{"id":632,"date":"2021-01-20T15:46:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T15:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/176.32.230.18\/swordmagazine.net\/?p=632"},"modified":"2021-05-11T15:32:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T14:32:08","slug":"no-selfies-in-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swordmagazine.net\/?p=632","title":{"rendered":"Editorial – No selfies in heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018Turn your eyes upon Jesus.\u2019 Well, have you lately \u2013 <\/em>and whatever could have enticed you to look away?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A vision of loveliness radiated from the mirror of her newly turned mind. Unmistakeable nobility, majestic bearing, who compared? The face gazed back at her with steady, intelligent eyes; complexion so perfect that makeup would have been an insult. Clearly this woman was destined for greater things \u2013 and she would have them. Were they not suddenly within her reach?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unearthly silence enfolded her until she could hear only with her eyes. The hint of a first-ever self- confident smile played around her lips and, with one lithe movement, Eve <\/em>stretched forth her delicate arm and took… a SELFIE ! Our editorial liberty with the text of Genesis 3 is not at odds with its sense. If Satan had had access to a smartphone he might well have incited such use…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018apple\u2019 \u2013 or whatever kind of fruit she picked \u2013 was purely incidental to the Deceiver\u2019s strategy. What he wanted her to \u2018pick\u2019 was her \u2018SELF\u2019 in preference to God and she did, in effect, take a primeval \u2018selfie\u2019. Clearly, the word \u2018unselfconscious\u2019 had a whole different level of meaning to our first parents before the Fall. Not until they sinned were Adam<\/strong> <\/em>and Eve <\/em><\/strong>aware of their nakedness. In our age, when nudity is promoted commercially and ideologically, it\u2019s hard to escape and harder still to imagine a perfectly toned couple who were mutually unaware of their bodies. This, perhaps more than any other possible indicator, suggests that neither mirrors, nor pornography, nor fitness coaches would have held any interest for them. Their interest was God, their hearts beat in time with His and as surely as He is Love, with not a thought for Himself, they too were \u2018self-less\u2019 in the truest sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, the Deceiver, brought low by his own rebellious discontent, was full of rage against this God-like race and sought to re-make them in his own selfish likeness. This was his aim in ignoring Adam the head and enticing Eve to take the lead in disobedience. For the first time in history, \u2018self\u2019 emerged as a commodity market with its corporate headquarters in Hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfallen love<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since the Fall, what we like to call \u2018human nature\u2019 is, in fact, perverted human nature. If, in our fallen state, we could have met Adam and Eve before that tragic day, we would have felt unclean in their presence \u2013 and yet also loved and welcome. Only one other Person in history ever walked here in unfallen purity and unconditional kindness. One in whose Presence sinners felt simultaneously unclean but loved and welcomed into His life: Jesus of Nazareth, Friend of Sinners, God in mortal human form \u2013 the Last Adam<\/em><\/strong>. By original nature, Adam and Eve were not divine but they were like the Man Jesus \u2013 the selfless image of God!
\u201cYou shall love your neighbour as yourself\u201d <\/em>is a radical challenge wrapped in a reality check. It\u2019s no challenge to love oneself \u2013 this we do by default unless selfishness is trained out of us. To love the neighbour to the same lavish degree… that\u2019s the challenge. Besides, in the wisdom of Our Loving Creator, a lack of love for the neighbour turns out to be self-hatred. In the immortal words of Bishop JC Ryle<\/strong> \u201chell is truth learned too late\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazingly, to our space- and time- confined minds, the Creator had anticipated the demise of Eden\u2019s innocence before the sinners drew their first breath. His Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. His atonement – in some eternal sense that defies our neatly tied theology \u2013 was \u2018in place\u2019 even before the incarnation of the Son of God. The simple truth is that what God plans in eternity is irresistible in time \u2013 and irreversible. The promised Seed would crush the serpent\u2019s head… Little wonder that the devil is full of wrath \u2013 his every goal is an \u2018own goal\u2019. He is deceived by his own deceptions and undermined by his own accomplishments: \u201cThe wisdom we speak of is that mysterious secret wisdom of God which he planned before the creation for our glory today. None of the powers of this world have known this wisdom \u2013 if they had they would never have crucified the Lord of glory!\u201d<\/em> (1 Corinthians 2:7-8 \u2013 Phillips)
From Satan\u2019s rueful perspective, Calvary was his own eternal suicide…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love\u2019s surprises<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The staggering implication is that the Son, co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was not \u2018co-opted\u2019 into this plan but was the agent of its creation. If it is true that \u201cIn the beginning … without him was nothing made that was made\u201d <\/em>then that includes the plan \u201cto be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment \u2013 to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.\u201d <\/em>(Ephesians 1:10) If He was delivered up to His enemies \u201cby the definite plan and foreknowledge of God\u201d <\/em>(Acts 2:23), this Jesus, this magnificent, selfless God-Man, planned His own condemnation at the hands of His own creatures \u2013 and His own vindication in resurrection \u2013 and all to rescue His enemies and glorify His Father! What a Saviour! Far too many surprises for the Deceiver\u2019s selfish thinking…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brothers and sisters… our race made the journey from God-given glory to shame and misery by way of self-interest. Our Lord Jesus made the same journey from His own eternal glory to mortal shame and misery \u2013 but out of selfless interest. He was \u2013 and is \u2013 \u2018The Man for Others\u2019!