Individual calling; Know yourself



 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ ; that
every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that
he hath done, whether it be good or bad.-2 Corinthians 5:10
This calling of God  to the body of Christ is always  addressed to one person; a single  individual not multitudes.  God is so much pleased  when we come before His throne in a first person singular kind of attitude and say Lord  “ I” , it’s all about me and you Lord and  not the general congregation. Joshua declared that , “ As  for me and my house we shall serve the Lord.”  Joshua 24:15
  Even before we join the local  church we have to search through our own hearts,  for whatever God may do to a church, it must be done in the single unit, through one certain man or woman. Some things  can only happen in isolation, to the isolated, single person; they cannot be experienced in a mass. God deals with individual hearts as exclusive .
 If we know ourselves we will be capable of building  a lasting relationship with God, and this can only be achieved  through searching of our own heart and pleading with God to bring  our  awareness  the conditions of our hearts. Jesus said, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” Matthew 6:6
It is clear that from the very beginning, every prophet, every reformer, every revivalist had to meet  God alone before he could face the multitudes. It is important to work out ones salvation with fear and trembling   and this decree from Philippians 2 :12 is given to every single individual  who is called in to the body of Christ.
Jesus loved us with a personal love and gave Himself for us freely at the cross, He would be delighted if we; that’s His chosen ones would seek Him with a more   personal love; our personal response to His infinite love. Jesus wants us to trust Him. He gave  himself  to you and me as a personal savior  and a keeper from the power of sin.

Know yourself

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others : Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other : for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.- Luke 18:9-14

 But the tax collector stood far off and would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner”. The tax collector stood far off. What does this mean? It means to stand by himself, alone with himself and God.

Only when you are literally alone with God do you discover how far off you are. Oh, even though you are not as sinful as the tax collector, when you are alone with yourself before God, you also stand far off. And this is as it should be. For as soon as there is somebody between you and God, you are easily deceived, as
though you were not so far off. You too easily use a deceitful standard of measurement, the standard of human comparison. It is as though you think you could measure how far away you are, which, of course, is never that far. But the Pharisee also “stood by himself.” Was he not also standing far off? Yes, if he had stood by himself. But the Gospel says that he stood by himself and thanked God “that he was not like other men.” He did not stand by himself, for when we have others in view, we do not stand by ourselves. The Pharisee’s pride consisted just in this – that he proudly used others to measure his distance. He held this thought fast, in order to stand proudly by himself in contrast to the rest. But this indeed is not to stand by yourself, least of all to stand by yourself before  God.

The Pharisee stands by himself, the tax collector stands afar off – and yet, and yet, the Pharisee saw the tax collector but the tax collector did not see the Pharisee. When the Pharisee came home he knew very well that this tax collector had been in church, but this tax collector knew nothing of this Pharisee’s having been in church. Proudly the Pharisee found satisfaction in seeing the tax collector; humbly the tax collector saw no one. With eyes cast down and turned inward he was in truth before God. And so, “the tax collector went down to his house justified.

With regards to this tax collector, the Scripture says of all tax collectors and sinners, that they draw near to Christ – just by standing afar off they draw near to him (whereas the Pharisee with presumptuous insolence stood far, yes far off). Thus the picture is inverted. It begins with the Pharisee standing near,
the tax collector afar off; it ends with the Pharisee standing far off, the tax collector near. The tax collector went to his house justified. For he cast down his eyes; but such eyes see God, and in seeing God the heart is lifted up.

 To know about Jesus is one thing and to Know Jesus is another. Peter’s confession  is a clear understanding  of  knowing Jesus.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked  his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am ? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some, Elijah ; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. – Matthew -----16:13-19

Some say we are the Baptist we have found it, others say we are Lutherans, others Catholics, others Anglicans come and pray with us we know the way.  But what does Peter say, “You’re Christ the Messiah, The son of the Living God”  this was Peter’s sure confirmation  of who Jesus was and that should be our acknowledgement  of the son of God.  This individual who will profess Jesus Christ personally,  upon him will Christ build  His church, a church  with power over death and hell. A church with authority in heaven and earth.

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