The Christ of God

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

Luke 9:20

Get close to Jesus. Study His words. Follow His teaching. Seek to be the kingdom citizen He described. You will be more than convinced that He is indeed the sent Savior of mankind. You will be sure that He is God. That’s what happened to His disciples. Peter was speaking for all of them when he answered this question with the conviction that Jesus is “The Christ of God”. Proximity to Jesus convinces people of the divinity of Jesus.

I am making a lifetime of knowing Jesus, studying Him, understanding His teaching, and of prioritizing His kingdom. I am His follower. I’m not perfect at this by any means, yet I am convinced Jesus is the only Savior of the world. I know this because He has saved me. I am sure that Jesus is God. Jesus changed my life... forever. And I answer this question the same way Peter did: “You are the Christ of God!”

Who is Jesus? The Christ of God. How do I personally know and explain Jesus? As the Christ of God. What gospel do I speak? Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the One sent from God, to be the Savior of this world and the Lord and Master of all who will believe and follow Him.

a wise God in bad times

Who has spoken and it came to pass,

unless the Lord has commanded it?

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

that good and bad come?

Why should a living man complain,

a man, about the punishment of his sins?

Lamentations 3:37-39

From God’s perspective there is nothing that humans should complain about circumstantially. Both good experiences and bad experiences that mark our lives will fulfill God’s purposes. No action of any human government anywhere, even when it is oppressive or wrong, happens outside God’s sovereign control or beyond the reach of the gospel! God will use even the wrong that human devise to bring about His purposes. He will even punish sin in some people through the actions of other sinners.

Lamentations was written as an epic poem of suffering. It builds solid worship theology from the worst human experiences possible. But even Jeremiah, the prophet who authored this book, knew that though Babylon was evil, God used pagan rulers to purge from Judah her sin and punish His people who had forsaken Him first. This suffering served a divine purpose: to call them to repentance and pull them back into heartfelt worship. 

Lamentations 3:40-41

Let us test and examine our ways,

and return to the LORD!

Let us lift up our hearts and hands

to God in heaven:

And the constant chaos and regular disruption that has been this current landmark year of 2020 causes me to trust God that in this bad time, He will make of it circumstances that serve the purpose of calling many people to turn to God in repentance so that they embrace the love of Christ in the gospel!

God in His Word

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them around your neck;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:3

When God revealed His covenant-keeping character to Moses in Exodus 34:6, He described Himself as abounding in steadfast love (that’s grace) and faithfulness. Here in Proverbs those two phrases quickly are witness to the continual faithfulness and graciousness of our God, calling us to seek and live by His wisdom. People who are serious about knowing and loving God will “bind” themselves to His Word’s wisdom, hiding it in their hearts.

It is a powerful witness to the grace of God that I could open my Bible today. God’s voice spoke clearly in His Word as I read it, as distinctly as He revealed His faithful grace so long ago to Moses. And I am accountable for that encounter. I must take God’s Word quite seriously as I have seen, known, and learned from God in the pages.

O Lord,

May I bind Your wisdom around me like a necklace of truth. Keep speaking to my heart so that Your Word, Your Spirit, and the saving work of Jesus may continue to change me, conforming me to be more like Jesus, as I find Your wisdom in Your pages and thrive!

Amen

worship and prayer

Blessed be God,

because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 66:20

Prayer grows a deep tap root into real worship. I find that when I am honestly, faithfully, and meaningfully praying, my worship of God intensifies. My heart is drawn to God in prayer. And that is the sense I get from this last verse of the sixty-sixth psalm. God’s faithfulness in hearing prayer, and His faithful, gracious love in the answers to prayer ought to spark an inferno of true worship!

You can really see this if you back up in this psalm to see verse 20 in its context (see Psalm 66:16-19). This is a testimony of praise. And the “answers” to prayer in this psalm lean heavily toward soul change and not just to physical needs (Psalm 66:16). There is simultaneous praise and request in the prayer that is offered to God (Psalm 66:17). Sin is confessed to God honestly and straightforwardly (Psalm 66:18). God has heard this worshipful prayer and has responded (Psalm 66:19).

My soul, too, is so very thankful for answered prayer. I don’t think I stop to acknowledge this enough. I am in awe of the power and grace of God at work in my soul as a result of time in worshipful, meaningful, soul-changing fellowship with my Savior in prayer.

bigger than big

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

1 Kings 8:27

God’s immensity cannot really be appreciated outside of a worshipful heart. Solomon stood in a brand new magnificent temple... the pinnacle of his achievement as king in Jerusalem.... one of the seven ancient wonders... and with hands spread heavenward realized that no work of man, not even if it were built across the entire planet, could contain the God that he worshiped.

Beyond that, God exists beyond the universe He created. The universe is too small a temple for God! The Lord God Almighty is bigger than what we can comprehend. He is bigger than the universe. And today astronomers can peer through their telescopes and cannot yet see any end to outer space... it appears to stretch on and on. Still, God is beyond even that!

O Lord,

You are indeed infinite. Your immensity stretches to infinity and yet You dare to reach down in love to us. Jesus, You are my Lord of heaven, Who bound Yourself to Your creation in the Incarnation out of Your infinite love and grace. My soul worships even as all of this is so beyond me!

Amen

Holy Meeting Place

Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it may become holy.

Exodus 40:9

In wilderness

Israel made a tent

furnished by God’s intent

in His graciousness

God met with them

It was holy

built at costly price

this place of sacrifice

meant only

to worship God

God met man

sin was forgiven

sacrifices given

so they’d understand

the mercies of God

Finally, Jesus forever

ended this distinction

of holy location

God’s Spirit dwells in whoever

trusts Christ’s sacrifice

Jesus lives in us. Christ dwells in a holy meeting place.

Can’t do it alone

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Galatians 6:2-3

Authentic ministry (and by that I mean gospel-centered love of neighbor that is informed and motivated by the love of Jesus for us) will be the death of self-pride. Bearing and caring for the burden of another human being requires a selfless, Christ-like love. It isn’t a matter of pride. It brings us to simple and necessary humility.

Until you have entered into another person’s suffering or grieved with them over the devastation of a broken world system, or mourned with them over the losses their own sins have dealt them, you cannot possibly have known the “burden” talked about here. Burdens are impossibly heavy. They crush the soul. They cannot be borne alone. Christian love compels us to carry them to Jesus together!

Lord Jesus,

I want to obey Your call to love well in bearing burdens. My schedule for this week has eleven planned “burden bearing” conversations with hurting people. Three of those interactions are happening today. O God, Purge me of self-interest or prideful thinking. I do not have the power to do this on my own! I need you Lord Jesus, to help me see the need, love well, and carry hope to the hurting. Make my pride and self NOTHING so that You can be everything through Your love through me.

Amen