Tag Archives: God’s kingdom

GOD AND BABY SPARROWS – 2

Christian Life, ,

We have come to understand that God cares more about us than He cares about baby birds and yet…He cares enough about them, and all creatures, to provide suitable food for every species.

Jesus assured His disciples, and us, that the Father knows what we need before we ask Him. However, He requires far more from us than He does from birds and animals. There is a huge implication in His promise to meet our needs.

God created people for Himself.
He designed us to be His human family of sons and daughters who have a specific purpose and function here on earth. This human family, living under God’s direction and in obedience to His instructions, is to be on earth what we will be in His forever family, sons.

To be a son in Hebrew culture meant much more that being biologically connected to a father. Since their understanding about time was different from ours, they viewed time, not as a straight line for each person, but as cyclical…the birth, life, and death of every generation forming an ever-ongoing cycle. Every person’s life came from their parents and produced the next generation.

This meant that each child was to learn to be a son by submitting to, obeying, and learning the father’s business to carry the heritage and continue the legacy of that family. Unlike our culture which panders to the child and permits our offspring to go in any direction they choose, Hebrew sons were expected to “continue the house”, the very meaning of “son” in ancient Hebrew script.

For example, Jesus found young fishermen brothers, James and John, working with their father, Zebedee, at their trade. Jesus Himself, as a Jewish boy, joined His earthly father’s “building and maintenance” business until He left home to begin His ministry as a rabbi.

The same principle applies in the spiritual realm. Even as young as twelve, Jesus was aware of a connection with His heavenly Father of greater significance than with Joseph and Mary, His earthly parents. However, He learned the lessons of submission and obedience to an earthly father in preparation for His greater role as the Son of God.

God, the Father in heaven, stamped His approval on Jesus at His baptism, sending Him out with His blessing to do the Father’s business of re-establishing His kingdom on earth by His life, death, and resurrection.

Mark 1:10-11, 14-15 NLT
[10] “As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. [11] And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”…
[14] Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. [15] “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

Jesus made it clear to all, especially to those who opposed Him, that He was the Father’s authentic son by His absolute submission and obedience to the Father’s will. He did nothing to contradict the Father, either in His words or works, and eventually died a cruel and ignominious death by the Father’s will.

Isaiah predicted….

Isaiah 53:10 NIV
[10] “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”

And Jesus enemies carried out God’s plan…

Acts of the Apostles 2:23 NLT
[23] “But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.”

For Jesus, the Father’s business was the kingdom of God. The Father appointed Him to be the supreme authority in His kingdom because of His submission and obedience.

Hebrews 5:7-9 NLT
[7]”While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. [8] Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”

Through Him, the kingdom would be established on earth.

Philippians 2:9-11 NLT
[9]” Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Acts of the Apostles 10:38-43 NLT
[38] “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. [39] “And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross, [40] but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear, [41] not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. [42] And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all—the living and the dead. [43] He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

Jesus perfectly satisfied His Father’s requirements for a son.

What was required of Him as a son is required of us as God’s “sons”, both male and female. Through submission and obedience to the Father, we learn to be true sons and are qualified to participate in God’s kingdom and carry on the Father’s business.

Now, two implications, as they relates to God’s care for baby sparrows, are simply implied in Jesus’ teaching.

Matthew 6:33 NLT
[33] “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

  1. If we live according to the requirements of God’s kingdom, obeying His Spirit and living by His Word, His promise to take care of our needs is guaranteed.
  2. If we disregard God’s instructions, living as we choose and living by our own standards, God’s promise does not apply.

So, this is the implication, then. Yes, God cares about baby sparrows. Yes, we are of greater value to Him than birds and animals, but…unlike baby sparrows, we have an obligation to live according to the ways and requirements of His kingdom as sons. If not, He is not obliged to take care of us….

But,in His mercy, He does.

ARE YOU CRAZY?

Christian Life, ,

ARE YOU CRAZY?

“Then He spoke: ‘You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all. God’s kingdom is there for the finding.

“You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry. Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

“You’re blessed when the tears flow freely, Joy comes with the morning.

“Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens — skip like a lamb, if you like — for even though they don’t like it, I do…and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like that.'” Luke 6:20-23 (The Message).

What is He talking about? He almost sounds like some sort of killjoy; only happy when everything goes wrong; glad to be miserable!

This would sound crazy if it came from anyone’s lips but Jesus’. What is He getting at? You cannot go very far into the gospels before you realise that Jesus lived in the environment of God’s kingdom. Don’t get me wrong — He was a very down-to-earth person, in touch with reality, especially the need of the people around Him, aware of their suffering and full of compassion for them.

But He also knew that there was no permanent solution for them in the present world system. He could heal them now, but they would be sick again. He could raise the dead, but they were destined to die again. As long as the world system they were in prevailed, there would always be sorrow, sickness and suffering, because it is an imperfect fallen world and would remain that way unless God intervened.

The good news is that the present world system, with all its sin and imperfection, is temporary. He had come from the Father to get rid of the greatest obstacle to restoration and reconciliation, the huge debt of man’s sin. God had set the course for restoring everything that was broken, distorted and out of joint and it culminated in Him. What God started in Genesis 1 and 2, He would complete according to Revelation 21 and 22.

Through Jesus, God provided the forgiveness that restored the broken relationship between Him and His estranged sons and daughters, but there was also the matter of choice. Would they want to come back to the Father’s house? How did the lost son in the far country come to his senses? He looked at his circumstances, starving and looking after pigs, and realised that he had been much better off at home.

Jesus said that it is very difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of God. Why? Is it because they have money? No. It’s because they use their money to satisfy their own need. Money is a good servant but a bad master. Wealth is good if it is used to serve others but bad if it feeds greed and selfishness.

Therefore, according to Jesus, loss and hunger and persecution are not blessings in themselves but they are if they create an awareness that life is much more than what we eat, what we drink and what we wear. Life is transient, like mist that is here in the morning but gone by midday. It is foolishness to place our faith in and live for what is passing away.

God allows these kind of circumstances into our lives to draw our attention to a kingdom that is permanent and eternal; a way of life that echoes the eternal character and values of the Father. Greed and selfishness belong to this transient, imperfect world and will eventaully go out with the trash. We might be ridiculed and sidelined if we side with Jesus now. His way may seem puny to those who believe in control and force and power, but in the end, He won then and He will win again.

If you open up to Him, He will change you heart and set you on a course of generosity and unselfish service that will bring you joy and the realisation of who you really are, a son or daughter of God, created in His image to be like Him.

HAVE YOU ACTED THE FOOL?

Christian Life, ,

HAVE YOU ACTED THE FOOL?

“When He had their attention and because they were getting close to Jerusalem by this time and expectation was building that God’s kingdom would appear any minute, He told this story:

“There was once a man descended from a royal house who needed to make a long trip back to headquarters to get authorisation for his rule and then return. But first he called ten servants, gave them each a sum of money, and instructed them, ‘Operate with this until I return…’

“When he came back…he called those ten servants…to find out how they had done.

“The first said, ‘Master, I doubled your money.’

“He said, ‘Good servant! …I’m making you governor of ten towns.’

“The second said, ‘Master, I made fifty percent profit on your money.’

“He said, ‘I’m putting you in charge of five towns.’

“The next servant said, ‘Master, here’s your money safe and sound. I kept it hidden in the cellar. To tell you the truth, I was a little afraid. I know you have high standards and hate sloppiness, and don’t suffer fools gladly.’

“He said, ‘You’re right that I don’t suffer fools gladly — you’ve acted the fool! Why didn’t you at least invest the money so I would have gotten a little interest on it?’

“Then he said to those standing there, ‘Take the money from him and give it to the servant who doubled my stake.’

“They said, ‘But Master, he already has double.’

He said, ‘That’s what I mean. Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and you end up holding the bag…’ Luke 19:11-27 (The Message).

Another kingdom story that turns what we value on its head and exposes some of the faulty thinking of the church!

Jesus told a number of stories about noblemen or landowners who entrusted their property to servants before going away for a period of time and then returning. To His disciples, He spoke plainly of His return to the Father for an interval before He came back to claim His kingdom and restore all things to their original perfection.

