Wholesome Thinking

Posted on by korgrocker

“This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Saviour commanded through your apostles.”
2 Peter 3:1-2 NLT

This is Peter starting to wrap up his letter, reminding his readers in Asia Minor what the purposes of his letter were. In fact, his first letter had the same purpose as his second – making and encouraging disciples. He wanted to strengthen their faith so that they could stand on their own spiritual feet by themselves. If there was anyone qualified to write this letter, with its encouragements and wisdom, its warnings and scope, it was Peter. The fisherman from Galilee, impetuous, outspoken, but with a special place in church history. Jesus said to him, “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (Matthew 16:18). So as a trusted disciple with a trusted mission in the future of Jesus’ church, the local representation of this church in the five provinces of what is now modern Turkey was important both to him and to God. In fact he referred to his readers as “dear friends” perhaps indicating that he knew them all personally. 

In Peter’s day there was no New Testament as we know it. The Apostle’s teaching was the gold standard for those early believers and it was only through the letters written by them, or by personal visits, that the Gospel message was propagated. Peter was executed about 68 AD and his second letter was probably written a year or two before that. The Gospels may have been written just after this, though we can’t be sure. So those early believers were particularly vulnerable to false teaching and error. But Peter carefully “tried to stimulate [their] wholesome thinking and refresh [their] memory“.

What did Peter therefore wish to remind the early believers of? A disciple of Jesus Christ builds his faith on the foundational truths of the Gospel, truths laid down by the Apostles, the men who had been with Jesus. The men who stood up in the Sanhedrin and confounded the Jewish leaders with their boldness and wisdom. Acts 4:13, “The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” What a tremendous accolade – being noticed as having been with Jesus. Do those around us make the same connection? Hmm..

Jesus’ first disciples were giants of the faith. They had experienced the tongues of fire at Pentecost. They were men driven by their love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit within them. The words of Jesus never forgotten, words still ringing in their ears. And words they now repeated over and over again to anyone who would listen and who would embrace the Saviour as they had done. Words of eternal life, of the Kingdom of God, of Jesus Himself. 

What is the “wholesome thinking” that Peter referred to? Paul’s words might help us with an answer, because he reminded his readers of how they should align and renew their thoughts. We read in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy“. Those early believers weren’t on their own because they had the Holy Spirit within them, bringing to their remembrance what they had been taught. Bringing to their minds “wholesome thinking” from the teachings of Jesus.

What do we pilgrims think about such a reminder from Peter’s letter? Don’t need to hear it? Or something we take on board and remind ourselves to once again open the Bible, perhaps to a section we have neglected.  There are many distractions in our world and our thoughts can quickly rush off to irrelevancies and even untruths. We are constantly exposed to information, most of which is unwholesome and can even draw us away into wrong thinking. We, like those early Christians, need to “refresh [our] memories”. Regularly, and frequently. And against the timeless truths of Scripture, the things of the world grow strangely dim. We need to become, and stay, close to Jesus – only He has the words of eternal life.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways; reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find, in deeper reverence, praise. Amen.

Being Vulnerable

Posted on by korgrocker

“They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.”
2 Peter 2:18 NLT

‭‭It’s a big transition, moving from the kingdom of the world into the Kingdom of God. From a monochrome darkness into the glorious technicolour of God’s presence. And the devil doesn’t like it because his mission is to kill and destroy anything God has made. We read in 1 Peter 5:8, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour“. The time when a Christian is most vulnerable, comes after they have been born again into God’s Kingdom. They, like a natural baby, will lack the defences they need, and will often rely on others to protect and nourish them. 

The one person a new Christian comes to trust in is their pastor. He or she may have brought them to faith and a dependency, at least initially, can result. But our pastors sometimes have their baggage, and they can bring with them their own world views and ideologies that may or may not be helpful for a new Christian. But Peter was going further then that. He was concerned with teachers whose curriculum extended beyond the purity of the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus. These false teachers had come up with their own version of the gospel and it wasn’t always “good news” for a new believer. One of the things a new believer has to face into is how to deal with their own behaviour and habits, and the Holy Spirit will gently bring conviction to start the baby Christian on the road to maturity. So imagine the scenario where a teacher says something is acceptable when God says it isn’t. Peter mentioned in his writings “twisted sexual desires”, but this is only one area of potential error. 

Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The world is full of spiritual traps and enticements. The society around us has adopted an “if it feels good then just do it” philosophy and to stand firm against such an inward looking ideology takes courage and fortitude. For a person to move kingdoms will mean, as Peter wrote, them leaving behind a “lifestyle of deception”. A believer must therefore be firmly anchored in the truth, discerning and recognising the snares that may be disguised as appealing opportunities. Only then can they avoid replacing one sinful lifestyle with another.

Some years ago, someone in the church I was a member of asked me a basic question about our faith, and I gently asked what the Bible said. To my surprise, they admitted that they didn’t have a Bible, let alone read it. I gave them my own, and suggested that it might be a good idea to go away and read it, because only in God’s Word would they find the answer to the questions about faith and the Christian life. A Scripture I often quote is from John 6:68-69, “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”“. We must shift our allegiance and dependencies away from total dependency on another human being, no matter what their status is in life, and onto our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Of course, God uses pastors and teachers to help us in our journey of sanctification, but we must always check out what they say by reference to our Bibles. One church I attended was criticised for preaching sermons based on a book, but not from The Book. Instead of the purity of God’s Word they used a work from an author, albeit one well respected in Christian circles. We need to hear God for ourselves, because only He has the Words He wants us to hear.

Psalm 119 begins, “Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths” (Psalm 119:1-3). When we pilgrims do that, there is no room for false teaching to muscle in.

Dear Father God. Indeed, only You, and You alone, have the words of eternal life. As we reach out to You today we pray that You will keep us safe from the evil one and his ploys. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Free or Slave

Posted on by korgrocker

“For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.”
1 Peter 2:16 NLT

Here is a paradox, if ever there was one! How can we be enslaved and free at the same time? But from a spiritual perspective, we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. We can’t be both. Romans 6:16, “Don’t you realise that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living”. The problem is that we look at the word “slave” from a natural perspective and an image forms in our mind consisting of prison cells, or chains, or oppressive authoritarian controls. Here in the West we consider ourselves to be free to do what we want, and consequently we are not slaves. But is that really the case? We are bounded by the laws of the land, which are mostly there for the benefit of the citizens, but we can also be restricted by our natural abilities, or lack of them. For example, someone who has lost the use of their legs, forcing use of a wheel chair, may consider that they are slaves of their disability. 

Peter, in our verse today, was writing about spiritual freedom. And his fellow Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6:17-18, “Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living”. Paul really had a gift of clarity, and in Romans 6:19 we read, “Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy”. And Romans 6 finishes with the well know reason for why we need to choose very carefully who or what we allow ourselves be enslaved to. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

The internet throbs with testimonies of people in slavery but who are really some of the most free people we are likely to meet. People living in prison camps, or being persecuted with their homes burnt down, or excluded from all but the most menial of jobs. People who are trafficked to other countries where they are forced to work long hours as slaves. A quote from gotquestions.org, “Slavery has come to mean degradation, hardship, and inequality. But the biblical paradigm is the true freedom of the slave of Christ who experiences joy and peace, the products of the only true freedom we will ever know in this life”.

In John 8 we read what Jesus said about slavery. “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:34-36). In Christ we have the freedom we were designed to have. A life enslaved to sin is a life counter to God’s creation plan, but a life enslaved to God guarantees us a life that will never end. A final word for us pilgrims from Romans 6:4, “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives”. Faced with such a stark choice, we pilgrims have chosen the way of eternal life. There is no other way.

Dear Father God. We thank You that You have laid before us a choice, made possible through Jesus Your Son. Please help us to echo Joshua’s declaration, “…as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”. Amen.

Powerful Preaching

Posted on by korgrocker

“They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.”
1 Peter 1:12 NLT

Peter knew all about the Good News. He lived with its Author for over three years learning all about it and even getting the opportunity to practise it. After a “wobbly” at Jesus’ trial, and his subsequent restoration over a breakfast of fried fish, he stayed largely below the radar until that momentous day, the Day of Pentecost. And then he came forward with the other Apostles, and announced the Good News. He provided a foretaste of what happens when a preacher dispenses his or her message of Good News “in the power of the Holy Spirit”. Not for Peter, or any of the other Apostles, was the preaching going to be a message full of flummery. It was the raw truth of the Good News.

