PRÉCIS ON WHY WE KEEP GOING: EARTHLY LAMENTS VS. DIVINE REWARD – (WITH VIDEO)

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Then I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in empty futility; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God.’” – ISAIAH 49:4, AMPC

KEY TERM: “RECOMPENSE.” ‘Mishpat’ [מִשְׁפָט]: “A verdict pronounced judicially, as with a formal sentence or formal decree [in this context] by Divine Law; i.e., ‘Justice’ – a Final Judgment regarding righteousness; a determination that mitigates rights and privileges vs. liabilities and punishments; ‘the Providential Virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due.’”

QUOTATION. [Gandalf] “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in Judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
― J.R.R. TOLKIEN, The Fellowship of the Ring, 1954; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Then I said’ — By way of objection; ‘I have laboured in vain’ — Lord, Thou sayest thou wilt be glorified by my ministry; but I find it otherwise. ‘I have spent my strength for naught’ — Without any considerable fruit of my word and works. ‘The words,’ says [Campegius Vitringa Sr., Commentary on Isaiah, c. 1720]contain the complaint of the Son of God, concerning the small fruit of His Mission to the Jews, and the small hope of establishing and successfully propagating His Kingdom among them; like that which is attributed to the same great Teacher and His Apostles, Isaiah 53:1.

But at the same time He supports Himself with the hope, that He should obtain a glorious and abundant fruit of His Divine Mission in the world; for that “His Judgment, or right, was with God,” and the Reward of His work laid up with Him; who would take good care, according to His Wisdom and Justice, that the proper and full ‘recompense’ of His labour should be paid Him …‘Though I see little or no fruit of my labour … and meet with nothing but contempt, and reproach, and ill-usage from them; yet God sees my fidelity and diligence in my work, and he will give judgment for me, and amply reward me in due time.’” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

II.THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE

THE BATHROOM MIRROR (1988).  My wife Suzette and I had just moved from California to Virginia Beach, VA in 1983 as I accepted a position on the faculty at Regent University and the following year began my appointment as Founding Director of the then-new Institute of Public Affairs Journalism graduate program.

Turns out that after we had moved into our new home in Great Bridge, I was showering one morning getting ready for work. When I stepped out onto the bathroom rug, I was astounded to look up at the steamed mirror with a single word clearly etched in the most surface, about one foot high:

“Endure!”

To the best of my recall, I had never before nor since ‘seen’ a waking vision like this, so I was truly somewhat gobsmacked, as the Brits would say it. When I got to the office, my then editor-in-chief of our monthly public affairs tabloid, The Standard, MARK O’KEEFE, excitedly showed up to share with me ‘A Word’ he had received that morning:

“Persevere!”

Somewhat disappointed that it was a similar but not exact confirmation of what I had seen earlier, I pulled out my New American Bible Concordance and looked up both words and was wonderfully surprised to find out what it said.

‘HUPOMONÉ!’ [ὑπομονή]: “A remaining behind; [sustained] steadfastness, patient waiting for; ‘refers to the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial;’ accompanied with hope; constancy [of purpose or allegiance]; a bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain or distress without resistance, or without sinking or yielding to the pressure; sufferance.”

It is important to note that at the time I had very little idea of the terrible significance of this Divine Discipline later in my life. Make that read, ‘in the America of 2024!’ Without any question, as we see Christians by the millions now literally Falling Away from the Faith, in exchange for a Political Golden Calf.

I tremble with its power to seduce so many, as over against the Promise to those of us who choose to do what JESUS CHRIST Commanded in response:

“At that time [of the End] many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another. Many false prophets will appear and mislead many.  Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.  ^‘But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.’” – MATTHEW 24:10-13, AMP

THE TERRIBLE TRUTH. “‘But he that shall endure to the end.’ –  In the profession of Faith in Christ, notwithstanding the violent persecutions of wicked men; and in the pure and incorrupt Doctrines of the Gospel, whilst many are deceived by the false teachers that shall arise; and in holiness of life and conversation, amidst all the impurities of the age; and shall patiently bear all afflictions, to the end of his life, or to the end of sorrows, of which the above mentioned were the beginning.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

Virtually every classical Commentary I read said the same thing:

• CHARLES ELLICOTT. “The words have at once a higher and lower sense. Endurance to the end of life is in every case ‘the condition of salvation,’ in the full meaning of the words” (An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 1878, 1897; edited).

• ALBERT BARNES. “”He that bears afflictions and persecutions faithfully that constantly adheres to his religion, ‘and does not shrink until death shall be saved,’ or shall enter heaven” (Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1834; edited).

• MATTHEW POOLE. “It is a Promise to Perseverance, especially to such perseverance as is joined with fortitude. ‘He that shall not be tempted to Apostasy through the afflictions of the Gospel, but shall patiently and courageously endure all the sufferings which shall follow the profession of the Gospel, shall be saved;’ if not preserved, and so saved with a temporal salvation, yet he shall be eternally saved” (Annotations on the Holy Bible, 1685; edited).

TODAY’S CHURCH. This of course slams up flush against ‘the American gospel’ of “Once Saved Always Saved,” and if our interpretation is accurate, devastates it. I love what the EDITORS of an online Blog wrote in an exhaustive treatment of this life and death issue.

“Let me challenge you by reading the following Bible verses regarding Eternal Life and see if you don’t agree. And remember, we are not talking about an occasional misdeed or occasional sin in a sincere Christian’s life. ‘We are talking about a [saved] person that is living in open rebelliousness against God.’

A person that is living like the devil. A person who has turned his back on God, the Church, etc. and has gone back to his old ways before he accepted Christ as his personal Savior. Will that person be in Heaven if he has un-confessed or un-forsaken sin in his life, even though at one time, he had a saving, loving relationship with God? Also, most people that believe in ‘once saved always saved’ say, ‘Well that person was never saved in the first place.’ Well, only God knows that, only God can see their heart, and who are we to judge and say, ‘that person was never saved in the first place?’” – “Once Saved Always Saved: Fact or Fiction?” Preparing for Eternity, ret. Apr. 15, 2024; edited

For me God’s Jury is in and has always been in: ‘Only those who choose to and labor to endure to The End shall be saved, beloved!’ Why would we gamble with the obvious meaning and risk Hellfire to make a doctrinally egregious point? I will tell you why:

To better enjoy and prefer ‘this world’ rather than the ‘Next World!’

III. LAST THOUGHTS: ‘TRUE GRIT’

I have shared with most of you before that I have a great love for old-timey Western movies and television shows mostly produced from the 1950s to the early 1960s – a period of what I still see as a bit more uncontaminated America, though our brothers and sisters of color could certainly argue the point.

My Point: The Traditional Virtues of self-sacrifice, courage, love for the downtrodden or fierce opposition to the ‘bad guys’ was almost always clearly evident, with dire consequences for those who transgressed the Moral Law.

And one movie in two different iterations that I love to this day was:

“TRUE GRIT.” Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania DR. ANGELA LEE DUCKWORTH studies individual differences that determine effort and achievement. Her special research niche: The cognitive and behavioral markers of people who exhibit this exceptional ‘Gritty’ personality.

So, what better place to end our conversation with just what goes into such individuals with ‘pluck,’[“spirited and determined courage”] as they used to say back in the day?

The Concept. With both movie depictions of what True Grit means, the first starring John Wayne as Deputy US Marshall “Rooster” Cogburn (1969) and the second starring Jeff Bridges (2010), we move forward to a more objective assessment.

Taken from her article, “True Grit,” co-authored by Lauren Eskreis-Winkler published in the journal, Psychological Science (Mar. 29, 2013).

She opens with a quote from, ironically enough, actor WILL SMITH: “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things — you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: ‘You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple.’”

She then offers an intriguing illustration from Aesop’s Fables about The Tortoise and the Hare” (c. 600 BC), asking some KEY QUESTIONS. “It may be obvious that Effort and Stamina are required to accomplish anything worthwhile in life. But how easy is it to forget this fact in moments when we feel tortoise-like relative to our seemingly hare-like peers? ‘Who among us presses on’ even as we are passed by those stronger, faster, and/or smarter? Who among us stays the course, running the race we committed to rather than choosing a different, new pursuit, after stumbling and losing ground? ‘Who lives life as if it were a marathon, not a sprint?’”

Following the anecdotal fun stuff, she gets down to the brass tacks of her scientific discipline, to begin identifying just how PEOPLE WHO ENDURE happen to think and behave. Though a secular analysis, it bears remarkable resemblance to the Biblical Text.

The Definition. “Recognition of the necessity of Hard Work and Persistence is age-old and universal. Nevertheless, individuals differ dramatically in their ‘Stamina for long-term goals.’ Gritty individuals are tortoise-like, distinguished by their propensity ‘to maintain effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress’ (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007, p. 1088). Less Gritty individuals are, in contrast, more easily discouraged, prone to take “naps” mid-course, and frequently led off track by new passions.”

CODA. I became somewhat emotional as I originally read the Passage from Isaiah 49:4 on the morning of March 13, 2024. I had at that time been brought so low with feelings and thoughts of abject failure for all my efforts to bring God’s Truth to the Church over the past seven years or more. I had become nearly inconsolable. I therefore cried out to the Lord for some sort of encouragement.

‘This Study was His Answer.’

As if to drive the point home last week, I was enjoying a Mexican dinner at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, La Casa Fiesta in Monument, Colorado. As I finished and was about to pay my bill, this precious, elderly man, clearly in his 80s, walked to my table, laid a gentle hand on my shoulder, bent down and quietly said:

“Keep up the good work.”

When the Spirit spoke that to me by that phrase that was repeated by the way, word for word, later in the week, I teared up just a tad and replied to the old man:

“You have no idea what that means to me, sir. Thank you.” I believe God said it to all of us in this small community who labor hard in His troubled vineyards, to bring Truth to a Nation and more painfully, to a Church that seem not to want it anymore.

BUT GOD SAYS:

“Just keep going, beloved; I’m with you.” Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/1-HeCzse-w4