Tag Archives: reconciliation

THE BOOK OF ACTS – MASTER AND MESSIAH

Bible Study, ,

MASTER AND MESSIAH

“‘For David himself did not ascend to heaven, but he did say,

“God said to my Master, ‘Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies a stool for resting your feet.'”

“All Israel then know this: There’s no longer room for doubt — God made Him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.'” Acts 2:34-36 (The Message).

Master and Messiah — Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified! It was all finally out in the open. How many times had the Pharisees demanded of Him, “Who are you?” and yet they had swept aside all the evidence and rejected His witness.

There must surely have been many of those same Pharisees in the crowd that day, listening to the same man who had cowered in the shadows and slunk around the courtyard trying not to be noticed. From where did this boldness and confidence come?

Now it was not Jesus claiming to be the Christ but His followers that were making these outrageous claims about a man whom they had sentenced to death for blasphemy. Instead of going away, their nightmare was getting worse. Now they were in the firing line for putting the Messiah to death and they had nowhere to hide.

What was far worse was His followers’ claim that He had actually come back to life and, what’s more, they had seen Him and spoken with Him. The religious leaders had tried hard to avoid any comeback after Jesus was crucified. They had secured the tomb with a Roman seal and a Roman guard. There was no possibility that the disciples could have removed His body and buried it somewhere else to perpetrate this hoax.

What’s more, no one could deny the transformation that had happened to this Galilean peasant mob. They had no explanation for that! Peter had the audacity to bring them into the limelight for killing Jesus. And they could not wriggle out of it. After all, had they not thoughtlessly and brazenly called down His blood on their heads and the heads of their descendants? They had no idea that it would boomerang on them so quickly.

But what was Peter’s intention, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Was it to “name and shame them” or was it to call their attention to the God with whom they had inadvertently partnered to bring about Jesus’ death as an atoning sacrifice for their sin?

In one brilliant declaration, Peter called them to account and offered them the solution to their guilt. The very one whom they had condemned to death and crucified was now offering them a new start through the gift of His life for theirs.

Peter showed them (and us) that God was not interested in naming and shaming them. He called them to account so that they would first own their guilt and then receive the forgiveness and cleansing He offered them through His death. Owning up and taking responsibility for their actions were the first steps towards a brand new life.

Jesus offers us the same gift if we will own our guilt — our part in condemning Him to death and nailing Him to the cross. Through Jesus’ magnificent resurrection, God assures us that He is both Master and Messiah. We can safely entrust our guilt and our lives to Him.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NIV).

Jesus Did Not Say That We Must Be Peace-keepers

Apologetics, , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WE MUST BE PEACE-KEEPERS

There is a huge difference between being peacemakers and peace keepers. What did Jesus say?

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt. 5: 9-12)

This chiasm has been arranged a little differently. The central thought has been put first.

 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.

Once again, to understand this chiasm, we must go back to its use in Scripture. There are only two places in the New Testament where the term, “making peace” is used, apart from here.

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and though Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross. (Col. 1: 19-20).

Through His shed blood, Jesus reconciled to God everything in the universe that was alienated from God through Adam’s disobedience.

Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth . . . were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.  (Eph. 2: 11-16)

Wow! Can you see how deep the roots of peace-making go? There can never be peace between God and man and between man and man outside of the sacrifice Jesus made to reconcile us to the Father by doing away with the reason for the hostility. Sin alienated us from God, an impenetrable barrier that we could not nothing about.

There was only one solution – a perfect sacrifice made by a perfect son. God demands death as the penalty for sin, but every sinner must pay for his own sin. Only a sinless human could pay the debt for all sin, and Jesus was that sinless human.

Reconciliation, then, is not about bringing warring parties together. Reconciliation is about dealing with the cause of the war. God did that through His Son, so that there is no more reason for people to be alienated from God or from one another. The roots of the hatred between the races lie in the problem of alienation between God and man because of sin. Racial hatred will never be removed apart from the cross. It cost Jesus His own blood to do away with the hostility and make peace between God and man and between man and man.

Where does persecution fit into the picture? Human beings are not neutral in their attitude towards God. Because of our natural bent towards rebellion, we are at enmity with God. There is deep-rooted hatred of God and anything that has to do with Him. Why was Jesus crucified? Because of man’s hatred for God!

Those who represented self-help religion in Jesus’ day, the leaders of His people, the religious leaders, rejected Him because He showed them what God the Father is really like, and they hated Him for it. How accurately He diagnosed the problem:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. (John 3: 19)

The way people view sin divides the whole world into two camps – those who hate their sin and those who hate God because of their sin. Those who hate their sin readily respond the Jesus and embrace His solution. Those who love their sin are against God and those who are with Him. The outcome is persecution. The sinner can’t do anything to God so he attacks God’s people.

Jesus did not say that persecution is enjoyable. He did say that persecution is a reason to rejoice because it is a sign that we are in good company; those who hate God persecuted the prophets and killed Jesus. We must not be surprised that we come in for persecution as well.

So, what’s the bottom line?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you, on God’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5: 17-20)

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.

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Crazy Mixed-up Guy

Christian Life, ,

CRAZY MIXED UP GUY

“The next morning he got up and went with them. Some of his friends from Joppa went along. A day later they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had his relatives and close friends waiting with him. The minute Peter came through the door, Cornelius was up on his feet greeting him — and then down on his face worshipping him! Peter pulled him up and said, ‘None of that — I’m a man and only a man, no different from you.'” Acts 10:23-26 (The Message).

Cornelius had a lot to learn. His pagan background played havoc with his understanding of the relationship between the natural world and God’s realm of the spirit. In spite of his conversion to Judaism, he had obviously brought with him his belief system of spirits that inhabited nature and used natural phenomena to deal with humans. Not that he still worshipped idols but that he had not completely dissociated himself from his old religious system.

He had not yet realised that human beings are not God. He was so wound up over the angelic visit that he lumped Peter together with the angel as some sort of supernatural being to be worshipped, especially since it seemed that Peter was somehow part of this supernatural realm he had glimpsed. Peter had to pull him up short. ‘No, Cornelius, I’m not in the same category as God.’

Peter was also on a learning curve. He had his own misunderstandings to contend with, not pagan beliefs but religious prejudices and scruples to unlearn. It must have taken a serious decision on his part as well as careful explanation to convince his Jewish companions that this was a God-thing and not his own idea. They must surely have been convinced, not only by Peter’s account of his vision, but of the timing of the arrival of the men from Caesarea.

Cornelius’ expectation spilled over onto family and friends. He was not in this for himself alone. While he was awaiting Peter’s arrival — and he had no guarantee that Peter would come; after all, he, Cornelius was a hated Roman soldier — he got the whole neighbourhood together to share in this message he was anticipating from Peter.

The fact that Peter actually came, together with a contingent of Jewish believers from Joppa, must have overwhelmed Cornelius. Race and prejudice forgotten, he greeted Peter like a brother and Peter reciprocated even before Cornelius had experienced the joy of true Christian brotherhood. Did he fall on his knees, not to worship Peter as God but to honour him as someone greater than himself?

Peter would not accept that kind of obeisance. He was no supersaint. He refused to be elevated above Cornelius, not even as an apostle. He made it clear to this muddled-thinking Roman that he was just Peter with a message from Jesus.

Throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus He made one thing clear — all people stand on level ground before the Father. God has no time for high-minded conceit. We are dead wrong if think that we are better than anyone else, especially on the grounds of human position or achievement. Jesus said, ‘Don’t take or accept titles.’ He resisted people who expected preferential treatment for any reason whatever.

Peter had learned that lesson well. He had been part of the squabbling that went on among the disciples when they were vying for positions in the kingdom of God. Time and again he heard Jesus’ rebuke and His instruction on true greatness. The Spirit of God in him was nurturing His fruit in Peter — among the nine fruit being humility.

With the ground cleared of prejudice and misunderstanding, both parties were ready to focus on the message Peter had to give — the message of Jesus who brings not only reconciliation to God but reconciliation to one another to restore man to man in the family of God.

“For He is our peace, who has made the two one and destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostiliy, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16 (NIV).

Cry For Yourselves

Christian Life, , ,

CRY FOR YOURSELVES

“As they led Him off, they made Simon, a man from Cyrene, who happened to be coming in from the countryside, carry the cross behind Him. A huge crowd of people followed along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they’ll say, ‘Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!’ Then they’ll start calling on the mountains, ‘Fall down on us!’ calling to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’ If people do this to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they’ll do with dead wood?'” Luke 23:26-31 (The Message).

Small talk between Jesus and the women! He’s on His last journey through the city. Exhausted and weakened by the long, sleepless night, the terrible beating He had received from the Roman soldiers, the gruelling trips through the city to Pilate, to Herod and back to Pilate, the incessant chanting and needling by the crowd, He was too weak to carry the crossbar which would support His battered body soon to be suspended on it.

Anyone else in that situation would have had no thought for the people around him. He would have been too preoccupied with his own suffering and what lay ahead to be bothered with the onlookers. Not Jesus!

He was acutely aware of the implications of what they were doing to Him. The women were not. They did not understand the reason for His dying. They saw only a bloodied Jesus, perhaps dear to them because of a loved one released from pain or sickness because of His compassion, perhaps His own beloved following of women among them.

