What Jesus Does

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another."

John 15:16-17

These things Jesus told His disciples during their celebration of the Passover are true for His followers today.  Whilst instructing His followers Jesus also emphasised their calling.  In choosing to pursue Christ as disciples we can mistakenly place our primary focus on what we have done and what we must do, but the words of Jesus remind us of His divine role.

Jesus corrected the disciples' thinking they had chosen Him because Jesus had chosen them first.  He knew them before they knew Him; He first called them and then they followed.  He chose them and appointed (ordained, commissioned) them to go and bear fruit which would remain.  Having supplied the good seed of the Word of God, it would doubtless bear much fruit according to the design of Jesus Christ.  Jesus also appointed them to pray to God, and whatever they asked in Jesus' name would be given.

See all the things Jesus did for His disciples before they even knew Him?  He chose and ordained them, He formulated a plan for them, and ensured they would be successful.  Do you realise as a child of God He has done the same for you?  You do not need to graduate from seminary, become a foreign missionary, or have a ministry position recognised by men to be eternally fruitful.  All we do is within the context of God's love, loving one another as He loves us.  Disillusionment comes when we figure fruitfulness depends primarily upon our efforts.  We imagine "fruit" to be immediate and qualitative and forget seeds take time to grow.  There is danger in departing from the good Word for anything else in an effort to accomplish our plans rather than seeking God.

I am blessed to know God has chosen me, ordained me, and commissioned me to go and bear fruit.  I am humbled to have access to God's throne room of grace to find mercy and help in time of need.  Since I am called to love as Jesus does and cannot do this without Him, how necessary it is to seek Him.  Looking outside on this spring morning, God knows how to make seeds germinate, flowers bloom, and trees flourish with new growth.  Won't He also do marvellously with His Word in the hearts of those prepared to receive Him?

Do You Suppose?

Have you ever thought something which turned out not to be true?  Expectations and assumptions which seem reasonable can often lead us astray.  A lot of things we think are simply wrong, and God has provided His Word to guide us into all truth.  I was surprised how often supposing and being mistaken correlate in scripture.  It is not always the case, but take a look at some examples:

• The disciples were rowing in the sea and supposed they had seen a spirit when it was in fact Jesus walking on the water (Mark 6:39).
• Joseph and Mary supposed Jesus had left Jerusalem in their company, but He had remained behind in the Temple (Luke 2:44).
• People supposed Jesus was the son of Joseph, but He had been conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary and was the Son of God (Luke 2:23).
• Mary Magdalene supposed Jesus was the gardener when He was her risen LORD (John 20:15).
• Peter corrected the people who supposed the Christians who were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues were drunk (Acts 2:15).
• Stephen related Moses supposed his fellow Hebrews would have understood he had been called by God to deliver them from the Eyptians, but they did not (Acts 7:25).
• The Philippian jailer woke up from sleep, being startled by an earthquake.  He supposed all the prisoners had fled when he saw all the doors open, and would have killed himself had not Paul shouted to say the prisoners had not escaped (Acts 16:27).
• The master of the ship and the centurion supposed they had obtained their purpose to winter in a haven of Crete, only to be driven by a massive tempest and shipwrecked on Malta (Acts 27:13).

Based on these examples, "supposing" obviously has many pitfalls.  We likely all (to some degree) assume and think many things which have no basis in reality.  No matter how much we know of the truth and think things through, assumptions can creep in.  I believe supposing leads to much unnecessary heartache and sorrow only wisdom and discernment from God can deliver us from.  When you discover things are not as you supposed do not lose heart, but seek the LORD and trust in Him.  God never supposes; He always knows.

The Best Bargain

Do you love to find a great bargain at the shops?  I know many people who will haggle or bargain even over fixed prices with great enthusiasm.  For me, however, I feel uncomfortable with haggling in shops even when it is the norm.  My bargaining has improved over the years after trips to Cambodia, Israel, and from buying appliances at local stores in Sydney, but I still don't enjoy it.  The time spent going back and forth debating over dollars never feels worth the effort in the end.  Even when I have obtained a better price, I wonder if I could have done better.  Anyone with me?

It occurred to me this morning bargaining may be more common than we recognise.  Even for those who hate haggling, it is in the self-centred nature of man to look for or be open to a better offer.  We make these kinds of bargains with ourselves all the time.  We weigh our options concerning eating, drinking, and exercise.  We reduce our calorie intake or increase exercise one day because we want to have dinner and desert at a restaurant that night.  People reduce consumption of alcohol or tobacco to have more money for other things or for health reasons.  We make sacrifices in one area and reward ourselves with other things.  Much of our lives are lived with constant tension between needs and desires, moderation and excess, indulgence and abstention.  Our motives and issues may be different, but this inner haggling happens.

