Monthly Archives: May 2014

Stuff Happens!

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STUFF HAPPENS!

“Then Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’

“‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“‘I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'” John 16:29-33 NIV.

Stuff happens! At least that’s what Jesus said, and I think He was a realist.

Contrary to the thinking and teaching of some Christians, following Jesus is not an insurance policy against trouble. Those who believe that have to lie to themselves and to other people when things go wrong in their lives. They have to put on a happy face and shout “Praise the Lord” when they are crying or dying inside because they can’t deny their faith or let it be known that they are also human.

Jesus did not take His disciples seriously when they reassured Him that they believed in Him. He understood human nature too well. ‘Just wait,’ He warned them. ‘Before you can convince me of your confidence in me, you have to be tested. And, believe me, you are going to fail.’ Untested faith is as flabby as wet spaghetti! Faith only becomes real when it has to be exercised in desperate situations.

Following Jesus as a vaccine against trouble is a poor motive for being a believer. We are to follow Him because of who He is, Son of God, Messiah, Lord and God, not because of what He can do for us. Isn’t it unfortunate that Jesus is often presented as the solution to all our problems, and when He does not meet our expectations, we lose faith, become disillusioned and even walk away until we are called to “rededicate” our lives to Him? He is presented as a celestial “911”, an emergency call centre or a “Walmart” where we can get our supplies for the month.

Jesus called His disciples to go out into a hostile world to face the Roman might and a Caesar who claimed to be “the Son of God, Prince of Peace and Lord”. They had to face him and tell him, “You are dead wrong. Jesus Christ, a Galilean Jewish peasant, is the Son of God, the Prince of Peace and Lord! Your mob killed Him but He rose from the dead to prove it. You have to bow to Him, not Him to you!” What do you think that did for his ego?

They also had to face the hatred of Jewish religious bigots. They had to declare that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah when their opponents utterly repudiated Him because no Messiah of theirs would be a law-breaker and die on a cross as a criminal. And certainly their Messiah would not expect them to hob-nob with Gentiles and the riff-raff. Would their faith stretch to embrace Him in an environment like this?

“Take heart! I have overcome the world.” What would this mean to them when they faced the “firing squad” of earthly trouble? Because He overcame, they didn’t have to be afraid of their enemies. Because He overcame, they could love and forgive when they were hated, rejected and persecuted. Because He overcame, they could live righteous lives in a crooked world. Because He overcame, they could be at peace in the midst of turmoil and conflict. Because He overcame, they were citizens of a heavenly realm in the midst of a wicked world, where God reigned in righteousness and truth.

It might have only been words to them then, but their journey would take them deep into personal experience and growth in this faith they had then, but in embryo.

Reuben Morgan penned these beautiful words:

Hide me now under your wings;                                                                                                     Cover me within your mighty hand. 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar,                                                                                      I will soar with you above the storm;                                                                                            Father, you are king over the flood;                                                                                                I will be still; know you are God.

I rest my soul in Christ alone;                                                                                                 Know His power in quietness and trust. 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar…

The Father’s Face

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THE FATHER’S FACE 

“‘Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.'” John 16:25-28 NIV.

Slowly, gradually, little by little, Jesus was acclimatising His disciples to the truth that, just as He had an intimate relationship with the Father, so they were moving towards the same close fellowship with God as His beloved sons. This was a foreign idea to them because they were nurtured in the misguided religious notion of a strict God who gave them rules to keep and who came down hard on them when they stepped out of line.

Jesus was passing on the legacy of sonship to them; exactly the same status and relationship that He had with the Father was theirs because they loved and believed in Him and acknowledged that He had been sent from and by the Father. His primary mission was to show them the heart of the Father so that they could enjoy the same bond with the Father as He had.

This is a truth that many so-called believers have not grasped. The world is an orphanage and not even the church, to a large extent, has realised and embraced the truth that we are God’s beloved sons and daughters. We are not only a fatherless world and an orphan generation but also a fatherless church which, like the elder brother of the lost son, is still trying to impress God by our performance rather than live in the freedom of the Father’s love in the Father’s house.

How difficult it is for us to grasp that we share the same status as Jesus in the sight of God! The same love that Father has for Jesus is His love for us because we have been placed in His family as Jesus’ brothers and sisters.

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:10, 11 NIV.

