It is good to be back writing this blog on a consistent basis. Like I have said many times, this may be basic to some but I believe that we all need time to stop and re-evaluate our relationship with Christ and also with others. You see the relationship between God and others affects each other and must be worked on simultaneously. I believe this is why Jesus gave us these two commands together. He was asked which “one” was the greatest and He said, “Love the Lord your God,” but then He said, “But the other is like it”. Sometimes I think we use the fact that the first one is the “greatest” as an excuse not to try to work on our relationships with others.
We have looked at many positive (or what we could call positive) characteristics and examples for this life with Jesus. I wish I could stop and say this means you will never go through hardships and persecution in this life with Jesus. Unfortunately the Bible promises us the opposite in this life. Let’s look at a couple of the passages and break them down so that we can understand why this life comes with persecution.
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But they will do all these things to you on account of My name, because they don’t know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. Now they have no excuse for their sin. (John 15:18-22)
1. Don’t think you are the only one.
I think so many of us get caught in the feeling that no one else has been through what we are going through. We even go as far as to say at no one has gone through it as bad. Both of these areas of thought are nothing but pride and self-pity. Jesus clearly states that we will be hated, because they hated Him first.
2. If we are like Him then we will be persecuted.
He continues to say that if we were of the world the world would love us. This causes me to ask the question, “Are we being questioned by the world?” One of the greatest tragedies in the believer’s life is that they never are questioned or persecuted for what they believe. We are left alone by the world and the enemy because we are not a threat to Him. Many feel that they must be a threat because of all the stuff that happens to them that keeps them from, “stepping forward” or “doing what I know I need to do”. This attitude is something that is dangerous to many believers because they are using this as an excuse to not do anything. Even though the “attacks” are showing them the potential they have in the eyes of the enemy. This means that we are wasting the talents, faith and abilities that we have been given. I think that when the enemy attacks and we continue to walk forward then that is when true courage is found.
3. People are without excuse for their sin.
Thank you Jesus for coming down and showing us that we have a clear choice in this life!!! Do people see that in us? Do they see the way we react or handle things and say, “they could have done something different.” I guess many people see the believers handle things the same way everyone else would and we get the name hypocrites because we are. Maybe we need to stop before we react and ask ourselves how would the world handle it and then do the opposite. Just a thought….
Just one thing: live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is evidence of their destruction, but of your deliverance—and this is from God. For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear about me. (Philippians 1:27-30).
1. Do we long to suffer for Him?
a. I know that I used this passage before in this study but I want to look at the last two verses. This passage says that we have two things that we need to do for Him. The first is the part that we like because it is all about receiving Him in belief through faith not works. But the second one is a lot harder for us to understand. He is not giving us another step in Salvation but He is saying that once you believe, then you will have to struggle and suffer. Most of us will not be martyred or suffer that kind of persecution but we have to give up some of our desires and change the way we think and put others before ourselves. This for many seems like suffering and at times it can be suffering. But I have learned that the longer that you practice this and keep asking God for help in this area the easier it gets. Not only does it get easier it becomes your desire and you begin to long for the opportunities to reflect Jesus in this dark world. May we all long for this in our lives.
For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself. (Philippians 3:18-21)
1. Are we heartbroken over sin?
I have also used this passage once before. I was struck by something in this passage that made me really ask myself, “Do I get heartbroken over sin?” I know we may get this way over sin in our own lives but what about sin in others. When we see or hear people take the Lord’s name in vain, does it break our hearts or is it something that we are just used to hearing? Notice that we are talking about getting heartbroken–not angry. We have a tendency to get angry and then we go off and start taking names, but we never get heartbroken. I think there are only a few times that we should get angry but then we are called not to sin in that anger. It should break us to see people getting farther away from God. It should break our hearts when we hear people murder people with their words. It should break our hearts when God is not given His due. I think many of us should stop and ask why we are not heartbroken. Do we shed tears over these things? I think we try to be the tool of destruction instead of being the tool of restoration. God will subject everything to Himself.
In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing those from whom you learned, and that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:12-17)
1. Do we hang on to this promise?
Yes, this is pretty clear that with maturity comes persecution. Not only will there be persecution but it will get worse. How uplifting is this?