Peter commenced his preaching by quoting the prophecy of Joel 2, which ends, “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21). His accurate quotation of an Old Testament Scripture, was the first evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing to his remembrance just the right verses at the right time. Jesus of course said this would happen, as we read in John 16:13, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” But Jesus also warned His disciples that when faced with a stressful situation in front of the rulers and authorities of the day, the Holy Spirit would help them with what they should say. We read in Matthew 10:19-20, “When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you”. So Peter probably amazed himself with the words that came from his mouth – it wasn’t him but the Holy Spirit bringing words of power and conviction.

There is no shortage of opportunities to find out what the “Good News” actually is. The internet is a source of such information of course. And we have the wayside pulpits outside traditional church buildings and more besides. The sincere seekers after the truth of the “Good News” will find it. But for everyone else there is a lethargy, a fatigue, when it comes to things of God. We pilgrims of course look for opportunities ourselves to share what God has done for us, testimonies that are real and relevant. But we pilgrims are not all preachers. Or so we think. We may think of a preacher being someone dressed in a white gown and delivering a formal message from a piece of church furniture we call a pulpit. An ornately carved wooden construction usually elevated in a corner of the building and accessed via a number of stairs hidden behind a wooden façade. And a message is delivered but is it “Good News”? That of course depends on Peter’s assertion that the “Good News” must be “preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven”. Without the Holy Spirit’s presence the announcement will usually fall flat and will be largely ineffective.

Before He left this world, Jesus gave His disciples an instruction. “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15). There is a different dynamic if the preaching includes the Holy Spirit’s power, however. We read in Acts 4:31, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness”. Something called conviction ensures that the message is powerful. There has been many a preacher without a personal relationship with Jesus who nevertheless has preached the Gospel. But those who know that Jesus is their personal Saviour have an even more powerful message.

We pilgrims of course may not grace a pulpit with our presence. But we do have a message to share about what Jesus has done for us. In the pulpit of life we have the words that can make a difference to where someone will spend eternity. Romans 10:14, “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”? We are “someone tells them” pilgrims. Let’s not miss any opportunity that comes our way.

Dear God. Please forgive us for when we make simple things like sharing what Jesus has done for us, so complicated. Your words of eternal life will reach any receptive hearts and we pray for the same boldness that the early disciples had. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Trials and Testing

Posted on by korgrocker

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

Life for a Christian must have been difficult in the five provinces in those days. Peter wrote about “trials”. We don’t know what they were but we can imagine. News reports today of the trials experienced by Christians in other countries dominated by hostile religions and governments will give us a good idea. For example, in India today, Christians are under attack, and the violence against them has been steadily increasing over recent years, with 2023 the most violent so far. So Christians endure arrests, beatings, and killings. Churches are burned down and pastors arrested and thrown into gaol. That would have been the life for those early believers living in the first Century Turkish societies.

Peter encourages the believers, saying that they “must endure many trials for a little while”. Why? Because there is “wonderful joy ahead”. Peter continued in saying the these trials are necessary to refine faith and ensure commitment is genuine. And as he pauses with pen raised, a picture before him of a worker in precious metals purifying gold comes into his mind, a picture that he immediately connects with the process of refining faith through trials. You see, no one is going to falsely claim to be a Christian for long if it is going to cost him beyond what he is prepared to pay. The trials, Peter was saying, will shake out anyone who is not prepared to pay the price for being a Christian.

The recent Covid pandemic with its lockdowns here in the UK saw church attendance plummet and, for many, it has not recovered. The Church of England has claimed attendance at weekly church services is down by a third. And that is without all the trials Peter was writing about. But regardless of pandemics and the like, there is still a substantial cost involved in being a Christian. We pilgrims are not running our own lives anymore, in accordance with our own sinful and selfish desires. We look to God for guidance and try and follow His ways which are often contrary to our own human viewpoint. 

Jesus once made a statement to the crowd of people following Him that was extraordinary in its implication. He said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Strong words but they contain a message about the commitment required to be a follower of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them”. 

So we pilgrims, mostly sitting in the comfort of our lives, look around us and reflect with the question – if this was all taken away would I still be a follower of Christ? My wife and I were faced with an extremely painful situation when we were called to discuss the prognosis and treatment for our seriously ill daughter. We were told that she would be unlikely to survive her illness and that we should prepare for the worst. I can remember that in our prayers we believed that God would heal her. But we also had to face the reality of what we do if she was taken from us. We concluded that we would still praise Him, follow Him and trust Him. Thankfully He did heal her but perhaps we briefly experienced the trials Peter wrote about. Many disciples stopped following Jesus because of His hard teaching, and as they disappeared over the horizon Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked them if they wanted to leave as well. We read in John 6:68, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life”. We have before us the short-term cost of being a Jesus follower, but longer term we will find ”much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world”. When will that be? We don’t have a date but we do know that one day Jesus will return to this planet.  Let’s not forget that. We need to get ready for His return because it could be tomorrow.

Dear God. We know that eternal life with You is the only goal we should consider. Please help us in our journey, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Enthusiasm

Posted on by korgrocker

“So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God.“
Romans 15:17 NLT

Paul wrote in his letter that he was enthusiastic about all that Christ Jesus had done through him. Paul’s life wasn’t just about being an itinerant preacher. Going around from pulpit to pulpit, delivering messages and sermons to a receptive audience. He was a counter-cultural fire-brand speaking about God’s message of hope, the Gospel. He told his listeners about Jesus, the Son of God crucified for the salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike, and they mostly didn’t want to hear it, because it was a message that demanded a response. Paul wouldn’t have held back – his message was black and white. No room for compromise. It was Heaven or hell. Repentance or judgement. And the peoples of the societies in which he found himself largely rejected him, sometimes violently. 

In Ephesus, Paul’s message turned the city upside down, to the extent that the silversmiths making idols for the goddess Artemis were afraid that they were about to lose their livelihood. So they started a riot – we can read about it Acts 19. Paul’s message had quite an impact, I think we can all agree. Paul got into more bother in Philippi, where he ended up in gaol, having been beaten by the local law enforcers. We can read that story in Acts 16. It wasn’t just his message, it was the “enthusiastic” way he delivered it with power and with signs following. We read in Mark 16:20, “And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs”. 

Sometimes I dream about being in meetings where the preaching of the word was so powerful that people were flocking to hear it and conviction of sin was universal. Where the Word of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit came upon people in the street, their workplaces, their homes. The Holy Spirit power and presence was such that God was real to everyone, and healings were commonplace. It’s never going to happen, the sceptic might say, but it did happen in the first century, and has happened at various times since. We pilgrims must pray for another visitation from God to this war-torn planet. 

How enthusiastic are we pilgrims in our Christian witness? Do we hold back, not wanting to offend anyone? Unfortunately, the Gospel is an offence to those who hear it, because it confronts them with their sins, and the fact that they are a broken people. The one solution involves repentance, death to themselves and future life devoted to God. The old is replaced by the new. We can speak enthusiastically about God’s saving grace through Jesus, but most people in our societies will reject both us and the message we are delivering. But enthusiastic we must be, because of Jesus and His love for us. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again”. 

The Message of the Cross is life changing and we must share Paul’s enthusiasm by sharing it in our generation. We have no other option.

Dear Lord Jesus. It is only You that spoke the words of eternal life. Please help us to echo them in our families and communities, in our schools and workplaces. In You precious names’ sake. Amen.

Paul’s Prayer

Posted on by korgrocker

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13 NLT

The word “hope” appears twice in this verse, and it points out that the hope Paul is writing about is something that comes from God. So it isn’t a natural hope, like “I hope it doesn’t rain today” or “I hope we have a good holiday”. Paul continues to pray in the next sentence that this “hope” is something full of confidence and powered by the Holy Spirit. And the consequence of this “hope” is a complete infilling with two qualities enjoyed by Christians – “joy and peace”. Perhaps when we consider this verse we are looking for a meaning to the word “hope” that is different from the world view.

As we look into other parts of the Bible we see that “hope” is a word often associated with “faith”. We read Hebrews 11:1 from the Amplified version, “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]” (emphasis mine). It’s the fact that a Christian’s “hope” is “divinely guaranteed” that is exciting. We believe through faith that the promises of God will come to pass. We “trust in Him”, as Paul wrote.

What God-given promise is most likely to fill us with “joy and peace”? A “hope” that God has guaranteed? There are many such hopes written in the Bible, but where else can we initially turn to other than to John 3:16? We read, “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”. The promise is that one day we will “have everlasting life”. Eternal life. Endless life spent in God’s presence. In Revelation 21:3-4, we receive a hint of what this future life will be like. “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” “Death or sorrow or crying or pain” just about sums up every negative human emotion and experience and we “hope” that one day God will deliver the promise to do away with them “forever”. And, poignantly, God will personally be involved with each one of us, wiping away our tears.

