WHEN AN APOSTLE IS CONCERNED -- Tomorrow:
"Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him." (2 Corinthians 11:1-4)
A SIMILAR STANCE
"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy . . . "
Paul took a similar stance toward the Galatians, even though their defection differed slightly. They were involved in a backward motion toward the Law. Yet, their condition had also been caused by the subtle entrance of false teachers. He said of them, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" (Gal 3:1). They had also been subjected to "another Gospel," and it had pushed them backward. "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal 1:6-8).
Paul was also jealous for them, with a "godly jealously." It was stated in these words, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal 4:19).
THE RELEVANCE OF THIS TEXT
When Paul wrote this epistle to the Corinthians, false teachers were just beginning to spread. They were preaching a Jesus, but not the real one. Paul said of them, "For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's" (Phil 2:21). Again he said of them, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things" (Phil 3:18-19). At the time, their influence was being felt here and there.
In our time, however, the condition is not the exception, but it is the rule. Those with a heart for the Gospel know this to be the case. The theological waters have been so muddied that scarcely an elemental theological statement can be made without the filth of the earth upon it. Division, though strictly forbidden by the Spirit (1 Cor 1:10), and declared to be a work of the flesh (heresies, or factions (Gal 5:20), is all about us. Those who cause divisions, although they are to be avoided after they have been identified (Rom 16:17), appear to be reigning supreme and nearly altogether uncontested within professing Christendom. Some even imagine that divisions are wholesome.
Since the mid-1500's there have been a few unusual men who have arisen and displayed a zeal for the recovery and purity of the church. Each of them accented what they felt to be the key missing elements of their generation. However, it is generally true that all of them perceived their generation was marked by a gross ignorance of the Gospel, and of the Person and accomplishments of the Lord Jesus. Empty religious form prevailed, and understanding was at a minimum. These rare souls surfaced form the sea of religious mediocrity to shine the light upon the Lord's Christ and call men back to allegiance to Him.
It is time for more men of this caliber to arise – men who have a fervent zeal for the church, and for the formation of Christ within the members. They must be men who have no regard for the institutions of men, the praise of men, or the theologies of men. Their hearts must burn with a desire for and commitment to the Lord Jesus. If Christ is going to be "formed" in men, a pure and unsullied Gospel must be preached to them, and they must be exposed to the real Jesus. There is no difficulty within the church, whether moral or spiritual, that the formation of Christ within will not address and resolve. Men are really "complete" in Christ (Col 2:10).
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, send forth laborers into Your harvest!