…do you love Me?…Tend My sheep. —John 21:16
{CHAMBERS} “Jesus
did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after
His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider
what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls
service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based
solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief
or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate…, he cannot be My
disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure
from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My
disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” […] People do not really want to
be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply
offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be
their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s
primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the
saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. […] if
I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even
though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is
devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming
insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls
into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape
(John 12:24).
{ELGIN} If you love God then you
will love people. (Matthew 22:37-39)
If you are Jesus’ disciple you will do
what He did. (John 14:15) He obeyed
the will of the Father and the world was blessed. (John 6:38) If you live by faith and not just a religious philosophy
then , good works will flow naturally from you. (James 2:18)
It’s not uncommon for people
to praise me for what I do. When I tell
them “Give the credit to God.” They look at me like it is feigned
humility. I know that I can not take
credit for anything. God has given me everything
.. every ability ..He formed me (Psalm
139:13) If I can take credit for
anything it is offering my life to Him .. that is an act of my will (Romans 12:1-2) You may be born again
but the life that follows is one of willful obedience to the Father or willful
obedience to the old nature, which is to say willful disobedience to the
Father. The real tragedy is convincing
yourself that you are doing the former when you are really doing the latter.
(2 Timothy 3:1-5) “But understand this, that in the last days there
will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of
money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not
loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its
power.” Does that sound like the culture
in this country? The American Christian
culture? You say “That is NOT me!” I say
“Praise the Lord!” It is a description of the carnal Christian.
(1 Corinthians 3:1-3) “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to
spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk
and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and
even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are
envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like
mere men?” Pastor Brian Lambert, in his sermon last Sunday, addressed three types
of Christians – Infants who know they believe in Jesus and are saved but have
trouble applying the Word to their lives; Adolescents who are focused on taking
in the Word and applying it to their lives, and Mature Adults who know Jesus
and are making Him known as they live lives obedient to the will of the
Father. I am not judging anyone, but am encouraging
you … no matter at what stage of Christian development you are … to never be
satisfied but pursue God to your last day on this Earth. The fact is, many of us just need to Grow Up!
That should be the desire of your heart. To be found faithful on the day you
meet Jesus face to face … either in Heaven or when He returns.
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