In his final article in this series, Nader has made it clear that our Christian life is about sacrifice, and we must be the hands of Christ to those around us. I hope you have been inspired to seek God more and to do His will throughout the three parts in this series.
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The Second World War was ignited by the fire of the sins of human pride and selfishness, and then extinguished by massive destruction and slaughter. Now in such a situation, in one of the German cities, two Christian missionaries were watching the ruins of the city, but they suddenly saw the statue of Jesus with his arms broken. So one of them said: "No worries, no problem, now we are the hands of Jesus." Yes, what a beautiful sentence!!! Yes, the hands of Christ!!! The hands by which Christ used for: carpentry, preaching, healing, calming the storm, expelling evil spirits, raising the dead, feeding people with bread and fish, blessing children, and purifying the temple of God. And finally, the hands that created the world were pierced on the cross by those He created, for our sake.
So how can we have this honor of being the hands of Christ? As always, the answer is in God's Word.
“But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Ephesians 6:10
“For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:18-24
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. For this reason, also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.” Philippians 2:5-9
“John replied, 'A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. 'He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” John 3:27-31
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time”. 1 Peter 5:6
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3
“For if anyone thinks that he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:3
So, in every culture we live in, whether in the West, where Christianity is often ridiculed, or in the East, where Christianity is often persecuted, we must be willing to sacrifice our time, energy, money, and lives for Jesus. And let us be witnesses for Christ and let the people see Christ in us because the Christian life is swimming against the normal flow of life in the world. Therefore, in Iran, despite all the problems, hardships, persecutions, diseases, etc., I take my eyes off them and look at Christ.
“Looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2-3
“For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
My people in Iran try to do good deeds so that they can go to heaven, but I do good deeds to show that I am in heaven. They just want to go to heaven and deal with God. They are right, because The word of God's love is not mentioned in the Qur'an. They are not familiar with the love of God and do not know that God is love.
“Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His Only Son into the world so that we may live through Him.” 1 John 4:7-9
But in the Qur'an it is the opposite. We read in Quran in Surah of The Cow verse 165: “Yet among the people are those who take other than God as equals to Him. They love them as the love of God. But those who believe have greater love for God. If only the wrongdoers would realize, when they see the torment; that all power is God’s, and that God is severe in punishment.” In this verse there is only a one-way relationship. They have to love God otherwise they will be punished. So, I pray to God to meet with my people (Amen).
Yes, we are now called in Christ, from every culture, to declare only God, not our works.
As we read in: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9-10
And finally we read:
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy Place by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood. So then, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” Hebrews 13:10-14
Nader, your little brother in Christ
GOD BLESS YOU. AMEN
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