2010-12-17
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We now switch from discussing security in covenant to trust in God. We know that in our human relationships, it takes time to build trust. Even then, sometimes people let us down. There is a great difference in building trust between oneself and God, because God never lets us down. He might allow something to happen that angers us or that we don’t understand, but it is always a righteous decision that is in our best eternal interest. We must also understand that it is not an equal relationship, but one in which God is dominant. It is difficult for us to learn to have faith in Someone not seen, but God calls upon us to do this, making it a condition of the covenant with Him. There are some verses that help us to better understand this covenant relationship with God. 1 JN 4: 12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and His love is made perfect in us.” In other words, God is love personified, and it is because of Him that we can understand what love is and practice it. We already know that everything we have that is good comes from God [PS 16: 1-2]. This is not only to be shown toward our friends, but also toward people we don’t know, and even our enemies [MT 5: 16; MT 5: 44-45a]. The latter is the most difficult to practice, because it goes against our basically sinful nature.
It’s difficult to speak of our covenant relationship with God without bringing in how it impacts our relationships with others around us. My own experience is that some of the most difficult relationships we have are ones with people in our own family. There are many reasons for this-most of them having something to do with expectations of perfection that can’t or won’t be met. With other people, we must accept how they are in the prayerful hope that things can be bettered through having a relationship with us. I was in a class on how to respond to questions in relationships between Christians and Muslims recently. In the meeting on witness points, we learned that the single most popular reason for Muslims wanting to convert to Christianity has to do with the lifestyle Christians lead when our beliefs are practiced. God has given us assurance of salvation, something that Allah does not give to Muslim believers. Once again, my assertion that the example of how we live often speaks more convincingly than the words we say about the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
JN 13: 34-35 is a central theme in our belief system. “And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another; then everyone will know that you are My disciples.” So, if we are to live “in Christ” then, it isn’t just a choice, but it’s a God-driven command that we must love one another. We are reminded that Christ’s love for us is so great that He was willing to suffer greatly and give His physical life on the cross, so that we might be eternally forgiven for our sins and have everlasting life. The latter is a life of eternal bliss and sweet fellowship with Him, instead of spiritual death. He suffered more than any human being ever suffered, even though He didn’t deserve it, just so that we could have the chance to gain eternal life [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Moreover, the Father gives us one more great blessing, the Holy Spirit. 1 JN 4: 13, “We are sure that we live in union with God and that He lives in union with us, because He has given us His Spirit.” As we are told in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform to the standards of this world, but let God inwardly transform us by a complete renewal of our mind. Then we will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him, and is perfect.” It is because of God’s great power given to His Son and then imputed to us when we repent and come to faith in Him, that we can show this love in a genuine way toward others. When we submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us willingly, we can have the power to go against what comes naturally to us. We can mind our tongues, have patience with the bad behavior of others, and even take insults for the sake of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this directive which serves as an example of this impact of the covenant relationship we have with the Lord. 1 PET 3: 15-17, “But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor Him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God’s will, then for doing evil.”
Obeying JN 13: 24-25 totally changes how we relate to others. We have the example of Christ’s obedient faithfulness to the Father and the dignity He showed under extreme opposition from others as our paradigm [model] to follow. Before we had faith in the Lord, we had no choice other than to allow base human emotion to drive our thoughts and behavior. We acted from complete selfishness in setting our goals and aims. It is only when we yield up control of our thoughts and actions to the Holy Spirit, that we fully understand the commands the Lord gives us and how to put them into practice. Of course, like anything else, the more we put them into practice, the more we can forward our spiritual maturation in Christ. Let’s pray that we see just how important to our spiritual lives learning to follow that new command really is.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come to Your throne with great confidence that You are interested in hearing our assertions and pleas [EPH 3: 12]. We praise and thank You for caring about us the way You do. No person living a completely self-centered life can ever know the real happiness that being Your friends who serve you really gives. We are honored that JN 15: 13-16 is true. “I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father. You did not choose Me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures . And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of Him in My name.” It should not be lost on us that You follow with this wonderful assertion in JN 15: 17, “This then, is what I command you: love one another.” Through the experiences of our lives and the relationships with You and others we can have, we understand what a great blessing our faith in You and our trust in Your commands really is. There will be times when we are called upon to engage in difficult relationships with other humans. Some of them may have power over us, like a boss or a parent or a teacher might have. But You have shown us by Your example of the Lord Jesus that if we obey You, showing the love You have taught us, we will be protected, guided in godly ways, and will be given an opportunity to mature spiritually. Some of us arose out of dysfunctional homes, others have had problems in school, and still others find ourselves under the influence of abusive bosses. Because of the difficult economy, yet others have lost their jobs or had difficulty being underemployed. All these problems and others not mentioned here are manageable when we have trusting faith in You. We are truly blessed to have a God who we can trust to care about us [1 PET 5: 7]. Once again, we offer You our thanks and praise, our loyalty, trust, honor and glory. In the mighty and holy name of the our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will continue examining trust in God with asking the question: Do we give God a chance? In the meanwhile, we need to learn how to trust God by looking back at our personal experiences with Him. Earlier in this series of messages on covenant, I took you through the years prior to my becoming a committed Messianic Jew, a Jew who believes in the Lord Yeshua [Jesus Christ]. As time goes on, I will share what happened to bring about my commitment, not because I’m important or special, but because my experience gives us an example of the power for good that our Lord uses on people. Trust is falling back, knowing God will catch us. It isn’t easily developed. Often we must go through some harrowing experience and see how God carries us through, because we become trusting. Sometimes this happens so gradually in a person who is being brought up from childhood as a Christian that he is barely able to place a time on when he became committed to the faith. But, each one of us must be personally converted to faithful obedience to Christ, in his own unique way. God alone knows what way is best for which person. But He loves us each enough to try to bring us to where the Holy Spirit gives us committed faith. That is how the Covenant of Grace becomes so vital to our lives. 1 PET 2: 9, “But you are the chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, Who called you out of darkness into His own marvelous light.” Never forget that one way we can thank Him for loving us this much is to love others as Christ loves us. Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15