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Call His name

Posted on by korgrocker

“As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””
Romans 10:11-13 NLT

In our verses today, Paul continues his theme of salvation with two quotes from the Old Testament, from Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32. The first is embedded within a prophetic message from Isaiah, to the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, whose capital was Samaria. It was a prophecy of hope, about the coming King, “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”. The second of Paul’s quotes was from the prophet Joel. Joel prophesied about the coming devastation of Judah, but through it all, the Lord promised to restore His people. We read, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for some on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will escape, just as the Lord has said. These will be among the survivors whom the Lord has called”. 

What a wonderful picture of God’s grace! God’s heart of love for people everywhere, even those who have rebelled against Him, and who have rejected and denied Him, nevertheless encourages them to reach out to Him in faith, trusting Him for their future. His grace knows no limits, because he is a generous, unstinting God. And Joel’s prophecy is clear – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. Calling on God’s name started a long time before Isaiah and Joel. We read in Genesis 4:26, “Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord”. But what does it mean to “call on the name of the Lord”? We hear many such calls in society today, but mostly they are using God’s name as a swear word, a blasphemy. It’s the devil’s way of diverting the perfect holiness of God’s name into the ordinary and mundane. But we pilgrims call on God’s name in our prayers, our praise and worship, our quiet times. We acknowledge His righteousness and holiness. We express our grateful thanks for all He has done for us and those dear to us. 

We don’t just call on God’s name when we made our confession of faith though. It’s an act that we do continually. We read in Psalm 116:2, “Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live”. It’s a forever life choice. We’re also encouraged to call upon Him when we’re in trouble, – “and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honour me” (Psalm 50:15). Above all, though, calling on God’s name identifies us pilgrims as His followers. His people. His children. 

Our tv screens are full of people, calling out slogans and shouting out sound bites integrated with their ideologies. Political activists call out the name of their leaders. In reverent tones, our educators call out the names of eminent scientists, writers and philosophers of bygone ages. But there is only one name that is worth referring to. There is a web site that claims that God has 952 names in the Bible. And it is true that God has so many facets to His character that it will be difficult to find names to describe them all. But we don’t have to get caught up in thinking of all God’s names. As we read His Word, we find out more and more about Him, and, amazingly, we always manage to find hidden treasures buried in the Scriptures. So, we call upon the name of the Lord, for revelation of those facets of His character that He wants us to become acquainted with. And we will find a reward for our searching – salvation for all eternity.

Dear God. We worship You, El-Shaddai, God Almighty. Amen.

Openly Confessing

Posted on by korgrocker

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
Romans 10:9-10 NLT

Paul announces two behaviours in these verses that will lead a hearer to salvation. It is useful to note the emphasis on “will” and “are”. Salvation is a word often used to describe our future relationship with God, free from condemnation and hell. There will be a day when everyone will stand before God to give an account of their lives, as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body”. Thankfully, those Christians whose names are recorded in the Book of Life will escape an otherwise terrible verdict from the Judge, who will otherwise consign the defendants to a place where they don’t want to go. Jesus knew about such a book, when He said to His disciples, “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). More was written by John in his Revelation, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. … Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12,15).

So, we pilgrims have publicly made a confession of our faith, that “Jesus is Lord”. And Paul writes that if we sincerely believe “that God raised [Jesus] from the dead” in our hearts, then we will be saved, at some time in the future. Paul goes on to repeat what he has just written, to emphasise that believing leads to a right standing before God and this, coupled with an open confession, means we are saved. All good? So we stood before the congregation in our churches, perhaps at the time of our baptism, and made an open confession of our belief that Jesus died for us. Some churches call it a testimony. And I’m sure that, when we said it, we meant it. So that means we are saved, and will be saved, doesn’t it? Well, I’m not so sure.

The tense Paul used when he wrote these verses implies a continuing behaviour, not just a once only experience. So perhaps it might be a bit nearer the truth to consider Romans 10:9 as reading, “If you openly go on declaring that Jesus is Lord …” and “go on believing in your heart…”. Just think about it. Imagine the scenario of someone who makes a public confession of their faith in church on a Sunday but then, on the Monday, returns to their old sinful lives, effectively nullifying their testimony. Will they still be saved? This brings us into the “once saved always saved” argument, which is beyond the scope of this blog. I personally believe that through the grace of God we are saved and will be saved, should we confess our sins and believe in our hearts, as Paul wrote. And God, who sees the end from the beginning, sees right into our hearts and knows how sincere we are. However, someone who once made such a confession, no matter how real or otherwise, can also choose to abandon said confession by neglect or downright denial. It’s a matter of their choice, which God, in the end, will honour, no matter how reluctantly. But no-one really knows what will happen when we come before God. Martin Luther is credited with making the following statement, “First, there will be people in heaven I did not expect to be there. Second, there will be people not present in heaven that I was certain would be there. Third is the greatest surprise of all—that I will be there myself!“

There is only one way that we can be saved. In Acts 4:12, we read, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved“. That is why Jesus came to this world. He Himself said, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). What Jesus said is totally exclusive. No other adherent of any other religion can be saved, unless they come to Jesus. That is why our mission as pilgrims in this world is so important, and why Christians suffer so much persecution. The devil does not want anyone to find Jesus and believe in Him, but other religions don’t trouble him much.

Today, in our workplaces, our communities, our families, let us declare our faith in God. Our lost and dying world needs to hear our messages of hope. All the other declarations and beliefs people hold, though they may be very important, will not lead to their eternal salvation.

Dear Father. You have ordained us to share what Your Son did for mankind. What a Saviour! You are an amazing God! How can we neglect such an important task? Amen.

The Message

Posted on by korgrocker

“But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).” In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach:”
Romans 10:6-8 NLT

Paul said to his readers that there is nothing difficult about the “message”, the Good News about Jesus and His sacrifice at Calvary. God’s grace is a simple concept. We don’t have to explain it. We can’t dissect it. We can’t stop it from being there. We can’t stop others from grasping its significance and believing in it. The problem for the early Christians in Rome is that, somehow, it was too simple. After all, they had this complex system of rules and regulations, the Law. Now that was something they could really understand and could apply in a tick box fashion. Haven’t murdered anyone today – tick. Haven’t committed adultery with anyone’s wife – tick. But such a system can never get someone right with God because it’s not about tick boxes, it’s about the state of our hearts. Do we love our wives and children, and treat them well? Do we honour our parents and love them sacrificial? And, above all, do we love God with all of our hearts? Being obedient to Him? Trusting Him even when life’s troubles threaten to overwhelm us? Why is it that us humans will always make things complicated when there is a simple answer?

Paul quoted the verse from Deuteronomy 30:14, but here is verse 11 as well, “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. …. No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it” (Deuteronomy 30:11,14). The Message translation of the verses from Romans 10 reads as follows, “So what exactly was Moses saying? The word that saves is right here, as near as the tongue in your mouth, as close as the heart in your chest. It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching”. What Paul was saying was that the message of hope that we pilgrims have is nothing complicated. We don’t have to attend a Bible school or Seminary to learn it and understand it. The moment that we put our trust and faith in Christ we receive all the understanding and learning that we need. We immediately have the mandate to share the same message with those around us. Whoever they are. Friend or foe. Family members or neighbours. Simple?

But it can’t be that simple, we hear. Surely there is more to it than that, they say. But, sadly, many say they don’t need the message of hope, love and grace. We’re doing ok by ourselves; we’ll do life our way. We’ll take our chances before God – if He even exists.

We pilgrims mustn’t give up. Paul wasted no time in sharing the message about Jesus. We read in Acts 9:20, just days after his conversion, “And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”” In fact, his zealousness was so intense and all-consuming that the Jews in Damascus were going to murder him, so the solution was a clandestine escape for Paul, “So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall” (Acts 9:25). He started his mission again in Jerusalem and another plot was devised to end his life, this time by the Greek-speaking Jews. So in Acts 9:30-31 we read, “When the believers heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown. The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.” Paul became too hot to hold, but his zealousness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ never left him. 

How zealous are we pilgrims in our faith, and our willingness to share the Gospel? Are we an all or nothing person like Paul, prepared to forsake all for God? In Matthew 5, Jesus gave an illustration about salt and light. We are the seasoning in our communities. We are beacons of light in a dark world. We may never be Pauls, articulate and convincing in what we say. But nevertheless, we are all equipped to share the simple message. We do it with our lives and, if necessary, we use words to back it. Those around us who don’t know Jesus will be watching us, to see if the message we bring makes a difference in our lives. We love God so much, so what else can we do? 

Dear God. Thank You for trusting us with the sharing of Your message of Good News, so necessary in this dark and sinful world. Please help us to truly shine as a beacon of faith to those around us. In Jesus same. Amen.

Total Obedience

Posted on by korgrocker

“For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands. But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).””
Romans 10:5-7 NLT

Paul continues with his apparent obsession with the Law. He quotes a bit of Leviticus 18 , thought to have been written by Moses, – “You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:4-5). There is no middle way for the Law-followers. All or nothing. To be made righteous through obeying the Law, all God’s “decrees” and “regulations” had to be followed. The Law’s content, as originally given by God through Moses, wasn’t difficult. Much of it was common sense. So it should have been easy to understand. But the trouble is that human beings start to make things difficult. The Rabbis, the Jewish leaders, started to introduce additional rules and regulations, and expanded on what God had said in the original Mosaic Jewish Law books. This made the Law more difficult to follow, and the intent of the Law, in terms of reconciling a person to God, was lost. 

But before we pilgrims start to take the moral high ground and say that we would never get caught in such a trap, we need to look at our denominational liturgies and see how much they have strayed from the simplicity of the Gospel. For example, we have introduced prayer books, and a routine of worship by rote. The liturgy will have us bobbing up and down, and uttering pre-scripted responses and prayers, all the same, and repeated week after week. Before we know it we have replaced the spontaneity of relational worship to God with something that avoids us having to be engaged with the process. We sing the songs and hymns, enjoying the melodies, but not thinking about what we are singing. We sing songs with words like, “I will worship You with all of my heart (mind, strength)”. Really? Often our minds instead will be dwelling on yesterday’s football, or the meat in the oven. Or am I being too cynical?

Thankfully, God knows our feebleness. Our inability to keep our sin-soaked minds always focused on Him. Of course, we know how wonderful He is. We thank Him that His grace is unlimited. And we know that one day we will be amongst a great crowd of totally uninhibited worshippers. We read in Revelation 19:1, “After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God”. What a time that will be! At long last we will be freed from the chains of humanity, able to worship God in the way that He deserves. But back to Planet Earth – by introducing spontaneity into our worship and prayers we get a brief glimpse of the wonders of Heaven. God doesn’t want us to be disengaged and so busy that we have no time for Him. Perhaps we need to look at our diaries and separate the essential from the indulgent. The last thing the enemy wants is for us to be close to our Maker. So he will load us up with busy-ness to keep us from true worship. 

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, as recorded in John 4:23, “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way”. God’s search hasn’t yet ended. He is always looking for faithful worshipers. Join me in reaching out to Him today, praying that we will indeed connect with our wonderful God in the way He desires.

Father God. You desire our worship, not because it is something You need but because it does something within us. Spirit to spirit we worship You today. Amen.

Salvation for the Jews

Posted on by korgrocker

“Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.”
Romans 10:1-4 NLT

Anyone reading the Bible will soon appreciate that much of it is all about God’s relationship with His people, the people of Israel, the people we call Jews. We read through the pages, unfurling stories of rebellion and sin. Of idolatry followed by repentance. Of God’s patient efforts to restore His people to the relationship with Him that He so desired. Of prophets sent time and time again to point out sin and sinful ways. Of the time when God used even a foreign power to take away His people into captivity, in the hope that they would turn to Him. But through it all a strand of faith persisted in a people who knew they were God’s chosen ones but found themselves unable to live up to His mark. They found that trying to live by the Law didn’t work. And in Romans 10:1, Paul expressed his heart-felt desire for salvation for his people, the Jews.

God, observing the difficulties of His people, sent Jesus to bring salvation to His people. What a wonderful, patient, loving God He is! He could see that his people were “trying to keep the Law”  but they failed to realise that Jesus was the fulfilment of all that the Law tried to accomplish. They knew the Messiah was coming because they had read the prophecy from Isaiah, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (Isaiah 7:14). Even Moses had a glimpse of what God’s Messianic plan was, as we read in Deuteronomy 18:15, “Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him”. Some scholars have worked out that there are as many as 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, so the expectation of the coming of God’s Son was embedded within the Jewish people. They just didn’t know how or when. 

Paul knew how enthusiastic the Jews could be – he called it “misdirected zeal”. And certainly they tried, surprisingly successfully, to maintain their religion, and keep themselves apart from other peoples. The tragedy was, and still is, that they failed to recognise God’s Son when He finally showed up. In their minds they pictured their Messiah as a conquering hero who would release the people from the tyrannical occupation of the Romans. But when He came, He showed up riding a donkey, a Man of peace. But Jesus spent His ministry time here on earth with His people, and with a message of salvation for the Jews. He brought the message about the Kingdom of God, but most of His countrymen didn’t recognise it. And, tragically, rejected it. And so to this day, the Jewish people “cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law”. 

But there will be a time when the Jews finally realise what they have missed. Zechariah could “see” it would happen and he recorded his end times vision of what was to come. We read in Zechariah 12:10, “Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died”. So salvation will one day come to the Jewish people. Sadly, they will “grieve bitterly” because they missed the opportunity to welcome their Messiah at His first coming, instead putting Him to death. But such is the grace of God that He will never turn His back on them. We pilgrims, mostly Gentile in origin, also enjoy God’s love and grace. How wonderful He is!

Dear Father. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. When we deserved punishment, Jesus took it on Himself. And now we are righteous in Your sight. How wonderful You are! Amen.

The Cornerstone

Posted on by korgrocker

“God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.””
Romans 9:33 NLT

“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. I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.”
Isaiah 28:16-17 NLT

Paul tells his readers that one day there will be Someone placed in Jerusalem (“Zion” in the Greek version) who will bring security and peace to anyone who believes in Him. We know, of course, who this “Person” is. He is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was quoting from Isaiah 28:16,  a verse that we have included today. But if there is ever a time when there is much stumbling and shaking going on, it is in these 21st Century days. Geopolitical uncertainties through wars and threats seem to be greater now than they have ever been. There are unstable leaders intent on implementing their own agendas. Different national ideologies are constantly in conflict. On the domestic UK front, lobby groups stridently declare their own particular ideology, trying to force political parties and urban councils into adopting their extreme beliefs. Protest groups cause disruption to the general public, with the police seemingly powerless to stop them. As the old song says, “there’s an awful lot of shaking going on”!

But why should anyone be surprised? Way back in history, a Jewish prophet declared that the “refuge” adopted by most people “is made of lies”. Nations that have displaced God, instead implementing their own secular systems, lacking in either justice or righteousness, find that very soon their houses built on the sands of human effort, come crashing down. Throughout history, empires have emerged, only to disappear a relatively short time later, collapsing under the weight of their own corruption and ideologies. 

Isaiah’s prophesy still applies today. God said that peoples and nations will be tested, and unless they meet the standards of righteousness and justice, they will soon find that “a hailstorm will knock it down”. And “a flood will sweep it away”. Thankfully, for God-followers everywhere, we can put our trust in Him and find the peace and security so lacking everywhere else. Jesus compassionately invited people oppressed by life in their times to let Him share their burdens. we read in Matthew 11:28-30,

Isaiah’s prophesy still applies today. God said that peoples and nations will be tested, and unless they meet the standards of righteousness and justice, they will soon find that “a hailstorm will knock it down”. And “a flood will sweep it away”. Thankfully, for God-followers everywhere, we can put our trust in Him and find the peace and security so lacking everywhere else. Jesus compassionately invited people oppressed by life in their times to let Him share their burdens. We read in Matthew 11:28-30, “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light“. Jesus will never close the door in our faces. He will always keep it open for earnest seekers after His truth. He came to this world bringing the Good News of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that will never be shaken. At the end of Psalm 136 we read, “Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever“. Everything else will disappear one day.

Father God We thank You for Your endless love. You carry our burdens. You give us the peace our souls crave for. We are so grateful. Amen.

The Great Rock

Posted on by korgrocker

“Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.””
Romans 9:32-33 NLT

Once again, Paul displays his remarkable grasp and memory of Scripture by quoting the prophet Isaiah. He points out that those attempting to follow the Law will stumble over a “great rock in their path”, because they failed to trust God. An alternative translation to “keeping the Law” in Romans 9:32 is “doing good works”. 

The background to the “great rock” is the sad story of a people, the nation of Judah, who have rejected God and trusted in other things instead. Isaiah warned them about a time of annihilation coming their way through the Assyrians, but he encouraged his countrymen to trust in the Lord. Sadly, as they found out later, the “descendants of Jacob” (Isaiah 8:17) failed to trust in God at all, and continued to try to keep the Law, in parallel with devising human solutions to their impending problem. In Paul’s context in Romans 9 the stumbling would take place because of the complacency that comes from trusting in good works and legalism. But he ends this chapter in his letter by reminding his readers that trusting in God will lead to a good outcome. 

