The Language of Slaves, Part 2

You may say that Jesus dined with sinners and even in the sinner’s house. You are right, but you’re not Jesus. The key difference between Jesus and the believer is that people invited him for the express purpose of hearing Him speak and to see miracles. When was the last time your friend asked you to come down to the bar and share the gospel? We live in a darkened world, and as the light of this world we cannot hide our lights by entering into a den of iniquity.
The ultimate dichotomy in my life experience is the story of the Christian stripper. One day while at work a lady walked in the doorway of my business. She was wearing daisy dukes, a pink Barbie shirt, and matching pink socks with white tennis shoes. It was also evident that she had plastic surgery performed to various strategic locations on her body. I automatically thought, “Stripper.” I was not judging her, but rather using observation to identify her occupation. While we discussed business her phone rang. Her ring tone was a popular worship anthem and I felt confused. Everything on the outside indicated stripper, but the ring tone told me otherwise. She then began to talk with a friend and during her conversation mentioned that she was a lap dancer at a local club. On her way out she saw the fish symbol the business owner put on the window and asked who the Christian was. As she walked out she declared, “That’s what the world needs…more Christians.”
We must walk carefully and circumspect to the LORD. There are those at the judgment who will claim Christ but He will cast them aside. Why? Because although they say they are a Christ follower, their actions cancel their words. We must make sure our actions match our chosen identity of Christian.
Coming back to our subject of slavery, we also must hold our bodies in submission. Our desires should not lead us, but we should banish our desires and give all to God from whom every good gift and every perfect gift is derived. The promises of God are greater than any momentary pleasure. By submitting to God and resisting the devil we overcome the world. It is by the word of our testimony and not loving our lives, both spiritual and physical, even unto death.
A friend of mine recently preached about the pain of carrying the promise of God by telling the story of David. He was anointed king as a young man, but he soon came upon a giant. He was confronted with a choice to either step towards his destiny or to shrink back from it. He decided to slay the giant because he knew it was a step towards his destiny. Even after this great accomplishment he did not become, instead he was forced into hiding by the king he was to succeed. For 17 years he was a fugitive, living in caves and acting like a mad man for the purpose of saving his own life. As we read the Psalms, it is interesting to note that David thought about all this trouble constantly, but he did not let it overtake him. In the words of my friend, “If we follow reason we will never see the season.” David put his trust in God and when the right season came God elevated him to the pre appointed position of king.
During the same sermon the preacher also said that we must seal it, speaking of the promise, before the devil steals it. David took the promise seriously and wrote it on the tablet of his heart. Everything he did was not to promote himself, but to glorify God. He did this by slaying the Goliath who blasphemed the LORD and secondly by making sure that Samuel’s prophecy was fulfilled. He was not haphazard; he was careful to guard the promise and gathered men around him that believed in the same thing.
In our lives we must apply this to both spiritual and natural authority. If we want to be successful we must submit to the vision of the house and help make it a success. In our quest to be noticed we cannot deviate from the house because when we do we cast off authority and mimic the pattern of Lucifer.
How harsh! The pattern of Lucifer? Do you really believe that? Yes I do! Why? Because the place of position is not desirable if your heart is only longing for attention and glory. In fact, the position without the proper preparation is poison.
John the Baptist was the greatest voice of his day, but when Jesus came to him to be baptized he immediately recognized a man that was greater. John knew that he was not the Messiah, but rather the one who prepared humanity for Christ’s appearance according to the scripture.
Jesus tells us in Luke 14 to not take the place of honor lest someone greater come and you are shamed when you are displaced. Instead take the lowest place and let the host come to you and set you in a higher seat. Friends, I pray that God does not allow us to be placed into authority unless our motives are pure. On this subject, I leave you with the story of the paralytic.
Were the motives of these men to gain fame? The Bible does not say, but their names are not recorded and the end result was God being honored. They brought a man to be healed of a physical condition and he walked away with his sins forgiven. He was made whole and pure as Jesus uttered the words, “Go and sin no more.”
As Christians we must come with the same motive. Christ did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it. Everywhere he traveled the message was the same; be healed and sin no more. Why this message? I think God is telling us something very important about life; once we are touched by Christ we must sin no more. In other words, once the promise of salvation is given, we like Abraham are called to be Holy as He is holy.
God commanded him to do so and although he was given the promise, it could not be obtained without his obedience. God says that without vision that people cast off restraint. Interestingly the definition of fantasy is defined as, "imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained."
There is a difference between fantasy and godly revelation.
God inspired vision involves a disciplined following of His commands. In John 15:14-16 Jesus tells His disciples that they are friends if they do what He commands. As Christians we are to be disciplined in the faith, beating our bodies and making it our slave so that our witness is not discounted (I Corinthians 9:27).
This means that we must not be given to the pleasures of the world; that is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Although we may feel the pull of the world and the love of it (I John 2:15-17), we are not obligated to give in. In fact, I John asks the rhetorical question, "Who is it that overcomes the world, only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
When we are born of God in that second and spiritual birth we are joining our vision to the vision of God. Jesus states it plainly in Luke 19, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." To the people of his day, it offended their spiritual pride. Here is the great teacher saying that it is imperative for him to be the guest of a sinner. The complaints are quickly silenced by Zacchaeus as he declares that Christ is Lord, admits he is a sinner, and declares what his repentance will include.
To the Jews, Zacchaeus is an example of the lost sheep of Israel, but he is much more an example of mankind. After all, what is it that Christ came to do? He is always seeking out our hearts-the hearts of sinners to dwell in. Only when we allow him to dwell in our tabernacle will we be saved. Jesus came to seek a home in our hearts and to save the relationship of intimate communion that was lost in the Garden of Eden when man sinned.God reminds us that it is through the actions of one man (Adam) that sin and therefore death enter the world. Romans says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And so, it is through the first Adam that death enters the world and the gift of God, the second Adam; Jesus Christ, that brings eternal life.