Monthly Archives: January 2020

Family ties…

Leave a reply

..one of my brothers came from Judah, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile…They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace..When I heard these things, I sat down and wept..I mourned and prayed..”O Lord, God of heaven..who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him..they are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.”

(Neh 1.2-4, 5&10)

I thank my God every time I remember you…It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

(Phil 1.3,4,7&8)

As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children…For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you…But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you…

For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord..when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory and joy.

But Timothy has ..brought us good news about your faith and love…that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged…For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

(1 Thess 2.6&7, 11&12, 17-20; 3.6-8)

This lengthy extract from the letter of Paul to the young church in Thessalonica – which he had to abandon at short notice to save his life – is a delightful revelation of the warm and affectionate relationship which he had with them. It is touching to read of Paul’s anxiety for them, and his frustration at not being free to return and see that they were holding firm to their faith. Like a parent whose child has recently left home, he is anxious to hear that all is well, and his concern demonstrates his love.

And like any Christian parent, his principal care is that they should “stand firm in the Lord”. With that foundation, they can weather any storm, and endure any persecution, knowing that their eternal future is secure in God’s hands. I can identify with him so deeply in this, as I watch my young adult children making their way independently in life, and pray that in all things, they might seek and know God. They will face joys and sorrows, successes and failures, times of ease and times of dark distress, and my overwhelming desire is that they too might “stand firm in the Lord” – here alone lie security and hope.

One of the glorious things about the family into which we are re-born as believers, is the affection which God gives us for one another, and which places us in community, where our emotional needs are met and we love one another as family. We rejoice in this gift, and nurture the affection, working at it in a persevering and cheerful spirit, in the same way that human families seek to bear with and love one another. This affection is a source of encouragement to us, as we take delight in seeing our ‘family’ growing in faith, standing firm and trusting in God.

We also encourage others by our perseverance in faith, and expressions of love and concern for them. See how Paul delights to hear that the Thessalonians are yearning for news of him, and long to see him again even as he longs for them. The expression of mutual affection is a refreshing, strengthening and gratitude-prompting ministry, as Paul rejoices in God’s faithfulness and promise-keeping.

Nehemiah’s anguished prayer for his fellow-Jews who were struggling and disgraced in Jerusalem expresses his affection, the feeling of one who sees his precious people in trouble. We learn here how to pray for one another when things are hard, when our affection unites us to those who are suffering and we cry out to God on their behalf. Our love for one another is but a pale reflection of God’s love for each precious child, so we can be sure that when we are upset or concerned for others, His heart is even more moved. So when we pray, interceding for them, lamenting their sorrows, we are praying in his will, for their blessing and his glory. He desires that we should serve one another in this way, becoming ever more united in love.

Let us not be afraid to feel and express the affection which we have for one another as God’s children – in words, in actions, and above all in prayer as we give thanks for one another and intercede for one another. We are children of the King, who will not let his little ones be destroyed and who can be trusted to do right at all times.

Living with imperfections..

2 Replies

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me..When..you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways…I will hold you accountable for his blood..Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! ‘”

(Ezek 33.7&8,11)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God..”

(Acts 20.26&27)

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection…Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on…Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice.

(Phil 3.10&12, 4.9)

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith…

(Heb 13.7)

The apostle Paul is revealed through his words – recorded in the book of Acts, and in his pastoral letters to churches and leaders – as a passionate evangelist and church planter, consumed with one desire – to make Christ known across the ancient world. His single-minded pursuit of this goal took him through dreadful suffering and persecution, and enriched his life as he saw God transforming lives through the preaching of the gospel.

Paul was urgent, earnest, and fully aware of the responsibility which God had laid upon him – to call the wicked to repentance and faith through Christ. In his powerful final address to his beloved friends in Ephesus, he declares himself ‘innocent’, a watchman who had fulfilled his calling and warned of the coming judgement and present offer of salvation. No one could accuse him of withholding good news from them; their guilt would be on their own heads for rejecting God’s grace.

Paul knew that he was not perfect, indeed he refers on several occasions to his ongoing weakness and struggle. But, it is not that which defined his ministry, it was his tenacious obedience, and total dependence upon Christ for salvation and acceptance with God. When Paul invites his readers to imitate him, it is not because everything in his life was holy and without fault. Rather it is because he knows it is not, and he has sought on every occasion to model how the believer should conduct themselves in light of that knowledge.

As redeemed sinners, we are free from the fear of sin because we have full forgiveness whenever we need it, and the burden of guilt is taken from us. Our sin no longer defines us, and cannot hinder God in the working out of his purposes. We are on the winning side and although our enemy is powerful, our captain is victorious and our very struggles are – by his grace – working out for our blessing and his glory.

When the writer to the Hebrews invites the reader to imitate their leaders, it is faith which is mentioned, not perfect lives. What is faith? It is the assurance of things not seen – our promised eternal life at home in glory, our future perfection and the full realisation of the sanctifying work of Christ in us. Faith is depending upon God’s promises, and basing our lives on the truth of what he says about us – forgiven, justified, adopted, beloved, glorious. This kind of faith does not pretend that there is no sin left, nor is it obsessed by the fear of sin, but rather it knows the quickest way to the Father’s side, to the mercy-seat, to the fresh cleansing fountain of forgiveness and the strength of Christ in us to resist temptation and if we fall, to get up in confidence that God is with us and we can keep going.

This is how we live with imperfections, by imitating Paul and others who have taught and modelled the christian life for us – as a persevering, a dogged and cheerful obedience which knows that we are not earning salvation, but living in it. This side of death, we cannot know complete freedom from our weaknesses, and from the pain of sin in the world. But we can live free from fear of those things, because Christ has conquered them, has promised that none of them can separate us from him nor prevent the completion of his work.

God grant us a burning desire to be holy for him, total dependance on Christ’s saving work and the Holy Spirit’s power so that as we press on, we will indeed be changed increasingly into the likeness of our glorious captain, to whom be all the praise and honour!

 

Surely, he is worthy!

2 Replies

“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other….Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, ‘ In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength’.”

(Isa 45.22-24)

..Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the  name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Phil 2.9-11)

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation….”to the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

(Rev 3.14&21)

Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?..”See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll…Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne….Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!

(Rev 5.2,5&6, 12)

When I am all at sea, bewildered, afraid and anxious, it is a joy to spend time simply considering the names and titles which Jesus receives in the bible. What comfort it is, to let the authority of his office anchor and settle me; when I choose to hold onto the truth about him against all the tossing and troubling storms of life.

There is simply no one like Jesus. All the most admirable and exalted human beings who ever lived cannot hold a candle to him. Their moral purity, or creativity; their passionate commitment and faithfulness to a cause; their achievements in leadership or development; their victories in war and their statesmanship in peace…all are so much dross when compared with my Lord Jesus.

He is the author of creation, and he will pronounce the great Amen which winds it all up and inaugurates the glorious day of new creating, when God will come to dwell with his perfected people at last, and all the joyous merriment of the ages will be released in the bridal feast and great adventure which our eternal life promises.

He alone is utterly true, and can testify faithfully to us about the God who is clothed in majesty beyond our penetration, and from whose gaze we shrink because he is so pure and holy. In Jesus, and in him alone, we learn what God is – love. Not the saccharine, indulgent variety, but the searing, sacrificial, relentlessly pursuing variety, which knows and sees the need of the beloved, and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Only this Divine lover could give his beloved what was most desperately needed – new life, forgiveness for sin, and the glorious assurance of being utterly accepted and celebrated forever.

As another calendar year begins, the human story of the world around continues to be dominated by fear, greed, pain and darkness – the fruits of the truth about human hearts. No philosophy, education, social strategy or economic prosperity will ever change the truth about the human heart – it takes God to make the heart new, and in this alone lies our hope. So in the beginning of 2020, as the church prevaricates, neglects the gospel and lacks the vision and passion to act, I rejoice that Jesus is at work completing what was begun on the cross.

I may not see the work, but it is there. I may live in an increasingly troubled, and godless society, where an ever higher price is being paid in human pain for the ‘freedom’ to choose life without God. But my faithful and true witness remains; the ruler of creation is not mocked by the pomposity of human pride and achievement. The ‘Amen’ will make all things new and whole, and I cannot fall from his strong hand.

Praise the Prince of Peace

Praise the Wonderful Counsellor

Praise the Son of the Most High

Praise the Resurrection and the Life

Praise the Light of the World

Praise the Friend of Sinners

Praise the Great High Priest

Praise Immanuel, God with us!

A fighter…me?

Leave a reply

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him ……and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth…..Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

(Isa 11.1-5)

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice…He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head…

(Isa 59.15&17)

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

(Eph 4.22-24)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world…Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

(Eph 6.10-13)

I serve a warrior King. My Lord is the ruler of heaven’s armies, the victor in a cosmic battle for the soul of humankind and the glory of God.

My King has given me a new heart – his own heart, beating in time with the heart of God, filled with God’s passionate, persistent, sacrificial love for the world.

My King has given me a new nature – his own nature, his righteousness for my sinfulness; his purity for my pollution; his eternal life, for my living death.

My King has work for me to do – his work, for his glory, in calling sinners to repentance, acting as a responsible steward of his resources, enjoying all the good things he supplies by sharing them with his children and giving him the praise and thanks.

But, I serve a warrior King. And his new nature in me, is also that of a warrior. I am made new to be a soldier in heaven’s army; to obey orders, to put forth my strength in obedience for the sake of my brethren, for those who are in peril, and for the glory of my King. I cannot choose to be a conscientious objector in this conflict, and I cannot choose to dictate a compromise with the enemy.

My King has won the victory, but his enemies continue to wage fierce and merciless war against him, even as they see their final defeat approaching. I am called to stand my ground, to wield my sword in defence and in trust that the foe cannot overturn the victory which is won on my behalf. Christ in me is always and everywhere my strength – I must choose to believe it.

Therefore, when I ‘put on’ my new self – that is, when I choose daily to live out of the truth of my new nature, to act on the basis that I am God’s new creation in Christ – then I must put on the full armour of God. It is not an optional extra for believers who are particularly interested, it is who I am and how I must live.

The biblical imagery of the new life of believers is not meant simply to entertain or amuse us, it is teaching us about the way in which we should live once we have accepted Christ and been adopted into God’s family. We are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, like bridal garments – a picture of how God now sees us, pure and worthy to be called his children. We are priests in his kingdom – a picture of how we now reflect God’s holiness to others, intercede for them and offer spiritual sacrifices. We are different parts of one body – a picture of how we depend upon and should honour one another, serving in love, and sharing in the common life we receive from our head, Jesus the Lord.

And we are warriors, enlisted under Christ our captain to the privilege of serving him in maintaining the prize which Christ has won – the church – against the onslaught of evil. If I choose to hold back from this task, and refuse to recognise my place in the battle line, I become a weakness, a place where the devil can attack – harming not only myself, but the wider community of faith.

I praise God that the victory is won, and that in Christ I have all the resources I need to be a faithful and obedient soldier. I thank God that I am called only to ‘stand’, and that as in prayer I appropriate this armour, making these resources my weapon and defence, so I am inspired and guided by the Spirit, and do my duty. The outcome of the battle rests with God, let me only do my part and leave my safety and the final victory in the hands of the one who has cried “It is finished!” All hail to the King.