As many of you may know I am working through
scriptures which relate to what we would describe as EXTREME commands for the
Christlike life. On my blog at www.stonedwitnesses.blogspot.com
I am recording the manuscripts of these messages for you to read, share, or use
as God would lead you.
Thinking about that word EXTREME and how it relates
to our walk with Christ, over the last few days, there are some thoughts I wish
to share. I am sharing these in hopes
that you will be spurred to action.
Jesus was adamant regarding the believer and the
changes that ensue in the present and future life. There is a saying we have all heard that
applies here: “You cannot stay where you are and go with God at the same time.” Jesus said, “Follow Me.” He asked for action, complete surrender,
undying faith, and unwavering allegiance.
He still does for the believer today. (John 1:43)
Those disciples, that ragtag bunch, were called away
from their everyday ordinary life, to an extraordinary work. Each of them was chosen by the Son, not
because of what they appeared to be, but what they could become. Not for what they could personally contribute
but for what God could do through them.
God needed vessels of service, and He desired to use these vessels for
His honor and His glory.
“I have revealed
Your name to the men You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they know that all things You have given to Me are from You, because the words that You gave Me, I have given them. They have
received them and have known
for certain that I came from You.
They have believed that You sent Me.
I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world but for those You have given Me, because they are Yours. All My things are Yours, and
Yours are Mine, and I have been glorified
in them. I am no longer
in the world, but they are
in the world, and I am coming
to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name
that You have given Me, so that they may be one
as We are one. While I was
with them, I was protecting them
by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them
is lost, except the son
of destruction, so that the Scripture
may be fulfilled. Now I am coming
to You, and I speak these things
in the world so that they may have
My joy completed in them. I have given
them Your word. The world hated them
because they are not of the world, as I am not of the world. I am not praying that You take them
out of the world but that You
protect them from the evil one. They
are not of the world, as
I am not of the world. Sanctify
them by the truth; Your word is truth. As
You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them
into the world. I sanctify Myself
for them, so they also
may be sanctified by the truth.”
John 17:6-19
(HCSB)
When Jesus called Lazarus from the dead, He wanted
him to come out of the tomb and reveal himself to the waiting audience. Lazarus could not stay in the grave and do
what Christ commanded. He could not say,
“Thank you for waking me from the dead, but I like it in here and I think I
will hang out with the dead.”
Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the
place where Martha had met Him. The Jews who were with her in the house
consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. So they followed her,
supposing that she was going to the tomb to cry there. When Mary came to where
Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and told Him, “Lord, if You had been
here, my brother would not have died!” 33 When Jesus saw
her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His
spirit and deeply moved. “Where have you put him?”
He asked. “Lord,” they told Him, “come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said,
“See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “Couldn’t He who opened the
blind man’s eyes also have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, angry in
Himself again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against
it. “Remove the stone,” Jesus said. Martha, the
dead man’s sister, told Him, “Lord, he already stinks. It’s been four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you
believed you would see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone.
Then Jesus raised His eyes and said, “Father, I thank
You that You heard Me. I know that You always hear Me, but because of the crowd
standing here I said this, so they may believe You sent Me.” After He
said this, He shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come
out!” The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and
with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose
him and let him go.”
John 11:30-44
(HCSB)
Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth.” Lazarus had no choice in the matter. He was summoned and had to answer the call.
The disciples heard the words of Jesus, “Take up
your cross and follow me.” For the most
part they did not understand. They knew
that the cross was ultimate death; that it was a curse; that it required
intense suffering. But, what did Jesus
mean? (Matthew 16:24)
The life of Christ would be a life of denying self
and dying to our own ambitions. Jesus
had over and over again revealed to this group of close followers the way of
hope, but it was too difficult for them.
It runs against the grain of their upbringing, teaching, and
self-centered belief system. Actually,
it rubs us wrong as well.
When we examine the New Testament church in its
infancy, we see a variety of extremes taking place. One of those is in the inception of the
church at Jerusalem.
So those who accepted his message were
baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. And they devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread,
and to prayers. Then fear came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were
being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and
had everything in common. So they sold their possessions and property and
distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. And every day they
devoted themselves [to meeting] together in the temple complex, and broke bread
from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added
to them those who were being saved.
Acts
2:41-47 (HCSB)
For me this is an extreme when compared to today’s
church in America. Note that people were
being added to the church, there was an honest attentiveness to the teaching of
God’s Word, the saints were in fellowship with each other, they shared meals
together, and they prayed with fervency for the power of God to stay strong
among them. Another incredible extremity
is that these religious outcast were willing to take all they had of material
wealth and give it away for the sake of the gospel. Yet, there is one more important thing we
often miss here and that is that because of their fear of the powerful work of
God the apostles were able to do what God had called them to do and share the
message of Chris tin such a way that others came to understand and accept the
message of the Cross.
May I break into jubilant praise for a moment? The first church should be the kind of church
we have today. We should be extreme! Extreme in our witness of Christ, in
fellowship, study of the scriptures, worship, giving, and discipleship; would
this be a dramatic change for the world today?
Oh, friend, we the church would return to the roots-to the basics-we
would see such power as we have never seen.
I think of the old book, “What Would Jesus Do?” The pastor issued the call to a stellar
church to ask the question in all circumstances, “What would Jesus do?” They were challenged to accept the call to
weigh all decisions both personal and in business with that question. Some took the challenge: the newspaper
editor, a high society debutante, a businessman, and a musical genesis. Each did so knowing that the challenge might
cost them a great deal, but the end result would be to please Christ in all
that they did.
