Being ‘in Christ’ is the best place to be!

There is part of me that considers the sacrifices involved in following Jesus as negative in the sense that everyone else gets blessed but me. Loving others is always a sacrifice. It might be sleep when I got up in the night to care for a sick child. It might be that good book I wanted to read when someone called to talk over their problems. It might be time, money, patience, hard work or other variations of giving up what I had planned to do something for someone else.

The word ‘martyrdom’ comes to mind, yet I’ve never thought of Jesus as a martyr. His death had purpose. He died for my sin, for the sin of the world that we might be forgiven and offered eternal life. Martyrs are defined as those killed for ‘religious beliefs’ rather than for the higher purpose of salvation for a lost world or any other purpose for that matter.

Following Jesus could mean dying for my faith, but that is not the same thing as following Jesus by dying to self. Martyrdom is others slaying me; serving Jesus is me dying to selfishness, letting the life of Jesus put my old life to death.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

That brings me to today’s reading, verses that describe what this looks like in several ways. The last one is a surprise:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. (2 Timothy 2:1–7)

Putting this in my words, it says that when I walk in the Spirit or in the power of Christ, I will be teaching others (“men” = both genders) in such a way that they thoroughly learn it and pass what I taught them on to others. That is one mark of a Spirit-filled, sacrificial Christian.

The second image is that of a soldier whose sole priority is doing the will of his enlisting officer. Soldiers don’t start a business on the side or go shopping when they are on duty. The person who serves Christ in His strength is focused. This is not to impress people or win medals. Nothing else is as important as pleasing Jesus. This also marks a Spirit-filled, sacrificial Christian.

Another image is that of an athlete. Every sport has its rules and every player, team or solo, must follow those rules or they are disqualified. Being a Spirit-filled Christian isn’t about following rules though, it is about what happens when the Spirit of God is in control — I will be doing the things that the Law of God says and doing them in the way that God describes how they should be done. Another quality of being filled with His Spirit.

This passage also points to a hard-working farmer. I think of my dad who fits that description. The Lord says that the farmer has first share of the crops. That means that the results of his labor are not just for others. He too shares in what has been produced!

The Bible says the Spirit-filled person produces: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23) and this image of the farmer says I share in that, not just share but my share is first. This particularly applies to joy and peace for they are within. Love and the other parts of the crop are benefits for others and self-control goes both ways.

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Jesus, I’m glad that serving You is rewarding. Sometimes that old “what’s in it for me” can ruin it, but You make sure that I’m given ALL I need to make any sacrifices You want me to make. Being at peace and joyful in You takes away all sense of ‘poor me’ and changes everything!

Today’s thankful list . . .

That I am crucified with Christ.

That He will never leave me alone or without meeting my needs.

A day to think about the wonder of God’s love.

The smell of chicken soup.

A million blessings, both inside my heart and what can be seen and touched.

Defining ‘second-best’

Today’s focus is “the peril of second best” yet different people have different ideas of what that is. From three passages, the author of my devotional concludes that prayer, studying and preaching the Word of God take first place. His conclusion is that everything else comes second. But does it?

The first passage cited happened very soon after the formation of the church. Both Jews and Gentiles were coming to faith. The church was taking care of their widows and some of the non-Jewish believers felt that their widows were being neglected. To solve this problem, “the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’”

This pleased everyone, they choose seven men and the apostles prayed and laid their hands on them. Then the Bible says that “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:1–7)

The devotional author attributes this growth to the apostles who choose to do what they did best. I’m sure that was important, but that growth also may have been because those godly seven men stepped up and did what they could do. If Christians only prayed and studied Scripture all day, preaching or teaching whenever possible, who would make meals and care for their families? Isn’t there more to being a Christian than those important spiritual disciplines? God does ask me to sit at His feet, but He also asks me to do other things.

A well-known example is the second passage. Jesus went to Martha’s house. She “had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38–42)

Those Christians whose gifts are in serving usually miss seeing that Jesus was gently rebuking Martha, but not for serving. Note that she was distracted and anxious about it. This attitude is not the first-best that Jesus gives His people.

I’ve been like Mary. Sitting at the feet of Jesus is far more interesting than making lunch, but lunch has to be made and Jesus often calls me to the kitchen. For Martha, it was not the serving that Jesus rebuked, but that Martha was serving with a sinful attitude. She may have wanted to be where Mary was, which was good, but she also resented Mary for being there. She even began giving the Lord of Lords a rebuke when all she needed was a few moments with Him to make serving others a joy and not a troublesome task.

Serving Jesus and His disciples lunch is not second-best, but serving with resentment, or doing anything without putting Jesus as the cornerstone of my heart, is. Jesus calls me to serve Him with all my heart, to do whatever I do (even eating and drinking) as unto Him, and by His grace and in His strength. If I do things for myself, half-heartedly, and in my own strength, and resent others who are not doing the hard work that I am doing . . . then I’ve stepped into the realm of second-best. Tasks done for the Lord are not graded by what the tasks are, but by the attitude in which I do them.

Paul wrote to Timothy saying, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules . . . .” (2 Timothy 2:1–7)

Whatever I do can only be pleasing to God when they are done “as unto the Lord” – rather than for sinful reasons and motivations. Otherwise they are an entanglement. An athlete cannot be victorious if he ignores the rules of his sport just as a Christian must not ignore God’s guidance for our work.

Besides, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone, there is no ‘secular’ work. The sovereign power of God is able to use all things to benefit and build His kingdom. Second-best happens only when I leave Him out of it.