Christmas 2019: Behold My Son, in Whom I am well pleased, part 8.

Sunday January 12,2020

 

Truly, Jesus Christ is the most real, the most certain, the most blessed of all facts in all of human history, which is odd, since what He claimed and claimed to be were the most unnatural and other worldly things the world has ever heard, and yet, even His enemies do not call Him a madman.

 

And the facts of Jesus’ claims are an ever-present and growing power which pervades the church and conquers the world, and is its own best evidence, as the sun shining in the heavens.

 

MAT 13:31 He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

 

MAT 13:32 and this is smaller than all other seeds; but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."

 

The kingdom of heaven would spread throughout the world from the tiniest seed into a tree large enough for birds to nest.

 

MAT 13:33 He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened."

 

The kingdom of heaven would spread throughout the world slowly, like leaven in dough. What was it about the kingdom that would enable it to do what nothing ever did? 

 

Map of the Spread of Christianity throughout the Roman world.

 

 

This is only part of the picture, since the Far-East was also evangelized and how much more to the south and west is likely very underestimated. Nothing, no ideology, idea, or kingdom has ever spread like this in all of history. Why did the kingdom of God spread? Was it by force?

 

Christ is the only solution of the terrible mystery of sin and death, the only inspiration to a holy life of love to God and man, the only guide to happiness and peace.

 

Systems of human wisdom will come and go, kingdoms and empires will rise and fall, but for all time to come Christ will remain “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

 

The only way to fully know the truth of someone is to go to the source.

 

2CO 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

 

Pastor Collins wrote a wonderful blog this week about context of truth. His point was that truth; say the truth of a person’s intentions or a person’s love, is diminished if it is expressed through a different medium than the person himself. The example of communicating emotions and desires through texts and posts with emoticons is a great example that he uses.

 

Love and the rest of the important intentions of any man (good or evil) demand context. Words like love, joy, and peace have shades of meaning. Love especially, as it can be used for a pet, a person, something trivial, and it can even express hatred in a certain context. “I just love it when I call the cable company and only a computer will talk to me.”

 

If the only way you could express true love, divine love, say for your spouse or your children was through texts, your expression would be constricted. Without being with them physically, doing for them lovingly face to face, it becomes impossible to express your love fully.

 

What if you lived in a cave and never left it and so you only ever saw the shadows caused by the sun moving by the mouth of your cave. Could you claim to know what it’s like to have the sun shine on your face?

 

In the spiritual life, our knowledge of Christ is everything.

 

Can we claim to know Him if our experience of Him is through other mediums rather than directly from Him, the source? When I say medium, what I am most emphasizing are other people. The Bible is not so much a medium as it is the written Word that corresponds to the living word.

 

1JO 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

 

1JO 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

 

1JO 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.