BeCOME an
ADDICT
by Terry Smith
Are you reckless enough to become an addict?
Living in Christ is a life of spiritual luxury. I do not say that it will be material luxury. We are expected to be content with food and raiment, if happiness and peace are to be our heritage. Spiritual wealth, “according to God’s riches in glory”, is what God promises the faithful, not riches in this temporal life. He does not want to be reckoned as our financial advisor or investment broker. The whole seed faith phenomenon of the modern evangelical faith is bunk, just so much snake oil being sold to us sheep in order to line the pockets of crooked pastors who live up on the hill. But spiritual riches are in order. I heard a Scottish preacher once say, "You can live in spiritual clover fat up to your hips when you know the Lord." Many of us, if we are honest about reflecting on our lives since coming to know Jesus, have enjoyed an abundance of luxury in spiritual clover. We have enjoyed the beautiful "simplicity that is in Christ", which enables us to understand God’s basic will: doing right, treating others the way we want to be treated, hearing His voice and following it up with the faith to do it. What stability, peace, luxury and spiritual riches we garner when we become accustomed to living rich lives in the spirit through our Lord Jesus. Shame on anyone who is rich in Christ and has the audacity to complain.
But to live by faith and not by sight, to judge not by appearance but judge righteous judgment, - Ah! - this requires more than stability and spiritual riches. In fact, faith and wisdom are the acquisitors of riches for they allow the instructors of trial, experience, patience and understanding to do their work in us so we can become skilled and victorious warriors, aware of the subtleties of Christian warfare.
So what are we waiting for?
It is high time that the older Christians among us - you and I, brothers and sisters - put away the excuses of immaturity, "wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet", and grow up. It is time to set our maturity free, grow up, stand like able-bodied soldiers who have grown into the "fullness of the stature of Christ." Take, for example, the Biblical man named Stephanas. Among the impressive heroes and magnificent episodes in Scripture this man is small potatoes to be sure. And yet, his mention and its context can greatly encourage and instigate all those "who love God and are called according to His purpose." Pleading with the believers of Corinth, Paul asks them to submit themselves to Stephanas and his household as people who are the first fruits of Achaia. They were the elders of the Church and by their experience and hard won victories of faith had become proven servants of Christ.
And then, in 1 Cor. 16 Paul says something almost shocking about Stephanas and his entire household. He calls them addicts. That's right, addicts. Dependents, users, co-dependents, hooked on something. In the case of Stephanas' household they were not compulsive about food and drink; they were not hooked on drugs, or obsessed with celebrities or slaves of sex - they were "addicted to the ministry of the saints."
Nowhere else in Scripture does God call one of His people an addict, but I can tell you folks that it can be the goal of every servant of Christ who is called according to God's purpose to become addicted to the ministry of the saints. It is time to "quit ye like men" as the sturdy Apostle Paul put it. In other words, it is time to start acting like men and stop being cry-baby millstones around the neck of the Church and Christ. Let the world be caught in the deadly tentacles of obsession, oppression, depression and addiction of the flesh. Let them be obsessed with golf, immersed in sports, overcome by lust and sexual desire, addicted to alcohol, tobacco and drugs of all sorts. But let us be addicted to the Lord's work and the ministry of the saints. You could not have a better vocation or avocation. We know we ought to look to do everything "unto edification". Let us seek the gifts of the Spirit, let us seek the offices of the Church which are "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ", let us seek to carry one another’s burdens. "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant." remember these are the words of Christ Himself. The name Stephanas whispers a connotation of glory in our hearing ear, for it means: CROWN.
Now we veterans in Christ know God's Word talks much about crowns. Someday we will see Jesus as He really is and He will be crowned with many crowns. We ourselves seek a crown of righteousness. Our crown of glory is the saints we nourish and teach. And we know we will be awarded our crowns on "that day" with the other saints. And we will happily take them off before the throne of the Lamb and cast them at His feet in praise and adoration singing, "glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created". He warned the Philadelphians to jealously guard their crown: "hold fast that which we have, that no man take thy crown". A crown is a symbol of fine royalty, it means they who have it have apprehended that promise that Christ has made us Kings and priests, as it says in Revelation. A Christian's crown is special and unique only to him or her. I don't know about you, but I know one of the things I want inscribed on my crown is: ADDICT. Inscribed by the finger of God, somewhere in full view, let it read: ADDICT.
Fact is, in today’s society people everywhere are becoming obsessed with some single thing, it might be a child or spouse, a game, a job, or the usual culprits like money or power. Obsessive-compulsive behavior allows people a reason to carry on in spite of the hopelessness, frustration, pain and frenzy of modern life. We live in a compulsive, addicted world, frightened of the withdrawal that follows loss, terrified by the prospect of being slaves to anyone or anything, yet ready to make a deal with the devil if we will get some hedonistic pleasure from it. If we are not obsessed with God, addicted to His labor, we will inevitably get addicted to something else. Become a frightened slave, imprisoned by our own lust.
Fellow soldiers, believe it, do yourself a favor, get addicted to the ministry of the saints. Stop worrying about your needs constantly, and pray about them; stop sucking energy and life out of the Church for your needs. Quit ye like men, stop belly-aching about everything and "look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others". Get out of your miniscule world and step into Christ’s ever expanding universe. If you and I who are born-again cannot be the fulfillment of the promises of the gospel, then who shall? Get up and follow after Christ without reservation and doubt. Now is the time. The call is being made. The Bride is being groomed. Stop all the selfishness and life for the bridegroom. Get out of yourself; get out of the bondage of constantly worrying about the cares of this world. Like Stephanas, have your testimony say, "I was a user, a dependent, and my house was full of co-dependents who needed their fix just like me." Be an addict to loving one another. I don't know about anyone else but I hope I will be present on that day when the saints throw their crowns at the feet of Jesus, and I hope my crown has ADDICT clearly carved in it. Come out of the night, step into the light. You’ll see clearly when you do. Get addicted to the Lord. Try it, once you so you’ll never get enough.