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Suffering And Honor;
Embracing Messiah’s Mission Or Living For Self
Yeshua
is the eternal Son of God and the Messiah whom
God sent into this world to accomplish the most
important things that were necessary for ruined
humanity’s well-being. He successfully accomplished
every aspect of His great mission. Then He left
this world and ascended to the place of greatest
honor - at the right of God. Now, as He was sent
into the world, Messiah sends us into the world
to take over His great mission. We must continue
His life-saving work!
Messiah’s
disciples had been with Him for a while. They
heard Him teach. They saw Him do great miracles.
Now they were prepared to take on more responsibilities
and help carry on Messiah’s mission. In Luke chapter
9, let’s see what Messiah sent His first disciples,
who are the foundation of His Holy Community,
and whose example we are to imitate, to the cities
of Israel to do: And He called the twelve together,
and gave them power and authority over all the
demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them
out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform
healing. Removing demonic control from human
beings, healing us of diseases, proclaiming the
kingdom of God and helping people enter it were
some of the purposes that Messiah was sent into
this world to accomplish.
Here,
those same things became the apostles’ purposes;
and now those same purposes have become our purposes!
We are to courageously go out into the world,
and tell people the truth, and help liberate enslaved
humanity from the dominion of darkness, and bring
them into the life and light of the kingdom of
God. We are to bring healing where possible. We
are to bring human beings who respond to the truth
within the community of Faith and nurture them
and prepare them to go outside of the community,
seeking the lost, telling the truth, helping and
healing, and bringing new ones into the community,
and repeating the process.
When we
are close to God, and filled with the Spirit,
we will have the desire and the power to have
this mission-driven, this purpose-driven life.
We will be mission driven people, and a mission
driven community! That is so important for each
one of us, and that is so much what we are to
be about as a community! Is that you? Or, is your
life driven by some other purpose or purposes?
The Lord
instructed His 12 special emissaries and evangelists
and disciples and foundational leaders to travel
very lightly, depending on God and good people
to sustain them in their God-ordained mission.
When God asks us to do something, we can count
on Him to supply the resources to accomplish what
He asks us to do! And He said to them, "Take
nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor
a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have
two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay
there until you leave that city”.
Those
special individuals who were traveling to bring
the Good News needed, like the King they served,
to travel lightly and get by with minimal resources.
God would surely supply their needs to fulfill
their mission. Their purpose was what was important
- rescuing precious human beings, made in the
image of God, from the powerful and destructive
forces of Satan, sin and death - not pursuing
wealth in a dying world that will not last. Do
you agree? Are you living that way?
While
this is a direct instruction for the 12 apostles,
and primarily applied to them, the same principle
holds true for evangelists in general, and in
a sense for all Christians and Messianic Jews.
All of us need to see ourselves as traveling evangelists
on a very great mission to rescue people from
the Satanic slave-market of sin and death. We
are not to consider ourselves as permanent residents
of this world focusing on building up our personal
wealth here.
We are
to travel lightly, focusing on going into this
lost and dying world of human beings and tell
them the truth that will save them from the Second
Death. Tell them the Good News! But, also warn
those who refuse to listen and join us that there
will be bad consequences for rejecting us and
the truth we bring. And as for those who do
not receive you, as you go out from that city,
shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against
them.
Like the
12 Emissaries, we are the Lord’s ambassadors,
God’s representatives to this world. Terrible
consequences await those who ignore us and the
One we represent. We don’t want to experience
the smallest dust-like part of the punishments
that they will suffer for rejecting the truth
that will save them. That’s why the disciples
were to shake off the dust from their feet - we
are showing that we have no part in them and the
judgment they have chosen by rejecting the Messiah
and Savior.
This is
also a very serious and clear warning to the wicked.
After boldly telling people the Good News, the
last thing we need to do to faithfully discharge
our responsibility to them is to is to warn them
of the terrible consequences of rejection. We
must not be afraid to warn people about the sure
punishment and judgment and Hell that awaits those
who deny Messiah and reject the truth.
There
had not been a prophet among the Chosen People
whom God used to do miracles for hundreds of years,
and suddenly there was Rabbi Yeshua, doing tremendous
miracles! And now there were 12 more of His followers
doing miracles - healing people and removing demons
from individuals among the Holy Nation! Yeshua
and the 12 were making a tremendous impact on
all of Israel. People everywhere were wondering:
What did this outpouring of the miraculous mean?
Who exactly was Yeshua? Was he more than a rabbi
from humble parents in Nazareth? Was the spirit
of the prophet John, who had just been executed,
risen from the dead in some way, and at work?
Had Messiah’s forerunner Elijah finally appeared?
That might explain some of these miracles. Had
one of the other great prophets of old come back
to life? Even a corrupt ruler like Herod wanted
to know. But, intellectual curiosity without the
willingness to repent, without the willingness
to accept the truth no matter what the consequences,
counts for little, and God is not impressed by
that.
Yeshua’s
12 representatives returned from their successful
short term mission, and Messiah knew that it was
time for them to take a break. They needed to
get away from the crowds and spend some time getting
refreshed and renewed. And so they left to go
to a desolate place. But the crowds found out
where they were and followed them. Yeshua, ever
gracious as He is, did not send them away. Their
interest in Him and His message could not be denied,
even if it meant sacrificing some much needed
rest. And so He welcome the crowd who came to
Him in that desolate place, and taught them about
God and His great kingdom, and healed those who
needed healing.
At the
end of the day this crowd was out of food and
far from the villages and cities. Instead of sending
them away while tired and hungry, like the disciples
suggested, Yeshua did one of His greatest miracles.
After Yeshua prayed, God enabled 5,000 men to
be fed from five loaves of bread and two fish,
which miraculously kept multiplying in the hands
of Yeshua. All 5,000 men ate the bread and the
fish until they had enough to eat, and there was
more food left over than they began with!
In a fallen
world, hunger has been and is a reality for hundreds
of millions. The Holy Spirit wants the world to
know that Israel’s Messiah is able to and will
overcome world hunger! This miracle of the multiplication
of the bread and the fish in the hands of Yeshua
foreshadows the golden age of mankind, when King
Messiah will be ruling from Jerusalem over a renewed
Earth, and there will be peace and prosperity
in the world, and plenty of food for everyone
like there was in the Garden of Eden.
When the
nations of the world seek Him like this Jewish
crowd did, He will respond and enable the entire
planet to produce more than enough food to feed
the entire world, and the vision of Amos will
be a reality: The plowman will overtake the
reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows
seed; the mountains will drip sweet wine and flow
from all the hills; and every man will be
sitting under his vine and under his fig tree.
In the meantime, God the Father and Messiah the
Son have promised to provide for our daily bread,
and meet our basic needs, and make sure that we
get our spiritual hunger for God, for truth, for
meaning, for purpose, fully satisfied.
There
are many important questions that you will be
asked during your life. Who Is Yeshua?
may be the most important question that you will
need to answer correctly! If you want to have
a truly meaningful and successful life, and get
right with God, and be rescued from a dying species,
and live forever, you had better answer correctly
this most important question!
Yeshua
Himself asked His disciples this most important
question. And it happened that while He was
praying alone (even though He was the Son
of God, and always talked to God and heard clearly
from His Father, Yeshua still spent special times
devoted to prayer. How much more do we need to
set apart times to devote to prayer!), the
disciples were with Him, and He questioned them,
saying, "Who do the people say that I am?"
They answered and said, "John the Baptist,
and others say Elijah; but others, that one of
the prophets of old has risen again."
Yeshua’s
powerful teaching and healing ministry had made
a tremendous impact on the nation. It was obvious
that something supernatural - something over and
above what is natural, was happening through Yeshua.
The popular speculations reflect this - that John’s
spirit had been resurrected and at work through
Yeshua; that Yeshua might be Elijah, the great
prophet who never died, and the forerunner for
the coming of the Messiah; that Yeshua really
was one of Israel’s great prophets of earlier
times who had experienced resurrection. But, none
of those were the right answer to this most important
question that people need to answer correctly.
Yeshua
wanted to make absolutely sure His disciples knew
the correct answer. And He said to them, "But
who do you say that I am"? And Peter,
the bold spokesman of the group, and one of the
leaders of the 12, answered and said, "The
Messiah of God". God’s Messiah, the God-anointed
prophet, priest and king, anointed not merely
with oil, but empowered by the Spirit of God;
the God-approved prophet, priest and king that
we have been promised since the disaster in the
Garden of Eden; the ultimate prophet who hears
crystal clearly from God, and tells us everything
that God wants us to know; the ultimate priest,
who brings sinful humanity closer to the holy
God, and brings the holy God closer to fallen
humanity; the ultimate priest who helps us meet
our great need for atonement and forgiveness;
and the ultimate king, who, endowed with salvation,
will rule over Israel and the nations, bringing
peace, prosperity and justice to the entire world.
Rabbi Yeshua, You are the long-awaited, God-ordained
Messiah sent by God!
And Peter
was right! And, every other human being who wants
eternal life and salvation and reconciliation
with God, had better answer the question in exactly
the same way as Peter did! Have you?
But, it
was the predetermined plan of God for the Messiah
to come twice - the first time to suffer and die
to meet our great need - our desperate need for
atonement, our need to be restored to a right
relationship with God; and then the same Suffering
and Rejected yet Victorious Messiah would come
a second time as the triumphal and honored King
to establish God’s kingdom on Earth.
But sadly,
the Jewish people did not understand the two comings
of the Messiah. We were not interpreting the Messianic
prophecies about the Suffering Messiah correctly.