While some shy away from anything that has to do
with deep commitment, the ones who yield themselves to the service of the King
find great pleasure and peace in the decision.
Our world needs that kind of church today. We need an extreme church!
There are enough churches to go around. In some small towns there is a church on
every corner. Yet, these churches are
playing instead of praising; performing instead of presenting; programming
instead of permitting. I am not saying
we do not need to plant churches, but I am saying we need to revitalize the
churches we have-they need to wake up, ask the call of Christ and be Christ in
a dark world. I know that is extreme,
but that is what we need!
The Pauline Epistles offer a number of extremes for
us to attempt to get a handle on. Paul
writes to the church and says, “I affirm by the pride in you that I have in Christ Jesus our
Lord: I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31 HCSB) Regarding a troubling time in his life, Paul
says, “Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was
given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself.”
(2 Corinthians 12:7 HCSB) We examined as
part of the first sermon in this series and the theme verse for the series,
“For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” (Philippians 1:21 HCSB)
Yet, there
are so many others. As he writes
instructions to young Timothy, he lays out for him the proper procedures for
the church and the functions of the leadership.
He says that, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for
teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy
3:16-17 HCSB) In the second chapter of
the same book, we find the exhortation to, “Be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus…Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. To please
the recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of
everyday life.” (2 Timothy 2: 1, 3-4 HCSB)
Do not
forget Titus and Philemon. Check these
out and see what extremes you find there. (Titus
2:3-5, 11-15; 3:2-11; Philemon 1:17-18)
John writes in his first epistle:
Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to
you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, “We
have fellowship with Him,” and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not
practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make Him a liar, and His
word is not in us.
1
John 1:5-10 (HCSB)
In the next chapter we find these words:
My little children, I am writing you these
things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate
with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous One. He Himself is the propitiation
for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
1
John 2:1-2 (HCSB)
Now this is His command: that we believe in
the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. The
one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know
that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us.
1
John 3:23-24 (HCSB)
In chapter 4, we find a section that reminds us that
we are to love as Christ loves. Not an
easy task in the world today-EXTREME! He
writes, “Dear
friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7 HCSB) Here we learn that the love we show reveals
that we know God and His Son Jesus Christ.
“Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one
another.” (1 John 4:11 HCSB) To do
otherwise reveals a contradiction, and God is not a God of confusion; but of
peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33)
That
reminds me of the words of Jesus. The
Master teacher, who always used every moment to convey important messages to
His disciples, has taken time to reveal the deception within His own camp. The disciples are seated together around the
table in observance of the Passover and Jesus has washed the feet of the men
who have followed Him, watched Him and listened to His “new” teaching. Judas has been called out as the one who
would “betray” the Savior and has taken His leave of the disciples, going out
into the “night.”
Jesus
pauses as the door slams shut and the hush of fear settles among the ragtag
followers. Then He says to them:
“I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have
loved you, you must also love one another. By this all people will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35
(HCSB)
With these
words, Jesus does not abolish the laws of Moses, the Commandments given by God,
or the teaching of the prophets; but He does say that everything hinges on this
one thing: Love for others. When Jesus
was talking with the teachers of the Law, the question of what is the greatest
commandment came to the forefront.
Jesus’ answer was not what they expected. He said, ““Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the greatest and most
important commandment. The second is like it: Love
your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the
Prophets depend
on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 HCSB)
In the
response, Jesus goes back to the Old Testament teaching:
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is One. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These
words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your
children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along
the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your
hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of
your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy
6:4-9 (HCSB)
It stands
to reason, when Jesus says, “Love one another…By this
all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another,”
the relationship is two dimensional. Our
life is to be in a correct relationship with God and with man. Each of the Commandments reveal this. The first four speaks of our relationship
with God, while the reminding six speak to mans relationship with man. If we do not get the first four right, then
we will fail in the other six; if we fail in any of the six, we fail in the
first four. God was clear that if one
breaks any of the commandments, he or she breaks all of the commandments.
Jesus spoke
of the same thing. When He was
addressing the Rich Young Ruler, He said, “You still
lack one thing: sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” (Luke 18:22 HCSB) This ruler had asked Him, “What must I do to
inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18 HCSB)
The Master told him what the commandments said, the relationship he was
to have with his fellow man, but He left out one. Jesus only revealed five of the six
commandments. The one He omitted was, “Do
not desire your neighbor’s wife or covet your neighbor’s house, his field, his
male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your
neighbor.” (Deuteronomy 5:21 HCSB)
Quite
possibly the reason he was so rich was that he had gained his wealth on the
back of the poor. Through coveting
others possessions, he had gained a load of possessions himself. Today, some would say that he was “profiting
at the expense of others,” while others might say that he was a “dealer and
wheeler.” The bottom line is that he had
stored up his good treasures and was hording them, at the expense of
others. Stealing, trading, deceiving,
and outright taking what was not his. He
had revealed a deep seated life of “Me.”
His motto was, “What’s mine is mine; what is yours is mine.” Through this lifestyle of accumulation he had
revealed no love for others, but a self-love that was destroying him.
Jesus saw
through it to the heart and said, in essence, if he wanted to follow the
righteous path, he would have to release all that he owned and follow
Christ. Yes, to our modern way of
thinking this is awfully EXTREME.
This is
what I am learning and wish to share with you today:
1) We must be willing to give to
receive.
2) We must be willing to love to be
loved.
3) We must be willing to die to live.
4) We must be willing to follow to
lead.
Do you not
think that is EXTREME?
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