The Companionship of Jesus

Greetings,

Please pardon me for being a bit late but a Happy New Year to you nevertheless. May the year 2013 be full of glad tidings from our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

I'm mid-way through writing my book so please keep it in your prayers. Meanwhile here's a wonderful devotional I found out about the companion of Jesus. It's written by A.S. Gumbart.

Among the Dutch the rose was sometimes cultivated by planting an inferior rose close to a rose of superior quality. The rose of inferior quality was carefully watched and its anthers removed so as to avoid self-pollenization; the object being that it should be pollenized by the superior rose. Gradually the rose thus treated took upon itself the characteristics of the superior life of its companion.


This is indeed a beautiful illustration of the blessing that comes to the life that knows the companionship of Jesus. If our lives are pollenized, as it were, by His righteousness; if His life-transforming truth is received into the heart, and self be sacrificed to make room for the incoming of His superior life, it cannot be other than that gradually the life loses its own inferior characteristics and develops the characteristics of the blessed life of Him who is Himself the Rose of Sharon. O Lord, let my life receive the pollen of divine righteousness, that more and more I may become like my blessed Master.

The Radical

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matthew 5:38 NIV)

At the start of the twentieth century, a man from India – a lawyer who lived in South Africa – picked up the New Testament and started reading. The lawyer’s homeland was plagued by discriminatory laws enforced under British rule. The lawyer searched for an effective way by which he would resist the tyranny of the ‘Raj’, and he found it when he read the Sermon on the Mount. At one time, during one of his speeches, the lawyer simply stood up and recited the Sermon on the Mount and told the gathered to follow it. He would say, “Christ’s Sermon on the Mount fills me with bliss even today. Its sweet verses have even today the power to quench my agony of soul.” In a way, I think it is safe to say that India owes its independence to Christ.

Before Mahatma Gandhi, was the Christ. At the dawn of the first century, the Jews eagerly anticipated the arrival of the Messiah. The Jewish mindset of that time envisioned the Messiah as one who would fight the Roman Empire, claim the throne of King David, and liberate the Jewish people from foreign rule. Little did they know that the coming Messiah, who would indeed be the Liberator – but of a different sense, would also challenge the very core of human society.

When Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount He set off a chain reaction that continues to polarize the world today. Before Christ there was Rome, Babylon and Egypt, powers that ruled the weak with an iron fist. When Christ arrived He gave a sword to the weak, the sword of love and peace. That sword scared the living daylights out of the ruling party of Jesus’ time, and it continues to scare the powers-that-be today.

Christ took centre-stage and told the masses to ‘turn the cheek’ and not retaliate. He commanded his people to ‘love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them’. By hearing this, the crowd was dumbfounded. Certainly, they had expected, the Messiah would urge them to take up arms against Caesar. They altogether missed the point that the real enemy was not Caesar; the real enemy was Satan who controlled Caesar.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NASB)

Today, Christians think that Christ established a new religion – set of beliefs or a code of conduct – but in reality what Christ initiated was something revolutionary in that it stood contrary to the pattern of the world (Romans 12:2).

Christ was often at odds with the establishment of society.

Society favors the rich and the strong but Christ champions the poor and the weak.

Society glorifies evil but Christ rebukes it.

Society is self-preserving but Christ denies self-preservation.

Society spreads sin but Christ cleanses the sinner.

Society kills its opposition but Christ Himself died to save us.

The radical message of Christ today continues in the form of Christ’s church. The church is the Body of Christ and therefore we must not conform to the pattern of the world but to the pattern of Christ. It is up to the Body of Christ to challenge the sinful actions of society by means of Christ-like living.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16 NIV)

A friend of mine once asked me, ‘How can you spread the message of non-violence all by yourself?’ So many times we make the message all about ourselves, but it was never about us. Christ is that message pure and simple, like Shane Claiborne says: “We’re just the jackasses that get to bring Jesus into our community.”

Let’s have confidence that we are not alone.

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b NIV)

Christ in us

There is a scene in the 2003 film Luther that captivated me the moment I saw it. In the scene, Luther (portrayed by Joseph Fiennes) steps down from the pulpit and goes to each member individually as he preaches with passion.

“He does not live in the bones of dead saints or relics. Christ lives in you!” Luther says pointing to each member of the laity in a church marred by tradition and superstition.

Paul boldly declares that his own self died in baptism and in its stead Christ lives in him.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

In Romans 8:9 Paul says that the Spirit of God dwells in us. And he says, in verse 11, that through this dwelling of the Spirit we receive life.

Today Christians are marred by a different kind of superstition. In the 1990s a trend started among the youth in America, ‘WWJD – What Would Jesus Do?’ Evangelical Christians began to wear bracelets with the initials ‘WWJD’, and they would contemplate on the question before each and every action of their day to day lives. These practices, in the light of Biblical truths, deserve nothing more than a face-palm reaction.

Believers act as though Christ is a mere person who lived and died two thousand years ago, but scriptures tell us that Christ is alive… and not just alive! Christ’s magnificent and wondrous story continues today by His indwelling Spirit in us.

When Christ came to earth in human form He often preached about ‘eternal life’. What is this ‘eternal life’ that Christ so often spoke about? Is it our ‘ticket’ to heaven? Most people assume that it means nothing more than immortality. Christ says in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Again, what is this ‘life’ that Christ spoke about?

John, the beloved disciples, writes:

"The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us." (1 John 1:2 NIV)

Jesus says:

“I am the way and the truth and THE LIFE" (John 14:6 NIV) emphasis mine

That same Jesus, who turned planet earth upside down and spinning, is the same – magnificent, wondrous, almighty, powerful – Christ who dwells in us! The eternal life is none other than Christ Jesus – the beloved Son of God.

Colossians 1 and 2 speaks volumes of the vastness of Jesus Christ. The titanic image of Christ grows more and more when Paul says all creation is held inside Him (Colossians 1:16-17). All creation, even time itself, is inside the Giant that is Christ Jesus! Indeed, Christ does say "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13 NASB). It is this indwelling of Christ’s life in us that truly humbles us.

Through our sinful nature we deserved the death that resulted from it – alienation from the fellowship of God. God, through His Son Christ Jesus, reconciled us to His fellowship by dying a torturous death on the cross. But the real eternal purpose lay not only in salvation, as so many think, but in that God made His dwelling among us (Ephesians 3).

People tend to think that eternal life is separate from God. It is not separate from God but it is in Christ Jesus Himself. It is a ‘Gift IN Christ Jesus’ according to Paul in Romans 6:23. When we are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ it is no longer we who live but Christ in us.

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." (Colossians 3:3-4 NASB)

Let us then rejoice that Christ Jesus abides in us. He doesn’t look upon us from far away but moves wherever we move, just like the song goes “Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.” Let us be joyful as Christians in a church which is in fact a colony from heaven, for Jesus has promised to be with us forever.

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b NASB)

The Kingdom of God is like Kefir Grains..(A modern day parable)

The following article was written by my good friend Samuel Mathew. You can visit his blog: His Kingdom Now.

The Kingdom of God is like kefir grains, that a man took and hid in a jar filled with milk, until it turned to kefir.

What is Kefir?

"What in the world is Kefir", some may ask! Kefir is a "living" fermented milk drink, which contains beneficial bacteria (probiotics), yeast, minerals, essential amino acids and easily digestible proteins. Consumers of kefir (including myself) tout the myriads of health benefits this drink provides. You can learn more about it at http://www.kefir.net/what-is-kefir/.

But the purpose of this post is not to educate you or convince you of the amazing drink that kefir is. Rather, it is to share what I learnt about Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of the Kingdom of God.

The Process

Let me explain the simple process of making kefir. You take a jar of milk and put a few kefir grains in it and set it aside for 24 hours. The bacteria and yeasts in the kefir grains start working in the milk and convert it to kefir. After 24 hours you simply strain the kefir for drinking and use the same kefir grains in a new batch of milk for another nutritious kefir drink . Another amazing thing that happens in this process is that the kefir grains, which is the source of life, so to speak, keeps growing. When it grows in quantity, you can either, (1) share some of your grains with others (2) eat the grains or (3) throw the excess (I don't think anyone would want to do that).

The Parable explained

The jar is our 'earthen vessel', our body. The milk in the jar, is the unregenerated human spirit within the body, which is dead in transgressions and sins (Eph 2:1), darkened in its understanding and separated from the 'life' of God (Eph 4:18). The kefir grain teeming with 'life', represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the treasure in our earthen vessels (2 Cor 4:7).

Jesus, who is 'life' (John 14:6), the bread of life (John 6:35), came to give life to raise up dead mankind (John 10:10) . This "zoe" life is the very life of the God by which He exists. Jesus is the Tree of life, the vine that supplies life to the branches (John 15:5). He came so that we could once again eat from the Tree of Life and live.  He is the incorruptible seed or grain of wheat containing life, that fell to the ground and died. But on the third day that life burst forth and He became a 'life giving spirit' (I Cor 15:45). Just as the kefir grains give life to the milk in the jar and turns it into something new - Kefir, the seed of Jesus regenerates the human spirit, giving birth to the New Man, born from above - a brand New Creation. The life in the kefir grains permeates the milk, becoming one with it. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (I Cor 6:17).

The health benefits of drinking kefir are many. Consuming Jesus Christ, not only gives you His life, but you get all the blessings in Him as well, which impacts your overall well-being (Eph 1:4). When Jesus takes up residence in us by the Holy Spirit, He moves in with the whole package, the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9)!

The life of Jesus not only nourishes you, but just as the kefir grains grow, His life in us grows.  We begin to experience and manifest more and more of Him. This is what is called 'growing in grace' or 'growing to the fullness of the stature of Christ'. What do you do when the kefir grains grow? Of course you can eat them (eating more of Jesus individually). But you are so teeming and overflowing with His life that you can share the life giving grains with others. Those grains produce kefir(life) for them and they then share the grains with others out of their abundance and so it goes on and on..until the earth will be filled with the image of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Hab 2:14).

The Suffering Servant

The unbelieving world assumes that Christians know not a thing about suffering. I recently came across this internet meme doing the rounds on social networking sites. It’s a picture of an African boy looking amusingly at a woman.

‘So you’re telling me that Jesus loves me even though I’m homeless and starving to death?’ The words were meant to be sarcastic in nature.

The general assumption of the non-Christian world, and even in the church, is that when trouble besets a father, mother, or a child, Christians do nothing more than just whisper a soft ‘Jesus loves you’. This could be true – I have come across, on many occasions, people who left the church because of strife in their domestic lives. People often find it hard to comprehend how a loving God could seem to be so far away in times of trouble. And much too often, offering sympathy is just not enough.

There is no easy answer to why we suffer in this world or why God allows the suffering to take place. It is one thing to write an apologetics work on the subject, but to convince a mother facing the inevitable death of her cancer-stricken child – that’s a different thing altogether. But it helps to tell a story once in a while to the afflicted. Stories remind people that the agony they face has been faced before, that the suffering they endure has been endured before, and that the loss they feel has been felt before.

Mankind’s sinful nature brings about a hideous consequence that is often borne by the little innocents of this world. We can see examples of this throughout the Old Testament. When God cast His judgment on the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15, His judgment fell on the innocent children as well. Similarly in Exodus 11 the firstborn children of the Egyptians received death. This does not mean that God is some kind of a ‘heavenly hit-man’. God does not take pleasure in the death of anyone (Ezekiel 18:32), but He loves us relentlessly. It is His relentless love for us that causes Him to cast His wrath upon us.

When Jesus saw a large crowd before Him, he felt compassion (Mark 6:34). We can guess the evil, the sorrow, the hardship, and many other things evident in the lives of people who formed that crowd. People like you and me were in that crowd, and some of them were the worst of sinners. Nevertheless, Christ did feel compassion for them.

When God told Isaiah about the suffering Servant who was to come, Isaiah must have been startled.

Surely He took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered Him punished by God,

    stricken by Him, and afflicted.

But He was pierced for our transgressions,

    He was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on Him,

    and by His wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on Him

    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV)

Here was God, ready to come into the world in the flesh and share our suffering!

The very nature of Christ’s birth indicates that God was more than willing to share in our poverty. Is this God’s relentless love for us, that He chooses to be born among the poor and afflicted and actually live with us? The popular singer Bono says it beautifully.

“Love here describes itself as a child born in straw poverty, the most vulnerable situation of all, without honor.”

The wonderful thing about Christ Jesus is that He made His dwelling with us (John 1:14). Scriptures say that Christ had no luxurious upbringing and no powerful connections. Instead He was often at odds with those who had luxury and power. Scriptures say that Christ became nothing for us (Philippians 2:7).

Would it be too much for me to say that Christ can relate to our suffering? When Christ cried on the cross – "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" – He experienced that painful loneliness of being separated from a loved one. When Christ Jesus prayed in anguish before His trial – “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me…” – He felt the agony many of us face in our lives. When Jesus wept at Lazarus’ grave he felt the loss of Mary and Martha in the same way many of us feel for our brothers and sisters.

In Isaiah 53:3 (KJV), Christ is known as ‘a man of sorrows’. In this Man of sorrows we can relate our own sorrows and we can hope for glory. Paul was no stranger to this. He writes:

For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. (2 Corinthians 1:5 NIV)

When we look at the story of Jesus, we can hope for glory in our suffering. Christ died an agonizing death on the cross, it was a level of suffering on par with Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Dresden. But through His death came the glory of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life in mankind.

I know a close friend of mine who suffers from this incurable skin disease. I cannot imagine what it must be like for him to bathe in his daily life. Once I asked him, “How do you go through this every day?”

“Jesus”, he replied, “He suffered for me, didn’t He?”

In Christ Jesus we who believe on Him can relate our pain and sorrow.

Jesus once said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28 NASB)

P.S. I highly recommend Jim McGuiggan’s wonderful book ‘Celebrating the Wrath of God: Reflections on the Agony and the Ecstasy of His Relentless Love’.

King Jesus

It was a tensed atmosphere at the Fortress Antonia in upper Jerusalem. The Roman governor stood face to face with a Jewish nobody, this ‘nobody’ was already bruised and battered by part of the mob that stood outside. The governor asked this ‘nobody’ a question, a question he would have been least bothered to ask anyone else.

“Are you the King of the Jews?”

The Kingship of Jesus is unanimously declared across the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament Daniel proclaims to king Nebuchadnezzar of a coming kingdom which will endure forever (Daniel 2:44). In the New Testament Paul the apostle, bound inside a dark dungeon, boldly proclaims Jesus as the ‘King of kings’ (1 Timothy 6:15).

“Are you the King of the Jews?” The Roman governor asks. Outside, the mob grows increasingly impatient; some want the young innocent Jew to live while others, outraged, want him to die an animal’s death. Among those who want him dead are the Sanhedrin – high priests – men of great power, great knowledge, and great prestige.

“We have no king but Caesar.”

King! What comes to your mind when you think of that word? What image? Alexander, Napoleon, Caesar… all of these men were known to be rulers, great rulers. But these men were also known to be brutal, relentless, unforgiving, savage, haughty, insecure, timid, and last but not least, dead!

Then there are the puppet rulers, those who are kings only in name and end up doing the bidding of others. And there are the figurehead monarchs, whose pictures and deeds would be on the tabloids, like the ones in modern Britain, but whose authority would be of no value whatsoever.

“… no king but Caesar”, cried the Sanhedrin.

Indeed, the unbelieving world has no king but Caesar. But what of the churches with rulers who act as ‘proxy’ between clergy and laity, between God and God’s children? Most churches today get so carried away by these ‘church celebrities’ that they tend to forget about the King himself. Recently, a pastor of a ‘megachurch’ had the audacity to have someone crown him ‘king’ of the church!

Who is the real King? Who is the absolute ruler? Who is the one whose kingdom would last forever?

Enter the King of kings. When you became a follower of Jesus Christ you became a subject to your only King. You became a subject to the one who redefined the word ‘Kingship’. Imagine a King – meek and humble, loving, caring, gentle, patient, nurturing, and calling his subjects to be his own. Sounds more like a father, yet that is the King we worship! Imagine a King – wrapping a towel around his waist and getting down to wash the feet of his subjects. Sounds more like a servant, yet that is the King we proclaim! Imagine a King – crowned not with silver and gold, but with a crown of thorns. What? Imagine a King ready to die, and died he did, for his subjects. That is insane! No, that’s King Jesus – the real King, the absolute ruler, and King forevermore.

Here is a King ready to share the sufferings and agony of his subjects. Here is a King who would take the consequences of our sickening thoughts and actions. In this world we often associate the word ‘King’ to a man who has elevated himself above everyone else. Jesus changed all that. He not only redefined the word ‘King’, but he also showed his followers how to be true subjects. He showed us how to be true subjects in this age when men love to ‘lord it over the flock’. In him we have the revolutionized image of the King – not the ‘megachurch’ king – but the serving King. The King who showed how to serve.

“Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked.

“IT IS AS YOU SAY.” Jesus replied.

CHRIST IS...

This is the most beautiful prose I have ever read about the beauty of Jesus Christ. It's written by Kat Huff, she writes on her blog "Harvest of Pearls". 

You can read her prose by clicking on the below link:

"CHRIST IS" by Kat Huff