Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
If you follow my previous topics, my main focus was on being broken and the person depicted was Jacob. We learnt many from Jacob. But the way of the cross involves not only being broken but also being emptied.
"It is no longer I", said Paul. He had allowed himself to be emptied of the "I", so that Christ might live and rule in him. Even Jesus emptied Himself when He came down from the Throne of God Almighty to the awful depths of the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). The cross will mean the same in our lives as it did to Jesus and Paul.
In the current series of "Being Broken", we shall look to the life of Abraham - Father of the Believers, to see what it means to be emptied. In James 2:23, Abraham is called "the father of God". He was a type of those who, in the New Testament age, would be called the friends of God. Jesus told His disciples, just before He went to the cross, "You are My friends if you obey Me (as Abraham did). I no longer call you slaves, for a master does not confide in His slaves; now you are My friends, proved by the fact that I have told you everything the Father told Me" (John 15:14,15).
In the New Testament, God does not call us just to be His slaves, but to be also His friends -best of friends. Friends who enter into secret counsels and hidden mysteries of His Word. Abraham was such a friend. God revealed His secrets to him (Gen. 18:17-19).
Abraham was mightily blessed by God, and we are told that "all who trust in Christ (can) share the same blessing Abraham received" (Gal. 3:9). But what was the blessing with which God blessed Abraham? God's promise to Abraham was, "I will bless you" (Gen. 12:2). We saw in the previous series what it means to be blessed of God. But God's promise to Abraham did not end with "I will bless you". He went on to say,"...and you will be a blessing to others." This was God's full purpose for Abraham and is His purpose for us today. We are not only to be blessed but also to be channels through which that blessing is communicated to others.
Galatians 3:14 makes it clear that the blessing of Abraham for us today is connected with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One Who communicates the abundant life of Christ to us and then ministers that same life through us to others.
In James 2:21-23, where Abraham is called God's friend, two incidents from Abraham's life are mentioned:
(i) His believing God when God told him that he would have a son (v. 23 referring to Gen. 15:6)
(ii) His offering up Isaac when God asked him to (v. 21 referring to Gen. 22)
These two incidents are brought together in James when Abraham is referred to as being "God's friend". These two chapters in Genesis describe two important periods in Abraham's life. Moreover, in these two important chapters we find the first occurrences in the Bible of two important words - "believe" (Gen. 15:6) and "worship" (Gen. 22:5).
All Scripture is inspired by God, hence there is obviously a significance attached to the first time occurrence of an important word in the Scripture. These two passages of Scripture therefore will have much to teach us concerning the true meanings of faith and worship.
And these are the two lessons that Abraham had to learn - what it meant to believe God and what it meant to worship Him. Both of these are possibly only as we accept the cross as the instrument of our self-emptying.
With this introduction, I now start a new series. Hopefully, I will be able to complete it within a month's time. Hope you all would learn the lessons that Abraham learnt and be blessed of God and be a blessing unto others.
Please do keep me, a sinful servant of Christ in your prayers as I type down the lessons.
Your brother in Christ
Jobin
The above extract has been taken from the book "Beauty for Ashes" by Zac Poonen.
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