Often we as humans get things backwards. We think that who we are comes from what we do. The Lord seems to place a greater emphasis on who we are first and then on what we do. Jesus spent thirty years becoming who He was before He spent about three years doing what He did.
“And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Luke 2:52.
Jesus had to learn obedience.
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” Hebrews 5:8.
Jesus lived thirty years on earth unrecognized and unknown seeking to be pleasing to the Father.
When Jesus came to earth as a human, He emptied Himself and laid aside all of His God powers.
“who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8
He lived in submission to the Father and it was the Father’s work that was done through Him. It was the Father’s power that did the miracles and it was the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus trusted the Father completely and lived by faith in what the Father had promised Him.
“that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;” Romans 10:9
Jesus did nothing on His own initiative. He did not do His own will but only the will of the Father.
“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 5:30.
Jesus had to learn the Father’s will and Jesus was taught by the Father.
“So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” John 8:42.
Jesus was a disciple just as He as taught us to be a disciple. Jesus had to learn the Word of God in the Old Testament Scriptures. We must first learn to listen to the Lord’s Words before we speak the Lord’s Words.
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” Isaiah 50:4
Jesus was well pleasing to the Father before He did anything. His worth was in who He was in the Father’s eyes and not in what He did.
“and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Matthew 3:17
Jesus told His disciples that their joy must be in their relationship with God and that their names are recorded in heaven and not in what they do or how fruitful their ministry was.
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Luke 10:20
Jesus chose His disciples first to be with Him and then to preach. Jesus chooses us to be with Him first before we do anything for Him. This needs to be the pattern of our lives. There is an old saying that has much truth in it. “Before we talk to men about God, we must first talk to God about men.”
“And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,” Mark 3:14
Jesus praised Mary for choosing the good part, that is, for choosing to be with Him rather than serving Him.
“but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42
The first of the apostles who was martyred was James. James was one of the three that was with Jesus in His most intimate times. Peter, James and John were the three closest to Jesus. We know some of what Peter and John did after the resurrection and we are familiar with the books that John and Peter wrote, however, nothing is spoken of what James did. In our minds we might think that it would have been a better choice to choose one of the lesser known apostles rather than James who was a main leader. However, if the Lord chose James just to be with Him, is there anything greater?
Also, it does not seem that the Lord is concerned with the length of our ministry and work for Him as He is with our availability. In the story of the servants going out to work for the day, the landowner gave the same pay to the one who only had worked one hour as he did to those who worked the full day. However, the one who worked only one hour had been waiting and hoping all day that he would be given some work to do.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ Matthew 20:1-12
The work we do in the Lord’s name is important as He says that we are His workmanship prepared for good works that He has prepared beforehand. He wants us to walk in the good works that He has already created for us. He says if we are to serve Him then we are to follow Him and He will lead us into those works.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
When we do His work in His timing and in His way then He receives the glory and we share in the joy. These works must be done after He has done His work in us, for we are His workmanship. When we live according to His ways and seek Him first then we are protected from our biggest enemy of all and that is our pride. It is our pride that makes us want to be somebody because of what we do. The Lord calls this wickedness when we worship the work of our hands, whether it is something in the world or it can even be in ministry.
“I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.” Jeremiah 1:16
We must worship the Lord and the Lord alone. We must receive our worth from Him and from Him alone. We must be with Him first and then do what He has called us to do.
“For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Matthew 4″10b
Instructions To A Young Life 