Monthly Archives: May 2022

JUDGED OR JUSTIFIED?

Christian Life, ,

JUDGED OR JUSTIFIED?

Jesus did not only teach His disciples that they must pray, but He also had things to say about their attitudes to God when they prayed. Once again the Pharisees provided a poor model for right attitudes in prayer. How must we approach the Father?

Humility

Another parable did well to illustrate wrong and right attitudes.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18: 9-10)

Jesus could not have chosen two more opposite characters for His story – a Pharisee and a tax collector. Who were these “some”? The same ones who prayed in public to get attention – the hypocrites – the Pharisees. They were the “Noddy-badge” types who had to pat themselves on the back in case no one else did it for them. Of what was this Pharisee proud?

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18: 11-12)

Wait a bit! Have you forgotten something, Mr Pharisee? Thanksgiving is about who God is, not about who you are? What about your heart? Jesus hit the nail on the head:

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. (Matt. 23: 25)

What was the problem with this man? He was so full of his own “righteousness” that he had no sense of need. I wrote this in the margin of my Bible years ago – a truth which has come back to me again and again:

“Religion is the most difficult disease to cure because it infects with such self-righteousness that no sense of need remains.”

Self-righteous people are self-sufficient. They are self-made people who worship their creator. They need nothing from God and they receive nothing from Him but condemnation.

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18: 13)

Did you catch that? The tax collector touched the one thing that is weightiest in God – His kabot – His glory – His mercy. When he cried to God out of his deep need for mercy, he received mercy. Jesus concluded His story with the most heartening words a sinner can ever hear:

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18: 14)

Judged or justified? The Pharisee had already judged himself and, although he found himself not guilty, unfortunately for him, he used the wrong standard. He was his own measure of righteousness, but it fell far short of God’s measure of perfection. He judged his life by the rules he followed, not by the heart of the Father, and fell far short of God’s measure. He had no idea that the mirror of the Law into which he gazed, showed up the filth in his life but had no power to make him clean. He rejected the only one who could declare him not guilty because He had paid his debt. The Pharisee thought he could go it alone.

Justified! What does that mean? Not guilty. No penalty for sin hanging over the tax collector’s head any longer. He never again had to feel terrified of the future because of what he had done. He had the priceless gift of peace reigning in his heart. Why? Because he came to God with the attitude of reality. “I am a sinner and I need mercy.”

It is humility, not self-congratulation that opens God’s heart to His mercy. Attitude number one is humility which acknowledges that I have no hope outside of God. When I come to Him, I must take my rightful place before Him, remembering who He is and who I am. Whatever I have become that is good – functional – is because of His grace. I can claim nothing for myself which He has not given to me.

But He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. (James 4: 6-8a)

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.

JESUS – THE SON OF GOD

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JESUS – THE SON OF GOD

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing, you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31).

The Apostle John recorded Jesus’ miracles from a different perspective from the other three gospel writers. He presented Jesus to his readers as the Son of God.

John recorded only seven miracles in his gospel which he referred to as signs. Each miracle focused on a specific aspect of the nature of Jesus.Each of the seven miracles resulted in either an individual or a group putting their faith in Jesus or, at least, responding positively to Him.

  1. Water to wine (John 2: 11)

The disciples put their faith in Him.

  • Healing the official’s son (John 4: 53)

The official and his household believed in Him.

  • The paralysed man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5: 15)

The paralysed man who was healed broadcast everywhere what Jesus had done for him.

  • The feeding of the five thousand (John 6: 68-69)

Peter confirmed the disciples’ faith in Him.

  • Jesus walks on the water (John 6: 19-21)

No record of anyone coming to faith.

  •  The man born blind (John 9: 38)

The blind man who was healed believed in Jesus.

  • Lazarus raised from the dead (John 11: 45)

Martha, Mary, and many of the Jews believed in Him.

John’s declared purpose for relating only these seven miracles out of a choice of many others was to bring His readers to faith in Jesus so that they would have eternal life.

