Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!”
1 Corinthians 9:15-16 NLT

Paul said he had the “right to boast about preaching without charge”. Isn’t that a strange thing to do? However, I don’t think Paul was a man who would boast, because his humility and zeal ultimately overshadowed any personal accomplishments. He was just making the point that boasting was something that he could do if he wanted to. But what is “boasting”? A dictionary definition is “excessively proud and self-satisfied talk about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities”. In that context, we are all familiar with many boastful individuals. If we stop and pause for a moment, we can see several world leaders who fall into that category. And if an election looms, we will hear politicians everywhere making boastful, idealistic, and plainly undeliverable claims about their abilities, their political party’s past achievements, and what they will do if elected. There are one or two examples of boasters in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzar was one of them, as we can read in Daniel 4:30, “As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendour’”. If we read on in Daniel 4, we will find out what God thought of such a boaster!

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred” (2 Timothy 3:2). Was that the church people he was writing about? It might have been, because in verse 5 of this chapter, we read, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” We will find people who have a tendency to boast in all parts of society, including our churches and fellowships, and we pilgrims will need to be wary in their company, because boasters want those around them to affirm their identity and listen to their hubris. Mostly, people boast about their quantity and quality of their “stuff” but they often forget that they can’t take anything with them when they die. And even those who have little to boast about sometimes tell everyone who will listen about a “celebrity” whom they happened to meet on some occasion.

Paul wrote earlier in his first letter to the Corinthians that no one should ever boast in God’s presence, because they were not in a position where boasting was an option. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God”. And so we pilgrims are never boasters (with one exception), and instead we present the Gospel to those around us from a position of grace and humility, dispensing God’s Word with love.

One of my favourite hymns is “When I survey the wondrous cross” and verse 2 reads, 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

We sing this hymn every Easter season, and it touches even the hardest, boastful heart present, with Isaac Watts’ gracious lyrics. But he was right. If we feel a tendency to boast, there is one thing that we can boast about, and that is what Jesus has done for us. The world may consider it foolish, but my hero is Jesus, and I will boast about knowing Him whenever I can.

Dear Heavenly Father. Your Son is indeed our hero, and we worship and praise Him whenever we can. There is no one greater and no one better than Jesus. We love You, Lord. Amen.

Headed to Destruction

Posted on by korgrocker

“For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.””
1 Corinthians 1:17-19 NLT

Who are these people who are “headed for destruction”? In the context of 1 Corinthians 1:18, these are the people who have rejected anything to do with Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for the sins of men and women. We pilgrims are believers who have put their trust for their eternal future in His hands, but most people in the Western societies have not. Instead they rely on the “wisdom” that has a purely human origin. To the unsaved, the essential truth of the gospel equates to meaningless hogwash because the worldly mind only values and appreciates human wisdom. We all know what worldly wisdom is all about. For example, very well, and expensively, educated individuals stay awake at night trying to think through the deficiencies ands contradictions in theories such as evolution, theories that deny any involvement of God in the affairs of this world. Such evolutionists adhere to the belief that any flaws in their theories are purely transient and that with the application of more human knowledge, problems will be explained away. And when presented with facts that can only be explained by the involvement of God in the natural world around us, they still refuse to believe that there is a God in Heaven who created our world. Such people call themselves wise and intelligent, but as Isaiah recorded in a message from the Holy Spirit long ago, “Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear” (Isaiah 29:14). A couple of verses further on, Isaiah wrote, “How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?”

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary atheist, said, “If you’re an atheist, you know, you believe, this is the only life you’re going to get. It’s a precious life. It’s a beautiful life. Its something we should live to the full, to the end of our days. Where if you’re religious and you believe in another life somehow, that means you don’t live this life to the full because you think you’re going to get another one. That’s an awfully negative way to live a life. Being a atheist frees you up to live this life properly, happily and fully”. That’s the wisdom of the foolish, from a man who fails to understand that a natural life spent in God’s presence is free of the restraints his intelligence thinks are there, a life that is then followed by eternity spent in the presence of the One who created this world in the first place. As I said to a God-denier the other day, I look up into the skies at sunrise or sunset and see an amazing display of colour and patterns, and all I can do is say “Wow”, and thank God for the experience. The problem that this man had was that he didn’t have anyone to thank for the wonder before him. Sadly, he walked away, too “intelligent” to accept that there was an alternative to his lack of a belief in God.

In these verses before us today from 1 Corinthians, Paul underlines the stark contrast between human wisdom and God’s wisdom. The prophet Isaiah rebuked Israel for relying on the “wisdom of the wise” and the “intelligence of the intelligent” instead of God’s divine wisdom. The believers in Corinth were making the same grave mistake. Rather than trusting in the wisdom that comes down from heaven, they were depending on the kind of wisdom the Apostle James wrote about in James 3:5b, “ … Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic”.  In their spiritual immaturity, the Corinthian believers were still thinking and acting like unbelievers. 

James wrote much about God’s wisdom. “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honourable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. …  But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere” (James 3:13, 17).‭ When God populated this earth with human beings, He gave them the brains that would enable them to make wise and intelligent decisions based on His ways. But when sin entered the world, very quickly mankind decided to replace God with their own wisdom. Such foolishness can be read about in Genesis 11:4, “Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world””. We’ll not bother with God, they said, and instead we will make our own lives based on our own thoughts, inclinations and ideologies. Selfishness and a rejection of God became the basis for human wisdom, and God called it foolishness. Yet God kept loving men and women on this earth, and He sent Jesus to die for our sins, taking on the judgement and punishment that we deserve. To decide to believe in Jesus in wise and intelligent, because through Jesus we align ourselves to God’s wisdom and intelligence, which is infinitely greater than anything devised by man. So it is with sadness that God has committed human wisdom and intelligence to ultimate destruction. There will be no opportunity for Richard Dawkins, or anyone else, to say, “Sorry God I got it all wrong” when they stand before Him to give an account of their lives. 

We pilgrims know all about the power of the Cross, to save us from sin and death, and provide a life that will be spent with God in His presence. Forever. And ever. And what else can we do than thank Jesus for making it all possible? We praise You Lord!

Dear Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world. Thank You for ll You did and still keep doing for mankind in every generation. We pray for our families, our children and grandchildren, and the generations following, that Your presence will be with them, providing them with the intelligence that comes from above instead of the intelligence that is purely human. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

Honourable Lives

Posted on by korgrocker

“It is God’s will that your honourable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.”
1 Peter 2:15 NLT

Society is full of people who make accusations. It seems that the minute someone behaves in a way that doesn’t fit with someone else’s opinion, then an accusation follows, whether to the police, or the council or the tax authorities or whoever. The great majority of accusations and allegations are of course totally groundless, but they are made all the same. Neighbours fall out because one accuses the other of failing to remove their weeds, or playing their music too loud. Accusations and complaints, one against another abound.

We have in the current times another insidious source of accusations. Certain ideologies are supported by people who think that everyone else should agree and support the way they feel or think, and if they don’t, then accusations of bias, hate or causing offence are made to whoever will listen. We can see that with the current fixations around sexuality and gender. For example, if a woman dares to put her head above the parapet and claim that toilet spaces should only be designated and used in accordance with a person’s biological sex then a storm of abuse and accusations erupt through social media and beyond, driven by the “keyboard warriors” who blight our society today.

But none of this was the focus of this verse in Peter’s first letter. The first century believers were accused of all sorts of things because they followed a faith different to everyone else. For example, there were accusations of cannibalism made against Christians because they shared the body and blood of Jesus in their communion services. A lack of understanding became inflated to a terrible result. There were also accusations of gross immorality made against believers because they were instructed to love one another. Again, misunderstandings were blown up out of all proportion. And then we have accusations around issues such as poverty, self-righteousness and so on. The list was seemingly endless.

Jesus Himself had accusations levelled against Him. We read in Luke 6:7, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath”. To His listeners, Jesus said, “The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results” (Matthew 11:19). But the greatest miscarriage of justice ever was carried out on Jesus even though He was not guilty of any crime, let alone one that deserved a capital punishment. We read in John 18:29, 38, “So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man?” …  “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime”. 

Accusations against the early Christians were commonplace. It was, and still is today, easy to make accusations based on half-truths and innuendo, assumptions and bigotry. Conspiracy theories were just as prevalent then as they are today. But Peter encouraged his readers with the truth that their “honourable lives” would silence the accusers. It would be difficult, he wrote, to make accusations against someone whose life was above reproach. We pilgrims today should also take heed and be careful that we live in a way that will silence any accusations by “ignorant people”. It’s a high bar to achieve, but one possible as we depend on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance.

Dear Lord Jesus. You know at first hand the pain of false accusations. Please help us to respond in a way that shows the complainants a better way. In Your precious name. Amen.

Foolishness

Posted on by korgrocker

“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.”
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭28‬-‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

More verses than usual today, but they run one to the next. They constitute a Pauline descriptive diatribe of how God-deniers fall into all sorts of wickedness and sin. Paul starts off with a warning that if people consider a belief in God to be foolishness, then they will have to face into the consequences of such thinking. Once a person denies God, then he or she falls outside Godly protection, and, somehow, their thinking then leads them into all sorts of wickedness and sin. I’m sure that once a person is outside of God’s protection, abandoned by Him, then the devil will have an opportunity to exploit their vulnerability. And doesn’t he just!

We pilgrims blithely talk about the “Fall of Man”, and “Sin”, and shake our heads in wonder at the propensity of human beings, when faced with the possibilities of doing good or doing bad, they choose the latter. But we cannot stand afar off, taking a “holier than thou” attitude, climbing up onto the moral high ground. Just to read Paul’s list is depressing, because much of what he wrote about still applies today – some would say even more so. We see the greed embedded in our capitalist economy, we see advertising based on envy, our lawmakers quarrel incessantly, office gossip abounds – the list is endless. And all because the people concerned have “thought it foolish to acknowledge God”. So what do we pilgrims do?

There are several possible responses to the sin and wickedness so prevalent around us. One obvious course of action is escapism. Perhaps life in a monastery or convent would insulate us from a society that cares nothing about God. Another possibility is to get involved in social or political enterprises, to try and proactively bring some sort of change. We see in our society today small groups of demonstrators, preparing to break the law to make their voices heard about the issues they care so deeply for. Or perhaps we just sit back and put our heads in the sand, hoping the problem will go away. Perhaps we just try and keep our noses clean and pray for the strength to survive the life we have, untainted by wickedness. Democracy is a political system that works well in a society of Godly people, but when wickedness abounds it falls into depravity and lawlessness. And as we pilgrims try and live a righteous life we see around us a society that seems to favour the wicked rather than the righteous.

The psalmist, Asaph, wrote about a similar dilemma he was experiencing. We can read about his problem in Psalm 73:2-3, “But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.” His problem is similar to ours – why do the wicked people around us seem to do so well, when righteous living is despised and could in the end work against us? Asaph went on to write, “Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.” (Psalm 73:12-14). He continued in verse 16, “So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!” I’m sure we pilgrims would echo that!

In Psalm 73:17, Asaph finally realised the best response to the sin and wickedness around us. He wrote, “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.” We know what will happen to wicked people, to those who deny God and consider it foolishness to acknowledge Him. In Revelation 20:11-12 we read, “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”. Asaph saw this coming long before the Apostle John was given the vision he wrote down in the Book of Revelation. Referring to the wicked, Asaph wrote in Psalm 73:18-19, “Truly, You put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors”. And then Asaph realised where he had gone wrong. He wrote in Psalm 73:21-22, “Then I realised that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to You“. 

We finish today, hopefully in the same place as Asaph, when he wrote, “Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire You more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever“. (Psalm 73:23-26).

We pilgrims never need to concern ourselves about the wickedness and sin blighting our society. God is on it!

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your presence in our lives. We worship and praise You today, and forever. Amen.

‭‭

Utter Fools

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.”
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What did Paul have in mind when he made the statement “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools”? Perhaps he was referring to a human trait common today, and probably just as prevalent in his times. Consider the following phenomenon. There are people who seem to have developed strange ideas or theories about God and the spiritual world. Their worldviews or thoughts of anything to do with religion, particularly if they are not Christians, can be wild and “off the wall”. They develop a philosophy that seems to fit in with their natural observations of the world around them and the behaviour of people that they come into contact with. They then create their own ideas and propagate them to anyone prepared to listen. Take for example the viewpoint sometimes heard, that all Christians are hypocrites, and therefore the worship of God is a pointless exercise. This is probably based on their observations of a particular church-goer who acts “holier than thou” on a Sunday but who behaves in a very worldly way at other times. But they then extrapolate this to include all who claim to have faith in God, painting them all with the label “hypocrite”. A journey in their minds then continues trying to make sense of why churches exist, developing all sorts of weird theories in the process. More disturbingly, they go on to develop skewed ideas about God, and their self-derived “wisdom” ends up making them “utter fools”. Sadly, modern liberal theologians have attempted to reconcile the views of both the god of this age and the God we worship, coming up with what is to them a wise solution responding to societal pressures around issues including sexuality and marriage, but instead developing foolish ideas that deny Biblical truths.

Such a phenomenon is not just the domain of non-religious people. It can affect, or infect, Christians as well. Paul, in his verses in Romans, was writing to Christians. Can they too acquire the “utter fools” label. How do we avoid thinking up “foolish ideas of what God was like”? As Paul pointed out in an earlier verse in Romans 1, we can find a glimpse of God’s character in the creation around us. But most of what we come to know about God is found in the Bible. His character and attributes just ooze out of every page, every chapter, every verse. The Scriptures have much good advice for those tending towards the foolish end of the wisdom spectrum. Psalm 14:1 relates to what Paul has been writing about, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!” There’s also much truth in Proverbs 3:3, “People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.” In fact, there’s a whole section in Proverbs 14 devoted to fools and their foolishness. But I love the verse, 1 Corinthians 1:27, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” The Christian faith is counter-cultural to the extent that people in the world around us designate us as being fools, when the opposite is true in God’s Kingdom.

Idolatry can be in many different forms. The conventional view is of statues, effigies of saints, or similar people, long dead and who have perhaps some sort of cult status. Just walk into an old church or cathedral and many will be found. Or an idol can be made out of a living person. Have we not heard expressions such as “He worships the ground she walks on”, an observation of a love-struck teenager? We can also easily make an idol out of our hobbies, TV interests; in fact anything that takes our focus away from God and His ways.

So we pilgrims plod on our way, conscious that it easy to be diverted from the narrow way into boggy and hazardous ground full of pitfalls to lead the unwary Christian into foolishness. We must spend time constantly in God’s Word, learning more and more about Him, and always aware of the need to give Him all our thanks.

Dear Father God. We worship You today, the Source of all we need in this life and the next. We are grateful for the work of the Holy Spirit, constantly nudging us back into keeping to Your ways, day by day. Amen.