Truth and Money

Posted on by korgrocker

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.”
2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

Peter warned his readers that false teaching will lead to corruption of the truth, lies and exploitation, and ultimately the loss of their money. He provided an early church picture of religious conmen peddling false ideologies and trying to get people to support them financially in the process. Fast forward two thousand years and we find one such doctrine today, which has come to be called the prosperity gospel. This is not just a recent modern phenomenon – it also manifested in the early church as a destructive greed heresy and the Apostles called it out as heretical false teaching. But in the “property gospel” the believer is told to use God and the Holy Spirit to do what they want them to do. The preachers of this “gospel” say that words themselves have creative power. What you say, prosperity teachers claim, determines everything that happens to you. Your confessions, especially the favours you demand of God, must all be stated positively and without wavering. Then God is required to answer (as though man could require anything of God!). Thus, God’s ability to bless us supposedly hangs on our faith.

The prosperity gospel movement suggests that if you give your money to God, then He will bless you with more money. Such adherents to this movement believe that God wants people to be prosperous. And perhaps to confirm that thinking, we read Scriptures such as Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it“. But there is a balance in Scripture. Jesus Himself warned about the love of money. In the Gospel of Luke we read about how a man asked Jesus to intervene between two brothers over the matter of their father’s estate. Jesus’ response was,  “ …Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own” (Luke 12:15). Jesus went on to tell the story of a rich man who reaped a bumper harvest. He wanted to tear down all his barns and build bigger ones so that he could store up all his wheat. We then read in Luke 12:19 his response. “And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”” ‭‭But then Jesus ended the story with, ““But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”” (Luke 12:20-21). We must note what Paul recorded in Philippians 4:19, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus“. ‭‭I say “note” because of the word “needs” not “wants”. So I might want to have a shiny new car, but do I need it?

Paul helpfully warned his protégé Timothe about the false teachers who were roaming around in those days. We read in 1 Timothy 6:4-5, 9-10 what Paul thought about such teachers. “Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. … 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. 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“.

We pilgrims have a straight but narrow path before us. There will be many attempts to turn believers away from the way of truth, attempts coming from both inside and outside the church. False teaching may sometimes be difficult to discern, because it often starts with a subtle, almost imperceptible, emphasis on a particular Scripture, and those believers who swallow it head off down a path that extrapolates into a place where they shouldn’t be. Some preachers will focus on their own passions and inadvertently introduce an over-emphasis on particular Biblical truths. This can lead to a church out of balance, not necessarily venturing into “false teaching” but neglecting other truths in the Bible. But in it all, we have God’s Word. His whole counsel encapsulated in a place where we can find Him and His heart. So we pray for protection and guidance daily. And we check out what we hear through studying God’s Word.

Father God. Once again we pray that You protect us from false teachings and lead us in the truth everlasting. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Way of Truth

Posted on by korgrocker

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed.”
2 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

All of 2 Peter 2 is devoted to “The Danger of False Teachers”. Not a problem we have these days we might think, but to follow that line of thought is dangerous, because “the way of truth” applies across all our lives, not just those parts we spend within our church building. Surely, because we have the Bible, handed down over the centuries, and faithfully translated from early manuscripts, we have the “truth” and error is rare. Or so we might think. But it is easy to extract a part of that same Bible and elevate it to a position in our thinking that isn’t justified by the context. For example, in Romans 5:20-21, Paul wrote, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord“. If we build our lives on these verses, then we might end up in a permanent sinful state, because, we think, God’s grace will cover our excesses. However, we turn the page to Romans 6 and read, “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? (Romans 6:1-3). Living under the shadow of Romans 5 only might lead to a “destructive heresy“.

There are sadly examples today of false teachers in the church. I recently heard about how a minister taking a funeral twisted the John 3:16 Scripture to suit the occasion. The person in the coffin was, from all accounts, an unrepentant sinner. Of course we don’t know what happened just before death, but the minister proceeded to tell the large congregation that because Jesus came to this world, loving everyone, then their dead relative was now in Heaven regardless of the life they had lived. And that same situation would be repeated for everyone present. This is called Universalism, and many people today believe in universal salvation, thinking that a loving and compassionate God will have mercy on them and will never send anyone to the fires of hell. But they neglect the righteousness and justice of God. In Matthew 25:46 Jesus said, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life“. This chapter in Matthew makes clear that some people, perhaps many people, will indeed end up in a place of eternal torment, a place we call hell. Thankfully, a Christian minister present in the funeral service took the celebrant to task after the service, expounding John 3:16 correctly, and adding the next verse into the discussion. Sadly, however, many people might have left the service deluded by false teaching.

