Monthly Archives: June 2013

Powerful Nonsense

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POWERFUL NONSENSE!

“When the service was over, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the next Sabbath. As the meeting broke up, a good many Jews and converts to Judaism went along with Paul and Barnabas, who urged them in long conversations to stick with what they’d started, this living in and by God’s grace.” Acts 13:42-43 (The Message).

For a revolutionary new message, the gospel made quite an impact on the Jews and God-fearers of Pisidian Antioch, so much so that Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the following Sabbath. The after-meeting was longer than the service, a kind of new believers’ class to anchor the converts in their new faith.

What a task and what a leap of faith for these missionaries! They had no Bibles or gospel booklets to leave behind. They could not spend months teaching the new believers. They had no guarantees that these vulnerable new “babies” in the faith would not be corrupted or persuaded to turn back to their old ways. The Holy Spirit was the one they trusted to teach and keep these people true to their new-found faith.

“When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene.” Acts 13:44-45 (The Message).

On the island of Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas had experienced one isolated incident of opposition from the Jewish magician, which Paul quickly squashed. Now they were up against a deluge of Jewish religious fanatics. Paul could not exactly strike them all with blindness! The odds were stacked against them. What could two men do against an angry mob?

This was the beginning of a tide of opposition and persecution from his own people in Asia Minor and Europe that Paul had already aroused in Damascus and in Jerusalem. What was it in this message that inflamed the Jews instead of attracting them to their Messiah?

According to Paul himself, it was the cross that they could not accept. For both Jew and Gentile the thought a of God dying on an execution stake made no sense to them. “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 (NIV).

Jesus did not come to teach a new philosophy or start a new religion. He came to rescue people from their self-inflicted separation from God through the independence our first father set in motion. He came to show us just what this God is like, the God who is calling us back to Himself, so gracious and loving that He took the punishment for our rebellion on Himself.

Why should the cross be such a stumbling block to both Jew and Gentile? Is it because it is unthinkable that a person should do that for another person, let alone God doing it for people who are at enmity with Him? But He did and, through it He offers free pardon to anyone who will receive Him.

“You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for an unrighteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8 (NIV).

What’s In It For Me?

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WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

“‘David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, for a long time now. But the One God raised up — no dust and ashes for Him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.

“‘Don’t take this lightly. You don’t want the prophet’s sermon to describe you:

“Watch out, cynics, Look hard — watch your world fall to pieces. I’m doing something right before your eyes that you won’t believe, though it’s staring you right in the face.'” Acts 13:36-41 (The Message).

The forgiveness of sins — that’s what the cross is all about! Sin is the one great barrier between us and a holy God. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” Habakkuk 1:13 (NIV).

God created a perfectly functional world. Everything fitted together with everything else in perfect harmony and functioned as one, reflecting the same perfect harmony within the Godhead. He also created man, forming him from clay and filling him up — which is what the word “create” actually means — with His own image, male and female in perfect union.

He separated the woman from the man and brought them together again to live in a union that reflects the oneness of God. Because of the intimate connection between humans and the natural world, when man chose to disconnect himself from his Creator and make his own rules, the entire created order followed suit and became dysfunctional. Conflict replaced harmony in the plant and animal world, making life a battleground instead of an orchestra.

Life on earth should have been a perfect reflection of life in the presence of God. Therefore, from God’s perspective, everything that is imperfect is sin because it falls short of God’s glory. Even what we consider “natural”, like sickness, disabilities, accidents that cause brokenness, decay and death are alien to God and are therefore classified as sin and demand blood sacrifice to atone and cleanse its pollution.

Jesus’ death on the cross did not only pay for man’s sin. It also paid for the pollution and disruption that man’s rebellion caused in the whole of creation. Even the entire universe was affected by that one choice.

“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 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).

The expectation of those who believe in the finished work of Jesus on the cross goes beyond this life into the life beyond the grave. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Romans 8:20, 21 (NIV).

The forgiveness of sins Jesus purchased for us on the cross brings with it the promise of the restoration of the entire creation to its original state and purpose. When we receive the gift of forgiveness, we become a part of God’s design to restore all of creation and to complete the work He began; a perfect world in which He can live in union with man that can never be disrupted again.

