The Ultimate Fate

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Yes, you who trust him recognise the honour God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.”
1 Peter 2:7-8 NLT

The context is that, as prophesied by the Old Testament prophets, the Messiah is to become the “cornerstone”, the “rock that makes them fall”. But when Peter wrote these verses, the Messiah had already come, and His coming produced a dichotomy that has been with us ever since. The choice is dramatic and stark – people either choose to follow God or they reject Him. They are either obedient to His Word, or they are not. There are consequences to both choices; eternal life or eternal death. Heaven or hell. There is no middle ground. No grey area between them.

When it comes to obeying God, there are those who truly and diligently search the Scriptures and sincerely do their best to follow Him, applying His Word to their lives. Such obedience is based on our love for God. “Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them” (John 14:23). Then there are those who go through the motions, claiming to be Christians, but who do not have a heart to follow Him. Jesus spoke about such people in Luke 6:46, “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” The Pharisees fell into this group of people who externally claimed they were obedient to God. They diligently obeyed the Law, and claimed that because of that they would get to Heaven. Their self-righteousness was what Isaiah warned about in Isaiah 64:6, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind”. 

The disobedient, those who have rejected God and His Word, are in a perilous place. As Peter wrote, “they [will] meet the fate that was planned for them”. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son” (John 3:17-18). Judgement is the consequence for all those who fail to believe in Jesus and follow His ways, for those who are disobedient.

So what is the consequence of the judgment Jesus warned of? For the answer to that we turn to Revelation. The Apostle John wrote what he saw in his vision. “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. … And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12-13,15). That was what Peter was referring to when he wrote “the fate that was planned for them”. A daunting thought but strangely one that most people I know in my community have apparently disregarded. 

So what do we pilgrims think? It’s not altogether healthy to live under a mantra of fear, fear of what might happen to us. But we are in a relationship with our loving Heavenly Father. John wrote in his first letter, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them” (1 John 4:16). A couple of verses further on John wrote, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love” (1 John 4:18). As we live and move in obedience to God and His Word we have nothing to be afraid of.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your love and grace. We worship You today. Amen.

The Rock of Stumbling

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Yes, you who trust him recognise the honour God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.”
1 Peter 2:7-8 NLT

In these two verses, Peter again quoted from the Old Testament. The first was a verse from Psalm 118:22, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone”. This Psalm was very much associated with the Passover celebrations and encouraged the congregation to “Praise the Lord” – “Hallelujah!”. The Passover was all about the time when the Israelite slaves were released from the Egyptians and when they embarked on their long journey in the wilderness before they reached the Promised Land. So there was much to thank God for and the Feast of Passover was celebrated every year. But dropped into the middle of this Psalm was the verse about the cornerstone. A thought that a common item, such as a stone used for building, was thrown away by the builders because they thought it unsuitable. A prophetic glimpse that Jesus remembered and wove into the parable of the wicked farmers. They were the leaseholders of a vineyard, and when the landlord, the owner of the vineyard, sent servants to collect his rent, they were beaten up, even killed. Jesus continued the story, “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him” (Matthew 21:37-39). Jesus was of course foretelling His death, and He reminded the Pharisees, to whom the parable was aimed, that they were rejecting their Messiah, the Cornerstone, by quoting Psalm 118:22, “Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see‘” (Matthew 21:42).

Peter went on to quote another Old Testament scripture, Isaiah 8:14. Referring to the Lord Himself, we read, “He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare”. The context of this verse was a warning about the Assyrians. The Jews had become complacent and Isaiah prophesied that they will come to grief as a result of the Assyrian invasion because they had turned away from God. Isaiah 8:13-14a, “Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe … ”. The people were exhorted to trust God for their salvation, but for those who didn’t, they will trip over Him, falling to their destruction.

So what about today? What is the message in all this for us pilgrims? Just as it was in those days long ago, God is always there for us. He is the solution to our problems. As we trust in Him we will find security and safety. The world may rage around us, going to and fro between secular ideologies, staggering from one conflict to another, and if we get caught up in all of that we too will “trip” over the Rock that is God. Instead of being a solution He will become a problem to us. Instead of a foundation to keep our souls safe for eternity, we will find that failing to trust in the Rock will lead to our eternal destruction. Back to Isaiah 8, “Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven” (Isaiah 8:20-21).

Back to Psalm 118, the Hallelujah Psalm. We remember when we wake every morning, “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Let us vow not to stumble over any “rocks” in our path today.

Father God. We thank You that in the storms of life You are always there for us, the Rock on who we stand. Amen.

Jerusalem

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honour, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.””
1 Peter 2:6 NLT

In his letter, Peter quoted Isaiah 28:16, “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.” Isaiah’s prophecy in his chapter 28 was scathing about the rulers in Jerusalem, and he foretold their fate. Isaiah could see coming a time when there would be a righteous Ruler in Jerusalem but his prophecy is still to be fulfilled of course. Other prophets foretold of Jesus ruling in Jerusalem – we can read their prophecies in Zechariah 14 and Jeremiah 3. We refer to this coming of Jesus as His second coming, because we already know about His first coming, as a baby, born in a stable located in Bethlehem. Some 50 days after the resurrection, Jesus went out with His disciples to the Mount of Olives, located just outside Jerusalem, from where He ascended into Heaven. But Jesus is returning to this world, and we read about His return from the angels’ message in Acts 1:11, ““Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”” We knew this was at Jerusalem, because the next verse in Acts reads, “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile”. Jesus Himself foretold of His return to Planet Earth in Matthew 24:30, “And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

But why Jerusalem? Surely there are better places for Jesus to return to? Places where He could be a “cornerstone” far more effectively. Jerusalem is riven by conflict between Jew and Gentile, Israeli and Palestinian, Muslim and Jew. There are many more peaceful places on earth, we could argue. But it will be as God has ordained it. And we also need to remember that one day there will be a New Jerusalem that Jesus Himself foretold about, as recorded by John in Revelation 3:12, “All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.” In Revelation 21:2 we read, “And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband”. The names Jerusalem and Zion are synonymous and the author of the Hebrews wrote, “No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-23). 

There is something special about Jerusalem. It figures greatly throughout the Bible as God’s home and one in which we too will live one day. Whether we consider it as a physical place or a spiritual condition, we must never discount it, and must always be obedient to the Scripture, “Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “May you have peace.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6-9). There is much strife in 21st Century Jerusalem, but God will one day answer our prayers.

Dear God. We pray for the Holy City Jerusalem today, that peace will reign and Your Word upheld. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Sacrifices

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. 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.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT

The Jewish religion was based on the sacrifice of animals and other items on the altars located firstly in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Sacrifices were typically for an offering for sin, such as we read in Exodus 29:36a, “Each day you must sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering to purify them, making them right with the Lord … ”. But Jesus became an eternal sacrifice for all sins and His death on Calvary sealed the New Covenant between God and man. The prophet Jeremiah foretold of the New Covenant, as we read in Jeremiah 31:33, ““But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people””.

Just as the Old Testament priests were responsible for offering up sacrifices to God, we pilgrims of the new Covenant “offer spiritual sacrifices that please God”. So what are these “sacrifices”? One go-to Scripture is in Romans 12:1, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him”. Then we have the sacrifice of praise, as we read in Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name”. In the Old Testament, incense was offered up as a sacrifice, and this is often associated with prayer. We read in Psalm 141:2, “Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering”. 

We pilgrims offer up sacrifices to God that consist of our prayers, praises, worship, our bodies – in fact everything we do we can turn into a sacrifice to God, as we do it in His name. That is what a living sacrifice is all about. We lay ourselves willingly on the altar before Him, remembering the words of the old hymn, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee“.

Dear Lord. We offer up our sacrifices of praise today in deep gratitude for Your grace and love. Amen.

Holy Priests

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. 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.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT

When we mention the word “priest” what comes to our minds? An Anglican will form a picture of a person, usually a man but it could be a woman, wearing a long robe and other accoutrements, who stands at the front of the church leading the service in accordance with the liturgy and worship service of the day. For Roman Catholics a similar picture might result, but the “priest”would also be available for other duties such as confessions. But whatever religion we follow, the “priest” is a minister who purports to teach and lead his adherents, with a sacred involvement in his parish and consequent liturgical duties, and looking after the spiritual needs of the community. 

In the book of Hebrews, we read about the ultimate High Priest, Jesus. Hebrews 7:16, “Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed”. The writer, or writers, of the Hebrews letter wrote about the connection between the priests of the Jewish religion, and the High Priest of the New Covenant, Jesus. In Hebrews 8:6, we read, “But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises”. Just as in the Old Covenant, the priests stood between God and man, Jesus, in the New, ministers “a far better covenant with God” because He is God. We pilgrims now each have access to the throne of God. No more earthly priests required. This is made clear in Hebrews 10:19-22, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

We pilgrims have an important role as the “holy priests” that Peter wrote about. We are part of God’s “spiritual temple” and we are responsible for sharing the “good news” about Jesus and His saving grace. There is no more important job for a priest. All the liturgical flummery we find in some denominations will probably not help a person find God. Rather, it might even put them off. But sharing what God has done for us will be a matter of life and death. Our personal testimonies of God’s grace, love and mercy are priceless and worthy of a “holy priest” in the Kingdom of God.

Dear Lord Jesus. We are indeed Your representatives here on Planet Earth, priests in Your kingdom. Please help us to become more like You, day by day. Amen.

The Living Cornerstone

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. 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.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT

I recently looked on as a man in the village where I live was laying the foundations for a new house. He approximately dug out the foundations, and poured the concrete, before the arrival a few days later of the builders. But the bricklayers were delayed until they knew exactly where to start building. The surveyors had some fancy equipment that they used to measure and mark the orientation of the walls and finally the builders made a start on the first corner. The knew that they had to get the foundations right, because it was from them that the future of the house would depend. 

Jesus is “the living cornerstone of God’s temple” Peter wrote. But what is this temple? We can find the answer very helpfully and clearly in Ephesians 2:19-22, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit”. God’s temple is made up of all the believers in Him. There are no unbelievers in His temple.  Jesus taught twelve men about His kingdom and they founded the temple, or what we call the church, but we remember that Jesus sets the standard for the whole “building”. He is the “living cornerstone”. 

The Old Testament prophets were well aware of the foundational role of the Messiah, still to come. We read in Isaiah 28:16, “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken”. 

As we look around us we find that there are many other spiritual foundations other than the one we know and love, the one that “God’s temple” is built upon. Building ourselves into a spiritual temple based on anyone other than Jesus will result in a chaotic collapse when the storms of life come against it. Jesus warned the Pharisees of the danger of rejecting Himself as the Cornerstone, as we read what Jesus said in Mark 12:10-11, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see’”. 

We pilgrims are ourselves “stones” that are being built in God’s temple, the church of Jesus Christ. There will be other “stones” around us, but as anyone who has watched a craftsman building a dry stone dyke knows, there are rough edges to be smoothed down to form the wall. So we “living stones” will find that being built into God’s “spiritual Temple” may be a painful process. But there is no other way to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom. Those Christians, people who profess a faith and belief in God, but who refuse to be a part of the church, will sadly miss out on the fullness that God has for them. After all, in Heaven we will be part of a great multitude of fellow believers, worshipping our glorious Heavenly Father. No solitude there!

“Living stones”, the “living cornerstone”, “spiritual temple”, “holy priests“. All these entities represent a new kingdom, totally foreign to our everyday world. But we note that this kingdom pleases God. As such we want to be a part of it. So, fellow pilgrim “stones” join with me in the praise and worship of the “living Cornerstone” Jesus Himself.

Dear Lord Jesus. We reach out to You today, grateful for the opportunity to be part of what You are building, a temple that will be finally completed on the day when You return. Amen.

Pure Spiritual Milk

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So get rid of all evil behaviour. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

Milk is a common food. It is freely available in many guises on supermarket shelves, and is still delivered to doorsteps in some places here in the UK. So we have skimmed, semi-skimmed and full fat. Then there is one of my favourites, a “gold top” variety approaching single cream in its consistency. We have the “lactose free” variants, for those with dairy intolerances.  I remember that when I was a small boy the milk wasn’t homogenised so a layer of thick cream formed at the top of the milk bottle, and was much prized when combined with the morning breakfast cereal. In recent years a variety of plant-based alternatives have emerged, based on soya, almonds and even oats.

There wouldn’t have been the same choice in Peter’s day, but milk then would have been available and his analogy for “pure spiritual milk” would have resonated with his readers. And Peter wasn’t alone – New Testament references also occur in the Hebrews letter and Paul makes mention in 1 Corinthians. So why is this connection between natural and spiritual milk such a good one? I have been blessed this year with two great-grandsons, and their mothers are both feeding them their own milk. And watching these babies thrive and grow is a joy to watch. The “newborn babies” in Peter’s letter would immediately create a picture in his readers’ minds of demanding children, not long born, and needing to be fed. The milk they crave for helps them live and grow.

We move onto the spiritual craving and ask ourselves if we are as demanding for the spiritual food as a new born baby is for their mother’s milk? And not any milk will do. Peter wrote that it should be “pure”. There is no other source of “spiritual milk” than the Word of God, the Bible. Just as a baby needs his or her mother’s milk, so a Christian needs to feed on the milk of the Word, the spiritual food that God has provided for us. And just as a baby graduates onto solid food one day, so must the new believer. Peter said that the “pure spiritual milk” will enable the new believer to “grow into a full experience of salvation”. It is interesting that Peter used the word “grow”. A new-born Christian cannot get off his knees of repentance and then carry on as before. He has to “grow”. Just as a baby starved of milk will fade away and die, so will a new believer die spiritually. There is no going back.

There are many helps available to encourage a new believer. Bible plans and notes. Apps for our smartphones to remind us of prayer. But new and quick fixes are not to be found.  Instant growth may be a modern expectation but there is no substitute for spiritual growth through the renewing of our minds. The Holy Spirit will lead and guide us. But in the end it is our self-will that applies. 

Peter also reminded his readers that the “pure spiritual milk” is necessary for the “full experience of our salvation”. Once again we are reminded that salvation is an on-going process. We were saved when we repented of our sins and believed in God’s saving grace (Justification). We are being saved as we consume the “pure spiritual milk” (Sanctification) and one day we will receive a full experience of salvation when Jesus returns (Glorification). No short cuts! But there’s no pressure. God isn’t a strict school master wielding a cane, expecting us to do well in exams and appear on the league tables of Heaven. We drink the milk. God will do the rest.

Father God. We thank You for Your Word, so necessary for feeding our inner beings. Please help us apply all the teaching and encouragement You provide for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Evil Behaviour

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So get rid of all evil behaviour. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

Continuing his theme from the last chapter, Peter starts with a “so”. He ended the previous verse in chapter 1 with the reminder that the believers in the five provinces had heard the Good News. They had responded to the preacher and became believers, children of God. And because of that Peter introduced a “so”. There are consequences to being born again. We enter a phase in our lives where we have dual nationality. We are citizens of the country in which we are born or in which we live, but we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. As children of God, as believers in the Word, we have responsibilities. Hence the “so”. 

As children of God we cannot continue to live our old sinful lives. Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception” (Ephesians 4:21-22). Paul wrote “throw off”. Peter wrote “get rid of”. But the message is the same. We pilgrims, regardless of how long we have been believers, must clean up our lives and live as we would expect the children of the living God to behave. So how to we go about this? Paul continued in Ephesians 4:23-24, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. We can’t clean up our lives on our own. After all, we read in Jeremiah 17:9-10a, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts …”. Only the Holy Spirit will bring about a transformation in our lives, but we have our responsibilities as well. We listen to the gentle whisperings of the Holy Spirit within us, and say a massive “Yes!” in response. It may take a while to reprogram our minds to conform to God’s way but persevere we must, because only He knows what is best for us.

Grace is a wonderful quality, and one that, coupled with love, will go a long way to correct our “evil behaviour”. We must think before we respond because in that way we allow God to help us to avoid, for example the “unkind speech” that Peter wrote about. Our tongues can be a constant problem to us, as James wrote in his letter. “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way … In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (James 3:2,5-6).

We must also align our thoughts to God’s ways. Paul wrote in Romans 8:5-6, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace“.

The wonderful thing is that our relationship with our Heavenly Father is not benign and unfruitful. It is active and transforming. He is a loving Father who wants the best for all His children.

Father God. We embrace all that You have for us. Please help us to become more like Your Son Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.

Fading Flowers

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”
1 Peter 1:24-25 NLT

The first chapter of 1 Peter concludes with an Old Testament scripture from Isaiah. The prophet wrote, “A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever”” (Isaiah 40:6-8). Isaiah 40 is one of the most encouraging chapters in the Bible and was delivered to a fearful and insecure people, under threat from the Babylonians. The chapter ends with one of my favourite verses, “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). 

I’m writing this in the month of August. The early Spring burst of growth in the woods near where I live has peaked and recent winds and rain have started the process of decay amongst the undergrowth. Flowers have finished blossoming and the petals mostly disappeared, leaving lonely stems and the start of seed growth. All too soon it will be autumn and the greenery will start to blacken and die away. Isaiah used this picture to describe how it is with people. The process might take a bit longer but a person’s “beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field”. Some might find this depressing. Certainly the cosmetic industry invests much to promote products designed to delay the inevitable as much as possible. But we do have a finite natural life, which is all the more reason to invest in the life that lasts forever. That process starts with the “Word of the Lord”. Peter wrote that this Word is the Good News about Jesus. The Word who became a man and who died for us, that we who believe in Him will receive eternal life.

Regardless of our age, young or old, God is with us. Isaiah 46:3-4, “Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” We pilgrims may feel that as we get older, our usefulness diminishes. We may be able to do less, our fitness and physical abilities declining. But God’s plan for us never stops, and he promised to care for us regardless. Our petals might have fallen off. We may have started to wither in appearance. A few lines may have increased to become crazy paving. But one day we will hear the call and soon after inherit a new body, that will never decay and that will last forever. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

That is the Good News that Peter wrote about. Perhaps one day we will have the opportunity to talk with him and find out the thinking behind his words. After all he spent over three years with Jesus, walking around Galilee and beyond. But in the meantime, we have a mission to complete. Not for us the temptation to sit back and wait for the day we hope for. There are many around us who have not made a decision to obey the “Good News”. And if they haven’t heard it, or perhaps need a reminder, that’s why we’re here.

Father God. It truly is Good News, about Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins. We worship You today. Amen.

Being Born Again

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”
1 Peter 1:23 NLT

We of course remember the conversation that took place between Jesus and Nicodemus, where Jesus said to him, “ … I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7). Earlier in John 1:12-13, John wrote, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God”. So Peter reminded the early believers in the five provinces of their new state as God’s children, following their rebirth. 

Those early believers were facing into a perilous existence, with persecution even to the point of death not being uncommon. So the references to the new life in the Spirit was timely and encouraging. It gave them hope for the future, that regardless of what was going to happen to them, their lives would continue. So the new birth that Peter was writing about would not soon be extinguished. It would last forever. Because God said so though His “living word”, who, of course, was Jesus. He was and is the living Word, and though Him we have an eternal hope. We will move on from this life, whenever it will end, into a life spent in eternity. That life will never be under threat of extinction. There will be nothing that will take it away. Paul wrote at the end of Romans 8, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). That love of God, that did not even deny us salvation through His Son, Jesus, is eternal, never ending in its scope and accessibility.

Being born again is a spiritual state available to all. We pilgrims can look back to the time when we believed that Jesus died for us on the cross, that He came back to life from the grave, and provided the only way to Heaven. Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners“. We responded to that love and we’ll never regret it.

Dear Father. You loved us so much that You made a plan to redeem and save us. We will offer up our praise and worship to You for all eternity. Amen.