In a recent issue of this magazine, there appeared under the subject tide, “Noticed in Passing”, an urgent message to all who have “ears to hear”. “Now”, declared the writer, “it is our faith that is under trial in the very real sense.” To the believer who is self-sufficient, and satisfied with his standing in Christ (“Lord I thank thee I am not as other men”), such words can be passed over quickly with the thought that they are not applicable to his own particular case. But in fact they are more so, for such are often the subjects of consistent warnings by Christ and His apostles.
Because we are members of the brotherhood of Christ, and have believed the things concerning the Kingdom of God and have perhaps manifested an outward zeal, is no guarantee that the present godless materialism is not creeping into our lives, or that we are not being affected by it. In any case, has not the faith of the believer been always on trial? Was it not on trial in the days of Jesus, and in the Roman world? Was it not on trial during the dark ages? Why accentuate this position today? Because Paul, under inspiration from Almighty God declared: “In the last days perilous times will come!” “For men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Is Paul here referring to the believer? In every age men and women of the world have put pleasure before God—but in the last days it was to affect the brotherhood, otherwise Paul had no purpose in writing so. “Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof”, can be just as applicable to Christadelphia as Christendom, although we usually relate these words to the latter.
The “godless materialism”, referred to in the article quoted, “which is everywhere dominant in thought, speech and action, forming an inescapable background to living”, presents the brotherhood today with its greatest challenge. On the surface our ecclesial halls could be filled, in keeping with the term “a form of godliness”, but the power of an indwelling Christ, enabling us to gain the victory over the peril of our times could still be lacking—and the believer quite oblivious of it!
The evils of the world do not appear so wrong if they are apparent on every hand, and permitted just gradually to touch our lives. Furthermore, we haven’t the time to stop and assess the real position. Life today is so full. Opportunities are offering on every hand. The things of Caesar are making ever increasing demands upon us. The momentum of living is so fast we are in danger of being swept along with an ever swelling tide which is becoming increasingly difficult to fight against. Consequent upon all of this adverse pressure the believer today has little time for meditation, little time to relax and reflect, little time to renew his mind, his strength and his faith. And so he loses his first love for the things of God, he becomes lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, having merely “a form of godliness”.
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Shall He find the faith referred to in the article quoted, a faith which in the face of trial is “steadfast, stable, loyal and diligent”? “No man, said Jesus, “can serve two masters . . . ye least one who heard, but heeded not. Judas endeavoured to serve both self and Christ, and in the end he failed in both. Perhaps we may look down upon Judas and shudder at the sin he committed, yet the actual betrayal was only incidental to the cause of his fall. The basic evil, which is not far removed from each one of us, is the human reasoning of the carnal mind, which, while professing to serve the God of heaven, seeks also to serve the God of this world.
Has this danger in any way diminished with the passing of the years? Could it be that we today are endeavouring to serve two masters: “that being led away by the error of the wicked, we could fall from our own steadfastness”?
When speaking of these last days in Luke 21, Jesus said, “Take heed unto yourselves, lest at any time your heart be overcharged with surfeiting and the cares of this world, that that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all that dwell upon the face of the whole earth”.
The parable of the ten virgins was also given for a similar purpose: a warning to the generation of believers who live in the perilous times of these last days. The wise and foolish virgins represent two classes who profess to be waiting for their Lord. Each knows the truth and confidently looks for His appearing. All go forth with joy to meet Him, but cannot serve God and mammon.” He told this to His disciples, yet we know of at upon five “the door was shut”. Why such a sad climax? Their lamps were empty, the oil had not been replenished, their light had gone out! Why? Why should this happen to those who have known the glorious hope of the gospel, “called to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven”? Were they endeavouring to serve two masters? Was their allegiance divided? Was their time devoted to the natural things of life at the expense of the things of God?
Whatever the answer the warning is to this generation. The coming of the bridegroom of the parable was at midnight—the darkest hour. So the coming of Christ will take place in the darkest period of this earth’s history, a darkness equalled only by the days of Noah and the days of Lot, and which can deceive the minds even of those who profess to be watching to the extent that they cannot see” for the darkness hath blinded their eyes”.
“I know thy works”, said Jesus, in His message to the last church, “that thou art neither cold nor hot . . . Because thou sayest I am rich and have need of nothing, but knowest not that thou art poor, and blind, and naked.”
This is the grim reality which faces us today: the possibility of being caught by a sense of false security; a spirit of complacency; a deception, which in the end could exclude us from a place in God’s glorious kingdom. “Therefore, let him that thinketh he standeth,take heed, lest he fall.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One