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Are You Ready?

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Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the Lord is near—near and hastening fast. Hark! the voice of the day of the Lord! The mighty man [unable to fight or to flee] will cry then bitterly.

When you read those words what was your first reaction? Was it one of joy or of fear, and dread? Amos 5:18 states, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!…” Now in some ways I am looking forward to being with Jesus, and seeing Him face to face. But in other ways I fear His review of my life. What did I do with the deposit of His Spirit and Life He gave me? Did I invest in others? Did I become conformed to the Image of Jesus? Did I become a son of God? Will I hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant?” Did I learn to love Him with all my heart? Did I learn to love? You may say to me, “But Robert, Jesus has taken our punishment. He’s not going to judge us for our sins.” This is true. But have you not read where we will be judged for the works we have done? 1 Cor. 3:10-15 According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,13 The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.14 If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward.15 But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.

The Apostle Paul, through Christ and by His Spirit, have laid a foundation in you. But notice his warning, But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it. He goes on to warn, for the DAY of Christ (Robert’s emphasis) will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.

In Zephaniah the warning is given that the Day of the Lord will “take away,” “make an end,””utterly consume,” and “sweep away all things from the face of the earth.” What is going to sweep away? Mankind, beast, idol worshippers (those who deem anything or anyone more important than God), those who pretend to worship Jesus. But pay close attention to Zephaniah 1:6 “And those who have drawn back from following the Lord and those who have not sought the Lord nor inquired for, inquired of, and required the Lord [as their first necessity].” “Following the Lord” is another way of saying, obeying the Lord. There are church attenders, and followers of Jesus. Church attenders aren’t necessarily following Jesus any more than walking into your garage makes you a car. (sadly, there are those who don’t even attend church) Followers submit, surrender, and follow. They recognize they have been bought with a price and their lives are lived in overflowing gratitude and obedience.

Once I heard Bobby Conner remark, “We are too familiar with an unfamiliar God.” And it’s true. How can we look forward to the Day of the Lord as if we are not going to be held accountable for what we did with the life He gave us; with the Word He gave us; with the Spirit He sent to indwell us? We have more time saving devices than our ancestors ever had and yet we exclaim we have no time – for God. We have time for everything else but God. We make time for everything else but God.

What’s the good news Robert? Zephaniah 1:7, 14 [Hush!] Be silent before the Lord God, for the day [of the vengeance] of the Lord is near; for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, and He has set apart [for His use] those who have accepted His invitation...The great day of the Lord is near—near and hastening fast. Hark! the voice of the day of the Lord! 

The good news is you are taking time to listen to “the Voice of the Day of the Lord.” The good news is that you have chosen to be silent before the Lord (to have a quiet time of being centered in Jesus). The good news is that you have been set apart for His use and are learning to accept His invitation. The good news is found in Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the Lord [inquire for Him, inquire of Him, and require Him as the foremost necessity of your life], all you humble of the land who have acted in compliance with His revealed will and have kept His commandments; seek righteousness, seek humility [inquire for them, require them as vital]. It may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger. The good news is having the Holy Spirit convict of sin, righteousness, and judgement to come. The good news is we are not indifferent, apathetic or complacent regarding His invitation. Praise Him for all of these things knowing that there is enough Blood to cover your sin and mine; enough Holy Spirit and Grace to empower you to seek first – today – the King, His Kingdom, His righteousness, and His dominion over you. Praise Him that He is enough.

I want to be ready. Are you ready? Sounds like an old Larry Norman song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.“

The Pain-Pleasure Worldview

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2 Chronicles 1:5-7 Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought [the Lord].6 Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it.7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask what I shall give you.

I searched the internet attempting to attach a modern day, monetary equivalent to Solomon’s sacrifice. One article suggested that the animals used for sacrifice would cost roughly one month wages of an average worker. Thus, Solomon sacrificed roughly 84 months of wages to seek God. That’s approximately seven years wages – in one day.

A western Christian would look at the cost of Solomon’s sacrifice and be highly offended. Offended at the sacrifice being an animal, and offended at the pain to see it through. Why is sacrifice offensive to Modern Christians?

Matthew Pickering, in his online article titled, THE CHALLENGE AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE PAIN-PLEASURE WORLDVIEW, addresses this issue writing: Missiologist David Williams writes, “We are seeing the demise of guilt-innocence as the dominant worldview in Western cultures. I suggest that guilt-innocence is a fading paradigm. I think we are moving from being a guilt-innocence culture to becoming a pain-pleasure culture.” Our culture has changed. The new way of being in the world means all the following propositions and more. ‘I exist to pursue pleasure by becoming my true uninhibited self which can be anything I want it to be. Pleasure is good and therefore anything that limits or threatens my pleasure is bad. Pain is bad and anything that causes it is therefore also bad and should be avoided or even punished. If my pursuit is challenged, if it causes anxiety, if it is not working, I need therapy not correction.’

Pain and Pleasure participants, and adherents judge and dismiss Solomon’s Sacrifice as “over the top.” Interestingly, the person who wrote the book of 2 Chronicles took the time to count the number of animals sacrificed and record it. What’s sad is that the Pain-Pleasure Worldview has crept into the Church. Its’ members now count the number of songs sung, calculate the time spent traveling to and from church, and the number of minutes it takes for the sermon to be delivered. We’ve gone from picking up crosses, dying to ourselves, to wearing fashionable, miniature facsimiles.

Regarding this issue the writer of Hebrews states: Heb. 13:15 Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. AMPC Pain and Pleasure adherents moan and groan over such a thought: let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise??? Pain and Pleasure participants challenge this thinking disregarding its truths exposing who and what is the center of their worldview. (And it’s not Jesus). Psalm 50:23 states: He who brings an offering of praise and thanksgiving honors and glorifies Me; and he who orders his way aright [who prepares the way that I may show him], to him I will demonstrate the salvation of God. The real Jesus, not the velvet Jesus, or the hip, and cool, reimagined Jesus – points you to Someone and Something bigger than your pleasure-seeking, pain-avoiding SELF. Psalm 50 above compares sacrificial offerings of praise and thanksgiving as the means to order your way aright. The greater indictment is implied, Those who don’t order their lives around sacrificial thanksgiving and praise, aren’t glorifying Jesus. If we are not glorifying Jesus then who has taken His place? Glorifying something implies making something larger than anything else in comparison. Is our Western Culture making the Temple of Pleasure bigger than Jesus? Bigger than His crucifixion? Bigger than His Resurrection? Bigger than His Ascension? Bigger than His offer of salvation from an eternity of suffering in hell?

I’m reminded of the 2012 Marvel Movie, The Avengers, in which a character by the name of Loki – half brother to Thor states: ENOUGH! You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a god, you dull creature, and I shall not be bullied by–[Hulk grabs Loki by the legs and slams him around like a rag doll, then leaves him face-up on the floor in a crater]. Hulk: Puny god. [Walks off]

Maybe our culture needs to trade places with Jesus and restore to Him the only attribute that sums up Who He is: God Alone! But as Bobby Conner has stated, We have become too familiar with an unfamiliar God. Solomon wisely stated: Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Guess Who Wisdom is in the Proverbs? That’s where we begin knowing Him.

Too Familiar With An Unfamiliar God

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One of the earliest forms of Christian art isn’t a painting, sculpture or even a catacomb fresco. It’s a patch of graffiti on plaster, discovered in the Paedagogium on the Palatine Hill in Rome and dated to around 200 A.D.. Imperial teachers used the Paedagogium building to educate the emperor’s staff, and perhaps an idle student etched the crude artwork. The drawing depicts a man with an ass’s head, hanging on a cross. Viewed from behind, the crucified man turns to the left, looking down at a youth with a raised arm. An inscription underneath the cross figure claims in Greek, “Alexamenos worships his god” obviously mocking Jesus and those who followed Him.

From Jesus’ Garden experience, to His death on the cross, Jesus experienced a range of emotions, as friend, and foe did with Him as they wished. Feelings of apathy, complacency, betrayal, abandonment, injustice, scorn, contempt, and mockery – Jesus felt the full weight of them all. During His scourging He experienced the pain of their scorn, and mockery in a way very few humans have ever had the opportunity to endure. While writing this I think of an old saying, Familiarity breeds contempt. Yet there is also another saying that states, Humankind is way too familiar with an unfamiliar God. Both of these sayings ring true in the scourging, or flogging of Jesus.

The Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Most High God has been put on trial – by His crowning achievement, mankind. While men mocked, creation groaned, as the Savior of the world was beaten to ribbons. Soldiers who were present at the beating assumed they were dealing with just another despised Jew. But as they put Hm through the rigors of “preparation” for crucifixion they soon discovered that they weren’t at all familiar with this kind of man. Stripping Jesus naked, and stretching His arms above His head, they handcuffed Him to a pillar to begin what the Romans called the “half-death.” Called by this name because the punishment was so severe victims would often die during the scourging, or flogging. Two soldiers administered the punishment using a flagrum (a whip consisting of one leather cord that spread out into three to four thongs). Each thong made use of dumbbell-shaped bits of metal attached to the tails that at times contained bits of bone or pottery. Frederick Zugibe adds that: An analysis of the Shroud of Turin very strikingly reveals dumbbell-shaped markings all over the front and back of the trunk and legs down to the calves, essentially sparing the head, neck, and arms….He reminds us that the Jews had a limit of 40 lashes minus one, according to Jewish Law, but the Romans had no such limitations. In fact, the soldiers head lictor, had the responsibility of insuring the victim would not die during the process. His expertise, other than inflicting the ultimate pain, was to take the pulse of a victim who may have become unconscious during the process. If the pulse remained strong he gave the signal to continue lashing the accused until both soldiers became exhausted.

While most men screamed in agony, crying for mercy, Jesus took His punishment in silence. As Isa. 53 states: He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. These soldiers weren’t at all familiar with this kind of man. His majesty, and His silence, unsettled them. This led to His mockery by the other soldiers. What mankind doesn’t understand he often holds in contempt, and derision, lashing out at any opportunity to bring the scorned object down to a manageable level. Placing a half cloak of royalty upon His lacerated shoulders, platted thorns to form a crown to cover His scalp, they knelt in mock homage. As the soldiers filed past, they would kneel, spit on Him, snatching the mock reed scepter from His hand, striking His crown of thorns, nose and face. This created what is known in the medical community as trigeminal neuralgia, a neurological condition in which stabbing, lancinating, explosive, spasmodic pain lasted for hours. Patients who have agonized over this condition describe their pains as “knife-like stabs,” “electric shocks,” or “jabs with a red-hot poker.” The soldiers, exhausting the limits of their amusement, snatched the royal cape from His shoulders, which had become glued to His body by the clotted blood from the open wounds and lacerations. Following this shock, and searing pain, they placed His own robe back on His bruised, and bleeding body.

In a day, and age in which Christianity seems to be personified by “what’s in it for me?” In which, the average church member give accounts of their bouts of enduring the “rigors” of worship, prayer, or Bible study. When compared to the scourging of Christ it should become evident that were not that far removed from Roman soldiers who were indifferent to the sufferings of a King from another world; that we too have become way too familiar with an unfamiliar God. The Resurrection of Christ should lead us to truly kneel in homage to the King of all kings, surrendering, and committing our lives to become intimate with the One whose Heart was laid bare for all the world, and all of history to see. Have you been guilty of being too familiar with an unfamiliar God? Pledge your life to make this Resurrection Day one of renewed pursuit, and seeking, of the One Who gave His all in passionate love for you.