The Believer and God's Law

(Christ's Fifth Public Command)
By R. Michel Lankford

Matthew 5:17-20“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (NKJV)

 

 

Jesus Christ's Specific Command:

 
"DO NOT THINK that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
According to Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah), the Son of the Living God, we are expressly commanded to make disciples and teach them to obey EVERYTHING that Messiah commanded (Matthew 28:19-20. It's part of the Great Commission).
Christ's fifth public command which we are commanded to teach; we are to teach people NOT even TO THINK, that the Messiah came to destroy the Law and the Prophets. Now, we know that Jesus Christ does not change (Hebrews 13:8).
So, since that is what we are commanded to teach then we should teach that Jesus Christ the Messiah did not come to abolish, destroy or do away with the Law or the Prophets. This is one of the scariest things I see in modern-day Christianity. The modern Christian church religious system routinely violates this Commandment of Jesus Christ on an extremely frequent basis. When it comes to this specific command of Christ, modern Christendom actually teaches people to do the direct opposite of what Christ commanded in this instance. Not only does modern Christendom think that Messiah did away with the Law, they actually teach that this is what He accomplished with His death and resurrection, and they teach it in direct opposition to His direct command. If we are not even allowed to think that Jesus Christ came to do away with or destroy the Law and the Prophets, then how can we possibly be right when we teach that that is what Messiah accomplished with his death and resurrection? If we are not allowed to think such a thing, then it cannot possibly be right to teach such a thing. The reason that I making such an emphatic point about this is because it is extremely dangerous to testify and declare that Jesus Christ is your Lord, your Master, and your Savior, while at the same time, you willfully, habitually and routinely do the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ specifically commanded. As it is written:

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46 NRSV)

 

What Modern Christianity Widely Believes Teaches and Practices about God’s Law

(This is the theology of most of modern Protestant Christianity today)

The reason That modern-day Christianity chooses not to keep the LORD’s Sabbaths, the reason that they refuse to honor the Feasts of the Lord, the reason that they don't study or even aim to keep hardly any of God's instructions contained in Genesis through Deuteronomy, and the reason that they bring pagan traditions into the church and offer these as worship to God and Jesus Christ in direct defiance of God's commands, in defiance of Jesus Christ and in defiance of the teachings of the apostles is because according to modern Christian theology, trying to keep God's Instructions only leads to condemnation because we cannot keep God's Laws and Instructions perfectly, and they say that since we cannot keep God's Laws and Instructions perfectly well, then they say that we should not aim for or try to keep God's Law at all.
In fact some will go to the extreme of teaching that if a person tries to obey God's Laws and Commandments, then that person is actually committing sin, because they claim that if a person tries to obey God's Laws and Instructions, then this they say is the equivalent of denying that what Jesus Christ did on the cross was sufficient. So essentially they claim that someone who tries to obey God's Laws, Commandments, and Instructions is actually guilty of denying Jesus Christ. Modern theology has labeled this idea as, "legalism."
Modern-day Christianity offers a unique solution to this self-imposed problem that their own theology has created. According to what they teach and practice, the way to avoid what they call legalism in many cases is to now teach, and to do the direct OPPOSITE of what God's Laws Commandments and Instructions requires the believer to do. What many end up teaching and doing is the direct OPPOSITE of what God's Law and Instructions teach, ostensibly to prove that they are not trying to be justified by their works, so they will often do the exact opposite of the works that God requires us to do, supposedly to demonstrate that they believe that we are saved by grace and Not by our works of the Law; (although, the logic of how one demonstrates and proves that they truly Love and believe God by doing the exact opposite of what He says He likes, escapes me at the moment, but that's a whole other discussion).
So to avoid what they have called legalism, Babylonian Christianity has now created a dysfunctional religious belief system in which what God has defined in Scripture as being good; (obeying and doing God's Laws Commandments and Instructions), is now being looked upon as though it were wicked, evil, or as though it were denying God. Conversely, Babylonian Christianity in practical terms also now identifies what God has defined as evil or sin (the violating God Laws Commandments and Instructions), as though it were now good, because they say that this proves that you are trusting God and Jesus Christ, and not trusting your own works of the law to save you. So according to them, the way to prove that I am not trying to justify myself by observing God's Holy Sabbaths is to purposely violate and dishonor God's Sabbaths. According to them, the way to prove that I'm not trying to get saved by avoiding what God calls idolatrous practices is to commit acts which Scripture clearly identifies as idolatrous behavior, but we now must do those same idolatrous behaviors, “In the name of Jesus.” That doctrinal approach to Scripture, to faith, and to grace sounds good and logical because we have heard it all our lives, but it's not Scriptural at all (See Isaiah 5:20-24).
The most frightening part is how strong the Babylonian religious spirit actually is. When you point out from Scripture, using the very words and teachings of Jesus Christ to clearly demonstrate the glaring inaccuracy of the Babylonian belief system when compared to Scripture, these Babylonian Christians; these people who claim to love God, who claim to love and claim to believe Jesus Christ, who claim to possess the same Holy Spirit which caused the Scriptures to be written and raised Christ from the dead, these very same people who claim to be full of God's love and grace are the most decidedly ungracious, whenever they encounter a fellow believer in Christ, who seeks to demonstrate their love for God and Jesus Christ by obeying what He commanded, instead of disobeying Him, to keep the Babylonian religious traditions of men. When you take a stand for God, for Jesus Christ, and for the Scriptures, the same people who claim to love God often get the angriest and take on the very same characteristics and behaviors of Jezebel and the prophets of baal of old. Jesus was entirely correct when He said that we would recognize the difference between true and false prophets, by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20; cf. John 13:35).
The Truth: What God says was detestable to Him 5000 years ago, is still an equally detestable stench to Him today. Putting lipstick on a fresh pile of poop does not make poop pretty. It only defiles the lipstick and makes it unusable for its intended purpose.
It is absolutely true that I cannot obey God's Law perfectly well. It is also true that IF I depend solely on my own obedience to God's Law to either grant or guarantee my salvation, then I would be lost because I cannot keep God's law perfectly well and I would be condemned. That was the sound biblical teaching of rightly divided Old Testament, as well as New Testament teaching. The solution to that however IS NOT to break God's Law. The solution IS NOT to disobey and NOT to do the opposite of what God's Instructions say on purpose.
THE TRULY BIBLICAL SOLUTION IS TO LOVE GOD, TO ENTRUST ONESELF TO JESUS, AND TO OBEY GOD'S LAWS AND INSTRUCTIONS WITH GRACE, THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Obeying God's Laws Commandments and Instructions is a matter of biblical discipleship AFTER being saved through Christ Jesus. Obeying God's Law is not for salvation, but it is required for true biblical discipleship after salvation. The only people who have any hope of obeying God are those who are born-again through God's Spirit in Jesus Christ. The unregenerate sinner whose mind and desires are controlled by his sinful nature both REFUSES and CANNOT subject himself to the Laws of Almighty God (Romans 8:5-8). So the only people on earth who can successfully obey God's laws and Commandments are the born-again and regenerated people (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Philippians 2:13; Matthew 12:48-50).
Please review Romans 8:5-8, and consider this:
Babylonian Christianity claims that they believe the Scriptures. So using their own logic with the Scriptures, that would have to mean that the sinner has no hope of subjecting himself and obeying God’s Commandments because they're carnal minded, and the born-again Christian does not subject himself to the laws of God because he is supposedly under grace. So by necessity, Babylonian Christian theology teaches that the mindset of the unregenerate sinner and the mindset of the born-again Christian produce essentially the same fruit or result?! Neither one is subject to God's Laws and Commandments?! If that were true, who is left to glorify God by their lifestyle in the world (Matthew 5:13-16)? So that would mean that the only difference between the sinner and saint is that one claims to believe Jesus Christ, and the other one does not? But then, how do I judge and evaluate what I truly believe if I do not measure what I claim to believe with what I do and how I choose to live?! (See 2 Corinthians 13:5; James 2:18).
Babylonian Christian theology encounters a serious problem when they encounter Matthew 5:17-20, because Babylonian Christian religious doctrine runs in direct contradiction to the exact words and teachings of Jesus Christ Himself, and they get very annoyed when people notice. That's because they claim to believe that all the Scriptures are true, so when they encounter Christ's fifth command in the New Testament, they have to shift and tinker with it because the plain text is perfectly clear, but it runs in direct contradiction to Babylonian Christian doctrine, so they are in a great dilemma.

 

“Jesus fulfilled it, so I do not have to obey it”

When one points out this clear statement from Jesus the Messiah in the New Testament, modern Christian theologians and apologists get incredibly hung up on the word, "FULFILL.” Here is the typical modern Christian theological response:
"Well, since Jesus Christ FULFILLed the Law, then Christians who believe Jesus Christ, and have received Him as their Lord and Savior, are not obligated to keep God's Law or Commandments any longer.
Some theologians will even go so far as to suggest that if we try to follow Christ's example (1 John 2:6), and we try to obey God's Standards, Laws, and Commandments just as Jesus Christ did, then some theologians will openly state that to do this is the equivalent of denying Jesus Christ, because they say that when you try to obey God's laws as Jesus did, then this is the same as claiming that what Jesus accomplished on our behalf was not sufficient.
That argument sounds very logical and convincing, until you realize that such an argument forces you to violate an enormous amount of the New Testament, as well as forcing you to ignore the standards of the Old Testament. There is a plethora of New Testament Scripture telling us to obey the Commandments (James 1:19-27; Romans 8:5-8; Matthew 5:17-19; Matthew 15:3 John 12:49-50; Matthew 7:21; John 14:15; John 14:21; John 15:10; 15:14; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:22-24; 1 John 5:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 14:12; that's not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea anyway). In order to do away with God's Laws and Commandments, you must necessarily do away with a lot of the teachings that were written by the apostles after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That should be enough to convince anyone, but if for some reason all those passages are not enough to convince you, then the modern theological point of view creates another incredible dilemma.

 

How Babylonian Christianity Turns Baptism into Sin

If for some reason the fact that Christ “Fulfilled” the Law actually means that believers no longer have to obey God's Standards, Laws, Commandments, and His Instructions anymore; moreover, if modern theologians are correct, and if the believer in Christ who tries to obey God's Laws Commandments and Standards is in fact guilty of denying Christ, because doing such things supposedly denies that what Jesus Christ did was enough, if the modern theology is correct, then all of modern traditional churches claiming Christianity are in fact guilty of heresy and stand condemned for denying Christ, if modern theologians are correct (which they aren't, but if they were, almost every traditional Christian would stand condemned using their own standards).
Why? The reason I say that if modern theology were correct we would all stand condemned is because every single Catholic and Protestant church still religiously practices baptism. If modern theology is correct every single church that practices baptism is guilty of heresy, and using their own standard, they would also by virtue of their continuing to baptize, they would be guilty of denying that what Jesus Christ fulfilled was sufficient. Here's why I say that.
In Matthew 3:15, Messiah required John the baptizer, to baptize Him, "In order to FULFILL ALL righteousness.” Here's the key point. The word fulfill in Matthew 3:15, is the EXACT same Greek word (Strong’s Greek #4137) fulfill in Matthew 5:17.
The only difference is how modern theology and culture applies the exact same word. When it comes to baptism, we never look at new converts and say to them that you should never be baptized because Jesus Christ fulfilled baptism for you, so if you do get baptized, then you would be guilty of denying that what Jesus Christ did to fulfill it for you was enough. On the contrary when it comes to honoring Matthew 3:15, we use the fact that Jesus fulfilled all righteousness through baptism as an example of how we should walk.
However, when we encounter the same exact Greek word fulfill in Matthew 5:17, we now tell the same Christian that if he tries to copy what Christ fulfilled in trying to obey God’s Law as Christ did, then suddenly he is supposedly guilty of denying that what Jesus Christ did was enough. How does that work?!
I say again as I've said before, absolute truth cannot contradict absolute truth, by definition. If the word fulfill means that we honor Him when you copy His example in baptism in Matthew 3:15, then how can we possibly be dishonoring Christ when we seek to copy obeying the Father's Commandments, even though Jesus fulfills that as well?
The problem is not with the Scripture. The problem is that with baptism we have been traditionally conditioned to accept that copying what Christ fulfilled in that instance is good and praiseworthy. Conversely, we have been equally trained and conditioned to believe that copying Christ's example in obeying what Christ fulfilled when it comes to honoring God's Laws and Commandments as in Matthew 5:17-20, has been given the exact opposite meaning and connotation by the religious traditions of men.
 

 

We Must Learn to Face the Facts

 
FACT: Messiah specifically said that He did not speak or act on His own initiative. On The contrary, He only spoke and only did what Almighty God the Father told Him to do (John 5:30; John 7:28; John 8:28; John 8:42; John 10:18; John 12:49; John 14:10). So, by necessity, that means that when Jesus Christ the Messiah spoke what He did in Matthew 5:17-20, then Messiah was speaking ONLY what God Almighty directly told Him to say, and nothing else.
Questions: Was Yeshua (Jesus) Who is the Messiah sent by the One True Almighty God, was He successful in doing what Almighty God sent Him to do? Was Yeshua, (Jesus) Who is the Messiah sent by the One True Almighty God, was He also successful in avoiding what Almighty God told Him NOT to do? Since the answer to both of those questions is YES, then the end result of what Jesus Christ accomplished, through His perfect obedience to God's Laws, what He accomplished through His atoning death on our behalf, and what He accomplished through His glorious resurrection from the dead, by Messiah's Own Words, His fulfilling of His God-given mission, COULD NOT have brought about the abolishing, destroying, or the doing away with God's Standards, Laws, and Commandments, or the teachings of the Prophets, because Messiah Himself specifically said that successfully fulfilling the mission that God sent Him on, would not accomplish or bring about that kind of result. Those are Christ's words and teachings, not my own.
FACT: God openly declares that He will not do anything without revealing it to the prophets first (Amos 3:7). God's word contains literally hundreds of prophecies concerning the Messiah and what He would accomplish. There are even two prophets that predict his death for our sake (Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53). If we understand the prophetic meaning of the Feast of First Fruits, then we could clearly see that even Christ's resurrection was in fact prophesied as well. The fact is that in all of the prophetic teachings of Scripture, there is not a single prophecy of Scripture from Genesis to Malachi that even indicates that after Messiah dies on our behalf, believers will no longer be obligated to honor and obey God's Commandments, Laws and Instructions. The only major difference is that when the New Covenant is completely accomplished, then God's Law will be written on our hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:31-34), but there is absolutely no indication that the Law will change or be abolished after Christ's death.
FACT: There are 46 parables of Jesus Christ. There are 13 of them describing how the Kingdom of Heaven functions. There are 245 direct imperative Commandments of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. There are countless other pieces of advice, instructions and teachings which are not direct commands and imperatives. Throughout the hundreds of statements that Jesus made in the New Testament, there is not a single statement or teaching of Jesus Christ that even hints at the idea that after His death, believers will no longer be obligated to learn, or that we will no longer be obligated to respect God's Commandments Laws and Instructions after the Son of Man has finished His sufferings. Jesus didn't teach it in the entire New Testament, not even once.
In point of fact, the reverse is actually true. There are dozens of places where Messiah specifically teaches people to respect and obey what God Commanded in the Law, but there is not a single teaching of Christ that says after I die on your behalf, you will not be obligated to respect and honor those things anymore. Now, let's use our God-given brains.
If Almighty God was going to change or redefine His fundamental definitions of sin and righteousness, if He was going to change the fundamental definitions of what pleases Him and what doesn't, or if He was going to change the fundamental practices between what He honored, and what He does not, then I guarantee you that the prophets would have prophesied it, the Messiah would have openly stated it, and the apostles would have all taught and practiced it, because that is a huge paradigm shift. That would be a huge reversal for God to make, and God would not have merely hinted at such a huge change in His divine will, He would've stated it outright, and He would've stated it out of the mouth of multiple witnesses in prophecy before He accomplished it so that the truth of it could be well-established, but that is not what He did.
FACT: Almighty God anointed 40 biblical writers with the same Holy Spirit over thousands of years. He caused them to write the Scriptures, all the Scriptures they wrote is anointed and appointed by God. All of it is profitable and beneficial for us to define our doctrine. All of it (not just some of it, but all of it) is profitable to reprove, to correct, and to train us in God's righteousness. All of it is intended to work together to make is completely furnished and well equipped for how God intended us to live and serve Him (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Those are Paul's own words, referring to the Scriptures, and specifically to the Old Testament Scriptures because the New Testament had not been compiled when Paul wrote those words. Nonetheless, taking the Whole Testament of Scripture together there are 40 Biblical writers.
Out of those 40 biblical writers:
· Only one (1) does not mention God or the Commandments in any context whatsoever (that is the book of Esther).
· One (1) biblical writer APPEARS to teach that believers are no longer obligated to keep the Law and the Commandments, because we are saved by Grace. That is how many people choose to interpret Paul and his writings. There is however a BIG problem with drawing that conclusion from Paul's writings, in that on multiple occasions, Paul Himself specifically says that he did not teach against keeping the Law or the Commandments God gave to Moses. (Acts 24:14-16; Acts 25:7-8; Acts 28:16-18). So based on Paul's own specific statements about his beliefs and teachings, we could easily be misinterpreting Paul, and drawing the wrong conclusions from his teachings. I based that on Paul's own words, not my own ideas.
· All of the remaining 38 biblical writers throughout the Old and New Testament specifically state either by direct statements or by example that the whole duty of man is to love God and to keep God's Commandments.
Now, taking all of these facts into consideration, I challenge and exhort you before Almighty God and the Messiah, to simply do the math. What are the odds that it is good, that it is right, that it is pleasing to God, what are the odds that it is safe and sound doctrine to continue teaching that because Jesus Christ the Messiah fulfilled the Law of God, that believers today are no longer obligated to learn and obey it?
If you are wise, then you do not want Almighty God calling you a liar on the Day of Judgment (Revelation 21:7-8; cf. 1 John 2:1-6). Beloved, it hardly gets more dangerous than to claim that we love God, to claim that we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior at the very same time that we teach and do the direct opposite of what both He and Almighty God the Father speaking as One has commanded us. It is a dangerous, heretical, destructive, self-delusion (James 1:21-22 cf. 1 John 1:5-7), and we must repent from teaching and walking in such heresy, because if we don't many will be deceived, many will perish, and it will be our fault, because we were sent to be salt and light. We were sent to teach people how to do and obey everything that Jesus Christ commanded. We were told not to think that Jesus Christ came to abolish the Law and the Prophets, and yet that is exactly what modern-day Christianity ends up teaching by tradition and practice. IT'S HERESY AND FALSE TEACHING. Beloved, I am not teaching that because I've gotten “carried away” in the Old Testament, as some might glibly accuse. I am teaching it BECAUSE I BELIEVE JESUS CHRIST, and I take what HE said very seriously. It is written:

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
"The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall." (Matthew 7:21-27 (NASB bold and underlining added for emphasis)

If you honestly believe that you can successfully DO the Will of Almighty God the Father in Heaven, by doing the exact opposite of what He says He desires and requires in His Laws, Commandments, and Instructions, then you are seriously mistaken if not delusional Since God cannot deny or contradict Himself (2 Timothy 3:12; Psalm 119:142; Psalm 19:7-14). God's Truth and His will, is revealed in His Laws, Commandments, and Instructions (Romans 15:4), as well as being more clearly revealed and understood through His Son Yeshua (Jesus, John 14:6).
If we go on teaching people that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law and the prophets, and that because Jesus fulfilled them, then this means that He did away with them, we are then preventing people from learning, let alone successfully doing the will of God. Not only is teaching the abolition of God's Law false teaching according to Jesus, but we are also putting people's eternal salvation at risk by teaching the opposite of what Jesus said He did and came to do. We must repent!
Brother R. Michel Lankford

Let Your Light Shine

By Brother R. Michel Lankford

(Christ’s 4^th Command)

Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are[ the light of the world]. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

 

Developing a God Centered Christ Controlled Self-Esteem

This is absolutely one of my favorite Biblical passages. It's one that I recommend for anyone who struggles with having a healthy and God centered self-esteem or self-image. Before we go too far I'd like to bring some godly moderation to the issue of self-esteem. Self-esteem that is too high (which is puffed out pride) is a belief system that says I can achieve my potential apart from God. This is a complete lie. Self-esteem that is too low is a belief system that goes too far the other way. If it persists long enough it can make us believe that we are nothing and can accomplish nothing even with God's leading and empowerment. This is a complete lie as well.
In my experience it seems that the body of Christ has in large part, fallen into these two extremes when dealing with the issue of self-esteem. There are those on one extreme (the touchy-feely extreme) which leans on the pop psychology more than Scripture, and believes that if everyone felt good about themselves we would all more automatically do good. What a steaming pile of meadow muffins! Adam and Eve were perfectly healthy human beings who had no legitimate reason for any negative self-image. They didn't even know that negative self-image was possible, and yet they still managed not to trust God, to obey the devil, and sin. On the other hand, there are those believers on the other extreme (the holy masochists). These people are those who believe that they have to become nothing and God becomes everything. They most often misapply John the Baptist's words: "He [meaning Christ] must increase and I must decrease" (John 3:30). John the Baptist said "I must decrease." He did not say I must disappear and become nothing. God created each one of us to be uniquely who we are, but to be uniquely who we are with God Himself as the leader and motivating force working within us. That's the difference. Scripture is very clear that we are not to have a total lack of self-image or self-esteem, but we are to have a sober and moderate one (Romans 12:1-3).
It is for this reason that I believe both extremes have it all wrong. Just like every bull's-eye is at the center of the target, so the truth about self-image is in the middle. The fact is that God does want us to have a healthy, well-adjusted, God centered self-image. If our self-image is too high it can lead us into pride and arrogance and rebellion against God. This is both wicked and deadly. However the extreme reverse is also true. If our self-esteem or self-image is too low it can also lead to paralyzing fear. This can make it impossible for us to believe God, to persist in applying His word, or to overcome the challenges set before us. The best scriptural example of this can be found in numbers chapters 13 & 14. God sent 12 spies to survey the promised land. 10 of the spies came back with a report that it would be impossible to take the land God promised. Only Joshua and Caleb believed what God said. The negative report of the 10 spies is very telling. Please don't miss this. After seeing the Giants they would have to overcome in order to take the promised land the 10 spies said: "Numbers 13:33b "... and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (NASB77). The 10 spies spread this low opinion of themselves throughout the camp so much that fear consumed the people. They could not bring themselves to obey God and they refused to enter the land God promised them. So self-image that is too low can make you believe that you cannot overcome your challenges even with God's help. This can lead to rebellion as well. This too is just as deadly. If you look at Numbers 14, these 10 spies who saw themselves as grasshoppers until they acted like grasshoppers literally caused the death of their entire generation for their nation! Joshua and Caleb were the only two people of their generation to enter the Promised Land.
Ultimately, we can never develop a God centered and Christ controlled self-image unless we first have a key understanding. As human beings, we were created by God for His pleasure. We were created by God to please Him, not to please ourselves. Therefore, living a life in the pursuit of our own pleasure or self-gratification will never create contentment, satisfaction fulfillment or a healthy self-esteem. As human beings, we were created to seek, to discover, to pursue and to do what pleases God. When we learn to do this successfully, then our sense of fulfillment, value and well-being increases dramatically (Psalm 103:3; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11). .
With this fundamental understanding let us look at the paragraph containing Christ's command. The whole paragraph containing the command really does several things. First it points out are innate value as human beings. As innately valuable human beings we have great potential, but with all potential comes a real responsibility. He starts out with some very telling words. "You are the salt of the earth." This is a phrase that has lost a lot of its impact over the centuries because nowadays almost any industrialized nation or city can obtain salt very easily and cheaply. You can practically get several pounds of it for a dollar. At the time Jesus said these words in the first century however; salt was a very expensive and precious commodity. So precious was it that the Roman Empire actually made it a point to conquer areas known to be rich in salt deposits. So precious was the salt commodity that the Roman armies were actually paid with a daily allotment of salt. Believe me, leaders made sure they paid the soldiers well if they wanted to stay in power. So the fact that they paid soldiers in salt demonstrates that it was a premium in those days. In fact, that is where we get the word salary because they went to collect their salt allotments at the solarium. In common speech if a soldier was not doing a good job, he was said not to be worth his salt. So, when Jesus said to the people "you are the salt of the earth," He was saying to humanity in general, you are the most precious commodity in God's creation. Later, Jesus would demonstrate how precious we were in God's sight by laying down his own life in order to ransom us out of our bondage to sin (Romans 5:8). So here is the way to develop a healthy God centered self-image and self-esteem.
a.) We must gain an understanding of how important and innately valuable we are as human beings before God, just by virtue that we are human beings. We are created in God's image and in God's likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). We need to know that we are innately valuable and precious in God's sight. That's critical, but we don't want to stop there.
b.) We must understand that with a great value their naturally comes great potential.
c.) We must understand that with great value and potential comes great responsibility
d.) We must understand that with great value potential and responsibility comes the greater need to rely upon and cooperate with God in order to meet our potential.
A diamond for example has great value in our world just by virtue of the fact that it is a diamond. However a diamond which is properly harvested, carefully cut, polished and mounted can be dazzling and greatly enjoyed. Likewise, the human being is innately precious and valuable simply by the virtue that it is a human being. However, like the diamond in the rough, human beings cannot hope to reach their potential without putting themselves in the hands of the expert craftsman.
While Christ was speaking about the value of humanity in general, he was more precisely speaking about those human beings who had entered into Covenant relationship with God. Why? Well, because people who have entered into a relationship with Almighty God have access to God, and by virtue of that access have the most potential to affect eternal life-saving change in our world. Just like the diamond can be a shimmering display of earthly light and brilliance, so too a human being who is properly brought into Christ, nurtured in Christ, trained in Christ and who perseveres in Christ has an enormous ability to positively impact the world in which they live for eternity.
To better understand our potential, we must go back to Messiah's calling us the salt of the earth, and recognize some of the many uses for salt in the ancient world. We already discussed how salt was used as a commodity or as money to make purchases. So too can a believer who has been transformed by God and the gospel use his testimony to literally help ransom people out of hell. Salt was sometimes used as medicine, as a cleanser and disinfectant. Our lives should be an example of God's cleansing and transforming power. In ancient times salt was used to preserve foods and nourishment. We ought to preserve the truths of God by teaching and by actually DOING the WORD so that spiritually hungry people can be fed and nourished. Salt had a distinct flavor all its own. Believers are to be distinctly separate from the world. We should never leave a bad taste in someone's mouth. Messiah points out that if we lose our ability to impact the world in these ways we are basically useless. This is why we should not absorb the flavor of the world. We should be "flavoring them" with a distinct flavor of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we must remember that salt flavors the food, food does not flavor salt. We are to flavor the world with God's word and righteousness in Christ, and not to dilute those standards to agree with a sinful world.
Did you notice the actual command in Matthew 5:16? It says "LET your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Please notice what it does not say. It does not say, MAKE your light shine, but rather, let your light shine. In other words, don't hinder the light of God from shining through you. A diamond does not make itself beautiful. The expert craftsman uses his talents and skills to bring out that potential beauty that God already put in the diamond. The light of the world hits it and its innate beauty shines through. All the diamond can do is lay there and let the craftsman do his work. The major difference is that human beings have a mind, emotions and a will of their own. As a result of this, we human beings face a constant challenge to lay ourselves in the hands of God and let him make something beautiful out of our fairly rough lives and character. If we learn to simply let God be who He is and let Him be that in us, and let God do what He does best and cooperate as he does that in us, and don't hinder this we will be brilliant reflections of his glory's character. Along with the command, there is the warning that if we fail to do this, we become useless to God.
Just like salt was used as medicine to kill infections, so too can a life that is transformed by the gospel be just what the doctor ordered in a very sick and hurting world, but if we dilute or diminish the gospel either by failing to let God be who He is, and do what He does in us, or by watering down the gospel message in order to make it more palatable, what we actually do is like watering down the effects of antibiotics. We don't really kill the infection of sin in someone's life, but we do make them more comfortable while being sick until they die. That's not good. We must stay true to the gospel both in the way we live it and in the way we teach it so that it can transform and heal broken lives.
 
Every time we put God's Word into practice, every time we obey His Commandment, instead of doing what seems commonplace or normal according to the rudiments and standards of the sinful world, every time we speak God's Word and our lives coincide with that speech, every time we choose God's Standard ahead of our own, we are then being what God created us to be, and we are letting our light shine. Those that are hungry to know God and experience His life-changing power, will see the difference, and they will come to God, but that is why we must be radically different than the sinful world. We cannot love what the sinful world loves and cherishes (1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4; Romans 12:1-2). We cannot pursue what the sinful world pursues (Luke 12:22-34; Matthew 6:33). We cannot continue to speak at the sinful world speaks (Ephesians 4:29; Psalm 19:14). We cannot choose as the sinful world chooses (Isaiah 56:3-5; Deuteronomy 30:19). It's only when we come into agreement with and we choose what pleases God that we can be truly fulfilled as human beings, and be a blessing to others that God created us to be at the same time.
Suggested Prayer: "Almighty God, we were created for Your Pleasure and for Your Delight. I will never be a truly fulfilled and useful human being until I learn to desire, to seek, to discover them and to do what is truly delightful and pleasing to You. Lord in your mercy, mercifully open my heart and my will to seek hard after You, and to earnestly obey what You teach me. By Your Grace, mercifully transform me and fill me with the courage to be completely devoted to You, to choose what pleases You, and you be radically different by Your power and Grace so that I will be truly potent salt and light in a world filled with darkness. In Yeshua's gracious name, amen.

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? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NASB)

Rejoice in Persecution

By Brother R, Michel Lankford

 
"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:10-12 (NASB)

 
The third command of our Lord Jesus Christ is that when we are persecuted for the Lord's sake, we should rejoice. That is a very tall order, but nonetheless it is a command of our Lord. It can also be a bit disillusioning for those who are just starting out in earnestly walking after the Lord Jesus Christ. For the most part when we first come to the Lord we are enamored with our newly found discovery of God's love and empowerment from our Lord Jesus Christ. We feel so good that it's hard to imagine that everyone doesn't really want to feel this good. We are so blessed to be forgiven we want everyone to experience that as well. After all, we serve a God who sent His one and only begotten son to pay the penalty for our sins so that we wouldn't have to perish! Why aren't people lined up down the street four abreast around the block to partake of this glorious gift? We serve the Lord that willingly laid down his life for us so that we can have a more abundant life (John 10:1-18). We we're so happy to be loved, wanted, redeemed and accepted by God, we can't imagine such great news would make anyone unhappy, let alone angry. Ironically, that's exactly what it does. Why is that the case?
Taking things from the godly and biblical perspective, there are basically only two types of people in the world. These might be called redeemed and unredeemed. Another word would be righteous or unrighteous; or regenerated versus unregenerate persons. Basically the saved, righteous regenerated person is one who has committed their lives to God and Jesus Christ and has requested God's free gift of salvation. This person is being transformed gradually day by day from the inside-out until their thoughts, motives, attitudes, desires, emotions, choices and behaviors come into complete agreement with God and Jesus Christ. The other group of people; those that Scripture refers to as "the world" or unregenerate, sinful, or unrighteous are those people who have not yet understood or actively accepted the love of God or His gift of salvation into their lives. Scripture overtly states that these people have their mind controlled by their sinful nature and what their sinful nature desires. They are hostile against God. Those who have their minds set and controlled by the sinful nature both refuse to, and cannot bring themselves under subjection to God's Law and Commandments. They live to satisfy their own sinful passions, the ideologies and thinking patterns of the world system that is hostile to God and driven by sinful human nature. They cannot please God, nor indeed do they desire to do so. For as it is written:
Romans 8:5-8 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. [6] For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, [7] because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, [8] and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (NASB)
When we understand the dynamics of how the sinful world thinks and functions, then the sinful world's persecution of the righteous, while not excusable by any means, is logically understandable:
1. The sinful world with its false political and religious system has its thinking controlled by their sinful nature. They are hostile against God. They both refuse, and cannot subject themselves to God's Law or His Commandments, and the enemy (the devil) blinds their minds so that they cannot see the truth of their sinful nature and their very real desperate need for the Savior (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). One of the chief characteristics of this is that they suppress the truth with their wickedness (Romans 1:18).
2. The sinful world desperately wants to believe that people are "basically good," that humanity doesn't really NEED the Savior, and if by chance we do need saving, they want to believe that we don't really need to bring ourselves under subjection to Almighty God and Jesus Christ, because they want to believe that their own man made-up philosophies and man-made religious traditions will be sufficient to get the job done. At the root of it is a powerful desire to deny that Yahweh Almighty God is God, then He is in charge, that God will judge all of humankind according to His Righteous Standards, and that we are all indeed answerable to Him for all of our thoughts, desires, motives, choices, words and actions. The sinful world desperately wants to deny that we will in fact answer to the One True Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth for these areas of our lives. Jesus describes the general attitude of the wicked (John 3:18-20; cf. Romans 1:18-32; 2 Timothy 3:1-7).
3. By contrast, the person who has been born again, who has come to saving faith in Almighty God and the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) Whom God has sent (John 17:3); that person loves God and has been transformed an renewed by God (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ezekiel 36:25-27). The person who has been regenerated by God, loves God, and as such, they want to please God and obey His Commandments (John 14:21; John 15:14; Matthew 12:48-50). When such people discover that they are coming short of what pleases God it grieves and bothers them, and they want to repent and return quickly to God's ways. Moreover, the born-again, regenerated God follower is commanded to be salt and light and to demonstrate God's ways by their lifestyle and with testimonies and declarations.
4. When the sinful world with its mindset on the sinful nature encounters a believer who is transformed, and who is subjecting himself or herself to the Law of God, the sinful world has a real problem, because the God follower is living proof that one can repent, and one can walk with God, one can obey God, and one can live a life of love and self-sacrifice if they allow God to change them. The God follower is living proof to the sinful world, that God IS, and that He changes lives if people let Him. So in effect, the effective Christian demonstrates to the sinful world that they have no real excuse for continuing to rebel against God. So the sinner is left with two choices. He can either repent, turn to God, and be saved, or he can dig his heels in, try to ignore, or try to oppress the message of the Gospel out of existence, so that he does not have to deal with it. Sadly, many sinners and sinful world systems choose the second option instead of the first. That's why persecution of the righteous by the wicked happens so frequently in our world.
It's important to recognize that a person cannot truly be able to obey God or His Commandments until God renews our nature from our sinful human nature into a new godly one. The command Jesus gave in Matthew 5:11-12 was given at the end of a portion of Scripture called the Beatitudes. These passages describe the attitudes that we will see beginning to develop in our lives if we are truly born-again or regenerated. Clearly a godly person has different attitudes and desires than an ungodly person has. The godly or regenerated person will have the desire for what God says is good. The worldly sinful and un-regenerated person may have some of the same basic needs and wants, but will try to satisfy them using their own methods or ungodly means.
For example, in the world system with its self-satisfying ideologies you will usually hear that you will be blessed, happy or in an enviable position when you have the right job, the better newer possessions; (the new house, car, electronic toy), if you make a lot of money, have the most gorgeous partner, the best sex life, the right waist size or whatever else. What's more, they will tell you that you can usually have that stuff for several easy payments of $__.
Jesus the Messiah says that the way to really be blessed is to develop an appetite; a hunger and thirst after righteousness. If we let God develop this in our lives, He will satisfy our deepest longings. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). Do you see the difference? Messiah says that we are blessed when we mourn (Mathew 5:4), not because He wants us miserable but because He knows that God is the source of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3; Psalm 34:18, Psalm 147:3) and He wants to comfort us rather than our having to cover our pains and comfort ourselves with artificial and temporary substitutes that will never really satisfy our deepest longings anyway.
As we read in the passage of Romans above, those that are controlled by their sinful nature are very hostile to God and will also be very hostile to those who love God and want to live life according to God's precepts. The world with its ideologies teaches and wants us to believe that humanity is basically good. They desperately want us to believe that we can be good without God or that we don't need Him. This is a total lie, but that's what the world ideologies want us to accept. The truth is that there is One True God. He will in fact eventually judge the entire world past, present and future. The fact is we are not basically good. We are basically sinful, wicked, self-willed, and we need God to change our nature from the inside out with his love and righteousness otherwise we have no chance of pleasing God and we are doomed. Jesus Christ the Son of God died on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserve and to intercede for us before God so that he would not have to judge us according to what our sins deserve. The world doesn't want to look at it this way, because it wants to believe other things that are completely hostile to the truth. Godly people don't think like the world (Romans 12:1-2). We are not to try to achieve our aims or chase after the same things that the world chases. As a result the world with its sinful ideologies is not going to like us. It's a fact, and one that we should probably understand from the very beginning. Jesus the Messiah said it Himself:
John 3:16-21 "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. [17] "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [18] "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [19] "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. [20] "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. [21] "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (NASB emphasis added)
John 15:18-20 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. [19] "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. [20] "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (NASB)
So we know that people who are driven by their sinful natures will be hostile to God, they will hate the light because it exposes their deeds for the evil that they are. We know that those of us who want to live according to God's precepts are not going to be loved and accepted by the ungodly, nor should we expect to be. With these dynamics being the reality of the sinful world in which we live, persecution comes with the territory. As it is written:

2 Timothy 3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (NASB)

Since it is part of the fallen sinful world that we live in, we need to build our faith and character muscles so that when it happens we can keep and exhibit the right attitude. Keeping the right attitude is both a choice and a way of thinking. If you want to learn more about developing godly thinking, I recommend that you prayerfully read the book of Philippians in your Bible.

 

Obeying Christ's Third Command Successfully

So then how can we obey Christ's third command to rejoice when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness? Well, the details may manifest in your life in slightly different ways, but there are some basic elements that we all need to keep in mind that will help us.
(a) First, remember that the way I think and feel really is my decision. I can choose how I am going to think and feel. So make a conscious choice to rejoice. Along with this, make a decision that you are going to pursue those things that are of eternal value ahead of your comfort. God absolutely will comfort and encourage you along the way, but comfort cannot be your goal.
(b) Expect the challenges to come because they will. You will either face internal struggles whether you are fighting your own sinful desires from rising up, or you will face an external difficulties brought on by other people or external situations. Either way the key is to respond correctly to bring about the best results. We can't always control other people or situations, but we can learn to control how we respond. Learning to respond in godly ways no matter what the situation we encounter is imperative to successful Christian living.
When facing a trial, your attitude should always be something like: "I'm facing a challenge with X person or situation. It doesn't feel good and I'm definitely not enjoying it. Lord help me to seek and to correctly perceive and follow your direction, so that this will bring about the best results for my life and character. Please help me to persevere with you in this season until your best results are achieved in my life."
(c) Remember that you are not alone even when it feels like you are. Every other single person who has ever truly sought to live a life pleasing to God has faced some of the same internal and external challenges you are facing. Moses and the prophets who spoke for God were persecuted, Jesus was persecuted, the apostles were persecuted etc.. The fact is that every single believer faces internal and external challenges when they are seeking to live godly lives. God saw each one of them through their difficulties and he will bring you safely home as well.
(d) Remember that if you submit to God and rejoice in Him through whatever situation you find yourself, you are trials will end up making you, instead of destroying you. (See James 1:2; Romans 5:1-5). We have real-life examples of this found in the book of Genesis when we read about Joseph the patriarch, or when we read about the life of Daniel, or the life of David King of Israel before he became king. Each of these people face various trials and persecutions. They submitted to God and countless generations were blessed because of them. In fact, there life examples are an encouragement to us to this day.
Closing Prayer: Almighty God, Lord Jesus and gracious Holy Spirit; have mercy upon me. Save me by your gracious and unfailing love. I won't lie. I don't enjoy thinking and preparing for the prospect of being persecuted, but I want to live a godly life that pleases and honors You, so that means that some manner of persecution comes with the territory. I'm making the choice to rejoice. Lord, help me to make continuous choices and actions that are consistent with my choice to rejoice. Please help me not to fall into any internal or external sin when I am undergoing trial. Please help me to persevere in loving, trusting, and obeying you in whatever circumstances I encounter. Mercifully preserve me in Your love comfort and salvation to the very end.
I ask that you would also grant these blessings to every single believer who is undergoing any degree of challenge or persecution for their faith. Grant them overcoming love, overcoming faith and overcoming obedience in You. Mercifully comfort them and bring them to total victory by Your grace. In Christ's name, amen.

How God Defines What It Means to Be Blessed

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
Christ begins His first public sermon with what we affectionately call the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). The key words that we see constantly repeated throughout the passage are the words, "Blessed are...." So what does it mean to be blessed from Christ's point of view?
In Hebrew: esher (Hebrew Strong's # 835). The word occurs 143 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. It means to be in a state of happiness or blessedness (e.g. Psalm 1; Psalm 32:1-2, 8; Psalm 40:4; Psalm 65:4; Isaiah 56:2).
In Greek: makarios (Greek Strong's # 3107). The word occurs approximately 50 times in the Greek New Testament. The word blessed literally means "Happy, fortunate and to be in an enviable position."
As I've said before, the first principle of authentic Christian discipleship is to define every key concept as God Himself defines them in His Word. That's because if our definitions agree with God’s, then it is easier to bring our mindset into agreement with His, and we can more readily walk with Him successfully. We do not have to look very far down the list of Beatitudes to see that God's definition of blessing and the definition of blessing which is most comfortable to our human nature is not the same thing. In our human nature, when we think of being blessed, we think of it in terms of having an abundance of physical health, wealth, prosperity, provision, and family or circumstantial well-being.
When Messiah makes the list of what it means to be blessed in His first sermon, our human priorities are conspicuously absent from Messiah's list of blessings. In fact, Messiah's definitions of what it means to be blessed are sometimes the direct opposite of what we would consider a blessing.
1. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The word POOR in this verse (Strong’s Greek #4434); literally means to be so hungry and impoverished that one is reduced to begging in order to survive. It may be against our natural inclination to consider ourselves blessed when we are spiritually impoverished (and when we truly see and recognize that we are), but God through Messiah says that is exactly when we are the most blessed, happy, fortunate and in the most enviable position. Why is this?
a. First, a person who is that spiritually hungry will definitely cry out to God to save them, and they'll mean it, because they truly understand that if God doesn't transform and does not save them they will perish (Isaiah 55:1-11; Psalm 42:1-2; Matthew 11:28-30; Matthew 7:7-11; John 6:37; Romans 10:9-10, 13).
b. Second, a person who is spiritually hungry to the level to the point where they are willing and ready to beg in order to spiritually survive because they realize they are on the verge of spiritual starvation if they don't, that person is humble. When you are that hungry, you cannot be proud. Whatever spiritual pride you had is long gone. God is then free to raise you up and to exalt you. (Proverbs 3:34; Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 23:12; 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6). When you are that hungry, you do not play and piddle with your food. You don't even think to try to treat God's Holy and Life-Giving Word like it's some kind of blasted smorgasbord where you piddle and pick and choose only what you personally prefer, and reject what doesn't personally suit you. When you are that hungry and God offers you a sandwich, your first thought is not to pick and choose what you like and what you do not like about what God offers you. It doesn't even cross your mind to complain if the crust is not cut off the bread, or if the sandwich is not cut on the diagonal to make pretty triangles. When we do that type of thing to God and His Holy Word, we're not truly hungry enough.
c. The third reason that we’re truly blessed when we are spiritually hungry to that level is because God has prepared us to inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3b). Go ahead and contrast that to the exact opposite attitude described in Revelation 3:14-19. Can you see the radical difference between the two attitudes, and the resulting differences in our relationships with God based on our level of spiritual hunger?
2. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted;" (Matthew 5:4). The two key words here are MOURN (Greek Strong's #3996) literally to grieve, to be sorrowful, to wail or lament. It denotes a deep sadness or heaviness sorrowful state of heart as an over the death of loved one (Mark 16:10), or what our attitude should be over sin (Luke 6:25; 1Cor. 5:2; 2Cor. 12:21; Jas 4:9; Rev 18:11, 15, 19; Mk 16:10) and COMFORTED (Greek Strong's #3870); Literally to Exhort, to Aid to Encourage and Console.
a. One of the attributes of God is that He is the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). As a result, Almighty God is near to the brokenhearted, and those crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). Again, it may be difficult from our human fleshly standpoint to look at morning and grieving as being "Blessed," but the reason that we are considered blessed to be in such a state is that Yahweh Almighty God moves when we are brokenhearted and grieving either over our sin or over great loss. When we are in that state God is free to lift us up. He draws near to us, and draws us closer and Fellowship with Him, where He can rightly Comfort us. So if our chief aim is truly a closer relationship with Almighty God of all Comfort, then obviously not all states of grief are bad.
3. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth; (Matthew 5:5). (Greek Strong's #4239). It's a primary word in its own right, meaning meek, humble, gentle, mild It describes the Lord's attitude (Matthew 11:29; cf. Philippians 2:5-8). This is one of those many instances where God's standards and what is natural to our human nature are indeed the direct opposite. In our human sinful weaknesses, we as human beings tend to believe that we will get farther ahead, gain more, and inherit more, if we, "Claw our way past the competition." In our human weakness, we tend to believe, although mistakenly, that the best way to get ahead is to compete, to be more cunning to gain more wealth, gain more power and gain more prestige, and if we have to step on someone else to get the job done, well, that's how it goes. In this instance God through His Son Jesus Christ tells us that God's Kingdom functions in the direct opposite manner. The way to get ahead with God is to bend down and help the other guy up to victory. It truly is a different mindset then what is commonplace in our world (Psalm 37:10-11; Luke 9:46-48; Luke 14:8-11; Mark 10:42-45; Philippians 2:3-4; Matthew 23:8-13; Contrast: Matthew 23:1-7).
4. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matthew 5:6). SATISFIED (Greek Strong's #5526). It literally means to fulfill and satisfy the desire. Honestly, I believe that this is one of the most underutilized and under taught passages of Scripture. For me, this is one of those standardized spiritual checkup verses of Scripture. Here's what I mean. When you go to a doctor for a standard medical checkup, there are some routine procedures they always perform to check your condition. They always check your height, weight, blood pressure, temperature breathing, and so forth. Matthew 5:6 is what I call one of those standard spiritual checkup verses I often use. When I am unhappy, discontented, or dissatisfied, there is a standard spiritual/emotional checkup procedure that I try to follow by asking myself some key questions. If you're feeling discontented these are the areas you MUST check thoroughly:
a. Am I truly born-again, saved, and spiritually growing in Almighty God and Jesus Christ, the Messiah? That is the most vital need you will ever have (Matthew 7:7-11; John 3:3, 7; John 15:1-11; Romans 10:9-10, 13; John 17:3; 2 Peter 1:5-11; 1 John 1:9; Revelation 21:7).
b. Are my vital key human relationships in good functioning Biblical order? (Matthew 5:23-26; Matthew 7:12; Romans 12:17-21).
c. Do I have food clothing and shelter? (Isaiah 55:1-11; Matthew 6:11; 1 Timothy 6:6-8; Philippians 4:11-19)
d. Am I reasonably physically and mentally healthy and generally unencumbered? (James 5:14-16; 2 Corinthians 12:8-9; Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:4-8).
e. If any of the above issues are not in good functioning order, then have I brought these situations to the Lord in prayer? Am I applying what Scripture requires me to do to resolve the situation? Am I making good use of whatever help and assistance that God has provided through the body of Christ and other people for prayer and support?
f. Am I truly hungry and thirsty after righteousness? Are my appetites and desires truly in the right place? Whenever I feel dissatisfied, unfulfilled or discontented, this is the first question I ask myself, because Messiah guarantees that if I am truly hungry and thirsty for the right things, I will be satisfied. So if I am not satisfied, then I MUST check my appetites to make certain that my desires are in the right place. If I can honestly say that I have truly accomplished items (a) through (e), then it is just a matter of time and persevering in these things till Yahweh Almighty God's provision is made clear. If I have truly done what I can to cooperate with God and maintain the items above, God guarantees that I will be satisfied. If I am still not satisfied, then either I have not truly done the items listed above, or my hunger, my appetites, and desires are not after righteousness. My desires are wrong somewhere.
5. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). This one makes complete sense, even by so-called normal human standards. If you plant tomatoes you will reap the harvest tomatoes, not corn. If you plant mercy and forgiveness, you will also receive a harvest of forgiveness. So when we are tempted to hold a grudge and be embittered against another person, then we have to ask ourselves, "Do I really want God to forgive me when I am wrong? If I want God's forgiveness for my sins, I cannot afford to be unforgiving and hold a grudge toward other people (Matthew 18:21-35). The person who holds a grudge has actually lost sight of his own sinfulness, and how much he himself is in need of God's mercy and forgiveness. When I truly understand how guilty I have been and how much forgiveness I need, I have zero grounds not to forgive someone who asks for it.
6. "Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). When Messiah said those words, He was speaking ancient ideas (Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalm 15:1-5; Psalm 24:3-5 cf. Psalm 51:10-13; cf. 1 Timothy 2:22; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:2-3; Revelation 22:3-4).
7. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God" (Matthew 5:10). The key principle here that is often overlooked is at the verse says, "Blessed are the Peace MAKERS. It does NOT say, blessed are the PEACEKEEPERS. What's the difference? Well, in order to successfully MAKE peace, Yeshua the Messiah and Christ Who is the Prince of Peace, must be at least given the opportunity to rule in the hearts of people. Only when people are at peace with their Creator can they possibly have peace from within their hearts. Only when God and His Principles rule our hearts can we possibly overcome our selfish and sinful natures and produce lasting peace (James 4:1-4; Luke 6:35; Romans 8:14; Romans 14:19; James 3:18; 1 John 3:1).

8. "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. (Matthew 5:10-11 NASB). The last two of the Beatitudes basically go together. Once again, the mindset that we are required to have his disciples runs 180° contrary to what feels natural to our human nature. It is not natural and certainly not comfortable to consider ourselves blessed, happy, fortunate, or in an enviable position, when we are being persecuted for doing the right things. It is not our natural inclination to feel blessed when people insult us, when they persecute us, or when they speak falsely against us for doing what Almighty God and Jesus Christ tells us to do, and yet Almighty God through the Messiah tells us that we are BLESSED when this occurs. Even as an avid Bible believer, this truth does not swallow easily. This must be a work of the Holy Spirit inside the believer. In order to develop this mindset, we must reach a point where we truly value Heavenly things so much that we are ready and willing to give up the approval of human beings in order to have God's approval. We must be so eager for God's approval, and so hungry to please Him, that we are willing to take the scorn of men in order to have God's approval. The person who develops this mindset truly has firmly put their mindset on heavenly things and not on earthly things (2 Timothy 3:12; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 2:10-13; 1 Peter 3:14). It is only after developing the kind of mindset described in all the Beatitudes that we can't successfully obey Christ's third public command in the New Testament.
See you next time.
Brother R. Michel Lankford

Kingdom Thinking

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
 
Please Read the Following Passages: Genesis 6:5; Proverbs 15:26, Proverbs 16:25; By Contrast: Proverbs 3:5-7; Isaiah 55:6-9; Jeremiah 9:23-26; Romans 8:5-8; Romans 12:1-3; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; James 3:13-18; Colossians 3:1-2; Philippians 4:4-8; Matthew 5:1-12.
As we are continuing to study every command that Jesus Christ gave in the New Testament, we will find that Messiah's third command is located at the end of what is affectionately called the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:12; cf. 2 Timothy 3:12). In fact, a great number of the next Commandments Jesus gave in the New Testament will be found in this very powerful Sermon on the Mount. That being the case, it only makes sense that the next few blog entries should focus on the entire Sermon on the Mount in biblical order. For myself I make it a point to review the sermon every year anyway, because of the great promise that it contains at the end, (Matthew 7:24-25).
The reality is that we will not be able to obey Christ's third command in the New Testament (Matthew 5:12), unless and until we have a thoroughly transformed mind. It's just not natural to our human sensibilities to rejoice and be exceedingly glad, when we are persecuted and misused for doing the right things. That's One of the many examples of the reasons that God must transform our minds, and we must cooperate with Him to do it. Otherwise, we cannot successfully obey this command along with many others that Christ gave. So, if we are going to successfully obey God and Jesus Christ, then we must allow God to change our mind. This whole study is about letting God change your mind so that we will agree with and choose what God says is good, so that He can and will rightly bless us, as He already desires to do.
As I said in the introductory teaching to the series called, “Christ's First Sermon Glimpses God's Kingdom," we must thoroughly understand that if we are truly born-again into children of God, then the remainder of our life down here is meant solely as a preparation, a rehearsal, or training ground to prepare us to live in God's Eternal Heavenly Kingdom forever.
God's people are called and required to learn to think differently, to desire differently, to pursue different things, to choose differently, to speak differently and to behave vastly differently from the way that the sinful world does. If we are truly born-again (John 3:3, 7), then we will progressively desire, and submit to God to allow Him to change us so that our thinking, desires, pursuits, choices, and our behaviors agree more and more with His love and righteousness, and what God says is good (Philippians 2:13; Ezekiel 36:25-27). If we do not progressively submit to God and allow Him to make those changes, then we are not truly born-again, and we will not be allowed to remain in God's household. It's that simple. Either we allow God to change us so that we are in agreement with His True Love and Righteousness, or we will not be permitted to remain in His household. It's really not complicated, (John 8:34-36).
In fact, one of the proofs that we are truly born-again is that we desire for God to make those changes in us, and we progressively cooperate with Him throughout our lives until the changes are fully accomplished. The proof that we are God's children is that we obey God as our Father, and when we realize that we are missing that mark of obeying God, we take it very seriously, and we are eager to repent and return to God's ways as quickly as possible. If that does not describe who we are, and the way that we choose to function, then we simply are not truly born-again, period.

 

 

This IS a Salvation Issue

 
We may not always keep it in the forefront of our conscious mind, but allowing God to change our thinking truly is a life or death, salvation or damnation, heaven or hell issue. It's a hard fact to swallow, but even the New Testament teaches as much:
God wrote through the apostle James that the wisdom that comes from our earthly sinful fleshly or earthly mind is DEMONIC (James 3:14-15). It's not just bad, it's demonic. That means that if I allow my mind to remain agreeable to my sinful nature, I am actually being controlled by demonic thinking. Now, I put it to you plainly. If I choose to retain my own sinful fleshly earthly mindset, which God says is demonic, will I then be allowed to dwell in the Fellowship of the Almighty God and His people forever? Of course not! If I do not submit to God and allow Him to change my thinking, but instead I choose to continue thinking in ways that agree with demons, then I will end up living with demons forever.
Scripture tells us that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every truth is established. So is there another scriptural witness that says the same thing? There most certainly is:

Romans 8:5-8 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 NASB)

1. This passage carefully identifies the differences between those who have their mind set on their fleshly earthly and sinful nature, and those who have their minds set on the things of the spirit (Romans 8:5). So what does the passage clearly tell us? Let's unpack it carefully.
a. The carnal mind (the mind set on the flesh) is death. The word DEATH used in this passage is the exact same Greek word as it is used in Romans 6:23, describing the wages of sin, and used again in Revelation 21:8, to describe the eternal consequences of sin.
b. The mind set on what the spirit desires is life and peace. The word LIFE here is the same word that Messiah used in John 17:3. The word PEACE used here is the same word that Messiah used in John 14:27.

c. The mind set on the flesh (or the sinful nature) is hostile against God (literally an enemy of God; cf. James 4:4).

d. The mindset of the sinful nature does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. Please keep in mind, that this is how Paul (the so-called apostle of Grace) describes people who refuse to be subject to God's Laws and Commandments. Paul himself describes that as the result of being carnal minded, and hostile against God. The exact same principle was also stated by the apostle John: (John 14:21; John 15:14; 1 John 1:5-7; 1 John 2:1-6).

e. Those who have their minds controlled by the sinful nature CANNOT please God.
As you can see, having a Holy Spirit mind transplant is indeed a salvation issue, because if I do not submit to God and allow Him to transform my mind so that I desire, agree with, choose, and then do what He says is good, then I will not be permitted to enter, let alone live in God’s Eternal Kingdom (Matthew 7:21). There is no getting around it. If I want to become a citizen of and live in God's Eternal Kingdom, then I MUST have my mind transformed so that I will desire, agree with, choose, and do what God says is good.

 

Principle Review

1. Ultimately there are only two possibilities when it comes to my thinking or mindset. Either my thinking in my mind set will be controlled by the devil, the sinful world, or my sinful nature (which all essentially the same thing, and that is our natural default position), which results in eternal death and separation from God, or I will submit to God and allow Him to transform my thinking, my attitudes, my desires, my motives, my choices so that they come into agreement with what Almighty God and His Word says is good.
2. Allowing God to change my thinking in my mindset IS a salvation issue. The earthly fleshly sinful mindset with its wisdom is literally demonic (James 3:14-15). I simply cannot hold on to demonic thinking and live in God's Eternal Kingdom forever.
3. I cannot truly successfully desire, successfully choose or successfully do what Almighty God says is good and pleasing to Him, unless I have a genuine Holy Spirit mind transplant, so that my mindset will be controlled by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5-8). If I submit to God and allow Him to make those changes, then I will be able to successfully desire, successfully choose and successfully do what God says is pleasing to Him (Matthew 22:36-40; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Psalm 1:1-3; Isaiah 26:3; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Isaiah 55:6-9; Isaiah 56:4-7; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:8).
4. If I choose to submit to God and allow him to transform my mind so that it is truly controlled by His Holy Spirit, I will have eternal life and peace (John 17:3; John 14:26-27; Romans 8:5-6).
5. So the ultimate question that remains is am I willing to submit to God and allow Him to transform my mindset by His Holy Spirit, so that I will agree with, desire, choose and be able to do what He says is good? Otherwise, I cannot obey God and I cannot please God, and then I would not be allowed to live in His Kingdom (Matthew 7:21).
Suggested Prayer: Almighty God Who made heaven and earth and Who is Perfect Love. I confess to you that I believe that Your Words and Standards are true. When I compare my thinking to Your Highest Desires in Your Word, I can see that my mindset has been broken and damaged by the devil, by the sinful world with its traditions and customs, by my own sinful desires and choices, and by sins done against me, and my response to them.
Have mercy upon me and save me according to Your unfailing love. I give and commit to You my very broken mind. Please accept it. Please heal, transform, convert, fill, and control my mind with Your Holy Spirit, Who moved on the face of the deep in creation, and who resurrected Yeshua the Messiah from the dead. Mercifully transform my mind so that I will be able to agree with, delight in, desire, choose, and then successfully do what truly pleases You, and will at the same time bring me into eternal life and peace. Help me to recognize and repent quickly when I am falling short of this. Help me to persevere in cooperating with You as You accomplish this mighty work of Grace in my life. Mercifully grant these requests, according to Your unfailing love, and Your precious Son Yeshua the Messiah, amen.
Next Time: How God Defines Being Blessed.
Until next time, remember that God loves you, and I'm learning how to love you better. Thank you for being patient with me while I learn. God bless.
Brother R. Michel Lankford.

Christ's First Sermon Glimpses God's Kingdom

By Brother Michel Lankford

 
 
Let's imagine for a moment that you were offered your absolute dream job, with work and responsibility that was perfectly suited to your emotional wiring, skills and talents. The salary, compensation, and benefits were significantly higher than anything you imagined you would ever get. You decide that you really want the job, but you find out that the job is located in another country, with a different language, laws, and customs. If you want the job enough, you are going to have to make a permanent move. Let's say you decide to take the job. Now, if you wanted to be happy, productive and have a peaceful and profitable transition into your new life and your new job, which would be wiser and more beneficial for you to do? Would it be more beneficial for you to try to move in there and try to forcibly Americanize their entire culture, or if you wanted to get along and succeed, would you learn their language, their laws, their customs, and adapt to them if you decided that you are going to live there permanently?
Whether we realize it or not, that is literally the circumstance in which every person that has made a commitment to follow God and Jesus Christ truly finds himself or herself.
Every person who has made a commitment to God and Jesus Christ, and who truly accepts Him as Lord and Savior has in reality made a personal commitment to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. After becoming born-again and receiving Christ, our entire lives are supposed to be a preparation and a rehearsal to spend the rest of our eternal lives in God's Eternal Kingdom.
The thing that we often forget is that God's Eternal Kingdom is NOT a democracy. It's A Theocracy. God is in charge. Popular opinions and personal preferences and desires might be taken into consideration (only because everyone who lives there will be transformed by His Love and righteousness or they won't live there), but our opinions will NOT be the ultimate deciding factor up there, which is fine, because God is perfect love and perfect righteousness, but the point is that the Laws, values and customs in Almighty God's Eternal Kingdom, are vastly different than what is considered commonplace and acceptable in the sinful world. The Eternal Kingdom of Almighty God values different things than the sinful world does. God's Kingdom honors different things than the sinful world. God's Kingdom thinks and operates MUCH differently than the sinful world does.
I've said it before and I will say it again, authentic Christian discipleship is about allowing God to transform us so that we think, agree with and do what God says is pleasing to Him, if not I'm not expecting God to adjust and adapt Himself according to our own personal preferences.
Here's the kicker. Either we will cooperate with God and allow Him to change us so that we will progressively agree with, desire and DO what He says is good, or we will simply not be allowed to remain in God's household. That's not my opinion, it's Jesus Christ’s, and He ought to know:
John 8:34-36 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (ESV). If you are truly free from something, you don't keep indulging in it and living in it, otherwise you're not free, but still in bondage.

The proof that I am authentically born-again is the fact that I do cooperate with God, that I earnestly seek Him and cooperate with Him to make those critical changes in me. If I discover that I have a desire, an attitude, or behavior, that His Word clearly says He does not like, I don't want to keep it. I want to get rid of it, and I want to cooperate with God until it is gone, and replaced with what God says pleases Him. That's what it means to be born-again into being His Child (Matthew 12:48-50; cf. Isaiah 56:1-7; Ezekiel 36:25-27). God's children prefer and choose what God desires. That's what identifies us as one of His children. Do not deceive yourself.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) is one of my favorite resources for teaching discipleship, because it describes how God's Kingdom thinks desires and functions. We live in an age where political and social norms are influencing the church much faster than the church is impacting the world. Why is this? I believe it is because for decades the church has worked harder to peacefully coexist with the world rather than to influence it. I believe that for decades the church in America has been more interested in survival than true Holy Spirit led Biblical Spiritual expansion. It is estimated that about 50 percent of church growth in America are believers moving from one church to another. We live in an era where about 50 percent of professing believers do not think that the Bible is relevant to their lives personally. I think the Sermon on the Mount is very critical for the following reasons.
1. It is the first public sermon Jesus preached after the Baptism, His anointing by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3: 13-17) and his temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) the significance of this is that usually the first public works God accomplishes after he anoints someone are usually the most powerful and they set the tone for the rest of the ministry.
2. The second reason why the Sermon on the Mount is so critical is the sheer scope of its reach. Jesus manages to cover so much ground. In this sermon, Jesus covers no less than 20 distinctive topics, from our inward heart attitude to how we manage our money in about 108 statements spanning 3 chapters.
3. The third reason that this Sermon on the Mount is so critical is that what religion and traditions of men take away, pervert or disfigure from the pure Law of God, Jesus deliberately and painstakingly restores. Throughout this sermon you will see words like, "You have heard that it was said...But I say to you....” Jesus was raising the standard to where it should have been all along. This was necessary because the longer a nation goes without a revival; the more that Scriptural standards get watered-down. It had been almost 400 years since there had been a genuine prophet of God in Israel by the time Jesus came on the scene. What happens between genuine revivals is that traditions and expedience begin to take a larger place in the lives of God's people. These two factors begin to work together to render the word of God almost impotent. (E.g. Matthew 15:4-8). For our part, it has been more than 100 years since our last great national revival. In that time, we certainly have seen our nation change for the worse.

 

Restoration Begins in God's House

Scripture makes some very interesting promises, not the least of which is to give us some clear insight into how restoration actually occurs:
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.
The word "REVELATION," here (Hebrews Strong's #2606) literally means a communication from God (sometimes but not always visually). The point being is that when people are not receptive to hearing God's voice, or to receiving His Guidance, what will be the result? Well, once one stops being willing to hear God's Instructions, then the natural consequence of that is that people will then much more easily cast off all restraint, and become even more lawless.
"But happy is he who keeps the Law." Notice the word “but” there? Almighty God is making a direct contrast between those who have no revelation; those who refuse to hear God's Instructions, and He is contrasting them with their exact opposite; those who KEEP God's Laws, Commandments and Instructions.
Interestingly enough, Jesus the Messiah makes some key parallel statements:
“My sheep HEAR My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;” (John 10:27; cf. Matthew 7:21, NASB95 - emphasis added)
“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14:21, NRSV)

Did you notice how the Messiah repeated the exact same sentiment as the writer of Proverbs? Did you notice how Messiah links receiving revelation and understanding of God directly with obeying His Commandments? I believe that anyone using objective eyes can see, and if they are honest they must admit that our culture definitely suffers from an almost complete lack of restraint, and we are lacking restraint both in and outside of "the church." If you don't believe that the church is throwing off all restraint, you need look no further than the emergent church movement, and the seeker sensitive movement within Christianity, and if you have any spiritual wisdom in all, it's clearly visible. So why is our culture both in church and in the world losing all restraint so rapidly? Well we are losing restraint because God is not as rapidly revealing Himself to people. Revelation knowledge and understanding of Almighty God and His precepts is not looming as large, not coming as quickly and not settling in people's hearts as quickly or as deeply as it once was. That's evident. All you have to do is read almost any George Barna survey, and it's abundantly obvious; but why is that happening?
Jesus the Messiah makes it very clear that God ONLY grants revelation of Himself to those who Love Him, and the way that we show we love God, is when we HAVE and we KEEP the Commandments of Almighty God and Jesus Christ (John 14:21; John 15:14 1 John 2:3-4). The fact is that if we claim to know God and Jesus Christ, and yet we do not keep His Commandments, we have no true revelation or knowledge of Him, and we are lying when we say we do. I don't want to be a liar, so the very best I can say is that, “I am growing to love Him, and I am in the process of getting to know Him.”

 

A Prayer of Repentance

This is not all there is to repentance, but it is a beginning. Consider praying something like this with me:
Almighty God who made heaven and earth and who is perfect love and righteousness; the God of Isaac Abraham and Jacob, Who graciously sent Jesus Christ the Messiah, and Who saves us through Him; have mercy upon us. As I look at our churches in our society at large, I see an Overwhelmingly evident lack of restraint. The reason we are rapidly losing restraint and self-control is because we lack clear revelation from You into our hearts, and the reason that we lack clear revelation about You into our hearts, is because we who claim to know You have either put away, or disobeyed Your Laws Commandments and Instructions. LORD, have mercy upon us, and give us grace to truly repent.
For myself, I confess that I have often violated Your Laws Commandments and Instructions. Please forgive me. Please cleanse me, save me, and deliver me. Please transform me by Your Holy Spirit into one of Your True sheep, one who truly hears Your Voice, and truly FOLLOWS YOU. Mercifully remove from my heart, my desires and appetites everything and anything that causes me to wonder from Your strait and narrow path, which leads to life. Help me to choose life, and to successfully walk that choice, so that I may have a true revelation of You, so that I may truly know You, and enjoy everlasting life (John 17:3). LORD, in Your mercy, through Yeshua, mercifully hear and grant my prayer. Amen.
4. The fourth reason that I consider this Sermon on the Mount so critical is because of the great promise that it contains. Look at the following verses

Matt 7:24-27 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall." (New American Standard Bible)

The fact is, every one of us will go through storms and difficult times in our lives, but we have a guarantee from the Son of God and Creator of the universe Himself that if we hear His words and put them into practice, we will survive the storms of life and remain intact. For me, that is reason enough to study these words and seek to diligently apply them to my life. Personally, I try to make a point to intently review this sermon every year of my Christian walk, and this year is no different. It is that critical.

Summary Review

1. Christ's first sermon, or the sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) is a foundational lesson plan for any person who considers himself or herself a citizen of the eternal kingdom of God, all of which we will discuss in the coming days:
a. It identifies the mindset of its citizens (Matthew 5:3-12).
b. It identifies the value of its citizens, and their impact in a dark world (Matthew 5:13-16).
c. It identifies the loyalty of the Messiah to God's Laws, and by extension our own responsibility to it as well (Matthew 5:17-20).
d. It identifies the radical heart changes which a true citizen of God's eternal kingdom MUST undergo (Matthew 5:21-48).
e. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom gives (Matthew 6:1-4).
f. As those heart changes truly take hold within our hearts, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom prays (Matthew 6:5-13)
g. As those heart changes truly take hold within our hearts, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom repays offenses (Matthew 6:14-15).
h. As those heart changes truly take hold within our hearts it will radically change a Kingdom's citizen perceptions and priorities, and how they offer sacrifices to God (Matthew 6:16-18).
i. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom values and uses the resources that God provides us (Matthew 6:19-24).
j. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom deals with uncertainty or anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34).
k. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom evaluates people (Matthew 7:1-6)
l. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom relates to and approaches God as our Father and Provider (Matthew 7:7-11).
m. Our Father's generosity should also dramatically impact how we treat others (Matthew 7:12).
n. As those heart changes truly take hold within our hearts, it will change how a citizen of God's Kingdom chooses to walk (Matthew 7:13-14).
o. As those heart changes truly take hold within, it will radically alter how we discern and evaluate truth (Matthew 7:15-20)
p. The True Citizens of God's Kingdom are loyal to and obey the rule of the King, and the Prince (Matthew 7:21-27).
Join us for future blogs on these topics, by God's grace, we have great stuff upcoming.
Brother R. Michel Lankford.

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Follow Me

By Brother R. Michel Lankford
 

And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19 NASB)

 
Messiah's second command in the so-called New Testament is "Follow me." In a very real sense, Christ's Second Commandment is actually an extension of the first, meaning that as you remember, His first Commandment is to repent (Matthew 4:17). In order to repent successfully we had to do two things. In order to repent successfully, we had to turn and change our mind, change our purposes, and change our lifestyle and actions AWAY from what God identifies as being sin, and then turn and progressively walk TOWARD what God says is pleasing to Him. So quite naturally, if we are repenting successfully according to God's definition of the term, then in the process, we will also be obeying the second Commandment Jesus gave as a byproduct of successful repentance.

 

What It Means to Follow Biblically

In Hebrew: Strong's #2143 (hā∙lǎḵ) It means, "To Walk after" or to "Walk behind." It is used approximately 635 times. (E.g. Numbers 14:24; 1 Kings 18:21).
In the Greek: Strong's #1205 DEUTE "Come" & Greek Strong’s #3694 OPISÔ after or behind." Literally: "Come here after Me.”
(E.g. Matthew 4:19; Mark 16:24; John 8:12; John 10:4; revelation 14:4; all use the same word).
Depending on your English translation, this combination of Greek words are used between 274 times to 437 times or anything in between that range. Sometimes it’s used in the positive sense as pertaining to follow after and come behind and follow after the things that are godly, and sometimes it is used negatively as pertaining to avoid coming behind are following after the things that are not godly.
Practical Usage: So what does knowing the original language meaning of these words have to do with helping us to successfully obey this command, today? In point of fact, knowing the Hebrew and Greek usage of these terms is quite helpful in helping us to successfully obey this Christ given Command.
1. In this case, it confirms the consistency of word usage throughout the text. The word "FOLLOW" has essentially the same meaning in both the Hebrew and Greek texts. So, we know that the Scriptures are consistent in what we are generally called to do.
2. More importantly, we learn something critical about how to follow the Messiah successfully. When you know that the specific imperative adverb used in the verse quite literally means, "To Come along after, and or to come behind," in the Hebrew, or literally "To come here AFTER," that tells us something critical. If we understand the word meanings, then we know that to be a successful disciple, we are NOT called to create or invent a different path, or a different way of walking through this life. On the contrary, we are called to follow in the footsteps, or to place our feet in the footprints, and come along behind and walk in the steps of the Messiah, who walked with God through this life before we did.
3. This is critical, because it specifically means that as disciples of Almighty God and Jesus Christ, we are called to follow Almighty God through this life in the same manner that Jesus already did it. We are not called to create and invent a new path, or a new way of walking before God. We are called to come along behind and walk before God in a manner that Jesus already did it. Remember when WWJD (What Would Jesus Do), was this great fad in Christian circles? Like all fads, it got corrupted by popular culture, and so it did not last, which is too bad because if we had used and had maintained it properly, it would have helped people become successful disciples by leaps and bounds.

 

How Do We Come along after and Follow behind in the Footsteps of Jesus?

I will use a couple of examples of what not to do first, so that we have comparison. Remember the WWJD craze of the 1990s? The WWJ D. or What Would Jesus Do? fad went out of fashion for two key reasons. First, we (the Christian culture) allowed popular sinful culture to detour and deter us from it. The second reason that it lost momentum was that modern-day Christianity turned the question "What Would Jesus Do?" into a theoretical discussion, instead of a concrete one. I will explain both of my points:
We Allowed Ourselves to Be Torpedoed by Popular Culture: The sinful world culture started getting very annoyed and uncomfortable with all these WWJ D. signs and bracelets everywhere, because they were being reminded of Jesus all over the place, so the culture decided to corrupt it, by creating their own words for those initials, so that they would not have to think about Jesus and or consider what He would do. So they created their own words (sometimes purposely profane) for those particular initials. Naturally, Christian believers who love Almighty God and love Jesus, did not want to be associated with this new popular profaning of those initials, so Christians stopped wearing those things in droves.
On the one hand, the response within Christian culture is understandable. On the other hand the way that Christian culture and the churches responded to that situation proved to be symptomatic of a much larger disease within the body of Christ within American Christendom. More and more over the past few decades, Christianity and our churches have allowed what the sinful world and its appetites are comfortable with to dictate what we do as Christians. More and more what the sinful world is comfortable with has dictated what we say, what we do and what we decide not to do within our churches. More and more we are being dictated to by what the world is comfortable with, instead of seeking and doing what God says makes Him Happy.
The problem is gotten much worse. In more recent decades, entire church movements and organizations (such as the seeker sensitive and emergent church movements) are entirely based on adapting ourselves to make the sinner more comfortable with God, instead of helping the sinner be truly changed so that God will truly be happy with him or her. We are called to preach the gospel, and to MAKE disciples; that is to help people truly understand and believe Jesus, to help them to truly obey and follow Jesus, and to help those in the church to show others how they can do the same thing. That and that alone is our mission as congregations.
We are NOT called to make up and design our own path, and put Christ's name on it. For instance, we are NOT called use popular market strategies and re-package Jesus so that He will be more popular and agreeable to the sinner, so that the sinner will be more comfortable with God, in hopes that we can sell people on accepting Jesus. People will either believe or accept Jesus for who He is, they will either believe and obey Jesus and what He said, or they won't. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to make the sinner more comfortable on his or her way to hell! That is not our mission! That is the opposite of our mission.
By constantly adapting ourselves to make sure that the sinner is not offended in our churches, we are losing our ability to be salt and light (to be noticeably different than the world). The result has been that the world culture is influencing the church far more often than the church is truly impacting the world culture for the real Jesus Christ. That's the truth. And if we do not repent quickly, we will reach the point where we will lose our salty flavor, and we will soon be good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5:13-16). That is the very real danger of our constantly compromising and adapting Christianity and church to the world’s likes and dislikes.
We Allowed Ourselves to turn the question into an abstract theory instead of a concrete question: In other words, we allowed ourselves to get bogged down into the theoretical questions and debates such as, "Would Jesus lie to protect Jews from the Nazis," and questions of that sort. We allowed ourselves to get bogged down into endless debates, trying to evaluate what Jesus would do based on our own modern mores and sensibilities, according to the popular feelings that we hold dear today. In the process we turned something that was fairly concrete into a mystery. In other words, the debate became about trying to make Jesus more politically correct, instead of truly looking at what Jesus would do. We in the churches forgot one key thing:
If you want to know “What Would Jesus Do? ” We have to look more carefully and deliberately at what Jesus ALREADY DID DO. It's not theoretical, it's concrete. If you want to know what Jesus would do, look carefully, learn from and follow what He already did do. Jesus doesn't change no matter what the morals and attitudes of the day happen to be, (Hebrews 13:8). When Christians allow ourselves to let go of that truth, we allowed ourselves to get tossed back and forth with every idea wind of doctrine, and we lost more stability.
This will not be an exhaustive list, and as we go through the Commandments we will find even more things that Jesus would do, but let's just summarize some of the key things that Jesus did do, and then we can know what Jesus would do:
1. Jesus regularly spent time in prayer with the Heavenly Father: In Mark 1:35 for example, we see that Jesus went off by himself a long while before daylight to pray. Notice according to the context of the passage though that His disciples had a pretty good general idea where to find Him, so it's likely that Jesus had a favorite isolated quiet spot in which to pray, and that if they do not know where precisely He had gone, that's where they should look for Him (Mark 1:35-37).
2. He successfully fought off the temptations of the devil using the rightly divided written Word of God, and not human logic (Matthew 4; Luke 4).
3. Jesus did not live for Himself. His entire goal in life was to truly please Almighty God His Father. If Yahweh did not delight in it, Jesus did not choose to delight in it or enjoy it either. So His constant question was would Yahweh be truly pleased with this? He desired that more than He did His own food for survival (John 4:34; John 8:28).
4. Jesus did not live to fulfill His own plans desires and initiatives, but He obeyed Almighty God (John 5:30; John 7:28; John 8:42).
5. Jesus did not speak His own words or His own opinions. He spoke only what Almighty God the Heavenly Father gave Him to speak (John 12:49; John 14:10).
6. Jesus did not sin. He did not disobey or transgress the Laws of Almighty God, but He obeyed them (Matthew 5:17-20; 1 John 3:4; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 1:9).
7. Jesus neglected His own rights to benefit others Jesus did not promote Himself, and especially not at the expense of others. On the contrary, He accepted a lower position than what He was rightly entitled to, in order that we could be saved (Philippians 2:5-8).
8. He loved righteousness, and He hated iniquity (Hebrews 1:9).
9. Jesus was zealous and desired that there would be true righteousness in God's house (John 2:13-17).

10. Jesus taught the Law and the Prophets (Luke 10:25-26; Matthew 19:16-21; Luke 24:13-35).

11. Jesus forcibly confronted hypocrisy, especially in God's house (Matthew 23:13-39).
12. Jesus loves sinners, but He still insisted that they repent before they perished (Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; Luke 15:7-10; Conversely; Luke 13:1-5).

13. With God's power Jesus restored broken lives (Matthew 14:14-21; Matthew 9:6; Matthew 17:27; Luke 4:36).
14. He embraced the truly outcast and disenfranchised (Luke 5:12-29).
15. Jesus showed kindness, tenderness and compassion, but He never violated a single principle or Commandment of God's Word to do it. For example when He forgave the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), Messiah found a perfectly legal way to show her mercy and let her go, partly because the way they went about trying to execute her was a violation of the Law of God given to Moses. Since she was caught in the very act of adultery, the Law given by God to Moses said that both the man and the woman committing adultery were to be stoned to death, but they brought the woman to be judged and protected the man, so her execution would've actually violated the Law of God in that case. Jesus used it as an opportunity to show mercy, but He was well within the Law (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22). He convicted the accusers of their own guilt, so that none dared to demand the death penalty against her (John 8:7-11; Deuteronomy 17:6). So, He was able to legally let her go. From that, we need to understand that we can and must and should show mercy whenever And wherever we can, but we must learn to do it at the same time, without violating God's Laws or Principles, just as Jesus did.
16. Jesus openly rejected the traditions of men and passionately upheld the Word of God (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:1-13).
17. He taught and demonstrated servant leadership. Jesus taught and demonstrated a way of life and a way of getting ahead that was the direct opposite of what is commonplace in the sinful world (John 13:2-17).
18. Jesus equipped leaders (Matthew 10:1-4; Matthew 28:19-20).
19. Jesus obeyed God and left the results in God's hands (Matthew 26:39; Luke 19:11).
20. Jesus chose to be forgiving to the bitter end (Luke 23:32-38).

 

 

Review Summary:

1. Christ's second Command in the New Testament is, "Follow Me." (Matthew 4:19)
2. In the literal biblical languages, to follow someone means that we come along after or come along behind and walk in the footsteps of the One who went before. The important dynamic here is that, we are not called to create a different path or a different way of life. Instead, we are called only to be faithful and true to the way of life that Jesus modeled (1 John 2:3-6). Otherwise, we are not truly following Jesus. In such a case, we would actually be following something else other than Jesus.
3. In order to know and understand what Jesus would do any given situation, and thus know how to follow Him and walk in His steps properly, we must look squarely at what Jesus did do. What Jesus would do is fundamentally the same as what He already did do, because Jesus remains constant and does not change (Hebrews 13:8).
Closing Prayer: Almighty God, have mercy upon us and save us according to your unfailing love. Mercifully transform and fill us to overflowing with Your True Love. Graciously give us the courage to submit to You until you thoroughly transform us so that we will think like Jesus, believe like Jesus, speak like Jesus, and obey You in the course that You choose for us, just as Jesus did. For that is what it means to truly follow Jesus. LORD, in your mercy here and grant our prayer. Amen.