Many working for God but NOT with God

By Allen Mandishona

I realize, with sorrow how much we slowly sometimes move away from Christ our foundation, how slowly we move from the mark in our daily devotion to God.

This mainly due to giving value to things that are supposed to be secondary ahead of the primary, by majoring on the minor and specializing on the lesser instead of the greater.

Many things, if not all, are built on certain foundation(s). Christianity is also included on this. Marriage should be built on love just like Banking is built on trust and Christianity is built on Christ. These are some of the many examples of foundations that we have in our lives.

Christianity, being itself built on Christ, it would mean that any deviation from having Christ being our core of the message, on Christ being our very ultimate, would be more like turning Christianity into a religion. I say so because Christianity is not a religion, it is life.

In Matthew 16v18, Christ said ‘… and upon this rock I will build my church…’ but then who is that rock? The greek word there translated to rock is PETRA which means a parent or solid rock. There are three main schools of thought on what it is.

Some say its Peter, some say it’s the revelation of who Christ is and some say its Christ. If we look at peter, he is disqualified because he, as a man, had a very temperamental character and building the church of God on him would not produce the kind of bride the Lord is looking for.

Then on the revelation of who Christ is, it may not be enough just to say the church is build on a revelation. Also these two schools of thought would fail the scripture interprets scripture basic biblical interpretation criteria.

The most ideal interpretation of the rock would be Christ at least for two reasons,(1) because the word PETRA would be used well to describe Christ as He is evidently a rock solid. And (2) in other scriptures, Christ is likened to the rock eg in Rom9 v 33 and many other verses in psalms.

If Christ is our foundation, everything we do should revolve around Him. In other words our whole exercise of worship should centre on Christ. Our main focus should be on Jesus Christ who is the ultimate.

I believe that for us to have Christians who are really rooted in Christ and that cannot be shaken by any wind of doctrine, they should first be exposed to six fundamental teachings as revealed in heb6v1-2. The first two teachings there of repentance and faith relate to what is commonly referred to as conversion.

Whereas repentance involves turning away from darkness and sin(and not just feeling sorry for one’s sins), faith is turning to the light of God, that is unto Jesus Christ. These two are fundamental in our Christian walk and we should be exposed to them before we even get to solid food for the spiritually mature man in Christ. Then comes the baptisms(water and Spirit) and the laying on of hands.

These are also important teachings to make solid foundation for believers. Water baptism, as one of the two ordinances given by Jesus unto the church should be done and practiced as it is an instruction received from the Lord.(the other ordinance is the Lord’s supper). Water baptism, as instructed by Christ, all those that believe must be baptized by water.

Infilling of the Holy Spirit is also an important aspect in our Christian faith for two main reasons(i) He, the Holy Spirit, teaches us and leads us into all truth (Jn14v ) and He is the seal of our inheritance(Eph 1v13-14) guaranteeing our inheritance.

The last two of the six, resurrection of the dead and judgment are also vital. What makes Christianity different from other world religions is that Jesus Christ, the founder not of a religion, but of a life or lifestyle, was resurrected from the dead.

In their ministration, the early apostles concentrated on two main things which are, breaking the fellowship bread and preaching on resurrection. Judgment is also an important facet of the Christian faith as it reveals the just attribute of God.

Now to expose a believer into other Christian teachings, eg Eschatology or study of the last things, justification and the like, would not be ideal before exposing him or her to the basics.

There are many things we are taking first and yet those things are in actual fact supposed to be secondary. They then become our rule of thumb in defining who we are and yet they neglect the fundamental.

The greatest miracle ever to happen on this planet is the salvation of ma, saved by grace alone, By faith in Christ, only using the scriptures. That should be appreciated and valued above all other things.

But nowadays, there are those who love a bread increasing Christ and will only focus their attention on that and not on His substitutionary death that made it possible for us to be saved. Paul in one of his writings says ‘ that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His suffering’.

There are those who also just want to go to Jesus so they take off yokes and burden from them and remain free agent. In one great teaching, Jesus said ‘ come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you…’ one thing to notice there is that, He did not say when we give Him our burdens we go back free just like that, instead, he said that we should take His yoke which is light.

He also pointed out that if we are to find rest, we should take His yoke. How does that happen for us to find rest yet with a yoke on us?? Two things come to my mind here.(1) that if we were to just give Jesus our yoke and burden and be never willing to take His, we would normally be prone to selfishness.

It then becomes easy for the devil to give us back another yoke .

So Jesus could have been saying its better we exchange because if you don’t take mine, the devil will give you his for there can not be free agents!!(2)the burden of Jesus is to minister to all the lost souls that they may have eternal life. Now the end result of someone with Jesus’ burden will eternally have rest as he or she will inherit the kingdom of God.

Have heard people so much happy that Christ’s anointing broke their yokes yet they are not as happy to take His burden and yoke with them. Just some signs of loving God for what He gives and not who He is.

Another facet that is a bit disturbing if you look at the root is the way many are seeking wealth. The best way to get wealth is not to go out seeking for it, it is to go out seeking for God’s kingdom and its righteousness. It is to go out seeking for God to give us the power to get wealth. It should not be an issue of volumes but of value. Yes we all want volumes but more important the value thereof.

Am sure if we seek His righteousness, we can be able to maintain the power to get wealth. Wealth must follow our righteousness as is said in Mt6v33. Wealth that follows us will make the most impact on the dying world than that we hungrily seek for. It’s almost the same again with respect. The biblical way to get respect is not to ask for it, it is to ask for wisdom and that wisdom will come with respect.

Many times we pray amiss because we neglect the fundamental basic Christian principles. We should have our roots in Christ and no one else. The bible is our compass showing us not only our object of worship who is God, but also the method of worship that is the how part. Christianity is different from religion. Many people are becoming religious thinking that they are serving God.

Why do I say so?? Christianity is a way of God reaching to the lost soul, a way of God saving us through His love. Religion on the other hand is the man’s way of reaching out to God. It is what men do so as to think to get the attention of God. this is not to say we should just be relaxed as God reaches out to us, he reaches out to us the way he has said it in His inspired word and we have a prescribed way to respond to that( eg by having faith in Jesus and living a holy life).

Many people, if not rooted in Christ, end up doing all they can so as to reach out to God. We end up having many people working for God but NOT with God. working or doing things for God is good, but ask yourself ,is God in it? Is God behind all I am doing or am just being zelous without substance? Zeal without the knowledge(Epignosis- perfect knowledge) of God will produce emotional rather than spiritual believers.

We are living in a wicked and adulterous generation always seeking for a sign yet even Christ Himself could not readily offer a sign. Instead, the sign He freely offered was the sign of Jonah. We should not go to God with pre-conceived ways of reaching out to Him, instead, we should go to Him in the light of His word which is our today’s urim thumim or measuring rule or our standard.

Anything contrary to that, no matter how religious it sounds, needs to be treated with the care it deserves. Let’s go back to the foundations, to Christ the rock and our foundation.