Fix your Eyes on Jesus

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

How exactly do we persevere and grow in our faith? The Bible says we do this by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Therefore, it is absolutely critical that we are vigilant to seek out spiritual teachers and church communities that drive us to our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

Listen to the great leader of the early church Ignatius of Antioch, as he gives spiritual direction to Christians suffering persecution and trial.

“Turn a deaf ear to any speaker who avoids mention of Jesus Christ…”

Then, Ignatius identifies exactly the Jesus he’s talking about:

“…who was of David’s line, born of Mary, who was truly born, ate and drank; was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, truly crucified and died while those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth beheld it; who also was truly raised from the dead, the Father having raised him, who in like manner will raise us also who believe in him—his Father, I say, will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart from whom we have not true life.”
~Ignatius, an early bishop of Antioch in Syria (c. 110).

I love the Christ-centeredness of this statement! Jesus is the sum and substance of all biblical truth. He alone is the object of our faith and our only hope of eternal life. Cling to Him.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

~ John 14:5-9 (ESV)

Citation: Ignatius, Letter to the Trallians, in The Early Christian Fathers, ed. Henry Bettenson (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 60-61.