Jesus was moved by their wailing. He understood their sorrow but He also knew something of which they were unaware. He painfully turned towards them. ‘Dear women,’ He said, ‘Don’t cry for me. My suffering is short-lived and has a purpose. Cry for yourselves because what they are doing to me today had far-reaching implications. In three days’ time I will be alive again. But your suffering will have just begun. It will be so terrible that you will wish you had never been born.’

What did Jesus know that prompted these words? Their representatives had judged Him that day but their judgment had decided their own. In the span of one generation they would cease to exist as a nation. Many thousands would be slaughtered in the city until their blood ran like a river in the streets. Their “indestructible” temple would be torn down, its stones scattered like pebbles, its gold and treasures plundered, and the city taken over by Gentiles for almost two thousand years.

They had rejected their Messiah and refused to acknowledge who He was. They had shut their ears to His message and their eyes to His love. They had seen but refused to comprehend His glory, His perfect mirror image of the Father. They thought they knew better and killed Him rather than admit they were wrong. Most of all, they were too comfortable in their greed and in their power over the people to think about their future. So they turned justice upside down and declared Him guilty and, by implication, themselves innocent.

The anguish in the heart of Jesus for these women was far greater than their anguish for Him. The outcome for Him was everything He and the Father had planned – resurrection and return to the Father, and reconciliation that would bring His alienated sons and daughters back to Himself.

But the way back to the Father is to believe and receive His offer of forgiveness and restoration. ‘Your sin did this to me, but my death will set you free from the debt you owe me if you accept what I did for you and return to the Father.’

Come And Eat With Me

Christian Life, , ,

COME AND EAT WITH ME!

“The Day of Unleavened Bread came, the day the Passover lamb was butchered. Jesus sent Peter and John off, saying, ‘Go prepare the Passover for us so we can eat it together.’

“They said, ‘Where do you want us to do this?’

“He said, ‘Keep your eyes open as you enter the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him home. Then speak with the owner of the house: The Teacher wants to know, ‘Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-storey room, swept and ready. Prepare the meal there.’

“They left, found everything just as He told them, and prepared the Passover meal.” Luke 22:7-15 (The Message).

Luke’s story has an air of anticipation about it. Jesus was expecting something to happen and His disciples were caught up in the atmosphere. Other Passover celebrations had come and gone but this one was going to be different.

Did Jesus make a secret arrangement with a friend for a venue for His last meal with His disciples? Was He giving instructions to His disciples because of His divine foreknowledge or was He, once again, simply following His Father’s instructions as He said He always did?

Eating together had significance but there was special meaning in the Passover meal. The children of Israel were on the threshold of their great redemption. They were packed and ready to go, waiting only for the signal to make their escape from Pharaoh and his powerful army. Moses issued one more challenge, this time hitting at the heart of every Egyptian family, from Pharaoh down to the least slave – their firstborn sons! This one made its mark and Pharaoh finally consented to let Israel go.

But why stop to eat a meal before they left? There was a great deal of meaning and symbolism in the Passover meal: blood on their doorposts was an expression of faith in God’s promise of protection; they trusted in the blood of a sacrificial lamb to save them; they ate unleavened bread because there was no time to allow their dough to rise; bread without yeast symbolised eradication of sin from their lives, and so on.

Perhaps a part of the meaning of Passover is not understood, especially by non-Jews who do not know the cultural background of Jewish practices. Middle-eastern people are very hospitable. Eating together has great significance for them. The Hebrew word for “meal” is shul and a table – shulkan. But shulkan also means “reconciliation” and “lamb skin”. Combine these ideas and you have a beautiful picture of the significance of Passover.

If you do not have a table – shulkan – you use a lamb skin – shulkan – as a picnic blanket, but you could not eat a meal together if you had issues with each other. Hence the table – shulkan – which was a lamb skin – shulkan – became the symbol of reconciliation – shulkan. As families embarking on a very long journey, they could not travel unless they were reconciled – no issues to cause division on the way – and reconciliation were only possible because of the sacrifice of a lamb.

Put Jesus and His disciples into that picture and the Last Supper begins to tell its own story. Perhaps the most poignant message on that occasion was a tender invitation from Jesus, ‘Judas, I know what you have done but I have forgiven you. I do not hold it against you. You have to bear the responsibility of your treachery but there is a way back if you repent.’

To Peter and the other disciples who would all fail Him, Jesus was saying, ‘Come and eat with me. I have no issues with you.’ In Revelation 3:20 He says to everyone who has wandered away from Him, “‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.'”