Monthly Archives: January 2023

THE KINGDOM OF “PAY IT FORWARD”

Christian Life, ,

THE KINGDOM OF “PAY IT FORWARD”

Many of you have watched the movie “Pay it Forward” and were moved by the idea and the sacrifice Trevor made to carry out the idea that cost him his life.

Did you know that “pay it forward” is built into the very fabric of our lives as believers in Jesus?

God’s people in the Old Covenant were constantly reminded to show their gratitude to God by ‘paying it forward” to their fellow Israelites and the strangers within their borders in response to God’s mercy to them.

Jesus confirmed the same principle in the New Covenant when He gave His “new commandment” to His disciples shortly before His death. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

However, it must not stop there.

God’s love is a giving love. He gave us Jesus and, with Him, everything we need for this life and the next. We show our love and gratitude to Him when we “pay it forward” by taking care of the needs of His children.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

Let me share a testimony with you. As the Holy Spirit began to impress on me the responsibility of being a faithful steward of God’s goodness to me, He identified a little family that was in great need of help. I began to give towards the support of a precious little girl whom a dear granny had been given to care for and raise.

The family went through very difficult times during lockdown. By God’s grace, I continued to have enough and to share. We limped through the hard times and, when lockdown was eased, a new opportunity opened up for this loving granny, together with a new home and a lifting of the financial burden.

I was delighted, when I received confirmation of my momthly contribution, that this “pay it forward” principle is now a part of their lives as they share their blessing with another family in need. This news made me even more determined to continue my support because it frees them up to help another family by paying it forward.

“Paying it forward” sets up a current that keeps God’s provision flowing and opens the way for more of His goodness to come back to us so that we can continue to share our resources with others.

So, no matter how tough life is at times, we always have something for which to be thankful. As we express our gratitude to God in tangible ways, the current of God’s goodness will carry on and will also come back to us and enable us to keep that current flowing.

Apart from our tangible gifts to bless others, what is the greatest treasure we can share that costs us nothing in rands and cents but cannot be measured in terms of eternal value? God’s Word is that treasure and the insights the Holy Spirit gives us to put that Word into practice.

God’s Word is a seed. As we give it away, it takes root and bears fruit in the good soil of those who believe. What greater blessing can we impart as, we “pay” God’s Word “forward” and nourish the souls of those around us!

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM – CONCLUDED

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9. THE KEY OF ALL KEYS – The Word of God

Unless we use the Word of God to gain access to all the keys that open all the doors to the

resources of God’s kingdom, life under God’s loving rule will always be out of our reach….

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:14-17

And ultimately, there is one more key that unlocks the Word of God –

10. THE FEAR OF THE LORD.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Proverbs 9:10 NIV

“The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”

Isaiah 33:5-6 NIV

Conversely, without the fear of the Lord, nothing works.

When we honour the Lord enough to believe His Word and take Him seriously, every door into the resources and provisions of God’s kingdom are flung wide open.

The fear of the Lord, to change the picture, is the root of all the fruit we can pick from “the tree of life”. God gave Adam one instruction – leave “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” alone. We can only experience life when we live under God’s authority and in submission and obedience to Him.

When we live on the fruit we pick from living selfishly and making our own rules, we are already dead and destined for an eternal destiny of being “dead” to God; no life, no light, no hope, no love, no joy, no peace, just eternal nothing.

CONCLUSION

It amazes me how often the Holy Spirit opens the Word of truth to me by beginning at the end and slowly taking me back to the beginning. That’s how Jesus taught the truth. He took His hearers, in response to their questions, back to God’s original intention. “It was not like that in the beginning…”

So too if we are to understand the keys of the kingdom. Without God’s Word and the fear of the Lord, our absolute commitment to honour and reverence the Lord by taking His every word seriously, we cannot experience the fullness of life in His kingdom.

In the Lord Jesus Christ, God has provided everything we need to live as citizens of His heavenly kingdom right here and now in this present evil world. He supplies all our physical and material needs, as we take care of the needs of others. He provides all the grace we need as we acknowledge our weakness and call on His name.

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM – CONTINUED

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7. THE KEY OF SUFFERING AND HARDSHIP

Discipline in the kingdom – staying on the path

This key may be uncomfortable for us to accept as a vital part of our experience of living in God’s kingdom. However, without the willingness to accept, embrace, and rejoice in our suffering, there are lessons we may never learn about fully participating in the glory of life in God’s kingdom. These are lessons we can only learn through submission and obedience. Jesus is our model and mentor.

“While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.”

Hebrews 5:7-8 NLT

What we learn through hardship and suffering relate to our character as God’s children and brothers and sisters of Jesus who is God’s firstborn in His family.

A. Suffering teaches us many lessons; patience, trust, hope in God’s promises, and an eager anticipation for the glory of our future.

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

B. Hardships and suffering transform our character.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4 NLT

C. Hardship is God’s mark of sonship and God’s way of training us to be true sons.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.”

Hebrews 12:7-8 NIV

D. Suffering changes our attitude to sin.

“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.”

1 Peter 4:1 NLT

E. Hardships and suffering change our focus and lead to holiness.

“For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.”

Hebrews 12:10 NLT

F. God’s disciple through suffering enables us to live righteously.

” No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Hebrews 12:11 NIV

8. THE KEY OF PRAYER

Communication with the Father

Although we may not recognise prayer as an important key to God’s resources in the kingdom, we cut ourselves off from all that God has provided for us when we don’t pray.

There is a process in prayer that, first of all, embraces all the great truths of our faith. This process opens the door to fellowship with the Father.

A. Without the cross, we are separated from God and barred from approaching Him.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”

Hebrews 10:19-20 NLT

B. Without Jesus, we have no mediator between us and God to represent us and plead our cause with the Father.

“My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.”

1 John 2:1 NLT

C. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no one to interpret our groans and help us to pray according to the Father’s will.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

Romans 8:26-27 NLT

D. Together with the key of faith, prayer cultivates our intimacy with the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is not about changing our circumstances or getting what we want. Prayer is about growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer is about learning and leaning on God’s promises that enable us to participate in the divine nature.

“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvellous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT

E. Prayer connects us to God’s promises. Through His promises, God has provided everything for human life on this planet and spiritual life in His kingdom.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV

F. Prayer leads us to worship, the highest form of prayer. We approach the Father, we call on His name, we engage Him for ourselves and others but all our efforts must lead us to gaze on Him, to contemplate His greatness and goodness since, through these, we receive grace to be transformed into the image of Jesus.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM – CONTINUED

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5. THE KEY OF FORGIVENESS

Preserving relationships in the kingdom.

Of all the keys Jesus could have highlighted in the prayer He taught His disciples about life in the kingdom of God, He enlarged on only one…

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors….”

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Matthew 6:12, 14-15 NIV

Forgiveness touches our lives in many ways.

A. God’s forgiveness through Jesus is the foundation of our restored relationship to Him. All sin, the big barrier between God and us, is removed forever giving us free and bold access to Him.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Hebrews 10:19-22 NIV

B. God’s forgiveness releases us to forgive those who sin against us. Since, through His death, Jesus made forgiveness possible, we forgive others not because we must but because we may.

2 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. ​ Ephesians 4:32 – 5:1

C. God is passionate about restoring broken relationships. Forgiveness is the only way to heal rifts between offended brothers and sisters in Christ. We forgive others because Jesus paid their debt as well as ours.

D. We can only be free from the ill-will that separates members in God’s family when we let go of the debt that they owe us.

E. Forgiving others mirrors God’s mercy towards us. We forgive freely when we recognise how great God’s mercy is towards us.

Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:33-35

F. To forgive is to maintain an attitude of humility towards others since we all stand on level ground before God.

G. Forgiving others sets us free from all the emotions that accompany unforgiveness and keep us in bondage to ourselves, especially the killer-emotion of self-pity.

6. THE KEY OF REPENTANCE

Maintaining fellowship with the Father

Repentance is the key that opens the door into new life in Christ.  We must understand that repentance is not an emotion but a decision. Repentance means that we recognise the truth of God’s word and choose to believe what He says. We let go of false beliefs by embracing the truth.

“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Romans 12:2 NLT

A. Repentance is not a once-off decision but a lifestyle of repenting that leads to gradual transformation into the image of Jesus.

B. The old nature with its rebellion against God and thoughts and behaviour that result from rebellion, has been crucified with Christ. It is dead. It cannot be changed but…

C. God has given us a new nature, His own nature characterised by love, submission and obedience. It is our new nature that we nurture through the process of repentance and transformation.

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM – CONTINUED

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4. THE GOLDEN KEY – ROOTED IN GOD’S LOVE

Paul recorded many of his prayers in his letters to the churches. These prayers reveal his heart for God’s people and his partnership with the Holy Spirit in opening the doors of understanding and participation into God’s kingdom.

However, I see his prayer in Ephesians 3:15ff as the Golden Key to everything that has ever been revealed about our lives in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus had something important to say to the Ephesian church, the same church to which Paul penned his letter, which makes it even more important for us to understand this key.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Revelation 2:4-5 NIV

What is this “first love” which the Ephesian Church had forsaken?

