Category Archives: Christ's afflictions

Christ's afflictions, Church Today, Humiliation, Humility, Isaiah 66:1-2, Repentance, Restoration, Scripture, Sin, Solemn Assembly

Solemn Assembly

Posted by admin on June 15, 2010 at 4:54 pm.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly (Joel 2:15).

                Economic disaster was imminent when Joel prophesied to the nation of Judah. Locusts had come through and had wiped out the crops. Unlike our day where we have grain stored away for years and we even bid on the FUTURE price of those commodities, when their crops were destroyed they didn’t eat till the next year (at least not that food).

                Richard Owen Roberts, a student of revivals throughout history and an author on the subject, identifies the “solemn (or sacred) assembly” as the answer prescribed by God for any kind of imminent appeal to avoid disaster. When the “Ark of the Covenant” was captured by the Philistines, Samuel proclaimed a fast and called the people together to repent before God (I Sam 7). When kings Asa and Jehoshaphat were threatened by nations mightier than they were, they each called upon the people to fast and repent at a solemn assembly (2 Chron 14, 20). When God declared judgment for the sins of his grandfather, Manasseh, King Josiah was moved to repentance himself and called the people to the same in 2 Chron 34:29.

                Usually the solemn assembly was accompanied by fasting because throughout the Old Testament, fasting was a sign of self-humiliation, mourning and repentance. It is significant that historically the singular sign of a repentant spirit was the willingness to mourn through fasting. That’s why the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) has historically been known as “the Fast” (see Acts 27:9).

                God responds to the Solemn Assembly – not because there is anything magical about an assembly – but because He responds to brokenness and contrition. When Christians mourn and confess and repent of their sin He takes notice because He sees that we understand the seriousness of sin. When Isaiah wrote that Jesus was “crushed” for our iniquities in Isaiah 53:5, that word is the same Hebrew word that is translated “contrite” in Psalm 51:17 – “a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” The power of a single Christian’s repentance is significant, but when a group of Christians – as in a local church – gather to genuinely mourn their sin, His heart is moved to action on their behalf.

                In our day the Church has decided that His blessing must rest upon the mega-church because everyone strives for “bigness.” Pastors flock to the seminars or books of the most recent “success” story to learn their “secret,” which they are glad to share – for a price. (I even have a book in my library on how to use fasting to grow your church – apparently the author sees fasting as one of the tools in a pastor’s ecclesiastical toolbox!) But Isaiah tells us that if God wanted to build a BIG ministry, He wouldn’t need us. What He is looking for are those who are “humble…contrite…and who tremble at His Word” (Is. 66:2).

Christ's afflictions, Jesus' Teachings, Passover, Seder

Christ, our Passover

Posted by admin on February 18, 2010 at 10:03 pm.

1 Cor 5:7-8

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival…

                Having been raised in the strictest sect of Judaism and having spent his lifetime studying the Hebrew Scriptures, the Apostle Paul understood the connection between the Passover Lamb and the death of Christ. In I Corinthians 5, he called Christ our Passover lamb and encouraged us to “keep the [Passover] feast” in sincerity and truth. A few years back we learned how so much of the Passover Seder points to Y’Shua ha-Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah), so we began to celebrate this with our Christian congregation. Each year we invite other believers in Y’Shua to join with us. Most of us are not ethnically Jewish, so our celebration has a distinctively Christian flavor, but the imagery is clear.

                The Passover was the meal that Jesus ate with His disciples just before the betrayal and crucifixion. Christians call it “the Last Supper.” It was here that He instituted the Lord’s Supper and offered some of the most important teaching of His ministry. To see these things in the context of the Passover Seder adds greatly to our understanding of His words and example.

                Our Seder is intended to follow the events that Jesus would have followed that night before His crucifixion, right through to the institution of the Lord’s Supper. When the Disciples (later, Apostles) would have recalled the events of that evening, they would have seen how clearly the Passover pictured the death of Jesus that would happen on the following day, and it would have helped them understand why He had to allow Himself to be crucified. It will do the same for us. This order of events is largely followed by Jewish families to this day on their celebration of this feast.

