Tag Archives: grace

COME BACK TO THE RABBI’S YOKE

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COME BACK TO THE RABBI’S YOKE

“I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:14-16.

This short paragraph tells me quite a bit about the early church, its leaders and the way it functioned.

After his grand and masterful presentation of the gospel, Paul becomes personal. He may not have yet visited Rome, but he knew much about the people in the Roman congregation, as the final chapter of his letter reveals. How did he know so much about them?

There was no social network to exchange information, no email or even an efficient “snail mail” system. Letters were carried by individuals and delivered to the recipients personally, and yet, there seems have been constant communication going on across the empire. People travelled quite extensively from one side of the known world to the other by both land and sea.

There was a special bond between believers because of the persecution that was slowly escalating against them. They were interested in each other’s welfare. They visited each other and exchanged news when they travelled to another city where there was a congregation of believers. They stayed in each other’s homes and shared their resources because they were ostracised and alienated from the outside world.

Paul took the trouble to commend them because the news he received about them was positive. In spite of their pagan origin, they were already mature and knowledgeable in the Scriptures. That points to a group of people who diligently applied themselves to a study of the Word. They were competent to instruct one another.

That leads to another important point – the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in them. There was no Bible School for them to attend to become “authorised” leaders. What makes one person more competent to lead than another? Not book learning, for sure! In the church, people emerged as leaders as their gifts and anointing were recognised. The Holy Spirit was the teacher. He raised up and anointed different people for different functions.

There is nothing wrong with formal training but people should not be self-appointed because of what they want to do. It is the general consensus of the body that should determine what individuals are gifted to do. In the early church, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a believer took precedence over skills, abilities and competence. The seven deacons chosen to serve tables in Acts 6 were all men filled with the Holy Spirit.

I notice also, Paul’s boldness in appealing to his apostolic authority given to him by God. He was no upstart apostle. He had been appointed by God as an apostle to the Gentiles and he used his authority, not with arrogance but with confidence. His was no idle boast. As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, appointed by God and anointed by the Holy Spirit, he had the responsibility of interpreting and binding the Rabbi’s yoke on those who became disciples through faith.

Pastors and leaders in the church would do well to learn that they have a sacred duty to understand and correctly interpret Jesus’ yoke before they bind it on the people in the congregations for which they are responsible. Disciples of a rabbi were never permitted to add to or subtract from their rabbi’s yoke. They were immediately disqualified from being a disciple if they did.

It was their duty correctly to understand their rabbi’s interpretation of the Torah and the way he lived it, and then to follow him without question. They were to bind his yoke on their followers, loosing them from any other teaching they had submitted to and baptising them into identification with their rabbi and his movement.

The implications are obvious. There are so many fanciful interpretations of the gospel which Jesus never authorised, that the church has become a hotchpotch of beliefs and practices which have very little or nothing to do with the truth. He is calling us back to His one simple instruction, “Follow me!” and to the authorised interpretation of His yoke – recorded in the New Testament – by His appointed apostles.

Acknowledgement

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

ONE BODY, MANY MEMBERS

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ONE BODY, MANY MEMBERS

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:3-5.

It seems to me that Paul is not talking so much about pride as about competition in the church. Perhaps pride does underlie the competition that goes on between the members in many church groups; but what about insecurity? It is the insecure person who craves to be noticed so that he can receive the accolades that boost his self-esteem but, like a drug, the effect wears off after a while, and he needs another “fix” to keep going.

Since the most prominent and visible people get the accolades, he will try to climb up the pecking order by aspiring to gifts and functions which are not his. Paul warns, “Don’t try to become what you are not.” Not only will you not fit the function, but you will also rob the rightful person of his or her place in the body. Those who crave to be noticed by trying to fill the wrong shoes do not understand either the mercy of God or the way the church should function.

Paul uses three images to describe the church in its relation to Jesus and to the world; a body, a building and a bride. Each image points to a specific facet of what it should be and do.

In this passage, Paul highlights the function of the body in relation to its head. A body cannot function without a head. It is the head than controls the body, not the body the head. The head of the church is Jesus, who controls and directs His body by His Holy Spirit. Individuals in each local church are placed there by the head in order to fulfil the function of that particular body in its local setting.

“God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 1:22, 23.

A body has two primary functions; to take care of its own health and to reproduce. It can only fulfil those functions if each part does its own work efficiently. No body part can take over the function of another: an ear cannot see and an eye cannot hear. Why is it that we understand this in the natural and yet we overlook it in the spiritual? The health of the body depends on each part fulfilling its own function so that the whole body can work as a unit.

Once again, this brings us back to the nature of God – He is one in three distinct persons. His nature is reflected in the interdependence of everything in the universe. God’s glory is evident when everything works together in harmony. Unity was destroyed when Adam sinned. Jesus restored the potential for unity through the cross and He will complete the restoration when He returns, bringing everything back under His headship and orchestrating the universe as one harmonious whole. That includes every person who is submitted to him.

Can you see how important it is that every member fulfils his or her function in the body regardless of how visible or invisible he happens to be? Personal ambition has no place in the body. Unity is the goal.

“So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ…From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work,” Ephesians 4:11-13; 16.

Unity and maturity go hand in hand. To grow up in Christ, unlike the independence everyone in the world craves, is to become increasingly dependent on Him and on one another. Jesus said that we are to become like little children – helpless without Daddy and Mommy! When we each do our part without encroaching on someone else’s function, we show the world what God is like and reveal His power that makes unity possible.

Acknowledgement

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

A LINE IN THE SAND

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A LINE IN THE SAND

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:1-4.

Paul did not let the grass grow under his feet. As ridiculous as the counter-arguments may sound, he anticipated and responded to each one before they were even thought of.

If the sinfulness of man resulted in the revelation of God’s grace, and the greater the sin, the greater the grace, why not just go on sinning so that God’s grace may be even more evident? What a crazy argument! It’s like saying, “Let me live as recklessly as I can and do as much damage to myself as I can so that the skill of the doctor who attends to me can be made known!”

We would never reason like that when it comes to our own physical bodies and yet there are people who actually think that it’s okay to carry on sinning because God will forgive them. Like the Israelites of old, who happily disobeyed God’s commands because they offered sacrifices for their sin, there are people who think that God’s forgiveness is the reason for carrying on with their old sinful lifestyle.

This way of thinking completely misses the reason the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. His broken body and shed blood dealt with the guilt of our past, paying our debt and striking all our sins from the record. However, there is much more to it than that. Sin is not only debited to our account, it also pollutes us, making us unclean, like the leper who was excluded from society because he was infectious and his putrefying sores made him look unsightly and smell offensive

We know that a decaying body produces a terrible stench. Can you imagine how bad a dead spirit must smell? And we were dead in our trespasses and sins before God, through the Holy Spirit, raised us up in Christ, washed us clean through His blood and made us sweet-smelling and acceptable to the Father. Why would we even think of living in sin again and smelling like a pig-sty all over again?

Imagine your little daughter playing in the mud just before she is due to attend a birthday party. You pick her up, put her in the bath and wash her from top to toe. Then you rub her dry, powder her and dress her in her party finery. Would she want to go back into the mud just so that she could be bathed again? Of course not!

Jesus’ sacrifice not only remedied the past – it also transforms our present. When He died on the cross, since we are now “in Him”, we also died with Him. We made a public declaration of our identity with Him through our baptism, symbolised by our going down into a watery “grave” and rising with Him to a new life. There is nothing magical about baptism itself; the physical act of being dunked under the water does nothing to us physically, but it is a powerful witness and declaration of what has happened in the spirit and faith in its purpose transforms us on the inside.

Something happens in the spirit realm when we declare, through a public action that we have died with Christ and been raised to a new life. It is a kind of “cut-off” point between our past and present. It speaks to the people who witness it as well as to the unseen realm of angels, good and evil, that we have become new creatures in Christ. It is a declaration of war against those who hate God, both people and devils but, at the same time it brings all the power of heaven to our assistance.

We now have a new Master, a new identity and a new destiny, based on the gift of Jesus Christ’s righteousness which has been credited to us through God’s grace. Would we not then, in keeping with who we now are, embrace the grace of God to live up to our new identity? Our baptism, identifying us as children of God and followers of Jesus, is like drawing a line in the sand.

On which side of the line do you stand?

Acknowledgement

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

GRACE AND PEACE

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GRACE AND PEACE

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” Colossians 1:1, 2.

Quite a mouthful in the opening sentence! Unlike our modern communication, ancient letters said it all in the first sentence; writer, recipients, and who they were.

Who were Paul and Timothy?

Paul described himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He was not a self-appointed or self-proclaimed apostle. We have many of those today. Why do spiritual leaders love titles? Does it elevate them above the rest or give them an edge on spirituality? On what authority do they claim those titles? Those who call themselves Apostle So-and-so or Prophet So-and-so – can they honestly say that they were given that title and office by the will of God?

With a title comes a task – to lead people by example as Paul did. Because he was a God-appointed and Spirit-anointed apostle, he could say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” How often do those who carry official-sounding titles betray them by espousing people to themselves! They are the only ones who are right and not to recognise that is to dishonour their title.

Who was Timothy? A brother! Timothy was Paul’s young trainee. When Paul found him, he realised that he had found gold – a young believer who had the makings of a fine leader. Paul did not give him the title of apostle. It was not his right to give, but he trained and mntored him to understudy him as a faithful and fully equipped leader. He was able to leave him in Ephesus to care for the church there while Paul went on with his mission to make Christ known where He was not known.

Paul regarded Timothy as his son in the faith. He often accompanied Paul on his journeys and acted as messenger and support during Paul’s imprisonments. He was a comfort to Paul in his suffering and in his old age, a true son upon whom Paul could rely to continue his work when he was no longer there

Who were the Colossians? The ancient city of Colossae was built on a major trade route which ran through the Lycus River valley in the province of Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey. It was famous for its dark red wool cloth called colossinum from where the city got its name. The city lost its importance when the nearby city of Laodicea overtook it as a business centre.

Paul spent two years in the nearby city of Ephesus from where the gospel spread to other centres, carried by converts from Ephesus. It is likely that one of Paul’s converts, Epaphras, was responsible for carrying the message to Colossae. Philemon was a member of that church, to whom Paul wrote a short letter about his slave Onesimus.

Although Paul did not know the people in the church at Colossae personally, he could still address them as “holy people” and “faithful brothers and sisters.” Why? Because, like his Master, he could view them as already complete in Christ. As long as they were in Christ, from God’s perspective, they had already been perfected. “In Christ” is, of course the operative word.

Grace and peace! Grace – a prayer for his readers to experience the ongoing grace of God in their lives, and peace – a normal Jewish greeting – “shalom” but for Paul the result of all God’s mercy to us – His peace that guards our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Infused into this greeting is all the richness of God’s work in the lives of those who are “in Christ”.

This was much more than just a nicety, a polite greeting like we would say when we say “hello” and “goodbye” but, to Paul, it was the expression of his heart and his love for God’s children, even if he did not know them personally.

SCRIPTURE TAKEN FROM THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

HANDCRAFTED BY THE MASTER

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HANDCRAFTED BY THE MASTER

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2: 8-10).

What a different picture from the one Paul painted in the previous verses! We are no longer dead and stinking but alive to God and objects of His grace and favour. How sad that religion drives many branches of so-called Christianity. What do I mean by “religion”? Religion flourishes by rules and ritual. Religion is a “do-it-yourself” attempt to reach God or to satisfy the perceived demands of a god.

Even believers in Jesus often erroneously think that their response to what God has done for them is to “work for God”. But God’s word tells a very different story. God sent His Son into the world to rescue us from the plight sin put us in, not for our sake but for His sake. He wanted a family of sons and daughters bound to Him by love, not a group of slaves bound to Him by fear.

He did everything necessary to bring us back to His original plan because of His mercy. We did nothing to deserve His grace and we can do nothing to earn it. He did it for Himself so that the minions who rebelled against Him would be confronted with the truth – God is love.

Humans find it difficult to accept a free gift so great that it transfers us out of the devil’s clutches and places us in the hands and under the care of a gracious Father. We would rather attempt to repay God for His kindness in some futile way which does not impress God at all. God is not a tit-for-tat God like the gods of the heathen. If you do this for Him, He will do that for you. Everything He did to save us from self-destruction, He did for Himself, and He gives is to us as a free gift of His grace.

But that does not mean that we simply take everything and give nothing back. As sons and daughters of God, there is a response He requires of us, but it is not a response of repaying our debt. It is the response of the children of God who adore their Father and serve Him out of love and gratitude.

A study of the gospels will reveal that there are five characteristics of a true son which Jesus mirrored in His life on earth.

  1. A son loves his father

A religious leader once asked Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment?” to which Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” Love for God is the atmosphere in which a son of daughter lives.

  1. A son trusts his father

If there is no trust between a father and his child, he then lives like a slave in fear. Love and trust are the basis of the other three characteristics of a son or daughter.

  1. A son submits to his father

Jesus is the perfect model of a submissive son. Even when He faced His greatest battle in the Garden of Gethsemane, He submitted to the Father’s will, and not with gritted teeth but with love and trust.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Hebrews 5:7

  1. A son obeys the father

A son does not grudgingly obey or give in to the father under compulsion. Obedience is the hallmark of love. Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love me, you will do what I command you.”

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 1 Hebrews 5:8-10

  1. A son serves his father

This is not the service of a servant but the service of partnership, doing the Father’s will with Him to fulfil the Father’s greater purpose of establishing His kingdom on earth.

The good works of which Paul speaks are not random acts of kindness because we feel sorry for people in need. They are the integrated actions of God’s people which reveal His character to an ungodly world. When we live in harmony and fellowship with the Father, He will reveal His will to us and enable us to carry out His plans in partnership with Him to bring a wayward family back to Himself.

Whatever it involves in the way of acts of compassion and kindness towards others, God wants to reveal Himself through us so that those who have been deceived by the devil into hating God, will see Him in us and turn to Him in faith.

Paul said that we are God’s masterpiece, handcrafted by Him to carry out His will on earth by doing what He planned for us to do long before we were born.

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.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.