Shining as Believers: A Call to Action

Posted on by korgrocker

“If we are ‘out of our mind,’ as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
2 Corinthians 5:13-15 NIVUK

Paul wrote that Jesus died for all. Not just the Israelites, the Jews living in the First Century, but also for the Gentiles, people like you and me. Jesus died the death that we were supposed to have died because He took on the punishment we deserved for all our sins. What are they? Anything that is in opposition to God. There are no “little white lies” or half-truths. Every wrong thought and deed has been brought under the cleansing blood of Jesus. 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). The Bible has a theme running through it, about God pursuing people everywhere because He loves them. Peter wrote, “ … He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9c). And He achieved that aim through Jesus, “that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus died our death so that we would be able to live His life. What a Saviour! 

We pilgrims, therefore, have an obligation to live our lives God’s way, without self-centred ambition and in a way that hides our spirituality from those around us. We are not monks shut away from the world behind the walls of a monastery. We are out there, shining like a beacon in a dark and hopeless world. We must live in a way that is Christ-centred, and no longer focused on our self-centred ways. Paul wrote, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:3-5). In it all, we must each consider the question, “Who is at the centre of our lives, me or Jesus?” But what does “shining like a beacon” look like? It is a counter-cultural manifestation of human qualities soaked in the Holy Spirit, not the spirit of the world. So, we pilgrims will not join in with the negative talk amongst friends. We will not join in with the office gossip or smutty jokes. We will not rubbish the government (read Romans 13). We will not get involved with worldly ideologies. Instead, we will speak the truth about God and all He has done for us.

“Because He lives
I can face tomorrow”

Paul wrote, “that those who live should no longer live for themselves”. Of course, everyone “lives” until the day they die, but that is not the “live” that Paul was meaning. Peter wrote, “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). To a Jewish leader called Nicodemus, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” … “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life” (John 3:3, 5-6). Our bodies will one day wear out and die, but our spirits will continue to live forever. There are men and women who claim to be Christians but who deny that it is necessary to be “born again”. The term has somehow been associated with a fundamental minority who have become radicalised into believing something more associated with sects. But we pilgrims “live” a spiritual, born-again, life, the Jesus way, following in the steps of the Master.

Jesus died on that Roman cross, and if that was all that there was, then we are a sad people. Paul wrote, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). But he went on, “For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world” (1 Corinthians 15:13-19). Indisputable logic from Paul, emphasising the importance, the cornerstone, of our faith. Jesus died and rose again, and through Him we can also look forward to our resurrection one day.

The Cross is validated by Jesus’ resurrection, and through Him we have victory over death. The grave no longer has any hold over us, because we pass through it into eternal life. We pilgrims serve a living King, victorious and glorious. Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me” (John 15:4). Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we remain connected to the Vine, who is Jesus, living the life that He has granted us through His grace and mercy. 

We serve the risen Jesus. He is alive today, tomorrow, and forever. So today, we must turn up the wick on our beacons, shining brighter and brighter, bringing Jesus’ life into the lives of those around us. 

Father, we pray for forgiveness for our sins, in deep gratitude for Jesus and His death and resurrection. With His life within us, we share the Good News, the truth about our faith, to those we know and even to those we don’t. We pray for our friends and families that the light and life of Jesus will illuminate their lives as well. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Overcoming Life’s Challenges with Unwavering Faith

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.””
2 Corinthians 4:11-13 NLT

Paul quoted from Psalm 116 when he wrote, “I believed in God, so I spoke”. That Psalm is entitled, “Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death” and is an appropriate psalm for Paul to quote from. The Psalmist was in a place staring at death, “Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!” How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me” (Psalm 116:4-6). And as we read the rest of the Psalm, we can see how Paul must have found much comfort in it. We know from earlier in 2 Corinthians that Paul and his colleagues were in a dangerous place, to the point where they feared for their lives. But they, with the Psalmist, could claim, “I was facing death, and he saved me”. What connected the Psalmist and Paul? It wasn’t time, because they lived in different ages, separated by hundreds of years. They both attributed their salvation from death to God, but was there more involved? Of course, there was, and Paul put his finger on the missing element: faith. The Psalmist and Paul both had the same assurance of faith, that God would protect them in times of trouble. They both spoke out in the knowledge that God was there for them, close by, and able to save.