As with decisions which effect the health of our bodies, we can bring this same approach to moral, biblical, and spiritual issues.  We make a mistake when we try to bargain with God concerning repentance and sin.  This happens so subtly it often escapes our notice.  We attempt to trade abstinence in one area for dabbling or indulgence in another - complete with arbitrary, self-imposed boundaries.  We will repent and put sin away from us if we see how it is negatively affecting our lives, but not just because God said so.  We can go so far as to refuse to obey unless our demands are met.  My patience runs thin quickly when it comes to making what I consider drastic changes to my diet.  In the past if I didn't see tangible, quantifiable results quickly from sacrifices, it wasn't long until I went back to my old ways.  In a spiritual sense we can do the same thing.  We can choose to love a person in obedience to Jesus but when it doesn't seem to work in our favour our unbelief rises up:  "See?  I loved that person and it didn't do anything!  What a waste."

The people of Israel provide a good example in the book of Judges when they found themselves oppressed by their enemies.  They cried out to God and He pointed out their chronic idolatry.  "I have saved you many times in the past but you chose to forsake Me.  Cry out to the gods you have chosen and see if they will save you," He said.  See the response of the people in Judges 10:15-16:  "And the children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray." ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel."  God's people confessed their sin, made their request, but did not make their repentance contingent upon God doing anything for their good.  They put away their idols and served the LORD.  And guess what?  They were still oppressed.  They remained in a miserable season and God's heart went out to them.  Eventually God would deliver His people according to His mercy, but He would lovingly refine them as long as it took.

How good it is when God's people unite with His will and the revelation of His righteousness.  To bargain with God is an affront to His holiness and exposes our selfish unbelief.  Let us be numbered among those who repent and serve the LORD without haggling, not making our obedience contingent on benefits we want God to guarantee us.  Like the good example provided in Judges, let us keep seeking God, keep repenting, and keep serving Him.  Satan and self provide offers which appeal to our flesh, but all they do is deliver us into bondage and death.  God's offer is a fixed price which He has already paid in full through the Gospel, and the cost for us is repentance, trust, and obedience.  God exchanges our sin for righteousness, distance for intimacy, bondage for freedom, and death for eternal life.  We are called to do our part, and He will deliver in due time.

God Our King

The absolute sovereignty of a king is a foreign concept to many today.  Having grown up and lived in democratic countries, being a citizen affords me particular rights.  One of those rights (and privileges) is to participate in elections through voting.  Every person who votes has the same power to elect representatives and pass legislation.  Though my contribution is one vote among many, our system of government allows the voice of the people to be heard.

I have no idea how different life would be if I lived in a nation ruled by a king.  I am not talking about celebrity royals or figureheads, but I imagine life would be very different if I was the legal subject of a monarch whose word was law, whose retribution upon his enemies was swift and severe, and who wielded the power of life and death over his people.  Kings will not suffer any to oppose them.  Forget rubber bullets, tear gas, or being kept overnight in jail:  to protest or even question a king would mean certain death.  King Solomon knew what he was saying by experience when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 8:2-4:  "I say, "Keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to God. ³ Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. ⁴ Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say to him, "What are you doing?"  People were urged to be careful in the presence of the king, lest they offend him.  A king is obligated to do whatever pleases him, and who can speak against or even question him?  Life and death is in the power of a king's tongue.  As a king, absolute power is his right.

If we should fear and obey kings whom God has placed in authority, how much more should we fear and reverence the King of kings?  Paul said something similar to Solomon in Romans 9:20-24:  "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? ²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"  Though it is foolish to charge God with wrong and question his righteous judgments, people still do.  God is answerable to no man, for He is our Creator and King.  No one has a legal right to oppose Him.  Even as a potter can make whatever he wants with clay, God has the divine right to do exactly as He pleases with His things.  And since we born-again Christians are bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, we are doubly His.  He has glorious plans we cannot conceive of, and instead of questioning Him in doubt we are to trust and obey.

The grace of God is more compelling than any "rights" we claim for ourselves.  Earthly kings are not longsuffering, but God is.  He suffers long with fools and offers them forgiveness and everlasting life if they will repent of their sin and trust in Jesus.  Not one of us has the right to be heard by God, but God has freely given us the right to become His beloved children through the Gospel.  We are given privileged access to God by the blood of Christ, and we are urged to act on this in Hebrews 4:16:  "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  God's throne is founded on righteousness, grace, justice and love.  He is not soft, caving into the demands of anyone.  Yet unlike many in authority, God actually listens to each of his loyal subjects.  We have a voice heard in heaven which can accomplish more than a million votes in an election.  We don't deserve this privilege, but God delights to grant this to all who delight in Him.  Let us thank God and show our appreciation by boldly approaching Him in prayer, for He is our worthy King.