30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 24 9-12 MEETING THE RISEN LORD 02 09Mar2022 Luke 24 09 Worshipping God in spirit and in truth
📖 Luke 24:9-12
02 – 09Mar2022 – Worshipping God in spirit and in truth - Luke 24:09-12 - MEETING THE RISEN LORD - Bible reading: John 4:23-24
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that as You meet with us as the risen Lord, You teach us such powerful lessons. We thank You. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.”
The women had encountered the risen Lord, for they believed. They were going through a mix of joy and fear and they were on a mission to bring word to the disciples that Jesus had risen.
The audience to whom they were sent with this message of the risen Lord, should have welcomed their message for they should have been expecting the Lord to rise again. The response that the women experienced, from the disciples, of this life-transforming message was one of disbelief. Consider the feelings of the women at the response of the disciples.
As God’s messengers, we must be prepared that the audiences to whom we are sent with the message of resurrection, may not receive our message, enthusiastically. We must be prepared that our audiences may actually be aggressively intolerant to the good news.
Luke 24:9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest
As the women went to bring word to the disciples that the Lord had risen, He met with them.
Matthew 28:9-10 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. (10) Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."
His first lesson to the women was, ‘Rejoice’.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Is it possible to rejoice always?
Yes, it is possible to rejoice always since it is rejoicing IN the Lord. This is the secret to rejoicing. Whatever the circumstances may be, in our spirits, we can rejoice, for we are IN the resurrected Jesus.
The women rejoiced and they worshipped the Lord. Rejoicing in Jesus, leads us to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (24) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
We can only worship the Lord, from our spirit, when we are rejoicing always in the resurrected Lord.
If we are not rejoicing in the resurrected Lord but always full of fear, anguish and heaviness then our worship of the Lord is only an outward ritual. We may have different forms of worship but if there is no rejoicing in the Lord always, then, that worship is not pleasing to God.
The Lord encouraged the women not to be afraid. This was the second lesson as the women met the risen Lord.
Whatever our fears or doubts may be, the Lord is calling us not to be afraid. When we love the Lord all our fears are cast away. This is the principle that must be embedded in us.
I John 4:18-19 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (19) We love Him because He first loved us.
God has loved us first and we are to reciprocate by loving Him in return. The question is, “How do we love God?”.
Loving God is demonstrated when we put aside all our fears. Just by saying with our lips that we love God but we continue to nurse fears and doubts, it shows that we do not love God at all. The Lord’s message to us is, “Do not be afraid”. Our response of loving God is by casting our fears on Him.
The task entrusted with the women was to tell the disciples, His brethren, that He has risen and they are to meet with Him. This is the third lesson from the risen Lord.
The Lord was reaching out to His disciples as His brethren. The women had believed that Jesus had risen but the disciples had not. Just because they had not believed that He had risen, did He cut off His relationship with them? No! They were His brethren.
This is the love of God. I John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
This is how the church is expected to be. We are to be people who love one another. This is love, which is to love even when there is no response of warmth from the other party.
Love is not a theory but an action. Loving one another is not by words but by serving and in deed.
I John 3:18-19 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (19) And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
Loving in deed, those who do not reciprocate, confirm that we are of the truth.
This is true worship of God, which is to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Spirit worship is when we are rejoicing in the Lord always. Truth worship is when we love the unloving by serving and by action.
Thought to ponder
When we meet the risen Lord, He changes us, at our core.