Tag Archives: my disciples

11 BY THE WAY…WHAT IS REAL FREEDOM?

Christian Life, ,

Freedom is a buzz word these days. Everyone wants to be free. Society is full of people who so badly want to be free that they break every rule in the book in the name of “freedom”! 

The trouble is that this so-called freedom may free up behaviour but it enslaves the heart to the worst kind of bondage…to sin…to a conscience that never keeps quiet …until it stops working. A silent conscience is a sinister warning…not freedom but a dangerous delusion! 

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In context, Paul was writing about people who taught religious scruples that had nothing to do with the gospel. In the broader context, those who follow their false beliefs with either false self-righteousness or unrestrained behaviour end up with a conscience that fails to register truth. Either way, they have traded a conscience that is programmed by truth to a conscience that registers nothing but approval for whatever they believe and do. A dead conscience is the worst kind of freedom because there is no longer any warning or caution on the downward slide towards the fire. 

So, what is true freedom and how can we live within its boundaries and experience its benefits?

There are two steps and a progression towards freedom. The progression begins with a change of allegiance and a change of direction. There can never be freedom while the self is in control. The self will always demand gratification. Gratification will always act in self-interest at the expense of others…leading to sin…and registering guilt. 

The first step towards freedom is to answer the call to follow Jesus. Union with Jesus and obedience to Him is God’s design and the only way that works. He, in turn, leads us towards the righteousness which provides the boundaries inside which we find the freedom we crave.  

Let me illustrate.  

A toddler is a free agent…a little person who can do anything it desires if left to itself. How can a parent keep a toddler safe? By providing the boundaries within which it is free to play. A mother would never allow her little one to play in a garden without a fence and a secured gate. 

For us, who was want to be truly free, we need the “fence and gate”of Jesus’ word, provided by the relationship of true disciples…step number one in this progression…

“Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus’ teachings form the boundary fence of our safety.  Safety from what? Safety from the bondage to sin..and the guilt, shame, and fear that follow sinful behaviour, words, and attitudes. 

Jesus’ teachings are not only the fence that keeps us safe. Following His teachings also leads us to real freedom. 

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, you see, to be really free…free from slavery to sin and the haunting guilt of an accusing conscience…simply knowing the truth is not enough. Real freedom is the end result of…

…following and learning from Jesus…

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…and obeying His commandments…

“If you love me, obey my commandments.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In the end, there is only one person who can unlock the prison doors and set us free…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭1‬ NIV

Who is He?  Jesus!

“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭34‬, ‭36‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The world says that freedom is to kick over all the traces…to live without boundaries… according to every desire and appetite. God’s Word tells us that, to be truly free, we must go back to the beginning, where God made humans to be in harmony and partnership with Him. The only way to do this is to renounce the right to self-rule…to hand over one’s life to the authority of Jesus…and to receive from Him the nature and power to become a true disciple and follower. That’s the only freedom that works. 

5 BY THE WAY…TO WHO DOES THE FRUIT BELONG?

Christian Life, ,

The Bible says a lot of things about a lot of things…like fruit, for example, but… I don’t plan to do an exhaustive study on fruit. Let me rather tell you a story. 

Many years ago, during the days of my tempestuous marriage, I was on a roller coaster ride between anger and resentment and misery and repentance for my bad attitude when life got rough at home. One morning, in my utter despair, I fell on my knees before the Lord and cried out to Him for deliverance. 

He showed me a picture. 

I was walking in a beautiful walled  garden, full of flowers and fruit but…there was a wild beast in the garden, trampling the flowers and knocking the fruit off the trees as he raged through the flowers beds and orchards. I cried out to the Lord “Who will save my garden from this beast?”

“Turn around,” the Lord said. The scene changed. I was in a tomb. I turned around…the beast was lying dead on the floor of the tomb. The old beast of myself, my sin nature with all its wicked responses, was dead. I did need to destroy the flowers and fruit in my “garden” any more. 

Then the scene changed again. I was back in the garden but, this time, the garden was flourishing…no beast to destroy its beauty. As I walked along the paths, smelling the flowers and enjoying the scenes, the Lord said to me, “You may enjoy the garden but you may not eat its fruit. The fruit belongs to me.”

I’ve often thought about that vision You and are to bear fruit…the fruit of union with Jesus…abiding in the vine. Jesus spoke of this union with His disciples before He left them…fruit that grew from His life in us…the life of the vine flowing into the branches. That life, the “sap” of the vine, is His life-giving word abiding in us. 

Paul spoke of the “fruit of the Spirit”…the character of Jesus being formed in us as we walk in and live by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. However, we must ask…”To whom does this fruit belong, and who gets to enjoy the fruit?” Is it our fruit? 

It cannot be our fruit because the best fruit we can produce is the fruit of the old sinful life at work in us. The fruit that the Holy Spirit forms in us belongs to Jesus and it is His to enjoy as He watches how we live, how we think and act as His children and the citizens of His kingdom. 

What is this fruit that grows on the branches of the vine?  His fruit grows from our three-way relationships…

First…our relationship with God…Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see, everything we are, do, and become must have its source in God. We must have roots that grow deep into the soil of God’s love. (When I speak of God, I speak of the Godhead who is the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). 

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

In fellowship with God, we flourish in the fragrant air of His presence…love…joy…and peace and…slowly…we become like the whose air we breathe. 

Second…we begin to carry the atmosphere of heaven as we relate to the people around us. Patience, kindness, goodness are the fruit of the love, joy, and peace that we breathe in the presence of God. The fruit is slowly growing on the branches. 

Third…the patience, kindness, and goodness we show to others seeps into our own souls…forming the fruit of our inner life…faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…

…a beautiful nine-flavoured fruit that delights the heart of God. 

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If we try to enjoy this fruit, it will spoil in us but…through pride and self-effort but… to Jesus, our fruit is delicious and full of flavour because it is the evidence of the nature of the tree from which it grows…the Lord Himself. 

So, don’t eat your own fruit. It belongs to Jesus. Let Him delight in who and whose you are. Our fruit is for His honour and the Father’s glory. 

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

JESUS, THE GOD-MAN – 8

Bible Study, ,

THE GOD MAN, THE WAY OF TRUTH

Mark 6:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

Why were these “sheep” running after Jesus? Why did He see them as “sheep without a shepherd”? How did He show them compassion?

These questions are all answered in Jesus Himself.

Tied to the leadership of the Pharisees, God’s people were in perpetual bondage, becoming more entangled and more enslaved as time went on by laws and rituals that could never set them free. The more their “shepherds” enforced the law and all their additions, the more helpless the sheep became. Their own shepherds were lost in bondage to their own sin and, in turn, by lies and deception, they led their sheep into deeper confusion and fear.

There was only one way to set them free…truth…and only one person who had the power to set them free, Jesus, the one who is truth.

The sheep, it seems, saw something in Jesus, heard something from Him, that drew them to Him. As even the temple guards testified, when sent to arrest Him, “No one speaks like this man!” Great crowds trailed after Him, from towns, villages, and countryside, to hear His words. They recognised, in His teaching, truths their souls yearned to hear.

So, Jesus gave them His weapon to destroy lies and His tool to set them free, His truth! He did not choose to battle their sin, or to fight their family issues or their marital conflcts, or even their issues with Rome or their religious overlords. He saw their pain. He felt their despair. He heard their soundless cries…their undefined and unspoken longings.

They were a mixed bunch. Some hung on every word, others examined, criticised, judged His words. Some were delighted, others enraged by His teachings. Some attacked Him, only to be confronted with the truth they hated to hear. Jesus warned…

John 12:47-49 NIV
[47] “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [48] There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. [49] For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”

To those who listened with earnest hearts, He said,

John 8:31-36 NLT
[31]…“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. [32] And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Still others, incensed by His implication, argued…

[33] “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

With the insight of a skilled physician, Jesus diagnosed…

[34]…“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [35] A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Though the people were not aware of it, their dilemma was neither bondage to Rome nor enslavement to their false shepherds. Their bondage was much deeper, within themselves…to sin that enslaved their hearts as surely as prison doors locked wrongdoers into prison cells. The freedom they craved was not freedom from external forces like Roman overlords or religious slave-drivers, but freedom from their own self-destructive lives. As much as they tried, no amount of rule-keeping could ever or had ever achieved real freedom.

Only one thing could ever set them free – truth! Truth frees heart and conscience, regardless of earthly circumstances. When the heart is free, there is nothing of consequence in daily lives that can mar the inward peace of true freedom.

Jesus knew that what the shepherdless people needed was not another shepherd, not another equally lost person to lead them, or more lies to confuse them or more laws to enslave them.

They needed truth to enlighten them, the Good Shepherd of truth to guide them, to show them the way…to freedom from guilt, shame, and fear…to the Father, the only place of perfect peace.

The wisdom of His compassion amazes me. Jesus could have shown His compassion by engaging in great healing and deliverance campaigns. He could have sent His disciples across the land, calling people to “Come and get your miracle!”

Oh, He healed, but not primarily to relieve His people of suffering. He cast out demons, but not specifically to free them from demonic oppression. His works were always bound to His identity and His mission. He came as king to usher in the rule of God and to show His people, by fulfilling every prophetic fingerprint in the Old Covenant, that He was the legally appointed king of God’s kingdom. His works were done to confirm His identity and to build trust in His words so that they would believe in Him and experience the truth that would set them free.

John 14:11 NIV
[11] “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

God’s nation, for centuries since Abraham, their founder, had been led astray by a lying, deceiving usurper and his minions. The devil had convinced them, despite God’s intimate involvement with them, that they could sidestep God’s rule and set up their own laws and standards. In fact, the less they were obliged to live righteously, the better, so they thought.

Together with the surrounding nations and under the influence of their kings and rulers, they threw off God’s protective yoke, worshipped the gods of their imagination, and sank into the worst of depravity. The results were catastrophic.

Instead of reflecting God’s nature to the surrounding godless nations by obedience to His covenant, they reflected the wickedness of the gods they worshipped. Depraved, enslaved, and condemned, they came under the same wrath as those who were not in covenant with God.

The descendants of these same people dragged behind them, like a ball and chain, the terrible legacy of their ancestors. Then, to add to their enslavement, they were ruled by religious bullies who enforced on them more rules than they had ever tried to escape in their past.

Yes, Jesus had chosen His fight, not to confront every issue but to give His people the keys that would open their own prison doors. The prophet Isaiah predicted that He open prison doors and set them free.

Isaiah 61:1 NIV
[1] “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners… “

It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus’ heart was broken for His people because of their suffering. To them, the God they were supposed to worship had become, under the influence of their” shepherds”, nothing but the head “bully” of the bullies they feared, a strict disciplinarian who waited to catch them out at every turn for breaking His laws.

There was only one thing that could rescue them from this load of lies they had come to believe. Truth! No amount of healing, deliverance or even feeding at Jesus’ expense could save them from their plight.

So, Jesus “taught them many things”, the epitome of His compassion.

To be continued…

FREEDOM AND REST!

Christian Life, ,

FREEDOM AND REST!

 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus promised that, if we wear His yoke, we will have rest and if we hold to His teaching, we will be set free. Freedom and rest! Isn’t that what people want, especially in today’s world of rush and hurry, and of so much emotional pain and bondage.

It is tragic that many people who say they believe in Jesus are just as stressed and depressed as those who don’t. Believers get divorced, their families break up, their children are rebellious and disobedient, financial struggles happen to them, their businesses fail, they are out of work. Life is tough for them and often doesn’t make sense. Believers often wonder whether following Jesus is worth the trouble, and they ask the question: “Is it possible to be free and at rest in our hearts in spite of being busy with so many things; work, family, trying to survive in difficult times?”

The problem is that we try to live our Christian lives our way and, when it doesn’t work, we blame God. Why did He not do this, that, or the other thing for me? Why didn’t He answer my prayers? Why didn’t He do what I asked? We are disappointed with Him, and we lose faith or even give up.

Now let’s look at the problem from Jesus’ point of view.

We have already learned what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. He said, “Follow me,” not “Come to me and I’ll give you everything you want and make life easy for you.” Why do we have to follow Jesus? Because He is taking us somewhere. He said, “I am the way to the Father.” Why is He taking us to the Father? Because that is our destination.

You see, Jesus came to show us the Father and to take us to the Father because He created us to be His sons and daughters. Sin alienated us from Him and broke up His family. Jesus came to reconcile us to the Father and to re-unite His family so that we can live together in fellowship with Him and with one another. Going to heaven when we die is only a part of the plan. He wants us to learn to live together as a family here and now.

So, following Him and wearing His yoke is the way we learn to be God’s family in this life first before we go to be with Him forever.

The next part of our journey is to find out what Jesus wants from us and for us so that we can do His will here on earth. When the people in the world see how human beings ought to live, and the rest and freedom that living God’s way brings to us, they will be attracted to Jesus and convinced that He really is the Son of God. He wants us to invite them back into His family where they belong and to share the rest and freedom that living His way makes possible.

This means that we must understand what Jesus wants us to do and be in the ordinary, everyday, practical things of life; things like the way we treat our enemies, the way we use our money, how and what we pray for, forgiving those who hurt us, and so on.

In the next few blogs, we will study Jesus’ teaching and how to apply it so that we understand what it means to follow Him and wear His yoke. When we do that, He promised that we shall enjoy His rest and experience real freedom; not freedom to do as we like, but freedom to do what is right because that is the way to have rest in our hearts.

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.