November 29th 2015
Be Perfect, Therefore, As Your Heavenly Father Is Perfect. (Matthew 5:48)
Matthew19:21 (NIV)
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Do not worry; I’m not going to suggest that you follow Jesus’ instructions to this “young man” that to follow Him you need to be one of the poor people! The next verse echoes this young man’s reaction to Jesus’ instructions. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:22) Note the comment in this verse, “Because he had great wealth.” Was Matthew making an excuse for this man, as he may have complied, if he did not have “great wealth?” It seems to me this comment is just emphasizing how wealth affects mankind’s ability to give it away. Jesus lauded the woman who gave not from part of her wealth, but she “put in all she had to live on." Luke wrote about this account," All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:4).
Please note that Jesus did not say anything negative about those who gave from their wealth; He just compared how much more blessed was this woman who trusted God enough that she gave all she had to live on, and believed that God would provide for her needs! In the selected verse, it seems Jesus has read this young man’s beliefs, and found him depending on his wealth to provide for his needs and “wants,” thus he was not depending on God to supply all he needed! Remember, one of Jesus’ best friends Lazarus was a rich man, who Jesus even raised from the dead. The point being that just being rich does not eliminate anyone from being loved by Jesus.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19) As John wrote for us, we can only love because God first loved us. We do not need to fear God’s punishment if we have taken on Jesus to be our Savior! Remember, Jesus paid the price for our sins on that cross. You cannot do everything perfect enough to save your own soul, we are all sinners, and thus, not capable of doing enough to be looked at as being perfect in the eyes of God! On the other hand, we cannot do anything terrible enough for God/Jesus to ever stop loving us. As the verses above say, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”
We need not fear punishment, because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that paid our debt “in full.” Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about the assurance from the Scriptures about this fact that Christ died for our sins, and His resurrection proved that He was the Savior of the world. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 3:3-4)
As we enter this new season of Advent we turn our attention not to the death and resurrection of The Christ, but instead to His birth. When He came into this world as a human baby, He was the promised fulfillment of Scripture, which would refer to Him as the Savior of the world. Today there are about seven billion people alive of this earth, and only about 3 billion of them claim to be followers of Jesus. It is sad to think that most of the people in this world today will go to hell when they die. Yet this is a happy time of the year for those of us who profess to be Christians. We want buy special gifts for those we love, as a testament to this Merry Christmas season. The worldly people call this season the Holiday Season, and do not have the joy of believing that love came down from heaven, so that they too had nothing to fear, but fear itself!
The real fear the worldly people have is the fact that without having Jesus as their Savior there is true fear of tomorrow, because without a Savior there is no hope of true eternal life. Their eternity will be spent with Satan and his angels in hell, when they leave this earth through death! This is certainly a rather morbid thought being written at this wonderful and merry season! However, if you believe that Jesus came to change this season from a fearful time to instead be a merry time, then it does seem like a time to give gifts in celebration. The greatest gift of all to the world was Jesus Christ, but not many people believe it to be true. We Christians should be giving gifts in celebration of this difficult to describe gift that God gave to the world.
Paul wrote about the joy of sharing this wonderful story of salvation to others, so they too would have eternal life to look forward to. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:12-15) Jesus Christ is this indescribable gift that Paul wrote about!
The worldly pursuit of happiness could be fulfilled by buying the best gift available for someone you love. Some people accomplish this task by standing in a long line for hours, and then, rushing into the store, when the doors are opened. If necessary they will push other people out of their way, or even, resort to snatching the gift they wanted out of the hands of someone who beat them to it. You have likely seen videos of people fighting over a special prerelease thing that their children had on their holiday gift list. Oh, the joys of the holiday season.
Giving good gifts to those you love is a good thing to do, BUT giving the “indescribable” gift is the best possible gift! As a Christian will you give someone you know this gift this year? As Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Paul wrote a letter to Titus to express the belief in this gift from God to all of mankind. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Knowing about Jesus will not save your immortal soul, people in the worldly religions know about Jesus, but they do not “know Jesus!” Do you know WWJD?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Matthew19:21 (NIV)
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Do not worry; I’m not going to suggest that you follow Jesus’ instructions to this “young man” that to follow Him you need to be one of the poor people! The next verse echoes this young man’s reaction to Jesus’ instructions. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Matthew 19:22) Note the comment in this verse, “Because he had great wealth.” Was Matthew making an excuse for this man, as he may have complied, if he did not have “great wealth?” It seems to me this comment is just emphasizing how wealth affects mankind’s ability to give it away. Jesus lauded the woman who gave not from part of her wealth, but she “put in all she had to live on." Luke wrote about this account," All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on" (Luke 21:4).
Please note that Jesus did not say anything negative about those who gave from their wealth; He just compared how much more blessed was this woman who trusted God enough that she gave all she had to live on, and believed that God would provide for her needs! In the selected verse, it seems Jesus has read this young man’s beliefs, and found him depending on his wealth to provide for his needs and “wants,” thus he was not depending on God to supply all he needed! Remember, one of Jesus’ best friends Lazarus was a rich man, who Jesus even raised from the dead. The point being that just being rich does not eliminate anyone from being loved by Jesus.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19) As John wrote for us, we can only love because God first loved us. We do not need to fear God’s punishment if we have taken on Jesus to be our Savior! Remember, Jesus paid the price for our sins on that cross. You cannot do everything perfect enough to save your own soul, we are all sinners, and thus, not capable of doing enough to be looked at as being perfect in the eyes of God! On the other hand, we cannot do anything terrible enough for God/Jesus to ever stop loving us. As the verses above say, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.”
We need not fear punishment, because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that paid our debt “in full.” Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about the assurance from the Scriptures about this fact that Christ died for our sins, and His resurrection proved that He was the Savior of the world. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 3:3-4)
As we enter this new season of Advent we turn our attention not to the death and resurrection of The Christ, but instead to His birth. When He came into this world as a human baby, He was the promised fulfillment of Scripture, which would refer to Him as the Savior of the world. Today there are about seven billion people alive of this earth, and only about 3 billion of them claim to be followers of Jesus. It is sad to think that most of the people in this world today will go to hell when they die. Yet this is a happy time of the year for those of us who profess to be Christians. We want buy special gifts for those we love, as a testament to this Merry Christmas season. The worldly people call this season the Holiday Season, and do not have the joy of believing that love came down from heaven, so that they too had nothing to fear, but fear itself!
The real fear the worldly people have is the fact that without having Jesus as their Savior there is true fear of tomorrow, because without a Savior there is no hope of true eternal life. Their eternity will be spent with Satan and his angels in hell, when they leave this earth through death! This is certainly a rather morbid thought being written at this wonderful and merry season! However, if you believe that Jesus came to change this season from a fearful time to instead be a merry time, then it does seem like a time to give gifts in celebration. The greatest gift of all to the world was Jesus Christ, but not many people believe it to be true. We Christians should be giving gifts in celebration of this difficult to describe gift that God gave to the world.
Paul wrote about the joy of sharing this wonderful story of salvation to others, so they too would have eternal life to look forward to. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:12-15) Jesus Christ is this indescribable gift that Paul wrote about!
The worldly pursuit of happiness could be fulfilled by buying the best gift available for someone you love. Some people accomplish this task by standing in a long line for hours, and then, rushing into the store, when the doors are opened. If necessary they will push other people out of their way, or even, resort to snatching the gift they wanted out of the hands of someone who beat them to it. You have likely seen videos of people fighting over a special prerelease thing that their children had on their holiday gift list. Oh, the joys of the holiday season.
Giving good gifts to those you love is a good thing to do, BUT giving the “indescribable” gift is the best possible gift! As a Christian will you give someone you know this gift this year? As Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Paul wrote a letter to Titus to express the belief in this gift from God to all of mankind. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Knowing about Jesus will not save your immortal soul, people in the worldly religions know about Jesus, but they do not “know Jesus!” Do you know WWJD?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak