Jesus Encountered

What Did Jesus Do?

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;
and it is they that bear witness about me.
John 5.39

Though Jesus did not come seeking the spotlight, He wasn’t about to hide His light under a bushel (John 8.12; Matthew 5.14-16). The Lord wanted to be encountered by people. In John five Jesus holds up three different witnesses whose testimony, if received, pointed directly to Christ.

The first witness was John the Baptist. (John 5.32-35) John came and testified to the light and the truth of Jesus; and he had a certain audience for a time. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1.29) But John was not embraced by the religious leaders, and ended up being executed while imprisoned by Herod. The second witness leading to an Encounter with the truth of Jesus as God’s Son was the very works of the Father that Jesus performed. (John 5.36) Finally, Jesus cited the Scriptures, particularly the books of Moses, as unmistakable witnesses that lead believers to encounter and know Jesus as the Messiah.

Yet even a parade of witnesses cannot prevail upon those who, because they are far too secure in their own truth, are blind and deaf to The Truth. But make no mistake, Jesus came to encounter and be encountered. And, as just pointed out above, the Father supplied ample witnesses whose only purpose was to facilitate encounters with Jesus. The key was that of all who encountered Jesus, only those who believed could see, hear, understand, and accept the testimony of the witnesses.
Others dismissed John as a wild ascetic; wrote off the works of Jesus as demonic; and appropriated the books of Moses to prop up their personal perspective on faith.

The witness of John is perpetuated by those who continue to affirm Jesus as the Lamb of God. The witness of Jesus’ works continues in the work of the kingdom performed by the Body of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the witness of Moses abides in the Old Testament, now affirmed by the words of the New.

Genuine encounters with Jesus always involve the revelation that He is the Son who was sent by the Father. This is the essential content of Christian witness. And that’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Copied

What Did Jesus Do?

…the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
John5.19


“Copy Cat!” Ugh. Didn’t you hate it when someone at school called you a copy cat? “Am not!” “Are too!” And back and forth it would go until, unable to think of anything else to say, you would “Oh yeah, well, am not!” And you would turn sharply on your heal and just walk away. Jesus was a “Copy Cat,” and not afraid to admit it. The Son, if you will, flattered the Father with the sincerest form of flattery, He copied him. Jesus was not interested in making a name for himself (He already had a name even more excellent than the angels. See Hebrews 1.4); but He sure wanted to make certain people knew the Father (John 5.19b-23).

For you or I to try and copy God would be absurd, for Jesus it what simply part and parcel of His nature, which he shared with the Father. But that’s what so outraged the Jews wanted to kill, for the blasphemy of claiming equality with God (John 5.18) Again, for you or I to claim such equality would be utter blasphemy, but Jesus was just stating fact. When sinful man tries to assume the place of God the results are always disastrous. It doesn’t matter if it is Pharaoh who is claiming to be a god, or the leader of a modern day cult who makes bondservants of their followers, lives are inevitably destroyed.

But with Jesus, it’s another story. For when the Son copies the Father He frees from bondage all who believe, and the end is always love and life (John 5.24). In fact, it would only have been a problem if the Son didn’t imitate the Father, but instead chose to go His own way.

Jesus asks noting more of His disciples; we don’t need, in fact we do well not to even try, to come up with our own agenda. All we need to do is follow Him, walk in His footsteps, and copy Him. Of course, this in itself sounds pretty blasphemous, and it would be if we tried it on our own. Fortunately Jesus asked His Father to send the Helper to enable us to follow faithfully (John 14.15-17).

So, don’t be afraid to admit to being a “Copy Cat” of the Son who imitated the Father in love and truth. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Worked

What Did Jesus Do?

My Father is working until now, and I am working.
John 5.17

Sometimes people move because they want to get away from the hustle and hassle of urban life. Others move to the city because they want to be near “the action.” Often people have to move because of work; my family has moved five times in the last twenty years to take up new callings. Jesus can relate to those who relocate because their work required it, He did.

It wasn’t because He wanted a change of scenery that Jesus left heaven and came to earth, and the Lord certainly didn’t come in order to enjoy a little rest and relaxation—He came to work! Because it was a family “business” (See Luke 2.49) Jesus had to be about the work of the Father. This, however, meant that Jesus inevitably ran afoul of those who felt compelled to enforce the “labor laws” of Israel; and those laws clearly delineated what could and what could not be done on the Sabbath. Carrying sleeping mats was strictly forbidden!

One would have thought that after thirty-eight years the defeated and isolated paralytic who had long lain next to the pool of Bethesda could have waited another day to respond to the command of Jesus to rise and pick up his bed and walk (John 5.8). But no, the man impetuously leapt up and walked, carrying his bed roll. The piety police busted him on the spot; no one was going to go around carrying a bed on the Sabbath on their beat, even if they had been waiting thirty-eight years to do it! But the one they really wanted to get their hands on was the person who had encouraged the paralytic to become a scofflaw (John 5.12).

Funny, isn’t it, how God can perform miracles right under our noses, so to speak, and we can’t see them because our notion of what God should do, and when and how he should do it, is so pinched and pernicious as to make us blind to the work of the kingdom going on right in front of us. How many miracles are missed because of such self-imposed blindness? Make no mistake, neither the Father nor the Son take a holiday when there are sinners to be set free, the ill to be cured, the lame to be made strong, the broken to be made whole.

None of this is to suggest that we should throw out the creation ordinance of a Sabbath. God truly desires that we take time one day each week to rest and renew our fellowship with him, setting aside the normal business of the other six days. But that is setting aside “normal” business. It was hardly an every day occurrence for paralytics to stand up and start walking after thirty-eight years of lying about helpless. That was extraordinary kingdom work; that was Father and Son work. And that is work believers should be open to, and willing to perform 24/7/365. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Led the Lost

What Did Jesus Do?

Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.
John 4.48

I remember driving around in circles on the road that passes by all the terminals and parking fields for some time at Newark Airport because I couldn’t remember the airline my friend was arriving on, I didn’t know my destination. It didn’t do me any good that the airport authority had lots of very large, brightly colored attention getting signs. I mean, the signs were very nicely done, but in themselves they did me no good since I was without a clue as to where I needed to go. The lost need one thing more than signs to show them the way, they need a destination or they have no “way.” Jesus was, and is, “the way.” (John 14.6)

Yet, many who were lost, unbelievers who had no clue where their life was heading, wanted Jesus to supply them with impressive signs (miracles) without their knowing the way. When the “way” is right in front of you and you can’t see Him, what real good can signs do? If the BIG question we all will one day have to answer before the Judge of all is, “Who do you say Jesus is?” the answer is not “Signpost!” All the popular answers of the day, John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets of old (Luke 9.19), were nothing more than signposts intended to lead people to God which the LORD had provided his people. But when Peter said that Jesus was, “The Christ of God” (Luke 9.20) he revealed that he understood that Jesus was not just another signpost, but the destination!

The frustration Jesus had with the peoples’ demand for signs was because He knew signs really did little or no good for people who didn’t believe. Miracles without belief are no better than signs for the lost who don’t know their destination, they can’t help you get where you need to go. It has been said that miracles are a poor foundation for faith, while faith is the essential foundation for true miracles. Everywhere that Jesus encountered people who believed in Him signs abounded, but where people did not believe, like in His own hometown of Nazareth, miracles were scarce. (See Mark 6.1-6)

When a man came to Jesus asking Him to come and heal his son who was deathly ill, Jesus, who had come back to the area of non-believing Nazareth, was little inclined to perform wonders for an unbeliever. But when the man continued to beg Jesus to come, revealing his actual faith in who Jesus was, the Lord spoke a word of healing that cured the boy “long-distance” if you will. (John 4.49-53)

If we follow someone because they are wealthy, what do we do when their wealth is used up? If we follow someone because of their feats of strength, what do we do when they grow weak? Jesus did not want people to follow Him because of what He did, but because of who He was. Peter’s answer, “The Christ of God,” did not come by signs and works but by revelation from the Father. (Mathew 16.17) Even so, no one can truly call Jesus Lord because of any sign, but rather by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. (1Corinthians 12.3)

Jesus led people to the Father not because of what He did, but because of who He was, because He and the Father were one. (John 10.30) It didn’t matter how many miracles and signs He performed, if people would not believe who He was, mighty works would avail them nothing in the end.

