Message from Rev. B. Chinkhengoupau
A thought that intrigues me recently is also a question I would like to posit today: “If all of our dependencies, our strongholds, status, money, wealth, everything we owned be snatched from us, will we worship the Lord the same way we do now?” Will our hearts still be steady towards him?
Looking at Job’s life, we know a blameless righteous and faithful individual with riches and great blessings from God suddenly lost everything. Will we like Job keep our faith together even after his friends questioned his integrity? Here, Job found that his knowledge and understanding of God was far from who God really is. He found it out only when God revealed himself with questions to make himself known. Similarly, we can misunderstand the true meaning of the gospel. Our perception of who Jesus is can be distorted by the filters we apply. Seems like our culture today mould Jesus the way it wanted him to be. So, it is crucial to ask ourselves do we really know Jesus? We will look into 3 different passages from the gospel of John chapters 1, 3, & 4 to understand who Jesus really is.
First: John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [John 1:1-3] The Jesus we know is not just the baby who was born and who died on the cross. He is beyond that. Jesus is God, through him all things were made. He is also the creator and the giver of life. In Him was life, and that life was the light of mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. [John 1:4-12]
As believers we should learn to think, ponder on, and seek a deeper understanding of who Jesus is. Knowing that he loves us and died for us is not enough. Is Jesus the light of your life? Is He the joy of your life? Is Jesus the blessing that you expect from above? The most precious blessing God has given is Jesus.
Looking at our Christian life, it is highly probable that our perception of the good news is different from what God really intended. Let us reason why Jesus came into the world. He came to give us the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God [John 1:13] He came to give us new life, new birth, to transform us, pay our ransom and give us light while we are still in darkness. But do we experience his transformation? Do we depend on him for life Or are we still raging to be in control of our own lives? Can we still practice the things we do and proclaim we have Jesus in our life? Do our life reflect Jesus to others? The only reason we have all that we have is because of Jesus alone.
Second: John 3
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [John 3: 3-8] The question is “how you will know, and what does born again mean?” Born again means to be born of the Spirit. We will know it when it happens, just like the way we can feel the breeze but cannot see it. This means our spirit is reconnected to its life source i.e., God. It also means eternal life, and this is the greatest blessing we receive through Jesus alone. There is no other way to be saved. So, let us ask ourselves “Am I born of the Spirit?” and ensure that we can distinguish the differences between worldly blessings and spiritual blessings.
Third: John 4
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans). Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”………. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”… “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” [John 4:21-24]
We can tell that Samaritans are just like us, considered an outsider. We fight for control of our lives yet when we falter, we call on Jesus. We often reason like the Samaritan lady only for our gain. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” The woman’s desire is to get her physical needs fulfilled; however Jesus addresses her yearning soul. Just like her, we often misunderstand worldly blessings with spiritual blessings. How different is the thought process between Jesus and the woman? Jesus did not come to fill our physical needs and give us worldly pleasures. He addresses the deep struggles of our heart and prepares us to have true worship.
Jesus came to reconcile our soul to its maker. He came to bridge the gap between God and man and connect us back to him, so that we can worship in spirit and in truth. Worship not only in good times but worship as a lifestyle, in everything we do is true worship. Our ‘self’ could be a hindrance in truly worshipping as it can divert its focus to anything around us. Since Jesus is the only connection between our soul and God. As redeemed by Jesus, our life should be a living testimony, a transformed life, a life or worship in spirit and in truth clearly able to testify to those around us. So, remember to keep on asking “If all of our dependencies, our strongholds, status, money, wealth, everything we owned be snatched away from us, will we still worship our Lord the same way we do in our good times?”
