Because it all depends on who you put your trust in. By Jim Hohnberger
My wife and I had just held a 5-day seminar. We were talking about how well everything had gone. The Holy Spirit had moved many hearts.
Moses' mistake: a hidden stumbling block
Then a friend soberly burst into our thoughts with a reflection on Moses' sin: Moses' sin, he said, was not just that Moses struck the rock, even though God had said, "Speak to the rock!" (Exodus 20:8). He also sinned by saying, "Listen, you disobedient ones, will we be able to bring you water from this rock?" (Numbers 20:10). For it is said that "he was carried away with rash words" (Psalm 106:33).
Moses said "we" when he should have said "God". Moses acted as if he shared with God the power to bring forth water from the rock, as if the admiration for this belonged to him and God together - instead of God alone. He allowed himself to be regarded by God's people as if he had been instrumental in the miracle.
Moses inadvertently focused the people's attention on himself and not on God alone. This is not good, neither then nor now, because it focuses people's faith on people and not on the man Jesus Christ. That is why Moses was not allowed to lead the people into the Promised Land.
When we adorn ourselves with "foreign" feathers
When I heard this, the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Jim, you gave yourself a portion of the glory in your last seminar. I can't excuse Moses' sin or your sin." Friends, under no circumstances should we take credit for what only God can do. It's true: Hearts had been changed in the seminar my wife and I had given, but all glory, honor and power belonged to God alone. How painfully rebuked I was in my heart.
God forgave me, but he sensitized me to the fact that it is not the preacher of the word that is glorified, but the word that is preached. How easy it is to unintentionally focus people's faith on people or human institutions and not on the Word made flesh, Christ himself.
So the rebuke "Listen, you disobedient one!" ultimately also applied to me. Why? Because I unintentionally referred someone to me instead of to God. Oh, I did it in a nice way in human terms - but not in God's eyes.
Be a transparent vessel with water of life
When the apostle Peter stood before the rulers, elders, scribes, Pharisees and Annas and Caiaphas, he rightly said: "There is salvation in no one else, nor is there any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
God warned me: Be a transparent vessel, always, everywhere and at all times point everyone to the One who alone can save: the man Jesus Christ. We can all be such transparent vessels and point everyone to the water of life, to the spiritual rock, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 10:4: "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."
The rock was not the man Moses, nor membership of the congregation of Israel, nor a missionary service or a well-known person or organization. Jesus Christ is the rock, he is the water of life, he saves the rest.
Follow the life guide with an unobstructed view
God wants to bring us all to the promised land, but this is only possible if we keep our eyes on him, not on the tools he chooses.
Israel as a memorial
The history of the Jewish nation was recorded for the instruction and warning of future generations. Israel drew attention to itself by saying with Moses: We. It ascribed honor to itself and let its people seek their security in their membership. But Israel failed miserably. Its we-attitude was to blame. It gathered the people around itself instead of around the Messiah. That is why they fell victim to a serious deception. They believed they were right, even though they were completely wrong.
The Jewish community's mission was to be a transparent vessel, not the solution. It made the same mistake as Moses by drawing attention to itself. Unfortunately, for the most part, it has never repented of its sin and still exists in this sense today as a memorial to itself.
Trust in the wrong place?
Let us not praise the church that the Messiah founded, but the Messiah who founded the church. For whenever this "we" attitude takes over and Jesus alone no longer gets the glory, we are warned: "Listen, you disobedient ones!" Do not fix the eyes of my people on any person, system or institution, but on me alone, so that you will not fall among the disobedient. For "many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out evil spirits in your name? Did we not do many deeds in your name? Then I will confess to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers!" (Matthew 7:22, 23).
How can Jesus say: "Depart from me, you evildoers"? Everything they did, they did in his name. But were they really bringing people to him or just to themselves? I am thinking of the scandals of the televangelists. They preached in his name, but to whom were they really drawing people: to themselves, to their missionary services, to their churches? They misdirected people's faith.
Misguided faith
Friends, this is a serious problem today. The disciple of Jesus is led to believe that he should put his trust in "his church," however that very broad, general term is used. Or a missional ministry or an individual is led to put his trust in the pastor, the evangelist, the speaker, the person who has moved his life, or the doctrines and reforms he believes. This is a case of misdirected faith, just as Moses caused Israel to look to him instead of God alone. Therefore, God dealt very consistently with this sin, which directs people's faith, trust or assurance to someone or something instead of to Him.
Moses was commissioned to be only the transparent vessel, not the solution, just as a church, a ministry or an individual may be a transparent vessel that draws people to God alone and not to themselves.
