Daily Archives: March 5, 2013

Don’t Be Afraid of Religious Bullies

Bible Study, , ,

DON’T BE AFRAID OF RELIGIOUS BULLIES

“‘I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by religious bullies. True, they can kill you but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life – body and soul – in His hands.'” Luke 12:4, 5 (The Message).

Always, always, Jesus put life into its correct perspective. For Him, life includes this life and the life to come. If our concern is only for this life, we will make decisions and choices which will adversely affect us in the eternal realm.

Had He only considered preserving His life for the short time He was on earth, the outcome would have been very different for us human beings. But He didn’t. The writer to the Hebrews puts it like this, ‘…who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross…’ (Hebrews 12:2b NIV)

Jesus was never afraid of the truth. He spoke it and He lived it fearlessly. Truth cannot die and those who hold to the truth cannot be destroyed. The body is destructible and will die, be it by natural or unnatural means, but the inner being will never die. It will continue to live, either with God or without God, depending on what we do with the truth.

Pilate asked Jesus, ‘What is truth?’ He didn’t even wait for an answer but, unknowingly, he was standing in the presence of the one who said, ‘I am the truth.’ So, what is truth? Everything that God is, says and does is the truth. Jesus came to represent the Father, and to reveal the Father and He is therefore the embodiment of truth. Look and listen to Jesus and you have an accurate representation of the truth.

Religious bullies come in many subtle disguises. Some kill people who don’t subscribe to their religion. Others kill people’s names in the media and especially on the internet in the name of ‘truth’. Character assassination is a common way of destroying the opposition, especially in political circles.

But Jesus assured us, ‘Don’t worry about people like that. They may kill your name or even your body but they cannot kill you. Only God can do that and you are safe with Him forever if you stand on the side of truth.’

It is neither pleasant nor easy to face the hot breath of lies that is often used against us, especially when we are a threat to people as Jesus was. We either want to curl up or shut up but the counsel from God’s word is, ‘Stand up, speak up and look up.’ You may pay a price for your courage but the reward far outweighs the cost in the long run.

Ungodly people think nothing of using revenge to vindicate themselves when they cannot get their own way, but God’s Word says, ‘Don’t be like them. Let God do your vindicating for you.’ It may not happen in this life but God is a righteous judge. He will always have the last word, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ That question has only one answer – no-one.

A man of God once said, ‘Fear God, and you will have nothing else to fear.’

Don’t Bad-mouth God

Christian Life, , ,

DON’T BAD-MOUTH GOD

“‘If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance, that can be overlooked. But if you’re knowingly attacking God Himself, taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won’t be overlooked.'” Luke 12:9-10 (The Message).

So-called ‘blasphemy’ against the Holy Spirit is called the unpardonable sin. There are believers who are concerned about whether or not they have unwittingly committed ‘the unpardonable sin’, but this is not possible. When they can’t ‘feel’ God’s presence, they assume that God has left them but, again, this is not possible. God does not come and go according to the way we feel.

What did Jesus mean by blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? In the context of His conflict with the Pharisees, because He offended their religious scruples and refused to comply with their religious demands, they accused Him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Jesus pointed out the fallacy of their thinking. How can Satan throw out Satan and his kingdom still remain intact? The idea is ridiculous.

But their accusations had a far more sinister implication. Character assassination does not make the truth go away. Jesus wasn’t bothered about their attack on Him but He was concerned about its implications for them.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry is crucial to human beings. Jesus came to reveal the Father. His death on the cross was the final and fullest revelation of God’s attitude to us. His love took Him to the ultimate self-sacrifice on the cross to rescue us from our chosen foolish destiny on the trash heap of wasted potential.

However, what Jesus did for us is of no value to us without the Holy Spirit’s ministry in us. It is not that the Holy Spirit is more important than Jesus. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. It is the Spirit’s work to apply what Jesus did for us, to our hearts. Without Him we remain spiritually ignorant and dead. He is the one who lives in us to make the presence and work of Jesus real to us.

The Holy Spirit’s work in the unbeliever is to convict of sin. He moves the sinner towards Jesus. He awakens the conscience and enlivens our dead spirits through the faith that He provides. He opens our understanding and reveals Jesus to us through the Word of God. He is the Spirit of sonship. Without His work in us we can never understand or experience who we are and the place we have in God’s family as His sons and daughters.

If we deny or reject the work of the Holy Spirit, what have we that will lead us to salvation through Jesus? We are completely cut off from God because God the Father has given Him to us as the link between us and Himself.

Is it any wonder, then, that Jesus issued such a serious warning? If we repudiate the Holy Spirit and attribute to the devil what He is doing, we place ourselves outside any possibility of receiving God’s grace and being prepared for a life in the presence of God in the eternal realm.

Carefree In The Care Of God

Christian Life, , ,

CAREFREE IN THE CARE OF GOD

“He continued the subject with His disciples. ‘Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.'” Luke 12:22-24 (The Message).

How desperately this reassurance from Jesus is needed today. Our faith has become wobbly in today’s economic climate. Many of us are feeling the squeeze of unemployment, inflation, and an uncertain world economy. We anxiously watch the fluctuations in the stock market and wonder how long our assets will last. More and more people are joining the lines of the homeless who depend on charities to survive. Do Jesus’ words still apply in these circumstances?

A resounding “Yes!” but the secret is to tap into God’s resources via His economic system. This is where we often come unstuck. When our stockpile begins to dwindle, we hang on to our money instead of keeping it circulating. The excuse is, ‘I can’t afford to give.’ Wrong! Jesus says, ‘You can’t afford not to give.’ The only way to keep the circulation of resources going is to keep on giving.

There is a law in God’s system like the law of gravity. When we respect and stay in line with gravity, we are okay. When we try to defy it, we are in serious trouble. In God’s system, everything begins with a seed; plants, trees, people, faith, even new life in Jesus, all begin with the appropriate seed. So it is with God’s supply. The Apostle Paul spoke about this in the context of giving.

“Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:6, 7 (NIV).

Asking God to meet our needs has its place as we learn from the Lord’s Prayer, but tapping into God’s supply according to His instruction has already been guaranteed by His promise, ‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ Matthew 6:33 (NIV).

A far more serious reason for mistrusting God when the squeeze is on is one of identity. We don’t really understand how real our relationship with God is. We have been adopted into God’s family through Jesus. ‘In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will…’ Ephesians 1:5 (NIV).

Our being the sons of God underlies everything He does for us. He treats us just as He treated Jesus. He loves us just as He loved Jesus. He cares for us just as He cared for Jesus. He listens to us just as He listened to Jesus. In His eyes we are on a par with Jesus. Jesus is His Son and so are we. There is no difference. That doesn’t mean that we are God but it does mean that we are His sons and daughters.

“‘Therefore come out from among them,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 (NIV).

This should make all the difference in the world to the way we respond to God’s Word. Everything He does in and through us is because we are His sons and daughters. We can trust Him because Daddy will never lie to us.

Can We Ask Too Much?

Prayer, , , ,

CAN WE ASK TOO MUCH?

“If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing – you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think that the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask Him.” Luke11:11-13, (The Message).

Again Jesus uses an exaggerated contrast to teach us the scope of God’s generosity to His children. Fathers give their children the simple things they ask for because it is within the scope of what they are able to do. They are generous to their children as good fathers because they are able to meet that need, and they do it because they love their children.

But what about our heavenly Father? How does He respond to the children to whom He gave spiritual birth through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus? According to Romans 8:32, “If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?” (The Message).

In this teaching on prayer in response to the disciples’ request, Jesus pins my attention on three questions:

1. Who and what is the focus of my prayer?

2. What is my attitude to Him?

3. What do I expect of Him?

If I can answer these three questions from His perspective, I have grasped the real meaning of prayer and can expect to nurture my fellowship with the Father as Jesus did.

In His model prayer, Jesus teaches me that prayer is primarily about who and what I must become aware of. Prayer is not prayer if it is all about me and my concerns. Prayer is the simple act of turning my head to face the One who can bear the burden. Why can I have confidence in Him to handle whatever my issues are? He is my Father, my life-source who is as near to me as my breath. He brought me to physical and spiritual birth and He has accepts full responsibility for me as His child.

Although He is unseen, He is real, more real than the world around me. He knows me more intimately than I know myself. I can hide nothing from Him; therefore I can best nurture my relationship with Him by being transparent and direct. As a tiny child comes to its father in dependence and trust, so I come to my Father with an open heart.

Although little children sometimes think that daddy can give them the world, they ask in innocence and ignorance, but there is nothing my Heavenly Father cannot supply according to my need. I have no need greater than the Holy Spirit and He has promised to give Him to me if I ask Him. He has already given me His Spirit and, because He leads me, I know that I am His son or daughter.

And so my understanding of prayer comes full circle back to the fundamental issue of sonship. Prayer is only prayer in the environment of God and me as Father and ‘son’. Prayer is not prayer unless it is the intimate interaction between Father and son.

A Greater Than Jonah is Here!

Christian Life, , ,

A GREATER THAN JONAH IS HERE

“‘On Judgment Day the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation because, when Jonah preached to them, they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about ‘proofs’. On Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that condemns this generation because she travelled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon’s is right in front of you and you quibble about ‘evidence’.‘”Luke 11:31, 32 (The Message).

Jesus condemned the people of His generation because they refused to accept the evidence staring them in the face that His words, His works and His ways all testified to His identity as the Son of God. They preferred to keep following Him around and demanding signs because He was the latest person on the popularity polls.

Jesus  held up both the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba  as examples of people with more discernment than the people of God in Israel. They had only one opportunity – the Ninevites were pagans, the cruellest nation on earth in their day – and God sent a prophet to warn them of the consequences of their ways. Their response was startling, considering Jonah’s five-word message! They repented to a man, and God spared them.

The Queen of Sheba came from far, probably from Africa; no jet airliner to transport her, not even a motorised vehicle on a tar road. But she made the effort to listen to a mere man because of his supernatural wisdom.

The people of Jesus’ day had the very Son of God with them, teaching them and demonstrating the kingdom of God with signs and wonders and they refused to believe Him.

But what of my generation? When I read magazines, watch TV, listen to the radio, I am aware that God is conspicuously absent. The only mention of God is the use of His name as an expletive. How blind are people today! The evidence of God’s presence is everywhere – “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Psalm 19:1 (NIV).

Just like the Apostle Paul’s contemporaries, this generation stands guilty before God. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20 (NIV).

No generation has had more opportunity to discover the truth about God than this one. His Word blankets the earth in both written and spoken form and yet…godlessness and wickedness are on the increase. What chance does this generation have if the people in Jesus’ day stood guilty and condemned before God because they refused to believe?