“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent, me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation.”
Jesus often reminded people to hear - to really listen. For example, after Jesus gave the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In Revelation 2:17, Jesus said, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches…” I think what Jesus means by statements like this is that we need to really hear and let the word go into our ears and minds and hearts and make a difference in our lives. To really hear is to heed and to obey the voice that calls to us. There are people who hear the word of Jesus, and then there are those that really hear the word of Jesus. It really makes a difference in their lives. We saw this in the parable of the sower when Jesus told about the person who hears the word and Satan comes and snatches it away before it can even begin to take root. We need to really hear what the Bible is telling us when we read it. It is possible to read the Bible, and miss the voice of God in it. Some unbelievers say that they read the word of God and since it did not make sense to them, they rejected it. They were reading, but they were not hearing the voice of the Spirit as they read. When you read the word of God, listen for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. When you hear the word of God taught or preached, hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in what you hear. The next thing that we read in this text is that the one who really hears the word of God must believe "on Him that sent me.” Another way of writing this is, “the one who really hears the word will believe on Jesus and the One who sent Him.” Jesus said that He and the Father are one. This means that to believe in the Son is to believe in the Father. The important word here is “believe.” Jesus dealt with this in John 6:27-29: “Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for the meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him has the Father sealed. 28. Then said they unto Him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.” Notice that in one place Jesus said to believe on “Him that sent me,” and in another place He said “believe on Him whom He has sent.” It is belief, faith or trust that enables people to be saved. We are not saved by works, as the people in John 6 implied, but we are saved to work. All of the work in the world will not save anyone unless they believe in the One sent by the Father. The next thing to note in the text is that the one who “believes on him that sent me has everlasting life.” In John 6, Jesus told the people “labor for the meat which endures unto everlasting life.” One of the basic biblical beliefs is that there is life after death. When our bodily functions cease, we step over into eternity. Which eternity we step over into depends on whether or not we have believed in Jesus. Life after death is “everlasting life” or “everlasting death.” This makes believing in Jesus the most important decision that a person will make in his or her life. John 6:39-40 tells the story of a lot of lives: “Search the scriptures: for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40. And you will not come to me that you might have life.” This is why is so important to really hear the word of God and to believe in Jesus. Jesus is present throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, He is present in prophecy. In the New Testament, He is present in bodily form. Jesus is definitely not to be taken lightly. If you have heard and believed, thank God and praise Him. If you not really heard and believed do it now. Bro. Joe
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“Are You Glad?” Psalm 9:2
“I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” I was sitting here thinking about being glad. Glad is a word that we need to use often, because if you are Christian there is a lot to be glad about. I will take a few things for my own life to share my own gladness. I am glad that I was raised by a mama who made me go to church. I’ve got to tell you that I was not always glad about that. I didn’t realize that while I was wishing that I could be at home instead of at church, it was making an impact in my life and impressing me in ways that I could never explain. At a young age, I was not aware of the value of Christian fellowship. I just called it “going to church.” As I reflect on those days, I see how being in church on Sunday influenced me and served as a reminder that real life is found in Jesus. In fact those early years in church helped me to know when I got older that God was calling me into the ministry, and I’m glad for that too. My life has been enriched because of Christian ministry in so many different ways, I don’t think that I could fully explain it? Enough about me, let’s turn to you. What makes you glad? Are you glad that you are a Christian? If you are not a Christian, you are missing out on the abundant life. Sometimes we see people who live only for the world seeming to really enjoy themselves and feel a little envious. This business of being a Christian does not allow us to have “fun” the way the rest of the world does. If we will think about it, this kind of “fun” does not last forever. There are people who go from party to party and just live it up. But all of this will end. There will be a last party, a last shot at fun, and life will become empty and void. There is an old poem that can explain what I mean: “Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” This does not mean that we spend every moment of our lives doing “church work.” It means that we have a lasting relationship with Christ, and serving him adds depth and strength to our lives. If I’m not careful