Leaders & Laity
The Master had said to them, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it.” (Matthew 21:43) They were the leaders of a dry and mystical religion that had no love in it, nor any semblance of a link back to God. But still, they were the leaders. They obeyed the law meticulously, so they didn’t need love or joy or peace or patience, gentleness, self-control, or any of the things that this man talked so much about. However, it was these very qualities that captured the hearts of the people. The leaders had the Law of Moses and the traditions of Judaism, which had been passed down for hundreds of years. Now all their people were being misled by this blasphemer. They would have to do something to gather their sheep back into the fold, or else they would lose their entire nation.
So there was Miriam, Yahshua’s own mother, hearing all the things these respected leaders were saying about her Son. But did she remember the words? “… and a sword will pierce your own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Did she understand that the very thoughts of their hearts were being revealed?
His Circle of Disciples
“Can you please give this message to my son?” she asked the nearest bystander. “Please tell him that his mother and brothers are here to see him… We need to talk to him right away.” She waited anxiously for him to come running out. “Surely he’ll come out to talk to me after all I’ve done for him. I mean, I am his mother.”
He would never want to split up families, especially his own family, would he? Would God ever ask such a thing? After a moment or two, she noticed a hush come over the crowd. She strained her ears to hear whether the message had made it to him… Then she heard the reply. Yes, she knew it came from him, she knew his voice so well. “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
Desperately pushing aside those in her way she made her way close so He could see her. But she noticed Him looking around at His circle of disciples who were sitting tightly around him… then He was motioning to them.
“Behold my mother and my brothers? For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” Like a knife the words plunged into her soul. He would not come out… He was devoted to those people sitting with Him in there. He would stay with them.
The words of Simeon resounded in her heart with unmistakable clarity. Now she understood. He had now become the sign that would be spoken against. He had become the witness of God on the earth that would be opposed by all the spiritual forces of the evil one. And the evil one was manifested in the leading men of their religion – the preachers of their congregations and synagogues. They were the ones speaking against Him.
But He didn’t care what the religious leaders thought of Him. No, He was gathering people who would set themselves apart to do the same thing He had – to be holy and set apart, a nation separate from the world.
He would establish the true kingdom of God on the earth, even if it separated mother from son and brother from brother. He would not compromise or let the gospel be watered down. He wanted a circle of disciples who would take on His own heart. Therefore He said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) How could His disciples have true love for one another if they all lived their own separate lives? How could their love be shown as a witness so that all men would know and be persuaded that they were true disciples unless they shared a common life together?
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7/9/2005
Circle of Disciples
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
(Luke 14:26-27)
As Yahshua said these things to His followers, perhaps He thought back to the time when even He had to disregard the words of His own mother, Miriam. That day He had been sitting in the house with His circle of disciples and the crowds of people who hung on His every word. Filled with the Holy Spirit, He was speaking to them in parables, but the priests and the Pharisees were outraged. “Who does this nobody from Nazareth think he is, telling the people that the religion of today is corrupt? We are the ones chosen to teach about God… this man has lost his mind!”
Word had reached His mother and brothers that He had gone crazy and that He had a demon! What could have happened to Him since that day so long ago when He was a small boy and yet He confounded all the teachers in the temple with His deep understanding of the Law and the Prophets? Why weren’t those same men accepting Him now? Surely He must have gone off… Something had gone wrong… She must go immediately and get Him before it was too late.
But remember the words of Simeon back when He was just a little baby and Mary and Joseph had brought Him to the temple to be dedicated? “Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be spoken against. And a sword will pierce even your own soul…” (Luke 2:34-35). What did that mean? Why would the Messiah be spoken against? Shouldn’t He be received with great pomp and ceremony? Certainly something wasn’t right.
So off she went with her other sons to rescue Him. When she arrived at the house it was so packed full of people that she couldn’t even get in. People were sitting and standing anywhere they could, just to hear what He was saying, just to catch a glimpse of Him. And there were the Pharisees, filled with jealousy toward this imposter who was stealing all their loyal disciples away and telling them the truth. How they hated the truth, grinding their teeth at every word that shined a light into their dark souls, revealing that they were really nothing but hollow shells that produced no fruit.
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7/1/2005
Amazing Grace : What about Works?
Certainly, there are no works that a person can do to earn his salvation in Messiah. All of his good deeds have no more value than filthy rags in the currency of redemption.[26] It is only Messiah’s worth that counts — the infinite value of His blood which He shed on our behalf.
In fact, anyone who really understands the futility of his own unredeemed life, with all the material manifestations of his own selfish works,[27] will be eager to abandon it all as soon as he discovers the pearl of great price.[28] It would not even enter the mind of someone who truly hates his own life in this world[29] that giving up his possessions in order to gain eternal life[30] could be considered “works salvation.” He would be like Paul, who wrote,
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,[31] in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)
Paul understood in the very core of his being what he was saved from and what he was saved for. The “loss of all things” was part of the reality of his old life being buried with Messiah in baptism,[32] not a “good work” that he did to earn his salvation.[33] Paul was glad to be free of his old life, career, and possessions so that he could lay hold of that for which Messiah had laid hold of him.[34] That is the revelation he had that caused him to write to the Ephesians,
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
The word translated as works here (and in verse 9, for that matter) actually means employment or occupation. It is not speaking of isolated good deeds that one does from time to time, but rather the direction of one’s will[35] — what he does with his time, energy, skills, and strength. Everyone who is saved is saved for the purpose of spending the rest of his life employing his gifts[36] to build up the Body of Messiah:
From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by that which every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:16-17)
Paul and the other apostles did not conceive of the Body of Messiah as a mystical union of isolated believers who live their own independent lives all week (“walk as the Gentiles walk”), and get together for an hour or two on Sunday. It was to be a full-time, visible demonstration of disciples living together in unity,[37] loving one another just as their Master had loved His first disciples[38] — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — serving one another according to their gifts and abilities. Such people do not need to be concerned about what they will eat or what they will wear,[39] but can actually seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, knowing that all their needs will be met through the “effective working of every part” for the benefit of the whole. Such is the miracle of self-sacrificing love.[40]
If you love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. (John 14:21)
He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. (1 John 2:4-5)
It is impossible to obey His commandments on your own. It takes a community. That is where the love of God is perfected in us — where we can truly love one another. That is where God has commanded the blessing of eternal life.[41]
Amazing Grace
The amazing thing about grace is that it brings about the purpose of God on the earth through willing human beings who receive faith when they hear the word of God, which causes them to believe to the point that they actually obey His commandments.[42] Together they bear the fruit of the kingdom[43] — the life that bears witness to the fact that the Father actually sent His Son,[44] because as He is, so also are they in this world.[45]
[26] Isaiah 64:6
[27] Even if those past works looked good to the natural man, as in Titus 3:5.
[28] Matthew 13:44-46
[29] John 12:25
[30] Mark 10:28-30; Luke 14:33
[31] The Greek word Paul used here means something worthless and detestable, such as the excrement of animals.
[32] Romans 6:4-7
[33] Titus 3:5
[34] Philippians 3:12
[35] See the article Friends & Enemies for more on this theme.
[36] His “calling” or employment in the Body of Messiah, Ephesians 4:1.
[37] John 17:20-23
[38] John 13:34-35; 15:12-14
[39] Matthew 6:31-33
[40] 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
[41] Psalm 133:1-3
[42] John 14:15,21; Revelation 22:14 (KJV, NKJV)
[43] Matthew 21:43
[44] John 17:23
[45] 1 John 4:17
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