What a wonderful salvation has been given to us! We are God’s special possession. Once we were in an untenable position, far away from God, without eternal life. We were self-oriented, performing our wills, not God’s will. We were as evil as in Noah’s time when God decided to kill all humans except for his chosen Noah and family. Now because of the cross, we have been led out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are a chosen people of God. As born again believers, we have been placed into the body of Christ, into the family of God. All of this wonderful inheritance has come through God’s mercy, his grace to us, undeserving as we are. The Bible says, Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. (Romans 5:20) The penalty for being opposite of God is death. Outside of Christ, we have that penalty in our future. How could we so marvelously change from sources of darkness to sources of light? Of course, first we needed a complete transformation from the lost to the saved. This comes through faith in Christ’s work. But being born again in the eyes of God does not mean our flesh is always obedient to God, always perfect in actions or thoughts. In God’s eyes, we are perfect because Christ is perfect, and we are hidden in him. But we still walk in the flesh. How do we become lights in a world of darkness? Jesus stated that his followers are lights. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) Let your light shine is Jesus’ request. When Jesus went back to his hometown in Nazareth, they rejected him, for they saw him as just one of them—not a person of light. They knew him from his childhood to his adulthood. They questioned how this son of Joseph and Mary could be anything other than a man of flesh? But Jesus claimed more than a fleshly life: he claimed to be a special messenger from God. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoner and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19) How could this carpenter claim such a high position with God? His messenger? But Jesus had been baptized in water for repentance and blessed by a dove from heaven: filled with the Holy Spirit. He had been elevated from the work of a carpenter to God’s work by the Holy Spirit. As a source of good, He traveled around Israel, revealing the light of God. Now God transforms believers by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We are not the Son of God, but we definitely are his lights in the darkness He came to dispel.
Yes, the world is dark, and people without a loving relationship with Jesus are not the friends of God, but enemies of God. We see the people in Nazareth, even some acquaintances and apparent friends of Jesus try to destroy him when Jesus states that they will not accept the fact that He is a messenger of God. In that incident, Jesus escapes from their intensions to destroy him. Even in his hometown, the darkness in men’s hearts rallied to snuff out the Light from God. Jesus recognized that He was in an alien world, one that would not display God and his goodness. When He sends out his disciples to minister He warns them, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16) The world is not accepting to the gospel of Good News. For the gospel demands repentance of sins and a wholehearted turning towards God. The gospel demands a recognition that a person's natural inclinations are not always godlike. And because God is perfect, his will, his nature, must always be displayed in our beings. We cannot vary, for He is holy; therefore, we are holy or perfect in Christ Jesus. So the world will always reject this message of loving and knowing God, no matter how we present the gospel to them. To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others: “We played the pipe for you and you did not dance, we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “ e has a demon." The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “there is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds. (Matthew 11:17-19) No matter what our approach is, people will resist turning to God. In our churches we have loving people, we have great music, strong preachers; but few, unless in deep trouble in their personal lives, will enter through their doors. Nonetheless, God’s continually extends his mercy and grace to all who will turn from their own ways and accept the Christ who died for them. Whosoever will can enter through those doors and find salvation from their sins, freedom from their darkness. They can say with the blind man, “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.” (John 9:25) They can know for eternity, “I was lost but now I am found.”
As lights, we should not merely sit in the pews, waiting for people to enter our sanctuaries. We must go forth with the Good News that Jesus died on the cross to set captives free, that eternal life comes to all who put their trust in Jesus. We should be sources of light, the opposite of the world’s darkness. We are testimonies of Jesus Christ’s work in our hearts. The people in Nazareth did not understand that God’s power, the Holy Spirit, was resident in Jesus. Jesus told them the truth: the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. He was not the carpenter; He was the LIGHT. As believers, we are lights when the Holy Spirit is upon us. We cannot come in our own names because of our own positions in our families or communities and convince people that they should turn from their wicked ways and accept Jesus. They will not view us as anything other than people, playing roles with just another message that does not satisfy. We will be as the carpenter’s son, without respect, another person from Nazareth. People must see us as believers, new creatures made by God’s hand, through the work of Jesus Christ. We are God’s chosen priesthood, his nation of believers. The source of power to change the world is within us. “In the last days,” God says, "I WILL pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters WILL prophesy, your young men WILL see visions, your old men WILL dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17) Your sons and daughters will tell of the glory of God. Their lives will illustrate God’s nature. Your old men will see things that they could never imagine when they were young. All of God’s people, young and old will reveal God to the world. This only happens when the Holy Spirit is present. This scripture does not say that they might do these things, but it says they WILL perform the works of God. We must be sensitive to that WILL—God’s promise. The Holy Spirit wants you to demonstrate God in your language and activities. When you leave from talking to someone can you say, God’s promise was primary in your talk? As you leave a person or people, can you hear in your ears the Lord saying, “I have given you those words. They were mine. You prophesied.” To you the words may have seemed mundane, very ordinary, but to God they were prophesies for the Spirit motivated them. Saying a simple, “I hope you have a great breakfast and enjoy your day,” to the people next to you at a restaurant can be a blessing from God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25) As we keep in step with the Holy Spirit wherever we go, people will see and hear the Good News, the prophetic word of God’s redemption to all people. The message may be indirect at times, but through our everyday words and actions, they will see Jesus. Our families, friends, acquaintances, strangers should see the fulfillment of God’s will in us. Believers, who are filled with the Holy Spirit, WILL express the prophetic word through their daily lives. A waitress once said to us, “I knew you were Christians just by how you acted, even before I saw you pray over your food.” Dear friends, walk in his wonderful light today!
No comments:
Post a Comment