Monthly Archives: October 2013

The Father’s Blessing

Bible Study, , ,

THE FATHER’S BLESSING

“There was a lot more of this — words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart into them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodius, his brother Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

“After all the people were baptised, Jesus was baptised. As He was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on Him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: ‘You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.'” Luke 3:18-22 (The Message).

What an amazing series of events! John preached “fire and brimstone” and the people flocked to him. Words that put strength and heart into them? How did that work?

Then Jesus appeared to be baptised. The Son of God — baptised? How could He be answering the call to repent? What did He need to repent about? And then the Holy Spirit came in visible form and enveloped Him; and then the Father Himself affirmed Him! Nothing like this had even happened before. What did it all mean?

In John’s Gospel the writer tells us that these things were a sign to John the Baptist that this was the Messiah. It would seem then that though they were related, Jesus and John did not have childhood connections. One lived in Galilee and the other in Judea. This was not a family affair. Each was involved in his own preparation for this climactic event. John needed to be absolutely sure of the one he was presenting as Messiah to the world.

Jesus’ baptism was not about repentance. It had much deeper significance than that. Baptism was about initiation into something — an office, a movement — and identification, agreement, with what was being presented. It was the right thing for Him to do — to make a public statement through baptism that He was one with John in what he was preaching and doing. He could not stand aloof as though He had no part in this prophetic action. After all, He was the subject of John’s message.

Just like Zachariah, who pronounced his fatherly blessing over his newborn son, affirming him as his son and speaking the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel over him, so the Father spoke His Fatherly blessing over Jesus as He stood at the brink of His ministry that would take Him on a road of submission, obedience and suffering.

Jesus was the Son of God. Did He need the Father’s blessing? Like any other human child, it was His Father’s affirmation, ringing in His ears over and over again, that energised Him to fulfil His commission with absolute loyalty. How could He state with such confidence, ‘I and the Father are one”? The Father was the stake to which He was tethered and to whom He gave unswerving obedience because the Father had owned him as “My Son”.

Just imagine how different the lives of many “fatherless” children would be if they could hear those words, “My son; my daughter.” Fathers may be present but absent in the lives of their children — measuring their worth only by what they can produce or achieve. “If you are good, I will love you. If you measure up, I will own you. Otherwise you have no value to me.” What a tragedy that children are valued only for what they can contribute to a father.

God’s love is not like that. There is no clearer picture for humans to understand the nature of the Father’s love than the simple story Jesus told of a rebellious and wayward son whom the father loved anyway because he was his son. To him his son had worth because he was his son, not because he measured up. That bond can never be severed, no matter what.

After all, a son is a son is a son.

Our words

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family
Words are always the product of thoughts which incubate deep down inside. Jesus said, “…For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” Read the following and then decide what this guy thought a lot about:
“He’s enduringly strong, He’s entirely sincere, He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful. He’s God’s Son. He’s a sinner’s savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He’s unparalleled. He’s unprecedented. He’s supreme. He’s preeminent. He’s the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest idea in philosophy. He’s the fundamental truth in theology. He’s the miracle of the age. He’s the only one able to supply all of our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He’s available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He guards and He guides. He heals the sick, He cleans the lepers. He forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek. Do you know Him?

Well, my king is the king of knowledge, He’s the well-spring of wisdom, He’s the doorway of deliverance, He’s the pathway of peace, He’s the roadway of righteousness, He’s the highway of holiness He’s the gateway of glory, He’s the master of the mighty, He’s the captain of the conquerors, He’s the head of the heroes, He’s the leader of the legislators, He’s the overseer of the overcomers, He’s the governor of governors, He’s the prince of princes, He’s the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

His life is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Well. I wish I could describe Him to you. But He’s indescribable. Yes. He’s incomprehensible. He’s invincible, He’s irresistible. I’m trying to tell you, the Heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a man explain Him. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hands. You can’t outlive Him, and you can’t live without Him. Well. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my king!

He always has been, and He always will be. I’m talking about He [who] had no predecessor and He [who] has no successor. There was nobody before Him and there will be nobody after Him. You can’t impeach Him, and He’s not going to resign. We try to get prestige and honor and glory to ourselves, but the glory is all His. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, and ever, and ever, and ever. How long is that? And ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and when you get through with all of the forevers, then ‘Amen’.”

“Oh I wish I could describe him to you.” – Dr S.M. Lockridge

What do we think about most of the time? We only need to listen to our words to find out!

Paul

The Inside Story

Bible Study, , ,

THE INSIDE STORY

“The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, ‘Could this John be the Messiah?’ But John intervened: ‘I’m baptising you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house — make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God, everything false He’ll put out with the trash to be burned.'” Luke 3:15-18 (The Message).

Just imagine! These were the people who stood on the threshold of a new era in Israel’s history. Messiah was about to be revealed! And they were in on it.

No wonder they ran after John, even putting up with his scathing accusations to hear what he had to say. There was something in the air and they did not want to miss it. But, just like Jesus’ disciples, they all suffered from selective hearing. They associated Messiah so closely with their hope of deliverance from Rome that they conveniently missed the crux of Messiah’s purpose for coming.

John could not have made it clearer: kingdom life; fire; Holy Spirit; changing you from the inside; clean sweep; true/false…all these things had to do with the heart, and attitude, and behaviour, and relationships, and people — the inner being — and nothing to do with politics and Roman occupation. But they just didn’t get it.

Funny how little has changed. Judging by much of what is propagated by so-called Christian television, the message still has to do with externals — blessing and prosperity and houses and cars and me, me, me; a free passport to heaven and everything I can get out of it now while I wait.

But that’s not what John told them. Messiah was about kingdom life and fire! If we read this like a Hebrew, fire was not about hell for those who don’t believe; fire was about purifying and burning off everything that contradicted the nature of God and His way of doing things. There is no place in His kingdom for anything false, like greed, selfishness, bitterness, anxiety, fear, unforgiveness, unbelief, jealousy, discontent and everything that makes our lives fall apart. It’s got to be burned off, burned up, if we are to have any place in God’s kingdom.

Unless a person is willing to let the fire burn, following Jesus becomes a very uncomfortable business. He’s not afraid to turn up the heat because He is passionate about presenting to His Father a family that resembles Him. If we are not prepared to let the fire burn off what does not resemble Jesus, the alternative is “torment”.

Torment is very much about “hell” now — the unquenchable fire of inner pain and turmoil. Have you ever been there? Jesus’ fire works quickly — it burns off the offending thoughts, attitudes and behaviour that contradict who He is, and peace is the blissful outcome, His peace that makes no sense but it’s real anyway. Hang on to your “stuff” and the fire burns slowly and never stops. It does not consume your issues but it does consume you.

When you think about it, God’s fire is pure mercy. Who, in his right mind, would want to hang onto the things that cause torment anyway? I recently read an article in a popular South African magazine about a woman who spends R3,500.00 a month (about $350.00) on tranquillisers because she was raped. I have a young woman in my study group who endured the same terrible experience but she’s free because she allowed Jesus to “burn off” her anger and bitterness, and the torment has gone.

What John was introducing was something far better than a “Romans-free” life. When you are free inside, the outside has no power to enslave, no matter how bad the circumstances are. With shredded backs and their feet in the stocks, Paul and Silas sang in the jail because they were free.

That’s what Messiah came to do!