The writer of the Hebrews letter helpfully listed some men and women who displayed a faith so vibrant and real that it brought them through some terrible circumstances. Imagine having Noah’s faith, spending decades building a boat on dry land, a statement of faith to a nation that had never seen an expanse of water sufficient to float it. Imagine having David’s faith, heading out onto the battlefield armed only with a sling and five stones, facing a giant, a heavily armed opponent, saying, “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” (1 Samuel 17:37a). But even today, imagine sitting by the bedside of a seriously ill child, one who the medics had written off, but having the faith saying and praying that God would heal, and seeing a miracle as a result.

Paul was a preacher who spoke out his message of the Gospel because he had faith that God would protect him until his mission was complete. But even if he died because of the Gospel, Paul still believed he would be resurrected, just as Jesus was. He had the same kind of faith as the unknown Psalmist did.

What about us pilgrims? Where are we at with our faith? Such faith will take many forms, each dependent on our own circumstances. Our faith is a statement to this hopeless world around us, because most of the people we meet have little or no faith in anything. We have to look up to a Higher Power far above our politicians and leaders to find the source of anything worth having faith in. We may not be facing death at this moment, but there will be other things that need us to have faith to overcome. God is interested in the smallest hurdle that we face, but we mostly seem to associate faith with the big things in life. 

There were three Jewish men who were faced with a life-threatening situation because they refused to worship the gold statue of a Babylonian king. We pick up the story in Daniel 3:16-18, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up””. That’s faith, that God will save even in impossible circumstances. But, and this is the “same kind of faith” that Paul had, even if God hadn’t saved them, the outcome would be better because they would have found themselves in God’s presence. 

Paul preached the message of eternal life through belief in Jesus to a deeply resistant andresentful people, and he suffered much because of it. But he was sustained by the faith that he had, because the “life of Jesus [would] be evident in [his] dying body”. Paul was aware that his time on earth would be short compared with eternity, so he made good use of the time that he had, even though his body was dying. Paul didn’t know what his future held, but he had faith in the One who held his future in His hands. Do we have that kind of faith? 

Dear Heavenly Father. You know all about us, when we go out and when we come in. You know what is going to happen in our lives and what our future holds. But we have confidence that regardless of what happens, we will one day be secure in Your presence. Forever. Thank You. Amen.

Tough Love

Posted on by korgrocker

“That is why I wrote to you as I did, so that when I do come, I won’t be grieved by the very ones who ought to give me the greatest joy. Surely you all know that my joy comes from your being joyful. I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn’t want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you.”
2 Corinthians 2:3-4 NLT

Paul didn’t want to return to Corinth so that he would have to deliver another confrontational message. He wanted to visit them in a way that gave him “the greatest joy”. If they were joyful, then so would he be. But his first letter wasn’t an easy one to write, and Paul referred to “great anguish” and “a troubled heart and many tears” as he wrote it. But he wrote it, not out of a malicious or frivolous motivation but because he loved them greatly.

That’s the thing about love, true agape love. It requires courage and determination to apply to another in a situation that is ultimately in their own best interests. It particularly applies to a parent and a child when the young person is in danger, or has already embarked on a course of action that would lead to destruction of one kind or another if allowed to continue. But there in Corinth, there were some who had decided to behave in ways that were incompatible with their faith, and some form of correction was required. The man sleeping with his stepmother was a situation involving blatant sin, and, for the two people concerned, as well as their friends who must have condoned it, they needed to know what they did was sinful in God’s sight. So rather than ignore it through a misguided application of love, Paul confronted them head-on, pointing out the seriousness of the situation. 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship”. He continued, “Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man”. These must have been difficult words to write, but behind them was a feeling on Paul’s part of disappointment that the Corinthian church had come to a point where they had accepted such behaviour. Paul used this situation to expand the scope of what holiness means to a believer. 1 Corinthians 5:11, “I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people”. In other words, if there is sin in the church, then deal with it, because otherwise the whole congregation would end up on the slippery slope that ends in hell. 

Tough love is a widely used phrase in parenting, but its reach is broader and extends to facets of society both inside and outside the church. What would Jesus think or do? was a phrase widely used in teenager camps, and it is true, because the last thing a believer truly wants is to go against the words and character of Jesus. Tough love started at the point where a person comes to faith in Jesus, and we see the ultimate expression of such love 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”. God Himself, our loving Heavenly Parent, set forth, through Jesus, the reality of the position He is in when dealing with sinful mankind. He set out a choice between two outcomes: eternal life with Him and eternal life without Him. I can remember being told of a situation where a mother, faced with continuing and unacceptable behaviour from her son, had to say in the end that unless he stopped behaving in the way that he was, then she had to assume he didn’t want to be her son anymore and was no longer welcome in her home. Tough love at a human level, but nothing compared to the ultimate choice offered to mankind.

But tough love for a Christian didn’t end in John 3. Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference” (Revelation 3:19). And the writer of the Hebrews letter wrote, quoting Proverbs, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (Hebrews 12:6). I suspect all believers, after they have been on their journeys of faith for a while will have experienced God’s discipline in one way or another. To some, it would have been devastating. To others, it would have been ignored. But in the end, discipline, especially from God, is designed to keep a person on the “straight and narrow” path to eternal life. 

Back to my 1970’s song with the chorus line, “I’d rather live in his world than without him in mine”. That ultimately, in a spiritual sense, is the desire of us pilgrims. We willingly accept all of God’s discipline because one day we want to live with Him in His world, Heaven itself. There is no better place to be.

Dear Father God. We know we mess up at times, and ask for Your forgiveness. We ask You today to search our hearts, and point out to us the error of our ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Be Strong

Posted on by korgrocker

“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NLT

We’re considering two short verses containing three “Be’s”, a “stand”, and a “Do”, all action words requiring effort to apply in a world where passivity seems to be the norm. Although these verses were written to the early Christians in Corinth, they equally apply to Christians today. Then, as now, society was largely biased against believers in God, choosing instead to pursue gods of the people’s own making. And at the root of the lives of unbelievers was the propensity to pursue sinful activities that titillated their hedonistic tendencies. Such a root often sparked a “what’s in it for me” response when situations arose that required a more positive solution. So Paul, seeing the dangers, wrote about the care a believer should take to avoid being sucked into behaviour that was sinful and against God’s expectations for His children.

Just thinking about Paul’s exhortation to “Be strong” perhaps reminds us of something that Jesus said 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”. In John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, the Narrow Gate, which he also called the Wicket Gate, is the crucial first entrance to the King’s Highway. It symbolises the deliberate choice to begin the Christian life by turning to Christ for salvation from the City of Destruction, representing repentance, faith, and leaving the world behind to find relief from sin’s burden. I always imagine a road on which many people are walking. They don’t know it is going to lead to an eternal death, but it seems a relatively easy path to take, and, anyway, everyone is going that way, so it can’t be all bad, can it? But then, covered in weeds and almost hidden, is a small gate made of wood and of the type found in many a garden. Perhaps curiosity takes a person through the gate onto the way that leads to God. But the path is heavy going, and many obstacles are in the way, and when it becomes too hard, a glance to the rear shows that the broad road is only a step away. In such circumstances, Paul encouraged those early Christians, and by implication, we Christians today, to “Be strong” and keep going on the “narrow road” because, whether we like it or not, there are times when we need to be strong. 

Perhaps we have woken up this morning feeling a bit lazy, but because it is a Sunday, we decide to give church a miss. Just once won’t really matter, will it? And we snuggle down under the duvet to enjoy another hour or two of sleep. Or perhaps someone in the office where we work is organising a night out to somewhere we would feel uncomfortable being in, but we don’t want to upset anyone, do we? Perhaps we decide to join in, with the thought that maybe we could leave a bit earlier. It is on occasions such as these that we need to “Be strong”. As many Christians have found out, the Narrow Way and the Broad Way are paths that we cannot walk on at the same time. 

Jesus made the choice clear when He was teaching about money and possessions. We read in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money”. We cannot live a worldly life and a Godly life at the same time. Joshua set out the choice that must be made to the Israelites, as we read in Joshua 24:15, “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”. Joshua knew all about what making the wrong choice meant.

