Epaggelia

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).

Jesus is not on record for buying anything, but he did make a purchase for  people.  How?  Not with money, but with his blood. When he offered his blood, he did it with pain and torture that none of us have experienced. He did it for us who believe and what did He get in return? His reward is seen in three ways. The reward of Christ’s sufferings and the purchase of his blood results in the cleansing and beautifying of his people. (Ephesians 5:25-27) The reward of Christ’s sufferings is also seen in the zeal of his people for good deeds. (Titus 2:14)  The reward of Christ’s sufferings is a ransomed people from every tribe and language and nation. He bought us from slavery in sin, into freedom with Him. (Revelation 5:9)  How much of our life does Jesus have in return for His purchase?

In ancient times as in modern times, we have a desire to pass on to our children, a heritage.  Some people call it an inheritance, and whether we like to admit it or not, we children, expect our parents to have some kind of inheritance for us.  In the Bible, families often counted their flocks and herds as a heritage, something valuable and given in your old age as a parent to your children.  The people of God today are counted precious and as God’s own heritage, both in the Old Testament and the New, (Joel 3:2, Ephesians 1:11). He gives us many more blessings that are impossible for us to count and in turn we  are expected to bless Him as a precious heritage should. He also counts us as His flock. In the Bible, sheep are described as:

Beautiful, (Jeremiah 13:20)

Wise & Harmless (Matthew 10:16)

Lost, but Found & Rejoiced Over (Mt. 18:12-20)

Gathered together by a Resurrected Shepherd, (Matthew 26:31-32)

Do you believe God looks upon Christians like this?  All Christians? Yes it is a precious faith He gave us and God expects us to give this Faith to others…