2. The Bible is our source of power?
Through the scriptures we find a firm foundation that God is for us. In His scripture we find that He has given us the Holy Spirit to do greater things than He. We are taught how to rely on Him and to those that He has brought into our lives. We see His plan for us. A plan to prosper us, a plan to give us wings like an eagle so that we can soar over the issues of life. We are so blessed that we have been given a tool to live through, handle, an even have victory over persecution. It starts with the scripture and ends in relationships. We have been given everything we need! It is time we use it!
Well, that is it for now. I will write again soon as we continue to learn together about this life with Jesus.
Greetings All,
I am sorry it took so long for me to post this part of Life with Jesus. I have been sick and pretty busy with life. But here it is and I pray that God will richly bless you in studying deep in His word. We have been talking about what this life with Jesus looks like. We talked about our purpose, our identity and lately we have been discussing living like Christ. We have been looking at scriptures that teach us what traits should be seen in us. We should possess knowledge of God, grace, righteousness, freedom, and we should live under Christ’s authority with a life that is overflowing in abundance and peace. We looked at the fact that we should have eagerness and a hope in our Lord. We have also discussed what our character should be and that we are to have satisfaction in this life. Now let’s continue this study as we delve into the book of 2 Timothy. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he diligently searched for me and found me. May the Lord grant that he obtain mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know how much he ministered at Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:16-18). Are we refreshing others?
At the first look this is a passage that may not really mean anything to us. But as I began to read it over and over again, I found the attitude of Onesiphorus was something that I think we need to understand. Think about it, Paul is saying that Brother “O” had refreshed him and that he was not ashamed of his chains. Refreshing someone is to encourage by words or by action. The Word in the Greek is anapsucha (an-asp-oo’-kho) meaning properly “to cool off” or figuratively “relieve or refresh”. So this man was given credit for helping Paul while he was in prison. We know this because he was not ashamed of Paul’s chains. He reaches out to Paul and did not care where he was or what had been done. His main objective was to help and refresh him. I wonder how many people have come into our lives that we were supposed to help them to cool off or refresh. How many just needed a word of encouragement and nothing more. So many times we get caught up in looking at the person’s looks or past and we forget that we must just see the person. I think most of us are probably guilty of not refreshing people but, instead, stifling them. This is really having mercy for others. We need to ask Jesus to help us see what He sees and show compassion and mercy on those that God sends to us. I believe that Mercy is a quality that we all must work on.
In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself. (Philippians 3:16-21) Are we living up to the truth that we have attained?
This is a hard one for many of us because it really causes us to stop and evaluate ourselves. Think about it, we have been given truth…we all have been taught something from God about ourselves that He wants us to change and we are in the process right now of learning something else. None of us really can say that God has not challenged us in this area. I can say this because the Bible says that God has written Himself on our hearts and if God is there then we realize (whether we want to or not) how our lives are in direct conflict with His nature. So, we have been given truth. Do we live our lives in that truth or do we minimalize the truth, run from the truth or ignore the truth? Are we imitating someone and are we being imitated?
I love how Paul tells the Philippians to imitate him. He understood that we need to have mentors in our lives. These are the people that seem so real in their relationships that we want to imitate them. I don’t mean to be carbon copies but we imitate the desire to have Christ first in their lives. You see I used the word “seem” because we are human and we will make mistakes and we will let people down. Have we put people in the place of God? We want to say, “No!” but we put people in that place more than we think. How do we know when we do this? When we put people in the place that if they make a mistake and offend us then we stop having relationship with them – that is when. Because every time we open our mouths (or type on a keyboard, or text on a phone), someone can choose to be offended by our words. Even Jesus offended people but He has called us to imitate His life. He even asked us to lay down our lives for our friends. This means that we have to let people into our lives and let them see who we really are.
Enemies do not determine our citizenship
Notice how Paul tells us that there are many enemies. I need to remind you that our enemies are not people (flesh and blood) but entities that we can’t see and many times things we don’t understand. So many times we get caught up in all of this and we start to think that these situations and feeling are who we really are and where we live. But our citizenship is not found here on earth. If we are His then our citizenship is in Heaven with Him. He also says that our enemies are really enemies of the cross or His work. He even takes on the enemies for us! (Exodus 14:14) He says that our hope and salvation is Jesus and He will show up and take care of business! We belong to Him! I think many people feel like they are stuck in this world so they might as well focus on what the world has to offer. This passage of scriptures tells us the end is our destruction if we are focused on earthly things. This means that the stuff that we want so badly is what will get us in trouble in the end. We need to focus on Jesus, the One who has given us this citizenship. We are not stuck, we are FREE!!!! We have the power in us to live this life free from the destruction that is all around us.
