God’s Rope

tagged: Church Life, Devotions, Les Puryear, Theology

Posted by Les Puryear in Bible & Theology

The following devotion is from Donnie Lambert, who is one of the young men in Lewisville Baptist Church. It is my wonderful privilege to pastor men like Donnie. Les

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God’s Rope

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer, three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:12

When I was a teenager, I went repelling with some friends of mine. I can remember being at the top of that mountain and looking down. As I turned around and began to walk backwards down the side of that mountain I can remember thinking to myself “Please Lord, let this rope hold me up.” I griped that rope so tight that when I got to the bottom I had worked a blister on my hand. The rope did not let me down. It held me up.

Do some research on climbing rope and you’ll find words like super durability, heavy construction & super revolutionary strands. The rope that held me that day was woven together with many, many strings of fabric wrapped around and around one another. With each strand there came more strength. It bonded together to make something that could be used to hold something up. That day it was me.

Isn’t that what Christ wants to do with us? Bond us together for His purposes.

How many of us Christians today try and go down the mountain alone? If we are truly seeking God’s will in our life we must let down our guard and let others Christians help us on this journey. Just like the loan strings in the rope we are vulnerable when alone. In that vulnerability there will be temptations and with others Christians there to help we have a greater chance of doing what is right.

We need to pray and encourage one another and be accountable for each other’s actions daily. Remember, for we are God’s rope and together we are strong.

Prayer

Lord, Please grant me courage in You to rise above this world and know that together in Christ we can do all things to Your strength and glory.

Shane says:

October 10, 2008 at 10:50 am

Les,

Your friend’s devotion made me think of one of the most taken-out-of-context verses in the Bible. (In a good way, of course!) I won’t complain about the secondary application which is too often taken as the primary application, but I’ll look at the primary application of the following verse:

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

This “good work” that God began in the Philippians is explained in the prior verse: The Partnership (koinonia) in the Gospel!

Some lessons we can learn from this:

*Just like Donnie says–God wants us to bond together for His purposes. What purpose does God tell us that churches can rally around here in the first chapter of Philippians? THE GOSPEL!

*Here God outlines that He will NOT fail to complete this work that He began in Philippi–their partnership in the gospel would continue on until the completion of God’s mission on the Day of Christ Jesus! God has bound His church and His churches together around the purpose of the gospel and this together purpose will not and CANNOT fail, because Christ began it and Christ will complete it.

*I think that the Gospel can be the main rallying point for separate local churches. This passage implies this fact and the history of the SBC bears this out to be true.

*The primary application of this verse is a reminder that God will complete His work of connecting His churches to the work of the gospel. He will carry this work on to completion, until all peoples have heard and Jesus returns.

*I have no complaints about the secondary application of this verse. (Other than the fact that the primary is often ignored for the sake of the secondary.) If it is true that any work God begins, He completes, then we can also understand this verse as teaching that Good things that God begins in a person’s life, he will carry on to completion. We just must understand that this verse is plural and specific in its context and not singular and general.

Together in the Task,

Shane