“But those who trust in the Lord
will find new strength.“

So today, dear fellow pilgrims, what choice are you making? Yes, the battle is hard to fight. Yes, we’re tired, and we think that sometimes it will be so much easier to slip back into our old ways. There was a time when disciples left Jesus because His teachings were too hard for them. John 6:60, 66, “Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” … At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him”. In the next verse we read Jesus’ response, “Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”” But Peter’s reply was one that has reverberated down the ages ever since; “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God”” (John 6:68-69). That is what being strong means, so we turn to Isaiah 40:29-31, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint”. Can we feel ourselves being lifted up today? With an inner strength, we look forward, not along a path that leads to hell, but one that leads to eternal life.

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for supporting us in the hard times and encouraging us when we stumble and fall. Thank You too for carrying us when we’re too tired to go on, and helping us to be strong when we need to be. We worship You today. Amen.

Risking Death

Posted on by korgrocker

“If the dead will not be raised, what point is there in people being baptised for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? And why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you.”
1 Corinthians 15:29-31 NLT

There is no point, said Paul, to face into all the danger that being a Christian involved in those days, if there was to be no resurrection of the dead. Previously, in this chapter, in this his first letter to the Corinthians, he answered those in Corinth who were saying that there would be no resurrection of the dead. This was despite what Paul and his colleagues in ministry were teaching. And Paul made several points to them about what this would mean in practice. 

Jesus died and rose again
on the first Easter Sunday
morning

Firstly, he said, “For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either” (1 Corinthians 15:13). To deny that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to so many witnesses was to do what some people do today. They were trying to rewrite history because it didn’t suit their particular worldview. We have those today who deny that the Holocaust actually took place, but just to deny that something ever happened doesn’t change the facts. Jesus died and rose again on the first Easter Sunday morning. Of course, we remember the Sadducees who were around between 200BC and about 70AD. They were a rich and powerful sect of mainly businessmen who denied that the dead would be raised, and they were also very prominent in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. Paul knew that they believed that there was no resurrection and he used this to good effect when he was brought before the Sanhedrin. Acts 23:6, “Paul realised that some members of the high council were Sadducees and some were Pharisees, so he shouted, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!’” The Council was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees, and absolute mayhem resulted as they fought over their different beliefs about resurrection, to the extent that the local commander of the Roman forces had to send soldiers in to rescue Paul. 

Secondly, Paul made the simple statement, “And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:15). It would be a sad place for Paul, if he had made up all the stories and facts about Christ’s resurrection. To find out that he was lying would have been a terrible place for him to be in, and totally contrary to the purity of the Good News that he preached. 

Thirdly, Paul pointed out that “ … if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins”(1 Corinthians 15:17). The fact of Christ’s resurrection is a fundamental cornerstone of our faith. Without it we are just a deluded set of fantasists believing in fairy stories and heading for an unknown post-death fate.

Paul said, “I face death daily“.

Fourthly, and in connection with the last point, Paul said that “ … why should we ourselves risk our lives hour by hour? For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, that I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done in you” (1 Corinthians 15:30-31). It would be hard enough to live out a life of denial, but to be so convinced by that lie, involving facing death, as he was doing, every day,  beggars belief. In the first century, many martyrs died for their faith, and Paul was well aware that he was in danger himself. 

We pilgrims, believers in the resurrection, will never experience the danger of death in response to our faith. But we are increasingly experiencing persecution through the passing of secular laws and through ridicule and exclusion in various places in our society. But we know that this would happen because Jesus Himself warned us about it. So we stand strong in our faith, believing in our salvation and in the One who made it all happen.

Dear Lord Jesus. You came to this world proclaiming the words of eternal life. We have nowhere else to go, and we pray for the strength to hold firm in this, our hostile, lost and evil world. In Your precious name. Amen.

