June 3, 2011

• "I must..." (John 9:4)

  ~ This post is dedicated to Frank (ANVRSADDAY) & his wife Norma (both of whom have continued to work the works of Him who sent them through some very trying times over the past few years) and their family – and in remembrance of Auntie who went home to be with the Lord on June 1, 2011. ~

  The Lord Jesus Christ said:

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  Is this our attitude as Christians?
  
  With Jesus, do you say . . .

  I must...

  Doing the works of His Father was not optional for Jesus, and it isn't optional for us either. If we are Christ's, God's love ought to be constraining us (II Corinthians 5:11-16) and the indwelling Holy Spirit working in us (Philippians 2) to produce the selfless character of Christ and holy ambition of Christ, to increase our love and desire for God and the glory of God and the Gospel and the Kingdom of God, and filling us with the same love and zeal and passion that caused Jesus to declare, "I must." Do you say, "I must" when it comes to Christ and His Kingdom?
  

  
  I must work...

  We are created in Christ Jesus to walk in good works that God has ordained for us (Ephesians 2:10). Faith without works is dead (James 2). Faith must work. Does your faith work? (More below on this.)

  
  I must work the works of Him...

  Jesus was one with the Father and could only do His Father's will (John 5:17, 19, 30). He even said that His food was to do the will of Him who sent Him and to finish His work (John 4:34)! In other words, Jesus hungered to do the will of His Father. Doing the will of the Father satisfied Him and filled Him up much as a good meal does us, though I realize the comparison falls far short. Our Lord willingly submitted Himself to His Father's will so He might do His Father's works (John 6:38, also remember Jesus' prayer in the garden of Gethsemane). Jesus was the perfect Son; He delighted to do His Father's will (Psalm 40:6-8). All Christians are united to Christ (Romans 6), we have been given the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son (Romans 6-8, Galatians 4-6; Luke 24:49, Acts 2:39) so we might will and do God's good pleasure just as Jesus did. Do you find yourself selfishly focused on doing your own thing – or selflessly working the works of your heavenly Father? Is your food to do the will of God in heaven? Do you hunger to do the will of your Father in heaven? Is your soul satisfied with less than doing God's will?
  

  I must work the works of Him that sent Me...

  Jesus was sent by His Father into the world, and so are we. He was sent to seek and save that which was lost. No, we don't save the lost in the way Christ did, for He alone was the atoning sacrifice set forth by the Father to be received by faith. However, we are filled with His life and sent by Jesus into the world to be His ambassadors, to proclaim the salvation He makes available to all who will repent, believe and receive (John 20:21, II Corinthians 5:16-21, Matthew 28:18-20)? Do you understand you are sent by God into the world to conduct His mission of spreading the Good News of the Gospel, of preaching the Gospel and working by His power to call souls from every tongue, tribe and nation to worship Him? All we have is given to us so we might be working the works of Him who sends us. Do you see your life, your resources and your talents as wholly His, to be used to work the works of Him who sends you?

  I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  Each one of us has a limited amount of time here on the earth. Are you making the most of your time (Colossians 4:4-5)? How are you stewarding the grace of God, the Gospel of God and the Word of God? Are you spending each day with eternity in view (Matthew 25)? Will Christ find you working when He returns to judge the living and the dead? Will He find you in importunate prayer? Will He find your mouth filled with good tidings of great joy for all the peoples? Will He find your eyes and ears and hands and feet engaged in activities that glorifies Him? Will He find your heart and mind sanctified to His service? Do you understand that you are God's fellow workers and your works for Him will be made manifest by fire (I Corinthians 3)? Are you spending each day aware that you will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:9-10)? Based on the last 24 hours, would He say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? Do you live each day with eternity in view?

  It is appointed unto men once to die and after that comes the judgment. Those who have believed on and received Christ will have eternal life, but those who do not believe will remain under eternal condemnation (John 3). How will they believe unless we go and tell them (Romans 10)? Are you mindful that the night is coming and day will be gone in the blink of an eye? Do you have a sense of urgency for lost souls who need to hear the Gospel? Are your feet beautiful? Are you preaching the good tidings on the housetops? Are you saying, "Behold your God"? Jesus humbled Himself, came in the likeness of men; He did not think it robbery to be equal with God. He put on zeal like a cloak and left heaven to save sinners like you and me.. He came not to be served but to serve. (See Philippians 2.)He came to lay down His life for His friends; we are His friends if we do whatever He commands (John 15). Where is He sending you to preach His message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through the Gospel? The curse has spread throughout the whole human race, throughout the whole earth. We have received the commission to take the good news far as the curse is found. Freely we have received His life poured out for us, and freely we are to give, to pour out His life for others.

  Or, do you merely say . . .

  I ...

  * * *

  Is Christ's profession your profession?

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  John 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

  Though creating sight in a man who was always blind is a very great miracle (consider that creating sight goes beyond restoring lost sight), if you continue reading in John 9, you will find an even greater miracle: that of creating spiritual sight in a spiritually blind man!

  In his first Servant Song, Isaiah prophesied this of the Lord Jesus Christ:

  42:6  I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

  As Jesus Christ was called and sent,
  as Jesus Christ was upheld and kept by the Father to be

  a light for the Gentiles;
  sent to open blind eyes,
  to bring out prisoners from the prison,
  and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house,

  so are we...

  Matthew 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

  Acts 26:16  But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

  We were all born blind to the glory of the Gospel, and, as Jesus said, apart from being born again we cannot even see the Kingdom of God, much less enter it (see John 3).

  However – if you are now Christ's, though you were born spiritually blind, you have given spiritual sight through the second birth. As Paul explained this in II Corinthians 4:

  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

  Or, as John Newton said, "I was blind, but now I see!"

  My brothers and sisters in Christ, we see not only so we might enjoy God ourselves (and you know I've written a lot on that!), but also that others who are now blinded and in darkness might see and enjoy God! Our eyes have been opened so we might be sent to open others' eyes. We have been turned from darkness to light so we might turn others from darkness to light. We are the light of the world. Like Christ, we are called and sent.

  Do you understand that your spiritual seeing is about your being used by God to help others see? The gifts of God are always given to us so we might use them to the glory of God. What are you doing with the gift of the Gospel? Paul called the Gospel a treasure; do you consider it a treasure, a treasure you want to share with others?

  Many women who get an engagement ring immediately run off to show it off to their friends, to let them know the good news. And in this day and age, that often means going so far as to plastering pictures of the ring all over social media for just about all the world to see.

  If you are Christ's, you have the best news – He has become your Bridegroom and you have an everlasting treasure, a treasure that is most excellent and altogether lovely treasure, a treasure that far exceeds any earthly treasure. What are you doing with the treasure of the Gospel? Are you showing Him to the world – or are you hiding Him under a bushel?

  I confess I lack greatly in this, but this call is a call to all who believe: we are to be zealous for the Gospel and the Kingdom of God and preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

  I was recently engaged in discussion with a friend about our lack of zeal in evangelism and how often our mouths are shut, and we were distressed and grieved over this (as well we should be). We reminded one another that we have the power of God at work in us through the Holy Spirit, and we need to keep asking, seeking and knocking, to appeal to God to work in us the desire we don't have and anoint us with the power we don't have that He has promised to give us (e.g. - see Luke 11:1-13, 24:48-49; Acts 1-2; also, please see my post here). We looked back and were encouraged as we remembered the transforming work God did in the disciples in the book of Acts, as well as the work He has done throughout Church history to revive His people time and again.

  But not long after one of those times of discussion, I sadly found myself hanging my head and lamenting in doubt:

  "How can I become an evangelist like those of the early church? It goes against my personality. Certainly not me."

  Almost immediately, I was chastened by the reminder of the Lord's wonderful work in my soul to give me joy and how I had the VERY SAME ATTITUDE for a long time before that and had the very same arguments ~ "I am not a joyful person. This joy is not for me. Certainly not for me."

  I thought that joy to be a hard thing. But God proved me wrong! Nothing is too hard for the Lord.

  So often we read the words of Scripture, but then we're just like the man James described in chapter 1, the man who looked in the mirror and then went away and forgot what he saw!

  We need to go into the Bible, and we need to read and reread the promises as being available for us and begin to ask for hard things: a greater love and passion for God and the glory of God and His Gospel, a servant heart and a desire for holiness, a flaming zeal like Christ for lost souls, Holy Spirit boldness and assurance in proclaiming God's Word and so on. How pitiful our lives and our prayers are compared to those of the early Church (see here, here and here).

  (I am preaching to myself here first and foremost.)

  How often am I guilty of limiting God! How often are we guilty of limiting God! How often do we remain blind to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones called the glorious possibilities of the Christian life!
  
  As Christians, we have been given sight, we have been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God's Son, but the devil continues to prowl and tries to deceive us; he wants to keep us from really seeing all God has for us. He keeps us locked up in a mundane and dry and barren and joyless and lifeless Christianity. That is not true Christianity! We remain blinded to the abundant life. We have no expectation to live like the early church: to be like those disciples who could not help but speak of Christ. Our privilege and birthright as children of God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so rivers of living water come streaming out of us! That is why I keep exhorting you to read the Word of God and Christian biography and the history of revivals. If we keep looking at one another, we may think we're doing pretty well. No, we are not doing well. And, as a whole (with a few exceptions), the Church is not doing pretty well.

  So long as we do not have that zeal of the Lord which inflames us and causes us to cry out:

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  HOW CAN WE SAY WE ARE DOING PRETTY WELL?!

  We have settled for mediocrity. We are lukewarm. And we know the fate of lukewarm believers: Jesus spews them out of his mouth (see Revelation 3).

  • We are lukewarm when we continue to balk at moving forward by faith, even after we've seen and tasted of Canaan's clusters.

  • We are lukewarm when we are numbered among the ten spies, rather than having the different spirit of Caleb and Joshua who trusted God and sought to press on into the Promised Land to enjoy all God had for them.

  • We are lukewarm when we are happy with grace, but do not pursue grace upon grace.

  • We are lukewarm when we read of the promises and power and provision of God available to us, but we do not continue by faith to wrestle for a heavenly blessing but rather settle for lesser, unsatisfying earthly blessings.

  • We are lukewarm when we read the book of Acts and of the work of the Holy Spirit and say it was only for that time.

  • We show we are lukewarm when we are content with being lukewarm.

  We are to be pitied. We speak of the resurrection of Christ, but we show little evidence of His life in our own lives! Have we really been born again? Does His life dwell in us or not? O, may God have mercy on us and rend the heavens and rain down His Spirit upon us to revive us again!

  Of course, if we only look to ourselves, then certainly all these things – joy and evangelism and walking in good works – ARE impossible. And the devil is very glad for us to have us keep looking to ourselves in that way for that's a bad sort of introspection and examination. I sometimes get drilled by people as I push them toward examination. I agree there are good and bad ways to examine ourselves. The examination the Spirit of God will be freeing and life-giving (though yes, it will also be painful). God wants us to become so desperate, to see our inability, to see the impossibility with ourselves, to see all our best efforts will end in failure, all so we might turn away from ourselves and look to heaven and cry out to God to do in us and with us what we cannot! Impossible with men, but possible with God. All things are possible to those who believe. Our sufficiency comes from Christ alone, not from self. Self-reliance and self-help cuts across the heart of the Gospel and emasculates the Gospel's power to work in our lives.

  Yes, it may go against my personality to evangelize – and yet I am a new creation in Christ. I was born one way, but I have been born again by the Spirit and am being conformed and transformed into the image of Christ! I'm not saying He totally changes our personalities, but we can't use the excuse, "That's just the way I am." If anything, God will throw that back into our faces: "Such were you... but now you have the Spirit of Christ indwelling you: that is who you are today! Now go and work out your salvation with fear and trembling for I am at work in you to will and to do of My good pleasure!"

  As Christians we not only have Christ's righteousness credited or imputed to us (so our sin, guilt and shame over sin is dealt with once for all (justification)), but we also have Christ's very nature imparted to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit (sanctification). Because God is dwelling in us and is equipping us with all we need so we might will and do of God's good pleasure, we are commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-14). By the mercies of God, as Christ dwells in us, we are made willing and able to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. That is our reasonable service and worship. (Romans 12:1-2) Reasonable? Certainly so, given that we were who had nothing to commend us to God, we were shown mercy! We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners! While we were helpless and powerless, God raised us up out of the dung heap! He loved us first. He loved us even though nothing lovely dwelt in us! Christ died for the ungodly!

  We must ask God to work in us what we cannot work up ourselves. We must continue to ask Him for His Holy Spirit so Jesus' character and desires might be formed in us (Galatians 4:19), so we might have a willing heart that seeks and delights to do God's will. Psalm 110:3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power! Made willing! Willing like the Lord Jesus Christ! That is a work the Spirit of God alone can accomplish! Willing in the day of His power! We remain unwilling apart from His power! He alone can take hearts of stone and make them hearts of flesh! O, to be made willing, so we might say with Jesus:

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  Jesus Christ was anointed by the Spirit and lived by the power of the Spirit. He is our example – not only in His good works, but also in how He was equipped to do those good works – through the Spirit of God. (Yes, I confess this is a mystery!) Look back at the portion of Isaiah 42 I referenced above: I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee. There we see the dependence of Christ on the Father and the Spirit! We see that Christ did no public ministry until the Spirit descended upon Him as He was baptized. And there's a wonderful verse in Luke's account:

  Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened...

  Did you see that? Jesus was praying... Praying! Our Lord commanded the early church to pray. How often do we neglect to pray? We go full steam ahead, we presume God will be with us, we attempt to work, but we do not ask for His heavenly supplies to do that work! No wonder why we faint! No wonder why we lack boldness and assurance! We do not heed Jesus' command to pray. We do not honor Him by seeking His face in prayer. We do not honor Him by professing that He is everything and without Him we can do nothing!

  This is a doctrine that only began to break open for me in the past few years. Jesus lived through and by the Father through the Spirit of God. In the same way, we live by Jesus. Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15). Those are not just nice sayings, they are the true reality of the Christian life! Like Christ, we are not only called and sent by God, but we are also upheld and kept by God! Therefore our sure hope for our sanctification is this:  we have that very same Spirit dwelling in us today who held Jesus' hand and kept Him! As we have the same Holy Spirit who is at work conforming us into Christ's image, working in us, so we will find ourselves saying more and more:

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  If you are a Christian and you are living your life without a desire to work the works of God, and if you presently have no conviction about this, then I plead with you to make this a priority in prayer. Don't waste your life! Don't waste His life in you! Don't gain the world and lose your soul! Pray that your ears would be opened again to the Spirit's voice. We can continue to quench and grieve Him by disobedience and delay – and then we come to a point where our ears are closing and our consciences are seared and we no longer hear Him, even though He is continuing to speak to us. This is a very dangerous place to be. May His Spirit give you ears to hear Him!

  And I want to be clear here, our works don't save us, but those who are saved will be working. Good works are a mark of the Christian. As George Whitefield said, our works don't justify our person (for we are justified by grace through faith in Christ), but our works do justify our faith. Our salvation is the root and our good works are the fruit. If the root is good, good works will be springing up and growing.

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  What activities do you find yourself saying you must do each day? Are those activities focused on God and His Kingdom?

  Do you see yourself as sent into the world by God? What hinders you from working the works of Him who sends you?

  Do you live each day with a conscious awareness that you are sent into the world to work the works of Him who sent you?

  What are you doing with your life? How do you spend your days and nights?

  To what or whom do your thoughts gravitate? What do you treasure?

  What is your heart's desire? The apostle Paul cried out that his heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. Do you have such a heart desire and prayer to God for anyone to be saved?

  Are you ever mindful that as a Christian your life is not your own but belongs to God because you have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ?

  Are you aware that your time here is limited? What keeps you from having an eternal perspective?

  Do you have Christ's zeal and holy compulsion working in you, causing you to say,

  
  

  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

  ---

  Related:

  • adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)
    
  • "the infinite significance of the eternal Kingdom"
  • our yearnings & desires and God's mission (Isaiah 26:9)
  • "He Will Come Again to Judge the Living and the Dead"– How Then Do We Work?
  • do the work of a WHAT? eee - van - gel - ist! eeek!
  • Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
  • trusting the eagles' wings (reliance on the Holy Spirit)
  • Bible Reading: Ephesians 4 and 5-The New Man
  • Epiphany: we are made a light to bring salvation to the ends of the earth
  • Christ was sent & poured out so we might be sent & poured out
  • God uses men with "no outstanding abilities"
  • Palm Sunday: Why loose the donkey and the colt?
  • Resurrection Day: Don't Waste Your Life  (Lecrae) | Whose Life is it anyhow?
  • Lent III.-Are you looking at the fields?
  • "You can have me" (Sidewalk Prophets) (Does He have you?)
  • Are you preparing to face death? Or are you a fool?
  • another sunrise . . . another sunset
  • thoughts on necessity (Richard Baxter, myself)
  • who is your master? (Bible Reading - Matthew)
  • what's your price? (Bible reading - Matthew 26:14-16)
  • Is your faith living – or is it dead? (Isaac Watts)
  • Neck check (Bible reading: Nehemiah 3)
  • dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace)
  • His seed (If ye be Christ's ~ He came seeking fruit)
  • Are you getting up into the high mountain or have you become lukewarm?
  • learning to run without fear
  • my 10 confessions
  • Bible Reading: Acts – Some Questions the Church Should Be Asking
  • Jesus is asking you: "What do you want me to do for you?"
  • Do My Prayers Glorify God?
  • postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
  • Revival resources, etc.
  • John Piper's message "I'm Sending You to Open Their Eyes"

  Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
  Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engagement_Ring_Memphis.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0

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