Tag Archives: blood

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – SWEAT LIKE BLOOD

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SWEAT LIKE BLOOD

“Leaving there, He went, as He often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed Him. When they arrived at the place, He said, ‘Pray that you don’t give in to temptation.’

“He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?’ At once an angel from heaven was at His side, strengthening Him. He prayed all the harder. Sweat, wrung from Him like drops of blood, poured off His face.” Luke 22:39-44.

This is a very different Jesus from the one we have been accompanying through the Gospel of Luke. He was a man of many emotions, as we would expect from someone who was the perfect representative of mankind. Unlike many men, He did not ignore, deny or hide His emotions. He felt compassion, He rejoiced, He wept, He laughed, He grieved, He got angry and He got frustrated. Luke describes Him as a very human Jesus but also, always, the true Son of God.

This is the first time He showed His emotion regarding His approaching death. The dark shadow of the cross fell across Him in the olive grove. “Gethsemane” means “press” reflecting the process by which the precious oil was extracted from the olives that grew there. He was feeling the press of His impending sacrifice.

There were many “last times” for Him in the next few hours. The Passover meal He had just shared with His disciples was the last time He would eat with them. These moments would be the last time He would fellowship with His Father in the solitude of the garden and in freedom.

The overwhelming weight of what was looming was crushing Him like the press that crushed the olives. Only the pure Son of God knew what it meant to become sin for us. Only He felt the terrifying prospect of separation from His Father with whom He had lived in intimate and unbroken fellowship as a human being for thirty three years, of being cut off, abandoned and left alone in His time of greatest need.

Unless He was able to come to terms with, and fully embrace what lay ahead in the next few hours, the battle would be lost before it even began. His entire human life was consumed by this one purpose – to do the Father’s will. “Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come – it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart.'” Psalm 40:7-8 (NIV). Now was the time to put His purpose to the ultimate test,

There is nothing wrong with the process by which He came to submission to the Father. There was no rebellion in His heart, not reluctance to submit, only the horror of His impending ordeal. He was to embrace His Father’s will by submitting to the worst that human beings could do to Him at the instigation of His arch enemy, the devil, without resistance, either physical or emotional.

This was a struggle so severe that His blood began to flow even before His skin was pierced by the whip, the thorns, the nails or the spear. Our minds cannot conceive of the suffering it meant, not only for Him but for the Father who loved and delighted in His Son beyond anything we can imagine.

In that moment, in the full understanding of what lay ahead, Jesus embraced the Father’s will once again, and the deal was sealed. From that time on, He was secure in the strength of His submission and the knowledge that He would overcome – and He did. No amount of torture or torment could remove from Him the peace that surrender had secured. He was the only one, in spite of being the prisoner and the one in trial, in absolute control of the situation.

“When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made not threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness…” 1 Peter 2:23-24a (NIV).

This is a great lesson for us to learn. Jesus won the battle before it began by embracing the Father’s will. He was not caught out or taken unawares. Unlike Him, we do not know what lies up ahead but, as we live in daily submission to God, we will be ready to face our own ordeals without resistance if we entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly.

“So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1 Peter 4:19 (NIV).

MOLLY AND ME – DIRTY PAWS

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Molly is a very clean little dog – except for her paws!

I bath her every second week, an event which, strangely enough, she doesn’t mind. Fortunately, she doesn’t smell like a dog and she doesn’t have the habit of rolling in smelly stuff, so a fortnightly bath is sufficient to keep her sweet and clean.

However, we live in a granny flat on a property which is enclosed in high walls and secure gates. Most of the back and front yards are covered with thick grass which is riddled with earthworms. They push their casts up everywhere, creating muddy blobs all over the lawn when it rains.

Molly has the freedom to run and explore the garden to her heart’s content, sniffing out geckos and frogs to chase and digging in the lawn for crickets (which she is learning not to do). Rain is no deterrent although she is not a “water” dog. Rain or shine, she spends ages traversing the same patch of lawn and getting her little paws well and truly muddied.

Old towels at the back and front doors soak up most of the dirt but, when we go to bed, I make sure that her paws are clean!

This little ritual reminds me of the scene in the Upper Room on the eve of Jesus’ death. There was no servant to wash the disciples’ dusty feet and they were too high and mighty to do the lowly task for one another. So, they sat down on cushions on the floor to eat the Passover with their Master with their unwashed feet very much in evidence!

Jesus must have been very aware of the omission (and the smell) and waited for an opportunity to teach His disciples a very practical lesson. They were constantly arguing about their pecking order and chose to ignore Jesus’ repeated lessons on true greatness. Here was an opportunity to put into practice what He had taught them, but not one of them of them chose to use it.

So, Jesus took off His outer garment, picked up the bowl and pitcher of water and proceeded to do the task of a slave, As usual, there was no reaction from most of them except from Peter. He remonstrated with Jesus, probably feeling guilty that he had not done what Jesus was doing.

However, out of this altercation came a beautiful object lesson for every one of His followers. Peter said, “Never, Lord!” Jesus responded, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” Characteristically, then Peter replied, “Lord, give me a bath!” Again, Jesus responded, “You are clean, Peter, except for your feet.”

What did He mean? Peter had received the “washing with water through the Word” of which Paul spoke in Eph. 5:26. His sins were forgiven through the blood Jesus would shed on the cross. He had received the gift of righteousness which God gives to those who believe in His Son. However, through his fleshly nature, he still picked up dirt from his everyday interaction with people and circumstances.  All he needed was to have feet cleansed from the defilement of his daily “walk” in the world.

Perhaps his fellow disciple, John, remembered Jesus’ words when he wrote,

If we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin….If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness, (1 John 1:7, 9 – NLT).

Yes, Jesus assures us that we are clean through His Word because we believe in Him, but we need the constant cleansing of our “feet” by His forgiveness though His blood so that our fellowship with Him will remain transparent and uninterrupted.

Have you, like Molly, muddied your “paws” today? Allow Jesus to wash your feet. Then there will be no hindrance to your intimacy with Him. You can go to bed and sleep in peace in His loving presence because His blood keeps on cleansing you from all sin.

REDEMPTION THROUGH THE BLOOD

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Aren’t you glad the “silly season” has come and gone? I noticed something different this year. The words of some of the most well-known and well-loved carols were changed to promote products. I also noticed that there were far fewer shops blaring out Christmas carols this year than last year. Is the world finally recognising that Christmas is not about Jesus – it’s about making money, overindulging and having a “good” time.

Religious celebrations are a good excuse for businesses to profit. No sooner is the Christmas season over than we plunge into Easter – another “religious” season that uses Jesus as an excuse for shops to wow their patrons into wasting their hard-earned money on frivolity.

I think it saddens the heart of God when His own people engage in all the trappings that are a part of what is very precious to Him and should be to us. Our theme this month is “redemption through His blood.” What does this mean to you?

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for a special day to remember that, in His mercy, God intervened to rescue us from slavery to the devil. In fact, He planned it long before He ever set about preparing the earth for human habitation. The whole of human history, and that includes our little insignificant lives, was spread out before Him when He made a covenant with Jesus to come to earth, live a perfect human life and die as a sinner to rescue us from the consequences of our own rebellion.

Just imagine that! Long before we were born, God saved us. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ… In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Eph. 1:4,7).

How powerfully do these words affect you? Or me? Do we dwell on them and the implications they have for us who claim to be children of God? The birth of Jesus and His death should never be a once-a-year excuse to indulge in all sorts of excesses. They should be a perpetual and sober reminder of what is cost the Son of God to bring us back to the Father and restore us to His family as true sons and daughters.

Jesus instructed us to remember His death – not just once a month when we celebrate communion. Remember what it cost Him to redeem us from the devil’s clutches.

Blood…His blood, willingly given for us. A solemn reminder that we owe it to Him to live for Him.

 

 

ACCESS THROUGH THE BLOOD

Christian Life, ,

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like, under the Old Covenant, to have had no access to God except through the high priest and not without a sacrifice? No intimate heart fellowship with the Father! No reassurance of the Father’s love! No access to the throne of grace!

But…and I was taught never to begin a sentence with “but”…Jesus changed all that for us. Are there any more wonderful words in Scripture than the declaration of the writer to the Hebrews?

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the curtain, that it, His body, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:19-22

Beloved brothers and sisters, let’s never forget that Jesus changed everything. We no longer have to try to please God, as the Jews did under the Old Covenant, by obeying His commands. We live under the New Covenant and all God requires of us is to believe in His Son Jesus and to love one another (1 John 3:23).

Jesus is both our high priest and our sacrifice. Believing in Him means entrusting ourselves to Him, body, soul and spirit, and allowing His Spirit in us to help us to live His life through us.

The blood of Jesus has changed our status and our standing before God. We are no longer guilty sinners. The blood of Jesus has forgiven our sin and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. We have been power-washed by His blood and we are now His beloved sons and daughters. Nothing can ever undo what He has done and nothing can change our status before Hm.

What if we sin? John assures us that, if we walk in the light, i.e., if we keep believing in Jesus and following Him, even if we slip and fall, the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing us from all sin. God does not treat us according to our behaviour but according to our family relationship with Him.

There is one word that sums up our relationship with God – CONFIDENCE. We have confidence to approach our Father boldly, because of the blood of Jesus.

 

Wow! Shouldn’t that be an encouragement for us to come to Him in every circumstance, good or bad, because Jesus opened the way to the Father for us through His blood?

REDEEMED!

Pastor's Desk, ,

Dear Family
We don’t hear too much about “redemption” these days. It’s a word used almost exclusively in churchy circles by theologians which we don’t really understand. The Apos-tle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7,8 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the rich-es of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and under-standing.”
So what is “redemption”? A diction-ary gives the definition as “the ac-tion of being saved from sin, error or evil and “the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clear-ing a debt.”
The most probable reason we don’t hear about redemption is because we don’t like hearing that we have a need for it because of our sin. We are no longer comfortable with be-ing described as sinners because, in our warped understandings, that would be judgemental and in all likelihood, politically incorrect.
The whole world is systematically moving further and further away from owning up to its ultimate re-sponsibility to Almighty God, Crea-tor of all things. People who take responsibility for their actions are being becoming increasingly diffi-cult to find. It’s always somebody else’s fault when an individual transgresses. Blame the teacher, blame the government, blame soci-ety, blame the neighbour next door, blame the rusty nail, just blame something except yourself.
Well, God blames us! He holds us accountable and responsible for our own failings against the standards that He has set. His standards do not wax and wane with society’s norms. His standards are indifferent to Hollywood or any deviant pio-neering superstar. His standards are recorded in His Word for all to see and, according to Jesus, that Word will judge all mankind for all time. We need help! Thankfully, He has provided that help. I am a sin-ner. It is my fault. I have turned my back on God’s ways. I have com-promised His Word to suit my own desires. I have chosen my own path in opposition to Him. I am in-different to His Word. When I rec-ognize I do fall short of His stand-ards (called sin), I am able to ac-cess the riches of His grace, the forgiveness of my sin, through the redemption He has provided by His death.
I am redeemed! Praise the LORD!