2012-01-06
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we looked at LK 24: 26-33, the cost of being a disciple. It is clear that nothing valuable comes without some kind of cost. In this case, we are told to deny ourselves, come follow Christ, carrying our own cross daily [LK 9: 23]. The example of a man building a tower was used to show the necessity of planning financially to make sure he has enough resources to complete the job. In the same sense, we must examine our commitment to a covenant relationship, because that’s what it takes to be in a real one. In a covenant relationship with God, we must be willing to give up everything, even our very lives, just as Christ did for us on the cross. When one goes to war, he must know how many soldiers he needs to win any battles that are likely to happen. He must first try to negotiate peace with the enemy, or his side will surely lose. LK 14: 33, “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple,” Christ says.
If at first that seems like an unreasonable demand, we must look at what Christ did for us. He gave His physical life, all He had at the time on earth, to insure we would have the chance for salvation and peace [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. JN 15: 13, “Greater love had no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Our covenant relationship supersedes all other relationships; our covenant relationship with God supersedes all other covenants into which we enter. GA 2: 19b-20, “…So that I might live for God, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We no longer live for ourselves, but now must consider our Covenant Partner. Nothing we think or do should be done without our commitment to our Covenant Partner in mind. That means if we come to what appears to be a crossroads, we must FIRST pray to Him and ask for guidance in which way to go. He will never give us faulty advice, or lead us into failure. Nor will He ever abandon us [PS 9: 9-10]. Traditional Jews would argue that Christ is nowhere to be seen in the OT, but believers in Him would beg to disagree. Remember the story of a young David facing the Philistine giant, Goliath? 1 SAM 17: 45-46a, 48-49, 51b, “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me’…As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and stuck Goliath on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground…When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.” It was clear that David had an understanding of the power of his Covenant Partner, even if he didn’t know His name is Jesus Christ!
The question is: Why do we often underestimate our Covenant Partner’s real power, love, sovereignty, and strength? I would suggest that we have trouble trusting in Him, trouble that we don’t have to have if we know and understand Him. If we understand the true meaning of Christ’s sacrifice of His life on the cross, wouldn’t we know something of the love He has for us, the value He places on our lives? Our senior pastor spoke this week of our being “pearls of great price,” so great that Christ was willing to die for our salvation, forgiveness, and peace. Consider the lessons of MT 13: 44-46, “[Jesus said,] ‘The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and brought that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.’” The two ways of looking at these parables say it all. In the first way, the Kingdom of heaven [our covenant relationship with the Lord] is the most valuable thing we can have. We should be willing to give up everything for it. In the second way, His love for us is so great that He was willing to give up His life on the cross for us. We are that valuable to Him. This mutual love and devotion is what marks a real covenant relationship. There is nothing in this author’s opinion more important that we can do on earth than to enter into such a relationship with our Covenant Partner [the Lord Jesus/God]. Nothing will ever give us the same satisfaction, eternal life, eternal forgiveness for our sins, or any of the other earth-shatteringly important benefits than such a covenant relationship will. Moreover, we should be willing to give up everything, even our very physical lives, for it.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting a friend who was in the hospital. This friend is single, older, and at one time was very alone for many years. I had met her through another friend before she entered our church community, committing to her covenant relationship with the Lord. Her life hasn’t been easy, and it isn’t now. However, there is a great difference. Peter and I came into her room to find her surrounded by friends who care about her. All of us do, as she is now our sister in Christ [RO 8: 14-16]. She will be going through a medical procedure that is a bit scary, but she knows now that she is not alone. Our Covenant Partner will walk her through it, supply her with brothers and sisters in Christ-her family who cares about her, and strong prayer support. What a great alternative this is to human independence, being alone!
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before You at a time when making commitments of any kind is often delayed or avoided in our society. And yet, You ask us to make one “unto death.” Why should we do this? You tell us in so many ways in the Scriptures. JN 14: 1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in the God, trust also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you can be with Me wherever I am.” Yes, Dearest Abba, You care enough to assure us that we will be protected, housed, and saved forever. Our sins will be eternally forgiven [1 JN 1: 9]. We will be deemed “innocent” in Your eyes-justified [RO 4: 3; GA 3: 6, 8]. At the time of our spiritual adoption by You, we are given Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to be our counselor, who teaches us to know You and gives us a conscience [RO 8: 14-16; JN 14: 16-18]. The Spirit speaks to the Father for us, when we can’t do it ourselves [RO 8: 26-27]. We become Your sons and daughters, and You rear us in the faith with an even superior love for us than our earthly parents have. You also call us to make some tough choices in order to live in line with Your values. You ask us to put You FIRST, even to the point of sometimes having to choose You over our earthly family. Christ has told us, in MT 10: 32-36, “Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” These tough words are said to help us understand the coming separation of the believers from the non-believers, the sheep from the goats [MT 25: 32]. All of this will be accomplished by our Covenant Partner, for our best eternal interests. We thank and praise You for giving us courage, faith, and the will to make the commitment to this, the most important covenant relationship of our lives. In Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will begin a new segment in the “Our Covenant” series called “Real Salvation.” In it we will look at some important issues in an examination of our commitment to the Covenant of Grace and the Lord’s. When we see the elements of a true commitment, we can then examine our own personal ones for just how deep it is, what we are willing to really give up for it, and the benefits that come to people who are willing to give their all for it. Oftentimes, we must reach back far enough to see ourselves at an all-time low, before we recognize we are being called to faith. That was certainly the way it was in my own life. And to think that our Lord was willing to pull me out of the pit of despair and hopelessness and into His light! [PS 40: 1-2; 1 PET 2: 9]. He has done the same for many of you too. Others come to faith so gradually, that they don’t even know the exact moment they made the commitment to their Covenant Partner. Their parents had faith and reared them to have it. Either way, each of us has to decide that he wants to walk through that door marked “faith,” rather than turning away in favor of faith in other humans, other idols, or nothing at all. We may not understand now why God has abrogated a portion of His own power, so that we might have free agency, or why some people turn away from Him as a lifestyle, but we must trust that His reasons for allowing this are righteous ones. That is because our Covenant Partner has no darkness in Him [1JN 1: 5]. Praise and thanks be to God!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15