Are we letting Jesus transform us?
I know many of you will say that Paul is talking about when Jesus comes back we will have a new body and then we will be able to stand against these things. Well I think a little differently, I believe that when we allow this citizenship to really change us then we are given the power from Jesus to stand against these enemies…in this life! We need His transformation now, not sometime in the future. He is in the business of taking our old self and transforming us into a new creation on a daily bases. The question is, are we letting Him? Are we digesting His teachings? Are we accepting the things in our life as a tool that He is using to change us? He wants to use the same power in your life that enables Him to subject all things to Himself. Think about it! Colossians 2:9-10 says, “For in Him the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”
I am going to close for now. Think about all this and see if your life is reflecting these things. I know that Jesus wants us to live like Him. I know that He is waiting for us to receive the power that He has given to us. I know that if we just stand in Him, He will show up and do powerful things in our lives. Let us live this life together in His name.
I am excited to continue this discussion on what a life with Jesus should look like. Like I have said, this is not an exhaustive study, but I think it will start us on a good road. With that thought I would like to take a side note in this introduction. I guess the question on my mind is: Is this the kind of life that we want to live? I was talking to someone the other day and through the conversation this question came up, “Do you really want Jesus to be number one in your life?” That is what we need to ask ourselves! I think many people want all the benefits of Jesus and His way of life but not the work and responsibility that comes with it. It is funny that even though all the benefits outweigh the work and the responsibilities, people still choose a life contrary to the way Jesus wants us to live. We want to pick and choose what we want in this relationship with Christ and what we like in the Bible. I want to challenge us to examine ourselves and ask ourselves, “Do I really want Jesus to be first in my life? Do I want Him to be my NUMBER ONE?”
Let’s continue looking at scripture about this life with Jesus.
“Some, to be sure, preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of good will. These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause me trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, (1) Christ is proclaimed. (2) And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice because I know this will lead to my deliverance through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. (3) My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.“ (Philippians 1:15-21)
Our life should proclaim Christ – Whether you want it to or not, living our life proclaims something. The way we respond to people and events in our life is going to proclaim something about what we believe or what we hold to be true. Are our lives proclaiming the things of Christ? When events happen in our life whether good or bad, can people see our love for Him or do they see the love of ourselves.
Do we rejoice even in the negative – This is sometimes the hardest thing we have to do. I know that when a negative happens our first response in not to rejoice, I totally understand this. But the truth is that if we have chosen Christ we have promises like this, “In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:26-28).” In the passage that we are studying Paul is speaking about a negative that is going on in his life. People are trying to attack him by using the Gospel of Christ. Paul is saying hey even thought this is happening I will rejoice because Christ will be heard about. Think about it, If we respond to a negative in our life the way Christ would is He not being proclaimed and will people not hear and see Christ through us? So, we should stop and rejoice because He took a negative and made something positive and beautiful out of it.
Is our eager expectation and hope Christ working in me – I wonder if we really understand this? Do we have an eager expectation of Christ in our lives? Is our Hope based on Christ working through us? These are some pretty hard questions to answer and for many of us our gut response is to say, “Yes it is!” But if we are not proclaiming Christ with our life and we are not rejoicing in the negative then how can Christ be our expectation of deliverance or why should He will should up. Through all these things Christ is our hope; He is going to work through us in these situations because He promised to take this negative and make it positive and beautiful.
Just one thing:(1) live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (2) Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is evidence of their destruction, but of your deliverance–and this is from God. (Philippians 1:27-28)
A good question – “Are we living a life worthy the gospel (the good news) of Christ?” The good news is that we have redemption or restoration in relationship with God and others that ends in eternal life with Him in the age to come because of Christ’s death and resurrection even though we don’t deserve it (grace). To rephrase this question, are we living a life that reflects the sacrifice that He has made for us or are we living a life that treats His grace like something cheap and not worth anything?
A life good character – The word character has been defined as, “How we live when no one is looking.” In other words, do we live like what we say we believe when no one is looking? It is so easy “to say” anything, but do we back it up with actions? I would say that the definition of character should start with intimacy. Let me try to explain. When we are by ourselves do we still live a life that reflects Christ? I believe that many “Christians” live a double life. We all love stories of spies and double agents but the said thing is that many of us are really living that kind of life and we are selling out to the enemy and we have no one to help us. We live in a society that tells us that we do not need intimate relationships in our lives and we are not doing very well. We need to let people know us so well that we can not live a double life because they could see it in our eye. They would be there to remind us that the Holy Spirit is ever present and that we are never really alone. They would stand up to us and with love tell us that we need to stop. It is my prayer that you allow people into your life this way and that you will see how God planned His people to be in intimate relationship with Him and others.
(1) For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. (2) Hold firmly the message of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run in vain or labor for nothing. (Philippians 2:13-19)
Are you shining like a star? - So, we need to ask ourselves are we allowing God to work in us? We see here that He has enabled us to will and to act for Him. Lets break this down a little. The Phrase “to will” is our thinking and desiring process. So, He has enabled us or is in the process of enabling us (He is working in us) to think how He thinks (others before us) and to change that thought into a desire. So now we desire what He desires: deep intimate relationship with us and that His children would have deep intimate relationships with each other. This is seen by the fact that when we are developing these relationships, we are not complaining and grumbling about it because we desire these things. Have you noticed that we we truly desire something we are willing to do anything to get it. Maybe our prayers then should start with, “God, I want your desires for me and for others”. When we are doing this we will stand out in this society like a shining star because this goes against everything that this world is teaching us.
A life of satisfaction – So I believe that a life with Jesus is a satisfied life. Not that we should be ever satisfied with where we are with Christ. We should strive for deeper relationships in all areas of our lives. But that we are really content in the situations that we find ourselves. Maybe I should say it this way, We are living a life that allows Christ to be my source of satisfaction, not our things or job or anything else. It is Christ and Him alone that gives me purpose and satisfaction.
I am going to stop here for now. I think that there is a lot here to digest and to take in. I want you to really study these things out and dig deep in His word. I know many of you are thinking there is so much more in these passages of scripture. You are right but I am going to come back to some of these later in this blog study. I will show that some things in this life with Christ are hard and it takes guts and determination and the Holy Spirit to live it out. Living this life with Christ is not for the faint of heart, it is not for the weak kneed. It is a life of adventure, courage, and strength that can only come from Him. May this God take you deeper than you have ever been and may you see Him like never before!
Here is part 2 of “Life with Jesus…What Does that Look Like?” Last week we really set the ground work for the next several blog entries on what a life with Jesus really looks like. I want to say up front that this is not going to be an exhaustive study. We are going to hit the the high points. I know that we could spend a lot of time on each of these points but what would be the fun if I did all the work for you? My prayer is that this will drive you into the Word of God (Jesus – John 1). We finished last week with the statement that, “We must live like Christ”. I know that many of you are going to say that we can’t live like Him, He was was the Son of God and we are not. You are right and I am not saying that we are. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I believe that because Christ lives in us, His power also is in us, that is why we strive to “live a Life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:37)”. Jesus talked many times in the New Testament about how we have seen God because we have see Him (Jesus). I believe that when people look at us they should see a reflection of Christ in our words, actions and responses to situation and life itself. So, I am going to list some scripture for us to look up and see what this life looks like. Just a short note, the scriptures that you will read are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB).
#1. Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the Son may glorify You, for You gave Him authority over all flesh; so He may give eternal life to all You have given Him. This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent–Jesus Christ. I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed. I have revealed Your name to the men You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. (John 17:1-6)
Our life is eternal
Eternal life is the knowledge of God (So, if life is eternal and eternal life in knowing God then our life should be all about developing a deep intimate relationship with God).
Jesus glorified God by completing His work; in the same way we glorify Christ by fulfilling our purpose – developing intimate relationships between God and man (last weeks blog)
We belong to Christ.
Note: Please take the time to read more of this passage. You will see greater detail in the power, authority and grace Christ has given us.
#2. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification. Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone. For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 5:15-21)
We have Grace and Righteousness
Through Adam’s sin, we struggle in sin
We have been justified, thanks to the Gift of Christ – His life!
But Because of Christ then we have been given grace and righteousness that results in us knowing God through Christ.
#3. Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
We have Freedom
Through Jesus we have been given freedom.
Through the Holy Spirit we have been given the ability to walk in this life like Christ. Notice I said the ability, God has also given us freewill and we must choose Him.
#4. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living. (Romans 14:7-9)
We must live a life under authority.
This is something that in the last years people have had a hard time with. We want control, power and our own way. As a true disciple of Christ we learn to understand words like authority and submission. We find that these words are glorious and we learn to find peace in them. When man is left to his own authority it always ends up a mess! History is our proof. The more we take control the more we make things worse.
We also need to think about the control that God has. Many of us will give Him the control over the good stuff but we really don’t want to see God’s hand in the negative. I am not saying that God makes this stuff happen. I just mean that He makes the best out of the worst. If we are struggling in this area then we really need to ask ourselves do we trust Him? We will talk more about this in the last few scriptures in a couple of posts.
#5. So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:7-11)
Life in Abundance.
We have a Shepherd
Jesus is our shepherd (We are under His authority). He is watching out for us, He is protecting us and He laid down His life for us.
Our life is full of positives and negatives and if we trust God in all these then we have a chance for growth, peace and joy. Yes, even in the negatives! I believe that is when we do most of our changing for the better or when our spiritual growth happens. And this is where we need to practice contentment in our life. Instead of saying things like, “why me?”, we learn to say, “why not me?”. Isn’t God in control?
Well, I am going to end here and I will continue this next post in a couple of days. I want to end with another scripture that I believe is a key for us in this study. It is found in Galatians 2.
But if, while seeking to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found to be sinners, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. (Galatians 2:17-21)
I pray that you are beginning to see what this life looks like. For some of us this may seem basic and that there is nothing new here. For you, I pray that this will be a reminder of what Jesus has done for you, but I also pray that you will be teachable and willing to dig deeper and become even more intimate with your heavenly Father. But I know that there are many (even in the church) who have never looked at what life in Christ really looks like. It is Christ living in us and if He is, then many of us have a lot of work to do. I pray this becomes a catalyst for growth in your life. Be back in a couple of days!
I have been wanting to write this blog for a while and have a few minutes and thought it was a good time. I have been in the ministry for a while now and was thinking about how many times have we been asked the questions about living this life with Christ. So, as I was getting ready for youth group the other day it hit me that I have never really heard someone talk about what life looks like with Christ. I mean we tell people that life is better and that there is hope and purpose but is that really what they want to know? I felt that God was leading me on a lesson on how this life looks when we are living it with Jesus. Now, understand that this is not an exhaustive study on this subject but it is my prayer that it will get you started on a pursuit to see if your life is one in which people see Jesus. I am going to post this in several parts over the next week. So be looking for more to come after this.
Let’s get a few things out of the way before we jump on into this.
#1 What is our purpose in life? I know that we have had people say that our purpose is to worship God and I think that is partly true but when Jesus was asked about what are the greatest commandments, He gave us two that deal with relationships. I am convinced that our purpose is to have a deep intimate relationship with God through Christ and deep intimate relationships with others based on the life of Christ.
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:37-40 HCSB)
We cannot truly worship God if we do not have a relationship with him.
The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
(Genesis 2:15 HCSB)
The phrase, “to work” (abad (aw-bad’ )) can be translated, to work, to serve, labor and even to be a worshiper. Adam was told to work the garden and that was him being a worshiper. So, when we are fulfilling our purpose then we are worshiping God. The Bible teaches us that life is all about relationships and that our purpose is to develop these relationships, I believe into intimate relationships.
#2 Our biggest problem with living a life with Jesus is we have lost or have a perverted our identity. We feel that who we are is based on what we do or who are family is or, even worse, we place our identity in other people, like our significant others, spouses, kids or parents. This is not how God wants us to think of ourselves. I believe this is one reason that we have so much depression and low self-esteem in our culture.
For through the law I have died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
(Galatians 2:19-21 HCSB)
See, Paul is teaching that it is not what we do, not what we have done, it is not who is in our family or who we belong to here on earth. It is not where we work or what we have that gives us life or our identity. It is in Jesus Christ alone that we find our identity. This is important to understand because where we find our identity is where we will put our time and effort. This also determines what we view as our purpose. If our identity is our job, then that becomes the over riding factor on where we will spend our time, our money and our energy and other resources. When this purpose and identity does not satisfy us, then we get depressed and we begin to think of ourselves as worthless. We are not worthless! Jesus knew that we were worth His very own life!
Now if we know our purpose is relationship with God and man and we know that our identity is only found in Jesus, then I believe this should motivate us to develop a deep relationship with Christ (because this brings us to God – Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and The Life” ) and it is through Christ that we can have grace towards others which then enables us to have intimate relationships with others.
#3 We need to live like Christ.
