Thursday 19 September 2013

Natural to explain the Spiritual


Jesus often used nature to explain spiritual principles.  Even the day He cursed the fig tree and it withered and died, it became an example of spiritual faith, that if we speak and ask believing, we will receive.

Jesus gave us a story of a farmer who scattered seed across his field.  The outcome of the fruitfulness of the seed was vastly different according to the receptiveness or hardness of the soil, which represents the heart’s willingness to hear and apply the Word.  Everyone has the capacity to hear and receive or reject the Word of God.  Those whose hearts are not receptive to the Word of God didn’t have a hearing problem, nor did those who received the message in some measure. The problem was in the hardness of their hearts. The Word of God is prevalent today, but many do not want to listen.  They shut up their ears and close their eyes, lest they hear and see. 

Mat 13:15 “ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed ,lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

Mat 13:3  Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
Mat 13:4  And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

Behold – in other words LISTEN and UNDERSTAND. 

This group of people have hardened hearts, even as a path is well travelled and beaten down, so it becomes almost as hard as rock.  Seeds do not have the time to sprout and put down roots as they are seen easily by birds that eat them.  The soil is impenetrable, like the hearts of those who have been beaten down in life and have become bitter.  Often these people blame God, or are angry at God, “If God is so loving, why did this happen to me/them?”  The enemy (satan aka birds in this parable) has sown his deceit in their hearts, and so they become like those spoken of in Psalms:-

Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

Psa 2:3  "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us."

Jesus offers them an invitation though His Word to “behold” (see, understand) but they do not want to hear, see or understand as their eyes are blinded by the veil of the god of this age.  They are carnal, living and walking their lives out by the desires of the flesh, the pride of life and the lust of the eyes.  Earthly, temporal things are their main concern, and they are self-focused, self-driven people often to their great detriment and harm.

Mat 13:5  Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

Mat 13:6  But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

This group of people listen and hear and receive the message with joy, but interestingly enough, the soil is shallow with underlying rock, so that the roots of the message do not have time to be established. Like the vitality of the plant, in the heat of the sun, their faith withers up and dies.  Jesus referred to their hearts as “stony places”,  and this reminds me of roots that are trying to get down to the deeper nutritious soil but the stones are many and progress is impeded.  As Jesus explained, this group of people are easily swayed when challenged about their faith and stumble.  The stones in their hearts, such as unforgiveness, bitterness and doubt stop them producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit as they are led by the desires of the flesh, instead of the desires of the Spirit.  They have “no root in themselves” because they have not “renewed” their minds with the truth of the Word their faith is weak and they stumble by taking offence with the message.  They have not allowed the root of the message to “flush” out the stones and put roots down deep “into the soil of God’s marvellous love”.

Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Rom 8:13  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Rom 8:16  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Rom 8:17  and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Rom 8:18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The next group of people to hear the word are too worried and pressured about the cares of the world, and are out to make money to better their “lot” in life.  They are too busy for the message of God’s word to bear any fruit in their life.  Jesus refers to riches as “deceitfulness”, because riches have a promise of security, success and happiness which can be very fleeting.  Those who love riches are driven to gain, gain, gain and put their trust in the riches they accumulate.  No wonder Jesus refers to riches as “thorns” because those who put their trust in riches have placed an idol before God, who will not share worship with any other “god”.  Thorns inflict pain and draw blood.  Many have lost their families and their peace in pursuing riches because greed is insatiable; it has a very large appetite.   Our sufficiency should be in Christ, who promises to us prosperity without sorrow. (Pro 10:22)

1Ti 6:6  Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

1Ti 6:7  After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can't take anything with us when we leave it.

1Ti 6:8  So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.

1Ti 6:9  But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

The seed that fell on the good soil represents those whose hearts welcome the message and understand it so that it produces fruit in their lives, some 30, some 60 and some 100-fold.

Jesus taught:-

Mat 13:12  To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.

There is a priority here.  For those who are willing to listen and hear God’s word, think and mediate upon it, understanding will come.  God sees those who place an importance on Him and pursue the Word of Life and allow their roots to be established in the Word.  The roots will produce the fruit of the Kingdom, as the Word provides nourishment to the soul.  Roots that are put down deep into soil are hard to dislodge and keep the plant stable, vital and bearing and so it is with those who receive The Message and allow its power to do a work in the heart.  God’s Word is “living and powerful” and has in it all the keys to Kingdom living.  Herein lays success, peace and joy and faith, hope and love – qualities that bear the sweetest fruit for others to taste and see that God’s way is good.

 

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Throw off Limitations


What limits us in our walk with Jesus?  For each of us, the answer may be vastly different but the following ideas may be common ones that we all face.

1.       We have a wrong view of God.

We make God small in our own minds and put Him in a box, confined to our small minded thinking.  The heavens cannot contain the Almighty God, our Father and His hand created everything visible and invisible.  He is the God that splits seas, raises the dead and lets the rain fall on the just and the unjust.

Isa 40:26  Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

Jesus told the story of the Master who went away on a long journey and before leaving gave to his servants, according to their ability, talents.  One he gave 5, to another 2 and to the final one 1.  On his return he summoned the servants to see what they had done with the talents he gave them.  The first two servants doubled their talents whereas the last had an issue with the character of his Master.

Mat 25:24  "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'

The scripture is not clear as to how this servant had such a bad report on the character of his master yet even today there are people who think of God as a vengeful God waiting to send a bolt of lightning to fry them.  Many people do not understand the unconditional Love of the Father heart of God.   The master in this account did not need to give his servants anything.  He owed them nothing, yet he gifted them and trusted them to use what he had given them to the best advantage.  We often do get a wrong picture of God, fashioning Him in the image of man instead of us being fashioned in His image.  God has gifted all of us and yet when He wants us to use the gift, we come up with all kinds of excuses, looking instead and our inadequacies instead of looking at His adequacy.   The master did not defend his character yet brought a huge indictment upon the lazy servant, informing him that if he believed so bad a report, it should have compelled him to do the best he could with the talent he had been given.

2.       Doubt and unbelief

Jesus could not do any mighty miracles among his home town in Nazareth because of their unbelief.  They refused to recognise Him as the Messiah and so did not recognise His authority in the spiritual realm and were in fact offended by Him.  They were offended because He was the kid that grew up and played with their kids in the town.  They were familiar with Him and His family and because they were familiar with His humanness they could not believe that He was also divine.   In fact, they were so offended by Him and His claim to be the Messiah they wanted to throw Him off a cliff.
Jesus has given us a blank cheque on Heaven’s account with this scripture:-

Mar 11:23  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

What stops us receiving is the doubt we have in our hearts.  What we can see with the “eye of faith” we can speak into being.  In fact scripture clearly teaches us that we must call those things that are not as though they are.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Heb 11:2  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

Heb 11:3  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Everything that we see around us was first of all seen in someone’s imagination before it was physically brought into reality.  God created this way too.  He imagined creation and He spoke it forth.  When we do not have the faith in God, we will not step out boldly to declare, to share or to touch the needs of humanity.  This will definitely limit us in our walk with God.

 
3.       Unforgiveness

Jesus gives us a provocative insight into unforgiveness with the parable of the master who calls his servants in to pay back the debts they owe him.  One servant owed a large fortune and the master calls for him, his family and all their belongings to be sold to pay off the debt.  This debt was large and the servant fell on his knees to beg for mercy and patience.  The master had compassion on him and wiped his debt clear.  You would think that this servant would have left rejoicing but he went and found someone who owed him a small amount and demanded immediate payment.  His debtor immediately fell to his knees begging him for mercy and patience but instead of giving the same compassion he had received, the servant ordered that he be thrown into prison until the debt was paid.  Jesus continued the story with:-

 Mat 18:33  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'

Mat 18:34  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.

Mat 18:35  "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."

 We have been forgiven a huge debt of sin by God through the cross of Jesus Christ and our forgiveness cost Christ His life.  When we will not forgive others we are treading on dangerous ground.  God clearly teaches us that if we do not forgive, He cannot forgive us.  Unforgiveness opens the door to satan, the torturer, to bring a root of bitterness into our lives, and this has the ability to shipwreck our faith and continually torment us.  Yes we may have been hurt and hurt bad, but we need to trust God to deal with the situation on our behalf and we need to forgive more for our sake then for the one who has hurt us.  Forgiving others does not mean that we condone what they did but God is clear that He is the only one who can avenge justly.  We need to release the perpetrator into His Loving hands and move on with life.

God has an awesome plan for all our lives.  We need to keep our hearts sweet in His presence and grow in the grace and knowledge of Him.  Those who know their God will be strong and do exploits, as the scripture exhorts us.  We need to make the decision to just believe and trust.  God will never let us down and He will allow us to bring His Kingdom to earth as we co-labour with Jesus Christ. What an awesome privilege He has given to us.  Step out and step up in faith, amen!