[This devotion is taken from last Sunday’s sermon – Coty]
What task has God given you? What is the most important of all tasks?

Is your most important task to do something great for God? Is your most important task, specifically, to fulfill the Great Commission: To go, make disciples of all nations, of every people group?

No. That is indeed an important task. But it’s not your most important task. And you can’t fulfill your role in completing the Great Commission unless you first fulfill this most important task.

What is it?

Jesus says the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with al your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). And He says we must turn and become like little children – resting on our Daddy, rejoicing in our Daddy – if we are to enter His kingdom (Matthew 18:3). Paul commands us to rejoice in the Lord – always (Philippians 4:4)!

This is your number one task: To delight in your Daddy. To know that you are nothing and He is everything. To know that He has given you every good gift you have. To acknowledge that you don’t deserve anything, that you can’t earn anything – you are just the recipient of His love again and again. To delight in Him, so that you show through your attitudes and affections that He is most important, that He is supreme.

That is your number one task: To have joy in Christ – and to express that joy.

George Mueller, who in 19th century organized and ran orphanages in Britain that served thousands, wrote this:

According to my judgment the most important point to be attended to is this: above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Other things may press upon you, the Lord’s work may even have urgent claims upon your attention, but I deliberately repeat, it is of supreme and paramount importance that you should seek above all things to have your souls truly happy in God Himself! Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life. . . . The secret of all true effectual service is joy in God, having experimental acquaintance and fellowship with God Himself

So the first question for you to ask yourself is not: What are you doing to serve mankind?

Nor is the first question: What are you doing to serve God?

But the first question is: Are you happy in God?

There is, however, a second task. A second question. Indeed, Jesus says the second greatest commandment is like unto the first. Furthermore, fulfilling this second task is a means toward achieving the first task.

What is the second task?

We can state it many ways: Love your neighbor as yourself. Make disciples of all nations. Fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the seas.

But we can more clearly see the link with the first task if we define it this way:

Your number two task is to deepen joy in Christ among those who know Him, and to spread joy in Christ to those who do not.

We are to say, “I rejoice in Christ! He is all to me! And because He is all to me, I can love you and serve you and pour myself out for you – even if you reject me, for I have all I need in Him. But I want Him to be all to you – for your joy!”

This is a holy ambition – an ambition that only flows out of our living up to the number one task of rejoicing in Christ.

We, like Paul, should have a deep passion for this second task, combined with a humble willingness to play any role in fulfilling that task, while we keep our eyes fixed on the number 1 task of rejoicing in God.

If you have that attitude, you are not wasting your life – whatever specific ways you end up working to fulfill the second task.

Now, think about that word, “Whatever.” It means being able to say something like this:

“I am willing to lead a movement that brings millions to faith in Christ” (to say “I could never do that)” is false humility, a denial of God’s transforming, enabling power.)
“I am willing to labor unnoticed feeding, clothing, and changing diapers for disabled orphans for rest of my life”
“I am willing to lie flat on my back, paralyzed, unable to do anything other than to accept the service of others, to be gracious and kind to those who serve me, and to pray for the advance of God’s kingdom.”
“I place myself in Jesus’ hands to use me in any way He sovereignly chooses.”
“My status before God does not depend on my accomplishments. And my status before Him is the only status that counts.”
Can you say that?

The 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once wrote this when he was flat on his back, unable to minister:

It is of the utmost importance to us to be kept humble. Consciousness of self-importance is a hateful delusion, but one into which we fall as naturally as weeds grow on a dunghill. We cannot be used of the Lord but what we also dream of personal greatness, we think ourselves almost indispensable to the church, pillars of the cause, and foundations of the temple of God. We are nothings and nobodies, but that we do not think so is very evident, for as soon as we are put on the shelf we begin anxiously to enquire, “How will the work go on without me?” As well might the fly on the coach wheel enquire, “How will the mails be carried without me?”

Or, to update the image: As well might the fly clinging to the windshield wiper of a UPS truck ask, “How will the packages be delivered without me?”

God doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need my education, my skills, my talents, my experience.

But as long as God keeps me here on this earth, He has a purpose for me – and I must not waste my life; I must not be diverted from that purpose.

He gives me a twofold task:

Delighting in Him
Deepening and spreading that joy – in ANY way He chooses.
We need to honestly say before God: “Use me in any way you wish:

“Prominent, or not prominent;
“Seemingly important, or not seeming to have any importance;
“Doing and praying, or only praying
“Just use me for your glory!”
Will you say that? Will you follow our Lord? Will you first delight in God – and then spread and deepen that joy, to the glory of God?

[In last Sunday’s sermon, we looked at Matthew 18:1-4 to see how Jesus speaks of humility, and to learn how we can balance the biblical injunctions to be ambitious for God with that humility. We’ll continue to discuss those issues this Sunday. Here are three key questions about the Matthew 18 text – Coty]

Matthew 18:1-4 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

1) What does Jesus mean by telling us to “turn and become like children”?