Just one thing: live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. This is evidence of their destruction, but of your deliverance–and this is from God. For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear about me.
(Philippians 1:27-30 HCSB)
We see here that Paul is telling us that we need to live like Christ in the good and the negative because God is in control of all things. We also see here that people are watching us and our testimony is seen in our actions. I wonder if we took the time to compare our lives with these verses if we would see that we have the correct purpose, the correct identity and are truly living like Christ?
OK, I will post again on Tuesday Part 2 of what life with Jesus looks like. We will take some time in many verses and I pray that you just don’t read my words but that you study each of these as we gaze at just a top layer of what this life looks like.
In His Grip,
Pastor Jason
P.S.
Looking forward to worshiping with you this Sunday. I know many of us will be in different churches but we will be worshiping Jesus and that is all that matters.
So, it is that time a year again! The time so relaxing and full of joy, a time that just makes us forget all our troubles, a time that is so much easier than the rest of the year…NOT! The sad part is that it should be like that but it is not. We have taken a time of family and celebration and have filled our calendars with so much that we are having stress like never before. I know that some of this can not be stopped, I do understand, but, I just want to remind you all not to miss what God has for you this year. Maybe we feel like the Innkeeper on the day that Mary and Joesph can into town?
You see with all that was going on in his life he almost missed it! I know you probably hear something like this every year and you might even be tired of it. But what if…what if, this year you make it a point not to miss it. I am not saying stop all your traditions and do something that you never have done before but, maybe take time to write a letter of thanks to God or maybe find someone in your life that needs you to pour into them with gifts, food or just maybe your most precious gift you might have, your time and prayer. I guess I am just over whelmed this year by God’s grace and what a precious gift he gave to us and we sometime treat it like the junk mail we get. OK, maybe you don’t treat it like that maybe you treat it like those Christmas cards we get. You know, we open them and look at them as say, “oh, it’s good to hear from Him”, then we put it is a basket or on a string or maybe in a pile that goes unnoticed until after the season and then it maybe put away to be forgotten until next year or never to be seen again.
Well, I guess I feel kinda different this year because I have seen something in my life this past year that makes me want to sit back and take sometime and find a way to express the gratitude for God’s grace. I know you want to know what I have seen. It is really simple, God showing up like he always has but I am just more aware of it than I have ever been. I mean I am seeing Him change so many people, no……He is changing me!!! His gift of grace is transforming me and I am seeing people through the eyes of Jesus. This is not always a easy thing and it dose come with some heart braking times but I know that I never want to go back the way I was. I want to stand in grace and continue in it! That just might be my gift to God this year but I have a feeling that He is not done with me yet and so there maybe…just maybe, more for me to give.
In His Grip,
Psstor Jason
ps
I just want to say thank you God for letting my in-laws and my brother in-law come and visit. Thank you God for the talks and the love that was shared in our house over Thanksgiving. Thank you for the gift of family and the unity that is found in you Christ! Holy Spirit thank you for being in our midst as we payed, talked and loved. You my God are amazing and I love you!!
Thanks Mom and Dad P. I love you! Thanks my brother Diddy, I love you and have your back!
It has been a long time since I have blogged anything. But I am sitting here at the take listening to some Newsboys and just taking in family. I am so blessed to have my in-laws in town and we are having a great time. Mom and Dad even surprised us and brought with them Mark, Marcia’s brother – it has been a blessing to spend time with these awesome and special people.
As I sit here I am reminded how we got ready to have family come and visit. We painted, cleaned and repaired the house so that things would be in order and look good. The Bathroom, hallway and boys room received a makeover and the rest of the house was cleaned and patched. It was a lot of work but now we are sitting here enjoying family and all the hard work that took place earlier. I am so thankful for the work that was done, yes, I am even thankful for the sore body and mind that it made while we were getting things together. As I am reminded of this, I am trying to see the life lesson that God was and is teaching me. Well, here is the questions that I have from this time in my life.
1. Why is it we are willing to work hard for family that are coming to visit but we are not willing to work hard for the one that is always present.
2. Why do we look at the “hard work” as worth it in things that will only last a while but look negative at the “hard work” that God is allowing in our life for eternity.
I guess what I am asking is are we really thankful for the things that God has given to us? What are the gifts that He as given to us. I just don’t want us to focus on the positive. I think that is a major issue that we as Christians have. We don’t look at the “hard work” as a positive or we don’t think that the negative can be really what God wants for us. Yes, I said it sometimes the negative is sometime what God has for us. Think about it, this is were we learn many things.
