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"Jesus
Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and
apostleship to bring about the obedience of the faith
among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom
you also are the called of Jesus Christ." Romans 1:4-6
Salvation Army Founder, William Booth once said, -"The
greatest of a man’s power is the measure of his
surrender." Jesus,
the greatest of all men, who was and is the eternal God,
demonstrated the greatest act of power when He
surrendered His life to pay the debt of sinners.
Before suffering the horrible crucifixion, He
surrendered to the most brutal beating that could be
endured. Isaiah prophesied of this event saying that He
was beaten to the point that He was unrecognizable as a
man. After His flogging He carried His cross to Calvary,
struggling along the way. Once there, He opened His
innocent hands to receive the nails and was mocked by
the crowd as He endured intense agony.
When praying fervently in the garden the night of His
arrest, He cried, -"Father,
can this cup pass from Me?! Yet, not My will but Your
will be done" as
great drops of blood pressed through His skin and fell
to the ground. Before the Lord became our sacrifice, He
sacrificed His will to the Father - it was a sacrifice
of obedience.
Jesus could have said no, -"For
this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My
life. . .No one has taken it away from Me, because I lay
it down on My own initiative." (Jo.10)
The Bible says that Jesus endured the shame and the
pain for the joy set before Him. You might ask, -"What
Joy?" It
was the joy of seeing the very purpose for which He
stepped into footsteps of man to accomplish - to save
those lost in sin. There
is rejoicing for every sinner who repents and receives
salvation in Christ - we are His joy, and His great love
for us empowered Him to give the greatest sacrifice.
To seek the Lord’s will and walk before Him
obediently is a precious offering and a sweet fragrance
to Him. To lay down your will at the altar of the Lordis
to find your true life in Jesus
"He who has found his life
will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake
will find it." (Matt.10) The
Apostle Paul wrote, -"I
have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I
who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Gal.2)
Our text tells us that part of the Apostle’s work was to
bring about the obedience of the faith. The faith is not
merely a belief as in a thought or an opinion held, but
is a faith that is practiced as a way of life.
Jesus died and rose from the dead to life - to
walk in faith is to die to self and allow the life of
Jesus to rise up in us so that the life we now live is
His. Jesus
is the Life and the Truth, so the life of Jesus can only
be lived by walking in the truth. John wrote the Church
saying, -"I was very glad
to find some of your children walking in truth, just as
we have received commandment to do from the Father." (2
Jo.4)
When we know Jesus, we know the Truth and have His Life
abiding in us. Jesus said that the Father is seeking
true worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and in
truth.(Jo.4) Jesus also said that when we know the truth
it will set us free.
Need we wonder why Satan deceives? Lies enslave. "Submit
to God, and resist the devil, and he will flee from
you." (Ja.4) The
humble yield to God and seek His will and His pleasure -
the humble surrender their lives to Jesus - and when
asked, Jesus said that the humble will be the greatest
of all in the Kingdom of Heaven.
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