The Rest of the Old Old Story

Note: all Scripture quotes on this post are from the NASB Updated version.

A lot of traditions have crept in over the last 2,000 years. Some of them have become a basic part of our assumptions that we never question.

One of those is our “immortal” soul. American Christians assume that all souls will live forever. Perhaps this is true. Jesus does say that he will call “all” from the grave (Jn. 5:28). On the other hand, it is not uncommon for the Old Testament Scriptures to say things like, “There is no mention of you in death; In Sheol who will give you thanks?” (Ps. 6:5) and “His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:4). Either way, whether all souls live forever or only some do, we miss much of the impact of the promise of eternal life because we tend not even to think about such things.

Paul begins his letter to Titus with, “…for the faith of those chosen of God…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” (Tit. 1:1-2).

Eternal life has always been a pursuit of mankind. I read a book once–the name of which, unfortunately, I cannot remember–that talked about some common themes in religions all over the world. One of those was the attainment of eternal life. In all religions around the world, this book argued, there was some sort of required way to live in order to ascend to the sky and live forever.

This is no surprise. All of us, at some time in our life, see people die. We see their energized and living bodies, and then we see their bodies dead, cold, and devoid of life. Is that the end? Is that all there is? As the Psalmist says, do their thoughts perish in that day? None of us want that, and we would be delighted to hear that there is some way to live forever.

I have to believe that Paul had this in mind when he said “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” Look at something else he said. In Romans 2, after telling us that God will render to each person according to his deeds, he writes, “…to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life” (v. 7).

There in Romans 2, he speaks of people who are seeking immortality. He tells them that perseverance in doing good will lead to their obtaining eternal life. (For those whose theology on faith and works is threatened by this, see my page on the Gospel and grace, and see Gal. 6:8,9, which says the same thing from a different perspective.) This is clearly written to people who care whether they will live forever or not.

I believe it would do us good to understand and feel that same hope. Look at Gal. 6:8-9. It promises eternal life, as Rom. 2 does, to those who do not grow weary in doing good, though it adds that this doing good is done by the Spirit of God. However, it also tells us that those who live by the flesh will inherit “corruption.” What does the word “corruption” mean? Well, in Acts 2:27 and following, Peter uses the word “corruption” to refer to the decaying of the body in the grave. (The Greek words in Gal. 6:8 and Acts 2:27 are slightly different. One is diaphthora and the other is just phthora, but the difference is only a prefix, and it appears clear from other uses, such as 1 Cor. 15:42, they are referring to the same thing.)

I do not want to present an argument for “soul-sleep” here, the doctrine that souls sleep in death until the judgment, nor an argument for the destruction of the soul after death. In fact, I don’t want to present any theological arguments. I want to put a thought in your mind that I believe is Christian and important. Paul tells us, “If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:13). We assume everyone will live after they die, so we are not moved by this passage. Where are those who “by perseverance in doing good seek for…immortality”? Paul clearly believes this a good attitude, because we have found three passages now that recommend this attitude. That doing good is done by the Spirit, true; nonetheless it is clearly a recommended attitude of Scripture.

Immortality. What a glorious thought. It is the promise of God to those who will, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body. Let us not grow weary, then, brothers, in doing good, because in due season we will reap…if we do not lose heart.

Amazingly enough, after promising to continue on Psalm 1 yesterday, I’m following through today! Grace is a real thing; I’m getting better!

Yesterday, I talked about thinking on spiritual things, starting in Psalm 1′s exhortation to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. To me, that’s the “righteousness” part of the Psalm. I want to address the “wickedness” part. It’s fascinating to me, and it carries a warning for all of us.

I want to argue that the wickedness part of this Psalm is not written to the wicked of the world, but to the wicked of the congregation of the Lord. One, the Psalms are songs that were meant for the congregation of Israel. The Psalms were not written for Egyptians or Babylonians, but for Israelites. As the Psalmist says, you can’t sing the songs of Zion in a foreign land (137:3,4). Two, the wicked are said to be “like the chaff which the wind drives away” (Ps. 1:4, NASB). The chaff was part of the wheat at one time. And three, the Psalm says that while the Lord knows the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked will perish (v. 6). This brings to my mind the statement of the Lord in Matthew 7:23, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” These who were not known to the Lord were those who prophesied and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. They were wicked, but they were not the wicked of the world.

What’s the difference between the righteous and wicked in Psalm 1? The righteous delights in the Law of the Lord. He meditates in it day and night. So the righteous prospers and has a constant supply of the only thing that will produce righteousness: grace. The wicked, obviously, is not meditating on the Law of the Lord; otherwise, like the righteous, he would be bearing fruit.

The Psalmist adds, “The wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous” (v. 5, NASB). Two judgments are mentioned in that verse. Pray to God that you endure only one of them. According to Paul, on the day of judgment we will all stand before God to be judged for our works, “whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). Today, Christians don’t like to believe that verse. They either teach that our bad works won’t follow us to the judgment or they teach that the judgment is just for “rewards.” It is indeed for rewards, but Romans 2:5-8 makes it clear that the rewards are either eternal life or indignation and wrath. As I said, Christians today don’t like to believe that, but really, it’s enough for me that Paul believed it (Jesus did, too: Jn. 5:29).

There’s a second judgment in v. 5, though. Sinners will not stand in the assembly of the righteous. Paul spent a whole chapter instructing the Corinthians what to do with one sinner in their midst. He explains the reasons for his decision, and he ends that chapter with, “Put away from yourselves that wicked person” (1 Cor. 5:13).

This is the judgment that you should want to experience. That judgment is “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5). With this judgment you can be restored, learning from being delivered over to satan  that you must flee to the refuge of Christ.

All of this, of course, can be avoided by delighting in the law of the Lord and meditating on it day and night. They that belong to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5). My point, however, in writing all of this is so that we might all be warned. Let us take to heart the admonition to love the law of the Lord, because the wicked are not so. Don’t fool yourself. That wicked one is not Hitler nor the Boston strangler. That wicked one is the one who failed to meditate on eternal things, who appears at the judgment claiming to have done many things in the name of the Lord, but who are unknown to him because they were not planted next to the rivers of living water.

The righteous meditate on the law of the Lord. The wicked are not so. Which are you?

How blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of the LordAnd in his law he meditates  day and night. ~Psalm 1:2, NASB

It is easy to underestimate the importance of what we think about. Look at the promises tied to meditating on the Law of the Lord! You will be like a tree planted by streams of water, you will yield your fruit in season, and your leaf will not wither. Further, the Lord will know your ways (v. 6). Listen, that’s everything! If you will think on the Law of the Lord, Psalm 1 says, you will prosper in whatever you do!

If we’re trying to advance in the Christian walk, you’d think we’d pay some attention to this. How come I’m not going forward? How come I’m not more holy? How come I don’t have more power with God? How come I can’t seem to overcome? If you’re asking any of those questions, you should look at what you’re thinking about. Those who meditate on the Law of the Lord prosper like a tree planted by rivers of water.

This is not just an Old Testament thing. Paul ties being spiritual to the simple idea of thinking about spiritual things (Rom. 5:5-8). Those who set their minds on the Spirit walk in the Spirit and have life and peace. Those who don’t, have death. He also ties our growth as Christians to whether we’re thinking about eternal things. We are being transformed, he says, into the image of Christ, but only as we look at eternal things (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

Paul tells us that we are to run the race to win. I know that if I was a professional runner, looking for that edge over other professional runners, this sort of far-reaching advice would be something I would never miss. Professional runners worry about the health and strength of their big toe, knowing that the final toe off of each stride might add some fraction of an inch to each stride, giving them an advantage over their competitors. They do this for the sake of a bit of money. The race you are running is for the sake of immortality. It’s for the sake of living eternity in the presence of God. You ought to be worried about things that are the equivalent of a runner’s big toe, but you should be worried all the more about the things that are the equivalent of a runner’s whole body!

Meditate on the law of the Lord! Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Look at eternal things. Set your mind on things above, where Christ is, at the right hand of the Father. Whatever is good, think on these things. Do so, and you will be like a tree planted by streams of water. You will prosper in season. You will bear fruit, and you will have a constantly new supply of living water with which to bear more fruit. The promises of God don’t get any better than this.

Tomorrow, or the next time I remember to blog, I’ll talk about some more parallels between Psalm 1 and the New Testament. It was pretty neat.

I got a letter recently with some great quotes in it. Unfortunately, I don’t have it with me as I write this, so I’ll use some almost as good quotes from a book I’ve been looking at called When the Church Was Young. When I got the book, I thought Gene Edwards, who published the book, had written it. It turns out it was written 70 years ago by a man named Ernest Loosley. Here’s the quotes:

The Primitive Church had no New Testament, no thought-out theology, no stereotyped traditions. The men who took Christ to the Gentile world had received no formal or professional training, only a great experience. It was an experience in which “all maxims and philosophies were reduced to the simple task of walking in the light.

and:

It is permissible to hint that the first Christians achieved what they did because the spirit with which they were inspired was one favorable to experiment. Perhaps the line of advance for the church today is not to imitate the forms but to recapture the spirit of the Primitive Church.

It is life that matters. What was a simple truth to the apostolic churches has become a matter that desperately needs recovering if there is to be  the LIFE of the early church in the world today. A hundred years after the apostles, the churches could boast that not only were they united, but their people possessed an unworldly power. Faced with tortures and death, even women and children stood boldly in the face of emperors and governors, proclaiming  the Lordship of Jesus the Christ of God. Faced with ongoing persecution, the church expanded, so much so that Tertullian could boast that the more Christians were mown down by Rome, the more of them there were. These were not carnal believers attending meetings in a suit on  a Sunday morning, but men, women, and children who counted Christ more important than their own lives and trusted him to build his kingdom with the power of heaven. They eschewed violence, and never used a sword.

Paul describes the sound doctrine that produced this power in Titus 2. That sound doctrine did not involve teachings about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, or wrestling about once saved, always saved. Those arguments have proven to be just what Paul said they would be, tools with which learned but carnal and ambitious men use to divide the church. Sound doctrine to Paul involved denying ourselves, living in service to others, showing respect, and loving.

Read Titus 2. It’s doctrine is real power, because Jesus Christ has become the author of eternal salvation not to those who have correct theology, but to those who obey him (Heb. 5:8 or 9).

My commendations to Jason from Mexico, who wrote a comment on my blog that “the letter kills and that a life of sacrificial love is the main goal here.” So it is, Jason, and I’m longing for the day when I can join hands with you among the poor to see the immense power of sacrificial love doing its transforming work where you are.