We can tell people about what Jesus did so that they can know a lot about Him, but in the end they stand a good chance of getting that all important question wrong when asked, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” far better to introduce the lost to the destination than to give them signposts when they don’t know where they need to go. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Rocked

What Did Jesus Do?

And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Matthew 27.51

World Series winners, Super Bowl champs, and an endless succession of overblown celebrities can inspire parades and pandemonium nowadays. It may be that fifteen minutes of fame are reserved for everyone, but more of the infamous and, in the big scheme of things, irrelevant, seem to be taking advantage of the public’s low threshold for being impressed these days. It seems that pretty much anybody nowadays can rock the world, and ridiculous (Even blasphemous?) shows like American Idol reveal how desperately some seek acclaim, and how desperately many wish to acclaim, well, idols.

In the ancient world there were many idols, but instead of rocking the world most of those idols were simply rocks. But there was a day when the arrival of someone who definitely did not want to be anyone’s idol, set off such a spontaneous commotion in Jerusalem (Matthew 21.1-11) that the “PFD” (Pharisaical Fire Department) tried to squash the crowd’s enthusiasm before the whole city became enflamed. (Luke19.39) But Jesus told them that if the crowds were silenced on that day the rocks themselves would give voice to His praises. (Luke 19.40)

Well the Pharisees let the crowd have free reign that day, but a few days later they so stirred another crowd into a senseless frenzy that the people cried out for the death of an innocent man, and so intimidated the Roman governor (Pilate) that he submitted to the will of the mob. (Matthew 27.15-23) So Jesus was crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb which was sealed with a great rock, but not before His very death rocked the world as noted in the verse captioned at the top. Then everything quieted down, for three days. (Matthew 27.57-60)

But early on the first day of the week Jesus started “rocking” the world, and He hasn’t stopped since. First the earth itself shook and one of God’s angels joined in the rocking, removing the stone from the tomb where Jesus had been laid. (Matthew 28.2) Addressing some women who were faithful disciples of the Lord, the angel rocked them with the news that Jesus was risen, and, all but bowled over by this report of the angel, the women ran to tell the other disciples. (Matthew 28.5-8) But before the women made it back they were rocked again when they ran into Jesus himself. (Matthew 28.9)

And, from the women to the disciples, to those whom the apostles would witness to, right on down to today, Jesus rocks the lives of all He encounters, making them, by the power of the Holy Spirit, “rockers” who in turn keep rocking the world with the Gospel. Yes, there are still plenty of idols who would seek to rock the world, and they stir up plenty of commotion for their fifteen minutes or so. But there is only one Rock of Ages who has kept on rocking the world for nearly two thousand years now, and who will continue to “rock” until the day when the world itself will pass away. So, rock on! That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Watered

What Did Jesus Do?

…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever.
John 4.14

Human beings can live for a surprisingly long time without food, but cut us off from water and we’ll soon die. Thirst is a serious matter. So, when someone tells you that they can open within you a spring of living water so that you will never thirst again, well, that is going to get your attention.

It was not at all coincidence when a woman from the village of Sychar fetching water at the well of Jacob encountered Jesus. (John 4.3-7) She is one of the most thirsty characters in the Bible. Socially she was of the despised Samaritans, whom the Jews would have cut off from God if it had been in their power; instead they avoided all contact with the Samaritans. A pious Jew would take the long way from Jerusalem to Galilee, rather than the direct route through Samaria. There was Jesus, in the heart of Samaria. That fact in itself must have startled the woman. For Jesus to talk to her directly would have been unthinkable.

For she was not only cut-off as a Samaritan, but dismissed because she was female; Jewish men were not in the habit of striking up conversations with strange women, it was beneath them. Better to speak to a slave than a woman. There was Jesus, talking with her as if it were the most natural thing to do. (John 4.9)

And it would appear that this woman had quite a few issues when it came to her relationships with men. She had already gone through five “husbands” and was living with number six, though she admitted she wasn’t married. (John 4.16-18) A promiscuous Samaritan woman, a life just about as dry and barren as we could imagine, no wonder she was at the well!

The promise of living water captured her interest, yes, but it also refreshed and reclaimed her soul, so much so that she left her jar beside the well empty, as she went away to summon others to come and meet the man who revealed Himself to be the Messiah. (John 4.25-26) Like a spring in the middle of a dry and thirsty land God set his Son in the midst of people spiritually parched and dying. There is no less need today for the living water Jesus brings us.

Everyone we meet has a definite physical need for water, and it is unlikely that we would turn away anyone who asked us for a simple drink. Far greater than the need of water is the absolute necessity of our knowing Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, and God the Father, who sent Him, and the Holy Spirit who is the very spring of living water in all who believe. We’d share a drink with family or friends who are thirsty, would we share the living water with strangers and those we might normally seek to avoid? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Washed

What Did Jesus Do?

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Revelation 7.14

For the longest time the worship of God was appointed for the seventh day of the week—the Sabbath. Like everything else in the beginning that is recorded in Genesis, God willed it and it was so. Amen.

Now the Sabbath’s initial purpose was rest, a cessation from the labors of the rest of the week. For God had made Man to share in His labor, not the work of creation itself, but of sustaining and multiplying what the LORD created until all the world should be filled with its goodness, or everything God made He had declared “good.”

As we might imagine, after six days of work there was need to get cleaned up by the time the Sabbath came around each week. Fortunately, there was ample water all around, and washing wasn’t that hard a chore. And so, all cleaned up, Man could join his Maker in enjoying the Sabbath rest together.

But with the Fall it became impossible for Man to ever clean himself enough to be with God and truly share in the Sabbath. The Sabbath continued, but there was now work to be done on the Sabbath as well, for the stain of sin had to be removed. The only problem was, nothing Man could do could ever make him clean again. And so the perfect rest of the Sabbath was lost to Man forever, or so it seemed.

For the Father love the world so much that he would send the Son to wash away the stain of sin forever. The work Jesus did on the cross, the washing by the blood of the Lamb, has freed us to again come into the presence of God to rest and to worship now, and for eternity.

It was on the first day of the week that the Son arose. And ever since it has been the first day of the week when Christians celebrate their having been washed by the blood of the Lamb, and worship God who sits upon the throne of heaven, and the Lamb who stands before the throne. What take place on the first day of the week in Christian worship, or at least what is supposed to take place, is the very thing the apostle John was shown in heaven, the worship of the washed who forever celebrate the salvation wrought by God and by the Lamb. If we are not rejoicing in our being made clean, and praising the Father and the Son for washing us, there just isn’t much point in worship.

For God shelters with his presence the washed who come before the throne, satisfying their hunger, slaking their thirst, turning away the sun and any scorching heat, as the Lamb, who is their shepherd, guides them to springs of living water. (Revelation 7.15-17) No more Sabbaths of working to be clean, but celebrating on the Lord’s Day being washed by the blood of the Lamb. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Reoriented

What Did Jesus Do?

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6.33

If you saw the apocalyptic fantasy “2012” you may recall that it ended with the earth's axis being radically shifted so that the South Pole was somewhere around Madison Wisconsin! The story line of the film, if you could call it a storyline, was the increasingly violent atmospheric, climactic, and continental upheavals that brought about the world's “reorientation.” When God sent Jesus into the world it was for the purpose of reorienting the world radically from sin and death to righteousness and life. Unlike the film, Jesus did not seek to bring about the needed radical change by violence.

Hollywood's cinematographers had to depict the tearing down of mountains, the bursting forth of the oceans, the destruction of civilization, the all but total annihilation of humanity, to reorient the world; all Jesus had to do was say “turn around” (repent). But when someone responds to Jesus and turns around, it represents no less a radical and total personal change than that portrayed globally in “2012.”

Jesus came to a world that was oriented towards the goal of pursuing the material. Clothes, food, land, wealth, these were the things people and nations, great and small, sought after to the exclusion of pretty much anything else. “Turn around” Jesus said, “there is a totally different direction to go in, there is something so different, so wonderful, so desperately needed, to seek after—the kingdom of God—and if you would but reorient your lives towards the kingdom you would discover that all that you desire would be given to you.” Of course, turning to God's kingdom so totally transforms people that their desires are transformed.

It has been two millennia since Jesus initiated the reorientation of the world. The reorientation has progressed, not by violent global physical upheavals, but by no less a radical transformation taking place one soul at a time. Yet, if anything, the world is more strongly than ever oriented towards the goals of materialism. Many, we might call them “Accommodating Christians” believe they can have it both ways, that they can embrace the material while at the same time seeking the kingdom of God. But the two are polar opposites, as far apart as east is from west. Others make no pretense of turning around, and remain totally and unashamedly devoted to the material. Yet there are still some who, hearing Jesus' call to “turn around,” yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit and experience the radical reorientation that comes with seeking after the kingdom of God.

And it is these, the reoriented, who are Christ's reorientors, those whom the Spirit employs to invite others to turn around. And so, for now, the reorientation of the world proceeds more or less peacefully. But a day will come, not entirely unlike the violent days of “2012,” when the Lord will return, and earth shaking upheavals will take place, and there will be no more time for turning around. We, no more than the Son, know when that day will be. And so there is a definite urgency to “turn around.” Do we tell all we meet that now is the time to turn around and seek the kingdom? That's what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

The "Business" of America

With no disrespect to President Calvin Coolidge, the business of America is not business. If we were fundamentally a mercantile people such advice might be fine. But our coins don’t declare “In Investments We Trust” do they? Our pledge of allegiance does not declare us “one nation under the Stock Market” does it? From the beginning the American enterprise has been a spiritual one. Oh, I’ll not deny that there were very definite economic and imperial interests that played a part in the exploration and colonization of the Western Hemisphere.

But, doing the will of God, the God of the Bible, to the glory of God always figured largely in the plans and purposes of the early colonists and at the most critical time, in the plans and purposes of the founders and framers of this nation. Even though many are suffering from unemployment and financial ruin due to the economic implosion of a few years ago, straightening out the economy should not be the country’s top priority. For when the Chief Executive of this land can proclaim with some satisfaction that America is no longer a Christian land, it is evident that we suffer from a bankruptcy of faith far more serious than the loss of even billions of dollars—America is in danger of losing its soul, if in fact it is not already lost.

The Bible enjoins no nation to make of itself a kingdom of millionaires. And nowhere in Scripture will you find instructions to amend economic policies as the way to right a country in the throes of collapse. What the Word of God directs nations to do is to humble themselves and pray, to seek the LORD’s face, turning away from ways of wickedness. Only then does God promise to hear from heaven and, forgiving sin, heal the land.

Well, if you are reading this you have probably heard more than one preacher exhort America to heed the words of 2Chronicles 7.14. Perhaps it is instruction we need to impart to all who would seek public office. Maybe it is time for a 2Chronicles 7.14 Party, rather than a Tea Party. If a candidate does not pledge to follow the injunction of 2Chronicles 7.14, I don’t want her or him representing me locally, at the state level, or in Washington.

And don’t come back with the separation of church and state argument. I am not suggesting we elect pastors to office. But if we don’t start putting believers into positions of government high and low, all we will be able to say about America after a bit more than two hundred years is that it is going out of business.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Walked By Faith

What Did Jesus Do?

I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
John 8.42

Jesus, as a discerning centurion observed, was “a man under authority” (Matthew 8.9), meaning that He was not operating on His own, but under the authority and orders of another. The Roman understood, though he did not really know God personally at the time, that Jesus had been sent by the Father. Jesus had praise for the centurion’s faith, and in response to such faith healed the centurion’s servant.

The Lord did not come into the world on His own initiative, but in obedience to His Father’s will. And once in the world Jesus did not go His own way, but daily walked faithfully on the path the Father ordained for Him. And it was a most interesting path that led through valleys and up to mountain tops.

Following this path of faith Jesus stepped down into the waters of baptism (Matthew 3.13-17), and He also walked upon the waters of Galilee (Matthew 14.22-33). Jesus faithfully walked up to the region of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15.21-28), and down to the far side of the Jordan to the region of Gadara (Matthew 8.28-34) and of Gerasa (Mark 5.1-20). Every step He took, whether through the waters or upon them, whether to the Mediterranean or into the interior, Jesus walked in faith and obedience.

By faith Jesus walked through Samaria, and not around it as pious Jews would have. And, for a woman who encountered the Lord at Jacob’s well, and for many of her neighbors in Sychar , it was only because Jesus walked where other Jews would not that they came to believe He was the Savior. (John 4.1-42)

By faith the Lord delayed His walk to Bethany, and those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus came to know that the Father had sent Jesus. And resurrection was no longer a hope invested in the promise of a far off day, but a present reality in the person of the Son who was “the resurrection and the life” for all who believed in Him. (John 11. 1-44)

Jesus’ walk took Him to Jerusalem, though He would enter on the back of a donkey (Matthew 21.1-11); and He walked the painful steps to Golgotha and the cross (Matthew 27.31-33). The Lord’s body was carried to the garden tomb (Matthew 27.57-60), but three days later He walked out (Matthew 28.1-10).

Jesus walked, step by step, mile by mile, day by day, in faith and obedience. Wherever He went, whatever He did, the Son was faithful to the Father. All who would follow Jesus walk the same walk, even to the bearing of the cross (Matthew 16.24-28). But walking the walk is not enough, along the way we need to “talk the talk”: calling people to repentance, announcing the kingdom of heaven, and doing the work the Father gives us to do. That’s what Jesus did as He walked by faith.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Pronounced

What Did Jesus Do?

According to your faith be it done to you.
Matthew 9.29

An announcer tells it like it is. We expect announcers to accurately state the facts, report truthfully what is happening. An announcer who kept shouting “Home run!” after every inning ending strike out by the home team wouldn’t last long. But in the end, even the best announcers have no real authority, they just watch and report. But one who pronounces is altogether different from one who merely announces. Pronouncers definitely have authority. The authority of the Son was given Him by the Father, and the power of His pronouncements was the power of the Holy Spirit.

To pronounce is to make a declaration, to state officially, with authority. It is certainly not predicting. Jesus was most decidedly a pronouncer. The Lord spoke and taught unlike anyone the people had ever heard in a synagogue, for He taught them “as one who had authority.” (Matthew 7.29) When Jesus spoke, well, pretty much everyone and everything obeyed. From its beginning to its end the ministry of Jesus was about pronouncing the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 4.17)

When Jesus said to Simon and Andrew, who were beside the Sea of Galilee casting their nets, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” He made an official declaration of their new, and totally unexpected, vocation, which commenced immediately. (Matthew 4.18-19)

A humble centurion, and humble centurions were hard to find, came to Jesus with a compassionate request that the Lord might heal his servant who was paralyzed and suffering greatly. The centurion understood that Jesus was a pronouncer, for he did not presume to ask the Lord to trouble himself to come to his house, but rather believed that Jesus, with His authority, needed only to make a pronouncement. And the Lord made the kind of pronouncement He like to make most of all, a pronouncement of faith, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” (See Matthew 8.5-13)

Similarly, when some people brought a paralytic lying on a bed to Jesus, He pronounced the paralytic both forgiven and healed by virtue of the faith demonstrated by his friends. The crowd who witnessed what happened could not help but glorify God when they saw that such authority to pronounce had been given to men. (Matthew 9.1-8)

Meteorologists, armed with weather satellites and radar, make predictions of varying accuracy about whether it will rain, and how much might be expected to fall. Jesus made pronouncements which the wind and rain obeyed. (Mark 4.39)

Typically medical examiners come and make pronouncements of death. But Jesus wasn’t a medical examiner, He was the Great Physician, His business was pronouncing life, not death. And so it was that the Lord dismissed a house full of mourners making a commotion over what they thought was the death of the daughter of a ruler; for Jesus pronounced, “the girl is not dead but sleeping” and the girl arose. (Matthew 9.23-25)

Perhaps Christ’s greatest pronouncement was the one He made with His last breath upon the cross, “it is finished,” declaring that the work of saving men’s souls had been accomplished. (John 19.30) Yet, the Lord was not done pronouncing. Some forty days after the Crucifixion Jesus made one final pronouncement before He was lifted up into heaven, “You will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1.8) And so it was that Jesus, who possessed all authority in heaven and on earth to pronounce, declared His followers to be pronouncers.

Fishers of men, laborers who gather the harvest, salt and light to the world, pronouncers, that is what Jesus calls His followers to be. The world has always had plenty of announcers, and today it has perhaps more announcers than ever. But amidst all the announcing in our world, the sick and the lost need to hear someone kingdom pronouncing. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Burned

What Did Jesus Do?

Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us?
Luke 24.32

Heartburn is certainly discomforting. But words that cause our hearts to ignite with passion are quit another thing. Consider,

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
Shakespeare, Henry V

With such words Shakespeare depicted the means by which beleaguered Henry so inspired his weary and outnumbered soldiers that they won an overwhelming victory at Agincourt in France in 1415. As powerful as these words are, they are mere fiction, a credit to Shakespeare, but hardly attributable to Henry.

In contrast, we have many words of Jesus factually recorded in the Bible, words that still enflame hearts with holy fire. Let us picture ourselves one of the small circle reclining at table with Jesus the night He spoke these words, and see how our hearts begin to warm,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him…

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
John 14.6-7, 12-14

If we feel no stirring at these words, it might be time to consult a cardiologist, as there would appear to be something seriously wrong with our hearts. And there is no better heart surgeon than the Holy Spirit who can give us a new heart in an instant; we have the Lord’s promise that He will do it to the glory of the Father if we but ask. Fiery oratory is not required; there is no evidence that Jesus harangued the disciples on the road to Emmaus. But at a time when their hopes were all but extinguished, Jesus breathed the flame of renewed faith and hope into them by opening up the truth about Himself in the Scriptures.

No fire can burn without fuel. The fuel that sustains faith is the Word of God, capable of igniting a conflagration; we need to fuel our faith daily with the Word. And when we encounter a heart bereft of hope, doused by doubts, chilled by fears, deadened by sin, we have at hand the tools to make it burn if we would employ them—prayer and the Word. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Knew and Jesus Kept

What Did Jesus Do?

If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him…
John 8.55

If Jesus knew anything, He knew the Father. From eternity past, to before the days of Abraham, to the very moment He was confronted by an irate crowd of Jews who were convinced He was demon possessed, Jesus knew. Knowing the Father was such an incontrovertible part of being the Son that it would have been absurd for Him to deny it, just as it would have been unthinkable for the Son not to keep the Word of the Father. We might even define the Son as “The One who knows the Father and keeps his Word.” It certainly separates Jesus from all the rest of us.

Thankfully, the Father sent Jesus to handle the problem of our separation from him and to make him known to all, and to keep, or fulfill, the Father’s Word for the sake of all. Even Abraham, to whom the Jews looked as the founder of the covenant in which they claimed their connection with God, rejoiced in the day of the Son who whose “knowing” and “keeping” blessed Abraham and his descendants. (John 8.56)

What the Jews could not see, would not see, was that this young man whom they tried to disown as a Samaritan and possessed, had been “I am” before Abraham—before Adam for that matter. “'I am'? Why if this Jesus of Nazareth is ‘I Am’ that means he is the LORD, Yahweh. This is blasphemy!” hence the impulse to stone Him. (John 8.59) If Jesus was who He claimed to be, than to know Him would be to know the Father, to not know Him would mean one did not know the Father. The kind of conviction that comes with hearing this truth will either cause one to rejoice, as Abraham did, or to fly into a guilt inspired rage, as the “sons” of Abraham did when confronted with Jesus’ claims. But, like it or not, that pretty much sums up the life and mission of Jesus: to make the Father known and to keep the Father’s Word.

This means that all who follow Jesus are to be “knowers” and “keepers” too. Jesus said as much, it is all about our keeping His word. And for those who “keep,” Jesus promised eternal life. (John 8.51) And, if we know Jesus, and keep His word, then we will be about the same work as our Lord, inviting others to become “knowers” and “keepers” as well. Lest we despair that knowing and keeping as Jesus did is beyond us, we also have His promise that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will be with us and empower us to “know” God and “keep” his Word, (See John 14.15-26 and 15.26-27), that we should never taste death. Have we made knowing God and making Him known, and keeping His Word and proclaiming it to others our daily task? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Answered--And Asked

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus answered them, “I will also ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Matthew 21.24

Two kinds of people constantly sought out Jesus, those who had questions, and those who questioned Him, if you see the difference. The first group we might call “seekers,” the second group might more deserve to be labeled “sneakers.” Seekers brought their needs to the Lord. Sneakers tried to set traps for Him. For seekers Jesus had answers. For sneakers Jesus asked questions.

Seekers came to Jesus in their brokenness, bearing their pain, exposing their vulnerability. A centurion sought Jesus and humbled himself (Matthew 8.5-13); Jesus honored his humility and faith with an answer that healed the centurion’s beloved servant. A mother sought Jesus and begged for the sake of her daughter (Matthew 15.21-28); Jesus acknowledged her great faith with an answer that healed the girl in an instant. Blind Bartimaeus sought Jesus with his cries, asking the Son of David to restore his eyesight (Mark 10.46-52; Jesus answered, restoring his sight, and Bartimaeus immediately began to follow Jesus.

Sneakers came to the Lord in their arrogance, bearing their enmity, trying to expose Jesus’ vulnerability. A group in a synagogue, wanting to accuse Jesus, asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath (Matthew 12.9-14); Jesus replied by asking which of them would not rescue a sheep from their flock that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, and the sneakers snuck away to conspire to destroy Him. Some Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to see Jesus, asking Him about ritual cleanliness in order to try and stir up some controversy (Matthew 15.1-12); Jesus answered them by asking why they had made their traditions more important than the law, and they slunk away offended. The chief priests and elders interrupted Jesus while He was teaching, wishing to show that His teaching had no authority and should be ignored (Matthew 21.23-27); Jesus responded to them and asked them about the source of John’s baptism, which they would not answer for fear of exposing their own hypocrisy or inciting the people. Again, the sneakers objective was to have Jesus arrested and do away with Him.

There are still seekers and sneakers in the world today. Those who truly seek Jesus find that He is the answer to every question and every need. Sneakers still find that the truths of Christ challengingly question their hearts and their motives. The thing is, it is necessary both to be able to respond to seekers with answers supplied by the Gospel, and to sneakers with questions that challenge them to examine themselves instead of cross-examining the Lord. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Led

What Did Jesus Do?

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Mathew 4.19

It used to be that husbands routinely ignored their wives’ pleas to stop and ask for directions. Better to wander aimlessly, or drive miles in the wrong direction than to lose face and ask for help. In the interest of marital harmony the folks at Garmin, Magellan, and Tom-Tom have supplied wives with a high-tech tool (“Toy” is more like it) that permits their husbands to imagine they are some kind of Star Trek captains who plug in the trip coordinates and follow the voice of the GPS computer, just like James T. Kirk used to do on the Enterprise. I imagine that, without those GPS voices to follow, many of us husbands would still be stubbornly stuck in our lostness.

Did you know that God has his own GPS system? Sure does. From before the world was created God had in place a plan, or system, if you will, to Graciously Procure Salvation for lost sinners by faith in Jesus Christ. For, in the fullness of time, into a world full of the lost the Father sent the Son to lead. And the Holy Spirit caused many hearts to respond, either to Christ’s call to “follow me,” or to His invitation to repent and make ready for the kingdom of heaven. Like hapless wives before the advent of GPS, the Holy Spirit could have done nothing for the lost if there had be no one to lead. But, in and through Jesus and His Gospel, the lost are found, and, following the Son, and Him alone, they are shown THE Way to the Father.

The fishermen Jesus called to become fishers of men were recruited to go out and find the lost and lead them to Christ. The time the apostles spent with Jesus was all about learning to be leaders from the Leader of leaders.

The challenge was, and is, sinners are as stubbornly determined to remain in their sins as husbands are reluctant to ask for directions. Your typical sinner would rather keep the pedal to the metal on the “Highway to Hell” than admit being lost. And volunteering directions to the lost will more often than not elicit words and gestures of the rudest disrespect from them rather than thanks. Why people even chose to crucify the Son rather than admit their lostness and follow Him to the Father.

Here’s the thing, there are still husbands who prefer being lost to putting a GPS in their car. And, sadly, there are many sinners who prefer their sin to putting Jesus in their heart. But, trusting the Father, who knows all hearts, and who has determined who will be found and who will stay lost, Christians are all called to be leaders who lead the lost to the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and, if you will, the Leader of leaders. All that can be done is to humbly and winsomely speak the directions to those who are lost, knowing that some will follow and some won’t. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Chose

What Did Jesus Do?

