Narrow Minded
Jesus came to introduce the lost sheep of the house of Israel to a new kingdom. He said, my kingdom is not of this world. The people had witnessed his mighty miracles… he opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lepers, made lame men walk and the deaf to hear… he even raised the dead. The people marveled that he had power over the powers of darkness… over the oppression of the spirit world.
The crowds that followed him around said to Jesus, we want to make you our king. He said, that’s not why I’m here. They said, then, what’s your plan. Jesus pointed to some lowly Galilean fishermen and a hated tax collector. He said, those guys over there. They are the plan. God chooses the despised and foolish things… the poor, mournful, meek, hungry, thirsty, pure, peaceable, and persecuted disciples of Christ to confound the wisdom of this world. Those he has chosen he has called to be living epistles… God’s love letters written not with ink or engraved in tablets of stone… but written in the tables of the heart.
Jesus said that if you’ve been called as His disciples, his disciplined followers, then the world will hate you just like they hated me. The kingdom of this world is opposed to the kingdom of heaven. He said, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. However, as Paul said, greater is he that is in you, Christ in you the hope of glory, than he that is in the world.
The devil is the god of the world who has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of truth should shine unto them. He is the thief who attempts to enter into God’s sheepfold to steal, kill and destroy the sheep. However, Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. He himself is the door to the sheepfold. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
The devil says, don’t worship God… worship yourself. To follow Jesus Christ, God requires that we forsake the god of self in order to approach our Lord Jesus Christ, to turn from sin with a heart of meekness and humility and turn our eyes upon Jesus. To look full in his wonderful face. Then the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
Jesus said, any man who wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. The cross means that I myst die to myself in order to be resurrected into the spirit of life in Christ. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Life is a series of choices. As Joshua said to the children of Israel after they had entered into the Promised Land: Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve, as for me, we shall serve the Lord.
Yogi Bera said, When you come to a fork in the road, pick it up. The fork in the road leads to either of two roads: a broad way and a narrow way. The broad way is the way of the world and the kingdoms of the world…. This is the path that leads to destruction. The narrow way is Jesus Christ. He said I am the narrow gate that leads to the narrow way that leads to life everlasting. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life… no man cometh unto the Father except by me. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
A wise man said, I don’t keep my vows, my vows keep me. When God called Abram and showed him the promise of the Promised Land… a land of abundance flowing with milk and honey, God said to Abram, We’re going to ratify a covenant …. To cut covenant. A vow is a promise. Usually a contract or a covenant is when one party makes a promise, an offer of value to another party. To accept the offer, the other party promises to pay for the value of the promise or to perform a valuable service in exchange. When the one who receives the offer accepts the offer, this exchange of promises becomes a legally binding agreement which is enforceable by law. If one party fails to perform the terms of the agreement, the courts can require the non-performing party to pay for the value of the performance of the other party.
Today’s contracts may be secured by a binding written agreements signed by both parties. In Abraham’s day, an exchange of promises was ratified by cutting sacrificial animals in two and then both parties would walk between the two halves of the sacrificed animals. When Abram arranged the sacrificial animals according to God’s instruction in Genesis 15, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abram. While he slept God reveled to Abram a vision of a burning lamp passing between the two haves of the sacrificial animals. This showed Abram that God accepted the terms of his promise on Abram’s behalf because Abram himself as a man could not keep his own promise. God knew that Abram could not keep his vow so God himself had to accept the promise on Abram’s behalf.
This covenant between God and Abram is an example what God would do for us through his son’s payment for our sins. Jesus Christ was God’s sacrificial lamb who shed his innocent blood for our guilty blood. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
Christians are accused of being narrow minded… of prescribing to a doctrine of exclusion. However, the world does not understand that true freedom is the freedom to walk to the straight and narrow path of God’s righteousness. Jesus said, many will say, didn’t we cast out devils and perform mighty works in your name? Jesus said, there’s power in the name… however, I will say unto you, depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you.
God doesn’t want your performance. The purpose of Christianity is not “behavior modification.” He doesn’t want your works, your actions, your good deeds, your money or your material abundance…. He wants your heart.
God made us an offer: He’s invited us into the narrow gate. Whosoever will may come. Accepting his offer of eternal life is on God’s terms, not ours. Accepting his offer is according to his unilateral terms that only God defines. What is acceptable unto God… what is well-pleasing in his sight? He does not require the sacrifice of bulls, goats, lambs and burnt offerings. How do we accept God’s offer? What is acceptable and well pleasing him his sight?
Acceptance of God’s offer of salvation means to turn from myself and toward Jesus Christ. It means to confess Jesus is Lord… to agree with God’s terms that Jesus Christ is Lord and I’m no longer lord of my own life. Then when we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead… in his power of the resurrection of His son, the scripture says, thou shalt be saved. Salvation is to be made whole, born again of God’s spirt.
Then when we love him above all, we can present our bodies a living sacrifice holy and wholly acceptable unto him which is our reasonable act of worship from a heart of love. The sacrifice is bringing a sacrifice of praise, acceptable and well pleasing, a sweet smelling savor unto the Lord…
That we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace, mercy, love and honor….
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
