Monthly Archives: January 2020

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – IS THIS STORY JUST FOR US?

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IS THIS STORY JUST FOR US?

“Peter said, ‘Master, are you telling this story just for us? Or is it for everybody?’

The Master said, ‘Let me ask you; who is the dependable manager, full of common sense that the master puts in charge of his staff, to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if, when the master shows up, he’s doing his job.'” Luke 12:41-44

Jesus did not give Peter a direct answer. The disciples were left to figure out for themselves whether they either were or wanted to fit the description. The word we love to use, Christian, is never a title. It is a function, just as the subtitles in this category of Christian are functions; words like elder, deacon, bishop, apostle, prophet, reverend, etc. Christian leaders love these titles because they tend to raise them above the crowd.

Jesus had issues with this attitude because it took away from the humility of the function and placed the focus on the elevated status of the person. On one occasion, He taught His disciples that they should never allow themselves to be called ‘Father’. Titles may give a person prestige in the eyes of people but they add nothing to the person in the eyes of God.

What is God looking for in His people? He looking for people who will fulfil the function of the title we love to wear. ‘Why do you call me ‘Lord’ and do not do what I say?’ He asked them. Even calling Jesus ‘Lord’ is useless if our behaviour does not measure up to our confession.

So what is the point of Jesus’ reply? In the context of this entire chapter of Luke’s Gospel, He is talking about what we as His followers do to imitate Him in the way we treat the people entrusted to us. It may be within our family circle or much farther afield, depending on our sphere of responsibility. It does not matter what our circumstances are, He is looking for faithfulness to our task during His absence. And what is our task? To take care of those entrusted to us until He returns.

In the context of this discussion, the question is: How are we carrying out our function as managers of the property and the people He has entrusted to us to care for during His absence? In whatever capacity we function in the body of Christ, leaders have been put into managerial positions, not to lord it over the people, but to take responsibility for their well-being in every way until the Master comes to claim His possessions.

“Be shepherds of God’s flock that are under your care, serving as overseers – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:2, 3 (NIV).

It is sad that today many so-called ‘Christian’ leaders are manipulating God’s people into ‘sowing’ their livelihood through guilt, fear or false promises, even to the point where they promise that, for every unit of money the people give, a soul will be saved! Have we gone back to the same outrageous preaching that triggered the Reformation six centuries ago? Do we have resurrected ‘John Tetzels’ peddling of indulgences to swell the coffers of our churches?

This is not God’s way. Leaders are “men who must give account,” Hebrews 13:17b (NIV). Our leadership is both a privilege and a responsibility – and we are to carry it out faithfully and patiently until the Master returns.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DON’T BE SLOVENLY (PART 2)

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DON’T BE SLOVENLY – PART 2
“You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect Him, the Son of Man will show up.” Luke 12:39, 40.
The autumn feasts, which took place seven months after the spring feasts, concluded the annual harvest festivals. Where the spring feasts were fulfilled by Messiah in order during His first coming, His second coming will fulfil the three autumn feasts also in order.
1.Yom Teruah – the Feast of Trumpets
After a month of preparation during the month of Elul, when the trumpet was blown daily to remind the people that Yom Teruah was coming. Tishri 1, the first day of the new month following Elul was the day when the Feast of Trumpets was celebrated. Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets ushered in the 10 days of preparation or the Ten Days of Awe, for the holiest feast of the year, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). During Elul, the people prepared themselves for Yom Kippur  by repentance, prayer and almsgiving,
“For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16 NIV.
2. Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement
“The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23.27-28) also known as Yom Kippur, was the most solemn holy day of all the Israelite feasts and festivals, occurring once a year on the tenth day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar… The solemnity of the day was underscored by God telling Moses to warn Aaron not to come into the Most Holy Place whenever he felt like it, only on this special day once a year, lest he die (v. 2). This was not a ceremony to be taken lightly, and the people were to understand that atonement for sin was to be done God’s way.
“Before entering the tabernacle, Aaron was to bathe and put on special garments (v. 4), then sacrifice a bull for a sin offering for himself and his family (v. 6, 11)…Then Aaron was to bring two goats, one to be sacrificed “because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been” (v. 16), and its blood was sprinkled on the ark of the covenant. The other goat was used as a scapegoat. Aaron placed his hands on its head, confessed over it the rebellion and wickedness of the Israelites, and sent the goat out with an appointed man who released it into the wilderness (v. 21). The goat carried on itself all the sins of the people, which were forgiven for another year (v. 30).    
“The sufficiency and completeness of the sacrifice of Christ is seen in the two goats. The blood of the first goat was sprinkled on the ark, ritually appeasing the wrath of God for another year. The second goat removed the sins of the people into the wilderness where they were forgotten and no longer clung to the people. Sin is both propitiated and expiated God’s way – only by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.” http://www.gotquestions.org/Day-Atonement-Yom-Kippur.html
3. The Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkoth
The final feast of the year, called Sukkoth, was celebrated from 15 Tishri. It was to remember the booths the Israelites lived in during their 40 year sojourn in the wilderness. After they entered the Promised Land, it came to be associated with the fall harvest and became known as the Festival of Ingathering.
During the 40 years in the desert, God lived among His people in the tabernacle, but His intention was to live in His people as His temple. Jesus “tabernacled” among them for thirty three years so that He can dwell in us forever, <em>“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you; whom you have received from God.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV.
It is His intention to live with His people forever when He has restored all things.
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them. They will be His people and He will be their God.’” Revelation 21:4.
These 3 autumn feasts were an annual rehearsal for the coming of Messiah and the consummation o this age when Jesus would usher in His eternal kingdom and reign over His renewed earth together with His bride, the church. So, Jesus warned His followers to be alert and ready for that great event, by being faithful in all that He had called them to do.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DON’T BE SLOVENLY (PART 1)

