"Obedient to the Point of Death"

"....He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."  (Philippians 2:8)

 

Jesus was not a convenient "obeyer."  His obedience to the Father and the will of the Godhead was completed at His Cross, an obedience "to the point of death."  I some times wonder about my obedience.  Of what character is it?  Is is a "convenient" obedience, an obedience which satisfies the religious in me, or just enough to keep others from thinking anything other than I am a real Believer in Jesus Christ?  Any obedience which is not an obedience "to the point of death" is not obedience.  There is no compromise obedience in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Each day you and I choose between a convenient obedience and a "to-the-point-of-death" obedience.  One is a self deception.  The other a "fulfilled obedience," the true obedience of which the Blessed Trinity speaks throughout Scripture.  I want to include here a commentary of Adam Clarke on the 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 passage which is so familiar to us all.  The passage ends with the statement, "and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."

"All the terms in these two verses are military.  Allusion is made to a strongly fortified city, where the enemy had made his last stand; entrenching himself about the walls; strengthening all his redoubts and ramparts; raising castles, towers, and various engines of defense and offence upon the walls; and neglecting nothing that might tend to render his strong hold impregnable.  The army of God comes against the place and attacks it; the stronghold, all the fortified places, are carried, the imaginations, engines, and whatever the imagination or skill of man could raise, are speedily taken and destroyed.  Every high thing, all the castles and towers are sapped, thrown down and demolished; the walls are battered into breaches; and the besieging army, carrying everything at the point of the sword, enter the city, storm and take the citadel.  Everywhere defeated, the conquered submit and are brought into captivity, are led away captives; and thus the whole government is destroyed."

 

Make no mistake about it.  The enemy in this passage is not your neighbor, the political left, or Satan and His demonic hordes.  The enemy is our disobedience.  Now reread, if you must, the commentary, and see if you are allowing the Word of God to enable you to wage such a warfare against any disobedience in your life.  When we do, our obedience will be the obedience "to the point of death," the only obedience which the Father accepts.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, don't ever let me be deceived with any obedience which is not "to the point of death."  Amen.  

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Can I Really "Do ALL Things Through Christ?"

"Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau.  He traded his birthright...for a single meal."  (Hebrews 12:16)

 

Someone recently wrote that one of the presidential candidates "speaks to his followers as though they are victims, and it resonates with them because victim-hood is a latent element of their collective self-image."  The present "victimized" American citizenry does not believe John F. Kennedy's phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your country."  Their thinking is just the opposite, and, they have many "enablers" on the American political scene.  Today the leading politicians of John Kennedy's party are trumpeting the victimization of the "working class," the "middle class," the poor, the immigrant, etc.  And they are growing in popularity.  Their answer to life's injustice is like that of Esau.  Kill the Jacobs.   

 

Living life as a victim will keep you in bondage as a slave.  Don't be the complainer and blame-shifter as the do-nothing servant in Matthew 25.  "Sir, I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate.  I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth and here it is."  The key here is, "I was afraid..,so I hid it in the earth."  In other words, "I did nothing with what I had, so I blamed you for the result."  But what was this "victim" afraid of---- taking a risk, doing something, even if it failed and he had to try again? 

 

You may not have much today, but the examples of Esau and Jacob and the "afraid" servant reveal that blaming others is not the answer.  Jesus Christ "nailed [your enemies] to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in [His Cross]."  This same Jesus has promised you everything in Him to enable you to go from slave to "master," from victim to triumphant warrior.  

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, no more blame, no more victim--- I am Your overcoming, productive servant.  Amen.

 

 

 

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An Alien in Your Own Land

"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion,..elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ...." (1 Peter 1:1)

 

The NASB translates our text, "to those who reside as aliens."  The Amplified says, "to the elect exiles of the dispersion scattered."  That is what we are--- "aliens--the dispersion scattered."  One of the root words for, "dispersion," means, "to sow throughout, i.e., distribute in foreign lands."  Most of us are living in the country of our origin.  Most of us travel very little beyond our birth place.  But whether we are living in the town in which we grew up, or living in a foreign land, we need to see ourselves as "aliens, sown throughout foreign lands."

 

I have often said that a Believer in Jesus Christ has, by birthright, possession of the earth.  "The earth is the Lord's," we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are "joint heirs" with Jesus, so "the earth is" ours.  Yet we are a minority.  There is a very real sense in which we are the scattered "aliens" in the earth.  Many experience it frequently, some right in their own homes.  People don't or won't understand you.  They don't understand your faith, your confidence, your life style, and it is all because they refuse to understand your Jesus.

 

We have been given an assignment.  Our text says that we are the "elect," which means, "by implication, favorite."  We are to live as favorite sons throughout the earth, not proud, or parading our sonship, but humble, knowing that our election is "according to the foreknowledge (forethought) of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."  The Believers in Jesus who realize and walk in the last part of our text will rightly represent Jesus in "the dispersion" where they have been sown.

 

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to always remember Whom I represent and why.  Amen.  

   

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