Monthly Archives: February 2014

Let’s See What God Can Do!

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LET’S SEE WHAT GOD CAN DO! 

“As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

“‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no man can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'” John 9:1-5 (NIV).

Two worlds; two perspectives!

The disciples represented the world view of the people of their day.  They looked upon any adversity as punishment for sin. A righteous person enjoyed God’s blessing while an unrighteous person experienced hardship and trouble as a result of his evil deeds.

This philosophy of life posed a problem for Job and his friends because Job suffered huge loss and yet he knew he was not guilty of wickedness. His friends tried to convince him that he had done wrong while he protested his innocence and accused God of being unjust. Both parties were unaware of the behind-the-scenes conversation between God and Satan, and Satan’s challenge to remove Job’s blessings and see him turn on God.

It was natural, from the disciples’ point of view, for them to question Jesus about the cause of this man’s blindness. Someone must have sinned and been responsible for his blindness, either the man or his parents that he was in this condition. To them this was about cause and effect.

Jesus had a different world view from theirs. In the words of Eugene Peterson (The Message Bible), “Jesus said, ‘You’re asking the wrong question. You are looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.'” John 9:3.

From His perspective, trouble and hardships were not a punishment from God but the outcome of living in a fallen word. “‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'” John 16:33 (NIV). It was not so much about who was responsible for the bad things but what God can do to reveal His love and mercy (glory) through them.

Jesus lived His whole life from a “kingdom” perspective. He viewed life from God’s point of view. What was that? Since He was the lamb “slain from before the foundation of the world”, sin was no longer the problem. He gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin which enabled Him to forgive the sinner without an animal sacrifice. Because His religious opponents did not understand this, they were infuriated with Him when He forgave sins and released the sinner.

He revealed God’s true nature as a merciful and forgiving Father who opened His arms to receive His erring sons back into the family. He no longer needed to punish them. When they experienced hardship, it was His opportunity to show His mercy and reveal His glory by intervening to deliver them from trouble.

Unfortunately there is a stream of thought in many areas of the church which mimics the philosophy of ancient Israel. If a person is sick or his business fails, for example, he has either sinned or lacks the faith to be healed or for his business to be restored or for any adversity to be reversed. This leaves the sufferer disappointed, disillusioned and suspicious of God because He didn’t come through for him. He prayed for a “breakthrough” and God don’t answer him.

There are many ways that God reveals His glory through our troubles. He may heal or restore our fortunes or He may not, but use them to teach us to appropriate the grace that make us strong in our weakness. From His point of view, “…In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV).

Instead of looking for someone or something to blame in our troubles, let’s look to the Father with expectation because He has something up His sleeve that will surprise us and shine the light on His glory!

Let’s see what God can do!

Offended And Exposed

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OFFENDED AND EXPOSED!

“‘Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.’

“‘You are not yet fifty years old,’ they said to Him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’ ‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I AM!’ At this they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the Temple grounds.” John 8: 56-59 (NIV).

Jesus was either a madman, speaking words that were the height of blasphemy or…

This conversation, which started off with many of the Jews (his name for the religious leaders) believing in Jesus, and ended with these same believers’ attempting to stone Him for blasphemy, was one of those times when Jesus probed to expose what was really in their hearts.

It turns out that their so-called faith was no faith at all because they refused to believe that He was the Son of God. Jesus said things that were either the words of a crazy man or, if they were true, could only point to His identity as God in the flesh.

He claimed to be the fulfilment of the water and light ceremonies which they celebrated every year at the Feast of Tabernacles; He spoke of His unity with the Father; He said that He had been sent by the Father; that the Father was with Him; that He spoke only what He heard the Father saying; that He would set all those free who believed in Him and held to His teaching; that He existed before Abraham was born and that He was the I AM whose name He revealed from the burning bush!

That tipped them over the edge! Their faith in Him was phoney and their wicked hearts were exposed. Just as Jesus had revealed, they were murderers at heart, just like their father, the devil, and their murderous intention broke out into action. They were thwarted in their attempt to kill Him once again because it was not yet time for Him to die and not in the manner they were using at that moment.

It would have been easy for Jesus to slip away through the crowd. It was the final festival of the Jewish calendar and there would have been thousands of people, locals and visitors thronging the temple courts. He did not wait around to give them the satisfaction of carrying out their murderous action. He simple melted into the crowd and left them to lick their wounds and plan the next move.

Why did Jesus egg them on to reveal their true colours? He was not interested in popularity for its own sake. He did not come to gain membership for a cause. He came to reveal the true nature of the Father and to restore those to fellowship with the Father who would recognize who He was and bow to His authority.

The Jewish leaders who had initially believed in Him had shown that they were not interested in anything other than what they believed and desired. They were not willing to repent (change their minds about what they believed and receive the truth from Jesus). He did not fulfil their expectation and so they dismissed Him as a fake and a blasphemer.

We need to look closely at our own attitudes lest we mirror theirs and disqualify ourselves from being Jesus’ disciples. Eugene Peterson captures the sense of Jesus’ words in his interpretation of Matthew 16:24 in “The Message”:

“Then Jesus went to work on His disciples. ’Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way to finding your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?'”

Jesus demands unquestioning obedience to His will and His way. Unless we are prepared to lay aside our own demands and expectations and embrace Him and His way wholeheartedly, we are disqualified from being His disciples no matter what we think.

It’s as simple as that!

Tradition Versus Knowledge

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TRADITION VERSUS KNOWLEDGE 

“At this they exclaimed, ‘Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?’

“Jesus replied, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and obey His word.'” John 8:52-55 (NIV).

Listen to the tone of voice! These men were not out to learn the truth. They were only out to prove that they were right and Jesus was wrong. Their problem was that they were basing their argument on tradition and Jesus was basing His on experiential knowledge. They claimed to know God because they followed in the tradition of their ancestors who had built up an elaborate religious system based on the interpretation (yoke) of the ancient rabbis.

Isn’t this rather like the Roman Catholic system that follows the traditions of the popes who have gone before, claiming to have the authority to interpret the Bible the way they see it and not the way it was intended to be understood? Each one adds his bit until the Bible is so pulled out of shape that it is no longer recognizable as the Word of God.

It is Jesus whom the Father glorified and to whom He gave the highest place and the highest name in the universe and to whom every knee will bow. How do these religious systems fit into Jesus’ simple invitation? ‘Follow me’? To what is Jesus calling us? To live in the light; to be honest with God and our fellow-men and to live generous, merciful lives towards all people.

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my first-born for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:6-8 (NIV).

If we take an honest look at the doctrines and practices of many of the streams of the church, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Is this what Jesus came to do?” Let’s take one example. Jesus taught that God’s economic system is based on giving and receiving, sowing and reaping. Giving to others puts our resources into a current which keeps flowing and will come back to us in our time of need. Our Father knows our needs. He wants us to take care of the needs of others because this is His way of taking care of our needs.

Why is it then that many parts of the church operate according to the world’s economic system of buying and selling? Raffles, bazaars and fund-raising functions are the way we get our money, not the simple process of giving. Unfortunately, by propagating that way, God’s people are robbed of their access, through faith, to the resources God has promised us to live godly lives (2 Peter 1:3, 4).

Jesus’ way of life demands the risks of faith. God places great value on our confidence in Him and His word, so great in fact that He puts our faith through the fire to test its genuineness (1 Peter 1:6, 7). It is easier to substitute religion for faith and to deceive ourselves into thinking that God is satisfied with our ritualistic performance rather than trusting and obeying Him. Paul put it bluntly: “…Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23b).

Faith demands obedience to Jesus’ command, “Love one another as I have loved you,” and that demands self-sacrifice. How much easier to do stuff than to obey God!

Following Jesus means learning to live like sons and daughters of God. Jesus showed us how to be children of God. Submission and obedience is the way and that demands spending time with God and getting to know His ways. Jesus said, ‘I know Him.’

Do you know Him?

 

 

The Sounds Of Silence

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THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE 

“‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.’

“The Jews answered Him, ‘Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?’

“‘I am not possessed by a demon,’ said Jesus, ‘but I honour my Father and you dishonour me. I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it and He is the judge. Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death,'” John 8:46-51 (NIV)

How difficult it must have been for Jesus to have any kind of discussion with these men! Whatever He said to them was another reason for them to hate Him and to either contradict Him or, if they could not get the better of Him, to attack His character.

What Jesus was saying to them was the truth but they did not have a clue about what He was telling them. It was as though He were speaking a foreign language. Although He was speaking in their language, what He was saying was foreign to them because He was speaking of the things of the Spirit and of the realm of God’s kingdom of which they knew nothing.

Why did Jesus even try to speak to them? Why didn’t He just walk away because it was like speaking to a brick wall? We have to understand that He was giving them every opportunity to hear the truth, whether they understood it or not. There was an important reason for doing this.

“‘If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.'” John 12:47, 48 (NIV).

Have you ever wondered why the Apostle Paul had to stand before kings? God told Ananias, after Paul’s conversion outside Damascus, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel…'” Acts 9:15 (NIV). Paul proclaimed God’s Word to the Roman governors Festus and Felix and to King Agrippa when he was on trial in Caesarea, and finally to Nero in Rome although none of them believed in Jesus.

It was their reaction to the Word that judged them. Jesus gave the Pharisees every opportunity to respond to His words in faith but they refused and brought the guilt of their sin down on their own heads.

Although Jesus’ words may seem outrageous at times (who would have the audacity to say. “…whoever obeys my word will never see death”?), we have to read them against the backdrop of who spoke them and what evidence He gave that He had the authority to speak like that?

Had they come from any other person, we could dismiss them as the ravings of a madman (which the Pharisees did!). But they could not answer His challenge, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”  Instead they side-stepped His question by accusing Him of being demon-possessed.

But every truth He told them and every offer He made to rescue them from their self-destruction and bring them back into fellowship with the Father was met with rejection and abuse, and served to drive them deeper into their own guilt and condemnation. When they stand before the bar on Judgment Day, the Word will be their judge as it will be the judge of every person who has heard the word and refused to obey.

But what of those who have never heard Jesus’ word? There is another word which every human being has the opportunity to hear: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — His eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 (NIV).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4a (NIV).

Have you listened to His voice?

Selective Deafness!

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SELECTIVE DEAFNESS! 

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.'” John 8:42-43 (NIV).

Now that’s a penetrating question! ‘Why is my language not clear to you?’ There is nothing complicated about the language Jesus used. He was probably speaking Hebrew, and His hearers would have understood His words but there was a reason why they did not understand what He was saying. They were not able to hear what He said.

Their ability to understand was connected to their belief and their choice. They had chosen not to believe that He was speaking the truth and they could therefore not understand what He was saying. They filtered His words through their belief system which was programmed according to a certain expectation — and Jesus did not fit their expectation.

The bottom line was that they did not want to believe Him because it demanded a different way of life. It didn’t suit them because they loved the money and the acclaim they got from their exalted position as religious leaders. If they accepted the truth of what He taught them, they would have to step down from their privileged position and place themselves under His authority, and that was unthinkable!

But there was an even more fundamental problem. “‘You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet, because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me.'” John 8:44, 45(NIV).

Jesus zeroed in on the real reason why they rejected His words. There was no affinity between Him and them because they belonged to a different family. The nature of their source was completely different from His. They were the offspring of the devil because they were acting and speaking just like their father! The fruit reveals the root.

Jesus gave us the clearest thumbnail sketch of the character of Satan. He is a liar, the originator of lies and speaks only the language of lies. Therefore those who imitate him are aligned with him. That does not mean that he gave birth to those who resemble him. That would make it impossible for people to be rescued from slavery to him.

The Apostle Paul, quoting a Greek poet, declared that we are God’s offspring (Acts 17:28); we are God’s children, created in His image with the potential to reflect Him. When the devil lured Eve into disobedience, she was deceived. Adam disobeyed God, gave his allegiance to Satan and dragged the human race into slavery to the devil.

Jesus mounted a rescue from Satan’s dominion by buying us back from the slave market of sin but it demands our choice to walk away from our old master by believing and receiving our new Master, Jesus

Because these religious leaders chose not to accept Jesus’ offer of freedom, they remained under the dominion of their “father”, the devil and therefore could only speak his language — lies.

If we really want to get out of the devil’s clutches and live in the freedom of God’s loving rule, we will have to hate our sin.  As long as we love darkness rather than light because of our evil deeds, we will have the same attitude to Jesus as the scribes and Pharisees had. We will hate Him, reject Him and want to get rid of Him so that we are not accountable to Him.

The lie is that we can do that. We may be able to get away with it in this life, but the day of reckoning is coming when we will have to give an account of what we did with the lives God gave us. No one will escape that day. If we are foolish enough to believe the devil’s lies, we will have to pay the penalty of our foolishness.

Truth is truth. It cannot be tampered with or changed and it will never be destroyed. Jesus said, ‘I am the truth.’ Why not believe Him?