There is one thing that is certain in this universe that can never be prevented. That is, the Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus is coming again. This time as the judge of all people. St Peter asked the question, “What sort of people ought you to be [in the light of His coming]?” 2Peter 3:11. He then answered the question, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” 2 Peter 3:11-14.
How then do we prepare for His coming? By becoming the people God wants us to be, living lives of holiness and godliness. “Holiness” here is hagiais anastrophais [ἁγίαις ἀναστροφαῖς ] meaning holy conduct or the behaviour pleasing to God. “Godliness” is [eusebeia] which means reverence, respect, piety towards God. Together they speak of lives wholly dedicated to God in which He is pre-eminent in every part.
It is interesting that we can play a part in bringing back the King. Peter says that by waiting for His coming, living such lives, we can hasten the coming. “Hasten” is from [speudō] meaning to quicken; to quicken in idea, to be eager for the arrival of. Some scholars suggest that the time of Jesus’ coming might come sooner if His people live as they should. Some evidence for that could come from what Peter said in Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” There were conditions to be met before Christ could return and that included His hearers needing to repent and turn back to God. Other scholars think the hastening is referring to the eagerness of people for His arrival. Both could be true.
1. THE CONCEPT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (God’s rule over us.)
i. Every person is meant to live according to Kingdom principles.
Humans are weakened by their fallen nature, the flesh, and fail to live as they should. As St Paul wrote, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8. They need an inner motivation and an empowering to live lives pleasing to God.
That had been promised in the Old Testament in such passages as Jeremiah 31:31-33 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” God would internalise His law in human hearts and His people would come to a deeper knowledge of Him. However Jeremiah does not state how that would be achieved.
Ezekiel in Ezekiel 11:19 gives us an answer. Here is the promise that God would put His own Spirit in His people to make them sensitive to His will, “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Only then could humans be softened to desire to do what pleases God. Only then could they be inwardly motivated and empowered to obey God’s statutes and laws.
In Ezekiel 36:26 God says through Ezekiel that His Spirit would indeed motivate and empower them to do His will, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” God would change His people by giving them new hearts which would be sensitive to Him. He would also give His own Holy Spirit to indwell them and He would enable them to obey His rules.
God’s resources to live in a way pleasing to God have been made available to believers by the gift of His Spirit to indwell them.
St Paul put Christian living like this, “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13. We work out the implications of our salvation [received as a gift of God’s grace when we believed] as God is working within us. His work in us gives us the willingness and the ability to do what pleases Him. So believers are to work out in practice what God is working inwardly within them by His Spirit.
ii. Living contrary to these Kingdom principles causes damage.
a]. There is the danger of damage from the effects of hate, resentment, unforgiveness and other negative emotions humans hold within them. The Psalmist wrote of the effect of harbouring bitterness, “When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded, 22 I was stupid and didn’t understand; I was an unthinking animal toward you.” Psalm 73:21-22. [CSB]. Any negative attitude that persists in a person has the ability to cause physical and emotional damage as well as spiritual damage from rejecting God’s command to forgive.
b. Psychosomatic illnesses. There is the danger that unhealthy thinking [psyche] can lead to unhealthy effects in the body.[soma]. That is why it is important to try to discover the root cause of illnesses.
c. Pneumopsychosomatic. (Pnuema =spirit). [Psyche. Soma.) There is the further danger that those not having a relationship with God will suffer dis-ease which can lead to dis-ease in the mind and disease in the body.
iii. If we lived according to those Kingdom principles, we would be more likely to maintain health.
a. Healing is accelerated as negative factors are dealt with. Being at peace with God [at ease with Him through repentance and faith] leads to peace in the mind and in the body. Healing can take place and good health can be maintained.
b. Healing is accelerated as people learn to live by Kingdom principles. Jesus encouraged His followers to pray to God, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” It was a recognition that God was King and that He wanted His kingdom to come on earth in the lives of His people. But it was also personal, for it meant adding, “Your kingdom come – in me!” God wants to establish His kingdom in every human heart. But He will not override our freewill. We need to be willing to pray for His Kingdom power to influence our lives.
2. JESUS AS THE PERFECT HUMAN LIVING UNDER THE RULE OF GOD.
Is there an example of a perfect human whose life we can follow? Yes, there is one example and His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect human life living under the rule of God. But wasn’t it easier for Him since He was the Son of God from all eternity? Surely He had power beyond our human resources? No, not as a human, for He “emptied Himself” as Paul described in Philippians 2:6-8. “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
What does Philippians 2:7 really mean? That Jesus “emptied Himself?” He could never empty Himself of His divinity as the eternal Son of God. But what He did when He became human was to forgo the privileges that were His as the Son of God so He could live as a true human. That meant having human fragilities such as being tempted, becoming tired as He travelled, becoming thirsty and showing human emotions such as joy and sadness. Leon Morris wrote regarding the temptations of Jesus, “No special resource is open to Jesus. He met temptation in the same way as we must, by using scripture and He won the victory.” How often did He draw upon His divinity to get Himself out of trouble when His humanity wasn’t enough to handle the situation?
It raises a serious question that if Jesus lived as man and drew upon His divinity in difficult times, then He had advantages as a human that other humans could not take hold of. But the truth is that Jesus didn’t draw upon His divinity. He lived as every human is meant to live and that is for every moment of his life as a human, He was fully committed to God and living by those Kingdom principles. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews put it like this, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.“ Hebrews 5:8-9. The writer was not saying that Jesus learned to be obedient, for He was always perfectly obedient to His Father in heaven. Rather, as He lived as a human He learned what it was like for humans to be obedient through what He suffered. Because He lived a perfect life as a human He set an example for humans to follow in living as willing subjects of the King. It meant also that He because He had lived a perfect life as a human He could die a perfect death as the perfect sacrifice, for humans.
i. Jesus’ Healings and Miracles
How about the healings and miracles Jesus performed? Were they a proof of His divinity [that He was the Son of God] or of His perfect humanity? John gives us an answer in John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John affirms first of all that the signs indicated that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the long-promised Anointed One who would perform such signs, whilst incidentally being the Son of God. He performed them under the anointing of the Holy Spirit rather than using His divine power as the Son of God.
We see here Jesus’ perfect availability to His Heavenly Father, His perfect faith, and perfect obedience, as the true human. He showed how humans were meant to live in utter dependence on the Father in heaven.
ii. Peter’s explanation of Jesus’ ministry
Peter in Acts 10:38 spoke about Jesus’ ministry in these words, “ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Acts 10:38.
His ministry derived and was empowered from the anointing of the Holy Spirit and was not attributed to His divine power as the Son of God. Likewise His doing good and setting people free from the oppression of the devil was seen as resulting from the fact that “God was with Him” rather than being due to His innate power as the Son of God.
iii. Jesus’ own explanation of His ministry. It came from the anointing of the Holy Spirit
As He began His public ministry He said this, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4:18-19. And a short time later, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21.
The scripture to which Jesus was referring was from Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”
This was seen as one of the prophecies about the coming Messiah. Prophecies that Jesus said He had fulfilled by His ministry. His ministry was that of a Messiah whom God had anointed by His Spirit to fulfil this ministry.
There was one occasion when Jesus could have used His status as the Son of God but refused to do so. It was a time of danger for Jesus as He stood before the high priest. Peter had struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Jesus told Peter to put away his sword for He would be able to avert the danger if He wished, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” Matthew 26:53-54. Jesus knew He was the Messiah who had been prophesied would die for His people and He chose to allow what was happening to continue.
[It is worth remembering that God has anointed all His people with the same Holy Spirit to live for Him. Our anointing is by same Holy Spirit, enabling us to be in Christ “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” His Spirit also enables us to know, “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” 1 John 2:20. And 1 John2:27, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”] Jesus lived and ministered as a human and became the only example of a human life lived to perfection.]
iv. Jesus’ explanation of His ministry of Words and Works.
The Words He spoke came from the Father, ‘So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”’ John 7:16. And in John 17:7-8. “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”
The Works He performed were what Jesus saw the Father doing, “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” John 5:19.
In John 14:10 -11, Jesus spoke of His words and His works, His teaching and His ministry. He saw them all as coming from His Father in heaven. John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Because of Jesus’ perfect intimacy with His Father He knew what the Father wanted Him to say and what He wanted Him to do in His ministry.
v. Jesus, The Pattern of Perfect Humanity
The outstanding thing about the ministry of Jesus was that He was always perfectly available to His Heavenly Father to do or to say anything the Father wanted. He lived a life of perfect submission to God and was available to Him for every moment of His life as THE TRUE human. That was due to the fact that He always continued to abide in His Father, as He prayed His disciples would do, ”that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:21.
3. OUR OWN CHRISTIAN PERSONHOOD AS WE LIVE FOR GOD
* Does it depend on our ability or avail-ability? We all have certain abilities as we live in this world but they are limited in scope. We need to be open to what God desires to do in and through us. We could put it this way,
We are responsible as humans to be available to His ability in and through us.
* That means that we need to continually abide in Him. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5. We can do many things as believers but unless they are motivated and empowered by God they are of no value eternally.
- The example of St Paul. We have the example of St Paul in explaining his own ministry “for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles.” Galatians 2:8. Peter and Paul were involved in ministry but in truth, it was God who was working through them in their ministries.
- Paul saw that his strength counted for little but he had come to realise that when he was weak, that was when he became strong [in the Lord’s strength], “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
* Paul’s motive in life was to gain Christ and to know Him more deeply, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Philippians 3:7-9
* What Paul longed for was to not only know Christ deeply but to experience His power in his life even if it meant suffering in His name, 10 “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Philippians 3:10.
* As Paul prayed for his friends he asked that they might know Christ and through Him might experience their hope and the riches they had in Him. He wanted them to experience the power God used in raising Jesus from the dead, Eph 1:17 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”
* Paul also prayed that they might experience resurrection power in their lives,
Verse 18,“that you may know … 19 what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”
* The goal then for Christian believers is to make Christ central in their lives. He has given them forgiveness through His death on the cross, and new life by sending the Holy Spirit to live in them.
*Believers have great resources. All things are now theirs in Christ as Paul wrote, ”Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.
* God has blessed all believers with every spiritual blessing, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:7. God has made His resources available to believers in His Son, and as we abide in Him, the Holy Spirit can reveal to us what we need to say and to do throughout our lives.
* How can we become the people God wants us to be?
By believing and acting on all the truths above and by praying to be open to God.
As we pray prayers like that in Psalm 139:23-24, we allow God to show us how He sees us so that we can repent of and [by His grace] remove the negative and be filled with His presence. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” God searches and can reveal the results of His search to His people.
“Anxious thoughts” are unnecessary for believers, as St Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
In verse 24 “any offensive way” translates hodos anomias [οδος ανομιας ] meaning a “way of lawlessness” and can be translated as “wicked way.”
The Psalmist is inviting God to do a thorough search on him and to reveal to him anything that is not pleasing to God. The Psalmist wants to be free of anything in his life that is not pleasing to God for he wants God to lead him as he continues on the everlasting way.
This is the way to become the person God wants you to be!
Blog No.500 posted on Sunday 24 September 2023
holbeck 
500. BECOMING THE PERSON GOD WANTS US TO BE
There is one thing that is certain in this universe that can never be prevented. That is, the Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus is coming again. This time as the judge of all people. St Peter asked the question, “What sort of people ought you to be [in the light of His coming]?” 2Peter 3:11. He then answered the question, “Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” 2 Peter 3:11-14.
How then do we prepare for His coming? By becoming the people God wants us to be, living lives of holiness and godliness. “Holiness” here is hagiais anastrophais [ἁγίαις ἀναστροφαῖς ] meaning holy conduct or the behaviour pleasing to God. “Godliness” is [eusebeia] which means reverence, respect, piety towards God. Together they speak of lives wholly dedicated to God in which He is pre-eminent in every part.
It is interesting that we can play a part in bringing back the King. Peter says that by waiting for His coming, living such lives, we can hasten the coming. “Hasten” is from [speudō] meaning to quicken; to quicken in idea, to be eager for the arrival of. Some scholars suggest that the time of Jesus’ coming might come sooner if His people live as they should. Some evidence for that could come from what Peter said in Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” There were conditions to be met before Christ could return and that included His hearers needing to repent and turn back to God. Other scholars think the hastening is referring to the eagerness of people for His arrival. Both could be true.
1. THE CONCEPT OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (God’s rule over us.)
i. Every person is meant to live according to Kingdom principles.
Humans are weakened by their fallen nature, the flesh, and fail to live as they should. As St Paul wrote, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8. They need an inner motivation and an empowering to live lives pleasing to God.
That had been promised in the Old Testament in such passages as Jeremiah 31:31-33 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” God would internalise His law in human hearts and His people would come to a deeper knowledge of Him. However Jeremiah does not state how that would be achieved.
Ezekiel in Ezekiel 11:19 gives us an answer. Here is the promise that God would put His own Spirit in His people to make them sensitive to His will, “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” Only then could humans be softened to desire to do what pleases God. Only then could they be inwardly motivated and empowered to obey God’s statutes and laws.
In Ezekiel 36:26 God says through Ezekiel that His Spirit would indeed motivate and empower them to do His will, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” God would change His people by giving them new hearts which would be sensitive to Him. He would also give His own Holy Spirit to indwell them and He would enable them to obey His rules.
God’s resources to live in a way pleasing to God have been made available to believers by the gift of His Spirit to indwell them.
St Paul put Christian living like this, “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13. We work out the implications of our salvation [received as a gift of God’s grace when we believed] as God is working within us. His work in us gives us the willingness and the ability to do what pleases Him. So believers are to work out in practice what God is working inwardly within them by His Spirit.
ii. Living contrary to these Kingdom principles causes damage.
a]. There is the danger of damage from the effects of hate, resentment, unforgiveness and other negative emotions humans hold within them. The Psalmist wrote of the effect of harbouring bitterness, “When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded, 22 I was stupid and didn’t understand; I was an unthinking animal toward you.” Psalm 73:21-22. [CSB]. Any negative attitude that persists in a person has the ability to cause physical and emotional damage as well as spiritual damage from rejecting God’s command to forgive.
b. Psychosomatic illnesses. There is the danger that unhealthy thinking [psyche] can lead to unhealthy effects in the body.[soma]. That is why it is important to try to discover the root cause of illnesses.
c. Pneumopsychosomatic. (Pnuema =spirit). [Psyche. Soma.) There is the further danger that those not having a relationship with God will suffer dis-ease which can lead to dis-ease in the mind and disease in the body.
iii. If we lived according to those Kingdom principles, we would be more likely to maintain health.
a. Healing is accelerated as negative factors are dealt with. Being at peace with God [at ease with Him through repentance and faith] leads to peace in the mind and in the body. Healing can take place and good health can be maintained.
b. Healing is accelerated as people learn to live by Kingdom principles. Jesus encouraged His followers to pray to God, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” It was a recognition that God was King and that He wanted His kingdom to come on earth in the lives of His people. But it was also personal, for it meant adding, “Your kingdom come – in me!” God wants to establish His kingdom in every human heart. But He will not override our freewill. We need to be willing to pray for His Kingdom power to influence our lives.
2. JESUS AS THE PERFECT HUMAN LIVING UNDER THE RULE OF GOD.
Is there an example of a perfect human whose life we can follow? Yes, there is one example and His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect human life living under the rule of God. But wasn’t it easier for Him since He was the Son of God from all eternity? Surely He had power beyond our human resources? No, not as a human, for He “emptied Himself” as Paul described in Philippians 2:6-8. “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
What does Philippians 2:7 really mean? That Jesus “emptied Himself?” He could never empty Himself of His divinity as the eternal Son of God. But what He did when He became human was to forgo the privileges that were His as the Son of God so He could live as a true human. That meant having human fragilities such as being tempted, becoming tired as He travelled, becoming thirsty and showing human emotions such as joy and sadness. Leon Morris wrote regarding the temptations of Jesus, “No special resource is open to Jesus. He met temptation in the same way as we must, by using scripture and He won the victory.” How often did He draw upon His divinity to get Himself out of trouble when His humanity wasn’t enough to handle the situation?
It raises a serious question that if Jesus lived as man and drew upon His divinity in difficult times, then He had advantages as a human that other humans could not take hold of. But the truth is that Jesus didn’t draw upon His divinity. He lived as every human is meant to live and that is for every moment of his life as a human, He was fully committed to God and living by those Kingdom principles. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews put it like this, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.“ Hebrews 5:8-9. The writer was not saying that Jesus learned to be obedient, for He was always perfectly obedient to His Father in heaven. Rather, as He lived as a human He learned what it was like for humans to be obedient through what He suffered. Because He lived a perfect life as a human He set an example for humans to follow in living as willing subjects of the King. It meant also that He because He had lived a perfect life as a human He could die a perfect death as the perfect sacrifice, for humans.
i. Jesus’ Healings and Miracles
How about the healings and miracles Jesus performed? Were they a proof of His divinity [that He was the Son of God] or of His perfect humanity? John gives us an answer in John 20:30-31, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John affirms first of all that the signs indicated that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the long-promised Anointed One who would perform such signs, whilst incidentally being the Son of God. He performed them under the anointing of the Holy Spirit rather than using His divine power as the Son of God.
We see here Jesus’ perfect availability to His Heavenly Father, His perfect faith, and perfect obedience, as the true human. He showed how humans were meant to live in utter dependence on the Father in heaven.
ii. Peter’s explanation of Jesus’ ministry
Peter in Acts 10:38 spoke about Jesus’ ministry in these words, “ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Acts 10:38.
