Tag Archives: servants

CONVINCED?

July 3, 2021Bible Studybelieved, servants, the boy was livingLuella Campbell

CONVINCED?

“While he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that the boy was living.

“When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’

“Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and his whole household believed. This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.” John 4:51-54 (NIV).

The second sign? What was the first sign?

Just as God kicked off His creation story with a wedding, John records how Jesus began His miracle ministry at a wedding. After the first wedding, man messed things up but Jesus came to begin the process all over again. He turned water into wine, the best wine, as a sign that He had come to reunite people with God in a union as close as a marriage, and it would be a good marriage, filled with the wine of God’s Spirit. John was selective about the stories he recorded because he wrote with a specific purpose in mind. Each miracle he recorded which he called “a sign”, ended with a response of faith in those who were involved in it or those who witnessed it.

Why did he call them “signs”? A sign points to something. The purpose of John’s gospel was to point to Jesus as the Son of God so that His people would believe in Him. “Jesus performed many other signs, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in His name.” John 20:30, 31 (NIV).

John left his readers in no doubt as to the purpose of his book. It was not just an interesting and well-written story. It was about a man who was more than a man, the God-man, the Son of God and the one chosen and anointed by the Father to represent and reveal Him to the world so that the facts would speak for themselves of who He was.

The sick boy’s father believed that Jesus could heal his son and acted on His instruction, ‘Go home. Your son will live.’ Jesus did not need to be physically present to heal his son. The confirmation came when he learned that the miracle happened at the exact moment when Jesus had spoken the words, ‘you son will live.’

Why was this another sign? To what did it point? Jesus made claims beginning with “I AM” which incensed His enemies because they recognised how outrageous His claims were if they were not true. Since His opponents had already decided that He was a blasphemer and refused to weigh up the evidence, every time He said, ‘I AM’ was another nail in His coffin. This “I AM” was His witness to His authority and power to heal.

But, while they refused to be convinced, there were those who responded with simple faith to the miracles that were a witness to whom He said He was.

In the Jewish legal system, there had to be two or three witnesses in a court of law for an accusation to be valid. When the Pharisees accused Him of blasphemy, He called His witnesses — John bore witness to Him, the Father bore witness to Him and His miracles were signs to point to the validity of His claims.

His first miracle at the wedding in Cana in Galilee bore witness to His claim to be the source of the new wine of the Spirit. His healing of the dying boy in Capernaum spoke of His power to give new life to those who are dead in their sin. On both occasions Jesus did nothing more than speak the word and the miracle happened. John’s introduction to Jesus in the first sentence of His gospel was, “In the beginning was the Word…”

As the story of Jesus unfolds, John gathers evidence and piles on witness after witness to show his readers rhat the absolute authenticity of Jesus’ words…miracles…responses…all point to the same thing; this man, Jesus, is none other than the Messiah, the Son of God. However, the Jews in the main still rejected Him. Why? It was their choice.

What’s yours?

Acknowledgement

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

January 12, 2020Bible Studygetting drunk, maltreating, servantsLuella Campbell

WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT

“But if he says to himself, ‘The master is certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least expects it, give him the thrashing of his life and put him back in the kitchen peeling potatoes.” Luke 12:45, 46.

What is this imagery all about? This story reveals some serious flaws in the manager’s character and thinking.

Flaw number one: He forgot who he was. In a previous meditation we exposed the faulty thinking that puts title above function. This man forgot that, as a manager, he was supposed to do what managers do. Being manager of the household did not give him licence to behave as he pleased. It carried with it the responsibility of fulfilling the functions of a manager faithfully.

Believers in Jesus are first of all, sons of God. That is not a title, it’s a function. It’s who we are. We have a privileged position in God’s household but with it comes the function of sonship, representing our Father to the world. We can never abuse that privilege by doing as we please because that would cancel out who we are.

Flaw number two: His position was only a veneer. What do I mean? He functioned according to who was watching him. As long as the master was around, he did what he was supposed to do but, when the master left him in charge, he exposed his true nature.

How tragic when God’s people behave like that! This reveals a ‘Pharisee’ mask, playing to the crowd as long as the right people are watching. To be a son of God is to be like Jesus in our inner core, no matter who is watching. It’s to be who we are in private, and to function according to who we are because of our attachment to our Master.

Flaw number three: His old nature was covered, not transformed. His old, selfish nature was masked by his position. He carried out his duties as a manager, caring for the master’s household, but underneath, he was lazy and selfish. As soon as the opportunity presented, he reverted to his old self, dropped his inhibitions, partied and abused alcohol and people, wasted his master’s resources and made a thorough fool of himself.

The true test of sonship is the answer to the question, What do we really want to do? Are we repulsed by the thought of doing the things we used to do in our old way of life or is there a hankering after those things which is masked by our veneer of faith in Jesus? How do we react in a crisis? Does our old nature pop back up without our thinking about it or do we respond out of the peace of God which supernaturally rules in our hearts?

Flaw number four: He forgot that the master was coming back and that he was accountable to him. He was only living for the pleasure of the moment and forgetting that every action had a consequence.

This can be a serious flaw in our thinking if we don’t learn to step back and take the long look at life. Jesus is the perfect example of a person who lived with both this life and the life to come in mind. Without this mind-set, He would never have gone to the cross. Hebrews 12:3 puts in it a nutshell. “…who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Flaw number five: He did not value his position enough to put it ahead of temporary pleasure. This response to temptation exactly reflects Adam’s choice in the Garden of Eden. He did not value his relationship with God enough to guard it at the expense of selfish desires. What he lost was unspeakably tragic. And the same with the man in the story.

This should be our motivation above everything else for being faithful to our calling, whatever that is. We are sons and daughters of God, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Why would we want to forfeit that for the sake of satisfying our temporary and transient urges?

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

January 8, 2020Bible Studyservants, waiting, watchLuella Campbell

KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

“Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake and so blessed.” Luke 12:35-38.

Jesus often spoke to His disciples about being watchful and ready for His return. Unlike religion which is about rules and ritual, He was talking about a real situation – like servants awaiting their master’s return after his wedding. We must take note of the word ‘like’. Of course it would be impossible to stay awake day and night, year in and year out, waiting for Him to come back! That is not what He meant.

How must we understand what He meant by ‘Keep your shirts on; keep the lights on!’? Let Jesus be His own interpreter.

He told a parable about five wise and five foolish virgins who were awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom for his wedding feast. He took so long to come that they all fell asleep. When the bridegroom finally arrived at midnight, five of the virgins were ready to go in to the wedding feast because they had enough oil to refill their lamps which had gone out. The other five begged oil from their companions but were refused. They were sent to buy their own but, while they were away, the door to the wedding feast was closed and they were refused entry when they returned.

This parable is often erroneously interpreted to mean than the oil represents the Holy Spirit. We are urged to be full of the Holy Spirit so that, when Jesus returns, we will be ready to join Him at the wedding feast. The five foolish virgins missed the wedding because they were not ‘spirit-filled’ and could not go in with the bridegroom because they had to go out and seek the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

In this parable, the oil represents ‘tsidaqahs’, the righteous acts of which John speaks in Revelation 19:7,8 (NIV) – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints).

The five wise virgins were those who had practised the generosity which God’s way of living had taught them, and were therefore ‘ready’ to go in to the wedding feast with the bridegroom. The foolish virgins had no ‘tsidaqahs’ – righteous deeds with which to refill their lamps. It was too late to go out and do their tsidaqah’s because the bridegroom had come and the doors were shut. This interpretation is compatible with the context which we have been examining in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel. It is also in line with the whole drift of Jesus’ life, ministry and teaching.

Again I must emphasize that He was not teaching that we are saved by good works but, like James, He makes it clear that, if we don’t live out our faith in the kind of generosity which reflects the Father’s heart, we are not ‘ready’ go in to the wedding feast. When we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven by being generous with the resources God has entrusted to us to steward for Him, our lamps will be full of ‘oil’ or, as John describes in Revelation 19, we shall be wearing the bridal gown of righteousness which will qualify us to share in the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Watch!

August 24, 2015Bible Studyalert, day and hour, in charge, no one knows, servantsLuella Campbell

WATCH!

‘But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert. You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away. He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

‘Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back – whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ (Mark 13: 32-37).

How could Jesus claim to be God and yet not know when He would return? Was He contradicting Himself? Was He or was He not God?

We must understand His statement in the context of His humanity, and also as wedding talk! After a Hebrew bride and groom had drawn up and signed their marriage contract – ketubah – the bridegroom would tell his bride, “I am going to prepare a place for you and, when my father approves of the bridal chamber, I will come again to take you to where I am.” She would respond, “When will you come for me?” and he would reply, “No one knows the day or the hour except my father.”

Does that sound familiar? Of course, Jesus was talking to them, in the language of a wedding that He intended to return for them when the Father sent Him back to claim His bride. One of the great themes of the Bible is a wedding. God chose Israel to be His bride, but she broke her betrothal promise time and again by committing adultery with the gods of the surrounding nations. God eventually “divorced” her by sending her away into captivity in Babylon.

Once again, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus proposed to His followers; they accepted, and the church became the bride of Christ – betrothed to her Bridegroom and awaiting the wedding when He returns. The Book of Revelation describes that great event – the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad, and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.’ (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people – Rev. 17: 6-8).

Did you get that? When Jesus repeated, over and over again, that His disciples must be ready, what did He mean? How can we be sure that we are ready for His return? It does not mean, as some have done, that we must quit our jobs, stockpile supplies and hide in a cave in the mountains to watch for His return. That is a foolish way to interpret what He wants of us.

