Study 49: The second hindrance - my own will
We discussed the passage in Matt 14:22-33 where Jesus 'made' the disciples get into the boat. And my question was, "Is the author of the study justified in basing a whole point on the fact that the disciples seemed unwilling to do Jesus' will?" I said that we get the answer to that question not just from context, possibly from other versions, but by looking at a concordance. So I recommended the Blue Letter Bible (free on IOS), which has a Strong's concordance. The concordance tells me that the Greek word for 'made' (anagkazo) also means 'compelled' - the same word is used in Ac 26:11 for Paul 'forcing' believers to blaspheme. So the author's point is valid. This is a useful way to understand difficult parts of Scripture.
I said that this passage teaches us that, when we have obeyed the voice of Christ, we may temporarily lose communion with Him, and get into trouble besides. And yet He remains in control of the situation and is well able to bring us to a place of peace and victory.
We then spent time analyzing Lk 9:23-24. There is one condition for being a Christian disciple in three parts:
"deny himself" = "to disclaim a relationship with, to reject one's own desires"
"take up his cross daily" = "to die", since the cross is an instrument of execution, i.e. not just to deny, but to be completely unreactive/unresponsive to sin and self (c.f. Col 3:3).
There are then 3 "for"s in the verses that follow, where 'for' here means 'since' rather than 'because'.
These statements are supporting evidences or strengthening statements for the assertion of Lk 9:23. We spoke briefly about shame. And I said that the Bible tells us that we should be ashamed of certain things and not ashamed of other things. In essence, we must be ashamed of things that dishonour God, and not ashamed of anything that honours God.
We considered the reluctance of Abraham - he was asked to give up the child conceived miraculously - the child of promise. Abraham teaches us that there are times we may be asked to surrender what is legitimately given us as a fulfilled promise with God.
Then we considered the reluctance of Moses - one "instructed in the wisdom of the Egyptians... mighty in words and deeds" (Ac 7:22). Though fully competent, there must have been many things in his mind that made him say, "Send somebody else!" He was uncertain of his credibility, perhaps disillusioned with his previous failure, or overly comfortable with his new life as a shepherd, or feeling that he had lost his edge. There are many, many reasons why we might be reluctant to serve even though we are capable and God calls us.
Jesus was reluctant in a way, yet, willing to submit to His Father's will. He did not fear the physical suffering (the two thieves beside him suffered more). But from a life of complete obedience and full communion with his Father, as concerns his human nature, he was separated for the first time in his life, and had to bear not only loss of fellowship, but the punishment for our sins. This leads us to worship him!
In all these examples (Abraham, Moses, Jesus), obedience led to salvation for God's people.
We must always keep trusting that God's ways are truly the best for us. We can always find excuses for disobedience - "God's ways are difficult to understand" "God's ways are counterintuitive" "God's ways are hard to do/not pleasurable".
But we must trust that He has our good in mind and is well-able to work out the best for us.
I said that this passage teaches us that, when we have obeyed the voice of Christ, we may temporarily lose communion with Him, and get into trouble besides. And yet He remains in control of the situation and is well able to bring us to a place of peace and victory.
We then spent time analyzing Lk 9:23-24. There is one condition for being a Christian disciple in three parts:
"deny himself" = "to disclaim a relationship with, to reject one's own desires"
"take up his cross daily" = "to die", since the cross is an instrument of execution, i.e. not just to deny, but to be completely unreactive/unresponsive to sin and self (c.f. Col 3:3).
There are then 3 "for"s in the verses that follow, where 'for' here means 'since' rather than 'because'.
These statements are supporting evidences or strengthening statements for the assertion of Lk 9:23. We spoke briefly about shame. And I said that the Bible tells us that we should be ashamed of certain things and not ashamed of other things. In essence, we must be ashamed of things that dishonour God, and not ashamed of anything that honours God.
We considered the reluctance of Abraham - he was asked to give up the child conceived miraculously - the child of promise. Abraham teaches us that there are times we may be asked to surrender what is legitimately given us as a fulfilled promise with God.
Then we considered the reluctance of Moses - one "instructed in the wisdom of the Egyptians... mighty in words and deeds" (Ac 7:22). Though fully competent, there must have been many things in his mind that made him say, "Send somebody else!" He was uncertain of his credibility, perhaps disillusioned with his previous failure, or overly comfortable with his new life as a shepherd, or feeling that he had lost his edge. There are many, many reasons why we might be reluctant to serve even though we are capable and God calls us.
Jesus was reluctant in a way, yet, willing to submit to His Father's will. He did not fear the physical suffering (the two thieves beside him suffered more). But from a life of complete obedience and full communion with his Father, as concerns his human nature, he was separated for the first time in his life, and had to bear not only loss of fellowship, but the punishment for our sins. This leads us to worship him!
In all these examples (Abraham, Moses, Jesus), obedience led to salvation for God's people.
We must always keep trusting that God's ways are truly the best for us. We can always find excuses for disobedience - "God's ways are difficult to understand" "God's ways are counterintuitive" "God's ways are hard to do/not pleasurable".
But we must trust that He has our good in mind and is well-able to work out the best for us.
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