Tag Archives: world

Paul’s Desire – God’s Intention

Bible Study, , ,

PAUL’S DESIRE — GOD’S INTENTION

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last, by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to make you strong — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:8-12.

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, took his job seriously. He has been commissioned by his Lord to take the good news to the world. That did not necessarily mean that it was his personal responsibility to preach to every Gentile in the world. That would have been impossible then, even if he had all the technology and all the facilities we have today.

Paul relied on God’s amazing strategy of multiplication. It was God’s plan that the church grow by multiplication, the same strategy that works in nature. In spite of the slow modes of transport then, people moved around from place to place, believers as well, and wherever they went, they spread the story of Jesus.

Some new churches began through the work of faithful men, for example, men like Epaphras, who started the church at Colossae. Other churches sprang up as ordinary believers witnessed to their faith in Jesus as they moved around. No one knows how the church at Rome began but nevertheless Paul felt responsible to visit the believers in Rome, to ensure that they were on the right track and to strengthen them in the face of persecution.

The city of Rome was the hub of the Roman Empire. Paul knew how influential the church there was and it was his task to ensure that they understood and believed the truth of the gospel.  Already the news of their faith had spread to the whole world. Paul would not exaggerate lest he be thought a liar. He rejoiced in their faith but he also prayed faithfully for them. They were in the firing line for both persecution and error.

Life for believers anywhere in the empire was an uphill battle. They were the targets of hostility from both Jews and Gentiles and the pernicious false teachings of self-proclaimed “apostles” who twisted the truth or added to it to make it more palatable. Part of Paul’s commission as an apostle was to interpret the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and to teach the infant believers the truth that would steer them through the morass of false teachings.

This responsibility included the churches he did not personally found. The letter to the Roman church was born in his heart as he battled the Judaisers, Jewish “believers” who insisted that Gentiles first be circumcised before they could embrace Jesus as their Lord. Paul was enraged by any teaching that subtracted from the sufficiency of Jesus for salvation by adding rules and ritual to faith in Him.

The church in the province of Galatia, possibly more than one church group, was hounded by these false teachers and had been taken in by them. Paul wrote a heated and emotional letter to them, pleading with them not to throw away their salvation by adding the law to their faith in Christ. Even submitting to circumcision would disqualify them from receiving God’s grace in Christ.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is like Mount Everest in the mountain range of New Testament letters. Through it he paved the way for his intended visit to them by giving them a detailed explanation of justification by faith in Christ alone, no doubt flowing out of his hot defence of the gospel to the Galatian believers. He wanted to see them face-to-face, to connect with them, to fellowship with them and to share his heart with them in person. A letter was good but a personal visit was better.

He was submitted to the will of God, no matter how much he longed to go to Rome. Little did he know, when he penned his letter, that his visit to Rome would be sponsored by the Roman government and his accommodation provided at Rome’s expense right in Caesar’s palace, albeit as a prisoner chained to a Roman soldier! All the better because his witness would spread throughout the palace guard and infiltrate Rome from the very top.

Talk about a master plan! Paul may not have thought it up, but he certainly recognised it when it happened.

“Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.” Philippians 1:12-14.

Acknowledgement

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

 

Not Of This World

Bible Study, , ,

NOT OF THE WORLD 

“‘I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

“‘I have given them your word and the world has hated them, they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

“‘My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.'” John 17:13-16 NIV.

Strange! The way the disciples were thinking and behaving at that moment, I would have thought that Jesus would realise that they were very much still part of the world — frightened, insecure, unbelieving, uncomprehending, competitive, bickering, indifferent — that about sums them up at this stage.

Amazing! Jesus saw them not as they were then but as they would be as they moved towards their potential as apostles and witnesses for Him in the world. He spoke prophetically and confidently of who they would become when the Holy Spirit fell on them and transformed them into bold, confident and faithful followers of their Messiah.

Jesus had spent three and a half years with them, patiently giving them God’s word. As young Jewish men they would already have memorised the book of Leviticus by the age of 6 and the entire Torah by the time they celebrated their Bar Mitzvah. The foundation of truth was already firmly laid in their minds in their formative years.

During His time with them it was Jesus’ task to teach them His yoke — His way of interpreting and applying the Torah to His own life, and instilling it into His disciples so that they would imitate Him as they, in turn, made disciples of others. It was their task, in turn to release them from whatever “yoke” had brought them into bondage and place His yoke on them, setting them free from rules, regulations and obligations to live as sons and daughters of the Most High God — what Jesus called “binding and loosing”.

It was this yoke of loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and showing mercy and compassion to all people, that would, first of all, bring the hatred of an unbelieving world down on them, alienating them from the heartless and selfish attitude that rules in the world system. It was this yoke as well, that would insulate them from the temptation of the evil one to live for themselves and indulge their old, selfish nature.

God’s protection from the evil one comes, not in some mystical or angelic guard around us so that the devil can’t get near us. It comes in the form of changed lives that flow from changed minds as God’s truth about Himself and us gradually replaces our old ways of thinking and acting. Our enemy operates in our minds, sowing lies and trying to deceive us into thinking the worst about God and ourselves.

We erroneously think that the devil attacks us through our circumstances. When things go wrong we wail, ‘O-o-oh, I’m under attack!’ Really! Yes, we are under attack, but not because of trouble and hardship but because we misinterpret these things and get into fear and panic mode, which are exactly what the devil relishes because they neturalise our confidence in the Father’s love.

Remember, Jesus said, ‘In this world you will have trouble’?  This is a statement of fact. But God permits and monitors the hardships we endure because He has another agenda. If we give the devil credit for the trouble we experience, we miss the whole point of the exercise.

Firstly, God wants to see what is in our hearts, whether we will trust Him or not.

“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:2, 3 NIV.

Secondly, God is disciplining us as sons so that we may share His holiness.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?…They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:7, 10 NIV.

We have only one safeguard against the devil’s wiles — knowing and living by the truth.

David put it this way:

“Teach me your way, O Lord; and I will walk in your truth…” Psalm 86:11a.

Stuff Happens!

Bible Study, , ,

STUFF HAPPENS!

“Then Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’

“‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“‘I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.'” John 16:29-33 NIV.

Stuff happens! At least that’s what Jesus said, and I think He was a realist.

Contrary to the thinking and teaching of some Christians, following Jesus is not an insurance policy against trouble. Those who believe that have to lie to themselves and to other people when things go wrong in their lives. They have to put on a happy face and shout “Praise the Lord” when they are crying or dying inside because they can’t deny their faith or let it be known that they are also human.

Jesus did not take His disciples seriously when they reassured Him that they believed in Him. He understood human nature too well. ‘Just wait,’ He warned them. ‘Before you can convince me of your confidence in me, you have to be tested. And, believe me, you are going to fail.’ Untested faith is as flabby as wet spaghetti! Faith only becomes real when it has to be exercised in desperate situations.

Following Jesus as a vaccine against trouble is a poor motive for being a believer. We are to follow Him because of who He is, Son of God, Messiah, Lord and God, not because of what He can do for us. Isn’t it unfortunate that Jesus is often presented as the solution to all our problems, and when He does not meet our expectations, we lose faith, become disillusioned and even walk away until we are called to “rededicate” our lives to Him? He is presented as a celestial “911”, an emergency call centre or a “Walmart” where we can get our supplies for the month.

Jesus called His disciples to go out into a hostile world to face the Roman might and a Caesar who claimed to be “the Son of God, Prince of Peace and Lord”. They had to face him and tell him, “You are dead wrong. Jesus Christ, a Galilean Jewish peasant, is the Son of God, the Prince of Peace and Lord! Your mob killed Him but He rose from the dead to prove it. You have to bow to Him, not Him to you!” What do you think that did for his ego?

They also had to face the hatred of Jewish religious bigots. They had to declare that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah when their opponents utterly repudiated Him because no Messiah of theirs would be a law-breaker and die on a cross as a criminal. And certainly their Messiah would not expect them to hob-nob with Gentiles and the riff-raff. Would their faith stretch to embrace Him in an environment like this?

“Take heart! I have overcome the world.” What would this mean to them when they faced the “firing squad” of earthly trouble? Because He overcame, they didn’t have to be afraid of their enemies. Because He overcame, they could love and forgive when they were hated, rejected and persecuted. Because He overcame, they could live righteous lives in a crooked world. Because He overcame, they could be at peace in the midst of turmoil and conflict. Because He overcame, they were citizens of a heavenly realm in the midst of a wicked world, where God reigned in righteousness and truth.

It might have only been words to them then, but their journey would take them deep into personal experience and growth in this faith they had then, but in embryo.

Reuben Morgan penned these beautiful words:

Hide me now under your wings;                                                                                                     Cover me within your mighty hand. 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar,                                                                                      I will soar with you above the storm;                                                                                            Father, you are king over the flood;                                                                                                I will be still; know you are God.

I rest my soul in Christ alone;                                                                                                 Know His power in quietness and trust. 

When the oceans rise and thunders roar…

From Grief To Joy

Bible Study, , ,

FROM GRIEF TO JOY 

“Jesus went on to say, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then, after a little while you will see me.’  At this, some of His disciples said to one another, ‘What does He mean by saying, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,” and “Because I am going to the Father”?’ They kept asking, ‘What does He mean by “a little while”? We don’t understand what He is saying.'” John 16:17-18 NIV.

As fully aware of His impending suffering and death on the cross as Jesus was, so unaware the disciples were. They had consistently shut their minds to what He had told them was to happen to Him at the hands of the religious leaders. Not even the Passover meal they had just eaten which He had fleshed out to point to His sacrifice as God’s Passover lamb, had alerted them to the ordeal He was shortly to face.

Now the time was almost on Him. No even the darkness of the olive grove could shield Him from the motley army that was gathering in the city to arrest Him and drag Him off to the Sanhedrin for the mockery of a trial. How desperately He wanted to reassure His disciples that His death was a temporary interruption that would issue in very far reaching results for them and for the world.

Had they heeded His words on the many occasions He had told them that He would be killed and would rise again on the third day, what He was now telling them would have been quite easily understood. Going away, as in death, where they would not be able see Him in His human body…and returning to them, as in a resurrection body, where they would once again see Him…for us is all so simple, but for them a complete mystery.

During His earthly ministry they had seen Him raise the dead more than once. Only a few days previously, Lazarus had walked out of the tomb after his body had already begun the process of decay! But He was there in person, doing the miracle by a word or a touch. To understand and believe that He would die and rise again was too much to accept and so His words sounded like nonsense to them.

“Jesus saw that they wanted to ask Him about this, so He said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’?

“‘Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.'” John 16:19-22 NIV.

The resurrection of Jesus is the hope of every person who believes in Him. For the disciples is was His death that brought them inconsolable grief because they thought it was the end of the road for them. But after the grief came the joy and a joy that would never leave them because their Master was alive and He could never die again.

As human beings in a fallen world, we are all subject to the pain of physical and emotional suffering and loss but the promise of God’s Word is that there is a resurrection and there is a hope. After grief comes joy. Unlike the experience of people in the world who may participate in the passing pleasures the world offers, like the world in its present state, they are as transient as wild flowers in the field.

“The life of mortals is like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Psalm 103:15, 16 NIV.

“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:17 NIV.

“For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5 NIV.

As for the disciples, so for us, because Jesus is alive forever, we have the everlasting hope that our weeping will be turned to joy.

Like Father, Like Son

Bible Study, , ,

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON 

“‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

“Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.'” John 15:18-25 NIV.

It was time. Jesus knew that the frenzied mob were almost on Him. A few more hurried instructions to His frightened disciples before they came, and He would be ripped from their side and they would be on their own.

He needed to warn them of the chasm that existed between them and a hostile world system because of Him. They had to be very clear about whose side they were on. Their association with Him meant that they had taken a public stand for the kingdom of God and had automatically become friends of God and enemies of the state.

Jesus warned them not to be surprised by the treatment they would receive from the “world”, the human system represented by its authorities that had no mind to obey God and uphold His laws and His disposition. Humankind had declared war on Him in the Garden of Eden; the battle lines were drawn and the final showdown was about to begin. There was no time now to be undecided. They were to know on whose side they stood and were to recognise the source of the hatred and enmity that was arraigned against them.

This was not about them. It was about Him. The devil had declared war on God from the beginning. Human beings were the players in this battle. God had already evicted Satan and his minions from His immediate presence because of his arrogance and rebellion. Satan had no power over the Almighty, but he was determined to do as much damage as he could to the race of humans whom God passionately loved, and to go down fighting.

The war into which all mankind had been drawn, was reaching its crescendo in Jesus, the God-man who came to earth as the last Adam. Although the world did not know or acknowledge Him, the hope of rescue lay in Him alone. If He failed, He and all mankind were doomed to eternal separation from God.

How important it was for these few men to realise that they must resolutely stand on His side no matter how the world treated them! Jesus had invested everything He had and was in them. “Because of my name” was the reason for the world’s antagonism and they must know it. This was not a personal struggle, but a cosmic war and they were to stand for their King and their heavenly country, no matter what the cost.

As long as they understood the issues and the stakes, it would strengthen them resolutely to take their stand because they were not alone. Jesus was confident of the outcome because His victory was assured from before the foundation of the world. What was now being played out in history was already accomplished in eternity, hence they could have confidence in Him and in the final outcome.

Although His words seemed incomprehensible then, just like everything else He had taught them, the Holy Spirit would remind them at the appropriate moment and they would draw strength and direction from them to stand in the battle because their Master had already overcome the world.

For these men, and all who come after them, the operative word is “stand”. The war has already been won; the enemy has been vanquished; the struggle is over. Just as they were to know on whose side they were then, so we too must know that we are “in” the one who won the war. Ours is not to fight but to stand, secure in Him because His fight was ours, His victory ours and the enemy is only a loser who tries to unseat us with his lies.

Whatever the enemy tries to do to us reflects right back to the Father because, what they do to us, they do to Jesus; what they do to Jesus, they do to the Father because the Father and the Son are one, and we are “in Him”.