Life of Christ 98
During the tense give
and take between Jesus and the crowd in the Temple for the Feast of Tabernacles
He gives them an evidence of the veracity of His claim to be speaking God's
truth. 'He that speaketh of Himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh
his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him'
(John 7.18).
One of the little
noticed yet completely true facts about the life and ministry of our Lord is
that He rarely, if ever, mentioned Himself. Look at the greatest sermon ever
preached, The Sermon on the Mount, for instance. He spoke of how others could
receive blessing. He spoke of glorifying the Father (Matthew 5.16) by living
right. He spoke of the Ten Commandments, explaining their actual intent. He
spoke of living for and loving others. He spoke of genuine private
communication with God. He spoke of prayer. He spoke of fasting. He spoke of
giving. He spoke of hypocrisy. He spoke of God's tender watch care and
provision. He spoke of judging correctly. He spoke more on prayer. He spoke of
salvation. He spoke of false prophets. He spoke of foundational Christianity.
But what He didn't do is give seventeen illustrations of how He Himself was a
wonderful example in these areas. This, even though He actually was a wonderful
example in these areas.
He didn't speak of
Himself. He spoke of His Heavenly Father, Israel's God, Jehovah. 'For I have
not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment,
what I should say, and what I should speak' (John 12.49). 'The words that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he
doeth the works' (John 14.10). 'He that loveth me keepeth not my sayings: and
the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me' (John
14.24). 'My Father is greater than I' (John 14.28). 'I shall shew you plainly
of the Father' (John 16.25).
As a teenager, and then
a young man in Bible college, I was rather enamored with the pulpit presence of
men who could spin a yarn, tell a story, and illustrate some wonderful
philosophy with the events of their own life. The older I get, however, the
more I look back on that and wonder just what I was thinking. One of the great
tests, I think, of a preacher, is to run his preaching through that collection
of verses I just gave you in the last paragraph in order to see just exactly how applicable they are to his
preaching. In plain language, a preacher who constantly refers to himself, and
to his own exploits is well-nigh spiritually bankrupt.
Of course, this is not
just a flaw reserved for preachers. Christians of all stripes and positions in
life can be found guilty of focusing primarily on themselves, thinking about
themselves, and speaking about themselves. As I understand the Word of God, the
mature Christian is focused on God first, and on other people second. In his
own estimation he is a distant and often forgotten third.
These
are the kinds of people whom you have to persuade to pay attention to their own
physical and financial needs because they are so wrapped up in others. These
are the kinds of people who get very embarrassed by personal attention, praise,
and plaudits. These are the kinds of people who don't care if their dress gets
ruined by Sunday School kids, or their schedule gets bumped up a bit because
somebody needs picked up for church. These are the kinds of people who never do
get to take that vacation on the cruise ship but they do manage to faithfully
support an orphanage in Honduras for years. These are the kinds of people who
don't think about themselves, don't focus on themselves, don't fret about
themselves, and don't talk about themselves. These are the kinds of people who
serve quietly, behind the scenes, giving themselves away in service, in prayer,
in time, in energy, without reserve, for decades.
This
kind of Christianity is poles apart from the modern day prosperity Gospel
types. It is poles apart from the carnal God-exists-for-me types. As I type
this I'm thinking about a man who attended my church in Pennsylvania for a few
weeks. He had retired as an automotive executive in Detroit, and had chosen to
live in our area because of its inexpensive standard of living. This was back
in the days when 20 in church was a good day for us, and consequently we
noticed the tall, successful looking visitor as soon as he strolled through the door. After he had visited our church a couple of times I made an appointment with him, and as we talked he shared
with me his salvation testimony. He also volunteered the time in his life when
he felt closest to God happened to involve a Corvette. He had finally saved
enough money to buy a new one, and as he drove it at high speed on the
interstate for the first time he raised his hand in the air and thanked the
Lord that God had let him live long enough to enjoy that moment. I remember
sitting there, shell shocked in my mind, that this guy's concept of being close
to God was finally getting to drive his own Corvette fast. Needless to say, he
didn't last long in our church, and my opinion of his Christianity is quite
low, at best. Such a selfish, consumerist spirituality is anathema to what
Jesus died to give us.
Roy and Jo Jo Moffitt |
The
picture of our generation is one that is snapped, in front of a mirror, by
someone who has posed ten different ways just to see how amazing they are. We
call them selfies. There are no selfies in the Christ-like life. There is only
Him. And them.
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