God is Jealous

Posted on by korgrocker

“What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too. What? Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?”
1 Corinthians 10:19-22 NLT

Paul asked two questions: “Do we dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy? Do you think we are stronger than he is?” Taking the first, Paul had already stated that it is impossible to worship demons, in the form of idols, and worship God at the same time. Doing such a thing, Paul said, would be in danger of rousing “the Lord’s jealousy”. Many years before, the Israelites had been told: “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you” (Exodus 34:14). 

However, we know that jealousy is a sin; so, what does it mean when the word is connected with God? In a human sense, jealousy is a negative emotion we feel when we look at something someone else owns and express a desire to own it ourselves. Jealousy can lead to theft or worse, just for the opportunity to own something we cannot afford to buy. Or jealousy can apply to how we feel about another person’s job, or their ability to do something we can’t. Earlier in Exodus, we read, “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. …” (Exodus 20:4-5a). Notice that God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him. Worship, praise, honour, and adoration belong to God alone, for only He is truly worthy of it. Therefore, God is rightly jealous when worship, praise, honour, or adoration is given to idols.

The second question Paul asked was: “Do you think we are stronger than he is?” Of course, the answer is that we are not. But the implication is that by thinking we can involve ourselves with the worship of demons, we are effectively putting ourselves in a place where we think we know best, leaving God out of the situation. This is a dangerous place to be, because our God will not tolerate this, and, with His anger aroused, we are facing a slippery slope that could ultimately end in hell. 

What do we pilgrims make of these two questions? We should first remember our place as God’s children and who our Heavenly Father is. We read Psalm 147:4-5: “He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!” We only have to read Genesis 1, and we find how great God is, so we can never say we know better than He does. God knows more than anyone the importance of worshipping Him, because if we don’t, we will find ourselves worshipping something that ultimately could turn out to be a demon. Those of us who are a bit older will remember Bob Dylan’s song ”Gotta Serve Somebody”, which uses the phrase to mean that everyone must ultimately serve either “the devil or the Lord”. 

We worship God, not because He needs our worship, but because of who He is. Within us is an inbuilt desire to worship, and all because we are created in God’s image. We must never forget who God is and why we need to focus our worship and praise on Him. We turn to Jesus, God’s Son, and remember what He did for us. We remember the time when we nailed our “old man” to the Cross of Calvary, so that Jesus could release our “new man, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”. How can we not turn our praise and worship, our awe and adoration, to our Heavenly Father?

Dear God. Please help us refocus our hearts and minds on You today, so that we can give You the worship You deserve. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Real Father

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.” “Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example. Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.””
John 8:37-41 NLT

The Pharisees and others in the Jewish crowd around Jesus in the Temple were convinced that they were descendants of Abraham and therefore they knew better than Jesus. They thought that they were on the moral high ground over this interloper, who was making claims that He was greater than Abraham. Jesus said that when He was with His Father in Heaven He was looking on as Abraham was prophesying about Him. God said to Abraham, “indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. Through your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have heard and obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:17-18 AMP). Some Bible translations take “seed” as being plural, meaning descendants, but others interpret “seed” as being singular, pointing to Jesus, the Messiah to come. So down the ages perhaps Abraham saw a glimpse of the Messiah, through Whom would come the salvation of the world.

Jesus rightly pointed out to the crowd that Abraham would never have wanted to kill the One whom he foresaw, so how could Abraham be the father of the Pharisees, who were fostering murder in their hearts. And therefore, as much as they stressed their heritage, there could only be one father of the Pharisees, and that was the devil himself. That made them illegitimate, something they protested vigorously. And once again they proclaimed that God was their true Father. So who was right? Who spoke the truth? We know from hindsight, and our own faith, the answer to that question, but in front of Jesus was a people who refused to accept what He said. I suppose if Jesus had said the words they wanted to hear, words that didn’t conflict with their world view and preconceived ideologies, then they would have accepted Him, but they had no room in their hearts for a counter-cultural message of truth from God’s Son.

The real father of the Pharisees could not have been Abraham, Jesus said. But bringing the same issue up to date, we have theologians and others who have interpreted the Bible to suit their own ends but to whom Jesus would direct the same message. Men and women who deny Biblical truths by saying that Jesus was just a good man, that His birth never came from a sinless conception, that many of His miraculous signs never really happened, and that His Resurrection was just Jesus recovering after swooning on the cross. Would these same people have argued with Jesus, if He came and stood among them, repeating once again His message that only those who believe in Him would receive eternal life? Would their real father emerge once again, driving the dissenting words that sought to destroy Jesus and His message? We pilgrims need to be constantly on our guards, lest we too get drawn into a position that seems plausible but pulls us towards a different father.

Dear Father God. We confess today that only You are our true Father. Only You have the grace to save us from the other father in this world. Amen.

“Where Is Your Father”

Posted on by korgrocker

“Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.” “Where is your father?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.”
John 8:17-20 NLT

From these four verses we learn something significant about Jesus’ Father. Firstly, He had sent Jesus on His mission of salvation to Planet Earth, and secondly, Jesus’ Father would be instantly recognisable to anyone who knew Jesus. Of course, in our Western minds, we immediately think of two separate and individual people – a Father and a Son – but their relationship was more than that. They were, and still are, two members of the Trinity, and we know that the third person would soon be coming to the lives of those early believers and disciples, because Jesus said so. Regarding His relationship with His Father, Jesus later said in John 10:30, “The Father and I are one”. Regarding the third member of the Trinity, Jesus said in John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you”. We pilgrims worship a triune God, and in the Old Testament we can find references to all three members of the Trinity, who appeared at various times.

This unique relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity is even more amazing when we understand that the third Person, the Holy Spirit, lives within us. He is a Gift sent by God. Peter preached, “ … 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. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God” (Acts 2:38-39). The Holy Spirit within us brings us right into God’s domain, allowing us access to His thoughts – 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us”. We know from John 10 that the Holy Spirit will never leave us and will lead us into all the truth we need about God and His Kingdom. The Holy Spirit will also point to Jesus – John 16:14-15, “He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me’”. 

The relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity is much closer than we might think. The old hymn ends with this line, “God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity”. Jesus often referred to His Father While He was here on earth. Many times He went away into the hills, especially early in the morning, to spend time with Him. Throughout His ministry, the Holy Spirit was in Jesus, empowering and supporting Him regardless of His circumstances. And to think that we pilgrims have the same opportunity is mind boggling.

When people look at us, do they see what God sees? A child of God, righteous and blessed, who has been saved through Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary? Would other people get a glimpse of Father God in us? Nevertheless, we shine as beacons of hope in our world, bringing God’s message to those around us. Perhaps our friends and family will see something of Father God as we witness to all we have seen and heard. Jesus had a simple message to those people around Him. “Believe in Me and you will live forever”. Too good to be true? Too good not to be.

Dear Lord Jesus, we once again declare our love for You, acknowledging all You have done for us. We worship You today. Amen.

God, the Life Giver

Posted on by korgrocker

“For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.”
John 5:21 NLT

Jesus was confronted by the Jewish leaders for telling a man healed by the Pool of Bethesda, and on the Sabbath, to ” … Pick up [his] mat and walk” (John 5:11b). Such an instruction was, to the Jews, a violation of the Law of Moses, which forbids working on the Sabbath. A petty, nit-picking, interpretation that overlooked, or ignored, the wonderful and life-changing healing of a man, paralysed for thirty eight years. But as we see at the start of John 5:19, “So Jesus explained…”. Jesus’ explanation was lengthy and detailed, and we don’t know how, in the end, it was received by the Jews. I suspect that they failed to understand, in line with the prophecy in Isaiah 6:9, “And he said, “Yes, go, and say to this people, ‘Listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing.’“”

Jesus said to the Jews that His father “gives life to those he raises from the dead”. Did He mean physical or spiritual life? I believe that Jesus was explaining spiritual life because Jesus’ primary mission to Planet Earth was to bring abundant life. John 10:10b, ” … I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly“. In this context, we read what He said to Nicodemus 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“. And to anyone who believes in Jesus, comes the God-given promise that they will never die. In effect, Jesus said that His Father, through His grace and love, brings about a miracle in the lives of spiritually dead people, who, when they believe in Him, can experience eternal life. 

We pilgrims are people who will never die. Yes, one day our mortal bodies, will die, but through God’s promise of eternal life, our spirits will live on. And then one day after that we will receive our new bodies, as promised and as we read in Philippians 3:21, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control”. We can read more about our new bodies in I Thessalonians 4. But the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:1-3, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies”. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that His Father raises the spiritually dead people to eternal life with Him, and that He too gave the same life to anyone He wanted. Oh, and for good measure, He can raise physically dead people as well.

Jesus said, and as recorded in John 14:6, ” … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. The only way in which human beings can experience being raised from the dead is through Jesus. It takes faith, that God will do what He has promised. But the alternative is a life snuffed out when we die, with our spirits heading for eternal life in a place where we don’t want to be. We can experience this new life now while we are still alive, through our growing relationship with God. We find that he is a real Person, who loves and cares for us. He helps us in times of difficulties. He leads and guides us in our journey through life. And we can share this hope we possess with those around us.

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for the life that You have given us. We look forward to the time when we will join You in Paradise. Thank You. Amen.

Father and Son

Posted on by korgrocker

“So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.”
John 5:19 NLT

Jesus and His Heavenly Father had a very close relationship, perhaps only limited by Jesus’ humanity. But spiritually they were so close that Jesus could truthfully say His ministry and presence on earth was totally aligned to the will of Father God. Jesus in fact said that without that relationship, He could do nothing. To the Jewish leaders Jesus was a severe threat. On the one hand they could see the miracles that He did, indisputable acts of healing and mercy, but on the other they had the problem that Jesus claimed that these miracles were directly due to His relationship with His Father showing Him what to do. The Jewish religious leaders had never encountered anything like this before and didn’t know how to handle Jesus. Throughout His ministry, Jesus was shadowed and harassed by the Jews, who were trying to build a dossier of “crimes” that could result in Him being prosecuted and silenced for good. But in His trial before Pilate, no crime was found, and particularly one that deserved the death sentence. We read in John 18:38b, ” … Then [Pilate] went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime”“.

Jesus only spoke truths when He was here on earth. 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“”. Not even a hint of a lie ever passed Jesus’ lips. He made no attempt to ingratiate Himself with the Jewish leaders. He just spoke out, and performed miracles, all perfectly in line with what was happening through His Father in Heaven. But the Incarnation was all about Jesus taking on human flesh. He was for a time willing to leave behind Him His Godly life, and become a human being. Of course, He was still God, but human limitations were very much present in His life on earth. But the reason for His coming is explained in Hebrews 2:14, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death“.

But all who have put their trust and faith in God are God’s offspring. John 1:12, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God“. We pilgrims are brothers and sisters, children of a Father who lives in Heaven, and we have an elder brother called Jesus. Hebrews 2:11, “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters“. So, we read today’s verse, John 5:19, in a different light. Just as Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, so must we pilgrims. It probably won’t place us in the upper echelons of the popularity charts, but we too must live our lives in accordance with His will, not ours. 

Dear God. Thank You for Jesus, our dear elder brother. Through His love He was prepared to die for us, taking on our sins so that we could be part of Your family. We are so grateful. Amen.

Heirs of God’s Glory

Posted on by korgrocker

“For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
Romans 8:16-17 NLT

Paul’s logical journey continues. He has already dropped a bombshell by saying that Christians are fellow brothers and sisters. He developed that thought by, once again, setting out the prerequisite that to be a member of the wider Christian family then we must be led by the Spirit, and not by sin. Paul then went on to declare that Christians are children of God, as we read in Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God”. And then Paul made the apparently outrageous statement that we can call God, “Daddy”. The previous verse is Romans 8:15, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father“”. “Abba” is the Aramaic word for “Daddy“, used in an intimate relationship. Jesus Himself defined who were His siblings. We read in Matthew 12:50, “Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

So the reality is that through the Spirit who is living within us, we are children of God. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”. We read in John 1:12-13, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God”. We have been born again – a phrase that is repeatedly attacked and ridiculed by those who know no better – into the family of God. 

Paul wrote in Romans 8:15 that we were “adopted” into God’s family. Adoption in Roman days had a particular legal importance. In some circumstances it was even more significant than for someone who was a natural child. So when Paul used the metaphor “adoption” it sent a significant message to his readers, particularly if they were of Roman birth, or knew the custom because they lived in the Roman Empire. An adopted child had specials rights and expectations.

Paul knew all about that – after all he was a Roman citizen – and his logic continues with the bold statement that if we are children of God, then we have a legacy. In fact, along with Jesus, we are heirs to all that God has. Not that, of course, one day God will die, but because right now we have the benefit of a living will. God has made available to us all that He is and all that He has. What an amazing Father!

Dear Father God. We are heirs to Your glory. It is almost impossible to get our minds around such an amazing truth. Thank You. Amen.

Heaven Erupts in Song

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing.””
Revelation‬ ‭5:11-12‬ ‭NLT

John, bemused and captivated by the new song being sung by the four living beings and the twenty four elders, must have blinked, because he suddenly then became aware that the inhabitants of Heaven, millions of angels, were singing too. And they joined the new song for the chorus; 

Worthy is the Lamb 
who was slaughtered,
to receive power and riches 
and wisdom and strength 
and honour and glory and blessing.

I envisage the scene as being like a gospel choir, where the main singer belts out the main lyric lines, and the rest of the choir responds. But on a scale totally beyond comprehension. I can imagine that the hairs on the back of John’s neck were standing up as the emotion of the occasion washed over him.

The lyrics of the chorus retained the focus on Jesus’ sacrifice, but then ventured into praising Him, mentioning seven attributes he was worthy of. Yes, that number seven again. Because of what He had done, the chorus goes, Jesus had complete and total entitlement to everything possible. Nothing left out. Power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing. But the amazing thing is, He had had access to all of that before He came to this earth to die for us. And because of His love for us pilgrims, He was prepared to abandon it all, adopting instead the limitations of a human being. That must be a thought that drives us to our knees in thankful adoration.

One day, we pilgrims will have the opportunity to join in the heavenly song, but before then we have our feet established firmly on Planet Earth. In the lives we lead, what songs are we singing? Are they songs of sadness, focussed on the miseries of our earthbound lives? Or are they songs of thanks extolling the virtues of our wonderful Heavenly Father? We may not be aware of the “songs” we are singing. But those around us, in our families and workplaces, schools and supermarkets, will know what we are “singing”, by how we behave and what we say. Let’s learn a new song, worthy of Him who brought us abundant life. And belt it out whenever we have the opportunity.

Father God. We choose today to only sing God-songs, songs that those around us will notice and hopefully copy. In this lost world, our songs of hope will bring solace to to our friends, families and communities. We love You, Lord! Amen.

Terrors of the Night

Posted on by korgrocker

“You will not fear the terror of night, 
nor the arrow that flies by day, 
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, 
nor the plague that destroys at midday. 
A thousand may fall at your side, 
ten thousand at your right hand, 
but it will not come near you. 
You will only observe with your eyes 
and see the punishment of the wicked.”
‭Psalms‬ ‭91:5-8‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

These words from Psalm 91 have sustained me on several occasions. There was one occasion when the redundancy sword was hanging heavily over the organisation where I worked. The usual double whammy of too many employees and insufficient work to sustain their employment. And my own department and position was particularly vulnerable. But God in His mercy popped verse 7 into my mind, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” Thankfully, I survived the redundancy exercise, but several colleagues didn’t. God in His mercy reassured me, and His Word sustained me in the run up to the announcement. 

But there are other nuggets in these few verses. Night terrors, for one. Isn’t it strange that when we lie in bed the problems of the previous day, or the day to come, assume proportions far in excess of reality? And instead of praying and touching base with our loving Heavenly Father, we lie in a terror-sweat, building imaginary scenarios in our minds. Or am I the only one who has experienced those sorts of “terrors in the night”?

The verses go on to explore the life experiences that can be so debilitating. Physical violence from weaponry. Illnesses and plagues. Infestations from other forms of life, microscopic or otherwise. These things can induce fears in each one of us. The Covid “plague” is particularly relevant today and I have dear friends who live in fear, adopting a hermit-like existence, just in case they become afflicted by the virus. “What-if” fears can be a blight on our lives in themselves.

Verse 4 of this Psalm is where we need to camp. Under the wings of our loving Heavenly Father. Because it is there that we will find the protection we all need. There are no terrors in His presence, just love and reassurance, kindness and grace.