Tag Archives: gospel

To God Be The Glory!

Bible Study, , , ,

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

“Now to Him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” Romans 16:25-27.

What a magnificent doxology and ending to this superb letter! In Paul’s characteristic style, and in one long sentence, he encapsulated the gospel.

The gospel – what is it about? It is the message Paul proclaimed about Jesus Christ. He is the good news; His birth, foretold by the prophets in detail – who He was, His ancestry, the circumstances of His birth; His life, His character and His works; His death and resurrection; His rule and His coming kingdom – it’s all there in the Old Testament and fulfilled with precision and to perfection by His coming.

The good news, hidden from men’s understanding in the past but revealed in Jesus Christ, is that God’s mercy is for the whole world, not just for the Jews. The prophetic message was that the Gentiles would have a share in this salvation. The Jews thought that God was exclusively for them. The Gentiles were despised and side-lined in their estimation, but they missed the plot. They were to be the vehicle of God’s revelation to the world so that the Gentiles also should come to the obedience of faith.

The purpose of the gospel, and Paul never lost sight of this, was that God’s glory would be revealed to all of creation and, in the process, the usurper, the devil, would be publicly unmasked, disarmed and judged for who he was, once and for all – a liar, and a fraud, claiming the title of “Lord” which belonged to only one person, the Son of God.

God chose a drastic but effective way of exposing him; He put His own Son in the firing line. Jesus – as a human being – faced the worst that the devil could inspire fellow humans to throw at Him, betrayal, injustice and execution in the cruellest way possible, without retaliating. He absorbed it all and then bounced back – alive and free to claim His title because He had earned it by the life of a perfect son, and the death of a perfect Lamb.

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered.” Hebrews 2:10.

Could there have been another more effective way to show His love for all mankind and to reveal His wisdom than by the plan He devised? He punished His own Son for guilt that was not His so that the guilty might go free. Perfect justice and perfect love!

What comfort for his readers to know, and for all readers down through the ages, that this God who accomplished this magnificent salvation, is also able to establish weak, frail and fallible humans in the truth so that they will both stand and persevere until the moment they are removed from the presence of sin into the glorious presence of God forever!

Paul’s reassurance must have meant much to these people who lived under the constant threat of death at the hands of ruthless persecutors. Like believers in the Middle East today who have the sword hanging over their heads for no crime other than claiming that Jesus is Lord, many of the faithful men and women who heard Paul’s words would perish under cruel persecution, but God had established them and they were safe anyway.

To this God, who planned salvation, carried it out and rescues those who believe in Him, goes all the glory and honour. Through it He revealed to all mankind who He really is – not some far off, indifferent or callous tyrant but a God who came near, lived and died and returned in victory to proclaim liberty to the captives.

To Him, and Him alone be the glory! Amen.

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.

 

 

Our Generous God

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OUR GENEROUS GOD

“I do not want you to be unaware, brother and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:13-17.

Paul’s desire — God’s intention, but not yet, Paul. Why was Paul prevented from going to Rome as an apostle and evangelist? Did the devil hinder him? It may have seemed like it to him at the time. What was wrong with a desire like that? After all, did he not receive a commission to take the gospel to the Gentiles? And what better place than Rome, centre of the empire! Yes, he would go to Rome, but as a prisoner in God’s time.

But as much as Paul wanted to go to Rome, he was also submitted to Jesus as his Lord. The Holy Spirit had directed his way up to that point and Paul could trust Him to lead him in the future. But there was nothing to hinder Paul from writing a letter to the church, and that was definitely God’s way for him because we have his letter preserved in God’s Word as a divinely inspired presentation of God’s plan of salvation.

In whatever way he could, Paul wanted to discharge his obligation. Why was it an obligation for him to preach the gospel to the whole world, both Jew and Gentile? Because of God’s nature! What do I mean? Because of God’s mercy to him, Paul, who did not deserve God’s grace because he was guilty of sin and worthy of death, he had an inescapable obligation to share that mercy with the world.

As much as it is right for us to share God’s love with others because we love Him and because of what He has done for us, it is equally a duty and an obligation. We may think that duty is cold and mercenary, a sort-of pay-back to God because of what He has done for us, but that is not God’s way. Sharing the good news with others is not paying God for our salvation. It is our way of displaying God’s nature by being generous towards others with what God has given us. Not to do so is to deny the divine nature that He has given to us (2 Peter 1:3).

In one short paragraph and in four words, Paul encapsulated the good news he was so eager to share: power — salvation — righteousness — faith; God and man brought together, reconnected by what God has done; and man’s response to God’s intervention. Did God have an obligation to rescue us from the disaster that was of our own making? No way! He did the right thing because of who He is, not because our need.

It’s always about Him. How many times has the question been asked, “What have I done to deserve God’s mercy?” Absolutely nothing! God’s mercy towards undeserving sinners has nothing to do with who we are and everything to do with who He is. If there is any obligation, God is obliged to Himself. Not to do anything to rescue human beings from our plight would be to deny Himself and God cannot do that.

It’s no wonder that Paul took pride in his calling and message. His obligation was also his delight. Would it not be a delight for a prison warder to walk down a row of prison cells and open each door announcing, “You are free to go!” There would be no greater joy than to see the look of surprise and excitement on the prisoners’ faces when they realised that they are no longer caged behind bars.

Would that warder not have an obligation to unlock the prison doors if he had been instructed to do so? If the prisoner refused to leave because he did not believe the warder’s story would be his choice, as long as the warder had done his duty.

 

So it was with Paul — and so it is with us. We are obliged to tell the people of the world that Jesus has unlocked their prison doors and they are free to leave and to follow Him, since He is the way to the Father. The message Paul had to deliver then is the same  message now, of Jesus who has the power to make broken people whole again; not to tell people how bad they are but to tell them how good God is.

 

If we, and they, believe the message and trust the Son of God who came to show and tell us just how good God is, even to the extent that He paid our unpayable debt, they’ll be out of jail and on the way to a life of wholeness, imitating God by being generous with His mercy as He has been generous towards us.

 

Acknowledgement

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

 

 

Caesar Or No Caesar!

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CAESAR OR NO CAESAR!

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding His Son who, as to His earthly life, was a descendant of David and who, through the Spirit of holiness, was appointed the Son of God in power by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ the Lord.” Romans 1:1-4.

Jesus had come and gone. He had lived for thirty three years, spent three years teaching, preaching and doing miracles, was executed as a blasphemer and a threat to Rome, rose again and returned to the Father. The disciples were left blinking. What was that all about? How on earth were they going to make sense of it all?

Ten days after He left them, the Holy Spirit came, just as He promised. The light came on and their Old Testament Scriptures began to radiate with new meaning. Words Jesus had spoken, things He had done, and things that were done to Him began to fall into place.

On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit invaded the lives of those who were waiting for Him, Peter — the one who had denied Him, the one who had hidden behind closed doors with the other eleven — stood up in the temple packed with worshippers from all over the Roman Empire, as well as the Jewish leaders who had led the charge against Jesus, and shot from the hip.

“Jesus was God’s Son. He proved it by His life and miracles. He died, but He came back to life by the power of God. You did it! You killed Him! But it was God’s plan, and now He has sent the Holy Spirit as He promised.” The crowd was horrified, appalled. Many in the group were there when they demanded His death and they were terrified. “What can we do?” they wailed.

“Repent!” said Peter, “and hand yourselves over to God’s mercy. Join Him, and us, and you will receive the same Spirit as we have.” And many of them did just that — three thousand on that day.

A few years before, in the vicinity of Israel’s “red light” district, Caesarea Philippi, where terrible things were going on in the name of pagan religion, Jesus gave them a commission. “Take my yoke, my disposition of compassion and mercy because of God’s mercy to you and give it to people like these, (referring to the pagans who were having intercourse in public with goats, in the name of their god, Pan). It will transform them and shut down places like this that are spawned by hell.”

Jesus’ yoke, which He placed on His disciples, would have serious repercussions for them in the Jewish and pagan Roman world to whom they were sent. They would clash with Roman and Jewish authorities because Jesus’ radical claims would be an in-your-face challenge to their authority and beliefs. It was the role of the apostles (the sent ones) to interpret Jesus’ life and death, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, according to the Scriptures and to invite their hearers to believe and to accept His yoke of discipleship for themselves.

In a shocking moment of revelation, one of the most vehement defenders of Judaism, Saul of Tarsus, met this risen Jesus and defected to “the Way” as the followers of Jesus were called. Jesus called him to interpret and proclaim the very message he was trying to stamp out by destroying as many believers as he could.

Paul, who was once Saul, became as ardent a protagonist of the faith he once persecuted as he had been an antagonist. Commissioned by the Holy Spirit, he and his companion, Barnabas, criss-crossed the provinces of Asia Minor and Europe with the message of Jesus. Paul longed to go to Rome, but he had to wait until he was taken there, compliments of the Roman government, to face trial for his “crimes” against the Jews.

In the meantime, a church had sprung up in Rome, thanks to the many unnamed believers who lived the message wherever they went. Paul was anxious that they in Rome understand the gospel because false teachers were everywhere, corrupting the truth with their misinterpretations. They did not understand Jesus’ yoke and they did not have the authority to interpret it to their hearers as did the apostles. And so he wrote a letter.

With masterful strokes, Paul gave his credentials and painted a picture of the Jesus he was sent to proclaim. Against the backdrop of the arrogant claims of Caesar, Paul presented Jesus’ credentials for being worshipped as “Lord”. He came in fulfilment of prophecy; He was descended from David, a true human; He died but was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, truly God; authentically the Son of God and declared to be Lord. His full title: Jesus Christ the Lord — fully man, fully God and absolutely supreme, Caesar or no Caesar!

Acknowledgement

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

 

Crazy Or Convinced?

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CRAZY OR CONVINCED?

“That was too much for Festus. He interrupted with a shout: ‘Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a grip on yourself; get back in the real world!’

“But Paul stood his ground. ‘With all respect, Festus, Your Honour, I’m not crazy. I’m both accurate and sane in what I’m saying. The King knows what I’m talking about. I’m sure that nothing of what I said sounds crazy to him. He’s known all about it for a long time. You must realise that this wasn’tdone behind the scenes. You believe the prophets, don’t you, King Agrippa? Don’t answer that — I know you believe.'” Acts 26:24-27 (The Message).

Why did Festus react so violently to Paul’s story? Did Paul sound like a crazy man? To a Roman who was steeped in the bizarre and ridiculous beliefs of his idolatrous religion, for a human being to be executed and then to rise from the dead, and then actually to appear and speak to the man who stood before them who was willing to lay down his life for what he was saying, was beyond reason. Did Paul really expect them to believe his story?

What if it were true? What were the implications for him? Brush Paul off as out of his mind and he could escape the obligations this testimony laid on him. Festus’ reaction is often the reaction of people who do not want God to intrude into their lives with His requirements. They have no interest in living in harmony with their Creator. Get rid of His witnesses and then I don’t have to worry about what He says. I can make Him go away if I silence the voice that speaks of Him.

Unfortunately for Festus, Paul was not a lone voice in bearing witness to the Messiah who came from God, laid down His life and then rose from the dead. For many centuries before it happened the Hebrew prophets spoke of the event as a fait accompli — and it was because, from God’s point of view, it was finished from before the foundation of the world.

Paul was not speaking of something brand new. He had stepped in time into the plan of God which was conceived and effected before time began. Festus could shout and scream and call him names but that did not alter the truth that Paul was declaring before that august assembly.

The Jesus whom the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman soldiers thought that they had safely disposed of was the Jesus who had stood before Paul in His risen glory to rescue him from his self-destruction and send him out as one of those he had so vehemently despised to carry His message to the ends of the earth. Paul had no option but to explain why he was on this apparently suicidal mission. It was not his idea. He had been chosen and commissioned to do it and he had accepted the package.

Paul appealed to King Agrippa. He was fully conversant with all the facts. He was an authority on Jewish affairs. Perhaps this was Agrippa’s moment to put it all together and to realise that Paul was speaking the truth.

In the environment of Governor Festus, blinded by his pagan outlook on life, Agrippa and Bernice, arrogant and pompous regents of an out-of-the-way and obscure province in the Roman Empire and all the glitterati in Caesarea, Paul preached the gospel of the risen Christ who outshines and outlives all. These so-called intellectuals refused to believe the truth but they gladly swallowed any old bumph dished up to them in the guise of religion as long as it left them alone to continue in their inflated opinions of themselves and in their perverted way of life.

That was their choice. What’s yours?

For more information click on http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon_trans/2000/Pauls_Trial_Before_King_Agrippa.html#.UigbANI0WuI

Deceitful And Beyond Cure

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DECEITFUL AND BEYOND CURE

“When her owners saw that their lucrative little business was suddenly bankrupt, they went after Paul and Silas, roughed them up and dragged them into the market square. Then the police arrested them and pulled them into a court with this accusation, ‘These men are disturbing the peace — dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our law and order.’ By this time the crowd had turned into a restless mob out for blood.

“The judges went along with the mob, had Paul and Silas’s clothes ripped off and ordered a public beating. After beating them black and blue, they threw them into jail, telling the jail-keeper to put them under heavy guard so there would be no chance of escape. He did just that — threw them into the maximum security cell in the jail and clamped leg irons on them.” Acts 16:19-24 (The Message).

Wow! All that just because Paul set a girl free! Talk about injustice! Who were the agitators and who were the ones subverting law and order? Certainly not Paul and Silas.

What lay at the bottom of this furore? Money! These slave-owners were mercilessly exploiting another human being for the sake of money. They were turning her spiritual torment into an income for themselves with no regard for her dignity or humanity. It’s no wonder that the Holy Spirit acted quickly to release her from demonic oppression when Paul intervened!

Her owners could not come out with the real reason for their protest. What would it look like for them if they dragged Paul and Silas into court shouting, ‘These men have just set this girl free from demons and now we can’t make money out of her any more’? What an exposure of their own wicked hearts, exploiting the plight of the girl and the gullibility of the public!

What did they say instead? “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to practise.” Acts 16:21 (NIV). How true was that? Who was throwing the city into an uproar? They were. Where and to whom were Paul and Silas speaking? They were speaking to the women outside the city at the place of prayer near the river. So who was deceiving whom?

This is our story. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Jeremiah wrote this damning diagnosis of the condition of the human heart:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV).

So intent are we on protecting our name, our image, and even our motives that we lie to ourselves and to the ones who are closest to us. The results are alienation and broken relationships, anger, bitterness and resentment because we are unwilling to take responsibility for what we do and say.

What would have happened had the slave-owners resolved to tell the truth? Would they have resorted to the action they took against Paul and Silas? If they were honest, might they not have admitted that their treatment of the girl was wrong and perhaps even set her free because they had been unfair to her?

The miracle of the gospel of Jesus is that it changes our hearts. It enables us to see things from another perspective; truth replaces deception and teaches us to be humble enough to be real with ourselves and others. Only God’s grace can set us free from our inborn lying natures and embrace who we really are — people created in the image of God who are being transformed from our old corrupt selves into the character of Jesus.