And when the day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve…
Luke 6.13

From the called, from the elect, Jesus selected, or chose, twelve. From the many who the Spirit called to receive Christ and become His disciples, the few were chosen. Actually, it might not be quite accurate to say that twelve were chosen from the elect, for Judas was of the twelve, but we would hardly consider him to be numbered among God’s elect, unless we extend the meaning of election to include those whom God has elected for destruction. Traditionally the elect are understood to be those God has chosen for salvation in Christ Jesus from before the foundations of the earth were laid. (See Ephesians 1.3-10) Those “elected” by God for destruction would more commonly be known as the damned.

But let us confine ourselves today to the elect and the chosen. Election is totally in the hands of the Father, and he concluded the work of election in the distant, before the beginning, recesses of eternity past. But choosing from among the elect the Father left to the Son. The Son spent much time in prayer with the Father before making His choices (Luke 6.13), but the Bible is quite clear that the choice was up to Jesus. That Judas was included in the twelve makes it quite clear that the choosing was not in the least random. Jesus knew well the strengths and weaknesses of each of His apostles. He knew who would betray. He knew who would doubt. He knew who would deny. He knew who would desert. And, knowing, Jesus called them all, betrayer, doubter, denier, deserters. For, there was work, kingdom work, Church founding work, Body of Christ building work, for the twelve to accomplish apart from the betraying, doubting, denying, and deserting.

And the thing is, the work continues, though the twelve are long gone. And so it remains necessary among the elect for choosing to go on. The work of the kingdom today is no less important than the work of the kingdom in the First Century. And equal care, deliberation, and prayer should go into the process of choosing those Christ still chooses from among His disciples for the work that needs to be done.

Let us be clear on this, we are not selectors, we do not determine who is among the elect. But the Lord still needs His Church to choose from His disciples those who will take up such offices as necessary to keep the Body of Christ going and growing. (See Ephesians 4.11 for some of the offices Christ established for the equipping of His saints) Disciples are not electors, but we are to be choosers. The sad state of many congregations and denominations shows that for many years there has been much ill-informed and thoughtless choosing.

The choosing must be taken most seriously, so much rests with our choices. And we cannot refuse to choose, kingdom work needs to be done, workers need to be chosen. When choosing it is absolutely essential that we know what the Word of God says about what is required of the chosen, and that we search out in earnest prayer the Father’s guidance in our choosing. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Preached Prophetically

What Did Jesus Do?

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4.17

Some sermons sound a lot like history lesson, they tell you about what a Moses or a David did. Sometimes you sit in a pew and hear something that sounds a bit like it came out of a cookbook, as you are told what ingredients you need to live a good life. Then there are the messages that come from cheerleaders who try to pump you up and get you excited, especially about their “gospel” of success and prosperity.

Jesus preached, but His style was not like any of the above—Jesus preached prophetically. Oh, Jesus was fully aware of the past, after all, He had been around from the beginning. But His purpose in referencing the past was always to point to the future. Jesus fully understood what “good” was all about, it was Jesus, the Word of God, who created all the “good” things God called forth during the six days of creation. (See Genesis 1 and Colossians 1.15-16) The Lord also understood that no man or woman could ever put enough “good” into their life to ever break free from the burden of sin. And the last thing Jesus would have preached was to get wrapped up in worldly success and prosperity, which would all pass away, at the expense of eternal riches in the coming kingdom of heaven which He came to proclaim.

In truth, I am not sure we should really call anything preaching that does not follow the model established by Jesus. If the message is not about the kingdom of heaven being at hand, is it preaching, or is some other kind of oration? Certainly, how can we call preaching “Christian” if it isn’t about the imminence of the kingdom of heaven? If preaching isn’t prophetic, it is, if you will permit me to say, pathetic.

The Incarnation of the Son was an enacted vision of the kingdom of the Father, a kingdom that, in and through Jesus, was breaking into the world. The prophetic nature of the preaching of Jesus was not a matter of fortune telling or predicting what might be, but proclaiming what had already begun and what would in fact be the record of the days, weeks, years, and eternity to come.

And the kingdom is now closer to hand than it was at the time of Christ (See Romans 13.11). Indeed, every day countless people die and leave this world behind and enter into eternity. The purpose of the prophetic preaching of Jesus, and of every faithful Christian preacher since His time, is to proclaim a message of repentance and salvation by grace that, if received, transports one immediately into the kingdom, and for the rest of one’s days on earth continually equips one to be a kingdom worker.

In this light, all Christian preaching should, in a way, sound somewhat similar. High church or low, Pentecostal or liturgical, it does not matter, the content of prophetic Christian preaching echoes the proclamation of the Lord. If a person never hears Christ’s call to repent and receive the kingdom, what good can come of any other word that they might hear in a sermon?

Considering what I said above about the people who die every day, many totally unprepared for eternity, there is an undeniable aspect of urgency and need for prophetic preaching. We cannot sit back and leave preaching to the pastors, and confine it to Sunday mornings. Every Christian is a preacher, for the prophetic message “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” needs to be proclaimed every day. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Resisted

What Did Jesus Do?

We have a great high priest who in every respect has been tempted as we are,
yet without sin.
Hebrews 4.15

When you are a “strange visitor from another planet” who is “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap over tall buildings at a single bound” people will be apt to call you “Superman.” And when bullets bounce off you, knives bend when thrust at you, and fire doesn’t burn you it isn’t surprising that people refer to you as the “Man of Steel.” Jesus was no superman.

Oh, He was fully God, but Jesus was also fully human. He was a man of flesh and blood, not a man of steel. Though the Bible says nothing about it, I suspect Jesus was as susceptible to the common cold as you and I; as likely to have had chicken pox as a child as the rest of us. And, far more important for you and me, like every human being since Adam and Eve, Jesus was vulnerable to temptation. Honestly, temptation really isn’t temptation if you’re not tempted. And the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted with real temptations, just as you and I are, with one huge difference. Jesus resisted all temptation, so that He remained free of the stain of sin and the taint of transgression, and for us that made all the difference. For it was only a perfect and spotless lamb that could to be sacrificed in propitiation for our sins; only the Lamb of God, who resisted all temptation, would be acceptable. And only the Son could and would perfectly obey God, surrendering only to the Father’s will, but never to temptation.

It was tempting for the young Jesus to remain in His Father’s house and be about His Father’s business. (Luke 2.49) But that would have meant disobeying Joseph and Mary, His parents, which would have been a sin; so the Lord dutifully returned to Nazareth with His family, where He submitted to the authority of dad and mom, and in the process grew in stature and in wisdom, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2.50-52)

Christ’s temptation in the wilderness is well known, but many people fail to understand all that would have been lost is Jesus had not resisted. And Jesus was truly tempted. After forty days without food, it was real hunger Jesus felt. But Jesus resisted the temptation to feed His flesh, and satisfied himself with the Word of God which nourished His spirit. (Matthew 4.1-4) And, to shut Satan up, what would it have hurt to prove He was God’s beloved Son by leaping off the pinnacle of the Temple? But Jesus resisted the temptation to prove to Satan how much the Father loved Him by putting God to the test; Satan would learn the power of the Father’s love for the Son when, three days after the crucifixion, the Father would raise Jesus from the dead. (Matthew 4.5-7)
And, as King of kings, it was tempting to have all the nations of the world dangled before Him. But Jesus resisted grasping for authority and power, content to wait for the time when the Father would hand all authority and power over to Him. (Matthew 4.8-10)

Even on the cross, when the agony of His suffering and the taunts of the bystanders and the imminence of death had to have made the temptation to come down from the cross unbearable, Jesus resisted to the end, the greater glory of the Father to be revealed in His death and resurrection. (Matthew 27.39-44)

If not a superman, how then did Jesus resist? If no man of steel, where did the Son find the strength to overcome all temptation and remain faithful to the Father? The Holy Spirit; and it is this truth that gives us hope to resist in the face of our temptations—the Father imparts the Holy Spirit to all his children. Jesus resisted for us all, and in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit all may resist.

Recognizing and resisting temptation was not the work of Superman; it was the mission of the Son. Only flesh and blood, not steel, can be tempted; it was a Savior who could bleed and die who resisted to the end. The Father did not create a race of supermen and superwomen impervious to temptation, but he loves beyond measure his human daughters and sons who wrestle with temptation every day. And every temptation we resist in our flesh by the Holy Spirit, we resist not for our sake alone but for all who are part of the Body of Christ, and for the Father’s glory. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Fulfilled

What Did Jesus Do?

Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.
Matthew 3.15


There has been quite a lot of excitement and interest among many Christians and in many churches over being purpose driven. But when our life is in fulfillment of what God has ordained for us, it is not about our choosing or deciding on a purpose, but inexorably doing all that the Father has designed and desired for us to do. If our purpose is about anything other than fulfilling God’s will for us, God’s Word for us, well, we’re being driven by the wrong purposes.

From the beginning, the life of Jesus was all about fulfilling. From His conception and birth (See Matthew 1.18-23), to the many works of healing he performed (Matthew 8.14-17) to the manner of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21.1-5), to His suffering and death on the cross (John 19.28-37), to His resurrection (Luke 18.31-33; 24.44-46), all that Jesus was and all that He did was in fulfillment of what God had spoken in his Word. Jesus fulfilled.

Though the Father’s creative genius was manifest in the Son, the Son was not creative in the sense of in the sense of spontaneity and initiative save to fulfill what had been spoken of Him. Jesus did not come to do as He pleased, though as King of kings and Lord of lords He would have appeared to have all authority and right to do so. Rather, the Son was all about doing the will of the Father, that every Word of the Father should be fulfilled.

Even the Law of Moses would not be abolished, though Jesus would free us from the burden of trying to observe it. It was only because He perfectly fulfilled all the law that those who are in Christ Jesus no longer stand under condemnation but under grace in the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8.1-4) Amazingly, those whom the Holy Spirit fills are empowered to fulfill all righteousness in Christ, the One who was and is the fulfiller of the Father’s perfect will. There is no life, no matter what purpose may drive us, apart from the life the Father gives us in Christ. Therefore those who are in Christ are fulfillers as He fulfilled. After all, it’s “us” who Jesus said should be all about fulfilling.

What’s our purpose today? We may have a calendar full of appointments, but if those appointments have nothing to do with fulfilling the Father’s will for us in Christ, our time will be wasted. We may have a day chock full of projects and tasks, even one’s like writing a devotion, but if they are not about fulfilling, our efforts will be fruitless. But if we know that our one purpose in life today and every day is to do what the Father has ordained for us, and seek to accomplish his will only, we will know what it is to be fruitful, for fruitfulness is the end of fulfillment. So, how about it, will our purpose be fulfilling, not in the sense of satisfaction but of accomplishing what is in God’s Word? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Lighted

What Did Jesus Do?

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1.4

Have you ever experienced utter darkness? I cannot say for certain it was utter darkness, but I cannot imagine any greater physical darkness than that which I was plunged into in the depths of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky when the National Park Ranger extinguished his light. Even in a few seconds, the fear of being lost in that place with no light able to penetrate it, began to grip me. I am here today only because the Ranger lighted the cave so we could make our way up and out. Far more frightening than that physical darkness is the utter and eternal spiritual darkness of being cut off from God. Fortunately,

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1.5

Out of eternity past the Father spoke his Word into the utter darkness of the void, and there was light! The Word was there in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God. And the Word illuminated, filled with light, lighted the world, if you will. In the fullness of time the Word came into the world, incarnating light in flesh and blood in the person of the Son.

Try as it might, darkness could not un-light the world. Oh, the light has waxed and waned through the millennia, but it can never be extinguished. And people, lost and living as it were in a land of darkness, have seen the light of the world and know that this light is God the Father himself, made manifest in and through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus put it plainly enough,

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8.12

And, as long as He was in the world, Jesus continued to be the light of the world. (John 9.5) Yet, Jesus knew the day would come when He would be taken out of the world and lifted back into heaven. Though He knew this was hard for His disciples to accept, Jesus reassured them that it would be to their advantage that He go away; for then the Father would send the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who would do something quite marvelous.

For, you see, Jesus declared His followers to be, as He himself was, the light of the world. (Matthew 5.14) As Jesus lighted the world, so too all who follow the Son are lighters, illuminators, ones who by the power of the Holy Spirit fill the world with light, the light of the Father manifest in his Word, his Son. And in the light there still abides the life, the true and abundant life of men, which is none other than Jesus Christ.

People long-accustomed to darkness typically don’t welcome light. Light is actually painful at first to those who have known nothing but darkness. People, His own people, chose, as unbelievable as it sounds, to not receive the light, and remained in darkness. But the light would not be hid. And for all who did receive the light, well, they were blessed to become the children of God, to become lighters. It was and is the purpose of the light to be lifted up and carried throughout the world so that its illumination should reach everywhere, even the darkest of places, the darkest of hearts.

One light, one life, one Word, from the beginning, bringing fellowship with the Father and with the Son; and if we walk in the light we are lighters even as He lighted, and we both have and bring fellowship in and with the light to those living in darkness. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Cleaned & Purified

What Did Jesus Do?

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,
“I will; be clean.”
Matthew 8.3

They are ages-old questions that Proctor and Gamble and others have tried to answer with varying degrees of success: How do you remove stubborn stains? What can cleanse as white as snow? Is 99.9% pure, pure enough?

When it comes to removing the stain of sin, there is nothing on the supermarket shelf that can get the job done. I don’t care what the late Billy Mayes said about the many he products he hawked on television, they were all bested by sin. Only one thing can wash away our sins, and there is only one place to get it, at the cross.

People don’t generally look in grocery stores for sin-eradication help, but they do look pretty much everywhere else. Some go and see psychologists for help with guilt-removal. Some employ drugs to try and erase memories and relieve sin’s sting. Others pursue various paths of enlightenment proffered by eastern religions. And many simply move to Egypt and live in denial (“The Nile,” get it? Pardon my pun). But none of this works, and sin stubbornly refuses to go away. What’s a housewife (Or any of us) to do? Well, the Father has perfected a formula that really works on sin using the ingredients of confession, repentance, and asking for forgiveness to apply the one and only sure-fire sin stain remover:

…and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1John 1.7

Of course, Jesus helps us in every way, as the above captioned verse from Matthew 8 illustrates. When the impurest of the impure approached Him in desperation Jesus did not hesitate to reach out and touch a leper and impart perfect purity to his skin, because with leprosy anything less than 100% purity leaves one an outcast. But Jesus cured more than leprosy. All kinds of illness, infection, and infirmity, both physical and spiritual, responded to the Lord’s word of authority. Jesus is the all-time “cleaner-upper.”

Unfortunately, sin, and corruption, and all kinds of uncleanness remain in the world. That’s why those of us whom Jesus has cleansed need to be cleaners. Jesus essentially declared us His agents of cleansing and purifying long ago when He told us, “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5.13) You see, in the ancient world salt was just about the number 1 cleansing and purifying agent. Salt wasn’t rubbed in wounds to make them burn, but to destroy corrupting germs and bacteria. Salt has cleansing and preserving qualities, and Jesus needed His followers to go out into the world in His name and battle corruption and sin with the power of the Holy Spirit.

In a world where evil and sin and filth stubbornly refuse to go away, and men and women despair of ever being made clean and pure, the hopeless ask, “Can anyone help us be clean? Will anyone help me?” Salty Christians are the ones who need to respond to these desperate pleas, “I will!” That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Overcame

What Did Jesus Do?

…take heart, I have overcome the world.
John 16.33

There was once a song titled “You and Me Against the World.” It was a forlorn hope, taking on the world. History is replete with world conquerors who have all ultimately been defeated by the world—with one exception. One person alone has in fact overcome the world. And when we team up with Him, well, that makes us overcomers too, not that it’s easy.

Just getting along with the world is hard enough for many. Most of us would be happy if we could just somehow slip through the world without the world taking any particular notice of us at all. The world hands out gold watches to people who manage to keep their head down and quietly go about their business without upsetting the order of things; it hands out crosses to those who oppose it. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, He came to save it; that is plain enough. It’s just that to save the world, He had to oppose the world’s way of doing pretty much everything and overcome it.

When this is your life’s purpose it makes allies hard to come by. Everyone and everything that is invested in the ways of the world will oppose you. And all the rest, who might not be all that in love with the world because the world treats them rather disdainfully, even roughly, won’t join your side because they are absolutely convinced there simply is no overcoming the world.

But Jesus, observing the way things were and how people lived based on what they had learned in and from the world, introduced whole new ways of understanding and living to the world by teaching, “You have heard ___________…But I say_________.” Take anger for instance. The ultimate expression of anger is murder. People had been taught that it was wrong to murder. Jesus didn’t come to encourage murder; but to save the world He had to convict everyone of us who has ever been angry with a brother or sister, or friend or neighbor, or anyone else, of, in effect murdering another. “Don’t allow anger to condemn you to the flames of hell; let it go, and reconcile all differences immediately.” Great advice, but to a world that loves to hold on to anger and grudges, to people who are convinced being right is more important than forgiving trespasses, it was a lesson that was and is hard to accept. (See Matthew 5.21-26)

Here’s another example—Lust. Adultery had been rightly condemned, not that condemnation has ever discouraged all that many people from committing it. But Jesus taught that even those of us who have “wandering eyes” have committed adultery! (See Matthew 5.27-30) This pretty much means that Jesus has convicted every man who has ever lived, which means just about every man will have “issues” with Jesus. But how can a man be saved without his adulteries being exposed and dealt with? Why, it is no wonder that Jesus was crucified. Actually, I am surprised that the angry men who had chased the woman caught in adultery didn’t throw their stones at Jesus right on the spot! (See John 8.1-11)

Overcoming the world means overcoming the whole world and everyone in it. In the world there are two kinds of people: the overcame, and those needing to be overcome. The “overcamed” are all who have been convicted of their sins by the Holy Spirit, and who have surrendered to Jesus, they are more commonly known as “the saved.” Those who still need to be overcome, more commonly called “the unsaved,” live in ignorance of their sins, or in stubborn refusal to repent of their sins, or in helpless, miserable bondage to their sins. As you can imagine, overcoming isn’t easy. There’s much more persecution and sacrifice and surrender in confronting sin than there is fame and fortune.

But, like it or not, Jesus calls the “overcamed” to be overcomers who love the world and everyone in it so much that they refuse to allow the world and everyone in it to their fate, even though it means inviting the persecution of the world. It’s not so much a matter of so-called “tough love” as it is that loving like Jesus is tough. But, tough as it is, we have to love the world to overcome it. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministrie.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Waited

What Did Jesus Do?

My hour has not yet come.
John 2.4

When Jesus replied to His mother’s report of the shortage of wine at a wedding feast in Cana He was not being disrespectful; and it certainly was not a case of “putting off to tomorrow what could be done today.” Rather, as much as Jesus loved and respected His mother, He had a higher duty to His Father, and in particular to honoring His Father’s sovereignty over the timing of all things.

The Lord was not going to get ahead of the Father’s schedule. Neither was Jesus going to lag behind God’s plans. The Son knew full well that the Father had appointed a perfect Kairos moment for all things. Just as He had arrived in the “fullness of time” (See Galatians 4.4), so Jesus rested, so to speak, in the knowledge that, with God there is “a time for every matter under heaven.” (See Ecclesiastes 3.1-8) Jesus, knowing well all that His Father would accomplish through Him, was not about to take one step outside of the will of God by taking anything into His own hands; He would not “jump the gun” or “hold up the works,” but in the Father’s perfect timing fulfill all the tasks ordained for Him, even the terrifying work of the cross.

When word came that His good friend Lazarus was dying, the Lord did not jump up and rush to Bethany, as no doubt Martha and Mary had hoped, but waited two days. Hurt and bitterly disappointed, both sisters reproved Jesus for His delay, believing that if He had only come in time their beloved brother would still have been alive. Jesus too was grieved, and His tears fell along with those of the other mourners. But Jesus had waited those two days so that the Father’s glory would be revealed, and that many who observed what happened would see and believe that Jesus had been sent by the Father to do the Father’s works, including the calling back of Lazarus from death. (See John 11.1-44)

Even a “king,” though Herod was not much of a king, could not move Jesus to alter in the slightest the timetable that had been established for His life and ministry. When Herod sought for the Lord Jesus sent word to the “foxy” ruler that He would come to Jerusalem at the time appointed, and not a day sooner nor a day later. (See Luke 13.31-35)

If Jesus waited upon the Father’s timing in all things, it hardly seems wise for we who follow Him to presume to establish our own timetable. Abiding in God’s will requires our walking neither ahead or behind Him, but faithfully waiting for, and acting in, the appointed moment on the appointed day. This can hardly be accomplished without disciplining ourselves, and diligently seeking the Father’s will, daily. In fact, this perfect pace is to be found only when one daily takes up one’s cross and follows Jesus. It is a mistake to think that Jesus only bore the cross when He carried it on His back to Golgotha, for the obedience of the cross was something Jesus bore every step He took every day He lived.

Waiting is not an easy thing for people who like to fill up Day-Timers to do. Waiting is difficult for fast-lane, high-speed connection, instant messaging people. Waiting seems far less satisfying than constantly doing, but waiting is exactly what Jesus needed His disciples to do, until THE time came when they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. God’s Word promises that those who wait upon Him will “mount up” up as on eagles’ wings (Isaiah 40.31). Only by waiting on the Father, and His perfect timing, can we be lifted into His perfect will now and for eternity. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Sowed

What Did Jesus Do?

Listen! A sower went out to sow.
Mark 4.3

Of all He did, certainly sowing was near the top of the Lord’s priorities. Not a day went by without Jesus scattering the Word upon the hearts of all He met. And He was not a discriminating sower.

Jesus realized there was all kinds of “soil” in the world. He understood that much “seed” would never yield anything to harvest, so it was important that He sow lavishly. In fact, in the parable of the Sower 25% of the seed is quickly snatched away without any chance to even germinate; 25% sprouts, only to soon wither and dry up because there was no depth to its roots; 25% grew and showed promise, only to be choked by weeds. Just one out of every four seeds actually matures and yields. But what a yield! Thirty, sixty, a hundredfold!

If one is stingy with one’s sowing, there will still be a harvest. But when the whole earth is your field, and it is souls for the Father’s kingdom that you are seeking to harvest, generous sowing is called for. Full handfuls of the Word need to be taken up and broadcast as you go. And so, Jesus sowed.

He sowed along the roadside. He sowed along the shores of Galilee. He sowed in the Decapolis. He sowed in the region of Tyre and Sidon. He sowed on the Mount, and He sowed on the Plain. He sowed in Jericho, and He sowed in Jerusalem. He sowed the Word in the hearts of the twelve apostles, and eleven of them the Word took deep and strong root, and what a yield! Countless hearts have received the seed of the Word for nearly two thousand years now, If you are reading this it is highly likely that someone has scattered some “seed” on your heart, and that the Word has been growing in you, and you might even be a sower yourself.

There is a legend of John Chapman, “Johnny Appleseed,” who is credited with scattering apple seeds across the U.S.; an itinerant sower whose vision was of villages and farms beautified and blessed all throughout the land with abundant apples harvests. At the same time as Chapman was supposed to be scattering his apple seeds, sowers of the Word, Circuit Riders and frontier preachers, followed the instructions of the parable of the Sower, and sowed the Word of God far and wide across the land.

And for a time America enjoyed a remarkable harvest of faith: Two Great Awakenings, and countless other smaller revivals, the birth and growth of world-wide missions, churches and Sunday School societies sprouting up in towns large and small. Sowers are still needed, for millions of hearts still lie fallow, barren and uncultivated, if you will, yet with the potential to someday yield 30, 60, a hundredfold for the kingdom.

The question is, will we sow daily, lavishly showering the seed of the Word upon he hearts of all whom we encounter? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Cheered

What Did Jesus Do?

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14.27

No, Jesus didn’t go around cheering,

“Peter, Peter, he’s my man!
And on this rock my church will stand!”

But the Lord’s presence, His teaching, His faith, His hope, His prayers, His assurance of the Kingdom, and His trust in the Father, all these cheered those around Him. In fact, Jesus so cheered the people that they actually cheered Him in to Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday, shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Matthew 21.9

It was only right that the people should be pronouncing blessings on the Son of David, after all, very early in His ministry, Jesus had cheered them by promising blessings to the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness sake, and those persecuted and reviled on account of the Lord. (See the Beatitudes of Matthew 5.2-12)

Teaching like no rabbi ever heard before, Jesus cheered those in attendance at the synagogue in Capernaum. Why His authority was such that even unclean spirits obeyed Him! And immediately, the excited people started to spread the name of Jesus throughout Galilee. (Mark 1.27-28)

When a desperate woman who had been healed when she dared to reach out and touch Jesus’ cloak fell down in fear and trembling before the Lord He cheered her, saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5.34) When word reached Jairus that his daughter had died, Jesus cheered him with these words, “Do not fear, only believe.” (Mark 5.36)

A despised chief tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus was so cheered when Jesus told him, “I must stay at your house today” that he all but jumped out of the tree which he had climbed in order to get a look at the Lord, and spontaneously repented of his sins and promised unprecedented restitution to any he may have cheated. (Luke 19.1-10)

Having told His disciples that His death was imminent, Jesus cheered them by promising that they would be parted for only a short while and that, upon seeing Him again, their sorrow would be turned into joy. (John 16.20) And, when the time came that He was to return to the Father, Jesus cheered the apostles by assuring them that, even though He would be in heaven, He would also be with them to the end of the age. (Matthew 28.20)

Dour and grim Christians, and there is no shortage of them, would seem not to know the Jesus of the Scriptures, who was a consistently cheering presence and friend to all who were broken, discouraged, frightened, and lost. Do we set out each day to cheer others by our countenance, our actions, our faith, and our words? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Walked

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee.
Matthew 15.29

Hardly a startling discovery, that Jesus walked. It was not as if there were many transportation options available. A few might have traveled on horseback. Some might have had a cart or wagon available to be pulled by horse or oxen. But most people just walked. Of course, if one was crossing the sea, rather than walking beside it, one would travel by boat. But Jesus, He walked!

Matthew, Mark, and John (Matthew 14.22-33; Mark 6.45-52; John 6.16-21) tell of a windy night, when the apostles struggled to make their way across Galilee by boat. In the “fourth watch” (Between 3 and 6 a.m.), when it was darkest, the apostles looked across the waves to see Jesus, or was it a ghost, striding across the water as on dry land! That was some walking; their conclusion, “Truly you are the Son of God,” was inescapable. But could only the Son of God walk on water?

Peter wanted to try it himself. So, begging the Lord’s command, Peter stepped out of the boat at the invitation of Jesus, “Come.” It was not, of course, the first time that Peter had responded to Jesus’ call to “come.” Like the other apostles in the boat, Peter had left everything behind and walked boldly after the Lord to take up the new vocation of fishing for men when Jesus had simply, but commandingly, said, “Come, follow me.”

Did it take more courage to step out of the boat than to walk away from one’s livelihood? Only Peter can answer that question, but whatever courage he had quickly left him, along with his faith, as the wind whipped the waves about him. And the instant he faltered, Peter began to slip beneath the water, only Jesus taking him by the hand saved him.

Jesus walked, so we should be walkers too, perhaps not on water, but you never know. As Christ’s disciples we respond, as Peter and the other apostles did, by walking after the Lord who walked. The feet of Jesus walked down into the Jordan when the Lord was baptized by John. The feet of Jesus walked into the homes of sinners where He ministered to those who were sick spiritually. The feet of Jesus walked in desolate places where famished crowds followed, needing to be fed. The feet of Jesus walked into sickrooms where, by a word of authority or a touch the Lord healed the lame and the sick. The feet of Jesus walked up the steps of the Temple Mount and boldly into His Father’s House, there to stampede the money-changers. The feet of Jesus walked the Via Dolorosa bearing the awful weight of the cross, and our sins. And the feet of Jesus walked out of the tomb early on the day of Resurrection. And every step He took, Jesus walked by faith in the Father.

When Jesus calls to us, “Come, follow me” we never know where He will have us walk, maybe even on water! The only thing that matters, really, is that we walk by faith. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Rebuked

What Did Jesus Do?

Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea
Matthew 8.26

As I write this morning the sound of immoderate rain showers outside my window reminds me of the severe flooding caused by storms that ravaged several states last weekend. If only those rains could have been rebuked as effectively as the tempests on ancient Galilee! And there is every reason for Christians to rebuke such threatening weather, after all, Jesus did.

Jesus rebuked, and that means we should be, well, rebukers. Unfortunately, too many Christians go around perpetually rebuking and condemning everyone who isn’t like them, and everything that doesn’t suit them. That kind of rebuking attitude isn’t biblical, and it certainly isn’t Christian. Jesus himself stated plainly that the Father did not send Him to be a rebuker who condemned the world, but to be the world’s Savior. (John 3.17) Christians are supposed to be part of Christ’s saving work, but too often the world perceives us as rebuking and condemning.

The Bible records Jesus rebuking the weather, as cited above in Matthew 8 (Also Mark 4.39 and Luke 8.24), rebuking unclean demonic spirits (Matthew 17.18; Mark 1.25; 9.25; Luke 4.35, 41; 9.42), rebuking Peter for not accepting that Jesus had to go to Jerusalem and be crucified (Mark 8.33), rebuking a fever (Luke 4.39), and rebuking James and John for being, well, too rebuking of a certain Samaritan village (Luke 9.55).

But there is only one recorded instance of Jesus actually instructing His disciples, which includes us if we claim to be Christians, to rebuke, and it has to do with sin. Not the sins of the world, but the sins of a brother (Or sister), a fellow believer. (Luke 17.3) In other words, it is not so much the world that we are to rebuke, but ourselves. And the bottom line of the passage in Luke 17 is not even about rebuking, but about forgiving. Would that the world knew us better as forgivers than rebukers! And the fact is, discomforting as it is for us, that with respect to the rebuking of sin, Jesus has made it very clear that we need to make sure we rebuke our own before we start to rebuke the sins of another. (Matthew 7.1-5; Luke 6.41-42)

None of this is to say that there is not much in the world worthy of rebuke, or that we should look the other way when another sins. But a rebuke is not the same thing as a winsome call to repent and be forgiven. The Lord came, as He said, to save the world rather than to condemn it; we therefore need to have the right perspective on forgiving and rebuking. The promise of forgiveness precedes the practice of rebuke on the path to salvation. That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4

Jesus Savored

What Did Jesus Do?

I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Luke 22.15

No, that was not a typo; I did not mean to type “Jesus Savior.” To savor is “to give oneself to the enjoyment of.” And, if ever Jesus enjoyed a meal and the company of His disciples, it would have been on the occasion recorded in Luke 22, what is sometimes called “the Last Supper.” It was a moment of monumental meaning—the celebration of the great memorial feast that was a perpetual participation in Israel’s salvation from bondage in Egypt, and the institution of the humble supper that recalls our salvation from bondage to sin and death—and Jesus savored it, even though He knew He would soon suffer greatly and die painfully to seal the significance of the meal for eternity.

One who savors employs heightened senses to experience and enjoy to the uttermost sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and, though this is not strictly as defined in the dictionary, relationships. One can savor with one’s eyes the sunrise over the sea and a sunset over the mountains. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with one’s ears birdsong at dawn, the laughter of children at noon, and the soft murmur of an evening breeze gently stirring the trees. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with one’s nose the sweet bouquet of garden flowers, the delicious aroma of bread baking in mother’s oven, and the rich fertility of soil tilled and ready to receive the spring planting. Surely, Jesus did. One can savor with the tongue the sweetness of honey, the bitterness of herbs, and the blended body of wine. Surely, Jesus did. And, with one’s heart one can savor the company of companions, the fellowship of friends, the intimacy and love of family. Surely, Jesus did. I would argue that savoring was something the Lord did constantly. And, I believe, Jesus desired not just that He should savor, but that we should too:

I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10.10

To have and enjoy life abundantly is to savor it fully. Surely, Jesus did, and, just as surely, He came that we too should savor life fully. If you will, teaching us how to savor life was a significant part of Christ’s mission. What good would it have been to liberate us from sin and death, only for us to live a joyless and pinched life?

You see, Jesus was well acquainted with savoring before His Incarnation. From eternity past to the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of His Father in the womb of Mary, Jesus had savored all the fullness of God’s heavenly kingdom, for the delights of heaven most certainly far surpass those of earth. And the supreme delight of heaven that Jesus savored, and we will one day savor ourselves, is the fullness of the Father’s love.

The Lord savored His last supper because of its historic covenantal significance to Israel, and all its covenantal promise to us. Jesus gave us this meal, that we should savor it, each time we partake of the bread and the cup, as part of the abundant life He came to give us now, and also delight in a foretaste of what we shall savor far more in the life to come.

It is significant that Jesus did not look forward to savoring in isolation His final meal, but desired most earnestly to savor it in the fellowship of those He loved. Life is to be savored fully, and to fully savor life it is to be shared with others. Do we savor the life the Father has given us, and do we share the fullness of that life with others? That’s what Jesus did.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4