We live in one of the most tremendous times since the ages began. We
stand on the threshold of a new age; the dawning of which will be the
unveiling of the Christ in a many member body. This unveiling will be
the beginning of a release from the bondage of corruption for creation
into the liberty of the glory of God. It will be a time when, All
the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the
families of the nations shall worship before You
(Ps.22:27). Many
people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways,
and we shall walk in His paths
(Isa.2:3). And, At the name of
Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth,
and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
(Phil.2:10-11).
We also find this to be a time of great enlightenment as the Father opens the eyes of our understanding that we might know Him. There are truths being opened to us that have been declared in past generations only to be covered up by the teachings of men and buried by the religious systems of Babylon. We are finding new depths in the scriptures, as we never thought before possible. The Word becomes alive with new meaning. The greatness of our God has become even greater. We begin to marvel at how shallow we were and still are as our Father begins to overwhelm us with the length and breadth and the height and depth of Himself.
Yet it is at this very point we find a serious problem in the called out ones. There seems to be a need in many to be recognized as "spiritual" by those around them. They have a need to be, as it were, one step ahead of the rest of the Church. They have a need to find some "revelation" which no one else has ever seen of heard before. So they dig and dig until they can pull a rabbit out of the hat and amaze those around them who don't know any better.
Then again we have those who love to sit and bask in such so-called "revelations" as they are emotionally stirred by the terminology. They love to gather with the assembly and hear the "depths" of the Word declared. This in some way satisfies something within. Yet in both cases the reality of the life of God escapes their everyday life. It makes no difference what level we may talk about or what area of truth we may consider, we will find those who are content to hear such things and to preach such things and never stop to realize their life is void of the reality of the Kingdom of God.
It makes no difference; it can be the salvation realm, the Holy Spirit realm. It can be the faith message, the prosperity message. It can be the sonship, kingdom, or reconciliation message. All realms will find those who declare the words and are void of the reality. Those who revel in the terminology and excitement of the message and yet go home to live void of any such reality. We are thankful we live in a day when God, our loving Father, will not allow us to live such any longer. He is now dealing with all of us to bring forth the reality of His Person in our lives.
"Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." (Rom 1:21-22)
"Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God, or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking - with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning and stupid speculations - and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools - professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves." (Amp.)
"...rather they busied themselves with silly speculations about Him." (Nor.)
We see such a powerful warning in these scriptures that needs to be
sounded to our generation. Those who know, ginosko, God.
Those who had a relationship with God. Ginosko, this is the
same Greek word used by Paul when he declared, For whom I have
suffered the loss of all things ... that I may know (ginosko) Him
(Phil.3:8-10). We
find this word again in Mt.1:25. And did not know (ginosko) her until she had brought
forth her firstborn Son.
This knowing is of an intimate nature,
like a husband and wife. It is of such an intimate nature Paul was
willing to lose all for such a relationship. Yet we find a people who
had such a knowing of God, had such a relationship with God, and as
hard as it may be to comprehend, they turned from such a relationship
and turned to speculations about God.
"For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge (epignosis) of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known (epiginosko) the way of righteousness, than having known (epiginosko) it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them." (2Pt.2:20-21)
A people who have taken in a full and precise knowledge of our Lord and through such a relationship have escaped from the pollutions of the world. Oh, but now, they have turned from that which they have received and now find themselves overcome by the same pollutions. How can such be? How could a people walk in such a place and then turn away from it? We find the answer in the statement in Ro.1:21. "They did not glorify Him as God." They would not allow God to be God in their lives. Oh yes, they took in enough knowledge of God to get free from their problems, but when God wanted to be God in them, they turned away.
We find the same thing true in the lives of many. We find it true in areas of our own lives. God begins to speak Himself into our lives and we find such a release, such a freedom from problem areas in our lives. We find we begin to walk in victory in these areas of our lives. We can face the temptation to be pulled back and overcome it. Yet, when God begins to deal with the root of the problem and He begins to establish His throne in our lives, we won't let Him have His rightful place. We don't glorify Him as God.
