Revelation day1

 REVELATION 1–3 

 

Nearly 40 years after Jesus was killed, Jerusalem was destroyed, again. There was a dispute among some of the aristocracy over some taxes. Some overzealous revolutionaries got wind of it and seized control of the city. Roman forces were dispatched to crush them. In the spring of 70 A.D., just as a sea of faithful Jewish people descended upon Jerusalem for the Passover (which was, ironically, a celebration of their liberation from slavery), the siege began. 

For months, the city languished in starvation, disease, random acts of violence and internal strife. By August, the entire city — including the Temple — was demolished. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish people were dead. 

Thirty-seven years, Passover to Passover, from the execution of Jesus, the city of Jerusalem was wiped off the map. 

The immediate reaction of Christians everywhere was horror. But while they were genuinely horrified, they couldn’t help but think that perhaps those in Jerusalem had brought this on themselves by rejecting the Messiah. Jesus had predicted this would happen. 

But Jesus had predicted a lot of things. 

He said His kingdom would overcome the kingdoms of this world. He said all power and authority had been given to Him. He gave His followers the distinct impression that He would be back soon. It had been more than a generation now. His followers had lived and died, suffering persecution and humiliation, and He still had not returned. 

The 12 disciples Jesus had hand-picked were all gone now except for John — and he was stuck on an island in exile. There was a rumour circulating that he might never die, but there was another rumour that his health was poor. Who knew what the truth was anymore? 

Persecution was no longer occasional or in a few places; it was everywhere all the time. The new emperor was demanding that people worship him as lord. Failure to do so could result not only in the loss of home or job, but one’s very life! 

Heretics (whether Gnostics or Judaisers) kept churches in turmoil. Immoral practices leaked into Christian worship from pagan temples. In a few places, cultural acceptance of Christianity and financial respectability caused some to water down the teachings of the apostles. 

John, the one human alive who had the authority to quell these rumblings, was living in a cave on 60 square miles of rock, far from the people he loved — the people who desperately needed his wisdom. 

Thankfully, the Lord had John sit down and record what he was about to see. 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord, when I read the epistles of the New Testament, I am struck by the content of these letters that dealt with serious problems in the Early Church. The errors of legalism, early Gnosticism, immorality and divisiveness were rampant, and each of these posed a serious threat to the purity and propagation of the gospel. And the social, cultural and moral conditions in the Roman Empire also opposed the spread of Christianity. Your Church was challenged by internal and external turmoil, and from a human perspective, should never have survived. And yet it has, and Your gospel has now spread to every nation on earth. And I know that in spite of the internal and external challenges Your people face today, the gates of Hades will not overpower Your Church. I thank You for Your sovereign grace in the past, present and future. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen

Matter day4

 Because physical matter is actually a part of God’s creation, we should receive it as a gift from Him. We are free to savour it as it is, without needing to “Christianise” it by stamping a Bible verse on it, hoping to make it suitable for Christian consumption. If God created it, we can safely assume it’s okay to enjoy in its proper context. 

No one should enjoy the outdoors more than Christians do. Whether you prefer the mountains or the beach or the desert, get out there and take a walk or plant a garden or have a picnic with the kids. And while you’re out, give thanks to God. 

Or go to the movies, a museum or a concert. No one should enjoy art more than Christians do. Don’t think the art has to be overtly Christian, either. It need not be proclamational for it to be enjoyable. It doesn’t need to have an altar call at the end for it to be worthwhile, because when filmmakers or artists or musicians create, they are reflecting the creative impulse of the Creator, in whose image they are made. 

There are certain things Christians should give up because they’re wrong and they lead us in the wrong direction. But we can enjoy the work of God’s hands. In fact, some Christians of old said it this way. Our first responsibility as humans is to find pleasure in God’s world — to know God and enjoy Him forever. 

Maybe you connect with God when you’re up to your wrists in top-soil or up to your ankles in sand and saltwater. Maybe you find the most peace dropping a fishing line in the tall reeds at the far edge of the pond or hiking the trails up to the moorland. Maybe it’s listening to The Proms playing Mozart or staring at The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. 

However you connect with God most deeply, take a moment to thank Him for His amazing creation. Be grateful that He put you here to enjoy real things. 

And remember this. If God were unable to come into contact with physical matter, He couldn’t have come in the flesh. He couldn’t have participated in a bodily resurrection, and He couldn’t have any fellowship with you. Aren’t you glad that He did, and aren’t you glad that He does? 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, Your Word affirms the beauty, glory, marvels and goodness of Your created order. The heavens declare Your majesty and power, and it is through Your creation that You have revealed Your invisible attributes, Your eternal power and divine nature to all people. The earth is full of Your possessions, and in wisdom You have made them all. The heavens and earth abound with resplendent wonders on every level, including the fearfully and wonderfully made human body. May I learn to enjoy and praise You through the splendours of Your creation, and may I celebrate Your goodness in the many gifts of this life, such as food and fellowship, as well as great art, music and literature that have been crafted by Your image-bearers. All of life is spiritual, whether material or immaterial, and I will worship You in all things. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Matter day3

 Adam woke up in the Garden that very first day, staring into the eyes of the God who had just breathed into his body the breath of life. Later, God created another human to share this thing called fellowship with Adam. Together, Adam and his new mate, Eve, enjoyed not only each other’s company but God’s company, as well.

 There was fellowship all the way around! And it was very good. 

Then sin entered the picture, and fellowship was broken. The man and woman were alienated from one another and from God. They found themselves out in the cold, no longer able to see the face of God. He didn’t show up like He used to and walk with them in the cool of the day.

 Obviously, God wasn’t content to let the story end there with a severed relationship. God began a plan way back then to restore the fellowship. He gave His people the sacrificial system to pay for their sins, and He gave them the Law to show them how to live. 

Of course, when God was revealing these to Moses, the people were rebelling and worshiping a golden calf. Fellowship remained broken. 

At that point, God actually told the people to go ahead and take up residence in the Promised Land without Him (Ex 33). But even then, God’s people understood that fellowship with God was of far greater value than anything else, so they declined His offer. 

One of the reasons it was important for the Early Church to emphatically refute Gnosticism is that if God can have no fellowship with physical matter, then it is impossible for God to have fellowship with us. 

Jesus defined eternal life for us once, but His definition doesn’t sound like many of ours. He said, “This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3). Eternal life is not about being in heaven. It’s not about being delivered from the mess that so often accompanies life on earth. It’s not about finally being rid of that pesky earthsuit you’re made to wear.

 Eternal life is fellowship with God. That’s what the whole Bible Story is about. 

The purpose of the gospel is to bring men and women out of darkness and into the light of God’s glory, to reunite us with our Creator and enable us to enjoy fellowship with Him and with one another again. If you miss this, you’ve missed the whole point of the Story. 

Sadly, few people actually value their relationship with God and with others as the main event. They tend to act as if the main point is the mansion that will be theirs in heaven or the things they can gain as a result of their fellowship with God and others. 

But fellowship isn’t a means to anything else. Fellowship is the thing, the main point of all that Christians believe.

 

Prayer 

 

Father God, I thank You that Your gift of eternity begins in this life with the reception of the righteousness of Your Son through faith. In Christ, my alienation and estrangement with You due to my sin are overcome and replaced by the gifts of justification and of peace with You. Through my redemption and adoption into Your spiritual family, I have received the great blessings of Your presence and of fellowship with You. As the triune God, You Yourself are a relational community of three Persons. This profound mystery is the basis for all relationships, because it takes more than one person for there to be love and communion. In Christ, You have welcomed me into this fellowship, and the greatest glory of heaven will be to be with You in Your unmediated presence, beholding Your boundless beauty and majesty and enjoying You with others.

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Matter day2

 The Christian faith rests on literal, historical events, the most important of which are the Incarnation and the Resurrection. Both events involve one central feature, the physical body of Jesus Christ. Both were acts of God, rooted in history and witnessed by many of Jesus’ contemporaries. 

But these two anchor points for the Christian faith have been hotly disputed throughout the centuries since their occurrence. In the earliest days of the Church, they were disputed by some Gentiles who came to a kind of belief in Jesus but refused to believe that He was fully human. They were known as Docetists, and they believed an early form of what would later become full-blown Gnosticism. 

They believed anything material was automatically and completely evil. Conversely, they believed that only spiritual things were good. Your body? Evil. Your soul? Good. This physical world? Bad. The spiritual world with angels and all that? Good. 

The apostle Paul firmly rejected this heresy. For example, he told a young protégé, “They [the Gnostics] forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4.3-5, Col 2.8-23). 

But none of the writers of the New Testament spoke against this heresy more clearly or loudly than the apostle John. He countered the argument that Jesus wasn’t fully divine until the Spirit entered Him by saying, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1.14). He countered the argument that Jesus only appeared to be human by saying that anyone who denied that Jesus Christ came in an actual body was so opposed to God as to become Antichrist (1 Jn 4.1-3). 

We believe, along with Christians throughout history, that God created a physical world. Jesus lived in a physical body. Neither this physical world nor our physical bodies hinder us from being in a relationship with God. He created them, validated them and seeks to redeem them. Our problem is sin, not physical matter. It is sin we are called to avoid, not stuff. 

You can’t avoid stuff, you are stuff. You must not fall for either extreme of neglecting or indulging your physical body in order to elevate your spiritual self. It doesn’t make you a more spiritually mature person to ignore the basics of hygiene and health. Jesus came to share in our physical birth so that we, through our identification with Him in His physical death, can be assured of our sharing in His physical resurrection. 

These physical events have led us to spiritual life. 

The way the early Christian writers responded to the heresy of Gnosticism lets us know that when it comes to your spiritual life, well, there’s really no such thing as a “spiritual” life — there’s just life, and it’s all spiritual. 

 

Prayer 

 

God of all creation, even though creation has been subjected to the futility of the curse, it is still Yours, and You will redeem nature when You reveal the children of God in the redemption of our bodies. The material world is still good, because it comes from Your hand, and You have made us to be incarnate beings. And when the Word became flesh, He dwelled in our midst and identified Himself with the human condition, except for our sin. This incomprehensible identification with us in His incarnation, death and physical resurrection is the glorious foundation for our hope. By becoming one of us, He could take our sins upon Himself on the cross. And through His bodily resurrection from the dead, He made it possible for us to be resurrected as well. Thanks be to God for this wondrous gift.

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Matter day1

 THE BOOK OF 1 JOHN  

 

As the early Christians became further and further removed from their Jewish roots, they opened themselves up to the false beliefs of their newly converted Gentile neighbours. The primary challenge came from a religious group whose wrong ideas about creation led them to reinterpret the teachings of Jesus and the apostles through the lens of a Greek philosophy known as “Gnosticism.” 

While there was a fair amount of diversity among these Gnostic groups, the belief that unified them was the idea that the material world was inherently corrupt. They reasoned that the one true God would never allow Himself to be contaminated by our base, physical reality. In fact, He would never have created such filth in the first place. 

