What's the first thing that comes into your mind when someone mentions God?
An old man with a beard? An angry deity with a thunderbolt just waiting for you to do something wrong? The epitome of boredom perhaps?
Religious people might mention something like, "God is Holy, God is everywhere. God is all powerful."
When it came to writing the first book of the bible however, the very first thing mentioned, of all the things the writer could have chosen was....
God is GOOD!
Yes, that's right, good! In fact he was so emphatic about getting this point across he mentioned it again and again in the very first chapter of the scriptures!
That's what I want to tell you today. GOD IS BETTER THAT WE THINK. That's what the whole opening chapter of the bible is really all about. The creation is the sacred text people lived with for thousands of years before a book was ever written. The world around them was their bible and God spoke emphatically through it every day for all who were willing to hear.
As one of the world's earliest musicians once sang, "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands"
Every time you get up and see the sunlight another day is because God is good. Every time you enjoy the sunshine it's because God is good. Every time you drink water or wash it's because God is good. Every step you step on 'terra firma' it's because God is good. He created it all. Every time you eat what has grown it's saying to you, God is good. Every seed that yields a crop is because God is good. He designed it to do just that.
Every time you look up at the stars at night and lose yourself in the sheer scale and grandeur of the universe you are peering into it is telling you, God is good. Every living thing is a testimony to God's creative and life giving genius. Every experience of and the capacity to experience pleasure and happiness and joy originated with God. Why did he do it? He could have just made us functional bio-robots but he is good. He gave us life to enjoy. From the touch of a loved one to the tastebuds that appreciate all the flavours imaginable. They exists for one reason. God is good! God is better than you think.
Fruitfulness and prosperity were God's idea. Relationships, sex, marriage and family were his idea as well. The whole concept of us being able to bring another life into this world was hatched in the mind of the creator. He could have made that process purely functional. Instead he made sexual intercourse pleasurable. That was God's idea as well. {I know some religious people who think that was the devils idea. Sorry to disappoint you guys!} God actually came up with that idea. That's amazing.
Finally God made you. According to the ancient scriptures you are the best idea God had. When God created everything else he said "It is good" After he made human beings he said "It is very good" {That's definitely something we need to remember more often.}
This amazing world that our God created is the book that even the illiterate can read. It is the very first song ever composed. It is the music the tone deaf can sing in time with. It is the very first poetry. It is the prose that even the cultural Philistines among us can pick up and appreciate. You don't need a degree or PhD for this education. You just need to be alive.
You might never have read a bible. You may have promised never to darken the steps of a church again but every day and every moment of every day you are walking through the living, interactive, moving word of God. You are watching an active dramatisation of the bible before a word was ever written. You and I are living in God's very first sermon!
Welcome to the interactive word of God. We've been living in it every day of our lives! It's right there at our fingertips.
All that is required of us is to simply open our ears and eyes to everything around us. If, like me, you've been flicking absent mindedly through the pages of this life then I invite you to stop, take your time and take the opportunity to look a little deeper and maybe, just maybe, you will see again and again the very first thing the creator wants you to know about him.
God is good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvStcZ8Vrf0
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Man in the Mirror.
As a young man, where I come from, street cred was pretty much everything in some peoples eyes. There were a lot of things you could be looked down upon for. Crime, however, generally wasn't one of them. I knew burglars, fences, drug dealers, porn freaks and benefit fraudsters who were proud of what they did.
There were three things I recall that you certainly were not proud of. One was being weak or a coward. If you got beaten up or ran away you were looked on by some with disgust. Weakness was bad. Very bad. Another social no no was being a virgin. Seriously, if you reached 16 and you hadn't slept with someone you lied about sleeping with someone. {That is unless you never want to hear the end of it.} The third thing that would be guaranteed to lose you respect among your peers was to become religious. Now I'm not talking about that kind of religion that is a cultural carry over from your parents {Although even that can see you seriously ridiculed}. I'm talking the kind of, "I got faith," kinda religion. Your street cred will be left face down on the floor. So what did I go and do? I became a Christian!
Many people don't know this but I lived in fear in those early years. Despite my best efforts to keep my head down and my mouth shut people found out and they sought me out. It seemed like every man wanted to 'de-convert' me or make me look stupid. I got some very heavy flak. I'm talking about threatening or trying to assault me kind of flak. I'm talking about trying to get me sacked from my job kind of flak. My crime? I was a 'Jesus creeper'.
I felt it was the most difficult thing in the world to share my new found faith with anybody. The reactions of many people in conversation led me to think I was a lousy Christian and that I was doing something wrong {Even though I wasn't the one initiating most of the conversations!}
It was around that time God showed me something that has stayed with me ever since and really helped me deal with the sense of inadequacy, failure and guilt that so often came with these encounters. I want to share that vision with you today in the hope that it will also help you if, like me, you have struggled with condemnation when trying to share your beliefs with others.
The vision started with a guy who had just got home from playing rugby. He heads to the bathroom and while there he takes a look in the mirror. That's when this story gets a little weird. Looking in the mirror, as you would expect, he sees his face covered and smeared in mud from the game he's just finished. He looks for a moment in surprise. A shocked expression dominates his features for just a second or two before being replaced by a hesitant then self confident smirk. "Seriously?" He exclaimed. "You really think I look like that?" To my bemusement he began to berate the mirror as if it was the stupidest article he had ever come across in his life. The man found it the most laughably absurd thing in the world that this mirror would actually show dirt on his face. The vision would become stranger still.
Next I saw another man. His face was also covered in dirt. He looked into the mirror and showed the same shocked surprise of the first man {again, albeit, for the briefest of moments}. Without warning he just erupted. Shouting and gesticulating wildly this man was deeply offended and he simply could not believe the sheer audacity of the mirror {which was apparently completely to blame for showing what a dirty face he had}. By this time the whole scene was utterly ridiculous to me, For crying out loud the mirror is simply reflecting your face! There is a bowl right in front of you! Just wash and have done with it! If I thought the reaction of the first two people was unhinged then I was in for a surprise when the third person turned up.
She was elegant, well dressed, and well mannered. Walking into the bathroom she stopped at the mirror to somehow perfect her already immaculate hair. Then she froze, seemingly stuck in time, as she saw what she really looked like. There it was. Mud! Her face was caked in it. Horrified, she looked around, paranoid that someone would see her. She hesitated, panicking. "What do I do?" She looked down at the bowl of water and paused. Suddenly she reached into her handbag and brought out a mask. It was one of those masks you associate with the theatre. Putting the mask on she straightened her hair in the mirror like this was a perfectly normal thing to do and walked on as if she was entering the set of a Hollywood chick flick.
Seriously it was nuts. These people were off their heads! Why on earth would anyone react like that? If you look in the mirror and see dirt on your face your natural reaction would be to wash it off. I've lost count of the number of times I've come home from playing football and done the same thing myself. The reaction of the three people I saw in the dream seemed to defy any kind of logic.
Then God showed me the meaning of the dream. He showed me that the scriptures {the bible}are like a mirror. By looking into them we see ourselves as we really are. We see the inner dirt. We see in inglorious technicolour the sins that decorate our hearts. God's word shows us our true condition and then I got it. I understood. My mind went back to the man I had a debate with who just stood there and ridiculed me and I understood why. I recalled the person who, out of the blue, just blew up in a rage. I recalled the person who made a fine show of how he was a good person only to hear his real views in the men's locker room when he was 'with the lads'.
I realised that coming into contact with the mirror of God's word is unnerving. It strikes at our insecurities. We respond like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden when they heard God coming. They hid behind aprons of fig leaves. We hide behind mockery. We hide behind self righteous indignation and anger. Some hide behind a mask of morality. When it came to an encounter with each of these kinds of people I felt discouraged but now I saw it for what it really was. I wasn't a failure. I should actually be ENCOURAGED because if people react like this it means God really is showing them what they are like.
My message for Christians today is this. Don't be discouraged if, in sharing your faith, you don't get the response you hoped for. In fact that negative response is evidence that they really do see it. They see their sin and shame. Your witness is being used by Jesus to bring conviction of sin. Their reaction is simply a defence mechanism against what God is using you to show them. You are not crazy. Neither are you a bad or failed witness. You did what God wanted you to do. Next time someone ridicules you or blows up in a rage or puts on a front of self righteousness be encouraged! God is doing something. That's why they react like that.
