2019-09-06
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’m told by the Holy Spirit that He wants me to continue discussing what it means to be chosen. This is the subject today, as I endeavor to present supporting Scriptures to the book of Colossians. It helps to begin with a recitation of MT 24: 36 where we find Christ teaching His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mt. of Olives. They asked Him, “When will the Lord come for the second time?” Christ’s answer was, “No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; the Father alone knows.” I suspect this is the only information the Father didn’t share with the Son. Just prior to giving this reply, Christ told them, “Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” That last sentence is repeated in MK 13: 26, and in v.27, Christ states, “He will send the angels out from the four corners of the earth to gather God’s chosen people from one end of the world to the other.” (Remember, God’s chosen people are all those faithful Jews and all the Gentiles who were ‘in-grafted to the cultured olive tree’-RO 11: 17). In LK 18: 7-8, He goes on to ask, “Now will God not judge in favor of His own people, who cry to Him day and night for help? Will He be slow to help them? I tell you, ‘He will judge in their favor and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when He comes?’”
By now, we know that Christ was tried in a kangaroo court after the unfaithful Jewish leaders cried out, in Lk 23: 35, “Let the Messiah save himself, if He is the Messiah whom God has chosen!” Later, in RO 8: 31-35a, more is said by Paul about God’s love in Jesus Christ. “If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, Who did not even keep back His own Son, but offered Him for us all! He gave us His Son-will He not also freely give us all things? Who will accuse God’s chosen people? God Himself declares them not guilty! Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, Who died, or rather, Who was raised to life and Who is at the right side of God, pleading with Him for us! Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ?”
If you wonder why the apostle, Paul, included greetings at the end of several of his epistles, the reason is to give examples of the many ways faithful people helped him do the work of the Lord. It gives us ways to see how some people demonstrated their faith and membership in the subset of Christ’s chosen people. RO 16: 10, “Greetings to Rufus, that outstanding worker in the Lord’s service and to his mother, who has always treated me like a son.” Surely God’s standards are to be adopted. 1 TIM 5: 21, “In the company of God, Christ, and angels, I urge you to obey without showing favor to anyone,” Paul wrote to his young protegee, Timothy. Paul also writes, in 2 TIM 2: 10, “I endure everything for the sake of God’s chosen people, in order that they too may obtain the salvation and that comes through Christ Jesus and brings eternal glory.” It seems to me that no other belief system brings about such unselfishness and concern for others.
Titus was a young Gentile convert to Christianity, who became a fellow worker and assistant to Paul. While Paul was in Macedonia, Titus was left in charge of the mission in Crete. He was given the job of showing Cretans the kind of character that church leaders should have, in view of the bad character many Cretans had at the time. TITUS 1: 1-2, [Titus speaking], “I was chosen and sent to help the faith of God’s chosen people and to lead them to the truth taught by our religion, which is based on the hope for eternal life. God does not lie and promised us this life before the beginning of time…” The apostle, Peter, had remained in Jerusalem to head God’s work there. At the beginning of his important books, he wrote, in 1 PET 1: 1-2, “To God’s chosen people who live as refugees scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. You were chosen according to the purpose of God, the Father, and were made a holy people by His Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be purified by His blood. May grace and peace be yours in full measure.” And we mustn’t forget the definition of being a chosen people given, in 1 PET 2: 9, “But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, the holy nation, God’s own people, chosen to proclaim His mighty acts, Who called you out of darkness in to His magnificent light.”
PRAYER: O Lord, as we read though this devotion, one can hardly miss the love You have for us. What a great blessing and privilege it is to be members of Your chosen people! Your grace is unparalleled and not deserved. Such merit can only come from a God Who loves His chosen people to an extent we cannot measure. We didn’t know what love and devotion are until You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to shed His blood on the cross for us and to make that blood the sign of an everlasting covenant of peace and love. When You raised Him from the dead, You also gave us the opportunity for salvation, eternal forgiveness, and justification. You opened the way for us to live with You forever in sweet fellowship in heaven. You invited us to be reunited with others who lived by their faith in You and also were forgiven for their sins. We offer You praise, honor, thanks, our loyalty, and glory for all that You are and all that You do. Please continue to love us, intervene in our lives when needed, and communicate with us through the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, we offer this prayer. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit directs me to continue to write about Who the person of Jesus Christ is and why it is such a blessing to be amongst His chosen people. Because I am a Messianic Jewish person, that blessing is always close to my mind and heart. It’s a privilege to be able to serve Christ as I do and to have the Father bring me together with such amazing people, as those in my life are. As a youngster, I felt that God had forgotten about me and was ignoring me, if He remembered me. That thinking was immature and wrongful. I was angry, full of myself, and hadn’t learned the joy of serving others. Had it not been for my Lord hearing my prayers for relief from my misery, the misery that comes from self-loathing and feelings of worthlessness, I would still be in that morass. However, the Father did hear me, and He chose to end that part of my life in a wonderful way. I share this with each of you, because of my belief now that He knows and cares about each of His human creation. Peter puts this experience of mine in a nutshell. 1 PET 5: 5b-7, “God resists the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in His good time. Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.” From the time He gave me faith in His Son and His Spirit, the chaos of my misery ended, and my life had faith and purpose-His purpose! With obedient faithfulness, He will do this for you too! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
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