Man Of Sorrows

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not...

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth...

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes and offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; and the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

Isaiah 53:3-10

Jesus was a man of sorrows. Jesus is familiar with loving people only to have slander and evil speech thrown back in His face. Jesus is well aware of what it's like to be spoken evil of and how much it hurts to be rejected by those we love. Jesus knows intimately what the sorrow of such utter rejection feels like because He lived it. But I want you to see five things about Jesus' suffering that can give us hope when we are rejected, slandered and hurt by other people.

1. Jesus was rejected, slandered, falsely tried, scourged and murdered in the face of his sinless life. Jesus did not suffer nor was he rejected because of some wrong that He had committed because Jesus never sinned.

"And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth." Isaiah 53:9

2. Jesus was rejected, slandered and hurt by the very people he actively loved and cared for without any thought of having that love returned to Him. This is profoundly evident in the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet (John 13). Judas was among those disciples that evening and Jesus was well aware that Judas had betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver and (this is perhaps even more shocking) that Judas would not turn or repent at any point. Jesus humbly washed the feet of a man who hated Him and betrayed Him to His death - a man Jesus had loved, cared for and instructed for three years.

3. Jesus did not, at any time, try to defend Himself or clear His name. The Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Sovereign Lord of all the universe did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6). He humbly endured the rejection, the scoffing, the scourging and the murder without so much as a single word or action to stop it.

"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth." Isaiah 53:7

4. Jesus actively loved those who were slandering Him, beating Him, rejecting Him and murdering Him.

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments." Luke 23:34

5. Jesus' response to the sins committed against Him led to salvation for His people. His humble obedience to the Father by not returning reviling for reviling and His willingness to lay down His life quietly in the face of rejection and abuse blotted out my sin and made propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6

What a glorious savior and God we have. My eyes well up with tears when I remember that such love actually exists and that Jesus loves me that much.

As His treasured possession, those of us who call Him "Lord" should follow in His example.

• When we are slandered, rejected and hurt it should not be because of sin
• When men speak all kinds of evil about us and betray us we should be slow to speak
• When people slander us and lie about us we should not rise to our own defense but we should love them practically, pray for them and rest in God's sovereignty
• When we are rejected by the very people we love and have loved we should love them all the more and both forgive them and desire forgiveness for them

When we love like this the outcome may be greater than you realize:

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

Jesus' love for us is the root of "Glorious Joy." It is from Him; it is through Him; and it is to Him for His glory.

Blessings!

Dwelling in Unity

Greetings! My name is Emmanuel and if you read Kristian’s last blog he mentions recruiting another team member to be a writer on this blog. So, I guess I was the one picked and it is an honor and privilege for me to be writing on this blog with Kristian who is my good friend, family member (he married my cousin Bina), and most of all Brother in Christ.

I do not want to talk too much about myself, but in a nutshell I want to go on the record as saying I am a man who loves the Lord Jesus Christ my Savior, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Baptizer, and Healer. His grace has found me and He is changing my life for His glory. I think it is important for us to make confessions of faith and declare the Lord’s goodness in our lives.

God saves us when we come by His grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. He saves us from sin, eternal death, and the wrath to come on the basis of Jesus’ perfect sinless life and sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. However, this is by no means ‘only’ an individual salvation but part of a greater story that God is writing in human history – “his-story”. God is making a “people for His Name” (Acts 15:14) and His great Name is to be established amongst His people.

Recently, I have had the privilege to be part of a men’s accountability group in which we encourage one another and grow in the grace of God. We come from different church backgrounds, traditions, families, culture, etc. – but we are one in Christ! I am so blessed to have this fellowship and know that I am part of the family of God by His grace. In the Bible, God says it is good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and dwell in unity (see the following passage from Psalm 133):

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious oil upon the head,

Coming down upon the beard,

Even Aaron's beard,

Coming down upon the edge of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon

Coming down upon the mountains of Zion;

For there the LORD commanded the blessing--life forever.”

In this text the author uses two similes to describe the reason it is “good and pleasant” for brothers and sisters in the Lord to dwell together in unity. The first simile talks about the anointing oil on the head of Aaron which flows down to his beard and down further to the edge of his robes. The anointing oil in the Old Testament was oil used to set apart the priest unto the Lord. It was a way of marking them out as consecrated for service to God. Aaron was the first high priest in the Old Testament and was anointed by Moses.

"So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” – Exodus 29:44-46

See the Lord wanted these priests to be set apart before Him as holy, and to be known as their God. The Old Testament is a foreshadowing of things to come in the New Testament. So, anytime we read about Egypt or slavery in Egypt that is basically life lived outside of Christ and His salvation from a New Testament perspective. So, God says specifically He saved them and vindicated them so that He could dwell among them. God desires to be part of our lives not just so we can have eternal life in heaven but that we might know Him and His love for us – now! Part of this knowing and experiencing the presence of God is done through the community of faith – when believers dwell in unity.

This unity is in the context of brotherly love. We are to love one another as Christ has loved us. The anointing of God that rests upon us all who are now part of the universal priesthood when we come to faith in Christ (1 Peter 2:9) flows from our initial anointing; our consecration to God in His saving grace to the outer extremities of our lives. Just like it flowed downward from Aaron’s head this anointing of brotherly love and unity flows into the outer spheres of influence that God has given to us in our individual lives.

Furthermore, when we are in Christ and abiding in Him, he is our great High Priest who has the “anointing oil of joy” upon Him (Hebrews 1:9). So, we experience the joy of the Lord in the Holy Spirit when we dwell in unity with brothers and sisters in Christ – as the name of this blog suggests it is an inexpressible joy which is full of the glory of God!

The text from Psalm 133 goes on with the second simile which talks about the dew of Hermon which comes down to the mountains of Zion. Mount Hermon from a geographical perspective is higher up in elevation in comparison to Mount Zion. As dew is new every morning so is the Lord’s loving kindness and compassion toward us (Lamentations 3:22-23). So, we see again in the context of God’s presence with us when we dwell in unity the understanding of brotherly love flowing downward to all areas of our lives and not confined to just one area.

Finally, when we dwell in unity and understand that we are not just individuals but we are saved into the Body of Christ from a corporate perspective we realize that God has a destiny for His people – life forever in Him. There is so much death in the world everywhere we look, but let us remember that God dwells amongst His people when we dwell with each other in unity and there is “life” to be experienced in that dwelling place.

I wanted to end with writing out the lyrics to the chorus of one of my favorite songs where we can see God’s love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us – and that love of God flows primarily through His people from the place of united brotherly love to all the world so that His glory will cover the earth as the waters covers the sea!

"The Blood will Never Lose Its Power" by Andrae Crouch

It reaches to the highest mountain,

it flows to the lowest valley;

the blood that gives me strength from day to day,

it will never lose its power

Blessings,



Emmanuel

From Him And Through Him And To Him Are All Things!

Welcome to my new blog!

If any of you have read my other blog, "The Religious Affections", you may have noticed how long the posts on that blog were. I am afraid that many of you have neither the time nor the interest to listen to some of my long rantings so I thought I might start a blog with some shorter exhortations, exultations and devotionals. You may not be interested in my short rants either, but I hope to recruit another team member for this blog so that you won't have to just read my thoughts.

If you haven't heard me speak of "Glorious Joy" before it must be because you have never met me. This term describes all of my convictions regarding God, salvation and life. There is no term (that I can think of) which better connects the heart and intention of two of the most incredible passages of Scripture that I know.

"Though you have not seen him you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:8-9

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever." Romans 11:36

1 Peter 1:8-9 speaks of a joy that is "inexpressible and filled with glory." This joy is experienced by those who know and love Jesus and it is not spoken of as optional, but as assumed. But how do we go from dead in our sins and hatred toward God to saints who are filled with supernatural joy at the very thought of Jesus? The answer is found in Romans 11:36. Everything is from God. Everything is through God. Everything is to God. This is not difficult to understand and it has profound implications on our theology. There is no event in history, no item in your possession, no relationship or natural even that comes about apart from the might and power of God. Everything is from and through Him. This is remarkable in and of itself. But what is even more remarkable is how Romans 11:36 ends. Not only are all things from and through Him, they are also to Him - for His glory. Every event in history, every item in your possession, every relationship you have and every natural event is from God, through God and ultimately to Him for His glory.

This may be hard for some to hear because it makes our theology a little difficult and makes many things (including some Scriptures) hard to understand. But there it is!

So, "Glorious Joy" is a joy that is first from God; secondly, it is through God, and finally, it is to God. God gives us joy in Christ through His Holy Spirit, so it is both from and through Him. And the point of this joy that we get is the glory of God Himself. So God gets all of the glory and we get a joy like we have never known and can't even describe.

I believe that this describes and summarizes the entirety of God's purposes for us and the world. He desires for us to have joy because He loves us so dearly, yet His love for us is intended to glorify Him all the more. So God's glory and my happiness are not two separate things - they are absolutely connected.

We will keep revisiting this over and over and over again as we look at the Bible. Everything in the Bible points in this direction in the end. The cross itself points in this very direction - God's glory and our joy!

Blessings,