Self-control week 4

 When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

“What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” . . .

He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Mark 9.14-18 & 29

The disciples in this passage are trying to climb Mount Everest while practicing their spiritual disciplines on an anthill. Jesus tells them that some exercises can only be achieved by those who have conditioned themselves to trust in God for their help. Only those who will allow the lordship of God to rule in their lives will have access to the great power of God. 

We are not told whether the disciples were annoyed that their easy-come-easy-go spirituality wouldn’t hold up when they were face-to-face with Satan. But their failure should speak clearly to us. The greatest achievements of the saints are always the outgrowth of total commitment. 

What are the requirements that make for utter discipline? Paul rehearses the rigours of such discipleship with Timothy, ‘Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus’ (2 Timothy 2.3) A soldier is one who has trained and prepared for battle. A soldier is familiar with weapons and ready to fight to the death. Does our spiritual walk make us look like boot camp recruits? Or do we find that our discipline has grown soft and ineffectual?

Those who want to achieve great things for God need to practice the great disciplines of spirituality. Jesus said that prayer and devotion to God are the real evidences of a robust inner faith. Self-control is the first step of spiritual discipline. We must practice and prepare ourselves for the coming battles. If we cannot control our appetites, we can hardly be expected to enter into spiritual combat that tries even the souls of those who pray and fast. 

Gentleness week 4

 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.

 

Hebrews 5.11-3

 

this passage is a reminder to all Christians that every person has been saved from a life of sin

and alienation from God. Even the priests of the Old Testament, those who were called by God, were subject to the same temptations and moral weaknesses as any other people. Such knowledge keeps those who minister to others gentle in all their dealings. They know how close they are to being the one ministered to

lead instead of the one ministering.

The difference between those who are members of God's family and those who are still bound to sin lies in their appropriation of the work of Jesus. He alone allows us to approach our world with gentleness. Gentle is what happens to fierce when Jesus touches it with grace.

I will never get over the effect of God's saving transformation on people's lives. People who were lost in sin, filled with anger and bitterness, give up their hatred and become approachable. That is, of course, why we minister to others. Those of us who minister are not people to whom gentleness comes naturally.

We are all people who have been remodelled by grace. We thankfully leave our old natures far behind as we embrace gentleness in our treatment of others.

When we consider that we are all sinners, saved by grace, our ministry to others becomes gentle. We understand where we came from-a world of hopeless despair without Christ. We also understand where we are going to a bright future with God forever. In the meantime, we gently bring hope to others, so that they will

find us approachable. Only then we will have opportunity to share the grace of God 

with them

 

Faithfulness week4

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’      Matthew 25:31-40                 

This passage seems in some ways at odds with grace. Here, eternity  is offered at first glance to those who have been faithful in serving others. We know from the rest of the New Testament that grace is the free gift of God, given with no strings attached. But this teaching of Jesus suggests that those who know they are heaven bound are so delighted that they cannot help but busy themselves with obedience 

There is a sweet naïveté among the followers of God in this passage. They seem surprised that their commendation should be so wholehearted and overwhelming, ‘Whenever did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and minister to you?’

 When we minister to any human need, we write the name of Jesus on the very forehead of the person we help. But the ministry we offer is registered in the bookkeeping of heaven as deeds we have done for Jesus alone.

When we meet anyone vile and diseased, we must not think, "poor soul, vile and dis-eased!" Instead we must pray, "So, dear Christ, it is you. I will attend to you, for I have received heaven from you already, and I refuse to let any of your children endure this human hell without my ministry."

We never cry over any human hurt here on earth without our tears being registered in heaven.

Goodness week4

 

n the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy , holy is the LORD Almighty; 

the whole earth is full of his glory.” 

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” 

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. ”      Isaiah 6:1-7

Isaiah acknowledged his own moral shortcomings even as God was calling him to service. Isaiah focused on goodness before he accepted God's call. Goodness must be the bedrock character trait for all who take up the special mantle of service. We have had an overabundance of morally depraved servants in our time, and wherever these

"men and women of God" have

become corrupt, their work has been hampered or even nullified in the lives of those around them. Goodness is essential in performing our call to serve others.

Sadly, the word good has taken on bad connotations in our time. It smacks too much of goody-goody. It implies a kind of hypocrisy. To be a ‘goody-two-shoes’ or to be ‘so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good’ seems the ultimate slur, especially when it is laid at the feet of churchy people.

But genuinely good people have never been in great supply. Those who hunger to be of use to God have not set out to achieve some kind of moral reform and thus appear holy or godly.

The truly good have been called by God, just as Isaiah was, to live in the world. They don’t become good by grunting and sweating in their attempt to keep all the commandments. They love God. They want to please him. Soon, all God desires for them they desire for themselves.

