Believers wrapped up in the glory of the Godhead

Concerning the opening paragraph of Jesus’ prayer in John 17, Marcus Rainsford writes,

Now it may well assure our hearts before God to know that the glory of the Father, the glory of the Son, and the glory of the Holy Ghost, are mutually secured and displayed in the salvation of those who come with their cares, their needs, their sorrows, and their sins, for life, pardon, and salvation, to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christ accepted for us, is the pledge of our glory; Christ dwelling in us, the hope of our glory; Christ walking with us, the light of glory; Christ on us, the garments of glory; Christ’s fullness, the measure of our glory; and Christ Himself, our crown of glory.  Christ crucified and raised from the dead for us, is Christ glorified; and Christ glorified, is God the Father glorified, the Holy Spirit glorified, and the believer glorified. “Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee (Our Lord Prays for His Own:  Thoughts on John 17, p. 45).

Ray’s Teton Valley News, 21

Living in the Joy of the Lord — Psalm 118:24
 
Have you ever considered that you choose the kind of a day you will have?  While you may not be able to choose or control the circumstances of your day, you can choose how you will deal with those circumstances.  In Psalm 118:24 we read, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”  This verse tells us that God has given each of us every day of our lives.  If a person knows Christ as his Savior, he can trust Him with the events of each day.  However, if one does not know Christ as Savior, he must deal with the events of life in his own strength.  Think about the day you are having.  How are you dealing with things?  Is it a struggle, or do you have the inner joy which only comes through Christ?  Only through faith in Christ will you know true joy.

Christ’s Disciples: John (Part 3)

All you who have zealous personalities may have given a hearty AMEN to yesterday’s post about zeal being ignited with truth, and I think that is good, but I want to sharpen your zeal just a little bit more. The life of John teaches us that…

…to have balance our truth-filled zeal must be sharpened with love.

Christ’s Disciples: John (Part 2)

Those that have a similar personality to John and James will cringe when I use the word balance. They will see it as giving in and not holding to the truth. Maybe the post today will help you understand what I am saying when I say balance. John teaches us much about the truth and his life teaches us that…

…to have balance our zeal must be ignited with truth.

Christ’s Disciples: John (Part 1)

As we studied the life of James in the last several posts we found a zealous person for Christ. We know that his brother John was also a zealous person for Christ and fit well with the nickname that Jesus gave them, “sons of thunder.” I believe that John struggled with his zeal right along with James and we see accounts in which his zeal for Christ was tainted with his sinful self.

There are two extremes that believers can come to that will damage the cause of Christ significantly. The first is a failure to hold to, defend or live out any truth. When we live like what we believe is not really that important it invalidates the claims of Christ to those that would observe our lives.

The second thing that we can do to damage the cause of Christ is to hold to the truth without any love. When we demonstrate an angry, condemning spirit towards unbelievers, then we teach them that there is no mercy or love in Christ. There really must be a balance in our zeal for holding to the truth.

John struggled with this balance and often his flesh-driven zeal damaged the cause of Christ. In Mark 9:38-41 we have the account of John telling Jesus that he stopped someone from casting out a demon because he was not one of the disciples. He was expecting Jesus to give him a favorable response, and Jesus instead rebuked him for failing to see this one as for Christ not against him. All of this is really interesting because we know John to be the apostle of love. So there must have been some transformations somewhere, and this is where we continually find encouragement from these character studies in the lives of the disciples. Christ takes the sin-filled, rough character qualities that we have and refines them into usable elements for His glory.

Instead of detailing the background of John I will just refer you to the first post on James. Their backgrounds are nearly the same because they were brothers. Both came from a family of wealth and influence, had the privilege of being in the inner circle of the disciples, and wrestled with zealous personalities. There is much that we can we learn from the transformation of John.

To have balance our zeal must be purged from pride. (Mark 9:38-41)

Christ’s Disciples: James (Part 3)

American Christianity is generally not characterized as being zealous for Christ. There are the rare exceptions. Mostly though, we call those who actively pursue holiness, legalists; we cheapen grace through our flesh filled living, and often make a mockery out of the gospel through our hypocrisy. Most of our problems are really with the opposite struggle; we are far to zealous about things that don’t really matter and far to cold toward thing that do. The last lesson that I would like us to see from the life of James the disciple is a positive one.

Be zealous!

Christ’s Disciples: James (Part 2)

James was not only zealous, but he was ambitious as well. Often these two character qualities go together and when tempered with Christlikeness they can be extremely useful for the kingdom of God. However, when used for self-fulfilling purposes then they can cause incredible destruction. Remember the other James writes in James 4:1-10

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

It is interesting that the word envious at the beginning of the passage is the word for zeal. This leads us to the next lesson that we can learn from James the disciple.

Don’t let your ambition cause you to forget humility. (Mt 20:20-28)

Christ’s Disciples: James (Part 1)

We ought to have zeal in our walk with Christ. We need and excitement and enthusiasm for Christ and the work of the kingdom of God. There are those whose zeal for Christ can be misdirected though. I read of one believer whose zeal for Christ was a little misdirected. He was a barber a while back when barbers used to do the shaving with the straight razors. He had just lathered up one of his customers and grabbed his razor when he asked, “Are you prepared to meet your God?” The customer ran from the shop with the lather still on his face.

I would like to take the next couple of posts to look at a disciple of Christ that had zeal for Christ, but his zeal was often mixed up with his own personal ambition, and this caused trouble and hindered him from being effective in his ministry with Christ.

Christ’s Disciples: Judas Iscariot (part 2)

The great part about the account of Judas is that not only teaches us about ourselves it encourages us with who our God is.

God is not ignorant of the schemes of man or Satan.

This betrayal did not come as a surprise to God. As a matter of fact it was foretold in Scripture and even Jesus said that His betrayal was a fulfillment of Scripture.

Christ’s Disciples: Judas Iscariot (part 1)

There is a name that to us is synonymous with betrayal and that is the name Judas Iscariot. The act of betrayal by Judas Iscariot reaches the depths of the depravity of man. It reveals the insane destructiveness of the sinful practices of man combined with the influences of Satan himself. The sinless Son of God sold for the price of a slave by one of his own disciples. The darkness of this act will never be matched in all of mans history, but there are lessons to be learned even from this treachery.

I believe that this dark account gives to us some lessons not only about ourselves, but about God. In this first installment on the life of Judas we will learn some lessons from Judas about the nature of man.