FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: Hebrews 1:1-14

Jesus – Superior to the Prophets (Hebrews 1:1-2)

The clear teaching of these opening verses is that Jesus is incomparably better than all that went before him. Hebrews actually uses the term for superior approximately twelve times throughout the letter, from Hebrews 1:4 to 12:24. This is a key matter of revelation, Jesus is greater than anyone or anything to which he might be compared.

The Muslim call, “Allah hu aqbar,” which Christians usually assume means, “God is Great,” is actually very clever indeed. I am not trying to elevate the Muslim faith, but just to point out something of importance as we come to this letter. The Arabic phrase actually means, “God is Greater.” If you ask a Muslim, “Greater than what?”, the answer given is, “Greater than anything you care to name.” This claim made by Muslims for Allah is in fact true only for Jesus!

Much of Jewish thought in Jesus’ day supposed that all time and life was divided into two ages, known as the present age and the age to come. The present age is one of struggle and defeat, but the age to come will see God’s perfect order and joy established in the world. The “Day of the Lord” separates the two ages, bringing about these last days, and it is the time when the Messiah enters history and brings the age to come into reality. Jesus has done exactly that.

According to Jewish beliefs, the last of the biblical prophets was Malachi, who died centuries before Jesus was born. The Jewish people and the world needed the Messiah to come to live out the life of God among us. The prophets spoke about God’s love, glory and power, etc., but Jesus personified it all.

The prophets were God’s great messengers before the coming of the Messiah, but now God is able to communicate with us at the deepest level because His Son has come and begun the supernatural transformation of the world. So we note that Hebrews focuses on the status of Jesus as God’s own Son, his mission, reign, obedience and perfect nature (see Hebrews 1:2-3, 5, 8). The age to come has already begun. As Jesus said after his baptism, “The time has come, . . . The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).

All of the various ways added together would not begin to compare with the depth and richness of revelation which has come in Jesus.

God so loves the Son that he has made him the heir of all things. This goes far beyond the promise of inheriting the nations of the earth given in Psalm 2:8, a Psalm which is used in this opening chapter of Hebrews. Only God can give this gift to Jesus (Matthew 4:8–10), and those who fully share Jesus’ life are also promised a share in this inheritance with him (Romans 8:17).

Hebrews delights to reveal that Jesus inherits what he was instrumental in creating in the first place. The Son is the one through whom (God) made the universe. Paul and John also teach us this important truth (Colossians 1:16; John 1:3). This letter has been written to believers in trouble, but just as Jesus was the means by whom God created order and beauty out of the primeval chaos, so he will be able to bring stability and purpose to the difficult life of believers then and now.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV © 2011 by Biblica, Inc
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Last lesson: When we come upon those who are not open to what we are trying to do for Jesus’ sake, politely disinterested, and rigorously and rudely opposed to the news we bear and the service we offer in Jesus’ name, well, Jesus had some advice on what to do in this situation, too. We tell any of the dissenters who will listen that we are wiping the very dust from our feet that got on us while coming to them.

Continuing on however, remember that the seventy went out and did what Jesus asked them to do according to his directions, and they experienced some notable successes. Luke reports that when they came back from their initial mission, they were joyful and said to Jesus:

“Sir, even the most devilish ones gave in to us when we approached them in your name.” He said to them, “Yes, and I saw the whole Satanic structure smashed like a bolt of lightning from the sky. Look here, I’ve given you the ability to trample on ‘snakes and scorpions,’ and on the power-structure of the opposition, and nothing will be able to stop you. But don’t get all hepped up just because the devilish guys gave in to you; instead you should be happy that you’re enrolled in a spiritual cause” (Luke 10:17–20, The Cotton-patch Version of Luke and Acts).

Jesus was saying to persons who saw the gospel successfully at work, through numerical increase and dramatic effect on teller and hearer, that they had to keep such success in perspective. Yes, the gospel works; it does change lives. However, this kind of change is always effected through the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, not through the power of the messenger of the Good News. He or she is always, at most, a catalyst for the work of God. If we forget this, we will certainly mistake God’s power as our own, and we will begin to take personally the appreciation which changed lives tend to express. Then we could come to believe that people owe us for our efforts, and religious scandals will be repeated time and again. We have to be aware that after a victory, that is when God’s servants need to be most vigilant for that is when the devil likes to plant seeds of pride.

What should really thrill us is not our own success stories of how we helped the gospel to function in the lives of people who had been in bondage to evil, but the more foundational reality: that the gospel of Jesus Christ first changed us and the power of God grasped our souls and gave us hope in a hopeless world. This alone should make us willing laborers for the demanding harvest which Jesus called “truly great.”

Can you think of any task which promises to pay you greater dividends than this ministry of the harvest and laboring to prepare people to receive all that God wants for them? There is no greater calling, no greater opportunity than to be laborers together in the fields “white for harvest” (John 4:35). People out there desperately need us on their way to finding God in Jesus Christ. The voice we hear calling us to them is the voice of Jesus. Let’s go in the power of the Holy Spirit!

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Reaping the harvest in the ancient farming culture was a family responsibility; everybody in the household who was able had a part in it, including children who were old enough to work. Sleeping through the time of harvest was considered shameful. Similarly, it is God’s will that we all participate in His great harvest that is already ripe out there, so that we are ignoring our family responsibility if we ignore the right time for the harvest, and the right time, dear friends, is now.

The urgency of Jesus’ call, however, doesn’t mask the fact that there is a practicality about Jesus’ instructions to the initial seventy missionaries and to us:

When you go into a home, first greet them by wishing them peace. If a truly peaceful [person] is there, your peace will take root; . . . if there isn’t, it will bounce back on you. . . . And to whatever city you go, and they accept you, eat what’s set before you and heal the sick in the town. And keep telling them, “The God Movement is confronting you.” But if you go to a city and they won’t accept you, go out on the main streets and say, “We are shaking off every particle of dust from your city that’s sticking to our feet. But let this be clear to you: the God Movement is here” (Luke 10:5–6, 8–11, The Cotton-patch Version of Luke and Acts).

When Jesus talks of a truly peaceful person, or as the Word says, “a son of peace” (Luke 10:6), He is speaking of someone sympathetic to the cause of the Gospel, not just nice, accommodating folks. So on our mission if we come upon persons also concerned about the urgency of serving God, the peace of God will create a bond between us, whether or not we are culturally matched and speak the same language. When we come upon those who are not sympathetic to the cause, there will be no way for the peace of God to bless or unite. We’re bound to come across some of both, so Jesus gives a little more instruction.

If we come upon those who are open to our message, that’s all we’re looking for. There is nothing more to expect so we are not to be concerned about the quality of hospitality, and we are not concerned about whether their religious expression matches ours; our preoccupation is to be with our mission. We graciously receive what is given us; we receive such people as they are, and we do all that we are equipped to do to serve them in Jesus’ name, whether that is healing their sick or, as some congregations do, repairing the homes of the elderly, or preparing meals to be delivered to the home-bound.

When we come upon those who are not open to what we are trying to do for Jesus’ sake, politely disinterested, and rigorously and rudely opposed to the news we bear and the service we offer in Jesus’ name, well, Jesus had some advice on what to do in this situation, too. We tell any of the dissenters who will listen that we are wiping the very dust from our feet that got on us while coming to them. That sounds pretty nasty, but it is intended to be a “dramatization of the fact that these people are under God’s judgment for rejecting the Good News.” We don’t like the word “judgment,” and especially now days where everyone accuses Christians of judging (condemning and sentencing) but without trying to soft-soap it, we can understand it to mean that there are losses for those who reject the love of God, not a particularly pleasant message, but an honest one. The present and the future are different than they would otherwise have been for those who become a part of the God Movement.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Last lesson: If God puts out that call for more laborers, we are here, and ready. However, if any new workers go, we will have to be with them, and the assignment can be very demanding.

Getting close to people and opening ourselves up for genuine care and an honest witness to our own source of strength requires that we make ourselves vulnerable, and that means we can get hurt. Some people will not be receptive even to the love of God, and they may take out their anger or their frustrations on anyone who seems to possess it. This is why Jesus said: “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.” – Luke 10:3.

The song-writer, Margaret Clarkson was precisely on target with regard to this less-than-glamorous dimension of Christian service when she wrote the words to a hymn as if Jesus were speaking to those of us considering the possibility of making ourselves available to go and prepare the way for Him. Clarkson heard Jesus saying to us:

So send I you to labor unrewarded,
     To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing—
     So send I you to toil for Me alone.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
     To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, though it be blood, to spend and spare not—
     So send I you to taste of Calvary. ¹

Even though we may treat the subject rather casually, not even fully committed to the idea, in Jesus’ mind involvement in people’s lives to prepare them for His personal visitation is an ongoing and urgent task which explains His strange-sounding instructions, “Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.” – Luke 10:4.

Clarence Jordan, the Baptist preacher, translates these words of Jesus in our vernacular: “Don’t carry a suitcase or a wallet or shoes. And don’t stop and gab with everybody you meet” (The Cotton-patch Version of Luke and Acts). This says something not only about the urgency of the mission in that there will not be time to stop, pack bags, get traveler’s checks, and plan meals, but also this business of traveling without provisions will continue to remind us of our complete reliance on Jesus as the source of supply for all our needs.

Being preoccupied with our own comfort, present and future, generally sidetracked with things of the world is so easy; in fact, for many of us, it is the most natural position to take. Against it, we see how much the kingdom of God, the God Movement (as coined by the aforementioned Clarence Jordan) in the world pales in comparison to our ever increasing list of priorities which has nothing to do with serving and honoring God. The truth is that in success-oriented America and even American Christianity, we can barely identify, if at all, with the idea of putting God and God’s will first, regardless of the consequences. Back to Margaret Clarkson’s hymn again. Is it possible to hear Jesus making these kinds of demands on His laborers?

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
     To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labor long, and love where men revile you—
     So send I you to lose your life in Mine. ²

The gospel however, doesn’t offer any apologies about the demands it makes of us; there is a no-nonsense clarity with which the rewards and the burdens of being one of Jesus’ people are presented. In this lesson, for example, Jesus isn’t mincing any words, and there is clearly no way we can comply with Jesus’ call to us unless doing the will of God is an all-consuming desire. Certainly the writer of Proverbs is correct in his practical wisdom when he reminds us of the Scripture from Proverbs 10:5 quoted above.

To Be Continued

^1-2 E. Margaret Clarkson, from “So Send I You,” Hymns for the Living Church
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.