Tag Archives: watch

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON!

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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.

The Agony Of The Hour

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THE AGONY OF THE HOUR

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ He said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’ Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. ‘Abba, Father,’ He said, ‘everything is possible to you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ (Mark 14: 32- 36).

It is painful to eavesdrop on a moment like this. How can we ever know what Jesus felt like as He agonised to the Father over the coming ordeal? Up to this point, His announcements to His disciples concerning His death were matter-of-fact and philosophical, but here, in the garden, the reality and inevitability of it all came rushing towards Him like a freight train. He had spent His last precious hours with His disciples. In a few minutes He would be ripped from them and dragged through the streets of Jerusalem to face the hostility and hatred that had festered for so long but was now coming to a head.  

He was human. He needed the reassurance and love of the men into whom He had poured His life for the past three years. He needed their nearness, even if they could do nothing for Him. He needed to know that they were there for Him when He looked around for them in the hostile territory of the enemy. He needed to know that they were still for Him even if the whole world was against Him.

As they walked together through the garden, the full moon lighting their way and casting eerie shadows across their path, Jesus became restless and agitated. They had never seen Him like this before. His usually calm and placid demeanour gave way to anguish and distress. Stopping a moment among the trees, He motioned for His men to stay there while He and His three closest companions went on ahead. Puzzled, they sat down to await His return.

Leaving the three behind on guard while He went a stones-throw from them and dropped to the ground in an agony of groaning, He entreated the Father to save Him from the coming horror. He could feel the hot breath of His betrayer on His cheek as he kissed Him, signalling to the mob that came to arrest Him who the “criminal” was. When they had Him in their clutches, there would be no escape. He would have to decide, then and there, whether He was willing to go through with it or not. There was still time for Him to slip away, as He had done in the past because His hour had not yet come. This was His hour. What would He do?

In characteristic fashion, Jesus turned to the Father. He had never acted outside His will, not for a second throughout His sojourn on earth, and He was not about to do so now. It must, as always, be the Father’s decision. He ached for release, but He would bow to the Father’s will, no matter what. Perspiration dripped from His brow, staining the soil around Him red with the bloody sweat.

Addressing His beloved Father in the most tender and intimate terms of endearment, ‘Abba,’ He pleaded for release. “Let this cup pass from me.”  What cup? There is a “cup” which everyone must drink. It is either a cup of suffering – a cup of God’s wrath, or a cup of salvation. For Jesus, it was the cup of God’s wrath, not just a cup, but the cup, the one that must be drained to the dregs for the sin of the whole world so that those who believe in Him would have no other cup to drink but the cup of salvation.

What was the cause of Jesus’ agony? Was it the thought of the physical pain that lay ahead of Him? Perhaps, but I believe that He faced something far worse than that. For the holy and perfect Son of God to be made sin for us must have filled His soul with revulsion. For Him to falter through the ordeal for even a second, to take His eyes off the Father and react like a mere man, would have doomed Him to eternal death like the rest of mankind.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. (Heb. 5:7-9)

This was the moment! It was now that He had to decide, and with the decision, seal His own eternal destiny and the destiny of all mankind which hung on His choice. Listen to His heart. Yet not what I will, but what you will. The Father said nothing, and Jesus knew what His answer was. It had been planned from the beginning of creation.

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 in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my Blog site – www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

 

 

God Is Raising Up The Babylonians

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GOD IS RAISING UP THE BABYLONIANS

Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am doing something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honour . . . (Hab. 1: 5-7).

Imagine that! God – raising up the Babylonians! As if things weren’t bad enough within the country so that the ordinary people were being harassed and oppressed by their own overlords, now God tells the prophet that He is raising up oppressors who would be even worse than those within the country.

He proceeded to describe the Babylonians to Habakkuk, as though the prophet were not already fully aware of how cruel, ruthless and greedy the new threat was. And God said He was doing it?

Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand (Hab. 1:8-9).

Invincible and unstoppable! It’s as though Habakkuk could see this horde in his imagination – like wild animals preying on the weak and helpless, swooping down, snatching and devouring at will. The Babylonians was hungry for power and greedy for the plunder they could seize after each victory, enriching themselves on the possessions of their conquests.

Their army was well trained and well equipped. They had the most modern of the war machinery of their day and they used every piece with skill and accuracy. They had the best horses and horsemen and, most of all, there were no rules as far as the enemy was concerned. Whom they did not kill they enslaved and took captive to Babylon.

They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on – guilty people whose own strength is their god (Hab. 1: 10-11).

This nation had no respect for authority and were unhindered by the puny efforts of their targets to defend themselves. They wanted what they wanted and they stopped at nothing to get it.

“Babylon” stood for everything greedy, immoral, vicious and ungodly in the ancient world. Babylon stands for the anti-Christ system that still operates in the world today. Babylon is the counterfeit bride of Revelation, the scarlet woman who masquerades as the “bride of Christ” – the false church that is in bed with the world system and embraces the same ambitions as the Babylonian Empire which God was raising up in Habakkuk’s day, greed for wealth and power. Babylon is the ruler within the hearts of those who repudiate God’s rule in their hearts.

Just imagine how horrified Habakkuk must have been at this astonishing disclosure! He must surely have anticipated a comforting revelation from God. “Don’t worry, Habakkuk. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll make it all right so that you can settle down to a comfortable and peaceful life together with your own people.” But it just does not work that way.

There is a Babylonian “invasion” in every nation and every life. It does not matter to which country we belong. The human race is rotten to the core and wickedness prevails everywhere. There is no escaping it, but God’s solution is by raising up the Babylonians. How else can He bring His people back to Himself? God works, not by forcing His standards on people from without but by causing people to think and make choices from within by tasting the consequences of rejecting Him.

He gives us what we want so that we can understand the outcome of our choices. The Israelites chose to worship idols, so He gave them what idolatry offered – death to many through war and captivity to the rest in a land where people lived like the idols they worshipped. This was the only way to teach His people where their idolatry was taking them – down the pathway to destruction.

What are the “Babylonians” in your life – those people who oppress you and whom you fear and hate, and those circumstances which you cannot change? God put them there, believe it or not, for a reason, not to destroy you but to awaken you to the consequences of worshipping and relying on any substitute for God. Allegiance to anyone or anything less that God will lead you to captivity and destruction.

Your “Babylonians” are a wake-up call from the Lord. He wants to rescue you, not destroy you, although His ways seem harsh. His goal is for your good. Like Jeremiah, He calls you to submit to His “Babylonians” because He has a restoration plan for you and it is good, but He must purge your heart of idols first before He can reign within you without a rival.

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

Beware Of The Trap!

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BEWARE OF THE TRAP!

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can have pride in himself alone without comparing himself to someone else, for each one should carry his own load.” Galatians 6:1-5

Now here’s a delicate situation. A fellow believer falls into temptation and you know about it. What to do you do? You have two options; leave it alone and don’t interfere or go to the person and point out that his or her behaviour is wrong. Paul said that you have an obligation to do the latter if you are being led by the Spirit.

But there’s a danger in doing that; the temptation to have a superior attitude because you have not done what he has done is very real. Instead of helping your brother to come clean and turn away from sin, you have now added your sin to his. The problem is that your sin is hidden in your heart and is far more subtle than his, whatever he has done.

Helping a brother or sister get back on the path is an act of love, not interference. That’s how Jesus wants us to treat one another because He knows that sin is destructive and alienates the person who sins from Him and from His body. But a superior attitude is equally sinful and destructive. We have to be constantly on guard against pride – the attitude that we are better than the person we are trying to help, or the false notion that we will never do what they have done.

Paul counselled: “Watch your heart. You can easily deceive yourself. You have the same sinful nature as his. You may not do what he did but you have the same potential to give in to temptation as he has.” Test your motive. Paul said, “Restore him gently.” When we remember that we stand on level ground before the cross, we have no reason to think we are better than anyone else. Don’t talk down to him. Get under the load with him and lift him up.

That leads to another thought. Paul seemed to be contradicting himself when he said, “Carry each other’s burdens,” and then, “Each one should carry his own burden.” What did he mean? When we come alongside another who has fallen, lift him up, dust him off and help him to continue on his way, we have shouldered the “burden” of his weakness with him. We have helped him acknowledge his sin, and turn away from it, and we continue to walk with him until he is strong enough to continue.

However, we carry a “burden” of responsibility which is ours alone; the responsibility of supporting a weaker brother but, even more than that, the responsibility of being honest with ourselves and honest about ourselves. If we live in self-deception, we will be as weak and vulnerable to sin as the brother we have tried to help. No one can carry that burden for us. It is ours alone.

Jesus was aware of the human tendency to independence. Before He went to the cross, He spent His last precious hours with His disciples coaching them to receive and rely on the Holy Spirit who would take His place as their Helper and Counsellor. He would reside in them and continue what Jesus began – teaching them and leading them into the truth.

They were to learn, through the Holy Spirit, to “remain in Him,” an imperative lesson because, He said, “…apart from me, you can do nothing.” Keeping our connection with the vine requires honesty. We have an obligation to help a fellow believer who is living in denial and self-deception, but we also have an obligation to keep ourselves free of the very same self-deception that tripped our brother up. We can only do this by keeping short accounts with God.

Our walk together with others in the body of Christ can be messy at times; we clash; we expose; we weep; we bleed, but in the end there is one purpose in it all – to clear away the dirt that clings to us and the obstacles that hinder us from what Jesus prayed for – that we may be one as He and the Father are one.

Our motive, then, for helping a fallen brother is not to lord it over him but to restore him so that the Body of Christ remain intact and not fractured by sin that destroys unity and leaves us vulnerable to the devil’s wiles.

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.