To get pearls, one must dive deep!

Tag: God’s property

Professional Speaking :: Jesus The Janitor

While the title of this article may seem demeaning of Jesus, the God of the universe, I pray you read the entire article before drawing any conclusions. Unfortunately, Janitors are considered to be a sub-class of society because of the nature of work that they perform, but early in my career, I came to learn that we ought to respect everyone within our corporate world, for who they are in life and not necessarily for what they do for their livelihood. Infact, I would argue that a janitor is equally important, if not more, than the President of a company, because if the President does not show up to work for a day, the company may be able to still operate optimally, which cannot be said of a janitor whose absence can have some serious repercussions (soiled toilets, unclean workspaces, stench, etc.), decreasing the productivity of the workers.

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word ‘Janitor’ as someone keeps the premises of a building clean and makes repairs. When a Janitor is done with cleaning the mess in the building, there is no remanence of any mess and the building is in a state as if it was never unclean. When things don’t function properly, the Janitor fixes the broken things to make them function again. Can we consider Jesus Christ to be a Janitor then? Absolutely.

The Bible tells us that we are God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9) and Jesus keeps our lives clean. No matter how messy our lives are or have been, Jesus’ blood washes all sin (1 John 1:7) and makes us clean. If you have had a totally messed up life and you think that you don’t stand a chance, think again (i.e., repent) for the Lord says, “Come NOW, let us reason together; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though your sins are red as crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Even adulterers, those in addictions, cheats, fornicators, the immoral, the impure, idolators, liars, murderers, and for that matter any kind of sinner (the chief of whom is me), has a chance with Jesus Christ, if they repent. Not only does Jesus, The Janitor, clean us, but he makes repairs of our life, so that we are no longer broken and no longer slaves under bondage to the former ways of our sinful lives. He mays us function again. Jesus is The Janitor.

Points to ponder:
Have you reasoned with the Lord, for he says, though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, when you believe in Jesus, for by faith (belief) and repentance is one saved and made to function again. In other words, have you been cleaned and repaired by Jesus, The Janitor?

1 Corinthians 3:9 (KJV)
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

1 John 1:7-9 (KJV)
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Lesser known characters :: Igdaliah

Igdaliah was a man that lived during the times of the prophet Jeremiah, during the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah king of Judah. Not much is said of who Igdaliah was, but what is said of him is voluminous in its commendation. Of Igdaliah, it is said, that he was a man of God (Jeremiah 35:4).

What can we learn from Igdaliah?
Now what may seem as a passing reference has deep meaning upon close scrutiny. When was the last time, someone referred to you or someone you know, as a man or woman of God? Imagine, what a honorable title that would be to bear. To be known as a man of God implies that the person belonged to God. To belong to God means that, that person has been bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:20 states that we have been bought with a price and the price that was paid for our redemption from sin and its wages, which is death, is the very life of Jesus Christ. We have been purchased with the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28) and those who believe in this belong to God. All who believe are men and women of God, as they belong to God. We must seek such a title as well.

Do you belong to God as Igdaliah did?

Jeremiah 35:4 (KJV)
4 And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:

Discipleship Series :: The Calling

The disciples of Jesus were called Christians for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26). In fact to be a Christian, means “to belong to Christ” or “Christ Ones”. In other words, the disciples belonged to Christ.

In our materialist realm, when we say that, something (say a house or a car) belongs to us, it means that we have paid for it completely. As long as a someone, other than you (like a lienholder) has a claim on that property, you cannot truly say that that property belongs to us. The same is true in our spiritual realm as well. If we are to be called a Christian, then we must belong to Jesus completely. Jesus paid for us in full and so we cannot be encumbered by anyone or anything else, other than Jesus Christ, if we are to be his disciple. To be a disciple of Jesus is to be a Christian and to be called a Christian means we are God’s property, paid in full by Jesus and we belong to Christ Jesus.

Point(s) to ponder:
Are you a Christian? In other words, do you belong to Christ i.e., Are you God’s property or can anyone other than Christ Jesus have a claim on your life?

Acts 11:25-26 (KJV)
25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

God’s property

Pastor Robin Paul at the Austin Christian Fellowship of India (ACFI) spoke on the blessings of a believer and expressed that one of the blessings, a believer has is that Believers are inherited by God and they inherit what is God’s, expanding on the passage from Ephesians 1:11-18. In other words, Whatever God owns, belongs to us as well as an inheritance.

From this text, there are two hidden treasures that come to surface.
First, God is love (1 John 4:8) and love gives (John 3:16)  and secondly, Whatever God owns, we own and whatever we own, God owns.

But what is really important is not what we are heirs to, but our state of inheritance by God.
If all that we own, God owns as well since we inherit each other, The real matter of fact is not what belongs to us, but what belongs to God.
Does ALL that we own, belong to God or are there aspects and elements of what we possess (including our life) that do not belong to God. If we love God, shouldn’t it be expressed by giving our ALL to God, just as He expressed it for us? When we sing the song, All to Jesus, I surrender, do we truly and truthfully mean it or are we merely lying?
In simple terms, Are we God’s property? (one that he is proud of owning!)

Ephesians 1:11-18 (KJV)
11
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
12
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

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