"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."Galatians 2:20.
In my previous posting, I said that Paul was by far the greatest Christian leader of all time. I believe it would be a futile endeavor on anyone's part, mine included, to attempt a search for someone equal to his level of commitment to Christ. I say this because Holy Scripture itself gives us sufficient evidence that this saint was consumed by Christ. Consumed is the word I feel is most fitting to describe Paul with regard to his life of faith and service. This is mainly due to his firm resolve to disclaim all significance about himself. "For to me to live is Christ," and, "To be absent from the body and present with the Lord is far better:" Both of these statements of Paul's tell me much about what, or I should say, Who, preoccupied him.
Whenever Paul made any reference to himself, such as using "I" or "me," he used them only as his life directly applied to his oneness with the Lord. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I love by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Outside of that sacred realm, nothing else about Paul, as far as he was concerned, really mattered.
Yet, after Paul's miraculous life change in Damascus, as he grew in God's grace and knowledge, he came to understand the importance of caring for others. He expressed many times his burden for his own people, the Israelites, and he came to appreciate the fact that God is an all-inclusive God, meaning that He desires that all men everywhere might be saved. And so, the Apostle, in his unswerving commitment to the Lord Jesus, came to have the same desire in his own heart to see all persons come to a knowledge of God's saving gace and truth.
If Paul were to be here in this world today, he would tell you and me that "it's not about me. It's all about Christ and His love for us all." Being crucified with Christ means just that. It means a deliberate resolve to die, die to self. If I earnestly expect to live with Christ, I must, as He did, die. For in dying, I will truly live.
Much out there in this present world appeals to peoples' quest for personal gain and personal fulfillment, whatever that means. Billboards on roadsides say "You owe it to yourself," or "You are really all that matters." But I feel here to say that the longer I live on this present earth, the less interested I am in what matters to me. In all honesty, me is what I need to get away from. Me is what got me into trouble in the first place. Me and myself and mine is all about me, and that will mean me will, at the close of my life here, end in bitter disappointment. But if I deny me and take up my cross daily and follow the One who loved me and gave Himself for me, I will never be disappointed, never. And never will you either, if you come to terms with this awesome truth. The big paradox, I suppose, is that since we matter to God, which is why He sent His Son to die for us, then what ought to matter to us is living as if God truly matters to us. This, of course can only be realized when we say to Him, "Lord, it's not about me. It's all about You and Your love for me. Therefore, make me into the man or woman You desire for me to be, and while You are at it, Lord, please move me completely out of the way, so that when I stand before You on that Day, all You will see is You.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Near is not Near Enough
Since the beginning of another glorious Christmas season, I have felt led to pursue Paul. I desire to know more about his life and ministry. Both are to be found in Luke's Book of Acts as well as the letters of Paul himself.
This evening there is an account I want to share which I will borrow from my own personal hand written faith journal I had begun last January, mainly because I have come to regard Paul as the greatest Christian disciple who ever lived. I feel he was by far the greatest of the Lord's followers simply because he not only lived for Christ, but he lived Christ. When he wrote to the believers in Philippi, "for to me to live is Christ," he truly meant it. He was a man fully controlled and consumed by Christ.
But Paul was not always this way, as none of us who are God's people can truthfully say we were always God's elect people. None of us was always a Christian since the day we were born.
There was another man who came before Paul. His name was Saul, Saul of Tarsus. That was his name his parents gave him when they, by jewish tradition, presented him to the high priest to be circumcised eight days after he was born. O granted, the two were the same men. Before Paul was Paul, he was Saul. Saul was a pharisee, a religionist of the strictest sort. He believed in one God, and he fervently studied the law and the prophets. He could likely quote every passage word for word, as some folks even now can quote the Bible verse by verse, cover to cover. And if ever there might be a man as near to knowing all a man could hope to know about God, it was Saul of Tarsus. But as we hopefully will discover, near is not near enough.
Saul was a young Jew who studied at the feet of Gamaliel. That experience might well be likened to a young person having the honor and priviledge of studying at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Saul had grown to a level of knowledge so prestigious that he won the admiring attention of both his peers and teachers. And Luke tells us in Acts 7 & 8 that he willing had a hand in the presecutions that began to be waged against those who trusted and followed Christ as Lord and Savior. Chapter 9 begins with Saul "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." And to prove he meant business, he went to the high priest and obtained letters (we may call them warrants) he could take along with him to Damascus that would permit him to bring back to Jerusalem any he found of this way."
Then all of sudden, the situation changes. There he is on the road to damascus, and as Brother Luke tells us, Saul "came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he (Saul) fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul,
saul, why persecutest thou me?"
Saul was near Damascus when this occurred. I feel here that i need to say before the Lord got hold of me and turned my miserable life around, He had to bring me near that turning point in my life. Once I was saved, I was saved and forgiven all at once. But He had to bring to a point in which I was near enough to that point that I was under great conviction. When Saul fell to the ground due to the blinding brightness of that heavenly light, he might not have right then been changed in his heart concerning the Lord. But he was certainly well on his way.
Now if I come off sounding like a hyperCalvinist, please understand whenever I give my salvation testimony, I do have to confess that on the night of September 10, 1978, the blessed Sunday night I was gloriously saved the Spirit of God brought such conviction tp my heart that I felt I just could not refuse Him. Let me put it this way; I did not want to refuse Him because I realized at that moment if I did, and I died in my sleep that night, I would surely lift up my eyes in hell as did the rich man in Luke 16.
Saul was near Damascus. The Lord Jesus, according to Mark, was asked by a scribe what is the first commandment of all. The Lord answered with "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is non other commandment greater than these."
The scribe then praised the Master for His answer by saying that all these were worth more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. When the scribe said that, Jesus said to him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."
But being not far or, for that matter, being near to the kingdowm, does not mean a person will enter the kingdowm when he dies. He cannot stop there, just being near the point of being saved. He must go all the way into the redeeming presence of the most holy God, confessing his need to repent (turn from sin), confess he is a lost, hell-deserving, hell-bound sinner, ane then ask the Lord Jesus to forgive and cleanse him from all unrighteousness.
I am not a sports lover, that is, basketball, football, or baseball, as far as watching games on television. I have enjoyed playing some of them, namely a friendly backyard game of touch football. but I do happen to know that if a given team loses by one point, whereby the final score is 14 to 13 , the team that lost simply lost. It does little good for the losing team to leave the field saying, "We nearly won," or, "We barely lost." Whether it be a close score or a wide one like 20 to nothing, the fact still remains that the team lost the game.
As I go about daily activities, (at this time, I am taking needed time off to enjoy the Christmas holidays), it strikes home to my heart that there are people everywhere out there, in stores, malls, merchants selling their wares, who might be like Saul of Tarsus. They are still on damascus Road, and they are near Damascus, but they just have not got there quite yet. These are seekers, and the Lord obviously deals with seekers since he did say "Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I was finally brought into the pasture of safety after spending sometime on my own Damascus Road, but I was, thanks be to Him, on that road, near Damascus.
