Monthly Archives: January 2020

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – STEEP YOURSELVES IN GOD

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STEEP YOURSELF IN GOD

”What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, not to be so pre-occupied with getting so that you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.” Luke 12:29-32.

There is fervour in these words of Jesus. What He is talking about here is the very foundation of life. Until we get this right, our experience of God will always yo-yo between doubting and trusting. Our worries and cares come from our being so us-aware and so close to the circumstances that we cannot step back, as Jesus always did, and look at the big picture.

The first thing to settle in our hearts is the non-negotiable truth that God loves us. Since He has taken the trouble to come Himself to redeem us at the cost of His own life, our physical needs and wants are miniscule by comparison. He did this for one reason, to restore us to His family as His sons and daughters. Settle that one too! Everything God has promised and does for us fits into that context – family.

Jesus urged us to approach the Father as little children, not teenagers who always think they know better but as little children who are helpless without their father. This is the amazing thing about life in God’s family. He is not training us for independence as human parents do their children. God is training us for complete dependence; in fact, in His scheme of things, the more dependent we are on Him, the more mature we are in the faith!

Jesus insisted, “Without me you can do nothing.” John 15:6 (NIV). To God, maturity means going back to infancy! Why has He built such a contradictory principle into our relationship with Him? It takes us right back to His dream – to create beings who would be one with Him (echad) because oneness in the Godhead is who He is. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV), Israel’s creed.

Although He gave us the gift of choice, He knows very well where it takes us when we use it to enforce our independence. The same capacity to choose becomes a powerful tool when we recognise our dependence on Him and align ourselves with Him as helpless infants. The benefits of this attitude are ‘out of this world’ – access to the limitless supply of God’s resources, a carefree life in the care of God, and the inexpressible joy of being responsible partners in His kingdom, bringing His rule of love and truth into the mess we humans have made because we insisted on being independent.

If we keep on viewing God as a blown-up version of our human fathers, we will forfeit the most unpredictably exciting life. Instead we will spend our lives chewing our fingernails, chasing ‘things’ as though this life were all that mattered, and missing the journey that takes us deeper and deeper into the heart of the Father. If we are to be the disciples of Jesus we claim to be, then we have to learn to think like He did. Jesus was joined to His Father at the hip. He was a mature Son who depended on His Father like a new-born infant. That’s the paradox of the Christian life. Growing up means becoming more and more like little children. In this way, Jesus said, the kingdom is ours.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – STOP FUSSING

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STOP FUSSING

“’Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? If fussing can’t even do that, why fuss at all? Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don’t fuss with their appearance – but have you ever seen colour and design quite like it? The ten best dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. If God gave such attention to wildflowers, most of them never ever seen, don’t you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you?’” Luke 12:25-28.

Once again it’s all about God being our Father. But here’s the real issue. God once asked Jeremiah, ‘Why are you so suspicious of me?’ I’m afraid that this is often the case with us as well. We worry and fuss about ‘things’ because we aren’t convinced that God really means what He says. When bills and needs stare us in the face, we retreat into worry mode because we can’t physically see and hear God. Our faith evaporates in the face of everyday demands and we slip back into our old ‘orphan’ mentality.

But there is something much bigger at stake than what is on the surface. If a child is abused or neglected, it always reflects back on the parents. What really caring father would allow his child to dress in rags or go hungry while stuffing himself with food? Jesus’ argument was, ‘If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!’ Matthew 7:7 (NIV). It’s the father’s reputation that suffers if his children are neglected.

God is far more concerned than earthly fathers about the needs of His children because, in the end, it’s His glory that is at stake. He is the model of perfect fatherhood and He keeps revealing Himself as the model. Why would He ruin His own reputation and betray our trust if He is concerned about His glory?

Jesus called attention to wildflowers as an example of the extravagant beauty of transient creation. As temporary as they are, they are there to reflect God’s glory. When God faithfully meets the needs of His children, He is being who He is, He cannot deny Himself. His promises are a reflection of who He is. He reveals Himself to us as He honours His word so that we can reflect His glory back to Him.

What is the missing element, then? It is our confidence in His faithfulness. Why are we so suspicious of God? Our trust in God as our Father is tainted by our experience of our own fathers. We might have had an abusive father, a harsh father, a cold father, or an absent father and we interpret God through the grid of our own experience. Even a good father falls short of perfection.

There are at least two steps we must take to help us adjust our perception of God as our Father. Firstly, we must acknowledge that our fathers are as imperfect as we are. They have issues just as we have and, therefore, we have no right to judge them. Secondly, we must forgive the unpayable debt they owe us, and set them free from their guilt, just as God has forgiven us and released us from ours. Now we are free to embrace God as our perfect Father without the grid of our father’s failure. God will then be ‘Abba’ in our hearts and not only in our heads.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – CAREFREE IN THE CARE OF GOD

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CAREFREE IN THE CARE OF GOD

“He continued the subject with His disciples. ‘Don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.'” Luke 12:22-24.

How desperately this reassurance from Jesus is needed today. Our faith has become wobbly in today’s economic climate. Many of us are feeling the squeeze of unemployment, inflation, and an uncertain world economy. We anxiously watch the fluctuations in the stock market and wonder how long our assets will last. More and more people are joining the lines of the homeless who depend on charities to survive. Do Jesus’ words still apply in these circumstances?

A resounding “Yes!” but the secret is to tap into God’s resources via His economic system. This is where we often come unstuck. When our stockpile begins to dwindle, we hang on to our money instead of keeping it circulating. The excuse is, ‘I can’t afford to give.’ Wrong! Jesus says, ‘You can’t afford not to give.’ The only way to keep the circulation of resources going is to keep on giving.

There is a law in God’s system like the law of gravity. When we respect and stay in line with gravity, we are okay. When we try to defy it, we are in serious trouble. In God’s system, everything begins with a seed; plants, trees, people, faith, even new life in Jesus, all begin with the appropriate seed. So it is with God’s supply. The Apostle Paul spoke about this in the context of giving. “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:6, 7 (NIV).

Asking God to meet our needs has its place as we learn from the Lord’s Prayer, but tapping into God’s supply according to His instruction has already been guaranteed by His promise, ‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ Matthew 6:33 (NIV).

A far more serious reason for mistrusting God when the squeeze is on is one of identity. We don’t really understand how real our relationship with God is. We have been adopted into God’s family through Jesus. ‘In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will…’ Ephesians 1:5 (NIV).

Our being the sons of God underlies everything He does for us. He treats us just as He treated Jesus. He loves us just as He loved Jesus. He cares for us just as He cared for Jesus. He listens to us just as He listened to Jesus. In His eyes we are on a par with Jesus. Jesus is His Son and so are we. There is no difference. That doesn’t mean that we are God but it does mean that we are His sons and daughters. “‘Therefore come out from among them,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:17,18 (NIV).

This should make all the difference in the world to the way we respond to God’s Word. Everything He does in and through us is because we are His sons and daughters. We can trust Him because Daddy will never lie to us.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – RICH TOWARDS GOD… THE QUESTION

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RICH TOWARD GOD… THE QUESTION

“This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.” Luke 12:21.

Rich toward God? What does that mean?

There is a great deal of difference between getting rich and being rich. Endless numbers of people within the community of believers are eager to tell us that it is our God-given right to get rich, and how to get rich. Strange that the Bible doesn’t give us the ‘Seven Steps to Getting Rich’ but, throughout Scripture we are told, even urged how to use what we have to bless others. 

The state of being rich is not easy to define. There is no standard by which to measure wealth. To someone who is hungry, a loaf of bread is ‘rich’. We can never answer the question, ‘How much is enough?’ because ‘enough’ always moves, depending on our insatiable wants. A simple definition of rich would be ‘enough for my needs and some over to share with others.’ That puts richness within the reach of people who would never see themselves as rich.

The Apostle Paul has some specific counsel to Timothy for those who recognise that they are rich. In 1 Timothy 6:17 he says, ‘Command those who are rich in this present world neither to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain…’ Now that is wise counsel.  Paul encapsulates in a few words the danger of having riches in this world but not being rich – an arrogant attitude and a false hope. Funny how owning ‘things’ gives us the idea that we are better than those who don’t have them! What is it about ‘things’ that adds to our intrinsic worth, especially since we can’t take them with us?

