When Jesus said to the rich young man in (Matt 19:21, Mk 10:21 and Lk 12:33): “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me”, He was saying that perfection cannot be attained by amassing silver and gold, land and houses on earth. The Lord made a clear distinction between worldly treasures and heavenly treasures. Treasures in heaven are not as fragile or vulnerable than worldly treasures because Jesus also said in Matt 6:19:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
Another feature of heavenly treasures is that it is not always obvious; it is not always showy, as it may be hidden. In Prov 2:4, it is written: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
This means that you have to seek and search for the knowledge of God, and this takes effort and time and patience on your behalf. Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field.” That man was looking for something when he found the hidden treasure, he was someone who was on the lookout. But let me ask you this: Once the man found that hidden treasure in the field and after he bought the field so that it legitimately belonged to him, do you think that he was satisfied and stopped searching? Or do you think he continued seeking on every square inch of that field, hoping to find more treasure because there is proof that it exists?
What is this treasure of the kingdom of heaven the Lord speaks of? In Is 33:6: “The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”
“This treasure” as Isaiah prophesies about is the “rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge”, it is a treasure from heaven given to us on earth as a foundation of our times. It is what the Lord was speaking of in Matt 16:17 after Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, and He said to Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
And what was the rock which Jesus has built his church on but this truth that was revealed to Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. It is the truth, because wisdom is the understanding and knowledge of truth, and is where salvation is based upon. Therefore the rich store of salvation, knowledge and wisdom is this treasure. And this treasure is truth.
Prov 2:4 says: “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God”, Again, what we are to look for is wisdom, insight and understanding, and what you find is the knowledge of God. What you find is the hidden treasure, that is truth, and the knowledge of God is Truth.
Going back to the Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. If the man in the parable continued seeking once he owned the land, he would have found more treasure. Just as once we are in the kingdom, we continue seeking wisdom, insight and understanding, we will found more of this treasure. It is so because the Lord says in Jn 16:12: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will only speak what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you.” The fact that Jesus said “all truth” tells us that truth is a progressive state and the Holy Spirit reveals to us more words of Jesus, which is more truth, until we know the all truth.
Therefore there is a quantifying degree to the truth that we possess. There is no truth, some truth and all truth. It is as Paul writes in Col 2:3: “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they have the full riches of the complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” He speaks of a complete understanding of the mystery of God, a treasure of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ.
It is only hidden because you have to listen with your ears, and not see with your eyes. You have to hear with your ears and understand with your heart. It is not the miraculous signs you see, but the message of the kingdom of God that you hear with your ears and sown into your heart. Otherwise, you will be like Pilate and ask Jesus, “What is truth?” When he was looking at Truth in the face and was in fact the one speaking with him.
Jesus is the Truth, the Word of God which became flesh. He gave for the life of the world His flesh as bread for us to eat. We eat the Word of God, and His flesh is Truth. But we not only eat the Truth, we also breathe the Truth. After the resurrection of Jesus, He visited His disciples. The Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Make no mistake, the Holy Spirit is a precious gift from Jesus and the Father. As He - “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
When we are baptised with the Holy Spirit, we breathe into us the Spirit of Truth that goes out from the Father, so our flesh and our spirit is born again, and what is born again lives. Just as the Spirit of Truth lives with us and is in us, so too is truth living with us and is alive in us.
In truth, there is power and that power is the resurrection and the life.
This is why Paul writes in 2 Cor 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
The jars of clay Paul speaks of is our body because we are the clay and the Lord is the potter. This treasure we have in clay jars, that is our bodies, is Truth. Paul writes further 2 Cor 4:10: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”. How is the life of Jesus revealed in our bodies? It is through our testimony in regards to the truth.
Jesus says in John 15:26 “When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth that goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”
The truth that we carry around in our body is purposed not only for our personal relationship with Jesus but also for us to testify about Him. The Holy Spirit supports our testimony about Jesus because He is also one who testifies about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is also a witness of Jesus. We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us; and we are the Lord’s witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the world. (Acts 1:7)
And what it is first and foremost that we are to testify? That Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, The Christ who suffered and rose from the dead on the third day, in whom repentance and forgiveness of sins is preached in his name to all nations(Lk 22:46). Jesus, whom God has sent to complete the work He gave Him to do, which is to preach the gospel, be condemned to death and crucified, but on the third day be raised him back to life and is now sitting at the right hand of God. This is the all-surpassing power is from God and not from men because No one takes life from Jesus, but He lays it down of His own accord. He has authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command He receives from His Father.
This is the treasure that we carry around in our body as a testimony of Jesus. This treasure, this truth, we testify about Jesus that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, and this is eternal life: that they may now know the only true God, and Jesus Christ. This truth is the treasure that is whispered in our ears and we proclaim from the roof tops.
The truth is a treasure and is meant to be treasured because Jesus paid for it with His blood and His life, and His blood is the most precious thing to ever touch this earth.
(Exo 16:33) So as God commanded Moses to take an omer of manna and keep it in a jar for the generations to come, so that it is a testimony for the Israelites to see the bread that He gave them to eat in the desert, so too are we the jars of clay put in front as a testimony of the true bread, the living bread, the bread of life, the consecrated bread from heaven that God gave men to eat.
As the Lord says in Matt 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”, so if to you, truth is your treasure, then there your heart will be also. And since out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks, then the good things stored up in your heart is the truth that is Jesus Christ and your testimony about Him, and the Holy Spirit who searches the heart and examines the mind (Jer 17:10), will back you up with power to testify that the all-surpassing power to raise God’s Son from the dead is from God, and not from men. And since God’s Son is lifted up from the earth, he is drawing all men to himself. So put your hope in Jesus and His unfailing love, and in this way lay up treasure for yourselves a firm foundation for the coming age, so that you may take hold of the life that is truly life.
As surely as the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own and Israel to be his treasured possession (Ps 135:4), and as surely as Jesus chosen you to be His own and to be His treasured possession, I ask you this today: Is Jesus your most treasured possession?
Amen Holy Spirit.
16 August 2003
Be Sensitive to the Lord’s Needs
Because I live, you will also live. Jn 14:19
3 breaths, we live.
If there is one person in this world who is sensitive to your needs, it is God the Father. In Matt 6:25 it says, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, or what you will wear…your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.
God was looking at us, and He saw the very thing we lacked. He was looking at men and saw that sin was taking away the breath of life that He had breathed into us through Adam, because sin was killing us since the day we were born, as (the Father says) every inclination of our hearts are evil from childhood (Gen8:21). Sin was killing us, and we didn’t even know it. And sin being too much of a deception for us, we failed to realise that we are full of dead men’s bones inside, that we may have looked beautiful on the outside, but inside we are full of decay and wickedness. Sin kept us from being perfectly close to God, the Father of creation. And because of our inclination towards sin, the Father had to stand a distance away from us, no longer able to be close to us in the same garden as He once was with Adam and Eve.
If left to our own devices, we would have thought that what we needed was food, clothes, drinks and land and our family. But Jesus asks, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” And if our brothers and sisters and mother and father were so important, why did the Lord say to us to leave them but follow Him: “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake” of me and my gospel will “fail to receive many times in this age and in the age to come, eternal life”.
And if worldly possessions were of such importance, why did the Lord say to the rich young man that if he wanted to be perfect, he should go and sell all his possessions to give to the poor, and then follow Him? If money was of such importance to the Lord, why did He commend the poor widow, by saying, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
No, God looked at us, and He knew that the one thing we lacked was not family, not houses, not land, not money and not clothes and not food.
What we lacked before Jesus Christ was life.
No body had life until Jesus came from heaven, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. For if Jesus had never come, there would be no one to believe in. But now since he has come and is returned to the Father and sitting at the Father’s right hand, he who believes in Him has everlasting life, for He is the resurrection and the life.
No body had life before God sent his Son to give His life for a ransom for many. None of us had life in us until Jesus poured out his blood of the covenant for the forgiveness of sins. Unless and until we eat the flesh of Jesus, and drink his blood, we have no life in us. Whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, and will be raised up on the last day – which is the Father’s will- that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and He will raise us up on the last day. The flesh of Jesus is the bread of life, for He is the living bread which came down from heaven. He gave His flesh for us to eat so we will live forever.
In Jesus is life for He is life. That life is the light of men for Jesus is the light of the world. Since we have life in us, we will not stumble because we will always walk by the light. We who follow Jesus will never walk in darkness because in us is the light of life.
The light of life is what we possess as long as we follow Jesus so that the darkness within us which brings about death is purged and destroyed completely. The light of life came to us, ‘people living in darkness’ and we have seen a great light; on us ‘living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned’. As Paul writes, God who said, ‘Let light shine out of the darkness’, made his light shine in our hearts to give us light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2 Cor 4:6) – and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ is found only in Truth, because Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. If you don’t have truth, you will never have life. But you have truth and hold on to it, you also have life because truth sets you free from slavery to sin. Jesus is the only way to truth and to life. Salvation is not found in anyone else (Acts 4:12) but the name of Jesus Christ because it was Jesus alone who died for your sins. It was Jesus alone who finished the work of the Father by doing His will. It was Jesus alone the Father sent to die for you so that you will not be condemned but have eternal life.
The truth simply is this: Jesus said, “Because I live, you will also live.” (Jn 14:19) “For as the Father has life in Himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” (Jn 5:26) “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (Jn6:57).
Our Father in heaven saw us, and he saw that there was no life in us. He saw that we had a problem, a serious problem, so He sent his one and only Son. His Son has life in Him, because He has life in Him and He and His Son are one, so that whoever is in Jesus will have life, and life to the fullest. It is written that on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”, and he breathed his last. “Man dies and is laid low, he breathes his last and is no more”. But when the Lord died, He is risen back to life for death has no hold over Him. He is lifted up and draws all men to himself. He is glorified and the Father is glorified in Him. It was not until Jesus breathed His last did we began to breathe the breath of life again, for His death breathed into us the second breath of life.
After God gave us His Son, He gave us His Holy Spirit, to live in us and to be with us. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life”, for “flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit”. After the resurrection of Jesus, He visited His disciples. The Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. And as our flesh receives the Holy Spirit and breathes Him into us, our flesh is re-born and our spirit re-born with it. The Holy Spirit is our third breath of life.
Therefore, the drink that we need is the blood of Jesus he gave us which becomes in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The food we need is his flesh which is the bread of life and the words he speaks to us is also life. And we do not need to worry about where we will sleep and what we will wear because flesh counts for nothing, but it is the Spirit that counts, the Spirit of life that makes us born again.
And the breath of life we have in us is complete because we have received the breath of life from the Father, from the Son and from the Holy Spirit.
So you see, God is sensitive to our needs and He knew what we needed, even before we knew we didn’t have what it takes to live beyond our mortal existence. God has given us life even before we knew we were dying. And if not for Jesus whom He sent, we would have all been dead and none the wiser. Our Father has solved our problems and taken care of our needs even before we asked.
So in return I ask you today, have you been sensitive to God’s needs? Have you been sensitive to Jesus’ needs? And have you been sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s needs? Do you know what their needs are? And if you don’t know, have you taken the time to ask, just as God has taken the time to look at your life and has determined what you need, and Jesus’ has taken the time to solve your problem in the Father? Is it not a simple question, “Lord, what do you need me to do for you today?” and then waiting on Him?
Love is a two-way street. True love, sincere love is not take and take, but it is give and take. What is the thing that the Lord has given you? He gave you his life, so that you will have life. He gave you his love, so that you will have love. In return, do you love him with all your heart, all you soul, all your mind and all your strength?
If you do, then you would know what he needs, and it would be your pleasure to give it to Him, even before he asks. Because if you love him with all your understanding, you would have instinctively known what he wanted, even before he opened his heart to express it to you.
Did Jesus have to ask Mary Magdalene to prepare his body for burial? No it is not written so, because if he had to ask, it would not have been as much of a beautiful a thing to Him. If he had to ask, it might have been just another errand just as finding the donkey to ride into Jerusalem. And was it cheap perfume that Mary used to pour on the Lord? No, it was the best that she had, she poured it on His feet and wiped His feet with his hair. But was Mary sensitive to the Lord’s needs? Yes, even after the Lord was buried, she was sensitive to His needs. She went to His tomb on the Sabbath to take care of his body.
Through Mary, the Lord fulfilled what the Father said in 1 Sam 2:30: “Those who honour me I will honour.” Mary honoured the Lord with her love, and the Lord in turn gave the highest honour to her by tying His gospel with her, the one that He paid for in blood and life, when he said in Mark 14:9 & Matt 26:14: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
As it is written for us, Mary was one of the women who had followed Jesus and cared for his needs (Mk 15:41). So too, if you don’t follow Jesus, you will never know what his needs are, and you will never be able to care for them. If you don’t take the time to follow Jesus to get to know Jesus so that you may love Him, you will never know how and when to take care of his needs. And why should you make such an effort? Because He cares for your needs. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also live”, I repeat You live because He lives. He has taken care of your needs, even without you asking for it.
So honour the one who honours you. Be sensitive to his needs. Know what they are and fulfil them. There are 3 choices for us.
We can be like Peter and the other disciples who could not stay up to keep watch with the Lord the night that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, even though twice the Lord specifically asked them to. Or we can be like the disciples we ran the errand and fetched the donkey for the Lord because He told them to go there.
Or we can take the example from Mary, who took care of the Lord’s needs without His asking, and what’s more did so without asking for anything in return (for it was not recorded for us that she had asked the Lord if she could sit at his right hand nor what she will get since she has left everything to follow him).
Take your pick of what kind of love you will offer to the Lord. But remember he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and only the best is befitting for a King.
Amen Holy Spirit.
3 breaths, we live.
If there is one person in this world who is sensitive to your needs, it is God the Father. In Matt 6:25 it says, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, or what you will wear…your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well’.
God was looking at us, and He saw the very thing we lacked. He was looking at men and saw that sin was taking away the breath of life that He had breathed into us through Adam, because sin was killing us since the day we were born, as (the Father says) every inclination of our hearts are evil from childhood (Gen8:21). Sin was killing us, and we didn’t even know it. And sin being too much of a deception for us, we failed to realise that we are full of dead men’s bones inside, that we may have looked beautiful on the outside, but inside we are full of decay and wickedness. Sin kept us from being perfectly close to God, the Father of creation. And because of our inclination towards sin, the Father had to stand a distance away from us, no longer able to be close to us in the same garden as He once was with Adam and Eve.
If left to our own devices, we would have thought that what we needed was food, clothes, drinks and land and our family. But Jesus asks, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” And if our brothers and sisters and mother and father were so important, why did the Lord say to us to leave them but follow Him: “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake” of me and my gospel will “fail to receive many times in this age and in the age to come, eternal life”.
And if worldly possessions were of such importance, why did the Lord say to the rich young man that if he wanted to be perfect, he should go and sell all his possessions to give to the poor, and then follow Him? If money was of such importance to the Lord, why did He commend the poor widow, by saying, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”
No, God looked at us, and He knew that the one thing we lacked was not family, not houses, not land, not money and not clothes and not food.
What we lacked before Jesus Christ was life.
No body had life until Jesus came from heaven, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. For if Jesus had never come, there would be no one to believe in. But now since he has come and is returned to the Father and sitting at the Father’s right hand, he who believes in Him has everlasting life, for He is the resurrection and the life.
No body had life before God sent his Son to give His life for a ransom for many. None of us had life in us until Jesus poured out his blood of the covenant for the forgiveness of sins. Unless and until we eat the flesh of Jesus, and drink his blood, we have no life in us. Whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, and will be raised up on the last day – which is the Father’s will- that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and He will raise us up on the last day. The flesh of Jesus is the bread of life, for He is the living bread which came down from heaven. He gave His flesh for us to eat so we will live forever.
In Jesus is life for He is life. That life is the light of men for Jesus is the light of the world. Since we have life in us, we will not stumble because we will always walk by the light. We who follow Jesus will never walk in darkness because in us is the light of life.
The light of life is what we possess as long as we follow Jesus so that the darkness within us which brings about death is purged and destroyed completely. The light of life came to us, ‘people living in darkness’ and we have seen a great light; on us ‘living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned’. As Paul writes, God who said, ‘Let light shine out of the darkness’, made his light shine in our hearts to give us light of the knowledge of the glory of God (2 Cor 4:6) – and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ is found only in Truth, because Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. If you don’t have truth, you will never have life. But you have truth and hold on to it, you also have life because truth sets you free from slavery to sin. Jesus is the only way to truth and to life. Salvation is not found in anyone else (Acts 4:12) but the name of Jesus Christ because it was Jesus alone who died for your sins. It was Jesus alone who finished the work of the Father by doing His will. It was Jesus alone the Father sent to die for you so that you will not be condemned but have eternal life.
The truth simply is this: Jesus said, “Because I live, you will also live.” (Jn 14:19) “For as the Father has life in Himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” (Jn 5:26) “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me” (Jn6:57).
Our Father in heaven saw us, and he saw that there was no life in us. He saw that we had a problem, a serious problem, so He sent his one and only Son. His Son has life in Him, because He has life in Him and He and His Son are one, so that whoever is in Jesus will have life, and life to the fullest. It is written that on the cross, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”, and he breathed his last. “Man dies and is laid low, he breathes his last and is no more”. But when the Lord died, He is risen back to life for death has no hold over Him. He is lifted up and draws all men to himself. He is glorified and the Father is glorified in Him. It was not until Jesus breathed His last did we began to breathe the breath of life again, for His death breathed into us the second breath of life.
After God gave us His Son, He gave us His Holy Spirit, to live in us and to be with us. Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life”, for “flesh gives birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to spirit”. After the resurrection of Jesus, He visited His disciples. The Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. And as our flesh receives the Holy Spirit and breathes Him into us, our flesh is re-born and our spirit re-born with it. The Holy Spirit is our third breath of life.
Therefore, the drink that we need is the blood of Jesus he gave us which becomes in us a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The food we need is his flesh which is the bread of life and the words he speaks to us is also life. And we do not need to worry about where we will sleep and what we will wear because flesh counts for nothing, but it is the Spirit that counts, the Spirit of life that makes us born again.
And the breath of life we have in us is complete because we have received the breath of life from the Father, from the Son and from the Holy Spirit.
So you see, God is sensitive to our needs and He knew what we needed, even before we knew we didn’t have what it takes to live beyond our mortal existence. God has given us life even before we knew we were dying. And if not for Jesus whom He sent, we would have all been dead and none the wiser. Our Father has solved our problems and taken care of our needs even before we asked.
So in return I ask you today, have you been sensitive to God’s needs? Have you been sensitive to Jesus’ needs? And have you been sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s needs? Do you know what their needs are? And if you don’t know, have you taken the time to ask, just as God has taken the time to look at your life and has determined what you need, and Jesus’ has taken the time to solve your problem in the Father? Is it not a simple question, “Lord, what do you need me to do for you today?” and then waiting on Him?
Love is a two-way street. True love, sincere love is not take and take, but it is give and take. What is the thing that the Lord has given you? He gave you his life, so that you will have life. He gave you his love, so that you will have love. In return, do you love him with all your heart, all you soul, all your mind and all your strength?
If you do, then you would know what he needs, and it would be your pleasure to give it to Him, even before he asks. Because if you love him with all your understanding, you would have instinctively known what he wanted, even before he opened his heart to express it to you.
Did Jesus have to ask Mary Magdalene to prepare his body for burial? No it is not written so, because if he had to ask, it would not have been as much of a beautiful a thing to Him. If he had to ask, it might have been just another errand just as finding the donkey to ride into Jerusalem. And was it cheap perfume that Mary used to pour on the Lord? No, it was the best that she had, she poured it on His feet and wiped His feet with his hair. But was Mary sensitive to the Lord’s needs? Yes, even after the Lord was buried, she was sensitive to His needs. She went to His tomb on the Sabbath to take care of his body.
Through Mary, the Lord fulfilled what the Father said in 1 Sam 2:30: “Those who honour me I will honour.” Mary honoured the Lord with her love, and the Lord in turn gave the highest honour to her by tying His gospel with her, the one that He paid for in blood and life, when he said in Mark 14:9 & Matt 26:14: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
As it is written for us, Mary was one of the women who had followed Jesus and cared for his needs (Mk 15:41). So too, if you don’t follow Jesus, you will never know what his needs are, and you will never be able to care for them. If you don’t take the time to follow Jesus to get to know Jesus so that you may love Him, you will never know how and when to take care of his needs. And why should you make such an effort? Because He cares for your needs. Jesus said, “Because I live, you also live”, I repeat You live because He lives. He has taken care of your needs, even without you asking for it.
So honour the one who honours you. Be sensitive to his needs. Know what they are and fulfil them. There are 3 choices for us.
We can be like Peter and the other disciples who could not stay up to keep watch with the Lord the night that his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, even though twice the Lord specifically asked them to. Or we can be like the disciples we ran the errand and fetched the donkey for the Lord because He told them to go there.
Or we can take the example from Mary, who took care of the Lord’s needs without His asking, and what’s more did so without asking for anything in return (for it was not recorded for us that she had asked the Lord if she could sit at his right hand nor what she will get since she has left everything to follow him).
Take your pick of what kind of love you will offer to the Lord. But remember he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and only the best is befitting for a King.
Amen Holy Spirit.
09 August 2003
Sincere Love (Mk 12:30)
Today I am starting with the clear warning that the Lord has given us in Dan 11:39: “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.” The Lord has told us that many who are not sincere will join us. So to pay the proper attention to the Lord’s warning, we must understand what insincerity is, in order that the enemy within us will not outwit us for we are not unaware of his scheme.
The Lord said in Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Soul and Mind is combined as understanding so it is also read as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all understanding and with all your strength”. He said that it is the most important command. Therefore, anyone who knowingly fails to love the Lord our God without all his heart, without all his soul, without all his mind and without all his strength, is not sincere towards loving the Lord. Why is it so important in the Lord’s eyes? Because love that comes from an insincere heart, to whatever degree and extent, is defiled and is not acceptable to be offered on the altar of God. And has not God the Father put up with enough insincere worship? Jesus said that Isaiah correctly prophesied, “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men.” So it is with all of our hearts that we honour and worship the Lord, not with rules and traditions, for they are not based on love, but they are based on works. We have seen that insincerity of heart has turned the Father’s house of prayer into a den of robbers.
And when you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you are giving Him the best of who you are and the best of what you can give. It is the purity of your love that the Lord seeks, one which comes from all of the 4. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He deserves the best from you.
The Lord Himself has given you and continues to gives you the best of Him.
From the beginning of creation, we were already given the best of God. From God’s own image, was men made. In His own very image and likeness, He made us.
And did God give the best to the Israelites when He brought them up out of Egypt? Yes, He did. He gave them the land of the Caananites, a land flowing with milk and honey. And with the Israelites’ own eyes they saw and testified in Numbers 13:27: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!” Not only that, the Lord’s presence traveled with them. In Exo 40, it says that “The cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in sight of the house of Israel during all their travels”.
