Speak IN Christ

Get this… 2 Corinthians 2:15-17

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Are you living like the fragrance of Christ to a world that is both living and perishing?  Am I?

            That last verse is powerful!  We are not just walking around like salespeople for God – as it He needed salespeople.  We are the living, breathing, speaking aroma of Christ.  “In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Jesus.”  [1 John 4:17]

Paul continues his plea… 2 Corinthians 3:1-3

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Are you looking for proof?  Look at the work of God in the hearts and lives of His followers.

            Everyone who follows Christ should be an example of Christ.  What does it mean to be a fully devoted follower of Christ?  The quickest answer I can think to that question is “I’m not sure everything that entails, but I sure do know that I can’t do that by myself.”  Everyone who tries to follow Christ without being changed by Christ and sustained by Christ will inevitably miss out on the abundant life that Christ speaks of.    

The point is to find our capability, our sufficiency, our everything in Christ.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  [2 Corinthians 3:4-6]

When you follow Jesus, you are a minister of the new covenant, a living example of his love.  Don’t just speak and do things for Christ – speak and do them in Christ.

Paradoxical Christ?

par·a·dox

–noun

1.      a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Majesty and meekness.  The Lion and the Lamb.  The swordsman and the victim.

            These poetic paradoxes provide pictures of wholeness.

             A powerful dialogue emerges in Mark 8:27-38 where Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say that I am?”  They told him “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”  Jesus asked them “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

            The Christ.  That’s very familiar to us today because we grew up hearing Jesus was the Christ.  It’s a much different statement when Peter says it – it’s revelation, revolutionary, and it flies in the face of the Jewish culture of that day.  Peter answered in plain language.  The word for “Christ” literally means the Messiah, Son of God, the anointed one.  The ‘anointed one,’ as in a king, is interesting because that’s exactly what God’s followers were waiting for.  Peter and the rest of them were waiting for a Messiah, a king, to deliver them from the hands of their oppressors, establishing a kingdom and consecrating the kingdom from the pagans.

            Now Jesus is continually saying that the Kingdom of Heaven, or Kingdom of God, is at hand.  It’s in the present, not future, so whatever Jesus is saying and doing as he says this is actually in service of this kingdom.  That’s quite different from what much of the Jewish culture believed.

            According to generations of history and expectation, most people believed that the Messiah would display his power by forcing the evildoers off their thrones and establishing himself as the king.  Jesus knew his power must be displayed in a much different way though.  He spoke plainly when he taught his disciples “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”  That’s a powerfully lucid prophecy.  It’s also very different from what Jesus’s disciples were hoping for.  Perhaps Peter was hopeful for the day when he would lord his power over his enemies alongside Jesus, but now Jesus was telling him there would be suffering, even at the hands of the religious.  Peter was upset and he pulled Jesus aside to confront him.  But turning and seeing the disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

            Let’s sit here for awhile.  Jesus shatters the notions of how the Messiah will come into power.  He’s the Lion of Judah (what everyone hoped for) but he is also the Lamb of God (what no one expected).  What seems paradoxical is actually a picture of wholeness.  When Jesus was expected to overthrow the regimes in control, he instead laid down his life, and in so doing he triumphed.  Jesus showed his supreme power by laying his life down for us.  The power in the cross exposes how desperately we need Jesus.  Jesus uses his sacrifice on the cross to show how true power serves instead of exploits people.  That’s not a paradox – it’s the original and eternally intended design of God.

            Later on Jesus makes it clear again that power and leadership is evident through service and not position.  While James and John ask for seats alongside his thrown in Heaven, Jesus said this to his disciples:  “But it shall not be so among you.  But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  [Mark 10:43-45]

            Jesus’s followers saw him as a lion whose voice would thunder and crush the enemy.  Jesus was that lion, but he was also the lamb because the enemy was not who we originally thought.  The enemy was not just the men who misused their power to oppress the vulnerable – the enemy was us also.  Jesus became the sacrificial lamb to save us from our own enmity with God.  While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.  While we were enemies of God and we mocked Him and we claimed to be wise, profaning the good things of God, God himself took our punishment out of His unfathomable love.  

It’s a much more gracious thing, through sacrificial love, to deliver us from depravity and death to life than it is to whisk us into seats of pride and power where our own depravity may be perpetuated instead of confronted.  Jesus is gracious to us.  He is not a paradox – he is the excellent wholeness of God, image of the invisible.