This same idea is reflected in the Hebrew marriage custom where the bridegroom-to-be, after proposing to his prospective bride, returns to his father’s house to build his bridal chamber in preparation for the consummation of his marriage. After his father has approved his work, he is released to marry his bride and carry her over the threshold into the bridal chamber to become one with her.

What is the significance of the interval before His return? In this story, Jesus focussed on the responsibility of the servants to carry out the master’s instructions while He was away. To every believer, He assigns a task in keeping with his gifting and role in God’s kingdom.

His commission to every believer is to know Him and to make Him known wherever He has placed us in the world. He has woven into every person unique abilities in seed form. Like the sums of money given to the servants in our story, we can either multiply or bury what we have been given, but we will not escape accountability. We are not only given gifts, but we have also been given time…time to use those gifts to make His name known in our world.

Unfortunately, there has crept into the church’s thinking an escapist mentality — the world is bad so let’s just hole up and hold on until Jesus comes to get us out of here. This mind set is in keeping with the general attitude of the world — we do not take responsibility for what we think, believe, and do. We are merely the victims of other people’s actions or our circumstances. We are part of the ‘White Knuckle Club” that cowers in the corner and waits to be rescued!

This is so contrary to Jesus’ intention for His church. His idea is that we are serving our apprenticeship in the interval until He returns. What we do with the resources He has entrusted to us will determine how much responsibility He is able to give to us in the life to come.

So, what is our job in this life? To develop our unique gifts so that we may know Him and make Him known. “Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 (NIV). “He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.'” Mark16:15 (NIV.This involves making all sorts of sacrifices; time, money, name, reputation, comfort, ambitions, family, or whatever else it may cost to obey the Master.

As always, Jesus takes the long look, considering the eternal rewards for present suffering. Is the sacrifice worth it? It all depends on where your focus is — you can rationalise and take your ease now, like the third servant in the story, but there is a terrifying price to pay for this kind of faulty thinking. The servant blamed the Master for his laziness, but his reasoning didn’t stick.   

So, what’s the bottom line? Jesus didn’t intend for us to spend the time in between desperately hanging on, waiting for Him to pull us out of a bad situation. He left us here with a commission to live out our lives where He has put us, in the energy of His Holy Spirit, and to do whatever we can, through our unique abilities, to show the world what He is like. When He comes, will He find the resources He has entrusted to us much more than we started with, and will He, with confidence, be able to entrust greater responsibilities to us according to our faithfulness in the small things?

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – EATING DINNER IN GOD’S KINGDOM

Bible Study, ,

EATING DINNER IN GOD’S KINGDOM

“That triggered a response from one of the guests. ‘How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God’s kingdom!’ …’Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'” Luke 14:15-24.

There’s a sting in the tale (!) of Jesus’ response to the comment made by the dinner guest. He never allowed the erroneous thought to pass that God makes arbitrary decisions for people, bypassing their freedom to choose and their responsibility for making the right choices,

God’s kingdom has been flung wide open to all people, but there are still rules by which people gain entrance. This man (the one who made the comment) was more than likely a Jew, traditionally a member of God’s chosen people. Jesus forcefully drew his attention to the history of his people. In spite of God’s goodness to them, they ignored His invitation to a life of blessing and prosperity by doing life His way. The ‘dinner table’ had been set and laden with the bounty of His love and favour, but it required ‘coming to the party’ by being obedient to His commands.

God has not prepared His banquet for nothing. There is more than enough for everyone but He will not force anyone to accept His invitation and neither will He waste His grace on those who think their way is better. ‘Go out,’ He instructs His servants, ‘and find those who are willing to come in. I must have my house full of guests.’

Those who are decent and properly dressed but refuse the invitation will be left out and those who are ‘misfits, homeless and wretched’ will be welcomed to the banqueting table simply because they accepted the invitation. God is not concerned about the condition of their lives. He can take care of that. His forgiveness is sufficient to clean up their past and give them a new start as long as they accept His offer.

It was imperative for the man to understand that membership of God’s chosen people did not automatically give him entrance into the kingdom of God. That required a personal response to God’s invitation. Once again, unlike man-made religion that does not understand the inborn freedom and responsibility to choose, God does not intrude into the non-negotiable gift of free will.

Jesus made it clear to Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel and one who should have understood the nature of God’s kingdom, that no-one can ‘see’ or ‘enter’ the kingdom of God without a radical, Spirit-energised ‘new birth’ into the realm of God’s rule (John 3). This is God’s powerful response to the simple decision of any person, regardless of his present state of heart or behaviour, to recognise who is in charge, submit to His authority and surrender the right to direct the course of his own life.

Entering God’s kingdom involves a change of destiny (from hell to heaven), a change of direction (from self to God), a change of master (from Satan to Jesus), and a transformed disposition, (from selfish greed to selfless service), and it all happens through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in those who make the simple decision to believe what God says and accept His invitation to ‘eat at His table.’

Strange how the ‘table’ of the world has nothing to offer but misery, loss and futility and yet people continue to choose it in place of the limitless bounty of God’s love, forgiveness and blessing. You can have either but

The choice is yours…

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE RABBI’S BLESSING

Bible Study, ,

THE RABBI’S BLESSING

“‘When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, ‘The only thing we got from you is the dirt on out feet, and we’re giving it back. Did you have any idea that God’s kingdom was right on your doorstep?’ Sodom will have it better on Judgment Day than the town that rejects you.'” Luke 10:10-12.

This is a bit vindictive, isn’t it? Does it sound like Jesus? What is He getting at?

“The rabbi’s dust” is a euphemism for the rabbi’s blessing. It was the disciples’ duty to walk behind Him; to follow Him, literally and figuratively. The one who walked close behind Him picked up dust thrown up by His sandals. It was an honour for a disciple to “wear” his rabbi’s dust because it indicated that he walked closest to Him.

To shake off his rabbi’s dust was to scatter the blessing of his rabbi on others. Would Jesus really have advocated that His disciples thumb their noses at people who refused to receive them? He always had an attitude of compassion towards everyone, even those who rejected Him. He knew that they would be the losers. He wept over Jerusalem for not recognising the time of His visit to them.

It would be out of character for Jesus to instruct His disciples to call down curses on a family or community that rejected Him. He had stopped James and John from wanting to incinerate a Samaritan village for refusing Him hospitality. Why would His attitude to any other community be different? If we read this story through the spectacles of Jesus’ redemptive mission, what He was instructing His disciples was not to retaliate but to leave behind the rabbi’s blessing, even if the people did not receive them.

Another lesson His followers had to learn was that they were representatives of their Master. Whatever they said or did was on His behalf, He would not want them to act out of character with Him or His Father. However people treated them was what they thought of Him but that did not deter Him from wanting to bless them. After all, did He not say that His Father pours out rain on the just and the unjust?

What is God’s wrath all about then? Is He angry with wicked people, and does He plan to take vengeance on those who refuse to believe the gospel? God’s punishment always takes the form of the consequences people call down on their own heads when they refuse to heed His Word. Jesus said that it was not He but His Word that would judge them in the end (John 12:47, 48).

God’s wrath, rightly understood is His passionate grief over wasted potential. He has a good plan for every person and, when they choose their own way and make a mess of their lives it causes Him sorrow because of what they could have been. His plan is that every one of us should be a member of His forever family, to live with Him and to share all the benefits of a perfect world in fellowship with a loving and generous Father.

He wants us to be like Him so that we can mirror His splendour (Isaiah 61:3), enjoy the freedom of the children of God and live in the safety and provision of His love. Why should we want to run away from that and set up a life of our own which can only bring us disappointment and emptiness?

God has proved His love for us by giving His own Son as a sacrifice of atonement for our sin, so that we can be reconciled to Him and return to the family as beloved sons and daughters. Jesus paid the debt of sin for the whole world and He is not mad with anyone any more. Can you get hold of that?

It is never His intention to take vengeance on anyone for not receiving the good news of His kingdom. The consequences of our choices are enough to contend with. His passion is that we respond to His invitation and enjoy the blessing and benefit of being members of His family.

With arms wide open He says, ‘Come home.’