This morning let's consider the abandonment of things and people for Jesus. Is it a requirement of salvation, and if not, why do we abandon at all? So let's look at the things we give up along the way of faith and why we do so.
All tagged salvation
This morning let's consider the abandonment of things and people for Jesus. Is it a requirement of salvation, and if not, why do we abandon at all? So let's look at the things we give up along the way of faith and why we do so.
As Christians we live to love. We love our God with all our heart, sole, mind, and strength; we love His Son Jesus, and we love our neighbors as ourselves, but in all of our opportunities to love we are to do so without requiring that we be loved first in exchange for giving our love. A Christian’s love is meant to be unconditional like the love that God modeled for us when He sent His Son to redeem us. We are to love with the humble obedient love that Jesus demonstrated during his life, death, and resurrection. If we can love others in this way then we will be judged as good, and our love will endure forevermore. Do we live our lives so that above all else we will find peace, joy, and comfort in eternal life, or do we seek to love abundantly, and to experience God’s divine love forevermore… even if it might cost us our lives?
What is this time we live in now, and is it unlike other times that have come before? Are there not righteous men and women who worship, and those countries, people, and persons who turn away from God? Is this new? No! The question for each of us is not one of the overall world, or the heavenly places that stand in opposition to it, and it isn’t of the greater spiritual strategies in the war between good and evil, no, it is in our own faith, and its effectiveness in our personal day to day skirmishes, in our hand to hand struggles as we wrestle against the world we wake up to each morning. Are our words, those we have spoken today towards God, and Jesus, the words of praise and worship, or do we say that the faith of man is in vain?
There is a saying we use when someone gets so focused on the details of a thing that they can’t see the bigger picture; we say “They can’t see the forest for the trees”. Well, something similar can happen to us as we pursue our faith, but in a very different way. Our faith, unlike things in the world, is all about our individual faiths, all about the details, the trees, and very seldom about the forests. One of Satan’s greatest ploys is to distract us from pursuing our own faith by convincing us that the world’s salvation, predicaments, or pleasures, should be our primary focus. Have we fallen victim to him in this way?
People face many trials in their lives, and as Christians we are not exempt from them. It is common for new Christians to think that because we experience a deep seated hope in salvation that this implies that our hardships in life will vanish, but to the surprise of many we find that they do not, and are a necessary part of a robust faith. Suffering through trials increases the endurance of our faith, which in turn strengthens our character, and this leads us to an amazing hope, and at last, a confidence in our salvation through Jesus Christ. When we suffer, and we do so in Jesus, something amazing happens… our faith, and walk with Him becomes stronger, and sweeter. The confidence, and hope, we have of salvation wells up in us, and God’s will for us in Christ, extends beyond our earlier hope into reality.
We look at the cup that the Father gave Jesus to drink from, and we can’t begin to understand its bitterness, and depth. We hear Jesus Himself call it a “bitter cup”, and though we see in it the wrath of God, we can’t begin to know how the pain, shame, hatred of men, the foul burden of sin, the full terror and unbridled power of Satan, and yes… the wrath of God too, could possibly join together in one cup to unleash the healing power of redemption that this cup’s distasteful medicine was meant to provide. We can’t see how this foul and “bitter cup” could be transformed into the sweetest cup of them all, the Cup of the New Covenant. We are inclined to see two cups because our sensitivity to Christ’s suffering causes us to wince, and look away from His disfigured body, and in that moment we miss seeing the final miracle, how the “bitter cup” becomes the cup of our salvation… our New Covenant with God.
We accept the Lord Jesus as our savior and our spirit soars in the moment! We are lifted on angel wings, and the joy is almost overwhelming as God speaks to us and we experience His pleasure. Doesn’t this sound familiar to each of us who believe? But suddenly that moment is over and we are thrust once more into the world; just as Jesus was immediately driven into the wilderness. Don’t we remember those days of struggle when old friends walked away from us, well rooted sins were painfully pulled out by its roots, and through our sweat, and toil, a new spiritual field was cleared to make way for the Lord’s harvest?
