Title: Purpose of Jesus Coming
Contents
Bible Text: Mark 10:45
The purpose of Jesus' coming
There is a famous painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Dutch painter Rembrandt. The image of a father cannot be found with the energetic and energetic appearance of his youth. He has grown old since his son left home. My back is bent and walking is difficult, but generosity and peace exudes. The son who returned was humble and miserable. The father seems to have closed his eyes. He closed his eyes so that he would not see the sins of his son. The father only sees the returned son, but not the sin. If God looks at sin, there is no one who can stand before the Lord.
The returned son is kneeling before his father. Worship is the sinner's kneeling to God. He is a true worshiper whom God seeks. The artist painted a worshiper kneeling before the throne of God. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; God will not despise a broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17). Small and soft drawn. The big, strong hand is the father's hand, and the small, soft hand is the mother's hand. It is to embrace the Son who has returned to the hands of God's father and mother.
First, He came to call sinners to repentance.
Jesus is active. Instead of waiting, we go looking for it. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
Walt Disney said, “Find a job you love so much that you can do it without compensation. Then do it so well that employers want to keep you.”
Jesus, who came to call sinners, liked to meet sinners. The people he met are sinners and prostitutes. These are the people who are ignored and disrespected. There are three things that Jesus made as a point of contact to meet them.
First, it's food. Jesus ate food and socialized with people. When we eat together, we become intimate. “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came and ate and drank, and said, Behold, a glutton and a drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. It is approved” (Matthew 11:18-19). People criticized Jesus for meeting people and sharing food. But Jesus made it a means of fulfilling the purpose of coming into the world through the way of life of eating together. A family who lives on one pot rice is called a family. Jesus shared food and grew the family of God. We hope to share food and broaden our fellowship.
Second, conversation. He met and talked with sinners and made them repent. He went to the city of Samaria to meet the Samaritan woman, and he sits by the well and waits for the woman to come out. He saw the woman swimming in the water and said, “Give me some water.” In Palestine, where water is scarce, a bowl of water is a loving hospitality. I look like a Jew, but I am a Samaritan woman. He said that if he knew who I was asking for water, he would have asked for water from me. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up to everlasting life.” “The woman said, “Lord, give me this water, so that I will never be thirsty. Also, please do not come here to draw water.” (John 4:13-15) The woman left her water jar and went into the village and said, “Come, come the man who told me all the things I have done. Isn’t this the Christ?” People rushed out. I believed in Jesus. It is a miracle of conversation. Dialogue is the power to break down invisible walls.
Third, physical contact. Jesus saved the sick by contact. Physical contact is a means of communication. Body contact creates intimacy. Hearts are conveyed by holding hands and shaking hands. Some banks have cashiers hold them in their hands when they give you change. Such contact enhances intimacy. When serving food in a restaurant, waiters who make contact with customers are said to be tipped more. Jesus touched the eyes of the blind and touched the body of a leper. He came to save sinners and heal the sick. Food, conversational contact is for his purpose.
Second, He came to seek the lost.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He came to find the lost sheep that had gone out of God's fence and make it God's possession.
As Goethe said, “The end sanctifies the means”. Only when people live with a purpose can they become great. The sublime purpose is to overcome manna (萬難).
Finding the lost is not easy. In the Gospel of Luke, there is a story of a shepherd looking for a lost sheep, turning on a lamp and sweeping it with rain to find the lost drachma. All of them are explaining how Jesus felt for the lost and the hard work he had to do.
Jesus is the One who does not stop until he finds the person he has been looking for. It doesn't stop until you find the one lost sheep. The spirit of finding with subtlety and persistence is important. Have you ever heard of the phrase “the principle of substitution”? Injecting positive thoughts to drive out negative thoughts. The sounds the environment constantly hears are 'I can't find', 'How do I find it?' or 'I can't!' The easiest thing to do is to stop doing hard work. When you want to quit, it's self-talk that makes you think you can do it. ‘I can’t give up, I’ll find out’ and ‘I can’t stop’.
Even the Bible has self-talk. “Why are you discouraged, my soul, and why are you troubled within me? Look to God, and I will rather praise you for the help of His countenance” (Psalm 42:5).
Even better is to pray. Jesus prayed every day. It was his habit to go to a quiet place every morning to pray. The strength you received through prayer has become the strength you seek. If we pray, we too can do it. The fact that ‘God is omnipotent’ should be my doctrine.
There is a western proverb that says, “He who delivers milk is healthier than he who drinks it.” You should not drink or drink milk while sitting in a comfortable place in the church. A church that delivers milk is a healthy church. “Come, you who thirst, buy and eat, and buy wine and milk” (Isaiah 55:1). Jesus came to seek and save those who have risen. When he found the lost sheep, he carried it on his shoulders and returned to the feast and rejoiced.
Third, He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Jesus came to give life. Life is the quality of being. Life is energy and power. He who does not have Christ is without life. Life is the purpose, meaning, and significance of existence. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Life is the driving force of energy, momentum, and existence. Life is the opposite of extinction. It is life that decays or stops decaying. Life is eternal and eternal.
Jesus is life itself. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35) “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
Life can only be obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. Receiving Jesus, who is life, is faith. When we accept Him, we are enriched. Jesus enriches those who believe. If you want an abundant life, the word of Christ must be abundant.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, praising God with thanksgiving; and whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, through him Give thanks to God the Father” (Colossians 3:16-17).
The riches of life flow out of those who live through Jesus.
The young man got into a motorcycle accident and was taken to the hospital, the doctor said. “It’s okay, I just need surgery and a wheelchair, and I can live my life.” The situation was not a good one, no matter how you look at it. An unmarried young man in his early 20s has to use a wheelchair, how do you say it's okay? But those words gave the young man life. The young man is in a wheelchair. Despite being crippled, he married a good woman and is living a good life. When the young man was entering the hospital, the elderly doctor said that, and he felt at ease and he would be fine. He could use a wheelchair. He almost died. The doctor gave life.
Those who have received Jesus, who became life, must give life to them and live. Those who only open their mouths to criticize and complain, vomit the evil within. It is the Spirit that gives life, and the words of the Spirit are life.
Jesus came to call sinners. Jesus hated the Pharisees who condemned others the most. Jesus came to seek the lost. Let's go find it too. Let's search until we find it. Jesus came to give life. He gave his life to give it.
There is a saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.” It can guide you to the principles of abundant living, but you must do it yourself to accept and practice those principles. It is evangelism that gives life. Let us guide those who are discouraged in their faith and those who do not believe. God is pleased with the believer by the foolishness of evangelism (1 Corinthians 1:21).