Only please do not be deceived by the notion that being near to making that salvation decision for Christ is near enough. Near but not yet there can also put you farther back. the Spirit of god is the One who brings lost people to God, and faith in His saving grace. But in putting off that decision too many times can result in your never reaching Damascus at all. I use the name of that city here to symbolize the salvation/forgiveness/eternal life experience through and in Christ. It is my hope and prayer that anyone who reads this post will, if he or she has not yet done so, get on that road that leads to heaven one day. "Behold," the Word of god says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; Behold, now is the day of salvation."
This evening there is an account I want to share which I will borrow from my own personal hand written faith journal I had begun last January, mainly because I have come to regard Paul as the greatest Christian disciple who ever lived. I feel he was by far the greatest of the Lord's followers simply because he not only lived for Christ, but he lived Christ. When he wrote to the believers in Philippi, "for to me to live is Christ," he truly meant it. He was a man fully controlled and consumed by Christ.
But Paul was not always this way, as none of us who are God's people can truthfully say we were always God's elect people. None of us was always a Christian since the day we were born.
There was another man who came before Paul. His name was Saul, Saul of Tarsus. That was his name his parents gave him when they, by jewish tradition, presented him to the high priest to be circumcised eight days after he was born. O granted, the two were the same men. Before Paul was Paul, he was Saul. Saul was a pharisee, a religionist of the strictest sort. He believed in one God, and he fervently studied the law and the prophets. He could likely quote every passage word for word, as some folks even now can quote the Bible verse by verse, cover to cover. And if ever there might be a man as near to knowing all a man could hope to know about God, it was Saul of Tarsus. But as we hopefully will discover, near is not near enough.
Saul was a young Jew who studied at the feet of Gamaliel. That experience might well be likened to a young person having the honor and priviledge of studying at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Saul had grown to a level of knowledge so prestigious that he won the admiring attention of both his peers and teachers. And Luke tells us in Acts 7 & 8 that he willing had a hand in the presecutions that began to be waged against those who trusted and followed Christ as Lord and Savior. Chapter 9 begins with Saul "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord." And to prove he meant business, he went to the high priest and obtained letters (we may call them warrants) he could take along with him to Damascus that would permit him to bring back to Jerusalem any he found of this way."
Then all of sudden, the situation changes. There he is on the road to damascus, and as Brother Luke tells us, Saul "came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he (Saul) fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, "Saul,
saul, why persecutest thou me?"
Saul was near Damascus when this occurred. I feel here that i need to say before the Lord got hold of me and turned my miserable life around, He had to bring me near that turning point in my life. Once I was saved, I was saved and forgiven all at once. But He had to bring to a point in which I was near enough to that point that I was under great conviction. When Saul fell to the ground due to the blinding brightness of that heavenly light, he might not have right then been changed in his heart concerning the Lord. But he was certainly well on his way.
Now if I come off sounding like a hyperCalvinist, please understand whenever I give my salvation testimony, I do have to confess that on the night of September 10, 1978, the blessed Sunday night I was gloriously saved the Spirit of God brought such conviction tp my heart that I felt I just could not refuse Him. Let me put it this way; I did not want to refuse Him because I realized at that moment if I did, and I died in my sleep that night, I would surely lift up my eyes in hell as did the rich man in Luke 16.
Saul was near Damascus. The Lord Jesus, according to Mark, was asked by a scribe what is the first commandment of all. The Lord answered with "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is non other commandment greater than these."
The scribe then praised the Master for His answer by saying that all these were worth more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. When the scribe said that, Jesus said to him, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."
But being not far or, for that matter, being near to the kingdowm, does not mean a person will enter the kingdowm when he dies. He cannot stop there, just being near the point of being saved. He must go all the way into the redeeming presence of the most holy God, confessing his need to repent (turn from sin), confess he is a lost, hell-deserving, hell-bound sinner, ane then ask the Lord Jesus to forgive and cleanse him from all unrighteousness.
I am not a sports lover, that is, basketball, football, or baseball, as far as watching games on television. I have enjoyed playing some of them, namely a friendly backyard game of touch football. but I do happen to know that if a given team loses by one point, whereby the final score is 14 to 13 , the team that lost simply lost. It does little good for the losing team to leave the field saying, "We nearly won," or, "We barely lost." Whether it be a close score or a wide one like 20 to nothing, the fact still remains that the team lost the game.
As I go about daily activities, (at this time, I am taking needed time off to enjoy the Christmas holidays), it strikes home to my heart that there are people everywhere out there, in stores, malls, merchants selling their wares, who might be like Saul of Tarsus. They are still on damascus Road, and they are near Damascus, but they just have not got there quite yet. These are seekers, and the Lord obviously deals with seekers since he did say "Seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." I was finally brought into the pasture of safety after spending sometime on my own Damascus Road, but I was, thanks be to Him, on that road, near Damascus.
Only please do not be deceived by the notion that being near to making that salvation decision for Christ is near enough. Near but not yet there can also put you farther back. the Spirit of god is the One who brings lost people to God, and faith in His saving grace. But in putting off that decision too many times can result in your never reaching Damascus at all. I use the name of that city here to symbolize the salvation/forgiveness/eternal life experience through and in Christ. It is my hope and prayer that anyone who reads this post will, if he or she has not yet done so, get on that road that leads to heaven one day. "Behold," the Word of god says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; Behold, now is the day of salvation."
Monday, December 22, 2008
,Why am I here?
This question is not intended to suggest that I do not know why I am here on this earth. For that matter, it is not even intended to give anyone the impression that I do not know why I am a resident of Anderson County in the upstate of South Carolina. In fact, it does far more than suggest anything of the sort. From the biblical perspective, I am here on this present earth to live a life of faith, trust, and obedience: faith and trust in the great Lord and Savior who delivered me from sin and its resulting judgment, and obedience to Him any way He has chosen for me to live out my remaining days in this present, sin-corrupted world. As for my living out my remaining pilgrim days in Anderson County, it is because this is where God has purposed me to be at this time. He may or may not have my wife and me to live anywhere else during our remaining time on this earth. But we will live wherever He so desires for us to live, and right now, this is the place.
In my personal study of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is showing me how faith, trust, and obedience were very much at work in the lives of men like Peter, James, John, Stephen, and finally, Paul. There was a time earlier in my years as a Christian when I thought that these men were exceptional, in that God had made them to be above the ordinary human population. But I had later discovered through a deeper study of God's Word, that these and other great men of the Bible who followed God and were used by Him in extraordinary ways, differed from so-called average men only in their faith. In essence, and I want to be very careful in the most reverent sense when I state this, these were all ordinary men who chose to trust a very extraordinary God, with an extraordinary faith.
I honestly believe that God will mightily use any man, woman, or young person who is willing to submit to His rightful authority over their lives. They do not have to be super talented or endowed with a superior intellect. I do not desire to say that with the intent of deliberately offending certain readers, but such assets can be far more a liability than an asset when it comes to one's being useful to God. Several accounts are given in God's Word to affirm this, so then please feel free to take up this matter with Him, not me. God is showing me that the life He has given to me here has true worth and value only when my life is daily placed in His complete control. He chooses the low things of this world, not the high and mighty, to serve and honor Him. He delights far more in doing His greatest work through an old empty rusted out bucket that knows it is empty, than He does in a pot full of gold that often gloats in its being full, but ends up being too full for God to do anything with it except set it on a shelf to collect dust. This means every hope, dream, and ambition, including personal plans, have to be completely surrendered to Him. In addition, even my most prized possessions must be recognized as His. This includes members of my family: my wife, children, and grandchildren. Nothing I have is really mine, Everything, myself included, is His, and He, being God, has every sovereign right to determine every outcome. In short, God wants to empty us before He fills us.
I must admit that as I read and study the lives and ministries of these men covered in the Word, I sometimes feel a bit threatened as well as convicted in my heart. This is because of the sacrifice these early saints made to be and do what their Lord patterned them to be and do for Him. Through the entire Bible are examples of faith that was stronger than the human will. Abraham went out from his own kin after he believed He heard God call him, while not knowing just where he was to go. But once he started on his faith journey, he learned in time that God was leading him toward the land called Canaan. Jeremiah surrendered to the call from his God to be a prophet after God had told him no one would listen to his message and respond favorably to his preaching. And once Peter, James, John, and Stephen got a big filling from the Holy Spirit, their only aim from then on was to persuade lost people to believe the gospel and be saved. Even time in jail and receiving whip lashes from their religious adversaries did not stop them from living out God's purpose for their lives. Saul became Paul after the Lord got hold of him, and after that miraculous life-changing encounter with the Lord on Damascus Road, nothing mattered to Paul but living his entire life for the Savior. Little wonder he was glad to pen these words to believers at Philippi: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. 1:21 And in another verse, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." 3:7
It is tempting to choose the easy way, or to get so enamored with the pleasures of this temporal life, that it becomes hard to turn loose of it all and follow Christ no matter what. But this is not the life! I honestly believe that knowing this truth, will serve to transform the unresolved Christian into one fully resolved to live for God's promise of betters things to come. The life which really matters is the one we cannot see with our fleshly eyes, but long to see with faith's eyes. As for this present life, it is temporal, that is, it is very temporary, very short. In fact, as I heard one old preacher put it, "This life is a training base for the one to come." Another grand old saint said that "the whole reason for Christian education down here is to teach God's people how to live one day up there." The late, great missionary to the Aucas told his wife Elizabeth only a few days prior to his being killed by those Indians that "No man is a fool who is willing to lose what he cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose." Those words echo the timeless words of our Savior:
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whoso-
ever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25
And regardless of what we who are God's elect people may have to go through down here on this present earth, that will be nothing compared to the glories awaiting God's faithful when this life is finally over. Over this past year, the Lord has been helping me to see a much farther reaching enterprise in the words of Paul, recorded in Romans 8:18:
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us."
In my personal study of the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit is showing me how faith, trust, and obedience were very much at work in the lives of men like Peter, James, John, Stephen, and finally, Paul. There was a time earlier in my years as a Christian when I thought that these men were exceptional, in that God had made them to be above the ordinary human population. But I had later discovered through a deeper study of God's Word, that these and other great men of the Bible who followed God and were used by Him in extraordinary ways, differed from so-called average men only in their faith. In essence, and I want to be very careful in the most reverent sense when I state this, these were all ordinary men who chose to trust a very extraordinary God, with an extraordinary faith.
I honestly believe that God will mightily use any man, woman, or young person who is willing to submit to His rightful authority over their lives. They do not have to be super talented or endowed with a superior intellect. I do not desire to say that with the intent of deliberately offending certain readers, but such assets can be far more a liability than an asset when it comes to one's being useful to God. Several accounts are given in God's Word to affirm this, so then please feel free to take up this matter with Him, not me. God is showing me that the life He has given to me here has true worth and value only when my life is daily placed in His complete control. He chooses the low things of this world, not the high and mighty, to serve and honor Him. He delights far more in doing His greatest work through an old empty rusted out bucket that knows it is empty, than He does in a pot full of gold that often gloats in its being full, but ends up being too full for God to do anything with it except set it on a shelf to collect dust. This means every hope, dream, and ambition, including personal plans, have to be completely surrendered to Him. In addition, even my most prized possessions must be recognized as His. This includes members of my family: my wife, children, and grandchildren. Nothing I have is really mine, Everything, myself included, is His, and He, being God, has every sovereign right to determine every outcome. In short, God wants to empty us before He fills us.
I must admit that as I read and study the lives and ministries of these men covered in the Word, I sometimes feel a bit threatened as well as convicted in my heart. This is because of the sacrifice these early saints made to be and do what their Lord patterned them to be and do for Him. Through the entire Bible are examples of faith that was stronger than the human will. Abraham went out from his own kin after he believed He heard God call him, while not knowing just where he was to go. But once he started on his faith journey, he learned in time that God was leading him toward the land called Canaan. Jeremiah surrendered to the call from his God to be a prophet after God had told him no one would listen to his message and respond favorably to his preaching. And once Peter, James, John, and Stephen got a big filling from the Holy Spirit, their only aim from then on was to persuade lost people to believe the gospel and be saved. Even time in jail and receiving whip lashes from their religious adversaries did not stop them from living out God's purpose for their lives. Saul became Paul after the Lord got hold of him, and after that miraculous life-changing encounter with the Lord on Damascus Road, nothing mattered to Paul but living his entire life for the Savior. Little wonder he was glad to pen these words to believers at Philippi: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. 1:21 And in another verse, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." 3:7
It is tempting to choose the easy way, or to get so enamored with the pleasures of this temporal life, that it becomes hard to turn loose of it all and follow Christ no matter what. But this is not the life! I honestly believe that knowing this truth, will serve to transform the unresolved Christian into one fully resolved to live for God's promise of betters things to come. The life which really matters is the one we cannot see with our fleshly eyes, but long to see with faith's eyes. As for this present life, it is temporal, that is, it is very temporary, very short. In fact, as I heard one old preacher put it, "This life is a training base for the one to come." Another grand old saint said that "the whole reason for Christian education down here is to teach God's people how to live one day up there." The late, great missionary to the Aucas told his wife Elizabeth only a few days prior to his being killed by those Indians that "No man is a fool who is willing to lose what he cannot keep, in order to gain what he cannot lose." Those words echo the timeless words of our Savior:
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whoso-
ever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matthew 16:25
And regardless of what we who are God's elect people may have to go through down here on this present earth, that will be nothing compared to the glories awaiting God's faithful when this life is finally over. Over this past year, the Lord has been helping me to see a much farther reaching enterprise in the words of Paul, recorded in Romans 8:18:
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in us."
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Marriage
It has been a good while since my last posting. I believe it was my very first one in which I said something about putting out a picture of Miriam, my wife of 32 years, and me. This photo was taken November 6th, three years ago, but I like to think we have not changed that much since then.
All I really feel led to do in this posting is say that Miriam has been to me a treasure much the same way in which our Lord's church has been to Him since He first gave life to it in the first century. What I mean here is what the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the husband's view of his wife, that he ought to
"love his wife, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it." (Ephesians 5:25).
The Lord has given us both a wonderful life together, and it is my hope that if it is His purpose and will, He might give us many more years ahead to live for Him. I say this for several reasons, but one stands out above the rest. A year and three months ago, I thought the Lord would take Miriam home. She fell ill, but after she was admitted to the hopital for tests, doctors working with her could not pinpoint any specific aliment. Her heart raced with heavy palpitations, and she had no appetite. She was literally suffering from starvation, as she rapidly lost a great deal of weight. Eventually she pulled out of all this, and returned pretty much to normal. The only thing any of her doctors could determine was that she had an allergic reaction to antibiotics she had taken for a sinus infection.
God showed mercy in that He did not take her from me and our two children. Yes, He could have done so, and He certainly would have been right had He done it. My belief is that all He wanted from me was to admit two things: To confess to Him that she was more His than she was mine, and that I had fallen back from following Him as I should.
All I want to say here is that God will do with His people what is necessary to get our attention. And He will not play second fiddle to anyone, not even to those we love most down here. My hope and prayer is that I will never forget that lesson.
All I really feel led to do in this posting is say that Miriam has been to me a treasure much the same way in which our Lord's church has been to Him since He first gave life to it in the first century. What I mean here is what the Apostle Paul wrote concerning the husband's view of his wife, that he ought to
"love his wife, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it." (Ephesians 5:25).The Lord has given us both a wonderful life together, and it is my hope that if it is His purpose and will, He might give us many more years ahead to live for Him. I say this for several reasons, but one stands out above the rest. A year and three months ago, I thought the Lord would take Miriam home. She fell ill, but after she was admitted to the hopital for tests, doctors working with her could not pinpoint any specific aliment. Her heart raced with heavy palpitations, and she had no appetite. She was literally suffering from starvation, as she rapidly lost a great deal of weight. Eventually she pulled out of all this, and returned pretty much to normal. The only thing any of her doctors could determine was that she had an allergic reaction to antibiotics she had taken for a sinus infection.
God showed mercy in that He did not take her from me and our two children. Yes, He could have done so, and He certainly would have been right had He done it. My belief is that all He wanted from me was to admit two things: To confess to Him that she was more His than she was mine, and that I had fallen back from following Him as I should.
All I want to say here is that God will do with His people what is necessary to get our attention. And He will not play second fiddle to anyone, not even to those we love most down here. My hope and prayer is that I will never forget that lesson.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Whom Can I Trust?
In my continued reading through 2 Samuel, I came to the passages which clearly prove the prophet Nathan's words to David to be true. The 12th chapter records Nathan's words of rebuke to David for his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Urriah, one of David's faithful commanders. Nathan gave David the Word of God concerning his sin, and the consequential sin of murder. David had sent Urriah back to the front with a closed message to Joab, telling Joab to put Urriah into the most dangerous part of the battlefield. David's plot was to rid himself of Urriah so that he might then have Bathsheba for his wife. The plot was successful, but David did not get away with what he had done. The Lord did forgive and put away the king's sin, but Nathan announced to him that the sword would never depart from his house, (12:10). This meant that there would be continuous disorder in his family for the rest of his life.
David eventually discovered this truth with the coming up of his son Amnon, Tamar, his daughter, and Absalom, another of his sons. I could never understand what appeal TV soaps have had to so many women through the fifty some-odd years they have been on the air. There is enough of that sort of thing one may read in God's Word. But I do not mean in any way to compare the problems David had with members of his family and court with the pitiful lifestyles Hollywood loves to portray. For one thing, the Bible gives details such as these, not to entertain, but to teach very important lessons on how we should live in this present fallen world. Soap operas, so called, teach us nothing. Sorry, ladies! What you watch on the screen while you eat your salad during your break on the job, or at home, if you keep house, will teach you only how to be and live wickedly like that crowd of "beautiful people." There is nothing entertaining or charming about sin. And sin is what is promoted and glamorized daily on such programing.
Now, it is here that I need to get down to the heart of what I am led to share here today. David soon found himself being forced to leave his home in Jerusalem. He took along his wives and others whom he felt necessary to protect him from his enemies. The truth of the matter is that he arrived at the point in which he did not really know whom to trust. Earlier, he had vowed that he would not allow himself to be overly reliant upon Joab, especially after Joab had murdered one of Jonathan's sons. Yet, he realized that under his present predicament, he had to rely on someone. Joab was by no means a man of impeccable morals and character. He even put a woman from nearby Tekoah up to going to David with a lie, saying that one of her sons had killed her other son, and that she pleaded for the king to allow him to return unharmed and to be pardoned for his deed. This lie was told in order for David to fall for the scheme, conceived by Joab, to allow his son Absalom to return to Jerusalem after he had been sent into exile for killing his brother Amnon years earlier.
David was able to see through this obvious fabrication, and he asked the woman if Joab had something to do with all this, (14:19). David, nonetheless, conceded, and allowed Absalom to return, but he told Joab that Absalom was not to come near him. This resulted in Absalom's eventual revolt against his father. Absalom was finally allowed to see his father for one last time, then he left in order to start for himself a political campaign against his father.
This gets even more complicated, as Absalom succeeds in gaining the love and devotion of many in Israel. And to make matters worse for David, One of David's most trusted servants, whose name is Ahithophel, runs off to Absalom to tell of how he could succeed in destroying his father and return to Jerusalem to claim his father's throne. It is here that a verse from Psalm 41:9 comes to my mind:
"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat
of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."
This verse is widely accepted among Bible scholars, to be a reference to Ahithophel and his betrayal. It is also a verse which is to be fulfilled on the night our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, (John 13:18).
Of course, Ahithophel's advice to Absalom was rejected in favor of the advice given by another of David's trusted servants, Hushai. Ahithophel, when he learned his counsel was overturned, went to his house, put it all in order, and, like Judas centuries later, went out and hanged himself.
Hushai was what I have come to regard as a person who holds his allegiance and fidelity to whoever appears to be gaining the upper hand. This means that he never really holds to any position, but stands ready to shift his position to wherever he sees he can gain advantage for himself. He is the sort of fellow no boss with integrity needs to have on his work team. He rather reminds me of a football fan who cheers his team as long as he sees they are the ones scoring the touchdowns. But let the opposing team make a sudden comeback and catch up with his team, or pull ahead, then you will find him sneaking over to the other side of the stadium rooting for that team. At first Hushai was in support of Absalom when he saw that Absalom was gaining the peoples' favor. Now that he saw Absalom might be losing his influence, and had received word that the people were turning back towards David, he wasted no time to let David know what was planned against him by his son. What were his motives? I cannot at all believe he did this because he loved his king. If he truly was devoted to his king, and wanted him to flourish as God's undershepherd, then I feel sure he would never have taken up with the likes of Absalom in the first place.
There is much more here, but I think I have received from the Lord what is sufficient. The lesson is this: that while it might be all right to believe in people closest to us, it is clearly wrong to believe in them as much as we believe in our God. This, of course, cannot be possible, as we cannot say we wholly rely upon our heavenly Father who is always worthy of our trust, and at the same time wholly rely upon sinful human flesh, who will inevitably disappoint us sooner or later. Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm."
Another verse warns that trusting in Egypt is the same as leaning against a wall and his arm goes through it to be bitten by a serpent.
I believe the Lord had allowed David, the man after God's own heart, to go through all He went through here, and even later in his life, in order that he might never forget the One always worthy of his trust and devotion.
I have been disappointed several times by those whom I thought were with me on certain issues, only to discover that when the day of reckoning finally arrived, they were taking sides with the opposing party. It happens in business. Here is a supervisor who has just implemented a plan for his department. He appears to have gained full confidence in this plan from his staff. But one of his staffers hopes to get in good with higher level management. So he goes up to the next higher floor and tells that fellow what his supervisor has been working on, and further explains why he does not think it will be good for the company's interest. What has he done? He has demonstrated he cannot be trusted by anyone at all, not even the ones he has sold out to. Perhaps that is not the worthiest illustration, but I have actually observed this sort of thing.
So then, whom can I trust? Whom can you trust? Really trust? David learned more and more in his walk with His Lord that he both could and should, always trust in Him above all else. Sometime after the king's trial here had ended, and he was able to return to Jerusalem, he penned these words:
"The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer. The God
of my rock; In Him will I trust: He is my Shield,, and the Horn of my
salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Savior; Thou savest me
from violence." (22:2 & 3)
Even the Lord Himself, while He walked this earth, knew that it was futile to trust in man.The Apostle John left us with this testimony, recorded in John 2:23-25:
"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day,
many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He
did. But Jesus DID NOT commit Himself unto them, because He knew
all men. And needed not that any would testify of man: for He knew
what was in man."
The truth is, we are all untrustworthy. We are so, as Paul wrote even of himself (Romans 7:18), because "in us dwelleth no good thing." We cannot even trust in ourselves, let alone in others. This above all else applies to our total depraved condition. Without Christ, without God, who is forever worthy of our trust, we cannot save ourselves. If I trust in my own goodness to make me acceptable to a holy, righteous God, I will fail the test, and end up paying for my sins in the lake of fire, forever. That is why God sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die and rise again from the dead, so that" whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."
David eventually discovered this truth with the coming up of his son Amnon, Tamar, his daughter, and Absalom, another of his sons. I could never understand what appeal TV soaps have had to so many women through the fifty some-odd years they have been on the air. There is enough of that sort of thing one may read in God's Word. But I do not mean in any way to compare the problems David had with members of his family and court with the pitiful lifestyles Hollywood loves to portray. For one thing, the Bible gives details such as these, not to entertain, but to teach very important lessons on how we should live in this present fallen world. Soap operas, so called, teach us nothing. Sorry, ladies! What you watch on the screen while you eat your salad during your break on the job, or at home, if you keep house, will teach you only how to be and live wickedly like that crowd of "beautiful people." There is nothing entertaining or charming about sin. And sin is what is promoted and glamorized daily on such programing.
Now, it is here that I need to get down to the heart of what I am led to share here today. David soon found himself being forced to leave his home in Jerusalem. He took along his wives and others whom he felt necessary to protect him from his enemies. The truth of the matter is that he arrived at the point in which he did not really know whom to trust. Earlier, he had vowed that he would not allow himself to be overly reliant upon Joab, especially after Joab had murdered one of Jonathan's sons. Yet, he realized that under his present predicament, he had to rely on someone. Joab was by no means a man of impeccable morals and character. He even put a woman from nearby Tekoah up to going to David with a lie, saying that one of her sons had killed her other son, and that she pleaded for the king to allow him to return unharmed and to be pardoned for his deed. This lie was told in order for David to fall for the scheme, conceived by Joab, to allow his son Absalom to return to Jerusalem after he had been sent into exile for killing his brother Amnon years earlier.
David was able to see through this obvious fabrication, and he asked the woman if Joab had something to do with all this, (14:19). David, nonetheless, conceded, and allowed Absalom to return, but he told Joab that Absalom was not to come near him. This resulted in Absalom's eventual revolt against his father. Absalom was finally allowed to see his father for one last time, then he left in order to start for himself a political campaign against his father.
This gets even more complicated, as Absalom succeeds in gaining the love and devotion of many in Israel. And to make matters worse for David, One of David's most trusted servants, whose name is Ahithophel, runs off to Absalom to tell of how he could succeed in destroying his father and return to Jerusalem to claim his father's throne. It is here that a verse from Psalm 41:9 comes to my mind:
"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat
of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."
This verse is widely accepted among Bible scholars, to be a reference to Ahithophel and his betrayal. It is also a verse which is to be fulfilled on the night our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, (John 13:18).
Of course, Ahithophel's advice to Absalom was rejected in favor of the advice given by another of David's trusted servants, Hushai. Ahithophel, when he learned his counsel was overturned, went to his house, put it all in order, and, like Judas centuries later, went out and hanged himself.
Hushai was what I have come to regard as a person who holds his allegiance and fidelity to whoever appears to be gaining the upper hand. This means that he never really holds to any position, but stands ready to shift his position to wherever he sees he can gain advantage for himself. He is the sort of fellow no boss with integrity needs to have on his work team. He rather reminds me of a football fan who cheers his team as long as he sees they are the ones scoring the touchdowns. But let the opposing team make a sudden comeback and catch up with his team, or pull ahead, then you will find him sneaking over to the other side of the stadium rooting for that team. At first Hushai was in support of Absalom when he saw that Absalom was gaining the peoples' favor. Now that he saw Absalom might be losing his influence, and had received word that the people were turning back towards David, he wasted no time to let David know what was planned against him by his son. What were his motives? I cannot at all believe he did this because he loved his king. If he truly was devoted to his king, and wanted him to flourish as God's undershepherd, then I feel sure he would never have taken up with the likes of Absalom in the first place.
There is much more here, but I think I have received from the Lord what is sufficient. The lesson is this: that while it might be all right to believe in people closest to us, it is clearly wrong to believe in them as much as we believe in our God. This, of course, cannot be possible, as we cannot say we wholly rely upon our heavenly Father who is always worthy of our trust, and at the same time wholly rely upon sinful human flesh, who will inevitably disappoint us sooner or later. Jeremiah 17:5 says, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm."
Another verse warns that trusting in Egypt is the same as leaning against a wall and his arm goes through it to be bitten by a serpent.
I believe the Lord had allowed David, the man after God's own heart, to go through all He went through here, and even later in his life, in order that he might never forget the One always worthy of his trust and devotion.
I have been disappointed several times by those whom I thought were with me on certain issues, only to discover that when the day of reckoning finally arrived, they were taking sides with the opposing party. It happens in business. Here is a supervisor who has just implemented a plan for his department. He appears to have gained full confidence in this plan from his staff. But one of his staffers hopes to get in good with higher level management. So he goes up to the next higher floor and tells that fellow what his supervisor has been working on, and further explains why he does not think it will be good for the company's interest. What has he done? He has demonstrated he cannot be trusted by anyone at all, not even the ones he has sold out to. Perhaps that is not the worthiest illustration, but I have actually observed this sort of thing.
So then, whom can I trust? Whom can you trust? Really trust? David learned more and more in his walk with His Lord that he both could and should, always trust in Him above all else. Sometime after the king's trial here had ended, and he was able to return to Jerusalem, he penned these words:
"The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer. The God
of my rock; In Him will I trust: He is my Shield,, and the Horn of my
salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Savior; Thou savest me
from violence." (22:2 & 3)
Even the Lord Himself, while He walked this earth, knew that it was futile to trust in man.The Apostle John left us with this testimony, recorded in John 2:23-25:
"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day,
many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He
did. But Jesus DID NOT commit Himself unto them, because He knew
all men. And needed not that any would testify of man: for He knew
what was in man."
The truth is, we are all untrustworthy. We are so, as Paul wrote even of himself (Romans 7:18), because "in us dwelleth no good thing." We cannot even trust in ourselves, let alone in others. This above all else applies to our total depraved condition. Without Christ, without God, who is forever worthy of our trust, we cannot save ourselves. If I trust in my own goodness to make me acceptable to a holy, righteous God, I will fail the test, and end up paying for my sins in the lake of fire, forever. That is why God sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die and rise again from the dead, so that" whosoever believeth on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
God's Unmerited Favor: 2 Samuel 9:13
Tonight I felt led to tell about a totally worthy heavenly Father and a worthy Savior, who showed unmerited favor to a very unworthy son of earth. But before I do that , I think it good to offer a wonderful insight the Lord gave to me earlier today. It struck me in such a way that I just had to share it here this evening. In my daily study of God's Word, the 9th chapter of 2 Samuel, verse 13, blazed with heavenly light right in front of me. It reads:
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually
at the King's (David's) table; and he was lame on both his feet."
Here was David, now Israel's second king. That in itself was a work of God's grace and mercy, especially since Saul's own biological son Jonathan should have been the logical heir to his father's throne. But the Lord's ways are not man's ways, for His long range purpose, and eternal purpose was to be brought about through a young shepherd lad named David. David himself came up in a family of eight brothers, the youngest of them all.
Now, after several years of faith testing by his faithful God, David finally was recognized as Israel's king. Earlier there developed a close friendship between David and Jonathan, Saul's son.
Jonathan knew that David, and not he, would be the next king after his father died. Both Jonathan and his father Saul were killed in battle against the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa. This account is recorded in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. Before Jonathan's death, he asked David to show mercy to his father's house. David, being a man of integrity and strong faith in God, did not forget the promise he made to his friend.
In the 9th chapter, David calls one of Saul's servants named Ziba, to find out if there was any member of his master's household to whom he could show kindness. Ziba told him about Mephibosheth, a son of David's friend Jonathan.
Now, it is here where I wish to give what the Lord showed me from this passage. Mephibosheth, as far as anyone could tell, was a man who did nothing whatsoever to merit David's favor. In fact, he might well have felt that David summoned him because he was of the house of his enemy Saul, and that David was planning to have him put to death. It might have been that Mephibosheth knew about several member of Saul's family who had been executed after David came to power in Israel. So, it would seem logical that he feared appearing before David. When Mephibosheth came into the king's house, "he fell on his face, and did reverence," ( verse 6).
What a surprise this fellow might have felt when he heard David say to him, {verse 7), "Fear not; for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually."
And what Mephibosheth said to David is what really took hold of my heart: "And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dog as I am?"
David then said to the Ziba the servant, "As for Mephibosheth, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons."
As I already said, there is not a single trait found in Jonathan's son, other than the fact that he was Jonathan's son, that made him a deserving recipient of King David's show of kindness and mercy. But mercy was shown. And not only was mercy shown, but Mephibosheth openly acknowledged his unworthiness of David's mercy and kindness. An entire lifetime of generosity, bestowed on one who really did not deserve it.
And that is my own testimony, dear reader. If you have bothered to read this far, it is my hope you will be interested enough to continue. For it is here that you might hopefully discover for your own life, a work of grace you will never find anywhere else. That grace can be found only in Jesus Christ. You see, on September 10th of this year, I celebrated my thirtieth year as a recipient of that very grace. It is a grace I do not, never did, nor never will, deserve. And what is grace? I am referring to the grace of God. It is, as my present posting is entitled, unmerited favor. Just as Kind David had shown mercy and kindness to a man who did not deserve that kindness, God my heavenly Father through faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ, showed me that wonderful mercy in a much more wondrous way, even far beyond that which David, an earthly potentate, had shown to an unworthy earthling.
I wanted to write this tonight because it may be that someone out there may be like Mephibosheth. Like this man, who was lame, and might well have been considerably incapacitated due to his crippled condition, we are all unable to do anything to deserve or earn a place at the King's table. Paul's words come to mind here:
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)
There is much I could continue with here, especially with regard to use of further Scripture, but I trust that for you, as it has been for me these past thirty years, you can say with confidence that you are eating from the Bread of Life, God's Son Jesus Christ. I hope you rejoice in that fact that even though you had once been an undeserving, hell-bound sinner the same as I had been, now you can say you are a forgiven, saved, mercy-shown, heaven-bound child of the King.
Kindness was clearly shown by David to Mephibosheth, but it could never be the everlasting kindness that Christ shows to men, women, and young persons. He already showed that kindness when He hung on a cross on a hill called Golgotha. His blood He freely shed for us all. And He will gladly forgive and pardon forever anyone who will fall down before Him and say, "Lord, I am no better than a dead dog. I am a sinner. I deserve nothing better than eternal separation from you in a place called hell. But I know now that you died for me, a sinner, so that I could live with You, and eat at Your table forever.
