Various Topics Important to the Christian Life
Volume 2
By
Pastor Al Bishop
Contents
1) What Kind Of Man Is This?
2) What was God Up To?
3) Christ's Prayer For You
4) Seeking God's Wisdom
5) Trials and Perseverance
6) Enduring the Hardships of Life
What Kind Of Man Is This?
There is a story recorded in the 4th chapter of Mark that asks us a very important question. Mark 4:30ff: "And Jesus said how shall we picture the kingdom of God or by what parable shall we present it? It's like a mustard seed which when sown upon the ground though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the ground, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms larger branches so that the birds of the air can rest under its shade." Verse 35: "On that day, later in the evening, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let's go over to the other side.' And leaving the multitude they took him along with them just as he was in the boat and other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind and the waves were breaking over the boats so much so that the boat was already filling up. Jesus himself was in the stern sound asleep on the cushion and they awoke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don't you care that we're perishing?’ And being aroused, Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘hush, be still!’ The wind died down and it became perfectly calm and He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?’ And they became very much afraid and said to one another, 'What kind of a man is this?'”
Jesus had a taxing day. He had been speaking to a multitude of people and wanted to get away for a while. So he asked his disciples to shove off into the sea to go to the other side. They probably had not been gone very far, maybe 5 or 6 miles, and a sudden wind blew up from the cold northern ranges of Mount Herman. This storm whipped the waves up into a white fury! The disciples were afraid that the boat was going to capsize. When I was pastoring a church in the Minneapolis area, I recall how suddenly the waves came up on Lake Minnetonka. It was just a wild, wild time. In fact, I went around calling on some of my parishioners to see how they had fared, when I looked in front of one house and saw a rowboat 20 feet off the ground impaled on a tree about 50 yards away from where it had been docked. Powerful! No doubt it was such a storm as this that over took the disciples. And in the midst of it there was Jesus calmly sleeping in the back. The disciples, some of who were fisherman well acquainted with the waters, realized they were in great danger. They turned to their Lord who had helped them out of so many situations before and said, "Master, don't you care that we are perishing?" And rising to his feet, the Lord stilled the waters. He lifted his hands and said, "Peace be still." And the wind died down to a whisper, the waves began to subside, and the waters became smooth as ice, once again. The disciples are dumbfounded and finally one of them has enough nerve to ask the question that is on everyone’s mind, “What kind of a man is this?”
Every Christmas and Easter the world is faced with that same question. They try to avoid it. But Jesus Christ cannot be ignored. The question of his existence has long been answered. There have been books written questioning His historical existence. The evidence for His existence has been established that it is beyond doubt. Therefore, the question is not “Did he ever exist?” but “Who is he?” First of all, what kind of a man is this who has made such fantastic claims about Himself? When you pick up the Scriptures and read about the life of Christ and some of the things that He said, either this man was truly God as He claimed or else He was suffering from mental torment and a paranoid disorder with delusions of grandeur.
What kind of a man is this who claimed to be co-equal with God? In John 14:9, Jesus one day made this bold statement, "I and the Father are one. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." Hebrews 1:3 says: "He was created in the very expressed image of God." These passages are claiming that Jesus is not an ordinary man. They are saying that He is the physical representation of the heart of God. He told the Pharisees that He lived before Abraham who had died 2,000 years before. And listen to this, in his prayer in the garden, John 17:5, He prays to the Father, "Restore unto me the glory which I had with you before the world began." And in His reference to Abraham, who had been dead 2,000 years, He used the same words to identify Himself that God used to identify Himself to Moses. God said to Moses, “When you are asked who sent you, say that I Am sent you." Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said, "Before Abraham was, I Am." The Pharisees knew what He was saying and were so infuriated they tried to stone Him. When He healed the sick man of palsy He said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." And to this the skeptic says, “Hey, hold it, nobody can forgive sins but God.” This is a true statement. For an ordinary man to claim the power to forgive is blasphemous. To believe such a man’s claim is stupid. Anyone can say anything. They are mere words. Recognizing this Jesus answered, "Is it easier to say to this man, take up your bed and walk or to say your sins are forgiven?" I can easily say to you “Your sins are forgiven” and how would you know if it were true, or not. Or even care that I said it because you do not believe me. But to say to someone who is a paralytic “Take up your bed and walk” gives validation to what was just said.
What kind of a man is this who not only permitted people to worship Him but He encouraged it? When the superstitious people of Caesarea came upon Peter, Cornelius said to him, "Peter," (he had asked for someone to come to him) and he fell down at Peter's feet and began to worship him and Peter said in Acts 10, "Don't do that. I am a man just like you. Stand up, I'm only a man." Paul had the same experience in another city. They thought he was Zeus. Paul and Barnabas were doing some evangelistic work and they thought one was Hermes and one was Zeus. That they were Greek gods come down in the form of man. But Jesus never so much as rebuked anyone for falling down and worshiping him.
Remember the first Palm Sunday recorded in the Scriptures. Jesus is entering into Jerusalem and the Pharisees get very upset about what is going on. They say, "Hey, Jesus, this mob is singing and rejoicing and carrying on all about you and singing your praises, why don't you just tell them to hush up?" And what is the response of Jesus? "Let me tell you something," He says, "If these people were to be quiet, what would happen? The stones would shout out.”
What kind of a man is this who on numerous occasions not only predicted his own death but the very manner and place it would occur? He told His disciples that it would be at Jerusalem and it would be by crucifixion. Not only that, but that He would rise again.
What kind of a man is this who claimed the exclusive power to have saved men from sin and prepare them for heaven? John 10: 28: "I give unto them eternal life." John 10:7: "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved." John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Ordinary men, even prophets do not make statements like these!
What kind of a man is this who claimed to be able to resurrect men from death and then He did it? He promised, "I will raise them up at the last day." He said, "All that are in the grave shall hear my voice and come forth." John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever..." There is that beautiful word that John uses so often to say that we are all possible children of God--"...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
What kind of a man is this who promised that his words would outlast the heavens and the earth? Matthew 24:35: "Heaven and earth shall pass away but my word shall not." We could go on and give you countless outstanding claims that He made about Himself. I think that this is probably enough to make the point. Jesus said enough about Himself and did enough in His earthly life to show Himself to be the Son of God. Only outright unbelief, or non-acceptance, can dismiss it.
People marvel about Jesus. They marveled about what He had to say. They say, "Never did anybody speak like this man." It is true that the established religious leaders of that day, staunch defenders of their power and status quo, rejected him. But those who were honest with themselves, even among that group acknowledged His claims. John the Baptist said, "He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." In saying this He was ascribing to Jesus Christ not only the power to forgive sins but also to atone for them. As a man, I can forgive your sins against me, your abuse of me, whatever it is. But I cannot cover your sin. Philip testified that it was Jesus about whom all the prophets of the Old Testament had written when he told Nathaniel, "We have found Him of whom Moses and all the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth." John, chapter 4, the woman of Samaria, after she met Jesus goes back to her village and says, "Is not this the Messiah?" Nathaniel said, "Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." And when Jesus asked Peter who he thought Jesus was Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And I remember the words of the centurion at the crucifixion. He was in charge of seeing to it that there was a nice clean crucifixion. He stood back and marveled as he saw Christ die and said, "Truly, truly, this was and is the Son of God."
What kind of man could bring forth such praise from his contemporaries? Even Pilate admitted publicly he found no fault in Jesus (Luke 23:14). By agreeing to execute an innocent man he sacrificed his own integrity to maintain his position of power. Think also of what prominent men of history have said about him. Not necessarily religious people, either. Rousseau, the French infidel who sowed the seeds of the French Revolution that drenched all of Europe in blood said, "It is impossible that the sacred person whose history the Bible contains should himself be a mere man. What purity of manner, how sublime in his teachings, what profound wisdom in his discourses, where is the man or where is the philosopher who could so live and so die?"
Napoleon the military genius said, "I tell you, Jesus Christ's spirit over awes me. His will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world there is no comparison. He is a being by himself. His gospel, his empire, His mark across the ages, everything is for me a mystery insoluble. A mystery which I can neither deny nor explain. Here in him I see nothing human."
Daniel Webster the statesman said: "I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. The miracles which he wrought establish in my mind his personal authority and I believe what he asserts."
Shakespeare in his last will and testament said, "I commend my soul into the hands of God my creator," and listen, "assuredly believing through the mercies of Jesus Christ my Savior and to him alone to be made partaker of life everlasting." This is thrilling to me to hear these testimonies.
Lord Byron: "If ever man was God or ever God was man, Jesus Christ was both."
Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Jesus is the most perfect of all men that has ever yet appeared."
And what about George Bernard Shaw, hardly considered a paragon of evangelical Christianity. Can you believe what he says? "I am no more of a Christian than Pontius
Pilate was! And yet, like Pilate, I prefer Jesus to the High Priests. And, I am ready to admit that I see no way out of this worlds misery, but the way which would have been found by the will of Jesus Christ."
