Relationship in the Word

"You search the scriptures for you believe that they give you eternal life.  And the scriptures point to me.  Yet you won't come to me so I can give you this life eternal." Jn 5 39-40

I have always wondered how it is possible that so many different religions have the bible but believe vastly different doctrines, even erring to the cultish.  It has been said that the bible is open to personal interpretation and this is true until.....!

I looked at the apostle Paul who ended up writing most of the epistles, yet he was the great persecutor of the church.  He was a Pharisee with a huge jealous zeal for God.  How could he have such a zeal for the Living God that was so misplaced that he got it so wrong.  He studied the scriptures and most likely could quote verbatim the Torah, yet he like many others "missed the day of visitation" not recognising Jesus the Messiah.  With a presupposition of what Messiah would do when He came, Paul missed that Christ ushered in a kingdom of salvation in men's hearts.

Throughout Jewish history, the pendulum swung from the worship of God to the worship of idols and going astray doing their own thing. A heart change was needed as foretold by the prophet Ezekiel (36:26):-

"And I will give you a new heart - I will give you new and right desires and put a new spirit within you.  I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love.  And I will put my spirit within you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command."

So what changed Paul from persecutor of the church to persecuted for the church?  Purely relationship.  He finally met the Author of the Book, Jesus Christ, on his way to Damascus.  Jesus was no longer words on a page, but the word became flesh to Paul as the eyes of his heart were enlightened by the presence of the One he persecuted.

When we really know someone, we are able to discern the spirit behind their words.  If someone reported to you that your wife/husband said a certain thing, you would know in your heart if they would say something like what been reported, or you would know if it had been interpreted wrongly.  It is the same with Jesus.  The closer our relationship becomes, the more we know His heart the easier we find the interpretation of the spirit of the message in the word.

Studying the word without the relationship only leads to "puffed up knowledge" and can give misplaced zeal and wrong interpretation of the message.  The life in the Word is found in relationship with Him and leads us to desire more truth and an even closer more intimate walk.  This us why He beckons us to come to Him and learn of Him.

Come today.  Call on His name and ask Him to teach you His word in the book.

Overcoming Faith

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Joh 16:33

Jesus had overcoming faith and He calls us to overcoming faith too.  Like a boxer in the ring, the game is not over until one of the opponents doesn't get up anymore.  Jesus understood that trials and tribulations, that left hook, would come as we do have an opponent (adversary)( 1 Pet 5:8) who wants to defeat us, discourage us or disappoint us.  Jesus, Himself, had some bouts with the enemy in the ring but remained always the Victor.  We may take a blow, but we need to get up again and again.

Luke 4 tells us Jesus was "full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit".  This is one key for us to have overcoming faith as scripture admonishes us to be continually filled.  (Eph 5:18)  We need to walk in the Spirit so we won't fulfil the lusts of the flesh, leaning on the Holy Spirit's power within us. (Gal 5:16)  Lust is very destructive and totally opposed to the desires of the Holy Spirit.  Lust is idolatry, desiring something so much we place it in front of God, forsaking His desire for us.  The devil tempted Jesus with the lust of the eyes by showing Him, in a moment of time, all the Kingdoms of the earth.  "Come on Jesus, look at all this magnificent beauty you can rule over, all of it yours, if you bow down before me."  If, that's the operative word! The "if" promises much but delivers nothing. Just once, do it just once.  Fleeting pleasures, the stolen moment! It satisfies temporarily but then brings pain and broken relationship, guilt and shame.  How many illicit love affairs have opened up a wave of untold misery and widespread hurt?  It shakes the very core of a family unit and its destruction is long-lived unless healing comes through the mercy of God's Hand.

The Amplified version of Luke 4 says that Jesus was tried, tested exceedingly. For forty days He ate nothing and was hungry.  satan challenged Jesus "if you are the Son of  God command this stone to turn into bread."  satan challenged Christ's identity.  He knew who Jesus was, but at a time of great physical discomfort and need questioned Him in an effort to force evidence, proof of who He was.  I believe that this is another key to overcoming faith, our identity, who we are in Christ.  If we know we are children of God, we are more likely to act like children of God.  Knowing the price God and Jesus paid for us to be adopted into the Kingdom as children keeps us in love with the Saviour and humble.  Being rooted and grounded in His Love compels us to want to please Him and love others.  Meditating on His Love helps us respond to Him more and more.  But as Jesus said, "Man cannot live on bread alone but by every word of God."(Luke 4:4)  The key to finding our identity is in the Word of God, which is another one of the keys to overcoming faith.  We must study God's word to know how to overcome.  Even as Jesus brought the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit" against satan's accusations and demands, so must we.  "This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith." (1 Jn 5:4) 

Faith is built on the promises of God's Word and the knowledge of His character.  This is how God reveals Himself to us, through His Word.  It is no wonder that satan attacks the Word with everything he can.  No wonder over the course of history, the bible has been banned, burnt and attacked and branded as only a bunch of stories.  Jesus used the Word against all the wiles of the devil.  The Word is our offensive weapon against the kingdom of darkness and it is the revealer of the wickedness that rules in our flesh.  The Bible shows us what in our hearts – gets to the very core of our motives.  When we see ourselves in the "mirror" of the Word we will repent.  When we understand how God sees us "pre-conversion", evil, wicked, sons of the devil, sinners and yet still in this state, He came to die for us, we can understand the depth of His Mercy and unconditional Love for us.  That He desired relationship with us is phenomenal.  That God gave His only begotten Son for us, has to be the greatest love story of all time.  Jesus said that "those who mourn will be comforted."  When we understand the truth and repent, He comforts us with restoration, forgiveness, mercy and puts us in the right relationship with Himself.  WOW!  That is life changing Truth.  The devil has no defence against the truth, so he, being the father of lies, deceives us into believing the opposite of what God has said.  We are defeated when we choose to believe a lie over the Truth.  This also affects our worship, which is another key to overcoming faith.

satan wanted Christ's worship.  God deserves our worship but will not force any to worship Him. satan wants worship because he wants to be God.  This is the pride that led to his eviction from heaven, wanting to be exulted over God.  satan promises fame, fortune and power to those who will give him worship but he delivers a death sting instead.  Reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar who demanded Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to worship his statute or be thrown into the fiery furnace.   Forced worship never works.

God is the One and Only God and there is none like Him.  God desires our voluntary worship in response to His Love and to who He is and what He has done for us.  Those who worship Him become more like Him.  This is the principle laid out in Ps 135:6 that those who worship false idols become like their idols.

Yes, we can have overcoming faith even amidst the trials and tribulations that come our way.  As one translation of the opening scripture says, cheer up! Cheer up!  Just found another key.  Cheer up!

 

Follow Me

"But Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, following –"  John 21:20

I love the word picture we see in this incident.  Jesus has just commissioned Peter, "Follow me", yet Peter looks back, looks at John and asks, "what about this man?"  What Peter's motivation is, we can only hazard a guess, but Jesus replies, "If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of your?] You follow me!" (Jn 21:20-22)

We can learn quite a few lessons from this incident.  Firstly, Christianity is about relationship, not ritual, but a living relationship with the Risen Christ.  We can so hold up the "badge" of denomination as though this is salvation in itself, but this only produces pride in our hearts.  This reminds me of the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the synagogue. (Lk 18:10-14) The Pharisee, proud of all the religious activities which I'm sure he kept to the 't', whilst the tax collector, recognising his deep need of forgiveness humbly beat his breast in humility of heart.  I hate to burst your bubble, but Jesus wasn't an Evangelical, a Catholic or even a Pentecostal.  He was not a denomination.  He is the Saviour who came and showed a radical way to live by relationship not ritual.  Personal relationship!  That is, intimacy with Him, one-on-one, face-to-face fellowship not ritualistic going-through-the-motion, once a week duty.  Hence in that one-on-one relationship of love between Himself and Peter, He commissions and equips.  Jesus is clear, each must have their own relationship with Him.  "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."  1Jn 5:12 

This leads us to the second lesson.  We are not to look at others.  We are not to compare.  We alone, each one, are to look at Jesus – period.  We look to Him, we love Him, we obey Him and we follow Him.  Are you following Him?  Are you following Jesus – no one else, just Jesus!  We don't follow any man, any priest, teacher, evangelist, man or woman.  No we follow Jesus.  We do what He did, love God and love others.  We learn from Him, He is the Light (Jn 812), He is the burden-bearer, He said, "Take my yoke and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls". (Matt 11:29)  This is not to say that we cannot be encouraged by others of faith but we are to listen, each one of us, to the personal charge of the Holy Spirit in our lives as He speaks to us through the Word of God.  And we give grace to others who are also on this journey of getting to know Christ intimately as their Saviour and LORD.

The third lesson I get from this is that God has a plan for each one of us. (Jer 29:11)  Peter who became a leader of the church in Jerusalem along with James (Jesus brother) had a big impact on the Jewish nation to whom they were called.  Equally John's revelation of "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14) has made and will continue to make impact upon humankind.  John's gospel oozes with the revelation of love and relationship.  He presents Jesus in intimate ways, such as the Vine and we the branches, connected yet pruned for greater fruitfulness, receiving health and vitality from the Vine. (Jn 15:1-6) Close, joined, abiding - the only way for the life to flow from Vine into branch.

Lastly we learn about God's amazing grace toward those who are repentant and His restorative desire to reconcile relationship.  Peter had mucked up, and mucked up bad. He had declared his allegiance to Jesus before all the disciples – "I'll die for you, even if the others leave you and stumble, I won't." (Matt 26:31-35) We know the story, when the crunch time came, the crunch of Peter's retreating footsteps became a distant, quiet sound in the dark night.  Peter denied His Lord, not once but thrice before he fled into the night.  We don't see him standing at the cross.   We see the fulfilment of Jesus words,  "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK WILL BE SCATTERED.'"  Imagine how Peter felt, the remorse, the bitter weeping, the shock that what he declared he would do - stand by his Lord - he couldn't do.  He let down Jesus who had loved him thoroughly for 3 years, sowing into His life and building him up.  Now the Risen Christ stands before Him and asks Him to "follow me".  There is no recrimination but reappointment.  Grace is extended, mercy received and Peter became one of the "Fishers of Men". (Mat 4:19)  Peter's journey had led him back to the shores of Galilee where Jesus first called him and where he had put down his nets to follow.  The reappointment came on the shores of Galilee where once again they were fishing.  And the commission was clear, the fishing is behind you, service in the Kingdom is in front of you.  "Follow Me."

Jesus is still calling today.  He calls to you, "Follow Me."  What will your response be?