If you have never prayed that prayer, or at least expressed this in your own words, then you will never be allowed to sit with Christ when He comes in His glory and sits down with His saints at the great supper. It is my hope that you will do this while there is time. If time stops for you, it will be too late. Time stops for those who die. And not one of us knows when that time will come. Eternity begins right after one dies, and where you and I spend that eternity, will be determined by whether or not we trusted Him to be our Lord and Savior.
I will end tonight with these words of Christ, recorded in Revelation 3:20:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will
hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with Me."
So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem; for he did eat continually
at the King's (David's) table; and he was lame on both his feet."
Here was David, now Israel's second king. That in itself was a work of God's grace and mercy, especially since Saul's own biological son Jonathan should have been the logical heir to his father's throne. But the Lord's ways are not man's ways, for His long range purpose, and eternal purpose was to be brought about through a young shepherd lad named David. David himself came up in a family of eight brothers, the youngest of them all.
Now, after several years of faith testing by his faithful God, David finally was recognized as Israel's king. Earlier there developed a close friendship between David and Jonathan, Saul's son.
Jonathan knew that David, and not he, would be the next king after his father died. Both Jonathan and his father Saul were killed in battle against the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa. This account is recorded in chapter 31 of 1 Samuel. Before Jonathan's death, he asked David to show mercy to his father's house. David, being a man of integrity and strong faith in God, did not forget the promise he made to his friend.
In the 9th chapter, David calls one of Saul's servants named Ziba, to find out if there was any member of his master's household to whom he could show kindness. Ziba told him about Mephibosheth, a son of David's friend Jonathan.
Now, it is here where I wish to give what the Lord showed me from this passage. Mephibosheth, as far as anyone could tell, was a man who did nothing whatsoever to merit David's favor. In fact, he might well have felt that David summoned him because he was of the house of his enemy Saul, and that David was planning to have him put to death. It might have been that Mephibosheth knew about several member of Saul's family who had been executed after David came to power in Israel. So, it would seem logical that he feared appearing before David. When Mephibosheth came into the king's house, "he fell on his face, and did reverence," ( verse 6).
What a surprise this fellow might have felt when he heard David say to him, {verse 7), "Fear not; for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually."
And what Mephibosheth said to David is what really took hold of my heart: "And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dog as I am?"
David then said to the Ziba the servant, "As for Mephibosheth, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons."
As I already said, there is not a single trait found in Jonathan's son, other than the fact that he was Jonathan's son, that made him a deserving recipient of King David's show of kindness and mercy. But mercy was shown. And not only was mercy shown, but Mephibosheth openly acknowledged his unworthiness of David's mercy and kindness. An entire lifetime of generosity, bestowed on one who really did not deserve it.
And that is my own testimony, dear reader. If you have bothered to read this far, it is my hope you will be interested enough to continue. For it is here that you might hopefully discover for your own life, a work of grace you will never find anywhere else. That grace can be found only in Jesus Christ. You see, on September 10th of this year, I celebrated my thirtieth year as a recipient of that very grace. It is a grace I do not, never did, nor never will, deserve. And what is grace? I am referring to the grace of God. It is, as my present posting is entitled, unmerited favor. Just as Kind David had shown mercy and kindness to a man who did not deserve that kindness, God my heavenly Father through faith and trust in His Son Jesus Christ, showed me that wonderful mercy in a much more wondrous way, even far beyond that which David, an earthly potentate, had shown to an unworthy earthling.
I wanted to write this tonight because it may be that someone out there may be like Mephibosheth. Like this man, who was lame, and might well have been considerably incapacitated due to his crippled condition, we are all unable to do anything to deserve or earn a place at the King's table. Paul's words come to mind here:
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)
There is much I could continue with here, especially with regard to use of further Scripture, but I trust that for you, as it has been for me these past thirty years, you can say with confidence that you are eating from the Bread of Life, God's Son Jesus Christ. I hope you rejoice in that fact that even though you had once been an undeserving, hell-bound sinner the same as I had been, now you can say you are a forgiven, saved, mercy-shown, heaven-bound child of the King.
Kindness was clearly shown by David to Mephibosheth, but it could never be the everlasting kindness that Christ shows to men, women, and young persons. He already showed that kindness when He hung on a cross on a hill called Golgotha. His blood He freely shed for us all. And He will gladly forgive and pardon forever anyone who will fall down before Him and say, "Lord, I am no better than a dead dog. I am a sinner. I deserve nothing better than eternal separation from you in a place called hell. But I know now that you died for me, a sinner, so that I could live with You, and eat at Your table forever.
If you have never prayed that prayer, or at least expressed this in your own words, then you will never be allowed to sit with Christ when He comes in His glory and sits down with His saints at the great supper. It is my hope that you will do this while there is time. If time stops for you, it will be too late. Time stops for those who die. And not one of us knows when that time will come. Eternity begins right after one dies, and where you and I spend that eternity, will be determined by whether or not we trusted Him to be our Lord and Savior.
I will end tonight with these words of Christ, recorded in Revelation 3:20:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will
hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with Me."
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Cost of Discipleship
It has been a few months since my last posting. I offer no apologies for this, only to say that I will not post anything unless I believe it is from God. Today, I felt the need to express my thoughts concerning the Christian's daily walk. Walking with God faithfully means a great deal more than merely saying with my lips "I am a follower of Jesus Christ," or, "I am a Christian."
This fact never before came home to my heart more than it did over the past few months of my life. The Lord has been showing me truths about Him which would doubtless have made me much the better for it, had I known about them years earlier. Today, He directed my attention to a passage found in Matthew. In the 16th chapter there is recorded a very dynamic dialogue going on between the Lord and His disciples. After their return from telling others about Him, and the responses they had received from their listeners as to who they thought He was, He then asked them, "and who do you say that I am?" Peter told Him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," (16:16).
But the same Peter who was blessed with this revelation from God, is the same man who soon after tried to set his Lord straight when Jesus told them all about what was to soon take place in His life. He told them He would soon go to Jerusalem where He would be handed over to the religious authorities there, suffer many things from them, then be killed, and then He would be raised on the third day.
This did not sit well at all with Peter. All Peter could hear was that this man whom he trusted and wanted to follow was soon going to die. He likely did not want to hear the part about Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Peter told Jesus that this would not happen to Him, that he would do all he could to prevent this from taking place. It was right then that the Lord "turned, and said unto Peter,
"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me;
For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men."
I was right after giving Peter this very sharp but badly needed rebuke that He said to all of His followers,
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
(16:24 & 25).
