The last twenty months I have been asked several times by people responding to this blog, who have just worn themselves to frazzle, a nagging question. Their question comes down to this: "Why does life have to be so hard?" I see myself and others making really stupid decisions or no decisions and just accepting whatever comes from a lack of choosing wisely which way to go to find real joy in life. As I just said, I have also been a victim of not choosing wisely and settling for less than God's best! I know what they are going through. We all do it! Are we victims? No, simply because we choose our life's direction based on various factors. We all, at some point in time, just decide to go with the flow rather than stand up and do what is right. We have enemies as believers, the world and it's influence, our own fleshly desires, and satan himself will place any obstacle he can to keep us preoccupied with bad decisions to set our lives on a path that glorifies God and gives us joy.
I was looking at Dr. Charles Stanley's Life Principle 13 this morning:
LIFE PRINCIPLE 13: LISTENING TO GOD — WALKING WITH GOD
One of the most important lessons we can learn is how to listen to God. In our complex and hectic lives, nothing is more urgent, nothing more necessary, and nothing more rewarding than hearing what God has to say to us.
By Charles F. Stanley
http://www.intouch.org/read/life-principle-13-listening-to-god-walking-with-god
An excerpt I picked up on was this:
This may be one of the most important concepts you will grasp in learning how to listen to God. When the Lord speaks, He is speaking to you. The Word of God contains His truth; therefore, take it personally. Allow His Holy Spirit to open your heart so you will have a deeper understanding of Scripture. When you do, you can begin to claim His promises for your life. You also will gain a deeper understanding of His provision, care, and love.
God is serious about His relationship with you. He speaks for your benefit, and it is important for you to listen to Him and respond in obedience. Sometimes He will challenge you to change your thinking or to release certain unhealthy feelings and opinions.Yet with every instruction He gives, you can be certain it is for your good. He desires to encourage and mature you so that you might live with greater joy and strength. He also wants to transform you into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ—helping you to become the very best you can be.
We, as believers, must learn how to talk and listen to God in order to do the next step!
The Importance of Learning to Focus Our Lives
Listening to God was not the main topic I wanted write about, but it is imperative that we learn how to talk and listen to God in order to focus our lives down a path that is pleasing to God and does not wear us ragged in the process. Several places in the Old Testament we are told by God these words:
Joshua 24:14-15 14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
In the New Testament we hear the words "work out salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)
In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul writes, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his purpose.”
This text is often misused to instill fear into people, warning them that it means that they can lose salvation. What does it mean to work out our salvation with fear and trembling? Paul can hardly be encouraging believers to live in a continuous condition of nervousness and anxiety. That would contradict his many other exhortations to peace of mind, courage, and confidence in the God who authors our salvation. The Greek word translated "fear" in this context can equally mean "reverence" or "respect." Paul uses the same phrase in (2 Corinthians 7:15) where he refers to Titus as being encouraged by the Corinthians’ reception of him “with fear and trembling,” that is, with great humility and respect for his position as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul himself came to the Corinthian church in “weakness and fear, and with much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3), mindful of the great and awesome nature of the work in which he was engaged.
The sense in which we are to work out our salvation in fear and trembling is twofold. First, the Greek verb rendered “work out” means "to continually work to bring something to completion or fruition." We do this by actively pursuing obedience in the process of sanctification, which Paul explains further in the next chapter of Philippians. He describes himself as “straining” and “pressing on” toward the goal of Christlikeness (Philippians 3:13-14). The “trembling” he experiences is the attitude Christians are to have in pursuing this goal—a healthy fear of offending God through disobedience and an awe and respect for His majesty and holiness. "Trembling" can also refer to a shaking due to weakness, but this is a weakness of higher purpose, one which brings us to a state of dependency on God. Obedience and submission to the God we revere and respect is our “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1-2) and brings great joy. Psalm 2:11 sums it up perfectly: “Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.” We work out our salvation by going to the very source of our salvation—the Word of God—wherein we renew our hearts and minds (Romans 12:1-2), coming into His presence with a spirit of reverence and awe.