To be ready means to be doing what He called us to do, faithfully, until He comes. What did He call us to do? He called us to be replicas of Him where we are, in our homes, at work, in society – showing mercy to all people because God has shown mercy to us. He called us to follow Him – to be His sons and daughters in the midst of His enemies, walking in the light of His Word and showing the path to others so that they, too, will return from their wicked ways and walk in obedience to God’s instructions.

The “bridal gown” which the bride was given to wear, in John’s vision of the future, is a picture of the lives of God’s faithful people. Fine linen symbolises the lives of those who follow Jesus – filled with deeds of mercy and compassion as a witness to the transformation of their hearts by God’s grace – from greed and wickedness to generosity – because the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in their hearts.

Like the five foolish virgins in Jesus’ parable, those who have neglected to take care of the needs of others will be shut out of the wedding celebration when the Bridegroom returns. He will reject their plea to open the door because He did not know them. They were strangers to Him because they were not like Him.

Jesus’ warning that they must be ready was to alert His disciples to their role in the kingdom of God as they await His return – not to become lazy or neglectful, or to return to their old ways but always to remain on the alert because the Master’s return will be unexpected. Like a homeowner who went away and left his servants in charge to see that the household continued to run smoothly in spite of his absence, they were to keep doing what they were assigned to do up to the very last moment.

In the interim, we are not to sleep but to be alert and to keep watch.

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A Church Is Born

November 12, 2014Bible Studygrace, Paul, peace, Philippi, servants, TimothyLuella Campbell

A CHURCH IS BORN

“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God’s people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:1.

Today we embark on a journey through another of Paul’s letters, this time one with a completely different tone and motive from his letter to the Galatians. The people of the Galatian church had been influenced by the Judaizers to believe that they needed to become Jews by adhering to all the Jewish laws and customs before they could become followers of Jesus. Paul had to write a very strong letter to them straighten up their understanding of the gospel.

His letter to the Philippian church, by contrast, was a happy one, prompted by deep love for the people in Philippi who were the first on European soil to believe in Jesus. They had been generous to Paul, sending him financial help on more than occasion. He wrote to thank them and to encourage them in their faith despite the odds stacked against them in the Roman Empire. Paul himself was a prisoner in Rome at that moment, having been sent from Jerusalem for trial before Caesar.

Paul was evangelising in Asia Minor on his second missionary journey when he had a vision. He was in Troas, having been prevented from travelling north by the Holy Spirit. In his vision he saw a man from Macedonia, a province in Greece, calling him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Assuming that it was God’s Spirit speaking to him, he responded immediately and set sail into a new region.

His first convert in Macedonia was a wealthy Greek woman, Lydia, who lived in Philippi. She and some other women who believed in God, met for prayer beside a river outside the city. Paul and his travelling companion, Silas, joined them and Paul grabbed the opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Lydia’s heart was moved by the Holy Spirit. She believed in Jesus and was baptised. She offered her home to the travellers and they remained with her during their stay in Philippi.

Philippi was also the place of unexpected miracles. Paul and Silas were detained for releasing a slave girl from bondage to a demon. The resultant uproar stirred up by the slave girl’s owners who had just lost their source of income because Paul had evicted the demon who used the girl to tell fortunes, landed Paul and Silas in the city jail, fastened in the stocks and brutally mutilated by a whipping.

In their pain and discomfort they could not sleep. Instead of complaining about the injustice they were suffering, they began to sing. An unexpected earthquake rocked the prison, burst open the doors and set all the prisoners free. The outcome was another miracle. The jailer took the two men home, washed and cleaned them up, treated their wounds, fed them and listened with astonishment to the gospel. He and his whole family believed and were baptised there and then, adding another whole family to the infant church in Europe.

They were released from prison the next morning, and escorted from jail by the very magistrates who had sentenced them, having been informed by Paul that they had mistreated Roman citizens. Thus began the strong relationship that Paul had with the church in Philippi. Lydia’s house became the centre of the fellowship there.

Paul gives us a small insight into the leadership of the church. He mentions overseers (elders) and deacons. These were not so much offices as functions. There seems to have been a plurality of elders – a wise safeguard against dictatorship which can so easily creep into the church. There was also a group of people who served, called deacons. We can glean the function of a deacon from Acts 6 where men were chosen to serve food to the widows in the church in Jerusalem.

There was no pomp and ceremony in the early church. Everyone was equal, even those who led and those who served. Their leaders were servant-leaders, carrying a great responsibility to ensure that the people were guided by the word of God and were walking in the truth. According to Peter, the role of the elders was to give themselves to the study of the word and to prayer. It was their task to understand and interpret Jesus’ yoke according to His disposition and to bind it on the people, loosing them from every other yoke that brought them into, or kept them in bondage.

How far the church in many quarters has wandered from its original pattern. It is up to us to return to the simplicity of Jesus’ call, “Come, follow me!”

Ebenezer Family Church

HE IS RISEN!