It was not the warm, fuzzy excitement we felt when we first believed in Jesus, as many have preached. In fact, it isn’t our love for Jesus at all. Our love, at best, is feeble, frail, and fickle, and often crumbles under pressure.

Our response of love for Jesus depends entirely on His love for us. It is the fruit of the root which feeds and produces the fruit.

“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God…. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

1 John 4:7, 9-10 NLT

If we remove God’s love from our experience of His rule and control of our lives, especially when stuff happens that makes no sense, we end up with being nothing but pawns in God’s hands.

God’s love gives colour, meaning, sense, and hope to all our life experiences, good and bad. Since God is love and, since God is utterly reliable and trustworthy, we can commit ourselves unconditionally to His love in everything because we know that He works in all things for our good. We also know that He has a plan… to restore the image of His Son in us.

I have come to realise that God has used even those times when I, as a believer, have trespassed into sin, for my good. I’ve learned the meaning of true repentance and learned to hate the sin I was involved in.

Even more than that, the precious Holy Spirit has revealed to me that my pursuit of love led me to drink at the wrong fountain. Like the woman at the well, I tried to quench my thirst at the fountain of human love only to be betrayed by human failure. Only when I realised that Jesus alone is the pure fountain of perfect love was my thirst quenched and fully satisfied.

So, to grow roots deeply into God’s love for us is to anchor our lives in the most secure place to be held fast and kept steady as we navigate all the ups and downs of our lives.

Without the awareness of the greatness of God’s love for us, living in His kingdom would be just another set of rules to obey. This love of God binds our hearts to Him in a powerful union of trust, submission and obedience which are the hallmarks of a true son.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”

John 15:9 NLT

“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.”

Jude 1:20-21 NLT

Can you see how important it is that we understand that all we experience as believers in Jesus must be filtered through this love of God? His love underpins everything that has happened and will happen to us because He is “passing by”, to reveal Himself to us, in each situation, according to our need.

To put our trust in and root our lives in God’s love means that NOTHING can get between His love and us. Paul assures us, based on everything God did for us through Jesus…

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

God’s love for us didn’t begin when we came to faith in Jesus. God loved us before He made the world.

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”

Ephesians 1:4 NLT

God was watching and intimately supervising the formation of the unborn child and setting out the days of its life before it came into the world.

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Psalms 139:15-16 NLT

He loved us even when we were living in sin in our unregenerate days.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Romans 5:8 NLT

The Old Covenant was an interim covenant given to Israel to teach them that God is holy and that sin separates sinners from a holy God and is punishable by consequences. To apply the consequences of sin, which Jesus atoned for by His death, to believers in Jesus in the New Covenant is to cancel what Jesus did on the cross.

This is the reason that any teaching and practice regarding “generational curses” in the New Covenant context, are utterly false. Believers cannot be rooted in God’s love and be subject to generational curses at the same time.

Isaiah prophesied that Messiah would set His people free…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the broken-hearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.”

Isaiah 61:1 NLT

Jesus confirmed that He was the Anointed One…

“The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Luke 4:17-21 NLT

… and that it was His role to set captives free.

Free from what?

Free from the lies Satan sows in our minds about God, us, and sin and all its effects.

Jesus is passionate about setting His people free from everything that opposes, contradicts, or attempts to replace God’s grace and that has any control over them other than the Holy Spirit. God gives His grace freely to those who realise they are nothing and depend on Him for everything that enables them to live free… from sin, and from self – effort.

Jesus sets us free when we realise that real freedom us living in the absolute confidence of God’s love for us revealed and confirmed in the death of Jesus.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

Romans 8:31-32 NLT

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Can you now see how important it is that any ministry in the name of Jesus must teach people how to live rooted in the love of God. This IS the golden key to the whole of life here and now, in this fallen world.

Jesus mirrors for us the pinnacle of our lives rooted in God’s love in His example as He suffered and died at the hands of ruthless murderers.

“For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God…. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, HE ENTRUSTED HIMSELF TO HIM WHO JUDGES JUSTLY. “

1 Peter 2:19, 21-23 NIV

When we are rooted in God’s love, we, will interpret everything that happens to us through the lens of that love. We can then entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So, we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”

1 John 4:16-18 NLT

There are other keys that are of great value and influence in our lives as we live in God’s kingdom in the darkness of this world.

We are always going to be affected by the sin that attracts the old nature in us. Ungodly people affect us by their attitudes and behaviour. We often act and retaliate out of our own old, ungodly nature, adding our sin to theirs and compounding the rifts between us.

Living in union with our fellow believers also sometimes brings out the worst in us. In our eagerness to defend, protect, or vindicate ourselves, we forget God’s instruction to trust in Him to be our defence.

So, God has given us…