Who better to reveal the Father than the one who shares His nature and who existed with Him before He entered the world? Although it was difficult for the disciples to grasp, in the beginning, what Jesus had told them, over and over, about Himself — who He was and where He came from — eventually, after being with Him for three and a half years, listening to Him and watching Him in action, they began to realise that He was no ordinary human being but the one He said He was, the Son of God who came from the Father.

The enemy has launched a relentless campaign against fathers and children; free sex has led to single mothers trying to raise children without fathers; child abuse has alienated fathers and children and bred suspicion in the hearts of children towards men in general and fathers in particular. Divorce has ripped families apart, breaking hearts, driving fathers from their children, leaving them abandoned, defenceless and without security and identity — angry children venting their anger on the world.

The ministry of the second Elijah, John the Baptist, was to reconcile fathers and children, or else the world would be destroyed; and the world is now living out the destruction cause by its orphan status.

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5, 6 NIV.

The only true Father who can bring us back to sanity in His love is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who was sent to reconcile the world to Himself and rescue us from our insecurity and abandonment so that He can take us back to the Father.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it does not know Him.” 1 John 3:1 NIV.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:15, 16 NIV.

No Atheists In Foxholes

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NO ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES 

“‘In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.'” John 16:23, 24 NIV.

People pray. God created human beings to be dependent on Him. Even those who repudiate Him and substitute gods of their own creation, pray. There is an inborn need to connect with someone greater than ourselves whether it be our own possessions or achievements, or some figment of our imagination we call “god”, we pray.

Whether the saying “No atheists in foxholes” most often attributed to war correspondent Ernie Pyle during WW1, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_no_atheists_in_foxholes) is true or not, even those who claim to be atheists use the title of a being they say does not exist, in a crisis!

But that is not true biblical prayer. Prayer is not prayer unless it happens in the context of a Father/son relationship with God, fostered by intimacy and worship. Many people treat God as some sort of celestial 911 emergency service. He’s always around, but they do not need Him until a crisis arises.

Jesus was speaking to His disciples about a love relationship with the Father based on the reconciliation He would make possible by His sacrifice. We are sons, yes, but in the far country of rebellion and unbelief, living in the “pigsty” of worldly ways. Before we can treat God as our Father, we need to return home and be reconciled to Him in order to be restored as sons. We owe Him an unpayable debt which Jesus, our elder brother, paid on our behalf so that we can return and be restored to the family.

“In my name” is much more than a magic formula to tack on to the end of a prayer to ensure that we get the answers we want. In Biblical thought, a name is a prophetic utterance of character. Everything God is, is enshrined in His name and He has invested all of Himself in the name of Jesus.

“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” Philippians 2:9, 10a NIV.

Therefore to ask in the name of Jesus is much more than a quick addition at the end of a prayer. It is a thoughtful evaluation of what I am asking against the character, will and mission of Jesus so that my request is in harmony with who He is and what His will and purpose is for my life and my circumstances in the bigger picture of His kingdom. Perhaps, if we were to view our prayers from His perspective rather than demanding what we want, there would be fewer disappointments and a greater understanding and participation in the affairs of His kingdom on earth.

The criterion for the joy that flows from answered prayer is found in His prescription in John 15. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:7-8 NIV.

Jesus taught His disciples that prayer is much more than praying the “no-atheist-in-foxholes” kind of prayer. God, in His mercy, might answer that kind of prayer but He is not obliged to because prayer, first and foremost, is the expression of a love relationship between Father and sons. Those who are outside of Christ cannot experience true prayer. The best they can do is try to gain the attention of, or manipulate a non-existent god, leaving them empty and frustrated.

The joy that follows answered prayer is the joy that flows from relationship; from a loving Father who delights to share His provision and resources with His beloved sons and daughters as they partner with Him in the business of His kingdom.

From Grief To Joy

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FROM GRIEF TO JOY 

“Jesus went on to say, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then, after a little while you will see me.’  At this, some of His disciples said to one another, ‘What does He mean by saying, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,” and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ They kept asking, ‘What does He mean by “a little while”? We don’t understand what He is saying.'” John 16:17-18 NIV.

As fully aware of His impending suffering and death on the cross as Jesus was, so unaware the disciples were. They had consistently shut their minds to what He had told them was to happen to Him at the hands of the religious leaders. Not even the Passover meal they had just eaten which He had fleshed out to point to His sacrifice as God’s Passover lamb, had alerted them to the ordeal He was shortly to face.

Now the time was almost on Him. No even the darkness of the olive grove could shield Him from the motley army that was gathering in the city to arrest Him and drag Him off to the Sanhedrin for the mockery of a trial. How desperately He wanted to reassure His disciples that His death was a temporary interruption that would issue in very far reaching results for them and for the world.

Had they heeded His words on the many occasions He had told them that He would be killed and would rise again on the third day, what He was now telling them would have been quite easily understood. Going away, as in death, where they would not be able see Him in His human body…and returning to them, as in a resurrection body, where they would once again see Him…for us is all so simple, but for them a complete mystery.

During His earthly ministry they had seen Him raise the dead more than once. Only a few days previously, Lazarus had walked out of the tomb after his body had already begun the process of decay! But He was there in person, doing the miracle by a word or a touch. To understand and believe that He would die and rise again was too much to accept and so His words sounded like nonsense to them.

“Jesus saw that they wanted to ask Him about this, so He said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’?

“‘Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.'” John 16:19-22 NIV.

The resurrection of Jesus is the hope of every person who believes in Him. For the disciples is was His death that brought them inconsolable grief because they thought it was the end of the road for them. But after the grief came the joy and a joy that would never leave them because their Master was alive and He could never die again.

As human beings in a fallen world, we are all subject to the pain of physical and emotional suffering and loss but the promise of God’s Word is that there is a resurrection and there is a hope. After grief comes joy. Unlike the experience of people in the world who may participate in the passing pleasures the world offers, like the world in its present state, they are as transient as wild flowers in the field.

“The life of mortals is like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Psalm 103:15, 16 NIV.

“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:17 NIV.

“For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5 NIV.

As for the disciples, so for us, because Jesus is alive forever, we have the everlasting hope that our weeping will be turned to joy.

So Much More…

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SO MUCH MORE… 

“‘I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.

“He will glorify me because it is from me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what He will make known to you.'” John 16:12-16 NIV.

Hallelujah for the Holy Spirit!

Jesus had such confidence in the Holy Spirit that He could anticipate His departure with the knowledge that He, His unique and intimate partner in the work of salvation, would most competently carry on where He left off. In the emotional state His disciples were in at that moment, most of what He was telling them was probably lost to them. They could not cope with the revelation, but the Holy Spirit in them after Pentecost, would be the supreme teacher of the truth they could not at that moment bear.

It is difficult for us to conceive of the closeness between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Everything that belongs to the Father is at the disposal of the Son and the Son, in turn, makes every truth and every resource that the Father owns, available to us through the Holy Spirit. Although the disciples may not have grasped even that, their failure to understand would not negate the truth Jesus was telling them. It would all become clear when the Holy Spirit came.

What did that mean to the disciples then and what does it mean to us now? We may not grasp, believe or accept the truth that we are everything to the Father just as His Son Jesus is. He has made us equal to the Son. “In this world,” said the apostle John, “we are like Jesus.” 1 John 4:17b. “Now if we are children of God, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,” declared the apostle Paul (Romans 8:17). According to the writer to the Hebrews, “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:11 NIV.

But how can this overwhelming revelation become reality to us? Only as we are willing to set aside our suspicions about God and our reservations about what He has said about us, can we embrace unreservedly the magnitude of what Jesus has done for us through the cross.

Jesus promised His disciples, and us through them, that He would send the Holy Spirit and that He would make known to us every truth about Jesus and every resource of the Father for us as we can bear them. Why then are so many believers of many years still in spiritual kindergarten, unable to move on to spiritual maturity and certainly unable to bear witness to the new life Jesus gave us through His death?

Transformation only comes to us through the renewing of our minds. As we think, so we are. Until we are prepared to fill our minds with truth from the Word of God instead of absorbing what comes from the world, the flesh and the devil, we will remain spiritual “spaghetti”, unable to stand up and become who we are.

The apostle Paul used the word “count” which is an accounting term. Write it in the credit column of who you are — sons and daughters, heirs and equal to Jesus as His brothers and sisters — and live as though it were true because it is. The debit column has been erased. It no longer exists. “He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13b-14 NIV.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that was will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:8-11 NIV.

Not only are we alive to God but we are also alive to everything He has made available to us in His Son, and the Holy Spirit administers to us all His resources as we receive them by faith.