Saturday, May 25, 2013, 7:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put the song “Nothing Can Separate Us” in my mind
this morning as I was getting up out of bed to have my quiet time with the
Lord. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read John 4:31-38 and John 5 (NIV). http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%204&version=NIV;
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205&version=NIV
The Will of God
“My food,” said
Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a
saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and
look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws
a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper
may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I
sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work,
and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
The will of God for each one of us is that we finish HIS
work here on earth, too. We read in 1 Co. 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers
and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to
the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in
vain.” Paul referred to a great door for effective work that God had opened for
him, but that there were many who opposed him. He said that Timothy was
carrying on the work of the Lord, just as he was (see 1 Co. 16). Paul, as well,
described the ministry of the apostles in this way: “Rather,
as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in
troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights
and hunger; in purity,
understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love…”
(2 Co. 6:4-6).
We read in Ephesians 4 about the body of Christ
and how it works: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its
work.” And, we receive this encouragement in Phil. 1:6: “In all my prayers for
all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel
from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good
work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” And,
in Phil. 2 we read this: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always
obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to
work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you
to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Before Jesus left the earth, he
commissioned his disciples to go into all the world and to make disciples
(followers of Christ) of all nations, baptizing, and teaching them to obey all
that Jesus Christ commanded them, and he would be with them always (see Mt.
28:18-20). He also told them that after he left he would send the Holy Spirit
to come and to live within each one of them, and when they had received the
Spirit they would be empowered from on high to be his witnesses throughout the
world (see Acts 1:8). Then we read in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and
Ephesians 4 concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the parts of the body
of Christ. We learn here that the Spirit distributes the gifts as he
determines, and that God has placed the parts of the body just as he wanted
them to be, and that he has assigned each one of us a task (function; part).
So, we are all assigned the task of taking
the gospel throughout the world and of working together as a body to encourage
and strengthen one another in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And it is the Spirit
within us who gives us all we need, and who accomplishes God’s work in us.
Great Opposition
During Jesus’ time of ministry here on the earth he healed
the sick, bound up the injured, preached freedom to the captives (slaves to sin),
and shared the gospel of salvation to all who would listen. Yet, he faced much
strong opposition to his ministry, and most of that came from the leaders
within the Jewish faith. They frequently chided him for healing on the Sabbath.
His response to them was: “My Father is always at his work to
this very day, and I too am working.” Because of this, the
passage states, the Jewish leaders tried to kill him. That is some pretty
fierce opposition. They persecuted him, not only because they believed he was
breaking the Sabbath, but because they felt he was making himself equal with
God.
Jesus responded to their opposition by letting them know
that he could do nothing by himself, but only what he sees his Father doing.
And, the same applies to us. We cannot do the work God has assigned us to do
here on this earth apart from his Spirit within us working in and through us
for his glory, as we cooperate fully with that work. Whatever Jesus did, we
should do also. We will never be completely sinless like he was, but we should
also never use that as a conditioned excuse to continue in willful sin. Jesus
Christ came to set us free from the control of sin, and he will give us all we
need to flee sin and to walk in faith.
Jesus said that whoever hears his word and believes in the
Father who sent him has eternal life and will not face the final judgment of
hell. Then, he spoke briefly on the subject of a future period of time when (at
his second coming) the dead will rise – some to eternal life and some to
eternal condemnation. He told his listeners that the Father had given him
authority to judge, and that his judgment is just, for he sought not to please
himself but him who sent him. He also told them that if they did not honor the
Son (himself), that they did not honor the Father who sent him. So, he was telling
them that he was God, and that he was their promised Messiah, Savior and judge,
and without faith in him, they would not have eternal life. And, for that they
persecuted and eventually killed him.
Jesus told them that the
works that the Father had given him to
finish testify that the Father had sent him, but that they had never heard
God’s voice nor did his word dwell in them, for they did not believe in the one
the Father had sent, namely Jesus Christ. The Jewish leaders studied the
Scriptures diligently because they thought by doing so that they would gain
eternal life. Jesus said: “These are the very
Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” He
told the leaders that he knew them, that they did not have the love of God in
their hearts, and that they did not accept him, even though he came in his
Father’s name. Yet, if someone came in his own name, they would accept him. Isn’t
this so true today? So many people, even church leaders, believe the testimony
(wisdom) of man over the testimony of Christ and his gospel. And, they
frequently will engage in persecution of those who do believe in and who share
the true gospel of Christ.
Jesus said that we would be hated because of him, but we are
blessed when humankind hates us, excludes us, insults us and rejects our names
as evil because of Jesus. Jesus said, in fact, that we would be hated just like
he was hated. He told his brothers that the world could not hate them, but that
it did hate him because he testified that its works were evil. He said we would
be arrested on false charges, persecuted, and handed over to the authorities, for
if they persecuted him, they will persecute us, too. We are certainly not God,
as was Jesus, but God (by his Spirit) is living within those of us who are
Christ’s followers, and when we follow our Lord and do his will, and we finish
HIS work here on this earth, we can expect to be treated much in the same way
as what Jesus was treated, and by church people and church leaders, too. Yet
nothing can ever separate us from Christ’s love within us – not hatred,
persecution, opposition, trouble, hardship, famine, danger nor sword.
Nothing Can Separate
Us / An Original Work / March 28, 2013
Based off Romans 8:28-39
Nothing can separate
us
From Christ’s love now
within us:
Not trouble, hardship,
nor famine,
Nor danger, nor sword.
No, in all of these
things
We are more than
conquerors!
For your sake we face
hardship.
We are sheep to be
slaughtered.
I am convinced that
death,
Nor life, nor anything
else
Will separate us from
The love of God now in
Christ.
What, then, shall we
say to this?
God for us: who
against us?
He who did not spare
His Son
But gave Him for us
all –
How will He not, with
Him,
Graciously give us all
things?
Who brings a charge
against us?
God justifies His
chosen.
Who is He that
condemns?
Christ Jesus; died,
rose again.
He’s at the right hand
of God,
Interceding for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment