Theme: modeling
TT: The best model is the one that works:
I. The Best model that we have is Jesus
My premise has been that we can’t expect to have the results Jesus had in his life, without the perseverance and the attention to detail he had in his life. We can’t expect to rise to the moment, if we can’t sit deeply in the solitude of prayer. So what is it that made Jesus a model worth following:
In Matthew 4, and Mark 1:12, the Spirit drives him deep into the wilderness, where after 6 weeks of solitude, fasting, and prayer, only then is he strong enough to confront the Devil. It is the Spirit’s energy, and His Father’s Word that makes him a superior adversary.
In Matthew 14:13, after hearing about the murder of John the Baptist, His colleague, his friend, and his cousin, he withdrew to a secluded place: What was he doing there? Walking in self pity, praying, contemplating on the sovereignty of God?
Already in the midst of his healing ministry, from which much power was going out of him, Mark records in 1:35, that he went away to a secluded place, and was praying there…
On the eve of his selection of disciples, Luke 6:12 records that Jesus went off to the mountains to pray, and spent the whole night there.
In Luke 9:18, after the miraculous feeding of the 10,000, Jesus is found to be praying alone: then he questions the disciples about who He is…
How do we expect to perform/act like Jesus if we don’t live like Jesus.
II. Which brings me to one of the most formidable characters in the NT: Paul.
It was, after all, Jesus whom Paul met on that Damascus Road. It was the self-righteous, highly educated, deeply religious, and zealous Jew who met his adversary on that road. He had no respect for Jesus and saw his ministry as threat to the established Jewish religion.
Acts 9: For the first time in his life, Saul was helpless. First stop: *Damascus: He is here for a period of time, tries out his hand at sharing the validity of his new life’s message: result: Death threats. (Acts 9: 23–25) Next stop: Acts 9:26: Jerusalem briefly
Next stop: Arabia Gal. 1:11–18. First of all, notice that the teaching that Paul receives comes neither through a scroll or an apostle but by direct revelation: Next stop: Arabia, where for as long as maybe three years, he lived in seclusion feeding the new life that Jesus had deposited in his life. What was in Arabia, nothing, but seclusion, solitude, prayer, fasting and honing his new life with Jesus.
Next stop: Back to Damascus/ Jerusalem/ And then to Tarsas*:
Tarsas: Home: Gal. 1:21; Back to a father and mother, who were far from glad to see their son return, but despised the testimony that he now adopted: II Cor. 11:21: Here, I believe he suffered at the hands of the Jews, numbers of times, for refusing to cease and desist from proclaiming Jesus: II Cor. 12:1–10. And here, On at least one of those occasions when they beat him senseless, did the Lord give him a vision of encouragement about the end game of his discipline.
Which gives new meaning to what Paul writes in Philippians 3:10: “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being comforted to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” That I might now and forever more live out my new life in Christ with the resurrection of Jesus living large every day that I put my feet on the floor.
Catch the pattern:
Redeemed from the curse of the law of sin and death: Released to a new life in Christ:
Now reckoning ourselves dead to sin: They no longer need define his life: We now have a choice:
Rejuvenated and now able to exercise ourselves toward godliness:
Close: funny thing about the visible v–8: I can look through it and see where the glue was excessive, where the care was not exercised in its assembly: We look in the mirror and we say, saved I may be, but I have never applied either the diligence, nor the details necessary to build something in my life or those I care about that is consistent with the work done by Jesus to save me.
Truly, a look in the mirror moment: Stop blaming Jesus for your failure to follow the instructions:
MJC
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