My, my, my, how time has flown by and when we look back, we see that another day, another week, another month has passed swiftly by and our yesterdays have just become memories. There is a constant battle going on between good and evil. The prince of darkness is busy corrupting the minds of people, causing some to commit suicide through various reasons. Babies are aborted before they are unable to utter their first words “Mama or Dada” or suck from their mother’s breast. Numerous diseases are ravaging young and old, leaving families devastated. In spite of all this negativity, hope comes to us through the Word. God is like a light house piercing the darkness, bringing hope to the weary and broken hearted. According to God’s Word a day is about to dawn, Luke 12:35-38 tells us about a great feast that is going to take place, and the host is going to be Jesus. The R.S.V.P. requires that we, the redeemed of the Lord, must be ready for His return with great expectancy. The day is not stated nor the time, He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever He comes, there will be special favour for His servants who are ready. I would like to imagine that this occasion is going be a great reunion with loved ones who have gone on before us, but most all Jesus will be the centre of the feast, the King Himself, the Angels, all the saints who acknowledged Jesus as Lord. Jesus has sent out His invitation for this great occasion, the onus on us to receive it.
Daily Archives: July 29, 2013
Revealing Christ
Dear Family,
I recently attended a very dear friend’s funeral. I had known him for over 30 years. It was a huge shock to my system when I received a call from his children to say that he had died as I did not realize that he had even been sick. I felt this deeply as some of the best memories of my early twenties were made with him. We spent many hours doing all sorts of things together. He was a musician of note and wherever we went, people knew him and it did not take long before his guitar was out and the crowd was being entertained. He also happened to be around when I had my very first kiss with my wife-to-be, in Main Street, Port Elizabeth; he was the one who fetched my wife-to-be from her pad and brought her to mine so I could propose; and he was the MC at our wedding. A very special friend indeed. Shortly after I received Christ I wrote him a letter (as I did to all my friends) telling him about my faith and the hope I had in Jesus. I do not recall him ever responding to that letter, but whenever we met up again through the years, he was always respectful of my standing. Last time I saw him, about 6 months ago, he told me he had started attending a little church close to where he lived and that he and the pastor had many discussions over a whisky or two. God is faithful!
I received an email from another mutual friend following his death and in it she said, “He was such a special soul, a gentle person, never a harsh word to say about anyone, never heard him swear or skinner (gossip) or tell a rude joke, music ran through his veins.” This summed him up completely. But it got me thinking….how would someone sum me up? How would someone sum you up? The fact is that the Bible calls upon us to “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” Mmmmm…..shine like stars? Everything without complaining or arguing? Shu! I have such a long way to go. But this is not optional for us. God calls upon us to allow Him to shine through us so that He can be revealed to the earth.
We may not all go to China or elsewhere to tell people about Jesus, but we can all allow Him to shine through us! Reveal Him today, everyday!
Murderous Envy
MURDEROUS ENVY
“When things were back to normal, Paul called the disciples together and encouraged them to keep up the good work in Ephesus. Then, saying his goodbyes, he left for Macedonia. Travelling through the country, passing from one gathering to another, he gave constant encouragement, lifting their spirits and charging them with fresh hope.
“Then he came to Greece and stayed on for three months. Just as he was about to sail for Syria, the Jews cooked up a plot against him. So he went the other way, by land back through Macedonia, and gave them the slip. His companions for the journey were Sopater, son of Phyrrus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, both Thessalonians; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; and two from western Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.” Acts 20:1-4 (The Message).
Paul was a tireless and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus. He had been given a commission to take the gospel to the Roman Empire and he did it as best and as thoroughly as he knew how, not only evangelising but also building up the followers of Jesus in the faith and encouraging them to stay on the path in the midst of persecution from many different quarters.
As we have seen through the pages of Acts, Paul was constantly the object of abuse and very often in danger of being killed by fanatical Jews and over-zealous pagans. Nothing would deter him. On his way back to Syria, via the churches in Greece where he spent three months instructing and encouraging them, he got to hear of a Jewish assassination plot and managed to slip through their fingers.
Although he had many travelling companions, faithful men who accompanied him and helped him with his load of responsibility, it was he who was the wanted man. There was a price on his head, and he had to be on the alert constantly to keep from inadvertently falling into hostile hands. It reminds us of David who got under King Saul’s skin just as Paul provoked the religious Jews to murderous envy. .
What is it that drives one human being to hate the goodness or success of another so much that he is willing to kill for it?
Jesus told a story about a landowner who needed labourers to harvest his grapes. He engaged men from the market place in the early morning and they agreed on the wage he offered. He went back several times during the day to look for more workers. An hour before knocking-off time there were still a few who had not found work. He employed them as well, even though they only had an hour to work.
At the end of the day, they gathered around the employer to receive their pay. The last men employed were paid first. To the annoyance of the ones who had worked all day, they received the same wage as the first ones, even though the last had only worked for an hour. Thinking that they were going to receive more, the first men protested. The landowner replied, ‘Didn’t you agree to the wage I offered you? Don’t I have the right to do with my money as I choose or are you envious because I am generous?’
What has envy to do with generosity? It was the generosity of the landowner that exposed the greed of the men first employed and they didn’t like it. Likewise, it was the generosity of Jesus that showed up the greed of the religious leaders to the extent that they killed Him for it. Instead of responding to His exposure by repenting and turning to Him, their hearts were so wicked that they chose to silence the voice that was offering them a new life.
This story had no value for us if we do not respond to its application. What do we do when the ungodly attitudes in us are exposed by someone else’s goodness? We will either do whatever it takes to silence the one who exposed us, often by character assassination, and keep on living the way we always did or, like Zaccheus, choose to change our ways and enjoy the blessing of a new life and freedom from the destructive ways of greed and wickedness.
A Pathetic Hoax
A PATHETIC HOAX!
“Finally, the town clerk got the mob quieted down and said, ‘Fellow citizens, is there anyone anywhere that doesn’t know that our dear city Ephesus is protector of glorious Artemis and her sacred stone image that fell straight out of heaven? Since this is beyond contradiction, you had better get hold of yourselves. This is conduct unworthy of Artemis. These men you have dragged here have done nothing to harm either our temple or our goddess.
“So, if Demetrius and his guild of artisans have a complaint, they can take it to court and make all the accusations they want. If anything else is bothering you, bring it to the regularly scheduled town meeting and let it be settled there. There is no excuse for what’s happened today. We’re putting our city in serious danger. Rome, remember, does not look kindly on rioters.’ With that he sent them home.” Acts 19:35-41 (The Message).
Good for you, town clerk! At least one person was thinking straight!
Was his speech tongue-in-cheek or did he really believe what he was saying? Any sober-minded person would realise that what these Ephesians believed was a lot of nonsense. But, you might ask, what’s the difference between the stone image of Artemis falling out of the sky and Jesus, the Son of God, being sent into the world by the Father? Isn’t it the same thing?
At face value it could be but for one major difference — proof! Long before it ever happened, God had foretold the events of Jesus’ coming. His prophets, over many centuries, wrote about the promised Messiah in such detail that it could never have been a hoax. Jesus was sent by the Father, became one of us, lived, acted and spoke as the perfect representative of the Father, was killed and rose from the dead with more than enough proof that He was who he said He was.
What about Artemis? If her image fell from the sky, what was the purpose of it? Did she come to rescue the human race from sin and death and restore us to fellowship with a holy and loving God? What was the fruit of the lives of those who worshipped her? If this mob was anything to go by, nothing wholesome or attractive. If she was the glorious goddess she was supposed to be, why did she need protection, anyway?
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” so the saying goes. As we have navigated the Book of Acts, a picture is emerging that we can see clearly, if we choose to. The Holy Spirit came upon the church, as Jesus had promised, on the day of Pentecost, giving the believers power to live and bear witness to lives changed from within. Peter, for example, a self-assured “motor-mouth”, became a humble witness to the power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus.
The other fearful and cowering disciples, hiding behind closed doors, were transformed into bold and fearless preachers of the message of the risen Lord. Saul, the Pharisee and ruthless persecutor of the church, became the Apostle Paul, traversing land and sea to tell the story of Jesus no matter what the cost.
Across the Roman Empire lives were being changed, one by one, because Jesus came from the Father, to reveal the Father and to reconcile us to the Father through His death and resurrection. No stone image falling from the sky could accomplish that! If that was the best lie Satan could produce to counterfeit the work of Jesus, it was a pathetic hoax!
The Price of Stupidity
THE PRICE OF STUPIDITY
“That set them off in a frenzy. They ran into the street yelling, ‘Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!’ They put the whole city in an uproar, stampeding into the stadium, and grabbing two of Paul’s associates on the way, the Macedonian, Gaius. and Aristarchus. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the disciples wouldn’t let him. Prominent religious leaders in the city who had become friendly to Paul concurred. ‘By no means go near that mob.'” Acts 19:28-31 (The Message).
Stand back and survey the scene. What do you see? An uncontrollable, unruly mob, working themselves up into a frenzy and on the brink of ruthless violence against anyone who happened to resemble the objects of their wrath! Paul’s ministry in Ephesus had resulted in a wholesale turning to the Lord, with a startling outcome, a bonfire of occult books, but that didn’t mean that there were not many unbelievers left in the city.
This time it was not the Jews who led the riot but Demetrius and his fellow silversmiths who were losing business because, through the power of Jesus, many had turned away from idol-worship. Humans were acting like hooligans, but who was the instigator? Satan, of course! This is just the sort of thing he would initiate to get people to lose control of themselves and go on the rampage. Whether the trigger was religious or financial, it didn’t matter; the outcome was the same.
Paul wanted to step in and quieten the ruckus but his friends would not let him. The mob would have torn him to pieces there and then.
“Some were yelling one thing, some another. Most of them had no idea what was going on or why they were there. As the Jews pushed Alexander to the front to try to gain control, different factions clamoured to get him on their side. But he brushed them off and quieted the mob with an impressive sweep of his arms. But the moment he opened his mouth and they knew he was a Jew, they shouted him down. ‘Great Artemis of the Ephesians! Great Artemis of the Ephesians!’ — and on and on, for over two hours.'” Acts 19:32-34 (The Message).
Isn’t this typical of human behaviour? Join in the fun, even if you have no idea what it’s all about! How well Isaiah diagnosed the hearts of human beings! “We all, like sheep, have gone astray….” Isaiah 53:6a (NIV).
The scary thing is that God holds everyone accountable for what they do, even if it is thoughtless and irresponsible behaviour like these people were engaged in. Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. We are responsible for our choices because every decision we make has consequences for ourselves and other people. We do not live our lives in isolation. What we do affects others.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NIV).
Thoughtless and irresponsible actions are included in “the things done while in the body”, like the actions of these Ephesians who had no idea what it was all about. This riot was, in the end, not really about the goddess or about what Paul was teaching. It was about the silversmiths losing their business because many of the Ephesians had come to their senses and realised that this goddess was nothing but a hoax.
This story should be a warning to us that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived and to sell our souls for “hot air.” God gave us the ability to think and to make choices and decisions that affect our eternal destiny. Let’s not waste this gift by falling for lies.