His ministry derived and was empowered from the anointing of the Holy Spirit and was not attributed to His divine power as the Son of God. Likewise His doing good and setting people free from the oppression of the devil was seen as resulting from the fact that “God was with Him” rather than being due to His innate power as the Son of God.
iii. Jesus’ own explanation of His ministry. It came from the anointing of the Holy Spirit
As He began His public ministry He said this, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4:18-19. And a short time later, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21.
The scripture to which Jesus was referring was from Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”
This was seen as one of the prophecies about the coming Messiah. Prophecies that Jesus said He had fulfilled by His ministry. His ministry was that of a Messiah whom God had anointed by His Spirit to fulfil this ministry.
There was one occasion when Jesus could have used His status as the Son of God but refused to do so. It was a time of danger for Jesus as He stood before the high priest. Peter had struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Jesus told Peter to put away his sword for He would be able to avert the danger if He wished, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” Matthew 26:53-54. Jesus knew He was the Messiah who had been prophesied would die for His people and He chose to allow what was happening to continue.
[It is worth remembering that God has anointed all His people with the same Holy Spirit to live for Him. Our anointing is by same Holy Spirit, enabling us to be in Christ “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” His Spirit also enables us to know, “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” 1 John 2:20. And 1 John2:27, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”] Jesus lived and ministered as a human and became the only example of a human life lived to perfection.]
iv. Jesus’ explanation of His ministry of Words and Works.
The Words He spoke came from the Father, ‘So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”’ John 7:16. And in John 17:7-8. “Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.”
The Works He performed were what Jesus saw the Father doing, “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” John 5:19.
In John 14:10 -11, Jesus spoke of His words and His works, His teaching and His ministry. He saw them all as coming from His Father in heaven. John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Because of Jesus’ perfect intimacy with His Father He knew what the Father wanted Him to say and what He wanted Him to do in His ministry.
v. Jesus, The Pattern of Perfect Humanity
The outstanding thing about the ministry of Jesus was that He was always perfectly available to His Heavenly Father to do or to say anything the Father wanted. He lived a life of perfect submission to God and was available to Him for every moment of His life as THE TRUE human. That was due to the fact that He always continued to abide in His Father, as He prayed His disciples would do, ”that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:21.
3. OUR OWN CHRISTIAN PERSONHOOD AS WE LIVE FOR GOD
* Does it depend on our ability or avail-ability? We all have certain abilities as we live in this world but they are limited in scope. We need to be open to what God desires to do in and through us. We could put it this way,
We are responsible as humans to be available to His ability in and through us.
* That means that we need to continually abide in Him. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5. We can do many things as believers but unless they are motivated and empowered by God they are of no value eternally.
* Paul’s motive in life was to gain Christ and to know Him more deeply, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Philippians 3:7-9
* What Paul longed for was to not only know Christ deeply but to experience His power in his life even if it meant suffering in His name, 10 “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.” Philippians 3:10.
* As Paul prayed for his friends he asked that they might know Christ and through Him might experience their hope and the riches they had in Him. He wanted them to experience the power God used in raising Jesus from the dead, Eph 1:17 “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”
* Paul also prayed that they might experience resurrection power in their lives,
Verse 18,“that you may know … 19 what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”
* The goal then for Christian believers is to make Christ central in their lives. He has given them forgiveness through His death on the cross, and new life by sending the Holy Spirit to live in them.
*Believers have great resources. All things are now theirs in Christ as Paul wrote, ”Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.
* God has blessed all believers with every spiritual blessing, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:7. God has made His resources available to believers in His Son, and as we abide in Him, the Holy Spirit can reveal to us what we need to say and to do throughout our lives.
* How can we become the people God wants us to be?
By believing and acting on all the truths above and by praying to be open to God.
As we pray prayers like that in Psalm 139:23-24, we allow God to show us how He sees us so that we can repent of and [by His grace] remove the negative and be filled with His presence. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” God searches and can reveal the results of His search to His people.
“Anxious thoughts” are unnecessary for believers, as St Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7.
In verse 24 “any offensive way” translates hodos anomias [οδος ανομιας ] meaning a “way of lawlessness” and can be translated as “wicked way.”
The Psalmist is inviting God to do a thorough search on him and to reveal to him anything that is not pleasing to God. The Psalmist wants to be free of anything in his life that is not pleasing to God for he wants God to lead him as he continues on the everlasting way.
This is the way to become the person God wants you to be!
Blog No.500 posted on Sunday 24 September 2023
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About Jim Holbeck
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.