Authentic Living (Part 2)

What does it look like to delight the Lord? As you reach the New Testament we see as God takes on flesh and becomes man in Jesus.

Here is Jesus being baptised in the Jordan, a strange event in itself as John recognises. So why is he baptised? Because “it is proper to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” says Jesus. And as Jesus comes up out of the water God speaks from heaven and declares “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Or I am delighted.

In Matthew 12:17-21 Jesus is again spoken of as the one in whom God delights as Jesus fulfils messianic prophecy.

“This was spoken to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my spirit on him,
And he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
No-one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope.”


At the transfiguration Jesus is again identified by God as the one he loves, in whom he takes delight, yet soon after the shock of the gospels is that you get to the cross and you see the one in whom God delights cut off, dying under God’s curse, and you ask yourself why?

Because he is making a new covenant in which our wickedness has been paid for and we are credited with his righteousness, because there is no other way for us to righteous. Those who by faith believe in him are called to know God and to live lives to delight God, to make his character visible by our just and honest dealings with those around us, called to show that God has promised to meet all my needs and therefore I do not need to scheme to meet them myself. Called to live lives dominated by our awareness of Jesus, the one in whom delights, dying in our place so that God can delight in us as we are given his righteousness.

That awareness is to prompt, to provoke us to authentic living.

Authenticity

There was a great article in the Times on Saturday by Matthew Parris bemoaning the lack of authenticity in Britain today. Everything is spun or perception managed, the truth is covered up by appearance. We live in a world where authenticity has been lost, where appearance is the new reality, where what something really is does not matter as much as what it is perceived to be. So the question now is when is a Lord really a Lord, is it when he or she deserves to be or because they have paid to be? How do I know when a phone-in is a genuine phone in or a fraud? How do I know whether money promised for flood defences is a now promise or a 2011 promise?

It means that we live in a world desperately searching for the truth. It is only found by examining actions and words, if ever there was a society in need of Christians living in the light of the gospel Britain in 2007 is it. As we do so it will provoke questions and confrontations with sin and sinners, but it will enable us to share the great news, to share the truth of our predicament and danger, and the great answer God provides in Christ.