A gloriously different reflection of Jesus Himself
Join the disciples and me as we listen to Jesus. Soon Jesus will be leaving them to go back to heaven. But He said (John chapters14-18) that He would not leave them desolate. He said – I will come to you. How would He come? By the answer (John 15:26, John 16:13) to His prayer, He would come in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The once crucified, now risen Lord Jesus is (Colossians 3:4) my life and the Holy Spirit is (Romans 8:2) the Spirit of the Life which is in Christ Jesus. I cannot live the life (Luke 24:49) God wants me to live or do the works (Ephesians 2:10) God wants me to do apart from total dependence on the Holy Spirit. I must yield all of myself, all my possessions, all my rights, decisions, choices and interests to the Holy Spirit. He must have absolute control.
If the Father is pleased (Galatians 1:15-16) to reveal His beloved Son in me, it must be by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, Who alone can reproduce the very life of Jesus in and through me. Legalism (Galatians 5:5) is death to the Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled life because it is all by self-effort. Usually, it is very grim self-effort of constantly striving and never making it. What a horrible and foolish substitute for the joy and freedom of the Holy Spirit in the genuine Christian life. Jesus gave us the secret when He said (John 6:53-56) unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood you cannot be my disciple because you do not have eternal life. His words have spiritual meaning, to take His very life into us. To be a disciple of Jesus, I must be born-again and share the life of Jesus. I’m sure that sometime you have read a fascinating book and said that you just ate it up. Of course, you didn’t chew and swallow the pages but you absorbed the contents of the book.
Likewise, when we receive Jesus as our personal Saviour and are determined to follow Him at any cost, we choose to receive His life and all He is to indwell and control our very being. Apart from that we cannot comprehend the Master’s teaching.
I heard a question from Gideon Levatam on Christian radio. Paul did not have the N.T. Scriptures, so how did he know that (Colossians 3:1) Jesus was seated at the right hand of God in heaven? Because he knew (Psalms 110:1) the O.T. Scriptures. There is no part of the Bible which is not important for us and essential to us. When you pick up your Bible remember that every Word is alive with the breath of God. It is established history and ordained before that history happens. Heaven and earth will pass away but (Maark 13:31) the Word of God will (Isaiah 40:8) stand unchanged forever. Realize your tremendous privilege every time you open God’s Book. The Word of Christ (Colossians 3:16) dwells in all its richness in a disciple. Every Word of God (Isaiah 55:11) has self-fulfilling power. As certain sure as that God has spoken it - - it will come to be, it will be fulfilled. If we are seeking Him, He will reveal to us everything we need to know. Not satisfy our curiosity but fill us with increasing godly wisdom and knowledge.
We are the slaves/disciples (Romans 6:16) of whomever we obey. How can we (2 Corinthians 7:1) be perfect holiness? (Oswald Chambers) “In the process of sanctification our new life (Colossians 3:4) in Christ Jesus is being formed in us as we convert the natural to the spiritual by consistent obedience.”
The tragic consequences of his outburst of anger (Numbers 20:10) was because there was too much of Moses in it.
God intended to save and did, the Ninevites but in Jonah’s hope (Jonah 4:1) to see them exterminated, there was too much of Jonah.
Peter thought he had a great idea (Matthew 17:4) but his idea contained too much of Peter. If I desire and seek the genuine difference made by me being a disciple of Jesus, it will mean continually and increasingly (John 3:30) more of Jesus and less of me.
What makes a disciple different? It is not (Galatians 2:20) my faith in the Son of God but the faith of the Son of God, His faith imparted to me by the Holy Spirit. Then daily I am crucified to my right to myself. That right is a false dream because (1 Corinthians 6:19) I am not my own, I have been purchased (1 Peter 1:19) with the precious Blood of Christ. It is only Jesus Who can do by His own fullness within a Christian, He makes that man or woman a disciple who is wonderfully, gloriously different by the reflection of Himself through them. Is Jesus being reflected in your particular world and mine?