Are you Jesus?

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,… Romans 8:29

All of us are conformed to the image of Christ and fellow workers with Him in the mission field. We all have gifts given to us to use for the furthering of God’s mission.

But how often do we think of the other? Are we inconvenienced by the things that others do that get in our way? Are we inconvenienced by the things that others want/need from us that keep us from furthering our own agendas?

You see the thing is we are all conformed to the image of Christ. So have you ever been mistaken for Jesus?

I received this story a long time ago in an email, but when I re read it recently I thought it needed to be shared. So enjoy the story, and live so others see Christ in you!

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago . They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding…

ALL BUT ONE !!!

He paused, took a deep breath, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, ‘Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?’

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.’

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister…….’ He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.

She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: ‘Are you Jesus?’

Do people mistake you for Jesus? That’s our Destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day-to-day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

No Fear!

no fearGod is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46, ESV)

No Fear! We can live a life secure in the fact that God is with us and for us!

He is our very present help. Our refuge!

He will be with us and walk with us through every trial and mountian we encounter!

He will always be with us and because of that we can live without fear!

Live as you are called…

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. (1 Corinthians 7:17-24, ESV)

You do not need to do anything to prove you are a follower of Christ to anyone other than follow Christ!

People were saying that you had to be circumcised. So if you were a Greek you needed to be cut in order to be a follower of Christ.

But the circumcision that God worries about works for both male and female. It is a circumcision of the heart and is not seen physically by other people except in the light shining through you that points to Jesus.

So do not think you need to do anything to make other believe you follow Jesus other than follow where He leads you.

appointed…

He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Mark 3:13-19, NRSV)

The 12 disciples. Or Apostles…

So Jesus appointed 12… Named here in Mark and 12 others in other gospels…

Which is interesting. We talk about the 12 disciples, but the list of names are different depending on where your list comes from. So how many disciples or apsotles were there?

Well given the actual meaning of the two words, there are as many as there are followers of Jesus.

You see disciple is learner and apostle is sent one.

All of us are sitting at the feet of Jesus learning and all of us are sent to show forth His love.

So go as a learner and one to tell of His love!

Do not fear…

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:4-10, NRSV)

Have you ever worried about what you are going to say?

I have all the time…

When I step up to proclaim the word of the Lord I am a nervous wreck! If I had to rely on my own understanding and powers I would not be able to do it.

But as the Lord said to Jeremiah, He says to each of us, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” You do not have to be afraid for I am with you and I knew you long before you were a twinkle in your mother’s eye…

Do not fear, for God is with you!

The plan…

So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. And they told him, “Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned; he could not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.” When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.” Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt. (Genesis 45:25-46:7, NRSV)

Israel, or Jacob, was not afraid to do what he knew needed to be done, because over his life God proved that He was with Him.

God told him to not fear, that Joseph would be the one to close his eyes after he died. That God was in control and He knew the plan.

Do you have that kind of relationship with God?

Do you know the plan He has for you?

What is keeping you from listening to Him right now?

Go

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb. (Genesis 12:1-9, NRSV)

Can you imagine being 75 and getting a call from God?

I want you to pack up your life and go to the land I will send you to. Pack up everything and go!

I can see the faces of the candidacy committee that would interview that person…

Really at this age? God is calling you to go?

But we have to remember that age does not matter to God.

God calls the person, every person into ministry with Him.

He has a plan for all of us, and that plan is the best life we could imagine, even better than the life we can imagine.

So be like Abram and follow God when He calls you to go, because it will be a wild ride and one you don’t want to miss.

Follow me!

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. (Mark 1:14-20, NRSV)

We see this and we should wonder why anyone would leave behind their livelihood to follow a person they just saw for the first time. What was it about this man that would make people leave their jobs behind?

What was it about this man that they would leave their family behind?

And the words here ὀπίσω μου (opiso mou) means follow me, or get behind me…

You see these are the same words that Jesus says to Peter, when he says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan…”

Following Jesus is not about having our way. It is not Burger King, you can’t have it your way and be a follower of Christ.

You have to see the back of His head and follow where He leads you. That is what it means to leave the nets behind and your family behind and come after Jesus.

That is what it means to cast nets for the Lord! Are you ready to follow Him?

undivided…

Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. (Psalm 86:1-13, NRSV)

Give me an undivided heart that I may follow you and devout myself to you…

How easy is it to have an undivided heart?

How many times are we pulled in many different directions?

But what is your focus in these times?

That is what this psalmist is asking God to give them, and undivided heart, so when I wander, I don’t have to wonder where my trust should be or who has my back…

God will preserve you and set your heart on fire if you will only set your heart in His hands! So trust in and rely on His love!

greater than these…

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. (John 14:5-14, NRSV)

I tell you the one who believes in Jesus will do the works He did and in fact do greater works than these!

If we follow Jesus, we will not only do what He did, but greater things…

So know that you have seen God, in the face of the stranger, when you are Jesus to them!

And continue to follow Him where He leads you and we will all be together one day!