I want to begin by sharing a testimony from last week. For the past two years, a family from another district have been regularly listening to the messages that were shared on social media. They called in to tell me that as result of this, their entire family had committed their lives to Jesus, and I had the blessed privilege to minister to this family last week. Every time I wonder if it is necessary to use social media to share the worship and messages, the Lord confirms this through some testimony to attest and encourage me. Let me encourage all of you that as long as we in obedience to the will of God, do all that the Lord desires to accomplish through us, He will certainly fulfill all of His plans through us, and no one can hinder it.
Put childish ways aside and grow in maturity
We read in Jonah 4:11, “Shouldn't I feel sorry for this important city, Nineveh? It has more than 120,000 people in it as well as many animals. These people couldn't tell their right hand from their left." (GW)
These are the words that God spoke to Jonah when he was disheartened that the Lord did not destroy the city of Nineveh, but relented when the people repented, and spared them from His great wrath. God’s reply to Jonah was that His heart was moved with compassion for the great city of Nineveh had more than 1,20,000 people as well as animals, and also for the fact that the people who lived there couldn’t tell their right hand from their left.
All of us as adults know the difference between our right hand and left, but it is generally very young children who can’t tell the difference. You might have noticed how when a parent asks their toddler to shake hands with someone, they will often stretch out their left hand, and then the parent will correct the child encouraging him or her to extend their right hand instead. The same child when they are a little grown up need not be told which hand to extend to someone while greeting them. This maturity comes with age, and the child on growing up has learnt to decipher between their right hand and their left.
The God who felt sorry for the people of Nineveh, is the same God who sympathizes with us and has pity on us. When Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, He knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead, yet, He sympathized with those around, was moved with compassion and wept. The assurance we have is that we have a God who understands our deepest emotions, and can feel for us. We often complain that people have not understood or sometimes misunderstood us, instead let us decide to take all our woes to God, and pour out our hearts to Him for He alone fully comprehends all that we are going through. Sometimes we make the mistake of pouring out our hearts to others, only to find that they often have betrayed our trust, and misrepresented our situations to others.
God is calling us to not be like children who cannot decipher between their right hand and left, but grow in maturity and in our walk with the Lord.
1. Grow up and leave your childish ways
• Guard your speech
We read in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways.” (GW)
All of us were little children at one time when we spoke, thought and reasoned childishly. Little children are generally finicky, and constantly complain about others. The reason is because children usually are attention seeking, and wish to be in the spotlight the whole time. Our children as infants may babble, and we enjoy the fact that they are trying to speak, but, as they grow up we expect them to speak intelligibly, and will not encourage baby talk which would be inappropriate for their age.
However, sadly there are those who in their spiritual walk are still like babies, and have not sought to mature in their speech, thoughts or reasoning. Our maturity in the Lord will be evident only when our speech is seasoned, our words bless others, and comfort those who are in grief. Our thoughts must be mature, and we must be those who discern everything that is being shared with us. Sometimes, we associate with the wrong people who when they gain entry into our lives or families cause division and discord. Our growth in our spiritual walk must enable us to discern those who are filled with the Spirit of God, and those who are not. When a man of God enters our home there will be peace and unity, not division and discord. Let us wait on the Lord, meditate on His word, and earnestly desire to have our minds broadened. The verse is clear that when we become adults, we must set aside every form of childish ways (speech, thought or reasoning) from our lives. These childish ways don’t go away on their own, but we have to deliberately choose to cast them aside.
We read in Matthew 12:36,"I can guarantee that on judgment day people will have to give an account of every careless word they say.” (GW)
The Lord cautions us that on the day of judgement we will have to give an account for every careless word we speak. Our words must bless others, benefit others, and must bring peace and healing to situations where there is chaos and disunity. Let us not be childish, that when hurt by someone, we carry those bitter feelings and share them with others, thereby, spreading hatred and animosity towards each other.
• Be wise
We read in Ecclesiastes 10:2, “A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. (ASV)
The Lord is teaching us that a wise person’s heart will lead him in the right way whereas the heart of a fool will lead him in the wrong way. A wise man and foolish man are contrary to each other, and we will consider how the word of God defines them.
We read in Proverbs 14:16, “A wise person is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is careless and overconfident.” (GW)
Wisdom and foolishness are paradoxical, and one can only be either wise or foolish. A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil because he has the fear of God. That is why the word of God says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A foolish man on the other hand is negligent and presumptuous, only because he does not revere or fear the Lord as He should. From comparing the above mentioned verses we may conclude that a wise man stands on the right hand side, and the foolish man on the left hand side.
