Saturate your life in joy, regardless of how things look. Is my reading from Philippians.
Yes Ian, joy in Me is the highest benefit of being able to see Me for who I am and to trust Me no matter what seems to be facing you. Continually reminding yourself of the value and benefit of rejoicing in Me will turn your life into a paean of praise and worship. so that you will be able to live the supernatural gospel life. The life which, no matter the circumstances benefits you and makes you into a credible witness of My love and Providence. It permeates your body and soul and makes you into a beautiful member of My kingdom. You can only do that through My supernatural power and love and grace.
Today we will complete the section from Ch 12:20 to 36. Last time I asked you to see if you could spot the central vs in this section. I am sure you could see Jesus’s words in vs 27, “For this very reason I came to this hour.” This gives us a clear indication of the main purpose of Jesus’s mission on earth. For this very reason refers back to His death which He had described as “a kernel of wheat falling to the ground”, back in vs 24. it was this very act which would bring the ultimate glory to the Father’s name.
What were His feelings about this hour as He calls it, the hour when He would face death on a cruel cross, taking the sins of the whole world on His shoulders? Maybe surprisingly He admits that His heart is troubled that He had actually contemplated asking the Father to save Him from this hour.
I want you all to see this conflict that He was facing and His very humanity indicating that He was feeling the pressure of what was to come. I think maybe every one of us may tend to think that because He was/is God in human form that this tremendous trial was actually not such a big deal because of His divinity.
In Hebrews 2:14-18 the writer makes it clear how how completely human He was and therefore His sufferings were as bad as ours may be and because He faced these Himself He is able to understand and minister to us. I myself tend to think of His prayer in the garden of Gethsemany as a momentary weakness, but this among other passages shows that He was anticipating the coming ordeal with dread long before that and was ever so much like we may have when faced by a difficult and painful prospect. He IS therefore able to really minister to us with complete compassion. What a wonderful reassurance.
Of course He would have His Father’s grace during the ordeal, just as we have when we are faced with suffering, but even that was ultimately taken away from Him when He called out “My God my God why have you forsaken me?”
It is also interesting that He then goes on to highlight the question of judgement in vs 30. The focus is firstly on the battle with the “Prince of this world” who is about to be defeated. It shows how important that this action is in the bigger scheme of things that He highlights this first when He speaks of judgement. And then against that backdrop He again reminds the reader that it a death upon a cross which would be the means to that victory (Notice this is a repetition of the statement in John 3:14) which was the ultimate goal which would deal with God’s judgement. Judgement is a huge issue and it is only as we understand that that we can fully appreciate the value of His death which enables us to escape that.
It is clear that the crowd and even His disciples didn’t have a clue what all this meant, but later would look back and realize He was preparing them all along for the coming ordeal.
So looking at this passage there is a huge sense of assurance that Jesus does understand exactly how you feel at all times. I have experienced that sense of comfort continually over the last three weeks and longer. But it is also a reminder that we are called to somehow suffer with Christ as we live here Romans 8:17 as we live our lives as co-heirs of Christ. So we should not be surprised when we face these things. However we have the wonderful assurance that Paul gives in 2 Cor 12:9 that His grace will always be sufficient for us no matter what we may face.
So let me finish off by once again thanking all you for the incredible support you have shown me over this time while Em finally has gone to be with her Lord. Your support was a palpable manifestation of God’s love for me through you. See you all next week.