Jesus is our role-model. He never sought His own glory or
honor but the Father’s:
·
“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is
my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’” (John 8:54)
·
“For I have not spoken on my own authority, but
the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what
to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say,
therefore, I say as the Father has told me.” (John 12:49-50; 14:10, 24; 10:37)
Jesus wasn’t a people-pleaser. Instead, His entire focus was
on the 1st great commandment—pleasing the Father. In contrast to the Pharisees,
Jesus claimed, “I do not receive glory from people” (John 5:41). When we fulfill
this great commandment, we are also fulfilling the second one (1 John 5:2-3).
According to Jesus, the Pharisees and the rest of the
religious leadership did everything to obtain the glory from man:
·
“They do all their deeds to be seen by others.
For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love
the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings
in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.” (Matthew 23:5-7)
According to Jesus, this demonstrated that they cared little
about pleasing God:
·
“How can you believe, when you receive glory
from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John
5:44)
If we pursue the praise and esteem of man, we demonstrate a
lack of interest in the praise of God. Instead, we long to hear, “Well done
good and faithful servant.” To pursue the empty praise of man. It is a
psychological trap:
·
The fear of man [of his opinions] lays a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. (Proverbs 29:25)
Nevertheless, my flesh still longs for that praise and
approval. This is both humbling and embarrassing, but I have learned that the
struggle against our dark-side, lurking within, is necessary and normal for the
Christian:
·
We will struggle with the flesh unto we go to be
with Jesus – For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the
desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each
other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:17)
This teaching helps me accept the fact that the Lord doesn’t
remove our sinful impulses. In fact, we need them to grow. A butterfly must
struggle to emerge from its cocoon. Without this struggle, they cannot develop
properly.
Nevertheless, it is discouraging to see the evil that hides
in our flesh like cockroaches in the crevices of our apartment. We never dreamed
that we could harbor such evil. However, our Lord puts us in the caldron and
turns up the heat to bring the evil, our nauseating impurities, up to surface:
·
For it is time for judgment to begin at the
household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those
who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17; John 15:2)
We recoil at the mess and wonder, “How can God love me? How
can I merit anything good from Him?” We pray that this God is more merciful
than we had ever dared to dream, and we find that He is! In gratefulness, we
want to follow Him at the expense of our own tarnished dreams and desires. I
think that this is what Peter meant when, enigmatically, he wrote:
·
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,
arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the
flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh
no longer for human passions but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)
Consequently, I no longer want my own ways, even my own
thoughts. I just want His words and thoughts. I pray for my daily bread to
resist the indwelling evil, the temptations and fears that lust to take me
captive. Stripped of any goals of self-glorification, our joy must be found in
the glory of God.
“Ceased from sin?” Yes! We no longer seek our own glory, before
all else, but His glory. When I view those in need turning to our Lord in
prayer, I am moved to tears. Although our flesh still demands glory, He has
taught me to say “no” to my own glory in favor of real nourishment:
·
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that
you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone
brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will
of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:32–34)
Self-satisfaction will never partake of this food—only those
who long for it:
·
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)
Healing is a gift from God, but so too is suffering.
While healing glorifies the power of God, suffering glorifies His love. How? As
we suffer, we can respond in either of two ways. We can bitch, complain, feel
sorry for ourselves or get angry at our unwanted fate. Or we can praise God,
knowing that suffering is one of His provisions. He had required the reluctant
Ananias to lay hands on Paul to receive his sight. However, Ananias had
complained that Paul was the great persecutor of His Church:
·
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a
chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and
the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the
sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15–16)
Although Ananias might have interpreted these words to mean
that Paul would be required to pay for His persecution of the Church, Paul
later discovered that suffering had been given to him as a gift (2 Corinthians
1:8-10; 4:7-11; 12:9-10). In Don’t Waste Your Sorrows, the deceased revivalist
Paul E. Billheimer had written:
·
All affliction is intended to drive one to God.
It is intended to work a fuller submission, a more utter devotion, an
increasing patience, a greater of beauty of spirit, a more selfless love toward
both God and man. When it accomplishes this, then it may be classified as
suffering with Christ and for His sake because it has enabled Him to achieve
His end and purpose in that one.
Consequently, both suffering and deliverance from suffering
are gifts, even though death might serve as our ultimate deliverance. Yet
suffering is ordained for all His children:
·
and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and
fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also
be glorified with him. (Romans 8:17)
Billheimer reasoned agape, selfless love could only be
learned through suffering. He also pointed out that through faith, many had
been miraculously delivered. However, afterwards, the writer also cited the
many who, by faith, hadn’t received a miraculous deliverance:
·
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even
chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were
killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute,
afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in
deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:36–38)
Could it have been that those required to suffer more had
been given the greater gift and testimony? How so? Perhaps their character had
been refined to a greater extent?
·
…but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character
produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans
5:3–5)
Perhaps the greatest testimony is the one that glorifies God
in our suffering. Perhaps, when we suffer, we can learn to adore Him rather
than to complain. And why not if He is working all things for our good (Romans
8:28), even our dying bodies, knowing that meanwhile our inner self is being
renewed every day to prepare us for our eternal glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)!
Suffering brings glory to God. How? It shows the world that
we can rejoice even as we face martyrdom! Perhaps it is the best display of our
assurance that God loves us and will take care of us for all eternity.
2 comments:
Daniel, as a new Christian I was given Billheimer’s book by a neighbor when we received our 13 yo daughter’s diagnosis of scleroderma, (she had been a juvenile diabetic since age 9). His book helped us immensely to get our ‘eternity perspective’ early. She enthusiastically received Jesus as her Savior shortly after my conversion & has lived a very full life. Sadly, but in the providence of God, more autoimmune diseases piled on over the years & she is now, at 59 yo, terminally ill with ALS. Her faith is still Rock solid (as is our entire family) & she looks forward to being with Jesus for eternity.
Thanks for your wonderful testimony--very encouraging. This book has been an encouragement to me also. However, I am also a bit discouraged to see that my character fails to measure-up to his expectations even after following Him for 46 years. I guess I must return to basics--Jesus loves me despite my many flaws of character. How humbling! But I trust that this is just what He wants.
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