Tag Archives: ‘sinners’

IN THE NICK OF TIME!

Bible Study, ,

IN THE NICK OF TIME!

“You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will one die for a righteous person, though for a good person one might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.” Romans 5:6-9.

Can one person die for another? Of course! On many occasions all over the world, people have given their lives to save another.

So what was Paul saying? Was Jesus’ death any different? In what way did He give His life to save others? There was no emergency or crisis where He intervened to put His life on the line to rescue someone in danger.

There is a much greater parallel between one human being giving his life to save another and Jesus laying down His life to save us. It is one thing to rescue someone from physical death and quite another to save the whole human race from spiritual death. No human being can do that, but Jesus could because He was a sinless offering in the place of sinners.

Jesus’ death was the greatest demonstration of God’s love that He could ever have given. It’s one thing to say, “I love you,” and another to show it by giving the life of the dearest person in all the world to you. And even more powerful is that gift when it is given to rescue those who have spat in your face, waved their fist at you and shouted, “Leave me alone! I hate you and I want nothing to do with you!”

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:10, 11.

Jesus’ death achieved much, much more than just the forgiveness of our sins and a place in heaven when we die. This was just the beginning. We were God’s enemies! Imagine being an enemy of God! What hope do we have against Him when He has all the power, all the resources and all the armies of heaven at His disposal to defeat and destroy us? What chance do we have to escape His righteous anger when we have defied Him and broken His holy law?

God saw our pitiful plight and sent His Son to take our place under His judgment so that He could reconcile us to Himself. Forgiveness…reconciliation…two of the many results of what the Jewish leaders and the Romans did to Jesus that day!

But there is more! We have been forgiven and reconciled while we were still God’s enemies. Paul put it this way: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus.” Ephesians 2:13.

God has changed our status from enemies to sons. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1a.

And there’s more! Not only have we been saved from God’s wrath by His death, we have also been saved to a new life by His life. Since Jesus is alive, His life has made it possible for us to live a new kind of life – not the old way of rebellion and disobedience, but a new way of life lived in submission and obedience to our heavenly Father under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

But why should we? What was wrong with our old way of life? Rebellion against God and disobedience to His way brings the disintegration of our lives, both physical and spiritual, the wasting of our potential and the inevitable result of living worthlessly – the rubbish heap! Jesus saved us from that and set our feet on a path back to restoration – the restoration of what God created us to be, sons and daughters made in His image to live for His glory.

And who would not want to brag on God about that!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPELOF MARK – HE SAW LEVI

Bible Study, ,

HE SAW LEVI

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

As Jesus walked along the edge of the lake He saw Levi collecting taxes and Levi saw Him.  What did Jesus value so much in Levi that He called him to follow Him? Did He see a man whose greed had brought everything out of him that was devious and dishonest, now disillusioned with wealth, with a heart yearning for something better? Did He value in him the willingness to leave that all behind to go after God? What did Levi see in Jesus that drew him like magnet?

Why was Jesus comfortable with what the Pharisees called “the riff-raff” – people who made no pretense of being religious; people who didn’t hide their lifestyle but who felt comfortable with Him because He didn’t judge them? He accepted them as they were. The very fact that He ate with them meant that He was at peace with them.

Does that mean that He was comfortable with the way they lived? No, but it was not an issue to Him because He knew that He could offer them a better life and He knew their potential.

He valued the fact that they were who they were. If anything, He was not comfortable with their critics whose lives were equally soiled with sin but it was all hidden under a facade of “holiness”.

What kind of honesty is Jesus looking for? Not the attitude that I am a good-for-nothing worm who is always putting myself down, but an honesty that is willing to own who I am, both good and bad, and place myself in His hands to restore what is broken and clean up what is tamai- unclean – so that I can have transparent fellowship with Him in all circumstances.

As long as our hearts are open with Him and we don’t cover up and pretend, we can journey with Him in the ups and downs because we are going somewhere together and He is leading. He is always with us whether we feel Him or not.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – OLD FRIENDS?

Bible Study, ,

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

OLD FRIENDS?

“By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, ‘He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends….'” Luke 15:1-2.

Strange that Jesus attracted the ‘bad’ and repelled the ‘good’ people! Can it be that He had a different way of evaluating people from the way we do? Certainly, the Pharisees did not see eye to eye with Him regarding the ‘sinners’ He considered His friends. Why were the Pharisees so incensed by His eating with the riff-raff?

Eating a meal with someone had great significance. The Hebrew word for a meal is shul, while the word derived from the root, shul, is shulkan, which means ‘table’, ‘reconciliation’ or ‘a lamb’s skin’. The imagery is beautiful. Where there was no table, they would put a lamb’s skin on the ground as a ‘picnic’ blanket. A lamb had to die for them to eat together. Therefore, to eat a meal with someone meant that you had no issues with that person. You had settled your differences and were now reconciled.

No wonder the Pharisees were upset with Jesus for eating with prostitutes and tax collectors! They did not understand the heart of a merciful and compassionate Messiah. Their idea of ‘holiness’ was isolation from people. Jesus’ holiness separated Him from sin but not from sinners. Yes, God is holy, but He is holy-love. His holiness demands perfection, but His love provides the covering so that we can be reconciled and become His true friends.

The Pharisees regarded themselves as their own standard and they despised everyone who did not live up to their criteria. Jesus offended them because He was not fazed by those they regarded as ‘sinners’. He saw beyond their exterior to hearts that were hungry for God and were willing to listen to Him and who drank in His love and His message of mercy.

Are we any different from the Pharisees? Do we not judge people by their appearance, their social standing, their financial position, their neighbourhood, their achievements, and even their speech and accent? These are only the circumstances of their lives, not the evidence of their intrinsic value as human beings made in the image of God.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called to follow, learn from, imitate and obey our Master. This is an absolute prerequisite for discipleship. One function not entrusted to us is judgment and yet we assume the role of judge for everyone who does not measure up to our value system or self-proclaimed standards. This is dangerous for two reasons; firstly because we have usurped the role that belongs to Jesus alone and, secondly, because the standard we set for others is the standard by which we will be judged.

When we carefully consider the last statement, it should make us tremble because our standards for others are always so much stricter than our standards for ourselves. God’s justice is perfectly just. It is always based on what we choose. Yes, God has objective standards of right and wrong based on who He is, but He gives us exactly what we choose, whether it be obedience to His way or our own way. He knows where each way will end.

The way of the Pharisees with their hoity-toity self-righteousness took them farther and farther from the heart of God and deeper and deeper into the kind of sin that alienated them from God and people. No amount of rebuke or exposure shifted them from their arrogant pride. Not even Jesus could reach their hardened hearts.

God’s word is faithful to warn us of the attitude that thinks we are right and everyone else wrong. When we look at people through the eyes of Jesus, we see, not the sin that scars their souls but the beauty of our Creator God who has packed the potential in each one of us to become a mirror image of Him.

Indignation!

Bible Study, , , ,

INDIGNATION!

When Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.’ (Mark 2: 15-17).

Oh how wrong these guys were! Their perceptions of God were so warped! And of themselves! They conveniently categorised people into “sinners” and “righteous” and, of course, you know which group they fell into. From their point of view, who were the “righteous”? They believed that they were the model of righteousness because they “kept” the law. And their “God” was pleased with them and oh, so displeased with the sinners and tax collectors.

Then Jesus comes along and turns their religion on its head. First He throws demons out and touches lepers. Then He calls all the wrong people to be His disciples. Then He forgives sin as though He were God. Worse still, now He eats with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees knew what that meant. You just don’t eat with people who come from the wrong side of town. To eat with them meant that they were buddies. They had no issues with each other. How could a man who claimed to be God be buddies with those people?

They didn’t have the guts to tackle Jesus, so they tackled His disciples instead. “Why does He eat with the likes of them? Doesn’t He know how it offends us?’ (implied), as though that were the most important consideration. What did it have to do with them anyway? He was free to eat with anyone He chose and was not answerable to them.

Jesus overheard the question and He was indignant. Before the disciples had a chance to put their foot in their mouths, He answered for Himself. He needed no one to defend Him. He didn’t even need to defend Himself but, to get their thinking straight, He put them in their place. “Who goes to the doctor? The sick or the well? I didn’t come to pat well people on the back. I came to bring healing to sick people. It’s obvious that you guys have got it all wrong. You think there’s nothing wrong with you. These people know they are sick, and I can do something for them, but not for you.”

What kind of a God was He representing? One who condoned the sinful lives of the ‘irreligious” people and condemned the ones who tried so hard to impress Him by their “good” lives? They just did not understand. What people could see about them was far more important than what went on inside. It was okay for them to be full of pride about their own achievements and full of contempt for those who didn’t measure up to their standard.

Jesus smartly put them in their place and, once again they had no answer. Round two: Jesus, one; Pharisees, nil. This was getting embarrassing. They should be learning fast that no one takes Jesus on and wins. If they knew what was good for them, they should have kept their mouths shut and their ears open but, unfortunately for them, the lesson was lost on them . . . again!

Just as much as it was embarrassing for the Pharisees, it was encouraging for the ones they despised. Jesus not only ate with the sinners, a sign that He was very comfortable with them and had nothing against them, but He actually defended what He did. It’s no wonder they flocked after Him. No one else championed them, especially not a prominent rabbi like He was.

Don’t let the lesson be lost on us either. Jesus does not condone sin, but He does not condemn the sinner. Every person, apart from what they do, has value to God because He created us in His image. Jesus came to rescue us from destroying ourselves by following our own way. He came to call sinners away from their old stubborn self-will to follow Him. He is the way to Father and He wants to take us to Him . . . whoever we are.

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.

Have you read my new book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (copyright 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

In The Nick Of Time!

Bible Study, , ,

IN THE NICK OF TIME!

“You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will one die for a righteous person, though for a good person one might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.” Romans 5:6-9.

Can one person die for another? Of course! On many occasions all over the world, people have given their lives to save another.

So what was Paul saying? Was Jesus’ death any different? In what way did He give His life to save others? There was no emergency or crisis where He intervened to put His life on the line to rescue someone in danger.

There is a much greater parallel between one human being giving his life to save another and Jesus laying down His life to save us. It is one thing to rescue someone from physical death and quite another to save the whole human race from spiritual death. No human being can do that, but Jesus could because He was a sinless offering in the place of sinners.

Jesus’ death was the greatest demonstration of God’s love that He could ever have given. It’s one thing to say, “I love you,” and another to show it by giving the life of the dearest person in all the world to you. And even more powerful is that gift when it is given to rescue those who have spat in your face, waved their fist at you and shouted, “Leave me alone! I hate you and I want nothing to do with you!”

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:10, 11.

Jesus’ death achieved much, much more than just the forgiveness of our sins and a place in heaven when we die. That was just the beginning. We were God’s enemies! Imagine being an enemy of God! What hope do we have against Him when He has all the power, all the resources and all the armies of heaven at His disposal to defeat and destroy us? What chance do we have to escape His righeous anger when we have defied Him and broken His holy law.

God saw our pitiful plight and sent His Son to take our place under His judgment so that He could reconcile us to Himself. Forgiveness…reconciliation…two of the many results of what the Jewish leaders and the Romans did to Jesus that day.

But there is more! We have been forgiven and reconciled while we were still God’s enemies. Paul put it this way: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away havve been brought near by the blood of Jesus.” Ephesians 2:13.

God has changed our status from enemies to sons. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1a.

And there’s more! Not only have we been saved from God’s wrath by His death, we have also been saved to a new life by His life. Since Jesus is alive, His life has made it possible for us to live a new kind of life – not the old way of rebellion and disobedience, but a new way of life lived in submission and obedience to our heavenly Father under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

But why should we? What was wrong with our old way of live? Rebellion against God and disobedience to His way brings the disintegration of our lives, both physical and spiritual, the wasting of our potential and the inevitable result of living worthless lives – the rubbish heap! Jesus saved us from that and set our feet on a path back to restoration – the restoration of what God created us to be, sons and daughters made in His image to live for His glory.

And who would not want to brag on God about that!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.