FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
WHICH ‘MASTER’ ARE WE SERVING?
Jesus said,”No man can serve two masters: for either he will HATE the one, and LOVE the other; or else he will HOLD to the one, and DESPISE the other. Ye CANNOT serve God and mammon.” Matt. 6:24, KJV.
EGW, This Day with God, page 162: SELFISHNESS, and all its many forms and variations “is plainly written on the unrenewed [yet carnal, not spiritual] heart and on a fallen world. All [unrenewed hearts and minds] seek their own.
SELFISHNESS IS THE GREAT LAW OF OUR DEGENERATE NATURE. Selfishness occupies THE PLACE in the soul where CHRIST should sit enthroned.
But the Lord requires PERFECT OBEDIENCE [constrained by love not compelled by fear or force; “perfect,”meaning abiding, constant, “with ALL the heart, mind, soul, and strength,” not partial, sometimes, or circumstantial], and IF we truly desire to SERVE Him [the true ‘Desire of Ages’], there will be no question in our minds as to whether we shall obey His requirements OR seek our own temporal interests.
“The Lord of glory did not consult His CONVENIENCE OR PLEASURE when He left His station of high command to become ‘a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,’ accepting ignominy and death in order to DELIVER man [starting with Eve and Adam] from the consequence of his disobedience.
“Jesus died not to save man IN his sins, but FROM his sins. We must leave [not cling] to the ERROR of our ways, ‘take up our cross [of self-denial and self-sacrifice] and follow Christ, denying self, and following God AT ANY COST.
“Those who PROFESS to serve God, but really serve MAMMON, will be VISITED WITH JUDGMENTS. [includes self-inflicted sufferings and trials]. NONE will be JUSTIFIED in the course of disobedience for the sake of WORDLY PROFIT [part of ‘mammon.’].
IF GOD WOULD EXCUSE ONE MAN, HE MIGHT ALL. [But ‘God is no respecter of persons’].
“Those who DISREGARD [or ignore] the Lord’s express injunction for personal advantage, are HEAPING UP for themselves FUTURE WOE [the wrong preparation for the future!].
Christ said: ‘Is it not written. My house [place of worship of professed Christian churches] shall be called of all nations a house of prayer? but ye have made it A DEN OF THIEVES’ (Mark 11:17).
The people of God should INQUIRE CLOSELY if they have not, like the JEWS of old, made the house of God a place of merchandise [obtaining money and conscience-controlling power via ear-pleasing, and deceptive doctrines].’
“Many are FALLING into the SIN of sacrificing their religion for the sake of worldly gain [like Balaam, Elisha’s own servant, Solomon, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, etc.], preserving a FORM of piety, yet giving all the mind to TEMPORAL pursuit.
But the LAW OF GOD must be considered FIRST of all [see Mark 12: 28-34; Deut. 6: 4-7; and obeyed in SPIRIT and LETTER [literally and actually, intelligently and spiritually, in principle and practice].
Jesus our great Exemplar [1 Pet. 1: 21-25] in His LIFE AND DEATH, taught the STRICTEST OBEDIENCE. He DIED, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty, that the HONOR OF GOD’S LAW MIGHT BE PRESERVED AND YET MAN NOT PERISH……” – E. G. White, Signs of the Times, June 2,1887/TDG 162.
The Jesuits require “obedience as a corpse” in their extreme oath, meaning, oath-keeping members of this Order of the Church of Rome have no heart, mind, soul and strength of their own but only that of their superior and the Pope.
What about the Christian churches who profess be the disciples, followers, and even apostles of Christ—-and boldly claim that God’s law has been “down away with” yet keep Sunday as their “Christian Sabbath,” and “Lord’s day,” a creation of the papacy! Confusion and contradiction plain and simple isn’t it?
Bless all the earnest truth-seekers! NMF
Categories
WHICH ‘MASTER’ ARE WE SERVING?