We will take His blessings and allow Him to deliver us from our bondages. But when God begins to do His in-working in our lives we begin to turn from such. Such a turning causes us to "busy ourselves with silly speculations about God." We begin to form a god of our own making. We make a god which will require nothing of us and will certainly not try and deal with those roots in our lives which are the cause of the bad fruit we see manifest in us. We have spent years shaking off bad fruit in our lives only to find it comes back and we have never really dealt with the root. Ah, but we find now the Lord will lay the ax to the root. (Mt.3:10) It is at this point we find people who will not allow God to be God in their lives and "they busy themselves with silly speculations about Him."
When God begins to deal with those inner areas of our lives if we don't submit to Him, if we don't humble ourselves under His mighty hand, (1Pt.5:6) we will find ourselves looking for new experiences, new revelations, something with which we can busy ourselves and not have to face the reality of the void in our lives of the Kingdom of God.
"Don't make me have to deal with sin in my life. Don't make me responsible for overcoming. Give me a new revelation, a new experience, which will justify my present condition. Let me gather with the saint and scream and shout and totally lose control for a few hours. Let me gather with the saint and hear a "deep" Word, which will cause me to know more than the other groups in my area. Give me a revelation with which I can blow the minds of those less informed ones. Oh, but please, don't make me face myself in the light of Truth." Such is the mentality of many in our day. It is in such a condition we find God working to bring a balance into our lives. He brings us into balance that He might establish us in Himself.
The word balance, as used in the scriptures, doesn't always give us much insight into the truth we will be considering in this study. We won't just be doing a word study from the scriptures. Yet the truth of being balanced, its characteristics, and what it will mean in our lives, is found throughout the scriptures and speaks to every area of our lives.
"You shall have honest scales, honest weights, and an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." (Lev.19:36)
The word balance in both the Old and New Testament speaks of a pair of scales. There are some root words that we will address at another time, but for the present we will consider the idea of scales. The scales of the Bible were a device that had two sides. A person would put a certain weight on the one side and then whatever was to be weighed out on the other side. When the tow sides leveled, then they knew that they had the weight desired.
The merchants of old would often try to use a false weight in order to short change their customers and make more money for themselves. The Lord, of course, rebuked such a practice. (Prov.11:1, 20:23, Lev.19:36) There was to be a standard set of weights, which the merchants could go by and deal fairly with their customers. The scripture in Lev.19:36, which speaks of having "honest scales," says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." The children of Israel knew what it was to be dealt with unfairly and to be brought under bondage. Because of this they should have known to deal fairly with each other as well as those nations around them.
"I am the Lord your God." The standard was raised. The Lord Himself was and is the standard by which they, as well as we, were to go by. He brought them out of such bondage. God had delivered them from the realm of lying and cheating and would deal with them honestly and so they were to do the same.
It is plain to see that, to walk a balanced life, we must walk
honestly with each other. No more deceit. No more hiding certain things
from each other. This doesn't mean we tell every little thing about
ourselves to everybody we meet. But we quit living a life of pretense
in front of each other. No longer putting on a facade of spirituality.
We hear Paul making statements such as, Provide things honest in
the sight of all men
(Ro.12:17). Providing for honest things,
not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men
(2Cor.8:21). Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we
should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest,
though we be as reprobates
(2Cor.13:7). Let us walk honestly,
as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying
(Ro.13:13). And that ye
study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your
own hands, as we commanded you: That you may walk honestly toward them
that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing
(1Thess.411-12).
Peter adds his confirmation to Paul's statements by saying, Dearly
beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lust, which war against the soul: Having your conversation honest among
the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they
may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day
of visitation
(1Pt.2:11-12).
We realize we have quoted several scriptures and we would not even begin to try and deal with all that is contained within them. We also realized there will be many who see this as too elementary, to practical, they would rather have the depth of the Word declared to them. Too such we make no apologies. It is high time we take what we call the "depth" of the Word and begin to walk in its reality. Far too long have we heard that which is "deep" avoiding any practical, everyday application of such truth. We have been guilty of "busying ourselves with silly speculations about God." To become a balanced people we will have the throne of God doing its work in our lives to bring forth a visible manifestation into our everyday life of the Presence of God.
Many have grown weary with the processing of the Lord. They despise the chastening of the Lord. (Heb.12:5) They now find scriptures they can twist which, in their minds, excuse them from such dealings. They formulate teachings, which declare the work is all done and all we need is for God to open our eyes to the finished reality. And while there is a truth in such a statement it does not mean there will be no processing in our lives. It does not mean we won't have to deal with the soulish side of our being. The self. The old man is dead. (Ro.6:6) but there is still a purifying of the soul by obeying the truth through the Spirit. (1Pt.1:22) We must still mortify, kill, the deeds of the body that we might live. (Ro.8:13)
We must still come to the garden of Gethsemane and surrender our will to the Father's will. Such a surrender is more than just mouthing the words to sound spiritual. The reality of such a surrender will cause you to sweat drops of blood. It will cause you to be emptied of your own life. Many today can glibly say, "Not my will Lord, but Yours be done." Oh, but when it comes to actually going to Golgotha, place of a skull, we find them scattered to their own ways.
To be balanced, to have honest scales, means we don't change the standard in order to suit ourselves. Jesus is the standard we are to go by. Many look to Paul and he was certainly an example of a man walking with God. But he is not the standard. Many look to Job and certainly we find much we can learn from his life in the midst of such dealings of God. But he is not the standard. We can read through Hebrews chapter eleven and find example after example of men and women who walked with God and experienced areas of victory in their lives and we can be encouraged by such lives. Even with all their frailties and failures they still walked with God and experienced victory. But they are not the standard.
We could list men and women of our own recent history who have shown forth the mighty ability of God. Those who have demonstrated areas of the nature of God. Those we know personally who walk in the Spirit and are moved by the Spirit. But they are not the standard.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily
ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before
us, LOOKING TO JESUS...
(Heb.12:1-2).
Oh yes, the cloud of witnesses can encourage us that we can, with them, "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us." If they were able to draw upon the life of God and overcome, then so can we. But they are not the standard. We run the race, "LOOKING TO JESUS." This cloud of witnesses are a people who ran their race looking to God, drawing upon His life and they were able to do great exploits.
Many times we look to those we deem as spiritual and rather than being encouraged to rise above our sin we use their weakness to hold on to ours. "They aren't perfect, yet God uses them and reveals Himself to them. They understand the "deep" things and look at the short comings in their lives." Such an attitude only shows we are not looking to Jesus as our standard. We have only fixed our eye on man and attempt to use man as an excuse for our own failures.
Tekel: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting
(Dan.5:27).
Weighed and found wanting. Put on the scales and coming up short. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
(Ro.3:23). What
is the standard? The glory of God. Until we have come into His
fullness, we are short. Until there is no more sin in our lives, we
come short of His glory. Until every attitude, every thought, every
feeling, every emotion, is swallowed up by His Spirit, we will come
short. Until our will is totally surrendered to His will, we come
short. We will be put on the scales and will be found wanting.
We may seem to be doing better than others, we can point out. Our lives may not be as bad as theirs. We find when we begin to look at the lives of others and determine our spiritual condition we are simply looking for excuses for areas in our own lives we know to be short of His glory. Let Paul's words ring out loud and clear.
For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those
who commend themselves. But they measuring themselves by themselves,
and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise
(2Cor.10:12).
When we turn to those around us to check our spiritual condition we
simply become just plain ignorant. Have you ever noticed we always
compare ourselves to someone we deem to be on a lower spiritual level?
It sure makes us feel "deeper" or more spiritual. You shall have
honest scales, honest weights ... I am the Lord your God
(Lev.19:36).
And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things
says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: 'I know
your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to
die, for I have not found your works perfect before God''
(Rev.3:1-2).
We find the Lord speaking to the Church in Sardis, this Church that is still filled with the ways of Adam. The name Sardis means, red ones. The name Adam means, red earth. Sardis was a Church that still operated out of the first Adam, that living soul (1Cor.15:45). They had experienced a measure of the life of the last Adam, of the Christ, but they had not come into His fullness.
For I have not found your works perfect before God.
Wuest
translated this as, For I have found no works of yours that have
been brought to a state of completeness.
Something was started in
them but had not come to full fruition and was now about to die. They
had become content with this realm of measure, this in-part realm. This
realm of measure had made them a "name that you are alive." Oh, how
thrilled we get when others get excited about the little bit of Christ
they can see in us. They see this puny little trickle of the Christ
coming through us and they get excited and lift us up as somebody.
There is still so much of that "living soul" operating in us but just
an inkling of the Christ slips out now and then. This inkling of the
Christ causes others to lift us, but it also causes us to be lifted up
in our own estimation.
You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Again,
Wuest says, That you have a reputation that you are alive. And yet
you are dead.
Just let someone prophesy or heal the sick and all of
a sudden they have a reputation for being this spiritual somebody. Soon
the crowds will flock to this one with a reputation, and if this one is
not careful, they will try to live off this reputation, and all the
while, they are full of dead men's bones. They look good on the
outside, ah but on the inside, they are a stench in God's nostrils.
I know your works.
Goodspeed translates this, I know what
you are doing.
I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. How
this should pierce to the depths of our beings. We may try to live off
some reputation we have developed in the past because of those inklings
of the expression of the Christ in our lives. Oh, but He knows what we
are doing. We have not come into His fullness yet, and we have become
content with this measure we live in. Yet we must realize if we try to
live in this measure we will begin to die. We must not try to live out
of the realm of measure. It will not keep us alive. It is meant to move
us on to His fullness.
These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the
seven stars.
The realm of fullness. This is the standard. Christ in
the fullness of God. We cannot look to those who have lived out of the
realm of measure and have some success. Oh no, we must look to the
Christ and His fullness. He is the Firstborn among many brethren. He is
the Beginning of the creation of God. He is the Head of the body. There
is none higher than the Christ. There never will be. We cannot rest
content; we cannot be satisfied with anything less than His image
formed in us.
We would close this article with a quote from the writings of Preston Eby.
"In this world there are various kingdoms - the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. Each of these kingdoms is a sphere of existence, a plane of being. Yet none of these kingdoms has a KING! Each kingdom has certain inherent characteristics and specific manifestations. Each is part of a "kind," a "domain," - that is what makes them a kingdom.
"King is from the old Anglo-Saxon word "cynn" pronounced "kin." Our modern word "kin" is from the same root denoting kindred, kinfolk, kinship, kinsmen, kind, people, race. King actually meant "one of noble birth," one who was born or came out of, and thus was the "kin" of nobility. It didn't mean that he was the ruler, but that he was from that "class," the class of those who had power and wealth. The king was simply one who bore the characteristics of that order. If the animal kingdom, or the vegetable kingdom, or the mineral kingdom should have a king it would be one of that order par excellence, beyond comparison, the one whose every characteristic is in full splendor, the perfect specimen, the representative one, the epitome of all the order is. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Can we not see by this that Jesus Christ is THE KING of God's Kingdom just because He is the One who came and exhibited the full splendor, majesty, power and glory of the realm God intended for man. He came as the man par excellence, the One of greatest excellence, the representative One, beyond comparison, the perfect specimen, the epitome of all man was ordained of God to be. In His very person He defined for fallen and sinful men a NEW KINGDOM, a new sphere of existence, a new plane of being, a new dimension of consciousness - the kingdom of men in the image and likeness of God." End quote.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the
people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; LIFT
UP A STANDARD FOR THE PEOPLE
(Isa. 62:10).