Take a moment right now and assess your life. Evaluate your needs. Go ahead… I’ll wait…
Now whatever your current needs are, whatever seems to be lacking, I want to tell you that the supply is already there. Whether it is a physical need in your body, such as healing, or whether it is a financial need, a mental need such as peace of mind, or even a spiritual need; the supply is there. The supply was paid for and done long before you ever had the need; long before you have even existed on the earth, your need has been covered.
Many times, we settle for mediocrity. We may receive one or two things from God, but then we think it is enough, we think that we have imposed upon Him too much already, or we simply accept things into our lives that are not needed… we tolerate things that need not be tolerated. There are many things that Jesus has paid to free us from that we have accepted as facts of life in our modern culture. I want to encourage you today that you don’t have to put up with these things any longer – there is a better way, made possible by Jesus Christ.
Most of us have been taught through the years that the order of things is that we serve Jesus, He evaluates our service and either accepts or rejects our service (and us) based on the quality of our service – and if He is happy with us, we may get a reward here and there.
We may not have been taught using those exact words, but the underlying idea is the same. However, I want to share with you today a different perspective… one that is actually in the Bible – because Jesus Himself says something entirely different than the common idea which I mentioned above. Take a look at Mark 10:45, as we begin our study today:
“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Matthew records the same statement of Jesus, but uses the word “servant” instead of “minister”.
Now we are probably familiar with this verse, however we should stop to examine what Jesus is saying here. And please do not misunderstand what I am saying… I am not saying that Jesus is not worthy of being served as a Royal High Priest of all creation. Because that is exactly what He is. He is indeed God… but what I am saying is exactly what Jesus says here about Himself. Him being served by us was not His purpose for coming. We tend to forget this in our modern Christian culture. In a real way, we have forgotten why Jesus came. We have become so wrapped up in serving Him that we have forgotten that we need Him to serve us: and that He actually wants to!
This is not irreverent in any way – this is in-fact acknowledging His very purpose! This is acknowledging who He is and why He has come. Look at what Jesus says again, because He is plainly telling us, He has not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many. This is of-course speaking of His sacrifice on the cross… where His own crushed body, His own shed blood, His own suffering and death became a ransom (which is to say, a payment, a recovery) for all who would accept Him. In short He came to minister, He came to serve all who would be truly humble enough to allow Him to serve.
You see, there is push-back to this idea, by those who try to claim that the idea of Jesus serving us is actually a prideful thing; but in reality, it actually takes real humility to acknowledge that we need Jesus to minister to us and serve us. Prideful humanity wants to say “I need to give to God, I need to serve!” but real genuine humility recognizes “I have nothing to give, I have no power to serve within myself”. This idea is repeated over and over again in the scriptures. Take a look at the previous two verses 43 and 44:
“But so shall it not be among you: but whoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
And whoever of you will be the most chief, shall be servant of all.”
Jesus is the greatest among us, Jesus is always the “most chief”, therefore He is always in the role of the servant. And notice that it is not a lowly position – it is not a demeaned status, it is the greatest and the most chief of positions.
In John 13:8-9, Jesus had begun to wash the disciples feet and Peter said “No, you shall never wash my feet!” but Jesus responded that “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Not only does Jesus want to serve, but we actually need Him to.
In John 4:7, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman for a drink, (which she never did give Him) and actually reveals to her that she has no real drink to give but instead that He has the very waters of life to give to her so that she will never be thirsty again.
In Acts 20:35, it is recorded that Jesus said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”, and we know from 1st Timothy 6:15 that Jesus is the blessed (definite article) and only King. The is the ultimate definition of “cool” as we know it – a King, who serves, and He does so from a position of perfect love.
He is always the most blessed one, He is the ultimate giver. In John 6:51, Jesus explains His gift:
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
And we have come to think of this as just referring to eternal life, but if that were the case, the Greek word for “life” here would be aiónios zoe. However, this here is just zoe, which includes all manner of life, including life for this world, life for this time. Strength in your body, youth, health and healing in this life. And this is where many of us are settling for mediocrity.
