The Word Was Made Flesh
A “standard” is a banner. In the year 1880, Peru and Chile were at war. Among the Peruvian army, there was one regiment consisting of 520 men, led by a young captain named Alfonso Ugarte Bernal. As the fight ensued, on June 7, the battle turned worse than expected. That day this 33-year-old captain lost almost all his men and eventually the battle. But he had the “Banner,” which any army considers sacred - and to avoid seeing it trampled upon by his enemies, he fled. Not knowing where his path would lead him, he finally ending up at a cliff on the Pacific shore known as “El Morro.” Having nowhere to turn, the captain, continued on horseback, galloping and jumping until he vanished in the cold waters of the sea, thus preventing his enemies from trampling upon his banner. After more than a month of searching, his body was found on July 16. The war was over.
What a wonderful lesson this young man teaches us! There are so many ungodly people who are ready to give even their life for their ideals. The question to us is: Are we also yearning - determined to give our life for Jesus’ banner? And if so, how much are we determined to give up for God’s cause? So many appear to think that God is satisfied with a divided service.
Most have read Matthew 6:33: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
God would like to see us seeking His kingdom as the first priority in our life. He assures us that if we do what He says, all His blessing will eventually be ours.
“In every line of useful labor and every association of life, [Christ] desires us to find a lesson of divine truth. Then our daily toil will no longer absorb our attention and lead us to forget God; it will continually remind us of our Creator and Redeemer. The thought of God will run like a thread of gold through all our homely cares and occupations. . . . We shall ever be learning new lessons of heavenly truth and growing into the image of His purity.”1
These practical lessons will fit us for the heavenly courts. So that we may have a place in the kingdom, Jesus has placed before us a high objective which we should strive to achieve. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
We have no sure source of instruction other than the Bible. The apostle Paul declares: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
The servant of the Lord says, “God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms.”2
Let us strive to be part of that people while aiming at Christian perfection as our most prized objective.
In order to uplift the “standard,” we must heed the instruction: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
Speaking of the “hearing-only class” of believers, Jesus compared them to a foolish man. He said. “Every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand” (Matthew 7:26).
That house had no solid foundation and it fell. “And great was the fall of it” (verse 27). Do you realize the importantance of obedience? “It is the doing of the words and works of Christ that testifies to the saving qualities of your faith.”3
Why then do so many act in opposition to God’s Word? “Some stumble at the word of truth. It does not harmonize with their inclinations, and therefore they refuse to be doers of the word.”4
“With many who claim to be Christians there is a painful certainty that they are not progressing heavenward, but are swayed by the customs and practices of the world. Fashions the most unlovely and unhealthful, the most contradictory to the laws of nature, are readily accepted by them. By eagerly beholding these fashions, they become changed to the likeness of what they so much admire. Thus they hasten to adopt the world’s standard, where pride and fashion complete in them the transformation which Satan delights to see accomplished, and they become unstable as water.”5
These venture to go along with the world’s current, forgetting that “Christians should not follow the customs and practices of the world.”6
There is only one way to be in God’s favor. Jesus said; “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). He told His disciples; “I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). And He added, “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10). If we cannot do more, Christ is longing to see at least what He has required from us.
If we examine ourselves, we will discover how far distant we are from reaching heaven. “Our faith requires us to elevate the standard of reform and take advance steps. The condition of our acceptance with God is a practical separation from the world. . . . The world may despise you because you do not meet their standard, engage in their dissipating amusements, and follow their pernicious ways; but the God of heaven promises to receive you, and to be a Father unto you.”7
What a wonderful promise! It should be enough to encourage us to fight against our own inclinations.
Many think that they are separated from the world because they no longer fellowship with world companions. But they still long for the worldly things and even dare to show a worldy appearance within the church.
“The standard of piety is low among professed Christians generally, and it is hard for the young to resist the worldly influences that are encouraged by many church members. The majority of nominal Christians, while they profess to be living for Christ, are really living for the world.”8 But “the great Head of the church, who has chosen His people out of the world, requires them to be separate from the world. He designs that the spirit of His commandments, by drawing His followers to Himself, shall separate them from worldly elements.”9
“The truly converted laborer in [God’s cause] will not be molded after the customs and practices of the world but will stand in moral independence. He will set an example that will be consistent with his profession, coming out from the world, and maintaining a separation from its spirit and fashions. He will not be turned in the least from his steadfast purpose to be one with Christ, nor yield an iota from his stand of fidelity to God, in opposition to pride, to indulgence in selfish amusement, to expenditure of means for the gratification of inclination or love of display, but will be an example in spirit, deportment, and dress.”10
“The church is to be as God designed it should be, a representative of God’s family in another world.”11
“It is these [worldly] things that separate God from His people, that shut the ark away from them. [Modern] Israel have been asleep to the pride, and fashion, and conformity to the world, in the very midst of them. They advance every month in pride, covetousness, selfishness, and love of the world. . . . And as soon as any have a desire to imitate the fashions of the world, that they do not immediately subdue, just so soon God ceases to acknowledge them as His children.”12
God is speaking to each one of us. It is not a trifling thing to cherish worldly fashions - pleasing Satan in his designs. As individuals, as well as a church, let us raise the standard so that we do not want to put Jesus out of our life. May God bless us all!