Tag Archives: good work

TELL IT WITH YOUR LIFE

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TELL IT WITH YOUR LIFE

“Again, His Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy because you, a mere man, claim to be God.'” John 10:31-33 NIV.

How nonchalant could Jesus be? Almost with tongue in cheek He challenged them. ‘For which of the good works I did are you wanting to stone me?’

Slowly but steadily the case for blasphemy was building against Him — unless, of course, He was telling the truth. If the Jews had had their way, they would have stoned Him there and then, but for one thing — it was not His time.

As far as they were concerned, He was guilty and didn’t even need a trial. Unlike Nicodemus and the blind man He had recently healed, they refused to recognise the Father as the source of the miracles Jesus performed. He was evil because He “broke” their Sabbath rules by healing on the Sabbath and then compounded His guilt by claiming to do His good works through God. What more evidence did they need?

Unfortunately for them, their action only compounded their guilt and not the other way around. Jesus had already indicted them for being blind. It was their wilful blindness that exposed their guilt because they refused to recognise Him for who He was. They had the Scriptures; they knew the Scriptures, but they chose not to believe Him although it was clear that He was the one the Scriptures pointed to from Genesis 1.

For Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world, He had to be innocent of all sin, and especially the sins of law-breaker and blasphemer of which He sworn enemies accused Him so that His death would be a perfect substitute for sinners. 

“Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law, ‘I have said you are “gods”?'” John 10:34 NIV.

What is the point of this quote from Psalm 82:6? In Hebrew rabbinic teaching, this is called a remez — a hint. It is a portion of a portion of Scripture that makes no sense outside the context of the whole portion. Psalm 82 is an indictment of God’s people for their idolatry. They followed the gods of the surrounding nations and became like them — cruel, unjust, and oppressors.

God’s law taught them to treat all people with dignity because they were all created in the His image. They were to reflect the nature of their God by the way they treated their fellow men.

“God presides in the great assembly; He renders judgment among the “gods”: ‘How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. The “gods” know nothing. They walk about in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High,’ but you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.'” Psalm 82:1-7 NIV.

If the religious leaders knew their Scriptures, they would have understood that Jesus was turning their accusation back on them. They were accusing Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God which He evidenced by doing what God required of a son.

They were supposed to be sons of the Most High by being generous and merciful, yet their very behaviour negated their claim. Like their ancestors, their lives displayed who their “god” was — their selfish and greedy selves. They were “gods” in the sense that they were being what their “god” was and doing what their “god” did. For all the vehemence of their accusations, their words did not stick because their behaviour spoke louder than their voices.

Instead of the case building against Jesus, it was building against His accusers. The day would come when they would put the final nail in their own coffins and the judgment of God would fall on them and their children. “His blood be on us and on our children.” Matthew 27:25 NIV.

Who is your God? Tell it with your life, as well as with your lips!

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.

The Disposition Of A Man Of God

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THE DISPOSITION OF A MAN OF GOD

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:3-6.

Don’t you just love Paul! God could not have chosen a better way to record His word for us than in stories and letters about real people, people we can relate to because they were just as ordinary as we are. With all his accomplishments, Paul reflects sanctified humanness in his letters.

 

Thankfulness, joy, confidence – these are the attitudes and emotions of a man who had walked a long and difficult road with Jesus. Even more telling was the fact that he was penning this letter from inside the royal palace guard in Rome, probably shackled to a Roman soldier, or at least under heavy guard as a dangerous criminal.

 

Why would Paul be regarded as a dangerous criminal? Because of his influence. It would have been well known that this one man had traversed a large section of the Roman Empire, sowing seeds of subversion against Nero Caesar, undermining his claim to be Lord, Saviour, the Son of God and the Prince of Peace. These were all false and arrogant claims, of course, because he was no god at all, only a deranged and ruthless despot. He murdered at will, including his own mother and innocent believers in Jesus because they would not honour him, Caesar, as Lord.

Was this really what Paul was doing? Was it his intention to undermine Rome’s authority and destabilise the empire? Of course not! Paul was preaching the message of another kingdom, superimposed upon Rome that would bring people under God’s authority once again, and transform them into model citizens of Rome. Yes, he stood against cruelty, injustice and lawlessness, but not to undermine Caesar’s rule. His aim was to reconnect people to the living God through the cross of Christ so that society would be transformed by people who lived righteously and at peace with one another.

The message of Jesus had first of all changed him. He himself had been a ruthless killer – hunting down Christians and dragging them off to Jerusalem to be condemned and executed by the Jewish high court for their faith in Jesus. But the risen Christ had intervened, and one encounter with Him had changed his life forever. His walk of faith in this Jesus, “through many dangers, toils and snares” as the hymn describes it, had taught him to trust Him and to rejoice in every good thing and in the worst of circumstances.

So now, incarcerated in a top-security prison in Rome, Paul was full of gratitude and joy, because he had left a trail of Jesus-followers who would perpetuate his work where he was no longer free to go. He was delighted with the transformation in their lives, from pagan idolatry to faith in the living God, and from lawless and ungodly living to chaste and upright lives because his message was powerful, able to change men’s hearts.

He was confident that the change in them because of their faith would continue and be completed when Jesus came to receive them home. Why? Because it was not about a one-sided effort. They were in partnership with the God of the universe and the Holy Spirit who resided in them. This was the guarantee that what God started in them He would finish.

Unfortunately, Jewish and Gentile unbelievers didn’t see it that way. Believers in Jesus were counter-culture traitors who should be hounded and exterminated as vermin. However, the very torrent of persecution they unleashed against them produced even stronger faith, courage and hope in the followers of Jesus because they looked beyond this life to a life to come in the very presence of God. The hotter the hatred against them, the more secure they became in God.

Paul was able to revel in these beloved believers in Philippi, and to praise them for their faith and loyalty through difficult times. He encouraged them with his persistent prayers and expression of confidence that they would persevere, not matter what, until God completed what He had begun because they were not alone in their struggle.

We can also take heart from Paul’s declaration of confidence in God. We may not be in the same circumstances as these Philippian believers but we have our own adversities to contend with, and our own tests and temptations to endure. Will we give up in the struggle or will we hold on to the hope that, when it’s all over, we’ll still be on the winning side, purified in our faith and full of thanksgiving and joy because we made it to the end?

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.