Remarkable
Old men know better than to make New Year’s resolutions. They have learned not to make promises they can’t keep. A resolution means to determine to find an explanation or a solution to a problem. Resolution can also mean the act of determining to do or not do something. They say hindsight is 2020. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. However God’s foresight is 2020. He knows the end from the beginning but we don’t. As we look back on 2019 there are many things that we should or should not have done. As we look forward with the comfort of God’s 2020 foresight, we’re encouraged by Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision the people perish (they wander aimlessly), but he that keepeth the Law (the word of God) happy is he.”
What does God hold for us in the coming year? When Pete asked God that question many years ago, the word that came to mind was “casual.” The word that defines Christian men in church today is casual. Casual is followed in the dictionary by the word casualty. Casual Christians are casualties in the spiritual battle.
When Pete asked God for a theme to focus on for 2020, the word that came to mind was “remarkable.” This past year there was a message about the meaning of the word “remarkable.” What’s remarkable about our calling? Matthew 9 is about the gospel of the harvest. Seeing the people, Jesus felt compassion for them because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd. He looked to his disciples, and prayed, “God, send out workers into the harvest for the harvest is plentiful but he laborers are few.”
Pete was ministering to a young man in Texas who was contemplating what he should do next in service to God. The young man had been married for one year and was longing for the “good old days” when he was involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in full time Christian service. Pete encouraged him, “Your ministry is to your wife. She is your mission field. God calls us to seasons of life with different priorities. There’s a season to plant, to fertilize, to weed, to water and then to bring in the harvest.” Ecclesiastes 3 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Christians are remarkable in that God has separated them from a world of darkness. According to 2 Corinthians 6, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
Holiness is to be separated according to the designer’s design. We’re separated from the world when we’re called to holiness, separated unto Him. We’re separated with a new spirit and a new nature. Therefore be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. The holy spirit in us is Christ in us the hope of glory. In the spirit of Christ we’re remarkable. We have the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We’re born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible. We’re remarkable because we’re uncommon or extraordinary. Remarkable is easily noticed as outside of the world’s norm. Remarkable makes others want to investigate the reason for what makes us unique. The diseased sheep in the bad shepherd’s pasture look at the good shepherd’s pasture and say to themselves, “I want to be in that shepherd’s flock.” The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures, He restoreth my soul….
There is a strong family resemblance between fathers and sons. Those outside of the family notice something special, something remarkable about those who belong to their Heavenly Father.
Remarkable is what the multitude at the temple in Acts 2 noticed about the Apostle Peter at the day of Pentecost. They noticed that Jesus’ disciples spoke with power and authority even though they were lowly Galileans. For God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Remarkable goes beyond what is required or necessary. Remarkable men show integrity in their workmanship for God’s glory. They exceed in excellence and hold themselves to a higher standard. Remarkable men separate themselves from the world’s norms. They are unusual in a welcoming way. God said, don’t touch what’s unclean and I will welcome you in the way of the Lord.
When you look unto Jesus, people who love darkness instead of light will say you’re illogical, foolish, crazy and bizarre. In Acts 2 Peter said to the leaders of the temple on the day of Pentecost, “Him (Jesus Christ,) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”
What was remarkable on the Day of Pentecost remains remarkable in 2020: The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection was the power of God unto salvation made manifest. This is the gospel message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (made whole.) God has called us to plant and water the seed of his word, the gospel message, in the mission field to which he’s called us. In due season we shall reap if we faint not. Therefore, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
As we approach 2020 with God’s remarkable holy calling, may we ever live to the praise fo the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
MIchael