Jeremiah 48:11 "Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another - she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged."
When I was a lazy teenager sitting on the couch watching tv, my mother would come in and say, "Why don't you go outside and blow the stink off." I tried to act offended, but I knew that what she was saying was right. Sitting around, you kind of collect a stink about you. You need to shift positions, to get into a new place, or else your "aroma is unchanged."
Elijah spent three years in the desert being whittled by God, poured from one jar to another, before he was standing on top of Mt. Carmel. David went from cave to cave before he was settled as king. Joseph spent years in an Egyptian prison and then ascended to second in command of the entire country. Peter entered into a self-imposed "prison" with his denials and failures before truly becoming "the rock."
I would venture to say that these times of being poured from jar to jar were what enabled these men to blow the stink off and be brought to great heights.
When we are uprooted, when the rug is pulled out from beneath our feet, it is God at work. He is changing our position so that our aroma will be changed. A settled body of water becomes rancid and undrinkable. A settled Christian becomes the same.
God pours us from one jar to another to change our aroma. As painful as these times may be, it's better than the alternative - a useless pool of stench.
The church in America needs to undergo this same type of pouring. We have become stale and have lost our aroma. In our quest for relevance, we've lost our distinction. In our desire to maintain traditions, we've become stale. Neither place offers anything to the believers or the unbelievers. The true Church should be an aroma to both.
We need people like my mother to come into our churches and say, "Why don't you get up and get outside and blow the stink off!"
II Corinthians 2:15 "For we are to God the aroma of Christ . . . among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."
2 comments:
I think it is essential to know where you stand with Christ. I think it is essential for everyone to check with Biblical guidance whether or not they are in Christ. I think it is also essential to know what Christ saves us out of. You don't hear much about total depravity anymore- how totally undone and dead in sin we are after the fall. It is essential to know the problem- our sin and condemnation before a holy God to appreaciate the way out- Jesus and His amazing sacrifice on our behalf if we believe in Him. It is essentuial to know that we can do nothing to save ourselves. We must run to Christ.
Very powerful sermon today. It is a merciful thing to preach the wrath of God. The hammer of God is poised over those who do not confess Chriat. We cannot save ourselves. We are too trapped in our sins. But we can run to Christ and ask HIm to save us- ask Him to show us the truth of our situation so we can run to Him for refuge and rescue. God is so merciful and kind and ready to forgive. How good and glorious and sovereign He is. He will save any who come to Him but no one will come unless God convicts them of their need for Christ. Excellent today how clear it was made that we are either in Christ or not. Let us run to Christ if we are in any doubt as to where we stand with God. Look what Jesus said- all who call upon Me will be saved.
-Roger Keller
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