To Walk with Him in White

The message to the church in Sardis is among the most condemning messages in the New Testament, and unfortunately one that is very applicable to popular Christianity in the West today.  In three brief verses (Revelation 3:1-3), Christ calls the Christians in Sardis to account for gross hypocrisy.  They claim Christianity and new life in Christ, but they evidently don't live it out.  They are living in the world, as if dead to Christ.  They are not watching for Him; they are not working for Him, they are simply too busy with other stuff.  These days, so many Christians in America and Europe are doing the same.  Though they claim the name of Christ, all that does is get them to church every Sunday.  They do not live new lives for Christ or have any passion for Him.  Instead, they have passion for everything in the world around them, which chokes out their life in Christ (if, indeed, they had any to start with).  This is why many churches in the west "have a reputation for being alive, but...are dead."

But these first three scathing verses do not describe all Christians in the West, nor did they describe all Christians in Sardis.  For He says in verse four:

"Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy."  -Revelation 3:4

This verse describes many Christians, and personal friends of mine, in the West.  These people have not soiled themselves with the stuff of the world: they are worthy of God and they will walk with Christ in white.  This does not mean that they are sinless or are not as sinful as the "dead" from verse 1.  No one is sinless (Romans 3:23, my memory verse most recently--yay! B-pack!) and God often uses the worst of people to be the best of Christians, in order to demonstrate that the greatness of Christianity is not the people who follow it but the Christ who saves and leads them (2 Corinthians 4:7).  However, such people are clensed from sin their faith in Christ, so that their garments are unsoiled (Isaiah 1:18).  The result is that Christ will be with them in a very special way: they will walk with Him in white.  The overtones of marriage in the verse are deliberate.  These people are a part of the Bride of Christ and will someday enjoy the most intimate relationship with Him that is possible, a relationship which is rudely prefigured here on earth by human marriage.  Yet even the best of marriage and the most wonderful of weddings will not hold a candle to the splendor of this union (1 Corinthians 2:9), which will take place at the end of time and last for all eternity.

I would do well to remember this more often about my friends, to better appreciate them and encourage them in their pursuit of God.  But I know that this verse also applies to myself, and this is just as challenging.  To be sure, the promise to walk with Him in white is one of the most wonderful promises in the Bible, if not the most wonderful.  But that's just the problem.  It's too wonderful.  I'm certain it's too good for me, that I'm not worthy, that God would never really give someone like me something so good as all of Himself.  To be perfectly frank, I am amazed He even keeps me around and I'm speachless that He actually has plans for my life, wonderful plans, too!  When we get to talk of heaven, and how it will actually be (as in beyond the cheezy images of clouds and harps and beyond the misconception that Heaven will be like a concert I can where I can sneak into the back row)--an incredibly intimate relationship, a marriage, with Christ--, that's when I get out of my comfort zone and tend to clock out mentally.  I know that Heaven is wonderful and the union I and every believer will experience there will be inexpressibly blissful, but I cannot possibly imagine that I deserve even my next breath, much less this.  I fear that to enter upon or even consider such a relationship is to be found counterfit because of my unworthiness and sin.

And yet, Christ counters this fear with this verse, ending by saying of all those who will walk with Him in white: "they are worthy."  That is why they will walk with Him in white.  That is why we will walk with Him in white.  Not because Christ is loose with His favor and lets any Tom, Dick, or Harry come in.  He isn't.  Yes, there is grace for even the greatest of sinners, and yes, it is available to all.  Yes, it is definately true that salvation is by grace, through faith, and not at all by human merit.  And yet, it is also true that when we reach Heaven, we will be worthy of it.  Indeed, Christ is so bold as to put it in the present tense: "they are worthy."  How, then is this possible?  The answer lies in the cross of Christ.  It is He who makes us worthy, because when He took our sins on Himself at Cavalry, He also gave us His perfect righteousness and worthiness (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This is not merely in God's eyes, or just in a spiritual sense.  For now, indeed, we feel unworthy and do unworthy things, but Christ also changes that, through the Holy Spirit working in us to conform us to the image of Christ.  Because of Christ, I have nothing to fear.  I must stop considering myself unworthy and rejecting His love, for He has made me worthy to receive it, by the price of His own blood.

Matthew 28:18-20 and First Post

So, this is my first blog entry.  That would explain why it's a little awkward, and why you can't seem to find any older posts!  Haha!  Anyway, by way of introduction, this blog is simply a public journal of my thoughts.  These may be, and probably are, pretty random at times, but I will try to keep them edifying to others and centered on Christ, who is the center of my life.

The title comes from a few different things.  It sounds cool and adventurous to me, for one.  But really what inspired it was Matthew 28:18-20:

And Jesus came and spake unto them saying, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world."  Amen. [KJV]

This is most commonly known as the Great Commission--in other words, the verse that pastors turn to when they want to beat people over the head with the importance of evangelism! That's not to say that evangelism is unimportant, or that it's not a big part of this verse, but there is something more to it.  This passage is also a wonderful promise.  In the last verse, Christ promises that he will always be with us, as His disciples.

This promise means a lot to me.  First of all, it means that Christ, God Himself, is present with me when I need Him.  When I am desperate and have tried everything I can think of and then some, to no avail, Christ is with me.  When I call on Him for help, He's there.  And He's not just a comforting presence and a friend to empathize with me (though He does that as well): according to verse 18, He has all power in Heaven and Earth.  That's a lot of power!!!  The power to eternally condemn or eternally justify is His (John 5:22).  The power to still the sea and shake the mountains is His (Mark 4:39 and Psalm 114).  Also, the power to help me through every trial and temptation I face is His, and He will use that power to help me (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Knowing that has been and continues to be an immense help to me when I'm in distress.  Second, it means that Christ is present with me when I don't think I need Him.  When I'm not acknowledging Him or living life in conscious dependence on Him, my actions and my state of mind do not change the reality of His presence and our relationship.  I still need Him and He's still there for me (John 15:5).  This is something I need to work on acknowledging.  Third, it means that Christ is present with me when I really don't think I want Him to be.  When I'm tempted and I start to give way, I don't want Him to see.  I don't want to acknowledge that what I'm doing is wrong and that I am doing wrong of my own free will (because, of course, if I wanted to make the right decision, He's right there to help me).  I want to have my fun my way, even though I know that, in the end my way is not any fun at all.  His way is best and I need to acknowledge that and stop resisting Him and plunging myself into old sins (or new ones for that matter).  There is no secrecy with Him (Psalm 139:11-12).

But Jesus takes it one step further and personally tells us how He'll be with us, how long and where and under what circumstances.  He says, "to the end of the world."  That means several things.  First, it means the end of this present world, the time when the world is judged and destroyed--and remade by God as a place where we, His saints, can enjoy Him for all eternity (Revelation 21:1).  This is how most versions translate the phrase.  It can also mean the ends of the earth, the remotest place we can imagine.  Even when we are isolated from all that's familiar and feel (or actually are) a hundred miles away from any form of comfort, God is with us, and He is able to comfort and help us even there (Psalm 139:9-10)--though "there" may be the glaciers of Antarctica or the jungles of Indonesia or a prison cell in North Korea, God is there.  Finally, "the end of the world" can mean, especially today a traumatic time or event, such as: "When Romeo saw Juliet playing dead in the crypt, it was the end of the world for him."  Let's face it, life is stressful, even if you're not a character in a Shakespeare play.  Sometimes, it feels like you've got a planet or two weighing you down and a sharp sword (or other form of doom) hanging over your head suspended by a single thread.  A paper is due, that big exam is tomorrow, the rent isn't paid, you're sick, or you've just come to a major crossroads in your life (and you can't seem to read any of the signposts).  Whatever crisis is making this seem like the end of the world for you, Jesus is with you, and He will not leave you, and He has the power to help you through whatever it is (Philippians 4:13).

Finally, to return to the Great Commission, Christ is not with us just for kicks.  God does not hang out with us just because we are that cool (if we think we are, we need to have our ego deflated before it gets us airborne).  True, God, through Christ, has given us the right to be Children of God and actually have His righteousness as saints (John 1:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:21)--which is more than that cool, it's incredible!  Yet this is not by our merit but by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Nor does God remain with us to give us warm fuzzy feelings and help us out with all our pet projects.  God actually has a mission and a purpose and a vision for all His time with us, which is far bigger than ourselves.  He is with us so that we can complete a mission, the teaching and conversion of all nations, so that all people everywhere may experience the grace of God and intimacy with Him which we now enjoy and will enjoy for all eternity.  God is empowering us to evangelize the nations with our lives and with our words.

Well, it's late, folks, and I have gone on for a while.  I pray God used something in there to encourage you with His presence!

With Him,
-Aaron