Monthly Archives: August 2014

Less Is More

Christian Life, , ,

LESS IS MORE

“In the same say, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8.26-27.

Prayer is a mystery, isn’t it?

Prayer is simple and yet complicated. It is the interaction between the Father and His child but, at the same time, it is God’s way of ruling the earth. He gave the mandate to the first pair to manage the earth for Him. That mandate has never been withdrawn, even though man changed allegiance in the Garden of Eden. Ever since then, human beings have been exploiting and destroying the earth rather than caring for it.

People who reject God in favour of some deity they have created or some god someone else has created and persuaded them to follow, still believe that they need to “pray”.  How else can they get the attention of their god? But does their god hear? Does their god respond? What are they asking? What is the purpose of their prayers?

As I said, God and His children communicate through an activity called “prayer”. It needs no rituals or accessories to get our God’s attention. He is as near to us as our breath. Contrary to the idea that He is in “heaven”, wherever that is, He is Immanuel – God with us. In actual fact, He is even nearer that that. He is in us! By His Spirit, who is also God, He has taken up residence in our spirits and He represents the Father and the Son within us. He speaks to us and He speaks for us.

Have you ever been in a situation so terrible that you felt absolutely helpless? You didn’t even know what to pray. All you could do was to turn to God, cry out His name and groan or weep. Your only prayer was, “Oh God!” or “Jesus, help!” That was also prayer. The Holy Spirit was right there, in the situation with you, taking your wordless groaning and interpreting it to the Father as a request.

The Holy Spirit has many roles in our hearts. We have already talked about His role as the Spirit of sonship. Without Him we could never understand who we are nor could we utter the cry, “My Abba!” We would never have the assurance that we are God’s children and we would never be able to put to death the fleshly appetites that pull us away from God.

His role as Intercessor is without parallel in any man-made religion. He acts from within us to the Father as the interpreter of our groans. It is not as though the Father does not know what our hearts are saying at a time of deep distress. That would make the Him less that God because there would be things He does not know. However, the Father and the Spirit are in such close communion that they interact on the most intimate level in their love for and participation in the lives of their people.

Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for us but He does it in a way that communicates His feelings for us. He transfers our groans – the only way we can communicate the depth of our distress – to the Father with groans of His own. Our groans are the language of emotional pain which God knows and speaks and, in His compassionate love, answers.

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” Exodus 2:23-25.

God always responds to our groans. They are sweet music in His ears because they tell Him that we need Him. As a Father, He wants to be wanted. Like little children who want to be independent, we try to fix the things we break.  In our foolish and immature independence, we make things worse until all we can do is groan and cry out to God for help.

The pathway to maturity for believers in Jesus, strangely enough, is not to become more independent but to become more helpless, like a new-born baby at its mother’s breast.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Already God’s Kids

Bible Study, , ,

ALREADY GOD’S KIDS

“Not only so, but we who have the firstfuits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently.” Romans 8:23-25.

The evidences of creation’s groaning are all around us. We see it in destructive weather patterns and in natural disasters such as wind, earthquakes, fire and floods. It is evident in the violence that happens in the animal kingdom. We feel utterly helpless at the power of volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tornados. We feel instinctively that it is unnatural for the earth to be heaving and writhing as though in pain.

What of our own groaning? Do we not groan in our pain and suffering, our emotional upheavals and the helplessness and hopelessness we feel when we have no control over our circumstances? Paul says, “Take heart, child of God. These are the birth pangs, like a woman in labour. A whole new order that is coming into being. Our travail is not in vain. We will not bring forth wind.”

On what do we place our hope? Just as the firstfuits of the harvest assure us that the full harvest will soon be ripe, so we, who have the Holy Spirit already, know that He is the guarantee of the fulfilment of God’s promise.

When God created the first man and woman, He fused his body and spirit. Created from the dust of the earth, God breathed His Spirit into him and he became a living being. Death is unnatural; the separation of body and spirit was not God’s intention. It was sin that resulted in death. Redemption will not be complete until our bodies are restored to their original perfection and reunited with our spirits.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He became the firstfuits of the resurrection.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfuits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in turn; Christ the firstfuits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. Then the end will come…” 1 Corinthians 15:20-24a.

When this happens, our adoption as God’s sons and daughters will be complete. We are already His children. He views the finished product. He treats us as though we are already perfect. We are in the process of becoming what we already are.

“For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness…” Colossians 2:9, 10a.

“For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14.

Wow! Do you realise what that means? We do not have to gain God’s approval or earn our position with Him. Because we are in Christ Jesus through faith, we have already been approved as His sons and daughters and made perfect from His point of view. His Spirit is at work in us, fashioning us into what we already are, mirror images of His Son and our brother, Jesus Christ.