Majesty and Meekness

Jesus, high King of Heaven, displayed majesty and meekness when he humbled himself as a servant, a man, being obedient even to death on a cross, making known to us the path to life through him.  He is exalted in the highest place.  [Philippians 2:5-11]

The Swordsman and the Victim

Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many.  He did not run from the will of the Father, but instead he was obedient.  He cared for his disciples and gave clear example of how to follow him and follow the Father, losing none of them.  We crucified him but he took upon himself the ‘cup of judgment.’  [Isaiah 53, Mark 10:38, John 17:12, Mark 14:42]

The Lion and the Lamb

Jesus alone is able to deliver us into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is the Word of God, our High Priest, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God – everything.  I see a picture of heaven with God on a throne, Jesus at his side, and their Spirit ever present in and amongst us.  Our attention is on them.  [Revelation 5:5-7]

Labor in Prayer

Prayer, the noun, has been on my mind a lot lately.  What does prayer mean?  What does prayer look like?

Prayer, the action, has been on my heart a lot lately.  I've been convicted to be in prayer more and more recently.

Maybe PRAYER (the noun) is more about placing the PRAYER (the person) in a place of humble submission before the God, yielding all of man's plans to the will of the Father.  Maybe that's why the verse "Pray constantly" isn't just two words but an attitude towards life!

Maybe God pushes people to pray about doing His will before He ever shows them that will is because He wants to develop the PRAYER (the person) before He develops the PRAYER (the thing, His will).

Maybe that's part of laboring in prayer - starting before things become clear and not giving up when they become unclear again.

Lord, make us faithful PRAYERs who are humbled at your throne.

Check out this video.

Removing the Veil

            Long ago there was a man named Moses.  He was a righteous man and the Lord’s strength was made evident through his weakness.  By the might of the Lord’s hand, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and out of slavery.  Even though the Lord was doing mighty works among the people, they could not understand.  They feared for their health and safety, believing that Moses had led them into the wilderness to starve and die.  The Lord continued to provide, but the people continued to complain.

            And the Lord heard His people’s cry.  He spoke to Moses, saying “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

            Three days later thunder and lightning shook the mountain.  The sound of a loud trumpet blast resounded and a thick cloud covered the mountain in darkness.  All the people in the camp trembled as      Moses brought them out to meet God

            And God spoke, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.”  In a thundering voice, God spoke ten commandments to His people.

            Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.  They turned to Moses, saying “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”  The people stood far off while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

            Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord.  His face shone, radiating glory because he had been speaking with the Lord.  The people answered with one voice, saying “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.”  When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

            In those days the Lord’s covenant with His people was written in stone.  The covenant painted a beautiful picture of what a life completely surrendered to the Lord might look like.  It was righteousness and justice inscribed in stone for God’s people, but they always failed to live up to those standards, and so the law served to condemn them.

            Years passed, each of them marked by blood and sacrifice offered to the Lord by His people for the forgiveness of their sins.  The Lord, faithful to forgive and restore, said “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with my people.  It won’t be like the covenant I made with them when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.  They broke that covenant, though I was faithful.”

            With His plan for our salvation in mind, the Lord said “This is the new covenant that I will make with my people:  I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  This is God’s word.

            Many years passed, years of poverty and years of prosperity, years of defeat and years of victory, years of revival and also years of silence.  Then one year God’s Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus, the Son of God, made our Heavenly Father known to us.  While the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  We moved from the ranks of servants to be called friends of Jesus when he made the Father known to us.  

Before Jesus endured the cross he emphatically made the Spirit known to us, who is the guarantee of the new covenant.   He reassured his disciples “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

In these days the Lord’s covenant is written on the hearts of His people.  We have received the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  By a wonderful grace that is scarcely comprehended, God’s Word is spoken into our hearts by His Spirit, therefore we may be shown redeemed and righteous not by the letter of the law but by the renewal of our hearts.  The veil has been removed.

We are confident in Christ.  We stand before the Lord and before others declaring Christ’s sufficiency and not our own.  Through our weakness God’s strength is shown.  The Spirit moves and we are made ministers of this new covenant!

We are bold because we have confident hope in our salvation.  God is glorified through us, making us lights to a dark world.  We will not hide this light as Moses did when he placed the veil over his face.  That veil hid God’s glory as it was reflected in His law, but now we have received a much greater glory.  It is the glory of the veil being removed.  Christ removes the veil for everyone who turns to the Lord.

Jesus set us free for the sake of freedom.  Everywhere the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, and we now have that Spirit within us!  We are free, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, and being transformed into His image.

The veil has been removed once and for all.  That’s a big deal.

Modern Day Prophets

What is a prophet?  Are there modern day prophets?

            Let’s break prophets/prophecy down into two main forms:

1.      1.  Communication of revelation from God that is already established and authoritative.

2.      2.  Communication of revelation from God that is new and whose authority must ultimately be held accountable by God.

The first is one who communicates revelation from God that has already been established.  This is the general communication of truths that have already been spoken, namely by the word of God and by Jesus.  Think of these as people who use the words of Jesus and of the Bible, two authoritative and established sources, to communicate a message to an individual or congregation.  The aim of their prophecy is for “teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.”  [2 Timothy 3:16]

The second is one who claims to have new revelation from God, presumably for the benefit of the God’s people.  Undoubtedly, there were these types of prophets in the Old Testament.  The aim of this study is to explore the place of this second type of prophet in modern times. 

Prophets Then and Now

            Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.                        [Hebrews 1:1-2]

            The biggest change in human history occurred when Jesus was crucified and resurrected.  No longer did God communicate to His beloved children through “many ways”, but through a single way – Jesus!  Image of the invisible God, we can look to Jesus to draw near to God.  The veil was torn and we are allowed to enter the Lord’s throne room boldly because of our great High Priest, Jesus.  Jesus is better.  Better than any prophecy past, present, or future.  Jesus is the mark we’re aiming for. 

We aim for Jesus because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

            Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that He was leaving His ministry with them, and that they could only hope to pursue it through the work of the Spirit.  He said “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”                  [John 16:12-14]

            Before we endeavor to explore the role of a modern day prophet, be certain of this:  our pursuit of the Lord rests on the work Jesus has completed for us and the work the Holy Spirit will continue to complete in us.

Discerning Modern day Prophets

            Whether or not true modern day prophets exist, there are people who claim to exercise the gift of prophecy.  It’s important to know how to discern whether the prophet is true or false.  As always, this is carried out by the work of the Holy Spirit.

            Jesus is the true vine.  Let the prophet be the tree, and the prophecy his fruits.  This is how we may discern between true and false prophets:

The Tree

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”                     [Matthew 7:15-20]

The Fruit

“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”       [Deuteronomy 18:15-22]

            Let the true prophet communicate prophecy of the Lord that proves true.  Let the healthy tree produce only good fruit, so that it will not be consumed in a fiery justice.  For the Lord, he restores all things by His righteousness and justice.

            Be wary of prophets who prophesy in a name other than the Lord’s.  Be wary of prophets whose prophecy proves false.  These may be false prophets, even if they look harmless as sheep.  Let your faith, hope, and love abide in Jesus Christ alone, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of the eternal Father.

The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”                   [John 15:1-17]

            Jesus calls us friends.  He calls us friends because he has made known to us everything that he has heard from the Father.  Recall that passage [John 16:12-14] where Jesus lets us know that he is leaving us the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit may guide us into truth.  Just as Jesus did only the Father’s will, the Spirit does only Jesus’s will, which is the Father’s will!

            Jesus has made known to us what had been a great mystery of God.  He is the singular sacrifice for our sins, and His word is the final word from the Father.  Everything that we have in Jesus is all we will ever need.  I see no need for modern prophets who claim to receive new revelation from God because Jesus has already delivered to us everything from the Father.  We need the Holy Spirit.  We need Jesus.  We need the Father.  We don’t need anything else.

Jesus is Better

            For many of us this can be the busiest time of the year.  Some of us are in school, some of us are working, some of us are involved in extracurriculars up to our ears, and some of us are juggling all of those things at once!

As our lives begin to pick up speed, it gets harder to stay focused on the things that matter.  I’ve struggled with this especially in the past few weeks.  The busier I get, the more sacrifices I feel I have to make.  My thoughts run away from Jesus and my spirit grows weary.

Luke 10:38 - 42

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

            Notice that Martha was the one who greeted Jesus first.  She knew that Jesus was important and that he deserved her devotion.  So what does she do after greeting him?  She immediately begins to prepare everything for Jesus.  Martha was “distracted with much serving.”

            It’s possible to get distracted by doing very good things.  It’s possible to lose sight of Jesus even if we’re seeking to serve him.  When life gets busy and you’re easily distracted, turn your eyes to the cross.  That’s the single, once-and-for-all answer!

            Here’s the one thing I want to say to you tonight:  Jesus is better.

            Are you distracted?  Jesus is the answer. 

Are you worried or troubled?  Jesus is the answer.

Jesus is better than your greatest accomplishment.  Jesus is better than your greatest heartbreak.  Jesus is better and he asks us to abide in him so he may abide in us.  Don’t miss out today.  Use this opportunity to step away from it all and enter the presence of Jesus.  It is there that we will find the fullness of joy.