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Part II
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." --- Phil 4:13.
It Can be Done in Christ --- Mt 5:47.
Paul wrote those words in Philippians from prison, where he knew what it was to be dependent on food being brought to him. How many could sit in prison with an empty stomach and yet have an attitude of uncomplaining contentment, claiming to know how to be "full and how to be hungry ... I can do all things through Christ?" (Phil 4:12-13). It can be done – in Christ.
The same secret carried him through a life of stress, danger and work, as the following verses show.
"To this end I labour, struggling with all HIS energy, which so powerfully works in me" --- Col 1:29, NIV.
"Being strengthened with all power according to HIS glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience" --- Col 1:11, NIV.
"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of HIS power" --- Eph 3:7, NIV.
Going on his own experience, he can wish the same for his friends:
"I pray that out of HIS glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through HIS Spirit in your inner being" --- Eph 3:16, NIV.
"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of HIS might” (Eph 6:10)“We are … struck down, but not destroyed" --- 2 Cor 4:8-9, NIV
God uses human vessels and they become more than human when they are filled with God.
These divine promises cover more than being strong in the midst of persecution and adversity. There are worlds to be won, deeds to be executed, the Kingdom to be established. This is a common theme in Paul’s writing. He puts it in all kinds of ways. The words “I cannot” are not typical of Paul. He raised his voice for Christ in the streets of idolatrous Corinth when weak, trembling, and apprehensive. Some think these were symptoms of malaria, yet, whatever the cause, he rose above his shakiness, sickness and fear, and challenged the pride of pagan wisdom.
So many say, “I can’t do this. I can’t do that”. They are probably right, humanly speaking. Paul himself said,
"In my flesh nothing good dwells" --- Rom 7:18
and admitted that he put
"no confidence in the flesh" --- Phil 3:3.
He considered himself weak, personally, but He said that his weakness was a vehicle for divine power and strength:
"When I am weak, then I am strong" --- 2 Cor 12:10.
His resources were in Christ, not in himself. There are stories of people performing impossible feats of strength in desperate moments, drawing upon their inner resources. But they always ended up drained. Paul, however, was never drained since he drew on resources that did not come from within himself.
Psychic healers have complained of exhaustion and headaches after treating their patients, but I never suffer from such symptoms. I simply convey the healing virtue of Jesus; I am no more than the tassel of His robe. I lose nothing in imparting healing, but in fact gain strength – I come out with more than I started with.
Achieving the Impossible
1. Faith reaches out to the impossible. Faith is action.
If our faith does not push us into action, it is not worth much. We show our faith by our deeds. The work weakens us but Christ strengthens us as we work. A man of faith will do what others would never attempt.
"The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits"
--- Dan 11:32.
Others accept the inevitable. Believers fight it.
That is a truth illustrated all through the Bible. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews says that the “elders” gained their place in Scripture by acting on their faith. It was not because of their saintliness. The writer goes through the Old Testament examples of all-conquering faith and lists Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets saying that time “would fail” him to tell the stories properly – time fails because it is an endless and timeless story.
Sermons are preached about the virtues of such men as Moses and Abraham, but the Holy Spirit spotlighted them for their faith only. Think of Abraham’s visit to Egypt! He was ordered out of the country in disgrace. Faith made these men what they were, whether bold, or humble, or patient. Faith is the virtue-producer. Congregations are exhorted to imitate the patience of Job, the humility of Moses, or the courage of Daniel. That is fine, but useless unless the means are shown – faith in God. Faith made them the men they were. It made them men of initiative, enterprising and resourceful.
Let’s think about Joseph. Faith characterised him not only in life but also in death. He is the man who lived tomorrow, the only mummy never embalmed to stay in Egypt. He Literally wouldn’t be seen dead in Egypt! No, he never heard God promise that Canaan would be theirs, but he had it from his father Jacob and grandfather Isaac. He believed it because he recognised it as the kind of goodness God would promise. Joseph ordered his bones to be carried with the exodus into the good land that he knew God would give them. If a mummy could laugh, I am sure Joseph laughed all the way to Canaan.
The story of Ezra is another exodus epic. Cyrus, the Persian king, appointed Ezra to lead 50,000 Jews back into Judea, carrying their vast treasure. The journey by the slow transportation of those days would take months. It was also extremely hazardous. The turbulent state of the world made it quite certain they would be attacked – the knowledge of such treasure in transit would attract not only common robbers but the greed of the lands through which they would pass.
