daily java

Daily Java:

Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.” (Luke 10:16 NLT)

When you are speaking in the authority of Jesus Christ and are speaking the truth, you are Christ’s representative on earth. If people refuse to hear you or reject your message, they do not reject you, they reject Jesus. And in so doing, they reject God.

This doesn’t mean that every time someone blathers out some idea that came to their mind that they think is the word of God that you should accept it. The passage means that when you preach the word, you are God’s representative.

What that means is that you stand in the line of all of the prophets and apostles and preachers and teachers that have ever lived. You are not alone. You are in great company.

Hebrews 12:1says that we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith. There is a line of people dating all the way back to Adam. When God told Satan in Genesis 3 that one day one would come that would crush his head under his feet, he preached the first gospel message.

From then on, people have preached and taught. They have lived and modeled that Christian life in their own lives. They have stood in pulpits in massive cathedrals and sat around dinner tables with a friend over coffee. They have lectured in universities and preached to small groups.

They have done exactly what you do when you speak about Jesus, however it is that you do so.

And if those to whom they speak hear them and accept it, they accept God. If not, they reject God.

In 1 Samuel, the people of Israel wanted a king like the countries around them. Samuel was the last judge of Israel. Judges were direct mediaries from God, helping the people with the presence of God in their lives.

Samuel told God that the people had rejected him as judge. God told him, no, they had rejected God as King. Just like in the golden calf episode at Mt Sinai, they wanted something that could be seen. As a King, God could not be seen. If they had somebody on a throne, wearing a crown, they could see him.

So they wanted the seen rather than the unseen. And they rejected God.

When you speak the word of God, people many times do not like it. They do not want it. And they will do what they feel they need to do to shut you up. But when they do, they are not just shutting you up, they are trying their level best to shut up the Living God.

It won’t happen. All you can do is your part.

One thing, though. If they try to shut you up, you stand in good stead. In Matthew 23, Jesus condemned the religious people of his day because they tried so hard to shut God up.

But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. (23:31-36)

You couldn’t be in better company.