BusinessDay 15 April 2018

Sunday 15 April 2018 C002D5556
BDSUNDAY
29
Inspirations
FUNSO JOHNSON ODESOLA
Crossroads of suffering
WHe is able to succour them
that are tempted (Hebrews
2:18). The picture here is that of a
stronger deliverer running to the
rescue of the weak “He is able to
run up to the aid of those who are tempted.” Not
only does he lend his ear – he gives his hand. Not only
does he see their distress. He runs to relieve it. He
is more than a match for the most aggressive battalions.
The very sight of his advance is a sure sign
of victory. The very gaze of His eyes is the promise
of deliverance.
“Those who are being tempted.” It is an accurate
description of all disciples. It expresses a fact of
Christian experience which is at once universal and
definite. Even those who feel themselves immune
from temptation are but showing their tempted
condition by such presumption! From the earliest
moment to the latest hour of conscious experience
we are warring against unseen foes. From the cradle
to the grave we are aware of the fingers that try to
touch us in the dark.
Temptation in itself is not wrong; let us find
comfort in this fact. The marks of violent temptation
are not the marks of declension; they are marks of
sensitiveness. The nearer to God the more aggressive
the enemy becomes. The more consecrated
the attitude the more bitter the persecution.
Many young disciples are disappointed because
they have more trouble from Satan than before
they were converted. Quite a number of them
were surprised why these should be so. It is not at all
abnormal, it is normal phase of experience. Before
conversion the spiritual nature was dull, sleepy, and
dead. Sin hard no sting, temptation no struggle; no
battle. But after conversion the spiritual nature is
quickened; the soul is alive; the mind is spiritually
The preface of triumph (4)
alert. Not only is sin revealed, but danger of sinfulness
is manifested. Life now becomes a battle
field, where conflict has to be waged. What hitherto
stood on natural ground, friendly ground, now
stands as an avowed enemy; temptation becomes
perpetual warfare. It is not the man who is aware of
his proneness to temptation that is warned, but the
man who feels secure from invasion; “Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Watch
and pray that ye enter into temptation.
In every age the people of God have been subjected
to temptation and trial. Was not Abraham
thus tried when he was commanded to take his only
son Isaac and offer him a burnt -offering? Was not
Jacob thus tried when Joseph was torn from him,
and not only Simeon was detained, but Benjamin
demanded? Wee not the apostles tried when, in
doing their masters will, they encountered the fury
of Satan and the rage of a pagan world, being always
“delivered unto death for Jesus sake?”
Yet great and gracious as these triumphs may
see, we are hashed as we read of our Lord Jesus
Christ – “He himself hath suffered, being tempted.”
He who knew no sin was tempted! He who was the
son of God passed through the stress and strain of
our common battle; he suffered being tempted.
“Wherefore it behooved him in all things to
be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful priest in all things pertaining to
God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people,
for in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to run up to the aid of those who are being
tempted.” (Hebrews 2:7-18) EMPHASIS MINE
“In things pertaining to God.” He made atonement
for sin. He did so by virtue of his merits; He
was a lamb without blemish and without sport; he
knew no sin; he was holy, harmless and undefiled.
He removed the barrier between the sinner and
God; the “veil was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom”. He is become the new and living way.
He is related to me by virtue of his humanity.
Not only did he taste death for every creature; he
tested human life as well. “As God knows what is in
us; but as man he feels it also.” Let us not be reluctant
to speak of humanity. He became man- without
sin, and knew the pain of suffering, and the stress
of trial and temptation. From these facts arise His
matchless sympathy is based. He knows the road
along which we have top travel, for he has trodden
it himself. His tender sympathy is based on knowledge.
He knows the enemy we have to fight. “Like
unto his brethren”- the glory of that conception put
a new dignity into the battle and a new courage into
feeble hearts.
Whenever we speak of the suffering of Christ.
