Understanding Our Role as God’s Temple

Posted on by korgrocker

“What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
2 Corinthians 6:15-16 NLT

The Temple in Jerusalem was sacred to the Jews. The first one, built by Solomon, David’s son, and using materials David had accumulated in the last years of his reign and life, was magnificent. It was built around 959 BC and lasted for 400 years until it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and his forces in 586 BC. The second Temple was built under the guidance of Zerubbabel about 70 years later and lasted until 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed it. And that is the situation that still stands today. There will be a future Temple in the New Jerusalem, but this one will be very different. Revelation 21:22, “I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple”. Jews today have mixed views about the Temple, with some of the orthodox persuasions expecting such a building to appear through Divine providence, perhaps with the coming of the Messiah.

Early in His ministry, Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem and cleared the merchants from the courtyard. John 2:16, “Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”” The Jewish leaders weren’t too happy about this and in the following verses in John we read, “But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body”. And that introduces us to Paul’s New Covenant pronouncement that “we are the temple of the living God”. Paul said to the Corinthians in his first letter, “Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself” (1 Corinthians 6:19). 

In our verses today, Paul asked the question, “How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols?” The picture emerges of the Temple, pure and holy, the place where God lives, and then someone brings in an idol and starts worshipping it. Those who knew the law of Moses would immediately declare such a person as being worthy of death under the laws of the nation of Israel. Worshipping idols in the Temple would have been unthinkable to a Jew, but Paul associated this picture with the partnership between a believer and an unbeliever. Those of us who are believers, pilgrims like us who are in Christ, are now God’s temple on earth. His Spirit occupies every believer in Jesus. With that understanding, Paul’s meaning is clear. Any believer who participates in the worship of an idol is guilty of betraying God in the same way as someone worshiping an idol in the Jewish temple.

There are two implications of being God’s Temple, where the Holy Spirit lives. Personally, each believer has a responsibility to maintain a Temple free of idolatry, immorality, and all manner of sin. We call that being sanctified. The Temple within us is a place where God is glorified. Each believer is also part of a Temple that consists of all believers. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, “Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. ” Peter also wrote about this in 1 Peter 2:5, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God”. 

Paul continued to quote Leviticus 26:12, “I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people”. It is an awesome and holy situation to be the place where God dwells. No more of a physical building, an entity outside of us. Instead, through our own holiness, we become “living stones”, a corporate building full of God and His Spirit. However, if that was the case, what is stopping the church from being a force far beyond anything ever seen on this planet? God walking around this world inside a huge human Temple? But of course, this is a spiritual Temple, unrecognisable by the secular society in which we live. We “living stones” do God’s work in the lives and communities of people around us. We are the “salt and light”, ensuring that God’s Temple continues to live and hold back the forces of evil that would otherwise overwhelm and destroy this world in which we live. 

So, fellow pilgrims and “living stones”, what strategy do we have in place to ensure that the Holy Spirit will continue to dwell within us? It is sin that destroys that union, but we know that, and we do our utmost to live lives worthy of the One who died for us.

Dear Heavenly Father. We thank You for all that You have done for us. Help us, we pray, to live in a way that is worthy of You and Your Spirit. Amen.

The Dangers of Unequally Yoked Partnerships

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?”
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 NLT

Paul wrote that believers and unbelievers should not be in a partnership. Seems like good sense because Jesus Himself said, “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you” (John 15:19). Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives”. Christians are to be holy, but what does that mean? “Holiness” is commonly defined as being separate or set apart. God is holy in that he is set apart from everything that is not God, and God’s people must be holy by being set apart from sin. Holiness, according to this definition, is separateness that entails moral purity. 

For us pilgrims, being in partnership with an unbeliever will obviously introduce strains in the relationship. There are a number of different types of partnerships, though. The obvious one is in marriage. Occasionally, a believer meets an unbeliever, and the relationship starts, eventually reaching a point where marriage is discussed. What should the believer do (assuming, of course, that their relationship with God is alive and well)? Many go ahead, only to live in regret afterwards. Another type of partnership occurs in the business world, and the same principles apply. The unbelieving partner may attempt to introduce business practices unacceptable to the believer, perhaps even illegal. Or perhaps one partner, the unbelieving one, wants to introduce trading in products that are unethical.

There is always the temptation for a believer to say they might be able to persuade their partner to become a believer in Christ. Although such an outcome is possible (such was the case with my daughter and her husband), in most cases, the opposite occurs. I can remember a speaker in church demonstrating how difficult this might be. He took a chair and asked a young man to stand on it. He then asked the young man to try to pull another man up onto the chair next to him. It turned out to be a very difficult task, possible but needing much cooperation between them. The speaker then demonstrated the opposite: the man on the ground found it quite easy to pull the other off the chair. A visual display that effectively showed the danger of entering into a relationship with an unrealistic expectation. The moral of his story was that it is difficult to pull someone toward righteousness, but very easy to drag them down toward sin.

Of course, there are marriages in place between a believer and an unbeliever. Paul addressed that situation when he wrote, “Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a fellow believer has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her. And if a believing woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. For the believing wife brings holiness to her marriage, and the believing husband brings holiness to his marriage. Otherwise, your children would not be holy, but now they are holy. … Don’t you wives realise that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don’t you husbands realise that your wives might be saved because of you?” (1 Corinthians 7:12-14, 16). Nothing is ever impossible for God, however, and the believing partner may see a miracle happen in their relationship with the unbeliever.

In the ESV we read for 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” The word “yoke” is a good choice because it evokes the rigid harness used to keep livestock locked together and pulling in a consistent direction. With that word, we can find an illustration from the husbandry of the Israelite farmers. Deuteronomy 22:10, “You must not plough with an ox, and a donkey harnessed together”. That picture, which instantly formed in our minds, indicates the inadvisability of trying to do something with partners unequally yoked.

A Christian’s relationship with God through Jesus must be protected and nurtured above all else. Paul compared righteousness and wickedness, attributes that are obviously incompatible. When we read verses like, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21), we get the message. Of course, a Christian believer cannot separate themselves from the world in which we live. Jesus said in His High Priestly prayer, and about His disciples, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do” (John 17:15-16). Paul wrote, “When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that” (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). 

“Do not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers”.

We imagine the analogy of darkness and light, and realise that both states cannot coexist. The kingdom of darkness is under the jurisdiction of the devil, and the Kingdom of Light is God’s Kingdom. We pilgrims do our best to bring our light, God’s light, into the relationships we have, and we share the Good News about Jesus at every opportunity, but being in partnership with an unbeliever is not recommended.

Dear Father God. We are so grateful that someone had the courage and persistence to share the Good News about Jesus with us, transforming us from darkness into light. Thank You for Jesus, who made it all possible. Amen.

Paul’s Love and Correction for the Corinthians

Posted on by korgrocker

“Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!”
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 NLT

Paul’s love and concern for the Corinthian believers ooze from these verses in 2 Corinthians, but the Corinthians have not reciprocated with love. How did it come to this? The essence of the two epistles written to the believers in Corinth was to bring loving correction to a church that appeared to have gone badly wrong. Paul addressed issues such as open immorality, wrong teaching, denial of the resurrection, and more in response to what he had heard about the church in Corinth, and he also answered questions from the believers there. Paul tried to steer them back onto the right track, carefully, but lovingly and firmly, in his letters. Obviously, some false prophets or elders had emerged in the church, subverting the purity of the Gospel message, and relations between the church and Paul and his friends had broken down. 

Paul had not held back correction, truth, or affection. He loved the Corinthians deeply, even when it cost him. Earlier in the chapter, he described enduring hardship, suffering, and misunderstanding for their sake. His love was not superficial; it was sacrificial, reflecting the heart of Christ. Jesus does not love us from a distance. He draws near to us. We know that from Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”. In 1 Corinthians 6:12, Paul wrote, “There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us”. The issue in Corinth was not that Paul had failed them. It was that their hearts had been subverted by issues that brought down a barrier and eroded the relationship. Perhaps some in Corinth were telling lies about Paul. Or people might have been bringing teaching or prophecies that contradicted Paul’s message. But whatever caused the rift, their love for Paul had grown cold. There is a lesson here for us pilgrims. It is possible to receive teaching, correction, prayer, and spiritual care, yet still keep our hearts guarded, love restricted, perhaps due to offence, pride, comparison, or divided loyalties. Jesus warned that in the last days, “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12b). Love doesn’t usually disappear dramatically—it slowly constricts.

In the next verse, Paul wrote, “I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!” What a tender appeal; we can almost feel Paul’s pain, like that of any parent reaching out to a wayward child. Of course, this is not manipulation on Paul’s part. It is spiritual fatherhood. Paul had birthed this church through the gospel, as we read from 1 Corinthians 4:15, “For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you”. Paul was not demanding admiration; he was longing for a restored relationship. Churches and fellowships are founded on relationships between believers, as we remember from Acts 2:44-46, “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity”. No sign of a stained glass window or rows of pews. No church organ or complex liturgy required. The only true church is established in the hearts and minds of believers. Anything else comes from a worldly influence that penetrates and distorts the truth of the Gospel. 

Paul finished the three verses we started with today with the appeal, “Open your hearts to us!” But what were they opening their hearts to? Well, the truth of Paul’s teaching was there before them, with the correction and encouragement that it brought. Paul’s testimony and what he had shared previously in his letters added some weight to his appeal. Near the start of his first letter, Paul wrote, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10). A lack of harmony and division in itself would have developed into confusion and a cooling of the love that Paul initially received when he was there with them. We mustn’t forget that it is God’s love and grace that underpins the Gospel, and as believers, we must show that love and grace to those around us. 

What are we pilgrims going through at the moment? Are we drifting along, without any real connection with a church or other believers? Are we sitting in a pew, wondering why we are there because no one ever speaks to us? Or are we actively showing the love and grace of Jesus to those new in the faith or struggling with their own doubts and fears? There is only one way, and although we are not perfect, we can sit and reflect on all that God has done for us through Jesus. Yes, people around us will hurt or irritate us, but that’s okay. We don’t have to respond in the same way. Instead, we follow Paul’s advice, appealing to them with the goal of restoring a relationship that has been lost. 

Father God. Thank You for all that You have done for us. Your love and grace know no limits, so please help us to draw down more into our own lives so that we can reach out to those around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Finding Joy in Christian Poverty: A Biblical Perspective

Posted on by korgrocker

“We serve God whether people honour us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.”
2 Corinthians 6:8-10 NLT

There seems to be a paradox here: heartache, poverty, and a lack of material things are compared with a life overflowing with joy, generosity, and abundance. A dilemma that faces all Christians as they go about their life of faith in a hostile and evil world. From a worldly perspective, this doesn’t add up. How can someone be poor and yet enrich others? How can someone own nothing and yet have everything? And to cap it all, be full of joy?

Earlier in 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, Paul explained the heartache he and his colleagues were enduring. He wrote “ … We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food”. But regardless of the heartache, Paul wrote that he always had joy. Paul had an eternal perspective, as we read in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” And that is true, because if we tried to put a marker on the timeline labelled “Eternity”, it would be so small as to be invisible. So the use of the word “vastly” becomes something of an understatement. That hope within him filled Paul with unquenchable joy – heartache perhaps now, but joy forever. Did that mean Paul went about the days of his life laughing and seemingly detached from the reality of his existence? Absolutely not, but there was something within him that kept his eyes focused on the horizon where the glory that awaited him illuminated the sky. Because of that, for Paul, the spiritual riches began with a joy that circumstances cannot steal. Paul’s joy flowed from his reconciliation with God, from knowing Christ, and from eternity secured.

Paul often lacked materially, being without food or warm clothing. In 2 Corinthians 11:27, we read about his privations: “I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm”. Occasionally, Paul worked with his hands to generate some income. “Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was” (Acts 18:3). But in it all, Paul’s main focus was to give “spiritual riches to others”, a great treasure that he carried around within himself, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7). What is this treasure? Not silver and gold, of course, because there is nothing spiritual about precious metals, but qualities such as the Gospel, reconciliation with Christ, and the knowledge of Him as he went about his business of giving what he had to others, anyone who would listen. There is that great, much-quoted verse in Acts 3:6, “But Peter said, ‘I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” That is “spiritual riches” in action. A believer may lack wealth in the bank, but in Christ, they possess riches that can transform eternity.

Paul wrote, “We own nothing, and yet we have everything”. This statement makes sense only when the earthly and spiritual worlds are compared. Paul claimed poverty in one and great wealth in the other. But the two kingdoms are mutually exclusive. Paul knew and experienced that a believer cannot be in both. Jesus said to His disciples, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” (Mark 8:36). The world measures possession by accumulation. The Kingdom measures possession by inheritance. Paul wrote this to the Philippians, “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Saviour” (Philippians 3:20). From that perspective, we pilgrims also share in the “spiritual riches”, the spiritual treasure that we are accumulating safely in God’s Heavenly bank. Jesus said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). In these days of rising living costs, we can be reassured that the treasure we value is beyond such worldly pressures. 

