Tag Archives: walk

Exposed!

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EXPOSED!

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 this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your mat and walk?’ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So He said to the man, ‘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: 8-12).

What a slap in the face for the religious leaders! Round one; Jesus, one; teachers of the law, nil. They stood on their sterile religious ground, picking Jesus out for doing what He was not supposed to do – forgive sins. He responded by healing a paralysed man. Take that! They were not pleased and happy for the quality of life and dignity that had been restored to the sufferer. They were so angry with Jesus for “blaspheming” that they just did not get the point.

Jesus asked them a question. “Which is easier: to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your mat and walk?’ Of course it was easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven.” Anyone could say that and get away with it. They could say it if they wanted to, but they didn’t dare. But to say, ‘Get up and walk,” to a man who could not move a finger – well, that was a bit more difficult. They could definitely not say that and get away with it. People would think they were crazy.

But Jesus could, and . . . He did, and . . . the man got up and walked! How about that? They had no answer for that. Jesus said that it would prove one thing, His authority. Forgiveness of sins and healing tied together? It was all part of the same thing – someone had this man in his grip who did things to him that were not of God. There was a usurper in charge who had brought God’s people into slavery but someone had arrived on the scene with authority to evict him.

Exactly! At last God was back, after four hundred silent years, to honour His promise. Messiah was actually here in person to set them free from their worst enemy, the devil. But these religious types were too blind to see it. They were too busy picking holes in Jesus to realise that no ordinary man could do what He did. The common people had more discernment than they had. They celebrated this amazing event even though they might not have understood it.

Obviously the teachers of the law – note their title – had missed something. The “Son of Man”? Who was He? Jesus was not just using a euphemism for “me”. There was something far more significant in the title. Where did it appear in the sacred Scriptures that they were supposed to know? It was used in two different contexts in the Old Testament.

God called Ezekiel “son of man”.  Why? The title emphasized Ezekiel’s fallibility and weakness as a member of the human race. Prophet he might be, but he was also just a man. The authority for his office came from God. He was never to forget that it was God who gave him the message and God who empowered him to deliver it. If he failed to obey God’s instructions, he would be as guilty as the people to whom he was to deliver the message.

In a vision, Daniel, on the other hand, saw a powerful figure approaching the throne of the Ancient of Days. He looked like a “son of man” but “he was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him” (Dan. 7: 14a).

How magnificently the title “Son of Man” suited Jesus! Son of man – a weak, ordinary human being, subject to the Father and obedient to Him; Son of Man – God’s appointed Messiah to whom is given authority and sovereign power and who is worshipped by people of all nations.

What a pity they missed it! Their religious bigotry shut their minds to the truth Jesus displayed in the moment. Forgiven! Healed! The kingdom of God had come! But their blindness had exposed their wicked hearts.

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.

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

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

 

The Long Look

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THE LONG LOOK

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us (Hab. 3:16).

What a difference in the prophet’s attitude now! Gone were the accusations that God was seemingly indifferent; gone was the frustration with his own people for their unrestrained wickedness; gone was the confusion about God’s ways. God had taken him step by step through a process from fear to faith. He was now on God’s side, watching the unfolding of history and recognising the purposes of God in the rise and fall of empires because God had given him understanding.

This did not lessen his fear of the immediate future. His description of his physical reaction is realistic and vivid. He did not underestimate the terrible suffering the Babylonians would inflict on his people.

But, at the same time, his perspective had changed. He was no longer angry and frustrated because his people had forsaken the Lord and were as wicked as their neighbours and God was doing nothing about it. He now knew that God was not indifferent and that He had planned a strategy which would shake them out of their stubborn rebellion and disobedience and bring them back to faith in Him as their covenant God.

Not only did Habakkuk express his fear of what was soon to fall on his people, he also expressed his willingness to look beyond the devastation to the day when just retribution would fall on the evil nation that God would use to whip His people. God’s promise of perfect justice brought him comfort and reassured him that God was still in charge, no matter how bad things appeared to be. No one would get away with wickedness because God rules in justice and truth over all the earth.

This reassurance caused him to break out in a song of praise and an expression of confidence in God that rose above earthly events to the realm of God’s everlasting nature – compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness. Yes, He would punish His people by confirming to them the consequences of their waywardness. Yes, He would deal justly with all parties, even those who inflicted punishment on them but, in the end, God was still their God and a shelter for those who trust Him even in the midst of the worst that could happen.

And so Habakkuk concluded his dialogue with God with a song that anyone can sing with confidence even when it seems that the sky has fallen on their heads!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there be no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights (Hab. 3: 17-19).

