Category Archives: Christian life

JESUS TEACHES US ABOUT MONEY

Christian life, ,

JESUS TEACHES US ABOUT MONEY

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 5:19-21.

Jesus had a lot to say about money because money rules our lives. Without money, we cannot live. We need money for everything we do – we buy food and clothing; we pay rent for our home, or we buy a property if we have enough money; we need money to pay school fees for our children, for fuel for our vehicles or for bus or train fares, and so on. Unless we are like the animals who live off the land, we all need money.

The problem is that we never seem to have enough. However much or little we have, we always need a little more. One of the reasons is that we have the wrong idea about money and the wrong attitude to our money and possessions. Jesus taught His disciples, and that’s us too if we truly want to follow Him, how to handle our money so that we will always have enough.

It may sound crazy, but Jesus said that the best way to have enough money is to give some of it away. Like anything we hoard, what we selfishly keep for ourselves will get stale, become rotten or get stolen. The best way to save our money is to put it in the bank of heaven. There it cannot get stolen. Jesus said it this way:

How can we store up treasure in heaven? There is no “Bank of Heaven” in town where we can deposit our money.

Money is the currency we work with on earth and faith is the currency of heaven. To protect what we own, which belongs to God because He gave it to us to use as He directs us, we have to become partners with God. Every time we help someone in need, we make a deposit in our heavenly “bank account”.  When we are in need and we ask God for help, He prompts someone who is listening to Him to give to us because we have a deposit in our account.

This is the way God has chosen to keep His resources circulating. He gives us the strength and skill to earn a salary, but He also tells us how we must use that money. If we use it all up on ourselves and do nothing to help another person in need, we have nothing to draw from when we need extra money. When we put a deposit on heaven by giving some of our money away, God will take care of us when a crisis arises, and we don’t have enough money to pay.

Jesus said that if we are selfish and greedy, we have a “dark” eye. That means that we are always looking after ourselves and care nothing for other people. If we are generous, we have an “eye of light”. That means that we can see beyond the end of our own noses. If we only live to make money so that we can become rich, we cannot serve God as well. We will serve what we love – either God or money, not both.

Disciples are to be like God the Father and Jesus, His Son – generous and kind to everyone.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

WHERE DID ALL THE OTHER STUFF COME FROM?

Christian life, ,

WHERE DID ALL THE OTHER STUFF COME FROM?

It saddens me to see how far the church has fallen away from Jesus’ call to His “disciples”. His entire mandate was wrapped up in four words – “Follow me” – that’s what they were, followers of Jesus – and “Make disciples” – that’s what they were to do, make more followers. So where do all the other things in the church come from; things like bowing to an altar, carrying a Bible on a cushion, wearing fancy clothes, chanting and genuflecting, elevating people to superior positions with fancy titles, and so on, just to name a few.

Jesus, in fact, had to battle His disciples because they were constantly bickering about who would be the greatest among them. “Servants,” He insisted, “are the greatest. Really great people are those who can stoop to the lowest level and lift people up, not those with titles who swagger around giving orders.”

Jesus used a term which was understandable to the people of his day but foreign to us, He said, “Take my yoke and learn from me.” We will better understand what He meant if we go right back to the ancient Hebrew script, called Paleo Hebrew, which preceded the modern Hebrew script

The Israelites wrote in pictures which eventually formed the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew name for God is El, sometimes written in the plural as Elohim. The pictures forming the word el were an ox head, denoting strength, for the letter aleph, and a shepherd’s staff, denoting authority, for the letter lamed. Their understanding of God was one who had strength and authority – the Mighty One.

A yoke – ol in Hebrew, was called “the staff of the shoulder”. A young ox was yoked with an experienced ox, by a “staff” in order to teach the younger ox to submit to the yoke. The imagery is the same as the concept of God, the ox and the staff.

A disciple, then is one who yoked with Jesus, the experienced “ox”, who teaches the inexperienced “ox” by association. A rabbi’s yoke was his way of interpreting the Torah, the five books of Moses on which the rest of the Bible is based, and the way he lived it out in everyday life. Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Why? Because He was a son. He did not have to work hard to impress His Father. He invited people to return to the Father and He made the way possible by dealing with our sin.

To be in Jesus’ yoke is to learn to think and act like Him, being “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). It’s not about keeping rules or following rituals. It’s about being a son or daughter of God, reflecting Him by the way we live. So where did all this other stuff come from?

DID YOU KNOW (9)…THAT REVELATION FOLLOWS GENEROSITY

Christian life, ,

DID YOU KNOW (9)

…THAT REVELATION FOLLOWS GENEROSITY

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10

Yesterday we began to explore the concept that God’s instructions for the way His people were to use their wealth is not “law” in the sense of a military command. It is His ageless wisdom which helps us to break out of our greed and selfishness to take responsibility for four groups of people who need our support. 

