Humble Yourself!

 

Philippians 2:5-11

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

These are some of the greatest scriptures in the bible! To really understand what God Himself did for His own creation is mind blowing! He caused a Virgin to be with child and formed a body for Himself to enter into His own creation as a human being! The Word was with God and the Word was God, and He became flesh and dwelt among us! Amazing!

Then as an adult man humbling Himself to wash His own disciples feet!

John 13:2-6

"And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”

The disciples must have been in shock to see their Rabbi, kneeling down on the floor washing their dirty feet! Peter couldn't understand what was happening!

James 4:7-10

"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

The scripture says HUMBLE YOURSELF! That means there is something you must conciously and willingly do in order for God to work in your life! Notice the scripture says humble yourself in the SIGHT of the Lord, not for people or to be seen as humble in their eyes! AFTER you humble yourself then the word says and HE WILL LIFT YOU UP!! That's an absolute, a guarantee of a blessing from God!

It's like when Jesus said, "Come Follow Me, AND I WILL make you fishers of men!"

Humility brings grace and the blessings of God upon your soul! 

Philippians 2:1-4

"Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

This is absolute true humility and love given to those in the body of Christ by the Spirit of God! This is not some piety of a sect or religious order, but the fruits of the Holy Spirit born in the hearts of true disciples of Jesus Christ, who desire to be like their Master!

Your life can be completely changed by God, IF you humble yourself in His sight.

The choice is yours!

In Christ,

Tyrone

Was Jesus Our Substitute?

The doctrine of substitutionism says that Jesus was our substitute and that He took our place on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. But the word ‘substitute’ is not found anywhere in the scriptures. Let’s take a closer look at the word of God to see what Jesus really was for God and for us.

The scripture used to support this doctrine is 2nd Corinthians 5:21

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (NKJV)

Where is; for He made Him who knew no sin to be a substitute for us? It’s not written in the scriptures because it’s not true! Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, He made an atonement for our sins by willingly coming to earth and sacrificing Himself to God to pay the penalty of sin that was due God.

Look at Young’s Literal Translation:

“For him who did not know sin, in our behalf He did make sin, that we may become the righteousness of God in him.”

"The Literal Translation is unusual in that, as the name implies, it is a strictly literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts." (Wikipedia)

We don’t see the word ‘substitute’ used in either translation, and Young’s Literal Translation renders the text in a much different way than the KJV or NKJV. And I don’t know about you, but I would like to get as close to the original Word’s of God as I can!

Here is the translation of 2nd Cor. 5:21 from the bible I use: The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, With Strong’s Concordance Numbers Above Each Word. By: Jay P Green, Sr. (Volume IV)

“The (One) for not knowing sin on behalf of us sin He made so that we might become (the) righteousness of God in Him.”

These two literal translations from the Greek Received Text gives us a much better understanding of 2nd Corinthians 5:21, and should remove any idea from our minds that Jesus was a substitute for us.

Look at what substitute means:

Main Entry: sub·sti·tute  “A person or thing that takes the place or function of another.” (Merriam-Webster)

How could Jesus ever be a substitute for us? This would mean that we could have gone to the cross for our own sins, but Jesus came and took our place instead. Were we ever sinless? Were we ever perfect? No. God manifested Himself in the flesh taking on a physical body and doing what no one else could have ever done. Paul said while we were still SINNERS Christ died for the ungodly!

Here is what John said Jesus was for our sins:

1st John 2:1-2

"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."

Propitiation means: 2 : something that propitiates; specifically : an atoning sacrifice (Merriam-Webster)

Romans 5:10-11

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

Atonement means: 2 : the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. (Merriam-Webster)

The word of God tells us that Jesus Christ was an atoning sacrifice for our sins that reconciled us to God, not a substitute.

Jesus was a perfect, sinless, and unblemished sacrificial lamb that was sacrificed on the cross to God, paying the penalty of sin that we could never pay. God laid our sins upon the body of Christ who became a sin bearer, and He willingly and knowingly sacrificed Himself so that we could once again have a covenant relationship with God.

Isaiah 53:6,10-12

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,”

“He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

1st Peter 2:24

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

During the priestly ministry of the Old Covenant, once every year the Levitical high priest had to offer unblemished goats and calves for the sins of Israel, and by placing his hands upon the animal, the high priest symbolically transferred the sins of Israel onto it, causing the animal to become a sin bearer, and it was then sacrificed to God. The Levitical priesthood sacrifices were a shadow of Christ and pointed towards the one bodily sacrifice of Jesus. God prepared a body for His Christ to reconcile the world back to Himself, and He laid the sins of the whole world upon Jesus who bore our sins in His body becoming a sin bearer and an unspotted lamb who sacrificed Himself to God.

Hebrews 9:6-7

“Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance.”

Hebrews 9:12-14

“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Jesus offered Himself without spot to God on our behalf because we could never do anything to take away our own sins. Jesus was not a substitute.

Hebrews 9:26-28

“but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

Jesus Christ was a sin offering to God, a sin bearer, an unblemished and unspotted sacrificial lamb who bore the sins of the whole world in His body. He was NOT a substitute.

Hebrews 10:5-7

“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’”

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross had everything to do with a loving and righteous God who wanted to re-establish the covenant relationship He had with man before he fell in the Garden of Eden; God prepared a body for the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. God sent His only Begotten Son to do what only God Himself could do, live a perfect, sinless life, and offer Himself as a sacrifice and shed His blood to save all man-kind. Jesus was not, and never will be, a substitute.

With Love And Sincerity,
Tyrone

Come Follow Me (A Disciple Of Jesus)

Jesus is not looking for lukewarm disciples, He is looking for those who are willing to leave everything behind and lay down their lives for Him and for the gospel. Do you really want to be His disciple? Here is what you must do.

Matthew 4:18-22

"And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him."

Luke 9:23-26

“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.”

Being a disciple of Jesus is a lifestyle, it’s an everyday relationship of love, discipline, sacrifice, praise, prayer, bible study, and self denial. We must be willing to not only let go of our lives in this world, but also make hard decisions that may cost us the fellowship of friends and family in order to follow Jesus.

Matthew 10:34-39

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Jesus tells us not to love anyone or anything in this world more than Him.

Mark 10:28-30

“Then Peter began to say to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Jesus promises His disciples who leave behind their families, friends, and lands for His sake, and the gospel’s, will receive a hundredfold in this time, along with persecutions and in the age to come they will inherit eternal life.

John 8:31-32

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Jesus said IF we abide in His word we are His disciples, He didn’t say to abide in another man's or woman’s word, but His. We are not even to lean on our own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;”

John 14:15-16

"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—“

Jesus said that IF we love Him we will obey what He commands. We cannot even receive the Holy Spirit without being obedient to Him.

Acts 5:30-32

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Without self denial, obedience, and self sacrifice we cannot be His disciples, we will start to build and not be able to finish. We must understand the true cost that we must pay to follow Jesus. He paid the ultimate price for us all, and His disciples are called to follow His example and walk as He walked. Will you follow Jesus? Will you accept the call of discipleship? The choice is yours.

With Love In Christ,
Tyrone