In the meantime, we have a “hope” in this life. Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope“. As we journey through the years remaining in our natural lives, God reminds us that He has good plans for us. He sees our years laid out before us, and He knows what’s coming our way. Perhaps some people view this as a negative. Weary people populating a pew and waiting for the day when they cross the Great Divide and enter eternal life. But God has so much more for us in this life. Exciting things. Things that are the manifestation of our hope in Him. And Paul’s prayer was that we would experience “joy and peace” as we “trust in Him”. What a prayer! But what a Saviour!

Dear Lord. Thank You for showing a world without hope that there is a future. We are a part of Your plans, and so we declare our trust in You with our future, in this life and the next. Amen.

Personal Account

Posted on by korgrocker

“So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.’” Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.”
Romans 14:10-13 NLT

This is a scary thought. Paul wrote, “Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God”.  Will that mean that over our lifetimes God is keeping a balance sheet of all the good we have done, and comparing it with all the lies and wickedness, and if the total at the bottom comes out with a plus sign, we will be ok? Sorry, but that is not how it will work. Just one negative entry will be enough to condemn us to an eternal life of misery. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37, “And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you”. We read about this judgement day in Revelation 20, 11-15, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire”. So on this judgement day, there will be lots of books. Each person will have his own volume, or volumes, detailing every act they had done in their life. Jesus said that every deed includes every idle word spoken, and He also gave a few more details of deeds in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, that we can read in Matthew 25, which ends, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

All these Scriptures are enough to make us depressed because the implication is that no-one will be good enough to enter God’s presence. There is no way that we humans can behave in a way that appears righteous to God. But there is a ray of light embedded in these Scriptures. “And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire”. There is a Book that records the names of everyone who is righteous in God’s sight. And the challenge of how we get our names there depends on our individual choice and God’s grace.

First of all we have to say that most people don’t want to be bothered with such a thought, putting it all down to myths or fanciful feelings. After all, they say, no-one has returned to validate these verses in the Bible. Our scientists cannot empirically measure the reality of such a Book, so it can’t be real they say. You won’t find a copy in the local reference library either. Other people have decided that they don’t want to go to Heaven anyway, their thoughts based on mistaken views of God and what Heaven will be like. After all, they think what is the point of spending their time in worshipping a God who they don’t know, and who they have probably wrongly blamed for much of the evil that we can see in the world around us. Not deliberate thoughts logically applied, probably, but that is their intent.

On the first day of Pentecost, Peter preached a powerful sermon and we read this in Acts 2:37, “Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter’s timeless and profound answer was, ” … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). If anyone wants to ensure that their names are written in God’s Book of Life, then this is where they must start. They must “repent of [their] sins and turn to God“. By the way, that must have been some day, because we read in Acts 2:41, “Those who believed what Peter said were baptised and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all“. Modern evangelicals make an altar call, inviting people to “give their hearts to Jesus”. That is in there of course, but, sadly, they often omit the first step – repentance of sins.

We pilgrims follow Jesus because only He is the Son of God. We echo Peter’s words, recorded in John 6:68, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life“. Only by following and obeying Jesus will we ensure our future in Heaven. And when we get to stand before God, He will proclaim us “Not Guilty”, because when He sees us He sees Jesus, pure and sinless.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Jesus and all that he did for us. Amen.

Rejoice in Hope

Posted on by korgrocker

“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
Romans 12:12 NLT

What do we hope for? The answer will depend on our circumstances. A resident of Ukraine will be hoping for an end to the current war. A young single mum in poor quality accommodation will be hoping for something better. A young man stuck in a dead end job will be hoping for a new opportunity. People hope that they will win the lottery. After another breakdown, a driver will be hoping that they can afford a new car. A student will be hoping that they get a good mark in their finals. An old person lying in a hospital bed will be hoping that they can get home soon. The list of “hopes” is endless, and totally related to our circumstances at the time. But these are all temporal “hopes”, grounded in our humanity and time being spent on Planet Earth. They all refer to a “hope” pinned to a point sometime in the future. Possibly to come to fruition, if at all, in a day or two. Or years away. The “hope” of mankind is a wistful thought, unlikely to happen, but rooted in a fantasy, often totally unrealistic but imagined anyway. Call it wishful thinking.

Paul wrote about a different “hope”. Galatians 5:5, “For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope”. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. Romans 8:23-25, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)” Can we see the picture that is building through these Scriptures? Through our relationship with God we have faith that what He has said will come to pass. So our hope is much more than wishful thinking. It is rooted and grounded by faith in the assurance, through the Holy Spirit living within us, that one day we will be in God’s presence, with all that means.

Paul was convinced that the hope he had was going to happen. He started his letter to Titus, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness – in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:1-2, emphasis mine). No messing about with Paul. His hope for the future and eternal life was based on something far more tangible than human hopes and wishes. It was based on his faith that what God said will happen will indeed happen one day. 

We pilgrims have a message of hope for this hopelessly dark and evil world. We too have a “hope” like Paul’s, sharing His faith and assurance. And we must tell those around us, in our families, communities, schools, and workplaces, that Heaven is real, and Jesus saves all who come to Him. Living out our hope will not be easy. We will experience ridicule and persecution. Opportunities in this world may be lost to us. We will have to make difficult choices as we live out the hope we have for an eternal future. However, Jeremiah exposed God’s heart when he wrote, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, emphasis mine). Wherever we are in our Christian walk, we have a hope, an assurance even, that one day in the future we will be with God in Heaven. The Holy Spirit who lives within us says so. 

Dear Father God. One day we will be with You in Heaven. You promised us that in Your Word. You said it, so we believe it. We pray that this transformational truth will motivate and empower us as we share the Good News with all around us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Looking for God

Posted on by korgrocker

“So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favour of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say, “God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.” Likewise, David said, “Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they deserve. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent forever.””
Romans 11:7-10 NLT

Paul wrote that most of the “people of Israel” looked earnestly for God but failed to find Him. So what were they looking for? In the Jewish heritage there was the Law, and His people generally thought that if they could follow the Law legalistically and completely, they would find God’s favour. Paul wrote, however, that their hearts had become hardened, and they failed to either see Him or hear Him. 

In a recent survey, a majority of UK respondents said that they believe in some form of higher power. Not the Christian God necessarily, but a god of some form or another. There is something implicit within humans that cause them to embark on a journey of searching for the “god” they somehow think is there, but know little about. So up springs all sorts of religions and sects, ideologies, beliefs and ideas about who or what this “god” might be like. Sometimes it seems that everyone we meet, if asked, has a different view. At one extreme we might find the occult, with all the paraphernalia that goes with it. We find all sorts of meditation-based  philosophies, like Yoga or Mindfulness, that try and find their “god” within them. Then there are the people who have made a religion out of the film Star Wars, and now claim to be Jedi Knights. We have, of course, the established religions of Buddhism and Hinduism. The list seems endless. People look “so earnestly” but fail to hear the “still small voice” of God whispering in their souls. There is only one true God, and only one way to find Him. Jesus said, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). God, when He created mankind, designed within them the need to worship their Creator. But our enemy, the devil, wants that worship for himself. Sadly, he has been, and still is, very successful in getting it.

Paul, in Romans 11:8, quotes from Isaiah 29. The context is that through the prophet Isaiah, God tells the people of Israel that He is fed up with their rebellion and wicked deeds. We read in Isaiah 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”. And in Isaiah 29:15, “What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The Lord can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!”” God’s patience with them was expiring and He responds, “Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor! For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries” (Isaiah 29:9-10). A people literally sleep-walking into disaster. But in it all, Paul said there was still a few who remained faithful to God. God was still there for the rest, but through their choices, their hearts became hardened, and unable to hear that “still small voice”. 

But we enlightened Christians today, recipients of God’s love and grace, of course don’t believe that we would fall into such a trap. We would never find ourselves in a position of spiritual blindness or deafness, would we? But I think that if Isaiah was with us today, he would deliver the same message of God’s impending judgement. We pilgrims share our messages of hope with people around us who are truly deaf and blind, with hearts hardened by their life choices. But we go on providing hope for the lost regardless.

One thing we pilgrims regularly need to do, however, is to look after our own hearts. Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. Through contact with a sinful world, our hearts can become calloused, blind and deaf. We need to have sensitive spirits to hear what our loving Heavenly Father has to say to us. His whispers can be easily drowned out by life’s clamours.

Dear Father. Through Your Son Jesus we have found the way to eternal life. There is no other way. We praiser and worship You today. Amen.