Acts 16:31 Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
What do all of these have unrelated scriptures have in common? They involve the active work of CHOOSING!
Our lives can run Helter Skelter unless we learn how to focus on a goal in life. The goal must be God-centered in order to bring fruitfulness and satisfaction to the believer. There can only be one major goal, but each major goal must have steps or goals in order to achieve the main focus of our lives. This isn't rocket science, but it does involve being very honest with yourself and realizing that your life is scattered all over the place. Even an indecision is a bad decision because then we open up the door to chaos in our lives. God built within us the ability to choose and then gave us instruction on how to use this ability to choose to bring about wisdom. Unfortunately, none of us practice this all the time and so we bring trouble and frustration into our lives and lose sight of the main goal! If you are busy putting out all the small forest fires in your life rather than choosing wisely along the way you have already lost the battle...BUT NOT THE WAR!
By the way, did I mention the fact that lack of focus will cause you to lose not only site of the goal, but will bring physical and mental stress, even to the point of death! Yep! It's that serious!
Okay! How do we get to the place where we can find focus?
ONE: Realize your life is in chaos-even controlled chaos is stressful! If you are suffering from stress you have been doing it wrong! So decide what is your main goal and then get honest with how you got to the point where you were pulled in so many directions.
TWO: When that realization is honest, make a list of all the things that distract your attention from acheiving where you want to be. WARNING! Be deadly honest with yourself on how you got to the place of stress that leads to chaos. This can and does include bad decisions you made along the way. Everything in our life affects the outcome of our life, but mistakes don't have to mean ultimate FAILURE. We can at any point in life evaluate our failures and choose to go a different direction in order to bring about a successful walk with God. You've heard the expression, "it ain't over until the fat lady sings." At the close of the opera usually some really large person enters the stage and sings the finale. Well as long as there is breath in your lungs, there is life! As long as their life, there is hope for change. But you must take an active role in bringing about that change. God won't for you, but He will give you the wisdom to do it!
James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraides not; and it shall be given him.
THREE: Go about setting each distraction in focus and do what must be done to keep that distraction to the bare minimum. It takes some brutal honesty at times to remove distractions and set things right. Do this one by one until you reach the place where you can set honest goals for yourself to get you where you really want to be. Write down what steps must be taken in order to lower the expectation of others that keep you from achieving what you need to be doing. You cannot be a people-pleaser (that includes family) and be focused on the goal of pleasing God with your life. Everyone has expectations of you that can bring failure in being who you are and where you want to be in life. Those people are not out to get you but their expectations may not be what God has in mind for you.
STEP FOUR: DECIDE TO CHANGE WHAT IS WRONG AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU! What is your ultimate goal in life? Set steps in place to acheive that goal. Remove obstacles that stop you from doing the right things and setting your life in order. REMEMBER THERE WILL ALWAYS BE DISTRACTIONS BUT KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE!
2 Timothy 4:7-8New American Standard Bible (NASB)
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8. in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
See you next blog,
Ted
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Are You Embarrassed By The Unbelievable Miracles In The Bible?
Are they unbelievable? Do you ever feel like you would have to lose touch with reality when trying to believe some of the miracles of the Bible? Are you afraid of being labeled a moron by your secular friends outside of the church you attend. I mean, you can tell your little child about the miracles and they pretty much accept what they hear because you are the adult. But what happens when you try and explain it to your older school-aged child in this age of science and intellect? Does what you believe matter? If you are a Christian, how can you possibly accept the unexplainable and help others understand that miracles that were commonplace throughout the Bible are not commonplace today...or is that true? What about the extreme sexual norms of today compared to then? Are you labeled a prude by contemporary standards today?
"Christianity needs to update and adapt its moral standards for the 21st century!"
I hear this all time and it echoes from voices 100 years ago. Back then, the calls for change had less to do with morality and more to do with miracles. But the motivation for change is similar, and the results are just as intrusive to many non-secular believers.
I remember the "God Is Dead" movement of the 50s. Of course that movement has echoed throughout history, but the 50s stand out to me because I lived in it as a child. Then came my teen years in the "free love generation of the 60s." What rocked the early 20th century was the call of many church leaders to adapt the Christian faith to the scientific age of discovery. One could not expect thinking men and women to accept at face value all the miracles in the Bible, the thinking went. The biblical testimony of the miraculous is embarrassing to an educated mindset. Now the 21st century is upon us and more "biblical truths" are being challenged.
The Shell Game Many Christian Churches Play
In order to rescue Christianity from superstitious irrelevance, many church leaders sought to distinguish the kernel of Christianity (the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man) from the shell of Christianity (miracle stories that came from another cultural vantage point).One could still maintain the moral center of Christianity while disregarding the events that required suspension of disbelief.
As this adaptation spread, belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus was reinterpreted and given a solely spiritual meaning (he is alive in the hearts of good people). Miracle stories such as Jesus’ feeding the 5,000 were given a moral twist (the true miracle is that suddenly everyone shared).
The Virgin Birth? Well that gets rejected altogether in modern "Christian" thinking. I mean come on, a virgin giving birth. What was Mary really hiding from Joseph? I mean she was human and maybe Joseph didn't understand her needs, or maybe he did but had to appear shocked in that culture. Let's face it, Mary's son was a man by what everyone witnessed, he bled, he wept, he died...uh...He walked on water according to 12 men, er....he healed the blind and affirm...uhhhhhh hmm! He was crucified and seen by over 500 people...this requires some deep thinking. Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, many other historians wrote about Him. Hey! Could it be Jesus is who He says He is?
Many Christians are calling for church leaders to rethink the “embarrassing” parts of Christianity, specifically, our distinctive sexual ethic. Meanwhile, churches outside the West were appalled to hear “Christians” reject the clear testimony of Scripture and what the church had always believed. In North America, the rise of the evangelical movement was due, in part, to a desire to reclaim the center of Christianity and refuse to allow contemporary sensibilities to alter the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.”
Presbyterian minister and theologian J. Gresham Machen made the case that this refashioning of Christianity was no longer Christianity at all, but a substitute religion with a Christian veneer. Of course many churches today are saying pretty much the same thing but where are the proofs of the miraculous, non-believers say.
Over time, the effort to save the kernel of Christianity and leave aside its shell had the opposite effect. The distinctiveness of Christian teaching disappeared, and the shell of church rituals was all that remained. This is why, even today in some denominations, bishops and pastors and parishioners openly reject the core tenets of the faith but continue to attend worship and go through certain rites. The denominations that followed this course have since entered a sharp and steady decline.
The Echo of The Past Is Now The Present
One hundred years later, the church is once again being rocked. This time, many Christians are calling for us to rethink the “embarrassing” parts of Christianity — specifically, our distinctive sexual ethic. After all, many of the moral guidelines we read in the New Testament were written from another cultural vantage point and are no longer authoritative or relevant today. The clarion call of secular Christianity says. "If Christianity is to survive and thrive in the next century, many of our ancient prohibitions (sex outside of marriage,
homosexual practice, the significance of gender, etc.) must be set aside. We can no longer call sin, sin according to what a bunch of converted Christianized Jews put in print. It is outdated thinking!"
Outside the West, this enthusiasm for rejecting Christian moral precepts that have been accepted by many American churches is mindboggling. Still many in Europe and Great Britain applaud this updated, secularized brand of Christianity.
Churches that accept society’s dogma on marriage and sexuality may think of themselves as “affirming,” but the "real church" sees them as “apostate.” Meanwhile, it seems the height of imperialistic narrowness for a rapidly shrinking subset of churches in the West to lecture the rest of the world — including those places where Christianity is exploding in growth or where Christians are being martyred — on why they are wrong and how everyone else in Christian history has misread Scripture regarding the meaning of marriage, sin, godly living, etc..
It’s commonplace to assume that contemporary society’s redefinition of marriage, gender, and the purpose for sexuality will eventually persuade the church to follow along. Nestled within our own times, it is easy to think the trajectory of history will lead to an inevitable change within the global Christian church, however history’s lesson is the opposite! A century ago, the modernists believed that the triumph of naturalism would lead to the total transformation of Christianity. Darwinism would change Christian thought forever. It didn't
really, only in a few small sections of the church at large. Some apostate theologians propagate this watered-down moral Christianity.
It must have seemed thrilling for these leaders to think they were at the vanguard of reformation, that they were the pivot point of Christianity’s inevitable future. But such was not the case. Traditional stalwarts like Machen and G.K. Chesterton (who were criticized as hopelessly “backward” back then) still have books in print. The names of most of their once-fashionable opponents are largely unrecognizable. The Bible is still on the bestseller list. Newly found Christians realize in Islamic lands that they come from they will probably be killed for their conversion. Still, they come, some die, some live to give testimony to the life-givng, life-affirming, saving faith of Jesus Christ.
It’s commonplace to assume that contemporary society’s redefinition of marriage, gender, and the purpose for sexuality will eventually persuade the church to follow along. Should Jesus not return immediately, what if we were able to jump into the 22nd century. I wonder what we would see. There is a time in scripture according to Daniel and Revelation where wrong doing will become more commonplace and accepted as right-politicians practice it now! There is a time when the name of Jesus will be abhored by the majority of the population, maybe we are close, but what would we see in a 22nd century bible-affirming church? What can we expect?
Most likely, we would see a world in which the explosive growth of Christians in South America, China and Africa has dwarfed the churches of North America and Europe. And the lesson we learn from a century ago will probably still be true: History's lesson is that the churches that thrived were those that offered their world something more than the echo of the times. They offered them the Jesus of the Bible and all of the embarrassing miracles including the one where He rose triumphant over death. The Jesus that says "come unto me all ye heavy laden and I will give you rest."
See you next blog,
Ted
"Christianity needs to update and adapt its moral standards for the 21st century!"
I hear this all time and it echoes from voices 100 years ago. Back then, the calls for change had less to do with morality and more to do with miracles. But the motivation for change is similar, and the results are just as intrusive to many non-secular believers.
I remember the "God Is Dead" movement of the 50s. Of course that movement has echoed throughout history, but the 50s stand out to me because I lived in it as a child. Then came my teen years in the "free love generation of the 60s." What rocked the early 20th century was the call of many church leaders to adapt the Christian faith to the scientific age of discovery. One could not expect thinking men and women to accept at face value all the miracles in the Bible, the thinking went. The biblical testimony of the miraculous is embarrassing to an educated mindset. Now the 21st century is upon us and more "biblical truths" are being challenged.
The Shell Game Many Christian Churches Play
In order to rescue Christianity from superstitious irrelevance, many church leaders sought to distinguish the kernel of Christianity (the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man) from the shell of Christianity (miracle stories that came from another cultural vantage point).One could still maintain the moral center of Christianity while disregarding the events that required suspension of disbelief.
As this adaptation spread, belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus was reinterpreted and given a solely spiritual meaning (he is alive in the hearts of good people). Miracle stories such as Jesus’ feeding the 5,000 were given a moral twist (the true miracle is that suddenly everyone shared).
The Virgin Birth? Well that gets rejected altogether in modern "Christian" thinking. I mean come on, a virgin giving birth. What was Mary really hiding from Joseph? I mean she was human and maybe Joseph didn't understand her needs, or maybe he did but had to appear shocked in that culture. Let's face it, Mary's son was a man by what everyone witnessed, he bled, he wept, he died...uh...He walked on water according to 12 men, er....he healed the blind and affirm...uhhhhhh hmm! He was crucified and seen by over 500 people...this requires some deep thinking. Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, many other historians wrote about Him. Hey! Could it be Jesus is who He says He is?
Many Christians are calling for church leaders to rethink the “embarrassing” parts of Christianity, specifically, our distinctive sexual ethic. Meanwhile, churches outside the West were appalled to hear “Christians” reject the clear testimony of Scripture and what the church had always believed. In North America, the rise of the evangelical movement was due, in part, to a desire to reclaim the center of Christianity and refuse to allow contemporary sensibilities to alter the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.”
Presbyterian minister and theologian J. Gresham Machen made the case that this refashioning of Christianity was no longer Christianity at all, but a substitute religion with a Christian veneer. Of course many churches today are saying pretty much the same thing but where are the proofs of the miraculous, non-believers say.
Over time, the effort to save the kernel of Christianity and leave aside its shell had the opposite effect. The distinctiveness of Christian teaching disappeared, and the shell of church rituals was all that remained. This is why, even today in some denominations, bishops and pastors and parishioners openly reject the core tenets of the faith but continue to attend worship and go through certain rites. The denominations that followed this course have since entered a sharp and steady decline.
The Echo of The Past Is Now The Present
One hundred years later, the church is once again being rocked. This time, many Christians are calling for us to rethink the “embarrassing” parts of Christianity — specifically, our distinctive sexual ethic. After all, many of the moral guidelines we read in the New Testament were written from another cultural vantage point and are no longer authoritative or relevant today. The clarion call of secular Christianity says. "If Christianity is to survive and thrive in the next century, many of our ancient prohibitions (sex outside of marriage,
homosexual practice, the significance of gender, etc.) must be set aside. We can no longer call sin, sin according to what a bunch of converted Christianized Jews put in print. It is outdated thinking!"
Outside the West, this enthusiasm for rejecting Christian moral precepts that have been accepted by many American churches is mindboggling. Still many in Europe and Great Britain applaud this updated, secularized brand of Christianity.
Churches that accept society’s dogma on marriage and sexuality may think of themselves as “affirming,” but the "real church" sees them as “apostate.” Meanwhile, it seems the height of imperialistic narrowness for a rapidly shrinking subset of churches in the West to lecture the rest of the world — including those places where Christianity is exploding in growth or where Christians are being martyred — on why they are wrong and how everyone else in Christian history has misread Scripture regarding the meaning of marriage, sin, godly living, etc..
It’s commonplace to assume that contemporary society’s redefinition of marriage, gender, and the purpose for sexuality will eventually persuade the church to follow along. Nestled within our own times, it is easy to think the trajectory of history will lead to an inevitable change within the global Christian church, however history’s lesson is the opposite! A century ago, the modernists believed that the triumph of naturalism would lead to the total transformation of Christianity. Darwinism would change Christian thought forever. It didn't
really, only in a few small sections of the church at large. Some apostate theologians propagate this watered-down moral Christianity.
It must have seemed thrilling for these leaders to think they were at the vanguard of reformation, that they were the pivot point of Christianity’s inevitable future. But such was not the case. Traditional stalwarts like Machen and G.K. Chesterton (who were criticized as hopelessly “backward” back then) still have books in print. The names of most of their once-fashionable opponents are largely unrecognizable. The Bible is still on the bestseller list. Newly found Christians realize in Islamic lands that they come from they will probably be killed for their conversion. Still, they come, some die, some live to give testimony to the life-givng, life-affirming, saving faith of Jesus Christ.
It’s commonplace to assume that contemporary society’s redefinition of marriage, gender, and the purpose for sexuality will eventually persuade the church to follow along. Should Jesus not return immediately, what if we were able to jump into the 22nd century. I wonder what we would see. There is a time in scripture according to Daniel and Revelation where wrong doing will become more commonplace and accepted as right-politicians practice it now! There is a time when the name of Jesus will be abhored by the majority of the population, maybe we are close, but what would we see in a 22nd century bible-affirming church? What can we expect?
Most likely, we would see a world in which the explosive growth of Christians in South America, China and Africa has dwarfed the churches of North America and Europe. And the lesson we learn from a century ago will probably still be true: History's lesson is that the churches that thrived were those that offered their world something more than the echo of the times. They offered them the Jesus of the Bible and all of the embarrassing miracles including the one where He rose triumphant over death. The Jesus that says "come unto me all ye heavy laden and I will give you rest."
See you next blog,
Ted
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
When Grief Is Like Fear
C.S. Lewis once said, “No one ever told me that grief felt just like fear” and for a quite a while I wasn't sure exactly what he meant. I didn't quite understand how fear could be related to grief. I read everything about fear and grief I could get my hands on and what I found and realized is that grief and fear go hand in hand. Grief doesn't have to be over the death of a loved one, it can come from lost love in our life. It can come from feeling you are not loved because of the way someone you love treats you. It feels the same, in fact, you feel that you have seemingly lost everything, what else is there to fear? But that is only the beginning of our human fears.
The "What Ifs" Of Fear
After I read what C.S. Lewis said I examined my own fears. They are like everyone elses fears. We face the fear of not being everything we think God and everyone we care about wants us to be, the fear of losing loved ones, the fear of being rejected, fear of everything changing-changes we feel we are not ready for, the fear of losing our job if divorce or death comes to tear our family apart because we are not fully on top of things...fear of losing friends-and we will! What if she/he moves on with their life, take steps forward, and we are left alone, grieving and stationary? There are many more fears that humanity faces, and grief adds to the pain of those fears. Today I want to focus on the fear of loss.
When we love deeply we wonder these things I have mentioned. We wonder if we'll ever see that person who once said they loved us, again? What would we say to them? What if I have to live a lifetime without seeing that person again? What if they or I pass from this life and there are still things undone-unsaid? What if I can’t make it through this pain? What if I'm being too selfish? What if I'm too focused on trying to heal that I'm missing out on being there for someone else? What if I'm not doing what God has called me to do in life? What if I am so insignificant in life that I don't matter that much to God? What if my faith is scarcer than I thought? What about all my failures to ALWAYS convey the love of Christ to them-am I always going to fail? What is the future going to look like without that person I love? What if I never heal from my grief?
But God Said...
How many of us ever thought so deeply about the things of God that we would want to intimately know Him? Does God feel loneliness and grief? He is the Almighty the All in All, the I AM! When we think of God do we consider how we go to Him? Do we consider what we ask for when praying? As a one time seminary graduate I thought I had all the answers for just about anything anyone would care to bring up...I couldn't have been more wrong! I have studied the greats in theology of various denominations and I realized that the human condition was well thought out by God, but it does not mean we understand all of His ways. One thing we know that God does truly love us because He sent His Son, Jesus to do what we could never or would never do. If God had told us that in order to gain right standing with Him that we had to die slowly, horribly, on a cross would we have done it...not on your life! Because He loves us he also understands our real needs more than we even discern to be true. Why? Because He knows and lives in the past, the present, and the future! He knows our future. God has a "gods-eye-view" of the whole parade of our life. Jesus knows our pain, our temptations, and our suffering...how do I know that?
Hebrew 4:15
Hebrews 2:17
Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Hebrews 5:2
He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
John 11:35
Jesus wept
Luke 22:44
The night before Jesus Christ was crucified, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is in Luke’s Gospel where we see that His sweat was like drops of blood: “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Hematidrosis is a rare, but very real, medical condition where one’s sweat will contain blood. The sweat glands are surrounded by tiny blood vessels. These vessels can constrict and then dilate to the point of rupture where the blood will then effuse into the sweat glands. Its cause—extreme anguish. In the other Gospel accounts, we see Jesus’ level of anguish: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38; cf. Mark 14:34).
I can envision the intense anguish and sorrow Jesus felt was certainly understandable. Being God himself, Christ knew “all that was going to happen to Him” (John 18:4). He knew in painstaking detail the events that were to follow soon after He was betrayed by one of His very own disciples. He knew He was about to undergo several trials where all of the witnesses against Him would lie. He knew that many who had hailed Him as the Messiah only days earlier would now be screaming for His crucifixion (Luke 23:23). He knew He would be flogged nearly to the point of death before they pounded the metal spikes into His flesh. He knew the prophetic words of Isaiah spoken seven centuries earlier that He would be beaten so badly that He would be “disfigured beyond that of any man” and “beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14). Certainly, these things factored into His great anguish and sorrow, causing Him to sweat drops of blood. Yet there was more.
Crucifixion was considered to be the most painful and torturous method of execution ever devised and was used on the most despised and wicked people. In fact, so horrific was the pain that a word was designed to help explain it—excruciating, which literally means “from the cross.” From His arrest in the garden until the time our Lord stated, “It is finished” (John 19:30), Scripture records only one instance where Jesus “cried out in a loud voice” (Matthew 27:46). As our sinless Savior bore the weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders, His Father must have looked away, as His “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Habakkuk1:13), causing the suffering Servant to cry out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46). The spiritual pain of this feeling of abandonment no doubt greatly exceeded the intense physical pain the Lord endured on our behalf.
At the beginning of creation, human history began in a garden (Genesis 2:8), and when the first Adam sinned against God in this garden, death entered the world (Genesis 3:6). Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ, the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), entered into another garden to accept the cup from His Father’s hand (Matthew 26:42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42), and death was about to be swallowed up in victory. Although God’s plan was designed before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4–5), we must never forget that its execution came at a great cost. Ultimately, then, we are the ones responsible for the blood that dripped from our Savior as He prayed in the garden. And we are the reason Jesus’ soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Indeed, these bloodied sweat drops came at a great cost; let us never forget that.
So you see my friend, Jesus suffered as we suffer through life but was without sin for the word of God says fear is sin, so now we should understand that we have this great Intercessor before the Father for our weaknesses. Do you hurt today? Call on Him! Do wonder if your life really matters? Call on Him! Do you hurt from loss? Call on Him! Do you doubt you will ever heal? Call on Him!
The Promise of a Compassionate High Priest-Jesus
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Another old hymn comes to mind: Jesus' love can reach the deepest woe!
If you would like the music to this hymn go here: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/677
ART THOU SUNK IN THE DEPTHS OF SORROW
The Promise of a Compassionate High Priest-Jesus
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Another old hymn comes to mind: Jesus' love can reach the deepest woe!
If you would like the music to this hymn go here: https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/677
ART THOU SUNK IN THE DEPTHS OF SORROW
1
| Art thou sunk in depths of sorrow Where no arm can reach so low? There is One whose arms almighty Reach beyond thy deepest woe. God th’ Eternal is thy refuge, Let it still thy wild alarms; Underneath thy deepest sorrow, Are the everlasting arms. |
| Underneath thee, underneath thee, Are the everlasting arms, Everlasting, everlasting, Are the everlasting arms. | |
2
| Other arms grow faint and weary, These can never faint, nor fail; Others reach our mounts of blessing, These our lowest loneliest vale. O that all might know His friendship! O that all might see His charms! O that all might have beneath them Jesus’ everlasting arms. |
3
| Underneath us, O how easy; We have not to mount on high, But to sink into His fulness, And in trustful weakness lie. And we find our humbling failures Save us from the strength that harms! We may fail, but underneath us Are the everlasting arms. |
4
| Arms of Jesus! fold me closer, To Thy strong and loving breast, Till my spirit on Thy bosom Finds its everlasting rest; And when time’s last sands are sinking, Shield my heart from all alarms, Softly whispering, “Underneath thee, Are the everlasting arms.” |
See you next blog,
Ted
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