Serving the Lord...

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The current Christian teaching does not follow the New Testament. I think it has been deeply penetrated by the philosophy of Humanism and the religion of Gnosticism.

The philosophy of Humanism places the welfare of man above all else and denies supernatural influences. The religion of Gnosticism places specialized knowledge above all else and views the physical world as evil.

We see the philosophy of Humanism in the prevailing view of the Apostle Paul's teaching of "grace" as being the Divine covering of the sinful behaviour of people. We see the religion of Gnosticism in the idea that confessing Christ and believing God raised Him from the dead removes the need for the new creation of righteous behaviour. (5/8/2011). Think about these two concepts, the idea that God wants to cover our sinful behaviour and is not especially interested that the believer in Christ becomes a new creation of righteous behaviour.

Then compare them with the following verse:

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1—NASB)

The great cloud of witnesses is described in the preceding chapter of the Book of Hebrews. These all are heroes of faith. They suffered every kind of rejection and privation as they strove to attain to a better resurrection.

Can you imagine a believer of today dying and passing into the spirit world, standing in the heavenly Jerusalem among the saints described in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, many of whom were tortured and martyred, and telling them how he escaped all suffering because he was saved by grace?

Our silly doctrines of today that teach us we will be "raptured" into Heaven before we possibly could suffer any inconvenience simply are not from the God of the Christian martyrs. The truth is, we have been deceived.

The way things are shaping up in the world the believers of today well may have opportunity to stand and proclaim Christ in the midst of the flames of persecution, and thus join the ranks of God's witnesses.

What can we do about our feeble spiritual condition?

"Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,"

Does the above verse sound as though God sees us through Christ and so we no longer have to be concerned about our behaviour? "Lay aside." That sounds to me like something we are to do.

Lay aside what? "Every encumbrance." An encumbrance is something that weighs us down, attempting to prevent our attaining to our objective. What is our objective? It is to serve the Lord faithfully every day. What encumbrances weigh us down? The attractions of the world, particularly of the American culture.

Do the electronic gadgets of our day weigh us down? They certainly do. We have been commanded to redeem the time; to make the best possible use of the time God has given us during our lifetime on the earth. We are busy at our school and work. We need to set aside time every day to pray and read our Bible.

Our fun with iPhones, iPads, and electronic instruments and games use up time. They do not build us up in the Kingdom. We are going to have to answer for wasting what God has given us. Our inheritance will be given to another and we will be sent into the Land of Darkness when the Lord appears.

Attempting to attain to our high calling in Christ while amusing ourselves with the electronic gadgets is like running a race with iron shoes.

"Lay aside the sin which so easily entangles us." Where does "grace" enter in here? God's grace authorizes us to turn aside from the Law of Moses and seek the Lord Jesus. As we cooperate with the Spirit of God, He points out the sin that is binding us. Then God's grace, His power, enables us to lay aside the sin that has been pointed out to us by the Spirit.

"Run with endurance." Running is hard work. Running spiritually is hard work. Running is painful. Running spiritually is painful at times. We have to endure hardness, the Bible says, as good soldiers. How does this line up with today's doctrine of easy "grace"?

"The race that is set before us." "What race," today's coddled believer may ask, "I thought all I had to do was say I accept Christ and I will go to Heaven when I die and live in a mansion on a golden street!"

The "race" is that of pressing forward against the many encumbrances, the many problems, the many doubts, the many lusts and passions of our flesh and spirit, the many criticisms and mocking, the barrage of garbage bombarding us continually from the media. All of these strive mightily to persuade us to live in the swamp of fleshly thrills. "A little slumber, a little folding of the hands"—thus we Americans sleep on as the forces that hate America gather their resources and plot our annihilation.

I am not certain we can save our country. But each of us as an individual can flee in our heart from the current preaching that is telling us how much God loves us and will never permit us to be harmed.

How soon disaster and chaos will strike, I am not certain. But when it does, only those who are obeying Hebrews 12:1 will stand victoriously in our Lord Jesus Christ and assist their loved ones and friends.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Taken from "Serving the Lord," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2011, by Robert B. Thompson.)

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