Well known in Israel as Teacher—Mark 12:32, Luke 22:11, John 3:2 and 13:14 as examples, Jesus interfaced with many people. They often came with:
Consider Nicodemus in John 3:1-2. He came, giving Jesus the highest praise possible:
Only to discover, for the first time, a breakthrough:
Consider the Rich Young ruler:
Only to discover:
Consider Simon Peter who, in Matthew 16:21-23,
Either idea foreign to Simon’s theology and Christ’s exalted station. Only to discover himself:
Summary: Be careful what we say when coming to Christ. Never assume:
And lots of other inquiries receiving strange, new responses from the Singularly ORIGINAL Christ of God.
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Ways Joseph’s experience can be repeated today.
First, consider where we live the place to begin our witness. We may need a fresh start somewhere else. If that isn’t possible, get started where we are. Remember…no accidents occur in a committed Christian’s life. God has us where we are for his reason. Second, consider the apostle Peter’s formula in I Peter 3:15-16, and the words of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 6:19 and II Corinthians 3:18 our call to service. While it’s easier to hide Christ’s glory from unbelievers than to reveal it IN Christians, God has charged us to REVEAL Christ’s Glory. Third, and a hitchhike on Point Two, remember that Christians must sometime content themselves with being a Ministry of PRESENCE until we have opportunity to be a Ministry of ACTION. Paul proved a Presence in Malta, gathering wood to protect ship passengers from the cold before he started a revival throughout the Island. Included in the former could be:
Joseph proved the depth of his spiritual life in two ways. First, when he rejected the services of Potiphar’s wife. He based it:
Instead, God directed his behavior, and any moral failure would have betrayed GOD! Second, he waited for opportunities to bear a fruitful witness for God. Which came finally in the dreams of Pharoah’s cupbearer and baker. Only to be delayed two more years by the butler’s failed appreciation. It took Pharoah’s own indecipherable dreams to bring Joseph to influence and fame. When told Joseph could interpret dreams, Joseph left no doubt: he couldn’t but his GOD could. End Part I Jonathan, son of Saul, would later prove that coming in second would be remembered. He matured in a secular household. Joseph, son of Jacob, matured in a godly home, but spent years 17-110 in a secular culture, with values different from, and hostile to, what he knew as a youth.
Nevertheless, from the beginning of a catastrophic change in his personal life, he became a model believer in, and servant of, God. Slavery, the onus that by its very nature demeaned personhood, found in Joseph a man who ennobled any imposition laid on him. (An encouragement to Christians. We don’t have to like the adverse alterations in our status quo to rise above the debasement by improving it.) Adversity in Egypt created a better MAN of Joseph where prosperity in Canaan could have left him a broken YOUTH! Indeed, as his physical circumstances degraded, his relationship with God muscled him by inches and feet into a spiritual colossus! End Part I Jesus challenges Christians and warns the unsaved. To Christians with his WORLDVIEW. It has:
SINCE we have HIS worldview, live UP to it. To the unsaved, with NONE of the above as their possession, their worldview is TOO small! Certainly if it’s as small as our neighbor’s: Keeping her mobile home upgraded, her car in good repair and her flower garden watered and fertilized. Even if it’s as great as Cecil Rhodes’. A 19th century British imperialist, he once placed his hand on a map of the vast central region of Africa. Only that, he said, satisfied him: All that under British domination. Small or great ambition, unless it embraces and embodies the worldview of Jesus Christ, we THINK, HOPE and DREAM TOO SMALL. We can always find someone who teaches what we want to hear. Only Jesus will tell us ALL we need to know to embrace his worldview. Every teaching of every other leader will leave us bereft of God’s Word, Cause, Character and Presence. Fini Jesus understood the ambivalence his family felt towards him, their:
While he understood them, they didn’t him during his ministry. Nor would he explain himself, for a simple reason:
Strictly speaking, no one can YET! Jesus exhausts all the meaning of all the words in every language…being beyond description, however colorful or eloquent the speech. John 21:28 embodies that truth. No one has ever…or…can ever…fathom the Person of Christ. No matter the multiplied tributes paid him. He’s always under-praised. No matter what obedience we offer him. He deserves better. No matter the books written in his honor. Countless more volumes need to be published. Infinitely MORE about Jesus always remains to be studied, as Samuel Rutherford confessed: “I see more of Christ than ever I saw, yet I see but little of what may be seen.” No wonder, when Paul in Ephesians 2:6-7 declared eternity the only fit environment to study Christ. Implying, of course, even glorified mortals will NEVER completely fathom the FULNESS of the GODHEAD! End Part III Next: carefully choose your WORLD. V True to God alone, Jesus offended many and perplexed everyone. He stood apart, as the Only One of his Kind, they existed as a part of the group, one filling in as another departed. If they wanted him to claim a Messianic role, that time hadn’t come. If they expressed unbelief in him, he didn’t care. Any appeal they made beyond what God dictated to him would be wrong, however sincere.
A truth Christians must observe in a post-modern world. Those within God’s will live by a different standard from those outside his will. With the inevitable result that those without God’s call on their lives undervalue the decisions made by those attentive to his claim. A distinction clearly seen between Jesus and his siblings. As Christ’s brothers could go to Jerusalem anytime, without risking danger, non-Christians can participate in activities and lifestyles that cater to their instincts. As his family regarded Jesus as a misguided zealot, the unsaved often consider Christians judgmental zealots. Furthermore, unbelievers can’t understand that Christians gladly live within the restrictions God’s word imposes on them. While offending friends and family, disciples of Christ pay that price since God’s will comes first! Believers in Christ must be, because they choose TO BE, attentive to their higher calling in Christ Jesus! Though the difference can create stresses that eventually fracture relationships, those devoted to Christ realize it’s all part of having Jesus as Savior and Lord. A timeless truth reminds us: since Jesus felt free living within God’s will, we know freedom cannot be found by living within our own. End Part II Jesus faced opposition throughout his ministry, as Luke 4:13 recorded. Some, like the Jewish leadership, opposed him intentionally and persistently. Some, like his own family, unintentionally, but as persistently.
Both groups found him:
John 7:1-13 records his brothers’ rejection of Christ’s ministry, popular as it had been. Like Abe Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, and Sam Walton in NW Arkansas, hometown residents in Nazareth, and his biological family in Capernaum, remained unconvinced by Jesus. As expected, Jerusalem:
Like New York to present day entertainers…the place to be… “If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere” the song said. Like Washington, D.C. to politicians:
Senator Robert Taft came to office in 1939. When he left a Washington dinner that night, he heard a doorman shout, “Senator Taft’s car”. The Senator quietly complimented his car, but knew it wouldn’t come on demand. He found his Dodge and drove away. Life History of U.S., Vol. 11, 77
Our Master Jesus Christ, the noblest of all royals, the greatest of all the great to live among us, the single person worthy of all honors, privilege and perks, accepted none not offered everyone else. No surprise, then, that he is renowned in all nations and religions, however imperfectly understood, worshipped and obeyed. His spiritual aura, effervescent persona and captivating self-assurance endowed him with the GLORY to bear the shame of Calvary. For the simple reason that he gave positive meaning to the worst humiliation known to mortals, as well as to dreaded disease and sickness. The Cross, devastating to all but HE, found him:
Christians understand therefore that we:
And all we offer is belief in him, obedience to him and service in any way we can render it. Understand? God called many mortal servants to his service in their generation. Those who possessed a personal faith in him became an example of Beneficence. All who failed to have personal faith became an example of WARNING. Abraham became the spiritual father of all believers in every age. Pharaoh the man who warns all opponents of God that his wheels of justice grind slowly, but they “grind exceedingly fine.”
All who served well prayed, prepared and pursued their calling—and approximated God’s perfection. Then Jesus came and EMBODIED God’s perfection. It’s no insult to us that our best service will only barely approximate God’s person. It’s an eternal compliment to Jesus that from his first infant cry to his final shouted Calvary confession, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” Luke 23:46, Jesus EMBODIED God’s Person. A perfection that deserves adoration, surrender and worship of him as GOD the SON. For him, ALL GLORY. For us, the privilege and pleasure of doing our best to emulate his life, knowing our best, and his all-covering Grace, completes our lives in his will. |
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