WE BEAR HIS NAME

"WE BEAR HIS NAME"

Message:

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God."
2 Corinthians 5:20

PERSONAL TESTIMONY AND A CHALLENGE:

For 25 years, by the grace of God, I have kept my father's family name clean even though he himself has brought on it much shame. What's ironic is people know and associate me more with him. Why not just know me as my mother's daughter?! (Don't get me wrong, I don't hate him.) 

Oh well, life. 

But in spite of all the pain, I am still determine not to throw mud on the already muddy name.

HOW MUCH MORE NOW, that I am not just my earthy father's daughter! I am a child of God. All the more I will strive, by God's help and grace, to do my best to live a life in holiness.

FOR THE NAME I BEAR. FOR MY HEAVENLY FATHER'S GLORIOUS NAME! FOR HIS RENOWN, GLORY AND PRAISE! 

To the sons and daughters of the living God, will you do the same???

CHILD OF GOD/AMBASSADOR:

Yet to all who did receive 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. (John 1:12-13) So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26) So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. (Galatians 4:7) See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

If you believe through faith and receive Jesus as your Personal Lord and Savior, then you are a child of God. But your role does not end there. As a child of God, He has also called you to be His representative. This is the work God has prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

An ambassador is "a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by one country as its long-term representative to another." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)

We Christians are Christ's ambassadors. We are God's representative here on earth. We are not of this world for our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20) but we are still living in this world. 


When we say we live in this world, it doesn't mean that we should live by the standards of the world. We adhere a higher standard-the Standard of the Holy God. The Lord wants us to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (1 Peter 2:12)


In order to be effective ambassadors, we should have the qualities of the One we represent. Because God is holy, then we should be holy. 




This is what the Word of the Lord commands us:

"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (Ephesians 5:1; Philippians 2:15; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:2)

"Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who made you holy. Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy. You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. (Leviticus 20:7-8, 26; Leviticus 22:32) 




Why is it important to walk a blameless life??? Because we are no longer living for ourselves. We are living for God who has bought us through the death of Christ- His very life as the ransom.


When we say we are Christians, it's as if God's name is written over our head! 


WE ARE BRINGING THE HOLY NAME OF THE LORD. 


What we do will affect God's reputation. People(unbelievers) will judge God through us so we must be careful in every step that we take. One wrong move and people will associate and accuse falsely the God we serve with the deed. Be and ambassador of Christ who has integrity, whose walk is blameless. Therefore, we must live a life in holiness so that we will not bring shame unto the LORD.


People have great expectations from us. But what matters most is NOT DISAPPOINTING GOD. We don't want God to say what He says about Saul, "I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” (1 Samuel 15:11)




Does it really matter how people view God? Is God subject to judgment?


The answer is NO.


WILL GOD REMAIN HOLY NO MATTER HOW UNHOLY WE LIVE OUR LIVES; NO MATTER HOW AWFULLY AND POORLY WE REPRESENT HIM? YES. OF COURSE. 


God is still holy and God will remain faithful. No matter how people perceive or see Him, it will not change who He is or how great He is. But if we do care for the people who do not yet know God, for we are our brother's keeper, then we should live a life that will POINT PEOPLE TO JESUS.


NOT EASY??? Well, it is never easy and it will never be easy to live a blameless life-on our own. But by the grace of God, WE CAN DO IT!!!


"Heavenly Father, forgive me for the countless times that I have brought shame unto Your Name. Forgive me for poorly representing You when all I ever wanted to do is please You. I'm very sorry Father for the times that I have hurt You. Thank You so much for being patient with me. Thank You so much for remaining faithful in spite of all the things I've done. Thank You for loving me for being me. Lord, I know You are not yet done with me. Continue to mold me, use me. Help me live a life that will point people to You and not a life that will cause people to reject You. I want them to see how great You are through and in my life. I can't do this on my own. I need You. Always. In Jesus Name, Amen."




To the God who is not yet done with us; Who will continue and never get tired in molding us; and will remain IN LOVE with us in spite of our failures and shortcomings BE THE GLORY FOREVER!






Your sister (still under-construction) through the blood of Christ,




Rizeru

DETERMINED IN PURPOSE

DETERMINED IN PURPOSE

Daniel 1 

Message:

"But Daniel RESOLVED not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way." 

v.8

Resolve, according to Encarta Dictionaries, means "to come to a firm decision about something, or cause somebody to do this". It is a strong conviction. While the word resolved means "determined in purpose". So Daniel has a strong conviction or firm decision. He was determined in purpose. What purpose? The purpose of not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. Why? What about the royal food and wine? What's wrong with it?

Before answering these questions, let's have a little background about Daniel Chapter 1. What happened here?