There are always those who will strike out at us, or seek to undermine us in some way, but our God stands with us, confusing them in their efforts, and ultimately revealing to them the shame in what they do. Whether their actions are driven by jealousy, a desire for power, or some other form of sinful temptation, there will be those who will look down upon us, and speak ill of our righteousness. Likewise there will always be those who will ridicule the Lord God whom we serve. Out of frustration in their lives comes evil, and their shame will find them in it. So we pray for God’s help as we bear our pain, and we pray for the souls of those, our enemies, who persecute us, and bear such terrible shame.
As faith fades from a people, and a nation, so do the blessings that God wants to bestow on them. When a people or nation rejects, or refuses to acknowledge that God is Lord, and does not serve Him, they lose their heritage in Him. Whether a country is one that was once faithful but has turned away, or one that is hearing the gospel and Word of God for the first time but refuses to accept it, the result is the same; God withdraws His hand from them, and His blessings are lost. Their heritage becomes a worldly one because they have chosen themselves, and this world, to be their gods…
We are a lot like Moses when it comes to delivering the Gospel message. We question our ability with the same excuses which he used… we begin with saying that we are not the right person for the job and that God has obviously made a mistake by asking us to do this. Do you remember the universal excuse that Moses used, and that we are often guilty of employing?
When we accept the God of Abraham as our God, and His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, we are saved by our faith, but until we begin living out that faith by acting on it in our lives, then we are only a glimmer of the person we are intended to be; we are lesser sons and daughters of God. We are like a child whose parent has given him a dollar for candy, yet he walks around with that dollar in his pocket, never putting it to use, and never tasting the sweet goodness that was intended to be his gift. We convince ourselves that the dollar has value, but it is just a piece of paper until spent; until put to use. So it is with our faith; that without acting on it we actually have nothing because we have squandered the gift. Without praying, loving, showing mercy, or forgiving… what is the true value of our faith, and having accepted Jesus as our Savior? We are deceiving ourselves.
We want to experience the glory of God, Jesus abiding in us, the Holy Spirit filling us, and eternity in a loving relationship with God. In other words we want to be in possession of the pearl that is mentioned by Jesus in the ‘Parable of the Pearl’, but are we bargaining with God over its price? Are we willing to sell all we have to own this treasure, and are we prepared to do so without a second thought, or are we trying to obtain the pearl from Him at a bargain price? How much of ourselves do we give, and what do we hold back in seeking our salvation?
The greatest example of God’s mercy comes in the form of Jesus Christ, who became the incarnation of God in the body of man. By Him we are saved, and through Him, we receive God’s grace. Jesus didn’t come to us so that He could experience what it meant to be a man, no, He came so that we, who were sinful and fallen, could be redeemed, and experience righteous life, and the fullness of God. Through Christ we were given grace, and it continues to flow through Him to this day; unmerited, unwarranted, and the purest essence of God’s mercy.
When we deliver the gospel message do we do so in clear and simple terms that others can understand? Do we teach the Word of God by making it straight forward and like a straight and smooth road for new and old believers alike to follow? If a pastor cloaks his message in mystery, and delivers the Word in a way that makes him the key to unlocking it, then he is not serving the Lord, but himself. Paul went to prison for preaching a clear message of salvation, but many were saved. Are we ready to risk the ridicule of scholars by teaching God’s Word, and the gospel of Jesus in the language of the common man… of children?
We are given life in seasons, and as we go through them our bodies grow to maturity, then are diminished, and our energy is abated, but our spirit grows and is encouraged within us; ever strengthening. How wonderful it is to dedicate the years of our youth to the Lord, and to follow after our faith with strong legs, and sharp eyes. Our lives are like the tide that rushes in, and swells to reach its peak, only to recede once again, until it has gone completely out.