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Who Do You Love?

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WHO DO YOU LOVE?

As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’

‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these things I have kept since I was a boy.’ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth (Mark 10: 17-22).

We know this story so well, don’t we? And we judge the rich man for throwing away an opportunity to have eternal life.

Around Jesus were twelve men who had given up everything to follow Him. When He called them, they walked away from the old lives and started a new life with Him. I’m sure there was no doubt about the sincerity of this young man. Whatever he understood by the term, “eternal life”, he wanted it. Don’t we all? No one wants to go to the grave not knowing where he is going.

There are many theories and beliefs about the afterlife depending on the religion a person subscribes to – oblivion for the atheist, nirvana, purgatory, all the sensual pleasure you want, and so one. This man wanted the security of knowing that he possessed eternal life so that he could get on with enjoying his life of wealth and ease. Perhaps he imagined that one noble action would provide him with that security.

His so-called “clean” life obviously didn’t give him that assurance. There was still uncertainty and a restlessness in his soul. In spite of assuring Jesus that he had kept the commandments Jesus quoted, something was missing.

Did Jesus use the commandments to stir up guilt in this young man’s conscience? He didn’t question his honesty. “How can you say you have kept the commandments? Don’t you understand that your motives are just as important as your behaviour? You can’t possibly be perfect by obeying the rules. What about the sin in your heart?” He said none of these things because they were not the real issue.

What was the real issue? The real issue was “Who or what do you love?” Jesus did not even mention the greatest commandment, contained in the Shema – the creed a devout Jew would recite several times a day because that was the crux of the matter.

Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut. 6:4-5).

How could He probe the young man’s inner being? His wealth! What about his money? What he did with his money would be a mirror of his heart.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matt. 6: 24).

Jesus used a literary device called a chiasm which was used for emphasis. His main point was sandwiched between two statements leading up to the central statement. It would look like this:

  1. No one can serve two masters.
  2. Either you will hate the one and serve the other or

B1.You will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

A1.You cannot serve both God and money

Points A and A1 are saying the same thing. Points B and B1 are the central and most important statement.

Jesus put His finger on the one thing, the most important thing he lacked – love for God. What he did with his money was the clue. “Get rid of it!” Jesus told him. “It is the one thing that stands between you and me.” In a bold statement Jesus told him, “Follow me, and I will take you to the Father.”

The young man walked away and that response to Jesus’ invitation said it all. What about you? What comes between you and loving God with all your heart, soul and strength?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

The Cross Or Loss

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THE CROSS OR LOSS

Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciples must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels (Mark 8: 34-38).

Discipleship, according to Jesus, is an all-or-nothing transaction. Following Jesus is not like joining a club or a cause. Sign on the dotted line, pay your subscription for another year and you’re in. This time He didn’t have a private conversation with the Twelve; He went public to make sure that everyone understood the implications of His call.

At this point He had not yet extended an invitation to the crowd to join His band. In fact, He discouraged some of them who wanted to follow Him for the wrong reasons. “Foxes have dens and birds have nests,” He told would-be disciples, “but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Was this an allusion to His poverty or His nomadic lifestyle? We could interpret it that way if we did not understand the Hebrew way of speaking.

Foxes don’t live in dens; nor do birds live on nests. That’s where their babies are born. This was Jesus’ way of telling people that He did not yet have a body upon which to place His head. His disciples were being trained to reproduce Him in others as they lived and spread the good news of the kingdom of God, but something had to happen first. Jesus had to die to reconcile the world to the Father. Sin was the great barrier between God and man. Jesus came to clear the way so the God’s alienated children could be restored to the family.

Jesus had just reassured His disciples that they were the flagship of the church – His body – which would be born on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured on once again. Head and body would come together in an unbreakable union to begin the process of reproduction.

However, there was a condition to this process of discipleship without which it would not work. Jesus could not take on board people who came with their own agenda. Following Jesus meant ditching their own plans, putting to death once and for all any ambitions other that being absolutely one with Him.

Taking up the cross does not mean being resigned to our fate. We sometimes think that our cross in life is some responsibility thrust on us, some disability or disadvantage we can do nothing about or some relationship that is like a noose around our necks.

That’s not what Jesus meant. Taking up the cross is voluntary. It’s what He calls His disciples to do but the choice, in the end, is ours. Like the rich young ruler, we can also walk away and lose the opportunity to experience real life in fellowship with Jesus, or we can identify with Him, embrace His will and walk with Him in obedience and self-sacrificing love on our journey to the Father.

