Monthly Archives: April 2020

Overflowing…or running on empty?

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Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O Lord.

(Ps 25.4-7)

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

(Rom 15.4-6&13)

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith….. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.

(Heb 10.19-24)

What can I hope for, as a child of God? What can I reasonably expect and depend upon, based on God’s promises and the revelation of his character and his will? The letter to the Romans shows us that our hope is to be encouraged by the narrative of scripture, and refined through endurance – it is based on the absolute trustworthiness of God, who did not keep back his own son but gave him up to be a sacrifice of atonement for us. Such love, argues Paul, will not deceive us, will not let us down, but will fight to keep us safe until we are united with Christ in glory…He who promised, is faithful and so we may hope – stubbornly, desperately at times, but always.

While I may not hope for an easy life; I can and do hope that at every stage, I am in God’s eye, and he is working to bless me, and bring glory to himself through my circumstances.  I can hope that although I may not perceive it, I am growing in faith and maturity, and fruitfulness in God’s sight. I may hope and be at peace, knowing that nothing is wasted .

While I may not hope that I will never rebel again, never let my Lord down again, never hurt other people again; I can and do hope that for every failure there is abundant forgiveness, cleansing and a fresh start. I can hope for strength to try again, to move out in faith after failure, confident that I am not estranged from or forsaken by God. I may hope, and be at peace, free from guilt and resting in Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

While I may not hope for riches, good health and freedom; I can and do hope that in every situation, I am able to receive good gifts from God, tokens of his love for and delight in me. I can hope for continued grace to see these things, and for the ability to give thanks for them. I may hope and be filled with joy because nothing can separate me from the love of God, in Christ Jesus.

My God is not some small pathetic construction of my own thinking, created to prop me up on bad days. He is the Almighty, the God of creation, the invisible and yet revealed Majesty who rightly claims the worship and homage of all things. He is not safe, doesn’t play by the rules of his creatures, and at times the mystery of his ways leaves us bewildered. But he is absolutely trustworthy, and so we cling to his promises, depend upon the salvation he offers us, and receive each day fresh from his hand.

Our God, who gives endurance and encouragement; Our God, who is the God of hope, by his Holy Spirit, will cause joy and peace to well up within us as we choose to trust him, as he enables us to trust him. All we need, he gives; and so we may indeed overflow with hope, because he will never fail us..

Thy kingdom come..

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“Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all..

(1Chron 29.10&11)

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

(Matt 6.9-13)

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit…You must be born again”

(Jn 3.5&7)

 We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

(Col 1.9-13)

Now and not yet – a kingdom come and coming.. The Old Testament stories are full of references to God as ruler, sovereign in his glory and a call to the people of Israel to live as loyal subjects of that kingdom. Their loyalty was designed to set them apart from other nations, so that they might demonstrate to the world just how wonderful their God was and so glorify his name. Sadly, the OT is also full of stories of how his people rejected his sovereignty and instead lived like people of other nations, loyal to other gods, giving lip service to their covenant God, and trusting in deeds and ritual instead of depending by faith on his love for them.

When Jesus came, preaching that the kingdom of God was near, many thought he meant a military power that would overthrow the tyranny of Rome. But once again, they had got the wrong idea, as Jesus taught repeatedly in his parables and directly, showing that God’s kingdom is not like a human kingdom. Its values are totally different, and ultimately we can enter that kingdom only by new birth, by becoming new creatures with a nature and life designed for that kingdom. Thanks be to God that in Christ Jesus, we are offered that new birth, that new life, and that God does everything necessary to establish us securely in his glorious kingdom of light!

This kingdom – inaugurated by the first coming of Jesus – continues to grow in the world today, but not as human kingdoms grow. Not by conquest, not by political or popular campaigns, not by adroit financial investment, bribery or coercion. Rather, this kingdom grows as heart, after heart recognises Jesus as Lord, and accepts his sovereignty in their lives. As this happens, that life becomes a place where the kingdom of God is realised in this world. My life, and yours, are to be lived examples of the values and atmosphere of the kingdom of God – where he reigns, our loving Saviour.

While we will not see this kingdom fully realised until God winds up time and ushers in the newly re-created earth and heaven, we are living in its light, by its time, and by its values. In effect, we are part of the answer to the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to say – “thy kingdom come….”, and we are also part of the work in realising the kingdom as we witness, pray and serve the Lord in our own turn.

Thank you Father, that by the gift of faith in Christ, I live now under his sovereignty, a subject of your heavenly kingdom. Thank you that a glorious day is coming when that kingdom will be visible, tangible and supreme, wiping out all trace of this shadowland where your reign is still disputed.

Let my life truly be a little part of that heavenly rule – a place where the Spirit dwells as honoured sovereign, unquenched, active and in charge. Let me live as one honouring my inheritance, delighting in my name and stake in your promised land. Let me in all things acknowledge and exalt my king, treasuring his word, engaging with his work, delighting to introduce him to those who have never met him, and resisting his enemies.

Even as the seed sown bears fruit a hundred fold, Lord so may your kingdom seed be fruitful in many lives; invisibly taking root, and then bursting forth in newness of life to your glory and the hastening of the day when all shall be finished and Christ return in glory!

 

Quietly, and without ceremony…

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Early on the first day of the week..Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple..and said,”they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb..the other disciple reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there..Finally [he] also went inside. He saw and believed.. [Mary] turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying..?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him…” Jesus said to her, “Mary” She turned toward him and cried out..,”Rabboni”

(extracts from Jn 20.1-16)

..if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised..[so] our preaching is useless and so is your faith…But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep..as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive..the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

(extracts from 1 Cor 15.12-20& 55-58)

As far as the civil and religious authorities in Jerusalem were concerned, it was a normal day, the morning of a new week, perhaps a little uneasiness still lingering after the events of Good Friday, but a sense of relief that it was all sorted. There was the small matter of the excited and fearful eye-witness account of the soldiers set to guard the tomb of the Galilean, but sufficient funds and safeguards had made sure that story would not go further..Nothing untoward had happened..

That first Easter Sunday was not greeted by parades, by choral services and rituals, by special robes, or new outfits, by feasts and cakes or special confectionery. It was ushered in on the tears of a mourning woman, and the weariness of bewildered and defeated men who had let themselves and Jesus down so badly, only three days earlier.

Unlike the occasion of his birth as an infant, there was no spectacular heavenly choir to invite witnesses to the event; no astronomical wonders to draw foreigners to worship. While the celebrations at the throne of God must have been spectacular, they were not allowed to spill over into the human realm. Only two angelic witnesses are recorded – and they sit passively in the tomb, awaiting the mourners before quietly disappearing.

This year, as followers of Jesus around the world prepare to celebrate his death and resurrection, we will be denied the accustomed trappings of our high and holy days. There will be no special gatherings at dawn to greet the risen Lord with songs of praise and worship. There will be no intimate communion meals to remember his last supper, to share the bread and cup together. There will be no triumphant processions along village streets witnessing to our communities of the joy of the risen Lord.

What can we do? We will be learning to celebrate as persecuted believers have done for centuries – in private; in quiet; depending upon the word of God alone. While we may be spared the threat of imprisonment for our faith, we are learning something of what it means to worship in spirit and in truth – for all our rituals are stripped away.

Paul’s words to the Corinthians is our encouragement in these days too. We are no less saved, no less sure of our hope for resurrection when we cannot meet our fellow believers in church to sing together. Our hope is sure, Christ has conquered death, and in his resurrection we have our own guarantee of eternal life. In our celebrations at home today, whether joining with an online community, or simply on our own with the Lord, we rejoice in a living hope. We stand firm because our victory has been won by Christ, and that fact – quietly and without ceremony – is the foundation of all our life and hope in this world and the next. We can live without public fanfare, without the ritual and trappings of public worship, but we cannot live without a risen Christ.

O death, we defy thee, a stronger than thou hath entered thy palace: we fear thee not now!

Oh, sing hallelujah, oh, sing hallelujah, oh, sing hallelujah! Be joyful and sing, death cannot affright us – Christ Jesus is king!

(WC Plunket 1828-1897)

 

It was the only way..

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On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals…I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

(Ex 12.12&13)

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement..

(Lev 17.11)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me…All who see me mock me…”He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him.”….they pierce my hands and feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment

(Ps 22.1,7,16-18)

I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight….I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

(Am 8.9&10)

But when Christ came..he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption..without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness..Christ..appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself..

(Heb 9.12,22&26)

‘Like mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day…’Those words jumped out at me recently when taking part in a bible study on Amos, as the Lord spoke through his prophet of the pain and anguish of the day when the full price for human rebellion against God would be paid.

The narrative of the Bible makes it so clear that humanity is incapable of keeping to the covenant which God has made with them; our hearts are unable to remain faithful to God, even when we are most in earnest. If we do not sin by falling away from God, we sin by trying through our own efforts to remain close to him – as the Pharisees were doing in Jesus’ day, and making legalism and ritual a means (as they thought) to salvation. From the beginning, God made it clear that sin would have to be dealt with, and his righteous anger satisfied before true peace could exist, and we could once more enjoy fellowship with our creator.

God’s anger against sin is an expression of his holiness, it is absolutely just (unlike most human anger), and he cannot simply set aside our sin because he loves us without violating his nature. If God is to love and welcome us into his presence again, then his perfect wrath must be satisfied – the full penalty for sin must be paid. While this may sound extreme to many in our day, the bible makes it clear that the problem is our lack of understanding of God’s holiness, not his anger with sin.

The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice – of the perfect Passover Lamb who would take God’s wrath so that we might be protected, provided for. Blood had to be shed, and in Christ, the only spotless person who ever lived, a perfect substitute for humankind was provided. But as well as our perfect Passover Lamb,  he is the only begotten of the Father, the beloved one. And so on Good Friday, when the full weight of sin was finally laid upon the son, what agony entered the heart of the Father, and what grief into the son, as they endured that separation which was the proper fate of humankind.

We cannot ever fully comprehend the pain of that hour, and indeed this is cause for humble thanksgiving, since we could not have borne it. Christ did all for us, and then offered it freely as his love-gift, and so we should surely fall in worship and praise as we accept him. God mourned for his only son, and endured the bitterness of that dreadful and glorious day – because of his unfathomable, unaccountable, unstoppable love for humankind.

Surely, our praise this Holy Week should glorify the Father who loved us; the Son who died for us, and the Spirit by whom we receive the faith to believe in and accept the freedom and new life which have been bought for us at such a price.

There is a green hill far away, beside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear; but we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven, he died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood.

There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, he only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

Oh, dearly, dearly has he loved, and we must love him too; and trust in his redeeming blood, and try his works to do.

(Cecil Frances Alexander 1848)