Crime Scene With A Difference

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CRIME SCENE WITH A DIFFERENCE

“After they had done everything the prophets said they would do, they took Him down from the cross and buried Him. And then God raised Him from death. There is no disputing that — He appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known Him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that He is alive.

“And we’re here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers has come true for the children — for us! He raised Jesus exactly as He described in the second psalm.

“My Son! My very own Son!
Today I celebrate You!”

“When He raised Him from the dead, He did it for good — no going back on that rot and decay for Him. That’s why Isaiah said, ‘I’ll give to all of you David’s guaranteed blessings.’ So also the psalmist’s prayer: ‘You’ll never let your Holy One see death’s rot and decay.'” Acts 13:29-35 (The Message).

This was a crime scene in reverse. Forensic science is so advanced that it is possible to prove that a murder had taken place without the evidence of a body. Jesus, on the other hand, was put to death in a public place. There were many witnesses to His murder and His burial place was known and even guarded by a platoon of Roman soldiers.

There was no need to cover up the heinous deed and no scheme to hide His body. His murderers needed to make sure that the body stayed where it was and that everyone knew it was there to prove that He was well and truly dead. He said He would walk out of the tomb and they did everything they could to prevent that from happening.

But He did the unthinkable. He walked out of the tomb and turned up among His friends to show them that He was alive. Has any other murder victim ever done that? Has any other religious icon ever done that? God Himself put His stamp of approval on Jesus by raising Him from death into an incorruptible and indestructible new body and by owning His as His Son.

All the characters in this great drama had inadvertently played their part to perfection, guaranteeing that God’s plan would come together just as He said it would. No amount of effort to cover up Jesus’ resurrection could disprove the fact. Their own prophets had accurately predicted it would happen and not just one — the same event was predicted by many different people across the centuries.

No elaborate cover-up schemes worked because Jesus walked out of a sealed and guarded tomb. No one can outwit God! His new resurrection body was not subject to earthly barriers. He moved in and out of locked rooms like a spirit and yet His disciples could see and touch Him and He even ate in their presence. No ghost can make a fire and cook breakfast on the shore of the Galilean lake.

Paul himself had encountered this Jesus in a blinding flash of light on the road outside Damascus. He had heard His voice and been transformed in an instant from a vicious persecutor to a humble servant who was willing to lay down his life for Him.

All in all, the proof of His resurrection was overwhelming but what was the point of it all? For God to come to earth in human form, to live as a human being for thirty three years and then to die as a felon for crimes He did not commit, is incomprehensible except for a very good reason.. The death penalty He had spoken over the human race because of our forefather’s rebellion, was carried out on Him and yet He was innocent of the crime for which He was paying.

This was really good news! Now every criminal — that’s us — can go free because our debt has been paid. And God can receive us back into His family as His sons and daughters if we accept His free gift of forgiveness and become reconciled to the Father.

Who Did It?

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WHO DID IT?

“From out of David’s descendants God produced a Saviour for Israel, Jesus, exactly as He promised — but only after John had thoroughly alerted the people to His arrival by preparing them for a life-change. As John was finishing up his work, he said, ‘Did you think I was the One? No. I’m not the One. But the One you’ve been waiting for all these years is just around the corner, about to appear. And I’m about to disappear.'” Acts 13:23-25 (The message).

Jesus was no self-proclaimed Messiah, making extravagant but unfounded claims for Himself. His coming was not only prophesied from the beginning (Genesis 3:15) but, in true royal fashion, His arrival was heralded by His forerunner, John, who come in the spirit and power of Elijah.

As a human being, Jesus was a descendant of the royal line of David, rightfully the king of Israel, but more than that, He was the Son of God, coming to reclaim His place as God in the hearts of His people. He was not an intrusion into the lives of people who were already worshipping God. He was the representative of the Father, the face of the One they had never seen, sent from the Father to reveal His true nature and to call them back to pure worship, uncluttered by the rules and ritual that had clouded their understanding of Him.

“‘Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham and friends of God, this message of salvation had been precisely targeted to you. The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn’t recognise who He was and condemned Him to death. They couldn’t find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute Him anyway. They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though these same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.'” Acts 13:26-29 (The Message).

Jesus came both to reveal the Father and to reconcile His people to the Father. The sacrifices which they offered to God were only a visual aid of the true sacrifice that Messiah would become to do away with sin once-for-all and to dispense with everything that stood in the way of their free access to Him.

So who was really responsible for the death of Jesus? The Father who planned it? The Jews who condemned Him to death and handed Him over to Pilate? Herod who played with Him and sent Him back to Pilate? Pilate who passed sentence and handed him over to the soldiers? The soldiers who nailed Him to the cross? Or all of us whose sin demanded the penalty of death which He was willing to pay for us?

Everyone was implicated in the chain of events which Paul declared was God’s way of bringing salvation to the world. And, just to make sure that no one missed the point; God put it in writing through His prophets long before it ever happened. He made sure that all the evidence was in His data base so that anyone who has the will to, can compare the finger prints of Jesus with the finger prints of Messiah on the data base of Scripture and come up with a perfect match!

Only those who have no interest or desire for reconciliation with the Father and the all the blessings and privileges of the sons of God would be foolish enough to ignore God’s offer of a free pardon and reinstatement into His family as His son or daughter.

The Apostolic Message

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THE APOSTOLIC MESSAGE

“On the Sabbath they went to the meeting place and took their places. After the reading of the Scriptures — God’s Law and the Prophets — the president of the meeting asked them, ‘Friends, do you have anything you want to say? A word of encouragement, perhaps?’

“Paul stood up, paused and took a deep breath, then said, ‘Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen. God took a special interest in our ancestors, pulled our people who were beaten down in Egyptian exile to their feet and led them out of there in grand style. He took good care of them for nearly forty years in that godforsaken wilderness and then, having wiped out seven enemies who stood in their way, gave them the land of Canaan for their very own — a span in all of about four hundred and fifty years.'” Acts 13:14-20 (The Message).

What would you have said had you been Paul, given the opportunity of a lifetime to share the gospel message on foreign soil in a Jewish synagogue for the first time? What was his aim? Surely it was to present Jesus to the Jews and Gentile God-fearers as the fulfilment of their Scriptures.

It was not a “come to Jesus to have your sins forgiven so that you can go to heaven” message. It was a “this is the one God promised through the prophets from ancient times and now He commands you to repent and believe in Him” story. Paul anchored his presentation of the truth firmly in historical fact and in the familiar history of his hearers.

“‘Up to the time of Samuel the prophet, God provided judges to lead them. But then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, out of the tribe of Benjamin. After Saul had ruled forty years, God removed him from office and put King David in his place with this commendation: ‘I’ve searched the land and found this David, son of Jesse. He’s a man whose heart beats to my heart, a man who will do what I tell him.'” Acts 13:20-22 (The Message).

God was at work, guiding His people towards the moment when David would appear on the scene. Was Israelite’s demand for king premature? It was God’s plan from before the foundation of the world that His Son be a descendant of the royal line of David. As he spoke a blessing over his sons on his deathbed, Jacob prophesied that it would be from the tribe of Judah that the ruler would come (Genesis 49:8-12).

Why was Saul chosen to be Israel’s first king, from the tribe of Benjamin, God knowing full well that he would fail and be disqualified? According to Deuteronomy 23:2, no one born out of wedlock was permitted to hold public office in Israel up to the tenth generation. David was the tenth generation from Perez, the illegitimate son of Judah but he was too young to take office as king when the leaders of Israel made their demand of Samuel.

Had Saul been a godly king, his son, Jonathan, would have inherited the throne. David would not have been in the picture at all. Since God gave in to their demands, He put a loser on the throne to mark time until David was ready to reign in Israel.

It was up to Paul’s hearers to listen carefully and reach their own conclusions regarding the startling message he was bringing. It was important that he lay a solid foundation of fact so that they could make an informed decision regarding the identity of their Messiah.

This the beauty of God’s story — not some philosophical thumb-suck but verifiable historical facts of the God of heaven interacting with human beings in a series of miraculous events that have no natural explanation. God did intervene in human history to prepare a nation to be the cradle of His son and their Messiah.