The teaching of destructive heresies leads to sects such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They started off as a Bible study class in the nineteenth century led by Charles Russell but through a number of volumes containing his theology, the Bible came to be reinterpreted to suit. So the JW’s believe that Jesus is Michael the archangel, contradicting what we pilgrims read in John 1:1,14, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. … So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son“. To take another part of their doctrine, the JW’s believe that salvation is obtained by a combination of faith, good works and obedience. But we pilgrim Bible scholars know that salvation is by grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it“. The JW’s also reject the Trinity, believing that Jesus was a created being and the Holy Spirit to essentially be the inanimate power of God. The JW’s have retranslated the Bible to fit in with their doctrine and theology, and have produced a version they call the New World Translation. If you have such a volume on your bookshelf then bin it because it contains “destructive heresies”. And we pray that God will open the eyes of all those poor deluded people who have been deceived by their evil teaching. 

We pilgrims know the “way of truth” don’t we? John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. Jesus told His disciples to follow Him because that was the only way they would get to His Father in Heaven, and the same instruction applies to us as well. The Apostle Peter obviously got the message because he said to the Jewish rulers in the Sanhedrin, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus’ statement “I am the way” is exclusive, so if anyone tries to convince us that all paths, all religions, lead to Heaven then we are in danger of falling into the category of believing “evil teaching”. Best to close the conversation and quote John 14:6 instead.

Father God, we pray Your Son’s prayer today – “And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Heresies

Posted on by korgrocker

“But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.”
2 Peter 2:1 NLT

In this, the second chapter of 2 Peter, the old disciple warned his readers about false teachers and false prophets. He wasn’t the only one who could see a problem coming down the tracks. Jesus Himself warned about such people. We read in Matthew 24:23-25, “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.” Jesus’ warning came in the middle of His discourse on the End Times, but this wasn’t going to be the only time for falsities. They can happen at anytime. The Book of Jude, just a short letter, is almost exclusively devoted to “The Danger of False Teachers”. In Jude 1:3-4 we read, “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvellous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” 

So what are the false teachings, the heresies, that can trip up a believer? Peter called them “destructive”, and they were delivered in a clever way to deceive true believers. Early heresies on record include ones like Docetism, which maintained that Jesus did not really have a human body. Instead He was Spirit, and only appeared to have a physical body. But the Gospels clearly recorded that Jesus ate with His disciples after His resurrection. We read in Luke 24:38-43, ““Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.” A clear confirmation that Jesus did in fact experience a bodily resurrection.

Another heresy was Gnosticism, adherents of which believed that they had to have access to a higher truth known only to a favoured few, and salvation came from finding this divine knowledge, freeing them from the consequences of sin. Paul wrote about being saved by God’s grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it“. 

We pilgrims know that the only source of infallible truth is the Bible. I meet people from time to time who maintain that the Bible is out of date and needs re-writing to bring it up to date. But they miss the whole point, which is, the Bible, and only the Bible, is the inspired and true Word of God. Sadly, sects emerge who try and rewrite parts of the Bible to fit in with their own particular doctrines. In this respect, the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to mind.

So we pilgrims have a responsibility to maintain the purity of our faith. And the only way in which this can happen is through a knowledge of the Bible. If we are told something new, or in a way that we do not recognise, we must check it out. If there is a falseness in what we hear, then it will not sit easily with the truth that we know through the Holy Spirit within us. We need to emulate the people of Berea. Acts 17:11, “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth“. One way that error can creep into the church is through social media and channels such as YouTube. It is easy to find a video about something in the Bible that extrapolates what we know in Scripture to fill in any gaps in our knowledge. I recently started to watch a video about Noah’s Ark which tried to determine how big it was, where it ended up and so on. Many scientific and archaeological facts were included. It all looked very plausible and may have been harmless enough, but it is through such channels that subtle “facts” can be introduced into our thinking that aren’t in the Bible. In another example, I recently heard a sermon in which the preacher proposed a theory as to why Jesus didn’t heal all the sick people lying under the colonnades around the Pool of Bethesda (the story is in John 5). It was a perfectly plausible and harmless part of the message but what was said wasn’t actually backed up by Scripture.