When these people read the old Testament, they concluded that YHWH must be an inferior God. After all, He created everything and thought it was pretty good. YHWH described Himself as having physical characteristics such as hands and eyes (Ex 7.5, Psa 34.15). The real God, they reasoned, would be appalled to be thought of in such a way. 

Continuing along this line of reasoning, most of them figured that Jesus couldn’t have been both divine and human, those two categories were mutually exclusive in their minds. A sort of sub-category of Gnosticism developed, known as Docetism (from the Greek word doxa, which means “to seem”). Docetists claimed that Jesus only seemed human. Others claimed that Jesus was a human who only became divine when the Holy Spirit came upon Him at His baptism, and then went back to being human when the Holy Spirit left Him at His crucifixion. 

They were trying to protect God from being polluted by this material world. 

To them, anything physical was evil and inconsequential, only “spiritual” things mattered. A person was really a spiritual being trapped inside a physical shell of a body, trying desperately to get out and be reunited with the “real God,” who only lived somewhere “out there.” The way to escape and get to God was to deny yourself anything physical (don’t get married, never have sex, don’t enjoy your food, and so on). If you refused to indulge your whiny physical body, it would leave your spirit alone. 

Another group of these Gnostics went to the opposite extreme, figuring that if they could appease their bodies, maybe the impulses would be sated and leave their minds alone. They reasoned that they could get away with committing sexual immorality as long as their minds were pure. You’re not really your body anyway, they believed. The body is just a prison the spirit lives in, so it doesn’t really matter what a person does with his or her body. Feed it or starve it — it’s going to burn up anyway. 

Sound familiar? 

 

Prayer 

 

God of promise, You have been working throughout history to overcome the alienation and estrangement that took place at the Fall. Your glorious redemptive plan that led to the incarnation of Your Son provides the only basis for our forgiveness, atonement and eternal life. But since the days of His earthly ministry, there has been a concerted effort by the enemy of our faith to distort the biblical teaching about His identity. Teachers have denied Jesus’ full deity on the one hand or denied His full humanity on the other, and this still happens now. We are such creatures of extremes — the extremes of Jesus as God but not man, and of Jesus as man but not God, the extremes of asceticism and of indulgence, the extremes of seeing matter as evil and of worshiping the earth. But only the biblical revelation of the full God-Man is enough to save us from our sins.

In Jesus’s name, Amen

Love and war day4

 Few biblical truths are as self-evident as Jesus’ statement, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16.33). At some point, you will face discouragement. It may be something as simple as a rift in a relationship or as serious as harassment for expressing your faith. Regardless, you will be opposed by the devil, by the forces of this present darkness that work to sabotage God’s agenda. 

There is no denying that there is a war going on. It is bigger than the war on drugs and more divisive than the war on terror. It is a culture war, and we are engaged in it. 

What will win such a war? It won’t be violent rhetoric or legislating a Christian agenda. It won’t be telling the other side how and why they’re wrong and we’re right. In fact, those who have engaged society with an arrogant attitude like this have done more harm than good. The only way to win a culture war is by embodying the sacrificial love of Jesus. 

We tend to view our enemies with suspicion, to hide from them or attempt to impose our will on them. We do not want our enemies to know our weaknesses. In fact, truth be told, we hate our enemies. We pray that God will hold them accountable for the atrocities they’ve committed. 

But God’s wartime strategy is remarkably different. Think of it like this: The people in the world (including us) were enemies of God (Rom 5.10). We were at war with God (a futile notion if ever there was one!). And what was God’s plan for ending that war? He sought us out, wooing us with His love, giving us freedom to embrace or reject His message. He became weak in our presence, humbling Himself to the point of death. Out of His great love for us, He asked that we not be held accountable for the things we had done. 

In short, God was willing to go to unbelievable lengths to win us back. Not to win the war, but to win the warriors, even as they continued acting out their hostility and aggression toward Him. 

What would it look like for us to engage in the current culture war with the same depth of love for those on the other side as God demonstrated toward us? 

How do you win the culture war? Love the other side. 

Don’t embrace their beliefs, values or behaviours. But love them. Seek their best. Serve them. Forgive them. Show them hospitality and courtesy. Use whatever you’ve been given to meet the needs of others (1 Pet 4.7-11). In other words, treat them the way Jesus has treated you. Then, whether you change their minds or not, you will know that God is shaping you, transforming you from within into the kind of person you were created to be. 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord God, it takes little faith to realize that trouble in this fallen world is unavoidable. And now that I have come to faith in Jesus Christ, I know that opposition and tribulation may well increase, especially when I seek to be Your ambassador of reconciliation in the lives of people I meet. When I encounter personal adversity or hostility and when I consider the broader adversity and hostility to the gospel in this world, may I choose to respond in love and not in fear or hatred. May I remember that people are not the enemy; they are victims of the enemy. Give me the grace to embody love for others in spite of what they say or do, and to express the sacrificial love of Jesus by treating others in the way Jesus treated me. My confidence is in You, and I will steadfastly hold fast to You rather than wringing my hands over the evils in this generation. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Love and war day3

 When trouble comes, it’s easy to focus on what you do not have. You do not have relief. You do not have comfort. You may not have the physical freedom you once enjoyed. Such a focus easily turns to complaining and grumbling. 

But that’s a terrible way to live. Even if it’s accurate, it’s not helpful. It doesn’t accomplish anything. It doesn’t make you feel better. In fact, complaining and grumbling are self-sustaining activities, vocalising your dissatisfaction reinforces your dissatisfaction and makes you want to vocalise it even more. 

By the time the apostle Peter got around to writing his first letter, there were Christians scattered all over the known world who were enduring terrible persecution, a kind you and I probably can’t even imagine. Jesus had told them He would be right back, but it had been decades, and there was no sign of His return. Worse, they were being hunted down and murdered for their faith. 

Where was Jesus in the midst of all this? They didn’t have Him, at least not in the flesh. They didn’t have relief. They didn’t have comfort. They didn’t have the physical freedom they once enjoyed. 

They began to focus on what they didn’t have, and it wasn’t long before it turned into complaining and grumbling. Some were even beginning to doubt this whole Christianity thing. 

Peter countered this by reminding them of what they had received. Rather than focusing on what they lacked, he advised, they should focus on what was theirs because of their faith in Christ. For example. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet 1.3-9). 

Peter calls his readers to hope — not to dream or wish, but to hope — in Christ. His desire is that we rest in the promises of God and rejoice in the assurance that the future will be better. Amid present and difficult dangers, we are justified in viewing the future with optimism because we are securely attached to the God who deals in futures. 

Nero and Rome may do their worst. The Chinese government may imprison, and the Courts may seek to remove any vestiges of our nation’s Christian influences. They do not get the last word — God does. And because of our relationship with Him, we will emerge from the fires of trial victorious. 

Cling to that hope! Cherish that hope! Live in and out of that hope! 

 

Prayer 

 

Father God, I am so tempted to focus my attention on what I do not have instead of being thankful for the many blessings You have already bestowed on me. Too often, I approach life from a perspective of deficiency rather than sufficiency. And when I fail to be steadily grateful for Your many tender mercies, I succumb to the sin of grumbling and complaining. Too often, I make my joy contingent on the outcomes I want, rather than the promises You have made. I confess the sin of grumbling and murmuring against Your provision and plans when these do not meet my expectations. I realise that unless I see all of life as a gift from You, I will develop an entitlement mentality that expects things You have not promised. Teach me to focus on Your promises for a future with You that will transcend anything I could hope for in this world.

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

 

Love and war day2

 You can turn on your radio any day and hear Christian stations claiming to be “safe for the whole family.” We know what they mean, but who in the world ever said Christianity was supposed to be safe? Jesus said the exact opposite. He said we shouldn’t be surprised if our faith got us into trouble. The world wasn’t always kind to Him, it won’t always be kind to His followers. 

Safety isn’t bad, and Christian parents are often called to protect their children and provide safe environments for their families. But safety can easily become idolatrous if and when it replaces a willingness to follow God’s leading in every area of our lives. 

Those who follow God with this radical commitment level will sometimes find themselves persecuted. That is a simple fact of life. Persecution isn’t just something the Church experienced back in the early days, it goes on all the time. There are Christians being imprisoned and killed for their faith, even now. Even in places like the suburbs, society can be somewhat hostile to people who take God seriously. The light of the gospel has broken in, but this world is still a dangerous, unfriendly place that often refuses to treat us kindly. 

So how are we to live? Should we just withdraw from society, hole up, hide away and forward a lot of paranoid, Chicken Little, ‘the-sky-is-falling’ emails to one another? 

It’s a good thing God doesn’t think the way we think. He saw a world that was hostile toward Him, and His response was to send His Son into that perilous world to die on its behalf. In fact, the whole Bible Story shows us, time and time again, how God calls people out of safety and comfort into places of danger and risk. 

How did they survive? Faith was their survival kit. 

Faith asks us to face the future with the courageous tenacity to persevere in doing what God has called us to do, looking forward to the fulfilment of God’s promises, regardless of whether or not those promises will be fulfilled in our own lifetimes. 

It’s relatively easy to keep the faith, when life’s good. When the sun is shining and you’re in good favour with your boss and your neighbours — well, God is good then. But when your faith gets you in trouble, it’s easy to start wondering about the validity of these outlandish promises God has made. Life on this planet doesn’t always feel like abundant life for even the most passionate Christian. 

Still, the promise has been made. Jesus is returning, and when He does, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that He is Lord and in charge (Phil 2.10-11). He has put His reputation on the line. 

One day it will all come full circle, and the hardships we endure now will prove worthwhile (Rom 8.18-25, 2 Cor 4.16-18). That day has yet to arrive, and until it does, we must remain forward-facing, leaning into whatever today holds in store for us, filled with faith in a God who has secured and is preparing for us a future beyond our wildest expectations! 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord Jesus, You taught Your followers that they would have tribulation in the world. But You also counselled them to take courage, because You have overcome the world. Just as the world persecuted You, it will persecute us, Your Body, and this is more evident around the world today than ever before. But as Your servant Paul taught, we who are in Christ can exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, proven character and hope that does not disappoint. When we go out as agents of Your Great Commission, we know that in spite of opposition, nothing can thwart Your work. May we learn to mature in faith by trusting You regardless of the consequences we see in this life. We know we are headed for a glorious and eternal future with You that cannot be compared to the temporary results in this world. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

 

Love and war day1

 1 AND 2 PETER

As you’ve seen by now, Christianity wasn’t just another branch of Judaism — like the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the Essenes or the Zealots — after all. It was its own thing. 

And so the persecution began. 

It began mostly as Jew-on-Jew crime in Jerusalem. James, the brother of Jesus, the leader of the Church there in the Holy City, was stoned to death on authority of the high priest, his meticulous observance of the Law no longer able to make up for the fact that he aligned himself with the Gentile-loving Christians. 

