Monthly Archives: March 2014

If You Believe

Bible Study, , , , ,

IF YOU BELIEVE 

“‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died…'” John 11:21 NIV.

“‘Yes, Lord,’ she replied, ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’ John 11:27 NIV.

How important these moments were with Martha before Jesus went to the tomb! He knew what He was doing. His delay and Lazarus’ death were part of a much bigger plan but…He needed to re-establish the bond of trust between Him and the sisters before He could give them their miracle.

“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” John 11:32 NIV

They were disillusioned and disappointed because He had failed them in their crisis. The first words they uttered when they saw Him revealed their heart attitude. Betrayal! He had betrayed their trust and they let Him know it.

He was straight with Martha. She was the practical one, the tough one, the vocal one, the one who took the lead. No words of rebuke in response! He made a simple, straightforward statement: ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha had a general appreciation of that fact but it did not ease the pain of losing her brother. Jesus knew that.

He took her on, one step at a time from acknowledging her belief in the resurrection to centring it on the one who stood before her. ‘I AM…’ Jesus assured her. Did she get the impact of that statement? No-one could claim to be I AM except the God who revealed His name to Moses in the desert. She answered Jesus’ challenge with an affirmation of her conviction that He was who He had revealed Himself to be…God’s Son and Messiah.

“…Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ‘Take away the stone,’ He said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there four days.’

“Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that, if you believe you will see the glory of God?'” John 11:38-40 NIV.

No, the impact of Jesus’ statement had not yet hit Martha. She did not connect the I AM with the rotting corpse in the tomb. Jesus was about to show her just how real resurrection was. This was not the final resurrection when bodies long decayed and returned to dust would come out of the graves, refashioned into the likeness of His glorious body, yet to be revealed after He too, like Lazarus, had tasted death; but God’s power, nevertheless, was displayed in bringing a decomposing body back to flesh-and-blood life!

Martha’s embryo faith had not yet reached that level of trust but, from Jesus’ point of view it was faith enough, although it was as minute as a grain of mustard seed. There was a flutter of hope; the connection had been made and He could reverse the process of death and show the grieving sisters and all who were there to sympathise with them the mercy and compassion of God.

What lesson did the sisters learn from this painful experience? What can we take for ourselves from the story? Is it worth trusting God when He seems silent and unmoved by our plea for help? If He says nothing, does nothing, never give in to the devil’s lie, ‘God does not care.’ He is preparing for a much bigger miracle, one that will put His glory on display and leave no doubt of His love and His power.

“God will not answer your prayers until He had put all the structures in place to maintain that answer.” His only answer is, “Will you trust me?”

Dead And Disillusioned

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DEAD AND DISILLUSIONED

 “On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.

“‘Lord,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.’

“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?'” John 11:18-26 NIV.

Two worlds! Two perspectives! Two sisters; Martha and Mary — disappointed, disillusioned, devastated! Were they more distraught about Jesus’ failure to come when they needed Him than they were about the death of their brother? Like Job, the Lord whom they passionately loved and believed in was not there for them in their darkest hour.

When He did finally arrive it was too late. Did He miss the seriousness of Lazarus’ illness? Was this the one time in His life when He was out of touch with reality? His head in the clouds, had He misjudged the whole situation and fallen short of their trust?

Martha was quick to respond to His arrival. She had to let Him know how she felt about His behaviour. Her rebuke fell from her lips before she had time to think. She blurted out her disappointment, perhaps in the hopes that she might at least get an apology from Him. Does God ever have to apologise? Perhaps an explanation? Something beyond His control had delayed Him and He was ever so sorry that He could not come in time…

Another world! Another perspective! Jesus; the Son of God — fully aware of what was going on in the natural as well as the unseen world. His delay had been purposeful, fully under the Father’s control. There was something bigger in this situation than another healing to notch up on His proverbial belt. This was a setup from God to give those nearest to Jesus — as well as His opponents — the biggest shakeup of their lives.

Of course He knew exactly what was happening! This was no error in timing or in judgement. Everything was perfectly on course, including Lazarus’ death and what was to follow. He had to wait until the spirit of the dead man, whom the Jews believed remained in the vicinity for four days before leaving, had finally departed for the other realm.

His response was not an apology or an explanation, as Martha possibly expected. Instead Jesus spoke some of the profoundest and most riveting — and comforting — words He had ever uttered. At first Martha misunderstood His reassurance, ‘Your brother will rise again.’

We do not know what Jesus had taught this little family during the times He spent in their home. No doubt, from Martha’s response, He had fleshed out with them the hope of resurrection which was not much more than a vague idea in the Old Testament writings. Martha had the comfort of knowing that there was a life to come, but that did little to ease ache of her loss. She needed something more substantial to fill the terrible void left by her brother’s death.

Jesus’ beautiful plan was much more imminent than that. He was there — Jehovah Shamma; Immanuel — God in the flesh, and wherever He was, He reversed everything the curse had brought to mankind. He was the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world. In Him was life and the power to restore life, both physical and spiritual. What He needed was a response of trust from the two sisters who were the link between Jesus and their brother.

He was not out of options. Did Martha believe that? Did she realise that everything He did was purposeful? No, He had not misjudged anything. He was about to reveal, through the death of their brother, everything that He was — the Son of God who had overcome the enemy’s most vicious weapon — death! Lazarus would live again — for now; the day was coming that they would all live again — forever; Lazarus, their brother would be the incontrovertible sign that not even the Jews could deny.

“I AM the resurrection and the life.”

The Final Showdown

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THE FINAL SHOWDOWN 

“‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.'” John 11:8-10 NIV

Once again the disciples were mystified by Jesus’ behaviour. He was not acting like someone who had the power to heal His ailing friend. Knowing he was dying, He dawdled for another two days. Perhaps His disciples thought He was deliberately staying away because the Jews had tried to kill Him.

Then, after two days, He decided to go back to Bethany after all. It seems that He was at least two days journey on foot away from Lazarus and his sisters. Four days delay could mean anything. What was the point of returning if it was too late?

Jesus’ reply is also puzzling. He was going right into the lion’s den, yet He seemed unconcerned. Once again He showed His followers that His life was directed, not by His circumstances but by His Father’s timetable. If He was needed in Bethany, He would go there regardless of what His enemies were planning to do. His times were in His Father’s hands; it was up to Him, as a Son, to obey.

“After this He went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but His disciples thought He meant natural sleep. So then He told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to to him.’

“Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘ Let us also go, that we may die with Him.'” John 11:11-16 NIV.

He seemed fully aware and completely in control of what He was doing. His delay was deliberate, giving Lazarus time to go the full course of his illness right up to his death and beyond. Imagine what that did to the two sisters who trusted Jesus and were anxiously waiting for Him to come! Day after day they watched out for Him but He did not arrive. Lazarus was sinking and they were desperate. Did He not get the message? Did He not care? Why had He not come?

Lazarus finally died and He still did not arrive — not even for the funeral. Four days went by — Lazarus’ body had begun to decay and still no Jesus. The sisters were disillusioned and distraught. Had He finally failed; finally betrayed their trust in Him? What were they to think? They had no idea what was happening on the other side of the Jordan.

From Jesus’ point of view it was all going to plan. He even hinted to His disciples that He knew exactly what was happening. Lazarus had died. It was now time to go back to Bethany. His disciples were mystified. Why go back if Lazarus was dead? Wasn’t it too dangerous to put in an appearance when the Jews were crying for His blood?

That was no concern of Jesus because He knew when it would be time to put Himself into their hands. They had no power to touch Him until the Father delivered Him up to them. Time and again people had tried to harm Him — from the time He made Himself known to His own people in Nazareth to His altercations with the Jews in Jerusalem He was the target for hatred and murder, yet every time He emerged unscathed. He went about freely among His enemies because He trusted the Father.

He had His eyes on a miracle bigger than He had ever performed and a sign no-one could deny — that He was resurrection life that promised life to those who believed in him far greater than they could ever imagine. Raising a decaying man to life four days after he died was an unimaginable “work” that not even His enemies could deny. The tried to deny the blind man’s restored sight but a dead and rotting corpse brought back to life! Never!

No wonder He seized the opportunity to do something beyond anything people could imagine and especially His avowed adversaries. This was the power of the Father whom He came to reveal and the display of His own glory through the glory of the Father.

Why Are You A Believer?

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WHY ARE YOU A BELIEVER?

INTRODUCTION

Start with 20 questions!

Which is the most misunderstood book in the Bible?

Have your read the book of Job?

What is “Job” about?

  1. 1.     BACKGROUND TO JOB

Job belongs to the genre – Wisdom Literature

Job not the author but the subject of the book. Written by an Israelite – he, not Job or his friends – uses the covenant name of God in the prologue and the epilogue.

When was the book written?

Two dates: When Job lived; some time during the time of the patriarchs –

  1. No mention of Israelite history
  2. Live for more than 100 years
  3. Wealth measured in livestock
  4. Acted as a priest in his family
  5. Sabean and Chaldean tribes fit into this period in history.

When the book was written about Job; probably at some time between the reigns of Solomon and Israel’s exile in Babylon.

What was the purpose of the author?

The author addressed the problem of suffering. Not intended to be a theological answer but a message to the godly who suffer and don’t know why.

The problem of suffering is an ongoing one typified by Job. He was a man who feared God and shunned evil (1:1) and yet he suffered terribly. If anyone had a reason to ask the question, “Why me?’ Job did.

The author’s purpose was not so much to contribute to the ongoing discussion but to speak to the godly sufferers who struggle with the crisis of faith their ongoing suffering produces. He is more of a pastor than a theologian.

  1. 2.     WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Throughout history people have asked the same questions: Why do good people suffer? If God is almighty and God is good, how can He allow this to happen?

The world offer three possibilities:

  1. God is not almighty, after all,
  2. God is not just
  3. Humans may be innocent,

These three assumptions contradicted Job’s belief and that of his friends.

God is almighty; God is perfectly just and no human being is pure in His sight.

The only logical conclusion was that the person who suffered was guilty of sin and that the measure of his suffering was the measure of his guilt.

In their pain, the “wisdom” of the theologians does not answer their dilemma. Their so-called “wisdom” only seems to rub salt in their wounds and creates a stumbling block to faith.

How current is this situation? Preachers and well-meaning Christians glibly give the same arguments as the ancient theologians – God punishes those who sin; you are suffering therefore you must have sinned.

In Psalm 73 Asaph raised the same question: Why do the wicked prosper and godly suffer? Instead of theology providing an answer, it only increases the mystery. The sufferer is doubly wounded, by his circumstances and by the well-meaning responses of people who only drive the knife in deeper and increase the suffering, And for the godly sufferer God remains the biggest puzzle of all. How can God love me when He allows this to happen to me?

Instead of merely contributing to the theology of the day and adding his logical arguments, the author tells a story.

 

 

  1. 3.     ENTER A THIRD PARTY

 

Without the prologue (chapters 1 and 2), the dialogue between Job and his three friends would be a rehash of the age-old argument between theologians and the godly sufferer who were attempting to solve the “God problem” (is God just?) in the face of the “human problem” (they must be getting what they deserve),

The author adds a third party to the mix. The relationship between God and humans is not a closed one. Among His creatures is the great adversary. Since he cannot contend with God directly, he turns his attention to God’s creation who carries His image.

He began his assault on human beings in the Garden of Eden. Through his subtle deception he lured the first woman into believing that God had short-changed them. Instead of focussing on everything God had given them, he drew Eve’s attention to one thing God held back from them, their right to make their own rules, symbolised by eating fruit God said not to eat. He lured them by what he offered without telling them the consequences. Satan’s modus operandi becomes quite clear.

  1. Lure them into disobedience to God’s way,
  2. Then load them with guilt through his accusation and condemnation because they did wrong!

Eve was convinced by the devil’s deception. Adam stepped into rank disobedience.

The outcome was that they lost their oneness with God, their God-awareness and became selfishly, self-centredly self-aware, introducing a fundamental flaw into the nature of all mankind.

Satan’s all-consuming purpose was to drive a wedge between God and His beloved humans to bring about an irreconcilable rift between them.

In his story, the author describes the accuser’s bold attack on God and godly people in the special and intimate relationship that is dearest to them both. When God draws Satan’s attention to the righteousness of His beloved creature in whom He delights, he attempts to attack Job’s righteousness and show God up for a fool for trusting him.

He charges Job’s godliness as evil, calling him mercenary and self-serving. The very righteousness in which God delights is Job’s way of getting what he wants from God. Job’s so-called righteousness is nothing but the worst kind of heinous sin!

  1. 4.     SATAN’S ACCUSATION

If God will allow Satan to test Job by cutting the link between righteousness and blessing, he will expose Job and all righteous people as the frauds they are.

This is Satan’s ultimate challenge. He believes he has found the wedge he is looking for to cement the rift between God and man. The fact that humans are dependent on God for their lives and well-being, is the occasion for humankind’s greatest temptation – to love the gifts rather than the Giver, to please God for the benefits and to be righteous because it pays.

If Satan is right, then the very “righteousness” in which God delights is evil and creates a chasm between God and man that cannot be bridged. Even God’s plan of redemption is flawed because the righteous person is guilty of the worst sin and God can only sweep everything away in judgment. All of creation becomes irredeemable.

  1. 5.     GOD’S RESPONSE

Satan’s challenge cannot be ignored or silenced, nor even by destroying the accuser because it exposes the heart of creation and man’s place in it. God has to let Satan have his way with Job within limits so that both He and righteous Job can be vindicated and the accuser silenced.

Out of this contest comes Job’s anguish. He is robbed of every sign of God’s favour and He is silent so that He becomes the great enigma. In addition to that, Job’s so-called friends attack his righteousness according to their orthodox logic until Job feels abandoned and alone.

  1. 6.     JOB’S VINDICATION

In spite of his suffering and the agony of his apparent alienation from God, Job refuses to curse God and die. He may curse the day of his birth, complain bitterly of his lot and chide God for his unjust suffering but he refuses to renounce God, no matter what.

Job does not mourn the loss of his possessions – he focuses on God. ‘I thought I knew you,” he says in effect, “but I realise now that I know nothing. I repent in dust and ashes.”

In spite of his heinous accusation, the devil is silenced and Job is vindicated.

Not only is Job’s righteousness put to the test but also the highest of human wisdom. The best that his friends could come up with fell short of the truth. Neither their wisdom nor Job’s can fathom the truth of his situation, not even the brash “wisdom”’ of the young Elihu who thought he knew better than all of them!

God steps in when every other argument is stilled and every voice is silenced and there is nothing more to be said. He shows His displeasure with puny human wisdom by the way He approaches Job, not in a gentle whisper but by His dramatic entrance out of a ferocious storm!

God has given man the ability to understand creaturely things but he cannot learn the ways of God through the world of nature. Job 11:7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”

“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” Job 28:12. Job answers his own question from the mouth of God: “And He said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” Job 28;28.

  1. 7.     THE OUTCOME OF JOB’S TEST

Job passed the severest test any human being can undergo. God’s confidence in him was vindicated and Job could be trusted with material things because he had proved that he was trustworthy and did not worship God for things!

CONCLUSION

What can we learn from the story of Job? How relevant is his story for us today?

Job’s story is the answer to some of the pernicious deception in the church today. There are too many “believers” who are in it for what they can get out of it. When God does not give them what they are “believing for”, they walk away disillusioned because He did not make good on the promises preachers made on His behalf.

Abraham faced the same test and passed. God required of him what he treasured most in life – Isaac, his son. When he showed that he was willing to offer him as a sacrifice on the altar, God gave him back with the promise of multiplied blessing.

Why are we believers? Is it because some preacher offered us eternal life if we “accept Jesus as our personal Saviour” and all the benefits that go with that? Is it because we will go to heaven when we die?

If so, then Satan’s accusation is accurate and we fall into the category of those whose righteousness is phoney because it is empty of the “fear of the Lord”.

Jesus gave us the gift of righteousness He won by perfect and absolute commitment to the “fear of the Lord.” It is a gift that is of no use to us if we allow our old selfish nature to rule. It is not our decision to follow Jesus that counts but the evidence of a transformed life lived out in obedience to Christ and under the authority and control of the Holy Spirit.

“For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:13,14.

Beware of preaching that is watered down to what God can do for you! What He does, He does for His glory and we happen to be the ones to whom and through whom His glory is revealed!

God has no qualms about putting us to the test to see whether our faith in Him is about us or about Him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trust His Heart

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TRUST HIS HEART

“Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair). So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’ When He heard this, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may also be glorified through it.'” John 11:1-4 NIV.

Jesus was faced with something He had never experienced before. Lazarus was no stranger to Him. He was a member of a family whose home was like a second home to Him. In the past few weeks He had spent much time there, using it as a refuge from His adversaries as He moved in and out of Jerusalem before His final Passover.

There was a strong bond between this family and Jesus. Mary had expressed her faith and adoration by anointing His feet with her costliest treasure — her alabaster box of spikenard, worth an entire year’s wages in Jewish terms. Jesus must have felt comfortable in their home. He knew He was always welcome and He was always provided for when He stayed there with His disciples.

His miracles had always been done to strangers or casual acquaintances at the most, but now His beloved friend, Lazarus lay deathly sick. His illness must have been much more than a common cold since the sisters felt the need to send for Him. Jesus’ response shows us that Lazarus was dying. What was He to do? His natural response would have been to set off immediately so that He could get to him before he died.

Yet Jesus said and did something unusual. Instead of leaving for Bethany right then, He remarked to His disciples, ‘Lazarus won’t die. This is about God’s glory and mine as well.’ What did He mean? Once again Jesus put this crisis into perspective. What appeared obvious in the circumstances was part of a much bigger picture — God’s glory — and it was Jesus’ role to act within what God was doing, not what would have been His natural inclination.

Every situation, even if it touched someone as dear to Him as Lazarus and his sisters, was no cause for panic. He had to see it from His Father’s point of view and act within the Father’s will. There was always one guiding principle that showed Jesus what to do — whatever brought the greatest glory to the Father.

When He and His disciples met a man born blind, He used it as an opportunity to reveal the Father’s mercy by restoring His sight as a sign, especially to His opponents, that it was the Father’s desire for people to have 20/20 spiritual vision by believing in Him. The miracle triggered a debate that exposed the blindness of the Jewish leaders who vehemently defended their claim that they could “see”.

Jesus was now faced with the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of His ministry. He had raised others from the dead, not recorded by John but by the other gospel writers, but never a person whose body had already been decaying for four days. But that is still to come…

His disciples must have been puzzled by His attitude. He seemed quite casual about His friends’ urgent message. First He seemed confident that Lazarus would not die; then He made no effort to hurry to his bedside. What was going on?

“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was two more days, and then He said to His disciples, ‘Let us go back to Judea.'” John 11:5-7 NIV

Isn’t that a strange way to show His love?  Are we not also face with the same strange response from God? We cry out to Him in our crisis and He says nothing and He does nothing! It is almost as though He deliberately turns a deaf ear. What is He doing?

God is never deaf to the cries of His beloved but, like Jesus He sees the bigger picture. There was a great lesson for the two sisters in His action as well as revelation of who He was that impacted them and their brother far more powerfully than healing Lazarus would have done.

He is calling us to trust Him; to trust His love, His power and His intention which is much bigger than anything we can imagine.