Getting Perfect Enough To Stay Saved Because the teaching that there is the possibility of losing one's salvation is a central tenet of modern Christianity, is it any wonder that there is a great interest in promoting and preserving "self" in the church? After all, the most important people to keep out of Hell is yourself and those closest to you, right? One of the sad by-products of this teaching is that a person is never able to enter into the promised rest spoken of so clearly in the following scripture: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mat.11:29-39, KJV) It is a difficult labor for the SELF-righteous person to enter into God's promised rest. A SELF-righteous person has filled themselves with countless dead works. It is a labor indeed carrying them about, counting them all the time to make sure they are enough. It is a hard thing to compare oneself to others to see if one is doing better than their neighbor in the good works/bad works department. One must really pay attention to "self." And that's really hard work. There's little joy in that kind of work - there is no rest. Let us now take a look at the life of the father of faith, Abraham, to see what it means to be perfect" before God. He also knew a lot about rest. When he spoke to Abram, God used the Hebrew word translated perfect" in Gen. 17:1, "taw-meem." The best way to determine the meaning of an ancient word is to see how it is used in other contexts. And since Hebrew is a "root word" language, knowing the word's root is also helpful. The real meaning of taw-meem is almost the opposite of what most Bible translations and the Bible reference books tell us it means. Taw-meem actually means expended, exhausted, depleted, spent, completely empty or to come to an end, as in "come to the end of oneself!" "Walk before Me and be perfect." (Gen. 17:1: KJV) A more literal and accurate translation of Gen. 17:1 would be: "Walk before My faces and be empty of yourself." The Hebrew word behind the King James "before Me," (paw-neem) literally is the plural form of the word for "face." The word taw-meen is also in the plural form indicating a multiplicity of emptiness. We're talking about a multiplicity of no room to boast about ANYTHING in the FACES (multiplicity of fullness) of the Almighty God! We're talking perfect humility. That leaves a LOT of room for God's grace! While grace is NOT the subject of this article, I feel it vital to make the point that grace for many Christians, has become nothing more than a theological term or something Christians say before a meal. Grace is the very power unto fullness of salvation! "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men," (Tit. 2:11, NKJV) "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1, NKJV) We, Christians, have GOT to get out of theology and into reality. Grace is the very power that should clearly demonstrate that we have been born from another realm. A Christian full of grace and truth -- empty of themselves, the traditions of men and the cares of this world should be a bright beacon - he or she should really stand out! Having had an encounter with the Living God in a manner similar to Abraham' s, I can completely understand how this is the correct way to read Genesis 17:1. In my encounter, I became completely undone I was finished. God was everything and I was nothing. And that is what Genesis 17:1 actually says. Now THIS translation lines up perfectly with what Paul wrote about Abraham and faith. This helps clear up some of the confusion found in most Christian discussions about grace versus works. Let's look at a few examples of how taw-meem is used in other places in the scriptures to prove what I'm saying is true. In Josh. 10:13 the word taw-meem is used to describe when a day is fully gone. Lev. 23:15 speaks of seven Sabbaths being "completed," that is, fully spent, used up. That's the word tawmeen. The root word for taw-meem is "tah-mam." We find some of the senses of this word in Strong's Concordance (#8552). Some of them are "to complete, in a good or bad sense. Or figuratively to accomplish; to cease; be cleaned, consume, have done, come to or make an end, fail, come to the full, be all gone, be spent, sum, be upright, be wasted, whole." Here are some examples of how its root verb "tah-mam" is used: "money failed in the land of Egypt," (Gen. 47:15), "When the year ended," (Gen 47:18) "they are consumed." (Jer. 24:10) (Much of the information on the Hebrew word "taw-meem" was gleaned from a friend named Alan Newton.) The Hebrew words for "Almighty God" in Genesis 17:1 are "El Shaddai," the "All-sufficient One." The contrast is obvious in the Hebrew. Abram, the completely empty one, the spent one, the depleted one, the totally reliant one is walking in the faces of the completely full and sufficient One. THAT is what Christians are supposed to be - totally dependent upon their Maker, not trusting in the arm of their flesh, ESPECIALLY for "righteousness' sake." With this information, we begin to see new light about the importance of Abraham, the father of faith. It is now much clearer to see Abraham as a type of Christ. Jesus Himself said, "I do nothing of Myself." (John 8:28) We see that Jesus also "emptied Himself" or "poured Himself out" just as the Genesis 17 verse speaks of Abram. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed-- not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence-- continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Phil. 2:5-13, NIV) We can find enough truth in this one verse to write many books; but I want us to focus upon just a few relating to our subject in order to emphasize the importance of accurate understanding. Jesus tah-mamed Himself, He emptied Himself just like Abram did. And because of this, God the Father raised Him up, even from death itself, to place Him above everything. Likewise, God made Abram to be Abraham, the father of many nations. We see they both emptied themselves that GOD HIMSELF might fill them with HIS WORKS! What does this mean to us? It means true Christians, who are NOT filled with their own righteousness, but trusting ONLY in the righteousness of the cross of Christ, will also have "God working in them to will and to act according to HIS good purpose." (Phil. 2:13) Grace through faith as a theological concept is totally worthless except to sell books with which to fill empty shelves. Grace through faith if mixed with the leaven of self-righteousness breeds an emphasis upon human effort, and ultimately undermines the grace of God. But His grace through His faith given to us as a free gift apart from our own works IS the very POWER of God within a believer. THIS IS THE ABUNDANT LIFE Jesus promised to bring to those who abide in Him. It is His abundant life to those -- who trust Him - whoa abandon themselves to Him. God's grace plus nothing is Heaven's Bread for those who empty themselves out that He may fill them with Himself. This is the Christian way of life. This is being perfect. This is taw-meem! Why is there so little of the power that the early believers manifested experienced in the church today? Sadly, it is simply because we have become SELF-righteous! SELF-filled and SELF-centered. Why did Jesus call the works of the Pharisees "leaven"? Because it just takes a little bit of works-yeast to contaminate a person's whole life! Yes, even just a little reliance on ourselves, just a little law-keeping, just a few ordinances or "traditions of men" will "MAKE THE WORD OF GOD OF NO EFFECT!" (Matt. 15:6-9) Tentmaker 118 Walnut Hermann, MO 65041 http://www.tentmaker.org [email protected] Christian Bulletin Board http://www.saviorofall.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi |