Simply Christian

Meditations from Isaiah 53 and Colossians 2

During worship last Sunday morning, one of the lines of a song we were singing struck me. It said, “can there by anyone like You?” We sing lines like that oftentimes without taking thought to what it is that we're actually saying. Is there anyone like Jesus? Is there any Savior like Him? Not by a long shot.
Jesus in His great mercy and compassion faced and conquered the three greatest fears of all mankind. Jesus willingly endured:

1.Rejection
2.Physical Pain
3.Death on the Cross in our place

Every person deep down fears being rejected. It's a natural human desire to want to be accepted by our peers and loved ones. From the time we are young, we fear the thought of being rejected by our chosen peer group. The Bible tells us that Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV). Jesus came to His own people Israel, Israel whom He himself had hand picked to be His own special people from out of all the people on the face of planet earth. The people whom He had rescued out of Egypt with many mighty miracles and wonders. The people He had fed and brought into the promised land giving them a homeland and a kingdom and an identity. He came to them humbly, born of a virgin to humble parents in a tiny rural town, healing their sick and opening their blind eyes...and He was rejected. In a moment many of us overlook, this same Jesus who is God and had been in fellowship with the Father and Spirit since eternity past faced the rejection of His Father as He made atonement for us on the cross. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus faced rejection from His own people and from the presence of His Father, for us. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53 that, “He was despised and rejected by men.” He willingly came to this earth for His chosen people knowing that He would face one of man's greatest fears to the fullest extent, rejection.
All of us fear physical pain. No one likes to experience even the slightest physical discomfort. Many of us in America spend thousands of dollars on our comfort whether it be the latest super memory-foam mattress or those super-cool tennis shoes that we just have to have. We don't like discomfort and we fear the physical pain associated with war, sickness, and accidents. Jesus came to the earth knowing that “it was the will of the Lord to crush Him” (Isaiah 53:10). “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities, upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus willingly came to the earth knowing that He would be “oppressed and He [would be] afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus faced one of man's greatest fears, that of physical pain. He endured pain so that we might be healed.
Jesus came to earth knowing that He would ultimately face death. Isaiah 53 tells us that “He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:8-11). It is fascinating that Isaiah wrote these words some eight or so centuries before the birth of Christ. Jesus came knowing that He would be cut off from the land of the living, that He would go the grave and that He would be physically crushed as an offering for our sins. Jesus did this for us knowing that He would see and be satisfied and many would be accounted as righteous because He Himself would bear their sins and iniquities.
Jesus came willingly and faced our greatest fears and conquered them all decisively. Rejection, physical pain, and death were all defeated by our Precious Savior. This simple message of love and grace outshines all the vain philosophies of men and the empty promises of other so-called saviors and wise men. “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:8-15).
There is no one like Jesus.

"Are you ready to build?" is a teaching series we will be working on in the new Christ Church Young Adult Sunday School class. We will be digging in to the Word and searching out truths that all Christians need to know in order to be strong, healthy and productive. Our first lesson will lay the groundwork for our upcoming studies over such truths as "The Trinitarian nature of God as revealed in Scripture", "Is The Bible Really God's Word?", "What happened to humanity when Adam ate the forbidden fruit?" and many other key truths from the Scriptures. We will be meeting Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. at Christ Church and will also be scheduling regular times of fellowship in the coming months. Don't miss out on what God is doing in Christ Church, prepare yourself to build!

“I have thought I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God, just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing—the way to heaven, how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that Book at any price, give me the Book of God” ~John Wesley

The days we're living in are crazy and are getting crazier by the moment. It is imperative that we hide God's Word in our hearts like never before. I have provided a link to the Discipleship Journal's Daily Bible Reading plan to help you read through the Scriptures in an orderly fashion. If you've never done it before or have not been quite sure where to start, download this useful tool and make a commitment to read through the Bible this year! This plan is excellent and has 25 reading days a month with 5 days for catch-up if you get behind. Click on it, print it out and use it! May God bless you as you fill your heart and mind with His Word!
Discipleship Journal Daily Bible Reading Plan

Here are some precious words from I guy I like to call "The Christian Braveheart," Pastor John Piper. It seems like every time I read something of his, I feel so challenged to love Jesus more and give all to Him! Here is his message hoping that this new year finds you loving the Lord Jesus more than ever before...

I Love Jesus Christ
An Unforgettable Moment in Seminary
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By John Piper December 31, 2008

One of the most memorable moments of my seminary days was during the school year 1968-69 at Fuller Seminary on the third level of the classroom building just after a class on systematic theology. A group of us were huddled around James Morgan, the young theology teacher who was saying something about the engagement of Christians in social justice. I don’t remember what I said, but he looked me right in the eye and said, “John, I love Jesus Christ.”

It was like a thunderclap in my heart. A strong, intelligent, mature, socially engaged man had just said out loud in front of a half dozen men, “I love Jesus Christ.” He was not preaching. He was not pronouncing on any issue. He was not singing in church. He was not trying to get a job. He was not being recorded. He was telling me that he loved Jesus.

The echo of that thunderclap is still sounding in my heart. That was 40 years ago! There are a thousand things I don’t remember about those days in seminary. But that afternoon remains unforgettable. And all he said was, “John, I love Jesus Christ.”

James Morgan died a year later of stomach cancer, leaving a wife and four small children. His chief legacy in my life was one statement on an afternoon in Pasadena. “I love Jesus Christ.”

Loving Jesus is natural and necessary for the children of God. It’s natural because it’s part of our nature as children of God. “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God” (John 8:42). The children of God have the natural disposition to love his Son.

Loving Jesus is also necessary because Paul says that if you don’t love Jesus, you will be cursed: “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed” (1 Corinthians 16:22). Loving Jesus is an essential (not optional) mark of being a beneficiary of God’s grace. “Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible” (Ephesians 6:24). If you hold fast to the love of anything above Jesus, you are not his disciple: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

Loving Jesus is not the same as obeying all of Jesus’ commands. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). That means that obedience to the commandments is the result of loving Jesus, not the same as loving Jesus. Love is something invisible and inside. It is the root that produces the visible fruit of loving others.

So here at the beginning of 2009, I join James Morgan in saying, “I love Jesus Christ.”

And as I say it, I want to make clear what I mean:

* I admire Jesus Christ more than any other human or angelic being.
* I enjoy his ways and his words more than I enjoy the ways and words of anyone else.
* I want his approval more than I want the approval of anyone else.
* I want to be with him more than I want to be with anyone else.
* I feel more grateful to him for what he has done for me than I do to anyone else.
* I trust his words more fully than I trust what anyone else says.
* I am more glad in his exaltation than in the exaltation of anyone else, including me.

Would you pray with me that in 2009 we would love Jesus Christ more than we ever have? And may our Lord Jesus grant that from time to time we would deliver quietly and naturally a thunderclap into the hearts of others with the simple words, “I love Jesus Christ.”

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Loving him with you,

Pastor John