New Year's 2012-- Are you Autonomous?

New Year's 2012-- Are you Autonomous?
           Are you Autonomous? Can you decide "for yourself" what is right and wrong and even what is "reality?"  Do you believe, "It's MY life; I'll do with it what I want?"
      Or to put it another way, Is Jesus "Lord" of your life--or are you? 
     The New Year is about to begin and that's when a lot of people take another look at "the basic questions of life": who am I? why am I here? where am I going? what should I be doing on this my journey through life? 
      We do well to do that because we are not self-created.  So we must take our place as a creature dependent on our Creator.  We are dependent for the very breath we breathe on God.  We know who we are.  We are creatures created in the image of God and thus of great worth, but finite creatures nevertheless. 
      That should teach us how to relate to God: accept as true and obey what He has given us in His Word because Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God." Mt.4:4
      And it should teach us how to treat other people, as fellow-creatures created in God's image--and therefore of great worth.

      The Old Testament pinpointed our problem 700 years before the coming of Christ.  The prophet Isaiah wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way. . . ." Isaiah 53:5  There you have it! we've gone our own way instead of God's way.     And most people are still doing it!  The good news is that there is a way out. That scripture continues, "and the Lord has laid on Him [Christ] the sin of us all." 53:6  Christ died for us to pay the penalty for our sins.

       But Christians, too, can "go their own way."  It's something that can plague us all our lives.  Do you pick and choose which scriptures you will obey and which you will ignore?  Then you're going your own way instead of following Jesus fully.  You must submit yourself to the righteousness and wisdom of God.

      It's true of course that not all scripture applies equally to us.  We no longer follow the ritual washings of the Old testament, for example, or their animal sacrifices.  Nevertheless we can learn lessons and principles from them because "all scripture is profitable. . . ." 2 Tim. 3:16

       But I'm thinking about principles and teachings which are obviously for all of us, such as loving one another, forgiving one another, serving one another, bearing one another's burdens and others like that.  Scripture teaches forgiveness and honesty and sincerity.  It also teaches the permanence of marriage:  "what God has joined together, let not man put asunder." It teaches the principle of the assemblying of ourselves together to worship God and tells us explicitly not to forsake that principle.  It teaches the principle of honesty and devotion to truth.  It teaches us that we must feed regularly on the Word of God as the Bread of Life. "Thy Words were found and I did eat them and they became the joy and rejoicing of my heart."  Are you regularly reading and studying the scriptures?  Do you "meditate" (think about) what God has said??

    You're not autonomous, but you are responsible for the decisions you make, the thoughts you think, the attitudes you have, and your own actions.  Don't blame it on someone else; you did it.  Facing up to our own responsibilities and at the same time realizing our absolute dependence on God is the way to begin the New Year.
    


     

That Christ may be all and in all 

       We stand in an unbroken historical line straight back to Jesus. And it is Jesus who many times attested to the truth and reliability of scripture as given by God Himself. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4 ESV And He was quoting Old Testament scripture when He said that. And in another place He testified, “the Scripture cannot be broken.” John 10:35 And in that wonderful scene on the Emmaus Road after the Resurrection, Jesus walked along with the two disciples “and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27 The Old Testament scriptures are about Jesus.

       The New Testament scriptures are also about Jesus—all of them. It was He who inspired them and gave them authority. Jesus told the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Mt. 28:18 ESV The night before He died, Jesus told the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit who would “bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” So it was the authoritative words of Jesus that brought about the New Testament. He told the disciples that they had two Comforters or “paracletos” “called alongside to help” first Jesus and then the Holy Spirit. “I will not leave you as orphans,” He told them, “I will come to you.” And He came in the person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit inspired or “God-breathed” all the New Testament scriptures as well as the Old Testament.

       So everything centers around Jesus Himself, including the inspiration of scripture, “that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Colossians 1:18 That's why we can sing, “From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.” Be thankful that you were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4) and that He gave us the scriptures and preserved them for two thousand years so that you were able to hear the gospel and were convicted by the Holy Spirit so that He brought you to Christ.

                                                               --Pastor Burnside