One With Jesus

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 25th of April, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This was an abbreviated service due to constraints put in place from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our YouTube streaming channel is:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Let’s think for a moment what it means to be one with something or someone.  We can say it’s being of the same mindset, being in agreement, having something important in common, being just alike in many ways.  Some of that can be by choice.  We can choose the groups we associate with, that we are one with, based on our personal thoughts and feelings, on our worldview.  Just like we can choose to be a Christian, a follower of Christ Jesus.  And if we do choose to be a Christian, we should be one with Christ, one with Jesus.

In his Gospel account and his three letters to the early church, the Apostle John gives us some great instructions on what it means to be one with Jesus.  Please listen and follow along to what John wrote in the 3rd chapter of his 1st letter to the early church, verse 1 and verses 13 through 24, and I’ll be reading this from the Contemporary English Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that He lets us be called His children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don’t know who we are.

13 My friends, don’t be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14 Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death.

15 If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life. 16 We know what love is because Jesus gave His life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other. 17 If we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we cannot say we love God. 18 Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it.

19 When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. 20 But even if we don’t feel at ease, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if we feel at ease in the presence of God, we will have the courage to come near Him. 22 He will give us whatever we ask, because we obey Him and do what pleases Him. 23 God wants us to have faith in His Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do. 24 If we obey God’s commandments, we will stay one in our hearts with Him, and He will stay one with us. The Spirit that He has given us is proof that we are one with Him.

--1 John 3:1, 13-24 (CEV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much that You would adopt us as Your children.  The world may not know us or understand our faith, but You know us.  The world may hate us, but You love us.  Father, please help us truly love others, just as Jesus loved.  Help us show the love of Jesus in our daily walk, even to those who hate us and would do us harm.  Help us be one with Jesus in all we do, so that others may see Him in our actions and deeds.  And Father, please keep us safe from Satan’s evil works and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and purpose in our love and our service to Jesus.  Please keep us healthy and safe through these worrisome times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Show us how to be one with Your Son.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Joe Wagner once wrote in Reader's Digest about attending a junior livestock show when a grand-champion lamb, owned by a little girl, was being auctioned.  "As the bids reached five dollars per pound," he wrote, "the little girl, standing beside the lamb in the arena, began to cry.  At ten dollars, the tears were streaming down her face and she clasped her arms tightly around the lamb's neck.  The higher the bids rose, the more she cried.  Finally, a local businessman bought the lamb for more than $1000, but then announced that he was donating it back to the little girl.  The crowd applauded and cheered."

"Months later," he continued, "I was judging some statewide essays when I came across one from a girl who told about the time her grand-champion lamb had been auctioned.  'The prices began to get so high during the bidding,' she wrote, 'that I started to cry from happiness.'  She continued: 'The man who bought the lamb for so much more than I ever dreamed I would get returned the lamb to me, and when I got home, Daddy barbecued the lamb -- and it was really delicious.'"

Everyone thought the little girl loved the lamb and hated to part with it.  But this wasn't the case.  She was more interested in the money than the lamb.  Well, at least until suppertime.

Sometimes love shows itself in much simpler ways...  William C. Schultz related such a moment.  His daughter, Laurie, was about three years old when one night she requested his aid in getting undressed.  He was downstairs and she was upstairs, and ...well...  “You know how to undress yourself,” he reminded her.  “Yes,” she explained, “but sometimes people need people anyway, even if they do know how to do things by themselves.”

People need people sometimes, even if they do know how to do something for themselves.  Sometimes people just need help.  And sometimes they just need the reassurance of someone else being there with them.

I realize I’m emphasizing love quite a bit so far.  Both of those little stories centered on love, of one sort or another.  And in our scripture reading, John talked about love, and it’s close cousin, hatred.

God loves us, but the world hates us, just as it hates Jesus, God’s Son.  The world hates us because we try our best to not let it control us.  The world hates us because it doesn’t understand us.  It doesn’t understand why we can have faith in something we can’t see or touch.  It doesn’t understand why we won’t give in and be just like everyone else.  The world hates us because we are not one with it.  Instead, we are one with Jesus and God loves us for it.

But to remain one with Jesus, we must do as He commands us and love each other.  If we hate each other, then we are murderers, just as Jesus told us.  And since murderers are condemned to eternal torment rather than everlasting life, as murderers we cannot be one with Jesus, who does have eternal life.

In his 1st letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us that "he who is joined to the Lord is of one spirit with Him".  To truly be one with Jesus we must be of the same spirit, loving others just as He loved, keeping their welfare foremost in our minds.  And if we love them, we’ll want them to be saved, too.

John goes on to make a very interesting point.  When we love others, that action will assure us that we belong to Jesus, belong to the truth, and that assurance will make us feel more at ease in the presence of our Father God.  This, in turn, will give us the courage to come near Him and ask anything of Him.  And because we obey Him and do what pleases Him, He will give us whatever we ask.

Family, Paul is talking about our praying to God, and Him answering our prayer.  God and Jesus want us to love others, not hate them, and if we do we will stay one with Jesus and be rewarded.  God’s Holy Spirit within us is proof that we are one with our Lord.

So what do we pray for?  The courage, conviction, and strength to do as Jesus commands us: to love one another.  This is selfless love, unconditional love, loving the unlovable, loving those who would just as soon harm us if they could.  In other words, this can be a very difficult task.  So we need to pray and ask for help.  We need to ask for boldness to counter our own fears and shyness.  The disciples prayed for boldness, so we shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the same for ourselves.

Picking up where our scripture reading of last week left off, after Peter and John healed the lame man at the temple gate, they were taken into custody and had to face the high priests.  The religious leaders ordered them to never again use the name of Jesus for any reason, much less to heal anyone else, and then let them go.  The Apostle Luke recorded what happened next, in his Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, verses 23 through 31…

23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

‘Why did the nations rage,

And the people plot vain things?

26 The kings of the earth took their stand,

And the rulers were gathered together

Against the Lord and against His Christ.’

27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

--Acts 4:23-31 (NKJV)

They prayed for boldness, and God heard that prayer.  They knew God heard them because the whole place shook, and they knew God answered them because they could feel the Holy Spirit moving within them.  And they went out speaking the word of God with boldness.

To be one with Jesus, truly one, we must do as He commands us.  We must love each other, and we must go into the world preaching the Gospel and making disciples.  The second part of that command shows that we really do the first part, for if we love others, we will want them to have eternal life with Jesus.  If we love them, we will want them to be one with Jesus, too, sharing our bounty in heaven.

But both of these actions on our part require boldness, both involve a certain amount of risk.  Granted, we don’t have Herod or Pilate or the high priests of Israel or some occupying army to deal with.  We here don’t have to worry about being arrested or executed for our belief in Jesus and trying to do what He commands, at least not yet.

So what’s holding us back?  Why do we even need to ask God for boldness?  Because we are fearful.  We are fearful, not for our lives, but of being humiliated, shamed, or embarrassed.  We are afraid of being made fun of and teased.  We are worried about saying or doing the wrong thing and turning someone away from Jesus rather than leading them to Him.  Fear is a powerful force that can stop us in our tracks.  And the fear of doing as Jesus commands us comes directly from Satan, who doesn’t want us to carry out our mission.

We belong to the truth so let us seek God’s help to be one with our Lord.  Feel at ease in His presence and come near to Him in prayer.  Ask for boldness to truly love others and to spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus.  God will answer our prayer, and will reward us for being one with His Son.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord!  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You are so good to us.  You provide for our needs and so much more.  You even offer us eternal life with You in heaven if we just become and remain one with Your Son Jesus.  Thank You, Father, for loving us so much.  But Father, sometimes the glitter and glamor of the world tugs at us.  And sometimes we let fear keep us from doing what we should.  Please help us let go of the world.  Help us overcome our fears.  Give us the strength and the courage to go out into the world telling everyone all about Your Son.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You from our hearts through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more faithful and true, putting all our trust in You and Jesus, and seeking Your help as we do so…

Lord Jesus, we try really hard to do what You command, but sometimes the things of this world get in our way.  We let our fears hold us back when we should be sharing the Gospel.  Our biases and hatreds keep us from loving others.  We want to remain one with You, but sometimes we are just too weak in our faith and our will.  Lord, we ask You to strengthen us and encourage us.  Fortify our will to do as our Father wills us.  Reassure us that we are one with You.  Help us do as You command us.  And please stand at our side as we try to show Your love to a world that so desperately needs it.  All this we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.