The Christmas Model for Missions

 

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18)

Christmas is a model for missions. Missions is a mirror of Christmas. As I, so you.

For example, danger. Christ came to his own and his own received him not. So you also. They plotted against him. So you. He had no permanent home. So you. They trumped up false charges against him. So you. They whipped and mocked him. So you. He died after three years of ministry. So you.

But there is a worse danger than any of these which Jesus escaped. So you!!

In the mid-16th century the missionary Francis Xavier (1506–1552), wrote to Father Perez of Malacca (today part of Malaysia) about the perils of his mission to China. He said,

The danger of all dangers would be to lose trust and confidence in the mercy of God. . . . To distrust him would be a far more terrible thing than any physical evil which all the enemies of God put together could inflict on us, for without God’s permission neither the devils nor their human ministers could hinder us in the slightest degree.

The greatest danger a missionary faces is not death but to distrust the mercy of God. If that danger is avoided, then all other dangers lose their sting.

In the end God makes every dagger a scepter in our hand. As J.W. Alexander says, “Each instant of present labor is to be graciously repaid with a million ages of glory.”

Christ escaped this danger — the danger of distrusting God. Therefore God has highly exalted him! As he, so you.

Remember this Advent that Christmas is a model for missions. As I, so you. And that mission means danger. And the greatest danger is distrusting God’s mercy. Succumb to this and all is lost. Conquer here and nothing can harm you for a million ages.

THE SUPREME SACRIFICE AND THE GREAT COMMISSION!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY DECEMBER 18, 2022.

SUBJECT: THE SUPREME SACRIFICE AND THE GREAT COMMISSION!

Memory verse:  "And He said to them, “Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16 vs 15.) 

READ: Second Corinthians 8 vs 9; Philippians 2 vs 6 - 8:

Second Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes, He became poor that you through His poverty might become rich.

Philippians 2:6: Who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 

2:7: But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

2:8: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death of the cross.

INTIMATION:

In the beginning God created us in His image and after His likeness. He created us out of love, modeled us to be like Him, and to live the best of life without lack or want. But our first parents were grossly influenced that they doubted God’s integrity, and disobeyed Him. It was for the reason of our haven done things wrong; disobeyed God’s laws, that we were separated from God our Creator. Separation from God is death; but, by ourselves, we can do nothing to become reunited with God.

His sincere, and genuine love, and concern for us occasioned His sending His only begotten Son to the world for our liberation. His Son, Jesus, was God’s unique Son, Who never disobeyed God and never sinned. Consequently, only Jesus can bridge the gap between the sinless God and sinful people. Jesus’ incarnation was the act of the preexistent Son of God voluntarily assuming a human body and human nature. Without ceasing to be God, He became a human being, the man called Jesus. He didn’t give up His deity to become human, but He set aside the right to His glory and power. 

Jesus came as a propitiation for us, freely offered His life for us; He knew no sin, but was made sin for our sakes, taking all our wrongdoing upon Himself, dying a shameful death on the cross in our place, and saving us from the consequences of sin—including God’s judgement and death. He gave His life so that we can have life, not only having life, but having it more abundantly.

Jesus took our past, present, and future sins upon Himself so that we could have new life. Because all our wrongdoing is forgiven, we are reconciled to God. Furthermore, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the proof that His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross was acceptable to God, and His resurrection has become the source of new life for those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. All who believe in Him may have this new life and live it in union with Him.

Jesus, as a Deity, was rich in all things; haven all things created by Him and for Him. But He became poor by giving up His rights as God and becoming human. In His incarnation, God voluntarily became man—the person Jesus of Nazareth. As a man, Jesus was subject to place, time, and other human limitations. He did not give up His eternal power when He became human, but He did set aside His glory and His rights. In response to the Father’s Will, He limited His power and knowledge. Christ became poor when He became human because He set aside so much. Yet by doing so, He made us rich because we received salvation and eternal life. What a “SUPREME SACRIFICE!”

After haven done this great and supreme sacrifice, that had never been done, and would never be done by any again, Jesus made a request on His followers—His disciples; to go into all the world, telling everyone “the Good News,” that He had paid the penalty for our sins and those who believe in Him can be forgiven and live eternally with God. 

We, as followers of Jesus, are commissioned to spread the “Good News,” and this is the “Great Commission!” Christians today in all parts of the world are telling this gospel to people who haven’t heard about Jesus. We should do this in response to the supreme sacrifice He made for us out of love, and we should return this love by obeying His command. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14 vs 15).

