Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…One of my fondest childhood memories is recalling our church body being emotionally caught up in singing the traditional hymns. I always liked the iambic pentameter-style of writing, the simple harmonies, and especially the emotional rush I got from being part of that collective spirit. The piano was often out-of-tune; the organist would play her share of “colorful notes”, and often took great liberties with the printed rhythm, but that never distracted from our zealous praise and worship. I still find myself mentally singing, or if alone in my car, BELLOWING OUT those time-honored hits!
Today, I find myself not only drawn to the emotional impact of those hymns, but enlightened by the incredible power and truth of the words. Each one of those classic hymns can stand as a mini-sermon in its own right. Take, for example, one of my favorites; “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged, Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer.
To drive home the power of the very first sentence, I will direct you to John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” That display of faithfulness was the ultimate display of Jesus’ love for us. And that display was also God’s plan, “even before the world was created” (Ephesians 1:4), so that we could be sin-free and worthy to come into His presence and spend eternity with Him. Notice this was not because of anything we did, but because of what Jesus did for us.
When we make the decision to accept God’s Gift of Grace, we become a new creation, as explained in 2Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, anyone who is in Christ, is a new creation. The old is gone (meaning we are no longer slaves to our sin nature), the new has come. (we now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to empower us to live the life God planned for us long ago.) (Ephesians 2:10)
Think about the power of that truth. Now that we are in Christ, we inherit everything that resulted from Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross: our sins are forgiven; we inherit eternal life; we are gifted with the indwelling Holy Spirit; we are now worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes; we are grafted into His family as His children; we are the righteousness of Christ (only because we inherited His glory); we are heir to all the promises and covenants in the Bible, and we are heir to all the blessings in the spiritual realm. And because we are in Christ, Christ is in us. “I no longer live, but Christ lives in and through me.” (Galatians 2:20)
Galatians 5: 17-21 explains the power of the Holy Spirit this way: “The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and our choices are never free from this conflict. But when we follow the desires of our sinful nature our lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin.” Apostle Paul ends this litany with the following capstone, “Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God!” (my underline)
Now compare the stark difference in the results when we follow the Holy Spirit. “He will produce in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Apostle Paul’s capstone here is, “…but those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.” Galatians 5:22, 6:8
Now let’s look back at the hymn and to the rest of the truth presented in verse 1. “All our sins and griefs to bear,” and “O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we often bear”. Jesus told us in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.” For instance, when two oxen are yoked together, one is learning from the other. When we are yoked to Jesus, we are learning THE truth, and that truth will set us free.” (John 8:32)
Once we realize that the work was done by Jesus 2020 years ago, and we no longer have to work to earn God’s approval and acceptance, we can finally experience “rest” (or peace). This is all because we are in Christ. Our eternal destiny is sealed, and we have Christ in us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can rise above this fallen world to become God’s masterpiece. “For we are God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can NOW do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10) Now, add to that statement this exclamation point of truth. One of God’s many promises tells us that we are already victorious, because “He that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than he (satan) in this world.! Do you see that? We are already promised victory because we are no longer slaves to our sin nature. We can now count on the Holy Spirit to empower us to make decisions that are pleasing to God.
Let’s look at verse 2 of the hymn. “Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?” Absolutely! We live in a fallen world where the truth of God’s Word is challenged and marginalized at every possible opportunity. We live in a culture that has turned its back on God. The fallibility of human wisdom reigns! When we look at the Gospel of Grace as “the very power of God, to those who do not have the Spirit in them, it seems foolish…like a fairy-tale. (1Corinthians 1:18)
“But we should never be discouraged, because we can take it to the Lord in prayer.” God’s salvation plan is absolutely perfect. Our eternal destiny is sealed because we are in Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers us to rise above this world and become the person He created us to be. When we do that, we bring honor and glory to God.
“Have we found a friend so faithful… who will all our troubles share?” Absolutely! Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for our salvation! Only when we understand who we are in Christ and grasp the truth of that new identity can we begin to experience both the promised rest and abundant life. I encourage you at this point to scroll back a few paragraphs and once again compare the stark difference of life directed by our sin nature, and a life directed by the Holy Spirit. Then ask yourself which list describes your life??
The good news is… “Jesus knows our every weakness. He knows it because, as the Son of Man, He experienced the brokenness of this world. (Oh, did He experience it!!) He knows what we face as His followers. But even when we stumble…even if we fall, “we can take it to Him in prayer.” As long as we turn to Him as our source of strength, we can count on Him to empower us to become the person He created us to be. Wow! “What a friend we have in Jesus!”
Please feel free to respond to this message, and also feel free to “like” and share this with other social media friends.
May God Bless You Abundantly,
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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