Lessons From a Brash Request

Several days ago I was reading through Mark 10. Verses 35-37 were amusing to me. Here’s what they say:

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

I find this amusing only because of their audacity and brashness before the rest of the disciples. It appears to be some sort of a power grab on their part. And they’re doing it right in front of the rest of the disciples. Forget about doing it with any degree of stealth or tact – no – they just come out and say what they want without regard for anyone else. I suppose that in itself is admirable. Candor , even when abrupt, is better than secrecy and stealth. But I digress.

There are two things wrong here. First, they want Jesus to be their own personal genie.

“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

Second, they want power and authority which they do not deserve.

“Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

Neither of these are things we should pursue as believers. They are actually behaviors which go against the grain of what God teaches us in the Scriptures. We should never demand that God do anything for us and we should never crave authority and position.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, though. There is one redeeming quality in their request, and I hope it is something that sinks deep into your heart. The redeeming quality of James’ and John’s request is that they asked for proximity. They wanted to be right next to Jesus. At least in my mind, it gives me cause for compassion toward their request. And so it should be with us.

There are far too many Christians in the world who want the benefits of being born again, but could care less about their proximity to Jesus. Can I say something here that might anger some people? I’ve got news for everyone. A desire for close proximity to Jesus is one of the marks of truly being born again. If you can honestly say you don’t care about your proximity to Christ but yet still claim to have been born again, you are a liar and the Truth isn’t in you. The Psalmist doesn’t say for nothing:

“25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28 But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.” – Psalm 73:25-28 (emphasis added)

Forgive me for my blatant candor, but this is not a topic that should be confronted with delicacy and tact. We all need to be shaken out of our slumber. It is my conviction that in the American church there are more lost people who think they are saved than truly saved people. In my mind, it is the best explanation for why the church is so bereft of the Holy Spirit’s power. It is my prayer for everyone who reads this that we become serious about our proximity to Jesus. It is also my prayer that if you have been in church for a long time and have never considered your proximity to Jesus that this brief blog entry would cause you to think and examine your own condition of heart before God.

Hope you’ll come back again.

Assurance

Something that has been a pet topic of mine for a while now is the issue of true conversion. Maybe because for a long time I struggled with whether my conversion was genuine. I mean, without going into the minutia of the details, I had two false alarms prior to being genuinely converted. And yes, with both false alarms, I was baptized. Imagine how it feels to come before the church for the third time to be baptized. “Really, it’s for real this time.” I must have seemed like the boy who cried wolf to everyone. And even after it happened for real, the doubts still raised their ugly head. Finally I stand before you today with assurance. It didn’t come all at once, but once I understood how to have assurance, I have never forgotten. I will tell you the secret to assurance of salvation.

First of all, it has nothing to do with what other people think. I guarantee you that if you go up to your church friends and ask them whether or not you are saved, they will do their best to affirm you – unless you have really mean friends. But the fact is that we are capable of great acts of masquerading around people. We’ve all done it and some of us have become exceedingly proficient at doing so. Only you can know the absolute truth about your salvation.

Secondly, it has nothing to do with how your feelings. Feeling saved, is not a great basis for assurance because you will go through times in life where you don’t feel saved. Faith is not an emotion, it is a gift we receive from Christ, and therefore is not dependent upon a particular emotion to exist.

The real secret to assurance is fruit. Jesus says this about fruit in Matthew 7:

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

This tells us that we know we have faith, if we have good fruit. A good tree will always bear good fruit. In this metaphor, Christ is the good tree. If you are in Christ, your life since your conversion will have a history of good fruit. Yes we stumble, and every moment of life will not all be moments of bearing good fruit. But the trend will be that there is good fruit – the fruit of righteousness.

Philippians 1:9-11 – “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Is there a marked display of good fruit in your life? Can you look back over your life since the day you were saved and see the fruit of righteousness at work, in spite of the pitfalls? If so, then take assurance that your salvation is sure. If not, you should take this moment to examine yourself to see if your “election and calling” are sure. What a tragedy it would be to arrive before the judgment throne of God thinking everything is peachy, when the reality is that you are naked, you are guilty, and you are heading straight for eternal hell. If you hear His voice, listen to His voice today, for today is the day of salvation.