Don’t Be an Obstacle
“I hear what you’re saying but are you telling me that Sarah is into the same stuff you are? Like, is she saved too? What happened to her life? If Christ is supposed to change lives, He sure failed with her. If this great salvation is the ‘be all and end all’ thing – it sure didn’t do much for her! She’s no different than anybody else here on campus.”
Bang! Wham! Whoops! You sure hit a wall that time. Back up and try again.
The Apostle Paul was spreading the Gospel in the city of
“Finally, brothers, pray for us,
that the word of the Lord may speed ahead
and be honored, as happened among you…”
(2Thessalonians 3:1 ESV)
The last thing a runner needs in a competition is to be struck in the face by a piece of garbage carried by a gust of wind across the race track from a nearby dump. A banana peeling or an abandoned baby carriage in the way of a runner would be a major frustration and an impediment to a successful run.
Paul asked the Christians to pray that the track would be cleared of debris, impediments and obstructions. He wanted the great message of the Gospel to run freely through every street, square and market in
One of the greatest obstacles to hinder the Gospel from speeding ahead is someone who claims to be a Christian – but no one would have ever guessed based on their lifestyle, behaviour and priorities. Someone who says they’re a Christian but the evidence is lacking in their life is far worse that encountering a banana peeling in a race or being struck by a piece of airborne garbage.
Satan has many strategies to obstruct the Gospel. Yes, Government policies may hinder the spread of the Gospel. Outspoken atheists may be a distraction. Other religions may complicate matters. But the single greatest hindrance to the speeding ahead of the Gospel is un-Christ-like behaviour on the part of those who say they are Christians. Insider inconsistencies are more damaging than outside hostilities.
The distinctive features of a genuine believer are these:
- being disciplined in clean living and in control of your urges and desires;
- being humble and gentle;
- being faithful, dependable and reliable to God and to others;
- being kind, caring and generous;
- being nice, sympathetic, gentle and thoughtful;
- being patient when times are difficult and frustrating;
- being calm, peaceful, tranquil and contented;
- being happy and marked by inner joy that can be seen outwardly; and
- being full of love vertically towards God and horizontally towards those in need of Christ.
Who produced this list? Read Galatians 5:22-23 backwards.
One of the big things critics level against the Gospel is – so often we don’t look or act like the ‘Jesus’ we are preaching. All of the above features were displayed in His beautiful life on earth. He practiced what He preached. His behaviour matched His beliefs. He was authentic. Am I?
The extent to which the any or all of the above is lacking or missing in my life, determines the extent to which my own life is hindering and impeding the speeding forward of the Gospel.
Feed on Christ. Knowing Him by enjoying and submitting to His Word will produce in my life the nine characteristics mentioned above. Don’t be an obstacle.
Comments
One has to remember that whatever Jesus did, while walking on earth, was done in the name of God. Jesus never claimed to be God, but always asked for God to intervene through prayer. That is what we have to do to live a life called Christlike. Pray to God and ask for assistance through Jesus then the Holy Spirit will deal with whatever the problem might be. Amen
Mercury, thank you for visiting the website. It is necessary for me to clearly state that the Christian belief is that Jesus DID in fact claim to be God – not merely a representative of God or like God in character. He was God in human flesh and the Bible clearly makes those claims so we can examine them for ourselves.
Here are some examples where Jesus’ claim to be God is very obvious:
To be Yahweh—John 8:58
Equality with God—John 5:18
To be Messiah—Mark 14:61–64
Accepts worship—Matthew 28:17
Equal authority with God—Matthew 28:18
Prayer in His name—John 14:13–14
This is a very clear matter and is at the crux of the Christian faith. If Jesus claimed to be something He was not, then he was a fraud or had grandiose ideas of himself which would suggest mental illness. Christians do not believe he was a liar or a lunatic. They believe He is Lord.
And He is the only way to Heaven.
Thanks
Peter
I don’t deny the deity of Jesus our Savior please let me understood on that subject. But Jesus did always pray to God whilst on earth. He came to earth as a human and suffered what we suffered as humans yet He died for our sins for us to be free from that bondage. Here is my take on some of your scripture verses you quoted.
Joh 8:58 – Before Abraham was, I am–The words rendered “was” and “am” are quite different. The one clause means, “Abraham was brought into being”; the other, “I exist.” The statement therefore is not that Christ came into existence before Abraham did (as Arians affirm is the meaning), but that He never came into being at all, but existed before Abraham had a being; in other words, existed before creation, or eternally (as Joh_1:1). In that sense the Jews plainly understood Him, since “then took they up stones to cast at Him,” just as they had before done when they saw that He made Himself equal with God (Joh_5:18).
Joh5:18 – making himself equal with God–rightly gathering this to be His meaning, not from the mere words “My Father,” but from His claim of right to act as His Father did in the like high sphere, and by the same law of ceaseless activity in that sphere. And as, instead of instantly disclaiming any such meaning–as He must have done if it was false–He positively sets His seal to it in the following verses, merely explaining how consistent such claim was with the prerogatives of His Father, it is beyond all doubt that we have here an assumption of peculiar personal Sonship, or participation in the Father’s essential nature.
Mar 14:61 But Jesus kept quiet and would not say a word. Again the High Priest questioned him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed God?”
Mar 14:62 “I am,” answered Jesus, “and you will all see the Son of Man seated at the right side of the Almighty and coming with the clouds of heaven!”
I wil accept this in a sense as He said He will sit on God’s right hand.
Mat 28:18 Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.-
saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; –
which is to be understood of him, not as God, who has the same original and underived power and authority over all creatures, and things in heaven and earth, as the Father has; but as mediator, to whom all things are delivered by the Father; and not of a power of doing this, or the other thing, or of omnipotence, being the Almighty; nor of doing miracles, and forgiving sins, which he had, and exercised before his death and resurrection, but of governing: he was king before, but his kingdom was not with observation; but now he was declared, and made manifest, to be both Lord and Christ; he had “all” power and authority for the settling the affairs of his church and kingdom, to appoint offices and officers in it, and, to bestow gifts upon men, to qualify them for the same, and to institute ordinances to be observed till his second coming: and this power of his reached to things in heaven; he having the angels in heaven subject to him, as ministering spirits to be sent forth by him at his pleasure; and all the gifts of the Spirit to dispose of as he thought good; and to things on earth, not only to the saints, whose King he is, and who are made willing to serve him; but to all flesh, to kings and princes, who rule and reign by him; and even to all the wicked of the world, who in some shape or another are made to subserve the ends of his mediatorial kingdom and government: and this is not usurped power, but what is given him, and what he has a right to exercise; having finished sin, abolished death, overcome the world, and destroyed the devil; and must reign till all enemies are subject to him: and this he says, and it was necessary to say it at this time, partly on account of his late sufferings and death, which were attended with weakness and reproach; and partly on account of the following commission he gives to his disciples, that it might be seen and believed, he had power and authority sufficient to give them such an one; as also to animate and encourage them under all the weakness, contempt, and persecution that should attend them in their ministry. The Syriac and Persic versions add, “as the Father hath sent me, even so I send you”, as in Joh_20:21, from whence these words seem to be taken.
Joh 14:13 And I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son.
Joh 14:14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it. It is clear that Jesus says here He is the mediator and we must pray to God through Him. If we ask Him(Jesus) He will do.
What the problem is, is that Jesus is seen as the wrong part of the Godhead, namely God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Three different entities as One God.
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