This kind of commitment is life-long and demands a “dying”. Paul even declared that it was a daily dying. Have you ever tried dying when you are provoked, irritated, impatient, frustrated, angry, anxious, or afraid? That’s where the rubber meets the road. Taking up the cross means being “dead” to the world – non-reactive to the inconveniences, annoyances, interruptions, frustrations and temptations of life and alive to the presence of the Holy Spirit within. It’s a tall order but, if Jesus could do it, so can we. That’s what being a disciple of Jesus is all about. The Holy Spirit creates a union with Him so intense and intimate that we literally become fused to Jesus. He is in us and we are in Him. Our job is to foster and maintain that union by allowing Him to live His life through us.

There cannot be two wills at work in one person. It’s either my will or His will. It’s a choice I have to make, not once but a thousand times a day. Jesus said that the way to life is narrow. The path is littered with choices. There are many wrong choices and only one right one. Whose will am I going to follow, His or mine? I cannot give Him my will. That is impossible because God gave it to me as a non-returnable gift. I can only choose to do His will.

That’s what it means to follow Jesus – living in such intimacy with Him that we become one. Dead but alive! Nothing less!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

A Shocking Invitation!

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A SHOCKING INVITATION!

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to Him, and He began to teach them. As He walked along, He saw Levi son of Alpheus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed Him. (Mark 2:13-14).

What a shock for Matthew alias Levi to hear the words of Jesus, ‘Follow me’! Rabbis just didn’t invite tax collectors to become disciples. That was for the ‘holy’ ones who spent their lives studying and debating all the thorny issues of the Torah, not for tax collectors who spent their time fleecing the local inhabitants for their Roman overlords, and a bit for themselves on the side. Tax collectors definitely did not fit into that category.

What was Jesus thinking? After all, wasn’t He a rabbi with authority? He should have known that the place to go to look for disciples was not the lake where men fished for a living or the tax collector’s booth where “crooked” guys did the dirty work for the Romans. He should have gone for the “respectable” ones who didn’t dirty their hands with dead fish or money.

What Jesus did put a whole new slant on who was eligible to be a disciple. The “acceptable” ones were the ones who gave themselves to the study of the sacred writings. They were supported financially from the offerings of the people. The really shrewd ones got in with the Romans and were paid handsomely for keeping the people in check. It was a good life, particularly because they were held in honour by the common people.

Jesus broke the mould – He coloured in outside the lines. He chose people from the working class who had no qualification to be disciples. He chose a man of questionable character and reputation. Levi! Everyone in the neighbourhood knew where his wealth and his grand home came from. Imagine the contempt of the religious boffins when this motley crew trailed after Him.

What was Jesus doing? Firstly, He was making a bold statement. He was not looking for “worthy” ones but willing ones. He could work with them. Secondly, He was not looking for educated ones but for ignorant ones. He could teach them. Thirdly, He was looking not looking for the “righteous” who didn’t need Him.  He was looking for those who were lost and broken. He could make them new and then send them out with the message of mercy and grace to the rest of the world that was lost and broken.

Just as surprising as Jesus’ invitation was to a despised tax collector, so surprising was his response. It’s almost as though he were waiting for this moment. Nothing stopped him from walking away from his old life without looking back and joining the fishermen who were already attached to Jesus.

When we look at the situation from Jesus’ point of view, how could He be so sure that He was choosing the right guys? These men had to live with each other as well as with Him. How could a tax collector jell with fishermen? And there were still others who had to join the group. And they didn’t have a say about who was in and who was out. It was Jesus’ decision, not theirs. They had to put up with each other, like it or not.

Perhaps this was part of Jesus’ strategy. After all, these men were the beginnings of the church, and no one got to choose who would be part of the group of people who made up this new society. All colours, cultures, languages and ethnic groups would be blended together to become one in a mix that had no explanation outside of the grace of God.

Many people can’t even live together in harmony in their own families. How could this variegated group ever hope to live together as one big family? This was part of the miraculous outcome of the gospel – the “good news” that the kingdom of God was among them. It was through the gospel that people’s hearts and focus were changed from self-centredness and greed to selfless service and sacrifice. The Holy Spirit did that.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2: 44-45).

Really! They did that? Amazing!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

Christ Suffered For You

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CHRIST SUFFERED FOR YOU

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps. ‘He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23)

Slavery was an accepted part of life in those times. People were enslaved for many different reasons. Some had to sell themselves and their families when they fell on hard times. Others were enslaved through conquest. Many were the offspring of slaves who were sold off by slave owners, often as young children. There is no doubt that slavery brought terrible misery and suffering to a large part of the population. At least 40% of the Roman Empire at that time were slaves.

All slaves and their families were the property of their owners who could sell or rent them out at any time. Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated. Their owners could also kill them for any reason, and would face no punishment. http://www.crystalinks.com/romeslavery.html

Although Peter was particularly addressing the slave community in the church at this point, what he taught has relevance for all God’s people. What he wrote was revolutionary. Not only was he encouraging his readers to submit to cruel treatment without resisting, but he also explained that their suffering was not just circumstantial but a calling from God! How on earth could the kind of suffering they had to endure be a calling? Had Peter somehow lost the plot? No, he was quite serious about what he wrote.

The majority of people in the world are in the grip of their ungodly nature – living for self and making their own rules. In the background is the ‘god of this world’, using his subtle influence to cause as much misery and destruction as he can. Some people even acknowledge him and willingly participate in his plan while others inadvertently carry out his evil design through the worship of false gods and the wicked ways their beliefs spawn.

There is only one way to overcome evil in the world – not by retaliating because this only contributes to more evil. Jesus revealed the answer by the way He conducted Himself throughout the ordeal of His unjust arrest, trials and crucifixion. Before He faced the cross, He came to terms with what lay ahead of Him, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We know that a part of His mission was to be the sacrificial lamb for the sin of the world.  To be the perfect and unblemished lamb, He had to be sinless which meant far more than not committing the gross deeds we reckon as sin. To be without blemish meant that He had to be in perfect harmony with the Father in every aspect of His life – thoughts, attitudes, and motives, as well as words and actions. Everything He was and did was to reflect the Father’s nature – love and light.

Since it was the Father’s will that He die, He submitted not only to death but to the manner in which He would die, by the agony of the cross and all its implications. Day by day He submitted and obeyed the Father and in Gethsemane, where He fought His greatest inward battle, He overcame all the evil that His enemies could throw at Him by submitting to the Father’s will.

No matter what they did to Him, they could not break His will to obey the Father. He not only became our Saviour but also our example. By submitting to the worst His enemies could do to Him without resistance or retaliation, He absorbed all the evil in Himself and left them guilty and without excuse for what they had done.

‘Now,’ said Peter, ‘you do that as well.’ When we leave the judgment to the Father in the face of cruelty or injustice instead of trying to take it on our own shoulders, we know we will not have to face the music for our own sin. We also know that God will be perfectly just in the end.

Although we do not suffer the indignities of slavery, there are many occasions when we are at the receiving end of unscrupulous people, employers, lawyers, and people in places of authority. When, like Jesus, we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly, we put them to silence and bring them to shame and force them to be accountable for what they have done.

This is how the kingdom of God functions.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Follow My Example

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FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE

“All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

“Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” Philippians 3:15-17.

Paul sounds rather arrogant, doesn’t he? Follow my example! What right did he have to set himself up as an example? Didn’t Jesus say that, if we judge others, the same measure we use to judge will be used against us? What do we use to measure other people? Usually ourselves. So how Paul could set himself up as an example for other people to follow?

Paul was not being self-righteous or arrogant, as we would suppose. He was acting like a true rabbi. A rabbi’s job was to model his “yoke”, his teachings based on the way he understood the Torah – the Law of Moses – and the way he put his teachings into practice in his own life, and to “bind” his yoke on his disciples – those whom he called to follow him.

“Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1.

On the Damascus road, Paul had become a follower of his rabbi, Jesus. As he had learned his rabbi’s yoke and put it into practice in his life, being “loosed” from the yoke of Pharisaism which he had followed from his youth, so it was his duty to bind his yoke on his followers. In no way did Paul set himself up as the measure of righteousness. Jesus was the standard and, just as Jesus modelled the life of a son and invited people to follow him, so Paul followed Jesus as his pattern, and called people to follow him. He was simply making visible to the next generation what Jesus had made visible to His disciples.

It is reassuring to know that, at the same time, Paul did not expect perfection from his followers. He knew that maturing was a process which took a lifetime to work out. All he could do was to be the model and urge believers to follow him and put it into practice in their daily lives. He also depended on the Holy Spirit to reveal the way to them and to enable them to obey as they understood and believed what Paul had taught them.

The main hindrance which Paul understood very well, was translating their understanding into everyday living. It was no use having the knowledge in their heads, but not doing what they knew and believed.

“…Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Romans 14:32b.

This opens us a truth we need to understand. It is possible to have two opposing beliefs at the same time. Let me explain. You may believe that God will provide everything you need because He is your Father. That belief will work for you as long as you are earning a steady income. But what would happen if you were to lose your job? You would go into a tailspin of anxiety and worry. Why? Your experience and the emotions it has produced has cancelled out your trust unless your previous experience has been of God’s provision in times of crisis.

Your mind will tell you one thing; your emotions will tell you another, and usually your emotions win. You will believe what feels true, not what is true and respond to that belief instead of to God’s promise.

“So,” Paul said, “let’s not go backwards by failing to live up to the measure of maturity we have already attained.” Life is a journey. As believers in Jesus, we are all going somewhere. Paul called it “maturity”. What is maturity? According to him, maturity has to do with becoming one in Christ.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-13.

Paul’s counsel was, “Keep moving. If you stop, you’ll start going backwards.” Now that’s good advice, don’t you think?

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.