What about for this generation. Did God give us the best of what He has? Yes, He did, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Heb13:8) AND He is not man that he should change His mind. The Lord says in Mal 3:6: “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” What is the best that God gave us so we are not destroyed?
God gave His best when He gave His One and Only Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is His Only Begotten Son Jesus whom He loves. The Son who God brought forth as the first of His works and appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. The Son who was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always at His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind. The only one who was pleasing to Him. This Jesus He gave to the world to lay down His life for, so that it would not perish but have eternal life. He gave His best to the world, and though the world was made through His Son, the world did not recognize nor receive His Son. But to those who did believe in Jesus, He gave the right to be children of God – children born of the will of God. Paul writes in Rom 8:17 that “if we are children, we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ”, for as Jesus says, a slave has no permanent place in the family but a son belongs to it forever. There is a place we will belong to forever, a house with many rooms which Jesus is preparing for us. Jesus is preparing for us another of the Father’s best. The Father’s house awaits us so that we can be where He is forever.
What else did God the Father give us? He gave us His Son, and after He gave His Son, He gave us His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth which comes from Him, He gave to live in us and to be in us so we can testify about Jesus together. The Spirit of God which was hovering above the waters before the Creation of the world, is the Spirit we share and fellowship with. The best, God has once again given us.
Now, the Lord has given us three of His best: His Son, His Spirit and His house. What have you given Him? Have you given Him your best? Have you given Him all your heart, soul mind and strength? And if and when you do, will it always look right to the world? Will you care that it doesn’t?
Look at Mary Magdalene, was she not one who did not look right to the world, but yet it was only she that the Lord gave the highest honour by tying His gospel with her, the one that He paid for in blood and life, when he said in Mark 14:9 & Matt 26:14: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” What was it that she had done? She came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, worth a year’s of wages, and poured it on Jesus. It was a beautiful thing for the Lord. She gave Jesus the perfume which was the best that she had and offered it tenderly to Him, and did not care about anything except to show love and appreciation for Him. What she did was so sincere and so touching to the Lord that He wanted what she had done to be told in memory of her. With all of Mary’s heart, understanding and strength, her simple yet powerful act awarded her the greatest honour the Lord had paid not even to His own disciples. It was love that she showed in sacrifice of her reputation and her image, she cared not what anyone else but only what the Lord thought and felt.
So, too if you are sincere about the Lord, you will love Him with all you heart, soul mind and strength. Whether or not it looks right to others is not relevant, because it is between you and the Lord. If you hold back on the Lord, there is room for insincerity but know the Lord is never insincere towards you. From the beginning, He loved the world and gave it His best, and since He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, He will give His best to the very end. Jesus loves the Father so much he laid down His life for us, He calls us His friends (Jn 15: 13) and He says that there is no greater form of love than this. Will you lay down your life for Jesus and express to Him your greater love? Or do you hold back on Him your heart, soul and mind and strength, reserving it for yourself and others? Are you one who stores up things for yourself but is not rich towards the Lord, when He had held nothing back from you and longs to bring you close to Him?
Purify yourself and you will know the truth is this: Jesus loves you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength.
Did not the one who laid down His life for you by coming down from heaven and going to the cross, love you with all his heart. Does he not give you the greater form of love? Therefore does not the one who shows you the greater form of love love you with all His heart?
And did not the one whose soul was overwhelmed to the point of death love you with all His soul when He went to the cross for you? The eve of His death, three times He prayed to the Father to take the cup away from Him, yet not as He will but as the Father will, but since it was not possible for the cup to be taken away unless He drank it, the Father’s will was done. Jesus was in so much anguish, his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Even before He was crucified, His blood had begun flowing to wash away your sins. With all His soul, He loves you.
And did not the one who had only in mind the things of God and not the things of men love you with all His mind? Jesus had only one thing in mind, for he came to seek not to please Himself but the Father who sent Him (Jn 5:30). He came to do the Father’s will and to finish His work. And the Father’s will is this: That everyone who looks to the Son Jesus and believes in Him shall have eternal life and He will raise them up on the last day (Jn 6:40). That is, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved in His name (Ro 10:9). It is only through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that you are saved. Salvation is not found in anyone else (Acts 4:12). Salvation is not found in any other name but the name of Jesus because it was Jesus alone who died for your sins. It was Jesus alone who finished the work of the Father by doing His will. It was Jesus alone the Father sent to die for you so that you will not be condemned but have eternal life. That’s why there is no other name under heaven given to us by which we are saved
And did not the one who went to the cross love you with all His strength? Did not the one who got insulted, flogged, spat on and killed, love you with all the sincere love in His strength? If Jesus was not sincere about dying for your sins, would He hang on the cross for 6 hours, bleeding to death from a crown of twisted thorn lodged on His head? Would one who was not sincere about dying for you, merely go through the motions and simply give up His spirit after half an hour? He hung on the cross for six hours, being six hours too long for a man who was not punished justly and got not what His deeds deserve, but bore the sins of you and the world on Him so that today you are with Him in paradise. Does He not love you with all his strength when He hung on until the moment He knew that all was completed that he breathed His last and said, “It is finished”.
So I ask you again, does not Jesus love you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength?
Yes, He does. He loves you today, tomorrow and forevermore.
You must know the magnitude and the power of the Lord’s love for you, because if you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will never know how much He loves the Father. He showed His greater love when He laid down His life for us, but what about His love for the Father? He showed His greatest love to His Father when He laid down His life for us.
Jesus said, “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me.”
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will not know how much He loves the Father because His love for the Father is the greatest love of all. You only have to look at how much He loves you with all His heart, mind soul and strength to realise how much more He loves His Father. And that is why, it is the most important command of all, for we must not only learn that Jesus loves the Father, we must also learn to love the Father like Jesus loves the Father. Since the greater things than Jesus we can do, then let us also do the greatest thing by showing the Father our greatest love. So that the world will know that not only Jesus loves the Father and does exactly what the Father commands, but we also love the Father and do exactly what the Father commands.
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, how will the world know how much He loves the Father, and how will His word be fulfilled?
Amen Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus for your grace and your patience. Lord, I have learnt my lesson Lord. Thank you love you. I love you and I love your Word, now and forever more.
The Lord said in Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Soul and Mind is combined as understanding so it is also read as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all understanding and with all your strength”. He said that it is the most important command. Therefore, anyone who knowingly fails to love the Lord our God without all his heart, without all his soul, without all his mind and without all his strength, is not sincere towards loving the Lord. Why is it so important in the Lord’s eyes? Because love that comes from an insincere heart, to whatever degree and extent, is defiled and is not acceptable to be offered on the altar of God. And has not God the Father put up with enough insincere worship? Jesus said that Isaiah correctly prophesied, “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men.” So it is with all of our hearts that we honour and worship the Lord, not with rules and traditions, for they are not based on love, but they are based on works. We have seen that insincerity of heart has turned the Father’s house of prayer into a den of robbers.
And when you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you are giving Him the best of who you are and the best of what you can give. It is the purity of your love that the Lord seeks, one which comes from all of the 4. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, He deserves the best from you.
The Lord Himself has given you and continues to gives you the best of Him.
From the beginning of creation, we were already given the best of God. From God’s own image, was men made. In His own very image and likeness, He made us.
And did God give the best to the Israelites when He brought them up out of Egypt? Yes, He did. He gave them the land of the Caananites, a land flowing with milk and honey. And with the Israelites’ own eyes they saw and testified in Numbers 13:27: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!” Not only that, the Lord’s presence traveled with them. In Exo 40, it says that “The cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in sight of the house of Israel during all their travels”.
What about for this generation. Did God give us the best of what He has? Yes, He did, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever more (Heb13:8) AND He is not man that he should change His mind. The Lord says in Mal 3:6: “I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” What is the best that God gave us so we are not destroyed?
God gave His best when He gave His One and Only Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is His Only Begotten Son Jesus whom He loves. The Son who God brought forth as the first of His works and appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. The Son who was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always at His presence, rejoicing in His whole world and delighting in mankind. The only one who was pleasing to Him. This Jesus He gave to the world to lay down His life for, so that it would not perish but have eternal life. He gave His best to the world, and though the world was made through His Son, the world did not recognize nor receive His Son. But to those who did believe in Jesus, He gave the right to be children of God – children born of the will of God. Paul writes in Rom 8:17 that “if we are children, we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ”, for as Jesus says, a slave has no permanent place in the family but a son belongs to it forever. There is a place we will belong to forever, a house with many rooms which Jesus is preparing for us. Jesus is preparing for us another of the Father’s best. The Father’s house awaits us so that we can be where He is forever.
What else did God the Father give us? He gave us His Son, and after He gave His Son, He gave us His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth which comes from Him, He gave to live in us and to be in us so we can testify about Jesus together. The Spirit of God which was hovering above the waters before the Creation of the world, is the Spirit we share and fellowship with. The best, God has once again given us.
Now, the Lord has given us three of His best: His Son, His Spirit and His house. What have you given Him? Have you given Him your best? Have you given Him all your heart, soul mind and strength? And if and when you do, will it always look right to the world? Will you care that it doesn’t?
