Have you ever had your computer freeze? If not, you are lucky, because at some point or another most of us have had our computers or laptops freeze. I have a Macbook which I believe is pretty reliable. But even so, sometimes I’ll notice that I can’t click on anything and the colorful pinwheel is spinning relentlessly. I affectionately call the pinwheel the spinning wheel of death. It can be incredibly frustrating when you are working on something on the computer and the programs you are using stops responding. It was working fine and then all of a sudden the pinwheel of death pops up and everything is a no go.
Often when this happens the only real solution is to reboot your computer. In fact if you’ve ever called tech support or your 13 year old son or nephew for advice you will inevitably hear that you need to first restart your computer. It seems that restarting or rebooting your computer works the majority of the time and will fix most of your computer problems.
The problem of the frozen computer is similar to a problem that God had with the nation of Israel. And as a result God chose a similar approach and decided to reboot Israel.
In Mark 3:13-15 Jesus calls together His disciples. The bible says:
13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. 14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: Mark 3:13,14
Ellen White explains:
Jesus had called His disciples that He might send them forth as His witnesses, to declare to the world what they had seen and heard of Him. Their office was the most important to which human beings had ever been called, and was second only to that of Christ Himself. They were to be workers together with God for the saving of the world. As in the Old Testament the twelve patriarchs stand as representatives of Israel, so the twelve apostles were to stand as representatives of the gospel church. {DA 291.3}
You see while the 12 tribes [Slide] were originally organized as God’s special people over the centuries many of the tribes had become assimilated into the surrounding nations. In fact 10 of the northern tribes were for all intents and purposes gone. The samaritans, whom the Jews loved to hate, claimed to be their descendants. But the physical lineage of Jacob was now mixed with Assyrian blood and the blood of many of other nations. And to make matters worse the samaritans had lost or disregarded the truth about God and as a result their worship had become corrupted. Jesus corroborated this when he said to the samaritan woman in John 4:22:
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. John 4:22
The Jews, after their exile in Babylon, had returned to Jerusalem with the desire to preserve the oracles of God. But even they had distorted the scriptures. Jesus said to them in the very next chapter in the gospel of John in John 5:39,40:
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. John 5:39,40
The Jews, which were made of up of the only remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin, had missed the point of scriptures. They had missed the author of the scriptures. You could say that they were rigid in their interpretation and frozen in their way of life. Jesus knew that they needed a reboot. And so he told them in strong words in Matthew 21:42,43:
42 Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matthew 21:42,43
It was time for new leadership. It was time to reboot God’s people. And so Jesus chose the twelve and said:
18…All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:18-20
God has given His people a new purpose. Instead of waiting for the world to come to us He has called us to go to the world. He has rewritten the program for the church to share with the people of the world the good news of salvation and now in these last days the three angel’s messages. Do you want to be part of the rebooted church?
If you do then you need to be willing to organize into the ranks that God has ordained. The bible says in Ephesians 4:11-13
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Ephesians 4:11-13
We all have a role in this rebooted Israel. We may not be called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists or pastors but God has given us a purpose and a role. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 we read:
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28
Perhaps you are a teacher. Maybe you have the gift of healing. Perhaps you are the kind of person that helps everybody. You know I think this is one of the most underrated roles in the church. The apostle Paul says that God has placed some in the church to be “helps.” The word here means to help or support. This role doesn’t come with a title but it is the glue that holds the church together. It is the mortar that joins the living stones.
I believe that God loves it when we are the kind of people that just want to help: that just want to pitch in. One of my favorite sayings is attributed to Ronald Reagan who said:
“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don't care who gets the credit.”
Perhaps you are good with organization. God is a God of order the bible says and some of us are better at organization than others. Some translations call it ‘governments” and some “call it “administration.” We need administrators and organizers. But I want you to notice something. In the hierarchy of gifts presented here by Paul the administrators come after the helpers. I want you to think about that. If you want to organize and lead you must first be willing to help others. Too many times people with plans and opinions want to be the first to tell others what to do. But before you can tell others what to do you need to be willing to help others in what they do. You need to be a helper before you become an administrator. After administrators the bible places the gift of tongues. It is the last gift in God’s list of spiritual gifts.
By the way this illustrates that while speaking in tongues has it’s place there other gifts that are even more important. The apostle Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians 14:5:
I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. 1 Corinthians 14:5
There is a hierarchy of gifts but as Paul himself would go on to say in Philippians 2:3,4:
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:3,4
The newly constituted Israel of God is to be patterned after the master Himself.
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:6-8
God’s kingdom is not be set up as the kingdoms of the world. Jesus explained to his disciples:
25 Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;…
…27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:25-28
Do you want to minster to others the way that Jesus did? There is no greater calling. If you want to be part of the rebooted Israel than you and I need to be willing to help others before we tell others, we need to consider others better than ourselves and we need to be willing to serve others just as Jesus came to serve.
The apostle Peter tells the people of God:
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious….
…4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, mare built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:1-5
It is only when we lay aside our anger, our deviousness, our insincerity, our jealousy and our slander of others and come as innocent children that desire to know the word of God that we will truly grow as a church. And if we have really experienced the goodness of God then we will be able to come to Christ, who is the foundation of our faith, build up the church, intercede for others and offer to God our lives in a way that God accepts.
The rebooted Israel is built upon the character of Christ. If our lives are conforming to the pattern of Jesus’ life then the church will naturally grow. Do you want to be part of God’s rebooted Israel?
I want to close with the following quote from the Spirit of Prophecy. She says:
Why has the history of the work of the disciples, as they labored with holy zeal, animated and vitalized by the Holy Spirit, been recorded, if it is not that from this record the Lord's people today are to gain an inspiration to work earnestly for Him? What the Lord did for His people in that time, it is just as essential, and more so, that He do for His people today. All that the apostles did, every church member today is to do. YRP 316.3
Notice that she says that the work that the apostles did every member can do. She didn’t say every pastor. She didn’t say every elder. She didn’t say every board member. She said every member.
Do you want to reboot God’s church? So be encouraged. Let God restore your heart and you will be part of the Israel of God. A church of all nations, a church with a multitude of spiritual gifts, but most importantly a church that is built around Jesus. Amen.
Comments