Jesus eliminated three of the greatest enemies the Christian faces. First, he maintains our discipleship as a personal relationship with him, not as a formalized document of beliefs and behaviors. Second, he establishes self-denial as the first requirement of discipleship. For consistent success in that discipline stimulates spiritual growth. Third, he stresses that it’s ALL ABOUT GOD, not about us. About God’s Holiness and Sovereignty and Ownership. GOD alone over history:
God sent Jesus when he wanted a SINGLE personality to be his model strong man, his model spiritually forceful man, his model spiritually VIOLENT man warring against all the ways Satan had occupied human lives. To this day Jesus continues his crusade against wickedness. Which is why Satan uses his stooges in culture to attack Jesus and his church. The opposition Christians confront in culture reflects Christ’s Indomitable Presence, not his decreasing strength. His people must lift their heads, pull back their shoulders and forcefully present Christ’s demands to an increasingly corrupt nation. This blog, in its parts, identifies the forceful people Jesus accepts as heirs of his spiritual treasure. Surprisingly...the very ones he described in Matthew 5:1-5.
Surprisingly those...and more surprisingly...those in XIII B. End Part XIII A
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The Baptist and Jesus were only NEW voices calling for change in Israel. Ranging from confirmed ascetics, to armed revolutionaries, to ceremonialists wedded to tradition, other groups had long been pleading their cause as the means to an improved religious life. The Gospel duo had that characteristic common to them, but one appeal absent from every other group: they insisted that national repentance before God preceded any positive visitation from God.
Consider some of the strong men offering an interpretation of God’s Kingdom. For example, the Pharisees spent 3½ years violently attacking nearly anything Jesus said, did or claimed. They never stopped assuming their priority as authentic interpreters of Moses THROUGH the TRADITIONS built by centuries of rabbinical thought and speculation. That included the sanctity of the Sabbath. For example, the Judaizers held fanatically to their anti-Christian teaching even after becoming disciples. The priests of Acts 6:7 may have led in their mindless crusade. They were Christianized Jews committed to keeping Christianity merely as a sect of Judaism. They demanded circumcision for all Gentile males before being baptized, in essence making them first converts to Moses, then to Jesus. Since Paul championed freedom from Mosaic statutes for Gentiles, the Judaizers continually attacked the integrity of his apostolate. Paul replied with a blunt, harsh, incisive flint-knife slicing of their pretensions. He called them “dogs, men who do evil, mutilators of the flesh” Philippians 3:2. They were “alienated from Christ;...fallen away from grace” Galatians 5:4. “As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves” Galatians 5:12. Such violent invective from an apostle-prophet proved necessary in defending Christian freedom against anyone seeking to imprison “faith through grace.” Laymen also proved they could be forceful. Well-intentioned as they were, and excited into delirium by Christ’s feeding of 5,000 men, they aspired to compel Jesus to be their King John 6:14-15. The Twelve had, with THEM, become intoxicated by the miracle...with only Jesus sensing its toxicity to his purpose. The Essenes, men of no religious violence, and Zealots, armed revolutionaries favoring it, also existed in Jewish society. The Essenes, by their withdrawal from society, disappeared when Titus’ legions demolished the Temple in AD 70. The Zealots, armed themselves, and seeking to thrust swords into every upraised Jewish hand, found themselves captives in the Roman/Jewish War AD 66-70 and sold into slavery for trifling amounts. The Pharisees appealed to TRADITION. The Judaizers to CIRCUMCISION. The Essenes to SEPARATION. The Zealots to WAR. Even John to LAW. Only Jesus made LOVE the distinguishing factor of his appeal. As a result, out of all those strong appeals, ONLY ONE prevailed: Christianity. For out of all those strong men, ONLY GOD-in-the-Flesh existed: Jesus the Christ who LOVED the world SO much he gave his life to forgive our sins. End Part XII The Baptist recruited men sharing his commitment to righteousness under Law. Jesus recruited men who could only become like him when he empowered them on Pentecost John 14:15-18, 23, 25-26, Acts 2:1ff, as examples.
The difference between the leaders: the mortal John could find other mortals, especially in that religion-focused land, dedicated to strong Mosaic lives. The God-in-the-flesh-Jesus would find no one like him. As the writer’s 4-volume study Their Own Best Defense repeatedly proves, the disciples as men of their age couldn’t have produced the Jesus who LIVED by his own genius. Consider just three examples for this blog. He amazed the disciples when he said it was hard for rich people to be saved—reflecting Prosperity Theology of the day Matthew 19:23-25. They were astonished that Jesus would no longer allow husbands quick divorces Matthew 19:10. They feared the Pharisees’ view that ceremonial washing remained in place even after Jesus rescinded it Matthew 15:10-12. The men-of-their-age mentality met its end in Pentecost’s Fire. Which kindled Christ’s mind alive in them as it extinguished their old natures. Then, and ever-after, the apostles served Jesus with all the spiritual ferocity of all the wild beasts in creation. The Holy Spirit turned their energies into the single focus of spiritual work in Christ’s name. So empowered, bold and unafraid, courageous and fearless, they counted no cost to serve their Lord and any cost paid recompensed beyond calculation. Their faithfulness to Jesus, under incredible toil common to all, I Corinthians 4:9-13, found their fullest expression in Paul’s life, II Corinthians 11:16-29. Even a God-given respite by a beatific vision, glorious as it was, meant an added hardship II Corinthians 12:7-10. It almost seems that the unconscionable hatred Saul of Tarsus expressed for Christ had its counterpart in the sufferings Jesus imposed on Paul the Apostle Acts 9:15-16. End Part XI As mentioned in Part I of this series, and based on Matthew 11:1-30, with emphasis on verses 12-13, the word translated forceful in the NIV is also translated violent in other versions. Other Parts emphasized the colossal influence both John and Jesus wielded, Jesus more powerfully by preaching a positive message.
Neither man, whatever his message, proved acceptable to Israel. John they saw as a man of the desert, too severely ascetic to understand what living in community entailed. And Jesus as too social, even eating with the outcasts of society AND lifting a cup in the company of the Upper Classes. The entire nation couldn’t fathom that John’s message of repentance prepared listeners to accept their sinfulness despite being religious. Which in turn would open their minds to accept Jesus, who came expressly to “seek and to save what was lost” Luke 19:10, and to give his “life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:48. Which included those who considered their social position exempted them from sins so prevalent in common people. Just like today: the financially prosperous and socially prominent consider it their good fortune not to be like others. It included also anyone in any stage of sin, from the intellectual snob to the immorally corrupt. To empower John’s call to repentance of a people who felt themselves exempt, and Christ’s claim to succeed Moses to a people who felt he couldn’t be replaced, demanded the KIND of men they WERE: original in their thinking, robust in their spiritual confidence, clear in their grasp of spiritual truth, the depository of rare spiritual commitment to God’s truth and overflowing with God’s wisdom as only his holy prophets could be. It’s clear that John recruited disciples loyal to his position: those willing to condemn, correct and debate issues John 3:25. Who felt John had the ultimate reputation in religion and resented Christ’s greater popularity John 3:26. Who felt so strongly the need to preserve traditional interpretations of Jewish traditions that they sided with disciples of the leaders against Jesus Matthew 9:14-17. And, BY THE WAY, the Baptist’s influence continued to be felt in the Roman world when Paul evangelized Acts 13:24-25. It even led to the first case of a Baptist becoming a Christian only Acts 19:1-7. End Part X Jesus burst into the Court of the Gentiles, whip in hand, fire in eyes, denunciation on lips. His independence of existing authority, his disregard of their vaunted position and his majestic Presence left no doubt that a new religious order had begun in Israel. His appearance there introduced 3 ½ years of spiritual violence against Satan in as many ways as he dared invade God’s people. Yesterday’s blog Jesus allowed no interference in his ministry. Today, Second, in Christ’s miracles. In them he pitted his spiritual power against Satan’s curses. In each Christ’s FORCE trashed every satanic stronghold.