What can we pilgrims glean from these verses? Christians can also become legalistic and complacent, thinking that if they do good to others, who perhaps are not so fortunate as they are, this will stand them in good stead when they come face to face with God. But we must remember that we are not saved by doing good, but rather saved for doing good. Ephesians 2:8-10, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The “great rock” of legalism is something to beware of. 

We pilgrims can also become legalistic because we can get caught up in the process of judging others. Like the Pharisees of old, we can have a tendency to look down on those who perhaps don’t believe in the way that we do, or who don’t share our faith and beliefs, or who fail to regularly attend church meetings. But we need to remember that Jesus said, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2). Psalm 50:6 makes it clear that there is only One qualified to be the Judge – God Himself. “Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge”. James 4:12, “God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbour?”

We can avoid being trapped by the “great rock” of legalism through reconciling what we do and what we think. By that I mean that our good works must come out of our inner spiritual life. We avoid the “great rock” not by keeping rules, but by the power of the living God. Amen?

Dear Father God. We confess we so easily fall into the trap of legalistic behaviour. Please forgive us we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God’s Standards

Posted on by korgrocker

“What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.”
Romans 9:30-32 NLT

In Jesus’s day, there was a group of Jews called the Pharisees. They were extremely religious and very diligent in upholding the Jewish teachings. They were very careful to observe not just the Law, the Jewish Talmud, but also the oral traditions that had been handed down from the time of Moses. Jesus had little time for their legalisms, saying in one of His encounters with them, “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things” (Luke 11:42). What Jesus said highlighted their difficulty – they had become so legalistic and religious that they had lost sight what the Law was put in place for. The intent of the first commandment tended to be overlooked by them – Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength”. Jesus quoted this to them in another encounter, as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40, “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments””.

Paul in his letter outlined the dilemma that the Roman Christians, a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, faced. How could God consider the Gentiles righteous, but not His chosen people, the Jews. Both factions had come to faith in Christ, trusting in Him for their current and future lives, but perhaps there was a remaining thought in the Jewish minds, that this wasn’t very fair. All that effort expended on trying to keep the Law, but to no avail. The Law to the Jews had become a stumbling block. It tripped them up by giving them a false sense of security. Many today claim to be “good people” because they keep the laws of the land, of the societies in which they live. But does this allow them to ignore having a relationship with God? Many Jews claim to have kept the Law, but was there perhaps a residual nagging doubt that they might have missed one?

So, as Christian’s, are we rule followers, or God followers? Do we think that it is enough to be a good member of society, giving to charity, helping our neighbours and so on? Do we believe we are put right with God by making sure we do religious things, like going to church, or do we diligently maintain a relationship with Him, trusting Him, loving Him, following Him? As I have written before, it is all about the state, the condition, of our hearts. God’s standards are too high to be reached by human efforts alone. 

Father God, we fall far short of the perfection You desire. But I thank You that through Jesus we can truly be righteous in Your presence. Thank You. Amen.

Isaiah’s Warning

Posted on by korgrocker

“And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.””
Romans 9:29 NLT

Paul included a Scripture reference to a verse spoken by Isaiah, who, in turn, referred to an act of God’s judgement on two towns named Sodom and Gomorrah. Even today there will be many who know what these towns were guilty of, with a sexual act even named after the inhabitants of Sodom. 

Genesis 13:13 recorded the problem with Sodom and Gomorrah, “But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord”. In fact, in Genesis 18:20, God involved Himself personally. We read, “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant””. And in Genesis 18 we read about how Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, in case there were some good people in these towns, to prevent their destruction. Genesis records the experience of two angels who were sent to Sodom, and the subsequent destruction of all the wicked towns and villages in that area. However, Abraham’s intercessory prayers were heeded and his nephew Lot, along with his daughters, were saved. In those days, judgement and justice followed sinful acts. Aren’t we glad we live in this age of God’s grace?