“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 did not know Him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3.

We have a strong motivation for persevering in our faith and hope in God and in godly living because the rewards far outweigh the cost. What we endure now because of our loyalty to Him is temporary and cannot be compared with the eternal reward of being made complete in Him.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

A Glorious Expectation

Bible Study, , ,

A GLORIOUS EXPECTATION 

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Romans 8:18-22.

Imagine yourself the parent of a child in a school play. Your little one is in the caste for which they have practised and she has talked about for many months. There is great excitement as the day arrives. Parents and friends have assembled from all over the town to watch the performance. The curtain is about to go up. Everyone waits with baited breath for the first glimpse of the children who are dressed in their finery. The props are in place. The music strikes up and slowly the curtain opens, revealing the splendour of the children!

Now imagine the caste being, not the children in a school play, but all the sons and daughters of God throughout time waiting for the curtain to be raised to display them in their final perfection as mirror images of Jesus, their elder brother. The audience is made up of all creation, including the fallen angels who have made every attempt to frustrate God’s preparation of His children for this big moment.

Creation waits with eager expectation because it knows that, in that moment when God’s children are revealed, it will be released from its captivity to death and decay, and it will join God’s children in putting God’s glory in display forever and ever. There will be no more carnivores, killing and devouring fellow creatures. Those that once ate meat will eat grass. There will be no more decay; no vultures will be hunting for carrion; no death of any kind will happen anywhere.

All that went wrong when Adam sinned will be reversed. God will make everything new. He will prove to rebel principalities once and for all, that He was right and they were wrong. Every son and daughter of God will be perfected in righteousness by his or her choice, freely loving and obeying God as their heavenly Father because He forgave all their sin through the death of His Son.

They believed the truth of what He had said and what He had done, and have become sons of God and co-heirs with Jesus. Finally, against all odds, God will have His family of beloved children, and He will be able to put them on display, perfected forever, for the whole universe to see. In that moment, those who have rebelled against Him and refused to believe His Word, will be banished from Him forever.

All the suffering that we are subjected to as part of this fallen world will be nothing compared with the glory that will be revealed on that day. God’s children face, not only the adversities that are part of an imperfect world, but also the hostility of those who are God’s enemies. Instead of evading suffering by joining the world in its sinful rebellion against God, we who remain loyal to Him and walk in His ways, are guaranteed a place in His forever family, and we have the promise of eternal life.

Look around you. Whatever frustrates you now, the destruction of our environment, the exploitation of our resources, the wanton decimation of our beautiful animals for human greed, will be over and those who participate in the mindless devastation, will be removed – forever.

We have a glorious future ahead. Be a part of it!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Spirit Of Sonship

Bible Study, , , ,

THE SPIRIT OF SONSHIP

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh you will die but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 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 with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.” Romans 8:12-17.

What magical words! We are no longer slaves but sons!

We have a Father who is a perfect Dad – not one who disappoints us, who abuses or neglects us or one constantly judges or punishes us because of our immature behaviour. And we have His Spirit who lives in us, who reassures us that we are God’s children and who enables us to call out to our Daddy, “Abba. Pappa!’ because that is who God is to us.

Jesus came to earth primarily to reveal the Father.

“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do…I have revealed you to those you gave me out of the world…” John 17:4; 6.

He patiently taught His disciples and showed them by His works the true nature of God as their heavenly Father. The first message He gave to Mary for His disciples after His resurrection was startling, to say the least!

“Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” John 20:17.

The implications are huge! Not only have we been given the right to be called children of God, but we are also on the same level of sonship as Jesus is. Whatever privileges he enjoyed as God’s son are now ours because we is His 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 suffering.

“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.

Wow! Imagine that! There is no God like our God. What grace that we should be called children of God, and even more than that, that Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters! That means that God has the same love for us that He has for His Son. We enjoy the same status and privileges that Jesus enjoys. We have been raised with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6); we share His inheritance – His nature (2 Peter 1:3, 4) and we will reign with Him in His eternal kingdom.

“But aren’t you being presumptuous?” you ask. Certainly not if I am simply repeating what God’s word says.

But there is a condition. God’s grace has freed us from the penalty of our sin. He has removed our guilt and re-established us in His family as His sons and daughters. He has given us His Spirit as our Helper. “Now,” says Paul, “you have an obligation to live the life He has freed you to live. No more selfish indulging!”

If we do not respond to God’s grace by putting our sinful ways to death with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will perish just as surely as though we were never rescued and restored to our place in the family of God. Without the evidence of a changed heart and new life, what we claim is nothing but empty words.

Bottom line – only those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. Are you one of God’s children?

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.