This is the expression of the highest level of trust that anyone can have in God. It’s not about whether everything is going well for me. It’s not about how much He has done for me or what He can do for me.  It’s not about whether He has answered my prayers or not. It’s not about how blessed I am or not. It’s about Him. In the end, everything that happens about me and to me is God painting His bigger picture, writing His bigger story.

Instead of my being the centre of the universe and everything revolving around me, God is the centre of it all and everything is designed to work out His universal plan – the one He started at the beginning and the one He will complete when Jesus returns to bring it all together.

On the strength of that, Habakkuk could sing. No matter how rough the terrain he had to climb, God had equipped him with enough grace to climb the heights. He had given him “the feet of a deer”. Like a mountain goat he had the confidence to navigate the precipices and not fall because he was sustained by the promise that God was working to all out for His glory and the good of His people.

Can you sing, like the prophet, on the highest cliffs and the most dangerous places, when everything in your life has fallen apart and you are, as it were, staring down the barrel of a gun – physically, economically, relationally, whatever – “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour”? 

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.

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

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

The Battle Rages On

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THE BATTLE RAGES ON 

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Galatians 5:16-18.

So here’s the deal. Instead of the law motivating us to obedience, it has the opposite effect from what the Holy Spirit does in us. Before the Holy Spirit quickened our dead spirits and made them alive to God, we had no desire to obey God. We were in a perpetual state of rebellion. When the law said, “Do not…” we said, “I will…” and we deliberately acted in disobedience to God’s requirements. Instead of the law drawing us towards God, it drove us from Him.

Here is the secret of the believer’s life. Through faith in Jesus, God removed our rebellious and stony hearts and gave us new hearts that wanted to obey Him.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all you idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:25, 26.

We have been set free from our load of guilt that caused us to run from God. Now we are free to run to Him. We are free to fear God, not to be afraid of Him because we are no longer slaves but sons. He has put His own Spirit within us, who is like a caring and nurturing mother. Instead of rigid laws which we have to obey or bear the consequences, we have the companionship of Jesus through His Spirit who speaks to us in our hearts. God has poured His love into us. We are free to love Him and other people because He has released us from slavery to ourselves.

We have literally died to our old selves and our selfish ways and have risen to a new life of loving service to God and to our fellow men. This is who we are. Now we must become who we are, sons and daughters of God.

“Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God… Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…” Colossians 3:1-3; 5a.

Jesus won the war but the battle still rages on. As long as we are still in this life, we will have to contend with the enemy who still lives in us – the old nature with its fleshly lusts. Jesus told us to be vigilant. We can never let down our guard because the enemy is relentless in his intention to destroy us and drag us with him to his final doom. We cannot profess to know Jesus and continue to live as we did before, gratifying every whim and desire of our old selfish natures.

The Holy Spirit was given to us to replace the demands of the law. He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of love. When we listen to Him and follow His leading with His help, we fulfill what God wants us to be effortlessly instead of striving and failing to obey the law.

What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? He took up residence in us from the moment we surrendered our lives to the Lordship of Jesus. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He occupies the command centre of our lives. Our job is to cultivate a relationship with Him by listening to Him and by communicating with Him. We will spend the rest of our lives unlearning to be independent and learning to listen and lean on Him.

Unlike earthly parents whose job is to train their children for responsible independence, the Holy Spirit is training us to be helplessly dependent on Him like infants at their mother’s breast. The more we trust Him, the less we will be pulled towards satisfying the lusts of our old nature. Remember what Jesus said:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and me in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

How do we fight this battle? By resting in Jesus’ finished work for us.

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.

 

The Final Showdown

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THE FINAL SHOWDOWN 

“‘But Rabbi,’ they said, ‘a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.'” John 11:8-10 NIV

Once again the disciples were mystified by Jesus’ behaviour. He was not acting like someone who had the power to heal His ailing friend. Knowing he was dying, He dawdled for another two days. Perhaps His disciples thought He was deliberately staying away because the Jews had tried to kill Him.

Then, after two days, He decided to go back to Bethany after all. It seems that He was at least two days journey on foot away from Lazarus and his sisters. Four days delay could mean anything. What was the point of returning if it was too late?

Jesus’ reply is also puzzling. He was going right into the lion’s den, yet He seemed unconcerned. Once again He showed His followers that His life was directed, not by His circumstances but by His Father’s timetable. If He was needed in Bethany, He would go there regardless of what His enemies were planning to do. His times were in His Father’s hands; it was up to Him, as a Son, to obey.

“After this He went on to tell them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.’ His disciples replied, ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but His disciples thought He meant natural sleep. So then He told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to to him.’

“Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, ‘ Let us also go, that we may die with Him.'” John 11:11-16 NIV.

He seemed fully aware and completely in control of what He was doing. His delay was deliberate, giving Lazarus time to go the full course of his illness right up to his death and beyond. Imagine what that did to the two sisters who trusted Jesus and were anxiously waiting for Him to come! Day after day they watched out for Him but He did not arrive. Lazarus was sinking and they were desperate. Did He not get the message? Did He not care? Why had He not come?

Lazarus finally died and He still did not arrive — not even for the funeral. Four days went by — Lazarus’ body had begun to decay and still no Jesus. The sisters were disillusioned and distraught. Had He finally failed; finally betrayed their trust in Him? What were they to think? They had no idea what was happening on the other side of the Jordan.

From Jesus’ point of view it was all going to plan. He even hinted to His disciples that He knew exactly what was happening. Lazarus had died. It was now time to go back to Bethany. His disciples were mystified. Why go back if Lazarus was dead? Wasn’t it too dangerous to put in an appearance when the Jews were crying for His blood?

That was no concern of Jesus because He knew when it would be time to put Himself into their hands. They had no power to touch Him until the Father delivered Him up to them. Time and again people had tried to harm Him — from the time He made Himself known to His own people in Nazareth to His altercations with the Jews in Jerusalem He was the target for hatred and murder, yet every time He emerged unscathed. He went about freely among His enemies because He trusted the Father.

He had His eyes on a miracle bigger than He had ever performed and a sign no-one could deny — that He was resurrection life that promised life to those who believed in him far greater than they could ever imagine. Raising a decaying man to life four days after he died was an unimaginable “work” that not even His enemies could deny. The tried to deny the blind man’s restored sight but a dead and rotting corpse brought back to life! Never!

No wonder He seized the opportunity to do something beyond anything people could imagine and especially His avowed adversaries. This was the power of the Father whom He came to reveal and the display of His own glory through the glory of the Father.

We Can Trust Him!

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WE CAN TRUST HIM! 

“When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But He said to them, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid.’ Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” John 6:16-21 (NIV).

“With Jesus in the boat…!” How often have you heard that message preached?

Why did John include this incident in his story? Remember that he was giving evidence that Jesus is the Son of God so that his readers would believe in Him. Every incident was a sign that His claims were true because His miracles authenticated who He claimed to be. Every sign pointed to some aspect of His person and work as the Messiah that gave clarity to what He came to do.

Mark added a detail to his account of this incident that makes it spring to life. “He was about to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost…” Mark 6:48c (NIV). If Jesus was walking on the water to go to them, why would He want to pass by them? It makes no sense unless there is something more to His intention than meets the eye.

We have to look for the use of this phrase somewhere else in Scripture to capture its meaning.

In Exodus 34, in response to Moses’ request, God was about to reveal His name to him. He had instructed him to bring another two stone tablets with him up the mountain because Moses had smashed the first two tablets in his anger against his people. While he had been up the mountain with God, they had got Aaron to make them a calf-god out of gold which they were worshipping with undignified frenzy when he returned.

God promised to hide him in a crevice in a rock and reveal His name to him. “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the Lord.

“And He passed by in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness…’ ” Exodus 34:5, 6 (NIV).

Would His disciples have got the message? If they understood their Scriptures, they would surely have realized what Jesus was doing. He was making a very bold move to reproduce what He had done on Mount Sinai many centuries before, to reassure them that it was okay to trust Him because He was no phoney. A sign like that would have added to the weight of evidence they already had to convince them of His identity.

The outcome was equally startling. The moment He stepped into the boat, they arrived at their destination. We could, of course, argue that they were so taken up with watching Him walk on the rough water that they did not notice how near they were to the shore. That could be true but John made a point of reporting that His presence in the boat contributed to their speedy and safe arrival back at Capernaum.

“Passing by” seems to be a euphemism for revealing Himself to His people; God to Moses on the mountain and Jesus to His disciples on the lake. He was not abandoning them but alerting them to the deep truth He wanted them to be sure about. Just as it was God on the mountain reassuring Moses that, in spite of His people’s rebellion and failure to believe in Him, He was still the gracious and compassionate God who would forgive them and reinstate them as His covenant people, so also Jesus, on the lake, was reassuring His disciples that He was God; that He was with them and would graciously forgive and receive His people if they would put their trust in Him.

Their fear turned to relief when they realized who He was and they gladly assisted Him into the boat. The stormy lake lost its terror for them and, before they knew it, the boat scraped the shore and they were home, safe and sound after a very eventful day.

Jesus was slowly building a case for who He was. The disciples still wavered and doubted until the resurrection. From that moment on, nothing could shake their confidence in Him as their Lord and God.  With the same power of the Holy Spirit in them that had energized Him, they set out to turn the world upside down. But it took them a long time to get there.

We are also on a faith journey. Every incident in which Jesus is “passing by” strengthens and reassures us that He is who He said He is and we can trust Him.