Bless-ed! 52 Blessings You Have As a Believer! (Blessing #5)

Blessing #5: The Blessing of a Life-Long Mission

“This is the true joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself to be a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” (George Bernard Shaw)

I’ve recently been challenged (by my time with my unsaved friend Mike) to think about what I have as a believer and what those who are lost don’t have. This may seem like a strange exercise, but it has a way of focusing my prayers and my priorities to genuinely care about my lost friends.

In sharing the biblical truth with Mike that he is “lost” and “unsaved” without Jesus, he responded with his conviction that he was just fine with God. But that’s not what God’s Word says. Another blessing that we who know Christ have and is this —

5. WE HAVE A LIFE-LONG, SATISFYING MISSION IN LIFE!
What is my friend Mike’s “mission” in life? I suppose — if I were to ask him — he would probably say, “I want to be a good person, help others, be kind and compassionate, and die with my family by my side.” Those are good values and ambitious goals — but that’s what life is about?

THE BLESSING: What about knowing the living God? What about helping to rescue people from God’s eternal wrath? What about sharing in any way possible the message of forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus provides to those who believe? What about a life mission that will require all one’s energy and resources and priorities and insight and purpose? That’s what we believers have. And though at times it might seem like a burden, it is a blessing.

THE BIBLE Jesus prayed in John 17 for all who would follow Him. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (v. 3). He commissioned His disciples in Matthew 28 with the words:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Life’s purpose is to know the Lord and life’s mission (for those who believe) is to disciplize (my word) people everywhere to follow Jesus. This is the believer’s life-long, satisfying mission. There is none greater than this.

ACTION STEPS Someone has said of the Christian, “You are either a missionary or a mission field.” Believer, are you fully engaged in this Christ-given mission to reach the world? Some action steps you can take:
1. Read through the book of Acts this week taking special note of the passion and commitment of the early Christians to fulfill the Great Commission the Lord gave to them. Take a few notes and perhaps share what you’ve learned with a friend.
2. Interview a real-life missionary (either active or retired) sometime this week. Ask them questions like, “If you had to live your life over again, what would you do differently?” “What lessons have you learned about your life-long mission that can help other believers?”
3. Read John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life and discuss it with a friend. Are there any points in that book that you might disagree with? Check out desiringgod.org for Piper’s many resources.
PRAYER: 4. To be quite honest and blunt, in the words of Pastor John Piper, my friend Mike has wasted his life! But it’s not too late. And I pray he will come to Christ and use the remainder of his days to have a mission far greater than any one he has ever dreamed of.

Are you concerned that your friend does not have God’s eternal mission in life? Pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to his heart — and remind him that he only has one life. And it can count for God!

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Man in God’s Image)

Don’t you love Calvin’s response: “I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul”? We all have inscrutable exhortations of our souls”! Have you found yours? What is your soul telling you to do with your life? With your time? With your affections? God wired us to live productive, adventuresome, engaging lives. What are you and I doing with ours?

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (A Study of John 11) Part 17

Why would the Lord Jesus create a situation in which His only response would be weeping? Could He not have stopped His friend from dying — and put an end to the sisters’ grief — and His own? Let’s look at the next section of John 11 . . .

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

When invited to come and see Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus joined Mary and Martha and the professional mourners in weeping. He was moved by their grief. He was broken by the sadness that death had brought to that family.

Some Jews there said, “See how he loved him!” (v. 36). Jesus’ tears showed His great love for that trio.

But others asked, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” (v. 37). What that group failed to realize was that ability does not equal appropriateness. Power does not supercede plan. The issue was not Jesus’ capability but His purpose.

We may assume that the blind man and his healing to which the Jews refer is the man born blind in John 9.  But their logic was as follows:  Jesus showed His power to a blind stranger <<>> Now someone He loved was dying <<>> Real love is intervening in that loved one’s tragedy <<>>  Jesus doesn’t keep His friend from dying (and He could have) <<>> Therefore, Jesus doesn’t really love Lazarus and Mary and Martha.  Our logic often gets us in trouble too, doesn’t it?  (to be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends Don’t Let Friends . . . Die! (A Study of John 11) Part 2

The Lord Jesus came to heal the sick! Part of His mission was to “heal every disease and sickness among the people” (Mt. 4:23). He said that His ministry was not to the healthy, but to the sick (Mt. 8:12). He commanded His own disciples to go and “heal the sick, raise the dead” (Mt. 10:8)!

But when He hears that His friend Lazarus is sick, what does Jesus do? Let’s look at our portion of John 11 again ….

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴ When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸ “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰ It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

If someone sent word to you that “the one you love is sick,” what would you do? You’d drop everything, take a personal day off of work, and immediately go to that person you love. Right?

When Jesus is informed that the one He loves is sick, what does He do? He makes an astounding prediction and an amazing declaration. He says, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” (v. 4).  The astounding prediction is that “this sickness will not end in death.”  Only GOD can make that kind of statement!  The amazing declaration is that “it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”  There is a purpose in Lazarus’ sickness; his illness is not meaningless.

But here we have Someone who has the power over life and death and who can guarantee that His beloved friend will not die!  So what does Jesus do?  We read, “He stayed where he was two more days.” (v. 6).  Why would He do such a thing?  (to be continued)

 

Time for a Great Quote: A.W. Tozer on Self-Discovery