Monthly Archives: April 2022

SALTY OR SALT LESS SALT

Christian Life, ,

SALTY OR SALT LESS SALT

You are the salt of the earth. But it the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot (Matt. 5:13)

This may not be a very powerful or meaningful comparison for us today because salt is plentiful and cheap, but to Jesus’ disciples, His words must have sent a jolt through them like a jolt of lightning. What, us? Salt? What on earth did He mean?

In Jesus’ day, salt was so valuable that Roman soldiers sometimes received their wages in salt. The English word salary is derived from the word, salt.

Salt had many uses, hence the many different interpretations of this Scripture. In what sense did Jesus mean that His followers were the salt of the earth?

Among other uses in the Old Testament context, salt had two major purposes.

Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings (Lev. 2:13).

Pure salt was symbolic of the sanctity and permanence of the covenant God established with His people. God instructed His people to add salt to their sacrifices as a confirmation that His covenant with them was holy and forever.

The second use of salt was to preserve, especially meat which spoiled quickly in a hot climate if it was not rubbed with salt. Salt has antiseptic properties. Even new-born babies were rubbed with salt. God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, explained how He “found” His people abandoned after their “birth”, how He took them as His own, washed them with water and rubbed them with salt, wrapped them up and raised them as His own children (Ez. 16).  

Pure salt is potent but when it is mixed with other chemicals it loses its preserving properties and becomes bland and useless. If this saltless salt is thrown on a field, the ground becomes sterile and will never produce again. The only use for saltless salt was to be thrown on the path where it would be trodden into ground used for nothing else.

Among Jesus’ disciples were fishermen who knew the value of salt. Without salt, they could not preserve their fish, their livelihood, for days at a time. They would have understood Jesus’ use of the imagery of salt in their society which was polluted by sin. Jesus needed them to be the preservative in the corruption to prevent the disintegration of their communities under the burden of sin.

“In the Hebrew Bible, salt is both a disinfectant and preservative, but if the salt loses its integrity (or its “flavour” to preserve) the result is disintegration. When Jesus talked about salt “trampled under feet,” he was referring to this latter connotation of disintegration found in the Hebrew Bible. So, when salt maintains its integrity (or its “flavour” to preserve), the effects are long-lasting (permanent), but when salt loses its integrity, the result is disintegration…”

“When we come to the New Testament, we see Jesus using salt within the context of its use in the Hebrew Bible. That is, disciples are “salt,” and so they are sanctified and, therefore, function as preserving agents. For example, we read the following in the Christian New Testament…”

“So when Jesus is talking about salt losing its flavour and then is “trampled underfoot,” he is alluding to the secondary meaning of the verb מָלַח, where integrity of the disciple of Jesus is lost and the result is disintegration (or moral decay), which is “not even fit for the manure pile” (Luke 14:34-35).”

http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/4738/what-does-salt-of-the-earth-mean – retrieved February 2016.

Unfortunately, the symbolism of salt under the weight of preaching that does not take its official use in the Old Testament into account loses its meaning and impact. How important it is to understand the Bible as God meant it and to interpret Jesus’ teachings as He meant them.

As a rabbi, Paul got the point when he wrote to the Ephesian church:

Have nothing to do with the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them (Eph. 5: 11).

One of the major roles of a believer, then, is to preserve the moral integrity of a community by living a pure life, unmixed with the corrupt practices of society around us, and to expose the works of darkness in whatever way is appropriate.

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

KINGDOM CHARACTERISTICS

Christian Life, ,

KINGDOM CHARACTERISTICS

‘If you hold to my teaching’ Jesus said, ‘then you are really my disciples…’ (John 8:31)

It stands to reason, then, that to be a disciple of Jesus, we must first know what He taught. Jesus began to teach His disciples, according to Matthew, by giving them some principles of attitude and behaviour that should be the characteristics of those who live in the kingdom of God.

Matthew wanted his Jewish readers to be convinced that Jesus was the king of the Jews. The focus of his writing was Jesus as Messiah and especially the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy regarding Messiah’s role as king. Even when Matthew recorded the events around His crucifixion, it was always with the understanding that Jesus died as the king of the Jews. He did not ignore the prophecies about Jesus as the Suffering Servant. He presented them in the context of His royal office and calling.

However, Jesus was a very different king from those who ruled in Israel and those who ruled over the surrounding nations. He was not a king who lorded it over His people. He was a king in the nature of God, one who loved, and one who always showed mercy to the extent that He gave His life to rescue His people from the plight of their sin. He characterised Himself as one who was gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11:29).

Some people say that they live by the Sermon on the Mount without giving allegiance to Jesus as Lord. This is impossible without the presence of the Holy Spirit within. Jesus gives new life to those who believe in Him, and this life is lived only through the power of His Spirit. The Sermon on the Mount is not a new set of rules; it is a new way of life – internalising God’s instructions given to His people in the Old Testament so that the very disposition of Jesus, gentleness and humility, is the new disposition of the believer.

Jesus was the perfect expression of the Father in the flesh. He was bold enough to say to Philip and his fellow disciples,

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14: 9).

On many occasions, Jesus enraged the Pharisees by claiming, “I and the Father are one.” They understood very well what He meant because they recited the Sh’mah, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4) at least twice a day and had done so for as long as they could remember. For Jesus to say that He and the Father were one meant only one thing – He was God – so He said. What was worse was that He produced the evidence although they refused to accept it.

As a Jewish rabbi, He insisted that His disciples be like Him. This was a particularly tall order for them because Jesus was unlike any other rabbi who ever walked the earth. His disciples recognised and confessed that He was indeed the Son of God (Matt. 16:16). And He wanted them to be like Him?

He gave them the prescription for having a disposition like His and acting towards people as He did. His first teaching, according to Matthew (in Matt 5), was about having a disposition of humility and mercy so that they would bend their energies towards reconciling man to God and man to man even if it brought the hatred of God’s enemies down on them.

The so-called “Beatitudes” are not meant to make His followers morbidly introspective. The devil is good at provoking us to self-condemnation. Jesus wanted His followers to understand that His life, and following Him, was a life of self-forgetful and loving service to others from a heart of mercy. We are to be generous and show mercy because of what God has done for us.

How do we hold to Jesus’ teaching? Paul explained it this way:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12: 2a).

The transformation of our disposition from selfishness and greed to generosity and mercy is a slow process. It happens as we contemplate the Lord’s glory in the Word. The more we gaze at Jesus, the more we are enthralled with His glory and the more we become like Him.

It’s a principle of life. We will eventually become like the people we watch closely. Isn’t that why Hollywood has such a powerful influence on the world? People hero worship the stars. Soon enough they begin to copy them. They don’t need help, either, because their corrupt nature is already at work in them.

The same principle is at work when we gaze at Jesus, assisted by the Holy Spirit whom God has given to every believer, to reveal the glory of Jesus and to lead us into all truth. Our part is to give Him every opportunity to change us into His image as we respond to His promptings, learning from Jesus and being empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a true follower.

Being a disciple of Jesus is certainly not about obeying a new set of rules. It’s about subduing the old selfish nature by submitting to a new Master and responding to the heart of His teaching –believing in Him and loving one another (1 John 3:23). 

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

IF YOU HOLD TO MY TEACHING

Christian Life, ,

IF YOU HOLD TO MY TEACHING

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’ (John 8:31)

Jesus’ promises often came with a condition. “If you do this…I will do that.” In this instance, being a disciple of Jesus is only possible if we hold to His teaching. In other words, as we have already come to understand, we can only learn to be a follower if we are in the yoke with Him, in close association with Him and learning to “plough a straight furrow” like a young ox learning from an older one.

The first question we must answer is, “Did Jesus change the rules in the New Testament?” Why does what He taught seem so different from the laws of the Old Testament? Did He do away with everything God taught His people before He came, and set up a whole new set of teachings for us to follow? Remember that He said:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfil (Matt. 5:17).

Did He mean that by fulfilling the requirements or the Law and the Prophets, they are no longer applicable to His followers? He certainly did not mean that God’s Word as recorded in the Old Testament, is longer valid. That cannot be because God’s Word is a revelation of who He is, and He does not change.

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (Matt. 5: 18).

If Jesus did not do away with the Law by fulfilling it Himself, what did He do?

First of all we must remember that the essence of God’s character is love. Everything He taught His people to do was the fleshing out – the practical application – of the two greatest commandments.

‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied, ‘”Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ (Matt. 22: 36-40).

However, over the centuries, the great rabbis of Israel gradually added their interpretations of God’s teaching and created an ever-increasing set of instructions (called the Talmud) to help God’s people understand what He meant by His Laws and to protect the people from inadvertently misunderstanding (so they thought) and misapplying what God wanted from them. These interpretations and restrictions gradually overtook God’s original intentionto teach His people to fear the Lord and to treat one another with honour and respect. 

The Law with its additions became a noose around their necks rather than a way of life that expressed God’s love. Jesus’ intention was not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” but to peel off all the man-made additions and take His people back to the way God wanted them to live.

Jesus was constantly bumping up against the religious leaders in His attempt to show His people what God meant by His teachings (Torah). Their focus was on strict adherence to the letter of the law to the exclusion of love because they wanted the people to applaud them for being “holy”. They were more concerned about what the people thought of them than what God thought of them.

Jesus expressed His love for people, especially those whom the Pharisees held in contempt, by treating them with compassion, not judgment. He called Matthew, a despised tax collector, for example, to follow Him. Matthew was obviously a wealthy man from his dishonest extortion of money from his people. He made a banquet for Jesus and invited his unsavoury, outcast friends to the party. The Pharisees were outraged. Didn’t Jesus know who these people were? How could He mix with them?

Jesus heard them complaining to His disciples.

On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ (Matt. 9: 12-13).

Did you get the point? He was quoting from the Old Testament Scriptures. God had spelled it out to His people in Hosea’s day – mercy, not sacrifice.

Jesus bumped into the Pharisees again soon afterwards. They were on His trail because His disciples had picked grain and rubbed it in their hands on the Sabbath. How could Jesus allow them to do that? Didn’t He know that they were “breaking” the Sabbath, according to their superimposed laws?

Once again Jesus tackled them about their attitude. God did not judge people in the Old Testament for ignoring His rules when they were hungry (read Matt. 12:1-6). He concluded with this accusation:

If you had known what these words mean: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the innocent (Matt. 12:7).

No, Jesus had no intention of abolishing the Law. He came to show His people what God meant from the beginning and to put them back on the road to loving God and their fellow men by showing them how to love. When love is the motivation of our lives, we don’t need rules because love will always express itself through mercy.

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

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE?

Christian Life, ,

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE?

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Have you ever heard it said, “The truth will set you free?” This is not true. “Wait a minute!” you protest. ‘” Isn’t that what Jesus said? How can it not be true?”

No, it’s only half of what Jesus said. Without the first half, the second half makes no sense at all. First, although the truth is objective – it can stand alone – yet, at the same time, the truth is embedded in a Person. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Whatever is true, is only true because it comes from God. The law of gravity is true – if I jump off a cliff, I will not fly. Gravity will pull me towards the ground. However, if God had not instituted the law of gravity, it would not work.

What did Jesus say that qualified the statement? Let’s read it again. 

“If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The power to be free lies in obedience to Jesus’ teachings, and obedience to His teachings is the qualification for being His disciple.

Then you may ask the question: “Free from what?” As I have written in a previous post, God has set boundaries for us – instructions and prohibitions – to protect us from self-destruction. In the beginning, Adam chose to live outside the one boundary God set for the first pair – His restriction on one tree. Why did He put it in the garden? Was it not to test the reality of their love? Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”

God said, “Only one tree is out of bounds”. The devil said, “God does not love you. He doesn’t want you to enjoy the fruit of that tree. If you do, you’ll be just like Him, knowing good and evil.” Of course, he didn’t remind them that they were already like God, made in His image to have fellowship with Him. By stepping outside the boundaries of God’s protection, they fell right into the hands of the devil and his deception.

By heeding him, they learned through bitter experience that his lies bring bondage to fear, guilt and shame – the inner “slave-drivers” that torment us day and night. They believed that, by throwing off God’s restriction, they would be free to make their own rules. They found out that their rules destroyed them in the end – what God called “death”.

Jesus offered His disciples the solution to their “slave-drivers” – His teachings, His “yoke” that would set them free from the habits, behaviour and selfish way of life that alienated them from their fellow men and left them empty, dry and without love, joy, and peace. What is it that so many people in the world are desperately seeking? Is it not peace of mind? Every religion in the world offers a way to find peace by doing. Doing what? Doing whatever they think their god (or gods) requires to please him/them so that they can be at peace with him/them.

Unfortunately, the harder they work, the more the devil laughs because he knows that he has them in his power. Lies! No one can find inner peace by trying to appease their god. Every false deity is the devil wearing a mask – masquerading as a god when the gods who represent him do not exist. If they did, why do they not respond to the millions of prayers people pray, prayers for help and healing for the distress they are in?

The solution to human pain is centred in Jesus. He is the truth, and He speaks the truth. When we take His words seriously and embrace what He said, we will not only experience a deep change in our hearts, but we will also find the inner rest He offers to those who follow, learn, imitate, and obey Him.

We are not alone in this venture. The Holy Spirit, whom He sent to be with us and in us, is our helper. When we heed Him, he is the energy that drives our lives. Jesus promised that the Spirit would lead us into all truth. He would reveal Jesus to us and remind us of His teachings during our daily living, keeping us on track as He takes us to the Father.

No, we will never find inner peace of mind and conscience, freedom from fear, guilt, and shame, hope for the future and the awareness of God’s love, simply from the truth. We will only know these blessings when we obey Jesus’ teachings. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot obey Him. Without faith in Jesus and in the truth of what He taught us, the Holy Spirit cannot help us.

It’s a sort of chain reaction beginning with believing what Jesus said because of who He is – the Son of God – and committing to follow Him. He responds by giving us the Holy Spirit as His “other self” to be in us forever. The Holy Spirit reveals the truth and enables us progressively to live it out in our daily lives. Old ideas, habits and behaviour patterns fall away as we follow Jesus and then – the truth will set us free!

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

KEEP MY COMMANDS

Christian Life, ,

KEEP MY COMMANDS

If you love me, keep my commands (John 14:15).

The fourth requirement of a disciple is obedience.

The concept of “keeping” the commandments means much more than obeying them. In Hebrew thought, to keep meant to remember and preserve as well as observe. To preserve meant to uphold and to keep intact. Israel was to live as a community.

The commandments or “Torah” – God’s teachings or instructions for living, were God’s constitution to preserve the community. It had a two-way focus – their attitude towards God and their attitude towards one another. By being faithful to God’s teaching, they were not only preserving their own lives but also the well-being of the entire nation.

Jesus gave His disciples a “new” commandment on the eve of His death – ‘that you love one another as I have loved you.’ This commandment was not new in the sense that they had never heard it before. Love for one another was embedded in the greatest commandment; to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and to love their neighbour as themselves. All 613 commandments in the Torah fleshed out the greatest commandment by practically applying it practically in all the circumstances of their lives.

Jesus drew the attention of His disciples to the greatest motivation for observing and upholding God’s commands – love for Him. His mission included the revelation of the true nature of God – not the rigid disciplinarian they had recreated Him to be, but a loving and gracious Father who set boundaries around their lives so that they could live safe, happy and free lives within those boundaries.

Unfortunately, the religious “Gestapo” had set up their own boundaries which were so unrealistic and restrictive that the people groaned under the weight of ridiculous rules. Fear of failure replaced real love for God. Some tried in vain to appease Him by rigidly sticking to the letter of the law. Others gave up and lived lawless lives. Jesus offered rest to those who were tired of trying to carry the burden of the religious yoke. His yoke, He said, was easy and His burden was light.

What was His yoke? Summed up in one word, His yoke was love.

A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13: 34-35)

When He spoke those words to His disciples in the upper room, He swept aside all petty manmade and irrelevant rules and focused on the heart of God – love. If love directed their lives instead of religion, they would observe, preserve and uphold what God wanted them to do in every circumstance and situation. They would not have to run to the book to find out what to do. They would worship God alone and contribute to the unity of their community at the same time.

Why did Jesus call love a “new” commandment? It was not new in the sense that Jesus had thought up something that had never been known. It was “new” in the sense that He was calling them back to God’s original intention. We could use the word “renewed” instead of “new”. In the religious climate in which they lived, heart and motivation were buried under a load of rules. Jesus called them back to what God had created in the beginning – people who related to and loved Him as their Father and each other as family.

However, that’s not the end of the story. It’s all very well commanding us to love one another, but how do we do it when our basic nature is selfish and greedy? Jesus made a promise to His disciples and to all who follow Him that He would give them the Holy Spirit to live in them and to transform their hearts so that they would have the power to obey Him. The Holy Spirit would replace Jesus’ presence on earth as His “other self”, one exactly like Him who would lead them into truth, reveal Jesus to them and remind them of His teachings.

It can’t get better than that! Jesus living within, working in us, transforming us into His image, teaching us how to be true sons! The Holy Spirit enables us, as we respond in obedience to His promptings, to follow, learn, imitate, and obey our rabbi in a process of ever-increasing maturity. What other so-called “god” can do that!

Obedience to our Master is not an impossible and beyond-our-reach demand. Jesus would never ask us to do what He does not empower us to obey. After Pentecost, His disciples lived out His command to the extent that, despite intense persecution, the church grew because people were attracted by their love.

Nothing is impossible for us to obey with the Holy Spirit within. The same Spirit who empowered Jesus, lives in those who believe in Him.

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