When a person lives with that kind of fear for the Lord, they will be cautious what they speak no matter where they are, or irrespective of whether anyone is around or not. We must analyze ourselves to check if we are wise, avoiding every form of evil and living in obedience to the Lord.
• Guard your deeds
We read in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For all of us must appear before Christ, to be judged by him. We will each receive what we deserve, according to everything we have done, good or bad, in our bodily life.” (GNB)
Here the word of God exhorts us that when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ, all of us will certainly have to give an account for all of our deeds, both good and evil that were done while we were lived here on earth.
2. Turn away from evil and do good
We read in Matthew 27:38, “At that time they crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and the other on his left.”(GW)
In Luke 23:39, “One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" (GNB)
In Luke 23:42 we read, And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" (GNB)
Of the two criminals who hung on the cross, on either side of Jesus, one of them mocked Him and said, ‘if you are the Christ, save yourself and us.’ This man challenged Jesus just like Satan did in Matthew 4, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness by questioning His very identity, saying to Him ‘if you are the son of God’ then prove it, while Jesus had absolutely no need to prove who He really was. The other criminal on the other hand acknowledge who Jesus was, and even in His agony realized that Jesus was Lord and king. He also appealed to Jesus to have mercy on Him, and by so doing received the grace of God, being assured by Jesus of a place in paradise. I am led to think this man must have been on the right hand side of Jesus, for He found favor with Him.
Many people go to Jesus for their own personal gain, wishing to be delivered from their problems and hardships. There are others who think they can challenge God to have their prayers answered, failing to realize that He is Almighty, we mere mortals, and hence He will not answer such prayers. This kind of confrontation has its roots from the evil one, and one should be extremely discreet about this.
3. Stop using God for your own advantage
• The final separation
We read Matthew 25:31-33, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. The people of every nation will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right but the goats on his left.” (GW)
This passage mentioned above, describes that final judgement day, when the Son of Man will come in all His glory, with all His angels, and sit on the glorious throne to judge all the people of the earth. He then separates them as a shepherd would separate his sheep from his goats. He segregates them gathering the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left.
All of us are going to be part of this great gathering who stand before the Son of Man. It would be a day of reckoning when the Lord will segregate people some to His right and others to His left. Those who cannot discern between their right hand and left, are those who are oblivious to this impending judgement. We are a blessed people because the Lord has forewarned us of what is to come. If we can comprehend this truth, we will most certainly set things right in our lives.
We read in Matthew 25:34, “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, my Father has blessed you! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.” (GW)
To the ones on His right, He welcomes them to come, and inherit the kingdom that was prepared for them from the creation of the world. These on His right hand side Jesus refers to as the ones who are blessed by the Father. The same Heavenly Father who approved of Jesus when He came out of the waters of baptism and declared, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’
The ones on the right are those who cast aside their childish way of speaking, feeling and thinking. They are those who have turned away from evil to decided do good. They are also those who do not use God for their own advantage, but rather led a life that was a blessing to others.
We read further in Matthew 25:41, “Then the king will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me! God has cursed you! Go into everlasting fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels! (GW)
To the ones on His left, he commands them to get away from Him, for they were the ones whom God had cursed. Their destination was into the eternal hell fire that was originally prepared for the devil and his angels.
What made the difference between those on the right and the left was that the ones on the right were blessed, and the ones on the left were cursed. The reason was the ones on the left were immature and childish who could not discern their right hand from their left. The Lord can perceive all about us, and there is no place for hypocrisy or a form of godliness before God, for everything will all be revealed and laid bare on that day. We must shun a life of dichotomy, and instead desire to lead a godly life, totally pleasing to the Lord.
The kingdom of God is prepared even before the creation of the world for those who walk with the Lord; it is a place of eternal joy, peace, blessing, health, where Christ will rule and reign as King forever. To the ones who are on the left, the Lord destines them to hell, which is a place of eternal torment, prepared only for the devil and his angels. We are called to grow in maturity and know the difference between our right hand and left so we too can be partakers of the eternal kingdom and live in God’s presence forever.
With our mouth we can like those two criminals either confess Jesus to be our Lord, and thereby secure for ourselves a place with Him in the kingdom of God, or we can like the other criminal on the left deny Him, challenge Him foolishly, ending up in eternal destruction. It is up to us to decide if we want to be on the right or the left, but must be cautioned that there is no middle ground. Let us choose to be those who are blessed by God, who hear His word, repent, walk in His ways, get baptized and live a life that is totally pleasing to the Lord in every way. May the Lord help us to guard our words, and our actions, so that we too can be part of that glorious and eternal kingdom that the Lord has prepared for all who are His children.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