The Kingdom of God

Posted on by korgrocker

“Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?”
1 Corinthians 4:18-21 NLT

We citizens of the Kingdom of God, pilgrims on a journey to Glory, are living a different life from those around us, unbelievers who are still firmly and solely citizens of the kingdom of the world. We pilgrims have transitioned from a worldly life to one that is pleasing to God and aligned with His values and requirements. And the two kingdoms are so different, often with the expression of opposites. So someone great in the kingdom of the world’s eyes, such as a successful businessman, an autocrat or a political leader, is least in God’s Kingdom, where a servant assumes the greatest slot. But the biggest difference is that God’s Kingdom is spiritual. The first verse in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reads, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). (Note that “Kingdom of Heaven” is synonymous with “Kingdom of God” – Matthew was written for a Jewish audience and the name of God was so sacred that Jews would not refer to it directly.) But before we get ahead of ourselves, we need to define what the Kingdom of God is. One definition is, “the kingdom of God is [the] spiritual rule over the hearts and lives of those who willingly submit to God’s authority. Those who defy God’s authority and refuse to submit to Him are not part of the kingdom of God; in contrast, those who acknowledge the lordship of Christ and gladly surrender to God’s rule in their hearts are part of the kingdom of God” (quoted from gotquestions.org). At His pre-crucifixion trial, Jesus was asked by the Roman governor, Pilate, if He was the King of the Jews. In response, “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place’” (John 18:36). Jesus truly was (and still is, by the way) the King, and we echo what Thomas said when he met the risen Jesus, “’My Lord and my God!’ Thomas exclaimed,” (John 20:28). 

So, how do men and women today become citizens of God’s Kingdom? Jesus gave Nicodemus the answer in John 3:3, 5-6, “Jesus replied, ‘‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” …  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life“”. Men and women are naturally born into the kingdom of the world, a world riddled and polluted by evil, wickedness and sin. Although the Bible does not claim that the devil is the king of this world, Jesus did say that he was the ruler. John 12:31, “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out”. And that is why this world is such an unpleasant place to live in. The only people who are comfortable living in this world are those who are sinful and conforming to the world’s evil ways. But God’s people experience a second birth, through the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus was greatly puzzled by this and couldn’t get his mind around the concept, the reality, of a different type of birth. Jesus said that worldly people could not understand how being reborn in the Spirit was possible (John 3:8 – “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”), but He went on to describe what the door into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, looked like – “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3:14-15). Right at the start of His public ministry, Jesus explained to Nicodemus that there was a day coming when He would be lifted up on a cross, crucified by the Roman authorities at the behest of the Jews, and taking on Himself the punishment that we sinners deserved. The Kingdom of God is an eternal Kingdom and one where its citizens will live for all eternity. 

To the Corinthian believers, Paul wrote, “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power“, but we will unpick that in the next blog. In the meantime, we have to understand the reality that living in God’s Kingdom in the spirit, while living in the world’s kingdom in the natural, will introduce tensions and conflicts for which God’s power is essential to be able to overcome. We pilgrims have a dual nationality. Paul was conflicted by a life in two kingdoms, and he wrote, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me” (Philippians 1:21-23). I have met Christians who are terrified of the thought of dying. All sorts of fears surface, such as leaving loved ones in a state of pain, sorrow and grief, but also the fear of the unknown, with questions around what the dying process for them will be like. Along with such thoughts come the doubts and sometimes a lack of faith bubbles to the surface. But Paul was so convinced about where he would end up after his physical death that he would have been more than happy if Jesus had whisked him away from this planet like Enoch (Genesis 5:23-24, “Enoch lived 365 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him“). 

We pilgrims have been born again by the Holy Spirit and now live for God in His Kingdom. It’s a wonderful life and one where we enjoy the presence of God in our lives day by day. And one day, we will experience an infinitely better life with Jesus forever.

Dear Heavenly Father. We are so grateful for Your plan that involved sending Jesus, Your Son, to die for our sins. We now live in Your Kingdom as Your valued children, and we look forward to the day when our life on this planet will be replaced by a life spent for all eternity with You. Amen.