Bertrand Russell will not necessarily be remembered as a saint of the church yet this is what he reluctantly admitted. "There are certain things that our age needs and the root of the matter is a thing so simple I'm almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the smile which wise skeptics would read my words. The thing I mean, please forgive me for mentioning it, is Christian love. If you feel this you have a motive for existence, a guide in action and a reason for courage.”
Robert Louis Stevenson: "When Christ came into my life I came about like a well-handled ship."
Lou Wallace was a general, lawyer, governor, and foreign minister and saved Washington, D.C. from falling to the Confederate Army. He said, "After 6 years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity," he intended to write and refute it, "as to its truth or to its falsity I've come to the deliberate conclusion that Jesus Christ is the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world and my personal Savior." He then went on to write the famous novel Ben Hurr.
We could go on. What kind of man is this that His influence should permeate every realm of life? Here was a man born in a humble stable of a very poor mother, of a humble race, raised in an obscure village, never attended a university, never wrote a book, never led an army, never went a hundred miles from his home, and never held a public office. If you were to take Jesus Christ out of art, literature or music there would be a cultural void that would be unbelievable. What was there about this man that He should cause such universal respect and worship and whose influence has been felt in every realm of life?
My friend, the answer is found in Colossians 1:15-20. "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For in him were all things created both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body of the church and he is the beginning, the first born from the dead so that he himself might come and to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all of the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile all things to himself. Having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven."
Romans 1:20: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made so that all mankind are without excuse. For even though they knew God they did not honor him as God nor give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” In other words, “God is me, he is the animals, he is everything,” a la the New Age movement. The New Age movement is today’s modern day version of the false teachings Paul was referring to in Romans and Colossians.
The Lord of heaven and earth came to be a servant. The very essence of God gave Himself for us so that repentance and forgiveness can be realities in our lives. That is what makes John 3:16 such a tremendous verse. We all know it. It is usually the first thing out of our mouths when we begin to learn the Scriptures. “For God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” There is one thing Jesus Christ could not do. He could not save himself and at the same time save you and me. That was impossible. Everything about Jesus was connected to the Father in heaven. Everything in His life, His food, His nourishment, His energy, all were directed to fulfill the will and plan of the Father. In John 4 he said he came not to establish an earthly kingdom but to make it possible for every fallen, sinful person--for you and for me--to be reconciled to God. Therefore, when Peter swung his sword and took off the ear of Malchus to defend Jesus in the garden, Jesus told him, "Peter, that is not the way it is going to be. Put the sword back!" And then He picked the ear up and put it back where it belonged. Jesus Christ came to show us the heart of God. He came to show us that God is longsuffering. He came to offer forgiveness and eternal life by taking on your sin and my sin. The Father has promised to forgive all those who receive His Son. And receiving the Son entails receiving all He did for us. It entails receiving Him as Savior and Lord.
The way Jesus Christ responded to situations in His life teaches us two things. First, it shows us the heart of God and what He would do if confronted with the situations we are confronted with every day. Secondly, it gives us examples so that we can get a feel for how we are to confront the situations that we encounter in our lives. Look closely at the following:
When He met hypocrisy, He revealed and unmasked it.
When He met impure thoughts, He purged them.
When He met pretentiousness, He put it down and humbled it.
When He met materialism, He resisted it.
When He met faith, He responded to it.
When He met love, He accepted it and encouraged it.
When He met skepticism, He understood it and cleared it up.
(There are no bad questions to Jesus. He'll take care of them all.)
When He met joy, He added to it. (I like that.
He was not a pessimist.)
When He met sorrow, He comforted it with a heart of compassion.
When He met pain, He relieved it.
When He met abuse, He overcame it by endurance.
When He met death, He conquered it.
And when He met someone who was seeking God, He revealed Him.
Jesus Christ calls you and me to be outstanding in our way of living. We are not to live like the unwise. We are called to live in such a way as to say, "Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus, for all you've done and for what you have done for me." Law does not drive us. God’s love, as shown in Jesus Christ, leads us. I ask you to meditate on how we can implement the work that He began. Have you taken the work that He accomplished on Calvary's cross and applied it to your own life? The disciples asked, “What kind of man is this?” Your response to the life and work of Jesus Christ will show how you will answer that question. Who do you say that He is?
What Was God Up To?
The Apostle’s Creed
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into Hades. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen."
The Apostle’s Creed was not actually written by Peter, James, and Andrew, but by a group of people in 170 A.D. that decided that the Christian church needed to have a formal statement stating what we really believe so that there would be no confusion. And often the Apostle’s Creed would be repeated as a personal testimony as someone was being baptized.
The word “Christmas” comes from an Old English term which means “Christ’s mass.” It is a name given for the day set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ. We do not believe that December 25 is the actual day of Jesus’ birth. The actual date is not the point, it is the meaning of that blessed event that matters. I do not think there is any question that history records the fact of Jesus’ birth. Secular sources testify to that fact. Most people agree that a baby named Jesus was born to a young Jewish lady in Bethlehem. So what? There were a lot of babies born to Jewish women the day Jesus was born. What makes his birth special?
Look at four words in 2 Corinthians 5:19--“God was in Christ.” Through Jesus Christ God was identifying Himself to the world. Seven hundred years before the actual birth of Jesus Isaiah the prophet wrote in Isaiah 19:6: “For to us a child is born. A son is given. And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.” Listen to Micah 5:2: “Out of you little town of Bethlehem will come one whose origin is from ancient time.” What an astonishing statement to make. Was he living before his physical birth? Jesus’ words in John 17:5 takes away any uncertainty: “Restore unto me (Jesus) the glory I had with you (God the Father) before the world began.” Something very special was taking place that day two thousand years ago.
The next five words of 2 Corinthians 5:19 speak of God’s purpose—“reconciling the world to himself.” What was happening? God was reconciling the world to Himself. We want to be sure we do not misunderstand this. We are not saying that just as every person who becomes a Christian by faith in Christ receives the Holy Spirit, that that is what happened to Jesus. This verse is saying that Jesus is unique. He is the supreme witness of who God is. Do you want to know what God is like in His inner self? Look at Jesus!
I want to draw your attention to the gospel of John 1:1 for a moment. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” He (the word—whoever that is?) was with God in the beginning. What does this mean? Go down to verse 14. “The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the father full of grace and truth.” The Word was what brought us into existence. In Genesis chapter one, God spoke. By His word He spoke, and it was so. Word created the universe. Word created the animals. Word created the fish. Word created the sea. Word created you and me and the Word was/is Christ. That is why Christmas is so special. The very Creator of all things became flesh to walk among us and give Himself as a sacrifice for all who will receive Him. In Jesus Christ we have God incarnate—God’s inner self in human form. He was touchable. Listen to First John chapter 1:1-2 in the NLT version: “The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This one who is life from God was shown to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and announce to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was shown to us.”
In Jesus Christ we meet God in human form. It is not enough to merely say that Jesus Christ came here. Or that He was born. That is simply stating a historical fact. It is a fact that Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth and had to go down to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus ordered everyone to return to their home town for a census for tax purposes. The gospels tell us that Jesus was born there. The secular historians of that day confirm that fact. But it is of utmost importance to understand why Jesus Christ came. Paul said in the letter to the Colossians in 1:21-22: “And you that were once alienated (that is, enemies, hostile in mind toward God) God has through Christ reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ.” In other words, the physical birth of Jesus was the first step toward Christ’s atoning death on the cross. Isaiah 7:14 adds: “The Lord himself will give you a sign (an indication, so you will be able to know what is going on) a virgin will be of child and will give birth to a son and you will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.”
What does all this mean? Why is it so important? Mankind has turned away from God. A look at the problems of the world and an honest evaluation of our own self-oriented mindset reveals how we tend to distance ourselves from God. Romans 3:23 clearly teaches the universal problem of sin: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” History attests to the sin problem. Cain and Abel, Abraham lying about his wife, people in the time of Noah, Jacob’s deceitfulness, Samson, King Saul, rebellious people of Israel over and over and over again, the Pharisees, on and on. Regardless of all that, the eternal reality and existence of our holy God remains. And so does the necessity of acknowledging Him for who He is. But we cannot do this on our own.
It is innate within the nature of mankind to want to have some sort of God and if there was no God, we would proceed to invent one (as many have, who have rejected the true God). Eternity has been written on our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and only willful unbelief can dismiss its witness. There is a very real sense in which the problem of man’s sin created a dilemma for God. God is holy. We are not. The two cannot mix. God is holy and we are not but God loves us so much that He took the initiative for reconciliation. God came into the community of man. He identified with us. There was no other way that we were going to get an understanding of what God is like. And if you do not have that, then what do you have? If you look at yourself and see yourself for what you are, what do you do?
I am reminded of what my friend Jim Elliot said before he was martyred. He said, “Man is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he can never lose.” When we look to ourselves we strive to gain power, do we not? We want to rule, we want to be in charge. But even if we end up with everything, it is not going to satisfy us. Ask the Hitlers of the world. Ask Alexander the Great? Historians tell us he wept. Why? Because there were no more worlds to conquer. How sad! We have seen a lot of that. Situational ethics. Anything goes. Many lose their values in pursuit of their goals.
Not too long ago a large number of teenagers were asked this question. “What do you wish for most in life?” The answer was surprising? They wanted somebody to trust. Think about that. In the light of our current history, that is a strong message for our nation’s leadership, is it not? So to solve the problem and the crisis of man’s search for reality, we read in the Bible, “In the fullness of time (or just the right time as God had planned) there came into human history the revelation. God sent his son made under the law (Galatians 4:4) made of a woman, not man to redeem those who are under the law.” Jesus Christ is the revelation to man of what man was intended to be. First John 3:1-2: “How great is the love the father has bestowed on us, (lavished on us) that we should be called children of God.” And later. “Now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet made known. But we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.” As you examine the life of Christ, you see things that are very interesting. We see God in Christ in His love for people at the marriage at Cana where He turned the water into wine. We see God in Christ in His emotions, His concern, when He wept over Jerusalem (Luke chapter 19). We see God in Christ in His healing the afflicted by the pool, the lepers, and the blind. And we see God in Christ in His disdain for death (John 11) in the resurrection of Lazarus. We see God in Christ in His holiness, John 3, where He cleanses the temple of all the people who were the abusers of the law, abusers of the message that God wants a personal relationship with everyone, not just the ‘elite’. These ‘leaders’ were obstacles. “Cannot get in here unless you pay the right tax. You have to have the right sheep and we are the guys that have the sheep and we are going to charge you for the sheep, so let us see your money.” God, in Christ, says, “I do not want that. That is not what I am about, that is not Me!” And we hear God in Christ, calling all to repentance in His teaching on Christian living, the Sermon on the Mount. God was in Christ enables you and me to gain a new perspective and understanding of God.
But the second part of that verse really demands our attention. The greatest degree of understanding about the love and mercy of God and the heart of God is seen in the Christmas event. God spared nothing. He guaranteed that we could be reestablished with Him. He made it possible for you and me to be reborn into His family. How is this done? By reconciliation. Reconciliation means to be “brought together.” Webster says, “to reestablish friendship between.” Having been alienated from God, we are now restored to union. John chapter 15 talks about “union with God.” When I see relationships collapse into bitterness, when parties to a rift say “I won’t give in” whether it be friends or husband and wife and any other relationship, I ask myself, “What in the world is the difference between being a Christian and a non-Christian?” We are all the same. It ought to be different and so God’s dilemma was this. How can a holy God who cannot look at sin, deal with His love for mankind who is always prone to sin? Do you know what God did? He sent Jesus. In Romans chapter 3:26 we learn that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God was able to solve a problem that included two contradictory things. He was able to maintain His holiness and sense of justice while at the same time justify sinners. Jesus is both the just one and the justifer. God’s forgiveness is not arbitrary or based on the personal performance of the sinner but on the redemptive work of Christ.
Reconciliation is an unilateral act of God, through which He provides a solution to the problem of man’s alienation. The agent of that reconciliation is Jesus Christ. How is it accomplished in a life? First of all, recognize the situation. I like what Spurgeon said-- “Call a spade a spade.” Admit your guilt. And then repent. This means you are truly sorry and willing to turn completely around. And thirdly, you receive. You accept what Jesus Christ has done as a remedy for your problem. Admit, repent, and receive. You must recognize that you have no merit of my own. Max Lucado, in The Grip of Grace, says this, “Ponder the achievement of God. He doesn’t condone our sin nor does He compromise His standard. He doesn’t ignore our rebellion nor does He relax His demands. Rather than dismiss our sin, He assumes it.” That is what Jesus was doing. He was not saying it never happened. He said, “Give it to me. Lay it on me.” And incredibly He sentenced Himself. Sin is punished and we are redeemed. Praise be to God!
One last item, the verse is not quite finished yet. Now the next thought in verse 19. “And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” The first part of verse 20 appoints us to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world. What does an ambassador do? He represents a kingdom or a nation. Actually, he represents the leader of that nation. Jesus said, “be my witnesses.” Christians are called to be representatives of Christ to a hurting and fallen world.
Most Christians tend to live in one of four ways. 1) Isolation. They retreat from the world. They avoid all the sinners. They hide out. They say they will get stained unless they isolate. Hide your salt. Cover your light. 2) Others are accommodators. The opposite of isolation. They teach that what we believe does not really matter. Do not even let the world know we are Christian. De-salinize your salt. Douse your light. 3) Then there are people who want to be belligerent. They say the main function of Christians is to tell people how wicked they are. “If we do not criticize everything, they will not know we are Christians,” they say. “They will think we are compromisers.” So, you throw the salt and the saltshaker at them and throw a lamp, too. Do not talk to the abortion doctors, shout at them, or worse yet, shoot them. Impose Christian values through force, eliminate all questions and discussion. Burn them to a crisp by the heat of your lamp. But these actions are not the assignment of an ambassador because in all these actions we are either alienating the citizens we are supposed to win over or we are becoming a traitor to our Lord’s message. 4) Christian ambassadors should meet people where they live, just as Jesus did. Christian ambassadors should show honest concern for the other people’s needs, just as Jesus did. Shepherding groups, feed the kids, give them a toy, show concern. Mingle with people in their shops and homes as Jesus did. People need to know that we are human beings, like them. We have a sense of humor. We laugh, we cry, we have problems but we are very serious about what we believe. We are not called to live in isolation, but we are called to promote and maintain personal purity as Jesus did. Being involved as Jesus was never means lowering your standards. Jesus always sought to raise the sights of those He talked to with some positive input in how they could be better people. Jesus Christ was involved. He was not isolated. He was always in contact, on the cutting edge of every issue of the people of His day. His ways were varied, but at the same time, He was always consistent with Christian value. He was actively concerned, not ethically compromising. He was not dictatorial, but He was always transforming.
As we come to know the heart and the mind of God through the study of the Scriptures, fellowshipping together, talking with other Christians, learning, growing, as we communicate with God in prayer and live by the direction of the Holy Spirit, we can become the answer to the prayer that Jesus uttered. Do you know what that prayer was? “Lord, I do not ask that you take these Christian disciples of mine out of the world. I ask that you make them secure while they are here. As you Father have sent me, so send I them.” Do we really appreciate what we have in Christ?
What was God doing that first Christmas day? He was not simply showing the world that babies are cute or that we should shower each other with gifts at Christmas time. God was in Christ revealing Himself to the world. He was identifying with our experience. God was reconciling the world to Himself, bringing a lost human race back into relationship with Him. Look around you. The world is a lost place. There is so much heartache and pain, and monstrous evil. God is the One who breaks into this mess and offers a way out. God is the One who says, “Come to Me and find rest for your souls.” Jesus Christ is "the way, the true, and the life.” The person who follows Him will be saved from condemnation. God demonstrated His inner most being in Jesus Christ. Do you truly understand what God was doing that first Christmas Day?
Christ’s Prayer for You
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Prayer is a marvelous thing. It is a great privilege. It is a unique opportunity to converse with the God of creation, the God of the universe. Prayer can move spiritual mountains. I have seen that in my own experience. Prayer can discourage worried disciples waiting for a different answer than what they think they are receiving. Prayer can encourage. Prayer can challenge or it can anesthetize or petrify. Prayer can touch the heart of God or it can mock the very purposes of God.
I knew a middle aged fellow who told me the only prayer he ever remembered was the one he heard his mother pray one night in another room asking God to deliver her from this evil world she was living in and from the sinful sons that she had to live with. What is the measure of a valid prayer? What makes the difference? Is it the heart of the one praying or is it the words that matter most? The stumbling, faltering prayers of a young babe in Christ is one of the most beautiful things I have heard in my life and it brings tears to my eyes every time. It is not the words, it is the heart of the pray-er that matters most.
The above prayer is called “The Lord’s Prayer.” Actually, that is incorrect. It is not the ‘Lord’s’ prayer. It is a model for prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples in response to a question about prayer. He was pointing out the contrast between the egotistical babblings of the religious hypocrites as opposed to the way we should pray from the depths of our heart. And in that prayer Jesus gave us three main themes. First, we are to praise God. “Hallowed be thy name.” Or “revered is your name, oh God. To you belongs power and glory forever and ever.” It is praise and respect to God for who He is. Then there was commitment to God. “Thy will be done.” “Thy kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven.” And then you have some petitions—requests. The requests for necessary provisions—“give us this day our daily bread.” The request for forgiveness—“forgive us as we forgive those who have offended us.” All of these reveal an attitude that looks to God for His guidance and provision—a commitment to pursue Him and His ways. And then there is a request for guidance. “Lead us not into temptation.” “Deliver us from evil.” There is a healthy dependence on God for spiritual leading. There is a healthy recognition that we are insufficient in ourselves to conquer the sin and temptation that the world and Satan bring our way.
It is important to understand that this prayer is meant to be a model prayer teaching us about the attitude that is required in true prayer and that Jesus Himself was not praying for Himself. Why would Jesus be asking for forgiveness? He never sinned. Tempted? Yes, things were offered to Him. Sin? Never. As for the content of this prayer, it could never be composed by a natural human being. Its message is so unlike anything human religions produce. It could only come from a supernatural consciousness that has had intimate contact with God. This prayer shows the purest expression of the lofty consciousness and peace Jesus had with the Father. The person who composed this prayer knew God in an intimate way.
For an actual look at what we should truly call the Lord’s Prayer, turn to John’s gospel, chapter 17. In this prayer, Jesus had a threefold focus. 1) Jesus prays for Himself. 2) Jesus prays for His immediate disciples and 3) He prays for His church—you and me and all who have received Him as personal Lord and Savior. We ought to come to this prayer with an attitude of wonder because we are being granted the privilege of looking deep into the mind of the very Son of God, the awesome mind and heart of the Savior of the world. It is important to remember that this prayer is offered up just a few moments before Jesus goes back into the Garden where He will be betrayed by Judas. I think it is significant to notice that Jesus acknowledges the situation He is in. No second guessing, no “why me?” But He says, “Father, the hour has come.” And in doing this He is acknowledging His obedience to the plan of the heavenly Father, despite the personal cost to Himself.
The book of Hebrews tells us there is one thing that Jesus had to learn in His earthly experience. He had to learn obedience. He learned it by doing the Father’s will despite the sufferings He experienced. Every time you see a reference to “Jesus’ hour” it is presented as something very, very special. It refers to the time of His humiliation. Jesus showed that He knew it was coming when He said, “For this purpose I came to the world.” His humiliation will become His glory because it will show His true self. It will show the depths of His love. As He prays to the Father He says, “The hour is come. Now glorify your Son.” If you turn back to the end of John 16, you find Jesus saying, “I tell you the truth. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” Remember how they beat, mocked, jeered, and spit upon Jesus and put a crown of thorns on His head? The verse continues, “you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.” Is this some sort of a riddle? No. The sorrow of Christ’s death will be turned into eternal joy because of the resurrection. He arose. With that rising came the promise of eternal life to all who trust in Him. God has promised to forgive all those who receive His Son. And as Hebrews 12:2 states, this was the joy that was set before Him--His motivation to endure much suffering, shame, and separation from the Father.
What is eternal life? We hear the term “eternal life,” but very seldom is it ever defined. Jesus says specifically, “Now this is eternal life, that people may know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent.” Knowing God is what it is all about. Our souls are restless until we find our rest in God. I have had people ask me, “Al, how come you talk about God so much. You should only talk about Christ.” I do it for a couple of reasons. First of all, they are inseparable. Christ and God the Father, along with the Holy Spirit, are the essence of what God is. Secondly, and more importantly, unless people recognize the gap that exists between God and man, they will never realize the need they have for Christ to bridge that gap. If there is no gap, we do not need the gap-filler, Jesus Christ. Paul declares in 1 Timothy 2:5, “there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” John says in 1 John, “If anyone sins, we have one who speaks out on behalf of us, the righteous one.” Jesus is submissive to the will of God. Who is going to bring about the glorifying of Jesus Christ? Whose hands did Jesus place Himself in? Who is in charge? God the Father! Who is God going to use to bring glory to Himself? Jesus Christ the Son. And what is Jesus’ attitude in all of this? Submissive commitment. What a tremendous example of unselfishness. Eternal life is having a personal, life-affirming relationship with God that will never end!
Look at verses 6-19. It records Jesus Christ’s prayer for His apostles. In verses 6-9, Jesus seems to be summing up His three years of ministry with the inner circle of eleven men who were still there with Him. He gives them authority to begin the church of Jesus Christ. Wow! What a risk. Remember their failures, their questions, their doubts, their arguments about who is going to be number one. I would not be hopeful for this group. But what an encouragement it is to you and me that God was able to use them to establish the church and spread the gospel throughout the known world. He can use you and me, too.
In verse 10 we begin to see the objective God has in mind. “I am going to be glorified,” Jesus says, “in and through these disciples.” What Jesus is really saying is that “these followers of mine are to be the containers of my glory. My glory is going to reside in them.” Can you believe this? What does this imply? Who are going to be the agents, the instruments to bring glory to God in our day? Not John, not Peter and not James. They were responsible for their own time. Any glory that Christ is going to receive in this age is going to be because people see Him through us, His present-day disciples. I do not know how this makes you feel but it is very humbling to me. As Christians, we need to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of our witness, our message, and our goals because the glory of Christ is at stake.
How did Jesus pray for these apostles? Verse 13: He prayed for their joy. Jesus said, “I have told these disciples many things while I have been with them so that they could be filled with my joy.” How do we get His joy? One thing He mentions is, “Father, I have given them your word.” Confidence, assurance, and joy come when the Word of God finds a central place in our lives. Psalm 1 says this, “Happy (or blessed or joyful) is the person who does not walk in the wisdom of this world because his delight is in the law of the Lord.” The philosophy of this world is going to let you down. It is going to rob you of inward joy. Paul states this directly. “Don’t be deceived by the philosophy, the intellectual appearance of a lot of people in the world, the vain babblings that they have. They are going to leave you without any hope and without any joy.” In this world you are going to have tribulation. You are going to have tough times. “But be of good cheer,” he says. “Be cheerful and courageous” because we know the end of the story. Christ has overcome the world. Do you realize that God’s will for you, each one of us, is His joy? “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Not only did Jesus pray for the joy of His disciples, He prayed, in verses 15-18, for their continued service and ministry. There is to be service and ministry for every one of us as long as we are here.
Notice that Jesus asked the Father to keep us safe from the Evil One. This is a warning. Satan can tempt us, but know this, he cannot take over any part of your life without you giving it to him. Only you can allow him to control you and only you can choose to resist the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the instructions in the Word of God meant to guide you and keep you safe. That is why Jesus prayed for our continued reliance on the Word of God. Paul writes to his disciple Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-9: “I am persuaded about your strong faith, Timothy. And because of that, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you. Because, God does not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, a spirit of love, a sound mind, sensible, serious, self-disciplined with good judgment and teaching morality.” The Christian life is not to be an escape from reality. A lot of people have tried that, even some respected biblical figures. In 1 Kings 19 we read about Elijah. Listen to his prayer. “God, take away my life.” The guy is upset. He is perturbed. He is frustrated. But God still had a lot of things for him to do. Job prayed, “Oh, that God would be pleased to destroy me.” But God had years of blessing and ministry ahead for him. Even Paul debated within himself. Philippians 1:21: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Yet what shall I choose? I don’t know. I am torn between two things. I desire to depart and be with Christ because that is far better yet it is more necessary for others that I remain in the body.” We are to be engaged in ministry. We are to be engaged in glorifying Jesus Christ with our lives. God has given us everything we need to do just that. Each born again child of God has been given at least one spiritual gift so that he or she can build the body of Christ in some special way. And each has been given the Holy Spirit who is capable of molding us into the image of Christ.
Let me ask you a question. Do you realize that you are the answer to the prayer of Jesus Christ? Take another look at verses 17 and 18. Jesus is asking His Father, who is always of one mind with the Son, for three things to happen in our lives. The first is our sanctification. Jesus wants us to be holy, pure in heart, empowered to be examples of Christian living, willing to stand for righteousness. Jesus does not pray for our exodus nor should we overly concern ourselves with the day of Christ’s return, arguing about that, trying to figure out all the answers. Let God do it. He is in charge. He is going to do it in His time. We are to be usable and that is what our life is all about. We are to be salt and light in Eustis or in Europe. Sorrento, San Francisco or South America. Mt. Dora, Mozambique, it does not matter. We are to be useful for the gospel of Christ.
In verse 20 to the end of the chapter, Jesus is praying for us. “I am not praying only for these eleven men, who have been so close to me during the last three years.” And this is beautiful, “I am praying for all those who will ever believe.” This is exciting. If you are a Christian, this is where you can insert your name into the Scriptures. Think about it. Essentially, Jesus says in verse 20, “I am praying for Al Bishop and all who will believe in me because of the message that these eleven men are going to give.” Jesus is praying for us. We are the answer to His prayer. What an awesome thought. How can you respond to that with anything other than enthusiasm and excitement? But realize, although it is Christ’s will for us, we have to yield to God’s will for it to be a reality in our lives. As believers and children of God, the world will understand the love of God because we have love for each other.
Do you realize that you are the reason for the joy that Christ has? Listen to Hebrews 12:2: “Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” What was that joy? His joy was the assurance that through salvation you and I could become children of God. Oswald Chambers said it well. “You can never give another person what you have found in Christ, but you can make him homesick for what you have.” Jesus wants to be the reason for your joy, as well.
Remember, His twofold purpose in coming was that He would give us salvation and also that He would mold us to become products of His grace. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. Chambers adds, “Beware of harking back to what you once were when God wants you to be something you have never been.” God is not finished with us yet. Do not cramp His activity in your life. He wants to do something more with you than what has happened already. Do not limit the possibilities that God has for you. D.L. Moody said this: “God has yet to see what one man can do when he is fully committed.” Do not harken back to what is past, but allow God to direct you for something great and exciting in the future. Trust Him for that. Jesus wills it for you, as seen in His prayer, but you have to yield yourself to it, in His grace.
Seeking God’s Wisdom
There is an old Arabian proverb I am going to share with you. It says there are four kinds of people in the world when it comes to wisdom. 1) He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool. Shun him. 2) He who knows and knows not that he knows, he is asleep. Awaken him. 3) He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is a child. Teach him. 4) He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise. Follow him. I thought of another one. 5) He who once knew but ignored what he knew has become a fool once again. It breaks your heart when you see something like that happen. It happened to Solomon and the results were felt kingdom wide. And it could have all been avoided by simply following the wisdom he already possessed.
In the minds of many people, there is no distinction between facts and intelligence or intelligence and wisdom. They think it is all the same thing. The more facts one can memorize and recite the more that person is viewed as intelligent and ‘smart’. To simply possess a number of facts is an accomplishment that anybody can do. If you are a tape recorder or computer, you are just a warehouse of facts. And facts for facts’ sake are really not very valuable. Intelligence, on the other hand, goes a little further. Knowledge or intelligence has the ability to classify facts and information and to know how they relate to one another. Scripture tells us that wisdom is the supreme thing to seek. Wisdom enables us to see reality and to understand values and spiritual precepts. Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. It is the ability to use knowledge to meet the problems and the issues that come to you, successfully.
James 1:5 says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe without doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything of the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” Is wisdom a worthwhile goal? Ask Solomon, Proverbs 4:7: “Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom. And with all of your getting, get understanding.” Ask Paul. “From a child Timothy,” he writes to Timothy, “you have known the Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation.” James tells us that God wants to give us wisdom and He wants to give it to us generously. He wants us to grow in our relationship with Him.
Growing is not easy. How many times have you heard about “growing pains?” And how many times have you read something in Scripture or Oswald Chambers or Beth Moore, some spiritual teacher, and you say, “That is tough. I cannot handle that right now.” Well, take a look at the Sermon on the Mount. There are some difficult challenges in those eight statements by Jesus and He says we will be blessed if we pursue them. Jesus uses the word “machario” or “blessed” eight times and then finishes off with the word “rejoice.” It sounds unappealing, difficult, and at odds with what the world tells us, but Jesus assures us that in the long-term it will be good for us.
Turn to Matthew chapter five. Look at verse three. It says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is saying that to be poor in spirit means giving up selfish pride and recognizing humility is the only sane and worthy response before the God of all things. Paul says, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of Christ.” Next one: “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” What are we to mourn about? “To mourn” in this context means to be truly penitent to the point of willingly choosing to give up the pursuit of sin and self-satisfaction in order to follow the will of God on a daily basis. Do you ever weep over your or another person’s sin? “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” “Bless are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.” God told Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” But you have to search in the right places. How are you doing? Verse 7: “Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.” You do not want to sin over how you are going to get even. Do not recompense evil for evil, rather show mercy as God has shown you mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Heart purity comes from a singleness of commitment to Christ and a willful rejection of the impure influences that bombard us and would like to move into our hearts. A quick glance at James 1:6-8 reminds us to be strong in our faith and commitment because it talks about single-mindedness versus double-mindedness. One thing is drawing you one way and another is drawing you another way. And the double-minded man does not choose or commit to a way. “But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”
Next one. “Blessed are the peacemakers. They will be called sons of God.” A maker of peace is not just the person who really wants to get along or who is a lover of peace. A maker of peace is also the one who in any difficult situation is willing to take the humble initiative to go to the other person that is involved and say, “I am sorry, I do not know how we got into this, maybe I do know how we got into this, and my part in it but I do not want this to keep going this way. Please, forgive me and let us work this thing out.” That is the peacemaker.
Now here is the last one and by this time you ought to be saying, “Hey, Al. If such a saintly person is able to do all of these things he or she certainly should not have any problems in this world, should he? After all, you put your goodness into the slot machine, you pull down the handle, everything comes out ‘blessing.’ Right?” Not always. Not in this world. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, blessed are those who are willing to pay the price to live according to all that Jesus has instructed them in all of the previous verses. And probably no fact of life is more a testing to the real problem of man’s nature than to see the way there is innate resentment of God’s ways by people who are pursuing evil. It does not seem right. And it isn’t. But doesn’t that give testimony to just how lost this world really is? It was lost enough that the Son of God had to die on a cruel cross 2000 years ago. That is just the way it is. But as Jesus Himself said in John 15, “A servant is no greater than his master.” He was persecuted, and if you follow His ways, you will be persecuted, as well.
Now, if we are going to get wisdom, how are we going to go about it? What must we know? What must we do? We have to know some things about ourselves. First of all, we have to recognize that God is the source of wisdom. Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments. Who has known the mind of God? Who has been his counselor?” Wisdom is an attribute of God. He has all wisdom and He is wisdom’s authority. Do not rebel against what God says because He is wisdom. And to gain wisdom we have to be honest with ourselves and in being honest with ourselves, we have to ask and get the answers to a few questions. Question one--who am I in relationship to God? Question two--what am I doing here? In other words, what does God expect of me? Third question--am I living up to His expectations? Will I hear His “well done” when my earthly life is over?
We were created by God with a freewill to choose our eternal destiny. We can either accept His will and His eternal guidelines or we can reject them. The eternal Son of God said, “I tell you the truth. Whoever hears my word and believes on him that sent me, has eternal life.” It only makes sense, that to know and be rightly related to the God that made us and sent His only begotten Son to die for us is the beginning of wisdom—“The fear (to recognize that He exists and has a right to our lives) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
In matters of the spirit, wisdom only comes through a living relationship to Jesus Christ. Paul tells us, “The person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God because they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” You want proof of that, just look at the proverbs the way the natural man would preach them. Here are a few. “Blessed are the aggressive for they will dominate the earth.” “Happy are you when you dictate the peace because you play the role of God.” “Happy are you when you are sophisticated and sharp of mind because you can pretend you will never need God and never meet God.” Their mindsets and going in other directions. And ours is not to judge, ours is just to share what we know and to continue to lovingly and patiently share what we have and what we know about God with other people. That is what we are about.
What do I do with this wisdom I have? Wisdom is practical or it is not ‘wisdom’. Mark Twain said, “It is not the things I don’t understand in the Bible that bother me, it’s the things that I do understand.” If you read it and it hurts, that is what he is talking about. I find two challenges when it comes to wisdom. Challenge number one is to be more like Jesus and challenge number two is to do what Jesus would do. Both of these require wisdom. That is what life is about. To be like Jesus is the hallmark of Christian living. It is proclaimed throughout Scripture. Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Jesus says, “Go make disciples (students, learners) of all men, teaching them to obey everything that I have shared and commanded you.” And Paul says, “I want to know Christ and become like him. Let his mind be in you.” Hebrews 12:2 says, “Fix your mind on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Lay aside all those things that stand in the way of that.” Could anything be more important than to be like Jesus?
Secondly, what would Jesus do? Christians are not supposed to be living in isolation from others. Christians are not supposed to be living as if God meant nothing to them, as if His ‘opinions’ mean nothing. Because He is all-knowing and full of wisdom, His ‘opinions’ are not opinions but instructions and commands given to us to guide and direct our lives. Do you treat what He says as if it were just an opinion like any other opinion men and women give you. Or does what He says carry extra weight in your life? This lady I know of had a couple sons who were really bothering her, but one son talked to me one time and he said, “Do you know what my mother prays every night? She prays that God will take her out of this world and away from her miserable, misbehaving sons.” And he hears this prayer. “Thanks a lot, mom.” Isolation. Jesus did not live that way. He showed up at every special event that there was and He made it better. He sat and talked with people the Pharisees would not even come close to. This lady was at home isolated from the world, and her two sons, having no positive impact with her life.
Remember the beatitude, “Blessed are you when men persecute you for righteousness sake.” Jesus was persecuted Himself. Herod tried to get rid of Him when He was born. Pharisees and religious legalizers went after Him and harassed Him all the way to Calvary. And they said all manner of evil against Him. They tried to slander Him. “Hey, you know what He does? He dines with sinners.” Hey, you know what? I think that would be fun. Think of what you find out when you dine with sinners. You find out what other people are thinking. You find out what is going on in the world. You find out what attracts them or what their problems are and maybe you can be of some help to them. We are in the world, we are not to be like the world, but we are not to be trying to run away from the world. And Jesus prayed in John 17, “My prayer is not Father that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, even so I send them.” We are to walk in His steps.
We are to have a relationship to the world. Matthew 5:13 says, “We are salt.” Salt is good as long as it is salty. And the point is clear, if you are a Christian, in this metaphor, if you have lost your ‘saltiness’ you cease to fulfill your purpose. Salt has three possible functions. Number one, it preserves. It keeps things from spoiling. Can you imagine our world without a church or without a Christian in it? Paul talks about that. He talks about the restrainer. And if there is not a Christian witness in the world, what a mess it is going to be. It is bad enough as it is. Christians are salt holding back the corruption that would more quickly spread had they not been present. Are you having any kind of preserving effect in the lives of those around you? If not, you are not fulfilling one of your key Christian functions. Salt also enhances. It brings a positive zest to the flavor of something it touches. It enhances what is already there. It does not change one thing into another but makes it better. And as Christians we should make our relationships, work places, and societies better. Salt also irritates. We are called to move people from their complacency or easy acceptance of sin. We are not called to be irritable. But I do think we are obligated to speak out against evil when we see and hear taking place. Many times a Christian can be mocked in a particular situation and later on, after the incident is over, some of those who mocked will think back about what has taken place there and have a change of heart.
If you know who you are, what you are supposed to be doing, why you are here, and where you are going, you have wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the gateway to a healthy relationship with God. You can be the most intelligent person on earth but if you deny God His rightful place in your life and walk away from His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, how wise are you? How wise is it to gain the whole world but lose your own soul? It is foolishness! The mere beginning of wisdom is first admitting that there is a God and that what He says matters.
Trials and Perseverance
Suffering, pain, injustice, and trials seem to be normal experiences for most of us. But occasionally they seem quite severe. James Dobson wrote a book entitled When God Doesn’t Make Sense. He gives several examples of great suffering experienced by individuals that are not ‘deserved’. One story concerns a 17-year old boy who was a bright student who finished near the top of his class in high school, went on to college, graduated with honors, and was planning to go to medical school. He applied to one of the better universities and he was one of 106 out of 6,000 applicants who were selected. During his first term he began to ask himself about the Lord’s will for his life. He compared that with the potential that he had for gaining a lot of money, independence, and affluence. And during his first term in medical school, while he was asking himself these questions, he decided he was not going to go for the megabucks. He was going to give himself in service on a mission field as a medical missionary. He went to medical school and during his first year he was diagnosed with acute leukemia and died before the semester was over. How do we make sense out of that? Another illustration he had in this book was about a tornado in the Dallas area. It was moving along, well above land, not hurting anybody, and suddenly it just descended and destroyed one particular building and then lifted into the air without damaging anything else. It was a church. Some Christians would deal with these confusing situations by saying that there must have been some secret sin in the life of that young man and that church. Remember Job’s friends? To explain the tragedies that came into Job’s life they accused him of secret sin and that the tragedies were a punishment from God. And they were wrong!
On two occasions Jesus was asked questions about that kind of philosophy. A tower fell on 18 people and killed them and a group of people asked Him whether it happened because it was a punishment for their sin. “It has nothing to do with a sin of those people the way that happened.” They said, “Whose?” He said, “Nobody was a worse sinner there.” And the man born blind? The people came and asked him, “Whose sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” Jesus told them that the blindness of the man had nothing to do with punishment for sin.
Read James 1:2-4. When we look at these verses we are hit with a very unwelcome challenge. Verse 2: “My brothers, consider it all joy when you fall into various trials or testings.” Now the old King James says “temptation” but you can tell it is not the temptation to evil or an immoral act by what follows. James is not talking about the sin of temptation because he says, “be assured of this, the testings of your faith will produce something you need.” And what is that something? And could it not come through some other means?
What is the testing of our faith going to produce? At the end of verse 3 James gives us the answer. “The testing of your faith develops perseverance (or endurance).” Some of you may have older King James versions that use the word “patience” rather than endurance or perseverance. And patience is certainly a good quality to have. We need patience and testing is the formula for getting patience. It is the way it works, the way it develops. But to me, patience is just too passive of a word at this point. The Greek word used here is “hupomona.” The prefix “hupo” is an intensifier. It signifies something that is not ordinary but more, extra. And so James is taking about active, unswerving, constant, total dependability. It is more than just putting up with the difficult things or bearing them--like patience. Very often you hear people say, “Well, I got this cross to bear and I am bearing it.” And what they are talking about is a whiny spouse or migraine headache or a lousy boss. James is talking about more than that. He is talking about perseverance. I define perseverance this way: “The ability by the faith God gives you to turn bad things that you experience into greatness for the glory of God. It is redeeming the bad times and bad experiences for the glory of God.”
I do not care how many times you say, “Jesus saves, keeps, and satisfies me.” Until you have experienced the extreme stress of a heavy, heavy problem, you really do not know what you believe. You think you know what you believe, but in a sense you are hoping that when that time comes, you will be able to have the guts to stand up to it. That is when the test really comes. What is your bottom line? Think about that!
Joseph spoke to his brothers after their wicked treatment of him and after God worked perseverance in his life, “You guys meant to do evil to me. I have news for you. God intended it for good.” And God did work good out of it and thousands of people were blessed. You think joy came to Joseph out of that experience? What an exciting thing to go from being thrown into a big ditch and left for dead to the point where you can minister to thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.
Peter in 1 Peter 1:6-7, speaking of our relationship with Jesus Christ, says this, “In this hope you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” But listen to this, “But these have come.” Why did they come? “These have come so that your faith may be proved genuine.” Again in chapter four he says, “Don’t think it strange or surprising at the painful trial you are suffering, but rejoice that you participate in the suffering of Jesus Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
How about this? John in Revelation 2:10: “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer,” and here it comes, “the devil will put some of you in prison to test you. Be faithful.” Paul the apostle in Philippians 1:29, “It has been granted to you…” Granted to me?! That sounds like a gift. “…not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake.” Jesus Christ Himself said: “In this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
Jesus said in John 15:1-2: “I am the vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” We had a home in Sarasota that had a beautiful Hibiscus tree. People would walk past that tree and stop to look at it. One day we pruned it. Snip, snip, snip. And several days after that people would walk past it and complain and just mocked us for what we did. But several weeks later I tried counting all the blossoms and couldn’t do it. The pruning turned an active healthy tree that produced some blossoms to a tree that produced many, many blossoms. It was beautiful. Pruning hurts but the results can often be spectacular.
And if we allow God to do that in us, our growth can be described in three ways. They are given to us in James 1:4. First, we will become mature or as the King James says, “perfect.” Second, we will become complete or as the King James says, “entire.” Third, we will lack nothing. All three of these are closely related, but the original words are different. The best way to illustrate maturity is by using the word “teleos.” “Teleos” is a word found in Romans 12. “Do not be conformed any longer to the world’s way of thinking, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” “Be transformed in order that you can discover (or test or to prove) what is the good, the pleasing, the perfect (the teleos) will of God.” Greatness for God’s glory! That is the purpose. It is not a self-centered thing. It is not that “I” become great, above others around me, but I become more capable of fulfilling God’s will for my life.
Do you and I have a part in this transformation? Yes, we do. As we allow the Holy Spirit of God to use God’s Word to implant into us new thinking, new ways of living, new goals, new aspirations, a new relationship to God, a confidence that we know we are walking with God, He changes us. In the 5th chapter of Galatians Paul points to a dozen characteristics of the natural man. But he immediately follows them with what he calls the “fruit of the Spirit.” Once you take something out of your life you create a vacuum, an empty place, and there is the necessity to put something else in its place. When we make a commitment to remove the fruits of the flesh from our lives we must add the fruits of the Spirit to fill our lives, or as Jesus said, the end will be worse than the beginning. We cannot live empty lives and expect that the fruits of the flesh will not come back to harm us!
The second word has to do with being ready or fit to serve God. Colossians 3:8: “Put away (get rid of) all things in your life that are wrong: malice, wrong speech, lying, greed, sexual sins, ... .” Verse 10: “In its place you have clothed yourself with a brand new nature that is continuously being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.” In other words, when the spirit of God has planted His fruit in all the places where the old, natural man was before, then you are ready for service. And the third word has to do with being deficient in nothing. Would that not be great to be deficient in nothing? I would like that.
We can take all of this teaching to heart and still struggle. I do and a lot of you do, also. In his book, Hope When You’re Hurting, Larry Crabb describes a personal situation. For several years as a child his wife was abused and she is still haunted by the memories. He says, “We have come to the conclusion that the only thing we can do is put on the full armor of God and fight this thing that’s testing us all the time.” As a pastor I know that to be true. In fact, I could probably point to dozens of people who are in agony and stress over some particular problem. Dobson believes nearly every Christian has what he calls an “if-only problem.” “If only I did not have this financial problem, I could really, you know, live for the Lord better. I would not be under all this stress.” “If only I did not have this whiny spouse, I could really, you know, I could really be a witness and glorify God.” “If only I did not have [this], if only I did not have [that]. How great life would be if I did not have [this] bad situation.”
All too often, some Christians will look at another person’s burden and say, “Well, if you only lived right, this never would have happened.” They need to take a look at the history of the church. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Bad things happen to all of us. People we love die. People we love get into accidents. People we love get sick. And sometimes those things happen to us. Look at Job’s suffering. He was a righteous man by God’s own testimony but yet he experienced suffering. His suffering was not a punishment. But his behavior in the midst of his suffering distinguished him as a lover of God and a righteous man.
Here is another myth. “If God was God and truly God and truly good, He would remove this suffering and this testing from me.” That idea fails to recognize the wisdom of God. Paul had some heavy burdens to endure in his life. One of them was so great that he prayed for God to remove it--2 Corinthians 12. After he had poured his heart out to God, pleading with God to relieve him of this problem, whatever it was we do not know exactly, the answer came back. “Hi, Paul. I hear you. The answer is, “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” “Who is doing the work around here, you or me?” God says. “I am the one who is at work in you.” “God is at work in you,” Paul writes, and “he who began this work will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ. It is God who is at work in you to will and to act according to his good pleasure.” Did Paul stop praying when he got that answer? No way. What does he say later? “Pray without ceasing. In every prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God and the God of peace will comfort you and will give you peace beyond all understanding.” Just hang in there and never give up.
Sometimes our suffering is for the benefit of another person. That is a toughie. I do not like having to endure things just so somebody else can grow. Remember Stephen? What is the result of Stephen’s suffering? Acts 6:8 – 8:1 record what happened to Stephen. I wish I could reproduce the entire passage for you here, but it is too long. Do yourself a favor and read it for yourself. Stephen may have been the greatest Christian alive at that time. Read what is said about him. “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people….None of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke. So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen.” And later as he gave a defense against the accusations against him he gave what was perhaps the greatest summary of God’s Old Testament ministry anywhere in the Bible. He told the unbelieving Jewish leaders what they should have already known. And that they should have recognized Jesus as their Messiah. They became so enraged at him that they stoned him to death. Does that seem fair? Stephen follows God’s leading and masterfully tells them the truth and he gets stoned for it! Why? Read 8:1. “Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen.” Saul became Paul the apostle who wrote half of the New Testament. What he saw in Stephen troubled him. And when Jesus finally appeared to him on the Damascus road he was ready to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior. Stephen was a great man who seemed to have died too young. But through his testimony God was able to prick the heart of a man who later became Paul the apostle. When you live well, even if that means suffering well, someone may be watching that God will lead to Himself because of your life.
One of my early struggles with Scripture was Romans 8:28. Even as a pastor, I saw people use it so trivially it used to annoy me. They used it mercilessly. “Oh, you say your brother died last night? Well, God works all things together for good.” All in one breath. The suffering is minimized. Dobson says, “Whenever Christians talk about pain and suffering, someone can be counted on to quote Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that in all things God works for good to those who love him, who have been called according to the purpose.’” Christians go through the same kind of suffering that unbelieving people do, so how can it be said that all their difficulties somehow work together for good? Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim was a classmate of mine at Wheaton College. When I heard about his death at only 33, I said to myself, “What is wrong with me changing my life around and doing something brand new?” Ollie and I went to Seminary. One of the men who killed Jim Elliott came to Christ and later on baptized some of the children of the missionaries that he had previously killed.
What about the grace of God? What about it? Here is another story. A guy named Mr. Crebs and his wife had a 21-year old son. They had been advised to abort him when he was still in the womb. They chose to give him life. He was born with cerebral palsy and mental retardation. His parents do not regret their decision to bring him into the world because they believe that all life is precious. They are thankful for their son. He has touched the lives of many people in warm, wonderful ways. “God has used him as he is,” Mr. Crebs said. “Something happened when he was just 7 years old. My wife worked in a hospital. I had taken Chris with me to pick her up. She was late getting off, so Chris and I waited for her in one of the family rooms. There was another man there who was not well-dressed and in fact, he was a little smelly. I went to the nurse’s station to ask how much longer my wife would be and when I returned, I saw Chris sitting by the man. The man was sobbing and I wondered what Chris had done to offend him, so I started to apologize. ‘I’m sorry if my son offended you.’ ‘Offended me?! Offended me?! Your son is the only person who has hugged me in the past 20 years.’ I realized at that point that my son had a more Christlike attitude and love for this man than I did.”
God uses each person to accomplish some part of His purpose. He will use your pain, although it is not always immediately possible to see it happening. Learn what you can from the experience and grow. It is a delight to see some people growing through these type experiences. Maintain stability in your life in other areas as much as you possibly can. Allow your faith to increase. That is hard. You keep saying the same prayer over and over. “Lord, increase my faith.” And find some way to praise God through it all.
When we are overwhelmed and discouraged about our lot in life, about our pain and suffering and frustration, God is still good. He knows and He understands how we feel and He still loves us. However, if you worry so much about yourself that you concentrate on yourself and your pain more than you are concentrating on God and what His plans are, you will not grow. You will become stuck in your pain. God does know and He can bring glory to Himself regardless of how you feel. How is your faith today? How is your faith? Is it healthy or is it conditional? Do circumstances or feelings limit your trust in God? If Jesus Christ is in you, if you are a new spiritual person in Christ, then His promise to be with you until the end should empower you to deal with every situation that comes along. Look at Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” Do you feel that the Lord is near you or is He way off someplace? “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding.” Notice it says “let your gentleness be evident to all.” This is a characteristic of your behavior. You are not isolated, in pain, but your gentle behavior is evident to all. Why gentle? Why not kind, or patient, or whatever? Why gentle? Think about it. Pain can cause resentment and resentment can lead to anger and anger expressed is not gentle. Gentleness amidst pain is a sign of the grace of God at work.
Where are you this morning in your faith? Are you able to see that God is able to do and bring something good out of every bad experience and that that thing which He brings out is not for your credit, but it is for the glory of God? And do you also realize that you will only experience the peace of God during difficult times if you are also living well and ministering to others. When we reach out to others while in our pain is when God works grace in us, not when we isolate ourselves and fixate on our pain. Yes, sometimes we need quietness and privacy to process our feelings but it is only in the ministering when the grace of God flows special from us to others. And with that flowing comes the cleansing power of the grace of God! What is the bottom line? God’s grace is sufficient…to work all things out to His everlasting glory. Trust Him!
Enduring the Hardships of Life
“You will never fly with the eagles if you only hang out with the turkeys.” Whenever we were on one of the lakes in Northern Wisconsin, Ollie and I just loved to watch the eagles swooping down from the sky to grab a fish and take it back up to the nest where their young ones are waiting to be fed. The young eaglets stay in the nest for a while but eventually the adult eagle pushes them out of the nest and down they fall. The adult then swoops down and catches them and takes them back up only to kick them out again. The process is repeated time and time again until finally the message gets through to the young eaglet, “Fly, baby, fly. Flap those wings or you are going to die.” Eagles are mentioned 32 times in the Bible. Moses admired the way they acted as guardians and trainers of their young. King David saw them as mighty and powerful and full of life. He compared the strength of the eagle to the vigor of youth. In Isaiah 40:30 their effortless flight is likened to the spiritual strength God promises those who trust in Him: “Young men will stumble in life and fall exhausted, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength and soar on wings like eagles. They shall run and not get weary, walk and not faint.” In other words, those who hope in the Lord shall find strength beyond natural energy. Worry and terror may weaken even the young and vigorous. But those who hope in the Lord will have an inner strength that will sustain them. They will soar like the eagle riding the winds.
Isaiah 40 is a transitional chapter in the history of Israel. They are moving from the judgments and condemnation of God because of their past rebellion into an era characterized by hope and blessing. Verse one speaks about comforting the people. Verse three says, “Prepare for the Lord’s way.” And then verse five, “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” What a wonderful promise. The comfort God offered Israel was based on three things. First, they are God’s people--verse one. Secondly, they have been forgiven and pardoned--verse two. And thirdly, God’s Word is reliable--verse one. You can depend on it. Jesus, in Matthew 24 said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall never pass away.” With these truths in mind, turn to the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The parallel to what Israel went through and their transformation into the promises that God had for them as a nation is very similar to what a Christian has experienced in this letter as he goes from being condemned to being a new creature in Christ.
Colossians 1:1: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.” His conversion was no accident. “By the will of God.” Go to Acts 9 and you will read the story about his conversion on the road to Damascus. He gave himself over to the will of God when he heard that voice saying, “Why are you persecuting me?” and then he gave his life over to Christ. His reaction to Christ entering his life was to surrender his will to God.
In verses 4-8, the core values of the Christian faith are given. Where do these early Christians place their faith? First and foremost, they place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A person’s faith is only as valid as the object of that faith. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith and He is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father. The second core value is love, verse 5. The Apostle John wrote this to Christians in the first century. He said, “If any man says he loves God yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For any who does not love his brother who he has seen, how can he say I love God whom he has never seen?” The third core value is hope. Our future in Christ is sure. Ephesians 4:30: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit whereby you are sealed.” To be sealed means that it is a sure thing, as sure as the strength and authority of the one who sets the seal. It is guaranteed. Faith, hope, and love are the three core values of the Christian faith.
When people are not characterized by the three core values terrible times will exist. The last days will be characterized by behaviors contrary to faith, love, and hope. Second Timothy 3:2-5: “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. And from such people turn away!” This is pretty much where we are today. Historians are calling this the “post-Christian era.” Repentance involves turning from the above type behaviors and embracing faith in Christ, love toward the brethren and our neighbor, and hope in the promises of God.
Let us review. Who are we? We believe in an almighty, awesome God whose core character motivated Him to stretch out His arms on a cross. We believe in a God that submitted Himself to the cruelties and injustice of men when He could have stopped it at any moment. Secondly, this being the case, it is important that we who acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior get to know His will? Why would any Christian not want to know the good and acceptable and perfect will of God for his or her life? Can you imagine some sophomore or junior in high school who owns a Porsche but refuses to drive it? God’s general will for each and every Christian has been given to us in God’s Word. First Thessalonians 4:3: “This is the will of God for you.” What is the “this?” The “this” is sanctification. What does that mean? Very simply, becoming more like Christ. Verses 7-8: “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” As Christians, we are created to be like Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5:17: “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old is passed. The new is come.” Colossians 3:4: “You and I have been raised with Christ who is our life.” Character is important. It is your silent but seen testimony. Second Corinthians 2:14 tells us just how important it is for Christians to live a godly life: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” God cannot diffuse the fragrance of His knowledge in every place through unclean vessels!
Spiritual wisdom can only come through the agency of the Holy Spirit. That is the only way it comes. And the Bible, the Holy Scripture, is the authority for all things spiritual. Please notice that in Colossians 1:9 wisdom and understanding are partners. Wisdom alone is not enough. You must have understanding. Churches are full of people who have a lot of knowledge. They know full well how to talk the talk, but are they walking the walk? James asked that same question. James 3:19 says: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life.” Show it by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
In James 3:14 we read that bitter envy and selfish ambition are two major enemies of spiritual maturity. This kind of thinking, James said, does not come from heaven but is Satan-like. And how do they work themselves out in our lives? They show themselves in our lives by the disorder and evil practices they produce. Is there some relationship in you life that is characterized by strife? Look for envy and self-ambition! And when you recognize it, you know what you need to do! You know what the Bible says. But you refuse to do it. Forgiveness and reconciliation will heal the damage done by envy and self-ambition. God says, “Let it go. Give it up.” This life is too short to waste it on yourself and to wallow in anger and unforgiveness.
How do you view yourself? As a Christian, you are greatly loved and highly valued by God. Is it your purpose to present your life as an offering worthy of such love? In Romans 12:1 Paul states that this is our spiritual act of worship. What is the worthy life? It is a lifestyle that pleases God. Colossians 1:10-12 describe four evidences of the worthy walk. First, it is a life that is fruit-bearing or bearing fruit in every good work. Paul is talking about works or deeds. The witness of a righteous Christian can impact the most cynical of people and while preaching the gospel is important, the faithful, persistent and consistent witness of a Christian before an unbeliever can touch and motivate them towards faith.
The second evidence of a worthy walk is “growth in the knowledge of God.” How do we grow in the knowledge of God? I believe we grow, of course, by reading and studying and meditating upon the Scriptures and then applying them to our lives. As John the Baptist said, “Christ must increase and I must decrease.”
I want to tell you two true stories. Story number one. A man came to one of the churches I pastored many years ago who had memorized hundreds of Bible passages and paragraphs of Scripture. His head was full of verses. If you called him on the phone in the morning, before he said “hello” he would rattle off a verse. But his heart seemed totally void of any compassion or love or understanding and it was full of judgment and criticism. I can still remember some of the ugly things he said, the insults, how he hurt people. Oh, he knew he was right. He knew God was on his side because he had a verse to prove it. I am the first one to say Scripture memorization is important because it will help you and it will support you in times of difficulty. This man had the same problem the Corinthians had. And listen to what Paul said to them in 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3: “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” J.I. Packer says it well, “The knowledge of God to which the Christian should aspire should show itself outwardly in a transformed character.” This man was so unappealing in his character and manner that if my house were on fire and this man was standing outside with a hose, I am not sure if I would even ask for his help.
Story number two. Years ago it was the first Sunday in our new church and I was the new pastor. Ollie, my wife, and I were sitting in Sunday School class for adults and we were just observing. After they socialized for about ten minutes, the question came up, “Well, what shall we study next?” And one brave soul suggested, “Is there any way we could possibly study something about God?” This is absolutely true. As Ollie and I sat there listening, I got a huge hint as to where my preaching was going to go in the next few years because the answer to that question came back like this: “Is there any way to find out about God and where could we possibly go to learn about God? Is there any book we could study?” Wow! These questions were asked in a church. These people had been fed on what is called relational theology, which is a New Agey self-empowerment program. These people did not have a clue about what Jesus was all about. To them he was nothing more than a great man, not the actual revealed Son of God, our Redeemer.
These two stories show me something. First of all, it is a mistake to not integrate the whole gospel and the teachings of Christ into the total revelation of the message of God. You cannot separate your inviting Christ into your life as Savior from who you are as a person. That is part and parcel of the whole package. The way you treat others in your life every day is very significant. Somebody wrote “faith without common sense is fanaticism and common sense without faith is rationalism.” To live the worthy walk is to bring both of those things together into a Christ-like lifestyle. A Christian is recognized by two things--bearing spiritual fruit and by growing in his or her spiritual relationship to God and man.
In Colossians 1:11 Paul prays for us to have spiritual power, according to God’s holy might. Notice it says, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that we might have great endurance and patience.” This is our third evidence of a worthy walk. “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy.” Does that mean I am omnipotent? No way. Can I name it and claim it? I do not think God is my personal errand boy. But it does mean that I can have all the power and grace of God I will ever need when suffering stress and hard times. I can know with Paul that God’s grace will be sufficient for me. His strength will provide endurance and patience.
The fourth evidence of a worthy walk is given to us in verse 12: “Joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” Is it easy to have joy in tough situations? I do not think so. Is it possible? God says, “Yes.” “By God’s grace, he has qualified us.” I love that word “qualified.” I stand redeemed. I have been qualified by something that has been given to me and I qualify to share in the eternal inheritance of all who place their lives and trust in Jesus Christ.
What is the last word for Christians then? Is it defeat? Is it fear? Is it discouragement? No, we have been delivered. He has rescued us, delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Paul’s prayer is promising us that we do not live under the dominion of darkness anymore. We were there but we are not there any longer. Do not go back there. We can soar. Sin no longer rules and Satan cannot make me do anything I do not choose to do. Not one thing! And with that blessed assurance, I think we should just go to Christ. Live each day in the knowledge that our lives are in our Lord’s hands, that He cares for you and me more than we care for ourselves. He delights in me when I walk in the way that pleases Him, when my words and my works are bearing fruit for Him, when I am growing in my relationship to Him, and when I praise and give thanksgiving for what He has done for me.
Where are you today in all of this? Does your life show to others that being a Christian really does make a difference in the practical realities of the nitty-gritty of everyday life? If not, maybe now is the time to commit to that goal once again. And if you have not received Christ as your Lord and Savior, I challenge you to realize that Jesus Christ is the one who can offer you new life and bring you from darkness and from the dominion of darkness into His marvelous light. This is the first step in walking with God. This is the first step in living a life worthy of Jesus Christ. Without that first step none of what we have looked at so far applies to you. But if you have taken that first step, then you need to consider how you will live your life. Will your life glorify the Christ you claim to love or will your life appear to be the same as anyone else who has not claimed Christ as Savior and Lord? The choice is yours! The carnal “worldly” Christian is still “earthbound.” But those who truly hope in the Lord will soar with an inner strength that will sustain and support them all their days…to the glory of God!!
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