Ironically, when they have become good, they see themselves as Paul perceived, the worst of sinners. Such people readily concede that whatever good is in their lives has been placed in them from the perfect sacrifice of Christ and was nothing they achieved on their own. Then they live in the daily demonstration of the very goodness they deny. They serve others. They have no choice about it. It’s what God expects of them, and his expectation is their delight.

Kindness week4

 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” “At your service,” he replied. The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.” “Where is he?” the king asked. Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.” So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.  When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honour. David said, “Mephibosheth!” “At your service,” he replied. “Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead doglike me?” Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)  Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s[a] table like one of the king’s sons. Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.  And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet.   2 Samuel 9.1-13

In spite of the abuse David received from King Saul, when David became king of Israel, he asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the Jonathan's sake?’ Yes, there is always somebody to whom we can show kindness. Here, it is Mephibosheth, the disabled son of Jonathan. Jonathan was David's best friend, and David had not forgotten the promise he had made to care for Jonathan's family. (1 Samuel 20.14-15)

David's desire that his own family would be the line of kings had left the house of Saul unwelcome in Israel. Jonathan's son was living in the land of Lo Debar. The name means ‘no pasture,’ indicating that Mephibosheth was living in extremity and need. 

But David welcomes Mephibosheth to the palace. The outcast meets grace. Now he who was handicapped and without human support lives and dines at the king's table. 

Kindness is the great virtue of the Christian life. Kindness is usually so automatic, so basic to our nature as Christians, that those who are kindest among us do not suspect themselves as kind. Watch those who regularly open doors for the elderly, they smile once the act is completed and hurry about their business never having seen the glory of their simple deed. Kindness is so Christ-like that it never stops to celebrate itself. 

Porters, flight attendants and others often represent the sort of kindness which is paid for and professional. But all of us like those people best who, having not been paid for behaving like human beings, behave like human beings just for the joy of it. That sort of kindness is Christ-like. It changes the world. It melts the hearts of gladiators. It lifts the orphans towards the Fatherhood of God. It smiles in frowning assemblies. It says, ‘what can I do to help you?’ and actually hopes it will be given an assignment. Kindness wears the sandals of servants, it has since the first century. 

Patience week4

 Do not oppress an alien, you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.     Exodus 23.9

We were all at one time strangers to God. We all once needed someone to save us. But now we are rescued and called by the Saviour to go and rescue others. To be effective in our callings, we must not forget what it felt like to be an alien, a stranger. It has long been noted that those who have most recently come to Christ are the most motivated to try to win others. Why? Probably because those newest in their salvation still remember what it was like to be lost.

Most of those who exclude others from their social circles have never lived as an outcast. Cherish the times you have been lonely, for such experiences have been your teachers. Their lessons were painful, but they have left you more human. When you had hurt enough, you knew you would never want one other person to have to endure what you had been through. 

Here in Exodus Moses counsels the Israelites to remember that for 400 years they have been exiles and foreigners in Egypt. Surely their four century period of bondage has softened their hearts toward the strangers in their midst. If they will remember how they lived before God rescued them in the exodus, surely they can feel compassion for all of those still living beyond the community of God. 

Small wonder E. A. Robinson wrote, 

He drew a circle that shut me out, 

A rebel, heretic, thing to flout, 

But love and I had the wit to win 

We drew a circle that shut him in. 

As Christians, it is our job to ‘shut in’ those around us. When we understand that hard times are our teachers, and we bear those times with patience, we can pass along that understanding to others. We can bring others into our world and close around them the arms of love and peace that we also have experienced. 

Peace week 4

 The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them, 

'The Lord bless you and keep you, 

the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, 

the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.'     Numbers 6.22-26

What then is to be my service to others in the ministry of peace? Aaron and the priests blessed Israel with a benediction of peace. Benedictions of peace help each of us minister to others by seeking for them a life free of turmoil. It is godly to bless the turbulence out of our lives, flooding the world with the peace of Christ.

Jesus once drove the demons of peacelessness from the life of a man with an evil spirit. When the striving demons were dispersed, it is said that the man was once again in his right mind. (Mark 5.1-20) One can view this true story as a model of what we do for others when we help them discover the indwelling Christ. Their lives of turmoil are transformed into lives characterised by peace. Thus, evangelism becomes our ministry of peace to a troubled world. 

Evangelists do not merely keep people out of hell. They publish peace, and by so doing they remove the hell from the here and now. If hell were only out 'there' in the future, people would scarcely give it a thought. But hell is now. Hell is here. Hell is divorce, pain, cancer, family dysfunction and job loss. Hell is neurosis, addiction, co-dependency, loss. Above all this struggle Christ offers His benediction, and we offer Christ as the healing peace-bringer.

Blessings spread through the world in the world in the name of peace. What wonders would be wrought if we would say to those around us, 'The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.'