here, I will leave the impression that I do not believe that life should contain humor and fun. I do not mean that at all. I believe that we should laugh a lot, and that we should not be “holy kill joys.” Having Christ in our lives makes our days glad. Do you remember this old song: “He has made me glad, He has made glad, I’m so glad that He has made me glad.” I hope that you can sing this song and really mean it. Are you really glad that you belong to a fellowship of Christian people? You would know that I was lying if I tried to convince you that church fellowship has always been a “bed or roses.” There are people in churches who do not exactly make us glad. But I will tell you what I have seen. I have seen these Christian “church people” come to the aid of people who had lost a loved one. I was out of town when my daddy died in 1969. At the meeting I was attending, they told me that I had an emergency phone call. It was Mary calling to tell me that daddy had died. When I got home, mama’s living room was filled with people that I had known all my life from the Smithville Baptist Church. Their presence made my heart glad, knowing that they were there out of love. I haven’t even scratched the surface of Christian gladness, but I think that I have written enough to make you examine your own life. If you are not a glad person, you need to ask yourself why, particularly if you are a Christian. I don’t mean that a glad person is happy all of the time. I do mean that a glad Christian has every reason to have a glad heart and to live a glad life. This glad heart will make life better in spite of the unhappy and trying moments. A glad heart will sustain you through all of life – the good and the bad. If you don’t have this gladness in your heart and life, I challenge you to find it in Jesus. Bro. Joe “So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness. 3. Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
When Israel got to the gateway to Canaan, the Promised Land, Moses sent twelve spies to check out the land. When they returned, two of them, Joshua and Caleb, were ready to go in and take the land, while the other ten were alarmed because of the size of the people. They saw the “Sons of Anak,” who were noted for their great height. The ten negative spies complained that “we were as grasshoppers in their sight.” This report alarmed the Israelites so much that they wanted to turn around and go back into slavery in Egypt. They didn’t go back to Egypt, but they had to wander in the desert for forty years until the generation that lacked the faith to take the Promised Land died out. In this incident I see the tragedy of the lack of faith. There was a lack of faith in the promises of God. We can go all the way back to Genesis 12, where God promised Abraham that his people would possess that land. That was a promise that the people remembered and were taught about over the years. They had the promise of almighty God that the Land of Canaan would be theirs. When they refused to go into the land at the point of our text, they were telling God that they did not believe His promise. It is a tragedy today when we fail to take God at His word. For example, He has promised to be with us at all times. There is never a time that we need fear that the Lord has forsaken us, but when we fail to act on the faith that He has given us and not take Him at His promise, we fall back into spiritual defeat. God promised that He would send the Messiah to save people. He came in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, and the promise was that if we put our faith in Him we will be saved. The tragedy is that many people fail to take that promise and pay the price for it. Hold the promises of God close to your heart, take Him at His word, trust Him and have the victory that He has promised. There was a lack of faith in the power of God. Remember that these people who wanted to go back to Egypt had seen the power of God at work as no people had ever seen. They saw Him divide the Red Sea so that they could escape Pharaoh and his army. They were fed on manna provided by God every day except the Sabbath. They had seen God send quail among them to satisfy their hunger. They had seen water come from a rock. They had seen God do things in His power that had to be from Him. I think that one of the reasons God led them to the Red Sea was so they could see what only He could do. They saw it and rejoiced, but when the chips were down they did not trust the power of God. God still has the same power. We need to trust that He can, and will, use that great power on our behalf. We can trust the power of God to work in our lives. Let’s not turn back as these faithless Israelites did. There was a lack of faith in their potential if they would simply trust God. God wanted to do mighty things through them. He was ready to give the people the land. In fact, the land was already theirs, all they needed to do was trust God enough to go in and take it. Through our faith in Jesus we have great potential to be used of Him. I think that a lot of church members, if not a majority, do not see their potential if they will just trust God and go forward in their service for Him. There are many good Bible teachers who never teach a class because they do not see the potential of their faith in Jesus Christ. There are many things that go undone in churches because people do not realize the potential of their faith to enable them to be great servants of God. Don’t be one of these people, trust in the potential of your faith. Don’t let the lack of faith keep you from the promises of God, the power of God and the potential of your faith in God. Bro. Joe “And it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.”
