“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, in Him was yes. 20.For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
We can say that Jesus is God’s yes to the world. We know that God says no to a lot of things, but all of the good things from God, all of the blessings of God, are yes in Jesus. In other words, as we saw in the last article, there are times that we should say no. We should say no to Satan, and to the wrong things, at all times, but we should learn to say yes to Jesus in all of the right things, because He says yes to us in all of the blessings that He wants to give us. If we want to be Christ like in our lives, especially, in our dealings with people, we need to learn to say yes to the good things. We should say yes to God’s will in our lives. James warns us in James 4:13-15 that we should always consider God’s will: “Go to now, you that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there for a year, and buy and sell and get gain. 14. Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. 15. For that you ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that.” Jesus set the example in Gethsemane when He said yes to God about going to the cross. Specifically, Jesus said, “Father if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” If Jesus was willing to say yes to God’s will on our behalf, we should certainly be willing to say yes to God’s will for our lives. We should say yes to the Holy Spirit in decisions that we make each day. All of us know right from wrong. Even when I was doing Bible studies in prisons, I never had one prisoner say that he did not know right from wrong. But in some things we need the Spirit’s leadership to say and do the right thing. The Holy Spirit will keep us from seeking revenge. He will keep us from saying things to people that we should not say. When we want to say negative things to another person, we should listen to what the Holy Spirit is whispering to our hearts. We will be glad that we listened to the Holy Spirit when we get away from the situation and really think about it. The Holy Spirit will actually help us in knowing and doing God’s will in our lives. He will help us say yes to the things that we should say yes to and no to things that we should say no to. We should say yes to loving other people. We will certainly need the Holy Spirit for this. There are people who are easy to love and there are people who are difficult to love, but their being unlovable does not give us an excuse not to love them. It is a fact that the New Testament never gives us a reason for not loving another person. Almost every day we are given opportunities to show Christ’s love to the world, by having loving attitudes and acting in love toward people. Jesus allowed himself to be put on the cross because of His great love for us. We should remember this when we are confronted with unloving people. One of my great temptations to act unloving is when I encounter sour operators on the telephone. I don’t know why this is so irritating to me, but I have to listen to the Holy Spirit not to be sour to them as well. There are many other things that we should say yes to, but what we have dealt with here should help make long strides in learning to say yes to the right things. Bro. Joe
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Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 2:21: “For all seek their own, not the things which are Christ’s.” My younger brother did not know that he was giving me an idea for an article when he shared with me in an Email that a speaker that he heard pointed out the contrast between these two verses. I have read them many times, but I had never put them together like that speaker did. Needless to say, this got my imagination to whirling and I suggested to my brother that he would see this in a blog. What we have in these two verses is two opposing philosophies of life. Philippians 1:21 is a positive outlook and leads to victory in life over the demonic forces that are always at work. Philippians 2:21 seems to be the prevailing attitude of many people today. Let’s look at the difference between the two philosophies. I will begin with the negative philosophy: “For all seek their own, not the things which are Christ’s.” In the first place, this is a selfish way to live. There are many people who live each day only to satisfy their whims and fancies. When we do what comes naturally, we live by this philosophy. Go back to the Genesis account of the first sin. Adam and Eve were not to eat the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” because if they did they would die. One day Eve was tempted to eat of the delicacy, or what she must have considered a delicacy, and she succumbed. Then she gave it to Adam and he also ate the forbidden fruit. This first sin was rebellion against God, because Adam and Eve decided to “seek their own” and satisfy their own desires. In the second place, this is a foolish way to live, because while people are “seeking their own,” they are not thinking of “the things which are Christ’s.” The NIV translates it: “For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” All he or she knows is to look out for his or her own interests. Some of those interests might not be altogether bad, but they are leaving Christ out of their lives. This is also the philosophy of a Christian who is going his or her own way and not considering the will of God for his or her life. Both are tragic, because in the first case, the person will have no relationship with God; in the second case, the person does not realize the abundant, victorious life that Jesus gives to those who put their trust in Him. Now we will turn to the positive philosophy: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This means that Christ was at the very center of Paul’s life, and can be the center of ours too. Paul wrote it in this way in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Paul’s positive philosophy was the result of his faith in Christ, and of His appreciation for the fact that Christ “gave Himself for me” In the first place. This is a selfless way to live. This is not to say that people who live by this positive philosophy are always selfless, for no one is perfect. But it does mean that if we have this selfless philosophy, we will seek to follow God’s will for our lives. It also means that when we put Christ first, we will have better relationships with people. In the second place, this is a wise way to live. We are reminded about this in Proverbs 3:6-7: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.” Paul advised in Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. 16. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Living “circumspectly” means to live carefully. In other words, we need to watch our step lest we do something foolish. If Christ is at the center of our lives, we are more likely to live wisely. Make sure that you live by the philosophy of Philippians 1:21 and stay away from the philosophy of Philippians 2:21. Bro. Joe “Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping…”
Job made this statement in reply to his friend, Zophar, who had just given him a lecture about God. It was really in reply to all three of his friends who were giving him “counsel” on what he needed to do to get out of the mess that he was in. Their conclusion was that Job was in dire straits because he had done something very bad and that God was punishing him. If you remember, Job was in dire straits because the Lord allowed Satan to test him. This caused me to do a little reflecting on Job, his plight and his friends. The statement in Job 12:5 tells us that when things are going good for us and not well for someone else, we should not have contempt for them as though they have done something wrong. I am not intimating that God will not bring misfortune to us to straighten us out. After all, the Bible does tell us that God disciplines us. But I think that what took place between Job and his friends should remind us to be careful not to put the blame on God for every bad thing that happens. We have to remember that Satan was involved in this event too. Job’s friends, who were “at ease,” had contempt for him as though he were a blatant sinner. This should teach us not to look at our fellow Christians with contempt when they are going through difficult times, and not to assume that they are being punished for some bad thing that they have done. Misfortune falls to all people at some point in life, and our task as Christians is to give them words of encouragement that will help them, not words of contempt that will only depress them. We read about Job’s friends in Job 1:11-13: “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their head toward heaven. 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.” Notice that in the beginning their motives were pure. Their friend had come upon misfortune and they came to comfort him. (So far so good.)They went so far as to sit with him for seven days without saying a word but only grieving with him. That was good, and in this lies a lesson for us. When we want to comfort friends who are suffering, we need to sit with them, grieve with them and keep our mouths shut. If we can’t think of something constructive to say, it is best just to be there and let that be the comfort that we give. I think that what really irked Job about his three friend's attempt at “comfort” was that they assumed that he didn’t know anything about God and that they needed to teach him about the ways of God. In fact, Job said to them in Job 12:1-3: “And Job answered and said, 2. No doubt you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 3. But I have understanding as well as you: I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?” If we are not careful, our attempts at giving words of comfort can come across as if we are “talking down” to our friend, as though we are spiritually superior. If Jesus didn’t “talk down” to people, we certainly should not. I have found that the best thing we can do for suffering friends is to pray for them and with them, and let God speak to their hearts. If we have words of wisdom to share, share them, but make sure that are really words of wisdom and not words of contempt. God wants to use us to help people, not tear them down. Bro. Joe “For whoso findeth me (wisdom) findeth life, and shall obtain favor from the Lord.”
All of us like to think that we live in wisdom, and we need to make sure that we are. I can only speak for myself, but looking back I can remember things that didn’t come from wisdom –come on you know what I mean. If we want to find the favor of the Lord, we need to seek His wisdom and base our lives on it. This is why I am asking you to do yourself a favor and live the best life possible. You have probably already guessed that I am about to share with you what I think that means. Do yourself a favor and make every effort to love people. Those of you who have read my blogs know that this is one of my main themes. I guess that’s true because I do make every effort to love all people. I am sure that you will agree with me that it is not easy to love everybody. (Sometimes it’s even hard to love ourselves.) Some people do not make it easy, but I try to remember that most of the time this is because of personality differences. However, there are some people who are just downright unlovable, and these are the people that we most need to make every effort to love. If we really and truly want to be like Christ, we should make every effort to love all people. Do yourself a favor and make sure that what you do in your life is serving God’s purposes. The problem that a lot of people have is that there is no great purpose in their lives, and there are others that their purpose is destructive to themselves and to others. I am glad that God called me to preach, because this gave me a great purpose in life from the start. But I have to admit that even in that great purpose I have found myself drifting from His real purposes. These are not happy times in my life, and I’m sure that they are not in your life either. I don’t mean to leave the impression that you have to be a preacher to serve God’s purpose in your life. God brings great purpose into every life that He touches. I think that Romans 8:28 applies to this idea: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to God’s purpose.” I have not written about specific purposes, because God’s purpose for you is between God and you. Do yourself a favor and make it a purpose of your life to pursue those things that will make your life better. I can think of no better place to go than Philippians 4 to find that which will make your life better. Take verses 6-7 for example: “Be careful for nothing (Do not be anxious about anything); but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Verse 8 will really put the trimmings on a better life:“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” There is no better advice anywhere to make your life better than this. Do yourself a favor and purge those things from your life that you know are keeping you from being as close to God as you can be. I can’t tell you what you need to purge from your life, because that is a personal decision, but I can promise you that the Lord will hear your prayers and will help you get rid of those things that you need to get rid of. Paul gave advice on this point in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened…”The leaven referred to here is anything that you know is holding back your Christian growth. Do yourself a favor and do the things that you need to do to grow in Christ. The four points above should give you a good start. Bro. Joe “I remember the days of old…”
I have reached the age when I can “remember the days of old.” Frankly, they don’t seem like that long ago, but they were. It is humbling when people in their forties have never heard of things that were and are familiar to me. I asked two such preachers one day if they remembered the high heel shoes that men wore in the seventies. One of them said, “Brother Joe, how old do you think we are?” Well, it was a recent memory to me, but history to them. I sometimes look at the forties and fifties as “the good old days.” In some ways they were, but probably not as good as I remember. I have told people that I would go back to the fifties if I could take air-conditioning and medical science back with me. I have discovered that there are two ways to think about the “old days.” One is what I just referred to. We can look back on the past as being golden. What we don’t consider is that our memories have good filters, and we delete the unpleasant things. I remember reminiscing about the days that I was in a particular church. In my fantasy world, we had no problems whatever. When I was in the area one day, I visited the community. When I saw the old familiar places, all of the bad memories came back. I think that I probably had many more good memories there than bad ones of our time there, but it was not problem-free as it was in my memory. I think that you get the idea. Another way to look at the past is to let the negative things that happened to us make us bitter. All of us have had to deal with people who seemed to take some of the sweetness out of life for us – in a manner of speaking. Some people have terrible memories about their parents. Sometimes the resentment came because they did not honor and respect their parents; sometimes it came because the parents were really and truly bad parents. There were things that happened at school that humiliated us, either by fellow students or teachers. If we are not careful, we will become bitter and resentful by these things and others that I do not have the space to mention. I think that when we are reliving the past, either in a romantic way, or in a bitter way, we need to remember Paul’s admonition in Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to the things which are before, 14. I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Whether you view your past from a positive standpoint or a negative standpoint, it is the past after all. You can’t relive either good or bad days. What we need to do is to move on and make new good days, forgive the negatives from the past and move on with our lives. As the Bible says “while it is today” we need to make the best of our lives. We need to remember that we can visit the past, but we can’t relive it; therefore, we need to “forget those things which are behind and press on…” We do not need to rob ourselves of the joys and victories of the future because we are held up by the memories of successes or failures of the past. I remember a simple admonition that might help us as we live from day to day: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Give the days to Him and let Him be a part of your present and your future and your life will be a success, because you have spent your days serving Jesus. There is no more rewarding life than that. Quit either reminiscing about your past or regretting your past and live today for Jesus. Now that is some good advice. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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