“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
2 Timothy 2:10 NIV
The Gospel
Jesus has made everything new. Not “will”, but “has”.
There is a parallel universe, occupying the same space and time as the one we live in right now, that He has made available to us. A universe where moth does not eat, rust does not destroy and thieves do not break in to steal (Matthew 6:19-20). Through Christ’s death and resurrection we can live in that universe today. Men and women of faith have been accessing it for millennia, all the way through the New and Old Testament. It is God’s desire that the version of the universe we live in now be completely overrun by this new parallel one. That’s why Jesus himself taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
“On earth as it is in heaven”. There is a revelation in that one statement that the mind cannot actually fully comprehend. When the angel appeared to the Shepherds at Jesus’ birth and declared “I come to bring you good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10), the shepherds had NO IDEA the extent of glory, the state of sheer euphoria to which he was referring. I am convinced that neither do we, here today. Great joy. What Jesus has secured for us is an existence of great Joy. Not just joy. GREAT joy. Selah.
There is a parallel universe, occupying the same space and time as the one we live in right now, that He has made available to us. Through Christ’s death and resurrection we can live in that universe today
The world as we know it is dead and everyone in it with it. Dead in our sins. But Jesus introduced a “resurrection” into something new. A new parallel universe. A new Kingdom. A kingdom of GREAT JOY! This ”resurrection” is available to anyone and everyone who would believe...
This is what drove the apostles of the New Testament scriptures. Listen to the apostle Paul:
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel,”
2 Timothy 2:8 NIV
Let me précis what Paul is saying…
Jesus, a man, like the rest of us, rose from the dead. This has changed the game for all of humanity because, being the first human to rise eternally from the dead, He has opened the way to resurrection into eternal life for EVERY OTHER HUMAN. This He did by virtue of the fact that He was not only Jesus, the son of man, but also Christ - the perfect, anointed Son of God. RESURRECTION IS A THING - AND ITS AVAILABLE NOT JUST TO JESUS BUT TO ALL WHO BELIEVE IN HIM. This is my gospel. This is my “good news of GREAT JOY!”
An All-Surpassing Cause
“for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.”
2 Timothy 2:9 NIV
Can I just address something here. We have talked a lot about suffering and dying to self in these posts. Its a tight rope to walk because Christians often tend towards a morbid preoccupation with suffering and death - as if they are an end in and of themselves. Please hear me clearly: resurrection is the goal. Kingdom is the destination. God is the God of the living, not the dead! Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly! The death part was only ever supposed to be a door. Our preoccupation is supposed to be the resurrection life! The thing that drives us:
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross…”
Hebrews 12:2 NIV
The thing we set our hearts and minds on:
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3 NIV
The GREAT joy of the kingdom compels us to say “NO” to all else. We know that to say yes to anything else is to forfeit resurrection life and the Kingdom. Our “flesh” doesn’t like to be denied, nor do the people who operate in it. Sometimes that leads to suffering, but Oh the joy of the resurrection life! Pay close attention to Paul’s language in 2 Timothy 2:9 above: What is it for which he is suffering? It’s the gospel! The good news of GREAT joy! He just cannot bring himself to take any course that denies the resurrection - that denies his resurrection - his participation in the parallel universe. Yes, notice how in 2 Timothy 2:8 he describes it as “my” gospel not “the“ gospel. Its personal. It’s what he believes and desires. His “being chained like a criminal” isn’t only a matter of rigid obedience to the call of God. There's a desperate, glorious conviction of his soul driving him, and he will not forfeit it, no matter what opposes it. In his heart he has decided that as long as the Lord sees it fit for him to draw breath in this world, he will stand until he sees the gospel vindicated as true in his life and in the life of the Church, for the glory of God. The mark of a disciple. The spark of an apostle.
You see it in how he says, “I am…chained like a criminal. But God’s Word is not chained.” As if to say, “Wonderful! Observe the power of the Gospel at work. See, I have reached a natural limit at the end of these chains, but God’s Word, upon which the resurrection life is based, has no limits. It will release me from these natural limits and what is more, it will infiltrate the whole world, unstoppable, giving resurrection life to anyone else who receives it and believes it! Ha ha! Behold the Word of God! Behold resurrection life!!”
The GREAT joy of the kingdom compels us to say “NO” to all else.
It’s the desperate, glorious conviction of his soul, and he will not forfeit it, no matter what opposes it
The Apostolic Call
So this is what the apostles did. They went from place to place, testifying to the truth and efficacy of the gospel. Calling men and women everywhere to repent and be reconciled to God, to escape the corruption that is in this world and to come into resurrection life. Their proof was their own lives, full of power and resurrection might as for the joy set before them they endured whatever opposition they faced.
There is something that happens when we allow the life of God to apprehend us by us not capitulating to fleshly pressures and counterfeit alternatives. What is actually happening in that moment is, Christ is revealing HIMSELF in His resurrection life in our lives. When Christ is revealed, when he is lifted up, He draws people to Himself. He unleashes His Holy Spirit, He breaks through limitations and strongholds in peoples minds and lives and compels them to come. He shifts atmospheres, He unleashes hope, He releases faith, and people’s lives are changed.
There is nothing more wonderful than seeing God supernaturally encounter someone and change their life. There is nothing more wonderful and there is nothing more important to God. If my standing on His Word, even through the pains of suffering will result in the revelation of Christ in irresistible power, then let me also say with the Apostle Paul:
“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”
2 Timothy 2:10 NIV
This mind aught to be in all of us. Not all of us are apostles but part of the role of the apostle is to mobilise the body to participate in the apostolic mandate - that selfless resoluteness to persevere through anything in order to see Christ’s life revealed in our mortal flesh so that that very life - having agency of its own - might reach out and touch those around us. When members of a community set their hearts to live like this there is an establishing anointing that allows a kingdom stronghold to take root in that community. This is an outworking of the gift of the apostle.
This mind aught to be in all of us - that selfless resoluteness to persevere through anything in order to see Christ’s life revealed in our mortal flesh
No Greater Love
“The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him [I will make Myself real to him].””
John 14:21 AMP
Isn’t that the cry of every believer? “God! Reveal yourself! Make yourself real to me!” We long to see His unfailing love rescue us. His mighty power contend for us. His saving grace transform us. His kingdom manifest in our worlds, as it is in heaven. That GREAT joy - we yearn for it to be our lived experience. The secret to having Christ ”reveal” Himself to us is written right there in red: keep His commandments.
Just as we are asking what constitutes His commandments in the New Testament, the very next chapter makes it stupidly clear as to what His commandment is:
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”
John 15:12 NIV
How did Christ love us? He humbled himself. Consumed by the joy of the resurrection life, He was obedient to the Father, even to the point of death, in order that He might come into resurrection life and in so doing acquire it for us, His friends - we who pursue Him. Verse 13 plainly states that there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for one’s friends in this manner.
When we think of laying down our lives for one’s friends we relate it to our relational interactions with them. Things like showing patience, kindness, not keeping a record of wrongs. This is good and forms a part of love as we die to self by preferring the next person before ourselves. Might I suggest there is more? The greater part is when I am facing a giant that no one sees but myself, and in that place where no one knows and no one is looking, I choose the path of resurrection life in the face of crushing odds, and persevere until I see the unchained Word deliver me in a liberating display of the revelation of Christ to me. In the moment of that personal breakthrough, a secret power is released that is food and drink and life for those around me.
God will reveal himself to us - manifest His GREAT joy to us - if we obey His commands, which is to love one another. And there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
May the love of God, who has provided for us GREAT JOY, cause us to love one another enough to lay down our lives and in so doing see Him manifest in our lives, in the power of unlimited, unchained, unstoppable resurrection life.
In the moment of that personal breakthrough, a secret power is released that is food and drink and life for those around me.
A Powerful Encouragement
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV
Here is something I have been trying to let seep into my mind, my soul, my heart, my bones, my pyjamas… everything!
If we died with Him we will also live with Him. Fact. Full stop.
If we endure, we will also reign with Him. Fact. Full stop.
This is a trustworthy saying. Fact. Full stop.
If we died with Him we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him.
What more is there to say. To those of us who may have lost sight of the GREAT joy, know that it is real and it is waiting for you. Don’t let go of the confidence you have in attaining glory as you live through trial. It will be greatly rewarded. This is not a journey of death to self. Death to self is a door. Though it is necessary, don’t allow it to be your focus. This is a journey of resurrection life. Set that joy before you. Jesus, the resurrection and the life. Soak in it. Drink it in like liquid air. Let it be the force that fuels your perseverance through the power of the Holy Spirit. Endure. If you do this you will reign with Him, however that looks in your context, and it will be glorious. This is a trustworthy saying.
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