Relationships, the Will of God, and the Final Moments of Jesus on the Cross

Mike Hosey, An Elder

One of the fundamental tenants of Christianity is that we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27).  This means that we bear many attributes of God.  First, obviously, it means that we look like him. When the disciples gazed at the face of Jesus, they were gazing at the face of God.  Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned, and shortly after heard God walking in the garden (Genesis 3:8)? God walks and moves like we do, or rather, we walk and move as he does.  Another attribute we share with God is that we are relational beings.  Notice in Genesis 1:26 that God said “let us make man in our image.” Relationship is innate to the Godhead, and so at some level it will be innate to us.  For instance, consider God’s reasoning for creating Eve – he reasoned that it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). 

This relational attribute we have is mightily important. So much so that not only did God program it into our being, but he also commanded it in our moral codes. Jesus reminded us of the two greatest commandments, both of which are relational.  The first is to love God with all of our being, and the second is like it, which is to love our neighbor like we love ourselves (Matthew 22:38-39). The writer of Hebrews tells the Christian church that they should not neglect gathering themselves together as a body of believers (Hebrews 10:25). In other words, he was telling them that relationships were very important to Christian life.  Considering these two commands, it can be argued that when we forsake relationships, we are outside the will of God.  From Genesis, to Matthew’s Jesus, to Hebrews, it is not good for man (or woman) to be alone. 

Jesus modeled this attribute for us almost everywhere he went. Whenever he wasn’t walking, working, eating or living with his disciples, he was reaching the lost.  And when he wasn’t doing those things, he was communing with God. He even modeled this relational attribute in some of his final words.  In his dying breaths, he saw his mother and one of his disciples standing near the cross. He recast their relationship, telling the disciple that she now belonged to him as his mother, and he now belonged to her as her son.  From then on, the disciple took the mother into his own home. It’s interesting that one of his final statements concerned familial relationship.

So evaluate your relationships, and consider where you are in the will of God.

Don't Drink the Poison!

Mike Hosey, An Elder

A very popular saying about forgiveness is that withholding it is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to suffer or die.  Of course there’s a lot of easily recognized truth in that statement. The first truth is that the only person being negatively affected by the unforgiveness is the unforgiver.  A second truth is that the person withholding the forgiveness is actively trying to harm the person who should be receiving forgiveness. Think about that for second.  Withholding forgiveness makes one an avenger, which is something for which God strongly disapproves (Romans 12:19).  And if you maintain that position of unforgiveness you are actively opposing God. Further, you are not following the example set by his son (John 3:16). 

A very non-Christian thinker recognized some of this truth once when he said that “without forgiveness, life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.” If you haven't forgiven someone, then you are very likely mired in either resentment, or even hatred of that person, or you are either openly, secretly, or unconsciously scheming to execute retribution, or to exact revenge. And if that is your state of mind, then you are not going to be able to fully love the people around you to whom you are actually committed, and for whom you have nothing to forgive, because a piece of you will always be devoted to harming the person who harmed you. And if that is the case regarding your relationship with the people who you love and can see, what does it do to your ability to fully love God, who you can’t see (Matthew 22:36-39)? 

 No doubt, forgiveness can be a very difficult task. However, one thing that helps to make it less difficult is to realize that you also are forgiven by God when you ask for it. Each time that we sin against God, we damage the creation that he has made.  Sin harms the spirit that he put inside of you.  It harms the body in which your spirit is kept.  It harms the people around you who he made.  It can even harm the very planet on which you walk.  And even though all of that is true, God has chosen to forgive you in ways that you cannot fathom (Psalm 103:10-14). He does not deal with us according to our sin.

Unforgiveness is a kind of rivalry, or dissension, or division.  As such it is wholly an act of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).  But forgiveness is an act of the Spirit, and if we live in that Spirit, we will produce different fruit (Galatians 5:22-26). So if you need to forgive someone, if you want to get out of that cycle of resentment and retaliation, and if you want to love your family and God to the fullest, leave your anger at the cross, walk in the spirit of God, and ask him to help you to forgive those who have harmed you.

One Amazing Expectation for All Christians

Mike Hosey, An Elder

The New Testament only mentions the man Epaphras three times, but his role in its creation is significant. Not only was he a fellow prisoner with Paul (Philemon 23), but he also founded the church at Colossae (Colossians 1:7), which is where we get Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Paul makes a curious statement about Epaphras in that letter.  He says that Epaphras “struggles” in his prayers on behalf of the Colossian Christians, so that they will reach maturity and stand confidently in the will of God (Colossians 4:12). Epaphras prayed for their maturity.  That is, he prayed for their spiritual growth. His desire for the Christians at the church he founded was such that he “struggled” in prayer. And it was his own maturity that advanced the Kingdom of God in ways that we cannot fathom, and that has spanned generations because he stood confidently in God’s will by founding that church. His prayers show that he sought that same potential in the church that sprang from his own mature obedience.

This is not an uncommon theme in the New Testament.  Just look at Paul’s expectation in Ephesians 4:15 that we are to grow or mature in every way to become more like Christ.  It’s likely that Paul means this both as an individual statement, as well as a collective one.  For instance, he expected that each individual Ephesian would grow to become more like Christ. He also expected that the family of Christians at Ephesus would grow to become more functional as Christ’s body in that area (Ephesians 4:16).

All throughout the New Testament you will find an expectation of growth. Consider how the writer of Hebrews admonishes his fellow Christians for a lack of growth.  He expected to see them as teachers, but found them more like children who needed to be taught again (Hebrews 5:12-14). The writer of Hebrews was disappointed in the progress he found among his brethren. But contrast that with Paul’s statement on progress to Timothy.  Paul is instructing Timothy on how to shepherd his fellow Christians, and he tells him to immerse himself in the reading of scripture, teaching, and of not neglecting the gift he had been given.  He tells him to do this so that everyone may see his progress. 

Every Christian has been given some kind of gift, and there is an expectation on the part of God that every Christian grow toward maturity, and to be more like Christ in the use of that gift. How hae you progressed in the use of yours?