ASSERTING YOUR PECULIARITY: Be Compassionate

Anchor Scripture: 1 Peter 2: 9
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" 

Focus Scripture: “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:” - Proverbs 24: 17

Admonition
Greetings from the Throne of Grace!

The hallmark of Jesus Christ’s love for us was His death on the Cross of Calvary and He made it clear to us that no other form or kind of love is more than this (John 15: 13). The question as to whether this kind of love flows from one pulpit to the other and from one denomination to the other in Christendom is a question for another day.
"The hallmark of Jesus Christ’s love for us was His death on the Cross of Calvary" 
A true child of God is not expected to rejoice at other people’s calamity, whether such people are Christians (of other denominations) or even pagans. The call for us is to be "perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Mat. 5: 48).
"A true child of God is not expected to rejoice at other people’s calamity, whether such people are Christians (of other denominations) or even pagans."
I am aware that in Christendom, there are many Christians still operating their lives by the ungodly Mosaic law of revenge which says ". . . thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (Exo. 21: 23 - 25). Such Christians are not aware that Jesus Christ came and removed this evil law saying, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Mat. 5: 44 - 45). 
"many Christians still operate their lives by the ungodly Mosaic law of revenge which says ". . . thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth . . . ."
Beloved brethren, the act of loving those who love us and hating those who hate us is one of the works of darkness that we mentioned briefly yesterday. It belongs to the unbelievers, and should never even be mentioned in our midst. In verse 46 - 47 of that Matthew 5, Jesus Christ asked a very pertinent question that is very relevant to our FINISHING STRONG. He says: "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?"
"the act of loving those who love us and hating those who hate us is one of the works of darkness . . . . It belongs to the unbelievers, and should never even be mentioned in our midst."
Lack of compassion is even almost on the high side amongst us today than the unbelievers. Our Model, Jesus Christ did not come to die for the righteous alone, but even for the sinners. He loved everyone of us equally (Deut. 10; 17; Job 34: 19; Acts 10: 34; Romans 2: 11). For us to show that we really are a peculiar people in God, we need not have favourites and we MUST NOT REJOICE AT OTHER PEOPLE'S CALAMITIES. When anyone is going through an unpleasant situation, we as children of God must show serious concern by making sure that we give them every support that may be at our disposal. God considers it evil to turn our backs on people who are in distress.
"For us to show that we really are a peculiar people in God, we need not have favourites and we MUST NOT REJOICE AT OTHER PEOPLE'S CALAMITIES."
Our Focus Scripture this morning gives a straight warning about this attitude, and the next verse, 18th, gives the reason, stating what God would do to us if we are found contravening that order. All through His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith is always moved by compassion for the people, and this moved Him to perform many miracles, with which we always pray today.
"All through His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith is always moved by compassion for the people"
As we close this morning, the only reason for which no descendant of Esau existed anywhere on the surface of the earth is that they always rejoice at Israel's calamities, and even at times aided Israel's enemies at war against them  (Obadiah 1: 10 -14). Yes, Jacob was not a good brother to Esau, but even at that, God disapproved the rejoice of his children at Israel's calamities, and for that, they were removed from the surface of the earth (Obadiah 1: 10).

Finally, brethren, being peculiar partly means being strange in some special ways. If we chose to be strange (peculiar) by showing love to those who hate us; praying for those who curse us and be compassionate to those who are in distress, then, we are on our way to FINISHING STRONG because it shows that our Father in heaven is in us and we too are firmly rooted in Him.



Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, keep keeping on in Him!

N. B. Please, pray that God will forgive you all that you have done contrary to today's admonition and give you a new heart that loves people unconditionally in Jesus’ name. Amen.

WE MUST FINISH STRONG TOGETHER!

For inquiries and questions, please call: 07064694037 or send a mail to bwgospelministries@yahoo.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AVOID CONDEMNATION: Walk in the Spirit

Anchor Scripture: Romans 8: 1 “ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Focus Scripture: “ This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. ” –Galatians 5: 16 Scripture References: John 3: 1 – 8, 16 - 19; Romans 1: 18 – 32, 1 – 14; Galatians 5: 16 – 26; 1 John 2: 15 - 17 Admonition Greetings from the Throne of Grace! Yesterday, the Holy Spirit of God admonished us to watch the companies we keep because our association with them could make us do things that are contrary to the Kingdom’s choice. And an example was given of Jehoshaphat. May God help us in Jesus name, amen. Today, we are being told to “Walk in the Spirit”. The Holy Spirit was given to us as Guardian to help and keep us in and on the way to the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit is a teacher, meant to teach us right from wrong and He helps us in making the right choices. Most of...
Read more

AVOID CONDEMNATION: Stop Impersonating

Anchor Scripture: Romans 8: 1 “ There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  Focus Scripture: “ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness .” – Romans 1: 18 Scripture References: Matthew 7: 21 - 23; John 1: 12 – 13, 3: 1 - 7; Acts 19: 1 – 6, 11 – 20; Romans 1: 18 – 32; 2 Corinthians 13: 4 - 10 Admonition Greetings from the Throne of Grace! Our God is good and gracious towards us in that He has hidden nothing about Himself from us. Everything we need to know about Him; Who He is, what He did in the past, what He plans to do in the future, how He thinks, His dispositions to various issues and so on, He has revealed to us in His Word, the Holy Bible, and we know His Word is TRUE. The Holy Spirit mentioned on Wednesday that many Christians live on the assumption that they are born-ag...
Read more

BEWARE OF BALAAM'S DOCTRINE

Anchor Scripture: “. . . Verily when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.” – 1 Corinthians 9: 18 Scripture References: Numbers 22: 1 – 7; 1 Corinthians 9: 1 –27; Matthew 10: 7 - 8 The Balaam’s doctrine is it that encourages children of God to do the work of God for carnal rewards. And the children of God caught up in the web of Balaam’s doctrine are those who preach the Gospel of Christ for one reward or the other. Such “servants of God” use a lot of scriptures to spiritualize and legalize their collections of material and carnal rewards from the congregation. However, we thank God for servants of God like Apostle Paul, who really followed the teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in that he refused to abuse the authority he had over his congregations by which he could have become rich and wealthy as many of our ministers today, for Jesus Christ commanded in Matthew 10: 7 - 8 thus: “ And as ye go, pre...
Read more