Perhaps you are reading this and you are one of those 3 people described. It really doesn't bother me if you are mad, bad or sad but I want you to know this. Over 20 years ago I was in the same place as you. I heard the message of the gospel that showed me up for who I was. I was what the bible calls a sinner. According to God's law I had fallen short of who I was created to be. There is, however, a place to wash. It is not religion. No religion can save you. It is not doing good deeds as no amount of good can wipe away the dirt. So what hope is there? What is the point of making us feel bad if there is nothing we can do about it?
That's the whole point of the gospel message. It is Jesus Christ who paid the penalty that I should have paid. He died in my place. He dies for every sin you and I ever committed. He paid the penalty for every sin we have ever committed and every one of God's commandments we have broken. God's word tells us that we were never made to die but death came into the world through sin and now infects every one of us. Jesus is the answer, not only to all the wrong we have done but to death itself. Jesus not only died but defeated death itself by rising from the dead so that if you put their trust in him and follow him the slate will be wiped clean. You will have your sins forgiven and receive a new life that lasts forever.
If you are still reading perhaps you are sneering right now. Perhaps you are offended or you just don't think it applies to a 'good person' like yourself. I don't care. I just want you to know that 20 years ago Jesus changed my life. I know every wrong thing I ever did had been forgiven and I have an absolute assurance that if I were to die right now I would be in heaven.
What about you. It comes to us all. This is not a scare tactic. We all die after all. Me, you, all of us. It's the one great inevitability. Are you ready for that day? That's the whole point of Jesus coming to earth. Without him we are not ready and looking into the mirror of God's word and seeing ourselves, dirt and all, is the first step to realising that.
How you respond to that is, of course, down to you. Laugh, shout or put on a mask. It's up to you but know this. God hates sin so much that he cannot possibly tolerate any of it in heaven but God loves you so much he came to this earth and died in our place so that all our wrongs could be washed away and we could be with him forever.
"For God commends his love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
shalom...steve
There were three things I recall that you certainly were not proud of. One was being weak or a coward. If you got beaten up or ran away you were looked on by some with disgust. Weakness was bad. Very bad. Another social no no was being a virgin. Seriously, if you reached 16 and you hadn't slept with someone you lied about sleeping with someone. {That is unless you never want to hear the end of it.} The third thing that would be guaranteed to lose you respect among your peers was to become religious. Now I'm not talking about that kind of religion that is a cultural carry over from your parents {Although even that can see you seriously ridiculed}. I'm talking the kind of, "I got faith," kinda religion. Your street cred will be left face down on the floor. So what did I go and do? I became a Christian!
Many people don't know this but I lived in fear in those early years. Despite my best efforts to keep my head down and my mouth shut people found out and they sought me out. It seemed like every man wanted to 'de-convert' me or make me look stupid. I got some very heavy flak. I'm talking about threatening or trying to assault me kind of flak. I'm talking about trying to get me sacked from my job kind of flak. My crime? I was a 'Jesus creeper'.
I felt it was the most difficult thing in the world to share my new found faith with anybody. The reactions of many people in conversation led me to think I was a lousy Christian and that I was doing something wrong {Even though I wasn't the one initiating most of the conversations!}
It was around that time God showed me something that has stayed with me ever since and really helped me deal with the sense of inadequacy, failure and guilt that so often came with these encounters. I want to share that vision with you today in the hope that it will also help you if, like me, you have struggled with condemnation when trying to share your beliefs with others.
The vision started with a guy who had just got home from playing rugby. He heads to the bathroom and while there he takes a look in the mirror. That's when this story gets a little weird. Looking in the mirror, as you would expect, he sees his face covered and smeared in mud from the game he's just finished. He looks for a moment in surprise. A shocked expression dominates his features for just a second or two before being replaced by a hesitant then self confident smirk. "Seriously?" He exclaimed. "You really think I look like that?" To my bemusement he began to berate the mirror as if it was the stupidest article he had ever come across in his life. The man found it the most laughably absurd thing in the world that this mirror would actually show dirt on his face. The vision would become stranger still.
Next I saw another man. His face was also covered in dirt. He looked into the mirror and showed the same shocked surprise of the first man {again, albeit, for the briefest of moments}. Without warning he just erupted. Shouting and gesticulating wildly this man was deeply offended and he simply could not believe the sheer audacity of the mirror {which was apparently completely to blame for showing what a dirty face he had}. By this time the whole scene was utterly ridiculous to me, For crying out loud the mirror is simply reflecting your face! There is a bowl right in front of you! Just wash and have done with it! If I thought the reaction of the first two people was unhinged then I was in for a surprise when the third person turned up.
She was elegant, well dressed, and well mannered. Walking into the bathroom she stopped at the mirror to somehow perfect her already immaculate hair. Then she froze, seemingly stuck in time, as she saw what she really looked like. There it was. Mud! Her face was caked in it. Horrified, she looked around, paranoid that someone would see her. She hesitated, panicking. "What do I do?" She looked down at the bowl of water and paused. Suddenly she reached into her handbag and brought out a mask. It was one of those masks you associate with the theatre. Putting the mask on she straightened her hair in the mirror like this was a perfectly normal thing to do and walked on as if she was entering the set of a Hollywood chick flick.
Seriously it was nuts. These people were off their heads! Why on earth would anyone react like that? If you look in the mirror and see dirt on your face your natural reaction would be to wash it off. I've lost count of the number of times I've come home from playing football and done the same thing myself. The reaction of the three people I saw in the dream seemed to defy any kind of logic.
Then God showed me the meaning of the dream. He showed me that the scriptures {the bible}are like a mirror. By looking into them we see ourselves as we really are. We see the inner dirt. We see in inglorious technicolour the sins that decorate our hearts. God's word shows us our true condition and then I got it. I understood. My mind went back to the man I had a debate with who just stood there and ridiculed me and I understood why. I recalled the person who, out of the blue, just blew up in a rage. I recalled the person who made a fine show of how he was a good person only to hear his real views in the men's locker room when he was 'with the lads'.
I realised that coming into contact with the mirror of God's word is unnerving. It strikes at our insecurities. We respond like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden when they heard God coming. They hid behind aprons of fig leaves. We hide behind mockery. We hide behind self righteous indignation and anger. Some hide behind a mask of morality. When it came to an encounter with each of these kinds of people I felt discouraged but now I saw it for what it really was. I wasn't a failure. I should actually be ENCOURAGED because if people react like this it means God really is showing them what they are like.
My message for Christians today is this. Don't be discouraged if, in sharing your faith, you don't get the response you hoped for. In fact that negative response is evidence that they really do see it. They see their sin and shame. Your witness is being used by Jesus to bring conviction of sin. Their reaction is simply a defence mechanism against what God is using you to show them. You are not crazy. Neither are you a bad or failed witness. You did what God wanted you to do. Next time someone ridicules you or blows up in a rage or puts on a front of self righteousness be encouraged! God is doing something. That's why they react like that.
Perhaps you are reading this and you are one of those 3 people described. It really doesn't bother me if you are mad, bad or sad but I want you to know this. Over 20 years ago I was in the same place as you. I heard the message of the gospel that showed me up for who I was. I was what the bible calls a sinner. According to God's law I had fallen short of who I was created to be. There is, however, a place to wash. It is not religion. No religion can save you. It is not doing good deeds as no amount of good can wipe away the dirt. So what hope is there? What is the point of making us feel bad if there is nothing we can do about it?
That's the whole point of the gospel message. It is Jesus Christ who paid the penalty that I should have paid. He died in my place. He dies for every sin you and I ever committed. He paid the penalty for every sin we have ever committed and every one of God's commandments we have broken. God's word tells us that we were never made to die but death came into the world through sin and now infects every one of us. Jesus is the answer, not only to all the wrong we have done but to death itself. Jesus not only died but defeated death itself by rising from the dead so that if you put their trust in him and follow him the slate will be wiped clean. You will have your sins forgiven and receive a new life that lasts forever.
If you are still reading perhaps you are sneering right now. Perhaps you are offended or you just don't think it applies to a 'good person' like yourself. I don't care. I just want you to know that 20 years ago Jesus changed my life. I know every wrong thing I ever did had been forgiven and I have an absolute assurance that if I were to die right now I would be in heaven.
What about you. It comes to us all. This is not a scare tactic. We all die after all. Me, you, all of us. It's the one great inevitability. Are you ready for that day? That's the whole point of Jesus coming to earth. Without him we are not ready and looking into the mirror of God's word and seeing ourselves, dirt and all, is the first step to realising that.
How you respond to that is, of course, down to you. Laugh, shout or put on a mask. It's up to you but know this. God hates sin so much that he cannot possibly tolerate any of it in heaven but God loves you so much he came to this earth and died in our place so that all our wrongs could be washed away and we could be with him forever.
"For God commends his love to us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"
shalom...steve
Wednesday, 31 December 2014
makarios blessing: Higher 'Resolution'.
makarios blessing: Higher 'Resolution'.: 3 keys to successful new years resolutions and they are found in seeing life in 'higher resolution'.
Higher 'Resolution'.
Here in the west we have an enduring tradition. Every new years eve people will gather together and celebrate and 'see in' the new year. 'Cometh the hour' we will sing a traditional song 'Auld Lang Syne'. We will then engage in that most well known of traditions, the new years resolution.
What better time to make a promise to change than when seeing out the old and ushering the new yet with it comes that other famous tradition, the broken resolution. You all know what I mean. That promise to lose weight or stop smoking will be lying face down in the dust before January is half way through for the majority of us. Today I want to talk to you about 'Higher resolution.' I want to talk to you about resolutions that are far greater, more profound and life changing and yet stand far greater chance of success. I want to look at why resolutions fail and why they can succeed. I am going to share with you 3 key things that reach down into the very foundation of who you are as a person. These 3 things, if you will tap into them, will see you achieve far more than losing a few pounds in weight or breaking that bad habit. Then we will look at tapping into the power to make all these things possible.
KEY ONE - Know your identity
Who are you? I mean beyond the name on your passport. Where does your identity come from? If you don't even know who you really are then how will you really succeed? Let me say this. When everything else goes wrong and you lose it all there is one thing you will hold onto even if all else slips away. It is your life. Most of us would agree than a human life is the most valuable thing on the planet right. It's more valuable than money or success or fame. Yet that is not what this world communicates and it is not how we think from day to day. What we need is a revolution in how we view our lives.
I believe every human being has a God given identity. A human life is the most valuable thing on the planet. God himself puts the most profound and awesome identity into the very heart of humanity when he said 'let us create humans in our image'. In other words we have the capacity to reflect who God is. We can reflect his goodness, kindness, integrity and moral character. We were made for him, to belong to him, to be in relationship with him. We are 'image bearers'.
O.K. Time for an honest question. How many of us see ourselves that way? If I were to ask you what your identity is how many of you would reference that from God himself? Generally we don't but this is the very reason Jesus came to earth. Jesus came to bring human beings who are far from God back to him. Not through endless religious routines but through faith in Jesus we can become what Jesus described as 'born again.' Jesus promises us a new identity, a new name. When we are honest enough with God to admit we are living for ourselves and not for him and we make that choice to commit our lives to follow Jesus something miraculous happens within us. Something changes. That original identity we have shipped far from is restored. We take on a new identity. As the bible describes we become a 'new creation'. Our identity is in Christ. We are Christians and as such there is something God has placed in our hearts that desires to reflect who God is. Jesus is the perfect example of that. He reflects who God is. That is the foundation stone to change and transformation. It is knowing who you are and who you belong to. It is knowing the person you have been born again to be. It is knowing your new identity.
KEY TWO - Know your purpose.
Your identity is a case of looking back to who you were born {or born again to be}. Your purpose takes that principle into the present and helps us define where you are going now. Most people walk through life with at best a hazy definition of purpose for their lives or they buy into a purpose which doesn't match up to the awesome people God created them to be. If you will understand your incredible identity in Christ then you can discover a profound purpose. There are few things greater that knowing you have been put on this earth for a greater purpose than your own interest. There are few things greater than serving the purpose of something far greater than yourself. This is something far, far greater than going on that diet or saving money for that holiday you wanted. This is about seeing yourself as part of a great plan which has been unfolding for thousands of years and you are a part of that. This is about bringing people to the God who made them and the God who gives life true purpose and meaning. This is about both being an agent for change and being changed and transformed yourself.
Our purpose in this earth is intimately connected to our identity. It is to reflect Jesus more and more, to lead others back to him and encourage others to reflect him more and more too. This was the purpose for which we were created. When our new years resolutions are shaped by this principle we get God's attention. This leads me to the third and final key.
KEY THREE - Know your destiny.
I want to ask one more vital question. Where are you going? Where is this all going to end up? Does life end with us being lowered into a hole in the ground or is there something beyond that? It strikes me as so contradictory that we would embrace the idea that human life is the most valuable thing on the planet yet we all end so suddenly and pointlessly. I want to state that thins life is NOT the end therefore our focus should not be primarily on this life but on the next one. Our 3 keys could be summarised like this.
1 - IDENTITY : The past / Who created you and whose identity do you carry
2 - PURPOSE : The present / Why are we here and whose purpose do we serve
3 - DESTINY : The future / Where are we going and who will we spend eternity with.
Your identity will shape your purpose and your purpose will reveal your destination.
Everyone wants to go to heaven when they die but how many find their identity in the one who came from heaven?
Once you are assured of where you are going to spend eternity your purpose becomes clear. You life for God and his purpose and not for this life and it's temporary benefits. Everything falls into it's appropriate context. With these three things in place we can now look at resolutions that not only can be kept but are divinely empowered. Resolutions that capture that attention of the one who creates us for his own purpose and cause him to support and empower us to see them come to pass.
THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS - Know your source of power.
Instead of making new years resolutions based on what we want here is a better idea. Start with the person God created you to be. Start with identity. If you are born again start with your identity in Christ. You are a child of the most high God. You carry his name. You are a son and heir of the promises of God. You are accepted and loved. You have been baptised into the death and life of Jesus Christ. You are no longer under condemnation. You have new life.
Flowing out of that is your purpose. God has called you to bring others to that place of identity. To bring others to faith in Jesus Christ, to that place of transformation. God has called us to influence others to reflect Christ more and more and has called us to reflect him more and more. As you begin to think about that you should begin to see that all you have, your assets, your finances, your time, gifting and talents are all given to serve this divine purpose for which you have been created. You will now begin to see what God wants you to do more clearly.
Now consider where you will end up. God's people are called to be with him for eternity. We will be in fellowship with God, we will reflect him, enjoy him, worship him and celebrate him forever. These three things being established in your heart will lead to the question, not what I want to resolve to do in the next year but what does God resolve that I do next year. The same God who gives us a new identity in Christ, who has a purpose for us and ushers us into a wonderful destiny helps us choose the right resolution that serves his purpose.
This is vital. Ask God what he wants you to do in this coming year. There is a fantastic promise connected with the purpose of God for your life. When you respond and RESOLVE to walk in and obey the word of God you WILL receive the power to see it happen. No more failed resolutions. God has not ordained you to failure but to success. No longer will you be falling flat on your face by mid January but will be powering on from glory to glory by next December.
Human logic says pick a nice easy resolution so that you have more chance of succeeding. God's logic is to find your identity, purpose and destiny in him then come to him to know what to do next. God will give you something far greater than you could give yourself and give you the power to bring it to pass. As I look back in 2014 I see a year of miraculous leading, provision and enabling. I have seen God establish me in a new church, give me the financial means to life beyond my natural means. He has led me to specific contacts to help me fulfil a purpose I could not fulfil myself and given me the power to life the life I could not otherwise live.
So I encourage you in this time of new years resolution to choose a higher resolution. Set your sights on the things above and not earthly temporary things. Choose a God focused resolution and you will see things you've never seen. You will experience things you've never experienced and God will take you places you've never been. All this will begin to happen when you realise there is something {someone} bigger and more important than you. When we grasp that in terms of our identity, purpose and destiny we will know what resolutions to make and we will be given the power to keep them.
...and it all starts when we see life in a higher resolution. When we see life the way God sees it.
What better time to make a promise to change than when seeing out the old and ushering the new yet with it comes that other famous tradition, the broken resolution. You all know what I mean. That promise to lose weight or stop smoking will be lying face down in the dust before January is half way through for the majority of us. Today I want to talk to you about 'Higher resolution.' I want to talk to you about resolutions that are far greater, more profound and life changing and yet stand far greater chance of success. I want to look at why resolutions fail and why they can succeed. I am going to share with you 3 key things that reach down into the very foundation of who you are as a person. These 3 things, if you will tap into them, will see you achieve far more than losing a few pounds in weight or breaking that bad habit. Then we will look at tapping into the power to make all these things possible.
KEY ONE - Know your identity
Who are you? I mean beyond the name on your passport. Where does your identity come from? If you don't even know who you really are then how will you really succeed? Let me say this. When everything else goes wrong and you lose it all there is one thing you will hold onto even if all else slips away. It is your life. Most of us would agree than a human life is the most valuable thing on the planet right. It's more valuable than money or success or fame. Yet that is not what this world communicates and it is not how we think from day to day. What we need is a revolution in how we view our lives.
I believe every human being has a God given identity. A human life is the most valuable thing on the planet. God himself puts the most profound and awesome identity into the very heart of humanity when he said 'let us create humans in our image'. In other words we have the capacity to reflect who God is. We can reflect his goodness, kindness, integrity and moral character. We were made for him, to belong to him, to be in relationship with him. We are 'image bearers'.
O.K. Time for an honest question. How many of us see ourselves that way? If I were to ask you what your identity is how many of you would reference that from God himself? Generally we don't but this is the very reason Jesus came to earth. Jesus came to bring human beings who are far from God back to him. Not through endless religious routines but through faith in Jesus we can become what Jesus described as 'born again.' Jesus promises us a new identity, a new name. When we are honest enough with God to admit we are living for ourselves and not for him and we make that choice to commit our lives to follow Jesus something miraculous happens within us. Something changes. That original identity we have shipped far from is restored. We take on a new identity. As the bible describes we become a 'new creation'. Our identity is in Christ. We are Christians and as such there is something God has placed in our hearts that desires to reflect who God is. Jesus is the perfect example of that. He reflects who God is. That is the foundation stone to change and transformation. It is knowing who you are and who you belong to. It is knowing the person you have been born again to be. It is knowing your new identity.
KEY TWO - Know your purpose.
Your identity is a case of looking back to who you were born {or born again to be}. Your purpose takes that principle into the present and helps us define where you are going now. Most people walk through life with at best a hazy definition of purpose for their lives or they buy into a purpose which doesn't match up to the awesome people God created them to be. If you will understand your incredible identity in Christ then you can discover a profound purpose. There are few things greater that knowing you have been put on this earth for a greater purpose than your own interest. There are few things greater than serving the purpose of something far greater than yourself. This is something far, far greater than going on that diet or saving money for that holiday you wanted. This is about seeing yourself as part of a great plan which has been unfolding for thousands of years and you are a part of that. This is about bringing people to the God who made them and the God who gives life true purpose and meaning. This is about both being an agent for change and being changed and transformed yourself.
Our purpose in this earth is intimately connected to our identity. It is to reflect Jesus more and more, to lead others back to him and encourage others to reflect him more and more too. This was the purpose for which we were created. When our new years resolutions are shaped by this principle we get God's attention. This leads me to the third and final key.
KEY THREE - Know your destiny.
I want to ask one more vital question. Where are you going? Where is this all going to end up? Does life end with us being lowered into a hole in the ground or is there something beyond that? It strikes me as so contradictory that we would embrace the idea that human life is the most valuable thing on the planet yet we all end so suddenly and pointlessly. I want to state that thins life is NOT the end therefore our focus should not be primarily on this life but on the next one. Our 3 keys could be summarised like this.
1 - IDENTITY : The past / Who created you and whose identity do you carry
2 - PURPOSE : The present / Why are we here and whose purpose do we serve
3 - DESTINY : The future / Where are we going and who will we spend eternity with.
Your identity will shape your purpose and your purpose will reveal your destination.
Everyone wants to go to heaven when they die but how many find their identity in the one who came from heaven?
Once you are assured of where you are going to spend eternity your purpose becomes clear. You life for God and his purpose and not for this life and it's temporary benefits. Everything falls into it's appropriate context. With these three things in place we can now look at resolutions that not only can be kept but are divinely empowered. Resolutions that capture that attention of the one who creates us for his own purpose and cause him to support and empower us to see them come to pass.
THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS - Know your source of power.
Instead of making new years resolutions based on what we want here is a better idea. Start with the person God created you to be. Start with identity. If you are born again start with your identity in Christ. You are a child of the most high God. You carry his name. You are a son and heir of the promises of God. You are accepted and loved. You have been baptised into the death and life of Jesus Christ. You are no longer under condemnation. You have new life.
Flowing out of that is your purpose. God has called you to bring others to that place of identity. To bring others to faith in Jesus Christ, to that place of transformation. God has called us to influence others to reflect Christ more and more and has called us to reflect him more and more. As you begin to think about that you should begin to see that all you have, your assets, your finances, your time, gifting and talents are all given to serve this divine purpose for which you have been created. You will now begin to see what God wants you to do more clearly.
Now consider where you will end up. God's people are called to be with him for eternity. We will be in fellowship with God, we will reflect him, enjoy him, worship him and celebrate him forever. These three things being established in your heart will lead to the question, not what I want to resolve to do in the next year but what does God resolve that I do next year. The same God who gives us a new identity in Christ, who has a purpose for us and ushers us into a wonderful destiny helps us choose the right resolution that serves his purpose.
This is vital. Ask God what he wants you to do in this coming year. There is a fantastic promise connected with the purpose of God for your life. When you respond and RESOLVE to walk in and obey the word of God you WILL receive the power to see it happen. No more failed resolutions. God has not ordained you to failure but to success. No longer will you be falling flat on your face by mid January but will be powering on from glory to glory by next December.
Human logic says pick a nice easy resolution so that you have more chance of succeeding. God's logic is to find your identity, purpose and destiny in him then come to him to know what to do next. God will give you something far greater than you could give yourself and give you the power to bring it to pass. As I look back in 2014 I see a year of miraculous leading, provision and enabling. I have seen God establish me in a new church, give me the financial means to life beyond my natural means. He has led me to specific contacts to help me fulfil a purpose I could not fulfil myself and given me the power to life the life I could not otherwise live.
So I encourage you in this time of new years resolution to choose a higher resolution. Set your sights on the things above and not earthly temporary things. Choose a God focused resolution and you will see things you've never seen. You will experience things you've never experienced and God will take you places you've never been. All this will begin to happen when you realise there is something {someone} bigger and more important than you. When we grasp that in terms of our identity, purpose and destiny we will know what resolutions to make and we will be given the power to keep them.
...and it all starts when we see life in a higher resolution. When we see life the way God sees it.
Sunday, 2 November 2014
The Real Thing.
I remember vividly the time I was sitting listening to a gruff voiced man from South London as he began to address the assembled audience of which I was a part. "Love is fake man! What you hear about love is fake. The music you listen to sings of love but means sex. Boyfriend says to girlfriend I love you but he is with someone the next week. Love is fake man!"
I sat there thinking "Yeah that's right." What he was saying resonated with me. I saw through all of this shallowness. He continued speaking. "But tonight I want to tell you about real love." By this time he had my attention. In all truth I didn't love anyone. I didn't know how to. I knew how to hate. I knew how to be sarcastic but I didn't love anyone.
The message he gave that night marked a turnaround in my life. I was confronted with something I had never heard before. I was confronted with something that wasn't soppy or soft but something truly virtuous and courageous. The speaker told the story of a man arrested for treason in the English civil war hundreds of years ago. The criminal was tied to a tree and then the military commander lined up his archers in preparation for the execution which was to happen on the hour. In desperation the condemned man's fiance appeared and threw herself at the commander's feet begging for mercy. He threw her to one side threatening similar treatment if she didn't make herself scarce. Seeing the futility of her pleas she mounted her horse and rode away leaving the commander and his men to their task.
There was a tradition in those times that a condemned man would be executed on the sound of the bell of a great church tower that stood some distance away. The sound of this bell could be heard for miles around and yet there was one tiny sliver of hope for those condemned to die. Should the bell not toll on the hour it was taken as a sign of divine intervention. A sign from the heavens that this man's life should be spared. The soldiers waited...and waited...and waited and no bell was heard. Eventually the commander ordered the man released and he ran as fast as he could before they could change their minds. The commander was curious however. He was sure he heard something but was certain he heard no sound of a bell. Puzzled by this he got on his horse and rode to the church and to the tower where he was confronted by a sight that was to stay with him the rest of his life. Tied to the hammer inside the huge bell was this woman who had pleaded for the life of her fiance. In desperation she had raced to the tower, climbed to the top and tied herself to the huge hammer inside the bell in a frantic attempt to muffle the sound. The commander looked up to see her crushed lifeless body. The ultimate sacrifice to save the life of another.
The preacher looked out at his audience. "How many of you love someone enough to die for them?" Well he'd got me on two counts. Not only did I not love anyone but despite my somewhat arrogant belief that I could do anything if I tried hard enough I had to admit I would never ever die for anyone. No way. I was scared of dying. You get one life and that's it. I figured I could do anything but I knew I couldn't do that. I certainly didn't love anyone enough to do that.
That night changed how I saw things. I no longer saw love as fake. I no longer viewed love as soft or superficial. I began to see my own estimation of myself was far higher than it should be. Perhaps the most profound words he spoke that night were these.
"That story describes exactly what Jesus did for all of us. We are guilty of treason against God's authority over our lives. God's response was to send the one he loved, Jesus, to die in our place. To die so that we could be pardoned."
I couldn't tell you how many times I ridiculed religious people before then. I considered them deluded, soft in the head, weird and made them the butt of so many jokes yet here was something I was compelled to take seriously. Only the most foolish of people would ridicule this. I was well and truly put in my place and it was all down to an encounter with real authentic love.
To be perfectly honest up to that point I had lived my life all out for whatever I liked and I liked doing wrong. I just had to cause mischief. I gravitated to all the wrong people and I enjoyed pretty much every wrong thing I did. I had done almost as much as anyone to earn God's judgement. If anyone had the right to judge it was God and if anyone was asking to be judged it was me yet God's response was the complete opposite. He took everything I ever done wrong and placed it on his son Jesus. Jesus took upon himself the punishment he never deserved to set free someone who had well and truly earned judgement. That's real love. That's authentic love. That's the message of the gospel. The message that God loved every one of us so much he gave up his one and only son so that whoever would put their faith in him would never perish but have everlasting life.
As I look back over the last 20 years I am thankful for that night, that message, that preacher. I am thankful that although I am not yet the person I want to be I am not the person I used to me. I am thankful for the chance to see things differently. Most of all I am thankful to the one who taught me what real authentic love is not only by what he said but what he did.
In a world where love is often so transitory, fickle, superficial and unreliable {even where it exists at all} I am thankful for one who showed me what real love looks like. The love Jesus has for us is, after all these years, still the most inspiring and life transforming thing I have ever experienced and possibly the greatest thing of all is that it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not we deserve it. Jesus love for every person on this planet is based purely on who he is. His love is truly unconditional. After all, for a good person some of us might even dare to die {whether we'd actually go through with it is another thing} but God commends his love to us in that while we were sinners, ignoring him, breaking his laws and living independently of him, Christ died for us. That's real authentic love.
Shalom...Steve
I sat there thinking "Yeah that's right." What he was saying resonated with me. I saw through all of this shallowness. He continued speaking. "But tonight I want to tell you about real love." By this time he had my attention. In all truth I didn't love anyone. I didn't know how to. I knew how to hate. I knew how to be sarcastic but I didn't love anyone.
The message he gave that night marked a turnaround in my life. I was confronted with something I had never heard before. I was confronted with something that wasn't soppy or soft but something truly virtuous and courageous. The speaker told the story of a man arrested for treason in the English civil war hundreds of years ago. The criminal was tied to a tree and then the military commander lined up his archers in preparation for the execution which was to happen on the hour. In desperation the condemned man's fiance appeared and threw herself at the commander's feet begging for mercy. He threw her to one side threatening similar treatment if she didn't make herself scarce. Seeing the futility of her pleas she mounted her horse and rode away leaving the commander and his men to their task.
There was a tradition in those times that a condemned man would be executed on the sound of the bell of a great church tower that stood some distance away. The sound of this bell could be heard for miles around and yet there was one tiny sliver of hope for those condemned to die. Should the bell not toll on the hour it was taken as a sign of divine intervention. A sign from the heavens that this man's life should be spared. The soldiers waited...and waited...and waited and no bell was heard. Eventually the commander ordered the man released and he ran as fast as he could before they could change their minds. The commander was curious however. He was sure he heard something but was certain he heard no sound of a bell. Puzzled by this he got on his horse and rode to the church and to the tower where he was confronted by a sight that was to stay with him the rest of his life. Tied to the hammer inside the huge bell was this woman who had pleaded for the life of her fiance. In desperation she had raced to the tower, climbed to the top and tied herself to the huge hammer inside the bell in a frantic attempt to muffle the sound. The commander looked up to see her crushed lifeless body. The ultimate sacrifice to save the life of another.
The preacher looked out at his audience. "How many of you love someone enough to die for them?" Well he'd got me on two counts. Not only did I not love anyone but despite my somewhat arrogant belief that I could do anything if I tried hard enough I had to admit I would never ever die for anyone. No way. I was scared of dying. You get one life and that's it. I figured I could do anything but I knew I couldn't do that. I certainly didn't love anyone enough to do that.
That night changed how I saw things. I no longer saw love as fake. I no longer viewed love as soft or superficial. I began to see my own estimation of myself was far higher than it should be. Perhaps the most profound words he spoke that night were these.
"That story describes exactly what Jesus did for all of us. We are guilty of treason against God's authority over our lives. God's response was to send the one he loved, Jesus, to die in our place. To die so that we could be pardoned."
I couldn't tell you how many times I ridiculed religious people before then. I considered them deluded, soft in the head, weird and made them the butt of so many jokes yet here was something I was compelled to take seriously. Only the most foolish of people would ridicule this. I was well and truly put in my place and it was all down to an encounter with real authentic love.
To be perfectly honest up to that point I had lived my life all out for whatever I liked and I liked doing wrong. I just had to cause mischief. I gravitated to all the wrong people and I enjoyed pretty much every wrong thing I did. I had done almost as much as anyone to earn God's judgement. If anyone had the right to judge it was God and if anyone was asking to be judged it was me yet God's response was the complete opposite. He took everything I ever done wrong and placed it on his son Jesus. Jesus took upon himself the punishment he never deserved to set free someone who had well and truly earned judgement. That's real love. That's authentic love. That's the message of the gospel. The message that God loved every one of us so much he gave up his one and only son so that whoever would put their faith in him would never perish but have everlasting life.
As I look back over the last 20 years I am thankful for that night, that message, that preacher. I am thankful that although I am not yet the person I want to be I am not the person I used to me. I am thankful for the chance to see things differently. Most of all I am thankful to the one who taught me what real authentic love is not only by what he said but what he did.
In a world where love is often so transitory, fickle, superficial and unreliable {even where it exists at all} I am thankful for one who showed me what real love looks like. The love Jesus has for us is, after all these years, still the most inspiring and life transforming thing I have ever experienced and possibly the greatest thing of all is that it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not we deserve it. Jesus love for every person on this planet is based purely on who he is. His love is truly unconditional. After all, for a good person some of us might even dare to die {whether we'd actually go through with it is another thing} but God commends his love to us in that while we were sinners, ignoring him, breaking his laws and living independently of him, Christ died for us. That's real authentic love.
Shalom...Steve
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Why Do You Seek The Living Among The Dead?
I want to share something that I believe is going to speak profoundly to someone reading here today.
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen."
I believe that God is speaking to someone about this very thing. You are seeking the living among the dead but God wants you to know that Jesus has risen.
I was once struck by a profound comment. It went like this. "Before the ascension there must be a resurrection. Before a resurrection there must be a Calvary. Before there can be a Calvary there must first be a Gethsemane." What did he mean by that? Simply this. Christ went through a process and it is a process we are called to go through also. Let me go a bit deeper here. Everyone wants to go to heaven right? {at least most of us do}. The ascension is the word we use for Jesus being taken up to heaven. However this only happened after his resurrection. In other words if we want to follow Jesus into heaven we must first receive resurrection life {It's what we sometimes call being born again}. It goes further than that though. Before Jesus could be raised from the dead he had to die. Jesus has to face death in order to go through death. There was no short cut here. There was no equivalent of an Xbox cheat or fast track solution. If we want to experience this new life there has to be a death first but it goes even further back than that. Before Jesus went to the cross he agonised over what awaited him. Jesus was agonising in prayer in a place called Gethsemane. Here is the process.
Gethsemane - Coming to the place of choice to willingly and specifically submit to the will of God
Calvary - For Jesus literally being crucified. For us the act of dying to what we want and embracing and living out God's will for our lives.
Resurrection - Living and experiencing the power of the new life God gives us.
Ascension - Being taken up into heaven to be with God forever.
Now this is what I see happening in many churches. Many will emphasis one thing but exclude another. Many will emphasis that Jesus died for our sins but stay right there but how can a dead man save you? The scripture tells us Jesus rose again for our justification. The scripture also tells us about resurrection life. Jesus rising from the dead testified that he was without sin and this new life and power gives us hope of a new dominion in our lives over sin and all the power of the enemy. Praise God for churches that preach the cross but please don't leave us there. Preach resurrection life! Amen!
Then others will preach on victory and dominion and power and all you can do in Jesus yet they don't mention the cross. Seriously there are churches and ministries that have preaching without the cross. How can you have resurrection life without a crucifixion first?
Still others will preach the cross and offer an easy way of having your sins forgiven because..."Jesus paid for it all and there is nothing you can do" This is one of the most dangerous errors I have seen precisely because it is so true. The danger is that it is preached as mutually exclusive to a Gethsemane message. There is no repentance. No active submission of the will to God. No coming to a conviction of "Not my will but yours be done". "Simply say this prayer and you can make heaven your home" is one of the most common things heard in western churches today yet they are losing as many people out the back door as are coming into the front door. Why is that? Simply because you've marketed the gospel in such a way as to make it an easy sell. {and lets face it the crucified life doesn't market well to the carnal nature}
Time and again the scriptures emphasis repentance and faith not just faith alone. Baptism was always the outward mark of the new covenant and everyone in that day knew what they were buying into. They understood that baptism was an invitation to attend their own burial. The reason we see so little of the new life in believers is because they never made a decision to die to the old one.
Here is where I want to share something in particular with some of the Christians reading here today. The words from the scripture that came to me were these. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" In Luke's gospel he describes a group of people coming to the tomb of Jesus expecting to prepare the body as was the custom of the time. They were in for a big surprise. Two angelic beings stood there and questioned them. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" and right there it struck me! This is exactly what many Christians are doing today. You are focusing on Jesus dying for you and you are stuck there. You have not engaged with the resurrected Jesus. I want to say this to some of you reading this today. These are some of the signs of those stuck at the tomb so to speak.
- You keep emphasising the only difference between you and unbelievers is that you've been forgiven. {That tells me you are still at the cross}
- When you speak about spiritual things and especially your testimony it generally ends with Jesus died for you and you have been forgiven. While this is fantastic why on earth do you stop there? What has the living resurrected Jesus done in your life since? What has changed the last 5,10 or 15 years since your sins have been forgiven?
- Your presentation of the gospel always focuses on Jesus dying for us but little or nothing is said of the resurrection. In virtually every gospel presentation in scripture the resurrection is mentioned after the crucifixion. You might think telling people Jesus died for them is good news but if you stop there it is nothing of the sort. The good news is that Jesus defeated death and therefore proved he has power over sin, sickness and all the power of the enemy and is able to save to the uttermost those who believe. After all a dead man can't save anybody!
- What is it you can do now that you couldn't do before your conversion? If you have trouble answering that one maybe you need to revisit the process listed above {or visit it for the first time if you never have before}
- You avoid talk of the after life because it detracts from this world. Again look at the process. Submission-death to self-new life-glory.
Paul the apostle said if our hope is in this life only than we are the most pathetic of people!
The scripture commands us to set our sights on the things from above and not on this life.
The early believers greeted each other with the word 'Maranatha' which means 'the Lord is coming.' They knew and reminded each other every time they met that we were not staying here. Jesus is coming to take us home. In the book of Hebrews we have the example of what faith is and in summary it tells us that they sought 'another city whose builder and maker is God'. Praise God this world is not all there is!
So let me leave you with these questions. Are you still seeking the living among the dead? Do you speak of Christ crucified as if he is still dead? Are you experiencing the new life he promised? Our God is not a God of the dead but of the living. Do you 'say your prayers'? {A term I hate as it depicts a religious duty to be done rather than a living relationship} or do you connect with the living God? Do you believe God for victory over sinful habits or do you casually tolerate them by using grace as a get out of jail free card. Are you experiencing the resurrection life Jesus promised?
So where are you on that scale? Have you missed out submitting your will to his {Gethsemane}. Do you actively live that out {Calvary}? Is your mind and heart no longer primarily focused on the attractions and trinkets of this world but rather are you focused and living for what is ahead? This is the way to experience resurrection life. Jesus said I have come that they may have life and life in all it's fullness.
Perhaps you are still seeking the living among the dead. I have good news for you. Jesus is alive. He wants you to experience life in all it's fullness. Resurrection life. My friend, my advice to you is to go back to Gethsemane regularly. Go back and wrestle with God. Go to that place of making a decision to willingly submit to God and say not my will but yours be done and then live out that decision {your own Calvary} As Paul the apostle said "I die daily". It is there you will experience more and more of the power of resurrection life and there are few that experienced it more than Paul the apostle.
If you feel stuck today, If you feel you are in a spiritual rut, If you feel like you made a decision and are glad your sins are forgiven but you've gone no further then I encourage you to submit your will to God's will, live that out and put your focus on the next world rather than this and you can experience more and more of the life that Jesus promised for those who believe.
Are you still at the tomb today? Then why are you seeking the living among the dead? Jesus says follow me. Follow me through Gethsemane. Follow me through Calvary. But don't stay at the tomb. Jesus said I have life for you and that life is more abundant. I encourage you to go on from the tomb and experience the life that Jesus has for all of us. Amen.
"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen."
I believe that God is speaking to someone about this very thing. You are seeking the living among the dead but God wants you to know that Jesus has risen.
I was once struck by a profound comment. It went like this. "Before the ascension there must be a resurrection. Before a resurrection there must be a Calvary. Before there can be a Calvary there must first be a Gethsemane." What did he mean by that? Simply this. Christ went through a process and it is a process we are called to go through also. Let me go a bit deeper here. Everyone wants to go to heaven right? {at least most of us do}. The ascension is the word we use for Jesus being taken up to heaven. However this only happened after his resurrection. In other words if we want to follow Jesus into heaven we must first receive resurrection life {It's what we sometimes call being born again}. It goes further than that though. Before Jesus could be raised from the dead he had to die. Jesus has to face death in order to go through death. There was no short cut here. There was no equivalent of an Xbox cheat or fast track solution. If we want to experience this new life there has to be a death first but it goes even further back than that. Before Jesus went to the cross he agonised over what awaited him. Jesus was agonising in prayer in a place called Gethsemane. Here is the process.
Gethsemane - Coming to the place of choice to willingly and specifically submit to the will of God
Calvary - For Jesus literally being crucified. For us the act of dying to what we want and embracing and living out God's will for our lives.
Resurrection - Living and experiencing the power of the new life God gives us.
Ascension - Being taken up into heaven to be with God forever.
Now this is what I see happening in many churches. Many will emphasis one thing but exclude another. Many will emphasis that Jesus died for our sins but stay right there but how can a dead man save you? The scripture tells us Jesus rose again for our justification. The scripture also tells us about resurrection life. Jesus rising from the dead testified that he was without sin and this new life and power gives us hope of a new dominion in our lives over sin and all the power of the enemy. Praise God for churches that preach the cross but please don't leave us there. Preach resurrection life! Amen!
Then others will preach on victory and dominion and power and all you can do in Jesus yet they don't mention the cross. Seriously there are churches and ministries that have preaching without the cross. How can you have resurrection life without a crucifixion first?
Still others will preach the cross and offer an easy way of having your sins forgiven because..."Jesus paid for it all and there is nothing you can do" This is one of the most dangerous errors I have seen precisely because it is so true. The danger is that it is preached as mutually exclusive to a Gethsemane message. There is no repentance. No active submission of the will to God. No coming to a conviction of "Not my will but yours be done". "Simply say this prayer and you can make heaven your home" is one of the most common things heard in western churches today yet they are losing as many people out the back door as are coming into the front door. Why is that? Simply because you've marketed the gospel in such a way as to make it an easy sell. {and lets face it the crucified life doesn't market well to the carnal nature}
Time and again the scriptures emphasis repentance and faith not just faith alone. Baptism was always the outward mark of the new covenant and everyone in that day knew what they were buying into. They understood that baptism was an invitation to attend their own burial. The reason we see so little of the new life in believers is because they never made a decision to die to the old one.
Here is where I want to share something in particular with some of the Christians reading here today. The words from the scripture that came to me were these. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" In Luke's gospel he describes a group of people coming to the tomb of Jesus expecting to prepare the body as was the custom of the time. They were in for a big surprise. Two angelic beings stood there and questioned them. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" and right there it struck me! This is exactly what many Christians are doing today. You are focusing on Jesus dying for you and you are stuck there. You have not engaged with the resurrected Jesus. I want to say this to some of you reading this today. These are some of the signs of those stuck at the tomb so to speak.
- You keep emphasising the only difference between you and unbelievers is that you've been forgiven. {That tells me you are still at the cross}
- When you speak about spiritual things and especially your testimony it generally ends with Jesus died for you and you have been forgiven. While this is fantastic why on earth do you stop there? What has the living resurrected Jesus done in your life since? What has changed the last 5,10 or 15 years since your sins have been forgiven?
- Your presentation of the gospel always focuses on Jesus dying for us but little or nothing is said of the resurrection. In virtually every gospel presentation in scripture the resurrection is mentioned after the crucifixion. You might think telling people Jesus died for them is good news but if you stop there it is nothing of the sort. The good news is that Jesus defeated death and therefore proved he has power over sin, sickness and all the power of the enemy and is able to save to the uttermost those who believe. After all a dead man can't save anybody!
- What is it you can do now that you couldn't do before your conversion? If you have trouble answering that one maybe you need to revisit the process listed above {or visit it for the first time if you never have before}
- You avoid talk of the after life because it detracts from this world. Again look at the process. Submission-death to self-new life-glory.
Paul the apostle said if our hope is in this life only than we are the most pathetic of people!
The scripture commands us to set our sights on the things from above and not on this life.
The early believers greeted each other with the word 'Maranatha' which means 'the Lord is coming.' They knew and reminded each other every time they met that we were not staying here. Jesus is coming to take us home. In the book of Hebrews we have the example of what faith is and in summary it tells us that they sought 'another city whose builder and maker is God'. Praise God this world is not all there is!
So let me leave you with these questions. Are you still seeking the living among the dead? Do you speak of Christ crucified as if he is still dead? Are you experiencing the new life he promised? Our God is not a God of the dead but of the living. Do you 'say your prayers'? {A term I hate as it depicts a religious duty to be done rather than a living relationship} or do you connect with the living God? Do you believe God for victory over sinful habits or do you casually tolerate them by using grace as a get out of jail free card. Are you experiencing the resurrection life Jesus promised?
So where are you on that scale? Have you missed out submitting your will to his {Gethsemane}. Do you actively live that out {Calvary}? Is your mind and heart no longer primarily focused on the attractions and trinkets of this world but rather are you focused and living for what is ahead? This is the way to experience resurrection life. Jesus said I have come that they may have life and life in all it's fullness.
Perhaps you are still seeking the living among the dead. I have good news for you. Jesus is alive. He wants you to experience life in all it's fullness. Resurrection life. My friend, my advice to you is to go back to Gethsemane regularly. Go back and wrestle with God. Go to that place of making a decision to willingly submit to God and say not my will but yours be done and then live out that decision {your own Calvary} As Paul the apostle said "I die daily". It is there you will experience more and more of the power of resurrection life and there are few that experienced it more than Paul the apostle.
If you feel stuck today, If you feel you are in a spiritual rut, If you feel like you made a decision and are glad your sins are forgiven but you've gone no further then I encourage you to submit your will to God's will, live that out and put your focus on the next world rather than this and you can experience more and more of the life that Jesus promised for those who believe.
Are you still at the tomb today? Then why are you seeking the living among the dead? Jesus says follow me. Follow me through Gethsemane. Follow me through Calvary. But don't stay at the tomb. Jesus said I have life for you and that life is more abundant. I encourage you to go on from the tomb and experience the life that Jesus has for all of us. Amen.
Monday, 25 March 2013
A Wise Son Makes A Glad Father
A wise son makes a Father glad {Proverbs chapter 10 verse 1}
There are few feelings as good as when a son does something that makes his father proud of him. I was reading this text today and although it was written about human fathers my focus went to our heavenly Father. Have you ever thought about the fact that you can make God happy? There are things you can do that make him rejoice. It's an interesting thought. Lets lay a foundation first and you'll see where I'm coming from.
Way back in the beginning when God first made man something special happened. We read in the creation account in Genesis that God looked at his creation in various stages of progress and declared it to be good. This word 'good' means far more than it does in English. To God, good is measured by the ultimate standard by which all things will be measured and that is God himself. All things are designed to reflect him. That is the highest purpose for all things. As the scripture says 'All things were created for God's pleasure and glory'. Creation reflects God's creative power, his beauty, his fruitfulness, his intelligence, his creativity, his majesty and grandeur and much more. In fact we read in the book of Romans that 'the invisible things of God are clearly seen through the things that were created, even His godhead and majesty.' This is what it means to be good but there is more.
GOD CREATED YOU! God said something of man that he said of nothing else. He said 'let us make man in our own image.' When he had done this he then declared that his creation was VERY GOOD. There is something very and uniquely special about a human being. We have the capacity to reflect God as nothing else in creation can. We have the capacity to reflect God's moral nature. Now let me take you to another scripture you may not be aware is intimately connected. It is in the gospels and describes the baptism of Jesus. The gospel writers tell us that the Holy Spirit was seen in a physical form coming down to rest upon Jesus and a voice from heaven was heard declaring, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. Don't miss the significance of such a dramatic statement. The terms 'very good' and 'very pleased' are INTIMATELY CONNECTED! The scriptures tell us that all things were made for God's good {that is virtuous and moral} pleasure. As God is perfect in every way he takes pleasure in that which reflects him.
When God made Adam {The first man} God said it was very good. We know that since then {being a creature of free will} man has mostly done the exact opposite of what God created him for. Most men don't live to reflect God's moral character but live to feed their own lusts, chase their own desires and puff themselves up in their own ways and worldly thinking but here is the thing. Jesus was described as THE SECOND ADAM by the apostle Paul. Jesus succeeded where the first Adam failed. Both Jesus and Adam came into this world without a human father and without being born with an inherited sinful nature. In Jesus case, however, his heavenly Father could say I AM VERY PLEASED WITH YOU. Here are some key things for all of us to remember.
# God made you to reflect Him in a way nothing else in creation can.
# God made you to reflect his moral character.
# God takes pleasure in you when you do this and it makes your Father happy.
So HOW do we do this? If God's great desire for us is that we will make Him a happy Father how can we achieve this? We find the answer in Proverbs. A WISE SON MAKES A GLAD FATHER. The answer is wisdom! Wisdom is the key! Wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom!
Now I want to give you a few very important key points to help you in this by way of a foundation.
#1 - WISDOM IS NOT INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE. IT IS MORAL KNOWLEDGE.
We must remember that the bible was not written by 20th century western scholars but by Jewish prophets and men of God thousands of years ago. This helps us deal with a fundamental communication problem. We think wisdom is stuff you know as if intellect was the key. Do you think you please God by having a higher I.Q then the next man? All the way through Proverbs you will see two words. WISE and FOOLISH. Again and again they are identified by MORAL traits. Not intellectual ones. Wisdom, for old testament Jews was not intellectual but moral.
#2 - MORAL KNOWLEDGE IS NOT INFORMATION BUT EXPERIENCE. To understand what the bible authors meant we must look at how they wrote. What did THEY mean by KNOWING something? We find this right in the beginning in Genesis. 'and Adam KNEW his wife Eve and she conceived'. In Hebrew, to KNOW means to experience. When the bible says that Adam knew his wife it does not mean that he had read a book about her, become aquainted with her or researched her background. It means he had an experience with her. In the bible moral knowledge is NOT having the information in your head but EXPERIENCING the truth in your life.
Think about it. If I was aware of a new wonder drug that could cure cancer would the knowledge or the experience of it heal me? Of course the experience of it! Jesus said 'and you shall KNOW the truth and the truth shall make you FREE!. How on earth can theological knowledge set you free from sin? It's ridiculous. Satan knows the bible better than any of us. He used and questioned the word of God to entrap Eve in the garden in the beginning and he repeatedly tried to twist the scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. If head knowledge saves then Satan would still be in heaven. I recall a pastor who told us how he would tell things to his disciples who would respond by saying 'I know'. The pastor would respond, 'You don't know. That's why I am telling you'. You only really know the truth when you believe it and you only really believe it when you live it. We need to experience the wisdom of God. It's when we experience it that we reflect God's moral character. In Hebrew, the same word is used to define something you know intellectually and something you experience. To claim to know what is right and not do it is almost a contradiction in terms.
#3 - LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. This is an old saying we have in England. Because a child lives with the parents and sees them every day they pick up on the habits and behaviour of the parents. It has been noted that some parents have told their kids 'do as I tell you and not as I do' An alcoholic parent will tell their child to be a good boy and not get drunk but the child will so often follow in the footsteps of the father. We know our heavenly Father is perfectly consistent with his word. His word flows out of the perfect moral character he is. There are dozens of titles used to describe God in the old testament and so many of them come as a revelation of God during a time when someone EXPERIENCED what he did. We will become more like Him when we spend quality time with him, when we have an EXPERIENCE OF HIM, when we see what God does.
So many settle for what they are taught in Sunday school but God is more than an academic subject. He has a personality. He wants to be in fellowship with us. He wants us to experience things with him. That is the place where we are transformed. That is the place where we become more like him where we actually encounter him. There is much more to say but I will conclude with this. The book of Proverbs contains so much practical wisdom that is not for storage in the head but for living and experiencing in life.
Proverbs comes alive when it comes alive in you.
Proverbs acts in a transforming way when it transforms the way you act. Proverbs is the route to the pleasure of God. It is the place of anointing as the Holy Spirit always anoints that which belongs to him. Proverbs is the place of God's wisdom, God's moral character expressed and lived out in the real world. It is where you find out what a true man and woman of God looks like. We know when we have GOT WISDOM when WISDOM GETS US. That's the place God ordained and purposed for you from the beginning. My friends, God's love for you is never in question. A parent always loves their children but children can bring joy to a parent or bring grief and heaviness. Wisdom is a choice. It is a choice to bring joy to the heart of the Father who loves you and has a wonderful purpose for your life. God's purpose for you is an experience of Him, of His character, of His wisdom and of His joy. What a wonderful thing it is to receive blessings from the Father in heaven. What a wonderful thing it is also that we can also bless God and bring joy and gladness to his heart. May God rejoice in you today as you embrace His wisdom for your life.
Shalom...Steve
There are few feelings as good as when a son does something that makes his father proud of him. I was reading this text today and although it was written about human fathers my focus went to our heavenly Father. Have you ever thought about the fact that you can make God happy? There are things you can do that make him rejoice. It's an interesting thought. Lets lay a foundation first and you'll see where I'm coming from.
Way back in the beginning when God first made man something special happened. We read in the creation account in Genesis that God looked at his creation in various stages of progress and declared it to be good. This word 'good' means far more than it does in English. To God, good is measured by the ultimate standard by which all things will be measured and that is God himself. All things are designed to reflect him. That is the highest purpose for all things. As the scripture says 'All things were created for God's pleasure and glory'. Creation reflects God's creative power, his beauty, his fruitfulness, his intelligence, his creativity, his majesty and grandeur and much more. In fact we read in the book of Romans that 'the invisible things of God are clearly seen through the things that were created, even His godhead and majesty.' This is what it means to be good but there is more.
GOD CREATED YOU! God said something of man that he said of nothing else. He said 'let us make man in our own image.' When he had done this he then declared that his creation was VERY GOOD. There is something very and uniquely special about a human being. We have the capacity to reflect God as nothing else in creation can. We have the capacity to reflect God's moral nature. Now let me take you to another scripture you may not be aware is intimately connected. It is in the gospels and describes the baptism of Jesus. The gospel writers tell us that the Holy Spirit was seen in a physical form coming down to rest upon Jesus and a voice from heaven was heard declaring, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. Don't miss the significance of such a dramatic statement. The terms 'very good' and 'very pleased' are INTIMATELY CONNECTED! The scriptures tell us that all things were made for God's good {that is virtuous and moral} pleasure. As God is perfect in every way he takes pleasure in that which reflects him.
When God made Adam {The first man} God said it was very good. We know that since then {being a creature of free will} man has mostly done the exact opposite of what God created him for. Most men don't live to reflect God's moral character but live to feed their own lusts, chase their own desires and puff themselves up in their own ways and worldly thinking but here is the thing. Jesus was described as THE SECOND ADAM by the apostle Paul. Jesus succeeded where the first Adam failed. Both Jesus and Adam came into this world without a human father and without being born with an inherited sinful nature. In Jesus case, however, his heavenly Father could say I AM VERY PLEASED WITH YOU. Here are some key things for all of us to remember.
# God made you to reflect Him in a way nothing else in creation can.
# God made you to reflect his moral character.
# God takes pleasure in you when you do this and it makes your Father happy.
So HOW do we do this? If God's great desire for us is that we will make Him a happy Father how can we achieve this? We find the answer in Proverbs. A WISE SON MAKES A GLAD FATHER. The answer is wisdom! Wisdom is the key! Wisdom is the principle thing therefore get wisdom!
Now I want to give you a few very important key points to help you in this by way of a foundation.
#1 - WISDOM IS NOT INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE. IT IS MORAL KNOWLEDGE.
We must remember that the bible was not written by 20th century western scholars but by Jewish prophets and men of God thousands of years ago. This helps us deal with a fundamental communication problem. We think wisdom is stuff you know as if intellect was the key. Do you think you please God by having a higher I.Q then the next man? All the way through Proverbs you will see two words. WISE and FOOLISH. Again and again they are identified by MORAL traits. Not intellectual ones. Wisdom, for old testament Jews was not intellectual but moral.
#2 - MORAL KNOWLEDGE IS NOT INFORMATION BUT EXPERIENCE. To understand what the bible authors meant we must look at how they wrote. What did THEY mean by KNOWING something? We find this right in the beginning in Genesis. 'and Adam KNEW his wife Eve and she conceived'. In Hebrew, to KNOW means to experience. When the bible says that Adam knew his wife it does not mean that he had read a book about her, become aquainted with her or researched her background. It means he had an experience with her. In the bible moral knowledge is NOT having the information in your head but EXPERIENCING the truth in your life.
Think about it. If I was aware of a new wonder drug that could cure cancer would the knowledge or the experience of it heal me? Of course the experience of it! Jesus said 'and you shall KNOW the truth and the truth shall make you FREE!. How on earth can theological knowledge set you free from sin? It's ridiculous. Satan knows the bible better than any of us. He used and questioned the word of God to entrap Eve in the garden in the beginning and he repeatedly tried to twist the scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. If head knowledge saves then Satan would still be in heaven. I recall a pastor who told us how he would tell things to his disciples who would respond by saying 'I know'. The pastor would respond, 'You don't know. That's why I am telling you'. You only really know the truth when you believe it and you only really believe it when you live it. We need to experience the wisdom of God. It's when we experience it that we reflect God's moral character. In Hebrew, the same word is used to define something you know intellectually and something you experience. To claim to know what is right and not do it is almost a contradiction in terms.
#3 - LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON. This is an old saying we have in England. Because a child lives with the parents and sees them every day they pick up on the habits and behaviour of the parents. It has been noted that some parents have told their kids 'do as I tell you and not as I do' An alcoholic parent will tell their child to be a good boy and not get drunk but the child will so often follow in the footsteps of the father. We know our heavenly Father is perfectly consistent with his word. His word flows out of the perfect moral character he is. There are dozens of titles used to describe God in the old testament and so many of them come as a revelation of God during a time when someone EXPERIENCED what he did. We will become more like Him when we spend quality time with him, when we have an EXPERIENCE OF HIM, when we see what God does.
So many settle for what they are taught in Sunday school but God is more than an academic subject. He has a personality. He wants to be in fellowship with us. He wants us to experience things with him. That is the place where we are transformed. That is the place where we become more like him where we actually encounter him. There is much more to say but I will conclude with this. The book of Proverbs contains so much practical wisdom that is not for storage in the head but for living and experiencing in life.
Proverbs comes alive when it comes alive in you.
Proverbs acts in a transforming way when it transforms the way you act. Proverbs is the route to the pleasure of God. It is the place of anointing as the Holy Spirit always anoints that which belongs to him. Proverbs is the place of God's wisdom, God's moral character expressed and lived out in the real world. It is where you find out what a true man and woman of God looks like. We know when we have GOT WISDOM when WISDOM GETS US. That's the place God ordained and purposed for you from the beginning. My friends, God's love for you is never in question. A parent always loves their children but children can bring joy to a parent or bring grief and heaviness. Wisdom is a choice. It is a choice to bring joy to the heart of the Father who loves you and has a wonderful purpose for your life. God's purpose for you is an experience of Him, of His character, of His wisdom and of His joy. What a wonderful thing it is to receive blessings from the Father in heaven. What a wonderful thing it is also that we can also bless God and bring joy and gladness to his heart. May God rejoice in you today as you embrace His wisdom for your life.
Shalom...Steve
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