Astonished at Jesus

The most influential and incomparable speech ever made on this earth was that which is commonly called, "The Sermon on the Mount". In this great lesson, Jesus gave the greatest moral code the world has ever seen, and at the same time gave teaching that sets His religion, apart from all others. He set forth positive teaching, and He was positive in the way He set it forth. It is little wonder, then, that when He finished speaking, the multitudes were astonished at His teaching: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

It wasn't only what He said, but the way He said it! On another occasion, when the Pharisees sent men to arrest Jesus, they returned empty-handed. When they were asked why, they replied that no man has ever spoken or taught like He does (John 7:46). Even those seeking to kill Him were astonished at His teaching! He taught as one who has authority, and He did! He said, "I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 6:38). Of His message, Jesus said His words would be the basis of the Judgment, because He had the authority, and spoke with authority. As those people heard Him teach, they were astonished.

Astonishment comes as a result of an initial let-down on someone. When you underrate the power of a man and later find out about his exploits, especially in the areas where you have never succeeded or had breakthroughs, you are bound to be astonished. Christ came as a wonder to many and He made use of every opportunity to send the message across. He was not distracted in His assignment, as most people do. He gave us the guideline and carefully walked through them and succeeded. It is this same way that He has enlisted you and I to succeed in. He is not demanding from us what He has not done before, and so the task of achieving success in this work of God rests squarely on us.

So many people after Christ also went through the same road with success. Therefore, God is not calling us into a difficult work that no one could succeed in. The great thing that God calls upon us for is to admire and delight in and learn more and more of the love of Christ. That is, to produced His love in the very same ratio that we know His love to us. When we enter into the blessedness of Christ's love, self is judged and kept down, and at the same time we are raised above all groveling ways and ends. Being filled with the sense of it, we love souls in a different way, because we see them in His light, and we view them out of His affections, and not merely as having some link with ourselves. This is the true secret of all spiritual power, at least, in its highest forms.

Any little suffering we undergo for Christ's sake, any work undertaken for Him, whatever God calls us to: in all these things the true blessing of the Christian is not to abstract them from Christ, but to have Christ Himself as the spring and pattern and measure of all our service, so that all our service should flow from our enjoyment of Christ. In one way, worship is a nearer thing to God, and ought to be a dearer thing to the child of God, than even service; whereas it is no uncommon thing to find zealous servants who know very little of true worship. I say this, not that we should serve Christ less, but that we should enjoy Him more, and serve Him in the spirit of enjoying what He is, apart from all circumstances - a wonder, an astonishment to all generations!

I really believe that when people honestly examine His teaching today, they will be astonished. For what He taught is not at all what a lot of religious people think He taught.

Vitus Ejiogu is a writer and publisher with the Fire-Brand Int"l Ministries, a media ministry that is based in Nigeria.

He is the editor of FOUNDATION SATELLITE magazine also published by the ministry. He pastors a Church in Bauchi and is married with two children.

You can reach him at: firebrandhq@yahoo.com or: 234 80 8181 829.

Website: http://www.palmgates.com or http://www.firebrandhq.com