Dr. Luke (he was a Greek physician whom the Lord used to write one of the gospel accounts) used the word "daily" to give even more emphasis on what the Lord meant here. "Take up your cross daily" He said.
Peter was perhaps no different from most of the other Jews who lived during that time. Their country was under Roman occupation. Oftentimes there was oppression under the Roman yoke, and what Peter, like many others wanted, was a Messiah who was not going to die but keep on living and who would set up an earthly kingdom absent of all that was unpleasant. He had thought life with Jesus would go on being like it had always been since His arrival here on the earth. He did not hear what he wanted to hear, and so he resisted.
I fear that a growing number of us in America who call ourselves Christians, might in fact be Christians in name only. But for us to say we know Christ and that we trust and believe in Him, or that we are His followers, could well be that we really have never grasped what that truly means, from God's perspective. I say this because man's perspective on spiritual matters, that is, matters concerning eternity, really do not count, unless of course they are in line with what God thinks about it. We have grown far too comfortable here. Most of us have far more than we will ever need of this world's goods. None of us, when compared with what believers are going through in other lands, have really had to go through the fires of severe persecution. Not just yet anyway. But I sincerely believe that this time is soon coming, and when it does come, it will be a time when God's true wheat will be clearly and unmistakably separated from those who have claimed they are His wheat, but in truth, are the tares.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man of God. I do not care to listen to the remarks given by the misled uninformed who like to toss him in with that crowd who banded together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. There is no substantiated evidence whatsoever that he could be implicated in that plot. On the contrary, what this man was about was to preach the love of God revealed in His blessed Son Jesus Christ, (a truth totally rejected by Hitler and his Nazi regime). There is a book Bonhoeffer wrote entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." You will not read this book as a 21st century Christian in America without feeling both convicted and humbled. I could not do it when I read it. Brother Bonhoeffer's trust in, and faithfulness to his Savior cost him his earthly life. He was arrested by the Gestapo, incarcerated in one of the Nazi prison camps, and only two days prior to the arrival of the Allied troops who liberated the camp, he was hanged. Only two days away from the day he could have been released.
Now, I am not saying that any of us might be hanged or beheaded, or shot if we hold true to the faith, but I do believe that the Lord is going to both bring about and allow things to occur in this land of the free and home of the brave that will definitely test our faith, to determine whether it be real faith or no. The truth is, and I would like to quote Brother James Knox here, that sinful men do not usually come to trust Christ when Christians living a trouble-free life tell them about Christ's love for them. But they will very likely be won by the Christian who lives his life like a Christian when things could not seem to be their worst for him or her.
He further added that a man dying of some terminal illness who is unsaved, is more likely going to listen to a Christian in the same hospital room with him who is also dying, than he will to a preacher who stands over his bed telling him about God's love for him, and he is in the best of health.
I want to say more about this in the postings which follow.
This fact never before came home to my heart more than it did over the past few months of my life. The Lord has been showing me truths about Him which would doubtless have made me much the better for it, had I known about them years earlier. Today, He directed my attention to a passage found in Matthew. In the 16th chapter there is recorded a very dynamic dialogue going on between the Lord and His disciples. After their return from telling others about Him, and the responses they had received from their listeners as to who they thought He was, He then asked them, "and who do you say that I am?" Peter told Him, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," (16:16).
But the same Peter who was blessed with this revelation from God, is the same man who soon after tried to set his Lord straight when Jesus told them all about what was to soon take place in His life. He told them He would soon go to Jerusalem where He would be handed over to the religious authorities there, suffer many things from them, then be killed, and then He would be raised on the third day.
This did not sit well at all with Peter. All Peter could hear was that this man whom he trusted and wanted to follow was soon going to die. He likely did not want to hear the part about Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Peter told Jesus that this would not happen to Him, that he would do all he could to prevent this from taking place. It was right then that the Lord "turned, and said unto Peter,
"Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me;
For thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men."
I was right after giving Peter this very sharp but badly needed rebuke that He said to all of His followers,
"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
(16:24 & 25).
Dr. Luke (he was a Greek physician whom the Lord used to write one of the gospel accounts) used the word "daily" to give even more emphasis on what the Lord meant here. "Take up your cross daily" He said.
Peter was perhaps no different from most of the other Jews who lived during that time. Their country was under Roman occupation. Oftentimes there was oppression under the Roman yoke, and what Peter, like many others wanted, was a Messiah who was not going to die but keep on living and who would set up an earthly kingdom absent of all that was unpleasant. He had thought life with Jesus would go on being like it had always been since His arrival here on the earth. He did not hear what he wanted to hear, and so he resisted.
I fear that a growing number of us in America who call ourselves Christians, might in fact be Christians in name only. But for us to say we know Christ and that we trust and believe in Him, or that we are His followers, could well be that we really have never grasped what that truly means, from God's perspective. I say this because man's perspective on spiritual matters, that is, matters concerning eternity, really do not count, unless of course they are in line with what God thinks about it. We have grown far too comfortable here. Most of us have far more than we will ever need of this world's goods. None of us, when compared with what believers are going through in other lands, have really had to go through the fires of severe persecution. Not just yet anyway. But I sincerely believe that this time is soon coming, and when it does come, it will be a time when God's true wheat will be clearly and unmistakably separated from those who have claimed they are His wheat, but in truth, are the tares.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man of God. I do not care to listen to the remarks given by the misled uninformed who like to toss him in with that crowd who banded together to assassinate Adolf Hitler. There is no substantiated evidence whatsoever that he could be implicated in that plot. On the contrary, what this man was about was to preach the love of God revealed in His blessed Son Jesus Christ, (a truth totally rejected by Hitler and his Nazi regime). There is a book Bonhoeffer wrote entitled "The Cost of Discipleship." You will not read this book as a 21st century Christian in America without feeling both convicted and humbled. I could not do it when I read it. Brother Bonhoeffer's trust in, and faithfulness to his Savior cost him his earthly life. He was arrested by the Gestapo, incarcerated in one of the Nazi prison camps, and only two days prior to the arrival of the Allied troops who liberated the camp, he was hanged. Only two days away from the day he could have been released.
Now, I am not saying that any of us might be hanged or beheaded, or shot if we hold true to the faith, but I do believe that the Lord is going to both bring about and allow things to occur in this land of the free and home of the brave that will definitely test our faith, to determine whether it be real faith or no. The truth is, and I would like to quote Brother James Knox here, that sinful men do not usually come to trust Christ when Christians living a trouble-free life tell them about Christ's love for them. But they will very likely be won by the Christian who lives his life like a Christian when things could not seem to be their worst for him or her.
He further added that a man dying of some terminal illness who is unsaved, is more likely going to listen to a Christian in the same hospital room with him who is also dying, than he will to a preacher who stands over his bed telling him about God's love for him, and he is in the best of health.
I want to say more about this in the postings which follow.
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