Christ Is Precious!-Where Is Your One Passion?

What makes a Christian different from the rest of the world? -a strong head knowledge? -good works? -a little four step prayer?

I want to introduce the preciousness of Christ by going back to a passage from the previous study. Matt 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

Here, Jesus is still talking about the religious "many." The "many" here-just like the many in our day-had some good things going for them. Let's outline three:
1. They had a head knowledge about Christ. They called Him Lord-they knew who he was. The problem is that even the demons know who Christ is. (James 2:19)
2. They made a good profession about Christ. They emphatically claim Him to be there Lord. (In "Examine Your Steps!", we noted a little bit about Hebrew parallelism.) But, again, there is a problem. Luke 6:46-49 says basically that someone who has a profession without actions to back it up is no better than the one who does not profess Christ at all.
3. They did many good works. Man, these guys were good! Do you see all that they had right? They prophesied, cast out demons, and did all sorts of amazing things-they even put the Lord's name on it.

So what went wrong?

THEY WERE DISQUAIFIED. Why? They depended on all their good works to out-weigh the evil. While they brought up all the good they did before the Lord, Christ called them lawbreakers-literally, those who lived as though God never gave them a law to obey.

THEY DID NOT FOLLOW THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST. If you study the life and teachings of Jesus, you will come across a very interesting statement. He said, in Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I came to aboish the law or the prophets..." In fact, if you look closely at the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), you will notice that Christ not only condoned the law, but He made the law even MORE difficult to follow by showing its essence (look particularly at the passages on murder and adultry in Chapter 5). In our introductory passage, Christ said that obedience is what the people lack. Although we cannot be perfect in following the law, the desire of the TRUE CHRISTIAN's heart is to STRIVE to be that way!

Now, while it is important for us to strive to obey the law as best we can (through the Holy Spirit, of course-but that's another lesson), we have an advantage (what an understatement!) when we stumble into sin-GRACE. Grace is a gift of God to the true Christian (Eph 2:8-9). Grace is rooted in love. Grace is and is based in the sacrifice of Christ. He suffered the beatings and mockery of men, as well as the wrath of God the Father (for our sins) to keep us from what we deserve-eternal punishment. (There is so much more I want to say on this; hopefully, God will allow me at a later date.) Finally, grace is the key that unlocks the kingdom of heaven.

With that, let us move to the key text-Matthew 13:44-46 (NASB): "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it."

Pearls in the day of Christ were probably the most valuable treasure a man could own. They were extremely rare and extremely hazardous to harvest. This particular treasure-this pearl-was worth more to the one who found it than anything else he owned-more to him than ALL that he owned combined. Do you think something that is worth all your livelihood in this world is precious? THAT IS WHAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE! Notice, too, that the man not only sold all that he owned to buy this treasure, but WILLINGLY and JOYFULLY did so! In the same way, Christ is so precious to the true believer that he willingly and joyfully gives up himself and all that he owns to cling to Christ!

Notice Jesus' words in Luke 9:23-25: "And 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.'"

In these verses, Jesus lays out the kingdom standards quite clearly:
1. DENY YOURSELF - Luxuries, rights, privileges, (and if need be) family and friends all fall under this category. ANYTHING that would hinder you from walking with Christ is to be discarded like a leperous rag. (Though I may go into each of these at a later time, you can find each clearly taught by Jesus and the Apostles.)
2. TAKE UP YOUR CROSS DAILY - As Paul said, you must be willing to die to yourself-your pride, your wants, your flesh-every day.
3. FOLLOW HIM - Walk as He walked. Live pure and absolutely blameless in the world. Glorify God and love Him above all else. Seek to accomlish His will-regardless of what you must do or where you must go in order to accomplish it.
4. BE WILLING TO DIE - I'm sure you have seen at least one movie where some guy goes out and risks his life to save some pretty girl. Why? Because she is precious to him! A true Christian is willing to give up everything-including his life-for his precious Lord!

Paul had something similar to say is Rom 12:1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." (NKJV)

Do you see what I mean? Paul said that it is ONLY NATURAL for the true Christian to live a holy, sacrificial life to God! Why? Well, that is where the "therefore" comes in. This "therefore" means "in light of the previous 11 chapters." The previous 11 chapters tell of where humanity has been-the sinful depths they are/were in (depending on whether they are a Christian or not)-and what God has done through Christ on their behalf. YOU MUST REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM IN ORDER TO REALIZE THE ENORMOUS WORTH OF CHRIST! That is why Paul-unlike the vast majority of "Evangelical" pastors today-is constantly reminding the churches what they were before Christ changed them.

Take the example of the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-38 and 44-47: "Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with Him. And He went to the Pharisee's house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at his feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with fragrant oil....
"Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon [the Pharisee], 'Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.'"

Do you see? LOVE-PASSIONATE LOVE FOR HIM! This is NOT about a head knowledge or a good profession! This is NOT about good intentions and good works! IT IS ABOUT PASSION FOR THE LORD OF GLORY! It is about hanging on His every word, desperately longing to dwell with Him! If all you have is a prayed prayer, a good profession, a dunk in a pool, and a self-righteous religion, you are just as damned as the pagan who bows to a wood or stone carving! (And if you think I'm going overboard and being fanatical, you need to read I John and examine yourself!)

Look at what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:2-11: "Beware of dogs [openly pagan people], beware of evil workers [false teachers], beware of the mutilation [the Judeaizers' doctrine of works-salvation]! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?

Is He more to you than a house, a car, a job, a hometown, a boy-/girl-friend? Are you willing to go wherever He wants you to go-even if it means the darkest, smelliest, most remote hole in the jungle of a far off land-in order to spread the Gospel? When you think about seeing Him on that great day, does it make the treasures and trials, the football teams and fancy cars of this world lose their sparkle? Do you desire to know Christ intimately? Does your heart beat only for God?

IS...HE...PRECIOUS...TO..YOU?