Epaggelia

The Spirit of Christ says through the apostle Paul, that there is “a new order of existence, and on all who are guided by this rule, be peace and mercy on the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15-16). Who exactly is the Israel of God? Whoever they are, they have access to the peace and mercy of God. Paul proclaimed that Christians had God’s peace. That is to say, God was not only their God in Jesus, but also their friend. He is merciful to them, in giving them every reason to praise Him and be thankful for the blessings of forgiveness and the hope of a victorious life in Heaven. This was planned for you and me before the earth was created. The ancient prophet Ezekiel prophesied that God’s people would be united under one King forever. Read Ezekiel 37:15-22. He promises that divided Israel and Judah would be reunited as the house of Joseph. Paul calls Christians “the true circumcision” (Philippians 3:3) and the Israel of God, because he knows what Jesus has given us.

The life of Joseph is prophetic, God was foretelling how the Messiah would lead all his children out of Eygpt/Sin.  This wasn’t something Moses did all by himself. It was Joseph who made his descendants promise to carry his bones back to the promised land. After 400 years, Moses kept the promise by the instigation of God, and led the house of Joseph back home! You can see Jesus in Joseph when you look at this story in Genesis, prophetically.

Why is Joseph and Jesus so attractive and essential ? The character of Joseph and his lifestory has many uncanny parallels with the life of Jesus. Without Joseph living the way he lived, he could have died and never had descendants, however his success ensured life and a future for Israel. Joseph cheated death at least 3 times in his life, 1-in the pit from his brothers. 2-in lies of Potiphers wife & prison. 3-in the court foretelling dreams of the Pharoah, if Joseph’s explanation proved false, Pharoah could have killed him. Here is a list of similarities which bring the lives of Joseph and Jesus into an analogy of a Savior.

They both had amazing births, Gen. 30:22-24 & Mat. 1:18-23

… were taken into Egypt to escape death, Gen. 37:28 & Mat. 2:13

… saved lives from Egypt, Hosea 11:1 & Mat. 2:15

… became servants, Gen. 39:4 & Php. 2:7

… began ministry at about age 30, Gen. 41:46 & Lk. 3:23

… were full of the Spirit of God, Gen. 41:38 & Lk. 4:1

… returned good for evil, Gen. 50:20 & Mat. 5:44

… were taught by God, Gen. 41:16 & Jn. 5:19

… loved people freely, Gen. 45:15 & Jn. 13:34

… gained the confidence of people quickly, Gen. 39:3 & Mt. 8:8

… gave bread to the hungry, Gen. 41:57 & Mk. 6:41

… resisted difficult temptations, Gen. 39:8-9 & Heb. 4:15

… had his own brothers reject him, Gen. 37:5-8 & Jn. 7:5

… had visions into the future, Gen. 37:6 & Mt. 24:3

… tested people to reveal their true nature, Gen. 42:25 & Mk. 11:30

… were hated for their words, Gen. 37:8 & Jn. 7:7, and his followers too. Ac. 5:17, 7:9-14, 13:45.

… were sold for the price of a slave, Gen. 37:28 & Mat. 26:15

… were silent before false-accusers, Gen. 39:20 & Mk. 15:4

… were condemned between two prisoners, Gen. 40:2-3 & Lk. 23:32

… were pronounced dead before their fathers, Gen. 37:33 & Lk. 23:46

… rose to reign in a new life as a Lord, Gen. 41:41 – 45:8, & Mk. 16:6 – Rev. 19:16.

 Lastly it is interesting to note that Pharoah said the same words of Joseph, as Mary said of Jesus, “Do whatever He tells you”, Gen.41:55 & Jn. 2:5. One for bread, the other for wine. We must come to church with the priority of seeing Jesus, and we will if we desire to. The Communion is a spiritual feast wherein we proclaim a risen Savior from the dead, in his flesh/bread and blood/wine. We can see Jesus in eachother’s physical fellowship too. Joseph was not physically recognized by his own brothers when they came to him starving in Egypt, Gen. 42:8, and neither did the nationalistic brothers of Jesus recognize Him for who He really was, Jn. 8:19, “You know neither Me nor my Father, if you knew me, you would also know my Father.” Do we really know who Jesus is, and do we desire to see Him? Our life depends on believing He is who he says he is.

Once upon a time there was a Hen and a Pig that decided to make an escape from Old MacDonald’s Farm. Their timing was awkward because it was Sunday morning and a church was right across the road, so they waited till everyone was singing and they could run away unnoticed. As they passed the chapel, the church sign was now in view, which they never saw from inside the Farm. It read “Today’s Sermon: What Shall We Do For The Poor?” . The Hen told the Pig, “Now that we are free, we can do what we want,…what about giving the ‘Poor’ a Ham & Egg Breakfast?” The pig replied, “That may be a nice contribution for you, but a sacrifice for me”.  Many Christians realize that giving is easy when it’s only from our abundance, but when do Christians realize that giving can also be a sacrifice?  The problem we have, is that we see giving as the Hen & Pig see it. Is giving what we want to do, or is it what God wants us to do? When Jesus realized His Father had the Cross in mind, how did He react? Prayerfully ! The question of contribution or sacrifice can only be answered from fervent prayer. There are many ways Christians make sacrifices. Jesus taught graphically about them in Matthew 18:1-10, cutting off feet if they made you stumble and plucking out eyes if they caused you to sin. But that is not what Christians do, is it? No we seem to never take our fight against sin so seriously.  The truth is, God isn’t interested in our sacrifices that maim ourself, but He is desiring us to do whatever we can to kill off our fleshly desires that lead us into sin.  Read Colossians 3:5.  

Some Christians live with sin, others fight with it, but none of us obliterate it, until Jesus comes again. So does that mean we give up? No. God has always called us to recognize His own superiority and guidance over sin. In Jesus he defeated it. The Old Testament shows us His attitude he wants us to adopt concerning sin. In the Templegrounds, the burnt offerings for sin was always OUTSIDE the Temple itself. The offerings inside the Temple were Oil, Bread and Incense. None of these were about sin, they were about our expressions of holiness and thankfulness, grattitude. But in the Holy of Holies, blood was brought from the outside and offered on the mercy seat inside. The blood went through the place of offerings, sanctifying them all.  The apostle Peter entitled all Christians with the following description: (1^st Peter 2:9) “But, ye, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a peculiar treasure, that the excellences, ye may tell forth, of him who, out of darkness, hath called you into his marvellous light” 

What is a priesthood all about? Making sacrifices.  Christians should make sacrifices for our King. The sacrifices we make, should give credit and glory to Jesus, not ourselves.  Why?  To Mediate between the Lost and a Holy God. If we do not have a priesthood, no one gets access to God. What qualifies the priesthood to sacrifice & mediate? The royalty and holiness of Jesus. Without Him, we are unqualified as a priesthood, It is His Power in his royalty and his Purity in His holiness that qualifies us.  The apostle Paul called all Christians to live like they themselves were sacrifices, (Rom. 12:1)

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living, holy sacrifice, unto God acceptable,—your rational divine service;”

 Sacrifices to God were burnt, this means they smelt.  There were also the offerings of incense, resulting in an aroma.  Paul spoke of this very effect in our lives as Christians.  Ephesians 5:2.  And walk in love—even as, the Christ also, loved you, and delivered himself up in your behalf, an offering and sacrifice unto God, for a fragrance of sweet smell.” We are priveleged by Christ to be the reality of Temple offerings shadowed from the old covenant. Why? Because we (Christians in the Church) are a Temple!   1st Cor. 6:19-20. See Philippians 4:18, also. Even our praise of God is a sacrifice,  Hebrews 13:15.  What  a  privilege to be a Sacrifice and make sacrifices!

The notion many people have of holiness, seems to be a pious purity that everyone finds illusive.  Many people think you touch it on Sundays and can’t seem to see it again through the week, till Sunday comes around again. But that is not true holiness. There is a good example of true holiness in the life of Daniel. We see firstly, that Daniel, “purposed in his heart not to defile himself” (Dan.1:8). That is the best purpose anyone could put in their heart. Daniel refused to indulge in the King’s fancy food and wine.  Why? Because Daniel knew whatever the world found great and exhalted, the Lord found despicable and an abomination (Luke 16:15), so to keep his heart’s purpose true, he wouldn’t let the world’s great food and drink, pull him down into degradation of morals, afterall, the first bite was fun, what would other things the world highly exalts do for Daniel? Daniel also refused to turn his back on God’s word, (Dan. 1:9-13). What was the result? The Lord God gave him knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom”, (Dan. 1:17). What a success story! Who wouldn’t want that? The truth is, God gives holiness, Daniel just lived like he was thankful for it. That’s true holiness.

Christians can lose track of what God’s purpose is in our daily life, and end up losing all sight of His holiness. To grow it, appreciate it and show holiness is something Peter said we NEED. “Be holy because God is holy” (1st Pet. 1:16).  Our life is full of attempts to achieve so many different things. How often do we conscientiously try to express grattitude for God’s gift of holiness in our heart. We can win at many goals in our life, but they are very temporary. Take for example the extreme atheletes amongst us.   36 years ago Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the famous tennis match that acclaimed Billie Jean King globally in the world of sports. She is now at the official age of retirement hitting 65 and still promoting women’s rights around the globe. But what has she won? Lots of medals, titles and money! That is what she loves and that is her reward. Sadly, she has missed the most

important victories in this life. She lost her marriage to divorce, she lost her baby to an abortion and she lost her integrity before God to her perversion of her gender. Famous people are notorious for winning the world and losing their own soul. Look at the best of them, Elvis, Sinatra and Jackson, the list goes on and on and on. Are you shocked at my presumption that these people will not be saved and end up in hell? Do not forget that God says, “ For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Lk. 16:15) What are we really trying to win in this life? 

Jesus wants us to win at the battle of overcoming evil with good. That can only be won with the righteousness of God, not our own. Do you have the righteousness of God? No one can get to Heaven without His righteousness. (Mt. 5:20). His righteousness makes us holy in God’s sight. If we believe this, we should want to show our appreciation for this grace. If we do, we bless God and our self with grattitude.  However you serve God to do what is right is holiness, it can be something as simple as giving a cup of cold water to the least of God’s children. Whatever way you are able to show thanks in service, don’t let it stop. Multiply that talent you are sharing! God is pleased, you please yourself and others are blessed by it too.

To make a public display of God’s wisdom, Eph. 3:10. The early church first demonstrated this by the power of God’s Spirit, recorded in Acts 2:42. There are four ways they did it, and we can emulate the same powerful purposes of God. Firstly, the “Apostle’s Teaching”, encompasses preaching and teaching from Christ’s Spirit. The Apostles wrote out the mind of Christ, and we have it with clarity in the New Testament. God’s purpose in the Apostle’s Teaching is to fill every listener with the grace and knowledge of Christ’s mind (1st Cor. 2:16). Secondly, the “Fellowship” Christians have is precious and maintains the unity God gave us in His Spirit. This should be a practical demonstration of the love of God (Jn. 13:34-35). Without genuine godly fellowship between Christians, God’s purpose in sharing His love is not met. We are obligated by His love that is poured out into our hearts, to share Him. Romans 5:5. The church in Thessalonica was told that life as a Christian essentially involves comforting and encouraging eachother, 1st Ths. 5:9-11. Thirdly, the purpose of God in the church is to proclaim the Lord’s Death until He comes. We do this by sharing the Lord’s Supper. God fulfills His purpose of sanctifying our hearts in His love by giving us a place to remember what Jesus did and promises to do for us. The Communion of unleavened bread and the cup is a public proclamation of the price Jesus paid for you and me. (1st Cor. 11:26). God’s purpose in it, is to empower us to love Him for what he has done for us on the cross for our sins. Releasing us from the consequences of our sin. Fourthly, the purpose of the church is prayer. Prayer is a tool God gave us, so that we can be interceding for the world, 1st Tim. 2:1-2. We are to be devoted to prayer, Col. 4:2 and we are to never stop praying, 1st Ths. 5:17-18. Jesus and His Spirit is our mediator to the Father’s Throne of Grace, but the world lost in sin, can not approach His holiness and enjoy the benefits of direct communication with Him. But God’s purpose in the church (Christians) is to help the world come before God with their needs and anxieties for help. Why? Because He cares for us and them, Jn. 3:16 & 1st Peter 5:7.

When Jesus made the comparison of Christians to Sheep, he was not trying to insult us, He realizes that no one escapes the fact that in this life, the grass always looks greener on the other side.

Regardless of where that phrase comes from, we all feel it from time to time. For a Christian, that “other side” is always farther away from Jesus the great and chief Shepherd of our soul. God is good, in that he lets suffering like a sheepdog chase us back into His loving presence. Jesus put it this way, “My sheep hear my voice” (Jn. 10:27). The problem we sheep have, is that we get so caught up with wandering after greener grass, we fall out of range for the Savior’s voice.  We should be thankful that He lets suffering enter our life as a test to see if we will believe He is faithful to forgive us. Do we look at the suffering as a sheepdog and try to run away in disbelief, or do we humbly submit and get closer to the Shepherd? If we don’t try to get closer, remember the wolves are out there. Sheep are no match for the evil of Satan, when you consider the goodness of God.

There was once a big growing family that was struggling with the old adage of “Familiarity breeds contempt”.  As the parents bickered, the children caught on quick and they were all caught up in the vicious cycle of contempt.  Their grandparents who had seen it all before, offered these words on kindness.  “We must all accept that some days we are pigeons and on other days, we are the statue”.  One of the little children promptly asked,  what pigeons do on statues, and Grandpa replied, “Let’s just say that if we keep our words sweet, we don’t have to worry about eating them later.  But if you really can’t say anything kind, then at least have the decency to be vague.  The child grinned and told everyone that it was her turn to be the pigeon, but she would sing instead of drop anything.

It would be nice if everyone caught on to Grandpa’s words that quick. Suffice it to say that we must all accept that the friction families feel when our differences make us diffcult to deal with, is simply a reminder that we are all very much like a big box of crayons.  Some people are sharp,  some dull, some pretty, some have wierd names, but we all vary in color and must live in the same box. Would Jesus put such emphasis on kindness? It was Jesus who said, “God is kind to the ungrateful”, (Luke 6:35). So let us use our words to color each other in with kindness, even when you feel like your the statue.

If you won a game or inherited riches, would you feel duty bound to share the news?  If you pinned your hopes on a promise of a promotion or raise at work, once you got it, would you feel hesitant to share your hope fulfilled with everyone? Wouldn’t you be bragging about your boss or how well your company is doing, since you got the benefits promised? Maybe some of us would shy away from such boasting for fear of what other people would expect from us, but in the church, do we know what we have won?  Do we believe promises have been fulfilled in our life with God? Do we believe God has promoted us in His view? If we answer yes to these questions, we shouldn’t struggle with evangelism, because we will be driven to share our faith out of love and thankfulness for the privileged position God has put us in. Evangelism should be as natural as growing fruit on a tree, because the fruit of the Holy Spirit engenders evangelism; it is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, (Gal. 5:22-23). This is good news!

When we talk about privileges or rights, we usually think of issues like health-care, gun-control or polling votes. But since Christians know our victory, rewards and sanctification is not a right which is earned and to be argued about, why don’t we view it and treat it as a privilege? It may be because we are afraid of the consequences of evangelism. When was the last time you heard someone shouting from the rooftops that they had won the lottery. The fear of how the public might react would scare any winner of the lottery. So how can we be strengthened to overcome doubts and fears of evangelism? Grow the fruit of the Spirit, and experience God strengthen you to share your faith against all the consequences even Satan can throw at you.

