Wow---I just listened to an amazing sermon by John Piper.
The title is "How Suffering Glorifies the Greatness of the Grace of God."
We all need this reminder to what it is that God has REALLY called us too as followers of the Risen Christ.
Jesus was a suffering Messiah. It was through His sacrifice & suffering that the Glory of God was revealed.
It was through His willingness to give His life, to suffer horrific things in order that the glory of God would be revealed.
That is the same life that we as followers of Christ are also called.
Matthew 16:24-28
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
It is not the life of prosperity or pleasure or worldly thinking. What glory would God get from our lives through living such a non-sacrificial 'good' life? No, Christ calls us to a life of risk. Christ calls us to a life of dying to ourselves. Christ calls us to the sacrificial life in order that God would receive ALL THE GLORY!
Think of the poor old woman who gave every cent she had.
Luke 21:1-4
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."
This woman understood how suffering glorifies the greatness of God.
Did God get glory from the rich who put in their few extra coins that they would clearly not even miss? Or did God get glory from a woman who sacrificed her own wants & needs to see that God would get the glory from it?
Friends, let us all be aware of the 'prosperity' bible that is being taught. We are not called into prosperity in this world. We are called into a sacrificial life. We are called into suffering. We are called to give our lives--EVERYTHING to Christ our Lord!
It is through our sacrifice & suffering that Christ will LIVE & be glorified! We need to count the cost & not be tempted to follow a Jesus of our imagination! We're called out of the world for the sake of Christ! Let us today, pick up our cross & follow the ONLY ONE who can save us: Jesus Christ--our suffering Messiah!
Lord, have mercy on us all!
In His Amazing Grace,
Pastor Lin
Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
- Phil. 2:30
because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.