COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOUR

It is written that Jesus said in Mathew 11: 28 - 30 : " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light"

Mankind received this invitation from the Lord 2009 years back. Many have accepted this glorious invitation and have had their burdens lightened, their labors reduced and in the process, they have found rest for their souls.

The mechanism by which Jesus brings about this change in the life of a person who comes to Him is by teaching and revealing to the 'new born' child of God about Himself. Jesus says here, "learn of Me". Learn what ? The greatest nature of the Son of God is revealed to his listeners here.

"for I am meek and lowly in heart" The One created heavens and earth, the universe and all that is therein with one word, came to planet earth, an insignificant spot in just one of the galaxies of the universe.....He came NOT as the emperor or the President of the greatest nation on earth at that time. He chose to be born as the son of an unknown carpenter in Israel, chose to be born in a street side, and to be seen laid in a manger....all the details of His birth points out to the meek and humble nature of the Son of God as foreseen 800 years before His birth by the prophet Isaiah [ Isaiah 53 ]

Here, I want to contrast this character and attitude with the present age culture and civilization.

In Romans 1: 13 and 14, it is written " professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man,and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things".

Here we see a four-stage step by step degradation in the spiritual life of a man. First, he puts a man/woman in the place of God. There are many god-men and god-women whose claims for greatness and prophetic powers are accepted blindly by the poor, weary, heavy laden person who is seeking some consolation, some relief from the world's burdens. Pastors and preachers welcome believers into their congregations with the assurance, "we will pray for you and all your troubles will disappear, all your debts will be gone, your problems will be solved".

The poor weary christian finds that slowly the picture on the mantle piece is replaced by the beloved man of god who takes the place the heathen gods had in the life of the believer.

The next stages of degradation is when the prayers cease to be effective in solving the crisis, they turn to 'soothsayers' or modern version of prophets and prophetesses for an answer. They start looking up their birthstars and star signs to look for auspicious occasions and lucrative business ventures [ Aries, Taurus, Leo, Rahu....the list of animal and bird symbols that exercise control over the day to day activities of the average man is endless] and finally he ends up praying even to lowly creatures that CRAWL in the dust of the earth !!

Why does God allow such degradation in lives of man? The answer lies in the previous verse Romans 1 : 21 " Because, when they KNEW God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened"

Mankind, everyone, even the uneducated, knows about the existence of God from the nature. Psalm 19 :1 says "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork". So, even the unbeliever, the atheist, the heathen, the primitive natural man knows that there is a God who has created all these stars and constellations and galaxies and all that is visually seen.

Romans 1: 21 says "....neither were thankful..." . A proud and self righteous man does not accept the existence of God or the blessings that would have come to him due to the prayer and/or faith of his forefathers [ The Bible says in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20: 5 & 6 : "....for I the Lord Thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments."

Jesus faced the wrath of the self righteous Jews as written in the Gospel of John 8: 33 and 39, when they claimed that "we are the children of Abraham", and "Abraham is our father". They went one step further in verse 41 when they claimed, "we have one Father, even God".

Imagine !! They were telling the only Begotten Son of God, Jesus, that they too were children of God, being children of Abraham, the father of all believers !!

It was easy in AD 33 to become a Jew, one of the chosen generation and in the process become a " son of God" - the rite of CIRCUMCISION was a sign of the COVENANT given to Abraham by God, making his descendants a people set apart from the rest of humanity. Circumcision was to be a sign of a COVENANTED RELATIONSHIP with God. [Genesis 17: 1 - 14]

A covenant is like a treaty. Once we enter into a treaty or an agreement, there is no backing off from that. Our outlook, behavior, relationships, our attitudes all change after there is a new bilateral agreement between two rival business houses , or between two warring nations.

So when God entered into a covenant with man, He would not back out because He is Unchanging. But on the other hand, we, the second party to the covenant, often backs out, breaking this special relationship with Him.

Let us take Moses, the man of God, for example. He was brought up as the adopted son of Pharaoh of Egypt. He was learned in the martial arts, he was the commander-in-chief of the mighty armies of Egypt. Once, it is written, he slew an Egyptian [ Exodus 2: 11 & 12] for smiting a Hebrew slave. But the same Moses, after fleeing to the wilderness from Pharaoh's wrath, and wandering in the deserts Midi an, taking care of his father-in-laws' sheep for 40 years, met God face to face, a meeting that changed his life and destiny and brought him back to Egypt as God's chosen deliverer of His people from the bondage of Egypt which lasted 430 years.

In Numbers 12:3, it is written, "now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth"....see the transformation an encounter with God brings into the life of a man.

Numbers 12 continues to portray the special relationship that Moses had with his God. In verse 6,7 &8, God declares to Moses' sister Mirium, " if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him, will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of God shall he behold....."

The once arrogant and proud heir-to-the-throne Goonda had become a child of God !! The transformation was complete and absolute and GENUINE ! And God knew this....

In 1 Corinthians 10:1,2 , it is written, " ....our fathers...were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea..." .

But of the 600,000 men and their families [ a rough count puts the total number of the Jews who left Egypt in BC 1405 at 30,00,000 ] who followed Moses out of bondage, ONLY TWO ENTERED THE LAND OF CANAAN !! [ Caleb and Joshua] The rest perished in the wilderness...

They had some small flaws in their character even after they saw God's hand working for them; they had some defects in their nature which would not go even after they became God's people.

Romans 1 : 29, 30 and 31 lists 23 characteristics of the ungodly. Verse 32 says, not only have such people these flaws, they " have pleasure [ or admire or encourage] in them that do them".

To the Jews who came to Him, Jesus said " bear fruits worthy of repentance"

To the Jews who claimed 'Abraham is our father', the Holy Spirit spoke through Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Romans 2 :28, 29 " For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Churches practice baptism without repentance; forgiveness without genuine remorse; baptism without church discipline; Holy Communion without confession and absolution without commitment to a covenant relationship with our Savior JESUS CHRIST.

This is cheap grace sold in the market place at a discount or at throwaway prices. This is the doctrine of cheap grace which justifies the sin without justification of the sinner. This is the doctrine of cheap grace, all paid for in advance by Jesus on the cross at Calvary.

This is grace without discipleship; this is grace without the cross; grace without JESUS CHRIST, Living and Incarnate.

Jesus said [ Mathew 28:18, 19, 21]" All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world"

The MISSION is EVANGELISM.

ARE YOU AND I FAITHFUL TO OUR MISSION ? I PRAY THAT LORD GOD MAY BLESS YOU AND ME, ANOINT YOU AND ME , AND USE YOU AND ME AS HE WILLS FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

God bless
Motty