Why Save Face? (Part Two)

Good morning.

(Yesterday I didn’t have time to finalise the editing of part one before I had to publish it, which I managed to do later. Those who had to read the unedited version in the morning, please accept my apologies.)

Did Jesus save face? Did He feel He maybe should keep quiet in case He embarrassed people or offended some with what He said or did? Did He consider certain actions, such as spitting in the mud and putting it on the eyes of the blind man, to be humiliating? When He was persecuted by the people He annoyed as He did God’s will, did He try to get out of it or avoid it? Did He compromise by following the rules of men in order to be acceptable to man and to keep the peace?

I’m thinking here of the time He told off the Pharisees in Matthew 15 and “the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?’ He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit,’” (Matthew 15:12-14) and also when He broke the Sabbath rules as it was interpreted by the religious leaders, such as His disciples eating corn from the fields and He healing a man on the Sabbath, in order to establish true values (Matthew 12:1-14 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2012:1-14&version=NIV1984). Have you noted the last sentence in this passage? “But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus,” (V14). Jesus did what was contrary to the accepted norm and risked the consequences of His acts for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

How about us? How many times do we just follow the status quo and the accepted behaviour, so that we won’t stir too much? Maybe you’re in a church you know doesn’t do things the way the Bible tells us to, and you just go along even though the Lord prompts you to speak to the leaders about their disobedience. Maybe you’re a church leader or pastor who knows you should do things differently, since you were convicted that the Bible commands otherwise, but you’re too scared to be unpopular.

Jesus was confronted with a worship system that became very twisted through years of human influence. The way God had introduced it originally were not followed anymore and Jesus knew He had to change it into the way God wanted it at all cost – personal sacrifice and inconvenience. It is prophesied about Him in Isaiah 50:4-6: “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

Through the years, since Jesus ministry on earth, the church has also adopted unbiblical and ungodly habits and activities. She has compromised with the world, has allowed a lot of human influence and carnal motives. One only have to compare what the Bible says with what the church does to realise we need more imitators of Jesus to bring about change once again. The Lord wants to raise up men and women that would not be scared of being unpopular, being persecuted and hated for being obedient, who would bring about the truth in a much deceived world. We can’t afford to save face anymore. Jesus went through it, His disciples went through it and He promised that anybody who would be obedient to Him would go through it.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” (Matthew 5:10-12).

Are you in on this?

Lord, I’m in. Please teach me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.