Have we considered how the relationship between the Old and New Testaments represents Gospel Truths fulfilled in Jesus Christ?
Consider: Genesis 3:24. God won’t allow fallen humanity to have access to a Paradise on earth. Many have sought it; none have found. Many have claimed Creation as Paradise. But under that veneer of beauty lies:
Indeed, humanity is the natural enemy of any pristine creation. For, wherever we go, we carry in our decisions, relationships and expectations the deadly pestilence of SIN that corrupts all perfection into warring divisions. Consider: Genesis 6:18. God’s saving Ark had but one DOOR into and exit from it 8:15-22. The New Testament counterpart of the door is Ephesians 4:4-6, the ONE baptism being the entrance into God’s eternal kingdom. A truth our faith-only mad Christendom will never understand. Consider: Exodus 35:30-35. It’s been said that those who CAN, DO; those who CAN’T, TEACH. However, God gifted Bezalel and Oholiab with skills in “all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers and embroiders”. Then…and having DONE it, they TAUGHT others to replicate it. A reference fulfilled completely only in Jesus Christ. He established, not as a gift from God, but AS God, the CLASSIFICATION of MASTER TEACHER, who ALSO inspired others to follow, working towards what Jesus perfectly embodied Ephesians 4:7-16. He enjoyed a Balanced Perfection between Teaching and Life, a balance we fitfully follow, but never achieve, and always poorly imitate.
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Ways exist for us to eviscerate the dynamic influence of Jesus Christ in life. We can limit the influence of Bible teaching by letting it be entirely personalized, not objectively activated: having it as an intellectual stimulation, not a behavioral change.
We can also be frozen by inactivity to our present level of spiritual growth. This being a specific danger to Christians, consider QUESTION two, therefore:
Consider the apostle Paul as our example. In Philippians 3:10-11 he listed his desires as a Christian:
Don’t stop reading util you see his disclaimer in verse 12. He:
THEN, be sure to read:
THUS:
Summary Christian discipleship has always been the essence of:
However, the better things of belonging to Jesus, the:
Are always ahead of us:
When we PRESS ON to God’s high Glories:
Jesus recruited his first six disciples:
He chose the final six some months later from:
Mark 3:13-15 summarizes the instructions given all the chosen men he specified as the TWELVE. Like them, all Christians are either:
Question.
Omitting interesting details in Simon of Cyrene’s experience with Jesus, Luke 23:26, consider the question, “how should Christians respond when we face unavoidable, difficult, unwanted, undeserved, negative circumstances? Never doubt: we shall confront them, more than once, over our lifetime. Being committed to Jesus won’t exempt us. Life has its own wicked way of throwing tantrums just when “peace like a river” flows into our lives.
Well…with whatever temper Simon of Cyrene raised Christ’s Cross-beam to his shoulder, and followed the Master, the experience changed his life from whatever Jewish faith he had into a Christian zealot. As the Centurion became convinced Jesus was a Son of God. As the penitent thief thought Jesus could bring him into a kingdom the unbelieving criminal couldn’t see. Briefly consider. First, if we accept our duty in Christ as willingly as we enjoy our pleasures, we find troubles are proof of our spiritual inheritance Hebrews 12:4-13. Second, boldly and confidently shouldering unwelcome circumstances for Christ bestows a confidence avoiding them never gives. For facing and enduring hardship offers this compensating assurance: no adversity experienced can shake our faithfulness to God when life turns mean to us. IN…that is…AS we live through and out of the problem, God is never CLOSER to our MIND and HEART. Third, when we buck up, throw back our spiritual shoulders and ENDURE, we find spiritually what Christian military men found in Viet Nam tortures: they felt themselves outside themselves what they experienced—but perhaps didn’t FEEL. That may help us understand why the apostles left the savage beatings inflicted by the Sanhedrin “rejoicing” Acts 5:41-42. As Psalm 78:39, 103:14 say, God knows we are but flesh. When we experience the worst we can hardly endure, God’s mercy, grace, love and presence will be at their BEST, bolstering us. Fini Let’s define the difference between a burden we carry and a cross we bear. Christians have but one CROSS—that of self-denial. See Matthew 16:24. Jesus exemplified and taught that truth. His Cross meant death to him; our Cross means death to our SELF-WILL. Paul personally declared his celebration of that truth in Galatians 2:20 and urged it on Christians in Colossians 3:3-4.
Self-will exists in what each person holds so precious he surrenders it last of all in a passion to retain it. And, yes, Jesus had such a relationship: his eternal fellowship with God, as God. Knowing he lost that on the Cross brought him to his knees, and perhaps to his face, in Gethsemane, struggling so fiercely that it broke blood vessels in his head and dropped bloody sweat on the ground Luke 22:40-44. Struggling so fiercely with God the Father’s will that God sent an angel to God the Son, strengthening his decision to suffer that loss. But let us not linger there, in that holy ground, where the Savior endured suffering we cannot calculate. It’s too HOLY a place for even saved mortals to intrude. Think instead of how mortals faced their personal Gethsemane when confronted by Christ and found the pleasure of knowing him worth the cost:
And some found that pleasure too high a cost:
What of us? What do we hold so precious that we desperately secrete it where it can’t be found, only to discover the Holy Spirit sees and demands we SURRENDER even IT to be Christ’s follower? End Part III Young John Mark followed Jesus and his men from the family home, likely in the Upper City, into Gethsemane. There he edged closer to the action, while standing apart from the larger group being surrounded by hostile forces. Transfixed by the maelstrom surrounding Jesus, Mark didn’t see a temple soldier eye him, covet his linen sheet and grab for it, leaving him naked and fleeing in terror.
Note: the soldiers had strict instructions to arrest JESUS of Nazareth. But not any of his disciples. The Sanhedrin knew JESUS as their enemy, and considered the disciples helpless with their LEADER removed. Thus, we conclude that the most Mark could have lost was his linen sheet, nothing more. Which he did. Which has a lesson for our discipleship. With exceptions, life in Christ has the same routine for believers, as C.S. Lewis wrote. We still eat, sleep, bathe, hold jobs, rear families, visit with friends and neighbors…and those all-important bathroom calls. Still…as Ken Idleman found as a teen, when his dad accepted Christ, all liquor disappeared from the family fridge, replaced by soft drinks. As Hardy Sledge told this preacher, once baptized, he threw away the pack of cigarettes he carried. As Ben Merold discovered, transitioning from a former military Drill Instructor to a Christian, cost him one-half of his vocabulary. We can’t say what his close call cost Mark. But he at least may have learned caution in making decisions. If so, he had plenty of time to deliberate when, 17 years later, Barnabas invited him to accompany him and Saul of Tarsus on their first missionary journey. In evaluating their life, all Christians can find ways that being in Christ has saved them from troubles afflicting companions without his grace. Nearly all of them will be intellectual, moral, spiritual, or a combination of all three. And that will be worth knowing Christ, as Paul detailed in I Corinthians 2:1-16. Next…how shall we respond when we cannot escape problems endemic to life or discipleship? End Part II Discipleship – escape, conscription in, Part I
7th listing, “John Mark the former. Mark 15:51-52 should be: Mark 14:51-52. Sorry for the error. V
Two men, close to Jesus:
Each had life-changing experiences with Jesus by the terrifying circumstance of being nearly seized, but escaping, and being at the wrong place at the wrong time and forever blessing the occasion. Each teaches us valuable lessons about discipleship. End Part I Erratum – this writer apologizes for inadvertently including Timothy in a study of John Mark. In Part IV of Discipleship (Finale – yesterday’s blog) Journey Through Failure to Success. Can’t explain the brain lapse. Caught it on a mental review of the article post – POST! V
Third, discipleship growth can be achieved like a mountain climber:
John Mark’s spiritual growth may have begun in those 12 months after returning home. He realized that while:
A failed worker doesn’t stop the Kingdom from going on with other workers. Mark succeeded as a companion of Barnabas in Cyprus. For, after that, his spiritual growth continued as a companion of the apostle Peter I Peter 5:13. After that, it continued as he served on the apostle Paul’s support staff during his first imprisonment Colossians 4:10, Philemon 24. And with his arrest the second time, Paul so valued Mark that he sent for him II Timothy 4:11. Serving successfully as Christ’s emissary after that he experienced arrest as a Christian, with eventual release Hebrews 13:23. His journey—maybe one he could never have anticipated in his days of reckless enthusiasm—continued through failure issuing in success. His legacy suggests that discipleship should be built on terraces:
Christians need spiritual rest times:
Then, if we fall, we’ll fall only to the lower terrace, NOT DOWN into oblivion! Fourth, FAIL, as in failure, can be a stepping stone to success if we:
NEVER GIVE UP! Then sat down. Walked again to the microphone for another NEVER GIVE UP! After a third time, with the same charge, he sat for good! NEVER GIVE UP! Unless we try again, failure will be a stumbling block. In discipleship, whatever we have achieved, stair-stepping our spiritual growth will provide the best solution to persevering maturity. It will also make MORE PROGRESS than we ever thought possible by retaining in quiet times what we learned in everyday action in Christ’s cause. Fini |
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