We pilgrims must also be careful about taking Bible verses out of context or in isolation. I recently watched a well-known Christian author saying that the 1 Thessalonian 4 story of what we call the Rapture will happen before Christians experience the worst of the End Times, and so world events just now, with all the wars and atrocities being committed, shouldn’t be of concern. A great encouraging message, but such a teaching doesn’t really fit in so well with the End Times account in Revelation, and the part believers will experience. 

Peter warned his readers to beware of heresies, a warning that we pilgrims would do well to listen to and act upon. And in the process, we must be careful what we say to others because the life of a false teacher will not end well.

Dear Father God. Teach us, we pray, only the truth that You want us to hear, and we pray for protection from error. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

They Spoke from God”

Posted on by korgrocker

“Above all, you must realise that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”
2 Peter 1:20-21 NLT

Peter wrote a very clear statement about Biblical prophecy. He was, of course, referring to messages in what we Christians call the Old Testament, and he said that the old prophets didn’t make up what they said. It was all inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the prophets directly “spoke from God”. There are those sceptics, even Christians, who suggest that Old Testament prophecies are too vague, or could mean anything, or they try to rubbish them in some way. Or just ignore them or even say the foretelling was fiction. But in doing so they impoverish their understanding of God and His care for His people. To take an example, we read in Isaiah 7:14, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)“. God knew exactly the time when Jesus would come to this planet. He knew the manner of His coming, and He revealed to the prophet Isaiah what would happen. Now there have been people who claim to be Christians but who have denied, or cast doubts on the fact that the virgin birth actually happened, in spite of the Scriptures supporting it. The Anglican Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins, famously said, “I wouldn’t put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if he wanted. But I don’t think he did.” Another minister called Robert Meyers is quoted as having said, “A beautiful, but obviously contrived, tale is the virgin birth, which may have been used to cover a scandal”. And there are other so called theologians who have made similar comments. Why do they so vehemently want to deny Biblical prophecy? Why, when the virgin birth of Jesus, proclaiming as it does the fusion of the Spirit and the human, confirms Jesus as both God and man? Those today who would deny the virgin birth contradict the clear prophetic and factual teaching of Scripture, call into question other miracles recorded in the Bible, and open the door to a denial of Christ’s full deity or His full humanity. 

What do we pilgrims think about such things? In 1 Corinthians 12:10 we read that the Holy Spirit provides the ability to prophesy. It is one of the gracious gifts God provides. “He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy … “. And it is true today. Churches sensitive to the workings of the Holy Spirit will experience all of God’s gifts, including the giving of prophetic messages. There have been some recent examples of God giving a message to His people, but, sadly, there have been many more occasions when a “prophecy” turns out to be nothing more than from their own thoughts. In Old Testament times, a prophet was vulnerable to negative consequences if his prophecy was wrong. Jesus warned us about false prophets. We read in Matthew 7:15-16, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” 

A true prophet did indeed communicate God’s words and thoughts to their generation, by the power of the Holy Spirit working within them. Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet. He tried to refuse the assignment, as we read in Jeremiah 1:4-6, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’ ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’” But God wasn’t fazed by Jeremiah’s youthfulness. Jeremiah 1:7-9, “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.” That was the start of a difficulty prophetic ministry for Jeremiah. We read that he was persecuted by his family, whipped, put in the stocks, attacked by a mob, threatened by the king, and ridiculed. And after a 40-year ministry he was reputedly stoned to death, though his end wasn’t recorded in the Bible. 

At a time of great political instability following the death of King Uzziah, Isaiah went to the Temple, a place of prayer and security. But he had an amazing vision of the Lord there, and was immediately struck by his sinfulness. We read in Isaiah 6:5, “Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”” He volunteered to be “a messenger to this people” (Isaiah 6:8), but his prophetic assignment wasn’t to be easy. We read what the impact of his prophecies would be in Isaiah 6:9-10, “And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’ Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.”” Oh dear! Not for Isaiah a low key prophetic message in a church service on a Sunday morning!

We pilgrims have many ways to take a prophetic message to the world around us. We do it by our words and actions. And by so doing, we are the salt and light in our communities in the way that Jesus commissioned us to be. Prophecies don’t have to start with “Thus saith the Lord …”. They start with a relationship with God.

Dear Heavenly Father. May we ever be open to Your Words, and ever willing to deliver them. Amen.

Prophetic Messages

Posted on by korgrocker

“For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendour with our own eyes when he received honour and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.”
2 Peter 1:16-19 NLT

The Jewish nation was well supplied with prophetic messages. The great prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah and others were all well known in Peter’s day through the accounts recorded in their Bible called the Tanakh. This included three main sections – the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. Jesus referred to the Hebrew Bible in verses such as Matthew 7:12, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets“. Jesus extensively quoted from the Tanakh, at times very effectively as we can read in the account of His temptation from the devil. We pilgrim believers are very blessed in that we not only have access to the Hebrew Bible – we call it the Old Testament – but we also have another set of writings from men who had had a personal encounter with Jesus and which form the New Testament. And in 2 Peter 1:19, Peter wrote, referring to the Mount of Transfiguration event, “Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts“. Peter made the connection between Jesus and the “message proclaimed by the prophets”. 

According to Bible scholars, there were 450 or so prophecies about the coming Messiah made in the Old Testament and Jesus fulfilled over 300 of them at His first advent. The rest are still to come. But the Bible doesn’t say when this will be and even Jesus Himself, when asked by His disciples, confessed that He didn’t know. After laying out a list of End Time signs, Jesus said, as recorded in Matthew 24:36, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows“. Then in Matthew 25:31, we find out the manner of Jesus’ return, “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne”. There are many prophecies about the End Times, but they are all focused around the person of Jesus. It is all about Him.

Peter wrote that because of his mountain experience he had great confidence in the prophetic messages that were woven into the warp and weft of Jewish society. The accuracy of some of those writings looking forward to the first Advent, and given many years before Jesus’ birth, is astounding. We look at Isaiah 9, for example, which builds until verses 6-7, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” Only part of this prophecy has been fulfilled, and we have confidence that the remainder will one day come to pass. In another example of Old Testament prophecy, we read the poignant words of Psalm 22, foretelling Jesus’ death experience. 

In other places the prophets of old warned the Jewish nation that there would be consequences for their bad behaviour. For example, Hosea prophesied that one day the people of Israel would be taken into captivity because of their unfaithfulness. We read in Hose 9:1-3, “O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor. So now your harvests will be too small to feed you. There will be no grapes for making new wine. You may no longer stay here in the Lord’s land. Instead, you will return to Egypt, and in Assyria you will eat food that is ceremonially unclean“. In Hosea 9:7-9 we read some more depressing details, “The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say, “The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!” The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God. The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins“. Historical events vindicated prophets who were often punished and even killed because of their faithfulness in declaring God’s message.

Of course, prophetic messages were not all doom and gloom. One of my favourite chapters is Isaiah 40. There we read, “Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young” (Isaiah 40:10-11).

So we pilgrims should take note of Peter’s words and the prophetic messages we find in the Bible. Through them we get a wonderful picture of our loving Heavenly Father, and His desire to work out His love in His children, those who believe in Him. Where do we stand with Biblical prophecy? We will be spiritually impoverished by avoiding it. Peter wrote, “You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts”. We too have words that shine in this dark and sad society in which we live. It will be even darker without our presence standing as a prophetic message to those around us.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the faithful men and women who have prophetically declared Your messages in their generation. May we, Your people, do the same in ours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Seeing or Believing

Posted on by korgrocker

“For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendour with our own eyes when he received honour and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.”
2 Peter 1:16-19 NLT

‭‭Peter once again refers to the “experience” of the Mount of Transfiguration. It was an occasion that transformed his life. Well, why wouldn’t it? Imagine being in that situation ourselves, not only seeing Jesus in all His “majestic splendour” but seeing with Him two of the old prophets, Moses and Elijah, who should have been long dead and buried. Such an “experience” must transcend any human understanding, because it cuts right across all our scientific and natural beliefs. Imagine the scenario, trying to describe what happened to a sceptical and agnostic professor at an esteemed university. Such an academic might be impressed by our animated description of what had happened but he would be highly sceptical and more likely to assume it was a drug-induced fantasy. Neither is it the sort of tale that would be well received in the pub or our workplace. Ridicule or worse would follow. 

Just after 9/11, a girl in my office returned from her New York holiday still deeply affected, in shock even, by the sight of the Twin Towers being destroyed. Just the day before it had happened she had eaten a meal in the restaurant at the top of one of the towers, and the following day observed the attacks in real time. We were impressed by her account of what had happened, because we too had seen the event on the news reports. But imagine if we hadn’t and all the knowledge came solely from her account? Would her story have been too off the wall to be believed?

And we remember the disciple, Thomas. He wasn’t present when the resurrected Jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples. We read in John 20:24-25, “One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side””. His response came after the testimony of the remaining ten disciples (of course, Judas was no longer with them) and he still didn’t believe. A few days later, he did get to meet the risen Jesus, who said to him, “ … You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me”” (John 20:29).

It is true that no-one living on Planet Earth today has ever experienced at first hand the person of Jesus. The only recorded instant of a personal encounter after the resurrection was with Paul, who met the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road and we can read his story in Acts 9. But our future salvation does not depend on an in-the-flesh meeting with Jesus. He came to this world to save it, and we know what He said – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). We know much about Jesus from the Biblical accounts and we can develop a Holy-Spirit enlightened impression of who Jesus was. As we read in Revelation 22:4, one day we will see Jesus’ face, “And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads”. But not will we see Him. The Bible tells us we will be like Him. 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is“. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, we read, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely“. That’s where our faith comes into play. All we need to know about Jesus we can find in God’s Word, the Bible. And the more we read it, the more we will find out about His love and grace, equipping use for life in this sad and sinful world.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your master plan, revealing Your Son, Jesus, to all on this planet. Please help us not to squander the experience, by helping us to share our faith and belief with others who don’t know Him. Amen.

Clever Stories

Posted on by korgrocker

“For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendour with our own eyes when he received honour and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.”
2 Peter 1:16-18 NLT

‭‭Peter had been writing, in the previous verses, about his impending death and his desire to leave a legacy of truth by his hard work. And we read on as he provides a reason for his labour – telling them about “the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. But he felt it necessary to tell his readers that he hadn’t made it all up. This wasn’t a fairy story of knights of old or heavily embellished tales of a man who had been crucified some years before. Peter referred to the occasion of a visit to a place called the Mount of Transfiguration, and we can read the account in Matthew 17. Jesus, we are told, took with him Peter, James and John, and they went up a high mountain to be alone. Which mountain this was isn’t known but the account of what happened there was no “clever story”. When they arrived, we read, “As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:2-3). This vision that unfolded before them terrified the disciples, but it was Peter, good old impetuous Peter, who spoke out. “Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”” (Matthew 17:4). But this is really what scared the disciples – “But even as [Peter] spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him”” (Matthew 17:5). And many years later, Peter, approaching his death and now an old man, still remembered that voice from Heaven. 

Moses had an encounter with God on Mount Sinai and the impact on him terrified the people of Israel. We read in Exodus 34:29-30, “When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him.” Today’s generation would probably not be fazed by such an event, but nevertheless, they would take notice of someone with features that are glowing. Sadly, Moses’ radiance started to fade and he ended up wearing a veil to hide his dimming face from the Israelites. But neither he, or those around him, would have ever forgotten the impact of that encounter with God.

Some people, including myself, have never seen God, but, like Peter, we have heard His voice. Many years ago, when my daughter was seriously ill and with a medical prognosis lacking even a glimmer of hope, I was driving along a Scottish motorway summoned once again to her bedside. And as I agonised and prayed, I heard a distinct voice that seemed to come from the back seat saying “Trust Me”. That encounter with God turned my life around, transforming me from a “believer” to a “know-er”. The following weeks were difficult, but gradually my daughter’s condition improved. I now have a story to tell, and even though many years have elapsed since that encounter, I will never forget that voice.

We pilgrims have a story to tell. It may not be as dramatic as Peter’s but it is something real and relevant, and not a piece of clever prose designed to impress. Our stories tell of an encounter with the living God too. That day when we met Jesus and He forgave our sins. That day when the world was transformed from a place of hopelessness and darkness into one of assurance and light. A day when Heaven, not hell, became a future reality. We may not have experienced “His majestic splendour with our own eyes” but through faith we can have the same realisation. Through the Holy Spirit within us, we too can have a daily encounter with God, if we want it.

Father God. You are real and living today. Please help us to share that fact with those around us, with a spirit glowing from a real-time encounter with You. Thank You. Amen.

Our Legacy

Posted on by korgrocker

“For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.”
2 Peter 1:14-15 NLT

Peter included in his letter to his friends in Asia Minor the sobering and sad news that his death wasn’t far away. Not a death due to an incurable disease, but a violent death at the hands of the Romans. And Peter knew this because Jesus had told him. He wasn’t sure of the exact day and hour, but he did know that it was to be soon. However, this knowledge spurred Peter on to make sure his legacy would be remembered. 

It is sometimes fascinating to walk around a graveyard in the grounds of an old church and read the inscriptions marked on the ancient gravestones. Names and a few words are all that is left, in most cases, of the memory of the person buried beneath the crumbling headstone. The letters might be difficult to read, as the weathering of wind and rain have gradually taken their toll over the years, but the writing remains. Within the church building itself there may be a few plaques embedded in the walls or floors that describe a person of note in the parish. Perhaps a benefactor or public servant. But little remains of details about who the person really was. There is a tendency to write a few words about what a person did, or how they were a much loved member of a family, but it is rarely the case that we learn much about their legacy.

Peter’s legacy is clear – he left behind him two letters that have had a significant impact on generations of believers ever since. But what about ordinary people who just continue with their life, bringing up their children, working for a living, being good neighbours, and plodding along quietly in their pilgrimage through life towards the promised land? True believers are mainly faithful people who don’t leave a high-profile legacy for others to read, but instead, by their influence at the time, make their communities, families and society in general a better place. These are believers who work out their lives as members of God’s family, in His Kingdom. Jesus said, as recorded in Luke 17:20b-21, “ … The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you“. God’s Kingdom isn’t noticed by our secular politicians. It isn’t recognised with a passport or some other record of citizenship. Instead it is a spiritual Kingdom, and our legacy is bound up within it. 

One day we will leave behind us the earthly kingdom in which we live, and our opportunities for leaving an earthly legacy will cease. At the end of our lives we may even doubt we have left any lasting impact. But we may be surprised one day to find out that, in fact, we did leave a legacy after all, as we find other believers in Heaven who are there because of us. We were faithful in living our natural lives God’s way and because of our witness and testimony they too became believers. 

How we pilgrims live our lives on Planet Earth is important. Jesus told a parable of three servants, to whom he entrusted a sum of money. The sums that each received were different (Matthew 25:15, “He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip“), but the money in itself wasn’t important. What mattered was that each servant had an opportunity to invest what they had been given. We each have different capabilities, gifts (talents) given by God, but the important thing is that we are faithful and obedient in doing with our lives what God intends. In the parable, the master returns and finds that two servants have faithfully invested their money but one just buried it and did nothing with it. The first two servants heard those wonderful words from Jesus – “ … ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together‘” (Matthew 25:23). The third servant heard words that he didn’t want to hear, because he had wasted what God hd given him..

A life full of faithful investment, sharing God’s gifts with those around us, in our families, communities, workplaces and all, is the legacy we need to leave behind us. And as we do that, these gifts are multiplied in the lives of others. All our legacies will be different – in Jesus’ parable no sum of money was the same. There is no right and wrong in the way we live our lives. But we pilgrims are faithful people who shine with our faith, illuminating the dark corners in other people’s lives.

Dear Father God. Please help us not to waste what You have invested within us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Timely Reminder?

Posted on by korgrocker

“Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live.”
2 Peter 1:12-13 NLT

We all need Peters in our lives. Faithful men and women who are diligent in reminding us about the wonderful truths and promises in the Bible, and how we must be equally as diligent in applying them to our lives. But do we know a “Peter” who has a spiritual input into our lives? Are we listening when a fellow believer provides some encouragement? Or have we cut ourselves off from contact with other Christians, adopting an “I’ll do it my way” attitude? Peter said to his readers that they, of course, know the truths he is reminding them about, and that, although they probably don’t need any reminders, he is doing so anyway.

We pilgrim believers in our journey through life are constantly dealing with conflicts between two kingdoms. The Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of the world. God has provided all the resources we need in these situations, but sometimes we get a bit wobbly in our faith. The enemy will seek out our weak spots and try and capitalise on them to destroy our faith. The Holy Spirit will guide us to the right truths and promises of course, but we have to go and look for them, examining the Scriptures if we are not sure about something. And sometimes the Holy Spirit will use a “Peter” to help us, particularly if we have gone a bit spiritually deaf.

At the present time, with war in Eastern Europe and, as I write, the conflict in Palestine, we can lose sight of the fact that God is in control of His creation, His world. To think that human beings can destroy something that He created is arrogance in the extreme. In our community Bible Study yesterday we read Psalm 2, and came across verses 4-6, “But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”” This is the reality – God will rebuke the nations who fight against Him, and He will one day in the future instal Jesus in His rightful place as ruler of the world. 

We pilgrims must always be open to the “Peters” who cross our paths. Our loving Heavenly Father is very faithful and He will often lead us to green pastures where we can find the spiritual nourishment we need. A word from a brother or sister at just the right time will often help us when we need help, but we must keep our spiritual ears open. One practical help is the use of a notebook. When we hear a sermon, write down what we are hearing and go over it afterwards. If the preacher quoted Scriptures, check them out. and the truths and promises we find may be just what God wants us to hear. And we must pray for discernment, to filter out the noise that so easily can divert us from the course. If we find a “Peter”, we may want to journey with him for a bit. But in it all, God loves and cares for us, just as He did for the people who read Peter’s message all those years ago.

Father God. Thank You for the faithful men and women who so often provide a word of encouragement when we need it. We pray today for them, and ask for Your blessings to be with them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Falling Away

Posted on by korgrocker

“So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:10-11 NLT

So we must start in asking what these “things” are, that Peter is recommending. Again we go back to earlier in the chapter where we are told that God has “given us everything we need for living a godly life”. This will happen as we get to know God more and respond positively and proactively to His promises. But Peter includes a warning, that if we fail to do what he advises, then we are in danger of falling away. In other words, if we stop pursuing God, then we will become side-tracked into doing other things.

I know of several believers who became casualties of the Covid lockdowns here in the UK. Churches stopped holding Sunday in-person meetings and went on-line using video conferencing facilities such as Zoom. This was too big an ask for some people and they stopped participating in a techno-church. But, worse, when the churches I have in mind restarted their Sunday services, these people remained at home. Of course, a Christian doesn’t have to attend a church, but it helps if they do. Hebrews 10:25, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near“. Without meeting with other Christians we will miss out on mutual encouragement and much more. A lone Christian becomes an easy target for the devil. Those enticing whispers, that sound so right, saying things like it doesn’t matter if you don’t attend a church service. After all, God will still love you, the devil says. 

I have met people in the past who neglect to read the Bible, because, they say, they don’t understand what it says. In Peter’s day, the people lacked a Bible such as we have, relying instead on Jewish Scriptures, someone to expound them, and the teaching of the Apostles and others who knew Jesus. It was only much later that the Canon of Scripture was put together in the form that we have. But Peter’s encouragement to the believers in the Five Provinces in Asia Minor also applies today. In 2 Peter 1:5a he wrote, “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. … “. 2 Peter 1:10a, “So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove … “. Understanding what the Bible says and applying it to our lives will take personal effort. It will do us no good to place a Bible under our pillows at night, and hope the truths and promises contained therein will somehow leap into our minds.

The New Testament contains several warnings about “falling away” from the faith. Revelation 2:4-5, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches“. This warning, in a vision through the Apostle John, came directly from Jesus and was intended for the Ephesian believers. In 1 Timothy 4:1a, Paul wrote, “Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith … “. And then we have the ominous warning in Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame“. 

In Genesis 11 we find the story of Terah, Abraham’s father. Just a few verses but Terah heard God’s call to move to Canaan, but he never arrived there because he settled in a place called Haran, about half way to his destination, and he eventually died there. Perhaps in this brief episode we can read a warning about failing to reach the goal towards which God has called us. There is no half way house in God’s Kingdom. We pilgrim believers must be diligent and make every effort to stay faithful to God. If we find ourselves slipping away from the faith, then we must get on our knees once again and pray for forgiveness and the strength to stay on track.

Heavenly Father. Please help us to stay the course, and remain faithful to You. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.