We always seem to have in mind the last scenes; the
agony in the garden, the judgment of the palace, and
the death on the cross. Was not mark of blood ever
upon Him? Can we limit his suffering to the last few
days before his death? In taking our nature did he
not suffer pains we can never describe?
Remember he was unuttererably holy. He was
without sin; he was perfect love incarnate. Yet he
came into daily contact with rough, coarse, unhallowed
souls, whose very presence near him must
have wounded His spirit. The daily experience of
mis-understanding, of physical hunger, of weakness
and fatigue, of criminal neglect, of hateful neglect,
of hateful enmity, was not all this suffering of the
most acute kind?
When we speak of Him “being tempted,” shall
we limit that phrase to the interview He had with
he Arch-enemy? Was not the whole of His life
subjected to trial and temptation? Let us grasp
blessed truth that our Lord, in order that he might
be a merciful and faithful High priest to secure- his
people, suffered, being tempted. From this truth the
following things emerge.
A precious fellowship
I may share with the Lord a holy companionship.
He took upon himself my nature, fought my
battle, and lived my life, suffered as I shall never be
able to. He knows what temptation means, for he
himself has been tempted, he is not some interested
on- looker who stands on a distance and watches
with curious eyes the result of the conflict. He is
a merciful and faithful high priest. He intercedes
continuously on my behalf. In the hour of conflict
he is ready to run up to my rescue. He can deliver
me with a great deliverance. The sense of oneness
with Christ will at once produce a firm determination
to fight the foe. He fought the same enemy that
I am fighting, and the very fact that he knows all the
subtle trickery of the devil guarantees my victory as
I enter into the conflict.
A trustful attitude
I am called upon to live in a state of continuous
dependence upon him. He is willing to impact the
succor and strength required, but I must be prepared
to receive it. He is willing to undertake for
me, but am I willing that he should? Do we really
believe experimentally that the Lord is able to give
us victory over acute temptation? The answer to
this question depends largely upon our attitude
to daily dependence. Only as we are daily living in
a state of trustful dependence can we experience
the power of the Saviour to give deliverance in the
hour of temptation.
The attitude of daily receptively may involve a
great renunciation. There may be in us a handicap
which must be removed; nor even a missing of the
mark, but a weight hindrance, a clog, may be some
things that makes the victory seen remote.
Christ ministry of suffering can only operate as
we are scrupulously obedient and honest. We are
called upon to present our bodies a living sacrifice:
we are commissioned to walk in the light; we are
told to lay aside every weight and the sin which is
closely things to us, that we may run with patience
the race that is set before us.
Are you tired in your daily life? Does every one
misinterpret you? Are you well intentioned actions
universally misconstrued? He knows, for he was
misunderstood from cradle to the grave; his perfect
sympathy reaches out to you in your great need, and
if you cry out He will run to your aid.
Are you tired through loneliness of your lot?
No man so lonely as he was! He was ever lonely
for although He had friends, few understood Him;
few were heart companions for Him. Will you cry
to Him? He will reveal to you the sacred ministry
of his suffering.
Pastor J.F. Odesola (PhD, LLM),
Assistant General Overseer (Admin/Personnel)
& Pastor-in-Charge Region 1,
The Redeemed Christian Church of God,
Redemption Camp,
Nigeria.
Facebook.com/PastorJFOdesola
Twitter.com/PastorJFOdesola
Youtube.com/PastorJFOdesola
ng.Linkedin.com/in/PastorJFOdesola
IRUOFAGHA JAMES
There’s a right way to both connect and
disconnect. And every disconnection
comes with a particular level of pain.
For instance, if you have to leave your church
because you are relocating to another country
(in this case, God would have spoken to both
parties involved because in the case of things
that affect divine connections He never speaks
to just one person), but if someone decides
on his/her own to leave and chooses to frame
it as God having instructed him/her to do so
without God having confirmed this to the other
party, then you’ve broken the connection in a
wrong way.