Paul’s life challenges modern believers. We often equate blessing with comfort, but Paul equated blessing with Christ. With Paul, we may not feel wealthy. We may face difficulty. We may experience seasons of heartache. Yet if we belong to Jesus, we carry eternal treasure within us. We think again of the paradox that underpins the life of Christians. The world may see lack, but Heaven sees inheritance. The world may see poverty, but God sees sons and daughters who possess everything that truly matters.

Dear Heavenly Father. You have “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ”. Help us to continue to deposit our spiritual riches with You in Heaven, as we are obedient to You and Your Son, Jesus, in all that we do. We love You and praise You today, expressing our humble thanks for such a wonderful salvation. Amen.  

Understanding True Service to God in Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“We serve God whether people honour us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.”
2 Corinthians 6:8-10 NLT

Three words define Paul’s ministry – “we serve God” – but what a cost! Regardless of the consequences, which in themselves were quite severe, Paul and his colleagues remained totally focused on those three words – “we serve God”. They were despised, slandered, treated as impostors, ignored, beaten, troubled with aching hearts, and living in poverty. But nothing was going to stop them from serving God. Most believers today would have given up long before they experienced all that Paul did. 

How do we define serving God? After all, He is the Creator of all, being all-powerful and all-seeing. Does God really need our puny efforts to accomplish all that He wants to in this world? But 2 Corinthians 6:1 reads, “As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvellous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it”. In the previous chapter, Paul refers to himself and his colleagues as being “Christ’s ambassadors”, and in 1 Corinthians 1:9, Paul wrote, “God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”. These amazing verses clearly establish our privileged position of being trusted by God to do His work in the time allotted to us, wherever we live. It’s not that God can’t, but it is because He loves us and wants us to be involved in all that He wants to accomplish. 

Peter wrote, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11). From these verses, we can see that God wants us to serve Him by using the gifts He has given us to help and serve one another. Peter mentioned two gifts, but of course, there are more. Specifically, Peter mentioned speaking and helping as examples of ways to serve, but the goal is the same in the way the spiritual gifts are used, because in the end, they all point to one thing, which is to “bring glory to God through Jesus Christ”. Serving God is to ultimately give Him glory. 

Paul, in all the troubles and strife that he experienced, demonstrated the selflessness of a servant of God in a world that was built on selfishness. Two opposites that very well expose and amplify how God gets the glory. Think about it for a moment. As we serve God by speaking to someone, our relationship with God comes through what we say, and in the process, we direct the glory away from ourselves and point it to God. What happens then? Well, people will hopefully recognise that Jesus has brought about real change in our lives, and those to whom we speak will start to explore a relationship with Him themselves.

In His second temptation by the devil, “Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him’”” (Luke 4:8 quoting Deuteronomy 6:3). Our service must only be directed to God and His purposes. Of course, we have to serve our employers and fulfil societal responsibilities, but we do so as though we are serving God. Our Christian lives are lives of service to God. Anything else is the wrong sort of service. I have quoted before the 1979 Bob Dylan song with the words, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody / Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord / But you’re gonna have to serve somebody“.

“Do as I have done to you“

Every Christian might have a different reason for serving God; different people are motivated by different things. However, the Bible does make clear that, when a person is in a real relationship with God, he will serve God. We should want to serve God because we know Him; an inherent part of knowing Him is a desire to serve Him. Jesus set us an example as the ultimate Servant. Matthew 20:28, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many”. The Gospel of John recorded the episode of when Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and afterwards we read what He said, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you” (John 13:13-15). 

We want to serve God because we love Him, and we serve Him because He first loved and served us through Jesus Christ. The more we are aware of and experience God’s love in our own lives, the more likely we are to respond in love by serving Him. If we want to serve God, or serve Him more, the key is to get to know Him more! 

Father God. We love You and thank You for Your many blessings. Please reveal more of You to us as we go about Your business here on earth, doing Your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Understanding Paul’s Weapons of Righteousness

Posted on by korgrocker

“We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defence. We serve God whether people honour us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors.”
2 Corinthians 6:7-8 NLT

Paul adopts a military perspective, writing about “weapons”, “attack” and “defence” in our verses from 2 Corinthians 6. Such a stance may have resonated more with his Corinthian audience than it would today, but we can all get the picture. Hand-held weapons in those days would have been bladed objects of various lengths and types. The sight of Roman soldiers in those days was common, so the weapons they carried would have been visible to everyone. A short stabbing sword was supplemented by a dagger worn on their left side, making them formidable opponents. So perhaps the sword was the attacking weapon and the dagger more for defence, but I speculate, and I’m sure situations in combat were not that simple. The Roman soldiers also would have held a shield with their left hand, and that possibility would have fitted more with Paul’s analogy. But theological scholars lack a clear understanding of what Paul meant by his reference to “weapons of righteousness”.

But what was the battle that Paul was fighting? He was not the sort of man who would have aggressively pursued a military situation. Although he suffered much through abuse at the hands of people, those he upset with his Gospel message, he was never physically aggressive. The key to his battle can be found in Ephesians 6. He wrote, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). That changes the perspective entirely, because both the weapons and armour favoured by the Roman soldiers would have been useless. After all, it would be no good slashing at a demon, even if it was visible, with a sword. Faced with someone intent on harming him, Paul would have addressed the evil spirit behind the person before him, not with a physical weapon, but with “the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defence”. 

Paul’s weapon of choice was righteousness. In the Ephesians 6 account, God’s righteousness was the body armour. The sword analogy referred to “… the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b). The battle that Paul was fighting was driven by his desire to serve God. Paul was going to do God’s work regardless of the opposition he faced. The enemy, the devil, had the Middle East at that time well and truly in his clutches, and the last thing that he wanted was for God to start to take this territory from him. There was a confusion of gods in that part of the world, and even pockets of God’s people, the Jews, seemed ineffective in pushing back the forces of darkness. The devil wasn’t concerned about them, even though they might have been a minor irritation. What did concern him was this man Paul, who was proclaiming the Gospel of Good News about Jesus, the God-man who defeated the devil through Calvary’s cross. His message, backed up by the power of the Holy Spirit, marked with miracles and other demonstrations of God’s power, was responsible for major conversions from the kingdom of darkness, the devil’s kingdom, to the Kingdom of Light, God’s Kingdom. 

So how did the “evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, [the] mighty powers in this dark world, and [the] evil spirits in the heavenly places” fight back? One way was by undermining Paul’s character. Earlier in this Epistle, Paul wrote, “We reject all shameful deeds and underhanded methods. We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this” (2 Corinthians 4:2). Why did Paul feel he had to write this? Probably because there were some in the Corinthian church who were accusing Paul and his colleagues of duplicity in their ministries. What better way for the devil to destroy Paul’s hard work than to infiltrate the very organisation that he had established? But Paul had the sword of righteousness ready and waiting, and with it he was able to refute the falsehoods being spoken about him. And what was that weapon? It was the Word of God.

We pilgrims will face the same hassles that Paul did as we push back against the forces of darkness that attempt to overpower us. For some believers, the devil and his accomplices are successful. These believers are like the seed that falls on stony ground. Matthew 13:20-21, “The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word”. But we pilgrims are like the seed that fell on good soil. Matthew 13:23, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Yes, there will be troubles coming our way, if we haven’t already experienced them. But because of Jesus and His righteousness, we have already overcome them. 

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your Son Jesus, who has destroyed the works of the enemy. Through Jesus, we can now live forever in Your Kingdom, safe in a place where the devil can never reach us. No matter what happens to us in this life, You will protect us by the power of Your Word, and one day we will live with You, forever and ever. Amen.

Easter Sunday

Posted on by korgrocker

“From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.” Matthew 16:21
“For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.” Psalm 16:10
“Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.” John 20:1.

“Christ is Risen!” That is our strident call this Easter Sunday. I repeated this to churchgoers near where I live on Easter Day last year, and most responded in kind, although one or two gave me a funny look. Perhaps they weren’t going to church, but I gave them a greeting anyway. 

This day is fundamental to our Christian belief, because if it all ended with Jesus in a grave, what hope would there be for us pilgrims for the future? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:13-19, “For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world”. Thank you, Paul, for setting out this truth so clearly and logically. 

We know factually that Jesus rose from the dead because of the number of witnesses. We turn again to 1 Corinthians 15, and read what Paul wrote, “[Christ] was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him” (1 Corinthians 15:4-8). I presume, because of the male-driven society of the day, the women weren’t counted, but Scriptures tell us that the first person who saw the risen Jesus was a woman. We read in John 20:11, 14-16, “Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. … She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognise him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”)”. 

The impact of the Resurrection on believers, both men and women, today is life-changing. We pilgrims do not have to be concerned for the future, because one day we too will be resurrected and able to join Jesus and the rest of His followers in a tremendous worship service in the air over Jerusalem. We can only dimly imagine what that will be like, but in the light of that experience, there is nothing that this world can offer that will come anywhere near to matching the day when we see the Lord. Somehow, all the worldly privations, such as the cost of living, the price of petrol, the aches and pains, the limitations of the health service – the list is endless – become a momentary irritation on the way to Glory, where we will spend eternity.

Jesus Christ is risen today. Let’s shout out that truth from the rooftops so that Jesus gets all the honour and all the glory, and all the praise. I don’t personally care what the society around me does or thinks. All that matters is the empty tomb; the image of an angel sitting on the stone will always be a reminder that the grave could not hold Jesus any more than it will hold me. 

Dear Lord Jesus. I’m gripped this morning by the excitement that You are risen and the grave you borrowed for the weekend is empty. You went through so much for my fellow pilgrims and me that all I can do is worship You today, with a deeply thankful heart. Amen. 

Easter Saturday

Posted on by korgrocker

“Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”
John 19:38-42 NLT

The details are gruesome. Three men crucified on adjacent crosses, with Jesus in the middle, but the Jewish leaders had a problem. They didn’t want the spectre of an ongoing crucifixion, with tortured men hanging naked on their crosses, to continue overnight and spoil the Sabbath, their holy day. We read in John 19:31-33, “It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was Passover week). So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs”. A crucified man with broken legs would have been unable to breathe for long and would soon die of suffocation. This was the lot of the two thieves, but Jesus was already dead. The weight of the sins of the world had seen to that, and His mission to save the world was complete. We remember His final cry, recorded in John 19:30, “When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit”. 

Joseph and Nicodemus, two Jewish leaders, performed a hasty burial of Jesus’ body, with His internment being in Joseph’s own brand new grave (Matthew 27:60), followed by a “great stone” being rolled across the entrance. And there Jesus lay, His body at rest. However, if we turn to 1 Peter 3:18, we read, “Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit”. Jesus died physically, but His Spirit continued to live. This is extremely good news for us pilgrims, because the same thing will happen to us. When our “earthly tent”, as Paul called it, our bodies, come to the end of their lives, our spirits will live on. Where will that be? We receive a glimpse of what will happen from the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, in which the poor beggar, Lazarus, ends up in a place of comfort, while the Rich Man ends up in a place of torment. We remember too that Jesus said to the repentant thief on the adjacent cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise”. So, through faith, we will indeed find ourselves in a better place after we die.

But Jesus’ Spirit was busy during that Easter Saturday, because we read, “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. …” (1 Peter 3:19-20a). What that was about has kept many theologians and Biblical scholars awake at night, but the important thing was that, after His body was placed in the grave, Jesus was still ministering through His message of Good News by His Spirit. Death will not mean a time when we can put our spiritual feet up and relax, either. Jesus will have work for us to do, I’m sure.  

Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb, but thank God, the story didn’t end there. A visit to the tomb will not find the remains of a few bones. But more on that tomorrow.

Dear Lord Jesus. The crucifixion came to an end, and loving hands took your body down and laid it in a grave. We pause this Easter Saturday and reflect on the reality that nothing could keep Your body in the grave. No authorities or powers. Nothing that the devil could contrive. And with intense anticipation, we watch the stone to see who would roll it away and what would happen next. Amen.

Good Friday

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). There they nailed him to the cross. …”
John 19:16-18a NLT

Another Good Friday, many will say, as they continue with their work-a-day lives. The shops are open. Office lights are burning. Traffic is just as heavy. Even schools are still open in some places. When the societal amnesia is confronted, people shrug, as though to say, “What is that to do with me?” They might even add, “Anyway, what’s good about nailing a man to a cross and leaving him to die?” A lady in my office once said to me, ”What’s the big deal – a lot of men were crucified in those days”. But the scoffers, shruggers and deniers then go about their business, oblivious to the reality that the dying Man on a cross held the key to their future beyond the grave. One day they will know the truth, as we read in Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. There will be no exclusions, and today’s scoffers will realise that what they dismissed on one Good Friday was in fact the crucifixion of Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 

The enormity of what Jesus did for us has never left me, regardless of the number of Good Fridays that have passed. I still marvel at how radical and complete God’s plan was, assuring all who believe in Jesus that they will receive the gift of eternal life. I still cast my mind to Calvary, the Cross and the lonely God-man, dying for me. I will never get over His gift of love, so complete and selfless. I mourn the fact that the sin of mankind required such a radical plan, but my thanks to God know no bounds.

We pilgrims have been “washed in the blood of the Lamb”. We are assured of our salvation, and one day we too will see the prints of the nails and the hole in His side, as we fix our eyes on our wonderful Saviour. So we rejoice today that Jesus went through all that He did, just for the salvation of all who believe in Him. Today, we finish with a 300-year-old hymn by Isaac Watts, which has blessed many a person this day. With it we worship Him, the Son of God

Dear Father God, we thank You for Your Son Jesus and His sacrificial death on a Roman cross. We cannot help but praise You and thank You for all that You have done. Amen. 

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

Forbid it Lord that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my Lord
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood

See from His head His hands His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing so divine
Demands my soul my life my all

Proving Ourselves

Posted on by korgrocker

“In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.”
2 Corinthians 6:4-6 NLT

Paul the Apostle gives us a powerful portrait of authentic Christian ministry. But it is not a picture that correlates well with modern, worldly ideas of success. True servants of God are recognised not by comfort, applause, or influence, but by endurance, character, and purity of heart. Paul wrote that he and his colleagues “patiently endure” things that would have destroyed many lesser people. How convinced are we of our mission in life to put up with the things that Paul did? Look at the pressures he endured. Beatings, imprisonment, exhaustion, sleeplessness, and hunger were listed in our verses today, but there are many others in his list of persecutions. How was Paul able to endure such things? How far would we have got if we were one of Paul’s colleagues? 

In 2 Timothy 4:10a Paul wrote, “Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. …” and I suspect we would have been hot on his heels, had we been facing into the situations that Paul seemed to attract. Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Paul experienced “many trials and sorrows” on steroids, but he was prepared to endure such a life because of His Lord, Jesus. Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11). So Paul declared that “true ministry” is not delivered in an absence of suffering but faithfulness in it. We pilgrims have not, and will not, be guaranteed a trouble-free life, but those producing the fruit of endurance are those who faithfully stay the course and don’t abandon the ship at the first hint of a storm. It may mean we have to make decisions that reduce our employment opportunities. It may mean that we have to live somewhere other than our preferred postcode. It may even mean we have to walk away from a relationship because it was becoming toxic to our fellowship with God. The troubles we have to endure may not be of the physical variety experienced by Paul, but we have to persevere in them anyway.

Paul continued to write, “We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love”. Taking these qualities in Paul in turn, we firstly consider “purity”. This is living a life of integrity in all we do, in the public things and the hidden things. Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies”. Paul’s next quality is “understanding”. This is having spiritual discernment and wisdom. James 1:5, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking”. Some situations require us to be patient and kind. But in all of this, regardless of any hardship we might experience, we must persevere, enduring what comes our way. So, when criticised, do we respond with kindness? Or if we are misunderstood, do we act with patience? And a big one – if under pressure, does purity remain?

Paul finished verse 6 of our reading today with “by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love”. In his own strength, Paul would have been unable to survive the hardships. But within Him lived the Holy Spirit, empowering him to bridge the gap between God and man through his love for both. We remember what Jesus experienced, and yet He didn’t lash out when He was abused. He loved people with the love of God, even asking forgiveness for those who hammered the nails home. Paul wrote, “Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good” (Romans 12:9). He was a living example of doing just that.

We pilgrims may face workplace opposition or family misunderstandings, but how do we respond? Everything within us may want to walk away, but there is a higher goal at stake. Often, people are looking to see whether our faith is genuine and able to withstand the opposition we face. Is our love for another person able to press through the bad stuff to finally find the good in them? “He who is within us is greater than he who is in the world”, is a great verse to remember when the going gets tough.

Father God. Please help us when troubles come our way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.