You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.  

John 13:13 

Christ was entirely aware of His identity. Everything in His life and ministry indicates it. Even as a child He articulated that He must be about His Father’s business. His ‘I Am’ statements all indicate His total self-awareness. His role in the world is inextricably bound together with His identity. One does not exist apart from the other. He is God, the Son of God, the Light of the world, the Redeemer and all else He reveals Himself to be. To His disciples He was, Master, Teacher, and Lord. Christ was fully aware of His role in their lives. As He prepared them for His arrest and crucifixion, in the upper room, He performed an act of service to them by taking on the clothing of a slave and washing their feet. After He completed this act of servitude, He redressed and taught them the spiritual lesson He wanted them to learn from His illustration. He began with the words of our text. His words tell us He understood His role as their leader. Our imitation of Christ will make us leaders as well. If we want to lead well, we must learn to lead as He did.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You are our undisputed leader. 
We praise You that You have set before us 
a most excellent pattern to follow.  

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.  

Psalm 43:5   

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’  

Revelation 7:9-10  

What would the future praise the psalmist anticipated look like? John answers that question for us. He describes the scene in heaven where Christ sits upon the throne. Gathered around Him are all the redeemed of all ages, ‘a great multitude which no one could number.’ They are, ‘of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.’ Their occupation and preoccupation is offering praise ‘to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.’ Regardless of whatever might occur in the life of the psalmist who found himself downcast, this was his final destination. It is good for us to realize that our final destination as believers in Christ is to gather around the throne of God to praise Him and the Lamb in the eternal kingdom. Our experience may bring many occasions when we are downcast. We look to Christ as the solution for our bouts of depression. Having saved us by free and sovereign grace, He has secured for us a future in which we shall see Him in Person and praise Him without end. Today is not the end or even close to it. Christ and eternity awaits.  

High King of Heaven,  
we rejoice that You sit upon Your throne.  
We praise You that we can look forward to the day  
when we can praise you Face-to-face for all eternity. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.  

John 20:20, 21  

The mission to proclaim Christ is the extension of Christ’s mission. Christ says as much in our text. The logic is, ‘God the Father has sent me, therefore I am sending you.’ This elevated their lives to have the greatest purpose ever. If Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost and the proclamation of the gospel is of paramount importance in the gathering together of the redeemed, then the purpose to do that is grand indeed. They could not devise a higher purpose for their own lives than this. It would be the means by which Christ would continue His work upon the earth, and advance His kingdom. They would be His witnesses to the end of the earth. We are the spiritual inheritors of that mission. Although we are not Apostles or the inheritors of their office, we have believed in Him and beheld Him with the eyes of faith. We have the privilege to point people to Christ daily by life and lip. This elevates our life far above the mundane pursuits of simply tending to our buildings, our bellies and our backs. He has sent us as well.  

Our Great God and our Savior,  
we rejoice that You give us purpose.  
We praise You that we have the great privilege  
to be witnesses of You,  
wherever we are. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.  

John 20:20, 21  

Having purpose in life makes for gladness. Christ gives us purpose. When He died on the cross, the hopes of the disciples died with Him. They had followed Him for three years, were convinced He was the Messiah, and anticipated His triumph. They had a message and a mission. When Christ died, they lost all of that. When Christ arose from the dead, it all returned. Now they could go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, adding to it that they had seen Him alive after His passion on numerous occasions. This message and mission would absorb the rest of their life. Each of them would go forth to preach Christ until their dying breath. We also have a message and a mission. We believe Christ has risen from the dead. We proclaim Him as the High King of heaven. Everywhere we go we declare He is risen from the dead and shall return, according to His word. Their message is our message; their mission is our mission. This gives us purpose and makes us very glad.  

Our Gracious Master and our God,  
we rejoice that You have given to us a message and a mission.  
We praise You that we can go anywhere and everywhere  
making much of You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning