The Threshing Floor Continued

The simple truth of the complete cleaning of the threshing floor certainly is overwhelming, and should drive us to intercession and evanglism. Why should we care? Of course the eternal souls of our fellow man should be of infinite importance to us, but even more than that is the fact that Jesus deserves a barn full of wheat. He went to the cross and paid for just that. Do we not know that it is not man that deserves Christ, but Christ that deserves man? Maybe one of the main reasons that there will be much chaff on that day of threshing is us. Maybe we were so concerned with man and his soul that we never allowed the full force of God's power come to our soul. What I mean is this, maybe we simply evanglized to serve man, and feed the poor for the poor's sake, and served the church for the churches sake. Did we remember that it is all for Christ's sake? The threshing floor will be purged entirely! Is it not a shame that Christ will sweep away chaff that should have been wheat, He will throw chaff into the fire, but He paid for wheat!! What a shame that He will have to sweep so much chaff.

I will leave it at that. I hope to post again soon, and I actually hope to post something more uplifting, I tend to be very coarse on this blog, but the tenor of the Christian life is not one of constant brashness and struggling, but one of victory and joy. Yes, we are broken, but we have peace and joy as well. So keep posted.

The Threshing Floor

Matthew 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

If we believed the words of John the Baptist in this passage our lives certainly would be a bit different. Upon reading this passage the word 'throughly' should hit us square between the eyes and cause us to fall down an plead God's mercy upon our congregations, homes, schools, offices and so on. Do we not know that the threshing floor will be clean when the day of judgement is past. There will be no remnant missed, no residue of chaff left, and not a kernel of wheat missed. It will ALL either be gathered to the garner, or cast into unquenchable fire.

Is there any compassion in the hearts or today's professing christians when they look across a crowd, a classroom, a congregation, or a public venue? Do Christians today not remember these words of John the Bapist; "He will throughly purge His threshing floor," or do we sit back without ever considering the gravity of what is going on around us. Today we tend to live as though the threshing floor will never be throughly purged, instead we see it as being partially purged. It is more comfortable to believe that not every person you come in contact really has an eternity before them, it is just too overwhelming. However John the Baptist says NO, the threshing floor is to be "throughly" purged, without a scrap of chaff left.

((to be continued))

More on Value

In the last post we established that we have value as human beings only in the fact that Christ has paid the ultimate price for us. Value is not determined by the usefulness of an object, or a person, it is however determined by the price someone is willing to pay. An antique clock that needs adjusted every 2 days is likely more valuable than your clock radio, even though your clock is always accurate, plays music, and so on. The antique is not so useful, but is valuable, the clock radio is very useful yet has little value. There is no correlation between usefulness and value. Again we as humans are incredibly valuable because of the price that was paid for us, not because of our usefulness. You ought to value every person you meet because you know your Older Brother spilt His blood as a payment for them.

Now here is the issue, Christ has paid the price for us regardless of our usefulness. We may accept that payment or reject that payment, to reject it is to render youself of no value in that day of judgement. That which has no value in the end ultimately is cast aside, or thrown away. Jesus speaks of Gehenna, the following is an excerpt from the lexicon from www.blueletterbible.com: (Strongs #G1067)

"Hell is the place of the future punishment call "Gehenna" or "Gehenna of fire". This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction."

So basically the reference to Hell is a trash dump. What goes into a trash dump? That which has absolutely no value. Who goes to hell? He or she who has no value. How can a person have no value? While they are alive it is impossible, because Christ's payment on their behalf is pending, but if that payment is never accepted, that value is never accredited to them and ultimately they go the way of all souls who have no value.

On the other hand by accepting His payment as payment in full He has then secured you from distruction because His work has given you value. Just as coupon by itself has no value, but when it is redeemed it has worth, so too is it with the redemption of a human soul.

Now we are not like the antique clock that has value for no good reason other than being antique. We have value because the Son of God purchased us, not some crazed collector. The Lord has purchased us, but goes a step further, and He determines to restore us. Not only does He purchase us because He loves us, but He purchases us to restore us to usefullness. We are more than a peice of junk He has redeemed, we are a person whom He has determined to fashion into His likeness. He desire to restore us to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ himself. If there is no sanctifying restoring work being performed by the Lord in your life, know this, you have not by faith and repentance truely accepted His payment on your life. You are still a pending transaction.

Please realize that if no noticable change in your dispostion or desires has ever occured because of the transforming work of Christ, then you have yet to truely believe.

Before anyone casts a stone, I do believe in the Sovereignty of God in all things, including salvation. This post tends to emphasize choice, or even free will to accept or reject payment, so do the scriptures. I as the publisher of this post recognize God's sovereign activity in our decisions. The paradox of sovereignty and free will is a philospical issue not a theological one, I simply except both to be true. To say there is no paradox is to be intentionally naive to much of scripture.

Why are you valued?

Well first off it has been a long time since I have posted, and for that I am sorry. Hopefully I will be getting back at it a little bit more. The Lord has blessed my family and I richly, and His hand is clearly in the Youth Ministry which I have been blessed to oversee. There is much I could say about the volunteers He has supplied, the provisions He has given, and the many ways He is at work, both in the ministries which Kristin and I are involved in, and in our personal lives. What seemed seemed like such a big leap for Kristin and I, now seems a simple step after seeing the Lord provide every need we have. On to the blog... Why is a Picasso painting worth so much? Is it because Picasso himself painted it? Is it because of the skills Picasso had? Or a Hank Aaron rookie baseball card, why is it so valueable? Is it because he was so great? Is it because the card is so rare? What about the house I live in, is its value determined by its size? The decor? The neighborhood? Where does something receive its value? If there were another economic depression of the same magnitude of the great depression would a Hank Aaron card lose its value? Certainly it would when people need money for bread. Would a Picasso sell for as much? Certainly not when people could not afford clothing. Would my home retain its value? Of course not. Now does the change in economy affect the rareness of baseball card, the appearance of a painting, or the layout of a home? No, those things remain constant but the value may change drastically. What then determines the value of something? My home is a lower middle class home that would sell for around $110,000 in Toledo Ohio, in West Virginia it may sell for $70,000, and in California it may sell for $500,000. Why is it worth more or less? The value of an object is not determined the attributes of the object. The value of an object is determined by how much someone will pay for that object. There are many impressionist painters with greater skill than Picasso who have gone unnoticed in the history of art. The value of their paintings though superior in quality are less, because people are not willing to pay as much for them. So what is the point? Your value is not, and never will be based on your skills, your sacrafice, your performance, or anything else about you. All your value rests soley in the price that was paid for you. You are worth very little outside of the payment that Christ paid on your behalf. The purchase price of your soul was so high, therein lies your value. This is important to see, as soon as you can grasp this you will feel the weight of your unworthiness fall off of your shoulders. He has given you value by paying such a high price for you. There is no room for depression in the Christian life, there is no room for feeling worthless, or unwanted, or rejected in this life. The price was paid for you! The unthinkable thing would be to choose to reject His payment on your behalf and remain of no value. To attempt to stand before the Lord on that day believing yourself to be valuable because you are you, and you are special. Forget it, your value lies only in Christ, the value of your family, your congregation, your friends, is only in the fact that Christ died for them, that He paid the price. He paid that price, and He in the words of Paris Reidhead, "He Deserves the Rewards of His Suffering" in other words He paid for you in full. He paid the price for you in full. A sobering question is this: Has He received what He paid for? That is all for tonight.