Unquenchable Optimism
In Ray Stedman’s classic book, “Authentic Christianity,” he describes the ministry of Paul the apostle as an example of genuine faith in Christ. He believed that Paul’s ministry bears five unmistakable qualities of Christianity that cannot be successfully counterfeited. They are 1: Unquenchable Optimism, 2: Unvarying Success, 3: Unforgettable Impact, 4: Unimpeachable Integrity, 5: Undeniable Reality.
Lately I have given a lot of thought about the First Century Church, and have been seeking God for understanding of how we in our time and in our Western culture have sometimes departed from the foundation that has been laid for us by Christ. Many others have thought and written along these lines of course, and this book by Stedman is one that I have found helpful in many ways. The qualities he has listed here are certainly qualities to be desired. The first on the list is especially one that I greatly desire for myself in a time when pessimism seems to reign in our world and often even in Christianity.
The book points out that this optimism can only come out from a genuine connection with the One True God. It cannot be faked. If my hope is grounded in favorable circumstances or the favorable opinions of others it can eventually be lost. If it is based upon One Who cannot fail, and I trust only in Him, it will be unquenchable. The opposite of this kind of optimism is a yielding to all circumstances and to fate. One becomes merely a passive spectator who has surrendered to the idea that nothing can or should be done to change the direction of events.
While Jesus did subject Himself to humiliation and death, it was for the joy that was yet to come! (Hebrews 12:1-2). His return from the grave in an amazing supernatural and yet physical body appeared in the real, tangible and physical world. The knowledge of that truth empowered the first believers to possess a forward looking and optimistic faith. In fact those who opposed them testified that they had indeed, “turned the world upside down!” (Acts 17:6)
Could this irrepressible joy have also come from the realization that they had been made new from the inside out? It seems to be a very pious and humble statement to confess that “I am just a sinner who has been saved by grace.” However, that was not the message that Paul taught. After naming a list of various kinds of sinners, he tells the Corinthians, “such WERE some of you! But you are washed, your are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God!” He also wrote these words: “Therefore if any one is in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and—look—all things have become new!” (1 Corinthians 6:11 KJV, 2 Corinthians 5:17 ISV)
This is not a claim to have achieved sinlessness, but it is a bold declaration of what our joyful God has done in us! We who have received Jesus have obtained the power, the privilege of becoming the true children of God! (John 1:12) We have been born of the Holy Spirit, born again, born of God, by the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God, which lives and abides forever! (John 3:5, 1 Peter 1:23)
Because of who were are in Christ today, we can follow His example of service to others. We can let His mind, His perspective, His attitude be in us for we too do not have think of the divine nature as a thing to be forcibly grasped. Through the Gospel and trusting in Christ we are being restored to God’s original plan for humanity (Genesis 1:26). At the same, even in our immaturity we are free as His children to lay our lives down in service to others. Yes, that is our true freedom! That is the source of our joy as well! (Philippians 2:1-11, Galatians 5:13).
People who have an inferiority complex are afraid to lift up others. They are often driven to put others down in an effort to feel better about themselves. Jesus and his followers are not like that. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was from the Father and returning to Him; got down on His hands and knees to wash the feet of His disciples. He knew He could lose nothing by becoming a servant, even a slave. (John 13:3-5, 14-15).
If you belong to Jesus, you have access to His joy. You are a new creation in Him, called to a life of true adventure and service to the greatest purpose of all!
1 John 3:1-3
3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
NIV
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