"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the LORD delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand..." (Daniel 1:1-2) "The king Nebuchadnezzar then ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility--- young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service. Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. " (Daniel 1:3-6) "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. " (v.8) 

APPLICATION: 

Imagine all the expensive food in the world served in front of you; food cooked only for a king. It must be very tempting- the color, how it was prepared and set on the table, the smell. Even the plates, spoons or fork, it must be made of gold and silver. Who would want to refuse such privilege? To eat what the king eat, the very same food only fit to be eaten by the highest ruler in the kingdom, could make you feel you are the king himself or equal to the king when it comes to food at least. Maybe the other young men thought that way. Did it not ever occur to Daniel to taste the food by dipping his finger in order to know how delicious it was? Maybe those thoughts did enter their minds but Daniel and his friends did not compromise.

Daniel resolved. It was not just any ordinary or simple decision but a firm decision -a difficult decision to come up with and that cannot be broken.

If you were in Daniel’s shoes, will you decline? Will you refuse the offer? Think about it. You are from the noble family. You are used to eat delicious food. You are used to fine dining with chandelier above your head. But not this grand. Not the food for the king, the food at the king’s table. It’s a great privilege. 

But look what Daniel and his friends did! They exchange such privilege for vegetable and water! The food for the poor! The food for the servants and the slaves! So ordinary. 

I remember when my older sister Jovy was still a child and I was only eight (if I’m not mistaken), our mother cooked “guinisang kangkong.” It was our first time to eat kangkong. My sister asked our mother what will be our viand and when she heard Mama’s answer, she was astonished and somehow a bit disgusted. “Kangkong? Isn’t that food for pigs?!” I no longer remember if my sister ate that “ginisang kangkong” or not. She really thought that kangkong are only for pigs and not for humans. We had pigs and we fed them kangkong from Lolo’s (Grandpa’s) “kangkongan” –a marsh or something where kangkong are planted- so we cannot blame her for thinking that way. 

Well, maybe you think the same way. “Eww! Green leafy vegetable? Am I a goat?!” I know many people who do not eat vegetable. When I was a child, the only vegetable I was able to put inside my mouth was squash. So I believe most if not all of us can relate to this story. You know how difficult it was for Daniel to decide to eat the grass called vegetable and the tasteless and colorless liquid called water. 

Some of you may be thinking, “Why not eat BOTH the ‘vegetable and water’ and ‘the royal food and wine’? You can eat the delicious royal food, drink the wine, and eat the vegetable (as a side dish) to keep you healthy. Why not indeed! 

Daniel DID NOT compromise. He knew what the royal food and wine can do to him. It will defile him. It will make him unclean. 

Unclean food in the Old Testament: 

· Food sacrificed to idols 

· Foods written in Leviticus 11 

I cannot be certain what food exactly is the royal food. I am not a historian. ^__^ All I am certain of is that it will surely make them unclean and eating such food that could make them unclean is a violation to the Law of God- the Law Daniel so determined not to violate! He is an Israelite, the chosen people of God. He is from a royal/noble family. He was one of the young men chosen to serve the king Nebuchadnezzar. He passed all the qualifications e.g. without physical defect, handsome, etc. And he wants to keep that! He did not want to degrade himself. He knows the law and he abides in it. He knows what pleases God. He knows the heart of God. In fact, Daniel had a very close relationship with God and is even called today as the most prayerful man. Again, he didn’t want to defile himself. 

So what does this chapter has to do with us?

Just like Daniel, we Christians are part of a royal/noble family- the family of God. God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. Though we were imperfect because of SIN, He restored us and healed all our defects. We are now beautiful in His eyes because we are now cloth in Christ's righteousness and God who fearfully and wonderfully made us (Psalm 139:14) has wash away the mud that clung to us through the blood of Christ. And because we are God's children, we are meant to excel(show aptitude). 

You are no ordinary man or woman. You are above average for you are a child of God. Therefore, just like Daniel and his friends, we must also resolve not to defile ourselves, who we are, by what we do or eat (not just literally). We should not feed our mind or soul things that could make us unclean by what we read, hear or see.

GOD doesn't want us to be like Jehoiakim, king of Judah who "...did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done." (2 Kings 23:37). God does not want to deliver us into the hands of the enemy just like what He did to Jehoiakim. For three years, Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar's vassal. Jehoiakim who was king became a vassal or a slave, a bondman. He was king but he became subordinate to king Nebuchadnezzar. He used to be the superior or the boss but became lower than somebody in rank or status. All because of SIN. 

(We've come to the end of part 1 of this two-part blog post. In the next part, we'll be studying further the ROYAL FOOD of today, the devil's tactic called deception, what the Vegetable and Water symbolizes, compromising/conforming to the world and holiness. By the way, I don't own the picture. No copyright infringement intended. God bless! )