By Pastor Greg
There was a man who wanted to
build a bar in town. A church that was next door firmly opposed it, but the construction
of the bar went on. Just before it was finished, lightning struck the bar, and it burned to the ground. The church gloated and credited the Lord. The
bar owner then sued the church, claiming that the congregation’s prayers had
cost him his building. The church
leaders denied any responsibility. The case went to court, and the local judge had no idea how to rule on the matter. He said he had a bar owner who believed in the
power of prayer and a church that did not!
My guess is that the church didn’t
really pray all that much anyway. Sure,
they grumbled, but that’s not praying.
It’s the same with loving Jesus.
A lot of people say they do, but their actions sure don’t demonstrate
that fact. I think a lot of people like Jesus, but they don’t seem to love Him. If they did, they would obey His commandments.
Hey, before you start throwing
rotten tomatoes, those are not my words.
Jesus said this Himself.
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love
me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them
and reveal myself to each of them. 22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name)
said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to
the world at large?”
23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will
love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. 24 Anyone who
doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I
am telling you is from the Father who sent me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when
the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he
will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am
leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift
the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. 28 Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to
you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the
Father, who is greater than I am. 29 I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do
happen, you will believe.
[1]
Judas raises a fascinating question here. Why would Jesus only reveal Himself to those
who love Him (Verse 21)? Why didn’t He
walk back into the Temple Sunday morning and show
Himself to those who had Him crucified? The
question Judas asked surrounded the issue of reaching the lost (“why not the
world” in verse 22). “What has happened
that you will only reveal Yourself to us,”
Judas asks. A legitimate question since Jesus
had previously been revealing Himself to
those in Israel. Something had changed,
and if Jesus wasn’t going to show Himself
to the world, then who was?
Look closely at how Jesus responds
to this question. He says those who love
Him obey His commandments (verse
21). They do what He says (verse
23). However, those who don’t love Him
do not obey Him (verse 24). In other
words, Jesus revealed Himself to those who were willing to obey His commands.
And what are those commands?
Before you answer that question,
let me remind you that it is not obedience to the Lords commands that leads us
to the cross. That is accomplished
through conviction of sin. Obedience to
His commands, on the other hand, causes us to focus inward, transforming our
lives into one that mirrors Jesus. We
live differently than the world; we love our neighbors and pray for those who
persecute us. We become honest, patient,
peaceful. However, obedience to the
Lords commands is also focused outward, and this is where Judas’ question fits
in. If Jesus only reveals Himself to
those who love Him, how then will the other people in this world come to know
Him? That’s the question Jesus answers
here.
A Christian’s life is to be marked
with responsibility and duty. We should
be telling and helping and loving and comforting those still living in darkness
– which is exactly what Jesus told the apostles to do; go and tell and teach
into the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20).
You and I are to do the same.
Would it have been easier if Jesus
had revealed Himself to the world?
Probably. But that is not part of
His plan. According to His plan, He is
in Heaven preparing a place for us and praying for us. We are left with the task of teaching and
telling. It’s what the Master has
commanded us to be doing. Our job, as
the New Testament Church, is to continue the work Jesus began while He was on
earth. And, we are given the Spirit to
teach us and instruct us in this task.
Now, I know I preach about this
quite often, but I simply cannot emphasize this enough. The Church in America is suffering from an
epidemic. Countless congregations are
filled with consumers, not disciples.
Far too many people are spectators, not laborers. Based on the level of commitment displayed by
many Christians, it seems they merely like
Jesus. Just too many Christians act like
they don’t care if someone will spend eternity in Hell. And with that kind of attitude, it sure
doesn’t seem like they love Jesus.
I don’t know if any of this
applies to you. That’s between you and
Jesus. But if you and I were really
serious about loving Jesus, we would be inviting anyone to come and meet Jesus. That’s the point here. Jesus expects something from us. He expects us to continue the work He first
began. But it sure seems many Christians
don’t. Did you know that in successful,
growing Churches it takes 20 people one year to reach a person for the Lord?[2] And that’s the “good” statistic.
I don’t know if it’s harder today
to reach the lost or if the Church just doesn’t really care. I don’t know that answer. But I do know that Jesus revealed Himself to
you and me for an important reason, and that is so we might tell others about
His death and resurrection, and about His offer of eternal life. And if we truly love our Lord, we will obey
His commands.
No comments:
Post a Comment