The first is our spiritual authority or “high priest”, the one who, according to Paul, teaches us the Word. To him must go the firstfruits of our increase. Since we are not farmers who gather in an annual harvest, our increase is our monthly income of which we are to give one-fortieth to our spiritual leader.

Our second area of responsibility is called the “storehouse” which, in Bible times was the tabernacle and later the temple. Every householder was to bring one-tenth of the remainder of his harvest after terumah to the temple where it was stored and used to support the priests and Levites who served in the temple. They, too, had no land of their own and depended on the annual tithe of the people’s crops, including the oil and wine, to take care of their families.

We know that the physical building which accommodates the church whenever it meets, i.e., the people of God, needs money to maintain the property and those who work in it. There are staff members who work there, cleaners, gardeners, maintenance, and office staff who also earn their living by functioning in and around the building. From the income of tithes, the church also supports missionaries and other Christian workers and ministries.

As new believers, we were taught to “tithe”, if our church leader taught us to be “legalistic”. If not, we learned that we must give “as the Spirit leads us”. This sounds spiritual but the problem lies with our natural tendency towards selfishness and greed. What we hear, supposedly from the Holy Spirit, is not generosity but need – our need. We give less and less as our “needs” become more. We justify our failure to give by the age-old I-cannot-afford-to-give excuse.

God taught His people to give by percentage under the old covenant. This principle makes sense because it does not matter how much or how little we earn. Giving by percentage means that we will always have the same percentage of what we earn to live on. By being obedient to God, we become participators in His supernatural supply.

It may appal us to know that God’s percentage of giving was twenty-one percent! No, not just a tithe as some of us were taught, but 21.5% of our monthly income. God instructed His people to live in a circle on a square. Let me explain. 

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges (or corners) of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your harvest a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God (Lev.19:9-10).

This is the principle of living in a circle on a square. If you have a field that is 100m x 100m, the area of that field would be 10,000 square meters. A circle with the diameter of 100m, which would fit exactly into the square, would have an area of 7,850 square meters. The area of the corners of the square which are outside the circle would be 2,150 square metres which is 21.5% of the area of the square. All this is to say that God asks His people to give away 21.5% of their income to those who need it and for them to live on the balance of 78.5% without guilt.

So far, we have identified two areas for which God’s people are responsible – our spiritual authority (i.e., our pastor or spiritual leader) and the storehouse where we worship with God’s people and are fed God’s Word.

Malachi recorded God’s complaint against His people.

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord. But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

“Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.” But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…(Mal.3:7b-10a).

The Hebrew word for tithes and offerings are masher and terumah, two different words meaning two different things. The first, masher, refers to the tithe to be brought to the storehouse, and the second, terumah, refers to the portion that belongs to God and is given to the high priest. When we fail to give God what belongs to Him and to the storehouse which also belongs to God, He regards it as theft! Ouch! How many of God’s people are guilty of theft?

Please stay with me because we are going somewhere. Tomorrow we will discover the significance of generosity.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE POWER OF THE CROSS – CLEANSES OUR CONSCIENCES FROM DEAD WORKS

Christian life, Gospel, ,

THE POWER OF THE CROSS

CLEANSES OUR CONSCIENCES FROM DEAD WORKS

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. (Heb. 9: 13-14)

“The law of God given to Moses is a comprehensive set of guidelines to ensure that the Israelites’ behaviour reflected their status as God’s chosen people. It encompasses moral behaviour, their position as a godly example to other nations, and systematic procedures for acknowledging God’s holiness and mankind’s sinfulness. In an attempt to better understand the purpose of these laws, Jews and Christians categorize them. This has led to the distinction between moral law, ceremonial law, and judicial law.”

http://www.gotquestions.org/ceremonial-law.html (- retrieved October 2015)

According to the writer to the Hebrews, the sacrifices prescribed in the Mosaic Law could do no more than remove their guilt for transgressing the ceremonial law. Let’s look at an example. A woman has a baby – which involved the shedding of blood. There is nothing morally wrong with giving birth but, because she bled, she became ceremonially unclean because the shedding of blood was contrary to God’s perfection. She, therefore, was obligated to offer a sacrifice to remove her ceremonial impurity.

All the animal sacrifices prescribed for every condition and every transgression in the old covenant served one of two purposes; firstly, they covered ceremonial guilt but could not change the status of the worshipper. No matter how many sacrifices they offered, they could not approach God except through a priest who was their designated mediator, because of sin. Secondly, they reminded the worshipper of the barrier of sin that separated him from a holy God.    

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. . . But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sin. (Heb. 10: 1; 3)

Animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of something much better that was to come.

What are the “acts that lead to death”, to which the writer refers? Sin can be both the things we do, say or even think that transgress God’s absolute perfection and the so-called “good works” we do to try to gain God’s favour. In His mercy, God intervened to change our status before Him by sending His own Son to take our place. Jesus came under judgment for our sin and paid our debt by submitting to death although He had no guilt of His own.

