No Ambiguity

Who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth to you? "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (C.S. Lewis)

Jesus Christ left everybody no doubt who He is. He fulfilled every prophecy of His namesake - Jesus, Yeshua, Savior. He justified with His perfect life, ministry of healing miracles and His own resurrection that the words He declared about Himself are true. Here are some of those names Jesus called Himself - 

• Son of Man - Matt. 9:6
• The Chief Cornerstone - Matt. 21:42
• True Bread from Heaven - John 6:32
• I Am - John 8:58
• The Door of the Sheep - John 10:7
• The Good Shepherd - John 10:11
• Light of the World - John 8:12
• The Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25
• The way, the truth and the life - John 14:6
• The True Vine - John 15:1

Just in this listing one can observe that when Jesus was questioned about His messiahship, Christ often went to a common day analogy to answer "yes". He used a cornerstone, bread, door, shepherd, light and vine. In these verses there was some mental and sometimes historical exercise to arrive at the conclusion of Jesus as Messiah, but the answer remained always - yes.

The other verses mentioned were much more direct and clear - John 8:58 (I Am), John 11:25 (The Resurrection and the Life) and John 14:6 (The Way, the Truth and the Life). Christ's proclamation of "I Am" reveals His oneness with the Everlasting God - who was, who is and is too come - Yahweh.

Christ's response to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus - "I am the resurrection and the life" - is so filled with hope, especially after death, it makes my heart swell and a huge grin appears on my face. Here is the account - 

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:21-27)

However, of these more straight forward responses, John 14:6 wins me over as Christ's main identity statement - all others flow from that. The full verse reads - "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" 

Of course Jesus knew who He was as He declared it and proved it. The angels and demons know who Christ is by the angel's involvement in the life of Jesus and the fearful proclamations of the demons to Christ when Jesus approached them (Matt. 8:28-32). However, God leaves the decision of faith in Jesus as Savior over our lives - in our hands. 

I am not the one who said these things about Jesus. The Lord said these things Himself, about Himself. There is nothing unclear about who Christ is and what He did for humanity. In the same way Jesus maintains that when you accept Him as your personal Savior, you also accept Him as Master of your life. There was clarity and purpose in His life and in His family He is also expecting No Ambiguity.

Have Jesus There

 

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." (Revelation 3:20)

There are some people who Jesus is knocking on the door of their hearts and lives for the first time and they have a decision to make. There are those who know Jesus and accept Him as a visitor when they answer their door on Christmas and Easter every year. There are the soldout, radical believers in Christ. Then there are those who have Jesus inside their house, temple, body or life and seem to display Him proudly, but we only see one dimesion of Christ. What are outsiders really observing or viewing with these Christians?

Have you ever had a room in your house or home called The Good Room? This space is usually filled with fine furniture, always kept clean and everything is in its proper place like it's almost staged. Sometimes this room is not the most comfortable room in the house, but it is usually the one in plain view on the front of the home where visitors and passers-by see the grandness, the elegance, the one room we keep Jesus. 

Some Christians confine Christ in this Good Room. They desire for visitors or passers-by to view their Christianity or Christ-likeness by looking at Jesus in this one room or one staged area of their life. This is a tip of the iceberg mentality that does nobody any good. 

The issue is not that the Christian knows who created the mess in the rest of his/her rooms or life, the problem is refusing to invite Jesus to be The Purger, The Janitor, The Redecorator, The Electrician, The Plumber, and most importantly - a member of the household. Being the perfect gentleman, many times Jesus will not move until He is invited. 

So, invite Him. Jesus desires to be found in every room, attic and cellar, in every hallway and on every staircase of our lives. In addition, those around the believer would be blessed by the Christian's transparency. Plus, those close enough and involved in the believer's life enough to help could even be an agent of aid for Christ in the clean-up process. There is not an area within the Christian's house, temple, body or life that it does not make sense to Have Jesus There.

Preparation And Equipping

This world wants to recruit you as its own and sink you deep into its systems or help you attempt to do life as you see fit. With this kind of set-up or mentality, the world has no room for Christ. Therefore, persecution is inevitable and suffering a certainty for the Christian.

John records Jesus recalling to the listeners memory, "Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." (John 15:20)

However, Jesus encouraged His disciples about the coming persecution by stating, "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:11-12) This is because He knew that after establishing His church, persecution and suffering would follow.

1 Peter 4:12-19 addresses this suffering that Christ followers will experience and what to do to lessen or overcome the suffering. Here is what the passage states - 

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And,

'If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?'

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."

If you read the passage carefully or perhaps once more, you will notice four active words for the believer in Christ to perform toward lessening or overcoming suffering.

1. "rejoice" - "But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."
2. "praise God" - "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
3. "commit" yourselves to Christ - "So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator"
4. "and continue to do good"

Peter mentions that as a believer in Christ, persecution and suffering should not shock us. In fact, we should expect it according to Jesus. So, when persecution and suffering does come - rejoice, praise God, commit or recommit yourself even moreso to Christ and continue to do good. Peter admonishes us that doing these things and simply being persecuted for the name of Christ brings with it a blessing - "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

No one said rejoicing or praising God within the persecution or suffering would be easy, but the instruction is there the same. When the believer goes to "commit" himself/herself to God know that the original word for "commit", paratithemi, (par-at-ith-ay-mee) means for you to place yourself alongside, present yourself, deposit yourself, put forth or set before - in this case Christ Jesus, the "faithful Creator". Then when you have worshipped the Lord and presented yourself to Him, continue your good work.

There are different degrees of Christian persecution and suffering going on in the world today. Many End-time scholars state that this is going to worsen just as other signs of Christ's return are noted by their intensity and frequency. I tell you this today not to scare you but for your Preparation And Equipping.

CASTING

In fishing you must load up a hook at the end of a fishing-line that is connected to a fishing pole with bait. Then with a fluid straight back motion with the arm you have your pole-in-hand with, you now come forward with a flick of the wrist, aiming to cast the baited hook at your targeted landing spot. Why? To receive a return of a caught or hooked fish.

When we go through stressful situations in our lives, God calls us to perform the same kind of action spiritually. This time when we cast off our problems or stress, our target is God and our return could be any number of different named fish - peace, direction, hope, love, assurance and so forth. Of course if you are using a net to fish, you could catch all of these at once.

David encourages us - "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken." (Psalm 55:22)

Jesus echoes these sentiments and elaborates on just what you will receive - “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Later, Peter speaking to churches established in the Roman provinces of Asia minor, north of the Taurus mountains, emphasized to the elders of these churches - "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) I encourage you to notice the word "all" and captilize on this - not withholding anything but casting all worries on Christ.

Paul submits his inspiration on this matter in his final exortations to the believers in Philippi. He says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Not stressed or worrisome about anything seems impossible, but Paul challenges us to do so. And a help in this area is to pray and present every situation to God with thanksgiving. Not that God doesn't already know what you are going to go through and not thanking Him for the situation, but presenting the circumstances to Him declares your trust in Him to manage and deal with the issue and thanksgiving should be for His presence through the whole ordeal.

The reward is that God's peace which baffles the mind will supply you with that moment of pause needed to think things through with the Lord in your situations - "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I have witnessed in my life and the lives of others many times, in many different areas of our lives instances when we feel like we have the answer to the stress of a particular situation. And so many times the issue has dragged on and could have been remedied if I or others would have just practiced Casting.