Consider Jesus

 During a prayer meeting last night I was led to read Hebrews 12:1-3 and the exhortation to consider Jesus in verse 3 spoke to my heart:  "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."  As followers of Christ we are to lay aside weights and sin, run with endurance the race before us, looking unto Jesus who was the righteous Son of God yet maligned like none before Him or since.  The hostility He faced ended up with Him dying a brutal death on Calvary, and because of the joy that was before Him went up to Jerusalem and embraced it.

We are greatly blessed to have the example of Jesus Christ's endurance and perseverance though it was costly coupled with His resurrection from the dead.  Jesus did not hold forth empty platitudes when He said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  Disciples of Jesus to this day can be disillusioned because we expect to find peace in circumstances changing for the better, but it is only in Christ we have peace.  In this world we will face tribulation, trials and pain yet despite these we are to be of good cheer because Jesus has overcome.  Before His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to the Father Jesus was already victorious and prevailed.  Fullness of joy and peace that passes understanding is received through faith when we consider Jesus.

Consider for a moment who Jesus is, the Son of God sent to save lost sinners.  Consider the love He demonstrated by dying for sinners who were hostile towards Him.  Consider the manner of His sacrificial death, how He graciously laid down His life when He could have summoned angelic armies to deliver Him.  Consider what Jesus accomplished when laws and ordinances that condemned us were nailed to the cross, Satan's head was crushed according to God's promise, and all who believe in Jesus have been delivered from death and hell.  Consider Jesus who said, "I will never leave or forsake you" and gives freely the Holy Spirit to teach, help and guide us into all truth.

Tribulation and dashed expectations lead us to being weary and discouraged in our souls when we forget to consider Jesus:  how He loves us, what He has done to save us and the eternal hope we have in Him.  Considering Jesus has a way of causing our problems to shrink as our eyes regain proper focus on God rather than ourselves.  Suddenly we realise in Christ all our needs are abundantly met and we discover strength where there was only weakness:  this strength is not our own but is given us by faith in Jesus.  As Jesus for the joy that was before Him endured the cross, so we joyfully choose to consider Jesus in our decisions, attitudes and actions who enables us to take up our cross daily and follow Him.  Any hostility we face cannot be compared with the consolation we have in our LORD and Saviour, even as no suffering in this life compares with the glory which will someday be revealed in us by God's grace.

And so we run joyfully.  We can keep running because Jesus is the One who has made us new creations, has set the race before us, and He has overcome.

Who Jesus Is Matters

After Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, He taught the people and preached the Gospel in the temple.  What I find compelling is how the way Jesus evangelised is quite different to many modern methods and approaches.  Never in the Gospel accounts did Jesus employ a formula to salvation.  Everyone who heard Jesus was confronted by who Jesus claimed to be and whether they believed Him or not.

I was struck how the major emphasis of the gospel can be the process of how people can obtain salvation rather than primarily focusing on who Jesus is.  There is a way Christians can share the gospel as a checklist for people to tick while the identity of Jesus as the Son of God is glossed over.  The question Jesus posed to Peter is a central tenet of the Gospel:  "Who do you say that I am?"  People had many opinions and theories about who Jesus was, and the scriptures reveal He is the Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus is the promised Messiah who did many signs and wonders confirming His claim to be Emmanuel, God with us.

One thing the priests, scribes, Pharisees and people noticed was how Jesus spoke with the authority of God like no one before Him.  The greatest prophets of God in Israel prefaced statements with, "Thus saith the LORD..." but the phrase was never uttered by Jesus:  He did not speak for God but spoke as God.  When He quoted the Law of Moses He said, "It has been written...but I say unto you..."  Before Jesus healed a paralysed man He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  The scribes took umbrage at that statement and judged Jesus as a blasphemer because they knew only God can forgive sins.  Jesus knew their thoughts and addressed them directly and said in Mark 2:9-12, "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? ¹⁰ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the paralytic, ¹¹ I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." ¹² Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

The Gospel is the good news of who Jesus is, the promised Messiah God has sent to seek and save the lost.  Belief in Jesus Christ as God is central to the Gospel as seen in Phillip's interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch.  This foreign dignitary was confused about how to understand and interpret a passage from Isaiah 53.  Acts 8:35-37 reads, "Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" ³⁷ Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."  The interaction of Paul and Silas with the Philippian jailer is a good example of the fundamental simplicity of the gospel.  The jailer ,who was about to commit suicide, was greatly shaken.  He fell down before Paul and Silas and cried out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  Acts 16:31 says, "So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."  This is the gospel Jesus preached.

Belief in Jesus Christ results in being born again, our souls miraculously regenerated by the Holy Spirit.  It is true we are to repent of our sins, deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.  We are called to abide in Christ, bear much fruit, be baptised in water, make disciples of Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit, to obey Jesus and love one another as He loves us.  But all these pursuits are pointless and impossible unless we have done the very first thing:  to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who became a sacrifice for sinners on Calvary and rose from the dead in glory.  Our salvation is by faith in Christ alone as Ephesians 2:8-10 says:  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  Who do you say Jesus is?

Riches that Profit

"Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! ⁵ Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven."

Proverbs 23:4-5

It is good to set goals during our lives, perhaps even financial ones.  But there is one goal which will never be satisfied even when it is obtained:  the desire for more.  Dissatisfaction with our current income or financial net-worth leads to a lack of thankfulness and generosity with what God has given us.  Many people set their sights on being millionaires from their youth and many have obtained this desire.  There is no evidence the more money people have the happier and satisfied they are in life.  In fact, the evidence seems to suggest otherwise.

The Swedish pop band ABBA wrote a hit song in the '70's titled, "Money, Money, Money."  The chorus repeats, "All the things I could do, if I had a little money.  It's a rich man's world."  A desire for a little money, which as King Solomon says makes wings and flies away, leads to a need for more money.  The perspective of the ABBA song is one of longing for more money so life would require less work and offer more fun.  But this approach assumes being able to afford the things you cannot do now is where happiness can be found.  Through his experience Solomon has something to say about that.

King Solomon was a man in the ancient world with unrivaled wealth, power and peace in the height of his reign over Israel.  He received vast revenues of gold and silver annually to amass anything he wanted:  he acquired land, male and female servants, bought chariots and horses, completed building projects, hired professional chefs and singers, and even imported peacocks and apes.  He gave himself to entertainment, wine, women and song.  Few can say what Solomon did in Ecclesiastes 2:10:  "Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my reward from all my labour."  After doing anything Solomon wanted his conclusion, however, was very different from the romantic notions of the ABBA song:  "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun."  In the end Solomon, in his great wisdom, realised all he had and did was empty and pointless.

Solomon did not set his eyes on what was not:  he looked upon all he accumulated and accomplished and determined it was vanity.  He could not keep it, and all he had worked for would pass to another who had not worked for it.  Alcohol could not deaden this reality, and all the entertainment, laughter and excitement he enjoyed could not deliver him from depression and hopelessness.  There are few of us who could possibly make the claims Solomon did based upon experience and so we bop along to the ABBA ideal:  if I had a little more money I could work less (though useful work was a source of satisfaction for Solomon) and do more things because "it's always sunny" in a rich man's world.  And exactly when is a person considered rich?  This is a strange dynamic because the "rich" may not view themselves this way as it is more an elusive feeling than objective fact.  The richest people may live like paupers because they do not want to lose what they have--ignoring that one day it will all pass to others:  to family, friends, the government or foundations run by people they cannot hold accountable.

The Bible does not teach we live in a rich man's world:  by grace we live in a world governed by God.  True satisfaction is not found in health, wealth or financial prosperity but in the God who supplies all good things.  Comparing ourselves with others is unwise, and setting our eyes on what is not causes us to pursue the mirage that a little more money is what we need.  Riches certainly make themselves wings and fly away, yet the soul that rests in the LORD and His abundant provision is eternally rich.  The day we believe we need more than we need is a day when faith is exchanged for walking by sight and caters to the love of this world.  The true riches are found by faith in Jesus Christ, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 8:9:  "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich."  Isn't it wise to receive the riches of the Gospel, to value Christ over our temporary net worth on earth?

Read Good Books...Again

 King Solomon admonished his son in Ecclesiastes 12:12, "...of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh."  It is no easy feat to write a book (especially that is widely read), and it is easier to collect books than read them.  It would be a great shame to put our effort into acquiring books to our library without reading them with careful consideration.  Whether our books be many or few, their primary value is not as familiar decor:  we ought to read and re-read them as we welcome their input like dear friends.  The pile of books to be read for the first time can be interrupted as the LORD leads by books we already possess.

One book which has proved to be an invaluable resource over the years is C.S. Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students.  It is by far the most useful book I own outside the scriptures, as it has provided great insights, wise counsel and encouragement from a man of godly character.  One of the chapters which Spurgeon writes from intense personal experience is that on The Minister's Fainting Fits.  The "prince of preachers" was no stranger to seasons of despondency, and the chapter is steeped in compassion as he urges ministers to continue to keep their hand to the plough in following Jesus and fulfill the ministry given to us according to the richness of God's grace. Following are some highlights from the chapter which work to uplift the downcast:

"As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may it be written of all the servants of the Lord.  Fits of depression come over the most of us.  Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down.  The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.  There may be here and there men of iron, to whom wear and tear work no perceptible detriment, but surely the rust frets even these; and as for ordinary men, the Lord knows, and makes them to know, that they are but dust..."

These infirmities may be no detriment to a man's career of special usefulness; they may even have been imposed upon him by divine wisdom as necessary qualifications for his peculiar course of service.  Some plants owe their medicinal qualities to the march in which they grow; others to the shades in which alone they flourish.  There are precious fruits put forth by the moon as well as by the sun.  Boats need ballast as well as sail; a drag on the carriage-wheel is not hindrance when the road runs downhill.  Pain has probably in some cases developed genius; hunting out the soul which otherwise might have slept like a lion in its den.  Had it not been for the broken wing, some might have lost themselves in the clouds, some even of those choice doves who now bear the olive-branch in the their mouths and show the way to the ark..."

The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking.  Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body...Even the earth must like fallow and have her Sabbaths, and so must we...Rest time is not waste time.  It is economy to gather fresh strength.  Look at the mower in the summer's day, with so much to cut down ere the sun sets.  He pauses in his labour--is he a sluggard?  He looks for his stone, and begins to draw it up and down his scythe, with a "rink-a-tink--rink-a-tink--rink-a-tink."  Is that idle music--is he wasting precious moments?  How much he might have mown while he has been ringing out those notes on his scythe!  But he is sharpening his tool, and he will do far more when once again he gives his strength to those long sweeps which lay the grass prostrate before him.  Even thus a little pause prepares the mind for greater service in the good cause..."

If it be enquired why the Valley of the Shadow of Death must so often be traversed by the servants of King Jesus, the answer is not far to find.  All this is promotive of the Lord's mode of working which is summed up in these words:  "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, said the Lord."  Instruments shall be used, but their intrinsic weakness shall be clearly manifested; there shall be no division of the glory, no diminishing the honour due to the Great Worker.  The man shall be emptied of self, and then filled with the Holy Ghost.  In his own apprehension he shall be like a sere leaf driven of the tempest, and then shall be strengthened into a brazen wall against the enemies of truth.  To hide pride from the worker is the great difficulty.  Uninterrupted success and unfading joy in it would be more than our weak heads could bear..."

By all the castings down of His servants God is glorified, for they are led to magnify Him when He sets them on their feet, and even while prostrate in the dust their faith yields Him praise.  They speak all the more sweetly of His faithfulness, and are the more firmly established in His love.  Such mature men as some elderly preachers are, could scarcely have been produced if they had not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and made to see their own emptiness and the vanity of all things round about them.  Glory be to God for the furnace, the hammer, and the file.  Heaven shall be all the fuller of bliss because we have been filled with anguish here below, and earth shall be better tilled because of our training in the school of adversity..."

The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble.  Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary ministerial experience.  Should the power of depression be more than ordinary, think not that all is over with your usefulness.  Cast not away your confidence, for it hath great recompense of reward.  Even if the enemy's foot be on your neck, expect to rise and overthrow him.  Cast the burden of the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future, upon the Lord, who forsaketh not His saints.  Live by the day--ay, by the hour.  Put no trust in frames and feelings.  Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement.  Trust in God alone, and lean not on the needs of human help.  Be not surprised when friends fail you: it is a failing world. Never count upon immutability in man:  inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disappointment.  The disciples of Jesus forsook Him; be not amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers: as they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from you with their departure.  Serve God with all your might while the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a season, you will have the less to regret.  Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are.  When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full except in the Lord." (Spurgeon, C. H. Lectures to My Students: Complete & Unabridged. Ministry Resources Library, Zondervan Publishing House, 1989. excerpts from pages 154-164.)