SANCTIFICATION’S FRIENDS
1 Samuel 31:4b These circumcised people might come and run me through and treat me with scorn.
1 Timothy 6:3a If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not accede to them the pure words of our Lord Jesus Christ and toward godly teaching...
There are two sides to every coin, two sides to every argument, two sides in a competition. Whose side am I on?
In the Old Testament, the choices were clearly obvious; uncircumcised or circumcised. At the end of King Saul’s life, and after all his evil deeds, he did not want to fall into the hands of the enemy to God's people, the uncircumcised.
Fast forward about 900 years to the time of Jesus and we find the lines are so clearly drawn. Roman pagans ruled the known world and circumcised Jews wanted to overthrow the strong arm of Rome. These prideful freedom-fighters were nothing more than freedom-hopers, law-keepers led by ego feeding Pharisees. They hid behind the name of Moses as an auspice for holiness and used Moses like a sword to battle against Jesus.
Our New Testament hero, Paul, sprouted from this religious sect AFTER the Lord sat on him like a 2,000-pound gorilla in Acts 9. This rough road to Damascus won Paul over to the pure words of our Lord Jesus Christ (more on that later).
The coming of Jesus confused the religious order of that day. Jesus, a Jew Himself, represented the one true God, in direct opposition to the polytheistic (many gods) culture of Rome. Even so, Jesus came to fulfill the law of Moses.
But the new covenant, the pure words of our Lord Jesus Christ, is advanced citizenship. The narrow gate that leads to the center of Christ’s humility is agonizing (Luke 13:24), and the definition for ‘disciple’ was soon wiped clean, leaving room for the more watered-down version called the ‘Crowd.’
The Crowd followed Jesus all around the Galilean Basin in search of all the goodies in this Christological Horn of Plenty. Jesus brought a new excitement in the air. Health care improved to an unprecedented level for this disease-stricken era. Fish sandwiches seemed to multiply pretty much out of nowhere. Taxes due the government were simply taken from the mouths of fish. Imagine the health and wealth gospel came to life.
Sadly somehow, the invitation to imitate the holiness of Jesus was shelved, and the cross simply became mostly a Hollywood movie set prop ~ yet one more way to watch the cross rather than what Jesus said to do…raise it.
The pagans, Pharisees and the curious Crowd have treated that cross with scornful, uncircumcised hearts, using Jesus for their own selfish purposes. Apostle Paul, on a holy
quest, left behind encouraging words for those who would choose to raise a sacrificial cross as a Jesus imitating disciple.
Discipleship begins with a different kind of circumcision: circumcision of the heart. Romans 2:29 states, “Rather, the Jew is one concealed and the circumcision of the heart in spirit is not written, which the praise is not from people but from God.”
Flesh circumcision was the trademark of the Jew, while circumcision of the heart is an identifier of a disciple. This begins with acts of Humility, many times unseen by the naked eye, but praised by God.
Circumcision of the heart can only come from a raised cross which crucifies pride and ego. Then the imitation of Jesus begins, keeping strict His Twenty Commands which fulfilled Moses’ Ten. These are the pure words of our Lord Jesus Christ, encased in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, godly teaching at its best.
Once pride and ego are crucified, cross-carrying Humility and Righteousness are free to do what they do best – imitate Jesus, the trademark of a disciple. Anything else is a different doctrine.
