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Finding Freedom Through the Holy Spirit

Posted on by korgrocker

“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NLT

Early on in Jesus’ ministry, soon after being tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He returned to the village of Nazareth, where He grew up. In the synagogue, He was handed the scroll of Isaiah the prophet, and after unrolling it for a bit, He found the Scripture, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.” (Luke 4:18-19). We then read His comment on this verse, “Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”” (Luke 4:21). His message was at first well received, but things turned ugly, because the people in that village were offended by what He said, and we read that they “ …  forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way” (Luke 4:29-30). The villagers in Nazareth were unable to accept that Joseph’s son, the lad who used to work in the carpenter’s workshop, was now making claims about His mission and person, claims that seemed to them even Messianic in their content. Jesus correctly pointed out to them that “no prophet is accepted in his own hometown”. But that did not diminish His claim that He had come to bring freedom to the people of His day, people who were enslaved by sickness, physical and mental illnesses and disabilities, disease and spiritual oppression. This was to be a time when Heaven came to touch earth, a time when God’s grace opened a door into a new world of possibilities, starting with eternal life in God’s presence. But entry through the door, described by Jesus as being a “narrow gate” later, would be accomplished by believing in Him. 

After the Ascension, Jesus had gone, returning to the presence of His Father in Heaven. That would have been the end of His visitation of grace, except Jesus left the disciples with the message that He would send the Holy Spirit. “But I will send you the Advocate —the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me” (John 15:26). Over the page, there is more that Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me’” (John 16:13-15). Jesus’ departure was, at first, a disaster for the disciples, but everything changed on the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell on all those present in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Jesus was true to His word.

We pilgrims have a mission: to testify about Jesus, His message of grace and love, and to do that, we have the Holy Spirit helping us. Jesus is still present through the Spirit of God, bringing freedom to the captives. As people realise who Jesus is, what He has done for them, and open their hearts to receive His message, the veil that obscured their thinking falls away, and they find that they are free at last from their sinful lives. But it gets better. Paul wrote that “the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image”. 

In this age, Heaven is still close to earth, separated only by a single door. It’s open and welcoming. It contains the Way of truth, the Way into God’s presence for eternity. A door that leads to a life of joy. The problem is that most people cannot see it. There is no door there, they say as they wander through life with their spiritual eyes firmly closed. But the door won’t be there for much longer, because Jesus will be returning “soon” to wind up the final chapter of the story of God’s grace and mercy. So, as I have written many times before, we pilgrims have to get His message of grace over to the dying world around us. We pray for contact with people today, people on the “broad way that leads to destruction”, so that we can tell them about the Spirit of Jesus, who brings freedom.

Dear Heavenly Father. Help us, we pray, to fulfil Your mission here in our age, our generation. Open hearts and minds to hear Your glorious Gospel of freedom. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Removing the Veil: Faith in Christ’s Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.”
2 Corinthians 3:12-15 NLT

The problem with the Old Covenant was that it set the bar to achieving a standard of righteousness acceptable to God so high that it could not be attained by human effort. All the Law of Moses achieved was making people aware of their sinfulness. However, the Law of Moses was given to the nation of Israel to reveal God’s holy character, define sin, and set them apart as a distinct, righteous nation. Today, many of our fellow members of society have a vague concept that God exists, and they think they can gain access to Heaven because of their claim that they are “good” people. They don’t break the laws of our democratic society, and they occasionally attend church for a Christmas service or a wedding. Therefore, they say, they have done all that is required to pass Heaven’s entrance exam. And they claim a backup position, through some kind of twisted logic, that God is all-loving and would never send anyone to hell.

But to a believer in God, these assumptions don’t fit in with what the Bible teaches. The Old Covenant also points towards the need for a Saviour to fulfil the requirements of the Law, and we, with the benefit of hindsight, see the provision God made for the salvation of all who come to Jesus in repentance, believing that it is only through Him that they can gain access to Heaven. But in Jesus’ day, there were the Pharisees who believed that they could achieve the standard required for eternal life with God by following every rule and regulation in the Law. Jesus rebuked them, as we read in Matthew 23:23, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things”. Jesus called them “blind” because they failed to see and understand the purpose of the Law, and, worse, they failed to recognise the One God had sent to fulfil the purposes of the Law. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said about the Law, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. … But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:17, 20). The religious people of those days, and they were still present when Paul was travelling around the Middle East, had “hardened minds” and a “veil [covered] their minds so they cannot understand the truth”. 

Those “fellow members of society” that I referred to earlier also have a veil covering their minds. It is a veil made of their own selfish and sinful ways. A veil constructed of false assumptions, lies and a lack of understanding about the things of God. A veil that, once in place, blocks them from access to the only One who can save them and provide them with the gift of eternal life. But Paul helpfully reminded the Corinthians that “this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ”. No amount of scrubbing or any other form of personal effort can remove the veil; it is only through Jesus, because, as he said, He is the “way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through [Him]” (John 14:6). 

There is much that we pilgrims still do not understand about God and His Kingdom. But there was that day when God, through His grace and mercy, removed the veil from our minds and beckoned us through the door between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light. As we look around in this wonderful new world, we realise that we are only receiving a glimpse of what it will really be like when we get there. If only we could close the door behind us, the door where the two kingdoms had collided on the day when we believed in Jesus. If we could have closed that door, then we would have found ourselves unable to return to the sinful world that we had left. But for a little while, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, living in a world we don’t really want to be in, a world of darkness and sin. We remain God’s ambassadors, tasked and commissioned to share the Good News about Jesus.

Dear Father God. Through Your grace and mercy we are citizens of Heaven. We don’t deserve such favour of course, but You have called us into Your Kingdom. We are so grateful, and we pray that You help us help others find the narrow gate that leads to You and Your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

From Sin to Righteousness: A Journey with Jesus

Posted on by korgrocker

“If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT

We pilgrims are now a new creation. We used to sing about it. But the difference between our old sinful way of life and the new one living under the glory of the New Covenant is stark. The difference between guilt and innocence, condemnation and holiness. Paul compares the “new way, which makes us right with God” with “the old way, which brings condemnation”. Do we really get how dramatic and life-changing the new way is? Is God’s glory really penetrating everything we think and do? 

Jesus taught the people about the Kingdom of God, and he said, “ … You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32). But Jesus said more, “ …I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” John 8:34-36). Do we pilgrims really know and live out that truth? We pilgrims once lived our lives as prisoners, locked away in a world of sin and condemnation. We were far from God, even going as far as denying His very existence. We arrogantly sang the song “I’ll do it my way”, over and over again, denying our human weaknesses and often finding out the hard way that sin is our master and the consequences are dire. 

Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers about what it means to live as unbelievers. About the Gentiles, he wrote, “Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:18-19). To my shame, that was me, and probably you as well, as we lived in our old ways of sin. I can remember a speaker one Sunday, starting his sermon with the words, “Today you will see a miracle”. In his message, he confessed that there was a point in his journey through life when he faced a fork in the road: one way led to a life of crime, and the other to a life following Jesus. And that was his conclusion, because the miracle was that he made the right choice.

Paul continued to the Ephesians with these verses that clearly explain the transition from the Old to the New, “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:20-24). It’s all about our “selfs”, old and new. I always picture them as a garment, an all-in-one “Onesie” or something like that. There is this black one that we automatically put on without thinking, a garment that is impregnated with sin. And there is a white one hanging on the peg, a garment of “righteousness and holiness”. Sometimes it is helpful to imagine removing the black one and putting on the white one. But we have a problem: we are reluctant to throw away the black one. We find it comfortable to wear, and it is all too often our default garment of choice. 

Isaiah wrote, ““Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). There is only one way to obtain a garment “as white as snow”, and that is through Jesus and His atoning sacrifice at Calvary. There is no other way. But we are free from the need to wear the old because “the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed [us] from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2b). Jesus, the Son, has truly set us free from our old ways of sin, and we live our lives in the glory of the new way in Him.

Dear Jesus, our Lord and Master. We thank You for leaving Heaven and coming to this world as a human being, setting aside all Your privileges for the sake of us pilgrims and all those still to respond to Your message of hope and grace. We worship and praise You today. Amen.

The New Glory

Posted on by korgrocker

“If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT

Through the word “glory”, Paul compared the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant was given through Moses, and it was a Covenant of works based on external rules, animal sacrifices for atonement and human effort to obey all the requirements of this Covenant. It is a human trait that if a set of rules is necessary, then they will be resented and circumvented wherever possible. Take, for example, speed limits. Most people, I’m sure, will break them at one time or another, whether they intend to or not. And if a notice is placed on a door that says “Do Not Enter”, sooner or later someone will have a peek inside to find out why. Of course, some rules are there for life-saving reasons, and, generally speaking, if the reasons are understood, the rules will be obeyed. However, people take risks and break rules, leading to many injuries or deaths that could have been avoided if people had only obeyed the rules. The Old Covenant was only ever temporary in God’s Plan for humanity, because it pointed towards the time when the Saviour would come. By obeying the rules of the Covenant, Israel was established as a holy nation, set apart as God’s own people, and, in the process, Israelite society became cohesive and was greatly blessed by God when they kept their side of the Covenant. The Old Covenant was glorious through the radiant face of Moses, showing God’s presence, through the indwelling of God in the Tabernacle, and through the exposure of sin and its remedy with the blood sacrifices.

The New Covenant was prophesied in Jeremiah 31:21-32, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord”. The Old Covenant was impossible to keep, and the Israelites repeatedly broke it, but the next verse provided a tantalising glimpse of what was to come. ““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””. The New Covenant (through Jesus Christ) is an internal transformation by the Holy Spirit, offering eternal forgiveness and righteousness through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, with a law written on hearts, not stone, providing direct access to God. It’s a shift from a system of works to one of grace and faith. At the last Supper, we read, “After supper [Jesus] took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20). There will never need again to be a blood sacrifice, because Jesus provided that for all time. And that is the glory of the New Covenant, sealed with the Holy Spirit, who lives within us.

The Old had glory, when obeyed, but how much more the glory implicit within the New Covenant. We pilgrims are children of the New Covenant, blessed and forgiven. There is no more condemnation of the Old, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-3,  “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins”. 

In our New Covenant freedom, we pilgrims can enjoy the benefits of communion with God forever, set free from the sin and death that marked those of the Old Covenant. But that does not mean that we can do what we want, breaking all the rules and regulations that come our way. We are a new people, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”. We are now, through our faith in God and His grace, experiencing the glory that God always intended. How does that make us feel? There has to be a feeling of excitement inside us, no matter what circumstances we face. Paul wrote, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18). Today, we enjoy a glimpse of the Heavenly glory, as though the clouds above momentarily part to give a glimpse of the blue sky beyond. One day, in God’s presence, His glory will be revealed in all its fullness. 

Dear Heavenly Father in Glory. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Shining Faces

Posted on by korgrocker

“The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!”
2 Corinthians 3:7-9 NLT

Moses spent forty days and nights with the Lord on Mount Sinai. There, he received the Ten Commandments cut into stone tablets, as we read in Exodus 34:28, “Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time, he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets”. Paul said this was the “old way, with laws etched in stone”, the Old Covenant made between God and the Israelite nation through Moses. This was a wonderful opportunity for the Israelites, because through it God would bring many blessings as long as they kept their end of the bargain. It was a covenant sealed with the blood of animals, and at its core were the Ten Commandments, written down for posterity. In the process of receiving the terms of the covenant, Moses noticed that something remarkable happened to his face. Exodus 34:29, “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”. The next verse records what it was and how the Israelites were afraid of getting near him; we read, “So when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses’ face, they were afraid to come near him”. Moses ended up wearing a veil; “When Moses finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a veil” (Exodus 34:33). Every time Moses spoke with the Lord, his face became radiant, but when he left the Lord’s presence, the radiance started to fade. So he put on a veil to hide the fading glow from the people. The phenomenon was not recorded as happening to anyone else at that time, perhaps highlighting the nature of the Old Covenant and its limitations. It was a rule-based system, much abused by the Israelites, to their cost, and by the time Jesus came, the Pharisees had developed it to a point where it replaced their relationship with God. 

Paul argued that with the coming of the New Covenant, a far greater glory should be present “now that the Holy Spirit is giving life”. The old way showed people about sin, bringing condemnation, but it brought God’s glory to the face of one man, Moses, although it faded. In 2 Corinthians 3:6 we read, “He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life”. As we pilgrims are ministers of the New Covenant, we too should have radiant faces, glowing with the glory of God. Some years ago, I can remember walking through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel under the River Thames between the Isle of Dogs and the Cutty Sark exhibition at Greenwich in London. It was in the morning rush hour, and most of the commuters were heading towards me. Most were smartly dressed, some with briefcases, obviously heading for office or shop work in Greenwich. But I was struck by the miserable, fixed and vacant expressions of the people walking towards me. They seemed to portray a life being spent in a place where they didn’t want to be.  Some God-thoughts came into my mind, and I can remember smiling to myself, but getting some strange glances in the process. How do we go about our lives today? As the Greenwich commuters, miserable and perhaps unknowingly heading for a lost eternity, showing faces of unhappiness, or are we children of God showing the joy of the Lord because of the relationship we have with Him? Are the people we meet somehow encouraged and gladdened by the meeting, or are they untouched by God who lives within us? What marks us out as children of the new Covenant?

Paul suggested that there should be an external distinction between believers and unbelievers, and that this is a challenge we all face. For too many years, Christianity has this Victorian sternness about it, where so many pastimes have been forbidden because of some man-made rule that didn’t come from God. We read in Romans 8:15, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”” That has to be Good News, and Paul ended Romans 8 with, “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”. Because God loves us, we must smile. Because we are God’s children, we have something to smile about.

Our faces may not glow with a supernatural light, but they should reflect God’s glory in some way. So perhaps today we should look in a mirror and ask ourselves what a random person would see. Child of God or child of someone else? There should be a difference.

Dear Heavenly Father. We know that our faces should reflect Your glory to all those around us. But at times, we confess that the worries of life weigh us down and rob us of our smiles. Please help us in our humanity and lift us into Heavenly places once more. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

From Law to Spirit: A Journey of Faith and Ministry

Posted on by korgrocker

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NLT

Paul seemed to be answering questions or comments from the Corinthian believers, asking about his mandate to preach to or pastor the people there. Earlier, he had referred to “letters of recommendation”, and now he writes about his qualification to minister the New Covenant through God and His Spirit. There was no formal training programme for Paul, leading to a Diploma in Preaching or a PhD in Pastoring. He was indeed familiar with the Old Covenant and the Hebrew writings of the Law and the Prophets, and claimed to have been schooled by Gamaliel, one of the most respected Rabbis in Jerusalem at that time. Then Paul had that encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, sealing his mandate to preach the Gospel as an Apostle. He was a qualified man, if there ever was one, to be a Minister in the New Covenant. 

The New Covenant is spiritual rather than a list of dos and don’ts, which expose sin and lead to death. Paul wrote in Romans 7:9-10, “At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead”. The remaining verses of Romans 7 explain very clearly the battle with sin and the Law, and Paul continued with the wonderful verses in Romans 8:1-2, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death”. Through the Holy Spirit within us, we have life, but believers tend to fall back and look again for rules to govern their lives. But Paul wrote, “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God” (Romans 8:10). 

Every spirit-filled believer is qualified to be a Minister of the New Covenant, just as Paul was, because we are all called to be ambassadors for Christ wherever we find ourselves. We preach a message of reconciliation to God through Jesus and His death and resurrection two thousand years or so ago. It is a simple message, little more than we read in John 3:16, “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”. Jesus died and rose again just once, for the salvation of all human beings, past, present, and future, regardless of ethnicity, education, or ethos. His message of the Kingdom of God is there to preach to whoever will listen, and even to those who won’t. We are very quick to warn those around us of danger. A faulty traffic light, or a dangerous pothole. Bad weather or illness. Computer scams or fraudulent builders. The list goes on, and social media amplifies the reach of the warnings. But why is it that the most important warning of all, that without Jesus, people are going to “perish” and head for hell, is ignored and never propagated? 

We pilgrims are qualified ministers. But we are more than that in God’s sight. Peter wrote, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We must do what ministers do, and tell others about the terrible times coming soon, because that is what the Bible teaches. And through it all, we must tell people of the love of God and the day of judgement, and the opportunity they have to repent and secure their future. Not by following the Law, with its rules and regulations about how to live a good life, but by introducing them to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who will come and live within them. Jesus said to the Pharisees and people of His day, “ … I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:34-36). We minister the Gospel of freedom and life, and it is all made possible through Jesus. There is no other way to Heaven.

Heavenly Father. Please lead us to places where we can minister the Good News about Jesus. And we pray that You will open hearts and prepare the ground. We are all qualified to be Your ambassadors and ministers for Jesus. Thank You. Amen.

The Heart as a Letter: Paul’s Message to the Corinthians

Posted on by korgrocker

“The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognise our good work among you. Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.”
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NLT

Paul made a reference to the original tablets of stone, given to Moses so many years before. To say something is “carved in stone” indicates that it is there forever. Such a declaration is said to be irrevocable and unchangeable. The most common use of stone these days for written statements is found in a graveyard, where a stone plaque is erected over a place where someone is buried. Sometimes it is fascinating to visit a cemetery and read the inscriptions that can be found there. Not just the name and dates, but often an additional one-line anecdote is included, which provides a little more information about the person interred below. Some inscriptions are frivolous, others are more representative of the dead person’s life. But a good one for Paul, who wrote this epistle, comes from 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. In all of this, however, the point is that things written on stone cannot be changed very easily. Ask any gravestone engraver. 

Paul referred to the Corinthians being a “letter from Christ showing the result of [his] ministry among [them]”. That’s a faith statement on his part, considering the problems with issues such as immorality that the fellowship of believers there were having. Paul then went further to describe this letter as being written on the hearts of the believers with the “Spirit of the living God”. And it was “carved”, not written with pen and ink. The picture in all of this is of a well-established and faithful group of believers, following the teachings of Paul in the ways of Christ. 

So what is the “human heart”? In the way Paul meant, it is not the pump within us that ensures our blood is distributed throughout our bodies. The Bible refers to it as the core of our being, encompassing emotions, thoughts, and will. It is that spiritual part of us that can feel and express our thoughts and emotions. It is in our hearts that we love and grieve, feeling emotions of happiness, joy, and sadness, and it is where we will find our consciences that direct so much of our lives. We can also find in our hearts thoughts of evil and wickedness that can lead to sin. So we have to be careful in matters of the heart. Jeremiah wrote, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). And so it is with an unredeemed heart, corrupted by sin and leading its owner on the broad way that leads to destruction. 

To the Israelites, Ezekiel delivered a message of deliverance, a promise that we find in Ezekiel 36:25, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols”. And he followed this verse with, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart”. That is the sort of heart that Paul expected to see in his Corinthian converts, and is the one that we pilgrims have within us. In our lives, however, we must constantly look after our hearts. We find good advice in Proverbs 4:23, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”. Just in the previous chapter, we find, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). 

What message would God find written on our hearts? Would it be a Spirit-filled message of what God has done for us, our hearts throbbing with praise and worship to God? Or something else? But I know what should be found there, and we pilgrims keep our hearts pure and undefiled by sin, as we read God’s Word and follow in obedience His ways.

Dear Heavenly Father. When we believed in Jesus, You gave us a new heart. A heart redeemed and set free from the shackles of sin and evil that used to reside there. Please help us to keep our hearts pure and compliant, always focused towards You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

How to Identify Genuine Preachers and Teachings

Posted on by korgrocker

Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognise our good work among you.”
2 Corinthians 3:1-2 NLT

Men and women in certain professions must meet certain academic and vocational standards to be qualified to do the job required. A UK doctor, for example, has to complete a five-year medical degree followed by two years of foundational training. There is then the opportunity to specialise in a particular area of medicine. An accountant needs to meet a minimum educational standard, usually a degree, followed by on-the-job training, additional exams, and achieving chartered status following a further period of relevant employment. But for Paul, there seems to be a problem because, in the eyes of the Corinthian believers, many of whom he had brought to Christ through his preaching and Gospel messages, his credibility and “fitness to practice” seem to have lapsed. So Paul, rather tongue-in-cheek, asked them if he needed to polish up and resubmit his CV to be able to visit them again. 

It must have been the case that, because of a gap in contact between Paul and the believers in Corinth, or because other preachers and teachers had taken his place, the church had veered away from the foundations Paul had planted a few years before. So, a bit sarcastically, Paul asked whether he needed to bring “letters of recommendation” when he came to visit them. How did it come to this? Well, if we read his previous letter and even his previous chapter in 2 Corinthians, we can see that there were practises going on in Corinth that Paul, and Jesus Himself, didn’t approve of. For example, there was the man accused of sleeping with his stepmother, a practice that seemed to have been condoned by at least some of the congregation. And Paul reminded the Corinthians, “You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us” (2 Corinthians 2:17). Paul was an uncompromising preacher of the Gospel message, the Good News about Jesus, and all that He had done for both Jews and Gentiles. 

“A good tree produces good fruit,
and a bad tree produces bad fruit“

How do we pilgrims respond when a new preacher steps up to the pulpit in our churches? It depends on the denomination or movement to which we belong. The pulpit of the church of which I am a member is carefully guarded by the leadership because it is their duty to protect the flock from error. I can remember some years ago, when I was in an independent church, a visit by a recommended speaker who was to be the keynote preacher at a weekend conference. The leadership of my church didn’t personally know the man, but he came highly recommended by people they knew. However, it quickly became clear that he did not meet the standard set by the recommendations. A salutary lesson and one that I have never forgotten. Jesus said, “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 good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. … Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions” Matthew 7:15-17, 20). Paul warned Timothy about teachers who preach a message that is not the Word of God. 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths”. Perhaps this had already happened at Corinth, with the congregation having appointed men who preached what they wanted to hear.

We pilgrims, however, can check out what we are taught from the pulpit against the Scriptures, the Bible that we know and love. Of particular concern to us are teachings that don’t check out with the actual Word God has given us through His Holy Spirit-inspired Biblical writers. If a new or different interpretation of a Bible verse is mentioned, even in passing, then alarm bells must ring in our minds and spirits. I remember some years ago, a respected teacher of the Word made a comment about marriage that seemed to indicate, from what he said, that more than one wife would be acceptable in certain circumstances. The church’s leadership issued a corrective statement the following Sunday, and the teacher from the previous week wasn’t seen again. 

But Paul, the Paul we know and love from his letters, should never have needed letters of recommendation. He reminded the Corinthians that the only recommendation required was the witness of their lives lived out God’s way, in accordance with what he had preached to them right from the beginning. What did the unbelievers in Corinth see in the lives of the Christians there? Were they no different to the rest of the Greek society, practising the same immoral lifestyles? Or were they distinct men and women of God, full of the Holy Spirit, and witnessing a Jesus who had come to save the human race? In our society, the same questions apply. Back to that old cynical question – “If I were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?” Sadly, I’m sure the answer for many would be “No”. Paul wanted to return to Corinth and find a people on fire for God and adhering to the purity of the Gospel. But if Jesus came today, would He find a people with the same spirit? Or would He find an anaemic church hunkered down, ineffective, and not living His way? Worth a thought?

Dear Heavenly Father. Please forgive us for our sins and lack of diligence in following Your ways. Kindle again the dying embers that exist in the hearts of many in this nation, and bring revival to Your church. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Personal Profit

Posted on by korgrocker

You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.”
2 Corinthians 2:17 NLT
“For we are not like many, [acting like merchants] peddling God’s word [shortchanging and adulterating God’s message]; but from pure [uncompromised] motives, as [commissioned and sent] from God, we speak [His message] in Christ in the sight of God.”
2 Corinthians 2:17 AMP

The verse today is the last one in 2 Corinthians 2, and it comes at the end of a short section entitled “Ministers of the New Covenant”.  In a sense, that title includes all true believers, not just the church leaders, the pastors, teachers, apostles and all. We are all a “Christ-like fragrance” as we go about our daily lives in this sad and bad world. We are the “salt and light” that Jesus taught about in His Sermon on the Mount. But in this last verse, Paul speaks more personally and points out his true qualifications. There were men in his day who were false teachers, apostles, or prophets, and they somehow managed to wheedle their way into churches and people’s lives, finding that they could earn quite a useful living by doing so. But not Paul. His motives were driven and fueled by Christ’s authority.

In recent years, several high-profile “televangelists” have become wealthy through their ministries and donor-funded media empires. They promote the use of private jets as a “Biblical necessity”, and all based on the premise that faith can bring financial prosperity. Kenneth Copeland, for one, is reputed to have a net worth of over $300 million. Joel Osteen is another very wealthy man, with a net worth close behind. But are these men the “hucksters” that Paul warned about? That’s not for me to say. Some people say a minister should be kept financially poor by their congregation, because they say it will keep them humble, but I don’t endorse that premise either. Jesus warned about the dangers of false prophets in His Sermon on the Mount: “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?” (Matthew 7:15-16). The Apostle Peter also had some warning words: “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).

How can we pilgrims avoid finding, or even getting involved with, a “huckster”, someone who peddles God’s Word for profit? The only way is to refer back to God’s Word to see if the message being preached is true. But there are other “red flags” that we should be aware of. One important test for me is about accountability. Who is the minister accountable to, and if there is a Board of Trustees or even just another person, how sound are their credentials? Another important thought is about promises. False ministers preach about guaranteed health, wealth, and success, neglecting the biblical teaching on suffering and the cross. Such ministers can also be very controlling, and they use fear, guilt, or shame to control church members and often discourage any questioning of their authority, with statements such as “touch not the Lord’s anointed”. Such a person will cleverly introduce their false teaching and doctrines in a way that seems and sounds plausible, drawing gullible people into believing that what they preach is indeed from God. And of course, there is the question of money, which in itself can become a “red flag”.

“They searched the Scriptures day after day“

In Acts 17 we can read about how the Berean people responded to Paul’s teaching. “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” (Acts 17:11). And that is how we pilgrims should approach any new preaching and teaching that we haven’t heard before. 

We pilgrims know and love the Lord, and as we stay close to Him, we will stay on the path of truth, supporting those in leadership who are truly God’s anointed. Paul said he preached “the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority” and then pointed out that God is watching him. Of course He is, and us as well. Our loving Heavenly Father watches over us constantly, keeping us right through His Spirit within us. And we are so grateful for His Word, the Bible, and all the truth that it contains. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life, and only You are the way, the truth and the life. Please deliver us from evil, we pray, and keep us on the path of everlasting truth. In Your precious name, we pray. Amen.

A Sweet Perfume

Posted on by korgrocker

“But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this?”
2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NLT

In the days of the Roman Empire, victory parades were commonplace. A Roman general and his soldiers would return to their base city, march through the streets, parade their captured enemies, and burn incense. So, the crowds lining the streets would see and smell the victory. Paul often used the analogies of his experiences of the Roman army and soldiers in his letters. In Ephesians 6, written while in prison awaiting trial, he used the analogy of the Roman soldiers guarding him, relating the separate pieces of their armour to the spiritual armour we have as believers. So we read about the belt of truth that secures the rest of the armour and protects against lies. The breastplate of righteousness protects the heart and soul through God’s righteousness. Then we have the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace, which provide stability and readiness through the Good News about Jesus. There is a shield of faith, a large shield used to extinguish the “fiery darts” of the enemy, his lies and accusations. The helmet of salvation protects the mind and thoughts, and the only offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, represents the Word of God. Ever since, Paul’s helpful analogy has been a strength and support for believers everywhere and ever since. 

So, we pilgrims are caught up in a victory parade, but not as the victorious soldiers but as captives of Christ. Surely that is what we are, because we have been “captured” from the enemy, and rescued from the domain of evil and sin. Imagine the scene in Heaven, where our souls will be paraded before angels, as the saved ones, those who have believed in Jesus here on earth, and have been rescued from the kingdom of darkness, and brought into God’s Kingdom of Light. 

The victorious procession was also marked by the burning of incense, producing a sweet smell as the captives marched past. As we pilgrims “march” around society, getting on with our lives, what sort of smell do we leave behind in people’s nostrils? The word ”smell” is an analogy for the impression we leave on others. This is where things can get challenging, because we’ve all experienced relief when an objectionable person leaves our company. That loud-mouthed bigot. That person who is intent on sharing their own particular Godless and warped ideology. That person in the office who is always sharing smutty stories or gossiping about their colleagues. They leave a bad smell in people’s intellectual nostrils when they leave. 

I got into a lift the other day, and there was a strong residual smell of perfume lingering behind. The person who left it there was probably totally unaware of this, but it serves as a reminder that we, too, will leave a smell behind. Will it be a nasty odour that discredits Jesus, or will it be a “Christ-like fragrance rising up to God”? We Christians can turn out to be objectionable to unbelievers around because of the way we portray ourselves and the way we present what we believe. “Objectionable” Christians are generally defined by actions or beliefs that are perceived as hypocritical, harmful, intolerant, or unloving by critics, secular observers, and sometimes other Christians. These examples often centre on behaviour that violates the perceived core tenets of Christianity (such as love and compassion) or on extreme, dogmatic stances. Ouch!

Paul wrote that the fragrance we leave is the “dreadful smell of death and doom” to those who are heading for a lost eternity. But those people who are unbelievers, with their resistance to the Gospel and Jesus’ message of eternal life, will just bat away the thoughts of salvation, even if they are still lingering in their spiritual nostrils. Not for them the wonderful fragrance of Jesus. As we come into contact with those around us, do we leave a nice smell, a fragrance that lingers and brings a touch of Heaven into their lives? Or do we leave nothing worthy of note from the encounter, smell or otherwise? It is a challenge for all of us pilgrims, because one day we will be asked to account for the times when we used the wrong perfume.

Dear Heavenly Father. We want to leave the right impression on those around us, because when they see us, they must see Jesus. If we’re doing anything wrong, or nothing at all, to create a nice perfume, please point out to us the error of our ways. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.