The Divinely Appointed Remedies: "Gold"
Chapter 7 (continued — part 4)
"We love because He first loved
us" (1 John 4:7-19).
This was the idea that turned the ancient world
upside down in the time of the apostles (Acts 17:6). It will turn the
world upside down again when the remnant church comprehends "with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height … to know the agape of Christ, which passeth knowledge
(Eph. 3:17-19). Without such agape, all our "tongues of men
and of angels" are "as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal"; all our prophecy, "knowledge", and "faith …
to remove mountains" is nothing. So terrible is the self-deception we
are prone to that we can "bestow all my goods to feed the poor …
and give my body to be burned" and yet lack the true motivation of agape
(1Cor. 13:1-3). (This, incidentally, is Laodicean lukewarmness! It
could continue for thousands of years and Gods work not be finished).
Whereas all non-Christian religions as
well as apostate Christianity appeal to man’s self- centeredness and
insecurity, the apostles presented a gospel with a radically different
appeal. Paul, for example, did not begin his preaching with a presentation
of man’s need, but of Gods deed. "When I came to you, … I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified" (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). "I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received [first], how that Christ died for our
sins" (1 Cor. 15:3). The result was the development of true faith in
the hearts of the listeners. An example Paul mentions is the Galatians
themselves, whose response was the "hearing of faith" (cf. Gal,
3:1, 2) a true heart-appreciation of that "wondrous cross, on which
the Prince of glory died". Such a heart response is the true article
of "faith" found in New Testament justification by faith. (This,
incidentally, is the third angel’s message in verity!).
This is why such justification by faith
leads to "obedience to all the commandments of God" (TM 92)
including willing acceptance of the Sabbath truth. "Agape
is
the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).
The true Christocentric motivation for
service and obedience finds refreshing demonstration in the appeals of the
1888 messengers, in contrast to its almost total extinction in our day
(thank God, it is beginning to appear again). A.T. Jones said:
I heard of a person who made an
expression something like this, speaking of the missionary work "Oh,
I must do more work or I will not have stars in my crown. I must do more
or someone else will have more stars than I." Fine motive, isn’t
it? The person who works for stars in his crown, that he may have more
stars than somebody else will never have any stars at all. That is not the
right motive; nothing is the right motive but love for Christ.
Think of it. my brethren, if I should be
so happy and so glad as to get to that blessed place, and the Saviour
should hand me a crown, do you think brethren, that I could stand in His
presence and put it on? … Do you think that I could stand before my
master and beholding the print of the nails in His hand, and see the marks
of the thorns that pierced His lovely brow, — do you think I say, that I
could … receive from those hands a crown, to be placed on my head? No!
No! I would want to bow low at His knee and put it on His head, for His is
the power and the glory. Let His be the eternal joy, and let mine be to
see His glory, and I shall be satisfied.
I have thought but little of my crown;
but I have thought that if I can add one beam of glory to His countenance,
one ray of gladness to the brow that was pierced with thorns, that if I
can add one glimmer of joy to that face, oh! … then my joy will be
complete. … Let the love of Christ constrain us.
Brethren, if we keep our minds on Christ,
we will not be troubled with thinking of the stars in our crown. for our
salvation will be sure and our joy full. He wants us to work and oh. let
us work from that motive of love. (Sermon, Sept. 24, 1888, Oakland,
California; RG11 (Presidential) Documents, 1863-1901, Manuscripts &
Typescripts folder, General Conference Archives).
It is painful for us moderns to
contemplate the complete contrast in motive in this appeal with that which
is so exceedingly popular in our day. We love to sing, "Will there be
any stars in my crown?’ (Many of our hymns and gospel songs are
as far from New Testament religion as Augustine’s theology which formed
the basis of medieval piety). The above hymn was written in 1897 (Church
Hymnal No. 626) and illustrates the falling away from New Testament agape
that began with the early church and has never yet been properly faced
and corrected.
Long before the true Sabbath was changed
into Sunday, our Lord rebuked the "angel of the church of
Ephesus", " I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left
thy first love (agape)" (Rev. 2:4). We have superficially
assumed that this was a sort of romantic backsliding, interpreting
"first love" in terms of our own emotional experiences. But our
Lord is not here discussing sentimentalism.
The one New Testament concept that Satan
hates pre-eminently is agape, the very antithesis of his raison d’etre.
It being the principle that effectively destroys his egocentric
commitment, agape became his first target of attack in the early
church. The writings of the "Fathers" document the truth of our
Lords charge to "the angel of the church of Ephesus". Like
termites stealthily burrowing from deep within, ideas from heathenism
began finding entrance into the early church. First was the idea of
self-centered love (eras) as an alternative to New Testament agape, in
order to replace the true Christocentric motivation with an egocentric
one. The change of the Sabbath into Sunday could never have found
acceptance among early Christians had not the groundwork been
previously laid by the adulteration of the true concept of love.
Roman
Catholic theology, says Nygren, is based on a fusion of the two ideas (op.
cit., passim). Augustine was the theological "father" who
brought this to pass, along with his ideas of determinism, predestination,
and original sin. His new idea of "love" he termed (in Latin) caritas,
from which we have derived our word "charity," which has brought
so much confusion in our King James Bibles as an attempt to translate agape.
The medieval idea virtually eclipsed Gods grace.
For a brief time Luther tried to break up
the synthesis to restore agape again. But after his death, his
followers returned to the adulterated concept, because they could not
relinquish the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul.
Practically all the churches, without any effective exception, have
inherited this confused idea of love, along with Sunday observance, and
the natural immortality of the soul from medieval Romanism. Some of their
leaders must yearn almost pathetically to return to the pure New Testament
truths, but do not as yet sense the way.
Wherever one finds the idea of the
natural immortality of the soul …
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