The disciples are asking who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven – clearly thinking that one of them is the greatest. They want Jesus to say, “James – I pick you as the greatest because of all you’ve done. You’re number one!”

Instead, Jesus says this: “Your entire conception of greatness is wrong! You think in terms of your qualifications. You desire to get positions of power and privilege. You keep comparing yourselves to each other, with each of you trying to exalt himself over the others. You have to turn! You have to change your mindset completely! Look at this little two-year-old. Become like him! This child is not seen as great by anybody. He is completely dependent on his parents. He has no influence. He is weaker than every adult. He cannot make money. He has no exceptional abilities. He has no authority and no power. He just loves his Daddy; he knows he is dependent on him, and delights in him. He doesn’t even think about himself compared to others. He just thinks about how wonderful his Daddy is. You must change and become like THAT if you are to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

That is Jesus’ point.

2) Why must we turn and become like children to enter the kingdom?

This is the Gospel! God created man to glorify Him by delighting in Him. But each of us has rejected that purpose, choosing to delight in ourselves and in the things of this world rather than in God. Having failed to fulfill the purpose of our creation, we deserve to be rejected by God, thrown out by Him. Yet He sent His Son into the world to become man, to live a life of rejoicing in the Father, delighting to do all that He commanded, fulfilling our purpose. He then willingly died the death we deserved on the cross, taking on Himself our punishment. God raised Him, showing the sacrifice was sufficient, the penalty was paid. The benefits of that death accrue to every person who confesses his sin and believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And God then promises that He will create a new heavens and a new earth, the final, complete kingdom of heaven, in which all the redeemed will dwell, together fulfilling the purpose of humanity: Rejoicing in the greatness of God (Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 7:9-12). Here no one will seek greatness for himself. No one will argue about who is the greatest. Instead, we will all rejoice in the greatness of God, and of His Son. We will all see that greatness comes only from God Himself.

This is the goal of the Gospel: The joy of all people in the greatness of God. If we understand the Gospel, it makes no sense at all to jockey for a position of greatness. Jesus is great! Rejoice in His greatness! And then rightly be humbled. As the 19th century Anglican bishop J.C. Ryle says, “The surest mark of true conversion is humility.”

3) Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Clearly Jesus is the greatest. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the greatest.

I can imagine the disciples (and myself!) at this point saying, “Sure, of course. But what about among resurrected mankind? Which of them is greatest? Could it be me?”

So Jesus says in Matthew 18:4: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Note that Jesus says in verse 3 that unless you turn and become like this little child, unless you become humble like a 2-year-old, you will not even enter the kingdom. And then He says in verse 4 that if you humble yourself like this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom.

So do you see the implication? Everyone in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest! For everyone has the righteousness of Christ credited to his account. Everyone has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. Everyone is perfected by God for His glory

So look around you. Across ages. Across ethnicity. Across the ability to speak English. Across levels of theological training. Across length of time as a Christian. Across differences in giftedness, in education, in income. For those who are in Christ, for those who have faith in Him: ALL are made perfect. ALL are great. You are no greater than anyone else. You are not less than anyone else. Because every believer has the righteousness of Christ – and that is what matters.

Note: In eternity, there will still be differences among those who are saved. But there will be no differences in status, in position before God, or in moral perfection. There will be no difference in greatness.

For greatness consists in humble dependence on Jesus Christ. And no one is saved apart from that very greatness.

Does God want you to prosper? How can you go about answering that question?

Jeremiah 29:11 reads:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (NIV)
After reading that, you might be tempted to conclude: “OK! God wants me to be prosperous!”

Numerous churches teach such a doctrine. One website puts it this way:

The Bible is the greatest book ever written on motivation, success and prosperity. It is the original source book for discovering the keys to successful living through the power of kingdom principles.
By studying the Scriptures, you will come to understand that the prosperity of God is multi-dimensional. It is God’s will for us to prosper financially, to be in health, and for our souls to prosper (3 John 2). This is the three-part blessing of being obedient to His will and commands. God’s success plan for man encompasses the prospering of the spirit, soul and body with both spiritual and material blessings.
Is there anything wrong with this? Doesn’t God want to bless His people financially as well as spiritually? In particular, doesn’t Jeremiah 29:11 say explicitly that God plans to prosper us?

Over the course of the next three weekly devotions, we will look at this precious verse. While we won’t try to address the entire topic, the exposition of this verse will show clearly the direction we should take in understanding all such promises. Our goal as always is to learn what God is telling us through His Word, and thus to take to heart His very precious promises – promises that, as we shall see, are quite different from what they might appear to be after a casual reading.

We want to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), rather than to misinterpret that Word. How can you tell if someone is misinterpreting a verse? How can you be careful not to misinterpret verses yourself?

Consider these three helpful (but not exhaustive!) rules:

• Read the context!
• Check the translation!
• Check the interpretation against the thrust of Scriptural teaching!

Let’s do that for this verse.

Read the Context
Nebuchadnezzer, King of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem for the first time in 605 BC. The king of Judah paid tribute and promised future payments to entice him to withdraw. The Babylonian did so, but took some exiles away to Babylon. Shortly before Nebuchadnezzer attacked, Jeremiah prophesied that it would happen, and that the exiles would remain in Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 25).

Seven years later, in 598-7 BC, Nebuchadnezzer returns, after the Judean king foolishly stops paying tribute. This time he deposes the king, sets up his own puppet from the Judean royal family, and takes thousands more into exile. Jeremiah remains in Jerusalem.

Today’s text is part of a letter Jeremiah wrote to the exiles in Babylon three years later. False prophets in Babylon and Jerusalem were claiming that the captivity was going to be very short – that God would break the power of Nebuchadnezzer and send the captives back to Jerusalem soon. In effect, they were saying, “God will prosper both you exiles and Jerusalem.”

In chapter 29, Jeremiah clearly says, “No! God is not going to prosper Jerusalem during the next several years. Don’t think you’re coming back soon – live out a normal life in Babylon!”

That’s a little bit of context – which alone calls into question the “God wants to prosper us” interpretation.

Check the Translation
But what about translation? Obviously knowing the original language helps, but everyone can look at different English translations. Consider these three translations:

• NIV: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
• ESV: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
• NAS: ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

“Prosper you” in the NIV becomes “welfare” and “wholeness” in the other two translations. According to Webster’s, “prosperity” means “the condition of being successful or thriving; especially economic well-being.” That is certainly not what “wholeness” means, and even “welfare” has quite different connotations. In general, an interpretation that is based solely on one translation is likely to be suspect.

This indicates that learning the specific Hebrew word might be helpful. As it turns out, in this case the Hebrew word is one you may already know: Shalom. Normally this word is translated “peace”, but it has a much wider range of meaning than the English word “peace”. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament describes shalomthis way: : “Completeness, wholeness, harmony, fulfillment. . . . Unimpaired relationships with others and with God.”

So our English word “prosperity” is not a good match for shalom in this context. For in English, the primary meaning of “prosperity” is economic well-being, with some overtones of happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction. But for shalom the primary meaning is being in good relationships with others and with God, with some overtones of other sorts of welfare: absence of war, economic success.

So the biblical context and the historical context as well as the meaning of the Hebrew word all serve to undermine the interpretation that God wants all of His people to have economic prosperity.

Next week we’ll ask the question: To whom is God promising shalom?

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

What does it mean to say that Christ Jesus is our mediator?

We frequently think of Jesus’ mediation as being necessary for our salvation; He died on the cross to pay the penalty for all the sins of all who repent and believe in Him. So, in last Sunday’s sermon, we considered the biblical image of the courtroom, with each of us standing accused of crimes for which we are guilty. Satan, the Accuser, lists them one by one – but for those in Him, Jesus, the Mediator, the Substitute, responds to each accusation by declaring, “Forgiven, by my blood!” Christ, our Mediator, covers those sins and keeps’ God’s justice from requiring of us the fair punishment of an eternity in hell.

But Jesus’ mediation accomplishes much more than keeping us out of hell. Through His work, we who once were God’s enemies are now in His family. We are loved by Him; we are His little children, His joy, His delight. As Jesus welcomes the little children to come to Him, God the Father rejoices to have us approach Him, confident in His love.

Yet ponder this thought: This loving relationship is for those who are in Christ. In Christ, we can come into God’s presence – for God then looks at us and sees Jesus’ perfect life, not our sins. In Christ we can (and must!) speak to God, presenting any and all requests to Him – for we ask in Jesus’ Name, that is by His mediation and intercession. In Christ we offer all we are and do to God, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices – and, though even our best efforts are stained by sin, we are accepted by God as holy and acceptable because of Christ’s perfect life.

Ambrose, the fourth-century Bishop of Milan, put it this way:

Christ is our mouth by which we speak to the Father; our eye by which we see the Father; our right hand by which we offer ourselves to the Father. Save by his intercession neither we nor any saints have any intercourse with God.

Turn this over in your mind. Meditate on it. Apart from Christ, your relationship to God is solely that of condemned prisoner to Judge. You cannot speak to Him. You cannot see Him. You can do nothing for Him.

We speak to God, boldly approaching His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), because we have “a great high priest who has passed through the heavens” (Hebrews 4:14). We see God for Who He is because of Christ, “the exact imprint of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3); when we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). We can be the light and salt of the world, doing good deeds that glorify the Father (Matthew 5:13-16) only because Jesus has sent to us the Holy Spirit (John 14:12-18) – and He Himself intercedes to cover the remaining sinful aspects of even our best deeds.

Thus, the author of the letter to the Hebrews rejoices that Jesus “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). He must always live, if we are to have a relationship with the Father – for we always need His intercession. We always need His mediation.

So dwell on this precious truth. Before God the Father, Jesus is your mouth. He is your eye. He is your right hand. In Him – and only in Him – God the Father is for you. He loves you. You are His precious little child. You are His delight.

Because of Christ Jesus.

What a Savior!