Faith Even in Sickness

“It’s one thing to have faith for healing. It’s a greater thing to have faith for sickness.” – Jon Courson

 The Book of Job is probably my favorite OT book because through it the Holy Spirit led me to Christ. Job can be a difficult book to traverse but in it are the simple truths of God and when understood properly our faith will grow once we understand the message it brings. But understanding Job requires a complete reading because by its nature the story must completely unfold.

Today I was reading the 13^th chapter and came across a great point that was illuminated more clearly by a commentary from Pastor Jon Courson. To set up the context Job has lost everything he has including his health. All he has left is a wife who really doesn’t help and 3 friends who have been kind enough to have come to sit with him in his time of loss. Unfortunately his buddies have done little to help Job as they have pretty much just told him these things have happened because he is a not a Godly man and has all this sin which God is punishing him for. The problem is Job is a righteous man (not to be confused with perfect and without sin) who has been doing his best to follow God.

 Job is the quintessential book on suffering. While it may not answer the question completely of why suffering exists, what it does is teach us that God is sovereign and He is just and righteous. Just because we do not understand God’s ways, we do not have the right to even question Him, for His ways are greater than ours.

 Job makes a declaration that exemplifies the exact position all Christians need to take in all circumstances in chapter 13, verse 15 where he says, "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”

This is what Courson in his OT Application Commentary says about that statement:              

“And with these words, Satan lost his bet. Although Job didn’t navigate his difficulty perfectly, he completely shuts Satan down right here. “Even if I don’t understand what God is doing, even though it seems to be to be unfair, even if He should slay me in the process, yet I will trust Him,” Job proclaims. Yes, Job’s faith will falter, but here it’s ignited. It’s one thing to have faith for healing. It’s a greater thing to have faith for sickness. That is, it takes greater faith to say, “I come to You for healing. But, Lord, should You, as You did to Paul, say, ‘My grace is sufficient,’ I will still trust You. I have faith in You, not faith that I can get You to do what I want You to do, but faith that You will do what’s best.” Even if the affliction doesn’t go away, even if the problem continues, even if the solution doesn’t come, faith says, “Though You slay me, I will still trust You because You were slain for me. You gave up everything because You love me. Therefore, I embrace whatever You decide to do. You see things I don’t. You know things I can’t.” Here, with his body broken out in boils, with his worldly possession and his family taken from him, with his friends relentlessly accusing him, faith flares up in Job.”

Read a part of that again. “It’s one thing to have faith for healing. It’s a greater thing to have faith for sickness. That is, it takes greater faith to say, “I come to You for healing. But, Lord, should You, as You did to Paul, say, ‘My grace is sufficient,’ I will still trust You. I have faith in You, not faith that I can get You to do what I want You to do, but faith that You will do what’s best.”

So do you trust God in ALL circumstances? Pray about this and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to have more faith than ever before. This life is hard and with it will come hard times. We must trust our God. Yes we can pray and ask for healing or ask for Him to remove the trial but whether He does or doesn’t we can rest in Christ knowing He is working things out for our good (see Romans 8:28) and in the wonderful promise of Jeremiah 29:11-14, “For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.”

God bless.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 7

We come now to the fifth of the six hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus. Jesus says this in Matthew 10:38-39,  “And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.” The fifth marking or hallmark of a disciple is that a disciple gives up his own life.

Selfishness is so prevalent in our world today. It seems rare out in the streets to see simple courtesy. If you do not believe that than you must not be driving a car in traffic. Everybody seems so in a hurry and if you get in their way by obeying the speed limit people will try and run you over and usually when they pass you some form of aggression is passed to you at least in the means of a dirty look or nasty gesture. In other words, “Get out of my way. I am more important than your desire to follow the law.”  The world has become a “me, me, me” world. Psychology speaks so much of self-esteem and tells us “we” are important.

