“MINDFUL INDULGENCE OR ‘MASTERED INDEPENDENCE’?”
BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, DEC. 2-4, 2017
In Proverbs 23:4-5, 12, and 17-19, are extremely wise, necessary words for all men, but especially to true believers! It says, Verses 4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”
Verse 12 says, “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Would you think that means ‘turn your hearts and minds TO God’s Word’ and ‘your ears to “Biblical Truth”?’).
Verses 17-19 says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope (in Him and His Word!) will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.”
What ‘way’ do you choose to walk in? “Mindful indulgence or Mastered independence?” In Matthew 6:19-21 the Lord Jesus said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Is there a reason for what Christ said? In Colossians 3:5 Paul wrote, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”
All unbelievers and ‘sons of disobedience’ WALK in “mindful indulgence” completely unaware of the consequences! In Romans 8:8 Paul wrote, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”, meaning that those who live ‘in the flesh’ dominated by their old sin-natures cannot please God, emphasizing even more in Romans 8:13 saying, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die…”, unveiling unregenerate people who are, yes, hostile to God, and in the ‘flesh’ cannot create, invent, manufacture, or idealize ‘holy living’ – that takes a miracle of the love, grace, and mercy of God!
‘Mindful indulgence’ is the result of the birthings of perverted generations as Romans 3:23 clearly announces, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Natural man “misses the mark” and needs “Blood Redemption” by the purely innocent shed blood of the Son of God who knew no sin yet willfully took our sin natures to the Cross with Him!
In Romans 3:10-18 Paul quoted Old Testament passages to open men’s eyes, minds, and hearts to the need of their “blood redemption through Christ” saying: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
“Mindful indulgence” is ‘self-effort’ denying the need of ‘sovereign provision’ in any form or any Person, seeking to ‘justify’ one’s life by ‘grit’, refusing the grace of God; and, of course, there are those who believe by ‘working at it’ their effort ought to be “passed” with flying colors, rather than “Resting” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and the empty tomb, making available Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!! Romans 3:24 clearly tells us, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, WHOM GOD SET FORTH AS A PROPITIATION BY HIS BLOOD…!!!”
It’s so convicting and heart-breaking to become aware of, yes, multitudes who truly believe their ‘working at being a better person’, or for some, they just don’t care what God thinks about them – but…Romans 4:4 is clear: “Now to him who works (at making himself/herself acceptable before Holy God), the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Is ‘true salvation’ “working at it” or “RESTING” in Christ’s “finished work at the Cross”?
In John 5:38-40 Christ Jesus exposed the “religious Pharisees” of His day, as He does today with ‘modern-day’, religious activists who, yes, major on “self-effort” rather than His “finished work”! John wrote: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!). You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
In John 17:11b-19 the Lord Jesus prayed for His new disciples that He’d soon be departing from, saying, “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition (Judas), that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify (Set apart) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
Question! “Have YOU been ‘set apart’ for the glory of God alone? Do YOU live to unveil the Indwelling Christ to the ‘lost world’ around you? Are YOU His messenger, His ambassador, His witness of saving grace, mercy, and love? Do YOU by “life example” reveal to your world your allegiance to King Jesus?
“Mindful Allegiance” is a life “too busy” with one’s natural surroundings to be concerned with, involved in, or a messenger of “King-dom Allegiance”! Some in church fellowships that, as disciples, the Lord Jesus said to them and us in Matthew 16: 17-19, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, (Farrell Fisher, David Clark, T.Roy Jones, anointed wife of a strong, trusting husband, medical doctor “So and so”, banker, car-washer, educator), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, AND ON THIS ROCK (OF FAITH, TRUST, AND OBEDIENCE!) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR “BINDING AND LOOSING MINISTRY!” Do YOU realize that YOU are either binding kingdom ministry on the earth around you OR you are loosing the Kingdom of Christ around you by, yes, your faithful ministry as an appointed, anointed servant of the Master or is it just an ‘imitator’, ‘do nothing’ church member?
Are YOU a “kingdom minister”? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”, with more enlightment for true believers and servants of the Master coming in John 18:36-38 when Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Right before His ascension, in Acts 1:7-8, the Lord Jesus said to His new disciples, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Witnesses, messengers, ambassadors, proclaimers, servants in the Name and for the honor and glory of Christ in us and through us, because in you the Word reveals a redeemed life filled with the Holy Spirit, being, yes, guided by the Holy Spirit in being a faithful witness to the unredeemed around you?
But, sadly, the Holy Word of God reveals the truth that there are those who, according to Romans 2:4-11, should have God’s holy judgment against them clearly revealed! Paul wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? BUT in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ‘who will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-SEEKING AND DO NOT OBEY TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who seeks what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
I’m sure that at least most ‘professing believers’ know what is commonly called the “Lord’s Prayer” as He taught His new disciples in Matthew 6 unveiling it with powerful instructions in Verses 5-8 followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” in Verses 9-13! Receive our Lord’s powerful ministry AND instruction through His teaching!
Matthew 6:5-8, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites (or “play actors”). For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Verses 9-13 follows – Receive our Lord’s Prayer! It says: In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
“Mastered Independence”? That’s a life conquered by the love of God, set free from the law of sin and death by the blood of the Lamb, governed by His Kingdom rule and revelation, freed from the “chains of Satanic bondage”, issued the “Master’s instruction of heavenly independence from the worldly aims of godlessness, from a world system of self-dependence, from the ‘flesh’ stronghold of sin and death, and from the darkness of demonic activity”, and discerning of what, yes, fallen mankind and, sadly, some believers are influenced by as John was inspired to write in 1 John 2:15-17,
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
And “Mastered Independence”? That’s pastors, churches, families, individuals, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then loosed in a fallen world, yes, “mastered independently” to BE “salt and light” in one’s darkened world, not making sure the “salt and light” is protected by the four walls of a church building, but poured out faithfully in the streets of one’s city, state, nation, and its world!
I’ve often wondered if pastors and churches today “rest” in the Word of God, then find themselves “released” to touch the World God loves with the message of His Son. In Isaiah 54:1-3 merciful God is touching His ‘barren people’ who’ve failed to be “poured out drink offerings” to a thirsty, dry, unredeemed world! Receive His Word!! “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall EXPAND to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”
It’s time for “stained glass curtains” hiding too many disciples faith to be removed, maybe, allowing the “True Light” to shine in the streets where they walk, work, witness, worship, and willfully share their faith in Christ! Our Lord and Savior willfully left the “Throne Room of God” to pour out His life to our needy world, and I believe He wants us, yes, laying down our lives in the streets of the cities of our world! Great witnesses are mortal men and women touched and taken over by Jesus, tutored by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to see transformed lives by faithful witnesses who share God’s eternal love, grace, and mercy for, yes, ALL of fallen mankind!
Grace E. Uhler once wrote: “For God so loved the world, not just a few, The wise and Great, the noble and the true, Or those of favored class or race or hue. God so loved the world. Do you?”
It’s time for modern-day churches, faithful pastors, families of faith and biblical mission to lose themselves in a flood of Calvary’s love, faithfully becoming “poured-out drink offerings” to this spiritually dehydrated world! Amen? Sadly, some ‘professing disciples’ are the result of a ‘dead faith’ that isn’t worth sharing, so they don’t, because their ‘faith’ isn’t of any value in them or around them because they’ve never comprehended the end result of Christ-less living! “God, help us, convict us, prepare us, and pour us out to our thirsty world!” Amen?