Christ's afflictions, Daily Struggles of Life, Pain, Struggles, Suffering

The Fellowship of His Sufferings

Posted by admin on February 17, 2010 at 4:54 pm.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings (Phil 3:10).

                C.S. Lewis wrote that “Pain is God’s megaphone.” In other words, it is often how He gets our attention. Sometimes pain is the natural consequence of our sin; sometimes it is the indirect result of the original sin that grips the whole human race; sometimes it is a test of the enemy of our souls; and sometimes it is the privilege of the believer to share in the sufferings of Jesus.

                The concept that we as Christians would experience pain and suffering willingly in order to know Him better is foreign to us in Western Christianity in this era. Even though we may reject the “health and prosperity” teaching that is popular in some corners of Christendom, most of us still believe deep down that if we please God He will make us happy and satisfied. We can’t understand why he doesn’t make us “successful” if we really are pleasing to Him.

                But this world stands opposed to God’s Truth, and if I am on His side, why should I expect to be popular and successful according to the world’s system? According to Jesus, God’s system says I am successful if men reject me because I follow Him (see Matt. 5:11). Shouldn’t I expect to be treated as He was and is treated by this world? Shouldn’t I be willing to endure the pain of rejection that He bore, if I am “in Christ”?

                The old hymnist, Isaac Watts, had it right:

               

                Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb

                And shall I fear to own His cause Or blush to speak His name?

 

                Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease

                While others fight to win the prize And sail through bloody seas?

 

                Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?

                Is this vile world a friend to grace To help me on to God?

 

Since I must fight if I would reign, Increase my courage, Lord.

I’ll bear the cross, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

Christ's afflictions, Christian, Daily Struggles of Life, Jesus, Missionary Alliance Church, Oak Ridge, Promise, Psalms, Restoration, Struggles, Tennessee, Walk with Jesus

Struggles of Christian Life

Posted by admin on February 6, 2010 at 2:57 am.

“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hos 6:1-3)

                This passage speaks first of God’s sovereign control over the events of our lives. Others don’t injure us or reproach us or revile us – He allows it. Certainly we experience struggles at the hands of other people (usually) but – as with Job – only with the divine permission of the Father.

But the promise is for restoration. It could be that Hosea is conditioning our restoration upon our “return” (i.e., repentance). Or it could be that he is saying that in view of the certainty of His restoration, we should return to Him. The interpretation here doesn’t really matter to me. As one who wants to know the fullness of a relationship with Him, I seek to maintain a repentant spirit, holding to the promise that “nothing can separate me from the love of Christ” (Rom 8 ) – not even tribulation.

The challenge of this passage is in the phrase, “let us press on to acknowledge Him.” The call to disciplined and diligent effort is clearer in some other translations, notably the NAS, but it is still in this translation. So, in the midst of my torn and injured spirit, it is my duty to press on to know Him. I am to count the pain as insignificant to my service for Him, as best I can, and move forward in my knowledge of Him. Admittedly, that is easier said than done.

Paul recognized that to a certain extent, we who are in Christ “fill up that which was lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Col 1) – although not in a redemptive sense. This experience allows us to know “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil 3:10-11) and “face death all day long” (Rom 8:36).

I have found that the struggle of the Christian life (which, although I am in ministry, is not confined to professional ministry) is often best met by reading the Psalms. Often my human desire is to lash out at those whom Satan uses to criticize me and impugn my motives, but I am checked in my spirit by the words of Jesus to turn the other cheek and to forgive as I have been forgiven. But despite these commands, my anger remains. Yet there is something encouraging about David’s writings where he calls down judgment on his enemies. If he, as a “man after God’s own heart,” can hold these thoughts, then I imagine that I can too. (However, this is a far cry from acting upon them!) Reading these thoughts from David (or the other psalmists) gives my spirit time to heal from whatever wound I am feeling.

If you are going thru struggles in your Christian life and need a place to fellowship with believers that can understand and encourage you in your walk with Jesus, we at the Oak Ridge Alliance Church in Oak Ridge Tennessee would love to walk beside you and encourage you in your journey. Please feel free to call us at 865-483-0606.