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DON’T BE SLOVENLY – PART 1

“You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect Him, the Son of Man will show up.” Luke 12:39, 40.

This ‘thief in the night’ imagery has captured the imagination of Christian authors and fathered many a story about the coming of Jesus. But, if we don’t tie the expression to its religious and cultural background, we will also be fooled into wild and woolly interpretations. This is not about sitting up all night, every night, waiting for the ‘thief’ to come. This is about being aware of the season and being faithful to respond to the preparation God has prescribed in His word for the season.

“Now, brothers, about times and dates, we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, like labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of light.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5a (NIV).

In this letter written to the believers in Thessalonica, Paul indicated that he had thoroughly instructed them about the return of the Lord Jesus while he was with them. False teachers had subsequently confused them by saying that Jesus had returned secretly and that they had missed Him. Paul explained how this was impossible because the coming of Jesus would fulfil ‘Yom Teruah’, the Feast of Trumpets, a noisy and visible affair.

In Leviticus 23, God gave instruction regarding seven feasts which were to be celebrated during the course the year; one, the Sabbath, a weekly celebration, three in the spring and three seven months later in the autumn. These ‘appointed feasts’ are translated in the Hebrew, ‘rehearsal feasts’. For what were they rehearsing? Since the whole Bible is the story of God’s choice and preparation of His bride, and ends with a wedding, obviously the feasts would be rehearsing the process of His courtship of His people and the wedding ceremony.

Let’s examine them and see how this works.

  1. The Sabbath is a picture of the divine rest into which God calls His people. Jesus fulfilled this feast according the Hebrews 3, 4. This not an annual but a weekly feast to show us that faith in Him sets us free from our ‘labour’ to satisfy God’s demand for perfection and allows us to rest perpetually in the perfection of Jesus who earned it for us through His perfect life and atoning sacrifice.
  2. The first of the three spring feasts, Passover and Unleavened Bread, was fulfilled at Calvary. Jesus was sacrificed for us as God’s spotless Passover lamb and He removed the leaven of sin from us. Because of that, we have been delivered from God’s judgment on sin and freed to live in the ‘Promised Land’ of His favour.
  3. Jesus fulfilled the second spring feast, First fruits, when He rose from the dead. He became a ‘terumah’, a ‘first fruits’ offering, when He was lifted up and His spirit placed into the hands of His Father. God raised Him from the dead as the guarantee that all who believe in Him will share in His resurrection. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:20 (NIV).
  4. The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost celebrated the completion of the harvest fifty days after the Feast of First fruits. The high priest would pour oil on the leavened bread as a prophetic sign that God would pour out His Spirit on imperfect people. Jesus fulfilled this feast on the day of Pentecost when He sent the Holy Spirit on the  the church which is His bride.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

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KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

“Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake and so blessed.” Luke 12:35-38.

Jesus often spoke to His disciples about being watchful and ready for His return. Unlike religion which is about rules and ritual, He was talking about a real situation – like servants awaiting their master’s return after his wedding. We must take note of the word ‘like’. Of course it would be impossible to stay awake day and night, year in and year out, waiting for Him to come back! That is not what He meant.

How must we understand what He meant by ‘Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on!’? Let Jesus be His own interpreter.

He told a parable about five wise and five foolish virgins who were awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom for his wedding feast. He took so long to come that they all fell asleep. When the bridegroom finally arrived at midnight, five of the virgins were ready to go in to the wedding feast because they had enough oil to refill their lamps which had gone out. The other five begged oil from their companions but were refused. They were sent to buy their own but, while they were away, the door to the wedding feast was closed and they were refused entry when they returned.

This parable is often erroneously interpreted to mean than the oil represents the Holy Spirit. We are urged to be full of the Holy Spirit so that, when Jesus returns, we will be ready to join Him at the wedding feast. The five foolish virgins missed the wedding because they were not ‘spirit-filled’ and could not go in with the bridegroom because they had to go out and seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

In this parable, the oil represents ‘tsidaqahs’, the righteous acts of which John speaks in Revelation 19:7,8 (NIV) – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints).

The five wise virgins were those who had practised the generosity which God’s way of living had taught them, and were therefore ‘ready’ to go in to the wedding feast with the bridegroom. The foolish virgins had no ‘tsidaqahs’ – righteous deeds with which to refill their lamps. It was too late to go out and do their tsidaqah’s because the bridegroom had come and the doors were shut. This interpretation is compatible with the context which we have been examining in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel. It is also in line with the whole drift of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching.

Again I must emphasize that He was not teaching that we are saved by good works but, like James, He makes it clear that, if we don’t live out our faith in the kind of generosity which reflects the Father’s heart, we are not ‘ready’ go in to the wedding feast. When we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven by being generous with the resources God has entrusted to us to steward for Him, our lamps will be full of ‘oil’ or, as John describes in Revelation 19, we shall be wearing the bridal gown of righteousness which will qualify us to share in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A BANK YOU CAN BANK ON

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A BANK YOU CAN BANK ON

“Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can’t go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bank robbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. The place where your treasure is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Luke 12:33, 34.

God’s economic system hits at the core of our fallen nature. As long as we are ensnared in the dominion of darkness, our disposition will be one of selfishness driven by greed. However, Jesus’ work on the cross sets us free from the one thing that will destroy us as surely as night follows day.

The Apostle Paul has given us another principle that appears to be a paradox. He said,“…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12b, 13. You work out…God works in. Once again Paul declares that God works through our choices to perfect His work of grace in us.

The potential to be generous is the spontaneous outcome of salvation but we have to turn that potential into action. Both Jesus and Paul tell us, “Now work it out.” This is the miracle of what Jesus has done for us. Sin shackled us to a nature that has endless potential for greed and wickedness but, when we were transferred from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of light, we were freed from that potential and released into a new potential. “Be imitators of God as dearly loved children…” Ephesians 4:1(NIV). There it is again, the family environment in which we are set free to develop our new nature in God.

Jesus urges us, “Now get on and become what you are.” Developing our generous nature has huge potential – firstly of imitating our Father and secondly, of growing our assets in an infallible banking system.

This has far greater significance that we can imagine. According to Jesus, eternal life is ‘knowing’ God and ‘knowing’ Him, Jesus, (John 17:3), but what does it mean to ‘know’ God? Strangely enough, we find a clue to knowing God in the Old Testament. Jeremiah was talking about Shallum, Josiah’s son, who succeeded him as king of Judah. He had been taken captive to Babylon. What was his crime?

“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labour…does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?  Did not your father (Josiah) have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord?  Jeremiah 22:13, 15, 16 (NIV).

We will develop an intimate knowledge of God by doing what He does. Growing our potential, then, means using every opportunity we can to be generous givers. The more generous we are, the more revelation we will have of who God really is, and the more we will experience intimacy with Him. And, after all, that’s where He is heading – leading us into oneness with Him – the essence of our marriage with Him at the end of time!