To give a hint of his mastery of every issue contested, consider: if we found a leper and declared him clean, would the leper’s flesh heal before our eyes? If we found a man with an arm shriveled at the shoulder, and we declared it grown, would we watch as it extended full length and strength? If we stood before a verified corpse and declared it ALIVE, would we see his heart begin pumping, his blood begin circulating, his eyes flutter open, his limbs move and he stands—up and at ‘em—to rise and walk? Third, in devastating the evil spirit world. If we found a man in a cemetery, naked by habit, wild with rage, flesh cut and festered, alternately shrieking his pain and weeping in despair—and headed like a speeding arrow AT us, what would we do? Jesus faced such a demoniac, Mark 5:1-20. Perhaps the worst case he confronted since a Legion—so many he couldn’t count—of demons monopolized him. Legion kept shouting his defiance at Jesus as the Holy One of God. And Jesus kept shouting for the Legion to exit the man’s brain and body. Christ’s FORCE ultimately had the demons begging for mercy. Now...in every other exorcism, Jesus simply ORDERED the demons OUT—and out they came. This time they begged—notice the word—to be sent into the swine, and Jesus allowed it. Why only this time did Jesus allow the new possession to evict the previous? Because of the monopoly of evil the man experienced. To let there be no doubt to the exorcised man, Jesus let him see that what had so depraved him had left him for good by seeing the demons control and ruin the pigs. Understand that every situation demanded SPIRITUAL FORCE when Christ confronted Satan. And Satan left squealing and wailing and protesting, but DEPARTED. Every time. Without fail. Original Spiritual Force banishing derived spiritual force. Hallelujah! This longer-than-I-expected series continues with a study of Christ’s persona. John the Baptist proved tough as the diamond in the rough he seemed to be. Yet his adamantine nature seemed but a single stone unearthed in Israel when Jesus of Nazareth appeared as an entire mine full of brilliant diamonds coalesced into ONE immovable, impenetrable, unconquerable TREASURE!
Consider a few of many ways this remarkably forceful man impressed people. First, he allowed only himself the right to determine his ministry. See Mark 2:1-12 for an example. - Petitioners came wanting healing - Jesus instead forgave the cripple’s sin - Religious bureaucrats fumed at the pronouncement - Jesus removed the cripple’s paralysis to prove he HAD forgiven his sin See Mark 3:1-6 for another. - Enemies glared, daring him to heal on the Sabbath - Defying their hatred, he did See Mark 3:20-21, 31-35 - Concerned with his sanity, his family came to take him home: treating the 30-something Jesus as a mental incompetent - Unable to access him personally, they sent word person by person to him in the house - Back came his scorching rebuttal exploding in their faces Mark 8:27-33 - The disciples scaled spiritual heights by declaring Jesus God’s Christ - Not until then, but regularly after, Jesus began to teach them his rejection, death and resurrection - They in concert agreed that Simon, who had been their spokesman earlier, should correct his mistaken view of what being Christ meant - He tried: when Jesus saw that all of them agreed to correct him, he called Simon a satan and (perhaps) pointed to the rest as accomplices in his sin See Luke 19:1-10 - A stubby man took extreme measures to get a personal look at Jesus - As the only person Jesus saw anxious enough to see him that he climbed a tree, he invited himself to lunch, the only time we know he took that initiative - Which elicited blistering criticism from the attending crowd - To them, Zacchaeus proved the one person in Jericho unfit to host Jesus - Which proved their lack of spiritual savvy; Jesus saw a son of Abraham under that flab The point of these illustrations from scripture is Christ’s refusal to let either friend or foe dictate what he did, said or planned. Skeptics, take note: Jesus isn’t impressed by your unbelief. Superficial Christians, take note: you can never understand Jesus by standing so far away. Only bird-dog disciples qualify to understand, those always pointing directly at him. Only they can hope to even come close to appreciating his iron-willed forcefulness. End Part VIII |
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