"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:37-40
Did you know that you are a gift to Jesus? I am going to say that again, YOU ARE A GIFT TO JESUS! How do I know that? Because Jesus Himself says this about you in John chapter 6. The implications of this truth are the kind of things that can elicit huge assurance, great confidence, deep inner peace, a true sense of the Father's love for you, and strong durable faith.
Jesus makes five powerful assertions of this in John 6:37–40. It is very important that you see them for yourself and not take my word for it. They are too precious to base on any man’s opinion, especially mine! They are your life, your hope,and your security in this life and the next.
1. God chose you and gave you to Jesus.
Verse 37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me.”
Verse 39: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.”
This is one stupendous and important verse! Jesus gave the great invitation in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.". Yet after saying that he said to those who were in his presence, "you have seen me and yet do not believe". So, there were many who neither saw Jesus for who He is as the life giving bread from heaven nor tasted, trusted, savored, and treasured Him for all He is worth.
Not so with you my dear reader! Here in verses 37, 39 Jesus speaks about those who have come to Him, believe Him, respond to Him, receive Him, embrace Him, treasure Him, are satisfied in Him, and place their trust in Him-and how that they are motivated to do these things. God does not wait for his chosen ones to come to Jesus. If he did, they never would. He gives them as a gift to Jesus. He chooses them for His own and he gives them to his Son.
Do you argue with the Father about who you are? Let Him define you. You are chosen by God. You are given to Jesus. You are a gift to Him.
The deepest theological question that I can think of, the one for which I have no adequate answer, is to the question, "Why me?" Andre Crouch wrote, "I don't know why Jesus loved me. I don't know why He cared. I don't know why, He sacrificed his life. But I'm glad, I'm so glad He did."
2. Because God gave you to Jesus, you came to Jesus.
Verse 37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me.”
It is not the other way around. Jesus does not say that because you came to Jesus and believed on Jesus, God therefore gives you to the Son. No. Those whom the Father gives to the Son, come to the Son. He secures their coming. He works their coming. He guarantees their coming. When you came to Christ, God brought you. When you believed, it was God opening your eyes. When Jesus was understandable to you, you did not make Jesus look all-satisfying to your heart. God did. And when he did, you came, freely, with all your resistance overcome.
3. Since you have been given to to Jesus and came to Jesus, you are omnipotently and eternally kept by Jesus.
Verse 37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Jesus does not say, all that come to me the Father gives me. We come, we decide, then God does something. The giving and the coming are the Father’s sovereign work; so therefore, the keeping is the Son’s sovereign work. Do not overlook this final part of Jesus promise. You will be kept. Verse 39: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.” Jesus will lose no one who comes to him. No one. If the Father gives us, and therefore we come to the Son, the Son will never lose us, or reject us. The life we have in the Son is, as verse 40 says, “eternal life.” Not temporary life. It cannot be lost. We are as secure as the Father and the Son are God. you are eternally safe in the Son.
4. Jesus will raise us from the dead on the last day.
Verse 39, “This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
Verse 40, “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The father has not only given your soul to Jesus as a gift, but your body as well. Jesus knows that death looks to everyone like a defeat, a loss. It looks as though at least our bodies are lost. We may think he loses nothing of all that has given him (as verse 39 says), but it looks like he at least loses the body. And to that, Jesus says two times, to make it crystal clear,. “I will raise it up on the last day.” Not even your body will be lost.
5. Finally, the unshakable foundation for the Father giving you to Jesus, your coming to Jesus, His keeping you forever, and His raising up your body is that it all is the will of God.
Nothing is more sure in this world than the sovereign will of God. Nothing. you may not be sure of yourself, of others, of life, of the church, of your pastor, but you can be absolutely sure of Him. And even if you are not sure, it still does not change the surety of who He is and His precious will for you.
Verse 38 gives the ground of why Jesus will not cast out any whom the Father gives him: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” It is God’s sovereign will that none of his own be lost.
Verse 39 says it again: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.” Jesus will not fail to keep us and raise us, because it is the sovereign will of God.
Verse 40 says it again: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” It is God’s sovereign will that those whom he gives to Jesus, so that they come to Jesus, have no mere temporary blessing, but eternal life. And that they rise from the dead, lest even our body be lost. This is God’s sovereign will.
I am so thankful that God was determined to not only make salvation possible and then just step back and cross His fingers, hoping somebody would hunger and eat of Jesus as the bread of life. No, God the Father, from all eternity, determined to make salvation certain for those whom He had determined to give to His Son.
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:9-10) The reason for this revelation, whether in Isaiah or in the Gospel of John, is to comfort you, assure you, bring rest to your weary souls, make you humble, fearless,courageous, and loving in the absolute safety and security of Jesus and His promise today.
Now perhaps you ask: How can I know that I am a gift to Jesus and if I am among the chosen ones? How can I know that I have been given to Jesus, and that he will keep me and raise me? The answer is very simple: “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:37-40). If you have come to Jesus like this (hungry, thirsty, trusting, treasuring, and believing), then you can know that you have been given to Jesus; and if you have been given by the Father to the Son, you will be kept, and if you are kept, you will be raised on the last day.
Oh may you rest in comfort and assurance today in the simple but precious declaration and promise of Jesus: YOU ARE LOVED. YOU ARE A GIFT TO JESUS. YOU ARE CHOSEN. YOU WILL BE KEPT.
AMEN!
Pastor Bill
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
AFTER GOD'S HEART
"The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart" 1 Samuel 13: 14
"‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will." Acts 13:22
What is the Lord looking for in a man and a woman? Is He looking for someone who is perfect? Successful? Strong? Victorious? Flawless? As I look at the scripture, we learn what God is looking for in you and me: A man and woman after His heart. The Bible is full of stories of people who had a passion for God yet frequently failed; imperfect people who loved God.
I know no better model for a man after God's heart than King David. God's own description of him was that he was a man after God's heart in Acts 13:22. His very name meant, appropriately, "beloved." An unavoidable question dangles over the account of David's life. How could anyone so obviously flawed-he did, after all, commit adultery and murder-get the reputation as "a man after God's own heart"?
Let me give you two examples from his life. The first we find in 2 Samuel 6:12-23. In one of his first official acts as king, David sent for the sacred ark to install as a symbol of God's presence in Jerusalem, the new capital city he was building. When the ark finally arrived, to the accompaniment of a brass band and the shouts of a huge crowd, King David totally lost control. Verse 14 says, "David danced before the LORD with all his might". Bursting with joy, he broke out into a dance in front of everybody. The sight of a king dancing for joy in a scanty robe scandalized his wife until David set her straight. "I will celebrate before the Lord and i will become even more undignified than this" (Verses 21- 22), he told her. David did not care about his royal reputation as long as the One before whom he danced and celebrated before could sense his jubilation. A man after God's own heart of passion, David felt more passionately about God than about anything else in the world, and during his reign that message trickled down to the entire nation.
The second scene occurred years later, at the peak of David's life, and more than any other it shows the king's greatness. If you read 2 Samuel 12:1-15 you will see an explicit account of David's sin with Bathsheba. This episode with Bathsheba reveals a weak, fleshly, carnal ,and evil side to David. Augustine once wrote, “Who is not aghast at the sudden crevasses that might open up in the life of a dedicated man?” When his plan to cover up the adultery failed, he turned to a ruthless scheme involving the husband's murder and needless death on a battlefield. David, a man after God's own heart, broke the sixth, seventh, ninth, and tenth commandments in quick succession. When Bathsheba moved into the palace and married David, it appeared he had gotten away with the crime. No one raised a word of protest-except the prophet Nathan.
Nathan began his confrontation with story of a rich man with many sheep who stole his poor neighbor's single pet lamb. Then Nathan risked his life by making a direct application to David. What happened next brought out the reality of the heart of this fallen, weak man, and flawed man. David could have had Nathan killed. Or he could have laughed and thrown him out of the palace. He could have issued a string of denials and demanded for evidence that Nathan could produce?
But listen to David's humble, honest, and contrite response. "I have sinned against the Lord"(verse 13). No blame, no rationalizations, no minimization's, no justifications, and no excuses came to mind; only God. As he had danced before God, so David had sinned before the God.
David wrote a Psalm that reveals to us the outcome of Nathan's confrontation over his sin, Psalm 51. This psalm exposes the true nature of sin as a broken relationship with God. "Against you, you only, have I sinned," David cried out in verse 4. He saw that God wanted "a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart" (Verse 17); qualities, which David had, in abundance within his soul.
Looking back on all the bible says about the words and deeds of the greatest king to ever rule the Jews, what ultimately stands out is Davids pure devotion. Yes, he was a lustful; yes, he committed murder; yes, he was vengeful; yes, he was weak and flawed; but....King David was deep within his soul, "a man after God's own heart." He loved God with all his heart, and what more could be said?
What made David this way? The two scenes, one a buoyant high and the other a devastating low, hint at an answer. Whether dancing behind the ark or lying prostrate on the ground for six straight nights in contrition, David's strongest instinct was to relate his life to God.
Psalm 73:25-28, "whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; you have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works."
In comparison, nothing else mattered at all. As his writings make evident, he led a God-saturated, God-centered, God-entranced, life. He writes in Psalm 63:1-2, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.... Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you."
I have learned over the past 38 years of being a Christian that God's approval depends not on my performance and actions, but solely upon God's grace. I have also learned that my relationship with God does not switch on or off depending on my behavior. God does not love me more when I am good and less when I am bad. He does not send me to a vacant room down the hall when I disobey him. Quite the opposite. The times when I have felt most estranged from God have brought on deep senses of desperation, which presents a new launch pad for God's grace. Sulking in a cave in flight from God, Elijah heard a gentle whisper that brought comfort, not a scolding. Jonah tried his best to run from God and failed. And it was at Peter's lowest point that Jesus lovingly restored him. John 21:17, "He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep"
God can forgive any sin and deal with any flaw, sin, or weakness in our lives. We fall down, we get up. We know where to go. John 6:68, "Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
As Luther remarked, we are always at the same time sinners, righteous, and penitent. The halting, stuttered expressions of love we offer may not measure up to what God wants, but like any parent he accepts what the children offer.
Philippians 3:12-14, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
God dwells with flawed people like you and I who are after His heart. 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."
God’s grace triumphs over the sins and flaws of mans. David passion, his experience, and his life was built on one reality, the reality of God’s grace alone. May our lives be full of a boundless passion after God’s own heart like David.
Pastor Bill
"‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will." Acts 13:22
What is the Lord looking for in a man and a woman? Is He looking for someone who is perfect? Successful? Strong? Victorious? Flawless? As I look at the scripture, we learn what God is looking for in you and me: A man and woman after His heart. The Bible is full of stories of people who had a passion for God yet frequently failed; imperfect people who loved God.
I know no better model for a man after God's heart than King David. God's own description of him was that he was a man after God's heart in Acts 13:22. His very name meant, appropriately, "beloved." An unavoidable question dangles over the account of David's life. How could anyone so obviously flawed-he did, after all, commit adultery and murder-get the reputation as "a man after God's own heart"?
Let me give you two examples from his life. The first we find in 2 Samuel 6:12-23. In one of his first official acts as king, David sent for the sacred ark to install as a symbol of God's presence in Jerusalem, the new capital city he was building. When the ark finally arrived, to the accompaniment of a brass band and the shouts of a huge crowd, King David totally lost control. Verse 14 says, "David danced before the LORD with all his might". Bursting with joy, he broke out into a dance in front of everybody. The sight of a king dancing for joy in a scanty robe scandalized his wife until David set her straight. "I will celebrate before the Lord and i will become even more undignified than this" (Verses 21- 22), he told her. David did not care about his royal reputation as long as the One before whom he danced and celebrated before could sense his jubilation. A man after God's own heart of passion, David felt more passionately about God than about anything else in the world, and during his reign that message trickled down to the entire nation.
The second scene occurred years later, at the peak of David's life, and more than any other it shows the king's greatness. If you read 2 Samuel 12:1-15 you will see an explicit account of David's sin with Bathsheba. This episode with Bathsheba reveals a weak, fleshly, carnal ,and evil side to David. Augustine once wrote, “Who is not aghast at the sudden crevasses that might open up in the life of a dedicated man?” When his plan to cover up the adultery failed, he turned to a ruthless scheme involving the husband's murder and needless death on a battlefield. David, a man after God's own heart, broke the sixth, seventh, ninth, and tenth commandments in quick succession. When Bathsheba moved into the palace and married David, it appeared he had gotten away with the crime. No one raised a word of protest-except the prophet Nathan.
Nathan began his confrontation with story of a rich man with many sheep who stole his poor neighbor's single pet lamb. Then Nathan risked his life by making a direct application to David. What happened next brought out the reality of the heart of this fallen, weak man, and flawed man. David could have had Nathan killed. Or he could have laughed and thrown him out of the palace. He could have issued a string of denials and demanded for evidence that Nathan could produce?
But listen to David's humble, honest, and contrite response. "I have sinned against the Lord"(verse 13). No blame, no rationalizations, no minimization's, no justifications, and no excuses came to mind; only God. As he had danced before God, so David had sinned before the God.
David wrote a Psalm that reveals to us the outcome of Nathan's confrontation over his sin, Psalm 51. This psalm exposes the true nature of sin as a broken relationship with God. "Against you, you only, have I sinned," David cried out in verse 4. He saw that God wanted "a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart" (Verse 17); qualities, which David had, in abundance within his soul.
Looking back on all the bible says about the words and deeds of the greatest king to ever rule the Jews, what ultimately stands out is Davids pure devotion. Yes, he was a lustful; yes, he committed murder; yes, he was vengeful; yes, he was weak and flawed; but....King David was deep within his soul, "a man after God's own heart." He loved God with all his heart, and what more could be said?
What made David this way? The two scenes, one a buoyant high and the other a devastating low, hint at an answer. Whether dancing behind the ark or lying prostrate on the ground for six straight nights in contrition, David's strongest instinct was to relate his life to God.
Psalm 73:25-28, "whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; you have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works."
In comparison, nothing else mattered at all. As his writings make evident, he led a God-saturated, God-centered, God-entranced, life. He writes in Psalm 63:1-2, "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you, my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.... Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you."
I have learned over the past 38 years of being a Christian that God's approval depends not on my performance and actions, but solely upon God's grace. I have also learned that my relationship with God does not switch on or off depending on my behavior. God does not love me more when I am good and less when I am bad. He does not send me to a vacant room down the hall when I disobey him. Quite the opposite. The times when I have felt most estranged from God have brought on deep senses of desperation, which presents a new launch pad for God's grace. Sulking in a cave in flight from God, Elijah heard a gentle whisper that brought comfort, not a scolding. Jonah tried his best to run from God and failed. And it was at Peter's lowest point that Jesus lovingly restored him. John 21:17, "He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep"
God can forgive any sin and deal with any flaw, sin, or weakness in our lives. We fall down, we get up. We know where to go. John 6:68, "Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
As Luther remarked, we are always at the same time sinners, righteous, and penitent. The halting, stuttered expressions of love we offer may not measure up to what God wants, but like any parent he accepts what the children offer.
Philippians 3:12-14, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
God dwells with flawed people like you and I who are after His heart. 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."
God’s grace triumphs over the sins and flaws of mans. David passion, his experience, and his life was built on one reality, the reality of God’s grace alone. May our lives be full of a boundless passion after God’s own heart like David.
Pastor Bill
Friday, January 13, 2012
GREATNESS JESUS STYLE
"They came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, `What were you discussing (arguing about) on the way? But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them. 'If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all"' (Mark 9:33-35).
What is greatness? What does it mean to be great? Synonyms include glory, honor, or recognition. To be great is to be recognized and honored for accomplishing something truly significant. Our concept of greatness is often associated with success, achievement, wealth, prestige, learning, celebrity, athletic ability or political might. Let’s be honest: all of us desire greatness in life. Greatness may mean different things for each one of us, but underneath the surface the desire is there. As a kid, I dreamt of playing in the NBA as a point guard or the NFL as a wide receiver. Later on I dreamt of being a world champion surfer. When I was in college I desired to be a straight A student and at the top of my class. I have dreamt of being a great and successful pastor with a great and impactful church.
How do you measure greatness? I have discovered that my desire for greatness to be weak and is misdirected. I have often times allowed the world to influence and shape me in my quest for greatness. I have been satisfied with desires for temporal, fleeting, empty, and low level desires for greatness in comparison to the kind of greatness that God defines as greatness, offers me by His grace, and desires for me to pursue. Do you know that God also desires greatness for you? We must judge our ideas of greatness in the light of God and allow Him to show us how to become a great person. Greatness, Jesus style, is available to you. What is true greatness according to God? God’s order is different to ours. He turns the world’s understanding of greatness on its head, and says that in God’s order "true greatness comes in humble servanthood.
Jesus disciples had a hard time with greatness. Think about this. Men who were receiving intensive training from Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of humility and servanthood (Read John 13; Philippians 2:5-8), were embroiled in a full-scale dispute about their relative superiority to each other. The burning question among them was the position that each would have, who would sit at Jesus right hand of power, and who would be given most authority and recognition. The disciples repeatedly struggled with what Jesus was trying to teach them about His Kingdom. They jockeyed for position, maneuvered for favor, argued over who was the greatest.
Jesus knew their hearts, just as He knows ours. I am so thankful that He did because it gives rise to Jesus richest teaching about greatness. So He immediately addressed their selfish ambition, their competitive hearts, and to my own motives: "And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them. 'If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all"' (Mark 9:35).
Jesus was radically redefining greatness. What Jesus does here is very profound. He recognizes in his disciples' quest for greatness a good thing that has become ugly and distorted by sin. And instead of destroying the whole distorted thing, he describes a pathway on which the distorted and ugly pursuit of greatness will be radically transformed into something beautiful. He says true greatness does not want to be first while others are second and third and fourth, but true greatness is the willingness to be last. And true greatness is not positioning yourself so that others praise you, but true greatness is putting yourself in a position to serve everyone, to be a blessing to as many as you possibly can.
All Christians are ministering servants. We are to serve people as if serving the Lord. That means God’s glory and peoples needs are to be our agenda. Great persons are the Lord’s foot washers. So Jesus doesn't condemn the quest for greatness. He radically transforms it. Go ahead and pursue it, he says. But the path is down, not up. We are all called to true greatness in humble service whether homemakers, pastors, bankers, lawyers, or businessmen. The measure of true greatness is to what degree has the impulse to self-interest, self-serving, and self-exaltation been crucified? How much heartfelt desire to serve others has there been? How much readiness and willingness to decrease while others increase?
Are you pursuing greatness this week? It is clear that God is utterly unimpressed with the world’s criteria of greatness. “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 16:15). Which will you pursue: selfish pride or humility; being served or serving others? Mans standard of greatness or God’s? A life that glorifies self or a life that glorifies God?
I am issuing a call for greatness to you my readers. Would you join me in the search for true greatness? The paths to greatness are many. Don't waste your life laying up treasures on earth for yourselves and seeking the praise of men. True and lasting riches await you in humble servanthood. And the only praise that matters is the praise of Jesus: "Well done good and faithful servant." May we seek the path to true greatness: humility, for our joy, others benefit, and His glory.
Pastor Bill
What is greatness? What does it mean to be great? Synonyms include glory, honor, or recognition. To be great is to be recognized and honored for accomplishing something truly significant. Our concept of greatness is often associated with success, achievement, wealth, prestige, learning, celebrity, athletic ability or political might. Let’s be honest: all of us desire greatness in life. Greatness may mean different things for each one of us, but underneath the surface the desire is there. As a kid, I dreamt of playing in the NBA as a point guard or the NFL as a wide receiver. Later on I dreamt of being a world champion surfer. When I was in college I desired to be a straight A student and at the top of my class. I have dreamt of being a great and successful pastor with a great and impactful church.
How do you measure greatness? I have discovered that my desire for greatness to be weak and is misdirected. I have often times allowed the world to influence and shape me in my quest for greatness. I have been satisfied with desires for temporal, fleeting, empty, and low level desires for greatness in comparison to the kind of greatness that God defines as greatness, offers me by His grace, and desires for me to pursue. Do you know that God also desires greatness for you? We must judge our ideas of greatness in the light of God and allow Him to show us how to become a great person. Greatness, Jesus style, is available to you. What is true greatness according to God? God’s order is different to ours. He turns the world’s understanding of greatness on its head, and says that in God’s order "true greatness comes in humble servanthood.
Jesus disciples had a hard time with greatness. Think about this. Men who were receiving intensive training from Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of humility and servanthood (Read John 13; Philippians 2:5-8), were embroiled in a full-scale dispute about their relative superiority to each other. The burning question among them was the position that each would have, who would sit at Jesus right hand of power, and who would be given most authority and recognition. The disciples repeatedly struggled with what Jesus was trying to teach them about His Kingdom. They jockeyed for position, maneuvered for favor, argued over who was the greatest.
Jesus knew their hearts, just as He knows ours. I am so thankful that He did because it gives rise to Jesus richest teaching about greatness. So He immediately addressed their selfish ambition, their competitive hearts, and to my own motives: "And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them. 'If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all"' (Mark 9:35).
Jesus was radically redefining greatness. What Jesus does here is very profound. He recognizes in his disciples' quest for greatness a good thing that has become ugly and distorted by sin. And instead of destroying the whole distorted thing, he describes a pathway on which the distorted and ugly pursuit of greatness will be radically transformed into something beautiful. He says true greatness does not want to be first while others are second and third and fourth, but true greatness is the willingness to be last. And true greatness is not positioning yourself so that others praise you, but true greatness is putting yourself in a position to serve everyone, to be a blessing to as many as you possibly can.
All Christians are ministering servants. We are to serve people as if serving the Lord. That means God’s glory and peoples needs are to be our agenda. Great persons are the Lord’s foot washers. So Jesus doesn't condemn the quest for greatness. He radically transforms it. Go ahead and pursue it, he says. But the path is down, not up. We are all called to true greatness in humble service whether homemakers, pastors, bankers, lawyers, or businessmen. The measure of true greatness is to what degree has the impulse to self-interest, self-serving, and self-exaltation been crucified? How much heartfelt desire to serve others has there been? How much readiness and willingness to decrease while others increase?
Are you pursuing greatness this week? It is clear that God is utterly unimpressed with the world’s criteria of greatness. “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” (Luke 16:15). Which will you pursue: selfish pride or humility; being served or serving others? Mans standard of greatness or God’s? A life that glorifies self or a life that glorifies God?
I am issuing a call for greatness to you my readers. Would you join me in the search for true greatness? The paths to greatness are many. Don't waste your life laying up treasures on earth for yourselves and seeking the praise of men. True and lasting riches await you in humble servanthood. And the only praise that matters is the praise of Jesus: "Well done good and faithful servant." May we seek the path to true greatness: humility, for our joy, others benefit, and His glory.
Pastor Bill
Friday, January 6, 2012
PRAYING GOD'S PURPOSES
In the late 19th century a thin, frail, slow speaking, almost deaf Englishman named John Hyde set out to be a missionary to India. While in India, frail Hyde was attacked with Typhoid fever. For seven months he lay sick. During this time he decided since he could not evangelize or preach, he would use his sickbed as a place of prayer. So he read the purposes of God and the promises of God and began praying them every day. He discovered the power of intercessory prayer, and the results were staggering. He proved that prayer was an evangelical force in India when, by faith, he claimed one soul a day, then two, then four. His plea was “O God, give me souls or I die!” His prayers were answered as he went out among the Hindu’s and witnessed for Christ. Through his prayers, history records God was able to work in remarkable ways in cities, churches, and personal lives.
For example, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman once wrote to a friend, telling of John Hyde's influence on him. He had been holding meetings in England, but the attendance had been disappointingly small. Then he received word that John Hyde was going to pray down God's blessing upon him and his work. As a result of Hyde's powerful praying, the tide soon turned and the meeting hall became packed with people. At Chapman's first public invitation, fifty men received Christ as their Savior. From these times of intercession, history now refers to him as Praying Hyde and the world still feels the impact of his powerful life.
Oh for us to see what God can do through one who is willing to seek his face and pray. God makes a wonderful promise to those who pray:“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). We have much spiritual ground to be possessed; that there are many obstacles in our way, and a yet we have a God who can do for us exactly what he did for John Hyde by prayer. As James 5:16 says, “The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”
This week I want to challenge you to pray great big sweeping prayers filled up with a radical biblical agenda for God to accomplish in you individually, in your family, in your community, in the church, in our nation, and in the world. the bible gives us a radical vision of what God purposes to do, therefore, I believe that a radical biblical vision from God deserves some big, sweeping, biblical prayers. Big prayers become powerful when they are filled up with radical God direction, God centered, biblical goals for the ones we are praying for whether yourself, others, or the church! Do you pray this way?
I am so very encouraged that no matter what, God is going to accomplish His purposes.
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose”(Isaiah 46:9-10)
"I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16)
"I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it"(Matthew 16:18)
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come"(Matthew 24:14)
But I am also both encouraged and challenged by the fact that our sovereign God has chosen to accomplish His purposes though people like you and me. It is not that God needs our help, but for whatever reason that remains secret to Him (Deuteronomy 29:29), He has chosen to use us as a means to accomplish His plans. That is why we cannot sit back passively in regards to God’s purposes.
For example, Jesus commands us to “go make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). He tells us that people become will become disciples through the teaching and proclamation and doing of the word through us (John 17:20; Matthew 5:14-16; Romans 10:14-17). But, just as God appoints us to serve Him and speak for Him as a means of accomplishing his purposes, so also God appoints our prayers as a means of finishing a mission that He has promised will certainly be finished. There is a critical place of prayer in the accomplishment of the great and unstoppable purposes of God. The role of prayer is so unspeakably significant in God's design.
So, dear readers, not only has God made the accomplishment of his global purposes of salvation hang on his pastors and His people proclaiming the gospel; He has also made the success of the proclamation of the Word and the Gospel, both to the church and to the nations, hang on prayer. God's goal to be glorified and loved in a world full of white-hot worshippers will not succeed without the powerful proclamation of the gospel by people like you and me; and that gospel will not be proclaimed in power to all the nations without the persevering, resolute, intense, faith-filled prayers of God's people.
This is the awesome place, privilege, and exciting challenge of each one of your readers beginning to pray the purposes of God for the world, the church, and in your life. They won't happen without prayer. I do not understand this in many ways, but this is how God operates in this universe. How do we know this? We know it by the way the apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus make prayer:
Ephesians 6:19, "Pray also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel."
Colossians 4:2-3, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving….Pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the Word, to declare the mystery of Christ."
2 Thessalonians 3:1, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified."
Ephesians 6:18, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Matthew 9:38. "Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”.
It is God's way before he does a great work to pour a Spirit of prayer upon his people so that they plead for the work. As the saying goes, “When man works, man works; but when man prays, God works.”
In Luke 18:7-8, Jesus says, "Will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily" and Paul boldly declares, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). Would you join me in steadfast, vigilant, thankful prayer by going to the bible and praying big sweeping God centered, Bible saturated prayers for yourself, the church, and the nations?
George Mueller said that for years he tried to pray without starting in the Bible in the morning. And inevitably his mind wandered. Then he started with the Book, and turned the Book into prayer as he read, and for 40 years he was able to stay focused and powerful in prayer.
What I have seen is that those whose prayers are most saturated with Scripture are generally most fervent and most effective in prayer; and where the mind isn't filled with the Bible, the heart is not generally filled with prayer.
Jesus said in John 15:7, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you" When he says, "If my words abide in you . . . ," he means, "If my words saturate your mind . . . if my words shape your way if thinking . . . if my words are known and just as likely to come to your mind as advertising jingles . . . then you will pray.'
The great battle today is fought not with swords but with the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. It is fought for the souls of men. It is fought in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is fought with words of truth and deeds of love and justice; and all of that is backed by prayer. The victory for your life, the church, and Christ's Gospel cause, is certain to come and it will come by prayer.
William Carey said,
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD; ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD
Praying big sweeping prayers for big sweeping purposes,
Pastor Bill
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