Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
You and I, on the broadest basis of the Christian
life, are here... to represent a check; and because we are here for
that, we shall be called "trouble makers."
In a very real sense we shall be trouble
makers. The trouble will focus itself upon us, and we shall have to
suffer for it.
The very fact that you are jealous for the Lord will
bring you into conflict with that trend that there is in this world, in
man....
When there is the purest testimony, the fullest expression of
what is of God, the heavenly over against the earthly, the spiritual
over against the carnal or the natural, the enemy gives a turn to
things, a twist to things, and lays the responsibility at the door of a
spiritual and a heavenly ministry.
He says: "You are the cause of all
the trouble – you are the troubler!"
But no. The trouble lies deeper
than that, and in another realm. The truth is, there is something here
that, in its very nature,
must create trouble, must be a source of trouble, so
long as God's known will, His revealed mind, is being violated; while
the full expression of God's purpose is being withstood.
To bring in
something that stands for that, there is going to be trouble. It is a
costly thing to have seen God's full purpose and thought concerning His
people. It is always a costly thing.
The Lord Jesus set a very vivid
example and object lesson of this truth right in the foreground, in the
incident of the man born blind (John 9).
There is no doubt that the Lord
intended that man to represent Israel and Israel's condition at the
time.
He gave that man sight – and what happened to the man? "They cast
him out," that is all; they cast him out, they excommunicated him (v.
34). That is an object lesson, an instance of this very thing.
If eyes have been opened; if, in any sense – not
officially – you have become a 'seer' – one who sees: it is going to
cost you a lot, it will involve you in a lot of trouble. This matter of
'seeing' does that.
It was Elijah the Seer, over against the blindness of
Israel. It is a costly thing to be a spiritual man or a spiritual woman
in this universe. It is a costly thing, yes, very costly, to hold to a
heavenly and spiritual position.
It is a costly thing to hold for
Christ's full place; it involves you in trouble. It is a costly thing to
have light – if it is true light, God-given light.
It is a costly thing
to have Life. But remember, it is here, in this, that the power is
resident.
~T. Austin Sparks~
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