Daily Archives: April 5, 2013

Your Turn Is Coming

Christian Life, , ,

YOUR TURN IS COMING

“‘Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregation of God’s people.'” Luke 22:27-30 (The Message).

Of course we would rather sit down at the dinner table and be served than watch others eating while we serve! But once again, we belong to a kingdom where all the values are a reversal of this world’s values. In the present order of things, “sitting at the table” implies occupying an important position in society.

Serving is a menial job and is reserved for the “nobodies”. In the world’s eyes, Jesus is a “nobody”. In fact, even believers often treat Him as a nobody – it’s “Jesus, do this; Jesus, do that” as though we were the masters and He the servant.

Once again Jesus is teaching us to view this life as part of a bigger whole. Being a servant in the here and now is a necessary part of our apprenticeship for our task in God’s kingdom. It would be foolish to employ an untrained person to do a responsible job, especially one that handles people’s lives. No airline company would employ a rookie to pilot their passenger planes.

There are examples in Scripture of people who were placed in responsible positions without first being taught to be a servant. The most glaring would be King Saul, Israel’s first king. He had great potential but he was never put through his “servant” training before he became king. When the tests came, he failed dismally because he did not know how to submit to God’s authority.

He was disqualified and replaced by David, a shepherd boy who had learned to serve as the youngest son in a family of eight. His trust in God carried him through many dangerous situations and equipped him to be a true leader of God’s people because he submitted to God’s authority and ruled wisely under God.

Having a servant heart is a necessary part of being a disciple. It teaches us how to live in submission and obedience to our Master and equips us to be imitators of Jesus. Without this training we would be liabilities to God in His kingdom just like Satan was, taking the bit between our teeth and causing chaos through disobedience and self-will.

There will be a time when we reap the reward of faithfully serving others through our obedience to God. Jesus assures us that, if we stick with Him, we will share the honour of a place at His table if we have passed the test of humility and self-sacrifice. Joseph spent thirteen years in slavery and imprisonment in preparation for his great task although he was not guilty of wrongdoing. God found him faithful and promoted him to a place of honour and authority where he could “sit at the table” because he had served well.

Our turn is coming. Our years of training may be long and tedious but they are intended
to prepare and test us for great responsibility and honour. If we stick with Jesus and serve others with humility, we shall also share in the reward of “a place at His table”, taking up our responsibilities among the congregation of God’s people.

Jesus is the perfect pattern God has given us to follow. “Although He was a son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 5:8-10 (NIV).

Who Was On Trial?

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WHO WAS ON TRIAL?

“When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought Him before their High Council. They said, ‘Are you the Messiah?’

“He answered, ‘If I said yes, you wouldn’t believe me. If I asked you what you meant by your question, you wouldn’t answer me. So here’s what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes His place at God’s right hand, the place of power.’

“They all said, ‘So you admit your claim to be the Son of God?’

‘”You’re the ones who keep saying it,’ He said.

“But they had made up their minds . ‘Why do we need any more evidence? We’ve all heard Him as good as say it Himself.'” Luke 22:66-71 (The Message).

This has to be the strangest court case in history! Jesus was the prisoner and yet His subtle answer to their question and their attempt to force Him into incriminating Himself, exposed their guilt, not His. Their charge, punishable by death according to their religious law, was blasphemy. For them His guilt was cut and dried, if they could get Him to make a confession. ‘If you are claiming to be the Son of God, say it.’

The only witnesses they could produce contradicted one another and, according to Mark’s account, brought an accusation so feeble that their testimony was dismissed. All they could bank on was that Jesus would admit guilt to their charge by His own confession.

His counter charge was: ‘If I am not the Son of God, prove it.’ As the members of the High Council, it was their duty to uphold justice and to do this, they had to provide evidence to support their charge, but they could not produce at least two reliable witnesses.

Jesus turned the tables on them by His reply to their question. ‘If I said yes, you would not believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you would not answer me.’ He dug underneath their hypocritical “justice”, exposed their motive and revealed their wicked hearts. They were not after the truth. They were after an excuse to condemn Him.

Instead of giving them a direct answer, He made a statement which they were forced to weigh up for themselves. Their response would be the verdict on themselves, guilty or not guilty. Their refusal to drop the case drove them deeper into guilt and His resurrection three days later finally sealed their doom.

Once before they were caught in the same dilemma when they came to Him with a trick question, ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?’ His answer took them by surprise. They were expecting Him to get Himself into trouble either with Jewish or Roman authorities. Instead, He put them in their place by reminding them of both their civil and religious responsibilities. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” Luke 20:25b (NIV).

Motive and responsibility – Jesus was big on both these issues. Why we do things is just as important as what we do. Taking responsibility for what we do and why we do what we do is the essence of maturity. Adam and Eve tried to play the “blame game” but it did not work with God. Man has been doing the same thing ever since and it still doesn’t work.

Even though Jesus was found guilty, condemned and crucified, He was the judge in the end, and His accusers the condemned. Yes, Jesus was guilty as charged, guilty of being who He said He was, the Christ, the Son of the living God, and He not only claimed it, He proved it by rising from the dead.

Those who tried and condemned Him were the guilty ones, guilty of prejudice, injustice and treason because they betrayed the God they claimed to serve and condemned to death the Son of God because they refused to recognise and believe in Him.

Who Do You Think You Are?

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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

“Peter said, ‘Master, I’m ready for anything with you. I’d go to jail for you. I’d die for you!’

“Jesus said, ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Peter, but before the rooster crows you will have three times denied that you know me.'” Luke 22:33-34 (The Message).

We like to pick Peter out for being cocksure of himself but I don’t think we are any different. There was no problem with his sincerity. He loved the Master and would willingly have given his life for him — in his mind — but, in the real situation, at the mercy of ruthless Roman soldiers, it was a little different.

Peter did not know what it was like to be in that kind of situation. Perhaps even more important was the fact that dying for Jesus then would be pointless. He would be dying for a friend but not as a witness to the truth to which he was testifying. His opportunity would come later when he would give his life for what he believed and preached, that Jesus is the Son of God and that He rose from the dead and is the author of eternal salvation for all who believe in Him.

Peter had a whole lot of living to do and learning the truth about Jesus and the resurrection because that became the pivot of his life and message, and the reason for his obedience and courage, even to the point of dying the same cruel death as his Master.

Peter did not even know that his brash words were prophetic. He did indeed go to jail and to death for Jesus but it was because of his choice to follow Him and not because he was the victim of Jewish leaders’ prejudice. Peter learned his lesson well. He had to go through his own ‘Gethsemane’, humiliating and painful as it was, to be equipped to be an apostle of the good news.

Our own failures and weaknesses seem so drastic and final that we think that they disqualify us from being Jesus’ disciples, and we run from Him in guilt and shame. God has a very different view of our failures. These are the very experiences that equip us to be witnesses for Him.

To what are we really witnessing? Not to our strengths! If we never failed, we would not need the grace which God freely gives to us because of Jesus. This is the marvel and miracle of the gospel. Jesus came to earth because of who we are. There is nothing in us to commend us to God. God’s verdict: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV).

At best we are foul. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Isaiah 64:6 (NIV).

Jesus did everything necessary to recue us from our pitiful condition. He paid our debt, washed us clean and presented us to God as His own beloved sons and daughters and gives us the grace to live for Him in His strength, not ours.

We are fools if we think we can do it by ourselves. Peter learned that and so must we if we are to be witnesses of how big He is, and not of how big we are. It only takes our considered decision to follow Him to bring God’s grace into action that energises us to do what we have chosen to do. The choice is ours; the strength is His and we do it together.

We have a union with the Holy Spirit who lives in us so close that, whenever we decide to obey, His power activates our choice and we do it through Him. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body, live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NIV).

Is that not a better option than being self-confident and falling into a deep, dark hole of guilt and shame because I thought I could do it by myself?

We Had Our Hopes Up

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WE HAD OUR HOPES UP

“He said, ‘What has happened?’

“They said, ‘The things that happened to Jesus, the Nazarene. He was a man of God, a prophet, dynamic in work and word, blessed by both God and all the people. Then our high priests and leaders betrayed Him, got Him sentenced to death and crucified Him. And we had our hopes up that He was the Christ. And now this is the third day since it happened. But now some of our women have completely confused us. Early this morning they were at the tomb and couldn’t find His body. They came back with the story that they had seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. Some of our friends went off to the tomb to check and found it empty just as the women had said, but they didn’t see Jesus,'” Luke 24:19-24 (The Message).

What sad words, ‘We had our hopes up…’

‘What a story! No wonder these poor disciples were confused! So many things had happened in such a short time that they could not make head or tail of them. If they had only taken note of Jesus’ repeated warning, they would have saved themselves from all this confusion.

How many times had Jesus told them that these things would happen? He had explained to them in detail that He would be arrested, tried and crucified, and that He would rise again on the third day. Had they listened, it would have been a time of celebration and expectation instead of confusion and grief.

Jesus continued to play His little game of “hide-and-seek” with them. He listened to their story, perhaps with a touch of amusement because He was about to give them the biggest surprise of their lives, but also with some frustration because of their unbelief.

