Daily Archives: March 8, 2013

Furious!

Christian Life, , , ,

FURIOUS!

“The meeting-place president, furious because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the congregation, ‘Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.'” Luke 13:14 (The Message).

Strange, isn’t it, how reason, logic and even basic human kindness, leave the brain when a good deed is done that violates a religious scruple! According to this synagogue ruler, Jesus had done work on the Sabbath. First it was the Pharisees and now the synagogue ruler who was infected with the same ‘brain-damaged’ thinking.

On a previous occasion, when Jesus was attacked for healing on the Sabbath, (when in fact He had only spoken a word, and the man with a withered hand had been healed), He challenged their twisted logic by asking, “Which is right, to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath?” To Jesus, doing evil meant doing nothing, when someone was in need, because it was the Sabbath. He hated it when rules cancelled out mercy.

But there was something far deeper than a religious rule that aroused this man’s anger. There was a fundamental flaw in his character which reflects the whole human race. It rears its ugly head more vehemently in those who are driven by religion rather than a restored relationship with God as Father.

Because God’s essential nature is love, He is lavishly generous to everyone, even to those who refuse to acknowledge Him. “…The Most High…is kind to the ungrateful and wicked…” Luke 6:35 (NIV). This kind of treatment to undeserving people sticks in the throat of those who hate God because it is so contrary to their own nature.

Jesus told a story about a farmer who went to the market place early in the morning to hire labourers. He negotiated their wages with them to which they agreed. During the day he hired more men and finally engaged the last few stragglers an hour before knock-off time. Those who had worked from early morning were furious with him when he paid the latecomers the same wage as they had received for a day’s labour.

The farmer’s response was, “Are you envious because I am generous?” The farmer’s generosity towards the men who had only worked for one hour brought out the true nature of the other labourers – envy. What is envy? It is not interchangeable with jealousy. It is the attitude that wants to destroy the one who, by acting contrary to their nature, shows them up for who they really are. It murders the one who does not bow to their command. It is the worst form of control. “Do what I tell you or die.”

Surprisingly, it was Pilate who accurately diagnosed the true motive of the religious leaders who delivered Jesus to him to be condemned and crucified. “‘Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?’ asked Pilate, knowing that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to them.” Mark 15:10 (NIV).

Envy is a powerfully destructive force that drives religious people to what is contrary to the image of God. It cancels out sane thinking, defies logic and motivates to murder rather than to submit to the truth.

Jesus chose to remain true to His own nature rather than bow to the scruples of religious people because He had come to put His Father’s glory on display. Being true to oneself is a risky business because it incurs a cost when it crosses the demands of religion.

We have to decide what will direct our lives – rigid adherence to rules because that’s what controls our lives, or the flexibility that comes with a heart of mercy. Living God’s way is not about trying to gain His approval but about living out of who we are, sons of God who have the nature of God and are free to live according to His love, mercy and compassion.

Enough for Everyone

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ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE

“Again He asked, ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.'” Luke 13:20, 21 (NIV).

When two or more parables appear together, called a ‘chain’, to interpret them correctly one must look for the common theme. This story follows the one about the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, which grows into a tree large enough to shelter the birds. This story tells about a small amount of yeast that leavens a large amount of dough. So what’s the point?

Yeast is often used in Scripture to illustrate the permeating power of evil. During the period of the Passover celebration, the people of God had to remove all yeast from their homes. The apostle Paul picked up on this when he was dealing with the Corinthian church’s failure to deal with a member who had fallen into gross sexual sin.

“…Don’t you know that a little yeast works through a whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:6, 7 (NIV).

In Jesus’ parable, however, yeast is not about evil but about the power of a small amount to permeate a large amount of dough. Such is the power of God’s kingdom to spread its influence across the entire globe. God does not work by force but by influence. Other religions tend to equate power with force. “Believe what we tell you or suffer the consequences.” God’s Spirit works by persuading and convincing, by appealing to the mind and conscience.

There have been times in history when people have turned to the Lord en masse in unusual circumstances like, for example, when the Holy Spirit fell on the believers on the day of Pentecost, and during great spiritual revivals. However, God’s way is also the slow but sure way of people influencing people one by one. Great revivals have swept people into the kingdom of God by the thousands, as have huge evangelistic campaigns all over the world. But the witness of a transformed life is able to influence the mind and convince the heart that Jesus is Lord.

Look, for example, at the experience of the Apostle Paul, a one-time Pharisee and religious fanatic, persecuting believers to the death because he thought he was right. When he was faced with the courageous witness of Stephen, the first of many who laid down their lives for the truth of the gospel, Saul of Tarsus was profoundly moved, although he was only finally convinced on the Damascus road when Jesus Himself confronted him.

The influence of Jesus’ love-slave, Paul, just one man, has touched the entire world throughout all the generations through his preaching and writings, a small amount of yeast permeating the lives of millions of people for two thousand years.

Evil produces revulsion in the hearts of sane-thinking people. Threats of death may manipulate behaviour but only the powerful influence of the gospel of Jesus can transform hearts, change behaviour and redirect destinies towards unselfish service, usefulness and eternal life in the presence of the Most High God.

This simple truth gives great encouragement to God’s children. However insignificant we may feel, however little we may be able to do, there is enough power in our little to influence those around us and to change our environment. As people see the kingdom in action, those who have a heart to respond receive the King and experience His gracious transforming power that slowly affects those around them.

And so on, and so on…

Don’t Assume

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DON’T ASSUME

“A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighbourhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.'” Luke 13:25 (The Message).

What a solemn warning! Jesus left us in no doubt about what happens to curiosity-seekers and freeloaders. His invitation is into an intimate marriage relationship with Him in order to impregnate our spirits with His word. His passion is to re-establish the oneness that Adam’s rebellion disrupted at the Fall.

God’s word is the energy that created the universe – “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth” Psalm 33:6 NIV) – and keeps it in perfect running order – “…sustaining all things by His powerful word…” Hebrews 1:3b (NIV) – and the seed which is sown into human hearts, germinates and grows to produce the full harvest of God’s character in us – “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” 1 Peter 1:23 (NIV).

Sometimes the gospel is presented as though Jesus were either offering a cop-out for those who are finding life tough, recruiting others for a cause or calling us into a quick-buck business association with Him in order to line our pockets with His ‘blessings’! (What happened to His ‘deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me’?) This is our modern-day humanistic corruption of His intention.

Like a many-faceted diamond, God calls us into a many-faceted relationship with Himself. Jesus consistently presented and portrayed God as our ‘Abba’, the tender Father who passionately loves us, carried out a daring plan to rescue us and lavishly pours out His grace and favour on His children.

Jesus Himself is our Rabbi, calling us to follow, learn, imitate and obey Him; our Bridegroom who has gone to prepare the bridal chamber for the day He returns to pick us up (rapture us) and carry us over the threshold into the realm where we shall be perfected in oneness with Him forever; and our King, to be honoured as our Lord and Master in a union which reproduces His likeness in us.

The Holy Spirit, the third person in this Trinity of unique ‘God-ness’, is the gentle ‘mother’ who nurtures and fashions these embryonic Father/child and Bridegroom/bride relationships into full bloom through a lifetime of teaching, guiding, correcting and encouraging.

It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus warned about assuming that, because we have lived in the ‘neighbourhood’ of His activities all our lives, we are automatically included on His ‘guest list’. Knowing about Him and knowing Him are poles apart. This ‘knowing’ of which He speaks is the ‘knowing’ of intimacy between a husband and wife which reproduces a child out of that union. A lifetime of ‘knowing’ Him begins with a personal surrender of heart to Him as a bride pledging her life to her bridegroom, and continues with a lifetime of growing intimacy that transforms her from an independent individual into a blended oneness with Him.

It takes more than going to church, reading the Bible or doing ‘good works’ to forge a relationship with the living God. It’s about fellowship with Him, starting with cleaning the slate by receiving the full benefits of His forgiveness, cleaning our cupboards of the all our skeletons and starting a new life in a new realm with a new heart and a new energy to do life His way.

And it’s our choice…

Disrupt and Confront

Christian Life, , , ,

DISRUPT AND CONFRONT

“‘I’ve come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be – three against two, and two against three, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against bride and bride against mother-in-law.'” Luke 12:52, 53 (The Message).

Is it Jesus’ intention to cause trouble in families? Never! That would be contrary to His nature as God. God is one – ECHAD – unity in diversity expressed by His essence, love. It is God’s intention to restore everything that Adam’s disobedience destroyed, to its original oneness in Himself. “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus), and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:19, 20 (NIV).

Jesus is not speaking about intention but about outcome. He is stating the fact that a relationship with Him is so deep and so radical that it cuts across even the closest family ties. There is a deep-rooted underlying problem in the human heart of which Paul speaks in Romans 5:10 – “…we were God’s enemies…” Enmity against God causes us to resist someone else’s faith in Him, even in the very closest of family members. Our belief system which is shaped by the deception sown in our minds by God’s enemy, the devil, causes us to resist the truth and to oppose those who believe and receive God’s word.

There is a second flaw in our fallen human nature that persistently causes trouble. Unlike God, we do not respect other people’s freedom and right to make their own choices. We try to force our own beliefs and opinions on others, even resorting to murder if the other person refuses to see things our way. What kind of a god would require us to kill our own flesh and blood if he or she chooses to believe in Jesus? And yet it happens across the world.

Is this what Jesus desires? Certainly not! Jesus is not a blood-thirsty murderer, taking pleasure in disrupting and dividing families. We do it to ourselves by stubbornly trying to manipulate the conscience of another.

Why would people behave in such a drastic way to enforce their will on others? Is this not evidence of the source of their beliefs? Jesus accurately diagnosed the problem. He said, “Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:43, 44 (NIV).

It amazes me how stubbornly people hang on to their lies even if it means destroying another’s life. There is nothing more tragic than deception and self-deception – believing and basing one’s whole life on what is not true. God created the world to be a place of righteousness and peace for all people as a reflection of Himself. He gave us the freedom to make our own choices and to take responsibility for the choices we make. Hating and killing to enforce our will on another can never be right because it defeats the very purpose for which we were created.

Therefore we must conclude that disruption and division in families and in society must have its source in God’s enemy, the devil. Satan has one agenda – to steal from God the human race He created in His image to worship Him and to enjoy the blessing of being His sons and daughters. We should be alerted to our future by the hell we taste on earth now and will experience forever if we choose to believe his lies.