February 6th, 21

Receive and Rest

Leviticus 1-3 and Acts 13. We are reading through the NLT.

Wherever the Gospel is preached it will be either received and welcomed or rejected and resisted.    For some it will seem familiar and old and for others it will seem brand new.  Paul and Barnabas are being sent out and the message about Christ is multiplying in the hearts of many.  

 They were preaching to Jews, primarily, and they were taking them back all the way to Abraham and Moses. They took them back through the Exile and their deliverance from Egypt, 

They took them back to the wilderness and the institution of the Levitical and sacrificial system, 

back through the Prophets and the Kings.  They took them back to something old and familiar. 

Out of this, the story of God’s people, emerged God’s man, the Messiah - and God’s plan for the redemption of our lives.    God’s man, and his plan, is Jesus, the one who would make the world right again.

God sent his Son. Give his life on behalf of the whole world.   In his life of perfect love, he fulfilled the law of God. He demonstrated absolute purity, holiness, righteousness and justice.  

Then he died on the Cross, as a substitute sacrifice for us, so that we might live.  But he didn’t just die for all.  He was raised to a new life for all. And now everyone can be freed from the penalty of sin and shame, from death and the grave.  Now every human being can begin to walk in the New Life given for them in Christ.  

This is the message they are preaching with all their heart, soul. Many responded with joy.   But many resisted and rejected this message.   They resisted because they had put their hope in their own piety and obedience to the law - and not in God.  their hope was in their own self-salvation project. 

But it’s not only the pious who have a hard time with this.  Christians have a hard time with this. Christians everywhere are trusting in their own piety, their own efforts, as a way to make themselves right with God. And we end up being frustrated, bitter, exhausted and discouraged.  It happens all the time.  But this is not the message that we've been given.  

The message Paul was on fire to tell was that we are made right with God, not by our own effort or piety,  but by what Christ has done for us.  Ours is to believe, to say yes to what God has already done, and to walk in the power, goodness and joy of Christ’s abiding presence. 

Live in the light, strength and joy of Christ in you.  Be one who receives and rests in His life, not one who resists and rejects it. 

You are loved!