Firefighters for Christ

An ambassador is the highest raking official sent from his Sovereign Lord to represent his homeland in a foreign land. As Christians, we are citizens of heaven. According to 2 Corinthians 5;20, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

Phil Hanlen is a professional firefighter. Phil reminds us that, not only are we ambassadors for Christ, we are also his firefighters. A firefighter wears protective clothing to be able to get close to the fire. The temperature near the fire will exceed 1000 degrees. Fighting a fire is a team effort. A firefighter is a student of forcible entry to save a structure or prevent a fire from spreading.

To be a successful firefighter for God requires that we have been through the fire, for Jesus said, you shall be baptized with (immersed in) the Holy Spirit and with fire. Fire in the word of God symbolizes refinement. We have been refined by the refiner’s fire. God himself is the refiner.

Fire is also a destructive force that the devil uses for his own purposes, for the thief cometh not but for to steal, to kill and to destroy.

Phil relates stories about the recent Thomas fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara. That night 250 houses were destroyed in the neighborhood where his engine crew was stationed. The Thomas fire was the biggest fire in California’s recorded history.

There was one old man with a garden hose who refused to evacuate. Phil commanded him to leave but he said, “I’m a retired firefighter and I’ve got this.” He had taken a stand against the fire with his grandson. Phil warned him that if you don’t evacuate, you’ll die in this fire. The old man refused to leave. When Phil’s commander ordered his engine unit to evacuate the area, they saw through the smoke someone walking down the hill from the neighborhood. This guy was the old firefighter’s grandson. The grandfather had driven out of the neighborhood and said he would come back to pick up his grandson but the fire would have prevented him.

As Phil and his crew were evacuating, he saw saw the shadowy movement of someone inside of one house. They stopped their fire truck and discovered an old lady in the house. She had no clue that there was a fire and that she was in imminent danger. This is similar to Christians in the church who have no clue that the devil is lurking right outside their door.

As firefighters for Christ, God expects us to be prepared to rescue his people from the flames raging around us. To prepare, we need to set our affections on things above and not on the things of this world.

To prepare our hearts, we must practice the fundamentals of the Christian life. Therefore pray, study the word, serve in the church, and meet regularly with likeminded believers. Give generously of your earthly treasures to free yourself to believe God as your sufficiency. Rejoice Evermore and pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. Finally love God above all and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, “in that thou has done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

According to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”
19. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

This is our mission and our co-mission. We are fellow Laborers with Christ. We are yoked together with him in the field to plant, water, and gather in the harvest.

God has called each of us to a different calling. Our challenge is to see our work from a spiritual perspective. Our stories are part of the tapestry that God is weaving through the fabric of the lives of all Christians. Jesus Christ is centerpiece of history. Our stories are unfolding within the context of history…our story in relation to His Story.

May we live to the praise of the glory of his grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

The Basis of Hope

Psalm 2 is one of the songs of ancient poetry. This passage is quoted in Acts 4 as a Psalm of David. This is a prophetic Messianic Psalm about the coming of Jesus Christ. Jerusalem was conquered by King David. The language of this Psalm spills over the times in which it was written and heralds the coming of a greater king than David himself. Quoting from Psalm 2:6-9:

“6. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

The true king that God installed is above all kings. Literature and legend says that there was a great King who ruled in power and love and mercy. When this great King ruled, the land prospered and great works of art were done while the King reigned. However when the King died, darkness fell upon the face of the land and the kingdom fell into ruin, waiting for the return of the true king who would reign in righteousness and true holiness.

Most monarchies have been ruled by an iron hand…by oppression and fear. Why are so many enamored by royalty? Why do peoples create royal lines and crown them with honor and majesty? Why do peoples give themselves over to the sway of those whom they honor and glorify? It’s because as people we know deep down in our hearts the true King who reigns in righteousness and true holiness…a true Saviour who will save the people from their sins. If we refuse the true King we will honor a lesser King. We were created with a hunger to serve our Lord. Ye are servants of whom you obey.

The natural inclination of the human heart is to set up a King and then reject him. According to Psalm 2:3-4, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”

Lord means owner. However, the basic impulse of the human heart is for every man to follow his own way and his own heart. The central conviction of hell is to confess, “I am my own Lord.” We are captive to whom we obey…I have found the enemy and he is me.

True virtue incarnate appeared upon this earth over two thousand years ago with the coming of the Messiah. We don’t hate the majesty of Kings and Queens. However, men hate the true Messiah. Why? It’s because most religions allow you to be your own person. However, the true God says, “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” To approach the true God is an offer to make a unilateral covenant according to His terms, not ours. Men don’t understand their own internal corruption and sin…the nature of sinful flesh that we all inherited from Adam.

We have a King, We need a King, and we are offered to accept the true King according to God’s terms.
Therefore, Psalm 2:11-12 concludes, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

Believing plus desire equals hope.

Gary relates a story about one his wife’s room mates before he and his wife were married. Her room mate had a large cedar chest, a “hope” chest where she kept her family’s heirlooms in addition to mementos of her hopes and dreams. We all have a hope chest in which we keep our fondest desires and deepest thoughts. Hope is why we get married, believe the best for our children, send them to college and bless them when we give them away in marriage.

Hope is why we read the bible and pray. Christianity is the only religion that gives us an intellectual basis for hope. The other religions of the world give no hope of eternal life in fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father. When our hope is in Christ, confinement becomes spaciousness. Bondage becomes Liberty. Death to self becomes life in Christ.

The story of Guinevere broke the back of the kingdom of Camelot. King Arthur was on the horns of a dilemma. He could either kill the queen whom he loved, or kill the law. We are God’s Guinevere and have committed adultery by serving and loving other gods. Mordred representing Satan said, “kill Guinevere.”

God did justice by executing his innocent son on our behalf. Jesus lived a perfect life and went to the cross as the perfect innocent lamb of God. There was a double transaction: He paid our debt of sin. But the second transaction is that he exchanged for our guilt, the righteousness of Christ. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.

What amazing grace! This is the basis of our hope.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace, Your brother in Christ, Michael