May 12, 2021
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
From Webster's Dictionary, the verb change can mean (1) to make different in some way; (2) to pass from one form, state, or level to another; for example, the weather in New England is constantly changing; or (3) to give up (something) and take something else in return.
As a born-again believer, all three of those definitions should apply to our life. A Christian should be different and exhibit different behavior in many ways from a non-believer. A born-again believer also passes from one form, namely death, to another form, namely life. Finally, a born-again believer should give up everything pertaining to the old man and take the nature and characteristics of the new man.
Reluctance to change is widely accepted by the field of psychology as a phenomenon of people. Max Planck, who received a Nobel prize for the discovery of the revolutionary quantum theory in physics, once stated: (quote)
This experience gave me also an opportunity to learn a fact - a remarkable one in my opinion: A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. (end quote)
Unfortunately, some of God's chosen people today are reluctant to change. We also see that in abundance in the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Jewish leaders when Jesus walked the face of the earth.
Jeremiah 48:11, Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
The word "lees" means "dregs" or "sludge" or "sediment," like the settlings in a bottle of wine. It is a tragedy for a Christian to settle on his lees instead of enjoying the true spiritual wine.
Amos 6:1, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations.
Zion, which speaks of the remnant or the overcomers, represents the dwelling place of God. It is indeed a tragedy if those in Zion are at ease. The mountain of Samaria is Mount Gerizim, which is sacred to the Samaritans who regard it, rather than Jerusalem's Temple Mount, as having been the location chosen by God for a holy temple. The Samaritans believed the center of worship should remain at Shechem, on Mount Gerizim, where it had been in the time of Joshua. Gerizim, which speaks of blessing, continues to be the center of Samaritan religion to this day. To "trust in the mountain of Samaria" refers to those who focus more on the blessings from God rather than the God who blesses.
Deuteronomy 27:11-13,
11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying,
12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Christians are NOT immune to reluctance to change, which also is thoroughly documented in many scriptures. "We have always done things this way" is an often-used expression, both in the world and in Christian circles. I have heard a number of rather mature ministries say, "I know God put me into this specific ministry in this place." My comment is "fine, I agree, but did God tell you to stay there forever or did you just find that to be a nice, comfortable place?" In Matthew 17, when Jesus was transfigured in the presence of Peter, James, and John, the three disciples saw the glory of God. Then Peter said it was good for them to be there. Then Peter said, let us build three tabernacles here. We want to stay in this place.
Another striking example of reluctance to change is recorded in Acts 10 with Peter. The Lord had arranged for Peter to visit and preach the gospel to Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian band. Up to that point in time, Peter was convinced that the good news was only for Jews. Peter also believed that no good Jew should ever eat anything that was common or unclean. After all, that was the law as given through Moses. Peter had a vision, or trance, of a certain vessel descending unto him, like a great sheet let down to earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. Then Peter heard the voice of the Lord to him, saying, in Acts 10:13-16,
13 Rise, Peter; kill and eat.14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
When the messengers from Cornelius knocked at the door, the Spirit told Peter to go with them. The end result was that Cornelius and all of his house were saved, baptized in the Spirit, and baptized in water.
As with most topics, we do well to look at the life of Jesus on earth, as recorded in scripture. The religious elite of the day branded Jesus as a reactionary, a revolutionary, and a heretic. FIVE times, in Matthew 5, Jesus said:
Ye have heard ... But I say unto you ... Matthew 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43
The religious elite of the day bristled as they heard Jesus say things that seemed to be contradictory to the law, as given through Moses. When Jesus was healing people, working all sorts of miracles, and feeding people with natural food, He was generally well-received, at least by the common people. However, the religious elite of the day objected strenuously when Jesus healed anyone on the Sabbath day because that was contrary to "their" law. They never understood that Jesus Himself was their Sabbath rest.
Jesus also came saying some words hard to be understood. His words were greatly MIS-understood. The major turning point in the ministry of Jesus on earth is recorded in John 6. In that chapter, Jesus said some things that NO man understood.
John 6:35, 38, 41
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.38 For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.41 The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Note in John 6:41 that the Jews murmured at Him. From there, Jesus went on to say some even harder words.
John 6:53, 56, 60-61
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.56 He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Now note that in John 6:60-61 His disciples murmured at Him. The more that Jesus spoke in the spiritual realm, the more that opposition arose. SO IT IS TODAY!!! As a result,
John 6:66, From that time many of the disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.
We believe that it is NOT a mere coincidence that many of the disciples went back or left Jesus in John 6:66. The carnal man, with his natural reasoning, sooner or later must depart from the Lord and from His ways.
1 Corinthians 2:12-16,
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Back in our old New Testament church days, one of the elders, in an elders' meeting, said that the phrase "we have the mind of Christ" means that if the majority of our elders believed something, then it must be true. I believe that is a misinterpretation of that scripture. Actually. I have witnessed three different churches when ALL of the elders were wrong. How did I know all of the elders were wrong? because of the fruit which followed. In one specific case, a good friend called me from another state to tell me that she and at least a dozen other charismatic Christians were going to pull out of a New Testament house church and start a new house church. She also said that they were going to hire a man from New Jersey to move 500 miles and come to be their pastor. When I heard that, I said that I would like to come and talk to their new elders. She arranged a meeting and I drove 300 miles to meet with the new elders and their wives. I told them that what they were about to do was not God's will. I also told my friend that their new church would not last one year. One of their new elders said the pastor of the church they were leaving had told them that what they were about to do was wrong. Then he said that here I had come 300 miles and I had just told them that what they were about to do was wrong. Then the elder said, "But we have prayed about it and we believe we should start a new church." Well, they did start a new church and they did hire a man from New Jersey to come and be their pastor. In eleven months, their new church disintegrated. I never knew what those Christians did after that.
A good scriptural example is 1 Samuel 8:4-5, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."
A MAJOR characteristic of our walk as Christians is (or at least SHOULD be) change. There is nothing static about Christianity. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever; but we need to be changing into more of the nature of Christ!
2 Corinthians 3:12-18,
2 Corinthians 3:12-18,
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
I have heard a few good Christian men say that they don't get much from the Old Testament. Personally, the majority of revelation which I have received comes from the Old Testament, because the Old is prophetic of the New. The Old speaks of the natural realm; the New speaks of the spiritual realm. Back to verse 15 of 2 Corinthians 3.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
What is "it"? The word translated as "it" can more reasonably be translated as "whosoever."
Verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 3 ...
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
What kind of liberty? liberty to do anything that I want to do? liberty to do whatever feels good or whatever gives me pleasure? Of course not! True liberty is the freedom to walk with the Lord. That is freedom from all of the bondages of men ... in some cases bondage imposed by professing Christians. If any Christian does not have liberty to walk with the Lord, then perhaps he is in the wrong church or even in a cult. The early Christians, after Pentecost were subjected to some bondage in that many believers still wanted to keep parts of the Jewish traditions and laws. When we look at Christianity in general, (a few have called it Churchianity), we find two extremes. Many of the evangelical fundamentalists basically say, you can never be lost; once saved, always saved; you are saved by grace through faith; therefore, you can do what you please. Then some of the others from Pentecostal or Holiness backgrounds say if you do this, the Lord will come and hit you over the head. In other words, they say don't touch, don't look, don't, don't, don't. Both of those beliefs are false and gender to great bondage.
After the Lord sovereignly and dramatically apprehended me in 1967 we continued in a Methodist church for more than one year. Then the Lord told us to leave man's church. About one year later the Lord put us into a New Testament house church. I have always said, and continue to say, that house church was the "best" church I have ever seen in my life, before or since. But in 1978 the Lord made it very clear to us that we would have to leave that house church or the ministry the Lord had put me into could not be fulfilled. But we had to wait for the timing of the Lord. Just because we hear a word from the Lord correctly does not necessarily mean to implement that word immediately. But on May 30, 1980, during an elders' meeting, the Lord said to me, "Now is the time to leave this house church." The Lord gave me much wisdom as to what to say to the other elders without offending anyone. I could never explain or describe to anyone the complete sense of freedom and liberty I sensed when we left that house church. But a sense or feeling is not, in itself, proof of walking in the word of God. I can only say that in the past 41 years I have received an abundance of revelation from the Lord.
In addition, the Lord had made known to me fifty years ago the specific calling on my life on earth. I never invite myself to speak anywhere. But the Lord has always opened the right doors at the right time for His ministry through me. I say "His ministry" because I have no ministry. It is the Lord's ministry. People come and go over the years but the ministry continues over all of time because it is the Lord's ministry through His vessels. Like Paul, certainly in the past 40 years or more, I have always been content in whatsoever state I find myself. More importantly, hindsight it is easy to see how the Lord has changed me ... how He has replaced many of my attitudes with His nature and His ways. For example, many years ago, as a Christian, I would sometimes get rather angry and frustrated if things did not occur which I thought should occur. But I have learned that the outcome or results of any and all of our efforts does not depend upon me or any other minister. The outcome of all of Christian man's work depends solely upon God. Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 3:5-7, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." Unless God gives the increase, no positive results can occur from our efforts.
Several years ago I was one of several different invited speakers at a weekend conference in another state. A certain woman was also an invited speaker. During her two sessions to speak she focused on the need for deliverance in the lives of Christians. First of all, I see no evidence of deliverance ministry inside the early church as recorded in the book of Acts. The reason? because those believers all were in one accord to glorify God. Whether or not her emphasis on deliverance was warranted was beside the point. The real point was that she operated in a very harsh, judgmental way ... so harsh that a number of the members of that church got up and walked out. When her last session was over, the host pastors came over to my wife and I and apologized for that speaker's attitude. I told them that was no problem for me. I said that I had learned, in situations like that, to just sit and silently pray for the speaker.
I have also learned, through experience, that "Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. I will repay." We should never try to defend ourselves. We have the perfect Advocate in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could share many other personal examples, but the bottom line is this. I am not the same person I was after the Lord apprehended me. I am not the same person that 1 was 10 years ago. I am not the same person that I was yesterday. I have been changed and continue to be changed by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is what I call the normal Christian life.
2 Corinthians 4:14-18,
14 Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Our natural bodies, after the fall of man, were never meant to last forever.
Genesis 6:3, "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."
The meaning of this verse is one of the most disputed in all of the Bible. The phrase "strive with" could also mean "remain in." The word "flesh" can be taken figuratively to mean that which is corrupt. Genesis 6:11-13, "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Because of Psalm 90, Verse 10, I tend to believe that Genesis 6:3 means 120 years before the great flood.
Psalm 90:10, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
Of course, we know experientially that some men have lived more than 100 years in these natural bodies. Therefore, Psalm 90:10 is not a universal rule. I have known personally at least four Christians who have lived more than 100 years. One such man will be 105 in two months. The real answer is that for born-again believers in Christ, we live exactly in these natural bodies only so long as the Lord wills, PROVIDED that we walk with the Lord and, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "keep under our body." I have always maintained that the Lord will not take any of us home until we have finished our course ... until we have fulfilled the purpose for which we were created ... again, IF we really desire to fulfill our purpose to the glory of God.
Philippians 3:12-16,
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
That exhortation is for us to walk in the light that we have received.
How do we change? We cannot change by our own effort. We cannot change by reading more scripture, by praying more, by helping the poor more. Only the Lord can change us, as we are looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith... by being obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Back to verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 3.
2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Christ Himself is the glory of God in the fullness of His radiance. He is the eternal and unfading glory, which He had with the Father before the foundation of the world. We who believe and trust in the risen Christ are gradually being transformed into the image and likeness of Christ, provided we cooperate with the Holy Spirit. This is called sanctification. We must have an open face while we behold the glory of the Lord. To have an open face means that we are open to change. We cannot live in the past. We cannot rely on our past experiences.
Proverbs 3:1-12,
Proverbs 3:1-12,
1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6 In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of His correction:12 For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
We might note that in the first twelve verses of this Proverb, the odd-numbered verses give a command and the even-numbered verses a promised result from obedience. Let us go back and read once more the odd-numbered verses. Whether or not we receive the promised results should be of little concern to us. Our motivation should only be to please the Lord. (Re-read the odd verses.)
The closer we walk with the Lord... the more we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal His Truth to us ... the more we allow the Holy Spirit to change us into His image, the more we will be misunderstood and the more difficult it will be for us to try to explain to others what we have experienced. Anyone who really seeks only the will of God is a person who marches to a different drummer. That person will be marked as "different." The flesh does NOT like to be branded as "different." However, a crown of glory, rather than a crown of shame, awaits us if we follow on to know the Lord. May that love relationship we are honored to have with Christ propel us into fulfilling His purpose within us. No turning back, no turning back ... Amen.
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