This might be a strange encouragement but I needed it this morning as I face the uncertainty of events today. Not uncertain to God but to me. The Lord decrees that which is so and we have the opportunity to believe and gladly obey or not.
The encouragement came from John 8 where the Jews (“God’s people”) were arguing with Jesus (God’s Son). They said to him in John 8:48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Obviously that doesn’t seem very encouraging for God’s people to say that God’s Son is a Samaritan and has a demon. It’s incredibly strange and altogether real that Jesus could live his life in perfect obedience to God the Father and reveal the Father exactly as he is but God’s people who claim to know God do not even notice him.
Jesus calls this what it is in John 8:54-55 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom *you say, ‘He is our God.’ But *you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.”
It very possible and quite likely that if you have faith in Christ and gladly obey him you will be perceived as having a demon and as 8:59 says they will pick up stones to throw them at you.
Now, you can avoid being thought of as a friend of the devil and being stoned to death *now by not believing the truth but it will eventually and eternally catch up to you. I would be encouraged to trust Christ and let the stones fall where they may. There are better things coming for those who do.
“O my great High Priest, pour down upon me streams of needful grace, bless me in all my undertaking, in every thought of my mind, every word of my lips, every step of my feet, every deed of my hands.”
Valley of Vision, After Prayer [277]
Christ is with us and ministering to us as our great high priest. Pray this for yourself and each other! He will pour down grace upon us.
Be careful how you suffer. The reality is suffering will come to all people in some form or fashion throughout our lives. In part because we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people. God created this world and it functions a particular way and when we do not follow his way or someone else doesn’t follow his way then suffering occurs.
In 1 Peter 4, some of that suffering that happens to Christians is a test for us. Fiery trials are meant to reveal where we are and if we are in fact trusting the Lord. Indeed, each test either matures our faith or reveals a lack of faith.
How we understand suffering in our lives matters. Peter describes it as sharing in the sufferings of Christ in 4:13. He goes on to encourage us to rejoice in them because if you are rejoicing in your sufferings now you will rejoice with exultation when Christ returns. Peter even calls those who suffer for the name of Christ blessed. Why? Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on us.
However, we can suffer wrongly. There are consequences for evil even in this world…even for troublesome meddlers. But if we suffer as a Christian, we are not to be ashamed. If we suffer due to consequences of sin then we ought to be ashamed. May our suffering be for the name and may it glorify the Lord.
How do you do this? Is there a “How to” YouTube video to learn this? Well here’s how it ends:
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
Trust the Lord and do what it right according to him. Let us pray for each other to know God’s ways and trust and gladly obey him.
I am encouraged as I read through Jeremiah to see the obedience of some to accept hard things God pronounced against them that will essentially last for 70 years. In chapters 26-29 this morning, their obedience to give themselves over to Babylon which came from the Lord through Jeremiah was displaying their TRUST in the Lord.
This has been a good reminder of how obedience works with faith. They heard His word prophesied and it was a hard word but they trusted the Lord to do what He promised. Like this one:
Jeremiah 24:6-7
[6] I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. [7] I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah sent the exiles a letter that said, “Settle in. It’s going to be a while.” Build houses. Plant gardens. Get married. Pray for the city to prosper and you will prosper too. But remember that the Lord will keep his eye on you and you will return to the promised land someday.
There’s a nice connection in my reading from James this morning too concerning endurance.
James 5:7-8
[7] Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. [8] You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
We too are waiting for that heavenly city, the lasting one. There we will be under the perfect reign of our perfect King who will also be our Shepherd/Pastor forever as our great High Priest. He will protect us forever and lead us in worship and service of our great God—forever.
At the beginning of our journey with Christ, we see things differently than we do later. It seems one way but later we see the true reality of what happened.
Notice how the disciples understand how they found Jesus but in reality notice how it really happened:
John 1:35-37
[35] The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, [36] and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” [37] The two disciples *heard him say this, and they *followed Jesus.
We know that God sent John to testify of the coming of the LORD. He does that to these two disciples and they follow Jesus. But notice how they explain that to Peter:
John 1:41
[41] He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have *found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
The pattern continues with Jesus and Philip:
John 1:43
[43] The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He *found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
John 1:45
[45] Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have *found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
God is the one who pursues us and finds us! But you might say, “But were they not looking for Messiah anyway?” But then I’d ask, “Why are they looking for Messiah and how do they know what to look for?” The answer is God had made promises to them through his word.
We must not miss the fact that God sought us and bought us with his redeeming blood. He is the one who reconciled himself to us. If we get this wrong we will not live a very Christ-centered life. It will be me-centered and we know how that plays out. It is simple but true: God saves! Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
This was an observation and a continuation from yesterday’s encouragement.
After Jesus sought his scattered disciples and gave them evidence of his resurrection he gives them even more—understanding of God’s Word.
Luke 24:45-46
[45] Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, [46] and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
The resurrection of Christ resulted in the new exodus…the new creation. The result of understanding how all that fit together and what they should do in light of it is further evidence not of just the living Savior but the living Word.
—Repentance and forgiveness was to be proclaimed to all nations.
—The promise of the Holy Spirit was coming.
—They worshipped Jesus (instead of hiding).
—They gladly obeyed as they returned to Jerusalem to wait on the promise.
—And they returned with great joy!
This is what happened when they understood the Word. May the Lord open our eyes to understand his word and resurrection and may it have the same effect on us.
The sheep are scattered when Jesus, their Shepherd, was struck. I’m glad they ran for the hills or I might suspect this story to be a fraud. Yet they respond as we all expect but it’s Jesus that does the unexpected.
He being the Good Shepherd goes after the scattered sheep.
Luke 24:36
[36] As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
This is one of the more encouraging responses to me. When people abandon me the betrayal is hard for me to overcome. It’s hard to want people who do not want you. But Jesus isn’t like us.
He goes after his disciples. He meets them in their unbelief and gives them evidence beyond measure. He continues to keep them and protect their faith not only for these disciples but for us too.
Your desire to question and touch the real thing—Jesus himself—was done by others so that you might believe in the resurrection. And if the resurrection is true then that changes everything on this side of the grave.
Live with the assurance that if you are united to Christ by faith then eternal joy awaits us when we behold his face!
The Word Is Not Imprisoned 