Monday, February 25,
2013, 7:34 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the songs “When His Kingdom Comes” and “Much Too High a Price” playing in my
mind.
When His Kingdom Comes / Dottie Rambo and Dony McGuire
When His kingdom comes, what a
difference…
When all has been settled and my heart
is His home,
Oh, what a difference, what a great
transformation!
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 13:51-52 (NASB):
“Have you understood all these things?” They *said to
Him, “Yes.” And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the
kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure
things new and old.”
Matthew 13:52 (Young’s
Literal Translation of the Bible, 1862): And
he said to them, `Because of this every scribe having been discipled in regard
to the reign of the heavens, is like to a man, a householder, who doth bring
forth out of his treasure things new and old.'
“Scribes are members
of a learned class in ancient Israel through New Testament times who studied
the scriptures and served as copyists, editors and teachers. In the Old
Testament the Hebrew word translated as scribe identified a person who numbered
or mustered the troops” (Nelson's
Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers).
To muster means to rally, call together, collect, or
assemble the troops; or it can mean to improve or revive, pull through or help
the troops to get better (MS Word Thesaurus).
Therefore every scribe…
Jesus Christ died for our sins, he was buried, he was
resurrected back to life, he ascended to heaven, and then he sent his Holy
Spirit to indwell and to empower the lives of his true followers (disciples).
And, one day he is coming again to gather his own, to judge the world, and to
reign supreme on the earth as King of kings and as Lord of lords.
Before he left this earth to go back to heaven, he
instructed his disciples that all authority had been given to him in heaven and
on earth. “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt.
28:19-20).
Paul, in writing to Jesus’ followers (his disciples) said: “I
myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness,
complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (Ro. 15:14), i.e. “the
troops.” In 1 Thess. 5:11 we are instructed to “encourage one another and build
each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” To encourage means to inspire,
reassure, give confidence, urge, admonish, exhort, assist, nurture, persuade
and advance. As well, to build up means to inspire, boost, develop, enlarge and
expand. In Hebrews 3:13 we are instructed to “encourage one another daily, as
long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness.”
So we, as Christ’s disciples, and as members of the body of
Christ, are to instruct, encourage, urge, exhort, inspire, and develop one
another in the kingdom of heaven. We, thus, are the scribes, because we have
been given the word of God, the Bible, to teach us, and we have been given the Living
Word within us in the person of the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, counsel and
direct us. And, we have all been given the imperative to go and to make
disciples of Christ Jesus of the people of this world, teaching them to obey
all that Christ has commanded us, in his power and strength within us. As well,
we have been instructed that we need to encourage one another daily in the
truths of God’s Holy Word, and in how his word is to be applied to our daily
lives, so that we may not fall back into sin and become hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness. This is what it truly means to “muster the troops.”
…who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven…
This is the qualifier, though. We can’t make disciples of
others unless we are first of all disciples of Christ ourselves. So, how do we
become disciples of the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus Christ said that if anyone would come after him - the
embodiment of the kingdom of heaven - he (or she) must deny (negate) himself
(his selfish ways or ownership and mastership of his own life), take up his
cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. He said if we
want to hold on to (save) our old lives of living for sin and self, we will
lose them for eternity, but if we lose our old lives (die to sin and self
daily), we will gain them for eternity with God in glory (see Luke 9:23-25).
God, speaking through Paul, said that the way in which we
come to know Christ is by forsaking our old lives of sin and self, by being
transformed in heart and mind (the working of the Spirit within us), and by
putting on our new selves, “created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness” (see Eph. 4:17-24).
He also said that when we accept Jesus Christ’s invitation
to salvation by grace, through faith, that our old self is crucified with
Christ, “in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we
would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (see
Ro. 6:6-7). When we were crucified with Christ, “I,” meaning my self-life and
life of sin, no longer live, but Christ now lives in me, i.e. he is now the
boss, and he is on the throne of my life (see Gal. 2:20). I was bought with a
price, and I am no longer my own, but I belong to Jesus Christ, who loved me
and who gave himself up for me so that I would be free to love, worship and
obey him, and be free from slavery to sin and death.
…brings out of his treasure things new and old…
Jesus Christ had just completed a discourse on the kingdom
of heaven. He compared the kingdom to a mustard seed that, when full grown,
becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. In
other words, the seed is the gospel, which when planted in our lives begins to
grow and to branch out into the lives of others so that it reaches to the whole
world, and people from all nations flock to the kingdom of heaven and find rest
in Jesus Christ. This is what we are supposed to do (see Matt. 28:19-20).
He also compared the kingdom of heaven to yeast in bread. In
other words the kingdom of heaven, i.e. Christ Jesus and his gospel, should permeate
our lives and the life of the church. And, he compared the kingdom to a
treasure hidden in a field and a pearl of great value for which men sold all
they had to possess. They were willing to give up everything in this life in
order to gain life everlasting in God’s eternal kingdom. That is what Jesus
Christ requires of his disciples (his followers), that we leave all to follow
him.
Then, he asked his disciples if they understood all these
things, and they answered “Yes.”
Then Jesus said “Therefore” (or because of this
understanding), every discipled person who disciples others should share with
others from the riches (treasures) of God’s eternal kingdom what has been
stored up in his or her heart and mind, i.e. both from the prophecies of old,
and from the teachings of Christ and his kingdom (the new), with the understanding
that Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. And, he or she
should use them to minister Christ’s love, grace, mercy, counsel, teachings,
instructions and encouragement to those whom he or she disciples, and/or to the
body of Christ as a whole.
Yet, what this also means is that we must first of all be
his true disciples, growing in his love, nurtured in his word, and comforted at
his feet. Jesus Christ should be Lord (boss) of our lives, and his kingdom and
his Spirit should be filling up every aspect of our lives to overflowing, and
then out to others. Our lives should be truly transformed from darkness (the
power of sin over our lives) to light (truth; Jesus Christ; the Gospel). His
kingdom should permeate (flood; penetrate) our entire being and every aspect of
our lives here on this earth, nothing held back!
Jesus Christ paid much too high a price for us to have our
souls “just stirred at times but never truly changed.” He deserves a “fiery
love that won’t ignore” his sacrifice (McHugh). “Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow” (E.M. Hall).
Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It
All / Phil McHugh and
Greg Nelson
You paid much too high a price for me,
Your tears, Your blood, the pain –
To have my soul just stirred at times
yet never truly changed.
You deserve a fiery love that won’t
ignore your sacrifice…
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