It is easy to lose sight of the fact that our God is the
only God. He is the creator of all
things in earth and the heavens. From
earth, we can look out 13.8 billion light years in each direction and it is
estimated that there are something like 300 billion stars in our galaxy, the
Milky Way, alone which is one of perhaps 100 billion galaxies in the
universe. We have a relationship with
the God who created all that, who created the physics, biology, chemistry and
mathematics that determines its shape, size, velocity, its fine tuning to
support life on this little planet, and He came to this planet and took on the
form of one of us in order that we might have a covenant relationship for
life. In all the universe, He looks
round in this reading and sees if there is another god tell me about him, I have
never run across him. How incredible is
it that we know Him as loving? Indeed,
if all this is in fact true, that He has blotted out our sins and redeemed us
then, “Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth
into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it!”
The people following Jesus are from a large area, from all
the way up north in coastal cities like Tyre and Sidon, roughly as far north as
Damascus in Syria and south down to Idumea, south of Jerusalem quite a
distance. The entire region is
represented in this crowd. It was an
overwhelming throng as Jesus had healed so many people and he was concerned
about being crushed as they tried to push forward to touch or be touched so He
ordered the disciples to get a boat that they might get out on the lake and
avoid the potential for harm. At this
point, He had to choose twelve men to be His disciples, men in whom He could
trust and to whom He could entrust the future.
We, too are chosen, not just for salvation, but to be His
disciples. What would your life look
like if you realized that blessedness of being chosen as a disciple? It was Jesus’ desire to pour into these men
everything He had, all the teaching, but also the Holy Spirit. Would you dedicate yourself to becoming a
disciple if you realized what an honor has been bestowed on you by the God of
the universe? It’s time to get serious
about commitment.
Paul reminds the Ephesians that they weren’t called to be
individuals they were called to be the body of Christ together. We have so individualized the experience that
we lose the importance of others in our journey and in the witness of the
church. When Jesus called the disciples
He called them to be a group not discipling them one at a time separately from
one another, as a group. Among that
group were fishermen, former tax collectors, and zealots. There wasn’t unity of mind and purpose
because Jesus chose a bunch of guys who were alike in their thinking and
dispositions, there was unity because of Him, they wanted to receive what He
offered them and they surely had to work out the issue of unity all the
time. We know they argued about who was
the greatest and when James and John’s mother asked that they be exalted. The church has to remember its call and
purpose and also its unity in Jesus if it is to be an effective witness. Remember who called you and then sort out
your differences and your importance.
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