If We Are Held, Helped and Called Can We Too Be Great?

Good Morning Friends,

There are a lot of things to be afraid of such as death and the unknown, rejection and ridicule, pain and misery, and failure and loneliness. These are fears that describe an inner condition of the heart. That is, these are not fears of specific things like snakes, spiders and scorpions. I do not know what scares you but I would have to think that John the Baptist was not scared of anybody or anything but God. Jesus paid him a complement of high praise which we are told is only the beginning of a standard for us today. So I wonder, If We Are Held, Helped and Called Can We Too Be Great?

Scripture: For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Do not fear, I will help you.” Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you insect Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Now, I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. Then you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and the pine together, so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Isaiah 41:13-20 (NRSV)

What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen!

Matthew 11:9-15 (NRSV)

Message: At the height of His earthly ministry, Jesus was approached by two disciples of John the Baptist. John had sent the two disciples to Jesus because he had a problem. He had a big problem. He was in prison. He was about to be killed. His life was hanging by a thread and yet when he sends messengers to Jesus Christ it is nothing about his problem at all. He does not ask Jesus to get him out of jail and save his life.  All he wanted was affirmation that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Jesus used this opportunity to tell the multitudes about John the Baptist. They know that John the Baptist had said that “Jesus must become greater and I must become less.” Jesus responds that the greatness of John is really the extension of the greatness of the glory of God in our lives. What he is saying is that the greatness of John… his humble and unaware greatness was born out of a confident and fearless belief in God that was turned into action. This hunter gatherer of a man had spent much of his life prophesying on the coming of Messiah. John wanted validation in knowing that his life had not been lived in vain for he would never see Jesus’ death and resurrection. John would never see how Jesus fulfilled all the messianic predictions of God’s future salvation. John would never see the fullness of how Great Jesus would become. So, friends even though we have not seen Jesus face to face we do have something John the Baptist never had. We have the power of the resurrected Christ and that is the greatest power in the universe.

And So, even though we are not Jesus or John the Baptist we are called to do great things. We are called to love as Jesus loved. Sure this is a pretty high standard and sometimes life feels like walking through the wilderness with unanswered questions and moments of fear but God doesn’t just send help from afar, He personally holds our hand. This is intimacy. God’s presence is personal but requires a response in the moment that has the potential to turn deserts into streams and fear into courage. Maybe the path is unfamiliar but Jesus is willing to hold our hand and in Him we can find strength. We never need to walk alone.

Pray that when our lives are almost gone that we ask Jesus to take our hand. Pray that when we are tired and weak and worn that Jesus would support our stand for those things greater than the world. Pray we realize that we today can understand the Gospel in a way that John the Baptist never really could. Pray that even though we may never be more courageous or godly than John the Baptist that we become greater in those things that glorify God in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit given to us. Pray we realize how great it is to use the gifts of God to minister to the people of God with the Gospel of Christ. Pray we realize that the perfect love of Jesus casts out all fear.

Blessings,

John Lawson