The Complete Person
If your life passes before you moments before death, what must have passed through Abel’s mind? God accepted his offering - his best. He must have felt good about himself. He was just a young man and now his life was about to be snuffed out. Was his life without meaning? Was this all there was to life? He had just begun and now he was done! His perspective, of course, was limited. So is ours. He did not know that Jesus would single him out as a righteous man. Mt. 23:35. He was linked to the great leaders - patriarchs and prophets - who had become martyrs of the faith. Nor did Abel imagine that he would top the list in the Hall of Faith. Heb.11:4. He did not know that his voice could not be stifled by his murderer brother. He continues to speak for righteousness. His life, though brief, was full. He was a complete person. George Smith was a Moravian missionary. All his life he wanted to go to Africa as a missionary. Finally after years of preparation he traveled there. After only a few months, however, he was expelled. He left behind only one convert, an elderly woman. He returned home crushed and soon died. His brief life might have appeared to be a failure. How could he know that a hundred years later that mission of one old woman would grow into 13,000 happy, black Christians! Proper perspective leads to persistence. Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of a former generation, tells of talking with a farmer out in the country. They saw a cow with her head over the wall looking off into the distance. Spurgeon asked the farmer why the cow was looking over the stone wall. The farmer answered, “That’s simple, because she can’t see through it!” To be the complete person God wants you to be, you will have trials. When you can’t see through the wall of difficulty before you, do like the cow. Look over it. James 1:4 is instructive here. What does it mean to be “Mature” and “Complete”? The first word is frequently found in the N.T. It refers to that which fulfills its purpose, that which achieves its intended purpose. We are mature when we are all that God designed us to be. The second word means to receive one’s full allotment, as one’s full inheritance. The Apostle Paul must have had this in mind when he wrote Romans 8:18! Can hardships be “good and perfect gifts”? Look at James 1:17-18. The answer apparently is, “Yes”! A good gift may serve to improve you; and, a perfect gift may serve to complete you. Physical obstacles in our way strengthen our muscles when we use our muscles to remove them. So, spiritually we are strengthened when we endure hardship. Our trials enable us to become all God wants us to be. Joseph discovered this and said to his disreputable brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good..” Genesis 50:20. This is how we are to treat our trials and tests. There’s meaning in it all. Jesus did not say lay down your cot and flop. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow...” Both the Law and the Gospel are intended to draw us to God. But, notice the difference. Look at Heb.7:19 and 28. The law does not complete anything; but, Jesus does. As we come to this Table it is with the assurance that through Christ’s forgiveness and strengthening Spirit we can become all that God intends us to be. The military recruiter promises that the army can help you to be all that you can be. Perhaps. I’m sure that Christ can deliver on this promise. Please turn with me to Mt. 5:48 and with this we will conclude. Is this a counsel of perfection that is beyond the reach of mere mortals? It appears so at the first glance. The perfection that Jesus calls for is this completion of purpose we mentioned earlier. Jesus is calling us to be all that God designed us to be - that is, to be complete persons. How is this to be achieved? By doing what Abel did; by giving our best to the Master. Abel is an example of one who received much from the Lord and returned much to the Lord. The sponge receives liquid readily. I have been guilty of telling people not to be sponges, seeking only to receive good things from the Lord. This is not being fair to the lowly sponge. The sponge having soaked up water is quite willing to deposit that water when ever any pressure is applied to it. So, perhaps the sponge may serve as a model for us. Perhaps true believers are those who know both how to get and to give. Perhaps they are examples of receiving and returning. Perhaps even after their death, “being dead yet they continue to speak” - complete persons, eloquent in life and in death. Abel is the first name in the Hall of Faith. He is not the last name, however.
There’s room for you. There’s room for me. Amen. Charles Bray, June 9, 2002 |
