Have you ever considered the span of time encompassed in how Jesus and Paul present the Lord’s Supper? Let me explain what I mean.
PAST: When Jesus introduced His remembrance the night before His crucifixion, He did it in the context of the Passover meal. He and the disciples gathered to eat this traditional meal as a reminder of Israel’s deliverance from the cruel hand of Pharoah, king of Egypt. Jesus connects that event with the present; “And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15). Israel’s freedom from oppression required the blood of a lamb for each household. The lamb that was killed for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a picture of what Jesus was going to do the next day as He sacrificed Himself on the cross to deliver anyone who believed in Him. What He was about to do was provide freedom from all sins and the eternal penalty that sin brought for all who believe in Him for salvation. In other words, Jesus was helping the disciples look back at what God did in the past to understand how it linked to the present and future. Sin is a cruel master from which we cannot deliver ourselves. It requires a sinless sacrifice. God gave His sinless Son to be that sacrifice. We look back and with the help of Scripture and the Holy Spirit remember all that Jesus did to redeem us and set us free. Tomorrow we will look at the present.
0 Comments
Tim and Tom are leaving Monday for Ecuador to introduce God’s Plan for His Disciples (GPHD) and God’s Plan for His Church (GPHC), to leaders from the Quechua church (July 10th to 18th). The potential from training these leaders is huge. There are 5.2 mil. Quechua in Peru, 2.6 mil. in Ecuador and 1.8 mil. in Bolivia. Be praying as they launch this training to believers who need a fresh view of the authority of Scripture that frees from tradition but empowers for spreading and living the gospel. Here is part of a note we received from a Quechua brother. “We are following the Discipleship course in our congregation and the headquarters in Quito. We are already in lesson 3. The brothers from a church in Riobamba and in the province of Bolívar are interested, two churches (60 participants) for the honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are very thankful that two local leaders who were trained before are joining our team. As we have often said, we strive to get the indigenous leaders to take ownership of training their own people. This becomes far more effective and increases the effectiveness of native people being able to grasp the concepts. Our team will also introduce the new training manual, God’s Plan for Young Disciples. Our translator in Quito is already working on the translation of this book. With the potential of reaching beyond the boarders of Ecuador, we ask for specific prayers that God will make this trip a springboard to other places and people in S. America. Pray for safety as Ecuador has the highest rate of COVID per capita of any country. Samuel never weakened throughout his leadership of Israel. When Israel chose to have a king over them rather than the Lord, Samuel did not lose his ability to discern a disobedient spirit in Saul. When he acted presumptuously in making a sacrifice, “Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Do we ever put performance above obedience to the Lord? Sadly, yes! It’s a very hard concept for us to grasp that obedience to the Lord is a clear indicator of whether we are listening to Him. To listen means we value His presence and what honors Him more than any personal recognition. I did not focus on the severe judgment that came on Eli and his family for putting themselves before the Lord, but we see the same judgment on Saul. “And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue” (13:13-14). These are moments when God’s Word requires us to examine ourselves and see where we fall short, repent, confess, and seek God’s forgiveness. Eli and Saul were never restored to leadership. David accepted the Lord’s rebuke and was restored. “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:19–21).
The preparation for this role started with Samuel hearing the Lord speak to him. The presence of God was very real to this young man. There is authority in God’s servants when they serve as coming out from the presence of God. It is not authority claimed by any individual but inherent in the nature of being with God, listening to and obeying what He says. “All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord.” There was no organization, committee, denomination, or ordination council to confirm Samuel. It was simply the evident power of God working in him through a well-tuned ear and heart. What if we sought the presence of God, not just for our sake, but for the sake of turning the people of God back to the relationship God always intended for them? What would change in leadership? How would our churches change and how would our witness impact the nations? We continue to consider a time in Israel’s history when leadership had totally failed, and they did not know the presence of God. He was going to raise up a new leader who would know His presence and be able to hear His voice. The selfless passion of Hannah resulted in dedicating her son to the Lord; “I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11).
But when Hannah brought her son to the temple as an act of worship, it was not going to be easy for the boy Samuel. God was going to call Samuel and at first he thought it was Eli calling him. “And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy” (3:8). The contrast between these two; an old man deaf to God speaking versus a young boy hearing God speak to him is shocking. It was God’s intent that Samuel learned to listen and hear God’s voice very early. We will see tomorrow that God has some hard things to say to Samuel about Eli and his family. I wonder what God is saying today about leaders in the Church. Is anyone experiencing the presence of God enough to know what He is saying. It might be hard for us to hear but if we are going to lead and have a godly impact on the Church, we must have spiritual sensitivity to the presence of God. Only then will we have the boldness to confront sin and decline. Jim Cymbala in writing about the presence of God, comments about the life of D. L. Moody. “It must begin with someone, even a boy, becoming acquainted with and treasuring the presence of the Lord. The latter part of the nineteenth century was deeply impacted by the evangelistic efforts of a layperson named D. L. Moody. How did this uneducated, untrained man without oratorical skills accomplish so much? He experienced the presence of God.”
Israel had fallen into centuries of moral decay and “the word of the Lord was rare in those days” (1 Samuel 3:1). Why was this so? The priesthood had descended to a point that when a woman with a broken heart came to the temple weeping and pleading with the Lord in prayer, Eli the priest accused her of being drunk (1:14). When leaders fail to actively know the presence of God, they also fail in discernment. It was obvious that Hannah knew the presence of God despite Eli’s failure. She persisted in prayer until she knew God had heard her request. Do we give up praying for hard things because we do not sense God’s presence? In a very unusual setting, and the only time in the four Gospels, Jesus makes a profound statement. Some Greeks wanted to see Jesus, probably because they saw how the Jewish leaders rejected Him. Whatever their motive may have been, Jesus uses the moment to teach a vital principle.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24). The first application of this verse is that Jesus would not be able to take anyone back to heaven with Him “unless” He first die. A grain of wheat cannot produce more grains of wheat “unless” it is put into the ground (dies) and new life results out of death. Jesus would remain “alone” if He did not go to the cross, die, be put in a tomb, and rise the third day. Jesus immediately makes an application to this principle in the following verse: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (12:25). If we are not willing to put our life down in death (to ourselves and to the world), there will be no fruitfulness in anything we do. Our life prior to death with Jesus must be hated as unfruitful and of no use. When we are willing to die with Christ, God gives us a whole new life and world of possibilities - impacting many others with eternal life that comes from Jesus. Let’s be a little more specific about freedom for those who are in Christ. Before coming to Christ for deliverance from our condition and history of sin that required eternal judgment, we were “slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6). This condition brought death (physical and spiritual). Physical death was passed on from Adam to the whole human race. All die! So spiritual death passed on to all, but only until the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross is accepted by us.
In God’s infinite wisdom, love, and grace, He provided a “free gift…eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”(6:23). Paul expresses this again in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” We often have this strange idea that being saved from penalty of eternal death and judgment means we have freedom to live as we wish now that we are saved. That is not freedom. In giving us this “free gift,”God has also given the Holy Spirit “to be with [us] forever” (John 14:16). He is the constant reminder that we “no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” It is impossible to live in true freedom and live for self. When we have died with Christ, we are “set free from sin” (Romans 6:7) which was slavery and bondage, and now have a new freedom that is controlled and energized by the Spirit of Christ. I believe the days we are in mirror Paul’s concern in the first letter he wrote, Galatians 5:1. Many who did not understand grace wanted to put a yoke of bondage on the Church. Paul understood how serious it was to seek freedom in any source other than the Lord Jesus Christ. No individual, organization or political party can guarantee true freedom. If we seek any of these human sources to provide true liberty, we will find ourselves in bondage to ideologies that are not biblical.
Paul says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). When God raised Jesus from the dead, resurrection became an eternal proof that God was perfectly satisfied with the sacrifice of His Son! There is nothing more we need to do for God to accept us. WE ARE FREE IN CHRIST ALONE! No man-made rules or traditions, even those kept for generations, can ever provide freedom and liberty in the same way that God has given us in Christ. Many false teachers make extreme promises that can never be fulfilled or they are very temporary. Freedom in Christ is eternal! It is critical that we stand firm in this freedom. How do we maintain this freedom in ourselves? Make sure to pass everything through the lens of Scripture. Do not add or take away anything that God says in His word. Read the context of any verse and ask the Spirit to teach and give you understanding. Expect opposition from legal minds that want to deceive you and lead you astray. STAND FIRM! There are times when I think about how my life will end. In addressing such a subject, I assure you that I am not at all afraid of physical death. But death is not my concern in this blog. I sometimes ponder how close to the end I will be able to continue some sort of ministry.
It was near the beginning of 2015 that I took my last trip overseas to lead training sessions. Back surgeries and other factors meant that long flights were no longer possible. I remember lying in a hospital bed after one of my surgeries complaining to the Lord that my years of ministry were over. I felt His gentle rebuke telling me that I had no idea what HE had planned for my future. Since then, it has been amazing! From my desk, I travel all over the world through our training material in more than twenty languages. I feel more excited than ever as I interact with brothers and sisters in places I could not go even if I could travel. Luke ends his account of Paul’s life as if it were the pinnacle of his ministry; he “welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30-31). That is the way I would love to end my life! This was Paul’s attitude in spite of knowing he would lose his head any day. That did not alter his heart for God’s work! |
Archives
December 2023
Link To Our Old Blog:
|