Hallelujah
Bread #6,
We Are Pilgrims In Search of a City
Hebrews 11: 9&10
9 By faith he (Abraham) sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he
looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Hallelujah Bread #6
A Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan wrote the book by this name at the end of the 17th
century. It is clearly an account written by someone with the understanding
of an authentic Christian, that is, a person who was born again and who
experienced the renewal of the Spirit and the "God Life." The
book and video versions are available for any who wish to access them.
This account of a pilgrim-sojourner speaks to me strongly today because
of its insights and understanding of how worldly ways and values
are so often in contention with Christian life. It is no different today
than it was in the 17th
century. It clearly was the same in the days of the apostles in the 1st
century. The trials and victories of the believer remain the same. We
believers are sojourners procede on a path that winds through "many
dangers, toils and snares" with God's eternal city ever in view as
our destination.
We
recall the words of Jesus to his apostles that a set-apart-believers, pilgrim life
will follow a path different from the world. When anyone becomes
Spiritually renewed we have our eyes and hearts opened.
What Jesus teaches about the world is a
matter that most people may have not considered. "This world stands in
contradiction to the Truth because it is under the influence of
the "god of this world."
In John 7:7 Jesus says.
"The world cannot hate you, but it hates
Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."
And in John 17:6-11 Jesus prays what is called his "high priestly
prayer." "I
have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the
world. - - They were Yours, You gave them to Me
. .
.
and John 17:9
"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom
You have given Me, for they are Yours."
The same John in his first epistle writes. 1 John 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.
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.
17
And the world is
passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides
forever."
There are many times of testing, hardship and travails in the life of
a believer. One has only to look at the lives of the first apostles to
see how they faced one trial or adversity after another. Most died as
martyrs. I hope that none of us must face as many obstacles as Paul, who
ministered the gospel about 30 years, recounts in his chronicle of the
rough path on his way to the goal of the a greater reward of service to
the King of glory and the promise of “a
better resurrection.”
2 Corinthians 11:23-28:
“ - - in labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
24
From the Jews five
times I received forty stripes
minus one.
25 Three
times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked;
a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26
in journeys
often, in perils
of waters, in perils
of robbers, in
perils of my own countrymen,
in perils
of the Gentiles, in perils
in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils
among false brethren;
27
in
weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings
often, in cold and nakedness—
28 besides
the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the
churches.”
Any doctrine that
speaks of the ease and blessed life is not reflecting the realities of
being in the world but not of it. God does not promise a life without
trials or persecution. “In this world, Jesus says, you will have
tribulation, but do not fear, I have overcome the world.”
You do not have to look too hard to see that the world has intermingled
with church life. This fact appears not to have come to the attention
of most believers. False gospels, false apostles, false brethren and false
doctrines have always been matters for which a pilgrim must be vigilant
lest he or she swerve from the their progress toward the eternal city.
C. Pinkney,
July 9, 2020
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