Cyrus offered the expedition military protection. But Ezra said,
"I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, ‘The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him’... So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer" --- Ezra 8:22-23.
These were more than pious hopes, for Ezra was able to go on to say,
"The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road" --- Ezra 8:31.
In the book Evangelism by Fire it gives examples of those who achieved the impossible. David was the most inexperienced, unsuitable and ill-equipped of all the 10,000 men of Saul’s army to fight Goliath. Furthermore, every man in that army professed faith in God; the problem was that they were passive. No doubt many of them prayed fervently that this great Philistine warrior would go away, or drop dead, but David prayed and acted in faith, slew him and brought victory to Israel. David did not get faith by being anointed. He was anointed because God saw he had faith.
Jesus Challenges & Gives Understanding
2. Jesus challenged people to rise above themselves.
The people of Galilee lived poor lives, with no particular future. But Jesus came preaching life, abundant life. He walked along the shingle to a group of young men fishing. Fishing was their future, so He made them fishers of men – he shook the world through them. “Go into all the world,” He said (Mk 16:15). Cross the oceans? They had never been out of sight of Galilee! He dug them out of their snug little burrows like timid rabbits, and set them on course for world conquest.
3. Jesus made them understand who they were.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus described a new kind of man. He predicted of them qualities the world despised – mourning, meekness, poverty, hunger, mercy, purity, peace-making, being on the receiving end of persecution. He declared they were the secret keys to unlock extraordinary benefits. People like this would possess the kingdom of God, inherit the earth, see God, enjoy mercy, and are jubilant. The emperor on the throne in Rome was far inferior to people like this. They were to be a new race, displaying abilities and walking with knowledge and assurance that all the power and philosophy of Rome had never even dreamed of.
The Christian letters show that Jesus did all that He said He would, and enabled His disciples to do all that He had promised. These first documents speak in terms of an incredible lift given to common humanity. In Christ, by His omnipotent work, ordinary people become children of God, clothed in divine righteousness, perfumed with grace, girdled with supernatural strength, their eyes filled with the vision of a new future, employing the power resources of another dimension unknown to the heathen world.
People hear the Gospel of the grace of God, escape the Egyptian bondage of sin, come into the Kingdom and are then pressed to work harder than ever before. Taskmasters in the pulpit complain of everybody’s shortcomings and (mistakenly) apply Christ’s “what do you do more than others?” People do their best, go to church … and go back home depressed, like Israel being ordered to make bricks without straw. It reminds me of the man who was in total despair after hearing a sermon on the Ten Commandments. He really needed something to lift his spirits. Then suddenly he brightened up; “Well, I’ve never made a graven image!” he said.
Let’s take sermons about revival. They are typical examples of how to put people under pressure. Mostly they can be summed up as a call to be like Martha, “worried and troubled about many things” --- Lk 10:41 – as if revival were a reward for good little boys and girls. Why did people in the past get revivals? Because they had - moral scruples and were more worthy than believers today? Did they generate revival by good works? Or was it sovereign act of God?
However, the challenge of our Lord Jesus has to be faced: "What do you do more than others?" These words come from His Sermon on the Mount, where the message is basically the same throughout, right from the first lines, the Beatitudes. Our righteousness must exceed that of the most religious people of our times.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works" --- Mt 5:16.
Practice must follow precept.
"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only" --- Jas 1:22.
Truth brings tasks. Action! In His kingdom there are no onlookers, not even among the angels.
Humorous Examples of Excuses
Some do not even do the possible, never mind the impossible. It does not take much to put them off. They say, “I don’t feel like it” – and down tools. I don’t suppose Paul ever really “felt like it,” going on those arduous journeys and confronting opposition, danger, and uncertainty. God called Paul to brave ventures because he knew what Paul was like. God does not call the half-hearted to action. He gives up on those who give up and lets quitters quit. In fact, I am amazed at the explanations offered for doing nothing for God. They are like the motorist who telling the insurance company about a lamppost that suddenly appeared in front of him and he could not stop in time.
