STABILITY
Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed
in him, "If you continue in my word, you are
truly my disciples and you will know the truth
and the truth will make you free."
John 8:31-32
The Lord has drawn into His church such a mixture
of almost every kind of person, background, problem
to be found anywhere.
But one thing we all seem to have in common - besides
our constant need of God's mercy - is the fact that in
one way or another we are unstable. Some of us have
been living unstable lives since the day of our birth.
- Up and down.
- Forever making new plans,
new resolutions,
good intentions,
- but we can't seem to follow through.
Some of us are quite settled and disciplined when it
comes to getting up and going to work each morning,
keeping the house in order,
making sure the car is running,
the bills are paid.
But when it comes to seeking the face of God, it's a sporadic,
Jerky,
unsatisfactory life.
We look back over the years we've been walking with
Jesus and see these undulations that rise and fall over
periods of months.
- Now we're riding high, full of confidence,
Joy,
thanksgiving.
- Now we're at the bottom of the trough, depressed,
empty-handed.
Perhaps for some the waves are short. Up and down in
twenty-four hours. Through it all we've survived by
the power of God's unspeakable mercy.
But now the same Lord who has had to fish us out of the
deep again and again is laying on our hearts the absolute
necessity of our becoming stable. And He is showing us
the way, encouraging us to believe, that we won't be reeds
blowing in the wind much longer if we'll but trust Him
and stick with Him and do what He says. These unstable
lives of ours will be houses built on rock - able to survive
the tidal wave that's soon to engulf the world.
We need to get it into our heads that we can be stable.
We don't have to be up one day and down the next, six
months of life and a year of stagnation.
Jesus then said to the Jews who had
believed in him, "If you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples, and
you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free."
Free from what? Free from self,
free from satanic moods,
free from bondage of circumstances,
free from the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye,
the pride of life.
When Andrew brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus,
Jesus said, "So you are Simon, the son of John. You
shall be called Peter - the Rock." To anyone who knew
Simon this was ludicrous.
- Simon the hot tempered,
- Simon the moody,
- Simon the vain,
is given a name which least describes his nature - Rock.
Yet, as time goes on, this man's weakness and vanity are
infused with the very nature of the God with whom is no
variableness nor shadow due to change.
But how did it happen? When Peter left his fishing boat
to follow Jesus he had no idea that he was making a
change that would last to the end of his life. All he knew
was that this Jesus spoke words of life such as he had never
heard, and he considered it the most important thing in life
to hear what Jesus had to say.
Peter signed no contract, made no covenant,
- yet he stayed. Other far more promising candidates
for discipleship came and went but Peter stuck,
- even to the laying down of his life, the shedding of
his own blood.
What was it that made this unstable man solid when far
more stable people turned back?
Look at what Peter does with the word that comes out of
Jesus’ mouth. Peter's heart was childlike and broken
enough to recognize that those words coming out of Jesus
were life.
"It is the Spirit that gives life, the
flesh profits nothing. The words that
I speak to you they are spirit and they
are life." John 6:63
Notice in the parable of the sower the issue is: What
does the heart do with the word of the Lord.
- Bad soils are hearts that fail to treat
the seed with respect.
- The good soil is those who in a good and
honest heart having heard the word keep
it and bring forth fruit with patience.
In the parable of the two houses the issue is the same.
- The house on the sand is the man who hears
the word but has no appreciation for it.
He doesn't incorporate it into his life.
- The house on the rock is the man who does
what he hears. He translates it into living.
In John 6 when many of Jesus' disciples turned back
and no longer went about with Him, it was because of
the words Jesus spoke. They said, "This is a hard
saying, who can bear it?"
When Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you want to go too?"
Peter's answer was, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life..."
Stability. A supernatural root that goes right down
into God's heart and holds us through any strain and
through any drought, comes to those who reach out and
take hold of the words that Jesus speaks and clings
to them as the treasure of all treasures - build their lives
on them.
Jesus then said to the Jews who had
believed in him, "if you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples; and
you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free,"
Peter never thought of this as a chore. "Oh, His words
are so hard! Will I be able to hang on?" No, Jesus'
words were Peter's joy! "Lord, you have the words of
eternal life.
Your words are spirit,
Your words are life,
Your words are healing,
Your words are peace,
Your words are the life of the Father Himself."
And so Peter continued in those words and learned the truth.
And what was the truth? The truth that set Peter free
and will set us free - and which we can only truly know
as we continue in Jesus' words - is that God is faithful.
It's like being lost in a dense forest and having no idea which
way to go. Suddenly you stumble on a path marked by a sign
which says, "Follow me," and an arrow which shows the direction.
As you follow the path you still don't know where you are but
your heart is already at peace. You're on the path - the way.
Finally the path ends on a mountaintop from which you can
see for miles in all directions - you know where you are,
the truth has set you free.
The mountaintop to which our Lord's words invariably
bring us is that place where we finally see that God has
been faithful to us all along - and will always be faithful.
God is faithful, by whom you were called
into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. I Corinthians 1:9
When we see that and appreciate it, and thank God for it,
how can we be unstable?
To become stable we need to let Jesus' words lead us out
of the lie which has bound us. The lie which has bound
us, and at this very moment binds many of us, is the
thought that God can't be trusted.
- He might change His mood,
He might turn away and forget about you,
- Or for no reason turn against you,
that's the lie!
And as long as weallow that lie to distort our view
of what God is like,
- we will be in bondage,
- our outlook on life will be paranoid,
- our prayers will be sick,
- our hearts will be crushed under the burden
of a thousand anxieties.
But if we continue in Jesus' words we will begin to see
the truth of what God is really like because Jesus is
the perfect revelation of what God is like.
l. As wecontinue in His word, Jesus reveals Himself
to us as the faithful high priest who has atoned for
our sins.
Therefore he had to be made like his
brethren in every respect, so that he
might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in the service of God, to
make expiation for the sins of the people.
For because he himself has suffered and
been tempted, he is able to help those
who are tempted. Hebrews 2:17-18
The more I drink Jesus' words into my heart and do them,
- the more the power of the cross touches my life,
- the more I experience real help from this
faithful high priest.
He went through these temptations too and conquered them
and now He is faithful to help me.
... if we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just... I John 1:9
And as we see Jesus' faithfulness we see God's faithfulness,
and our unfaithfulness begins to pass away as darkness before
the light which is already shining...
2. As we continue in His word Jesus reveals Himself to
us as the One who is with us always.
Lo, I am with you always...
Matthew 28
I will not leave you desolate,
I will come to you.
John 14
And what a difference it makes in our living when we
begin to know in the marrow of our bones that we are
not alone, the Lord is with us confirming the word He
has given us to proclaim. If we go out into that world
alone, we're in bad shape. But if Jesus literally goes
with us, what is there to fear? What could we possibly
lack?
If we have to walk through those trials alone, they be-
come so heavy we can hardly face the prospect of going
on. But if He walks with us, we can keep going, we'll
make it.
3. As we continue in His word Jesus reveals Himself to
us as the One who sends the Comforter.
No longer do I call you servants, for the
servant does not know what his master is
doing; but I have called you friends, for
all that I have heard from my Father I have
made known to you. You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit and that your fruit
should abide; so that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, he may give it to you.
This I command you, to love one another.
John 15:15-17
And if there is anything the Comforter makes us to know
it's that God is absolutely faithful, worthy of all
praise, good beyond the grasp of our minds. He brings
us out on the mountaintop and shows us where we are
- safe in the hand of God.
It's quite possible that in some respects we may be the
most unstable assembly of the most unstable people in
the entire city. But the One who gathered us is the
one who turned "Flaky Simon" into "Peter the Rock". And
He is doing the same in us.
- believe it!
Jesus then said to the Jews who had
believed in him, "if you continue in my
word, you are truly my disciples, and
you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free."
Take it to prayer.
Live it today.