Seeking Jesus in the Dark

There once was a guy named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a man of the Pharisees, the group that was trying to find a way to get rid of Jesus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in John 3:1-2 under the cover of night. He didn't want the people he worked with to see him meeting with Jesus. How many of us fail to pray when we feel like we should at work or when we're out with friends because we don't want to look funny to them?
Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret, and Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again, not of flesh, but of the Spirit. If you aren't familiar with the story, you can read it all in John 3:1-21. But what ever became of Nicodemus? Well, apparently Nicodemus, being a member of the Jewish ruling council had several more occasions to interact with Jesus. He redeems his shady behavior somewhat in John 7:45-52, where he defends Jesus from the chief priests and other Pharisees.

Nicodemus' last mention in the Bible is an amazing and honorable mention. John 19:38-42 tells the story of Jesus' burial, where Joseph of Arimathea (also a secret follower of Jesus) and Nicodemus ask for the body of Jesus, and bury Him in a new tomb. Nicodemus brought about 75 pounds of spices to bury Jesus with, including myrrh, one of the gifts the wise men also brought Jesus at His birth.

Apparently Nicodemus' heart was changed by his secret meeting with Jesus, and he became more and more open about following Him as time continued on. We can't hide Jesus forever in our lives, acting like Christians only at church and trying to blend in with the world the rest of the time. At some point we will be faced with the decision to witness, to share the Gospel of Jesus, and to do what's right, or to turn our back on Jesus and deny Him. How will we respond? Will we try to stay in the shadows, or will we openly proclaim that Jesus is Lord?

It's Good for Everyone

With Christmas fast approaching, I feel it is appropriate to remind people exactly what it is that we are celebrating, and the sort of men that were used by God for this to all come to pass. There were 3 distinct groups of men represented in the birth of Jesus: the government, the family, and the church. Essentially, this represents every type of man possible by representing government, the family unit, and the church.

The Government
Matthew 2:1-2 introduces us to the "wise men" or "Magi". We don't know their whole story, but obviously there was a star that these men spotted in the sky that was different or new, and they recognized it as a sign that Jesus had been born, and came to worship Him. These men were obviously significant emissaries of their countries, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all very expensive items. These Magi encountered another type of governmental leader, Herod, who according to Matthew 2:3-9 and Matthew 2:12-16 wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus' mere lowly presence on earth was such a threat and offense to Herod that he wanted Him dead the moment He was born. Christ represents a very real threat even now to worldly leadership. Those following Him have the power of Christ through prayer to tear down the authority of men who would oppress them. To these Magi though, Christ, this little newborn baby, was worthy of their allegiance and their worship.

The Family
In Luke 2:8-20 we find the magnificent appearance of angels to the working man, heralding the birth of Christ. These men get to be the first average Joe to hear the good news and come seek Him. These men wouldn't have necessarily been educated men, and a sign in the stars may well have passed their understanding, so for them, it was made much clearer. An angelic for broke throughout the heavens and sang praise to them! How awesome and amazing it must have been! These men didn't have expensive gifts to bring, but Luke 2:16 says they hurried or made haste to find Jesus. When they heard the news, they immediately rushed to find Jesus. Luke 2:20 shows them returning glorifying and praising God.

The Church
Luke 2:25-39 shows us Simeon and Anna, who immediately upon seeing Jesus began to worship and praise and speak about Him. We often hear of Simeon here, but unfortunately Anna is commonly overlooked. Anna is an important piece here, as in the church she is the confirmation of Simeon's praise. Matthew 18:16 and 2 Corinthians 13:1 show us that we should be able to confirm anything with the word of 2 or 3 people. It's an important part of Judaism, established in Deuteronomy 17:6 and in Deuteronomy 19:15, then repeated for the New Testament church also in 1 Timothy 5:19 and Hebrews 10:28. This event established the practice again for those who follow Christ.

Every Walk of Life
We've seen here that by the time Jesus was 8 days old, His presence had been acknowledged by people from every walk of life, and members of every group had given praise to Him. Not everyone who heard of Him worshiped Him, as is still the case today. His words and a life pleasing to God and patterned after the example Jesus left us is good for every man, every group, and every walk of life. Have we acknowledged His presence in our lives this season? Have we praised Him? Have we spread the news of His birth to everyone we've come across?

Laughed At and Destroyed

Did you know that if you're following in the will of God, He laughs at those who come against you? Not only does He laugh, He scoffs at them according to Psalms 2:1-4. The King James version uses the phrase "the Lord shall have them in derision". Derision is just a shorter way of saying extreme mockery, humiliation, or ridicule. We don't want to be associated with those that God mocks. We don't want to be part of their group, part of their "in" crowd. We don't need to try to "fit in" with the world. When we join the world in their wickedness, we become a part of the group that God Himself ridicules.

We definitely don't want to be a part of that group, and Psalms 2:5-9 tells us why. God will deal harshly and angrily with them. They will be ruled with an iron scepter, and broken like pottery. Those who don't follow after the will of God will be utterly destroyed. We see a reference to this in Jude 1:5, where it talks about the people who complained about the Manna from Heaven, and we see that God destroyed all of those who complained.

Psalms 2:10-12 tells us what to do: serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, kiss the Son, and take refuge in Him. Jude 1:20-25 gives us a correlation to that as well, showing that not only should we take refuge in Christ, but that we should bring as many in with us as possible, saving them also from the wrath of God. Romans 12:1-2 says to give our bodies as a living sacrifice, and not conform to the world, but let God transform our minds to follow Christ. Let us not join in the world and be mocked and destroyed by God, but let's follow Jesus and save as many as we can through His power in our lives.

Epaphras: The every man

We know that there were quite a few churches that Paul planted in the years following the death of Jesus. Many of these he wrote letters to that are now contained in the New Testament. Today we are going to look at a well-known church that Paul wrote to, but wasn't started by Paul himself. Epaphras was another christian in Paul's time, and spent some time with Paul tending to him while he was in prison. While Epaphras is only mentioned twice in the Bible, he still managed to start at least one church. The church at Colosse. This was Epaphras' home town, and here he planted a church after being led to the Lord by Paul.

Colossians 1:1-2
This is what could be almost called Paul's regular greeting. In almost everything he wrote included the salutation Grace and Peace. I don't think there's anything better that you could ask for someone. Grace to save us, and Peace to sustain us until we reach heaven.

Colossians 1:3-8
Here we see Epaphras as a messenger to the Colossians. Paul is writing to them when he hasn't necessarily met them, but knowing from the word of Epaphras about the Godly love that these people had for all the saints, he felt it necessary to write to these people. No doubt the name of Paul of Tarsus had spread through the early church similar to how Billy Graham or other evangelists are well-known among both christian and non-christians today, but how many people knew the name Epaphras? Possibly not many at all.

We know very little about Epaphras except what Paul wrote in Colossians, and that he is mentioned in the closing of Philemon. So he doesn't strike me as the sort of famous all-star evangelist that seem to take the scene in today's world. Yet he did something that was worth mentioning. He through the Spirit changed the community he lived in by witnessing and helping this small group of believers to come to the knowledge of the gospel. While this may not be anything big by the World's standards, we know that to God this is important.

So what is the testimony of Epaphras? Paul is able to sum him up in a very short verse. Colossians 1:7 says Epaphras was Paul's dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on Paul's behalf. Is there anyone that could or would say the same about you? It's important that we remember that to do the work of God, it doesn't take fame instead it takes a willing heart, the Love of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you. You may not get recognition or fame on earth, but the treasure you lay up in heaven is much better that anything that you could get here.

Saved by Faith! Now What?

If you’ve not been following over the last two days, or if you’ve not yet accepted God’s great gift of salvation and made Jesus master of your life, I urge you to go back two days and start reading there and catch up. Otherwise, read on!

So you’ve recently gotten saved, or you’re just drifting along in your spiritual life, and you’re unsure of what to do or where to go. Or maybe you’re a dedicated Christian, strong in the Lord. Whoever you are, if your sins have been covered by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross, then these words apply to you.

Reading 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 2 Timothy 2:15, we see that we need to study the teachings we have, contained in the Bible, so that we can be strong Christians. We need to listen to well established Christians, our pastors, our teachers. We need to do our best to be approved by God. We need to do all we can to make sure we pass the muster when God looks at our lives. We need to be workmen for Christ. We need to be honest workers.

We need to study God’s Word (the Bible) so that we know the truth. When we know the truth, we are tasked with “correctly handling” it. Some translations of the Bible use the phrase “rightly dividing” in place of “correctly handles”. Literally, the original Greek word was orthotomeo (or-tho-to-me’-ō) made from the words orthos, meaning “straight”, and temno, meaning “cut”. We should be studying God’s Word so that when we have questions, or someone asks questions of us, we can give them a “straight cut” of the word of truth.

In Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15 we find both our biggest challenge, and our biggest reward. As Christ’s followers, this is to share the good news of salvation with everyone we can. If you’re happy about having a friend like Jesus, you’ll want other people to get to know Him too. You will try to live a better, more meaningful, and more Christ-like life, and the people who you come in contact with every day will want to know what’s different in your life. They’ll see how no longer being at war with God has brought peace to you, and we should be as prepared as possible to give them a straight cut answer when they ask us about it.