More appearance than reality: the fig tree
"Jesus' cursing of the fig tree, which his own power had created, is a warning to all churches and Christians."(Desire of Ages, 584; cf. The Life of Jesus, 576) Why did Jesus curse the fig tree, which represented the Jewish nation, God's chosen people? Because he found nothing in it except a plethora of decorative leaves. Or as the apostle Paul puts it: "They have the appearance of godliness, but they deny its power." (2 Timothy 3:5).
The fig tree drew people to it. They came with the hope of receiving life; but it could offer no life, only decorative leaves. When a church binds followers to itself instead of bringing them to Jesus, it robs Jesus' throne seat - not just theoretically, but practically - and becomes a curse instead of a vessel of grace. A church that draws people to itself, that makes the support of the system the main interest and loyalty to the system, the connection to the system, the career of the system, such a church becomes a curse the moment it does this.
No system is the vine
No system and no church has ever saved anyone. Neither with the Jews, nor with the Adventists, nor in any other church can salvation be found. We were rightly warned that "the Jews based their hope of salvation on the fact that they were connected to Israel. But Jesus said: "I am the true vine. Do not think that by joining with Israel you will receive God's life and that his promises will be fulfilled in you. Through me alone will spiritual life be received."(Desire of Ages, 675; cf. The Life of Jesus, 674) Do we understand what Jesus said here through his prophetess for today? "Through me alone can one receive spiritual life."
The church should be a transparent medium that points everyone to the Messiah. Not only in theory, but also in practice. Otherwise, it will become a disobedient one just like the Jewish community at that time. This church was called into being by Jesus. It was supposed to point people to the coming of the promised Messiah. But it bound the people to itself and warned against Jesus, it exalted itself and sought its own good. How sad that the very one to whom the church was supposed to point all people was crucified by his church.
Is it better to part with systems?
The same danger still exists today. Everywhere we hear the call to support the system; be faithful to the system; don't leave the system; this focus is misdirecting people's faith!
Does your church bind you to itself or does it bring you into constant dependence on the One who alone can save? My request to you is not that you leave your church, but that you become so attached to the leader of the church, to Jesus, that Jesus can awaken and revive his church through you.
Crying instead of swearing
Let us not utter a single curse word against the church, but weep over the sins that are found in it, just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We cannot and must not reject the church any more than we reject the truth. The church has no power in itself, no more than Moses, no more than I, no more than you, dear reader of this article.
Machines need a motor
All the machines in this world stand still unless they are connected to an engine. If the church is connected to the engine, it will never attribute the power to itself, but to the engine, Jesus Christ.
The same danger exists today in the independent missionary services. Many of them are gathering followers around them. The 1993 tragedy in Waco, Texas, with the Davidians should be enough to scare us all. Whenever a person or a missionary ministry binds people's trust in them, beware, for it is surely disobedience to the Lord.
God will use missionary services to bring His work to completion. But if they begin to draw attention to themselves, he will surely have to curse them, as he did the fig tree that only had decorative leaves.
Small test
As I write this article, I invited my wife and two sons into my study for a test. I listed some names of currently active ministries and then asked them to tell me the first thing that came to mind for each name. Some answers made me happy, others made me cry. Why don't you do the same test?
Many missionary services do not contribute to spreading the true gospel. They neither lead people to Jesus nor prepare them for heaven. I believe that the instruction given by the apostle Paul can guide us in our relationship with some mission ministries. "Those who have the appearance of godliness but deny its power, avoid them." (2 Timothy 3:5)
Humility is the highest virtue
Friends, I do not want to reject Moses, the "church" or the missionary services. But I warn myself, and not only myself, but also the church and all missionary ministries, not to misplace people's trust. One person after another, one missionary ministry after another, one church after another has fallen into Moses' sin. Let us learn not to misplace people's trust. " So also you! When you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are useless servants; we have done what we ought to have done. (Luke 17:10)
Jesus at the center: The true power of the church
Let everyone see that we truly believe that Jesus is the only perfect one who will never let us down [even if it may seem that way at times]. It is absolutely necessary that mission agencies, individuals and churches direct people's undying faith, loyalty, trust, focus and dependence on Jesus alone. All their faith and supreme trust must belong to the one who can save. We have the sacred task of pointing this out to them, in every sermon, every article, every video and every conversation we are involved in. If we do not, we too will be guilty of Moses' sin: "Because of this mistake, God did not allow Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land."(Spirit of Prophecy 1, 310; cf. The Story of Redemption, 165)
There is an invitation that applies to all generations, nations, tribes, languages and peoples: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters" (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus himself repeated the call as he stood in the midst of his congregation: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37). And in the last pages of the Holy Scriptures, this call full of grace resounds through the ages to you and to me: "If any man will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). Friends, our faith must not be based on a person, a missionary service or a church, but on the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
From: A Voice From the Wilderness, year 2000
Source: hoffnung-weltweit.info