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our shared mortal experience of a global pandemic \u2013 which has changed human society, perhaps permanently in some ways, in the space of a few weeks \u2013 has generated much fear, anxiety and stress- related problems, but the clouds\u2019 silver-linings are already showing… Many hearts have been awakened to a new consciousness of the needs of others and a new sense of pleasure in meeting those needs. Elderly neighbours \u2013 their \u2018normal\u2019 lives wracked by illness and weakness even before lockdown \u2013 are thrilled when younger neighbours collect their shopping and prescriptions and just generally check that they\u2019re OK. Many medics have seen the Christian gospel bring hope to the danger zones. \u2018Isolating\u2019 folks receive regular phone calls and newsletters from their churches or even meet \u2018virtually\u2019 \u2013 many worshipping and praying together by means of internet technology. Teachers who teach the medics\u2019 kids to answer problems with childcare. The army veteran who raises charity money in telephone numbers just by sponsored walking around his garden… the list of kindnesses unleashed is truly heart-warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many have testified that they \u2018don\u2019t want to return to the rat race\u2019 <\/em>(life before lockdown). To many, unselfishness has become an appealing lifestyle… polite consideration for fellow shoppers, wearing masks not just for personal benefit, but for the neighbours\u2019 reassurance, accepting responsible citizenship as a Christian virtue (which it is) and less preoccupation with self-interested priorities. No-one demonstrates the heaven-blessed power of this lifestyle better than Jesus Christ. Such will be the character of those \u2013 and only those \u2013 who will rule with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom. The only alternative to love is lust \u2013 and because lust lives for now (for me now), it has no posterity. Kindness can unlock a thousand fearful doors to the message of Heaven\u2019s Ultimate Kindness \u2013 God\u2019s inexpressible gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hungry compassion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wherever destruction is released into the world, we can be sure that the Destroyer has a hand in it. He sold Eve not a pup but a ravenous pack of hell\u2019s wolves when he aroused her self-interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Our All-seeing, All-knowing, All-powerful, Everywhere-present, Uncreated Creator God has used the pandemic to create a market for unselfishness \u2013 an unwitting hunger and thirst for righteousness which He intends to satisfy. The God-shaped vacuum in these hungry souls can be perfectly filled only with Jesus Christ, the One who \u201cemptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam\u2019s helpless race\u201d<\/em>. We have a window of opportunity like nothing in our lifetime to lift up Jesus to the public view \u2013 His selfless beauty will draw those whose hearts have been softened through this troubled time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, there\u2019s a potentially darker horizon to the \u2018new normal\u2019. We have seen (albeit for the common good) a planet-wide ready acceptance of the loss of many civil liberties \u2013 freedoms that once had to be defended by force of arms against Nazi tyranny. For now, the reasons requiring massive voluntary resignation of our freedoms are benign \u2013 compassionate even. But God\u2019s Word warns of a day when totalitarian rule will be imposed on the entire planet \u2013 even to the fine detail of who is and is not permitted to buy and sell. We have seen world city centres and huge retail parks turned into eerie ghost towns overnight. The media power and policing structures are in place to transform the social landscape across the globe. None less than Jesus predicted a time when \u201cthe love of most will grow cold\u201d  <\/em>(the opposite to the compassion release we have witnessed lately).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pat Baird<\/em><\/strong>, our newest proofreader and a first-time contributor to this edition (p.20) sees an unexpected resonance between George Floyd\u2019s dying words \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d <\/em>society\u2019s increasingly stifling political correctness and harrowing images of COVID victims on respirators. Pat considers what might be \u2018waiting round the corner\u2019. Satan likes to boil his frogs slowly. We shall need to be in a close walk with the Spirit of Truth to discern between our proper responsible citizenship and that critical moment when, one day, we shall have to \u201cobey God rather than men\u201d. <\/em>That will be a \u2018new normal\u2019 for us \u2013 it\u2019s already \u2018normal\u2019 for most of our brothers and sisters in darker lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been given an unprecedented time for ministry \u2013 but let\u2019s be sure we understand the word. The \u2018minister\u2019 (same spelling) in Latin meant a \u2018servant\u2019 \u2013 from another Latin word \u2018minus<\/em>\u2019, meaning \u2018less\u2019!
John the Baptizer <\/em><\/strong>clearly understood himself to be the \u2018minister\u2019 of Jesus:
\u201cI baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie… He must increase, but I must decrease\u201d <\/em>( John 1:26-27, 3:30) Paul <\/em><\/strong>had the same perspective: \u201cWhat then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants…\u201d <\/em>(diakonoi <\/em>\u2013 those who \u2018run errands\u2019! 1 Corinthians 3:5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ came as Heaven\u2019s Servant to sinners \u2013 His Church cannot possibly have a different role. True Holy-Spirit led ministry cannot and never will be \u2018self-service\u2019. Let\u2019s begin to seize this selfless ministry opportunity with sacrificial fervent prayer. May Our Heavenly Father show us how to lose our self-interest in the boundless ocean of His love. Let\u2019s not become weary in well-doing \u2013 and let\u2019s not be outdone in kindness by those who lack our hope. Though to be sure, the greatest kindness is the Gospel and the greatest unkindness is its concealment. A glorious day is coming when we will cast our crowns before the King of Kings \u2013 there will be no \u2018selfies\u2019 in heaven!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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