Monthly Archives: March 2013

Casual or Committed?

Christian Life, , ,

CASUAL OR COMMITTED?

“One day when large groups of people were walking along with Him, Jesus turned and told them, ‘Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters – yes, even his own self – can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me, can’t be my disciple.'” Luke 14:25-27 (The Message).

What is Jesus demanding? It sounds as though He is bent on breaking up families, almost as though He is on an ego trip. Is this really His intention? Once again, as we peer into the issues of the kingdom, like peering into a rock pool, we see things in the depths which are obscured in a casual glimpse.

What is discipleship? Unlike other religions that demand adherence to rules or rituals, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be reconnected and fused to Him who is the source of life. Jesus never demands an allegiance to Him that makes us losers. His promise is that our commitment to Him means that we will never be diminished.

So what does He mean? Discipleship is much more than answering an altar call or signing a decision card. It is not a free ticket to heaven, leaving us to carry on with our own lives with the guarantee of eternal life when we die because we carry our ‘passport’ in our back pocket. So much of what is preached as the ‘gospel’ today is a distortion of the truth. Jesus did not come and die to save us from hell and take us to heaven.

That may be true if we understand the concepts correctly. Yes, He did come and die to rescue us from hell, but the hell He talked about was not the hell of eternal fire but the hell of a wasted life that completely misses the point of our existence; God created us to be mirrors of Himself so that the whole of the created order can ‘see’ the glory of God in our attitudes and behaviour.

Jesus came to show us the Father and to remove the barriers that separate us from Him so that we can enjoy His fellowship and favour all the days of our lives. In that intimate connection with Him, we grow to be like Him and reflect Him in our daily journey through life.

Jesus promised to take us to the Father, but that demands submission and obedience to Him as Lord. It demands a revised attitude towards those who are closest to us and even towards ourselves because we have become espoused to a new lover. We do not lose our connection with family and friends – we redefine it. Our obligation to them and to ourselves changes. They are no longer our first consideration – Jesus is -and He determines the way we relate to them.

For example, husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Now that’s a radically different way from the way that husbands usually treat their wives. That does not mean renouncing them; it means loving the way Jesus loves, bringing us nearer to the model Jesus shows by the way He treats us who are His bride.

When we recognise the beauty of this new way of life, drawing our life’s energy and direction from Him, we also realise that, instead of renouncing our earthly relationships, we redefine and purify them from selfishness to loving service in the pattern and power of our Master. But this can only happen as we let go of the old ways of relating to them and strengthen our allegiance to Jesus as our Lord and then learn to imitate Him in the ways He related to people.

Jesus’ intention is to change society by changing people, and that only comes as we renounce our old selfish ways and live in intimate and uncluttered connection with Jesus, our source because He insisted, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” John 15:6 (NIV).

But it’s your choice…

Complacent or Repentant

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COMPLACENT OR REPENTANT

“He told His next story to those who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people. ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, crooks, adulterers or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

“Meanwhile, the tax man, slumped in the shadows, face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner,’

“Jesus commented, ‘This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.'” Luke 18:9-14 (The Message).

Since prayer is essentially the interaction between the Father and His child, it is easy to recognise that the Pharisee in Jesus’ story did not, for one moment, fit into the category of a son. His attitude and words were completely foreign to a Father/son relationship. No true son would talk to his father the way this man talked to God. He was not praying. He was preening and boasting. His prayer was an unashamed, ‘Look at me, God. See how good I am. Aren’t you proud of me?’

Did his ‘thank you’ express true gratitude? Not at all! It was his way of congratulating himself on being a self-made man. The rest of his ‘eulogy’ was a summary of his religious achievements – his so-called ‘tsidaqahs’, his acts of generosity, but they were done out of duty, to gather ‘brownie points’ and for self-congratulation, not from a generous and loving heart that gladly obeyed God’s directives.

Who was the measure of his achievements and his judgement of everyone else? He was, of course. He did not realise that, if you measure imperfection against imperfection, you get imperfection! Since his standard was based on his own performance and not on his attitude and character, he would naturally judge himself top of the list. What he did not understand was that he was using entirely the wrong measure.

The tax man was fully aware that his life fell far short of what God required of him. He was so broken by guilt and shame that he did not even have the courage to be seen. He hid in the shadows with his eyes downcast and his face in his hands. His prayer was, ‘Don’t look at me, God. If you do, you might wipe me out of your sight.’

Which of these two men were accepted by God, the Pharisee who was so proud of his achievements or the tax man who was so ashamed of what he had done? Strangely enough, it was the tax man whom Jesus commended, not the Pharisee. But why? Surely what the tax man had been doing was abhorrent to God? Was he not robbing people to line his own pocket? Was he not a liar, a thief and a fraudster? How could God even listen to him, let alone accept him?

He was all of these things but he was also something else — honest and repentant. He saw himself in the light of who God is and was so broken up that he pleaded for forgiveness and threw himself on the mercy of God. This is the heart attitude that God hears and the foundation of a renewed relationship with God as Father. You see, every wayward person is actually a son who has strayed from the Father and for whom the Father waits to return.

The Pharisee saw no need and had no desire for forgiveness. He was completely satisfied with his own standards and performance. What God thought about him was irrelevant. He was not yet a returning prodigal. He was a self-satisfied, self-righteous elder brother who had no felt need to repent. “Religion is the most difficult disease to cure because it infects with such self-righteousness that no sense of need remains.”

As always, Jesus told this story for identification. Which of the two men are you?

Beware!

Christian Life, , ,

BEWARE!

“He said to His disciples, ‘Hard trials and temptations are bound to come, but too bad for whoever brings them on! Better to wear a millstone necklace and take a swim in the deep blue sea than give even one of these dear little ones a hard time.'” Luke 17:1,2 (The Message).

Do we ever ignore this warning! Why is it that we fall into this trap so easily? We live in an interactive world. No-one is an island, and no-one functions in isolation. It was God’s intention to create an entire universe that functioned together as one as the greatest expression of His nature.

God is one – echad, unity in diversity. There are sects and religions that take pride in their ‘monotheism’, denying the plurality of the Godhead from the mistaken idea that one God implies a single entity rather that a unity of essence and nature. The name, God, is a term that refers to a species, in the same way as ‘man’ or ‘dog’ refers to a species. Within the species are a myriad varieties but their essence is the same.

There are many gods in the world but they are the creation of man’s imagination and are therefore the reflection of human nature. They are often cruel, capricious, unpredictable, dictatorial and demanding. But, according to the Bible, “This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty.’I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who is like me?'” Isaiah 44:6.7a (NIV).

God’s being is expressed in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are one in nature and essence but separate and distinct with different functions, one in purpose, not three gods, but one God. Jesus could say, even in His earthly human form, “‘I and the Father are one,’ and of the Holy Spirit He said, ‘But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth…He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.'” John 16:13,15 (NIV).

What is the implication? When God created man in His image, He made a being that was one with Himself, reflecting His nature and fulfilling His purpose, to be part of a unified universe that reflects His nature and glorifies Him.

Therefore, like the issue of adultery which we have already discussed, to do anything that disrupts that unity is to challenge the power that holds the universe together. What happens between individuals sets a chain reaction in motion that affects families, communities and nations.

Man chose to violate than unity when he followed the lies of the devil at the beginning. Now we live in a world that has been torn apart by disunity. Selfishness, greed and wickedness rip families and communities apart and create misery and suffering everywhere. Take for example the wars that have decimated nations and are still destroying people’s lives today. Nations on every continent are at war, ruining cities, tearing up society and devastating families. Why? Selfishness and greed!

Yet Jesus warned, ‘Don’t you be the cause of it.’ He takes this matter so seriously that He said it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a grinding stone around his neck than to put a stumbling block in the way of the nobodies, the ones He called ‘the little ones’.

To do that, wittingly or unwittingly, is to deny the very nature of God which does no harm to Him but does terrible damage and destruction to us. We are only fully human when we are one with the Creator of the universe, and that takes the miracle of God’s forgiveness and grace, through Jesus Christ, to begin the process.

But it’s your choice…

Be Smart

Christian Life, , , ,

BE SMART

“‘Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way — but for what is right — using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour'” Luke 16:8-9 (The Message).

The point of this story is not easy to understand. We must not get lost in the details or we’ll end up thinking that Jesus was advocating dishonesty as a way to wriggle out of the awkward situations we create for ourselves. Not at all! What was He really getting at?

Let’s look at the story. A certain farm manager had been feathering his nest at his master’s expense. When he was found out, he had to devise a plan to curry favour with his master’s debtors so that, when he was fired, he would have friends to take care of him. He was too lazy or too proud to lower himself to doing manual labour.

His plan was to reduce the debt of his master’s debtors so that they would be indebted to him. Good plan if you can deal with your conscience! When his master found out what he had done, he was so taken aback that he actually congratulated him on his wily scheme!

Jesus often told stories that highlighted the contrast between the ways of the world and the ways of the kingdom of God. This is one of them. For some strange reason, when we give our lives into the hands of Jesus, we seem to lose our sense of responsibility for some areas of our lives. For example, we ignore God’s economic system, spend all our money and even go into debt like the rest of the world and then naively declare that God will meet all our needs.

Of course God has promised to meet our needs but that promise fits into a framework of responsible stewardship and not wanton spendthrift-ness. God never advocates that we make no provision for our future. He has built into His way of doing money a savings policy that ensures that we and our families are adequately cared for in times of crisis and for the future.

God’s economic policy is built on giving, not hoarding, which ensures that we function in the realm of faith. Generosity is His way of keeping resources circulating. When we give what He asks us to give to make provision for the needs of others, He promises an abundant return on our generosity. In this way we are making deposits into a ‘banking system’ which will not crash with the stock market.

So what does that have to do with this parable? There is a principle in this story which believers need to get hold of. We need to be smart in the ways of the kingdom, just like this crooked manager was smart in the ways of the world, not in dishonesty but in the kind of risky living which takes God at His word and reaches out to take care of the needs of others first, above our own.

The kind of righteousness that really pleases God is not the ‘righteousness’ which looks after its own reputation like the Pharisees’ kind of righteousness – don’t do this and don’t do that. That is sterile ‘do-nothing-ness’. It produces only plastic fruit. Jesus said that life is much more than getting by on good behaviour.

Really living is about risking being generous in every way – not just being generous with our money but being generous with our hearts, forgiving when we have been wronged, loving when we are despised, treating all people with respect and dignity, even if they smell bad, and dying to our own selfish demands and requirements for the sake of others.

So here’s the deal. A crisis in our lives demands a plan of action. Here is the simple principle; to look after your own needs, look after the needs of others and God will step in and take care of yours. Isn’t that just what the crooked manager did? Now that’s really being smart, not streetwise but kingdom wise, because that’s how God’s kingdom works.

Micah, the prophet, put it like this: “…What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV).

As Now So Then

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AS NOW, SO THEN

“Jesus went on to make these comments,
‘If you’re honest in small things, you’ll be honest in big things;
If you’re a crook in small things, you’ll be a crook in big things;
If you’re not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses.
He’ll either hate the first and love the second,
or adore the first and despise the second.
You can’t serve God and the Bank.'” Luke 16:10-12 (The Message)

Women love to pride themselves on being able to multi-task! A fallacy except in the area of hands and mouth! However, Jesus insisted that there is no such thing as multi-tasking when it comes to loyalties. It’s either or, not both and…

Although His comments were aimed primarily at the hypocritical religious leaders who prided themselves on their loyalty to the law, but in fact were hiding their greedy hearts behind their play-acting masks, Jesus was stating a universal and unchangeable principle. ‘You can’t fool God,’ He said, ‘because, if your loyalty is to your bank account, it automatically excludes God.’

That may be absolutely true on the surface but it actually hides a far deeper and more sobering truth than just applying to this life. Our attitude to our money and possessions in this life is the preparation for our level of responsibility in the God’s eternal kingdom. The measure of our faithfulness now is the measure of what we will be entrusted with in the life to come. The NIV translation makes it even clearer, “‘So, if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches. And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?‘” Luke 16:11,12.

The implication of Jesus’ statement is that what we have now is a trust from God, on loan as a test of our stewardship. The many parables He told about money and possessions all point to this same truth. In this life God entrusts us with His property in order to train us to use it wisely and to prepare us for our role in His eternal kingdom.

Why does God use something as ‘worldly’ as money to test the level of our spirituality? Why not love, or any of the other fruits of the Spirit? Why not the number people we have won to Jesus, the number of people we have discipled or even the spiritual gifts we have used faithfully and increased?

God is smart! He knows that our attitude to our money and possessions is the most accurate test of our love for Him. Nothing ensnares our hearts as much as the love of money. Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be. In this life only, we have opportunity to safeguard our treasure by investing it in the kingdom of God. Once we leave here, our apprenticeship is over.

Take Abraham, for example. God gave him a son after twenty five years of waiting – probably even longer – and how he must have treasured that boy! And then, of all things, God said, ‘Kill him!’ Abraham could have refused. ‘God, are you crazy? Why give me a son and then demand him back in such a cruel way?’ But Abraham never flinched, never questioned, never hesitated; He did what he was told. What was his core attitude? Trust!

Isn’t that also the heart of our attitude to our money? After all, money represents our security. When we have money, we feel safe in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. When we let go of our trust in our bank account and place it in the security of God’s faithfulness, we are set free to use our money instead of our money using us. It is a good servant but a bad master.

We cannot change the truth. As now, so then. If we want to enjoy the place in God’s kingdom reserved for us, we must decide now who we will serve and who will master us. Beyond the grave is too late.