Christians like Paul throughout the Jewish world looked to Rome for protection, and it was granted as long as the Romans believed Christianity to be under the umbrella of Judaism. But as more and more Gentiles came to faith in Christ, they came under more careful scrutiny. In a few short years, the Roman emperor Nero saw Christians as a convenient scapegoat for a dastardly crime committed by none other than the emperor himself, the burning of Rome! 

Now you might think that the most powerful nation in the history of Planet Earth would be able to win this little skirmish. But these Christians proved a plucky lot, willing to endure terrible hardships and finding joy amidst their pain, peace in spite of their circumstances and the gumption to bless those who cursed them. 

As you can imagine, this infuriated the Romans. 

Christians were rounded up and killed. Nero had them wrapped in animal skins and thrown to packs of wild dogs. He thought it would be ironic to have them crucified like the One they claimed to follow. He lit them on fire and suspended them on poles to serve as torches for his outdoor parties. 

But these Christians wouldn’t stop. Somehow they thought that no matter how bad things got in this life, there was something better waiting for them on the other side. They believed that the sufferings would appear to be brief in light of the eternal life that was theirs because of their faith in Jesus. They saw the persecution they endured as a refining process. 

After all, Jesus Himself had suffered at the hands of Jewish and Roman leaders; why should His followers expect to escape the same treatment? He suffered, and He was vindicated by His Father in heaven. If they could summon the strength to suffer as He had, they would surely be vindicated in a similar fashion. 

This stumped the Romans. 

All they could think to do was more of the same — only harder. So they cracked the whip again and again and again. Nine times in 250 years, they swept the land, seeking to rid themselves of Christianity once and for all. 

But an amazing thing happened, Love won. 

Love bested the worst Rome could dish out. Love outlasted power. Love demolished strength. Out of everything that had ever been or will ever be, these three will always remain, faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

Prayer 

 

Lord, You have warned us not to be surprised when we share the sufferings of Christ and encounter fiery ordeals during our sojourn in the present darkness of this world. The forces of this world system are opposed to the gospel of Your kingdom, and when we do not fit in this system because of our commitment to Christ, we know that we can become targets of opposition, ridicule, and other forms of persecution. May we immerse ourselves especially during these times in biblical faith, hope and love. May we hold fast to the truths of the gospel, to the Person and work of Christ, and to the power of the Spirit. May we hope in Your promises that we will not receive in this life by welcoming them from a distance and confessing that we are strangers and exiles on the earth. And may we display the love of Christ to those who oppose us. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen

Freedom day4

 I’m free to do what I want any old time. 

Who knew The Rolling Stones’ song from 1965 would come to resonate so deeply with a people? Who would have imagined they would sing it for more than 40 years and that it would eventually become the tune for an advertising campaign for a credit card company? 

But is that really freedom? Or is that just egocentric individualism run amuck? 

We live in a free society, but are we free to do whatever we want whenever we want? 

The answer is, in one sense, yes. We are free to hurl obscenities at the driver who cuts us off. We are free to steal from our offices. We are free to cheat on our spouses and on our taxes. Sort of. 

But there are consequences. 

You may get caught. Your spouse may divorce you. Your boss may fire you. The HMRC may audit you, and the driver in front of you may get out of his car and punch you in the nose. 

Worse, no one may ever find out. You may never get caught, but there will still be consequences. You’ll become an even more impatient, untrustworthy, self-indulgent person who lives isolated and alienated from others. 

In other words, if you allow your freedom to become license for over-indulgence, you’ll end up enslaved to your appetites. The choice isn’t between limitation and freedom. Rather, the choice is whom you will allow to set your limits. 

The apostle Paul says that you can set the limits for yourself. You can use your freedom in that way, to indulge yourself. However, that approach is disastrous when you try to live it out — especially when you try to live it out in the context of community with others (Gal 5:13-15). 

His solution is not to give up your freedom; his solution is to concentrate less on what you’ve been set free from and more on what you’ve been set free for. If Jesus has set you free, you’re free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit now rather than your own selfish interests. And if you follow the leading of the Spirit, you have no need for the Law to tell you what’s right and wrong. The Holy Spirit can be trusted to guide you wisely and well (Gal 5:18). 

Selfish living sounds good for a while, but it always leads to boring repetition. It cheapens life and love. It’s characterised by frenzied activity with diminishing returns, momentary but fleeting fits of happiness. It inevitably leads to loneliness and jealousy and an increasing inability to love or receive love from others. It always promises more than it can deliver. 

You’re now free to live like that, if you like. 

But you’re also free now to live a different way, a better way. You’re free to live life in the Spirit. You can live a life of affection and enthusiasm. You can have a peace that defies your circumstances. You can endure hardships with joy. You can stand up for your convictions fearlessly and show compassion to others. You can keep your commitments and enjoy relationships without manipulation. 

You’re now free to live like that, if you like. 

That kind of life won’t come about through any kind of legalistic observance of rules, though. Legalism only gets in the way. The way to gain that kind of life — the kind of life you’ve always wanted but have never been able to achieve on your own — is by surrendering on a daily basis to the guidance of God’s Spirit. 

Prayer 

Father, Your Word teaches that the freedom You have given us in Christ is not the libertarian freedom to do whatever we want to do. That form of freedom leads to selfishness and the painful consequences of self-indulgence. When we try to do things in our way and in our timing, this ultimately diminishes our freedom, because we are attempting to live life on our own terms. Too many of us who profess to be followers of Christ are trying to play by two sets of rules at once. But You have made it clear that we must choose to serve only one master. Service to the world and to self is not freedom, but bondage. But service to Christ Jesus is the source of perfect freedom. As I follow You and live life in Your Spirit, new options open up before me. Now as I walk by the Spirit, I can choose to be pleasing to You and to reflect the righteousness of Your Son. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Freedom day3

 We love our freedom. We value and cherish our freedom. Soldiers are willing to die to protect our freedom. We go to great lengths to make sure that the freedom we currently enjoy will be passed down to the next generation. 

We love freedom, but do we really understand it? 

The concepts of slavery and freedom are deeply woven into the Story of the Bible. Beginning with the 400 years in Egypt, God demonstrated His desire to see His people free. But there was a particular reason why He wanted them free: He wants them to be set free so that they can worship Him (Exodus 5.1, 7.16, 8.1, 8.20, 9.1, 9.13, 10.3). In other words, the Hebrews were set free from one thing (Egyptian slavery), but they were also set free for something else (to worship YHWH). 

Like those Hebrew slaves, we find ourselves enslaved, as well. Without Jesus, we are enslaved to sin and self to such an extent that we cannot free ourselves (John 8.34). Because of our bondage, we are unable to live the life God created us for. 

In the Bible, freedom is always from something, but it is also for something. God wants to set us free from our bondage to anyone or anything that keeps us from living life in His kingdom. God wants to set us free for a lifestyle characterised by what He calls “the fruit of the Spirit,” that is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5.22-23). 

Freedom from. 

Freedom for. 

The apostle Paul was adamant about this. All who place their faith in Christ have been set free from sin and are now free to live life in the Spirit (Rom 8:1-11, Gal 5). God has set you free from your sin, free from your past, free from religious convention, free from regret and guilt and shame and fear and anxiety. But you’re not just free from all that, you’re free for some things now. God has set you free for a life of worship, a life of service, a life of joy and peace and love and generosity. 

The important thing to remember is that if you never engage in the thing you’ve been set free for, you’ll end up enslaved again to the thing you’ve been set free from. If you never move forward into worshiping God by living a life of freedom in the Spirit, you’ll end up enslaved to sin and self all over again. 

Value your freedom. Cherish that freedom. Fight for your freedom. Protect it and guard it. But know that it’s not complete until you move into the life you’ve been set free for. 

 

Prayer 

 

Lord Jesus, You set me free from the yoke of slavery and delivered me from the bondage of the world, the bondage of sin and the bondage of self so that I could be liberated into newness of life. The more clearly I see myself in Christ, the more free I am from the guilt and pain of the past and from the anxieties of the future. Now that I have been adopted into Your family, You have given me a new identity and a new inheritance. By Your grace, may I learn to live out of the resources You have given so that I will move forward into the new freedom You have given and be less inclined to revert to the bondage of the past. May I become increasingly attracted to what You want for me and less attracted to the lures of the things that formerly ensnared me. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Freedom day2

 The entire letter to the church in Galatia is written with passion and anger, correcting the corruption of the Good News that was being spread by the Judaisers. Paul states his case as clearly as he can, “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Gal 2.21). In other words, Christ’s work is sufficient. We dare not think that keeping the Law can add a thing to what He has done. What matters now is not whether or not you live your life according to the Jewish Law, but whether or not you live your life in Christ under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Later, Paul incorporated these same thoughts into his letter to the Christians in Rome. They were struggling with similar issues in both places, so he went to great lengths to demonstrate the futility of seeking to be declared righteous by keeping the Jewish Law (Rom 3.9-20). 

The Judaisers weren’t content to stay in Galatia and Rome, they spread their corruption into every area that the message of Jesus had reached. To the church in Ephesus, Paul states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2.8-9). He says that Jesus has destroyed the things that separated Jews from Gentiles “by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations” (2.15). In Philippi, Paul warned the church, “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh” (Phil 3.2). In Colossae, Paul instructed the church, “Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day” (Col 2.16). 

Your standing with God is not determined by your ethnicity or your observance of Jewish Law, it is determined by your identification with the finished work of Jesus Christ and the life you now live under the influence of the Spirit. Sadly, legalism is still practiced in many churches today. Maybe it’s not about kosher foods or circumcision, but we’ve managed to create our own boundary markers. For some, it’s social drinking or smoking. In some circles, it’s going to movies, listening to certain kinds of music or dancing. 

Most of us have moved beyond those debates, but there are other, subtler forms of legalism still at work among us. For example, if you’ve made it this far in my posts, (coming on for a year now), you are to be commended. But I’m guessing at least some of you got behind somewhere along the line. You got busy and skipped a few days. Maybe you made it up by reading several days’ worth of material in one sitting, or maybe you just fast-forwarded to the next story. 

Here’s the thing. Sometimes people feel guilty about missing their daily devotional or “quiet time.” They feel distant from God — even unloved by Him for that day. They can’t wait to get back to their scheduled reading so that they can once again find themselves in God’s good graces. 

Guess what? That’s legalism. You are loved by God. Reading your Bible and saying your prayers doesn’t make you any more loveable to God than you already are. 

The discipline is important, but the discipline doesn’t make you acceptable to God. Jesus Christ makes you acceptable to God. Live life in Him, and you never need to feel the burden of Quiet Time guilt again!

 

Prayer 

 

Lord God, when Your kindness and love for the people You created appeared in the Person of Your Son, You saved us, not on the basis of deeds we have done in righteousness, but according to Your mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Now that we have been justified by Your grace, we have been made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We have been justified by faith and not by the works of the Law, and only the righteousness of Your Son in us can make us acceptable before You. Teach us, Lord, with increasing clarity that not only is grace through faith in Christ the basis for our salvation, but that grace through faith in Christ is also the basis for our sanctification in the spiritual life. It is as we abide in Christ that His fruit of good works will become evident in and through us. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Freedom day1

 THE BOOK OF ROMANS

 THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS 

THE BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS 

THE BOOK OF COLOSSIANS

 

Christianity was no longer a branch of judaism. It was its own thing. It had roots in the Jewish faith, but it had begun the process of breaking with its past to form something new. Or perhaps Judaism broke with what had been God’s plan all along. Perhaps it was not Christianity that was the new thing, but Judaism without the leadership of YHWH. 

Regardless, what God was doing now in places like Antioch and Galatia and Ephesus and Rome would be a decidedly good thing for the vast majority of the world. However, it would prove to be a serious obstacle for law-abiding, Christ-following Jews. The Law of Moses, the Temple sacrifices and holy days — these had been objects of reverence for them, and they had paid dearly for their devotion throughout the centuries. Were they to just cast them aside now that Jesus Christ has come and rendered them obsolete? 

What was becoming clearer and clearer, at least among the leaders of early Christianity, is that true religion was never supposed to be about the rules and the rituals, it was always meant to be about relationships. God wanted a people who were rightly related to Him and rightly relating to others. The rules and the rituals were supposed to facilitate that. Somehow, the tail had begun to wag the dog. 

A simple letter from the Council in Jerusalem wasn’t enough to appease the consciences of some who felt compelled not only to maintain their own personal observance of Jewish law, but to bind it on others as well. These people came to be known as “Judaisers.” They plagued the apostle Paul everywhere he went by opposing his teaching that acceptance by God is available to people from all ethnic backgrounds by grace through faith in the completed work of Jesus. And they denied his status as an apostle. 

Sadly, many young believers fell prey to their message that God’s approval must be earned and maintained by rigid observance of the Jewish Law. They had to become Jewish in order to gain God’s favour. 

Needless to say, this infuriated Paul. Once, in something approaching a fit of rage, Paul wrote, “I can’t believe how easily you’ve been turned away from the true message about Jesus to this lie they’re telling about God!” (Gal 1.6-7). He continued, “You were running a good race,” and then asked rhetorically, “Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Gal 5.7).

For some reason, some folks in the first century apparently found grace unsettling. They felt as if they needed to do something more in order to be accepted by God. 

Aren’t you glad we finally got past that kind of thinking? Oh, wait … 

Prayer 

Lord, what You inaugurated through Your beloved Son is utterly unique in human history. Christianity is not a set of regulations and rituals that are intended to earn favour and merit with God, with the gods or with some other version of the Ultimate. That is the nature of humanly devised religions, and it only leads to bondage and uncertainty. But the Lord Jesus Christ opened up an entirely new way, through which we can have direct access to You, not by our merits, but by His grace. The heart of Christianity is not a set of rules and observances, but a living relationship with You. But Your Word clearly reveals the human inclination to add to grace, because we think we need to accomplish something to earn acceptance with You. Deliver us from the folly of putting ourselves on a treadmill by denying the all-sufficient work of Your Son. 

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Conflict resolution day4

 We’ve come to the conclusion that you simply cannot avoid controversy in the Church. It seems like it’s been that way since the very beginning, and if you try to steer clear of it, you almost always end up making it worse! So it behooves us to consider how to deal with conflict, rather than attempting to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that if we sit really still, maybe Jesus will come back and resolve things for us.

The Council at Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 15, is a really good example for us to follow. This was a sharp dispute with a lot of passion and debate. Some of these people were really angry! But they never allowed it to get ugly. We never read about any gossip or slander. No one was vindictive or sarcastic. No one attacked anyone’s motives. They showed tremendous honour, acceptance, respect and civility.

In spite of conflict, they modelled a Christlike spirit and attitude toward one another.

However, they understood that this was something more than just human conflict resolution. Their goal wasn’t to appease all the people there. It wasn’t a democracy. They were trying to discern the will of God.

Certainly, God speaks through the collective wisdom of His people, so we must listen to one another. But we shouldn’t allow a majority vote to settle issues for us. There are some who are better at discerning the leading of God than others. It appears in Acts 15 that everyone was allowed to speak, but not everyone was allowed to decide.

Another factor that surfaces in the speeches recorded for us in Acts 15 is this. They knew the peace was being disturbed and eventually it became clear who was causing the disturbance.

First Peter says, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith” (Ac 15.7-9).

Then Barnabas and Paul tell “about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them” (.12).

Finally James speaks: “Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself” (.14).

Who is disturbing the peace? Who is the Agitator?

God.

And as they looked at what God was doing, instead of what Peter or Paul or the Gentiles or the Judaisers were doing, they saw clearly their course of action. God was calling them to join Him in what He was doing. He wanted to know if they valued Him and His work more than they valued their traditions.

They met. They talked. They listened. They argued respectfully. They deferred to those who were wise. Most importantly, they asked themselves what God was up to in their midst and how they could join Him in that work. And then they decided. They declared their willingness to adapt their methods in order to meet their mission, to sacrifice their traditions if need be for the sake of partnering with God in expanding His kingdom to the ends of the earth.

That’s how you handle conflict in the Church.

 

Prayer

 

Father, You have taught us that relational harmony is so important that it must be achieved before effective worship can take place. As far as it depends on me, may I seek to be at peace with others and to pursue prompt reconciliation by lovingly speaking the truth. May I develop a greater capacity to forgive so that I will not allow wrongs to be barriers to my relationships. And may I not seek to defeat or humiliate my opponents, but to win their friendship and understanding. Let me look for and build on areas of common ground, and seek to clarify meaning and build understanding, so that I will pursue the things that make for peace and the building up of others. May I be a peacemaker and an others-centred servant who is more concerned about the needs of people than about winning arguments.

In Jesus’s name Amen

Conflict resolution day3

 In the beginning, God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden where everything was good — except for one thing. It wasn’t good for Adam to be alone.

So God created Eve, and community was born.

But they chose to reject God’s way of life and ended up estranged not only from their Creator but from one another, as well. Adam blamed Eve for the whole mess, and suddenly there was shame and fear in their relationship. From then until now, human relationships have been fraught with anxiety and suspicion, defensiveness and division.

Sin separates us from God and alienates us from one another. Conflict and hostility threaten to permeate every level of society, from marriages to nations. History can be read as a testament to sin’s ability to tear asunder what God intended to join together.

But sin will never be allowed to have the last word. God has a plan that has been unfolding since Genesis 3 to reconcile us back to Himself and to one another. He made a promise to Abraham, and we’ve seen how all of Abraham’s descendants were brought together in great unity. Granted, they kept tearing at the fabric, trying to unravel what God was sewing. But God was more stubborn than they were.

Still, it wasn’t clear to them that His intention was for more than just Abraham’s children to be blessed with the chance to enjoy healthy relationships. There was a “mystery” about this, and it would only be made clear through God’s Son, Jesus (Eph 3.4-6).

Jesus came from the lineage of Abraham. He went to the Jewish people first, but He also brought Good News to the Gentiles — Good News of great joy for all people! That’s what the angels announced at His birth.

After Jesus returned to His Father in heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out on those first followers on the Day of Pentecost, and the Church was established. That day, there were people gathered from all over the world. God began His new community by drawing people from many nations to faith in Jesus. That new community was the Church, it is the Church, and it has always, from Day One, transcended barriers of race, language and culture.

Those who wanted the Gentiles to adhere to their customs in order to be unified were grieving the heart of God, who wants nothing more than for His children to enjoy His presence and live at peace with one another. They were denigrating the completed work of Jesus on the cross by suggesting that unity would only be gained through human activity.

Throughout human history, people have tried to accomplish unity. But they’ve never been successful. It’s far too costly. It cost Jesus His life. He paid a high price to purchase not just our personal redemption, but the ability now for us to know, accept, serve and celebrate one another.

We cannot initiate such unity through our efforts. Our best attempts always fall short. Only the Spirit of God can create unity. Our job, then, becomes to maintain it (Eph 4.1-6).

We could start by making unity a core value.

 

Prayer 

 

Lord, I pray for a spirit of humility and gentleness and of patience and tolerance in my own faith community, so that Your love will prevail as we seek to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is only as we walk by the Spirit that we can attain this quality of unity that cannot be achieved by human efforts. May we put away selfishness and empty conceit and seek to be united in love and in spirit. Give us such an affection and compassion in Christ that we are intent on one purpose, which is Your honour and pleasure. May we walk by the Spirit and bear the fruit of peace, patience, kindness and goodness. For it is only by Your Spirit that we can overcome the estrangement that is caused by the selfishness and wilfulness of sin. May we be perfected in unity so that the world may know that Christ is in our midst.

In Jesus’s name, Amen 

Conflict resolution day2

 In essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.

So much wisdom is packed into the three short phrases of this centuries-old dictum! It certainly expresses the thought of the Early Church leaders who gathered that historic day in Jerusalem.

The matters they discussed and debated there would decide the future of this new movement. Would it remain just an offshoot of Judaism, or would it be given the wings necessary for it to fly to the ends of the earth? And what exactly was it they would export to the world? Would it be a modified version of judaism, or would it be a new thing altogether?

The wisdom reflected by the early leaders of the Church allowed the momentum established by Barnabas and Saul’s first missionary journey to continue, opening the door for evangelistic activity to continue throughout the world. You are able to read this (and I am able to write it) because of the result of that meeting in Acts 15.

There are essentials to this Christian faith, and in these essentials we must have unity.

God is holy. Humanity is broken and unable to save itself. Jesus, being both fully God and fully human, is the only way for broken humanity to be repaired and restored in its relationship to Holy God. Such repair and restoration is freely available to all those who place their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. These people are Christians, and they must progressively grow in holiness and love.

This much is non-negotiable. In these essentials we must have unity.

Must someone believe in the verbal-plenary inspiration of the Scriptures? Must they affirm our position on End Times or charismatic gifts or the role of women in the Church? Must a person quit smoking or drinking or viewing pornography in order to be saved?

No. In fact, it could be argued that a person cannot do many of these things until they are saved!

There are essentials for salvation, and there are other things that are by-products of that salvation. There are essentials, and there are matters of opinion. There are essentials, and there are things that are open for debate.

Only God can give us the wisdom to practice unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials and charity in all things. And He will give us that wisdom if we ask Him for it.

 

Prayer 

 

Father, so many divisions and disputes have been generated by issues, practices and traditions that are not part of the fundamentals of the faith. Your Church is a glorious unity in diversity, but when we major on the minors, the spirit of factionalism replaces that of unity and peace. I ask for the boldness and courage to stand up and contend for the essentials of the faith, even if it means a lack of peace. I do not want to compromise the truth of the gospel for the sake of peace. But I also ask for the graciousness to demonstrate kindness and tolerance for believers who disagree with me about the non-essentials. I acknowledge that there are some things that are not clear enough in Your revelation for us to understand fully, but these are not the clearly revealed core issues of the faith. In all things, may I be loving and gracious to others.

In Jesus’s name, Amen