A SURPRISING SAVIOUR...
Follow Jesus and if your serious about staying close, you'll soon be constantly surprised! Just when we thought God was created in our image, He does something, says something, deals with something - in ways completely other.
The problem with following Jesus closely is that it gets uncomfortable! He wants me to respond to people in surprising ways. Just when I want to hit someone - He leads me to follow Him into blessingthem with a surprise gift! Just when I want to be alone and rest - He leads me to follow Him to a lonely, weary, faith-battler and surprise them with encouragement and time. Surprisingly I feel invigorated every time I follow this Surprising Saviour. It's when I follow from a distance that I experience distance with my Saviour (just like the Apostle Peter did).Matt. 26:58 And Peter was following him at a distance...
Just when I thought following Jesus was a walk along a tropical beach (I learned this from the famous "Footprints In The Sands" photo) - I'm surprised to discover that I must follow Him at times over jagged rocks. I can tell I'm following Him because I have to place my feet in the blood-stained footprints of my Surprising Saviour as we walk along the path of trial. Then I'm surprised when He wanders up the slopes of self-discipline and I have to choose each step I make - even though I usually don't want to. It seems like every second step up the slopes of self-discipline is lands me on a temptation. These steps flood my mind with very appealing invitations. "You're tired, skip your devotional reading tonight...you can read it tomorrow." "You haven't got time to pray now, there's people waiting to see you...just pray when you get an uninterrupted minute." "Don't force your faith or beliefs on this non-Christian...you'll be offensive." And so on.
To my shame, I have to confess, I often slip on the slopes of self-discipline. I'm surprised that my Saviour still reaches out to me at these times and admonishes me to stay close. Unlike the admonishing of others, I'm surprised that the Saviour's sharp rebuke doesn't injure me. Rather it heals me. His disciplining of me somehow surprisingly empowers me to keep climbing up the slopes of self-discipline. Then as we ascend, the Saviour begins to lead my up steps that very very personal! He challenges my diet! He challenges my hobbies! He challenges my commitment to His Cause! It seems like He makes me aware of the struggles of my brothers and sisters who are also venturing up the slopes of self-discipline. Just as I revel in my smug spiritual arrogance by feeling justified in sharing my newfound insights of the failures of others, I am surprised by my Saviour who locks eyes with me and says gently with a strength that doesn't need volume: "Love covers a brother's failings." (Prov. 10:12; 17:9; Genesis 9:23)As I struggle up these slopes of self-discipline I am frustrated by those who seem to outpace me. But then I surprised to realise that it's not those who have been following the Saviour longest who travel up with the most ease - it's those who follow closest.
Where You go, I'll go
Where You stay, I'll stay
When You move, I'll move
I will follow...All Your ways are good[Written by Jason Ingram, Reuben Morgan and Chris Tomlin]
All Your ways are sure
I will trust in You alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in You alone
Have you been surprised by the Saviour? His original disciples were. Herod was. Pilate was. James was. He is a surprising Saviour who can lead us in surprising ways, bring surprising people into our lives, and call us to surprise people with acts of undeserved kindness.Ps. AndrewFather, we want to follow Your Saviour-Son. We want to be surprising to a world used to giving as good as it gets. Help us to follow this Surprising Saviour closer, in Jesus' Name, Amen.Eph. 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
I recently heard of this type of complaint from a pre-Christian about a group of Christians. For the moment, I don't want to mention what this group of believers had done, but it is certainly a common complaint. Of course, the complaint can sometimes be justified: Christians do sometimes behave badly and the world knows it! When Christians behave badly they bring shame to the Cause and Body of Christ. To have this highlighted by the world is a negative moment. But even this moment can be turned around into a positive opportunity.
Thus, this presents an ideal opportunity to winsomely correct this misapprehension about what a Christian is. Using a paper-napkin you could write the word "D O" on the serviette to sum up what they said to define a Christian. You could then ask them if it would be OK to give them the definition that the Bible used? If they consented, you could then add " N E " to form the word: " D O N E ".
This week I had a troubled soul come and see me. We conversed then I asked the question I've just championed:What is a Christian? In summary their answer was a " D O " answer. After sharing with them about the grace of God through Jesus, and explaining that the only One invited into God's Presence is Jesus and that unless you are "in Christ" you can not go to Heaven or be reconciled to God for eternity, I asked them if they would like to become a Christian. They said, with tears flowing, "Yes I would." We prayed together and the work of the Spirit in this person's life starts a fresh new chapter.
"Be filled with the Spirit" the great apostle wrote. "Wait until you receive the Holy Spirit" said Christ. An apostle and the Messiah. Both great exponents of truth taught that the Christian life is empowered by mere knowledge. Neither is it empowered by religious effort. No, it is initiated, activated, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Becoming a Christian is not like joining a religious club. It is an utter transformation of the heart. This radical transformation is not achieved by wishful thinking, New Year resolutions, or religious devotion. It is initialised when the Holy Spirit opens a person's spiritual eyes and ears. When this happens, a person sees their true spiritual condition before God and realises their dire situation due to their bankruptcy of soul. They will then find that their previously deaf spiritual ears begin to hear the soft, gentle, voice of God calling them to come and follow. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit initialises, He would convict of sin, reveal the righteousness of God, and convince of the Judgment to come (John 16:8).
After the Holy Spirit has activated new spiritual life within a new worshiper, He leads His new host to the river of empowerment and invites them to bathe. This Baptism in the Holy Spirit empowers the new worshiper to confidently share their newfound life. One of the surest signs that a person has been baptised with the Holy Spirit is their desire to share the Good News with others. The Holy Spirit within them compels them to reach out to those crippled by their burden of guilt and sin.
Other evidences of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, known as the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, is the activation of spiritual gifts beyond the activation gift of salvation. In Mark 16, Jesus announced that these gifts included speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and healing the sick. Mere religion or positive thinking can not compete with this offer.
In one of the most of the seemingly bewildering stories found within the Gospels, we meet the Christ cursing a fig tree on His way with His disciples into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:22). Christ was hungry. A fig would do. Alas! No figs! Just leaves! By the next morning the fig was dead to the roots.
Instead of these glorious laws being the basis for Israel's witness to the nations, Israel lost sight of its mission and regarded the laws as the reason why God had chosen them (forgetting that He gave them these Lawsafter He had redeemed them). The point of the laws - to show the nations that God is "good" and "faithful" God, became lost. The point of the ceremonies became lost on Israel - they were all anticipatory displays of the Christ and His coming work - and instead, Israel incorrectly felt that these ceremonies (involving animal sacrifices) were about purifying them from blame. All of this took place despite the prophets warning Israel that it was happening-
Israel was called to bear 'fruit' - just like a fig tree. Thisfruit was meant to show the nations who their 'Gardener' was. This fruit was meant to draw the nations to God. Israel was supposed to have been a light to the nations, teaching them how to know and love God and each other.
God calls His people His "planting" (Isa. 5:7). He expects His plantings to bear fruit - that is, to be a witness to the nations of God, His wonders, His ways, His will and His Word. The goal of this witness is that people may come to know the Lord and join in His program of redeeming the world through Christ.
The cursing of the fig tree by Christ was typological (symbollic) of God ending His Old Covenant with unfruitful, unfaithful Israel. Instead of Israel being God's fig tree to the nations, Christ would be model Israel- the truly fruitful and faithful Servant of the Lord. He would shine His Father's light to the nations - through His New Covenant people, the New Israel of God: the Church(Gal. 6:16).
Anger is common to us all. It arises when we are sharply disappointed. There are some things we should be angry about such as injustice, wickedness, corruption, abuse, oppression, and dishonesty. But for some people, anger has become a character trait. That is, they have become very "short-fused". And it's ugly. They get angry too often and for too little. As bad as this is, it is even worse when a Christian is afflicted with anger...
"Infinity" doesn't exist. It's a made up concept. That's one reason why it' wrong to describe God as infinite. Infinity is also impossible. By definition it can never be reached. God is not like this at all. He wants to be reached. Inifinity is never satisfied. God on the other hand is the very source of satisfaction. Infinity teases the learner by saying there's more to learn. God has nothing to learn because He is omniscient.
How remarkable! How amazing! How aweful! Not only is God seemingly infinitely more knowledgeable than us, more powerful than us, more wise than us, more loving than us, more patient than us, more forgiving than us, more just than us, more compassionate than us - He is here! This is what imminent means. He is close. He is not merely "above" us, He is beside us.
Being literally in a dark place, Paul knew that this depression would not merely be resolved by prayer alone. There were physical issues to deal with. This is why he wanted his cloak. Sometimes we are so sleep-deprived that no matter many pills we pop, or prayers we pray, or shots we drink, our world still seems dark. Sometimes our diets are so full of preservatives and manufactured chemicals that no matter visits we make to our therapist, or chants we make with crossed legs, we are still in a dark place. Sometimes are down-times just need a warm, familiar "cloak" to help us to get some sleep in a damp, dark prison cell.
Then again, while we can get adequate sleep, eat the right kind of a balanced diet, and physically exercise, we must also guardour minds. Paul needed his books. So much of how we feel actually starts between our ears. What we allow into our minds nearly always determines our outlook on life. And the person who fills their mind with ungodly amusement (a= "no" + muse= "to think") and deprives their mind of God's Life-Giving Word, is likely to experience darkness of mind. In the midst Paul's darkness in his prison cell, he could needed his books. What books are you reading at the moment? Do the books you are currently reading cause you to muse ("think")? Good reading can stimulate a darkened mind. This is what John Bunyan found in the 17th century when he was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. He had his books. It's how Dietrich Bonhoeffer staved off the darkness of his Nazi jail cell. He hadhis books. Good books have a way clearing the fog in our minds. Paul had physical needs that his cloak could satisfy. But while his cloak could warm his body, it could not fire up his mind like his books. If you're feeling down, read a good book. Start with your Bible. Read a Psalm each day. Get a copy of Tim Keller's, Prodigal God. It is a good book. Get an F.W. Boreham book. They are all good books.
But we humans are not just bodies with minds. We are also creatures of heart. This is why Paul wanted his parchments - those letters written to him. These parchments poured something into his heart. They were the sentiments from one heart to his heart. His cloak could warm his body. His books could warm his mind. But his parchments could warm his heart. We all have physical needs, intellectual needs, but especially emotional needs. We all needparchments to warm our hearts. I have two particular files. In one file I keep complaints written to me. This file is large and thick (although it stopped being enlarged a few years ago for reasons that I am tempted to go into now but must resist the temptation for a more appropriate ocassion). The other file is my encouragement file. It is quite thin and not very large. But its contents do immeasurably more than its larger thicker cousin. Yet I do not regard this file as my parchments. My parchments are at home. Some are in a special drawer and comprise of handmade Fathers' Day cards, birthday cards, the ocassional Christmas card, and love letters I have received (all from the same person).
The story goes like this...rescuers finally arrive after years of fruitless searching. They find the man on a deserted island and notice that he's constructed 3 buildings. After enquiring, the man tells them, "Well the first building is my house and the building near it is my church." "But what about that third building?" they ask. "Oh that's the church I used to go to!" It appears that church disruptions can happen in churches of even one person!
Church is like the Quarantine for Heaven. In one respect, you can't leave this life on earth and go directly to Heaven. You obviously have to come to Christ in this life because He is the only means of having our spiritually contagious cancer healed. But in normal circumstance, He doesn't take you straight to Heaven, rather, He places us in "spiritual quarantine" (the local church). It is in this Spiritual Quarantine that we are prepared for Heaven.
In Heaven we will sing our worship. Therefore, in Christ's Spiritual Quarantine He calls us to worship now. Christ sang with His disciples because He loved to worship His Father (Matt. 26:30). Before we get to Heaven, where we will sing our worship to our God for eternity, we are called to practice now in the gathering of the local church. Our worship is of course not just done by singing. In Heaven we will be to talk with God face-to-face for eternity. In the meantime, we are called to practise this now by praying together. In fact, if Christ's Spiritual Quarantine smells of something, it smells of the sweet fragrance of prayer. This is why one of the most important things we do as a church is to pray together in our Sunday night service. As a shepherd in the Quarantine, I can tell whose hearts God has touched and anointed for leadership within the church by observing our Sunday night prayer times. Godly leaders love God's House (the Quarantine) which Jesus angrily cried out was to be: "a House of prayer!" (Mark 11:17).
In Heaven we will discover things about God through the revelation of His Word to us. Therefore, we are called to give our minds to the teaching of God's Word in the Spiritual Quarantine of Christ, the local church. This is why we place so much emphasis on the sound teaching of God's Word, the Bible. There is a major trend today in some "trendy" churches to dismantle the Quarantine aspect of church and avoid the serious topics and teachings of the Bible in the pursuit of being "relevant". But as Ravi Zacharias says, "It is the truth that makes what you say relevant. If what you say is not grounded in truth - no matter how relevant you sound - you are irrelevant!"
Secondly, in Heaven we will not be able to witness to the lost about the Saviour. Christ calls us (read: "commissions us") to unashamedly bear witness to not-yet-Christ-believers and to pray that our witness will be fruitful and effective. It is my daily prayer that Christ use me to bring people to belief in Christ. Throughout each day, I pour my energies into doing whatever I can to either bring people to Christ, or to assist others who are also trying to do this. When I was a teenager, I had a powerful encounter with God. I was so deeply moved after I was baptised in the Holy Spirit with a profound burden for the lost that I dedicated my life to God to reach as many people as I could for Christ. This led me to the streets of Geelong each Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights where I would hand out Gospel tracts and preach to whoever would listen. I could never have imagined then that I would be preaching to thousands each week through radio and the internet. But in the midst of all this, I'm still praying for my neighbours, my students, my tennis buddies and those that I come into contact with and strike up a conversation with. Added to this I am extremely sensitive every Sunday when we have visitors and I am preaching perhaps the last time they'll ever hear the Gospel.
Christ loves His church. The Devil despises it! The Church is a living reminder to the Devil that Christ rose from the dead and is continuing His two-fold mission of saving the lost and building His church! Little wonder the Devil does all he can do to undermine the church. The local church is not an optional extra for those claiming to be a believer. Even a light reading the New Testament will leave the new believer realising that the 22 epistles refers to "one another" over 40 times, and "together" over 20 times. It employs these precious terms in one of its last epistles when it says-
What a glorious reminder that the Church is not a sterile duty - no, it's a Quarantine of health and life that fits us for Heaven and places us in partnership with Christ as He seeks to win the lost of our Valley. This is why we meet each Sunday to worship, witness, and receive the Word. It's why we meet Sunday nights in particular to pray, testify and minister to one another. It's why we meet through the week in homes to study and reflect on God's Word, to share with each other our needs, and to support each other. By doing this we are helping to build not just a Holy, healthy life-giving Quarantine, but a "