But Paul quoted Isaiah 1:9 in our verse from Romans 9 today. The first chapter of Isaiah is a prophetic message to a rebellious and sinful people. The prophecy he recorded is just as relevant to Western societies today. Isaiah 1:2, 4, “Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. …  Oh, what a sinful nation they are— loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him”. Sound familiar? Isaiah continues, “Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? …” (Isaiah 1:5a). And then we reach the verse quoted by Paul, “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9).

Isaiah’s prophecy was a stern warning from God, and he had some specific observations about the problem. We read, “Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.” When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? … I want no more of your pious meetings. When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims” (Isaiah 1:10, 12-13b, 15). It’s all about the state of our hearts. Do we have “heart dis-ease”, not really connecting with God, but going through the motions anyway? We go to church but often wonder why. We kneel when we are supposed to. We outwardly put our body and hands into a prayer pose, but there is nothing within us that supports it. We say all the right things but don’t back them with our thoughts and spirits. Isaiah wrote in chapter 29:13, “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote”. Aren’t we glad about God’s patience?

There is only one way into God’s presence, and that is with our hearts firmly aligned with His. We stay close to Him, trusting and following Him in the ways He has ordained for us. And, like Abraham, we intercede for the people in society around us, grateful for having the time to communicate the Good News of eternal life. There will be a day when the earth as we know it will be destroyed, but until then we keep plugging away, grateful for God’s grace and mercy.

Dear God. We have promised to serve You until the end. There is no other way to eternal life. Amen.

The Remnant

Posted on by korgrocker

“And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.” And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.””
Romans 9:27-29 NLT

In Genesis 15:5 we read about God’s promise to Abram regarding his descendants, “Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have””! It’s not often that we can look up on a clear night and see the amazing canopy of points of light because of light pollution. Abram of course would have been well acquainted with the heavenly display, street lamps yet to be invented. Although there could be as many as one septillion stars in the universe we can only see a relative few without technological aids. But Abram would have been overwhelmed by the promise. In Genesis 32:12, Jacob prayed, “But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count’”. Another huge number. But in all of this neither Abraham or Jacob would know that their Israelite descendants would fall into hard times of rebellion and sin and only a remnant would be saved. What went wrong?

In 1 Kings 19 we read the story of Elijah after the amazing miracle on Mount Carmel. Depressed, he ended up on Mount Sinai, and having a conversation with God. Part of his depression was caused by the idolatry of his fellow Israelites, but we read in 1 Kings 19:14, “[Elijah] replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too””. Thankfully for him, God put him right, as we read in 1 Kings 19:18, “Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him”! Elijah was convinced that the Israelites had broken their covenant with God and the situation for them was terminal. But God has always preserved a remnant of His people, with whom He brings about His will and purposes. 

We pilgrims are part of a modern day remnant. In my community there is only a small number of people who would claim to be Christian, and practising their faith. And that probably applies in most Western communities. Jesus warned about the small numbers of those chosen to follow Him. We read in Matthew 7:13-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it”. So many people are walking that “highway to hell”. Some are even proud about it, singing a song popularised by the rock group, AC/DC. But we pilgrims must maintain our efforts to show those in our communities, our families and friends, where the narrow gate is. The default road is the broad one. No effort is required to walk it. Comfort is obtained by the numbers of fellow travellers – “Well, everyone does it!”. There is a popular misconception that lemmings commit mass suicide at certain stages in their population life cycles. But for them this is not a conscious decision, made for the good of the remainder of the species. It is more the result of foolishness, as they look for less densely populated areas. There is a comparison to be made between the foolishness of lemmings and the foolishness of mankind who have chosen the wide gate leading to hell, as Jesus warned. 

Jesus said that the road to life was difficult, and only a few ever follow that path. But the rewards are eternal, leading to an immortal life spent in God’s presence and well worth the privations experienced in this life. Have we found that narrow gate? Do we believe in Jesus and follow Him, day by day? Then we are on the difficult road that is the only way to find life, abundant life beyond all that we could dream of. Only a pilgrim remnant travel it, but we’re in good company. Sadly, I know so many people who have been shown the narrow gate, but have declined the invitation to open it and pass through. God’s patience is extraordinary, and He won’t give up on His creation until the very end. And as we pilgrims journey along on the narrow paths towards to eternal life, we pray for the opportunity to grab others by the hand, to show them the way, the only way, God’s way.

Father God. We pray for our friends and families, our neighbours and community, that they would find the narrow gate before it is too late. In Jesus’ name. Amen.