March 28: SUSTAINABLE CHARACTER (Part 1)

“And you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary” Revelation 2:3

During the ministry of Jesus, a central controversy swirled about over His identity. He was the Son of God, but Satan’s spurious order that began, “If you are the Son of God…” (Luke 4:3) was being stealthily insinuated into the minds of men. Bear in mind that the large port city of Ephesus was not only the destination of many trade ships, but also the destination of criminals of every sort, fugitives from the law; experts in the evasion of justice. Without resistance, there was an influx of magical arts, sorcery, and innumerable practices based in superstition. Pile all this onto the culture of mythology and a fanatical worship of goddesses: immorality was rampant. This atmosphere rendered people vulnerable to all manner of deception regarding God’s character. At least two main forms of religious deception emerged.

Docetism taught that Jesus had been an ethereal type of spirit without body or breath. He merely “appeared” here and there, teaching some nice ideas about kindness. Our word docile is rooted in the name for this philosophy. On the surface it means teachable, but it’s deeper meaning is easy to influence, persuade, or manipulate. Does that sound satanic? When it comes to controlling what children are taught in many schools today, you can be sure it is.

Another argument was presented that Jesus was a really good man, but not God. However, because of His extreme goodness, He was elevated into a lesser god of sorts, setting an example that all of us possess the potential to become divine. This idea developed into a system called Gnosticism. Today, there are numerous forms of this “special knowledge” or gnosis, identifiable by incongruity with God’s word.

Jesus was saying to the battle-worn Christian soldiers of Ephesus: “you have . . . labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary”—in fact, their zeal to protect His good name (a name was considered equal to character) was marked with perseverance and patience. The Greek word translated labored is the most extreme form of work humanly possible: the kind of work that results in utter exhaustion, yet He said that they “have not become weary.” There is a subtle yet purposeful irony in stating it this way which leads to His upcoming rebuke. Perseverance and patience are truly excellent qualities, and tomorrow we will look at the key that makes these qualities sustainable.

The infant church stood firmly against both Docetism and Gnosticism, correctly identifying them as deceptive and heretical. If Christ had been only some ethereal kind of “positive energy” then He did not really suffer, shed His precious blood, and die for us. And if He was only human, then God has not really taken upon Himself the penalty for our sin. Incidentally, the false doctrine of an eternally burning hell, borrowed from Greek Mythology, also refutes the truth that He bore sin’s full penalty on our behalf.

Beloved, behold the comparison between working in one’s own strength and working in the power of the Holy Spirit:

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31