Tag Archives: choice

Eating Dinner in God’s Kingdom

Christian Life, , ,

EATING DINNER IN GOD’S KINGDOM

“That triggered a response from one of the guests.’How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!’ …..’Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get as much as a bite at my dinner party.'” Luke 14:14-24 (The Message).

There’s a sting in the tale (!) of Jesus’ response to the comment made by the dinner guest. He never allowed the thought to pass that God makes arbitrary decisions for people, bypassing their freedom to choose and their responsibility for making the right choices,

God’s kingdom has been flung wide open to all people, but there are still rules by which people gain entrance. This man (the one who made the comment) was more than likely a Jew, traditionally a member of God’s chosen people. Jesus forcefully drew his attention to the history of his people. In spite of God’s goodness to them, they ignored His invitation to a life of blessing and prosperity by doing life His way. The ‘dinner table’ had been set and laden with the bounty of His love and favour, but it required  ‘coming to the party’ by being obedient to His commands.

God has not prepared His banquet for nothing. There is more than enough for everyone but He will not force anyone to accept His invitation and neither will He waste His grace on those who think their way is better. ‘Go out,’ He instructs His servants, ‘and find those who are willing to come in. I must have my house full of guests.’

Those who are decent and properly dressed but refuse the invitation will be left out and those who are ‘misfits, homeless and wretched’ will be welcomed to the banqueting table simply because they accept the invitation. God is not concerned about the condition of their lives. He can take care of that. His forgiveness is sufficient to clean up their past and give them a new start as long as they accept His offer.

It was imperative for the man to understand that membership of God’s chosen people did not automatically give him entrance into the kingdom of God. That required a personal response to God’s invitation. Once again, unlike man-made religion that does not understand the inborn freedom and responsibility to choose, God does not intrude into the non-negotiable gift of free will.

Jesus made it clear to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel and one who should have understood the nature of God’s kingdom, that no-one can ‘see’ or ‘enter’ the kingdom of God without a radical, Spirit-energised ‘new birth’ into the realm of God’s rule (John 3). This is God’s powerful response to the simple decision of any person, regardless of his present state of heart or behaviour, to recognise who is in charge, submit to His authority and surrender the right to direct the course of his own life.

Entering God’s kingdom involves a change of destiny (from hell to heaven), a change of direction (from self to God), a change of master (from Satan to Jesus), and a transformation of disposition, (from selfish greed to selfless service), and it all happens through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in those who make the simple decision to believe what God says and accept His invitation to ‘eat at His table.’

Strange how the ‘table’ of the world has nothing to offer but misery, loss and futility and yet people continue to choose that in place of the limitless bounty of God’s love, forgiveness and blessing. You can have either but

The choice is yours…

Killer of Prophets

Christian Life, , , ,

KILLER OF PROPHETS

‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets, abuser of the messengers of God!
How often I’ve longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen,
her brood safe under her wings — but you refused and turned away!
But now it’s too late; you won’t see me again until the day you say,
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'”
Luke 13:34, 35 (The Message).

Oh the heartache of Jesus! Such is the power of deception and the terrifying possibilities in the most precious gift God gave humanity – the power to choose! But that is the nature of love – risking everything for the sake of a free and willing choice to believe and trust the God who calls us into a love relationship with Him.

Not to be able to love Him freely would be grossly unfair, to say the least. He has given us the right to choose, based on the evidence that we must evaluate for ourselves. God hides nothing from us. What He says is true with no small print to mislead or mask a hidden agenda.

Jesus could rightly claim, ‘I am the Light of the world,’ because light dispels darkness and reveals everything. He could claim, ‘I am the truth,’ because what He has spoken and what He has promised has stood the test of time. Only truth can never be destroyed and the words of Jesus have never been proved false.

Deception’s power lies, as much in what had not been said as in what has been said. Satan is a master of deception, sometimes by just plain lying, contradicting the truth of God, and sometimes by concealing the truth; for example, he makes sin look appealing and attractive but he neglects to talk about the consequences. ‘It’s okay,’ he says to young people, ‘to sleep around. It’s nice and everybody’s doing it. Nothing will happen and no-one will know.’

And then comes the unexpected pregnancy. ‘It’s okay to get rid of it,’ he says, ‘It’s only the ‘product of conception’,’ as if that changes the truth that it is a baby-in-the-making. Then, when it’s all over and there is no going back, comes the lifetime of emotional pain – guilt, shame, remorse – that he didn’t warn you about, and oh, does he rub it in, ‘You fool, you wicked person, look what you’ve done. God will never forgive you. There is no hope for you!’

Jesus wept for a city that had been deceived by its spiritual leaders. ‘He’s a devil and a deceiver,’ they insisted. ‘He works through the power of the devil. Don’t listen to Him. We are right and He is wrong.’ and so the people made their choice, swept along by the gloating deceiver himself. They murdered Him in spite of the evidence. And forty years later the city and its people paid the terrible price, the city destroyed, the temple taken apart stone by stone – just as He said – and its people slaughtered until their blood ran like a river in the streets.

Had they believed Him, they would have been as safe as chickens sheltering under mother hen’s wings. But they did not. They refused to weigh up the evidence and so, they were wilfully deceived. And that’s the biggest tragedy of all – deception is, in the end, our choice. There is enough evidence to disclose the truth, if we want it. “It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that He exists and that He cares enough to respond to those who believe Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (The Message).

Here is His non-negotiable promise, “Now this is what my Father wants; that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who He is and what He does and then aligns with Him, will enter real life, eternal life.” John 6:40 (The Message); no small print, no hidden agenda, only the truth.

But it’s your choice….

Jesus Misunderstood

Christian Life, , ,

JESUS MISUNDERSTOOD

“Someone out of the crowd said, ‘Order my brother to give me a fair share of the family inheritance.’

“He replied, ‘What makes you think it’s any of my business to be a judge or mediator for you?’“Luke 12:13, 14 (The Message).

This is a typical misunderstanding about the way God works in human lives. Because we know He is all-powerful, we assume that His ‘power’ extends to pushing us around like puppets. But this is not true and Satan loves to use this lie to discredit God so that we have reason not to trust Him.

The greatest gift and the greatest snare God gave to man is his right to choose. God respects that gift far more than we humans do and He never violates it, even when we persistently choose against Him. This gift is a snare because it gives us the power to decide our own future and our own destiny. We are what we choose.

He placed us on the earth to rule over His creation as He vice-regent, under His authority and within the boundaries of His law. That rule does not include our ruling over another person’s right to choose. Of course that applies in our personal lives. God set governmental authority over us to maintain order in society. We also have the choice to obey civil law or not and to take the consequences of civil disobedience.

When man chose against God in the Garden of Eden, he transferred his allegiance from God to himself and unwittingly put himself under Satan’s influence. This opened a Pandora’s Box of unexpected and unpleasant consequences, the worst being death, which God warned would happen.

The outcome is the world we live in today. The mess we have made of the world is the outcome of our choices and God doesn’t just make them go away. We have to live with them because that’s what we keep choosing. Without consequences we never learn.

This man incorrectly assumed that Jesus had the right to decide for his brother. But Jesus quickly put him right. He was saying that, even if He were God, He still had no right to interfere with human choices. If the brother chose to be selfish and greedy, that was his choice and He would not step in and force him to act differently.

This is the point of our misunderstanding and accusation that God doesn’t care because He ‘let it happen’, a divorce, a fatal car accident, an unwanted pregnancy, a son or daughter gone astray or whatever tragedy has hit our lives. But who made those choices – God or us? So why blame God for what we did? Did He make us or anyone else who affected us do it? Of course not!

How, then, can we say that God is all-powerful? What’s the point of trusting Him if He can’t stop us from harming ourselves or others? This is exactly the point. The Apostle Paul said, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28 NIV). God has the power to turn every bad thing that happens to us to our good if we love and trust Him.

Peter is a case in point. Jesus warned him that Satan had designs on him. Peter failed to heed His warning and fell headlong into Satan’s trap. He miserably denied Jesus when Jesus needed his support. But Jesus had assured him, “‘I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail.'” Was Peter destroyed? Not at all. Peter became a far more ‘real’ person because he had come face to face with his real self. All his blustering self-confidence was flattened in that moment.

When we finally ‘get’ this lesson, it will free us from trying to get other people to do what we want and it will release us from being suspicious about God because He doesn’t stop bad things from happening; He uses them to shape us for His glory. And that’s a much better deal!

Martha, You Are Troubled…

Bible Study, , , ,

MARTHA, YOU ARE TROUBLED

“As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman named Martha welcomed Him and made Him feel quite at home.” Luke 10: 38-42

This much-preached-about little interlude is an eye-opener to the character, gifts and attitudes of these two sisters and the way they expressed their worship of Jesus. Martha appears to be the older sister and also the “boss” in the home. At this stage, Lazarus doesn’t feature at all.

Jesus seems to have treated this home in Bethany as a haven. It was close to Jerusalem and its occupants were open to Him and His message. He loved them and they loved Him. He often spent time with them, opening the truths of the kingdom to their willing hearts.

Both sisters were worshippers but they expressed their worship differently, according to their personalities. Mary loved to be with Jesus, sitting in His presence among the disciples regardless of protocol, ignoring the taboos of her culture. Jesus welcomed her and valued her closeness to Him.

Martha expressed her worship by serving Jesus and His disciples. She was the practical one, preparing a meal for the Master and His disciples. Both sisters were worshipping Jesus in the way they expressed their worship best.

The trouble arose when Martha expected Mary to be like her. Her worship was tainted with fleshly irritation with her sister for not serving Jesus her way. She had forgotten that true worship is doing whatever you do as unto the Lord, giving thanks to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. That makes the whole of life an expression of worship if it is done to Him and for Him.

Jesus’ rebuke was not about what Martha was doing but about how and why she was doing it. Was Jesus telling Martha that Mary’s worship was better than hers? I don’t think so. If He was, then He would be encouraging rivalry between the sisters.

What had Mary chosen that was better than Martha’s choice? Was it not to focus on Jesus and not be troubled by her sister’s choices and actions? Had Martha chosen to work in the kitchen with the same joyous abandon as Mary’s inactivity with Jesus, her worship would have been a positive experience for her and a true act of worship acceptable to the Master.