Monthly Archives: May 2014

Set Apart By The Truth

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SET APART BY THE TRUTH 

“‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

“‘As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

“‘For them I sanctify myself, that they, too, may be truly sanctified.'” John 17.17-19 NIV

“Sanctify”? The dictionary meaning of sanctify is to set apart for its proper purpose. If something is not sanctified, it is abused, i.e., not used for the purpose for which it was intended; for example, if a paring knife is used for any other purpose than peeling fruit or vegetables, it is being abused.

God created human beings to be holy, to be separated to Him to bring glory to Him that is to reflect Him in His nature and character. We do this by living our ordinary human lives for Him.

“…Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:7 NIV.

What has separated us from God and caused us to be abused — i.e., not fulfilling the purpose for which God created us? Through our ancient ancestor, Adam, we declared independence from God, set up our own standards of right and wrong and overthrew His right to govern us in righteousness and truth. We became subject to the devil’s deception, followed his lies and set ourselves on a path of self-destruction.

There is only one way back from this suicidal rebellion — to change our way of thinking (repent) and return to the truth about God and ourselves. God made this possible by sending Jesus to remove the barrier of sin that separated us from Him, cancelling our debt by paying it Himself, and pushing the “reset to factory default” button by reconciling us to Himself and restoring His image in us.

When we follow His prescription for sanctification — returning to the purpose for which He created us, we embark on a twofold process which begins when we start again through repentance from our old rebellious life and faith in Jesus to forgive our sin and enable us to begin a new life of trust and obedience to Him. This process is both unlearning and re-learning — called repentance; not necessarily an emotional melt-down but rather the recognition that what we used to think about God and ourselves was wrong, lies spawned by the devil to degrade God and us and to take us away from God’s love. Lies must be replaced by the truth which God has set out in His Word for us.

There is only one antidote to lies — truth. Before we came to recognise that our thoughts about God were lies, we misjudged Him, were suspicious of Him and even outright hated Him. Why? The Bible says, “While we were God’s enemies…” Romans 5:10a NIV. Enemies? Isn’t that a rather strong word? Yes, but it’s true. Why were we God’s enemies? Because we were on the side of His arch enemy, the devil. We listened to him, followed him and believed his lies about God and hated God for no reason.

How are we sanctified? When we believe and receive the truth that God loved the world so much that He gave His Son as a sacrifice to pay the world’s debt so that we can be reconciled to Him, we took the first step towards returning to God to fulfil His purpose for creating us. We began a journey that lasts a life-time, replacing lies with truth, one lie at a time, one thought at a time by learning from God’s Word what He thinks and plans for us.

Jesus’ high priestly prayer was the expression of His deepest desires for His people before He went to the cross, and the reason for His willingness to be sacrificed for us. In the entire prayer He made only three requests for His disciples, both those whom the Father had given Him and those who would believe through them, and they summarise the purpose and outcome of His death:

1. That the character of God would be restored in them to immunise them against the devil’s deception (“Protect them by the power of your name”),

2. That the Word of God would be so deeply embedded in their minds that they would begin the journey of revealing God’s glory in the way they think and live (“Sanctify them by the truth”) and

3. That God’s image of oneness would be restored in them so that the world would believe that the Father had sent Him (“That all of them may be one. Father, just as you are in me and I am in you”).

This is the Saviour’s prayer for you and me. Will it be answered?

Not Of This World

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NOT OF THE WORLD 

“‘I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

“‘I have given them your word and the world has hated them, they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

“‘My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.'” John 17:13-16 NIV.

Strange! The way the disciples were thinking and behaving at that moment, I would have thought that Jesus would realise that they were very much still part of the world — frightened, insecure, unbelieving, uncomprehending, competitive, bickering, indifferent — that about sums them up at this stage.

Amazing! Jesus saw them not as they were then but as they would be as they moved towards their potential as apostles and witnesses for Him in the world. He spoke prophetically and confidently of who they would become when the Holy Spirit fell on them and transformed them into bold, confident and faithful followers of their Messiah.

Jesus had spent three and a half years with them, patiently giving them God’s word. As young Jewish men they would already have memorised the book of Leviticus by the age of 6 and the entire Torah by the time they celebrated their Bar Mitzvah. The foundation of truth was already firmly laid in their minds in their formative years.

During His time with them it was Jesus’ task to teach them His yoke — His way of interpreting and applying the Torah to His own life, and instilling it into His disciples so that they would imitate Him as they, in turn, made disciples of others. It was their task, in turn to release them from whatever “yoke” had brought them into bondage and place His yoke on them, setting them free from rules, regulations and obligations to live as sons and daughters of the Most High God — what Jesus called “binding and loosing”.

It was this yoke of loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and showing mercy and compassion to all people, that would, first of all, bring the hatred of an unbelieving world down on them, alienating them from the heartless and selfish attitude that rules in the world system. It was this yoke as well, that would insulate them from the temptation of the evil one to live for themselves and indulge their old, selfish nature.

God’s protection from the evil one comes, not in some mystical or angelic guard around us so that the devil can’t get near us. It comes in the form of changed lives that flow from changed minds as God’s truth about Himself and us gradually replaces our old ways of thinking and acting. Our enemy operates in our minds, sowing lies and trying to deceive us into thinking the worst about God and ourselves.

We erroneously think that the devil attacks us through our circumstances. When things go wrong we wail, ‘O-o-oh, I’m under attack!’ Really! Yes, we are under attack, but not because of trouble and hardship but because we misinterpret these things and get into fear and panic mode, which are exactly what the devil relishes because they neturalise our confidence in the Father’s love.

Remember, Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble’?  This is a statement of fact. But God permits and monitors the hardships we endure because He has another agenda. If we give the devil credit for the trouble we experience, we miss the whole point of the exercise.

Firstly, God wants to see what is in our hearts, whether we will trust Him or not.

“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:2, 3 NIV.

Secondly, God is disciplining us as sons so that we may share His holiness.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?…They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:7, 10 NIV.

We have only one safeguard against the devil’s wiles — knowing and living by the truth.

David put it this way:

“Teach me your way, O Lord; and I will walk in your truth…” Psalm 86:11a.

Kept – By The Power Of His Name!

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KEPT – BY THE POWER OF HIS NAME! 

“‘I pray for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

“‘I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.

“‘While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.'” John 17:9-12 NIV.

What a power-packed prayer! Not much asking — in fact only one request, but nevertheless full of assurance and affirmation!

What can we learn from Jesus’ prayer?

The first thing I notice is that this was a Son talking to His Father, expressing His confidence in and submission to the Father — not begging, cajoling, bargaining, demanding or manipulating. This is Jesus, Son of God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, communing with His Abba in the language of intimacy and trust.

Secondly, Jesus expressed His oneness with the Father. Everything they owned, they shared. The men whom Jesus loved and trained for three years belonged to the Father, given to Jesus as a sacred trust. During His earthly life He protected them by the power of God’s name.

Where did the idea come from that is bandied about in many parts of the church today that we must “plead the blood of Jesus” over our loved ones and possessions, when the Bible teaches us that we are kept by the power of God’s name? Unlike us humans who blindly follow the error of others because it sounds good, Jesus knew the Scriptures!

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10 NIV.

Everything that God is, is in His name; His character and His attributes are represented by His name. To invoke the name of God is to call on His love, mercy, grace and power to intervene on our behalf. When Moses requested to see God’s glory, God revealed His name.

“Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’ And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.'” Exodus 33:18, 19 NIV.

From what was Jesus praying that His disciples be protected?

We erroneously think that the devil is our worst enemy. If that were true, we would be helpless victims of his wicked schemes. No, we are our own worst enemy because there are in our old, selfish natures the seeds of self-destruction. We have the power to choose. God has given us His nature (2 Peter 1:4) but it is our responsibility to nourish that nature through faith in His promises. We are transformed into His image by gazing at Him (2 Corinthians 3:18) and contemplating His glory – His name.

Kept – by the power of His name – not some external power descending on us from above but the power of God’s nature wrought in us and at work in us by the Holy Spirit that makes us immune to the deception of the devil because we know the truth and can discern his lies.

Thirdly He was one with the Father in their nature and in their purpose to redeem mankind through His death. He would not deviate from the Father’s plan no matter what the cost. It was His passion that His disciples become one as He and the Father are one because, in that unity was the power to witness to the world that He was no self-appointed upstart but that He had come from the Father.

 

 

You’ve Got To Hand It To Him!

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YOU’VE GOT TO HAND IT TO HIM! 

“‘I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

“‘I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They are yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

“‘For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” John 17:4-8 NIV.

With what calm assurance Jesus could speak to His Father of His submission and obedience! How could He do that? From our perspective His work was far from done. He listened to the Father and did what the Father told Him to do. That’s it! This is how a true son should be.

Jesuscame from the Father with a specific task to perform. Contrary to the many ideas people have about His mission, He revealed in His prayer the one reason why He came — to reveal the Father.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3 NIV.