We were not expecting for a Messiah who would
suffer and die as the ultimate sacrifice for sins,
making spiritual salvation possible. We were looking
for a Messiah who would bring political and economic
salvation, and overthrow the cruel pagan Romans.
We had a deficient understanding of the mission
of the Messiah, and so as not to confuse us further,
Yeshua warned them and instructed them not
to tell this to anyone, saying, "The Son
of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed and be raised up on the third day".
The rest
of the nation of Israel didn’t understand the
two comings of the Messiah, and the sufferings
and rejection of the First Coming, but the disciples
needed to understand that Messiah’s rejection
and suffering and death would be followed on the
third day with marvelous resurrection and vindication!
But until that actually happened, they were not
to proclaim to the nation that Yeshua was the
Messiah. It would have been too confusing. It
would have politicized the situation and made
things more difficult for Yeshua and His followers.
"The
Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and
be killed and be raised up on the third day".
And, as much as we might dislike it, what is true
of the Lord is to be true of His disciples. We
are to carry on His great mission and ministry.
We are to boldly and courageously and unashamedly
preach a message of repentance and the need to
turn to God and Messiah, and holiness.
And, just
as He was rejected and suffered, if we are faithful
to Him and His mission and His teachings, we will
be rejected by a God-hostile world. Rejection
and suffering are part of the normal Christian
and Messianic Jewish experience. The world did
not like our Lord; it did not like His message;
the world will not like us, and there will be
unpleasant consequences.
And
He was saying to them all, "If anyone (anyone
- not just leaders, apostles, evangelists, pastors
and rabbis. This is for anyone, for everyone,
including you) wishes to come after Me
(to be My disciple, to join themself to Me and
share My destiny, and enjoy the good things I
offer), he must deny himself (give up his
right to determine his life, and his personal
goals and agenda, and give up his will, and he
must submit his life and will and plans to God),
and take up his cross daily (be willing
to suffer rejection and death each and every day)
and follow Me (follow My example, and take
up My mission).
If you
want to run your own life, and do your own thing,
and do what you think is best for you, and live
for yourself and what you want, and choose to
ignore the Messiah’s great mission, you are probably
not a genuine child of God. You are probably still
in rebellion against God. You are self-willed,
not God-willed. You are self-directed, not God-directed
and not led by God.
For
whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake (for
My sake, for Me, to accomplish what I want, to
do what I want done), he is the one who will
save it. And, believe me, you want to save
your life! You want protect your life, and live
forever with peace and contentment and happiness
with God the Father and Messiah the Son, and the
holy men and women of all the ages, and the angels
and cherubeem and serafeem and the living beings
near the throne of God, in the new yet eternal
Jerusalem!
To drive
home his point, Yeshua asks a very practical question
having to do with comparative values of a kind
of business deal. For what is a man profited
if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits
himself? Let’s see, a comfortable pleasant
seventy or eighty years in this doomed world,
or a life of hardship and rejection by the world,
but a life with closeness to God and my fellow
disciples, followed by eternal life and unending
happiness? There is no profit if a person becomes
the richest and most powerful person in this doomed
world, if that is followed by the Day of Judgment
and the Second Death in the Lake of Fire. That
is a very very bad deal.
What will
help us choose the better part of this deal, and
reject the allures of the world, and be willing
to deny ourselves, and be willing to suffer in
this life as one of Messiah’s committed followers?
We need to really believe that the Bible is true,
and that Yeshua is who He is, and He will do what
He says He will do - give eternal life and rejected
and punish those who remain part of this world.
Do you?
What does
it mean to lose your life, to live for the sake
of the Messiah, to pick up your cross and follow
the Lord? It means to boldly and unashamedly go
out into the world, and tell the truth, and speak
for Messiah, and about Messiah. What does it mean
to save your life yet lose it? One of the things
it means is sparing yourself rejection by not
witnessing to others. For whoever is ashamed
of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed
of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels.
Do not
be intimidated by the fear of man. There are greater
things to fear! Don’t worry about the sufferings
and shame the world can inflict. There is a greater
depth of suffering and shame that can come to
you. Don’t worry about missing out on the good
things in this life. There are far greater and
more lasting things that can be missed! Don’t
be impressed by the world and the honors that
it can give, and the success it can provide. There
are far greater honors that can be lost.
The Messiah,
who is far greater and worthier than we are, suffered,
and suffered much, and suffered willingly. We
are asked to endure suffering. But the Messiah’s
sufferings and rejection were temporary, and will
be forever followed by great and lasting honor
and power and happiness - and that will happen
to us too if we remain faithful to Him and His
mission!
We need
that vision of the Messiah victorious and powerful
and eternally alive and happy! And, Lord willing,
we will consider that next week, where Luke records
one the of greatest spiritual experiences that
happened to the disciples - Yeshua’s transformation
on the mountain, which is a foretaste, a foreshadowing
of the King in His eternal glory!
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