“And they
overcame him because the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their life even unto death.” Revelation 12:11.
If you have
already died, then no one can take away your life. If you belong to Another,
then no one can take away the life you do have because your life belongs to
Christ, your life is Christ, your life is not your own. Paul writes, “I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives within
me…” (Galatians 2:20). In Colossians 3:3 – 4 we read, “For you have died and
your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is
revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Consider what
Jesus says about following Him, does this sound like a typical “invitation” in
churches in the United States? Mark 8:34 – 38:
“And He summoned
the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, If anyone desires to come after
Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake
and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?
“For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with
the holy angels.”
Is this the call
we give to the Gospel in our preaching, teaching, and witnessing? Is this the
ethos of our individual and church life? Is this how we live? Perhaps it
would be wiser if we taught our children this call of Jesus Christ rather than
teaching them to memorize the books of the Bible?
The context of
Revelation 12:11 is extreme conflict between the saints of God, the People of
Christ, and the dragon and the concentrated powers of evil. An enraged enemy is
making “war with the rest of her [the woman of Revelation 12:1] seed, who keep
the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
The Scriptures
are clear that we who follow Jesus Christ are called to follow Him in His
sufferings, and that “through much tribulation we enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts
14:22). Peter and Paul both write of our communion (koinonia) in the sufferings
of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-14; Philippians 3:10); with Paul teaching that there is
an intercessory dimension to our sufferings in Christ (Colossians 1:24; 2
Corinthians 1:1 – 11).
How does the
foregoing compare with the church in the United States? What does it look like
in my life? In your life? In the life of our congregations?
How is it that
most professing Christians in the United States have never shared the Gospel
with another person? How is it that sharing the Gospel as a way of life is
foreign to most professing Christians in the United Sates? How can this be if we
have died and our lives are hidden in Christ? How can this be if we are not
loving our lives unto death? Instead of relying on sales techniques and psychological
and sociological methods to teach people “witnessing”, perhaps we should focus
on grounding them in a crucified life in Jesus Christ? When love and obedience
for Christ, and sacrificial love for others, reign supreme – we will share
the Gospel with others.
I cringe when I
hear Christians talk about whether they would physically die for Christ; when
they will not die for Christ when it comes to money, possessions, social
reputation, the values of the world, pride, ego, rejection, and sin. How can we
entertain the question of whether we would physically die for Christ when we
spend most of our lives avoiding the Cross and Christ’s sufferings? When our
churches and our preaching focus on our therapy rather than on the Lamb slain
for our sins and reconciliation? When a major section of our particularly
American eschatology is focused on escaping suffering rather than loving not
our lives to death?
The fact is that
while many of us say we regard the Bible as the Word of God, that we may as
well take scissors and cut out those passages which explicitly teach us about
the sufferings of Christ and His Body – for we ignore them, we explain them
away, and manufacture hundreds of reasons why those passages do not apply to
us. We are as offended at the idea of the Cross and suffering as was Peter when
he played the role of Satan (Matthew 16:21- 23). The difference between Peter
and us is that Peter accepted the Lord’s rebuke, “Get behind Me, Satan!”, while
we fill our ears with self-centered religious noise to drown out the words of
Christ.
Bonhoeffer wrote,
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him ‘Come and die.’”
Jim Elliot
wrote, “He is no fool, who loses what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot
lose.”
Job cried out, “Though
He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” (Job 13:15)
David prayed, “Whom
have I in heaven but You? And there is none on earth I desire besides You.”
(Psalm 73:25).
Paul said to the
Ephesian elders, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to
myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from
the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts
20:24).
Dear friends, if
we would truly know Jesus then we will know Him in His sufferings. The holy
Trinity invites us into the sufferings of God in Christ, the Great Mystery of
Mysteries. As we increasingly know Him in His sufferings an intimacy envelops
us that is too sacred for words; exquisite in its beauty, terrible in its majesty,
all consuming in its passion, lovely in its splendor, incomparable in its
grandeur. Little wonder that Paul wrote, “For I determined to know nothing
among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:2).
Make My Heart An Altar
Robert L. Withers
Make my heart an altar
An altar of prayer
Of devotion
Of intercession
Of adoration
Of thanksgiving
Of sacrifice
Make my heart an altar
May it bear the sorrows of others
Their conflicts, fears, despairs
Let it bear their sufferings and heartbreaks
To the throne of my Lord Jesus
With the incense of care and compassion
With the fragrance of love
Let my heart be an altar
Let it be one with the Sacred Heart
Let it eat the Bread and drink the Cup
Let the Cross be deep within my heart
May my heart be pierced with nails and spear
May I drink of His sufferings, As He is
May I be, both priest and sacrifice.
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