The Seasons in the Christian’s life (Brokenness) - Introduction

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon.

http://thelightseed.blogspot.com

(To read the next chapters, click HERE)

I am posting this message in answer to a brother's question: "Jesus talked about 4 types of soil (heart conditions). If 3 of the 4 types are poor soil, how does one go about plowing?"
For a companion poem "The wounds of my friend Jesus", please click here: http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2011/06/wounds-of-my-friend-jesus.html

LESSONS FROM THE THRESHING FLOOR

O my threshed people and my afflicted (son) of the threshing floor!What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel,I make known to you. (Isaiah 21:10 NASV)

The Seasons in the Christian’s life

(Brokenness)

My intention in choosing the subject of this message was to provide from the Scriptures some understanding into the meaning and purpose of suffering in the Christian life.

Since my adolescence, I have reflected on the origin, the meaning and purpose of suffering in my life and that of my fellow men.
Perhaps, each one of us has pondered the same thing in the midst of unexpected adverse circumstances. This search for answers is valid, but could lead to a horrible frustration reaching a deep state of desperation if we do not find an answer that makes sense. As our pastor told us in last week’s sermon the correct question must not be: “Lord, why do we suffer, but what for? I believe that if we can find the answer to the latter, we will be able to accept all circumstances in our lives with a new positive perspective, knowing that we can trust in our God who loves us, who has a plan for our life and who gives us everything we need to grow in Him.

King David in Psalm 25: 4,5, asked the LORD:
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. 5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Further on, the same Psalm declares in verse 14: “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
Through much study of the Word of God and through personal experience, I have found satisfactory answers to my quest and have concluded that suffering is a normal part of the Christian life and that it is essential for our growth. This theme is highly present and visible throughout the Bible both in Old and New Testament. This is what I would like to share with you today.

BACKGROUND
In the Bible one of the most important places is Mount Moriah. According to Genesis 22:1-2:
“God did prove (or test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of”.
On the same Mount Moriah stood the city of Jebus, the Jebusite stronghold renamed Jerusalem by King David who conquered it. It is the same site on which King David offered a sacrifice to avert a plague that God sent upon the Israelites because of David’s disobedience when he ordered his captains to take a military census. The Bible relates the event in 2 Samuel 24: 16-25: 
And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel”.

Years later, according to 2 Chronicles 3:1, 2:
“Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared unto David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan (or Araunah) the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign”.

Finally, we come to the supreme sacrifice which occurred in the very same place, in Jerusalem, where the unblemished Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ offered himself to be crucified on the cross as atonement to wash away our sins, obtain forgiveness, salvation and eternal life for those who repent and believe in Him. 

INTRODUCTION
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,2).
Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
²⁴ Does the ^[a]farmer plow ^[b]continually to plant seed?
Does he continually ^[c]turn and harrow the ground?
²⁵ Does he not level its surface
And sow dill and scatter cummin
And ^[d]plant wheat in rows,
Barley in its place and rye within its ^[e]area?
²⁶ For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
²⁷ For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is the cartwheel ^[f]driven over cummin;
But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.
²⁸ Grain for bread is crushed,
Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.
Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually ^[g]damage it,
He does not thresh it longer.
²⁹ This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.(Isaiah 28:23-29). NASB

To be continued. Next Chapter: https://thelightseed.blogspot.com.br/2013/01/the-seasons-in-life-of-christian_23.html

The Double Minded Man (Pastor Charles Lawson)

WWJD - Faith Through Love in Action

Written and published by Jean-Louis. 9/2010 


A few years ago, a little question from a book was going around the churches in the US and was an instant commercial success: “WWJD” for short?

Of course, as anything is good and expedient in the service of the god mammon, and those who see everywhere the opportunity of getting rich quick at the expense of those who believed that wearing a bracelet or drink in a cup with the initials “WWJD” was an outward sign of a life change identifying them as spiritual Christians, drove the pack with enthusiasm and the glittering market of religious fools´ traps was in full production.

I am sure that among them were very sincere people who used this gimmick to witness of their faithfulness and devotion to God and to start a conversation with unbelievers. This criticism is mostly directed to manufacturers and retailers of this merchandise.

It reminds me of my childhood; how I loved and was proud of my big fluorescent statue of the virgin which watched over my disturbed sleep at night. I bought her with my allowance at Lourdes, a French shrine where the streets are lined up with merchants of idols. I was very sincere then, but also totally ignorant of the love of God for me and of salvation through Jesus-Christ.

But still, the question remains! “What would Jesus do?” The question seems valid, but the answer is simple and clear since we already know what He did and commands us to do the same.

Let’s see what Jesus told His disciples in John 13:34, -- Judas had already been sent away so as not to partake of the substance of the teaching on the Holy Spirit reserved for the believers-- : “a new command I give you, love one another as I have loved you.”

How did Jesus love his disciples and how does He love us today?

Divine agape love is manifested in attitudes perfectly described by Paul in I Corinthians and Philippians 2 and through examples of actions throughout the Epistles. Obviously, it is the love of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the believers, for Jesus said: ” Without me you can do nothing." These attitudes and actions are based on the actions of Jesus just after the Last Supper. The Lord Jesus will never ask us to do something He didn’t demonstrate to us while He was on this earth.

Paul uses a superlative when he describes the face of love: “And now. I will show you the most excellent way.” I Corinthians 12:31.

Going back to John, chapter 13, verse 1 states that Jesus: “having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love, or he loved them to the last.” Another superlative!

How did He love them? The following scene while He washes the disciples’ feet shows us the example of love in action, first in the Savior’s attitude of humility and then by the practice of service to His disciples. It is in this service to our brothers and sisters in the church, our spiritual family, whatever their needs might be, that we find the answer to the question: “What would Jesus do?"

Paul in Galatians 5:6 reaffirms this notion of disinterested service when he speaks of the freedom in Christ: ’the only thing that counts is faith expressed through love.”

It is not only a family affair, but it is also our witness to the dying world around us that has lost its compass and its way in the surrounding darkness and the darkness that rules in their hearts because of sin that blinds their understanding.

Jesus said: "This is how the world will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another.”John 13:35.

John said: " this is how we know we are in him, whoever claims to be in him must walk (live) as Jesus did." I John 4:13

Read another post on being a servant: Preparing the Way for Jesus´ Second Coming
Jean-Louis.