In the Old Testament the Son revealed the nature of the Father in His dealings with His people. He spoke to individuals directly on many occasions through His appearances as the angel of the Lord; to Abraham when He came to tell him of Isaac’s birth and the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and when He stopped him from sacrificing his son on Mount Moriah; to Moses at the burning bush; to Gideon in the wine-press; to Isaiah in the temple, and to many more.

Jesus has many titles but the one specific and appropriate to the Apostle John’s record of His life is “the Word.” In Hebrew thought, the word is a manifestation of God in another form. John saw Jesus as God’s spoken word to the world in visible from. Through Him God spoke and the words He spoke were a sacred deposit in the lives of those to whom they were given.

The Father gave the gift of twelve men to Jesus, men who belonged to Him because they were a fragment of His chosen people. Jesus viewed them as a sacred trust to whom He was to give the treasure of God’s words, placed within their spirits as seed where they would grow, mature and bear fruit as these men believed and did what the words instructed them to do under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had spend a whole night in prayer before He chose twelve men out of the many who followed Him at the start of His public ministry. When we look at them, we would think that He made some rather poor choices! But they were the ones the Father had given to Him and they were the ones with the potential to continue His mission to the world.

It is impossible for us to grasp the significance of these eleven rough, unshaped “diamonds” the Father had entrusted to Him! At this point they were uncomprehending, frightened and confused individuals, but Jesus had such confidence in His Spirit that He could view them as believing, obedient disciples, filled with God’s word and fully equipped to carry on Jesus’ mission in the world — to reveal the true nature of the Father to both Jew and Gentile.

Jesus’ prayer was not begging and pleading but giving thanks and expressing His trust in the Father that He would do in them through the Holy Spirit all that He intended when He chose them to be Jesus’ disciples. What an encouragement to us who feel so inadequate for the tasks entrusted to us! Jesus assures us that union with Him is the key to fruitfulness.

“Apart from me you can do nothing,” He said but, “We can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength.”

Prayer

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PRAYER

“After Jesus had said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those you have given Him.

“‘Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.'” John 17:1-3 NIV.

Jesus prayed…Now this is prayer!

He prayed many times during His earthly life. Few of His prayers were recorded for us. Some were brief, sentence prayers…sometimes He prayed all night…but this is the only time we have a glimpse into the words of His communion with the Father. This was not the agonising, blood-sweating Gethsemane prayer.

This was quiet fellowship with His Abba, pouring out His heartfelt desires before the whirlwind events that were soon to overtake Him. There would be no opportunity then to share His heart with Daddy in the silence of the night. In the presence of the men He loved most in the world, He mouthed His hopes and dreams for them and for those who would follow them in faith and obedience.

What emotions were packed into those words, ‘Father, the hour has come’? The “hour” of His suffering had hung over Him from the moment of His birth. It was His reason for coming. It was the pinnacle of His revelation of the Father’s love to a world that would rather not know. It was the final nail in the coffin of His arch enemy and the enemy of all humanity. Did He shiver with anticipation and dread?

The writer to the Hebrews caught the spirit of this moment: “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2b NIV.

As always, Jesus looked beyond the immediate events to the triumph of God’s final purpose for mankind. “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”  We read these words easily enough without understanding the depth of Jesus’ request.

“In the intense pain and suffering I am about to endure; the physical agony of flogging and crucifixion; the emotional pain of rejection, humiliation and betrayal; the searing heat of the devil’s rage against me and the utter abandonment I must face when you, Father, also turn your face away from me, give me the strength to be a perfect reflection of you, your love, mercy and grace, so that the whole world will see you mirrored in me.”

God the Father gave Him, Jesus — this God-man who came from heaven to live the ordinary life of an ordinary human being in a hostile world that hated and rejected Him, and a spiritual realm that fired its entire arsenal of weapons at Him — the authority to give life to all those who believed in Him. Sin had killed them; spiritual death had claimed them and would destroy them forever without His intervention. But they would never rise to new life unless He first died in their place to take the rap for their sin; and His death would accomplish nothing unless He did not deserve it.

“Father glorify your Son…” just four simple words, but a world of desire in them. Once again, Jesus exemplified the heart of a true son. This was not about Him. It was ultimately about the Father…; “that the Son may glorify you.” All He wanted, in this whole cross event, was that the wonder of His Father’s true nature would be revealed to the world.

In one short sentence Jesus forever defined the nature of eternal life — knowing the Father and the Son, because they are one. To know the Son is to know the Father; notice — not know about, but know, implying intimate, personal knowledge and understanding as a husband “knows” his wife. “Adam lay with (knew – yada) his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.” Genesis 4:1 NIV.

That takes time, fellowship, and obedience!