdom was already becoming an everyday occurrence. He even mentioned two kinds of demonic angels. He indicated there are special kinds of demons whose primary mission is to bring us trouble. But he reassures us that by suffering we become more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.

Oh, To Be Like Him!

I John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is”

In our century it has become increasingly clear that man’s desire to be free of the surly bonds of earth and soar into the heavens has brought him to the very brink of a new era. He has reached for the stars and seems to have taken a first feeble step into near space. Armstrong’s historical statement, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” seems to summarise man’s eternal quest for the heavens.

In spite of all the fantasising of science fiction, man is quickly becoming acutely aware of the many practical scientific problems posed in his penetration of outer space. It would seem that man is just too inhibited by the continuum of time, matter, energy and space to ever conceivably achieve his dream.

The time required for man to travel safely at the speed required, using any propulsion and environmental survival systems that can be envisioned today, far exceeds man’s survival capacity. The fragility of man’s frame and the sensitivity of his biological systems mitigate against successful extended space travel.

Man’s only real hope of breaking away from the forces of gravity and truly leaving the restrictive confines of this earth, lie in another direction entirely. Man has the answer he seeks and the freedom he desires, but he does not seem to be willing to understand it or accept it. Man is truly designed for the stars, but he does not seem willing to fully come to grips with or grasp his eternal destiny. A simple statement in the Word of God clearly settles the issue. John, in speaking of eternal sons of God said,“We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is..” If we are to know the fantastic future our Creator God has in store for those eternal sons He has chosen as the eternal objects of His love in Christ Jesus, we only need to know what He is like. What He is like, physically, intellectually and spiritually is the key to our eternal existence.

To really explore our future we must examine what He is like in His resurrected body. Because, as even Job understood two thousand years before the event, eternal sons and daughters of God will be given a completely new resurrected body - like Him.

Paul made sure we understood that this new body entailed an entirely different and glorious sphere of existence. Physically, that automatically entails repealing or setting asides the laws of nature that normally place restrictions or limitations upon our human body. The record of all the observed activities of our resurrected Saviour during the days He spent among upwards of five hundred of His followers before His ascension gives us some indication of that fantastic future. Evidently he travelled from earth to paradise, to heaven and back to earth in an instantaneous manner. We can only speculate about the vast stellar distances involved. He also demonstrated the ability to appear and disappear. The account of His walk with the two disciples to Emmaus clearly illustrates that as well as His appearance in the midst of His disciples, evidently without walking through a door!

In doing so laws relating to matter and energy would of necessity be negated. Because our finite minds cannot comprehend such fantastic phenomenon we are hesitant to fully accept it or speculate upon its full implications. Perhaps it is enough to rejoice in being the eternal sons of God who will see some day Him as He is and be like Him in eternity!

The Geography of Happiness

Perhaps one of the greatest of the Bible preachers and teachers of the past generation, Vance Havner, once said, "The business of a doctor is not to make sick people happy , but to make them well. When they are well, they should be happy.

Christ came to earth not primarily to make everybody happy, but to save us from our sins. When we have been healed , we shall be happy. Moreover, getting sick people to act as if they were well does not cure them of their infirmity. We must deal with the trouble (sin) itself."

This philosophy of life is hard to find and even harder to place into practice in our day and time. We seem to feel that happiness is the great pursuit of mankind. But are somewhat like the dog chasing his tail in our perpetual quest for it. We seem to spin around in endless circles seeking it. I often think of this when I observe the things people are involved in and the places they seem to go in search of happiness.

Have you ever noticed that those who live in the mountains or outback seem to think happiness lies along the coast and beaches of this great land? Or that those who live along the beautiful coast line seem to feel that happiness must lie over the horizon in the mountains or outback? Or that those who live in the north seem to think the geography of happiness lies southward and those in the east think it lies westward and vice versa? And that during holidays all these people meet each other on congested highways in a frantic scramble to squeeze the last ounce of happiness out of each precious moment? Or is it that everyone feels that variety is truly the only spice of life?

But Biblical philosophers such as Vance Havner are not the only ones who see the truth that the geography of happiness has a vertical rather than a horizontal dimension. Most psychologists and counsellors of any note and worth now seem to agree that the best therapy man can receive is to experience freedom from guilt (sin) and a sense of oneness and rightness with His Creator.

The fountain of happiness does not flow from some mystical and magical garden to be found at the end of a ceaseless earthly quest, but from the very throne of God in the garden of God. In spite of all those who would deride and decry the quaint idea, the paradise lost in the garden must truly be found by each individual before happiness can flow in life, both in the here and now and the then and there. This idea is not just someone's wistful vision of pie in the sky by and by, but the only basis for true and lasting happiness. And all those who say they are not looking for that pie in the  sky by and by, but will grab theirs right now, seem to be doomed to continue their sad, senseless and ceaseless quest.   - Pastor John White