Is the wise man/woman going to reveal the extent of his/her wisdom in the presence of the all-wise God? Is the mighty man going to flex his/her muscles before the Almighty? Is the rich man/woman going to brag about what he/she has to the Owner of heaven and earth? In the futility of their thinking, they have all come and went (Lk 9:25), but our God remains 24 times eternity!
What does the believer glory in? Though he/she may be wise, mighty, or rich, for that matter, or all of the above, there’s no positive significance to glorying in this triad of things in light of eternity; it all passes away with the dying. Positive significance is found only in the Person of Yahweh, not in intellectual prowess, power, or riches.
Positive significance is found in understanding and knowing Yahweh – let him who glories
glory in this, that he understands and knows Me that I am Yahweh who delights in exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth? These are the better
investments.
Paul
quoted from the words of Jeremiah 9:24 in 1 Cor 1:31, as it is written, He
who glories, let him glory in the LORD (cf. 1 Cor 1:29; 2 Cor 10:17). What a contrast to the world that only desires glory for itself, always longing for knowledge, power,
and riches that have a tendency to get away from us, leading us down a path to
ungodliness, instead of exercising lovingkindness, judgment (justice), and
righteousness on the earth as Yahweh, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and
owner of heaven and earth!
A positive significance resides in those things that are eternal, not temporal in nature. It glories in the right kind of wisdom, strength, and riches found only in Christ (cf. Eccl 3:14). There are men and women who possess great wisdom of the world, influence, and material wealth who “have it all,” but innately they know that there is something missing within their hearts that cannot be filled nor ever be satisfied with who they are, what they have, what they can do, what they can keep, driven by a fear of losing it all because they know that one day they would die.
They didn’t enter this world with this accumulation, and they certainly will not leave with it. All of their thinking, speaking, and doing is outside the Creator’s purpose. There’s no positive significance to their lives. They are of the world, and not of Christ.
(1Jn
2:15) Do
not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.
(1Jn 2:16) For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.
(1Jn
2:17) And
the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of
God abides forever.
With
that last sentence by John, it defines what I am referring to as a positive significance, and why it
eludes those who are enthralled with knowledge, might, and riches rather than being
enraptured with Yahweh.
Those
who are consumed by the desire of this triad of things are not the least bit
interested in understanding and knowing Yahweh, the Creator of heaven and
earth. Ironically, the significance they seek is not a positive one, and
neither can it be because the world could care less about the will of God, which has a negative
significance unbeknownst to the unbeliever! The will of God is vital in the life
of a believer in Jesus Christ; to the world, it is not.
What
do I mean by a positive and negative significance? I am of the opinion that
people can “have it all,” representing the triad of things, and still have a feeling
of inadequacy or insignificance, particularly with the universe as a backdrop (cf.
Psa 8:3-4)! I realize that if you have good health you have it all; bear with me!
A
positive significance is derived from a biblical worldview that looks at salvation and service according to the will of God as positive significance. It’s
meaningful and lasts for a positive eternity.
A negative significance for the believer is being out of the will of God. Any time spent out of the will of God by the believer will succumb to divine scrutiny of his/her service to God at the Bema Seat or judgment seat of Christ. How do we get back into His will? By doing what 1 Jn 1:9 says to do and minimizing those intervals of disobedience.
There is no reward for service
being out of the will of God, none. It’s a dead zone. How long Yahweh will
allow a believer to be in the dead zone (out of His will) only God knows, but
fellowship (not salvation) is immediately disrupted, and chastening is not far
behind that! If you are a believer, you can be sure of it!
The judgment seat of Christ is for determining our rewards for service, not for sin
which was remedied by faith in the work of Christ on the cross. It is of positive significance because our rewards for service will last forever if they
are of the caliber of gold, silver, and precious stones; Jesus makes that
determination. If our works are of combustible material as wood, hay, and
stubble, they are consumed by the fire because it was not for the glory of God, and
in such case, it is considered of negative significance because the potential of
earned rewards had the believer remained faithful during that interval was lost
forever due to willful disobedience. Suffering any loss is of a negative significance in service to the King,
yes?
A
negative significance for an unbeliever is quite the opposite. It is a life
lived apart from God due to unbelief. Since there is no salvation, all
unbelievers will appear before the great white throne judgment. During that court
appearance, they will most certainly be sentenced to the lake of fire to be eternally separated
from Yahweh for a negative eternity. This is why this is of negative
significance; it’s profound and without mercy.
Would
you agree as a believer that where you spend eternity is super significant?
Well, the biblical worldview holds to the belief that heaven and hell are real
places, not make-believe. The believers of Jesus Christ will spend all eternity
with Him in heaven while the unbelievers will live out their eternity separated from God
in the lake of fire.
They
will be judged by what was done in their body and their degree of exposure to
the Light. Obviously, not all unbelievers equally share in the same degree of
punishment, however, they equally partake in the duration of their sentencing – for
an eternity.
You
may be very successful by the world’s standards, and yet, you feel an emptiness
and vanity clawing at your soul. How is it possible to feel a positive
significance by investing in things that are passing away or temporal in nature? You
can’t. Your worldly success may bring a certain degree of control in your life, but true
happiness is never realized.
Yes,
you can scream to the top of your lungs in defiance that a God of love would
never send a person to hell, but it will never change the outcome, only faith
in Christ will do that. For the record, Jesus doesn’t send anyone to a place of
unimaginable torment! From what I have gathered from the Scriptures, hell contains only
volunteers; ultimately the prison population will be transferred to the
lake of fire for eternity, following the great white throne judgment of the lost, those without the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:19).
Whether
we are wise or not so wise, influential or not, rich or poor, our bringing glory
to God should be focused on that we understand and know of Yahweh; His delight should
be our delight: exercising lovingkindness, judgment [justice], and righteousness in
the earth.
Here is something else for our consideration as a contrast to those glorying in
their wisdom, might, and riches (Jer 9:24),
(1Co
1:27, KJV) But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
(1Co
1:28, KJV) And base
things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are:
(1Co
1:29, KJV) That no
flesh should glory in his presence.
Let’s
take to the skies and head back over to the first century A.D. and see if we
are treating Jesus like the world did and still does. We will make a
high-altitude pass to see how those who valued earthly wisdom, control, and
riches more than Jesus. We will not be flying so high over this historical terrain
that we cannot see the world’s mistreatment of Jesus. We knew it happened; we
are just refreshing our memory of it, and hoping as we pass by that there is no
evidence that we are guilty of doing the same thing – mistreating Jesus. Are we
living like those without Christ? Let’s take off and see!
It
is ironic that the Old Testament points to a suffering Messiah who would be
Israel’s future Ruler, but somehow, they overlooked that part! Instead, the
spiritual leadership of Israel dismissed the suffering aspect of the Messiah’s
ministry to Israel as if it was something unworthy of their preconceived
notions on what type of Ruler the Messiah must be to fit their narrative. Boy,
was their theology all messed up!
What was not according to the Sanhedrin playbook was that Jesus would be coming to Israel to be the propitiation or satisfaction for man’s sin; to do that, He would have to die (1 Jn 2:2). So, at the time of the incarnation (the virgin birth of Jesus ca. 6-4 B.C. [Isa 7:14; cf. Isa 9:6]), we see God’s supreme manifestation of Himself to man (Jn 14:9-10; 2 Cor 4:6; Col 1:15-16; Heb 1:1-3) in this Child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger [feeding trough for animals] (Lk 2:7, 12) in Bethlehem (cf. Micah 5:2).
Jesus matched the profile of the Messiah by the prophets in every which way, but the Jewish leaders refused to recognize Him; they were too hung up on Jewish tradition and political freedom! The Sanhedrin read politics all in Zechariah’s prophecy (Zech 9:9)! <><
