Heavenly Mindedness (44)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

 

“It would be useless to seek it [the remedy to unsteady and ephemeral Christianity – see previous post in this series] in withdrawal from the struggles of this present world. The true corrective lies in this, that we must learn again to carry a heaven-fed and heaven-centered spirit into our walk and work below. The grand teaching of the Epistle that through Christ and the New Covenant the heavenly projects into the earthly, as the headlands of a continent project into the ocean, should be made fruitful for the whole tone and temper of our Christian service.” G. Vos.

 

Consider what Vos says ought to be “the whole tone and temper of our Christian service.” It is not pragmatism, it is not utilizing the motivations and methods of the world, nor employing the values of the world to measure success and fruitfulness; it is rather learning to “carry a heaven-fed and heaven-centered spirit into our walk and work below.”  

 

The chasm between the way of the world and the Way of God in Christ is as great as the chasm between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham – they are two environments, two atmospheres; we can either breathe the air of heaven with the fragrance of Christ, or we can breathe the smog of this present age and the hell that is its origin. I realize this sounds hard to some of us, for we are accustomed to language of “live and let live,” to thinking that if something works it must be good, and that we ought not to be religious fanatics and offend anyone. Consider Paul’s words to the Romans:

 

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:6 – 8; see also 1 Corinthians chapters 1 – 3).

 

Dear friends, we are either going to draw our life from Christ or we are going to draw our life from the present evil age; we are either going to live according to the life of Christ within us (John 15:1 – 11; Galatians 2:20), or we are going to live according to the spirit that animates the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1 – 2; 4:17 – 24). We cannot overstate the distinction between these two ways of life (Psalm 1).

 

To “carry a heaven-fed and heaven-centered spirit into our walk and work below” means that we draw our life from Christ as a branch draws its life from the vine; it means that our thinking and actions are focused on Jesus Christ and His Kingdom; it means that we live as citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20); it means that the salvation of others is paramount in our thinking; it means that we sing and live the words “take the whole world but give me Jesus.”

 

If the world is to see what it looks like when “the heavenly projects into the earthly,” it must see it in us; in you, in me, and particularly in us as the People of God. Just as Jesus says, “He who as seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9), so we must live in Christ in such a Way that when the world sees us, it sees our Lord Jesus Christ. However, as Vos says, this can only come about through Christ and the New Covenant – that is, as Christ lives in us and we live in Christ, and as we live in the reality of the New Covenant as set forth in Hebrews.

 

Do we functionally live in the New Covenant? Do our lives and teaching conform to the New Covenant, as set forth in Hebrews, or do we still insist on living in the Old Covenant? Are we living and ministering according to the order of Melchizedek or according to the priesthood of Aaron? Is the “power of an endless life” filling us every day and anointing our thoughts and actions, or are we mired in perpetual guilt and carrying the stench of the world, the flesh, and the devil?

 

Are we in the vanguard of the heavenly projecting itself into the earthly, of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, or do we cower in the rear ranks of the saints while others go before us, taking the land in the name of Jesus?

 

In the Old Covenant we have the constant reminder of sins and sin, in the New Covenant we have the glory of consciences cleansed from sin and completeness in Jesus Christ. In the New Covenant we can fulfill our calling as the sons and daughters of the Living God. In the Old Covenant we live as sinners; in the New Covenant we live, in Christ, as saints. In the New Covenant, in the Cross, we learn in Christ to be both priest and sacrifice – we live as broken Bread and poured out Wine…the Bridegroom and His Bride give their lives for the life of the world.

 

Dear friends, contrary to what you may have heard, it is only those who are heavenly minded who can be of any earthly good.

 

The doors of heaven are open for us to live in the power of an endless life, the veil has been rent and we are called to live in the Holy of Holies, in the koinonia of the Trinity.

 

And while this is a question for all of us, let me especially ask this of pastors and teachers, are you serving God and His People according to the Levitical Priesthood, or according to the Order of Melchizedek?

 

Where are we living today?