Servants, Friends and Brethren

It is inspiring and endearing when God takes personal ownership of people.  In common speech we take ownership of all kinds of things, even things which are not technically ours like "my show" on TV or "my sleep."  God addressed Aaron and Miriam in Numbers 12:6-8:  "Then He said, "Hear now My words: "If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. ⁷ Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. ⁸ I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"  God made Himself known to Moses His faithful servant, and thus rebuked those who made false accusations against Him.

Caleb was another man who trusted and served God.  Those people to whom God revealed His glory and signs yet did not heed His voice would be unable to enter the land of promise.  In contrast God said in Numbers 14:22-24, "But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it."  David was another man God identified as His servant after he offered to build a permanent structure in Jerusalem for the presence of God to dwell.  2 Samuel 7:4-5 revealed, "But it happened that night that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ "Go and tell My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: "Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?"  Moses, Caleb and David were men to whom God revealed Himself and they listened to Him, were faithful, followed God and sought to bless Him.

Abraham was a man to whom God revealed Himself on the more intimate level as friend, for it is written in James 2:23:  "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God." (Is. 41:8)  Amazingly, God was revealed to mankind in human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ who told His disciples in John 15:14-15:  "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."  How incredible is it, that friendship with the almighty God is possible by His grace!

After Jesus rose from the dead, a new and unprecedented relationship was made possible by the power of the Gospel.  See how Jesus referred to His disciples who had forsook Him and fled on the night He was betrayed in John 20:17-18:  "Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'" ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her."  Jesus did not send Mary to speak to blood relations--his half-brothers or half-sisters with Mary his mother--but to His disciples.  He called them brethren because by faith in Jesus they had been adopted into the family of God.  How remarkable it is that sinners can be called "My brethren" by Jesus because of the work He has accomplished through His death and resurrection.

Those who have been adopted into God's family are His human brethren though we remain His humble subjects; we show ourselves His friends by believing and obeying Jesus.  Since He has made Himself known to us it is fitting we also are faithful, follow Him fully and seek to bless Him.  We also ought to serve and show ourselves friends to the brethren, for we have been made one Body in Christ.  We are all different but are partakers of the same Holy Spirit and same LORD.  Praise the LORD Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  May our lips show forth His praise and our lives bless His holy name who calls us brethren, having been purchased with His own blood.

Not of This World

I appreciate the perspective and insight of G.K. Chesterton who masterfully communicated in an intellectually stimulating and satisfying way how mankind's existence reveals the reality of a God Who created man and everything else.  In response to cave paintings Chesterton claimed, "Art is the signature of man" and if this is true, then mankind is indeed the signature of God who created artists of every kind.  The biblical account of Genesis says God created mankind unique from all other creatures in His own image, and thus accounts for the vast difference between people and animals.  Chesterton wrote:

"The simplest truth about man is that he is a very strange being; almost in the sense of being a stranger on the earth.  In all sobriety, he has much more of the external appearance of one bringing alien habits from another land than of a mere growth of this one.  He has an unfair advantage and an unfair disadvantage.  He cannot sleep in his own skin; he cannot trust his own instincts.  He is at once a creator moving miraculous hands and fingers and a kind of cripple.  He is wrapped in artificial bandages called clothes; he is propped on artificial crutches called furniture.  His mind has the same doubtful liberties and the same wild limitations.  Alone among the animals, he is shaken with the beautiful madness called laughter; as if he had caught sight of some secret in the very shape of the universe hidden from the universe itself.  Alone among the animals he feels the need of averting his thought from the root realities of his own bodily being; of hiding them as in the presence of some higher possibility which creates the mystery of shame.  Whether we praise these things as natural to man or abuse them as artificial in nature, they remain in the same sense unique.  This is realised by the whole popular instinct called religion...It is not natural to see man as a natural product.  It is not common sense to call man a common object of the country or the seashore.  It is not seeing straight to see him as an animal.  It is not sane.  It is a sin against the light; against the broad daylight of proportion which is the principle of all reality.  It is reached by stretching a point, by making a case, by artificially selecting a certain light and shade, by bringing into prominence the lesser or lower things which may happen to be similar.  The solid thing standing in the sunlight, the thing we can walk round and see from all sides, is quite different.  It is also quite extraordinary; and the more sides we see of it the more extraordinary it seems.  It is emphatically not a thing that follows or flows naturally from anything else." (Chesterton, G. K. (2008). The everlasting man. Ignatius Press. pages 36-37)

Man is not an accident, product of nature or a social construct:  people male and female have been created in the image of the almighty God, people who are more than bodies but possess an eternal soul.  There is a sense of morality and duty borne from a conscience, an individual will we submit to God as Master or shall master us.  Man alone has senses animals cannot understand or express:  indignation based upon morality, judgment according to wisdom, desire for intimacy and honesty, modes of communication and expression, to appreciate kind words and gratitude, the horror of sin and the delight of forgiveness.  I was once told by a pastor, "People are weird and life isn't fair."  This is true for we are indeed strange, unique beings all created and sustained by the grace of God.  Compared to animals in nature man is unique, and compared to all other people Jesus is even more unique--truly not of this world.

Praise God for His power to create, redeem and save!  On our own we would have all remained like beasts before God clawing for scraps in the dark, but glory to God as Zecharias prophesied of Jesus Christ who brings knowledge of salvation and forgiveness of sins in Luke 1:78-78:  "...Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; ⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."  The God who said, "Let there be light" and there was light is the God who has revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus, the One who alone gives rest for our souls.  Without God revealing this to us, we wouldn't have known we had souls or that rest is needed or possible!  What riches of knowledge, grace, forgiveness and love are freely provided for all who are born again through the Gospel:  in the world but not of the world, now eternal citizens of heaven by grace.

Keep Being Transformed

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Romans 12:1-2

God can do what no one else can:  change us and keep changing us for good.  These verses provided an "Aha!" moment for me as I considered how God transforms us when we are born again and our need to continue to be transformed.  When I was a kid, "Transformers" were a very cool toy marketed as "Robots in Disguise."  What appeared to be a tank, truck or car could be "transformed" into a formidable robot.  It fits the definition of transformation of a marked change, but Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were simply wearing clever disguises.  They were really extraterrestrial robots that could take the shape of a vehicle to blend in among others until the villainous Decepticons showed up.  This is not what the Bible means when it says "Be transformed," but it has possibly impacted the way we define the phrase.  It can lead to a mistaken idea that we are transformed at conversion from death to life, from being dead in sins to being alive to God--and that there is no additional transformation necessary or possible.

This passage and the testimony of scripture hold forth a totally different reality.  The word "transform" in the Greek is what our word "metamorphosis" comes from.  There are a handful of animals that go through metamorphosis, and this is a complete change inside and out from a swimming tadpole with gills to a leaping frog that breathes air or the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a moth or butterfly.  Amazingly, while we are justified at conversion there remains an opportunity and responsibility for the child of God who has presented themselves to God to daily be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  We have all seen people change for the better or worse because of trials, pains, addictions and sin.  Our bodies change as we age; our minds and perspectives can also be shaped by our experiences.  We can truthfully say, "I will never be the same" in a positive or negative sense due to what has happened to us:  followers of Jesus Christ can say this because we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  "Be ye transformed" is in the present, passive imperative tense, a command for all believers.

Humans are naturally resistant against humbling ourselves when we are in the right, and we hate to admit we have been wrong.  Having been born again by the Holy Spirit, we are given divine insight of our need to keep changing our thoughts and actions to align with Him.  We have gone from living in the dark to seeing ourselves in truth.  A common and immature response to this illumination is to use our knowledge to point out what is wrong with others or even the church, in pride ignoring completely our need to continue to be transformed and be aligned ourselves in practice with the perfect will of God.  God has changed us from who we used to be but it doesn't follow we are now fully who He desires we be.  The spiritual exercises of prayer, humbly reading and receiving God's word in faith, being in fellowship with other believers and receiving correction work to keep transforming us more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

If we needed to pass from death to life through the Gospel received by faith in Jesus Christ, if we needed to repent of our sins to be forgiven and have fellowship with God, then we need to continue being transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Christians have been sanctified by God, separated from unbelievers as a precious inheritance for Himself.  For every Christian today who lives on earth there is a time in the future when we will be wholly sanctified in the presence of God in eternal glory.  But in the meantime we are to keep being transformed by the renewing of our minds, choosing to be sanctified for our Master's use.  The use of "transformed" in Romans 12:2 and transfiguration of Jesus are the only time metamorphoo is used in the Bible, for all other uses of "transformed" in scripture refer to the devil or his ministers who merely disguise themselves as righteous.  Instead of disguising our faults to hide them or using grace as a cloak for sin, we ought to be those who continue to be transformed, changed from within by faith and obedience to Jesus who is altogether glorious.  Having been transformed, we are to keep being transformed daily as we present ourselves to Jesus to do His will.

Our Bountiful Refuge

The heading of my Bible of Psalm 142 attributes it to David with this description:  "A prayer when he was in the cave."  When King Saul's murderous intentions were revealed through his pursuit of David and the killing of the priests at Nob, David was forced into hiding.  It seemed wherever he turned his whereabouts were reported to Saul who was never far behind.  Though David had hundreds of men who followed him, they were nothing compared to the thousands of mighty men that attended King Saul.  Even in the cave it was evident his trust remained steadfast in God who was his true refuge.

Psalm 142:4-5 reads, "Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul. ⁵ I cried out to You, O LORD: I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."  David felt alone in his troubles, but he knew he was not alone.  In the dark recesses of the cave David hid from the sight of Saul, yet his eyes were fixed on God in whom David sought refuge by faith and reliance upon Him.  Perhaps out of fear of retribution people did not acknowledge how David had been wrongly persecuted, yet David was convinced God was his portion to receive and cling to.  What a great example this is of the necessity for those who trust in God to continue steadfastly by faith in God even when all seems against us.

William Gurnall provided insights to this end in Christian in Complete Armour, how courage and resolution is required for God's people to wrestle with and overcome difficulties God allows:

"All Israel came joyfully out of Egypt under Moses' conduct, yea, and a mixed multitude with them, but when their bellies were a little pinched with hunger, and their greedy desires of a present Canaan deferred, yea, instead of peace and plenty, war and penury, they, like white-livered soldiers, are ready to fly from their colours, and make a dishonourable retreat into Egypt.  The greatest part of those who profess the gospel, when they come to push of pike, to be tried what they will do, deny to endure for Christ, grow sick of their enterprise.  Alas!  Their hearts fail them, they are like the waters of Bethlehem.  But if they must dispute their passage with so many enemies, they will even content themselves with their own cistern, and leave heaven to others that will venture more for it.  O how many part with Christ at this cross-way!  Like Orpah, they go a furlong or two with Christ, while he goes to take them off from their worldly hopes, and bids them prepare for hardship, and then they fairly kiss and leave him, loath indeed to lose heaven, but more loath to buy it at so dear a rate." (Gurnall, William. The Christian in Complete Armour. Banner of Truth Trust, 2002.

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See the confidence of David to see the light and goodness of God in the land of the living, for he cried out to the God he knew heard and would answer in the affirmative.  David concluded his prayer in Psalm 142:7, "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me."  God was mightier than David's own flesh, the wicked men who urged him to slay king Saul in the name of the LORD or all the enemies that surrounded him to destroy him.  No one on earth cared for David's soul, but God was a praiseworthy Saviour who would deal bountifully with David.  With God as his portion David had more than he could receive or fully appreciate, so great is the power and love of God towards those who fear and trust Him.

Jesus assured His disciples in this world we will have tribulation, but He also commanded them to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world.  Jesus is our refuge who has delivered us from the prison of sin and death, and His righteousness has been imputed to us.  Let us praise His holy name, for He has dealt bountifully with us--and always will.