Foolish Preaching

Posted on by korgrocker

s the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense.”
1 Corinthians 1:19-23 NLT

A mini-rant from Paul about the dichotomy between human and Godly wisdom introduces the theme in these five verses before us today. In his day Paul knew of men who, by reputation, were considered philosophers and who made their mark on the culture at the time. Men such as Seneca, who was a writer and advisor to the Roman emperor Nero. Then there was Epictetus, a Greek Stoic, who was born into slavery and later founded a philosophy school in Greece. Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, attempted to harmonize Jewish scripture with Greek philosophy, particularly Platonism. He believed that reason was a gift from God and that philosophy could be used to understand divine revelation. Three “wise” men, great thinkers of their day, but of whom Paul said God had made look foolish. Oratorical skills, brilliance of mind and thought, and a scholarly background all conspire to produce … a fool. Not because of their gifts, but because their thinking was all about human matters and, in the context of God and Heaven, had no value at all. A “brilliant debater” will not get into Heaven. Regardless of his words, he will still die and find a lost eternity.

Interestingly, Paul wrote that God said “that the world would never know him through human wisdom”. No-one can get into Heaven by their own efforts. I know someone who claims to have had a revelation as to what is there, and has even gone so far as to describe what God has revealed to him about Heaven. Such knowledge, he said, revealed to him that God had made Heaven with different compartments, each for a world religion. So the Buddhists would be in one place, Muslims in another and so on. The poor man, undoubtably intelligent as he is, suffers from delusions because his wisdom is earthly in its origins, and is based on his own thoughts alone, without fact or divine revelation. Part of my own testimony involves several months of trying to find God in the Bible purely by my own efforts, until, in the end, I discarded what I had thought I had found and instead called out to God for Him to reveal Himself. My prayer one Saturday night was something along the lines, “God, I can’t work this out on my own. If You are real then You will have to reveal Yourself to me”. I woke up the next morning with the assurance that God was real and through His grace He had indeed revealed Himself. That was the start of a journey, bumpy at times, but one from which I have never wavered. There is only one way to Heaven, as we know from John 14:6, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. And God in His loving graciousness has gently showed me the way, at a pace I can absorb, and He will continue to do so until I meet Him face to face. My wisdom and thinking was ineffective in its arrogance, but it was only when I came to the end of myself that God could start His work in a human being.

Paul wrote that God “has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe”. Is it foolish, to tell people everywhere about God’s saving grace? Most people we meet will say so, because their minds are limited by human wisdom. How do you introduce concepts of the spiritual world around us to people who have closed minds and who have rejected any thoughts of a “higher power”, who believe that we only live for a span for 70 or 80 years, and then enter a realm of unconscious extinction? People such as Richard Dawkins, a modern day philosopher and evolutionist, who said, “Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one.” People such as him have closed their minds against God and His Son, and instead deny any efforts to help them discover the truth. Such people will one day have a terrible shock, because they firstly will find themselves, not in a blank state of nothing, but as souls in a holding place called Sheol or Hades, and then secondly they will find themselves resurrected to stand before God to give an account of their lives. Why did Jesus describe hell as a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth? Matthew 22:13, “Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’”. The reason is that such God-deniers will have to spend eternity in a state of regret, that they rejected the One who saves and there is nothing that they can do about it. What a terrible thought!

So we pilgrims continue to be foolish in the world’s eyes as we preach to a people who are devoid of any vestige of God’s wisdom. People who are resistant to the idea of a spiritual world unseen by their natural senses, and who instead quote their human wisdom as the reason for their incalcitrance. But there is only one way that such people will ever discover God and that is through our “foolish preaching”. Paul wrote, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ” (Romans 10:14-17). So let’s double our efforts to be as foolish as we can. We never know, because such foolishness in our stories of God’s love and grace might be just what someone needs to hear and experience.

Dear Father God. There is nothing foolish about a child of God, because we have heard the divine call and have reached out to the only One who has the message of eternal life. Please help us to pass it on to the people around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God is My Strength

Posted on by korgrocker

“O Lord, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs. Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.”
Psalm 22:19-21 NLT

It is almost as though David has suddenly woken up and has now realised that God is there for him, able to save him from whatever caused his terrible vision of crucifixion. In distress and under attack he must have been, but he knew that God was his strength. But what did he mean by that? David spent much time with God, during those years looking after his father’s sheep. Instead of wiling away the time in pointless ways, David pulled out his harp or whistle, and worshiped God in the long hours. In those formative years, David learned much about God and how He helped him in times of need. We read the story of when Goliath was taunting the Israelite army and David ended up in front of King Saul. We can pick up the story in 1 Samuel 17:32, ““Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”” Saul’s response in the next verse emphasises David’s youth, ““Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”” But the next three verses were very telling, “But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!” (1 Samuel 17:24-26).‭‭ David knew all about his capabilities because God had repeatedly been his strength in a time of need. David knew that when faced with a seemingly overwhelming and fearful opponent, such as a bear or lion, God was his strength, and his relationship was such that he knew God would help him defeat this Philistine. He said to Saul, “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”” (1 Samuel 17:37).

Psalm 22, however, paints a picture of a different enemy to that of a bear, lion or even a Goliath. In Psalm 22:12-13 he wrote, “My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey”. And while facing this terrible situation, David had a vision of what his enemies would do to him. He did what we all do – get bogged down in imagining the consequences and what might happen, before we think of God. And isn’t it amazing that even when our enemies or difficult situations haven’t yet appeared, we start imagining what might happen if they did. The “wee small hours”, while we are supposed to be asleep, can become an imaginary battleground, where we stand in a place of potential danger, like the carpet in the boss’s office, or before the bank manager, and it is there that we generate various scenarios in our minds of the worst possible outcomes, and before we know it, we are living every terrible moment as if we have lost our jobs or are having to face into the consequences of bankruptcy.

There is another Psalm that I have turned to in times of distress in the past – Psalm 91. we read, “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day” (Psalm 91:3-5). A picture of God’s all-encompassing protection and salvation. But it was verse 7 that God revealed to me one day when the company I was working for had announced the necessity for redundancies. It reads, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you“. How that promise of God encouraged me, and I indeed was kept safe from losing my job.

The Apostle Paul, like David, also knew about God being his strength. We read in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength“. 

We pilgrims are convinced of God’s strength in every aspect of our lives. In fact, we know that God is so strong that He will bring us home one day regardless of our challenges and circumstances. What is there to fear? Yes, our fleshly nature sometimes rises up and gives us grief, but in the end God will prevail over all the odds. We are on the winning side, forever.

Dear Heavenly Father. You are a strong tower and we can always run to You in times of attack. We thank You today. Amen.

Abandonment

Posted on by korgrocker

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.”
Psalm 22:1-2 NLT

Why did David write Psalm 22? What was he going through at that time? We don’t really know of course, but we do know that he wasn’t in a good place. Riven by depression, his prayers failing to penetrate the clouds above him, he could find no relief. Perhaps he was sick, with some form of debilitating illness. Perhaps he had been through a situation where he felt trapped in a hopeless place, with no remedy in sight. But he did what he did often – he reached for his pen and starting writing, and we’re so glad that he did, because across his Psalms we have a legacy of situations with which we can often relate. How many times have we pilgrims woken in the small hours, anxious and worried, eventually praying but finding no answers? At such times perhaps we too think that God has abandoned us. David’s situation seemed to be going on day after day, with no relief in sight, but one thing does emerge – he calls on God. Would we have turned our backs on God, if we had been standing in David’s shoes? But in those small hours there is nothing better than for us to pick up our Bibles, head for a comfortable seat, and read a Psalm or two. And the God of comfort will minister to us I’m sure.

As we pilgrims know, Jesus cried out the words of the first verse from Psalm 22 in His dying moments on the cross. We read in Matthew 27:46, “At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”” Did Father God really abandon His Son? Jesus thought so, but did God really abandon His Son to take on our sins so that we could take on His Son’s righteousness? Sad though it might seem, that is what the Bible tells us and we have the poignant scene of Jesus, for the first time ever, cut off from His Father. David described His pain so clearly, but it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what Jesus really thought.

There is nothing worse than being abandoned. A newborn baby abandoned on a church step, a child abandoned by its mother in the hope that someone would hear the cries echoing in the darkness, bringing salvation to a young life. And then we hear of a child being abandoned through no fault of the parents, perhaps killed in a car crash or having succumbed to an illness. There is also something sad about old couples separated by the death of one of them, sometimes after 60 or 70 years even, leaving the surviving partner with a deep feeling of loss and abandonment. Jesus’ parents were riven with guilt when Jesus was lost as a young man. Mary and Joseph each thought that Jesus was with the other, and they quickly returned to Jerusalem to find Him. He wasn’t abandoned, but I expect that was what Mary and Joseph thought had happened. Abandonment is not uncommon in our day and age, and it is never pleasant. But to be abandoned in the way that Jesus was by His Father that Easter Friday – that shows just how much God loves us and how He desires for us to be with Him one day.

