Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Now here’s some insight and wisdom from a friend of mine:
Isaiah 61: 1 – 3 has a list of what we need to strive for as Christian adults:
1. Bring good news to the afflicted
2. Bind up the brokenhearted.
3. Proclaim liberty to captives
4. Proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
5. Comfort all who mourn
6. Give mourners a garland instead of ashes
7. the oil of gladness instead of morning
8. mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting
As a result these people “will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
My thinking is that this passage was saying to me that I shouldn’t keep my mouth shut when there’s something to say. When the Holy Spirit prompts, I shouldn’t hold back.
Paul did say, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” but a little further into this 2nd letter to Timothy he says, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be……..” Paul commands Timothy to “preach the word.” If Timothy holds back, he’s not doing what the Holy Spirit is leading him to do. In 2 Corinthians 9 Paul talks about running and boxing. These are things that he has the ability to either do or not do. This smacks of striving to me.
In Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan, don’t you think that His implication was that the priest and Levite had a choice of helping or not helping? That’s our choice, too. We can be totally born again and refuse the Holy Spirit. But we’re not Jesus who could not do that so He quoted Isaiah to his home town but you’ll notice that he stopped the quotation before he got too harsh.
The English word “strive” is used 3 times in the NASB New Testament: Luke 13:24 by Jesus, Romans 15:30 by Paul, and 1 Timothy 4:10 by Paul again. In the Luke and 1 Timothy references the word is translated from the Greek ‘agouizomai’ which means “To enter a contest: contend in gymnastic games, to contend with an advisory or fight and to endeavor with strenuous zeal to obtain something. (I like the last definition best.) In the Romans reference the word used is ’sunagouezomi’ which simply means to strive together or help one in striving.
That said, I believe that we can ‘strive’ to be and to do the things on the “list” spoken of by Isaiah and then by Jesus. Actually, though, in both cases, I really believe that the resulting production of their striving was the fruit of righteousness brought about by abiding in the Lord God most High.
I totally understand the implications of abiding in John 15:5, but …
We do have choices and part of the choices we have, even in our flesh, is to strive or not to strive, to try or not to try, to make the attempt or not to make the attempt. Granted, our success is totally based on our abiding but we don’t have to succeed (at least completely), now do we? We do have some say so in how much we allow God to guide us. When we give ourselves to him totally, he can then use us totally for his glory. When we hold back, well…., you know the result of that.
One of the things that I want men to see is that it starts with us. We have to yield to the wooing of the Holy Spirit. That’s up to us. God will give us understanding of who He is but we have to accept it before belief comes. In other words, we can believe IN God but still not believe God.
My own striving is to crucify (kill) this old flesh of mine that so easily entangles me and gets in my way of real intimacy with God. It’s not easy for me. It’s real striving, the way I see it. And it’s not the same as it has been in the past. My striving now is on a little different level than it has been. That’s because I’m more of a threat to the enemy than I’ve been before. I some kind of dangerous dude, if you get my meaning.
But, I need to keep in shape like Paul said when he talked about beating his body into submission. That’s my striving. And I have my good days and I also have my not so good days. Understand that I’m not talking about God’s ability to save or to empower or anything, for that matter. I’m not talking about His ability at all. I’m talking about my ability, my power, my strength. Of course, with Him I have more ability, power and strength, but I do have to choose to abide, don’t I? – J.H., August 18, 2008
August 20, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Wow! I didn’t know that you were going to publish all the ranting and raving of a right-wing-religious-fringe-lunitic. You shudda warned me.
Love ya brother.
August 21, 2008 at 9:52 pm
I noticed that, of the 8 things on the list in Isaiah 61:1-3, the first is simply an overview of the rest, numbers 3 & 4 are declarative (things we speak or say), and the rest (5 I believe) are things that we do.
I was thinking about that today and was wondering, “Are the people around me seeing the Gospel?”
We all are familiar with the famous quote of St. Frances, “Everywhere you go preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”
Of course, the implication is that we should practice the Gospel message, not just preach it. (There’s another of those old adages if I ever saw one.)
But I’m wondering about how I do it. Am I satisfied with just speaking to people about Jesus or is there another way to bring people into a relationship with Him?
Just some odd musings….
What do you think?
August 22, 2008 at 7:09 am
I think they appear to be odd musings … but are actually loaded questions! And good ones. Many people can talk about Jesus – few talk about Truth. The Long answers will fill up a book!
Acts 28:23 says that “When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.” Paul took ALL DAY to testify about the “Kingdom” and about Jesus.
Jesus is quoted referring to the Reign of God over 100 times in the 4 Gospels.
And because I rarely have from morning until evening to testify about the Kingdom and persuade them, Kay Arthur’s question comes to mind: How do you walk the talk you talk? How do you get unbelievers to see the “Gospel”? (I am gong to assume you meant the “Kingdom Gospel”, Sir)
“We are asking unbelievers to change their entire view of reality—the fundamental way in which they see life. We are asking them to move from one worldview to another, to forfeit their basic beliefs and assumptions about religion and morality. This may take time. A relationship with a committed Christian can be vital in order for their questions to be answered and their doubts to be removed, and to help them rethink their former beliefs, goals, and aspirations.
We must also realize that as Christians, we are always on stage before unbelievers. Many people watch for opportunities to point out and criticize our failures. Paul warns in 2 Timothy 3:12 that ‘everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’
“But non-Christians also watch to see how we respond to life’s challenges. This can make a tremendous impact on unbelievers. If we demonstrate through our lifestyles that we possess an inner strength and peace of mind that the world can’t offer, Christianity can become extremely appealing to people who have never been responsive to direct witnessing (proclamation).
The principle here is this: The life a Christian lives in the presence of an unbeliever acts as a preview to what an unbeliever will see his life becoming if he becomes a Christian. If we are legalistic, condemning, or self-righteous, a non-Christian will not want to become a Christian because that is what he will see himself becoming if he does.”
As Dan Storey says, “unbelievers will choose to accept or reject Christianity on the basis of what they see—not what they hear.
This requires applying the principles of lifestyle evangelism.
Is there another way to bring people into a relationship with Jesus besides just talk? Oh, yes Brother, Most definitely there is!
August 22, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Philip asked Jesus to show them (the disciples who were there) the Father. Then Jesus commenced to tell them what the Father was like so they would understand the Father. He said,
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative….”
So Jesus was telling them that the WORDS that he was speaking inspired by the relationship that Jesus has with the Father. Right? (I’d be glad to comment more on this at another time.)
Then Jesus says something that is seemingly off the subject of speaking for the Father or by the Father. Jesus says this,
“…but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”
Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “the Father abiding in Me says His words.” Jesus had already alluded to that. Here Jesus is saying that not only is he inspired to say what’s on the Father’s heart but also to DO the things that are on the Father’s heart.
He proves that by what he says in the next 4 verses (John 14:11 – 14)
My conclusion is the same as what Jesus talked about in the next chapter of John in the first 5 verses – fruit.
August 22, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Aaaah! I have now come “full-circle” so to speak. Words, inspired by the Holy Spirit, accompanied by “the Father abiding in Me…” is spot on!
Just talking or speaking about Jesus is not enough. Uninspired words, from whose lifestyle does not reflect a Biblical world view, have no power to transform or be a catalyst to lead people into a relationship with Christ.
“My message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”(1 Cor 2.4) “For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” (1 Cor 4.20); and that, in my humble opinion, brings me to … fruit.
J.H., my friend, you are now published. And I believe you are a Kingdom man inspired by the Holy Spirit.
See my next post … about how I have come “full circle”.
August 23, 2008 at 3:26 am
I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
I wonder why others don’t wade in. The water’s fine. Remember, to walk on the water, you first have to get out of the boat.
October 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The url of my blog is http://jeraldd.wordpress.com/
Let me know what you think.