We have come to accept things in this life as they are. We have come to accept all troubles, all ills, all pains, all sicknesses and all diseases as simply necessary things to put up with without giving them a second-thought; or worse, we have come to accept them as being from God Himself. However the Bible has never said that God sickness, disease, pain, infirmity on anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. Why? Because as Deuteronomy 28 clearly states. Sickness and disease, and pain and infirmity, and all failure to produce good, are part of the curse of sin, and they are all curses which Jesus Christ has suffered and died to loose you from the bondage of them. John 8:32, you shall know the truth (Jesus is the Truth), and the Truth shall make you free. Romans 8:2, The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set (past tense) you free from the law of sin and death.
1st Peter 2:24, says that Jesus Himself, bore your sin in His own body on the cross… I’m so thankful that He did it Himself because I can trust Him completely. … and that by His stripes, you were (past tense) healed.
You see, it’s already done and paid for. He freely received your death so that you can freely receive His life. He freely received your sickness and disease, so that you can freely receive His health. He freely received your brokenness, so that you can freely receive His wholeness. He freely received your shame, so that you can freely receive His glory and honor. He freely received your stress and striving, so that you can freely receive His rest and peace. He took all of your lack, so that you can take of His fullness.
Now, question… do you believe it? People are so quick to believe the news reports and the reports of doctors, and all of the many negative reports of unbelief and fear and doubt in the world. Isaiah 53:1 says:
“Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”
The arm of the LORD is Jesus Christ, because He is God manifested in the flesh. The only report that matters, is the one that is founded upon Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross for you.
And I know that some people say “well, if I could see some healings and miracles for myself then I would believe!”, but that has already been proven false, in John 12:37-38 it is recorded that Jesus did many miracles in front of the people and yet they still did not believe. And before we get too much into the mode of scoffing at these people in the Bible, we should take a step back and realize that many of us behave the same way… we are very quick to belief all of the reports of the world… the reports of sickness, the reports of disease, the reports of doom, gloom and lack – however it’s time that we start of believe the report of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us, and who He has made us to be. The report that we are new creations in Christ and what was true for us before is no longer true for us in Him. What seemed hopeless before is not hopeless anymore in Him. Colossians 1:27, Christ in you is the hope of glory. This is not a future hope, this is not a maybe, “gee, I hope so” kind of hope. This is a confident, solid reliance on the truth that Christ, the Anointed one of God, Jesus the author and finisher of your faith and the mediator of a better covenant based on better promises is in you! And He is the absolute source of your glory!
Some may say “well, I’ve been a Christian for so many years and I’ve studied the Bible and I just don’t believe that” … and to that I say, friend, if you have not grabbed-hold of the truth of Jesus Christ, His Grace; His finished work for you, then you haven’t seen anything yet. Ephesians 4:12-15 says that we are to grow into Him, not in mere Bible knowledge, not in mere facts or trivia, nor in personal experiences which stumble many people and shatter their faith… but we are to be growing up in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and growing into Him. And that includes everything in every area – He who spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, will also with Him also freely give us all things. This is your reality in Christ.
It’s important to understand that this is not for some later time; we are not waiting for things to happen. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. (2nd Corinthians 6:2) Salvation in this verse is the Greek word soteria, which is an all encompassing word meaning provision, health, healing and protection. And God says that now is the time, today is the day! I talked to someone one time who was battling depression and I was trying to encourage Him that Jesus could set him free, and the man said “Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll be free of it one day.” and finally I said to him “What are you waiting for?” – You see, the thought of Jesus setting him free right then at that moment hadn’t even entered his thought process. However that is exactly what Jesus paid for us to have, and many of us just settle for mediocrity because we have been so conditioned by the thinking of the world and human mindsets that the supernatural seems far off, like it’s not even real! Yet it is more real than the physical world which we define ourselves by so very often.
Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus disarmed principalities and powers. The enemy has been defeated already. Some people like to say that the devil is getting stronger as time goes on… but no, we just keep rolling-over for a powerless, defeated foe, because we have forgotten what Christ has done for us! We are allowing ourselves to be held hostage and abused by a powerless foe!
I encourage you today. You have complete access to the Father, you have the authority of Jesus, and you have the power of the Holy Spirit. If you are content to choose to continue accepting things which you don’t need to accept any longer, than this study wasn’t for you today. If you are fine living in status quo, then this was not the message for you. However, if you are ready to stop living as if the devil is stronger than the one inside you, and you are done settling for mediocrity, then I am here to tell you today that you now today have everything that you need.
Jesus paid for you to freely receive everything, you are a completely new creation, all things are yours. Freely receive and give honor and glory to Jesus!