We read in Psalm 68:5-6a how God is interested in those who have been abandoned. “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families…”. Paul gave us a glimpse of God’s heart for His people when he wrote, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). No matter how we feel or whatever the situation, abandoned or otherwise, that we find ourselves in, God will always be there for us. 

One thing is for sure. We pilgrims will never abandon God. Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to follow other less committed followers who had abandoned Him, but Peter spoke up for all of them when he said, “ … Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68). There is no place where we would rather be, than in God’s presence forever.

Dear Lord God. You have placed eternity in our souls and we never feel that You have abandoned us. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Trust In The Lord

Posted on by korgrocker

“Your victory brings him great honour, and you have clothed him with splendour and majesty. You have endowed him with eternal blessings and given him the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord. The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.”
Psalm 21:5-7 NLT

Just a simple statement lacking drama, almost written as an aside – “For the king trusts in the Lord”. It stands as the tip of an iceberg, with much implied explanation and background information hidden beneath it. The sentence doesn’t include the how or why of David’s trust. It’s just a statement of fact. But David’s journey to the point when he could state that he trusts in the Lord began at the moment when Samuel anointed him in front of his father and brothers – “So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on …” (1 Samuel 16:13). In those pre-Messiah days the Holy Spirit didn’t live in each of God’s people all the time; instead He visited and empowered chosen people for certain tasks when the need was there. So, for David to experience the indwelling Holy Spirit was remarkable. From that moment forward, David learned through his life experiences how to trust in the Lord. Day by day, battle by battle, crisis by crisis, and David went on to write that “the unfailing love of the Most High” would keep him from ever stumbling.

But what does it mean to “trust in the Lord”? Proverbs 3:5 provides a clue, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding“. Our own understanding is flawed because so much of our humanity gets in the way. Our sins, wrong choices, lack of wisdom, and many other factors can all combine to skew our understanding and put us on a path that is far away from what God has planned for us. And, sadly, it is often the case that when we find ourselves in a place of difficulty, there through our own choices, we then turn to God for the guidance that we needed right at the beginning. Proverbs 14:12 reminds us, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death“. 

To be able to trust in someone, we need to get to a place where we can find something in that person that inspires that trust. I trust in my wife of many years because I have come to know her and have experienced her wisdom on many occasions. I know her Godly ways and her willingness to spend long hours in prayer to find God’s will. So before any important decisions are made, I trust her to have the wisdom needed. But can I say the same thing about our politicians? But we won’t go down that rabbit trail today. There is only one way to say, as David did, that we trust in the Lord, and that is through spending time, a lot of time, with God, and trusting Him with everyday matters, in the process building up a relationship on which we can depend. We make sure that we honour and treasure our “Quiet Times” in God’s presence, reading His Word, and engaging Him in prayer. We bring before Him all the hassles and problems, the decisions to be made, our difficulties and stresses, that we face in the day ahead. 

God has made many promises to us. Let us consider one from Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus“. In another Psalm David wrote, “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25). God said that He will supply all our needs and, as David said, if we look around at our fellow believers we see that this is indeed a true statement. But we do see those suffering around us as the result of choices influenced by their own understanding, tainted as it is by sin and a lack of wisdom. We pilgrims search out God’s promises in His Word and apply them in our daily lives, finding that God is indeed unchangeable and true to His Word.

When we trust in God, we are handing control of our lives to the One who knows what is best for us. God sees the End from the Beginning, and when Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to leave Him, Peter replied, “ … Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68). There is no other way to complete our journey through life. There is no other ideology, or doctrine, or religion, that will assure us a place in the Home our spirits desire. Only God knows the way we need to take in our lives and we trust Him in the process.

Dear Father God. We proclaim our trust in You today and every day. We praise and worship You. Amen.