Look at Mary Magdalene, was she not one who did not look right to the world, but yet it was only she that the Lord gave the highest honour by tying His gospel with her, the one that He paid for in blood and life, when he said in Mark 14:9 & Matt 26:14: “I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” What was it that she had done? She came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, worth a year’s of wages, and poured it on Jesus. It was a beautiful thing for the Lord. She gave Jesus the perfume which was the best that she had and offered it tenderly to Him, and did not care about anything except to show love and appreciation for Him. What she did was so sincere and so touching to the Lord that He wanted what she had done to be told in memory of her. With all of Mary’s heart, understanding and strength, her simple yet powerful act awarded her the greatest honour the Lord had paid not even to His own disciples. It was love that she showed in sacrifice of her reputation and her image, she cared not what anyone else but only what the Lord thought and felt.
So, too if you are sincere about the Lord, you will love Him with all you heart, soul mind and strength. Whether or not it looks right to others is not relevant, because it is between you and the Lord. If you hold back on the Lord, there is room for insincerity but know the Lord is never insincere towards you. From the beginning, He loved the world and gave it His best, and since He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, He will give His best to the very end. Jesus loves the Father so much he laid down His life for us, He calls us His friends (Jn 15: 13) and He says that there is no greater form of love than this. Will you lay down your life for Jesus and express to Him your greater love? Or do you hold back on Him your heart, soul and mind and strength, reserving it for yourself and others? Are you one who stores up things for yourself but is not rich towards the Lord, when He had held nothing back from you and longs to bring you close to Him?
Purify yourself and you will know the truth is this: Jesus loves you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength.
Did not the one who laid down His life for you by coming down from heaven and going to the cross, love you with all his heart. Does he not give you the greater form of love? Therefore does not the one who shows you the greater form of love love you with all His heart?
And did not the one whose soul was overwhelmed to the point of death love you with all His soul when He went to the cross for you? The eve of His death, three times He prayed to the Father to take the cup away from Him, yet not as He will but as the Father will, but since it was not possible for the cup to be taken away unless He drank it, the Father’s will was done. Jesus was in so much anguish, his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Even before He was crucified, His blood had begun flowing to wash away your sins. With all His soul, He loves you.
And did not the one who had only in mind the things of God and not the things of men love you with all His mind? Jesus had only one thing in mind, for he came to seek not to please Himself but the Father who sent Him (Jn 5:30). He came to do the Father’s will and to finish His work. And the Father’s will is this: That everyone who looks to the Son Jesus and believes in Him shall have eternal life and He will raise them up on the last day (Jn 6:40). That is, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved in His name (Ro 10:9). It is only through the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that you are saved. Salvation is not found in anyone else (Acts 4:12). Salvation is not found in any other name but the name of Jesus because it was Jesus alone who died for your sins. It was Jesus alone who finished the work of the Father by doing His will. It was Jesus alone the Father sent to die for you so that you will not be condemned but have eternal life. That’s why there is no other name under heaven given to us by which we are saved
And did not the one who went to the cross love you with all His strength? Did not the one who got insulted, flogged, spat on and killed, love you with all the sincere love in His strength? If Jesus was not sincere about dying for your sins, would He hang on the cross for 6 hours, bleeding to death from a crown of twisted thorn lodged on His head? Would one who was not sincere about dying for you, merely go through the motions and simply give up His spirit after half an hour? He hung on the cross for six hours, being six hours too long for a man who was not punished justly and got not what His deeds deserve, but bore the sins of you and the world on Him so that today you are with Him in paradise. Does He not love you with all his strength when He hung on until the moment He knew that all was completed that he breathed His last and said, “It is finished”.
So I ask you again, does not Jesus love you with all his heart, all His soul, all His mind and all His strength?
Yes, He does. He loves you today, tomorrow and forevermore.
You must know the magnitude and the power of the Lord’s love for you, because if you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will never know how much He loves the Father. He showed His greater love when He laid down His life for us, but what about His love for the Father? He showed His greatest love to His Father when He laid down His life for us.
Jesus said, “The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me.”
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, you will not know how much He loves the Father because His love for the Father is the greatest love of all. You only have to look at how much He loves you with all His heart, mind soul and strength to realise how much more He loves His Father. And that is why, it is the most important command of all, for we must not only learn that Jesus loves the Father, we must also learn to love the Father like Jesus loves the Father. Since the greater things than Jesus we can do, then let us also do the greatest thing by showing the Father our greatest love. So that the world will know that not only Jesus loves the Father and does exactly what the Father commands, but we also love the Father and do exactly what the Father commands.
If you don’t know how much the Lord loves you, how will the world know how much He loves the Father, and how will His word be fulfilled?
Amen Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus for your grace and your patience. Lord, I have learnt my lesson Lord. Thank you love you. I love you and I love your Word, now and forever more.
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