It is also when most people have decided to
break a divine connection that they now want
to speak to the other person to explain their
decision, this is not right. God doesn’t give you
the option of altering the terms and nature of a
divine connection, if you are having problems
in the relationship the right thing to do is to sit
with the other person and talk it out and not for
you to walk out and break the connection. A
person like this is deemed to be unfaithful and
ends up becoming someone nobody wants to
be connected to.
Looking at marriages as a form of divine
connection, you won’t find a marriage that is
The power of divine connections (4)
without its own share of trouble and conflicts,
but these problems are meant to be worked
on and resolved through communication,
patience and perseverance and not by walking
out when things get tough. That’s how marriages
(and by extension, divine connections
are preserved).
Man was designed and shaped to live in
a community, husband – wife, father – son,
employer – employee, friends, neighbourhood;
even on the bad side you have cults, gangs and
prisons: these are all forms of relationship/connections.
Whether positive or negative, people
live in communities and not independently
of every other person. That’s how man was
created, but the devil is trying to stop people
from connecting to others and ensure they
live in isolation.
The American Medical Association recently
declared that loneliness/social disconnect is
not just a psychological ailment, but a medical
one as well; one which the Association says is
worse than heart disease, obesity and smoking.
This means loneliness will make one
physically sick.
Eph. 4:11
Jesus gave the five-fold gifts of ministry to
us, but even those who function in any aspect
of these ministries ought to have someone he/
she submits to (Gal. 2:1)
Ps. 92:12-14
“12The righteous shall flourish like the
palm tree, he shall grow like cedars in Lebanon.
13Those who are planted in the house of God
shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14They
shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh
and flourishing”
The righteous person has a God-ordained
place to flourish. Imagine what would happen
if the righteous moves away from the place
that God has ordained for him to flourish in.
There are two things that are necessary for
us to be what we want to be:
1. You have to be planted
2. There is a right place to be planted
For you to flourish, you need to trust the
wisdom of the Master planter/gardener. You
can’t plant yourself, only God can plant you; so
trust in His wisdom.
There’s a difference between being planted
and just growing. Planting connotes a sense of
purpose, it is deliberate. But growing happens
by chance and it isn’t regulated by anyone. It
also has a large measure of risk in that a plant
that grew where it wasn’t planted can be uprooted
at any point in time.
Going further from being planted, there is a
particular place above every other place where
a person will thrive best. Like the Cedar is native
to and thrives best in Lebanon (as quoted
in the passage we just read – Ps. 92:12-14), so
a person will thrive best in the place that God
has ordained for him/her to be planted. Don’t
let anything whatsoever uproot you from the
place God has planted you.
There are certain conditions God has made
to favour each of His creations, there’s a thing
as the proper connections to the right soil/
place
Those who are planted have a sense of
divine connection. They know that’s the place
that God has planted them, they are members
and not just attendees. Connected people
don’t truly ever leave, even if they are physically
removed from the church by legitimate
reasons, they will stay in touch and keep tab
on whatever is going on there. Members have
a sense of responsibility, commitment and then
a sense of divine connection.
Divine connections shouldn’t be taken
trivially and/or broken indiscriminately. Even
when disagreements and conflicts occur, they
should be worked on and worked out, because
you know if you are to leave that relationship
where you’re planted and connected you are
on the way to destroying yourself.
Just like you have it in marriage, if one disconnects
himself from a divine-ordained relationship
(like a Church) at will and enters into
other relationships trivially, he’s an adulterer.
Adam (Man) fell because he didn’t know
how to treat divine things as divine. We saw
this with Achan (Joshua 7) as well; he touched
what God said no one should touch, and he
treated the divine instruction with levity. We
see this happening in the Church with people
disconnecting from church at will.
Truly committed people who are members
of the church (those who have a sense of divine
planting), take up the challenge of building
their church.
Dr. Iruofagha James is the founding pastor,
Glory Christian Ministries, Odo-Olowo Street,
Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, Ijeshatedo,
Lagos. www.isjames.org Tel: 08060599144