1. Trust
2. Dependance on God (by the way, God never intended for us to be independent we were always to depend on Him and others – Love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and Love your neighbors as yourself.
3. Contentment
4. The Fruit of the Spirit (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Can you see how these things are learned and really becomes important to us during the times of struggle and “hard work”
So, are you ready for Thanksgiving? Have you took time to thank Him for the negatives. I know many of us really don’t like to think of these things but, I believe that we need to stop and really look deep into our lives for the glory of that God is doing within us.
Well, from our family we say have a great thanksgiving and may you give God the thanksgiving that is due Him and may you see the negative as your true gift this season.
I know it has been a while but I just feel God leading me to write again. I have been leading The Lighthouse through a series of messages on genuine praise & worship. In our western church culture we have miss-used the words praise & worship for so long that it is hard to conceive the deeper and wonderful meanings that they have. But it is not only the words, but the road that we travel down to truly experience this kind of relationship with Christ. Yes, the words do not define music, but music or any of the arts can be a part of it. They don’t define a time that we gather together, but they can have many aspects of fellowship. I guess the question is, what do you see these words as. I don’t believe that we can give them some meaning and leave them in a dictionary and go about our business. If we did that we would be missing the whole point of the spirit behind these words.
You see, praise, is something we do when we are full of gratitude for simply who God is. I know using the word simply with God is not always a good idea, or is it? I mean have we completely complicated Him? It is us trying to define Him that has given so many the wrong impression of this all loving, merciful and gracious God. I think we find it so easy to praise Him (giving gratitude to Him) when we feel that He has done something for us. But what about just praising Him for being Him. The Bible tells us so many things about who He is, and all those things should just make us stand up and shout out praises to Him. I believe the road of praise starts with not what He has done for you (which is a lot) but for simply who He is. And this gratitude is not based on circumstances, we chose to praise Him not matter what. Once we have made this deceleration we go deeper in our relationship with Him and we also face more from the enemy to quite our shouts and we must not be silenced!
Worship, to me is the times that we surrender to Him. I am not talking about salvation here. I am talking about those issues that He shows you in your life that need work on and you tell Him that they are His and you will surrender all control to Him. You surrender all rights to continue those issues. Now, I did not say this would be easy and that we would not mess up from time to time. Just like praise we need to make a deceleration to Him! We need to declare that all these things that are getting in the way of deep relationship you will surrender. You see God is so gracious that He gives them to us slowly as we can handle them. But we need to be in a constant state of surrender. I always love to see people raise both hands as they worship Him because the imagery is awesome. I think how many during war surrender to the apposing sides or the “enemy”. You see this war that rages within us is real. Yes, we are fighting a sin nature that is in opposition the the Holy Spirit and the Truth that is Jesus. Look at what Romans 8:1-9 says, “Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those whose lives are according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” This issue of worship (surrender) is huge and needs to be examined in our lives. This passages gives us a lot of detail about what God has done and If we understand this should we not realize that He will continue to work on us to get us to a point where we declare to Him all of our gratitude and all our of the things we need to surrender.
It is my prayer that we would all live a life with our hands held high in surrender to Him and that we would continually give Him our gratitude even when we feel hurt, unloved, used and weak. Because these things are not Him but of the one who, “kills, steals and destroys”. We must choose to declare that God is in control and we must chose what He has for us. Please read Psalms 91 as part of your deceleration.
So it has been a while since I have posted but here I am today. I am wondering, why do I have so many questions? I hope I am not the only one that has many questions. We could probably start with those questions we have for the government. I will not even start with all the questions I have about this because well we have not got all day. I could ask questions about the why people chose to do things that they know go against God and they just don’t seem to care and then that leads us to questions about those who try to justify these actions or protect those who are making these steps away from God. But If we go there then we start walking the line of gossip. Well, maybe I can start asking questions about others and their spending habits…NO, that again leads me to a place that is really non of my business.
Maybe we need to start asking the questions about ourselves and maybe stop looking at someone else. Matthew tells us in Matthew 7:3-6, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.” So, I think this is a clear teaching on the questions that need to be asked is that of ourselves. So let me ask you a few questions. Are we doing everything we can to give God control? Are we learning how to be content in the circumstances that He has brought us to? Are we loving Him with all of our being? Are we loving our neighbors as ourselves? Or, are we still making excuses for out attitudes towards people? Are we still trying to use scripture to make our actions look better? Are we looking at our selves more highly than we should? I can keep going but I think we all know where God is working in our lives.
I believe that when we being to ask questions about out relationship with Christ and others and we try to use these questions as “God’s teachable moments” we will fine that we get into a divine conversation based on questions. These conversations are “holy” and should only be treasured in our hearts. I think then that begins us down a road to ask questions of God about Him and His word. Yes, it is OK to ask questions about these things. Questions are what brings us closer to Him. When I as God, “How do I know that you love me because right now I feel like things are so messed up?” We give God permission to come in a show me just how much He loves me. He shows me in His word and through others and with blessings. He even shows me He loves me when things are not what we think they should be. But here is a responsibility that comes with asking these questions. You must be willing to go through whatever and wherever He takes you. You see I believe this has been the problem in the church for many years. We said don’t question because we were not willing to go on the journey down this narrow road. So, here is another question, “dose the bible say to keep asking?” Here is another verse right after the ones about taking the speck out of your brothers eye. Matthew 7:7-14, “”Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them–this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” You see God is wanting to give us good gifts that only come from asking, seeking and knocking. Why have we stopped doing this. We use this passage as a Salvation passage and yes I can see it. But I believe this is about the growth of a disciple of Christ and how we have many answers waiting for us if we just ask.
The one thing that I see is that when I ask about me and Christ first then all the answers about the other things seem to fall into place and it is answered with love and grace. Maybe that we we need in the church is more questions. Maybe we need to examine ourslves deep down and see if the be anything wicked in us.
I have some time so I thought I would post something. I have been so excited about what God is doing in my life and what He is teaching me. I have come to the conclusion that we as God’s people underestimate the love of God all the time. If you look into the history of His people you will see that this takes place more often than not. We can’t as humans truly understand the unconditional love of God. I know that we have choices to make and that we have a tendency to make the wrong ones. But in all that I have studied and experienced in my life, people short change God. I sometimes think that we as people believe that we have to work to make God love us. This is such a sad commentary on how we still think we can control God.
As my sons were born I learned that these little ones can do nothing to make me love them any less or any more than I did at that at the first moment I held them. It drove me to the passage of scripture in Mathew 7 where Jesus is teaching us about judging others. I think that we have misinterpreted this passage so we can judge and use legalism to hurt people in the name of Jesus. You see Jesus tells us not to judge and then He talks about not giving holy things to dogs and pearls to pigs. Most of us use this passage to say that this gives us the right to judge who is a dog and who is not. Later in that passage he talks about knowing people by their fruit. Once again we feel that this gives us the right to judge the fruit that a person is producing. I believe that Jesus was preaching to the muiltidue which meant that there were people who believed and those who did not and even more of those who disagreed with Him, but He still taught about the love of God. How many of us are guilty of taking the scriptures that we want and leaving the others alone?
As I read this I feel Jesus is saying He is the only one with the right to judge and when we judge we are taking His place and I believe that is called idolatry and self worship. Someone told me me once that when I point my figure at someone else, I have three pointing back at me. Try it and see. It is funny that when we as “Christians” (not my favorite word–”follower of Jesus” makes some much more sense) are being “fruit inspectors,” we are no longer producing the fruit of the spirit.
Continuing in the passage Jesus talks about how if we as humans know how to give good gifts to our children how much more will God give good gifts. We are so guilty of trying to put our human boundaries on God and when we see Him at the end of time we will fall at our faces knowing how much we have misrepresented Him to a hurting world. We spend too much time talking about God’s wrath and not about His love; we talk about His judgment rather than His forgiveness. How many people have we driven away from Him because we are shouting out about God’s wrath?
Jesus came with the “Good News” that we have a hope in Him and that God wants to create a new creation in us and to restore us to right relationship (not religion) with Him. We need to be spending our time talking about His awesome power and love rather than His wrath. Jesus told us on the cross, “It is finished,” and at time it says that the veil of the temple was ripped in two and the dead rose, and there was an availability to God like nothing that humans have known before. Many of us overlook the fact that people were raised from the dead as a witness to a new covenant and a new thing that had never been seen before. Many of us are guilty of trying to bring the old and new together and we have missed the point that God is love. It is my prayer that you see God for who He is and that you see who you are in Him, through the powerful name of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit.