By John Foll, finished writing 02/25/2017.
© Copyright 2017 John Foll
Jesus said, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has
been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40 NASB.
Are you Jesus’
student? Have you been trained by Him? Are you still in training by Him? Be patient, if He is your teacher, and if you
are a diligent student, you will be fully trained and will become like Him.
He will take care of that for you, if you continue to let Him be your
Master!
What does it mean to
be like Jesus? How was Jesus? He was always loving, patient and kind. But
because of His love this also meant that He had to warn those who were in grave
danger of being lost, of their peril! This was the reason for His stern rebukes
to some. He always knew the right approach for each person. Study His methods, be filled with His
Spirit, and then you will be able to know which approach you should use with
those you come in contact with.
God will also use
trials and circumstances to train you, if you will let Him. “Furthermore,
we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not
much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they
disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines
us for our good, that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to
be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards
it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the
hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight
paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be
put out of joint, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:9-13 NASB.
A lot of the problems
that Christians have are brought on by themselves, until they yield fully to
Him because they love Him. There are two ways to be saved, the easy way and
the hard way. The hard way is to try
to be your own master, and give in to God now-and-then, and then have to go
through excruciating trials until you agree to let Him lead and you follow Him or
give up totally being a Christian, and the easy way, which is to learn
how much He loves you, throw yourself on His great mercy, and let Him help you,
then yield to Him fully! It is much easier
for God to work with a contrite, totally yielded heart, because those that do
this invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in their heart, and He will make it very
easy for them to be like Jesus! This only happens when someone stops
struggling against God, and invites Him to rule their heart. Why struggle? Why not make it easy on
yourself and yield fully to His loving power now? You have nothing to lose but
your sins, lack of peace, lack of faith, lack of hope, lack of joy, lack of
self-control, lack of assurance of your salvation, and the deeds of the flesh.
‘Those that practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Galatians
5:19-21. Why would you want to hold on to any of these things? If you
will just yield to Him now, all-the-way, He will make it easy for you! Galatians
5:22-23.
“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the
mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set
on the flesh is hostile toward God; for
it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do
so, and those who
are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:6-8 NASB.
Do you want to please God? Why would you want to be hostile toward Him?
If you are living in the flesh, you are hostile against God and cannot
please Him, but if you want life and
peace, set your mind on the Spirit like Paul says. “But
ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Romans 8:9
KJV. Do you want to belong to Christ?
Then you must have His Spirit, and walk in His Spirit, or you are ‘none of
His’, as the King James Version of the Bible puts it, or you do not
belong to Him, as the New American Standard Bible puts it.
What they did to
Jesus, they will do to His true followers who continue to be trained by Him and
want to serve Him. Jesus says, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his
lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and
the servant as his lord. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call
them of his household?” Matthew 10:24-25 KJV.
If they called Jesus
the ‘prince of Demons’, what will they call His servants? Matthew 9:34;
12:24 KJV. Do not be afraid, Jesus and His Father love you and will take care of
you! If you love Jesus, do not worry about those that can destroy
the body but not the soul, but fear God in Heaven only! Matthew 10:28. Do not let what others might say or have
said keep you from the joy of following in your Master’s footsteps and being
His servant!
Now listen to this
account of Peter and the apostles after they had been imprisoned (Acts 5:18), because
they were following Jesus’ command (Matthew 28:18-20), and after they were
released by the angel and ordered to preach again by God, as revealed to them
by this angel (Acts 5:19-20): “And when they had brought them, they set them
before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in
this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend
to bring this man's blood upon us.” Acts 5:27-28 KJV. * * * “And to him
they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them
go. And they departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for His name. And daily in
the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ.” Acts 5:40-42 KJV. Before the rulers let them go, they were
beaten and told not to preach anymore in His name again! So we see here that despite being
imprisoned, beaten and being warned by the leaders of Jerusalem from preaching
of Jesus, Jesus’ disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for His Name! How and why were
they able to rejoice because they had suffered for Jesus? Is this a normal
human behavior? Certainly not! No
one likes to be abused, but they were so happy, because they loved Jesus so
much, that they were able to rejoice because of this suffering! Because they knew it made Jesus and His
Father happy, since they were willing to save the lost at all costs to
themselves, just like Jesus was willing to give up all and Heaven forever for
us! This is the Great Power of the
Love of Jesus and of God!
It was the Holy Spirit that enabled the disciples to rejoice
when they were persecuted, imprisoned and beaten! But why was it necessary that they should rejoice? Because it
helped them to deal with the pain and shame of persecution. The joy that God gives all of Jesus’
disciples is part of the reward that He gives to those who love Him and belong
to Him! Nothing brings greater joy to Jesus’ disciples than to bring
others to the kingdom! This is
because they have the Spirit of God, who is not willing that any should perish
(2 Peter 3:9 KJV). Even though the devil doesn’t take it kindly when souls are won
to God, and tries to destroy those who are helping God to free his prisoners, God
enables them to press on and to do His work of love and mercy for the world!
There is nothing that any human being or
devil can do to take the joy of those who are serving God away! Yes, they might suffer cruel torture and
death, and sometimes their suffering may not always appear to be joyful, but they
will have joy many times on this earth, and they will have endless joy in Heaven
throughout eternity, in helping others become as happy as they are and becoming
saved! It makes all their suffering
worthwhile! And like Jesus, they will see the travail of their soul and
be satisfied, Isaiah 53:11, and count it all joy! (Of course not to the
same degree as the infinite love of Jesus! But within their own human, finite
limitations.)
We have cited Jesus’
declaration in this message that the servant is not above His master, therefore
consider this: As the soldiers crucified Jesus, He said: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ Luke
23:34 KJV. And listen to what Isaiah proclaimed about our Lord: “He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so He openeth not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:7 KJV. Jesus did not say anything to save Himself, or say anything against His
accusers, or to those crucifying Him or causing Him pain, but prayed to His
Father to forgive them! Jesus never did anything to deserve the
treatment He received from sinful men, but He did this to pay the price for our
sins and was willing to forgive those who did this to Him! Therefore all of His servants must be
willing to forgive those who are abusing them and spitefully treating them too!
This is proof that Jesus is their Master and that they have the Holy Spirit.
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant,
whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due
season? Blessed is that servant,
whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you,
That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My
lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin
to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him,
and in an hour that he is not aware of, and
shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 24:44-51 KJV.
And we will repeat
this same text in the New American Standard, in case you have difficulty
understanding the old King’s English:
“For this reason you also must be ready;
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
Who then is the faithful and sensible
slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at
the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing
when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his
possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not
coming for a long time,' and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink
with drunkards; the master of that
slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which
he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with
the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 24:44-51 NASB.
The faithful servants
of Jesus will spend their time doing the work that God has given them to do,
giving the lost their ‘meat in due season’ or ‘their food at the proper time’
(i.e. they will help the lost receive the bread of life), and will not say that their Master delays His coming and will not
tear into God’s other servants and people and will not live their life in
drunkenness. This tells us that Jesus will not come as a thief in the
night to those who are His faithful servants! We pray that you will so prove faithful to Jesus and keep doing His
work until He returns! We pray that you will not eat and drink with the
drunken, and not continually find fault with others, or repeat their sins to
others behind their back, and will protect their reputations, so that Jesus
will not come as a thief in the night for you.
So if Jesus is your Master, and you are His servant, then you will willingly follow in His
footsteps, and forgive those who
have wronged and hurt you, and maligned you in His name, even calling you evil,
and do as He did - seek and save the lost.
Thus when a student
of Jesus is fully trained, they will be like Him and will yield the peaceable
fruit of righteousness, and count it all joy when they suffer for His name. They will be like their teacher, have love
and give forgiveness to their accusers and the ones who cause them pain, and
count it all joy to suffer for His sake. And they will not stop, even
when commanded by those in authority, from preaching in His name! Amen!
#Student
#Master #Teacher #Jesus #Saved #Hard #Give #Lack #Faith #Joy #Flesh #Holy #Spirit
#Fruits #Death #Life #Forgive #Servant #Thief #Night