The first chapter of Colossians is dedicated to the preeminence of Christ. For example, Paul wrote in verses 17-18: “And (Jesus) is before all things, and by Him all things consist. 18. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things He might have the preeminence.” This means that in all things Jesus is to have first place. He is certainly to have first place in His churches, but He is to have first place in everything else as well. Colossians 1:19 says that “it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” This means that God the Son fully satisfied God the Father in His earthly ministry, as well as His death and resurrection. I want to share with you some of what I think Christ’s “fullness” means. Christ’s fullness is seen in the fullness of His holiness. The New Testament says outright that Jesus lived a perfect life. One of the most succinct verses about the fullness of Christ’s holiness is Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” The last three words in that verse are important. Jesus was tempted daily just we are, yet He never sinned. In His temptation experience, recorded in the New Testament, Jesus had not eaten for forty days. (You read that right.) The first temptation of Satan was for Him to turn the stones into bread. Jesus’ answer was a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3: “But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) Jesus was fully holy. No other person who has ever lived on this earth can make that claim. Jesus stands alone in the fullness of holiness. Christ’s fullness is seen in the fullness of His love. He came to earth in the first place because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus’ whole life was characterized by love His for people. In love, He healed people of all sorts of diseases. In love, He cast demons out of people. Out of love for His disciples, Jesus stilled a storm on their behalf. Jesus showed His love for children. In Matthew 19:14, when the disciples rebuked the parents for bringing their children to Him, Jesus said: “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of God.” Throughout His ministry, Jesus taught his followers that they should love people. In the Sermon on the Mount, He taught that we are to “love our enemies…” (Matthew 5:44) The fullness of the love of Jesus was seen in His death on the cross to save those who come to Him by faith. He told His disciples, “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) This is exactly what He did on the cross. The fullness of Christ’s love is seen in His continuing presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Christ’s fullness is seen in His forgiveness. The first prayer that Jesus prayed on Gethsemane was “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) His forgiveness is always full and complete. When we come to Christ by faith, He will forgive us for our sins. The promise of forgiveness is brought into full focus in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is indeed good news. We do not have to live in guilt for past sins, for if we have sought His forgiveness, Jesus has been faithful to forgive them. This means He will always forgive when we genuinely seek forgiveness. That Jesus is “just” to forgive means that He can forgive us our sins. No human being can forgive our sins, but Jesus can. I hope that I have done a little justice to what the fullness of Christ means. Rejoice in His fullness as it applies to your life. Bro. Joe “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (compassion), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you so also do ye. 14. And above all these things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness.”
Clothing styles come and go. Every season brings its changes, but sometimes what went out of style thirty years ago comes back in style. There is one wardrobe that never changes and that is our spiritual wardrobe. Let me explain: Paul wrote “put on,” which refers to putting on the spiritual wardrobe like we put on our clothes. The only difference is that these spiritual wardrobe items become a part of our lives as we practice them unlike our clothes which we take off. As God’s “elect, holy and beloved people,” there are some expectations of what we should “put on,” or wear, in our lives. Paul mentioned “bowels of mercies.” This is the King James Version’s way of saying that we should put on compassion. Compassion was illustrated in the Bible by Jesus as He dealt with people on a daily basis. Jesus gave us a parable about a Samaritan who helped a man who had been beaten and left half-dead on the side of the road. You will remember that a priest and Levite passed the man by. Jesus said that the “Good Samaritan” had compassion for the man. That was the difference between the priest, Levite and the Samaritan. It should be the difference in our lives as well. Paul mentioned “kindness.” Kindness is compassion in action. We are not to just feel sorry for people, but we are to actually help them. If we are truly compassionate, we will also be kind . We can again refer to the priest, Levite and Samaritan. Which one was kind? Of course it was the Samaritan. Let us ask ourselves if we are kind to people that we encounter each day? Are we kind to people with whom we attend church? Do we speak kindly to people we encounter daily? These are good questions and we should be able to answer them in the affirmative. Paul mentioned “humbleness of mind” and “meekness.” This means that we are not to build ourselves up in our minds over other people. If you will think about it, to be humble of mind and meek demands that we have a clear sense of self and who that self is in Jesus. It means that we are so secure in him that we do not have to have the upper hand over people in our lives. In other words, it means that we do not have to compete with others because we already feel like winners because of our relationship with Jesus. Our security in Jesus gives us security within ourselves. Do you have this security? Also, we need to remember that Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” We can take Him at this word on that. Paul mentioned “ longsuffering, forbearance and forgiveness”, and, “above all, love.” This means that we do not just “put up” with people, but that we are willing to be patient and forbearing with them. Not only that, but we are to forgive them if they have offended us in any way. You will agree that this isn’t always easy, given personality differences and bad attitudes that we encounter. How can we do this? Well, “above all” if we love people, we will find it easier to be patient and forbearing with them, and that forgiveness will not be as difficult. Believe me, it will not always be easy, but think of how much better our lives and relationships would be if we were more patient, forbearing, forgiving, and loving with people. Based on our text, what are you wearing? I think you will agree that we if we dress ourselves in this wardrobe, or trust God to do it, we will be better people and certainly better servants of God. Bro. Joe “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man (or woman) be found faithful.”
“Steward” is not a word that we use often today, so we need to define it in order to know what a steward is and why it is important. The Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words defines it: “Steward” primarily denoted it as the manager of a household or estate, a steward was usually a slave or a freedman. It is used metaphorically, in the wider sense of a steward in general.” In our text it is used in the context of Paul’s stewardship of sharing the gospel, or as he called it “the mysteries of God.” When Christ entered our lives, we became stewards of the same gospel that Paul shared, the good news about Jesus. (That’s why our title asks the question, “Are You a Good Steward?”) Are you a good steward of sharing the gospel? This is what Paul lived and breathed to do. It was not a sideline with him. Even when Paul had to take the job of a tentmaker, his primary aim was to be able to live and eat in order for him to be able to share the gospel. In order to be a good steward of the gospel, one needs to live it. This is the first order of business in witnessing. If we aren’t living it, our sharing of it will be null and void. God will ultimately judge our stewardship, as Paul mentions in ensuing verses in our text, but we need to live it before others in order to make an indelible impression of what it means to be a Christian. I won’t go into detail here about what this means, but basically it means that we will be careful what we do and say to people. We will also need to genuinely love people as Jesus did. I like the old saying that: “People do not care about how much we know until they know how much we care.” Our stewardship includes living and verbally sharing the gospel with others. Are you a good steward of using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you? It is our use of these gifts that carries the work of the church forward. Each of us have been given gifts of service that enable us to corporately be the hands and feet of Jesus. Several years ago, I finally concluded that my gifts were encouragement, preaching and teaching. I saw this as I looked over my ministry. I was using those gifts, not really realizing what they were. It wasn’t important that I knew what my Holy Spirit gifts were, but that, following the Spirit’s leadership, I was using them. The same is true of you. At some point, however, you need to discover your gifts, as I eventually did, and sharpen them for use in God’s work in your life. If you have the gift of teaching, for example, it is important that you do what you need to do to sharpen your skills in teaching. If you have the gift of encouragement, you need to place yourself in situations where you can be an encourager. Visiting the elderly and the infirm comes to my mind as an example. The main point of our text is that we be “found faithful” in the stewardship of the gifts that the Spirit has given us. Being found faithful is of utmost importance. It does not say that we be “found successful,” but that we be “found faithful.” This means that, like Paul, we will carry out our stewardship even if it doesn’t make an impression upon people. Often when Paul shared “the mysteries of God,” people did not just disagree with him, but sometimes tried to kill him. We need to ask ourselves if we are faithfully using our gifts, even if we do not seem to be succeeding. Being faithful in the kingdom of God is success. The “Father of Modern Missions,” William Carey, labored in India fourteen years before he saw his first convert. For one thing, Carey faithfully used his gift of translating languages, in order to more effectively share the gospel. What you need to ask yourself is, are you faithful in your stewardship? Bro. Joe “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy feet from evil.”
The suggestion to “ponder the path of (our) feet,” means that we are to think about the direction we are going. The problem in the lives of a lot of people is that they do not stop and think about what they are doing. I can look back on my life, particularly my younger days, and ask myself, “What in the world were you thinking?” It is obvious that people who become addicted to drugs, for example, were not thinking about what they were doing. Surely they heard stories at some time in their lives about people whose lives had been ruined by drugs. There are even older people, who should know better, who are living terrible lives. I guess we all do things sometimes without thinking about what we are doing, but we are not doing ourselves any favors when we do. We are even told what the results will be if we will “ponder the path of (our) feet.” When we think about where we are going, all our ways “will be established.” Another translation of this is, “then all your ways will be sure.” When we live a thoughtful life we know where we are going. The idea is that when we live a thoughtful life we will give Jesus a place in our lives and the Holy Spirit will lead us in the right direction. This doesn’t mean that we will never take a wrong path, but we will know that we are not on the right path and turn from it. I referred above to my younger life. When I was about twenty years old and about to be discharged from the Navy; I wondered what I was going to do with my life. I knew what I should do with life, i.e., that I should go into Christian ministry. The Lord spoke to my heart in a profound way and then I knew what I would be doing. When I “pondered” my path, and let the Lord in on it, then I knew the direction that I should take. Most of you reading this, know what direction I took. I would like to think that I have done it perfectly, but you know that I have not. But it has been good to know all along the way where I was going and what I was to do. I give the Lord all of the credit for that. If you are drifting through life and are dissatisfied with your life, then you might need to “ponder” what you should do. The Lord has a plan for your life, and you will not be happy until you take the path that He has laid out for you. Trust me, there is a plan laid out for you and when you take it, your way “will be established.” There is more to think about. Verse 27 reminds us as we take the right path, we are not to “turn to the right, nor to the left,” and that we are to “remove our feet from evil.” Even when we are taking the path that the Lord has laid out for us, we need to be careful because the devil will always be there to tempt us to take a “right” or “left” turn. We need to be careful where we put our feet. It’s like walking in a mine field, and we do not know where the mines are. What we need is someone to guide us away from the “mines.” This is why Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit when we believed in Him. In John 16:13a, Jesus told His disciples and us: “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.” This is what the Holy Spirit will do in our lives as well. Let’s heed the Bible’s advice and “ponder the path of (our) feet.” Obeying this admonition will help us live better lives. Bro. Joe “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.”
I don’t know how this verse has escaped me all of these years, but it recently caught my attention. When I read Psalm 116:5 I saw it as an apt description of God, and I base this on my experience with Him and on what I read in the Bible. Actually, the verse was the result of the psalmists experience with God during a trying time in his life. In verses 3 and 4 he wrote: “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 4. Then called I upon the name of the Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.” The result of that prayer was the text written above. How does it describe God? It tells us that the Lord is “gracious.” Of course the word “gracious” is similar to our word “grace,” which tells us a lot about God. Graciousness is defined as kind, beneficent and benevolent. That is certainly a good description of God. A lot of people put so much stress on the wrath of God and His punishment of sin, that they overlook God’s graciousness. I certainly don’t intend to minimize God’s wrath, but, at the same time, I do not want to minimize His graciousness. One of my favorite points that I make about God’s treatment of us is that He really and truly wants to bless us, but we really and truly need to live a life that brings on God’s blessings. Throughout the Bible we see the graciousness, kindness and benevolence of God at work, and throughout the Bible we see people doing everything that they can to run away from His blessings. This is greatly illustrated by the nation of Israel. No one in the Bible had greater treatment from God than Israel, yet they continually disobeyed and disappointed Him. They preferred gods made of wood and stone to Jehovah. All these false gods brought to Israel was heartache and destruction. The good news to us is that God is still gracious, kind and benevolent. He proved that through the sacrifice of His Son. Accept and claim the graciousness of God in your life, and don’t let the cares of this world turn you away from Him. It tells us that the Lord is “righteous.” This word means a lot of things, the greatest of which is that God is Holy. God is totally and completely holy and good. It means that He is always right and righteous in what He does. The great thing is that He offers to share this righteousness with us through faith. One main theme of the apostle Paul was that any righteousness that we have comes by faith. God knows that we are all sinners, and by His grace He has made us righteous through faith in Jesus. It is called “imputed righteousness.” This means that God gives us His righteousness to enable us to live the Christian life. It was said of Abraham, that because he believed the promise of God that God would bless him and make of him a nation that God “imputed it to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:22 It tells us that our God is “merciful.” This means that God is compassionate. He cares about what happens in our lives, and He cares about the quality of our lives. We shouldn’t take God’s mercy for granted, but we can be assured that if we take a wrong turn in life, that when we see the error of our way, confess, repent and ask for His forgiveness, we will get it. It was God’s mercy that carried Israel through the Red Sea when they were exiting from Egypt. It was God’s mercy that carried Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land. It was God’s mercy that brought Jesus into the world to save us from sin. It was God’s mercy that placed our sins upon His Son on the cross. Without God’s mercy, we would be in dire straits and it would be impossible to be saved. Do you see what I mean by “an apt description of God?” These three great qualities are fundamental to our relationship with God, and we need to be reminded of it often. Bro. Joe “Then Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight, your faith has made you well.' And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”
The verses printed above are the conclusion of an encounter between a blind man and Jesus. Jesus was entering Jericho, when the blind man, called Bartimaeus in Mark, asked to be healed of his blindness. Jesus told him, “Your faith has made you well.” Verses 42-43 give us the result of what happened in his life and his response to what happened. It was the right response. It was the right response because Bartimaeus responded by faith. Jesus told him that his faith made him well. This meant that he had received more than physical healing. Jesus made a profound impression on his life. His life would never be the same. His response shows this. After Bartimaeus received his sight he followed Jesus. We are not told anything about how long he stayed with Jesus, but out of gratitude, he followed Jesus. This is the response that Jesus wants from us when He acts in our lives. To follow Jesus is to take Him seriously and to identify with Him and His purpose. His following Jesus shows that his life had changed. Instead of sitting by the roadside outside of Jericho begging for a living, he could now see to do better things. In my imagination, Bartimaeus followed Jesus and Jesus gave him some greater purpose for his life. Maybe he went out and told others about what Jesus did for him. We are not told anything else about Bartimaeus, but we know that his life was changed and that he now had a greater purpose for living. This is what Jesus does for us when we receive His call and follow Him. Being made well means that we are now right with Jesus and that He is an integral part of our lives for the rest of our lives. It is not just a matter of saying the right words and asking Jesus to save us and then we go about our own business as usual. When Jesus enters our lives we should follow Him as Bartimaeus did. Whether or not he followed Jesus all the way to the cross, Jesus was still with Him as He is with us. Following Jesus is not a temporary thing, it is a lifelong thing that affects the rest of our lives. The next response that Bartimaeus had was that after he received his sight and followed Jesus, he started “glorifying God.” This means that out of his gratitude, Bartimaeus began to worship Jesus. He knew that what had happened to him was more than something that the world could do for him. All the world could do for him was to give him a few coins in passing, but Jesus gave him what he really needed. What he needed was to see, but beyond that he needed a changed life. Glorifying God in worship should be an integral part of our lives. We do not just glorify God when we are in church, or at a prayer meeting. We glorify God in our hearts all day every day. I think that a good sign that a person is genuinely saved and changed by their faith in Jesus, is that they worship him in their hearts at all times. This worship is keener at some times more than others, but His presence in our lives causes us to glorify Him each day, each minute, that we live. Look deep within your own heart and ask yourself if you glorify and worship God as you should, not just when you are at church, but when you are going about your daily life. Another thing that interested me about this text was that when Jesus did His work on Bartimaeus other people responded to the event as well: “And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God." When God works in our lives, it affects the lives of other people. When they see what has happened to us, it causes them to praise God as well. Jesus does not work in a vacuum; rather, He works in lives for all to see. His work in our lives is not a secret. I pray that other people are seeing what Jesus is doing in your life and praising him in the process. It’s something to think about! Bro. Joe “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse (many different kinds of) temptations; 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. 4. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect (mature) and entire, wanting nothing.”
Gosh, what a title: “Count it all Joy.” Let me see: When should we “count it all joy”? We could say that we would count it all joy when everything is going our way. For example, we got a raise at our job; we got a big refund from our tax returns; our favorite team won the national championship; our children all made all “A’s” in all of their classes, etc. etc. etc. By now, if you have read today’s text, you know that none of these were used by James to tell us when we should “count it all joy.” When does James say that we should “count it all joy”? Here goes: “Count it all joy when you fall into all kinds of temptations (or trials)". I think that in this context, “trials” is the best translation. This is counter to everything that we associate with joy. When James wrote about trials, he probably meant something different from what we would consider trials. To us a trial is for the electricity to go off and leave us without television, heat or light. To James a trial could have meant a death threat. But whether the trial be profoundly serious or of a minor nature, James’s meaning is the same. It is a difficult lesson for us to learn, but trials of all kinds are good for us, and we should count it all joy that we have them. (This would not preach well to those churches who love to hear how being a Christian solves all of our problems.) The Greek word "hupomeno” has several renderings that basically mean the same thing, but there are different shades or tones of the word. The NIV translates the word as “perseverance.” Another way to translate it is as “endurance.” “Patience” the way we normally usually use it means being able to wait without getting upset or impatient. (I think of the word often when I get caught at a long red light.) But the word has a deeper meaning than that. To persevere, endure, means to trust the process to Jesus, and know that He is working something in the trial that we are enduring. It doesn’t mean that we will not be ready for the trial to be over, but that we will learn from it while we are going through it. Verse 4 tells us what should be the result of patiently enduring trials: “But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” The NIV translates the verse: “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” First, being patient in trials helps us to grow spiritually. Patience in trials leads to spiritual maturity, which is the meaning of the word "perfect" in this context. The Greek word “teleios,” which is translated “perfect” in this verse means to bring to fulfilment. When we endure our trials without griping and complaining, we come to fulfillment in our spiritual growth. When we patiently endure all things that we face in life, we have a sense of fulfillment in our lives. It makes life better at work, at home, at church – wherever. When we endure patiently, we tend to be more secure in our faith. We also tend to be more secure in our feelings about ourselves, and in our relationships with other people. In fact, at lot of trials that require patience has to do with our dealings with other people. (This could be another blog, so I’ll stop this line of thought here.) What we need to do now is to reflect and meditate on what James wrote here. I am aware that I fall short in this area quite often and need to work on it. You will probably find some areas in your life where you could stand improvement. At any rate, we should learn from this text and grow spiritually in the process. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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