Jesus was born of a human mother, but He was not conceived by a human father but by the Holy Spirit. He became the “last Adam”, without sin, but subject to our human condition in a fallen world so that he could prove His love for the Father as a son by living in perfect submission and obedience to Him. After 33 years of sinless living, He gave up His life by being executed on the cross – condemned as a criminal, but not guilty.

His death became an atoning sacrifice for all people, for all sin, for all time. He is the only human being who ever died as punishment for sin He did not commit, qualifying Him to be the Saviour of the world.

The human problem is that we are not only guilty of transgressing God’s laws and His holy nature, but we are also guilty of believing that we can balance our sin by doing “good works” which we think will satisfy God’s justice. How can a murderer hope to make amends for his crime by doing community service for a prescribed length of time? No amount of doing good will make up for taking a life. The law demands appropriate punishment for the crime. But we apply that kind of cock-eyed thinking to God!

God demands the death of the sinner and no amount of “community service” will take away the guilt of our sin. The problem is that we are already dead because sin has killed us. What Jesus did on the cross was God’s just and perfect solution to this dilemma. Now guilty humans can be declared innocent and righteous and can approach the Father without fear of punishment.

This is the power of the cross.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE TENDERNESS OF JESUS

Christian life, ,

THE TENDERNESS OF JESUS

How tender Jesus was towards them in His last hours with them! His language betrayed His feelings – sorrowful, compassionate, and protective. Look at the way He spoke to them. John 14-17 is full of His tender tones. He was aware that they had not grasped the implication of His many warnings that He was going to suffer and die at the hands of the religious leaders. Their ears and their understanding were closed until after the resurrection.

They would feel abandoned when He was torn from them and nailed to a cross. This was not how it was supposed to be. They had each other, but of what use was that when their rabbi was gone – dead and buried.

He reassured them, time and again that this was not the end.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me . . . I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. (John 14: 1; 3b)

This was much bigger than they ever imagined. He was not just any rabbi about to leave them unexpectedly. He was Jesus, their Messiah, the Son of God, and what He said had huge implications for them and for their future. They needed to understand that this was only a part of the process that was going somewhere, and they were an integral part of it.

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14: 18)

What did that mean to them? Jesus had spoken often of the Father. They knew that God was His Father, but what about them? He had often taught them that God was their Father. They were to address Him as Father in their prayers but, at the same time, it was Jesus who represented the Father to them. What would happen when He was no longer there? Would they lose the sense of God’s acceptance of them as His sons? Would they once again feel like orphans?

Jesus read their hearts. They needed to know that, even if He went away, He would not leave them fatherless. He would send one who would take His place and do what He did. The Holy Spirit would be in them to reassure them that they were the true sons of the Father, no matter what.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ (Rom. 8: 15)

He knew that they could not handle any more teaching. By this time, they were bewildered by their circumstances and beyond absorbing what Jesus had to tell them. He would first allow them to get over the shock of His sudden arrest and the terrible things that would happen to Him, and His even more shocking resurrection. He assured them that the Holy Spirit who was coming in His place, would pick up where He left off, and take them on beyond where they were at that moment in their understanding.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will only speak what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16: 12-14)

Jesus understood their human frailty. He rebuked them for sleeping while He was agonising in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had asked them to stay awake and keep watch while He prayed but instead, they fell asleep. Who could blame them? It was late at night. They had just eaten the Passover meal and drunk wine. They had been through an emotional “wringer’, with Jesus saying and doing things that made no sense to them.

They saw their Master in deep emotional agony, serious, urgent, agitated, but they could not figure out what it was about. They did not understand the significance of the moment. So, they went to sleep. Hadn’t Jesus many times gone off alone to pray while they took the opportunity to catch a nap? What was so different about this time? They had no idea what awaited Him or them, in the next few hours.

His sharp rebuke was followed by tender words.

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not watch with me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’ (Matt. 26: 40-41)

It’s almost as if He were saying, “I understand, guys, that you are tired. I know that your intentions were good but your flesh caved in but, at a time like this you need to stay awake because the time for testing is on us. It’s not the time to sleep now.”

“Tenderness is what happens to you when you know you are deeply and sincerely liked by someone. If you communicate to me that you like me, not just love me as a brother in Christ, you open to me the possibility of self-respect, self-esteem and wholesome self-love.” (Brennan Manning, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Ch. 1, page 25).

In Jesus, the disciples found not only one who loved them, but one who liked them, enjoyed their company, loved their banter, wanted to be with them, dealt gently with them, understood their weakness, believed in them, stood by them, rooted for them and, in the end, gave His life for them.

Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (John 15: 13-14)

He loves us like that!

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.