The Appeal of God

The Appeal of God

 

The Appeal of God

“We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God”
2 Corinthians 5:20

In the true servants of God there is a Divine entreaty. There is an imploring, a pure stream of exhortation and admonition, that flows from those who are touching the heart of God.

Paul is not writing to the world here. He is writing to God’s own. In 2 Corinthians, chapter five (please read this chapter prayerfully), he shares the piercing truth of our accountability to God and what should be the corresponding response of our hearts to Him in light of this truth.

“Because of this, we also are striving to be pleasing to Him,
whether being at home, or being away from home.”
2 Corinthians 5:9

Because of what?

Because God has sent His Son to reconcile a people unto Himself, Paul contends that there is to be a “striving” within the hearts of His own to live a life that is “pleasing unto Him” (the striving spoken of here is not of the flesh but of the Spirit). The heart that has truly been captured by the love of God seeks to please Him in every aspect of life. Life becomes a journey into an ever growing dynamic: drawing from Him the power to become a vessel of honor, “fit and prepared for every good work”.

“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”
2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV)

If an individual “purges himself (KJV)” from the things mentioned, they will be a vessel unto honor. There is a holy response required of us in our walk before Him which will unerringly bring us to becoming ministrations of His Life into the world around us.

There is an omission in much of the Gospel today concerning our response to the incomprehensible act of Christ’s redemption and His desire that we “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling”. The “fear and trembling” is because God is the One who seeks to work in us “to will and to DO”. This requires a vital submission on our part to His workings within that our full salvation may be worked out.

“…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

The foolish heart neglects its responsibility to work out its own salvation; it understands little of the glory and the infinite riches of “eternal life”. When Jesus defined eternal life, He presented it as a relationship not a one-time event.

“And this is everlasting life, that they may know You,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”
John 17:3

What is this “everlasting life” (eternal life in KJV) of which Jesus speaks? It is a life determined by our growing relationship with God through the outworking of Christ within our own hearts.

Let us consider the Greek definition of “knowing” referred to by Jesus in His prayer in John 17:3:

Γινώσκω – ginōskō Thayer Definition:
1) to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel
1a) to become known
2) to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of
2a) to understand
2b) to know
3) Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman

It is compared to a man “knowing” a woman in an intimate way, a holy intimacy within the covenant of marriage. Many present His salvation as an event rather than a deep, ever-growing relationship made richer by our response to His workings within.

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness
without which no one will see the Lord.”
Hebrews 12:14 (ESV)

The appeal of God to us to personally SEE Him, know Him and abide IN Him there is to be a submission to His cleansing and workings within. In this critical aspect I am determining the depth of my own salvation. When faith is the active agency within a heart there is a joy of relationship with God in Christ that is becoming experientially more powerful within.

May our lives touch the resonating work of the Holy Spirit:

“Because of this,
we also are striving to be pleasing to Him…”

He is not speaking of a fleshly striving. He is speaking of the indomitable press of the Spirit of God within to LIVE and to pass our time on this earth “pleasing” Him.

“if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live”
Romans 8:13

See related Post: God’s Invitation

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“It is the very nature of grace to make a man strive to be most eminent in that particular grace which is most opposed to his bosom sin.
Thomas Brooks

Brian Troxel