John’s choice of signs focuses on one thing – that Jesus’s disciples would see the glory of God in Him and that they would believe.

Not only did He work miracles to relieve people’s suffering and even to call them back from premature death, but Jesus also showed His power over the natural world. He calmed a violent storm on the lake, walked on water and multiplied bread and fish to feed a hungry multitude. Was He merely showing off or doing magic, or was He revealing His control over the natural world? Why would He do that?

His disciples were stunned at His power over a stormy lake. He simply spoke and the wind and waves obeyed Him – from violent wind and turbulent water to instant calm. They were awestruck and afraid.

They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him?’ (Mark 4: 41)

After He had fed five thousand people with only five small barley loaves and two fish, He sent His disciples back across the lake while He went into the hills to pray. A storm came up on the lake during the night while the disciples were on their way home. Jesus set off after them, walking on the water. When they saw Him, they were terrified, thinking He was a ghost.

Jesus called out to identify Himself and the ever-impetuous Peter, wanting to do what his rabbi did, asked permission to walk on the water as well. To his great surprise, he managed to take a few steps before fear got the better of him. Jesus grabbed him and they both made it to the boat in safety. The minute they climbed into the boat the wind ceased and the lake calmed down. How did the disciples react?

Then those who were in the boat worshipped Him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ (Matt. 14: 33)

After giving His disciples opportunity to gather evidence, He would ask them, on another occasion, the most important question they would ever have to answer. In a most unlikely environment, Caesarea Philippi, where idols were publicly worshipped by sexual orgies with goats, He asked them,

‘But what about you?  Who do you say that I am?’ (Matt. 16: 15)

Without hesitation Peter, as the spokesman for the group declared:

‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ (Matt. 16: 16)

How did Peter reach this conclusion? Evidence! The accumulative evidence of all that Jesus had said and done led to only one conclusion – Jesus was no ordinary man. He was a man and much more – He was the Son of the living God.

Every rabbi with authority selected disciples in whom he had confidence that they would do what he did and even more.  Jesus expressed His confidence in the men He had chosen:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. (John 14: 12)

Unlike all other rabbis who trusted their disciplesbut had no guarantee that they would fulfil their expectation, Jesus could say with confidence that His disciples would do even greater things than He did because He was returning to the Father and would send the Holy Spirit to be in them forever. The same Spirit who empowered Him would do His works through them if they believed.

The apostle Paul declared that we are God’s masterpieces, created in Christ to do the good works He prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2: 10). What are these good works which God has prepared for us to do? According to Jesus, the same works He did, showing mercy to all people!

His commission to His disciples before He left them was to go and make disciples of all nations. He conferred on them the authority He had received from the Father to do the same things He did. This means that the works we do will confirm the authenticity of Jesus as Messiah and the Son of God, with the right and power to forgive sin, testify to the nature of God and His kingdom, and proclaim that the kingdom of God is here, just as His works did.

In response to His commission, Jesus’s disciples went everywhere preaching His word as He had commanded them to do.

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it. (Mark 16: 19-20)

He did not send them out to hold healing and miracle campaigns. The emphasis was not on miracles; it was on the kingdom of God of which Jesus is king. As He was proclaimed, so He confirmed His Word with signs.

This was the testimony of Paul as well.

The things that mark an apostle – signs, wonders and miracles – were done among you with great perseverance. (2 Cor. 12: 12)

Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done – by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So, from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. (Rom. 15: 18-19)

Did you get the order? First the proclamation of the gospel of Christ – then the signs and wonders which confirmed the Word of God.

Is it not possible that there is far too much focus today on the signs and wonders which people are seeking instead of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and His kingdom, towards which the miracles point? Miracles have become an end in themselves instead of a confirmation that the kingdom of God is here. Those who claim to live in the kingdom are to walk in the ways of the Lord. It is His role to work with us and to confirm His Word with signs.

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.

MIRACLES AND THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN

Christian Life, ,

MIRACLES AND THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ‘Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’

Immediately Jesus knew in His spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and He said to them, ‘Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk/? But, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ‘  He said to the paralytic, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ He got up, took his mat, and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ (Mark 2: 5-12)

Early in His ministry, Jesus collided with the Pharisees because He had the audacity to forgive sin. He was in Capernaum, teaching in a house that was crowded to capacity with people clamouring to hear Him. Four men brought a paralysed man on a mat in the hopes that Jesus would heal him. They were so determined to get the man to Him that they took him upstairs and ripped open the roof to let him down on his mat in front of the Master. I guess the people made room for him then, rather than have pieces of the roof fall on their heads.

Jesus saw the faith of the four and recognised that the man’s need for forgiveness was as great as his need for healing. That would follow. Much to the indignation of the religious leaders,

Case dismissed. What could His opponents say? The miracle of healing was conclusive of His authority to forgive sin.

Jesus’ miracles were much more than works of compassion or even a demonstration of His power. He was adamant that what He did was not because He was some superhuman being but because He trusted the Holy Spirit to work through Him. He always worked in perfect harmony with the Father. He came to announce and demonstrate that God’s rule was indeed among His people, and that anyone who believed in Him could be a part of it.

Every miracle of healing and deliverance which Jesus did pointed to the nature of the kingdom of God. Suffering was evidence of Satan’s presence and his harassment of people. They had wandered from God’s path and had become lost in the wilderness of their own choices. Jesus presented Himself as the Good Shepherd who had come to seek the lost sheep and bring them home.

He viewed His people as sons and daughters who had wandered from the path and needed direction to return to the way of Yahweh. His encounter with Zacchaeus brought a lost tax collector back to the Father and back to the way of Yahweh. Zacchaeus was transformed from a greedy and dishonest person into an honest and generous follower of Jesus, a true son of Abraham, drawing from Jesus an exclamation of joy.

“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:9b-10)

Jesus encountered a woman in the synagogue who was so crippled that she had not been able to walk up straight for eighteen years. His heart went out to her and, in the presence of His opponents whom He knew would attack Him because it was the Sabbath, He laid hands on her and healed her.

To the synagogue ruler who remonstrated with people for wanting healing on the Sabbath – and she didn’t even ask for healing – Jesus retorted:

‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’ (Luke 13: 15b-16)

Freedom! The nature of the kingdom of God. Freedom from greed; freedom from physical infirmity; freedom from guilt; freedom from the crippling works of the devil! Jesus did whatever He could to set people free from error, from unbelief and from the effects of Satan’s occupation of their lives and their territory. They were set free to be who they were, the true sons and daughters of Abraham.

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 THREEFOLD WITNESS

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THE THREEFOLD WITNESS

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. Acts 10:38

What was the difference between His Messiahship and His Sonship? As Messiah, Jesus carried the anointing of the Holy Spirit to fulfil His mission. As the Son of God, He was the Father’s personal representative, revealing the nature of the Father because He and the Father are one. According to the requirement of Torah, there had to be two or three witnesses for a claim to be verified. Despite the refusal of the religious leaders to recognise Him, Jesus appealed to three witnesses to ratify His identity and authenticate His claim:

  1. The testimony of John the Baptist

You have sent to John, and He has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. (John 5: 33-35)

In what way did John bear testimony to Jesus as the Son of God?

Then John gave this testimony, ’I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’ (John 1: 32-34)

  • The testimony of the works themselves

Although John’s testimony was valid and acceptable as a witness to Jesus’s identity as the Son of God, Jesus drew attention to an even more powerful witness than John’s.

I have a testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. (John 5: 36)

Did He clarify what He classified as “work”? He said to His disciples in the Upper Room,

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least, believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (John 14:11)

Part of His work was to do the miracles assigned to Him by the Father as proof that He was sent by the Father and that He was “in” the Father and the Father “in” Him.

  • The testimony of the Father

The greatest testimony of all was the witness of the Father.

And the Father who sent me has Himself testified concerning me. (John 5: 37)

When did the Father bear witness to Jesus as His Son?

When all the people were being baptised, Jesus was baptised too. And as He was praying, heaven opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven; ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’ (Luke 3: 21-22)

Three powerful, independent witnesses, whether the Jews liked it or not, were enough to authenticate Jesus as the Son of God.

No amount of positive witness would convince the religious leaders that Jesus was both Messiah and the Son of God. Whatever He said or did, they rejected as evidence of His identity. They even went as far as accusing Him of casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub. Imagine that! Jesus showed them how ludicrous it was to attribute His power to the devil.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?’ (Matt. 12: 25-26)

Instead of His miracles giving them a reason to accuse Him of being in league with the devil, Jesus pointed out that they were the very reason to believe that God’s kingdom had come among them.

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matt. 12: 28)

What is the point of this testimony for us as believers? It is important that we have the absolute assurance that the one in whom we have put our confidence for time and eternity is reliable and trustworthy because our eternal destiny is at stake. Jesus pointed to His works – His miraculous intervention in the lives of people and in nature, even raising the dead to life again, to reassure those who believe in Him that He is who He says He is – the Son of God.

We can have the utmost confidence in His promises because He revealed the power of the Holy Spirit through whom He lived, to do in us and through us what He did through Jesus. 

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.

JESUS AND THE WORKS OF THE KINGDOM

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JESUS AND THE WORKS OF THE KINGDOM

28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:28

Closely related to Jesus’s teaching on the kingdom of God was what He called His “works”. What did He classify as His works? What was the purpose of His works?

Jesus did many miracles during His earthly life; He healed the sick, restored disabled people, raised the dead, drove out demons and did miracles that overruled nature. Was it just for showmanship so that He could draw the crowds; was it out of pure compassion for the suffering or was there a deeper significance to His miracles?

To understand the place of works in His mission as Messiah, let’s examine what Jesus had to say about His miracles.

Jesus made it clear that His miracles were closely connected to the kingdom of God. He did not come simply as a miracle-worker. On occasion He escaped from the people who were clamouring for healing because His purpose was much bigger than merely bringing relief to the suffering. He had a message to deliver which took precedence over His healing ministry.

His works authenticated His identity as God’s Messiah.

There are many prophecies in the Old Testament – the Tanakh – that act like Messiah’s “fingerprints”. Just as the police department has a data base of fingerprints which is used to identify criminals, so the Old Testament has a “data base” of Messianic fingerprints to enable people to identify the Messiah. Jesus prophesied that many false messiahs would come, demanding attention, and claiming allegiance. How would people be able to distinguish between true and false? Prophecy! All they had to do was to match the prophetic fingerprint with the fulfilment and they would know whether the claim was true or false.

John the Baptist was incarcerated in Herod’s dungeon for daring to indict him for adultery. While John languished in prison, Jesus was out and about preaching, teaching, and doing miracles. Perhaps John had hoped that He would intervene and get him out of jail, but Jesus did not show up. Eventually John began to lose heart. Could this one whom he had introduced to his people, really be the Messiah after all?

He sent a representation of his followers to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you really the Messiah or are you just another imposter like the rest? Must we look for someone else?”

Jesus adopted a think-for-yourself approach. He didn’t give John a straight “yes” or “no” answer. How much better for John to look at the evidence and decide for himself!

Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.’ (Matt. 11: 4-6)

In what way did Jesus’s works match the prophetic fingerprint? Isaiah 61 testified to His Messiahship – one anointed by the Holy Spirit to fulfil the Father’s assignment.

When Jesus returned to Nazareth after His baptism, He attended the synagogue on the Sabbath where He was invited to speak.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it is written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the captives and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour. (Isa. 61:1-2a)

Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ (Luke 4: 17-21)

Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 35 points to the Messianic age:

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. (Isa. 35: 5-6a)

When would this happen? When God came in person to reverse the fortunes of His people. Did Jesus’ teaching and works match the Messianic fingerprint? You decide!

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.