The disciples had walked with Jesus long enough to know that He was always in charge of every situation and that He always had a solution. Had they watched and listened, they would have realised that He was not a victim of an assassination plot but a willing participant in something much bigger, orchestrated to fulfil a greater purpose.

Time and again He had made it clear that He was nobody’s pawn. He had often walked through a murderous mob unscathed. He had often declared, ‘It’s not yet my time.’ The tale of woe of these two that morning made it obvious to Jesus that nothing He had said made sense to them and they didn’t believe any of it. What a slap in the face for Him!

How like them we are! We have a whole Bible full of promises and reassurances but, when things don’t go our way, we fall apart like the disciples did, and spend our time and emotional energy recounting the problems instead of trusting the promises. Has God ever failed? If He fails you, it will be the first time in history, His first lie and the first crack in His flawless character!

On one occasion, Jesus and His disciples met a man born blind. The disciples’ reaction was, ‘Whose fault was it that he was born blind.’ Jesus’ response was typically ‘Jesus’. “‘You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause and effect here. Look instead for what God can do.'” John 9:3 (The Message).

That’s it! It does not matter what crisis we are in. Three facts are non-negotiable: God is there; God is good; God is in charge. No one can ‘do’ anything ‘to’ anyone without God’s knowledge and purpose. How much better to wait and trust rather than expend useless emotional pain in fear and unbelief.

A simple, ‘Let’s see what God can do,’ will wipe out doubt and replace it with anticipation of something bigger than we can imagine. After all, isn’t God about putting His glory on display through us? He used the most impossible circumstances to do it through Jesus, and He will do it through us if we believe.

A Time of Testing

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THE TIME OF TESTING

“‘Simon, stay on your toes. Satan has tried his best to separate all of you from me, like chaff from wheat. Simon, I’ve prayed for you in particular that you not give in or give out. When you have come through the time of testing, turn to your companions and give them a fresh start.'” Luke 22:31-32 (The Message).

Jesus’ words are packed with insight into God’s ways. It would pay us to understand and heed what He said to Peter.

Firstly, there is great significance in a name. Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter and yet on this occasion He addressed him as “Simon.” To the Hebrew people a name was a prophetic utterance of character. “Simon” means “listener” or “hearing”, but Jesus prophesied that he would become a “rock”. Why did Jesus revert to his old name? It seems that He did this when Peter reverted to behaving like his old self. He was “hearing” but was he heeding the words of Jesus. Jesus was warning him that he was in grave danger of behaving like the old Simon.

Secondly, how strange that Jesus did not pray for Simon to be prevented from being tested! It seems that every time we are tested, both God and Satan have an agenda. Satan’s design was to drive a wedge between Him and His disciples so that their fellowship would be disrupted. God’s agenda was to expose their vulnerability so that they would get to know themselves and put their trust in Him in their weakness.

If we were protected from temptation, we would be as spineless as jelly fish. Even if we give in to temptation, as Peter did, it does not mean that we are disqualified from being Jesus’ disciples. It is a necessary part of our journey to true sonship. How can we grow in our dependence on God if we have no idea of how really weak we are?

Thirdly, temptation is not about strengthening our will power. There would be no benefit in that because God’s purpose is to train us to trust Him, not ourselves. The Apostle Paul tried to wriggle out of his trial which he called his “thorn in the flesh”. He pleaded with God to take it away. Instead, God explained its purpose.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…For when I am weak then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV).

Paul’s experience and his explanation help to put our trials in perspective. Where Satan’s agenda is to arouse suspicion and alienate us from God, God’s agenda is to strengthen our reliance on him. Temptation is never from God. James makes that clear. “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” James 1:13 (NIV). But God is never caught off guard. He gives us the option to give in or trust Him for strength to resist the devil by submitting to Him.

Fourthly, Jesus did not pray Simon out of the test. He prayed that he would come through it without giving up so that he would be able to lift his fellow disciples up when they fell because of his own experience. Gentleness and humility cannot be learned any other way and these are the hallmarks of a disciple, as imitators of Jesus.

Jesus prayed particularly for Simon because he was the natural leader. He was a ‘hearer’ but he needed to be honed into a ‘rock’ so that others could learn from and depend on him in their time of testing.

We can draw great encouragement from Jesus’ words to Peter. From His perspective, Peter’s fall did not spell disaster but growth – getting to know himself and God’s grace. Satan’s agenda is to destroy but if we handle our failures with understanding, they will serve as valuable learning experiences, exposing our vulnerability and strengthening our faith in God.

The same Peter who failed his Master so badly, said this, “In this (his readers’ hope of resurrection) you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV).