During my high school days I remember reading the short story entitled “The Necklace”. It is the account of a lady, who borrowed an expensive necklace for an event, lost it and had to replace it from an expensive jeweler. She spent years and years of sacrifice and toil to pay for the replacement. To her dismay she meets again the woman who loaned her the necklace and discovers that the original necklace was a fake — of little value. Just think — she worked for years to pay for an article that had no value — years wasted.
Did you know there is a negative possibility at the Judgment Seat of Christ? It is very possible to spend years in Christian service and discover we have a wood, hay and stubble ending. (I Corinthians 3:11-15)
A Guide for Living
One of my motivators is to daily ask myself two questions:
1. What 2 things would I not want to be doing if Jesus Christ returned today?
2. What 2 things would I want to be doing if Jesus Christ returned today?
Do you need a motivator to help you live according to those two questions? For me personally the great motivator is a consideration of “In Vain Service”.
The “In Vain” reference of I Corinthians 15:1-2 deals with historical faith instead of saving faith. We deal with this in the CD “Preparing for a Crisis” (Call the office to ask for it -- 508 362-7070). I challenge you to study the places where “In Vain” is used as it relates to the believer - lets consider two of them:
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, IN VAIN “ Gal. 2:1-2
One of the legitimate fears of the Apostle Paul was that tendency on the part of people to pervert the Gospel. To substitute legalism for the Gospel is one way to pervert it or to teach Christ plus something! I Corinthians 2:2 is a call never to substitute for the preaching of the Cross. If we do, the result will be that we will produce spiritually illegitimate people. Read the horrible consequences in I Corinthians 2:5:
“that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God”
Horatius Bonar wrote at least 600 hymns. He died in 1889. Consider one of his classic statements:
“When a man gets wearied of what is old and is always catching hold of what is new, it looks as if he had been beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ”
Wasn’t it Dr. Harry Ironside, former Pastor of Moody Church, who said - “If it is new it probably is not true”? Today it isn’t so much what is being said. The bigger issue is what is not being said. Bigness is not the test. In fact it is possible the result could be wood, hay, and stubble at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
“holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored IN VAIN.” Phil. 2:16 All of us who teach Divine Viewpoint have a Philippians 2:16 concern. Our goal is information plus application. After all, this is the goal of expository preaching — Nehemiah 8:8: “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave them sense and caused them to understand the reading”
Now the goal is Ephesians 4:12-13 and if we fail to meet the conditions that produce this goal we toil in vain!!
Application
My goal is to one day offer the Bible Book a Month and the Galaxy of the Giants at no charge. Unfortunately at this point we can’t. I long for a maximum number of people studying the Bible — not just those who can pay for it. I also realize that if we don’t make this station on Cape Cod work we will continue to live with the unbelievable statistic of only 3% of Cape Codders being evangelicals.
To reach these goals we have to bring people to a basic realization. Le me put it this way: Randy Alcorn in his book “The Treasure Principle” said this - it is in the form of a question directed toward God -
“Lord, am I honoring You as owner and CEO/CFO of the assets You’ve entrusted to my care? Or am I treating You as a mere financial consultant, to who I pay a fee (2 %, 10 %, or ...)? Have I been acting as if I own the store and You work for me, rather than recognizing that You own it and I work for You?”
“The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants” - Leviticus 25:23 (See also Deuteronomy 10:14 and I Chronicles 29: 11-12)
We are all concerned about gas prices. Here on Cape Cod 40% of the people are forced to be on a property insurance plan that is being increased by 25%. Unbelievable. Probably at least 10% of our largest contributors have gone to Heaven in the last year. Songtime may be involved in the estate of some of them but that doesn’t deal with present needs. I have the problem of challenging every listener to realize Deuteronomy 8: 17-18
“then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
If we fail to bring listeners to a Deuteronomy 8: 17-18 mindset we’ll be forced to cut back on some great opportunities. This is a call for continuance and your support is vital.
(Suggestion: Study some of the other “In Vain” texts —— I Corinthians 15:14, 15:17, 15:58, II Corinthians 6:1, Galatians 4:11, I Thessalonians 2:1, 3:5, James 1:26)
I’m counting on your prayers for me personally so I won’t have a Galatians 4:11 happening -
“I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you IN VAIN”