
Hosted by Fielder Church · EN

Our hearts betray Jesus because we are selfish, sinful, and broken, and there’s nothing we can do on our own to change that. We have all betrayed Jesus through sin and rebellion. Christ died for the sake of sinners, so that we could be redeemed and be ready for his return. If we trust in his work for our salvation (his body and blood) instead of our work for salvation, he will redeem us, heal us, and fit us for his coming Kingdom.

When Jesus doesn’t do what we want or expect, it is easy to lose faith and patience and end up rejecting him to our own detriment. Jesus brings life through death, but we need faith in order to wait around long enough to see it. The resurrection is the greatest proof of the most extravagant gift, and the only right response is to an extravagant sacrifice back to him.

We fail to recognize that the way we steward God’s resources and serve those around us reveals whether we truly know and trust Him as a master. As a result, we respond with passivity and fear rather than faith and obedience. How we respond to the master reveals how much we know and trust him. Instead of being driven by passivity and fear, we must remember that our actions have eternal consequences and, ultimately, determine what kind of reward we receive.

We often think that as long as we are near the things of God or the people of God, then we are ready for the return of Christ, but it is only when the oil of God, the Holy Spirit, is in us that we are truly ready. Christ died in order to cleanse us from sin and make us holy enough to be vessels for His Spirit. Then, after his resurrection, he gained the power to breathe his Spirit on all who have faith in him. When we are sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit, we are truly ready for Christ to come back.

We tend to let the cares of this world lull us into spiritual slumber. We get so entranced with our temporal kingdoms that we become in danger of missing the eternal Kingdom. Jesus doesn’t leave us uniformed about what will come before his return. He let us know we will suffer, many will be deceived, but for those who endure, when Jesus comes again it will all be worth it. Remembering the gospel empowers me to endure just as he endured for the other side of endurance is blessing beyond belief. It’s him!

Our pride and selfishness kill our souls and both keep us out of the Kingdom and prevent others from finding it as well. Christ was humble and selfless, and yet He was crucified as a prideful, selfish criminal to pay the debt we owed. Once we accept this, we recognize our humble position before a lofty God and can seek His saving power and lead others to find it as well.

Jesus calls us to love God with all we are and to love others as ourselves. This is the heartbeat of the Gospel and the foundation of discipleship. When we inhale the Gospel, we are transformed by God’s love. When we exhale the Gospel, that love flows outward through obedience, generosity, and mission. When we put our yes on the table, we step into the work God is already doing among us.

When things don’t go our way, we tend to argue with God rather than obey Him. He questions Jesus with a heart posture that wants to protect our control rather than submit to Him as the answer. Jesus calls us to give to God what is God’s. We do this through faith in the Gospel. When we stop arguing with the Resurrection and the Life, and start trusting Him, surrendering our control to give Him control, He gives us new life. He is the God of the living and not the dead.

We want Jesus for what he can do for us. We act like he owes us something, thinking mostly of what Jesus can add to our life to make us great. We tend to miss his purpose, because we are so consumed with our own. The gospel illuminates that the way of Jesus is sacrifice. To lay your life down as a servant for the sake of others experiencing life and salvation. Jesus took our place as the perfect substitute so that we could be saved. Jesus doesn’t respond to our entitled demands for position but to our humble cries for mercy. Receiving this mercy empowers us to sacrifice our purpose for his purposes in our life.

When we think we deserve God’s grace more than someone else, it ceases to be grace, and therefore we cannot celebrate it or enjoy it. That comparison robs us of the joy God’s grace should give us, and we end up miserable in the end. The gospel reminds us that we are so flawed and sinful that God had to take on flesh to die in order to save us. But He gladly did so for all who would believe in Him. When we see that grace, and don’t waste our time trying to compare the grace others get from God, we get to rejoice in His kindness and serve in His field for the Master we love!