Daily Archives: March 8, 2013

Keep Your Shirts On

Christian Life, , ,

KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

“‘Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake and so blessed.'” Luke 12:35-38 (The Message).

Jesus often spoke to His disciples about being watchful and ready for His return. Unlike religion which is about rules and ritual, He was talking about a real situation – like servants awaiting their master’s return after his wedding. We must take note of the word ‘like’. Of course it would be impossible to stay awake day and night, year in and year out, waiting for Him to come back! That is not what He meant.

How must we understand what He meant by ‘Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on!’? Let Jesus be His own interpreter.

He told a parable about five wise and five foolish virgins who were awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom for his wedding feast. He took so long to come that they all fell asleep. When the bridegroom finally arrived at midnight, five of the virgins were ready to go in to the wedding feast because they had enough oil to refill their lamps which had gone out. The other five begged oil from their companions but were refused. They were sent to buy their own but, while they were away, the door to the wedding feast was closed and they were refused entry when they returned.

This parable is often erroneously interpreted to mean than the oil represents the Holy Spirit. We are urged to be full of the Holy Spirit so that, when Jesus returns, we will be ready to join Him at the wedding feast. The five foolish virgins missed the wedding because they were not ‘spirit-filled’ and could not go in with the bridegroom because they had to go out and seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

In this parable, the oil represents ‘tsidaqahs’, the righteous acts of which John speaks in Revelation 19:7,8 (NIV) – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints).

The five wise virgins were those who had practised the generosity which God’s way of living had taught them, and were therefore ‘ready’ to go in to the wedding feast with the bridegroom. The foolish virgins had no ‘tsidaqahs’ – righteous deeds with which to refill their lamps. It was too late to go out and do their tsidaqahs because the bridegroom had come and the doors were shut. This interpretation is compatible with the context which we have been examining in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel. It is also in line with the whole drift of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching.

Again I must emphasize that He was not teaching that we are saved by good works but, like James, He makes it clear that, if we don’t live out our faith in the kind of generosity which reflects the Father’s heart, we are not ‘ready’ go in to the wedding feast. When we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven by being generous with the resources God has entrusted to us to steward for Him, our lamps will be full of ‘oil’ or, as John describes in Revelation 19, we shall be wearing the pure white linen garments of righteousness which will qualify us to share in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Great Gifts – Great Responsibilities

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GREAT GIFTS – GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES

“‘The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities.'” Luke 12:47-48 (The Message).

There is something terribly wrong in the world today. God is glaringly absent, ignored or treated as though He does not exist. Read a glossy magazine, listen to the radio, watch the TV; it’s all the same. People’s gifts and talents are flaunted as if they were solely responsible for acquiring them.

No-one can use the excuse that he or she does not know where they got their gifts because the Bible assures us that everyone knows God. Romans 1:20, 21 – “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, having been understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Everyone has been entrusted with something to manage for the Master until He returns, some more and some less, but the attitude is often that these gifts are for us to exploit for our own benefit and advantage. Whether it be beauty, art, music, drama, or any less visible ability, the motive is the same, either money or fame or both. Whatever the reason, it’s all about ‘me’. It’s the ‘evil eye’ at work again, the greedy and selfish nature in control.

There are at least three things that this way of thinking either forgets or ignores: God’s glory, God’s purpose and our future destiny. The manager in Jesus’ story is a glaring example. He was either deliberately rebellious, or irresponsibly ignorant. Neither is an excuse for failing to carry out the master’s requirements. His selfishness cancelled out wisdom. He was living for the moment and forgetting that the master would return.

Tragically, because self dominates, his attitude was even more serious; the greater the gift, the greater the garnering of wealth and popularity for himself. But God looks at it differently; the greater the gift, the greater the responsibility. God gives us gifts firstly so that we can show Him off. Every gift, talent and ability we have is to be honed and used as a witness to what kind of God He is. God is infinitely beautiful, kind and generous and one of the ways He reveals His beauty is through us.

Secondly, God gives us gifts to get the work of His kingdom done on earth. There are a myriad ways in which the things He enables us to do bring, reveal and explain His government on earth. In God’s system there is order, harmony, purpose, beauty, generosity, mercy, compassion, etc., and these are accomplished through the gifts He has given us. To use them to enhance ourselves is to abuse them and to abort His plan on earth.

Thirdly, there is no way God will let us get away with rebellion or irresponsibility. Jesus will come back. He has promised. He will call us to account. He said so. His justice will be absolutely just because He gives us the choice regarding our future. Whatever we choose in this life He will confirm in the next. Our Romans passage makes it very clear. “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” Romans 1:28 (NIV).

And so Jesus’ warning is a serious one. The ‘thrashing’ unfaithful managers receive will be eternal and so will be the loss, too terrible to imagine, including the loss of the very position He had destined us to occupy in His eternal dominion had we been faithful.

Give It Another Year

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GIVE IT ANOTHER YEAR

“Then He told them a story: ‘A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it, expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple I have found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’ The gardener said, ‘ Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.'” Luke 13:6-9 (The Message).

Lest we are left thinking that God is harsh and unjust, Jesus slips in one of His little gardening stories to reassure His hearers that He does not make arbitrary decisions. He always acts within His own character, giving us the benefit of the doubt as long as He can, without contradicting His ways.

When a man plants a fruit tree in his garden, he does it for one purpose – to enjoy its fruit when it has matured. Fruit trees are not meant to be decorative but productive. If it does not bear fruit after years of cultivation, why would he leave it in his garden? It is nothing but a parasite, using up the moisture and nutrients in the soil and giving nothing back.

Unlike religion which is parasitic in nature, our relationship as sons to our heavenly Father ought to produce fruit. God created us for one supreme purpose – to put His glory on display. He gave us the capacity to be like Him in many ways, in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Sound familiar?

God continually ‘fertilizes’ us with His mercy and grace, not treating us as our sins deserve but showering on us His favour every day. We have been planted in the soil of His goodness and fed and watered by His word. Is it not reasonable to expect fruit in our lives in keeping with what He has lavished on us? Should we not be broadcasting Him to the world by the fruit that grows in soil that is nourished by such lavish care and provision?

When we persistently produce nothing but selfishness and greed, sucking up God’s goodness, living on His generosity and giving nothing in return, does He not have every right to chop the tree down and throw it on the rubbish dump? And yet He is merciful. ‘Let’s give it another year,’ He says, ‘just in case it does bear an apple or two to prove its worth.’

If it still does not come up to His expectation, He has no option but to chop it down to make room for trees that will give Him the satisfaction of bearing luscious fruit. God does not enjoy throwing people on the ‘rubbish dump’ of wasted potential but, once again, He leaves the choice to us. “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness; He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV).

Both the news item that people brought to Jesus about Pilate’s brutality and His response, show us that He was more concerned about what we do that what we think of others. ‘Don’t point fingers, look inside,’ He insists because we cannot answer for others but we have to take responsibility for ourselves.

Futile Faith

Christian Life, , ,

FUTILE FAITH

“A bystander said, ‘Master, will only a few be saved?’ He said, ‘Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life – to God – is vigorous and requires your total attention…'” Luke 13:22-24 (The Message).

Jesus consistently refused to pander to mere curiosity-seekers. His response to this man’s question seems rather rude until we understand what He was saying from His perspective. What would be the point of His self-sacrificial mission to earth if all it produced was people who gathered useless information to satisfy their desire to know about God and not to know God?

Jesus did not come to earth and lay down His life to gather around Him a crowd of freeloaders who have no interest in the meaning and purpose of life in the kingdom of God. There is a tendency today of ‘accepting Jesus’ as an escape route from hell and a solution to all our problems rather than a commitment to the life-time invitation to become who we are, sons and daughters of the living God.

The life we have been given is an apprenticeship for the life to come. What we do with it now will determine what God does with us in the hereafter. He gives us the choice and then works with us according to the choices we have made. This is not a joy-ride to heaven. It is vigorous and requires our total attention. The Apostle Paul reiterated Jesus’ sentiments in Philippians 2:12b, 13 – “…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”

Jesus was constantly referring people back to a consideration of their own lives before God. Those who reported the cruelty of Pilate who murdered worshippers in the sanctuary, were warned they that would suffer a similar fate if they did not repent. If we have any involvement with Jesus of Nazareth, it can only be a personal and lifetime commitment to Him as our Master and Lord.

There is a world of difference between the present-day gospel message which is essentially saying, “Come to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die,” and the message of the apostles who declared, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” Acts 2:38 (NIV).

The good news of the kingdom of God was never intended to be an escape route from earth. It is a promise of hope and the renewal of a corrupted earth and a mandate for those who recognise and bow to the Lordship of Jesus, to bring heaven to earth. By living out the life of Jesus in the power of His Spirit here on earth, His Father’s benevolent and gracious rule can be extended through His people wherever they are.

God’s promise is that every knee will bow to this Jesus whom He has elevated to the highest place and given a name above every name. Even those who refuse to acknowledge Him now will bow, including His arch-enemy, the devil, and that will be their admission of defeat and their self-inflicted removal from the presence of God forever.

So, once again, Jesus says to every reader, ‘Be warned. You choose….”