Tag Archives: God is one

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM

Bible Study, ,

NOT FAR FROM THE KINGDOM

32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. Mark 12:32-34

It’s a pity we meet characters in the Bible who appear for a moment and then disappear forever and no-one knows what happened to them. This man would be worth following up if we could. His response to Jesus’ answer to his question suggests that he was either being terribly sarcastic or that he was beginning to understand what Jesus represented.

Was he a secret supporter who was trying to show up the Pharisee’ and religion scholars’ hypocrisy?  Perhaps he knew what Jesus’ answer would be but he wanted Him to verbalise it for His opponents to hear. Was this concept dawning on him through following, watching and listening to Jesus?

What did Jesus recognise in this man’s reply? Was his question a cover-up for a hunger in his heart which he would not admit but was nevertheless real to him?  I wonder how he perceived “loving God”. Perhaps Samuel’s words to Saul were in his mind when he responded to Jesus: “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

Jesus connected with this man. He assured him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” What would the final step be that he had to take in order to experience kingdom life? To acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God and to commit to following Him as his only Master would have put him on the right way to the Father.

Jesus made no attempt to pursue him, to sit down and explain stuff to him or to try to convince him to follow Him. The evidence was unfolding before his eyes and it was up to him to weigh it up and make a judgement for himself. Once he had been brought into contact with Jesus, he could not remain neutral. Being in the very presence of the Master would have affected him forever. It was up to him to open his heart and receive the revelation of truth that surrounded him, and move into a new realm of living, or to do nothing and waste his potential to become a mature son of God.

Beware!

Christian Life, , ,

BEWARE!

“He said to His disciples, ‘Hard trials and temptations are bound to come, but too bad for whoever brings them on! Better to wear a millstone necklace and take a swim in the deep blue sea than give even one of these dear little ones a hard time.'” Luke 17:1,2 (The Message).

Do we ever ignore this warning! Why is it that we fall into this trap so easily? We live in an interactive world. No-one is an island, and no-one functions in isolation. It was God’s intention to create an entire universe that functioned together as one as the greatest expression of His nature.

God is one – echad, unity in diversity. There are sects and religions that take pride in their ‘monotheism’, denying the plurality of the Godhead from the mistaken idea that one God implies a single entity rather that a unity of essence and nature. The name, God, is a term that refers to a species, in the same way as ‘man’ or ‘dog’ refers to a species. Within the species are a myriad varieties but their essence is the same.

There are many gods in the world but they are the creation of man’s imagination and are therefore the reflection of human nature. They are often cruel, capricious, unpredictable, dictatorial and demanding. But, according to the Bible, “This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty.’I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who is like me?'” Isaiah 44:6.7a (NIV).

God’s being is expressed in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are one in nature and essence but separate and distinct with different functions, one in purpose, not three gods, but one God. Jesus could say, even in His earthly human form, “‘I and the Father are one,’ and of the Holy Spirit He said, ‘But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth…He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.'” John 16:13,15 (NIV).

What is the implication? When God created man in His image, He made a being that was one with Himself, reflecting His nature and fulfilling His purpose, to be part of a unified universe that reflects His nature and glorifies Him.

Therefore, like the issue of adultery which we have already discussed, to do anything that disrupts that unity is to challenge the power that holds the universe together. What happens between individuals sets a chain reaction in motion that affects families, communities and nations.

Man chose to violate than unity when he followed the lies of the devil at the beginning. Now we live in a world that has been torn apart by disunity. Selfishness, greed and wickedness rip families and communities apart and create misery and suffering everywhere. Take for example the wars that have decimated nations and are still destroying people’s lives today. Nations on every continent are at war, ruining cities, tearing up society and devastating families. Why? Selfishness and greed!

Yet Jesus warned, ‘Don’t you be the cause of it.’ He takes this matter so seriously that He said it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a grinding stone around his neck than to put a stumbling block in the way of the nobodies, the ones He called ‘the little ones’.

To do that, wittingly or unwittingly, is to deny the very nature of God which does no harm to Him but does terrible damage and destruction to us. We are only fully human when we are one with the Creator of the universe, and that takes the miracle of God’s forgiveness and grace, through Jesus Christ, to begin the process.

But it’s your choice…