Tag Archives: responsibility

THE BOOK OF ACTS – MASTER AND MESSIAH

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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).

Who Was On Trial?

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WHO WAS ON TRIAL?

“When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought Him before their High Council. They said, ‘Are you the Messiah?’

“He answered, ‘If I said yes, you wouldn’t believe me. If I asked you what you meant by your question, you wouldn’t answer me. So here’s what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes His place at God’s right hand, the place of power.’

“They all said, ‘So you admit your claim to be the Son of God?’

‘”You’re the ones who keep saying it,’ He said.

“But they had made up their minds . ‘Why do we need any more evidence? We’ve all heard Him as good as say it Himself.'” Luke 22:66-71 (The Message).

This has to be the strangest court case in history! Jesus was the prisoner and yet His subtle answer to their question and their attempt to force Him into incriminating Himself, exposed their guilt, not His. Their charge, punishable by death according to their religious law, was blasphemy. For them His guilt was cut and dried, if they could get Him to make a confession. ‘If you are claiming to be the Son of God, say it.’

The only witnesses they could produce contradicted one another and, according to Mark’s account, brought an accusation so feeble that their testimony was dismissed. All they could bank on was that Jesus would admit guilt to their charge by His own confession.

His counter charge was: ‘If I am not the Son of God, prove it.’ As the members of the High Council, it was their duty to uphold justice and to do this, they had to provide evidence to support their charge, but they could not produce at least two reliable witnesses.

Jesus turned the tables on them by His reply to their question. ‘If I said yes, you would not believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you would not answer me.’ He dug underneath their hypocritical “justice”, exposed their motive and revealed their wicked hearts. They were not after the truth. They were after an excuse to condemn Him.

Instead of giving them a direct answer, He made a statement which they were forced to weigh up for themselves. Their response would be the verdict on themselves, guilty or not guilty. Their refusal to drop the case drove them deeper into guilt and His resurrection three days later finally sealed their doom.

Once before they were caught in the same dilemma when they came to Him with a trick question, ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?’ His answer took them by surprise. They were expecting Him to get Himself into trouble either with Jewish or Roman authorities. Instead, He put them in their place by reminding them of both their civil and religious responsibilities. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” Luke 20:25b (NIV).

Motive and responsibility – Jesus was big on both these issues. Why we do things is just as important as what we do. Taking responsibility for what we do and why we do what we do is the essence of maturity. Adam and Eve tried to play the “blame game” but it did not work with God. Man has been doing the same thing ever since and it still doesn’t work.

Even though Jesus was found guilty, condemned and crucified, He was the judge in the end, and His accusers the condemned. Yes, Jesus was guilty as charged, guilty of being who He said He was, the Christ, the Son of the living God, and He not only claimed it, He proved it by rising from the dead.

Those who tried and condemned Him were the guilty ones, guilty of prejudice, injustice and treason because they betrayed the God they claimed to serve and condemned to death the Son of God because they refused to recognise and believe in Him.

Too Late!

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TOO LATE!

“When the city came into view, He wept over it.’ If you had only recognised this day, and everything that was good for you! But now it’s too late. In the days ahead your enemies are going to bring up their heavy artillery and surround you, pressing in from every side. They’ll smash you and your babies on the pavement. Not one stone will be left intact. All because you didn’t recognise and welcome God’s personal visit.'” Luke 19:41-44 (The Message).

“Too late!” These are the saddest and most terrifying words ever to fall on human ears! They have been said and will be said in every kind of circumstance, Sometimes they are no more serious than a missed appointment or a missed flight, and can be remedied with a little inconvenience.

But what about those who heard Jesus’ words and witnessed His tears on that day when He rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to declare His right to rule over the hearts of people? Did they even understand or heed what He said?

This incident gives us a glimpse into the heart of God and into the absolute justice of His justice. Because He built into every human being the right and freedom to choose, it follows that every choice we make has consequences, and those consequences are the natural result of our choices.

We don’t like that because we don’t want to take responsibility for what we choose and what follows our choices. We prefer to blame someone else, usually God when some catastrophe overtakes us. A drunken driver causes a serious accident and it’s God’s fault, as though He were behind the wheel of the offending vehicle! An unwanted pregnancy follows irresponsible behaviour and the hapless girl cries, ‘Why did God let this happen?’ as though she were a helpless pawn in His hands!

Jesus saw the terrible destruction of Jerusalem, at the hands of the Romans, looming on the horizon and He wept at the horror of it, knowing that it was unnecessary and avoidable if only His people would have listened to Him, but now it was too late!

The justice of God’s judgment lies in the choices we make. He is not like a heartless tyrant who feels nothing for those he oppresses. He always makes our options clear to us and warns us of the consequences if we choose our own way. The Bible is littered with warnings about the consequences of disobedience.

God treats us like responsible people. He does not beg or cajole. He tells us the truth and warns of the consequences of disregarding His words with the understanding that we listen to Him and heed His words because He does not lie and is true to His own nature.

Israel was a nation with a tragic history of the consequences of defying God’s warnings. Through the prophet Ezekiel He had this to say to them: “The word of the Lord came to me, ‘Son of man, this is what the Lord says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end is now upon you and I will unleash my anger against you. I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. I will not look upon you with pity or spare you…Then you will know that I am the Lord.'” Ezekiel 7:1-4 (NIV).

Only once in history did God come to earth in person to show us what He is really like. He created man in His own image to represent Him on earth but man chose his own way and created a false and distorted picture of God. Throughout history, man made up false religions and worshipped idols that show what man is like.

This was Israel’s opportunity to come back to the truth so that God’s people could become His true representatives again. But they blew it, preferring their own way to the way of truth Jesus taught and demonstrated. They killed him for it, not realising that His very death was the crown of His revelation of God’s true nature. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:16,17 (NIV).

So what option does God have but to give us what we choose? That’s the justest justice ever! Right down to our eternal destiny He says, ‘These are the facts. These are the options. You choose.’

Be Smart

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BE SMART

“‘Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way — but for what is right — using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour'” Luke 16:8-9 (The Message).

The point of this story is not easy to understand. We must not get lost in the details or we’ll end up thinking that Jesus was advocating dishonesty as a way to wriggle out of the awkward situations we create for ourselves. Not at all! What was He really getting at?

Let’s look at the story. A certain farm manager had been feathering his nest at his master’s expense. When he was found out, he had to devise a plan to curry favour with his master’s debtors so that, when he was fired, he would have friends to take care of him. He was too lazy or too proud to lower himself to doing manual labour.

His plan was to reduce the debt of his master’s debtors so that they would be indebted to him. Good plan if you can deal with your conscience! When his master found out what he had done, he was so taken aback that he actually congratulated him on his wily scheme!

Jesus often told stories that highlighted the contrast between the ways of the world and the ways of the kingdom of God. This is one of them. For some strange reason, when we give our lives into the hands of Jesus, we seem to lose our sense of responsibility for some areas of our lives. For example, we ignore God’s economic system, spend all our money and even go into debt like the rest of the world and then naively declare that God will meet all our needs.

Of course God has promised to meet our needs but that promise fits into a framework of responsible stewardship and not wanton spendthrift-ness. God never advocates that we make no provision for our future. He has built into His way of doing money a savings policy that ensures that we and our families are adequately cared for in times of crisis and for the future.

God’s economic policy is built on giving, not hoarding, which ensures that we function in the realm of faith. Generosity is His way of keeping resources circulating. When we give what He asks us to give to make provision for the needs of others, He promises an abundant return on our generosity. In this way we are making deposits into a ‘banking system’ which will not crash with the stock market.

So what does that have to do with this parable? There is a principle in this story which believers need to get hold of. We need to be smart in the ways of the kingdom, just like this crooked manager was smart in the ways of the world, not in dishonesty but in the kind of risky living which takes God at His word and reaches out to take care of the needs of others first, above our own.

The kind of righteousness that really pleases God is not the ‘righteousness’ which looks after its own reputation like the Pharisees’ kind of righteousness – don’t do this and don’t do that. That is sterile ‘do-nothing-ness’. It produces only plastic fruit. Jesus said that life is much more than getting by on good behaviour.

Really living is about risking being generous in every way – not just being generous with our money but being generous with our hearts, forgiving when we have been wronged, loving when we are despised, treating all people with respect and dignity, even if they smell bad, and dying to our own selfish demands and requirements for the sake of others.

So here’s the deal. A crisis in our lives demands a plan of action. Here is the simple principle; to look after your own needs, look after the needs of others and God will step in and take care of yours. Isn’t that just what the crooked manager did? Now that’s really being smart, not streetwise but kingdom wise, because that’s how God’s kingdom works.

Micah, the prophet, put it like this: “…What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV).