The Salt Of The Earth
Post 5, Chapter 5: God’s Called Out Ones.
This is the fifth post in the series from Chapter 5 of Friends With God: God’s Called Out Ones. In the previous two posts we looked at what it means to Hallow God’s Name, as spelt out in both the third of the Ten Commandments and in the Lord’s Prayer. In this post we will see what God expects us to do to fulfil His will in our life.
Doing The Will Of God
The way to carry God’s name responsibly is to listen to what he says, and then to do it:
Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name cast out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, you that work iniquity! (Matt 7:21-23)
As the next few verses explain, the term “iniquity” means to not follow the words of the laws of God, including all the sayings of Christ:
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock.
And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them shall be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house. And it fell, and great was its fall. (Matt 7:24-27)
No matter how great the edifice of a life we have built, including preaching and teaching and casting out demons in Jesus’ Name, if we don’t actually DO what he said to do, then our house will fall.
As Christ said, even if we do great miracles in his name, but we don’t keep the law of God, we will misrepresent the way of life, and will be rejected by Him.
And because we are not keeping his words we will be turning some people off God, and leading others astray, so that they, too, also don’t obey his commands.
It’s the person who hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, who is doing the will of God, and it is he who will be building his house on the solid rock of God’s Word.
You Are The Salt Of The Earth!
It’s therefore up to you to read His sayings, and having read them, to then go and do them. Then you will be hallowing his name, and be doing the will of God. And you will be worthy to be accordingly rewarded with the gift of eternal life.
For this is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer, (2Thess 1:5)
Conversely, if we don’t represent him appropriately, we will not be worthy of eternal life, and we will be cast out as rubbish, and burnt up:
You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost it flavour, wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
You are the light of the world. … Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matt 5:13-16)
God requires you to add spice to the world, and to be a light in the darkness by doing good works, so that others may see that you are representing a loving and merciful God.
As Paul said, the goodness and severity of God: he will correct and teach you, but eventually, if you refuse to follow him, he will not continue to tolerate you, or forgive you. (Rom 11:22)
God is not playing games with eternal life. He expects you to grow and produce fruit, or you will be cut off and burnt to ashes. (Matt 3:1-12, Mal 4:1-3)
The will of God is that we glorify him through our actions, and in so doing, bring many others to know him. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Yes, God is loving and merciful, but once you know his truth, he expects you to do something with it, or you are of no value to him, or anyone else.
He is the creator, and this is his purpose for you.
While God has made all things physical and mortal, the purpose for those things is that God is in the process of making people into spiritual and immortal Sons of God!
This physical life is only the beginning, God has not finished his creation yet.
He is like a potter in the process of making a pot. If the clay is not yielding to him as he wants, then he destroys that pot. (Jer 18:3-6) In this parable God is clearly saying that he will also remove you, if you don’t respond to him as he tells you to.
Being in God’s name therefore means that we need to be doing God’s will, and this then requires us to be in a church that doesn’t hinder us from doing His will. For he will destroy apostate or heretical churches also. (Rev 2:5)
The Work Of The Church
The work of any group of God’s friends is to find other people who are also desiring to be friends with God. We then work with these people as our friends, in order to help them to reflect the love of God in their life.
Then, by our mutual example of being friends with each other, we as a group will be able to be a light to the world, and help each other develop our love and friendship with God.
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. (Gal 6:10)
The role of the church, therefore, is for individual members to work together to provide any possible assistance, be it physical or spiritual, to those who want to be friends with the Creator.
So, to ‘take the name of the Lord your God in vain’ is not simply a matter of swearing or cursing in blasphemy, but rather it is to greatly blaspheme his name by bearing his name in a dishonourable way.
If you say you love and worship God, yet don’t bother to do his will, then you are bearing his name in vain.
Blasphemy Against The Holy Spirit
This is the same as if we reject the promptings of God’s Spirit, for which God will also reject us.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him:
but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come. (Matt 12:31-32)
Why does Jesus tell us that blasphemy against him is able to be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not?
In order to do God’s will, we need the power of His Spirit:
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2Tim 1:7)
If, once we have had our eyes opened by being granted the Holy Spirit, and then we willingly go against the promptings of the Spirit, it is then that we have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, because we are not representing God as we are directed to by his Spirit.
We can also be not following the promptings of the Spirit by not following Jesus’ example and his commands, as revealed to us in scripture.
The Holy Spirit inspired both the Old and New Testament. (John 10:35) Therefore, we need to read both these records of God’s relationships with men, and respond appropriately.
If we don’t respect all of God’s words then we will be committing the unpardonable sin. We need to be guided by the Spirit in our daily life, so that we are able to know what God wants us to do so that we can let our light shine before men, so that people will be able to see our good works and glorify God. (Matt 5:16)
The Importance Of The Third Commandment
With this deeper understanding of what ‘not taking the name of the Lord in vain’ means, it gives a new perspective to all of the Ten Commandments.
The third command can be seen as an introduction to, and warning about, how seriously we must take the next seven commands. We are told not to take on God’s name unless we do it wholeheartedly - we must love him with ALL our heart, mind, and soul. (Matt 22:37-40)
Yet God’s commandments are not simply laws which “we must obey or get it in the neck”. They are laws that are revealed for our benefit, and for the good of all people with whom we have relationships, as they are the way to produce a happy and abundant life:
For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life; (Prov 6:23)
Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. (Psalms 119:105)
To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because no light is in them. (Isa 8:20)
He then gives us the responsibility of spreading his truth to other people to test us, to see if we truly do love his way of life, and are willing to share his truth with others.
The Spiritual Intent Of God’s Word
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24)
In order to worship God in Spirit and in truth, we must not just understand the specific words of God, but also the intent or spirit of the commandments.
Christ showed us the spiritual intent of some specific commandments in his famous sermon on the mount. (Matt 5:21-48) Paul, however, elaborated on the entire law, showing its intent is to demonstrate love to one another:
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law. (this is not just in thought but in action) For: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not lust;" and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Love works no ill to its neighbour, (love is a work) therefore love (in action) is the fulfilling of the Law. (Rom 13:8-10)
Love is something we do. It is how we treat others. And in actively loving others we also show our love toward God:
If a man say, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment have we from him,
That he who loves God should love his brother also.
(1 John 4:20-21)
The third commandment is about how we respond to God in all of his revealed truth, and specifically how we respond to the promptings of his Holy Spirit. This revelation could be through the written word of God, which is inspired by the Spirit, or through how the Spirit interacts with our spirit. (Rom 8:12-16)
Yet, how do we worship God in Spirit and in Truth? Who determines what is the Truth? Is there one true Church that teaches the Truth, the truth that will set you free? We will explore the topic of “the true church, and how to identify it” in the next post in this series.
Enjoyed this, very inspiring!