Fear is a very human emotino and even Jesus had reason to feel fear. After all, he was the one to face a demon-possbe There are great lessons to be learnt from the way Jesus handled demon-possession and what he taught us about the Devil. Matthew, Mark & Luke all record the miracle of exorcism east of the lake of Galilee, (Mt. 8:28-34, Mk. 5:1-20, Lk. 8:26-39). John gives us spiritual insight into the privilege of spiritual warfare, evangelism is the epitome of fighting evil and overcoming it with good and destroying the works of the devil, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work, no one who is born of God will continue to sin because God’s seed remains in him, he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God, This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. (1st Jon. 3:8-10).

When we sow the seed of the Kingdom, or share our faith in our actions, we are then involved in spiritual warfare. Jesus demonstrated this spiritual truth by physically exorcising demons. Why else would God repeat Himself in the story of the crazed demon possessed man being exorcised? He is teaching us what our priorities should be in following Jesus and being like Him. When was the last time you helped destroy the work of Satan and blot out a multitude of sins?

If we are fearful of consequences in evangelism, then remember how Jesus reacted to the consequences He faced from the public after helping the demoniac. He had the pig farmers complaining. He had the villagers scared and He even had the healed man, begging him to stay. Remember that when people give you friction in sharing your faith, it may be because they are SCARED. All sorts of problems arose from the good Jesus did. Did He quit or even slow down? No, He considered Himself in a privileged position, making eternal consequences, not temporal effects. What He did, He knew had lasting effects which He knew He would never see in this life. We must never suffer from spiritual myopia; focus on the big picture of eternity and immortal victories. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” Rev. 14:13.

Don’t be discouraged by people’s destructive criticisms, like the misunderstanding of harm and loss of pigs and profit. Have you ever heard people criticize Christians for being so spiritually minded, they are no earthly good? There are at least two instances of misunderstandings and criticisms towards God’s good work.

a. 1st Kings 17:18-19, The widow had seen God’s powerful miraculous restoration of the oil and flour, and when she saw she lost her son, she blamed God, but because of the perseverance of Elijah’s faith, her faith was restored.

b. Acts 19:21-41, 20:1, 36-37, If not for the fearful riot of the Ephesians, would Paul have been knit closer to the saints there? Would there have been a letter to the Ephesians? What would we do without it? Paul had to fight wild beasts at Ephesus, but did it stop or kill him?(1st Cor. 15:22). If it had, he never would have written the letter we have today.

Jesus said that we should rejoice when people persecute you for righteousness sake, Matthew 5:10-12 & Luke 6:22-36. Twice the apostle John proclaims that we have already OVERCOME the evil one, 1st John 2:13-14. So if we are over-comers, why fear the opposition? Greater is He that is in me that he who is in the world. Is it a privilege or a pain to be an over-comer? Over-comers don’t just influence, they impact lives. It is a privilege to be called a child of the Almighty and a sibling of the King of kings. Heb. 2:11. We are privileged because we have been GIVEN the victory, we haven’t won it for the high quality of our faith. We haven’t earned it because of the noble expressions of our faith. We haven’t deserved it for the high price of our personal sacrifices. We have become more then conquerors, because we simply chose to submit to the sprinkling of the precious, powerful and victorious blood of the Lamb, and walk by faith, following His example in our daily life. Overcoming sin and the world, and all the fiery darts Satan can hurl at us, Eph. 6:16. It is a privileged position to be in Christ.

Does each and every Christian have a specific and privileged purpose in Christ? Yes, even the unknown Archippus mentioned in Colossians 4:17 had a job that God wanted him to complete. You and I do too. Pray and ensure that we do not let our work that we have recieved from The Lord go unknown. Whatever it is, pray for help in completing it. As Paul said, “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).