When God speaks to Peter, James and John at the top of the mount of transfiguration, He tells them four things; “A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”” The Father tells them who Jesus is in relationship to Him. He tells them that Jesus is loved of Him. He tells them that He is pleased with all Jesus has done, and finally He tells them that Jesus has something God wants to share with others.
That exhortation may have originally been given to Peter, James and John, but by the very fact that it was recorded in the Gospel, we can know it was also meant for us. Every Christ-follower is in need of hearing these four things no matter how close they are to Christ (and Peter, James and John were certainly in Jesus’ inner circle), because all four of those things are tied to our Christ-likeness. If we are not like Jesus and becoming more like Jesus, they are in jeopardy. If we are like Jesus and becoming more like Jesus, they are well in hand.
To be in relationship with God, one must be part of God’s family. The Scripture says, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” This is not just the prerequisite of being God’s child. It is the means by which we have Sonship. All who receive Jesus become sons and daughters of the King. At that choice – when we repent and believe on Christ for the salvation of our sins – we literally set aside any prospect of ‘earning’ our way to or back to God. For the prince does not become more valuable to the Kingdom by doing anything, and neither can the princess become more beloved to the Kingdom by gaining a life skill. They are now part of the King’s household, and on that account their value to the Kingdom is already immeasurable. They belong to their father, who is the King.
So we have a Father-Son relationship with God Most High just as Jesus did.
Being sons (and daughters) of God, we must know we are loved, for any good parent loves their children. As Romans exhorts us, “If God is for us, who can be against us? […] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” So we are loved by the Father just as Jesus was loved by the Father.
Not only are we who have accepted Christ’s sacrifice for us now in relationship with Him and loved by Him, but we are the work of Christ (therefore pleasing to God). Moreover, we are well able to do the work of Christ on account of His Spirit at work through us. If then we are obedient, we must know that God is & will be pleased with us. In fact, to this point Ephesians says, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. […] For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
So we have a relationship with Father God as Jesus did, and we are loved as Jesus is, and God is pleased with us as He is pleased with Jesus. These things being known, we must also recognize that God has something to share through us, just as Jesus had a message to share with us.
For it is not that we share ourselves, but rather we that we share Christ in us, the hope of glory. In fact, it is this that Jesus commissions us to do. He said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” We share Jesus – what He said, what He did in and for us and what He is doing today in our world; The whole body of Christ sharing the whole Gospel to the whole world!
Amen.
Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but is instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person who belongs to the company of Jesus.
Elton Trueblood
APPLICATION: Intentionality
Who can you share Christ with today? Pray for them and for you and for that opportunity!