Daily Archives: April 8, 2013

David Is Dead

Christian Life, , , ,

DAVID IS DEAD

“‘Dear friends, let me be completely frank with you. Our ancestor David is dead and buried – his tomb is in plain sight today. But being also a prophet and knowing that God had solemnly sworn that a descendant of his would rule his kingdom, seeing far ahead, he talked of the resurrection of the Messiah — ‘no trip to Hades, no stench of death.’ This Jesus God raised up. And every one of us here is a witness to it. Then, raised to the heights at the right hand of God and receiving the promise of the Father, He poured out the Spirit He had just received. That is what you see and hear.'” Acts 2:29-36 (The Message).

Someone once said, “Life is lived forward but understood backwards.” The same can be said about prophecy. Until it has been fulfilled, it is obscure and does not make sense. Once it has been fulfilled, it all comes together in an “o-o-oh” moment!

Peter must have been in his element when he preached his first sermon. All the Scriptures that he had memorised as a child came flooding into his mind through the revelation of truth from the Holy Spirit. What was once a mystery was now clear and it came pouring from his mouth in a torrent of declaration and, I guess, worship.

His message didn’t take hours to prepare, writing copious sermon notes and practising in front of a mirror or preaching to the dog! He stood up, opened his mouth and out it came with a fire that burned deep within him. It was graphic, logical and convicting, saturated in the Word and revealing the truth which cut the hearts of his hearers.

Imagine what would happen in our world if those who proclaim the Word of God were energised by the Holy Spirit in the same way as Peter was. His sermon followed ten days of prayer and waiting on God.

Just as the life of the believer is a partnership between us and God, so also is preaching. Sometimes there is so much effort put into the technicalities of a sermon that the result is a carefully structured and crafted work of art which had no heart and no fire.

Peter got his message on his knees. It touched his own heart first before it could touch any other. It flowed from his inner being through his mouth like a river and caught the hearers up with the mighty power of conviction.

Step by step, Scripture by Scripture, he built the throne, not David’s throne which the people were longing for God to re-establish, but a far greater throne, the throne of Jesus, David’s Son, to whom all the prophecies pointed and in whom they were fulfilled.

David was the greatest of Israel’s kings and the model against which every other king was measured. But, like every other mortal, he died and the proof of his death was still with them. David had spoken of a greater king, his descendent, who would not be a victim of the power of death. He died, yes, but death had no grip on Him because He no penalty of His own to pay.

Imagine the energy Peter put into his triumphant declaration, ‘This Jesus God raised up’! It echoed around the building, stunning the people into silence and stabbing their hearts with shock and terror. “We killed Him. He’s alive again. What will He do to us now?” But Peter was not finished with them yet…

Drunk….On The Holy Spirit

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DRUNK…ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

“Parthians, Medes…..even Cretans and Arabs!

“‘They’re speaking our languages, describing God’s mighty works.’

“Their heads were spinning. They couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused. ‘What’s going on here?’

“‘Others joked, ‘They’re drunk on cheap wine.'” Acts 2:9-13 (The Message).

Confusion again! But the disciples were not confused – they had it all together for the first time. They had finally got it and were focussed on the right thing – the mighty works of God. No doubt they were telling the startled bystanders about Jesus, about His death and resurrection and about the forgiveness of sins and the kingdom of God.

As usual, there was a mixed reaction from the crowd. Some of them had no clue what was happening. They watched and listened with open mouths to these crazy people, mostly uneducated Galileans, who were now speaking their languages fluently and eloquently.

As usual, there were the sceptics and mockers among them who could not see beyond the end of their cynical noses. ‘Drunk!’ was their diagnosis, ‘and so early in the morning.’ They neither heard what they were saying, did they process it for their own benefit. They simply wrote them off as drunk and laughed at them.

Did the disciples know what they were saying? Probably not at first. They were simply celebrating this unique experience in the best way they knew how, by shouting out their joy, not realising that in it was a message and a sign for all the people around them. No longer would they secrete themselves behind closed doors. They had a story to tell to the world and the energy of the Holy Spirit to tell it in power and truth.

By sending the Holy Spirit to be in them forever, God had initiated a partnership which guaranteed the effectiveness of their mission no matter where they went or what barriers and obstacles they met on the way. The same power that saturated Jesus was now saturating them and all those who would follow after them.

Why do we see so little of the evidence of Jesus’ presence in many parts of the church today? I guess there are many reasons why the church had slipped from being an exuberant organism to a sterile organization. Hosea’s diagnosis for Israel’s dismal failure to represent God to the world still holds: “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6 (NIV)

Some groups, still believing that they are part of the church, have become nothing more than followers of a religion, practising rituals and keeping rules which have twisted the simple message and mission of Jesus so out of shape that it is no longer recognisable. Others have gone off the track, chasing the rabbits of theology, prosperity, titles and authority, and even mystical experiences, or majoring on minors to the extent that Jesus is buried under a thousand additions.

The early church experienced the undiluted power of the Holy Spirit working in and through them because they were in partnership with Him. They said what He said, did what He did and went where He sent them just like Jesus had done. Their eyes were on Jesus, their ears listened for His voice and their hearts were for Him.

Why have we lost the plot? Lack of knowledge! We have relied on others to tell us how to live and what to do instead of soaking ourselves in God’s Word and sticking to the simplicity of what Jesus taught and modelled. We have the same Spirit as He had, and we have the Written Word to guide us – therefore we have no excuse for being so far from the truth.

It is imperative for the church to get back to Jesus’ command, ‘Follow me.’ Imagine what could happen in the world it we did!

Every Kind of People

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EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE

“That’s when Peter stood up and, backed up by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency. ’Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people are not drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk – it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen.'”

“In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people…'” Acts 2:14-15 (The Message).

What made the sceptics think that the followers of Jesus were drunk? Were they staggering, slurring, speaking incoherently or lacking in judgment or without inhibitions? Were they outrageously joyful, perhaps dancing, singing and shouting? What were the critics saying about them?

They had certainly not lost control, like people drunk on alcohol. Those who witnessed their behaviour commented on one phenomenon — these people were communicating amazing things in their own languages. Drunken people don’t do that! Drunken people can hardly speak their own language coherently.

Although one of the gifts of the Spirit is the gift of speaking unlearned languages, this event was unique because it was the counterpart of the God’s proposal of “marriage” at Mount Sinai when He came down on the mountain with all the accompanying words and practices of a Hebrew wedding. At Pentecost they affirmed His proposal and the church – the Bride of Christ – was born.

It is not necessary for us to try to recreate Pentecost because it was a once-off event which inaugurated the church era. The Holy Spirit has never been withdrawn. According to Paul, we can grieve Him and we can quench Him, we can blaspheme Him but we cannot remove Him from the world. He has been given to mankind to implement the work of Jesus on earth and will continue to do so until Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit’s ministry is threefold: He convinces the unbeliever of sin and draws him to Jesus; He convinces the believer of righteousness, teaching us about Jesus and reminding us of our standing in Him; He convinces the devil of judgement because he was judged at the cross.

Every facet of His work in the believer is related to our standing before God. The apostle Paul called Him “the Spirit of son ship”. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:15-16 (NIV).

There is a phrase that is bandied about in certain circles of the church to distinguish between “ordinary” believers and those who have had a special “experience”, making them a cut above the rest. Christians are categorised by either being “born-again” believers, as though there are believers who are not “born-again”, or “born-again and Spirit-filled” believers, making them a little bit better than the rest!

Nowhere in the Bible do we find this distinction made. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and took up residence in the hearts of believers. No one can be a believer without Him. The issue is: not how much of Him we have but how much of us does He have. He came for and on every kind of people.

The plea of the New Testament writers is not “beg God to fill you with His Spirit” but ‘be filled with the Spirit” and “walk in the Spirit” and “be led by the Spirit” which puts the ball in our court. The key word is submission. The Holy Spirit is not primarily about gifts or goose bumps but about living and acting like sons of God because that’s who Jesus is and we are to be imitators of Him. Everything else follows according to the Holy Spirit’s initiative.

Everything in the Scriptures

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EVERYTHING IN THE SCRIPTURES

“Then He said to them, ‘So thick-headed! So slow-hearted! Why can’t you simply believe all that the prophets said? Don’t you see that these things had to happen, that the Messiah had to suffer and only then enter into His glory?’ Then He started at the beginning, with the Books of Moses, and went on through all the Prophets, pointing out everything in the Scriptures that referred to Him.” Luke 24:25-27 (The Message).

What a Bible study! No one ever has, and no one ever will explain the Scriptures as Jesus did to those two that day! All the learned Jewish rabbis from ancient times could not have understood the Word of God as He did because He was both author and subject of the book.

Perhaps the message of these verses is the same for us today as it was for them then – we are thick-headed and slow-hearted because of our ignorance of the Scriptures. God has not only given us His Word but He has given us His Spirit to explain and interpret His Word. And yet we have so many teachings and practices that have “evolved” from the Bible that are not true to the Bible because, unlike the noble Bereans who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true,” – Acts 17:11b – NIV), we have not gone back to the Bible to verify the things we believe and practise.

Everything about Himself was there for them to discover if they had only taken the trouble to search. In fact, had they listened to Him with faith, they would have understood because He was the living Word right there with them for three years. John testified that “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have enough room for all the books that would be written.” John 21:25 (NIV). That is quite a statement!

Firstly, Jesus gave one simple instruction to His disciples out of which flows everything else He taught and demonstrated. He said to them, and to us, “Follow me.” And yet, if one considers the variety of superstructures that have been built on Him, the picture of true discipleship has been horribly distorted. All the rituals and paraphernalia that have been piled on Him have buried Him and replaced Him with nothing but another man-made religion.

Where do robes, incense, chanting, processions, hierarchy, priesthood and laity, rituals and every other belief and practice added to the simplicity of His call, fit into His purpose for coming? Do these things help us to live in harmony together as brothers and sisters in the family of God so that we can be witnesses to Him in the world?

Jesus calls us into close fellowship with Him with no trappings and requirements other than to love and obey Him. Out of that flows our fellowship with each other. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3 (NIV). Where does all this other stuff fit into that?

Secondly, we have built a world-wide prayer movement called “spiritual warfare” that in fact functions as though the death of Jesus were inadequate to deal with the devil. We are taught to “pull down”, “take authority over”, “break through”, “cast out”, “identify principalities”, “bind and loose” and even do “prayer walks” with no regard to the truth that Jesus accomplished the total defeat of Satan at the cross.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations which were against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15 (NIV).

If we have doubts about the efficacy of Jesus’ death, then we must add all these other things to try to subdue the devil. There is no evidence in the book of Acts that the Early Church was taught to do any of these things. By sharing their lives and their resources with one another and preaching Jesus as Lord, they turned the world upside down and brought down powerful religions like Diana-worship and eventually even the worship of Caesar.

The Bible sounds a serious warning to those who add anything to the sufficiency of the person and work of Jesus. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” Galatians 1:8 (NIV).

How important it was for those disciples then, and for us today, to know that Jesus had to suffer, to die and to be raised from the dead so that we can be living witnesses of who He is. Our transformed lives show the world that Jesus, and not the devil, is Lord, and expose his deception.