The Lord Knows Those Who are His

Let me tell you about "Bill." If you know Bill, he's the best guy you know. He's honest, generous, and hardworking. He helps everyone, even people he doesn't particularly like. If you're lucky enough to have him as your neighbor, he's the best neighbor ever. Bill's a better person than most of the "church people" he knows. Because of that, he has no interest in the gospel. He doesn't need Jesus. Christians have taught him that.

In this fallen world, we hate but are not surprised by the evil that men do. The lost are lost, they're still dead in their trespasses, so we can't really expect anything from them but wickedness and injustice. But what about those who are supposed to know better? What about those who are supposed to be God's people? There is no greater injustice than to bring the gospel into disrepute.

One of my children is dealing with this right now: people who publicly claim to follow Jesus but are privately manipulative, divisive, and immoral. It makes one wonder who to trust. How do you know everyone else isn't secretly just as bad? Is there really anyone in the church who's actually good? Is there really any power in the gospel to change people? We've talked about how not everyone who goes to church is actually a believer, but that just raises more questions. She believes, but she struggles with how to reconcile what she's been taught with what she sees.

The question gets harder when we feel like they're getting away with it. These people do evil and profit, while the faithful just take one lump after another. When is God going to do something about people who claim to be Christians but their lives don't show it, people who "honor [him] with their lips" but not their hearts (Is 29:13)?

The prophet Malachi tells us about such people. These people committed every kind of immorality and injustice and said,

"It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.”

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.

“On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves." (Mal 3:14-4:2)

Jesus also spoke about this. He told the parable of the wheat and the tares, how a man sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. And how does the farmer respond?

"Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn" (Matt 13:30).

The wheat will be separated from the tares, the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:31-46). Justice is coming for the unjust and for those who truly honor God. "The Lord knows those who are his" (2Tim 2:19).

The Lord can tell the difference between those who merely pay lip service and those who truly fear him. But what do we do about the people around us? They can't tell.

We want justice. We want those who've maligned the gospel with their behavior to repent or receive the penalty for their actions. We want justice for those who've been hurt by those who inflicted harm in the name of Christ. And we want the lost to come to Jesus.

One day the Lord will set all this right. Until then, all we can do is make the distinction between us and them as sharp as possible. The Lord's people must live like he did. We must be forgiving, generous, honest, patient, and self-controlled. We have to tell the world who Jesus is; we also have to show them.

And we should pray with the prophet:

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
  that the mountains would tremble before you! ...
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
  you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
  no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
  who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:1-4)

Music for reflection:
One of These Days
Lo! He Comes, with Clouds Descending


Image via Pixabay