[restore]
I’d like you to think of the following scene: Jesus is on his knees in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. The hour of his impending arrest, trial and death has finally arrived. He has about an hour before Judas betrays him and sets everything in motion. Jesus is feeling the weight of betrayal, the impending abandonment and denial from his own disciples.
Jesus spent the last three years of his life pouring into these guys. He shared his life, his wisdom and his experience with them. There’s a load of mental anguish going on here. So Christ is in desperate praying, calling out to the Father. Three times he calls out asking the Father to remove this cup he must drink.
For me, this portion of Scripture (Matthew 26:36-46) is where I find the humanity of Christ exposed in its rawest form. This, for me, is one of those “Wow” moments in Scripture. It’s one of those Scriptures that reveal a weakness in Christ, his humanity shining through. This is where many have wrestled with the idea of Jesus fighting with the potential outcome of his life, namely, his crucifixion.
While I ask those questions, Jesus’ struggle in the garden was a learning experience for him. Jesus was learning a deeper level of obedience and submission to the will of God. Earlier in his life, Jesus told the disciple that he knew his purpose on this earth was to give his life away for the ransom of many. (Mark 10:45) Even though he knew the outcome, he carried on with the mission, loving others so he might reshape the world.
If we return to the scene in the garden, we learn that Christ not only asked the Father to remove the cup he must bear but in that same breath, he whispered, let Your will be done, not mine! Jesus wanted to glorify his Father! That was his passion, that was his desire and that what he was sought after. He allowed his disciples to be close to him so they could hear him speak these words, your will be done in my life, not my own will. Crucifixion was inevitable. Crucifixion was the only way for the Father to be gloried. The crucifixion was the only way for humanity to escape, through Christ’s death, and sin to face defeat.
Christ rested in the strength his Father provided. Christ obeyed, trusted and knew his life was in the hands of his Father. Jesus loved and glorified the Father through his obedience. Jesus overcame his weakness by resting in the Father’s provided strength. He overcame by surrendering his life. Surrender to God is where true victory is found. Christ humbled himself before the Father and the Father lifted him up. Jesus kept his cool; Jesus kept his focus through love, obedience, and surrender.
I have taken the CPR course 3 times. In theory, I know how to perform CPR on a person. However I have never actually put it into practice. Just as Jesus became obedient, he knew all the ways to be obedient, but he had to go through life struggles and pain to experience how to be obedient. Jesus came to experience every hurt and struggle that we will ever go through and he came to perform CPR on our souls. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes of Jesus, the author and perfected of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus came in and changed the world around him by his love. He reshaped the world, he reshaped the culture, and he reshaped the life people were living. For so long, the religious leaders were calling out to people to live as they lived. These leaders were all about good deeds and showing the world what a believer should look like. Jesus came in with a new attitude and reshaped the thought process people had.
No longer was God distant but close. No longer was God seen as a God of wrath but as the God of grace and mercy. God who had been painted as angry with his creation is now seen as the one pursuing the lost and the broken with relentless love. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God. His obedience was vital to the reflection of God’s heart and the perspective people had on his character.
How much better off would we be if we could simply step into the reality that God loves us with a relentless love and His plan and purpose for us is made complete in our obedience. Evangelism exists because of Christ’s obedience. Without the cross, sin remains. With the cross, sin is beaten. Without the cross, our chains remained locked. With the cross, our chains are broken. Without the cross, our lives remain stagnant; with the cross, redemption has come to those who have placed their belief in Christ. Jesus’ perfect life is our sanctification.
Transformed people, transform the world around them. Our call is to reshape our culture through the power of the Gospel of Christ. Our call is to reveal the truth that God is love; to reveal that Jesus went skydiving and became a human. Our call is to share the truth that God’s acceptance falls on those who believe in the work of Christ.
We live in a society where values do not align with the gospel. Teachings do not align with the gospel. Rather than share the gospel, we fight against sin and we fight against the darkness rather than simply sharing the light of God’s love and God’s truth. We don’t need to stand up and fight, we need just to stand up! Stand up for the truth, stand against sin! Living out the Gospel will transform and reshape the culture around us.
Acts 13:36|
“…for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died…”
What is God’s purpose for your life? How are you serving God in your generation? How does your life fit into the will of God? How is your life written into the story of God? How are you living for the Savior? I don’t want to miss a moment for what God has in store for me. I want to echo what Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21, “For me, to live be Christ…”
My time is now; my time to shine for Christ is today. I am here to let God live in me and allow God to live through me. I don’t want to live anymore but let God live in me. He has a purpose for my life and the more I surrender to him, the more I realize that. The more I seek him, the more I find him. The more I find him, the more I want to live my life for him.
God is calling out to his children. We are his sons and daughters. He is our Father and he loves us. He is calling us to rethink the way he feels about us and to reshape the world around us. His desire is that we see ourselves through his eyes. We have something to offer the world. We have talents and gifts that he himself has provided. He has called us, he has adopted us as his own and we are his. We are righteous and holy because of his son, Jesus. He is calling for us to infect Jesus everywhere we go.
I’ve never really enjoyed going to the doctors for my yearly checkups. They were never all that fun, having those doctors hit my knees to check my reflex and look in my ears and feel my heart beat. As I’ve gotten a bit older (yes I’m still a young guy) but those doctor visits are a bit different now. It’s not all poke me here, poke me there and make sure my body’s normal. Sure, that’s included but now there are actual conversations occurring. Every visit includes the question, “Do you have a last will and testament?”
Last will and testaments aren’t always fun to think about or fill out. You have to face your own mortality and it makes you think about what you have. When we think about leaving the world behind, we think about what can we leave those we love? There are material possessions to consider, financial concerns, college funds, and the list goes on. Obviously, we would rather not leave the world behind us and just stay with our loved ones forever but we know that’s not going to happen. So, we use the last will and testament document to make a list of what we can give away.
At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry before ascending to the Father, he gave his disciples a commission. He gave them a task of sharing with others what they had seen, heard, experienced and lived. Jesus’ last will and testament was that we continue to live the lifestyle he had called us into.
God’s will is that we live for Him and that we share His story with others. We’ll discuss the Great Commission more in detail later but for now, focus on this-God wants you to share His life with others. Express the love of God in the words you speak and in your actions. Let Jesus be a lifestyle for you. Let Jesus live in you and through you. “Jesus Christ did not just come to show us the way; He is the way. He did not just teach us some truth: He is the truth. He did not just leave us a manual to live by. He is our life. Whatever the need of the human heart, Christ offers Himself as the solution. His eternal answer is "I am.”
Peter and John both knew that Jesus loved them but they knew and responded to His love in very different ways. Peter was kind of like the “leader of the pack.” He was the one standing up, standing out, speaking up and doing things for Jesus. When Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was, Peter answered him by saying he was the Messiah. When Jesus told the disciples the mission to Jerusalem would result in His death, Peter rebuked Jesus. When the Roman guards came to arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword out and cut off one of the ears of the guards.
We don’t read as much about John doing things for Jesus or speaking up the way Peter did. John was not revealed in the same light as Peter was but something about John reveals his heart. On the cross, Jesus is being crucified. During that crucifixion, Peter was absent, denying the very name of Jesus. John, on the other hand, was at the foot of the cross. Why was one disciple absent and the other present at the death of Christ?
Peter’s love for God was often exposed in the things he could do. He expressed his love through his own strength. Peter was sincere but his love was built on his own strength and in his own understanding of how to express that love. John, who always referred to himself as the disciple Jesus loved, allowed his life to be transformed by experiencing the love of God. Receiving the love of God is what gave John the strength to be committed and faithful to Christ and to be present at the cross during his final hours. John’s presence at the cross was a response to the expression of God’s love for him.
While Peter fell short, he repented. When Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, Peter realized that his call was to receive God’s love and live in the strength of his love. Only through God’s love can we feed and care for his sheep.
The difference between Peter and John was not only their understanding of God’s love but also their response to his love. Often, Peter wanted to do things for God to show he loved him but God also needed to be close. What I mean is this, when Peter learned of Jesus’ impending death, Peter tried to convince Christ it was not the way and attempted to divert God’s plan by cutting off the ear of a Roman soldier.
Peter wanted Jesus to be with him forever because Jesus was his security. Peter had abandoned his way of life to follow Jesus. Peter was attached to this security that he felt as a part of following Jesus. Peter was dependent upon the security of following Jesus more than following Jesus. On the other hand, John understood, in the corridors of his mind, that the plan of God led Jesus to the cross.
What led Peter to his denials of Christ was that he followed Jesus at a distance. (Luke 22:54) When we follow Jesus at a distance, we follow for other things to come in-between us. Following at a distance does not allow for intimacy. John, on the other hand, was willing to forsake his own life for Jesus.
While all the other disciples, including Peter, abandoned Christ, John continued to follow after him. John maintained a close distance with him. John’s willingness to continue to follow could have lead to him being arrested or worse. To make matters worse, John was stripped of the little clothing he had and he was naked. That alone could've made matters so much worse and while John ran away, he was willing to be close enough to Jesus for this to occur. Francis Chan writes, “But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.”
At this point the question must be asked, what is the mission of God? As we think through and consider all that God has asked us to do, we must consider his heart for the mission. There is always a reason for doing something. To understand the mission of God and unveil the heart of his mission, we look at God’s creation and God’s church.
We are God’s grand design. The mountains, hills and seas may reflect his power and glory but we are God’s image bearers! When God created the land, the sky, the sea, the animals, plants and even separating the darkness from the day, God said, “It was good.” Yet, upon completing his creation of man and woman, God said, “it was very good.”
God, being creator, could have commanded anything he wanted. He could have called the man and the woman to do this or that, but his first commandment revealed his heart for creation. God’s first commandment to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, God’s first commandment was to start a family.
During Jesus’ own life, he poured himself into others, teaching them, loving them, guiding them, encouraging them and empowering them to be his followers and his disciples. Following his death and resurrection, he continued to share his life with others until the time came for his ascension to the Father. Before the ascension though, Jesus commanded his followers to “Go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:20) God’s final commandment to the disciples was to start a family. Do you see the connection here?
God’s mission for us begins in our minds. First, he shares himself through his word (The Bible) and reveals to us how he sees us. He calls us his friends, his disciples, his servants, and his heirs. He calls us righteous, holy and a chosen generation. We are called by God to restore what has been lost, namely the world around us. As we are on this journey together, we are rediscovering who we are in Christ. Through this process, we find hope for healing in Christ. Through this process, we are to live Christ out loud and restore the honor to our churches, our families and our nation.
1 Cor. 12:4-7|
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service , but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so can help each other.”
Acts 6:7|
“So God’s messaged continued to spread.”
God’s call on our lives is supplemented by his grace in providing us all with gifts. Every child of God is given a spiritual gift to utilize in helping restoring and reshaping the world for the glory of God.
In the books of Acts, the first recorded church complaint arises. If you have been around church long enough, i am sure you’ve heard of some complaints. The Bible reveals one of the first which happened to be a complaint from the Grecian Jews who were upset that the Hebraic jews were not being equal and fair in the daily food distribution towards the widows.
Upon receiving this complaint, the disciples decided to handover this responsibility to seven other capable men, full of the Spirit of God and wisdom. Seven men were chosen, prayed over, ordained and served the church. What happened? The church grew because of selflessness.
God gives each of us gifts to use to bring Him glory, to build one another up in the faith and advance the kingdom. Did you know serving the church enables the Great Commission to be carried out? God has gifted you with an ability to share in the church for his purpose, his glory. Remember this: regardless of your spiritual gift, it’s always about Jesus!
I recall some time ago I was thinking about evangelism-just shortly before I began to work on this book. I began to think about being the hands and feet of Christ. During that week, I began to watch the 700 Club. On one of the first episodes I watched, there was a man who had an incredible story to tell. His name was Nick Vujicic and he is the founder and director of Life without Limbs. He was born without arms and without legs. For part of his life, he questioned God. He questioned why God put him into this position and wondered if he had purpose. He found that he did have a purpose and that purpose was to serve and live for God. Ever since embracing that truth, he has been telling others about the love of God. He has been reaching out to the lost. He is being the hands and feet of Christ-even though he has none himself. God is willing to use us, if we would simply surrender everything we have and everything we are.
God calls us to himself to reveal who he is to us and to reveal who he is through us. Make Jesus famous by allowing him to live in you and through you!
