Three Questions for Such a Time As This
Many of us are interested in seeing 2016 in our rearview mirror. However, the word of God encourages us to finish strong. For the Lord’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. God is the one who empowers us as we make his will our will and his word our word. He has called us as men of God for such a time as this.
A man of God asks himself three questions. The first is “Do you love God above all?” According to 1 Corinthians 16:22, “Let him that does not love the Lord Jesus be accursed.” Without God we are without hope in this world. The default condition is God’s righteous judgement for sin which leads to death. However, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
Many people followed Jesus as the “rock star” of his day. They wanted to see a miracle and the power of God in manifestation. They were not committed to follow him because of a broken and a contrite heart: because they were lost, without peace, without purpose, without direction, and without hope. Jesus needed to separate his true disciples from those who followed him just to be “entertained.”
Jesus taught his disciples and raised the bar when he said, “Unless you hate your father and mother, brother and sister, you cannot be my true disciple.” Compared to the love of God, everything else must take second place. The first commandment is “Thou shalt have no other Gods between your face and my face.” Those who do not follow him get used to “living in the darkness.” However, the darker the night the brighter the light shines. There is no greater time than now to live in the light of the gospel of truth. Jesus said, “in this world as my disciples you will have persecution, however, be not dismayed for I have overcome the world.” Living the more abundant life means that you need to have your doctrine, your “right believing” in order according to the Word of God. How you respond to life’s challenges depends on where your heart is. Persecution means that there is a price to pay for aligning our hearts with his heart.
The culture continues to marginalize those who stand for the righteous standard of the Word of God. In many circles, to quote scripture is defined as “hate speech” worthy of prosecution. Political Correctness is the devil’s ploy to silence the truth of the Word of God. The adversary can put up with anything except the word of God rightly divided on the lips of a believing believer. We must be willing to die to self in order to live for him. We must also be willing to suffer persecution in order to declare the righteousness of God in Christ in us. As God said to Joshua before he entered into the promised land: “Therefore, be thou strong and of a good courage for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.”
The job of the Holy Spirit is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. We must be prepared for the spiritual battle by “putting on the lord Jesus Christ.” Clothed in his righteousness alone, “faultless to stand before the throne.” We don’t need to “run to the battle lines.” The adversary has already moved the battle lines to encroach on God’s righteous standards. When the pressure is on, are you willing to forsake the comforts of the world to stand within the comfort of the Holy Spirit, upon the righteous standard of the Word of God? Persecution will come. However, Jesus said, “Bless them that persecute you and despitefully use you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven.”
Matthew chapter 24 is about the dark days before the end times. Those who stand up for Jesus, standing in his strength alone are prepared for the spiritual battle ahead of us. Jesus Christ didn’t come to make peace with the world, he came to bring a sword against the powers of darkness. One of the signs of the end times is that men of this world will fall away. The only way to remain in communion with God when severely tested and confronted about our faith is to put on the whole armor of Christ. The preparation is to love God above all, having our feed shod with the preparation of the gospel of Peace, for Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. Maranatha means “come quickly Lord Jesus.”
Jesus confronted Peter after Peter’s three denials and asked him, “Peter, do you love me?” Jesus asked this question because he already knew Peter’s heart. A man of God needs to ask himself, “Do you love your Lord above all?”
The second question is, “Do you find your identity in Christ?” In him we live and move and have our being. Will the real you please stand up? The real you is Christ in you the hope of glory. For we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed from the glory (of the flesh) to the glory of the spirit, even by the spirit of the Lord. Am I my earthly father’s son or am I my Heavenly Father’s son? The truth of the word of God tells us not only “who we are” but more importantly “whose we are.”
The final question is “do you want to spend the rest of your life becoming just like Jesus?” A disciple is a disciplined follower. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling… We don’t want to be those who said, “Lord, Lord did we not do miracles and cast out Devils in your name? These are those to those whom Jesus said, “I never knew you.” To those called of God, persecution and trials prove the power of God to overcome, For His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
God hasn’t called us to “keep the rules.” May our prayer in this new year be, “Lord I know I’m not the man I knew to be. Lord make me that man.” This is a prayer that God yearns to answer. Our challenge in this new year is to “make every day opening day.” On opening day with your first at-bat, your batting average is a perfect 1000. He has called us up to the plate and has given us an opportunity to knock one out of the park to glorify him. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.
God has closed the books and settled our debts for the past year. He has given us a clean slate. We have been made a new creation in Christ. All things have become new… Morning by morning new mercies I see. Therefore forgetting those things that are behind I press toward the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael