Saturday, June 15,
2013, 2:25 p.m. – This song has been playing in my head on and off since
last night – “Come and See.” I had
trouble sleeping last night, and I feel quite drained today. It has been a busy
errand day. We have relatives coming in from out of town, and family will be
here tonight for supper. I just feel like someone pulled the plug on my energy
level today. Lord, give me strength.
I have been reading in the book of Acts for my quiet times
with the Lord. In Acts we have stories of missionary journeys, the preaching of
the gospel, the salvation of souls, and the beginnings of and the persecution
of the church. So, the song “Come and See”
is very appropriate for the book of Acts. I read Acts chapter 15 in the middle
of the night, then chapter 16 early this morning, and now I’m reading chapter 17 (NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017&version=NIV
They formed a mob
Paul and his companions went to a Jewish synagogue in
Thessalonica. On three Sabbath days Paul reasoned with the Jews from the Scriptures
that the Messiah had to suffer, die and rise from the dead. He told them that
Jesus Christ, whom he had been proclaiming to them, was, in fact, their
promised Messiah. Some people believed, but some did not. Among those who did
not believe were some jealous Jews who formed a mob, started a riot, and then
went in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. They
didn’t find them, so they took out their frustration and anger on other
followers of Christ.
As
soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On
arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of
more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many
of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek
men.
But
when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God
at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them
up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy
stayed at Berea. Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left
with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
There will always be varied responses to the true gospel of
Jesus Christ. There will be those who will immediately believe and who will
receive the message with great eagerness. And, there will be some who could
care less one way or another, i.e. they will be apathetic. Yet, there will also
be a number of people who will despise the message with great passion and will
exhibit great determination in trying to destroy the message of the gospel and
those who share it.
Among those who strongly oppose the true gospel of Jesus Christ
and its messengers will be those who do so out of jealousy, some out of fear,
and others because they want to suppress the truth so that they don’t feel
guilty for their own sins. The true gospel exposes mankind’s sins, calls for
repentance and obedience to Christ, demands death to self, and calls for a
radical change (transformation) of heart and mind of the Spirit of God. It
slays the sinner instead of entertains him, and that serves as a threat to many
leaders in our churches who want to soft-pedal the gospel to make it more
palatable to its listeners and more “friendly” to those who want a more casual
relationship with Jesus.
And, some of the opposition will be so strong that they will
either literally follow the witnesses for the true gospel from place to place
in order to stir up people against them, or in this day and age there may be a
gossip chain via emails or social media sites or even “prayer meetings” in
which those who hold to the truth of the gospel are attacked and destroyed in
order to lead people away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ and to a false
gospel of man, based upon humanistic thinking, reasoning, marketing schemes, et
al.
They examined the
Scriptures
The Bible does tell us to test everything to make sure it is
of God, yet many professing Christians reject the true message of the gospel
without testing it at all, just because it doesn’t fit with their lifestyles,
their culture, what they had always been taught, etc. While it is true that we
shouldn’t just believe everything we hear, which many do, too, it is also true
that we shouldn’t just reject everything we hear, too, unless it obviously
contradicts with scripture, i.e. we shouldn’t entertain other religions or
obviously false beliefs that make a mockery of what Jesus Christ did in dying
for our sins. Yet, what we should do is what these people in Berea did. They
listened respectfully and even enthusiastically (not required) to what the
apostles shared, but then they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what
Paul said was true. This should be our approach, too. If we just reject
everything that we don’t like, then we risk quenching the Holy Spirit of God
and denying our Lord.
How do we respond?
When we hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, how do
we respond? In other words, when we hear someone say that to believe in Jesus
Christ we must forsake our former lives of living for self and sin, we must be
radically transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and we must follow
our Lord Jesus Christ in obedience, how do we respond? Do we immediately reject
the message because we don’t like it? - Or, because it doesn’t fit within our
culture and human traditions? - Or, because it makes us uncomfortable and it is
not very “friendly” and “feel-good”? Or, do we find it a threat to our own
sinful lifestyles? Or, are we threatened by it because we are teaching a
watered-down gospel that is more appealing to the flesh of humans, and we’re
trying to build businesses called churches, or social gatherings where we want
people to feel more comfortable and less-threatened?
And, what is our reaction to those who share the true
gospel? How do we treat them? Do we receive them warmly? Or, do we shun them
and hope they will go away? I believe this Bible lesson teaches us that we
should not reject the word of truth, if it is truth, for whatever the reasons
may be, but we should examine what we hear against the Scriptures, and then if
what is shared adds up with Scripture, we should embrace the truth coming from
God’s holy word, and we should follow the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience and
surrender to his will for our lives. And, we should also participate in sharing
the gospel of Jesus Christ, ourselves, because many are dying and are going to
hell, and many are without true faith and hope, and many need Jesus Christ as
their true Lord and Savior.
Come and See / An
Original Work / May 20, 2013
Based off John 1:35-51
John, the Baptist,
called of God to
Make straight the way
for the Lord,
Told his disciples
about Jesus,
So two of them
followed Him.
One of them who
followed Jesus
Told his brother,
Simon Peter,
Who then he brought to
the Savior,
Who had told them,
“Come and see.”
Jesus Christ, our
Lord, Messiah,
On his way to Galilee
found a man, Philip,
So he told him, “I
want you to follow Me.”
Philip then found his
friend,
And he told him, “We
have found the one
The prophets spoke of
– He is Jesus!”
Philip then said,
“Come and see.”
Jesus saw the man,
Nathanael,
While he sat beneath a
fig tree,
Even before Philip
called him,
So Nathanael did
believe.
Nonetheless the Lord
said,
“You believe because
of what I told you.
You will see much
greater things than these
If you will Come and
see.”
Jesus’ calling to each
one of us.
He tells us to believe
in Him
As our Lord and
Messiah,
And to follow where He
leads.
He says we must turn
from our sins,
Die to sin and self
each day,
And put on our new
lives in Jesus;
Bow before Him; humbly
pray.
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