The driving power that carries missionaries around the world and sets Christ’s church in motion is the faith that comes from the Resurrection. Do you ever feel as though you don’t have the skill or determination to be a witness for Christ? You must personally realize that Jesus rose from the dead and lives for you today. As you grow in your relationship with Christ, He will give you both the opportunities and the inner strength to tell His message.

Jesus said, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10 vs 32.) Do you want Jesus to confess you before the Father in heaven? Then engage in the “Great Commission;” witnessing for Christ here and now. 

This is the only request Jesus made on us after He had made the aforesaid sacrifices for us. He sacrificed something of immeasurable value for something completely worthless! What a sacrifice! He has not left us alone in this service, but promised to be with us always, even up to the end of age, and has accomplished this in the Person of the Holy Spirit—Jesus in Spirit form, indwelling us.

Therefore, haven all these done for you, and all these promises made to you, what excuse do you have not to engage in witnessing for Jesus? Not doing this is, in my considered opinion, gross disobedience, denying the Savior before men, and consequently, the Savior’s denying you before His Father in heaven! 

Prayer: Abba Father, there is nothing I can do to adequately compensate for what You did for me in redemption? Virtually nothing! Not obeying You in engaging in the “Great Commission” is not just disobedience to You, but also wickedness, and selfishness on the part of any Christian. May I live to obey You all the days of my life, and confess You before men in this world, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Greatest Salvation Imaginable

 

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . ” (Jeremiah 31:31)

God is just and holy and separated from sinners like us. This is our main problem at Christmas — and every other season. How shall we get right with a just and holy God?

Nevertheless, God is merciful and has promised in Jeremiah 31 (five hundred years before Christ) that someday he would do something new. He would replace shadows with the Reality of the Messiah. And he would powerfully move into our lives and write his will on our hearts so that we are not constrained from outside, but are willing from inside, to love him and trust him and follow him.

That would be the greatest salvation imaginable — if God should offer us the greatest Reality in the universe to enjoy and then move in us to know that Reality in such a way that we could enjoy it with the greatest freedom and the greatest pleasure possible. That would be a Christmas gift worth singing about.

That is, in fact, what he promised in the new covenant. But there was a huge obstacle. Our sin. Our separation from God because of our unrighteousness.

How shall a holy and just God treat us sinners with so much kindness as to give us the greatest Reality in the universe (his Son) to enjoy with the greatest possible joy?

The answer is that God put our sins on his Son, and judged them there, so that he could put them out of his mind, and deal with us mercifully and remain just and holy at the same time. Hebrews 9:28 says Christ was “offered once to bear the sins of many.”

Christ bore our sins in his own body when he died (1 Peter 2:24). He took our judgment (Romans 8:3). He canceled our guilt (Romans 8:1). And that means our sins are gone (Acts 10:43). They do not remain in God’s mind as a basis for condemnation. In that sense, he “forgets” them (Jeremiah 31:34). They are consumed in the death of Christ.

Which means that God is now free, in his justice, to lavish us with all the unspeakably great new covenant promises. He gives us Christ, the greatest Reality in the universe, for our enjoyment. And he writes his own will — his own heart — on our hearts so that we can love Christ and trust Christ and follow Christ from the inside out, with freedom and joy.

KEEP THE ‘ROYAL LAW’ AND FULFILL ALL THE LAW

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 17, 2022.

SUBJECT : KEEP THE ‘ROYAL LAW’ AND FULFILL ALL THE LAW!

Memory verse: "For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5 vs 14.)

READ: Romans 13 vs 8 - 10:

13:8: Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves Another has fulfilled the law.

13:9: For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as Yourself.”

13:10: Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

INTIMATION:

The ‘royal law’ is the law of loving one another. It was given by our great King Jesus Christ, who said, “Love one another as I loved you” (John 15 vs 12). To love others was not a new commandment (see Leviticus 19 vs 18), where it was originally summarized, and was the basis for all the laws of how people should relate with one another. 

However, to love others as much as Christ loved us is revolutionary. Now we are to love others based on Jesus' sacrificial love for us. Jesus is a living example of God's love—Who gave His only Son as a propitiation for us, we are to be living examples of Jesus love as well—bearing one another’s burden (Galatians 6 vs 2). 

Jesus summarized the law as Love for God and neighbor (Matthew 22 vs 37 - 40). The royal law holds us accountable to God and devoted to others. In the the passage we read today, the apostle Paul said that love demonstrated toward a neighbor would fully satisfy the law. Therefore, when we fail to love we are actually breaking God’s law. 

A heart of love, both towards God and your fellow human, is a fundamental requirement in our relationship and fellowship with God. Jesus gave us a commandment in John 13 vs 34, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another." His unique and unequalled love for us caused Him to give His life for us, hence He said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15 vid 13).

We must treat all people as we would want to be treated. This is a debt that all believers in Christ owe. Why? Because we are permanently in debt to Christ for the lavish love He has poured out on us. The only way we can even begin to repay this debt is by fulfilling our obligation to love others in turn. Because Christ’s love will always be infinitely greater than ours, we will always have the obligation to love our neighbors. 

The love for your neighbor is limitless and has no boundaries. It doesn’t ignore anybody, because ignoring anybody, whether rich or poor, is tantamount to withholding our love. But we must not favor the rich for what they can do for us, while ignoring the poor who can offer us seemingly nothing or so little in return.

The Scripture recognizes love for one another as a demonstration of love for God; "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (First John 4 vs 20.) Therefore, love your neighbor you are seeing before you can claim your love for God you do not see.

Christians must obey the law of love, which supersedes both religious and civil laws. It’s quite easy for us to excuse our indifference to others merely because we have no legal obligation to help them, and even, in some circumstances, justly harming them if our actions are technically legal! For instance, if our actions are legal and beneficial to us, we may not care how it affect others. But Jesus does not leave loopholes in the law of love. Whenever love demands it, we are to go beyond human legal requirements and imitate the God of love. 

When we believers lose the motivation of love, we become critical of others. We stop looking for good in them and see only their faults. Soon we lose our unity. Have you talked behind someone’s back? Have you focused on others’ shortcomings instead of their strengths? Remind yourself of Jesus’ command to love others as you love yourself. (Matthew 22 vs 39). When you begin to feel critical of someone, make a list of that person’s positive qualities. When problems need to be addressed, confront in love rather than gossip.

It’s noteworthy that we need to self-love that can influence our love for others. But even if you have low self-esteem, you probably don’t willingly let yourself go hungry. You take care of your body and may even exercise. You clothe yourself reasonably well. You make sure there is a roof over your head. You try not to let yourself be cheated or injured. This is the kind of love we need to have for our neighbors. 

Now, do we see that others are fed, clothed, and housed as well as they can be? Are we concerned about issues of social justice? Loving others as ourselves means actively working to see that their needs are met. Interestingly, people who focus on others rather than on themselves rarely suffer from low self-esteem.

Examine your attitude and actions toward others. Do you build people up or tear them down? When you really criticize someone, remember God’s law of love and say something good instead. Saying something beneficial to others will cure you of finding fault and increase your ability to obey God’s law of love.

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me with the spirit of love for You and my neighbor that I may fulfill the law, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

BE GOD-INSIDE MINDED!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 16, 2022.

SUBJECT: BE GOD-INSIDE MINDED!

Memory verse:  "For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2 vs 13.) 

READ: Ephesians 2 vs 4 - 10:

2:4: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

2:5: even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

2:6: and raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2:7: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

2:9: not of works, lest anyone should boast.

2:10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

INTIMATION:

God has not left us alone in our struggles to do His Will. He wants to come alongside us and be within us to help. God helps us want to obey Him and then gives us the power to do what He wants. The secret to changed life is to submit to God's control and let Him work.

Now, look at this: We were dead in trespasses, but God, because of His great love for us made us alive together with Christ. We were enslaved by the devil and our sinful natures, but God....These may be the two most welcome words in all of Scripture: “But God.” God has the choice of leaving us in our bondage of sins and spiritual deadness. But He didn’t. He did not save us because of, but rather in spite of, what He saw in us. 

He is at work within you, solving your problems, building His strength into you, making His wisdom your wisdom, His ability your ability, His strength your strength.

You can understand now that you are not common any more. You belong to an unusual order of beings. You are a New Creation—His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2 vs 10).

You are created to enter into a certain realm, to do His Will, carry out His purposes here on earth. You have a testimony now that is thrilling—you are one with Him. And haven known this, let Christ reign fully in you—be God-inside minded. Let your faith be completely built on this fact, and let the words of your testimony express it always.

Remember that your faith will keep pace with your testimony, that you will never have faith beyond what you confess; for there is a relationship between your faith and your confession. If you are afraid to confess your oneness with Him, that His very life is your life, that His ability is your ability, that His strength is your strength, that his wisdom is your wisdom, if you are afraid to confess it, it is not yours. It is what you boldly say before the enemy that fills him with fear and you with courage and victory, that is yours in reality. If you are halting and have a negative confession, your faith will never rise above it.

A negative confession shows a lack of appreciation on your part of Christ's victory over Satan for you. You are identified with Christ. When He conquered Satan, before He arose from the dead, you were with Him in the combat, and the victory that He achieved is laid to your account. All you have to do is to assume your place and say, "Satan, in the name of Jesus leave me now," or, "You, Satan leave that loved one now."

And when you quote Jesus' Word, it is exactly as if He were speaking it Himself. Remember what Jesus said, "The words that I speak are not Mine, but the Father's." (John 14 vs 10.) So when Jesus commanded diseases to leave bodies, it is as though the Father were speaking. But when you have a negative testimony and you talk about your lack and your weakness, the adversary takes advantage of your confession and brings you down to the level of it.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your Word of faith is in my mouth and in my heart. My confession of the word is my victory over Satan. My victory is sealed in Your blood. Give me the grace to continually testify in faith, my victory over Satan in Your Word, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

God’s Most Successful Setback

 

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11)

Christmas marked the beginning of God’s most successful setback. He has always delighted to show his power through apparent defeat. He makes tactical retreats in order to win strategic victories.

In the Old Testament, Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, was promised glory and power in his dream (Genesis 37:5–11). But to achieve that victory he had to become a slave in Egypt. And, as if that were not enough, when his conditions improved because of his integrity, he was made worse than a slave: a prisoner.

But it was all planned. Planned by God for his good and the good of his family, and eventually for the good of the whole world! For there in prison he met Pharaoh’s butler, who eventually brought him to Pharaoh, who put him over Egypt. And finally, his dream came true. His brothers bowed before him, and he saved them from starvation. What an unlikely route to glory!

But that is God’s way — even for his Son. He emptied himself and took the form of a slave. Worse than a slave — a prisoner — and was executed. But like Joseph, he kept his integrity. “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9–10).

And this is God’s way for us too. We are promised glory — if we will suffer with him as it says in Romans 8:17. The way up is down. The way forward is backward. The way to success is through divinely appointed setbacks. They will always look and feel like failure.

But if Joseph and Jesus teach us anything this Christmas it is this: What Satan and sinful men meant for evil, “God meant it for good!” (Genesis 50:20).

You fearful saints fresh courage take
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head.

Life and Death at Christmas

 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

As I was about to begin this devotional, I received word that Marion Newstrum had just died. Marion and her husband Elmer had been part of our church longer than most of our members had been alive at the time. She was 87. They had been married 64 years.

When I spoke to Elmer and told him I wanted him to be strong in the Lord and not give up on life, he said, “He has been a true friend.” I pray that all Christians will be able to say at the end of life, “Christ has been a true friend.”

Each Advent I mark the anniversary of my mother’s death. She was cut off in her 56th year in a bus accident in Israel. It was December 16, 1974. Those events are incredibly real to me even today. If I allow myself, I can easily come to tears — for example, thinking that my sons never knew her. We buried her the day after Christmas. What a precious Christmas it was!

Many of you will feel your loss this Christmas more pointedly than before. Don’t block it out. Let it come. Feel it. What is love for, if not to intensify our affections — both in life and death? But oh, do not be bitter. It is tragically self-destructive to be bitter.

Jesus came at Christmas that we might have eternal life. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Elmer and Marion had discussed where they would spend their final years. Elmer said, “Marion and I agreed that our final home would be with the Lord.”

Do you feel restless for home? I have family coming home for the holidays. It feels good. I think the bottom-line reason for why it feels good is that they and I are destined in the depths of our being for an ultimate Homecoming. All other homecomings are foretastes. And foretastes are good.

Unless they become substitutes. Oh, don’t let all the sweet things of this season become substitutes of the final, great, all-satisfying Sweetness. Let every loss and every delight send your hearts a-homing after heaven.

Christmas. What is it but this: I came that they may have life? Marion Newstrum, Ruth Piper, and you and I — that we might have Life, now and forever.

Make your Now the richer and deeper this Christmas by drinking at the fountain of Forever. It is so near.