PSALM 103:1-4 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.”
THEME OF THE DAY: WEAR OUR CROWNS BEFORE A WATCHING WORLD. As we watch our world, far and near, crumble, what is the only answer to the human suffering, pain, and misery? Obviously, we would say, “The Lord Jesus and His Gospel” and that would be right. But how does that “take on feet” so to speak? What would getting Jesus into a hurting world of people look like and what is our part?
In today’s scripture, we have the single greatest need in every human being identified – forgiveness. No matter where we live or who we are, the chief thing we have in common is we are sinners needing forgiveness from God. And that occurs only through the Lord Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). So with that established, what are the answers to the questions closing out our opening paragraph?
First, to get the gospel to people needing Jesus, we must love people. If we don’t love sinners, we won’t be burdened for sinners, and without a burden for the lost, we won’t get them the gospel. Notice the heart of the Lord Jesus toward sinners, or sheep without a shepherd – When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). But don’t stop there. The heart of compassion in Jesus for the lost leads to His instruction for us to pray for laborers to reach them, and part of the answer to our prayers for the lost is our participation in reaching the lost – Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). And that leads to our part in getting the gospel to people.
The second part of getting the gospel to people includes the verbal sharing of the gospel, but also modeling the gospel. In writing to the Philippian believers, the Apostle Paul exhorted them to live lifestyles that affirm or reflect the gospel – Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27). And one way to do that is to “wear our crowns before a watching world.” Crowns? Yes. Go back to the scripture of the day and what do we see the Lord doing? Crowning us with steadfast love and mercy. Yes. It is His love and mercy, but isn’t that what the gospel gives us? His love and mercy so that we in turn would give to others love and mercy. Our witness for Christ verbally is enhanced and given credibility by actively showing Christ’s love and mercy to others, believers and unbelievers alike, or wearing our crowns before them.
In the great love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, it closes with this truth – So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Want to know if Christ’s love is controlling our lives? Evaluate the consistency of our sacrificial and edifying service we give to God’s people and ponder how active we are in seeking the lost with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. Love for His people and love for sinners are to be passions in and from Christ’s people. Both mean wearing our crowns before a watching world.
PRAYER: “Father, may I always represent Your Son in His love and mercy to a watching world.”
QUOTE: “Never let it be said by anyone in a justifying way we mispresented the Lord Jesus in any manner.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim