Lazarus, come forth!

Let us discuss the story of Lazurus whom our Lord raised from the dead and how it affects us.

We read -  Then they took away the stone  from the place  where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up  His  eyes and said,  “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice,  “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,  “Loose him, and let him go.” (John 11:41-44 NKJV)

Were we not all dead in our sin before Jesus Christ called us forth from the darkness into the light? Lazarus was dead in a tomb, representing our state before heeding to the calling of Christ. As Lazarus was physically dead we too were spiritually dead and it was Christ who searched for us and called us from the darkness. We read - “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?  And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. (Matthew 18:12, 13 NKJV) As Lazarus was called by Christ he heeded to His voice and came forth from darkness, so too, it is up to us to heed His voice and come forth from darkness and death into new life.

And what of Christ's words "Loose him, and let him go" is this not what Christ commands satan once we step into the shining light of Christ? "Loose him\her" He commands the enemy and begrudgingly the adversary lets us go. As Lazarus was given new life, we too, are given new life and it is then up to us to thank, follow and worship the Lord for His marvellous dispensation toward us. Lest we fall into a trap and remember not the glorious calling in which we were called and fall back into error, we read - New American Standard Bible (©1995) John 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." So it is imperative that we strive to keep the faith that has been given to us, by which we were called by the Lord to come forth from the darkness. 

Father and Son, Love is sacrificial

As a new dad of about a week, I can only now begin to understand the sacrifice that our Lord God the Father made by sending His only begotten Son to die on our behalf.

We read in John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

When my son is crying because he is hungry, I actually feel his pain and begin to feel hurt when I see him looking for food, I can only imagine the pain I would feel if, God forbid, he came down with a cold. How then did God our Father feel whilst watching His beloved Son take a punishment fit for us sinners? I can only imagine the hurt our Father felt watching Jesus hang upon the Cross, but this should make us even more thankful for the sacrifice that our Lord God took upon Himself to defeat sin, death and satan.

Love is sacrificial, true love that flows from the goodness of God is not selfish but rather it "does not seek its own" as the blessed St Paul states. As parents all over the world make sacrifices for their children because of love, we as Christians should seek this love from God to convey it to the rest of humanity. The hurt we feel for for our children we should feel for strangers who have fallen on hard times or are being persecuted, mistreated or abused. Although God loves His Son Jesus Christ, He loves the world so much that He died for us while we were still sinners, we read in Romans 5 -

 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will hardly die for a wicked man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Jesus Christ suffered on our behalf even though we are completely undeserving due to our sinful nature, but He offers us repentance and forgiveness by His Holy and life giving Cross, where he paid the price of shedding every last drop of blood in order to reverse the transgressions of Adam.

This is the epitome of sacrificial love and we should pray, fast and give alms so that the Lord God will see our hearts and begin to dwell within us, and His love will burn the thorns and thistles that attempt to choke our faith. By sacrificing time, money, effort and energy to assist those who do not deserve our love, those who we do not know and possibly despise us, we are following in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Shepherd and the sheep

The Lord Jesus likens Himself many times in scripture to a sheep herder or shepherd, in fact we are constantly referred to as His flock or sheep, which signifies many things that we will expound upon.

The Lord Jesus uses the expression 'Shepherd' as a metaphor to bring to light certain truths about Himself and us. A sheep herder would take great care of his flock ensuring their safety by protecting them against predators, and as Jesus is our Shepherd He too protects us from predators, namely wolves. Sheep for the most part are unaware of the dangers that surround them and can do little to protect themselves, our Lord also knows that we are unaware of the invisible spiritual dangers that surround us and He realizes that without a shepherd, much like the sheep, we would be unable to protect ourselves from the enemy.

Furthermore, we must consider the context of the Lord's words, a sheep herder would consider each sheep as valuable as the other due to the monetary return a sheep would bring to the herder. The Lord Jesus also considers each and every sheep that belong to His flock as an extremely valuable and worthy individual that can bring glory to the Shepherd through the good deeds we wrought to both those who are inside and outside the flock.

Considering that a shepherd is ultimately a servant who ensures that the sheep are cared for, fed and stay within sight of the shepherd, it becomes evident what Christ was articulating when stating the following -

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:11-15 NKJV)

Although the Lord Jesus is the King of kings, Lord of lords, true God of true God and the Creator of the cosmos, He humbled Himself to the point of servitude literally becoming a shepherd in order to find His sheep who strayed from the flock to bring them back to the sheepfold. Jesus stood amongst wolves and did not waiver, they struck Him but He did not flee, He voluntarily gave His life to save His flock and by so doing He has conquered sin and death forever with an everlasting victory, and because of such an act of love and servitude those who are of the sheepfold and stray not away from the flock will always be in the arms of the loving Shepherd.

Jesus also makes clear that He is not merely a shepherd but that He is the good Shepherd because it was only Jesus who could redeem us and repair the broken image of man, no other prophet, king or judge could redeem us and reconcile us with the living God.

St John Chrysostom states -

A great matter, beloved, a great matter it is to preside over a Church: a matter needing wisdom and courage as great as that of which Christ speaks, that a man should lay down his life for the sheep, and never leave them deserted or naked; that he should stand against the wolf nobly. For in this the shepherd differs from the hireling; the one always looks to his own safety, caring not for the sheep; the other always seeks that of the sheep, neglecting his own.

Beloved, Jesus did not consider himself when being led like a lamb to the slaughter, like a true good shepherd He considered His sheep before He considered Himself, all praise and glory be to His name, let us also become servants and shepherds bringing lost sheep back to the sheepfold being the Church so that they too can be lead by the good Shepherd, Jesus the Christ.

Live the Holy Scriptures

It is prudent and beneficial that as Christians we make ourselves familiar with the Holy Scriptures by regularly reading and meditating on them. By so doing we are exposed to the wonderful fear and reverence that the patriarchs and apostles of the faith held for God and in His Son Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we become acquainted with the Lord by reading and relating to His mercy for sinners, His justice for sin, His love of a sinner, His hate for sin, His compassion towards the oppressed and His anger toward the oppressor. We further learn that God's love for humanity is not only a set of words, principles or beliefs, but rather that He took action and became like us so that we could become like Him.

What I am inferring is that many falsely believe that reading scripture and even memorising scripture is a pathway for salvation, but simply knowing what is written within the Holy Bible is not sufficient in and of its own to save a soul. This reading must be coupled with a willingness to become what sacred scripture teaches, it is prudent to learn what humility is but it is far more excellent to become humble, it is beneficial to know that we must 'Love thy neighbour' it is far more excellent to feed the hungry. God did not simply speak of His love for humanity whilst resting comfortably in the glories of Heaven, He rather became as one of us in order to free us from sin, death and satan because of His love. By so doing, God has purposefully portrayed to us how we ought to be.

But if reading the Bible and coming to church isn't enough then what are we to do? In Second Peter 1:1-4 we read -

1Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust

As stated by the blessed Apostle, we must become partakers of the divine nature by not only knowing and understanding sacred scripture but by living it through constant vigil, prayer, fasting, alms giving and practising all manner of righteous virtues in order to receive the grace of God that are His energies, and which will transform your heart, soul and mind. The Grace of God will purify and illuminate you so that you no longer live for yourself but count yourself as dust considering all others before you. This only occurs through action, lip service is not desired by God, He looks into the heart and desires to dwell there and we must ensure that the temple of God (your body) remains clean and holy. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 -

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Woe to us when we desecrate our body whilst the Spirit of the Most High God resides within us, and Praise His name for His mercies and His constant calling for repentance. Let us desire more than biblical knowledge, but let us yearn to acquire wisdom that stems directly from God, let us thirst for the love that is God so that we can love our fellow man and let us hunger for righteousness by destroying our passions and being regenerated by the presence of the Lord within us.

Let us not only read scripture but let us live it, breath it and be it. We must all be a walking, living image of the gospel by the grace of God so that through our light we can bring men to repentance through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Living in faith

What does it entail and what benefit does one gain by living a life of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are we living in the faith to simply receive such benefits? For if this is the sole reason of our faith then it is prudent to note that such a faith is futile. It is no small matter that the Christians of old suffered severe persecution, such that would make the hardest of men reflect on how such persecutions were carried out by our fellow human beings. By such sufferings these men and women have reaped eternal benefits by rejecting worldly and material benefits that some may view as 'blessings' from God, such was their rejection that they gave their very lives to attain a crown of glory.

It may also be prudent to state that a Christian may not partake in the benefits that faith in the Lord Jesus will bring unless suffering precedes such a benefit. Consider the words of Jesus "if anyone desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, and take up His cross daily and follow me" Luke 9:23, but what does it imply "to pick up His cross daily" it implies carrying a great burden, it implies struggles over the flesh and over life and the worldly pleasures that please the senses. It also implies that to follow the Lord in faith will cause us to grow weary due to the endless temptations and trials that we will undoubtedly encounter along our journey. If we desire Him who loves us then we must be willing to suffer and put an end to the love of our self. We must kill our desires by resisting all forms of evil and sin, rather than falling a victim to such desires we should beseech the Lord through prayer, fasting and weeping so that He may assist us whilst carrying our cross. If our life as Christians consist of abundant benefits then we must ask ourselves, are we living a life of faith in the Lord Jesus, or are we living a secular life hidden behind a curtain of cliches? Oh wretched men that we are! We speak so eloquently about the Lord but our focus is on wealth, cars and property, our lips confess one thing but our hearts another and we deceive ourselves into believing that such blessings come from the Lord.

Desire those blessings that will allow you to empty your heart so that there is room for the Lord to dwell within, desire trials and sufferings always beseeching the Lord to assist you. How can we claim to be sanctified if we are yet living in our sins? Does a pig not lay in its filth completely satisfied in filling itself with waste? How then if we continue to live with a depraved heart can we claim to be sanctified? But be ever watchful, as the Lord states that "no one knows the day nor the hour" and "He will come like a thief in the night", keep yourself protected by prayer, fasting and giving of alms, reading scripture and always ensure that the Body and Blood of our Lord is taken regularly as by so doing He will "abide in you and you in He". Before benefits through faith are provided, suffering must occur, the Lord Himself suffered before being glorified with the Father so that through His sufferings we may suffer and be glorified with Him. Amen.

Apologies

I have been quite busy as of late and I apologise for not updating the blog, please pray for me earnesty that the Lord allow some time for me to work on this ministry. God willing the blog will be updated in the next few days, may the Lord keep you all safe and bless you with His divine grace.