Jesus preached a different philosophy. His, unlike the world’s, speaks of complete self-denial. Even to the point of death. No one denies that to Jesus love is an imperative. Jesus however steps up the meaning of love quite a bit. He says this in John 15:12-13, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”

Jesus did what He expects us to do. Die for others. Jesus wants us to give up our wants, our desires, and even our needs in an effort to do what He has already done at the cross. We are to “take up our cross and follow Him.” Taking up our cross does not speak of the difficulties of everyday life or even the tragedies that happen in our lives. Taking up our cross means we sacrifice everything we have, including our lives to follow Him. This means we drop our pride and apologize even when we don’t feel like it. It means we share the blessings God has given us in this life such as our money, our time, and our talents. It means we forgive others. It means we forgive each other no matter what the crime. Period. It means our forgiveness has no limit. If our brother keeps doing the same thing over and over we forgive and we love him by helping him up every time he falls. This is what Christ has done for us.

This is a hard teaching and probably few of us ever attain the completeness of really following Christ in this manner. But we must seek the power of God’s Holy Spirit on a daily basis to attain this quest of pure self-denial if we choose to follow Christ. The first disciples left everything behind to follow Jesus. We must do the same.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 6 Forsaking Family

Today we as we look at the next item of the six things Jesus calls us to as disciples we come to a fascinating scripture and one that some really just don’t quite understand. The fourth hallmark of discipleship is that a disciple forsakes his family. On the surface this just doesn’t seem right to us and one might even be tempted to suggest this contradicts scripture. 1 Timothy 5:8 instructs us about family saying, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Obviously taking care of our family is important and they should be our first priority in taking care of and in sharing the Gospel.

This is what Jesus says about His disciples in Matthew 10:34-37, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Let us break this down and find out what this means.

First of Jesus says he did not come to “bring peace to the earth.” Jesus is not contradicting the idea that the Gospel is a gospel of peace, it is for those who have decided to accept His it. Romans 5:1 tells us, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thanks be to God, through Christ our sin can no longer keep us at war with God’s holiness. The blood of Christ has covered our sin once and for all time when Jesus shed it for us at Calvary. And along with this good news is the news that we have been set free from sin, worry, anger, and anything else that creates havoc within us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But for those who refuse God’s offer of the Gospel, their sin puts them at war with God, for God is a Holy God and by nature is directly opposed to sin. What Jesus is saying here in Matthew 10:35-36, “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household”  is that a disciple of Christ cannot help but be in conflict with those who reject His truth. Jesus is referring here to a quote from Micah 7:6, “for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”

God does not like compromise and that is clear when we read the history of Israel in the OT. Jesus confirmed this in His time on earth by saying things such as "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." from Luke 9:62. What Jesus expects from us is a total commitment. This is modeled for us in His choosing of the original disciples who left everything behind to come follow Him. By using our families as an example Jesus is demonstrating how serious He expects our commitment to be.

So the bottom line here is that nothing should come between us and Jesus. If our friends are unbelievers we must forsake them to do what Jesus asks. If our jobs require us to deny Christ we will be required to leave and seek other employment. Though we are not commanded to divorce an unbelieving spouse, we cannot allow our spouse to draw us away from God. 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 Paul explains, “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?” At all times our efforts and our prayers must be directed toward leading those who are opposed to us and Jesus to a saving knowledge of Him.

The world is our enemy for it is an enemy of Christ. But never forget what Jesus commands us to do to our enemies in Matthew 5:44-45 “…love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.” Paul expands on this in Romans 12:18-21 saying, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

So to sum this up we must love everyone even when we are diametrically opposed to their way of life. But loving someone does not mean we agree nor does it mean we act as they do. A true disciple of Christ walks in the Spirit and seeks to be like Jesus. The world and even our unbelieving family members will try and keep us from following Christ’s commands thus they become our enemy. Romans 12:2 must become our way of life even when its causes division in our homes. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This will not be easy and actually unless we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit it is too much. So keep your eyes on Jesus, stay in His Word daily, and pray without ceasing. God bless all of you.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 5

Today we continue on in a study on the hallmarks of a disciple of Jesus and look at the willingness of a true disciple to confess Jesus as Lord. If nothing else convicts me I think my commitment to sharing Jesus with others is too often neglected. The last teaching spoke about not fearing the world yet in so many ways our failure as witnesses come out of that fear. For most of us we have no fear of death because of our witness but our fears lie in our lack of willingness to be ridiculed or to lose friends because of our faith. We simply must stop that. Listen to the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 10:32-33, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

This is serious stuff. Let us take a look at what Jesus is saying. First of all note that he begins with the word “everyone” which instructs us that this verse is talking to me and it’s talking to you. One thing many people misunderstand is the relationship between the free gift of our salvation and the result of what happens when we receive that gift. No one believes more strongly than I that salvation is in no way put in place by one single act of self. The Bible is clear on this and Ephesians 2:8-9 is just one of many scriptures that explain it. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” But after we are saved the Bible is also clear that we are new creations and the Holy Spirit lives in us. While certainly most of us are not instantly made totally like Jesus, if salvation is real in our lives there will be change and growth and by the power of the Holy Spirit we will begin to become obedient to the commands of scripture. The blessings of being a Christian are found in a relationship of cause and effect. Verses such as 1 John 1:9 that say “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” My point is that the Christian life involves a lot of “if” we do this “then” God does that. I do not have time to develop this though deeper here but careful Bible study will teach you how all this works. We must be a participant in our sanctification.

Jesus says we must “confess” him before men. This means we not only say we believe Him to be our Lord and Savior but we also live out our lives before the world in a way that demonstrates we really have made Him Lord.

Following the principle of the “if then” conditional way of life for the Christian Jesus tells us directly that if we confess Him before men, then He will confess us before the Father. Jesus reiterates this by giving the opposite view of that. If we deny Christ before men then He will deny us before the Father. This is a warning about not only a direct denial but also a denial by silence. We are not supposed to sit in our little cubicle at work and privately live out our faith. No we must go out into the world and shine the light of Christ (See Matthew 5:14-16).

Obviously we fail so often in our witness. God knows our weaknesses and though we fail often does not necessarily mean we are not His but the point here is to be constantly watching and testing our faith so we can be sure we are not drifting. We need to encourage each other to stay on the path and follow Jesus. I leave you today with the words of Joshua from Joshua 24:15 “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."

We need to make a choice. God bless all of you.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 4

Last blog we looked at the call Jesus gives us to not fear the world. As promised we will now see the three reasons Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 10 for His disciples to not be afraid of the world and what it can do to us.

First of we need not fear the world because Jesus has promised that He will one day make everything right. He tells us that even though right now the dark and evil things we see going on all about us are hard to understand eventually we will see clearly His response. In Matthew 10:26-27 Jesus says, "So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”

We need to not worry ourselves about what the world says right now with all its lies and deception but instead look to His return as Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” We must view things from God’s perspective not from our own. And as Matthew 10:27 says, “What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” We must proclaim the entire message of scripture. We all memorize John 3:16 but we must not forget the verses that follow, John 3:17-18, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” God has this under control.

The second reason not to fear the world is that His eternity is of far greater matter than now and God’s power is eternal, man’s is temporal. Look at Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Neither man nor Satan can cast our souls into eternal damnation. There is a popular myth that hell is Satan’s dominion, it is not. Satan will not rule hell, God does, just as He is sovereign over all things.

In actuality the Christian’s fear of God is not a fear defined as one of terror but should instead be understood as reverence and awe in the mighty power of our God who is worthy of all praise and honor. Because of what Christ did by going to the cross, Christians need not fear hell because it is not our eternal destination. However out of respect for God’s right and power to cast souls into eternal damnation, Christians should come before God in the strictest sense of reverence. And since the only thing separating a disciple of Christ from a condemned non-believer is the blood of Christ, our attitude must always be one of tremendous thankfulness for the grace we have been given. The bottom line here is that our soul must be valued far more than our body. As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The third and final reason Jesus gives that tells us why a disciple should not fear the world comes in Matthew 10:29-31, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

This verse is easy to understand but we must believe it with every fiber of our being. God knows every single tiny little detail about all of His creation. And as Jesus says, if a little bird cannot fall without God knowing then we can trust He is watching over us and will not let anything happen to us that He has not allowed. God is sovereign people. So many Christians just do not grasp this concept. We may not understand why or how He operates but that does not mean we cannot trust Him. It is called faith and it is the most important thing we must have in our lives. Hebrews 11:6 is clear, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Disciples do you believe God’s Word? If you do then you can live in this world without fear. If you struggle with faith and fear then read His Word constantly. Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Keep seeking Him through His Word, through prayer, and through worship. Until next time God bless you.

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To – Part 3

 
The second element of the disciple of Jesus is that a true disciple fears not the world, for the worst thing that anyone or anything in this world can do to him is to kill him. To those who follow Christ and learn who God really is, it becomes clear that our eternity is of much greater importance than our earthly life. I like to call this the eternal perspective versus the worldly perspective.

Jesus explains this in Matthew 10:26-31
"So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Let us break this scripture reading down a little. First Jesus tells us what not to fear. He says do not fear “them” and in this reading the "them" He speaks of is better understood by looking at verse 28. Here Jesus is explicit, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” That means we should not fear man. Proverbs 29:25 warns us of this and calls it a trap. “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” How true this is. People who are afraid often lived trapped lives afraid to ever step out in faith and try something new. There is a great axiom that says we either fear God or we fear man. Christians so often struggle in this. At the risk of sounding critical here I know so many Christians who are afraid to pray out loud. They will say they don’t pray as well as others. First of all prayer is simply talking to God and scripture in no way suggests we need fancy words to pray and actually Jesus spoke against that in Matthew 23:13 as He scolded the Pharisees for “making long prayers just for show.” (That doesn’t mean we cannot pray long prayers-it means it’s about the heart of the prayers.) So we should not be worried what other people think of our “ability” to pray and not let that stop us from praying.

 1 John 2:15-17 is another way of viewing this matter and we should look at it as we examine our own faith to verify it is real and lines up with what God desires from us. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” If we truly want to follow Jesus we must stop worrying about the world and not only stop fearing the physical harm it might inflict upon us, but also stop worrying about what the world thinks of us.

Jesus doesn’t just put out this “do not fear the world” thing and then leave us stranded to fend for ourselves. In this reading from Matthew 10 He gives us three reasons to not be afraid. Next blog we will look at those three reasons which are that God will one day vindicate us for what the world does to us. Secondly, we are instructed to replace our fear of the world with a veneration of Him. Lastly, Jesus provides us comfort by telling us how much God values His children and thus like any good father would, He will protect us.

Please pray today for the Holy Spirit to help you find strength and faith to not be afraid. God Bless all of you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Things Jesus Calls His Disciples To

 

In the Gospel of Matthew we find Jesus teaching us some of the things He expects of His disciples. Each and every Christian is a disciple for that is the Great Commission Jesus gave in Matthew 28:18-20 saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Jesus defines discipleship in Matthew 10:24-42. In this reading we find 6 things that He expects of those who call Him Lord and choose to follow Him. John MacArthur says this in his commentary on Matthew, ^1. “The true disciple of Jesus Christ emulates His Master; he fears God rather than the world; he confesses the Lord; he forsakes family; he follows his call; and he receives a reward.

Today let us look at the first element of discipleship which is that a disciple emulates his master. The scripture reference here is Matthew 10:24-25:
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
"It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

Verse 24 seems simple enough and makes sense. Most of us understand this because as children we attended school and until at least our teenage years we probably respected the knowledge of our teachers and believed they were above us in knowledge. Once we become employees somewhere, though we are not slaves, the principle remains the same. Our employer and our immediate supervisor exercise a certain amount of control over us. In our relationship with Jesus it is necessary that we exhibit the most obvious principle of discipleship, that of submission. Jesus does not mince words on this and there are many examples in scripture of His calling us to obey His commands and that our salvation assurance is based upon that being true. I point out just one and it is a simple but clear directive on obedience. In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

The second part of our call to emulate Christ comes in Matthew 10:25 where Jesus says “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” The reason we must learn from our teacher is so that we become just like Him. This is a lifelong process and we see that in Luke 6:40 “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” We should be training to be like Jesus. Of course that does not ever mean we will be equal with Jesus for He is God, but it means we can become just like Him in terms of love. To become like our master as slaves is really fascinating for no one has ever been a servant like Jesus who gave up everything for us.

So to sum all this up we simply must be seeking to know Christ so well that we become like Him and then when the world sees us they will see Jesus. We must become avid students of Jesus and the best way to learn from him is to read His Word. Colossians 3:16 is a beautiful description of how we can use this command to encourage each other as we walk this journey.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

So live today as a disciple. Even though we may fail often as we dwell in the classroom of Christ, we can live in the assured hope of His return when all things will be made right including us. I leave you with the great words of 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Next time we will look at the disciple and what it means to fear God.

^1. MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 8-15.