In Luke 14:18-20 Jesus gives some humorous examples of excuses that people give for not doing what He asks. One man had bought a field and had go and see it, another had bought some oxen and had go and try them out, while a third had just got married. Hilarious! We gospel preachers apply these excuses to those who reject Christ, but they really apply to disciples who shy away from doing anything for God. This is not to deny that many things do indeed come between people and the work of God. The devil engineers them when he knows who is easily put off. Resist the devil, honour God, give Him priority and the path is cleared before us. Give God His proper place, obey Him and you can “do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”
Few get the chance to prove themselves by doing great public deeds. Given the chance, who would not excel? Being faithful in secret is the hard bit. Most people in this world are in quite ordinary situations or tucked away in obscure corners. But Christ said that if we are faithful with a few things, He will put us in charge of many things --- Mt 25:21.
Jesus called a man to be His disciple – what a privilege! But the man wanted to go home until his father was buried – and he was not even dead at the time! Inconsequential matters should never keep people from the blessings of Christ’s service. I do not think that going to see relatives, entertaining visitors, cleaning the windows or tinkering with the car is on quite the same dynamic level as worship and service for Christ our Master.
Recently a woman in an American church won an award for never once missing Sunday School in 50 years, even when she was away on holiday. How could that be? Did she never have a cold, never not feel up to it, never feel too tired, never have visitors, never find herself too busy, never have a special job to do, never go on a Sunday outing, never have an emergency, or never have a birthday to celebrate, like other people? Such things did, of course, happen to her, but they did not stop her. She got her priorities right – the Lord and His house, His Word, His people, His worship. A priority like that is the pole star and the rock-solid foundation of a good lifestyle.
However, the work ethic is not the bottom line. Christianity is not all about toiling in the midday sun and burning the midnight oil. Human nature does not measure up to ceaseless grind. Servitude is not salvation. Jesus did not come to tie burdens to people’s backs, to stand in constant criticism, imposing stress and anxiety. Adam laboured by the sweat of His brow, but Christ expects no such thing of us. He said,
"Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me … and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light"
--- Mt 11:28-30:
His call is an opportunity for service; His yoke is a high privilege that sits easily on our shoulders. But He always takes the heavy end of any weight. We are the sons of God, not the sons of toil.
Doing All Things Through Christ
I have already mentioned Martha. I wonder was she trying just to impress Jesus with her devotion to Him? Did she really think He liked people to keep their nose to the grindstone? In response to Martha’s complaints about her apparently idle sister, Jesus quietly said, "Only one thing is needed" --- Luke 10:42, NIV. He accepts only labours of love. Jesus had the total responsibility of world redemption on His mind, yet He never seemed worried about whether He was doing enough serving. He had time to let Mary sit as His feet – He did not keep jumping up, fretting about all the “important” things that had to be done.
The message I share is that the blessings of God are not given in proportion to our hard work, rather like Rachel being the reward for Jacob’s seven years of hard work. It is easy for preachers to castigate people for what they do not do, because we are all human and show signs of it! So they are never short of material to criticise! But our imperfections are forgiven. When Jesus asked, "What do you do more?"; He was not cracking the whip. We do not have to go through agonies for God to be with us, work ourselves up into a sweat for God to keep His promise or strain every muscle to pull down Holy Spirit power.
Just listen to this!
"This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? … Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? … He who … works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" --- Gal 3:2-5.
Christians are singing, “Let me burn out for thee, dear Lord;” and that is just how they end up – burnt out, martyrs to self-imposed demands. Even pastors are supposed to live. We do no need to sing for our supper.
When Paul said he could do all things through Christ, he did not mean that he did all things himself, running around in church work like a cat on hot bricks. Some pastors do everything, even turning the handle of the church duplicating machine. They want to be head cook and chief bottle-washer, pump the organ as well as play it. Jesus did not mean us to work all hours that come and take on a multitude of concerns and responsibilities.
The Heart of the Matter
We can be too busy, always rushing about on some business or other, with so many irons in the fire it almost puts the fire out; we do not have time for what Jesus says is necessary. “‘Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Is 28:16). Less can actually achieve more, when less time and energy is spent on the peripherals and more on effective work. Some plants are showy, prolific in leaves but barren of fruit, like the fig tree Jesus cursed. “Much cry but little wool,” as the man said who sheared a pig.
This is the heart of this matter. Jesus showed us the possibility of the impossible. He tells us to do more than others because we can. That is, not do more things, but do the things others cannot do, things that do not get done because nobody does them. Publicans greet their friends. Anybody can do that, but Christians can greet their enemies. Publicans cannot do that. As the apostle Paul said,
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” --- Phil 4:13.
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HEARTLINES