Secondly, what is it about ‘things’ that makes us feel secure? Does our connection to God as our Father mean nothing without some numbers in our bank account? Do His infallible promises mean nothing if we don’t have notes in our pocket? How secure are we near the end of the month? This is the acid test of our confidence in God.

Paul goes on, ‘…but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.’ Now that’s security that does not depend on the exchange rate, the stock market or the state of the world’s economy! It’s a fine balancing act to live in God’s kingdom and, at the same time, to navigate the world’s system to do it. We are ‘in the world but not of it.’ Therefore money and possessions should always be our servant and never our master.

God is neither stingy nor a killjoy. He means us to enjoy the material blessings He showers on us but, and here’s the twist in the tale. God has another agenda in His economic system. Why is He so generous to us? Why does He shower His bounty on us? Not because we deserve His generosity. After all we are the rebel race. If we miss this, we have missed the reason for our existence. He does it for His glory!

God governs His world by universal laws which never change and always apply. God’s provision for us always comes in the wake of our giving first. The simple rule is, ‘Give, and it will be given to you…’ Whatever we need, we are instructed to give away and it will come back to us in abundant measure.

To be rich toward God, therefore, is to recognise that everything we have is from Him,  that everything for Him and that we are stewards of His resources for ourselves and others who have no means of providing for themselves.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE FOLLY OF GREED

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THE FOLLY OF GREED

“Then (Jesus) told them this story: ‘The farm of a certain rich man produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself. ‘What can I do? My barn isn’t big enough for this harvest.’ Then he said, ‘Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll gather in all my grain and goods, and I’ll say to myself, ‘Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!’

“Just then God showed up and said, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods, who gets it?'”  Luke 12:16-20.

Jesus told this story to illustrate what happens to a man who hoards his wealth instead of sharing it. He exposed three misunderstandings that are common in our world today. The first is that we got our money and possessions by our own efforts. The man in the story assumed that it was his clever farming methods that produced a bumper crop. How do we know this? There is no hint of gratitude to God for his harvest. He took his good fortune for granted with no reference to God.

Secondly, he assumed that it was all his and that he could do what he pleased with it. There was no thought of asking God what He wanted done with it. He was a typical example of what was known in Hebrew thought as someone who had ‘the evil eye’. He was the centre of his world and his priority in everything. He was completely self- absorbed and God-unaware.

Thirdly, he thought he had a long time to enjoy his wealth. He forgot how transient and uncertain life is. Because he was so self-confident and self-sufficient, God interrupted his life and cut it off with the question, ‘Now who will get your stuff?’ We have no control over our lifespan.

We see this attitude everywhere. Page through a glossy magazine. It is full of glamour and success with no reference to God. From where do wealth, beauty, gifts and talents come? It would seem that somehow celebrities think they are responsible. They ‘farm’ their accomplishments, turn it into gold and build bigger barns to store it for their personal enjoyment. Oh yes, some may even share some of their wealth but even that is often tainted because God never features in any of it.  However, this attitude is to be expected in people who have not yet become aware of God’s place in their lives.

The sad thing is that believers often have the same attitude. We may not be celebrities and we may not be harvesting bumper ‘crops’ from our self-made success, but the underlying ideas are still the same. ‘My money is mine and I can do what I like with it.’  Like the manna that was hoarded overnight, it will spoil. This does not mean that God is stingy and does not want His children to be wealthy. God is generous beyond understanding. He delights to bless His people with material benefits. Poverty is never a reflection of who God is.

To understand God’s purpose in blessing us with material things, we have to acknowledge two fundamentals: That everything belongs to God, which means that what we have is on loan to us; and that we are stewards, not owners, of our possessions.

Two more misunderstandings need to be cleared up: The first is that saving for our future is wrong and, secondly, that God will provide for us in the future if we spend all our money now. God is much smarter than that! He gave us an economic system in the Old Testament which answers all these questions and takes care of all these issues.  Regardless of whether it was Old Testament teaching or not, it is God’s wisdom which worked for His people then and will work for us now. He didn’t change the rules just because we are under grace. He changed our hearts so that we can give out of gratitude for His goodness to us.

Scattered throughout God’s Word are the principles of generosity which reflect God’s character and break the cycle of greed in us if we put them into practice.