The chosen ones
Today I diverted my attention to 1 Peter 4 and 5, the subject of tomorrow’s Sunday School lesson. Since we have been studying the book “Enough” the last few weeks, we have not used our Sunday School quarterlies. Rather than picking up with the November 15 lesson, I decided to do a synopsis of the last three weeks: Be holy, The Chosen Ones, and Suffering for Christ’s sake.
Peter emphasizes the same sentiment found in the old Testament, as God is holy, be thou holy likewise. As we have stated already in this blog, holiness is a process by which we come to know and act like God our father. God expects holiness of us, but because of our sinful nature we can not attain holiness in and of ourselves. Because He is God, He cannot lower His expectations. But–and here is the great part–because He is God, He provided holiness for us through Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
Peter then goes on to talk about our being chosen. Just as the Israelites were promised they would be delivered from bondage in Egypt, Peter reminded these new Christians that they, too, were delivered from the bondage of sin by Jesus’ sacrifice. And, just as the first century Christians were chosen, we, too, have been chosen and will be delivered if we only believe. Awesome.
Peter finishes by talking about suffering for Jesus’ sake. Suffering is something we in America know little about, other than what we have read. Oh, people may make fun of us from time to time when we take a stand for Christ, but that is little to pay in order to be able to express our love and gratitude for the one who gave His life for ours. Peter makes it clear, too, that if we suffer because of our own actions that is not the same as suffering for His name’s sake.
Peter says we are to suffer according to God’s will. This does not mean what you think it does. God does not will us to suffer. God’s will for us was the Garden of Eden, but man had a different idea. So we now live in a world system not driven by God’s love, but dominated by sin. We suffer because of bad decisions we make; we suffer because of bad actions by others over which we have no control; and one day, the Bible is clear, we will suffer for Christ’s sake.
But praise God, we have been given this wonderful gift of grace. There is prevenient grace that God poured out upon us before we even knew we needed; there is saving grace that is like a life preserver thrown out to us in the midst of a sin-tossed sea; and there is sustaining grace that will accompany you until you breathe your last breath.
Do you seek after holiness each day? Do you understand what it means to be chosen? Are you ready to suffer for Christ’s sake? Do you know it’s all about grace?
Veteran’s Day–thank you for your sacrifice
It is 4:45 and I am just now sitting down to read and reflect on the Word. Since it is Veteran’s Day, I would like to begin by thanking our veterans and service members for their sacrifice for our country. God bless America, and all those who love her and serve her.
We move on to John 2 today, where Jesus performed his first miracle.
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, “My time has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
We see several items in these short verses that warrant further review.
- First, Jesus, his mother, and his disciples were at a wedding and the wine ran out. Running out of wine at a social event was embarrassing to say the least. We are not told if the wedding party was related to Jesus, only that His mother came to him for help.
- Jesus was not yet ready to reveal His glory.
- Jesus’ mother knew Jesus had authority given to Him by God
- Jesus was obedient to His mother
Mary came to Jesus and said there was no more wine, and Jesus replied by saying what does this have to do with you or me? That statement alone would indicate the wedding party was not a family member. And, Jesus was letting His mother and His disciples know, in possibly a round about way, that His business truly was His Father’s business, and that little else mattered.
Jesus was not ready to reveal His glory, or even His purpose for being on this earth. Jesus knew the hour of His death, along with what would happen in the aftermath of the resurrection, would be the impetus for His ministry going forward, so nothing that happened at this point, to Him, was material to His Father’s business.
Jesus’ mother brought the problem of too little wine to Jesus’ attention, but she did not give Him a possible solution–indeed, she merely stepped back and allowed her son, the Son of God, to let His glory be made manifest. And Jesus, although the Son of the Living God, was obedient to His mother.
Have you been about your Father’s business lately? Did you wait on Him to direct your paths, or did you let the committee on which you serve dictate how much wine you should bring to the wedding?
Making church comfortable
I am departing from the first chapter of John today to address a comment I heard at church. We were talking about what churches are doing to accomplish growth. I kept hearing how they are changing their worship services, sometimes forming a blended service of choir, praise team, organ, instruments, and bells. That didn’t sound so bad to me, but I continued to ask what are these growing churches doing that is different than we at Asbury. It can’t be just changing the order of the service.
The answer was surprising, but even more so was the fact that at least one person in our group was all for it. The answer was this: some churches are removing all of the symbols that make church look like church so that the unchurched will not be made to feel uncomfortable by things like crosses, banners, fish, and I suppose even stained glass windows.
Is that what we have come to in the 21st century, trying to make church comfortable for the unsaved? Do you know, as hard as I try I cannot remember an instance where Jesus watered down the gospel to make it more palatable, or where the temples were modified to be perceived as more welcoming. In fact, what I read in the Scriptures is the complete opposite of a comfortable Christianity. Call me crazy (or conservative), but if the gospel doesn’t make sinners uncomfortable something is wrong.
The Mega Churches today seem to be focused on one thing, that being numbers. But it seems to me that if we water down the gospel in order to increase our numbers, we will simply be left with large numbers of unsaved people floundering and indeed drowning in a lake of sin. Is this why Jesus came and gave His life upon the cross?
No, in fact, Jesus made people uncomfortable and He knew it–why do you think the Pharisees and the Sadducees rallied against Him? Jesus did not change the message to win converts, instead He quoted from the Torah repeatedly and that is really what made the religious leaders angry–they knew the scriptures as well as Jesus and they knew He was telling the truth.
Matthew 10:34. “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 “For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;36 “and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’
Peace on this earth is an elusive butterfly. Regardless of how much we strive to achieve peace, it will not happen until Jesus returns to earth to claim His throne. Yet, we continue to try to bring about peace, and I think that is a good thing. Blessed are the peacemakers, right? But Jesus never said anything about blessed are the compromisers, blessed are those who will do anything just to get people in the door of the church.
The symbols of the church are not idle decorations that can be tossed out at will, nor are they idols to be worshipped. The symbols of the church are salient reminders of our faith. Crosses have already all but disappeared on the exterior of churches. What used to be a beacon at the top of the steeple of the church to let all who passed know the building bearing the cross was a house of worship, a sanctuary from a sin-tossed world, has been replaced by something more amenable. After all, a cross is messy, a cross is divisive, a cross is not politically correct.
If we do not return to the faith of our fathers, to the faith that brings life and light and overcomes the darkness, it will not matter how many people we get in the church doors, because the sad fact is that people can attend church every Sunday and still be lost. And here’s something that should make anyone reading this uncomfortable–if we water down the gospel to reach more people, but those people remain lost, then how much more severely will we be judged because we have failed to live up to what Jesus called us to do? We are called to seek and save the lost, not bring them in, entertain them, and send them out in the same shape they were in when they came.
God forbid that we trade the cross for entertainment–God forbid that we trade the Word that brings life for words that feel good.
God forbid.
Another shocking tragedy
Yesterday the news was dominated by yet another tragedy. A military man at Ft. Hood, Texas, apparently upset that he was going to be deployed to the Middle East, fired upon men and women, killing 13 and injuring 31. Although Muslim, the man was born in Maryland–he purportedly shouted “Allah is good” before firing upon his fellow soldiers.
I have heard that just as church attendance has waned, people have likewise given up on reading the Bible, calling it irrelevant and too hard to understand. My question is this: where do you go, then, if you don’t have church or the Bible, for support during times such as these?
In John 1:43-51 Jesus continues to gather His disciples. In verse 47 Jesus says of Nathanael, Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false. What a great statement. If there is nothing false within you, it means you have no phony facade, you have no disingenuous nature–you are truth and you speak truth.
How does one incorporate so many falsehoods into his being and his mind, that he could commit such a horrendous act as this man in Ft. Hood? And, even further, how do we protect ourselves from assimilating these similar attributes into our beings?
Again, I say our strength and our shield comes from the Word of God. If we immerse ourselves in God’s word, if we keep His word within our hearts, then how can we possibly have falsehoods within our hearts as well? Proverbs 4: 23 says Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Guard your hearts, fellow Christians, that you may be kept safe from falsehoods in the days ahead.
We have found the Messiah
I read John 1:41 where Andrew tells his brother Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” and I am filled with awe and wonder. Andrew had been a follower of John the Baptist who had identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. Andrew immediately called Jesus Rabbi, which means teacher, and followed Him. Not only did he follow Jesus, he told his brother so that he, too, could become a follower.
Why are we so hesitant in our faith to ask others to join us in this journey of discipleship? Are we afraid of rejection, or of ridicule? Rejection and ridicule should be the least of our worries as we sojourn the pathway of righteousness. There was an urgency in those who followed the Christ when Jesus walked upon the earth. Father, may we feel the same urgency today, 2000 years later. May we be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we have a boldness to declare to others, “We have found the Messiah.”
Seeking Holiness 