The world has been made to believe that Christianity is where God serves man and not where man serves God. People have deliberately painted this picture because serving God sounds like slavery to the non-believer and that is not at all inviting, especially not when they know they will have to deny their worldly pleasures. So instead of getting them to know the tree, we only get them to know the fruits.
We only preach what Jesus did, what He can do, what He will do and what He wants to do, so what we really are preaching is “Jesus Results” instead of Jesus. Isn’t that right? We tell people what they want to hear and not what they need to know. We tell people what they can gain from choosing Jesus. That’s what we do, because that’s what works! It is easy, people have hurt, depression, poverty, illness, heartache and suffering, so we appeal to their need when we preach “Jesus results”, because He can take it away. Ask yourself this, if a man stands before you and tells you, “I don’t have trouble, I am well, happy and wealthy, why would I want your Jesus” what will you say?
My family in Christ, we need to go back to the roots of who Jesus is. I am not saying don’t preach His goodness, we should always preach His goodness and praise Him in all, but let us stop sending His sheep away, wanting His hands instead of His face. The word says, “But seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). They need to have the tree first before they can have the fruit. Seeking His kingdom and His righteousness means seeking what He stands for, what He values, what He accepts, loves and desires. His Kingdom is who He is and what He is. When you seek His Kingdom, you seek who He is and press into that, making Him the centre of your being.
Now In seeking His kingdom, many people go out trying to figure out what not to do, how to avoid sin, but His kingdom came in the form of grace and grace is a whole lot more about doing it right than what it is about doing it wrong. Before Jesus, the law was given to make people recognise sin, but God gave us Jesus so that we can recognise Him.
Friends, you can be so far into Christianity and so far gone from Jesus at the same time. People must understand that He is God, that He is not only above them, but above all and everything. They need to understand His authority and His power. People need to know that they are made by Him and for Him. He owes them nothing and has no obligation towards them. This needs to be the first step, because if they understand His position, only then will they understand His gift.
See, here is where we lose the battle, and the bears and the wolves come and steel the sheep. When they know only the hand of the Shepherd and not His voice, they wonder off and get lost. When torment, trouble, illness and financial pressure comes they will search for the hand of the shepherd and when they do not find it, they will believe that He has gone away.
But when you give them Jesus, when you preach the glory, the majesty, the righteousness, the unimaginable power of the one true God; if you repaint that crooked picture the world gave them and tell them who Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth is; if you tell them that the all-knowing, all mighty creator and undefeated God who could bring all of existence to dust with nothing but a whisper; if they can come to understand that this powerful God has given Jesus, who is one with Him, owns what He owns, is who He is; if they know that this God walked down a path, with a wooden cross on His badly beaten back to a place where pain would drain the life from His body and that 3 days later, nothing would ever be the same again, because this God stood up out of the grave, all just so that He could make them righteous before the throne again, so that He could go and prepare a place for them and take His children home, THEN we will find ourselves some sheep in love with the shepherd.
Then the bears and the wolves will come, and all that life can bring, but they will follow the call of the one they love and serve Him even in their suffering. He will care for them, provide for them, heal them, teach them and keep them safe from evil, because they will know His voice. They will seek His glory and repent. Then they will lay down their lives for Him to save it. Now that will be a good harvest for the Kingdom of God, even if it takes us twice as long.
Take the time to start from scratch. Don’t just preach prosperity, don’t just try to sell the “Jesus results” it won’t last. Tell them everything, who He is, why He came, why He died, what things were like before He came and how things changed when He finished His work here. His love saved us, we can’t go trying to get people to want His hands, people need Jesus, all the other things will be taken care of after that. What they do not accept, they do not accept, and it will not be on your hands, but give them everything you have while you have the chance to do so.
So, with great love for all of my family in Christ, I ask this today, let’s give them Jesus, He will give them His hand. All my love to all my fellow harvesters, may God bless and keep you safe, amen.
Miryna