Grace and Peace (1)

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”
1 Corinthians 1:1-3 NLT

Of course, these three initial verses in 1 Corinthians were a standard greeting for Christians, representing the custom at that time for a letter to start, rather than end, in that way. Believers have always needed bountiful supplies of God’s “grace and peace” in their daily lives, as one crisis after another engulfs this wicked world in which we live. But what do we mean by these two words? Taking the word “grace” to start with, we believe it is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves. It is His benevolence to the undeserving. That really sums up God’s answer to the dilemma facing human beings everywhere. Through our sinful behaviour and thinking, we propagate the evil that defines mankind (remember “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”?) and we human beings deserve judgement, but for a time we enjoy God’s grace. It wasn’t always available, as we can find out in Genesis 6:5-6, “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart“. That poignant conclusion to these two verses, that God’s heart was broken, has always deeply affected me, because it exposes God’s disappointment with the way that His creation, so full initially of promise and companionship, has become corrupted and nothing like what he originally intended. But God did not extend His grace to the people living at that time, as we read in the next verse, “And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them””. Thankfully God had a plan, and there is always a “but” – “But Noah found favour with the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). And we see God’s gracious response in Genesis 8:21, “And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things“. ‭‭When God makes a promise He keeps it.

We believers are living in the light of God’s grace, and because of it we are where we are, favoured and blessed children of God. Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God“. The Old Testament blood offerings were in God’s plan for His people so that they could show their faith in Him through their sacrifices. But in the New Covenant, Jesus became the ultimate blood sacrifice. Hebrews 10:3-5, “But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer”. And here’s the amazing manifestation of God’s grace, “For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time” (Hebrews 10:10). 

But we must consider how God’s grace is shown to us. Starting with Jesus, we remember His forgiveness, His gift of the Holy Spirit, abundant life (John 10:10), a place in Heaven; the list goes on. We worship a good God, and we must never minimise what He has done for us; we are a people who deserve judgement rather than favour.

Grace comes from God alone, and as a consequence we show grace to others. Galatians 6:1-2 provides a glimpse of how we must treat our fellow believers, “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ”. How often do we rather avoid such a person, missing an opportunity to be gracious to a fellow believer? Another way we show grace to others was touched on by Paul in Romans 12:7-8, “Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone“. We must never look for a way to get our own back on that arrogant driver who nearly involved us in an accident because they did something stupid. Or get upset with someone who wrongs us in a public place with their behaviour. Or think of ways to respond in kind to the office bully. We forgive them because God first forgave us. That’s grace in action. And we remember that there will come a time when they, as well as us, have to stand before God to account for the way they have behaved.

And so we pilgrims are a gracious people, showing grace to others because God has been so gracious to us. We remember the parable of the wicked servant that we find in Matthew 18. A servant who owed his master an impossibly large sum of money was forgiven the debt, but another servant who owed him just a little was pursued aggressively for repayment. We all know the story. The account of the first servant, who was forgiven so much, but who declined to forgive his fellow servant, didn’t end well for him. Matthew 18:34-35, “Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart””. We must be a gracious and forgiving people, because of God’s grace and forgiveness given so freely to us. The very thing that was blocking our entry to Heaven, our sin, was removed from us when we believed in Jesus, when we embraced His forgiveness and were cleansed by His blood. That’s grace. 

Dear Heavenly Father, so full of grace and love. We praise and worship You today for all You have done for us, and for Jesus, who made it all possible. Help us to extend Your grace to those around us because the people we meet need it as well. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Test My Heart

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth.”
Psalm 26:1-3 NLT

David was looking for self-vindication in these first three verses of Psalm 26. He laid out before the Lord His unwavering trust, his integrity, and his life lived according to God’s truth. Surely he was a man innocent of any wrongdoing, as David asked the Lord to confirm. But that was only his perspective. Jeremiah prophetically set out what the Lord thinks of the human heart, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Of course, this doesn’t apply to a human’s physical heart, that amazing pump that keeps us alive for our “three score years and ten”. It applies to our spirits within us, that part of us where our emotions and desires dwell. The Bible mentions this spiritual organ many times and we can assume that even God has a heart, as we read in 1 Samuel 13:14. Samuel was speaking to King Saul, “But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. The Lord has already appointed him to be the leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command“. If David was a man after God’s own heart, this implied that everyone had the same. The problem is that sin, evil and wickedness has destroyed the perfect that God intended, and as Jeremiah wrote, mankind is universally cursed with a deceitful and desperately wicked heart. No exceptions even for David – look what happened when he spied Bathsheba taking a bath.

But David was keen to be vindicated and at this point in his life he wrote “test my motives and my heart”. He must have been pretty sure of his ground to write that. However, as we read in Jeremiah 17:10, God has His eye on everyone’s heart, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve“. Jesus had something to say about human hearts, as we read in Mark 7:20-23, “And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you””. Ouch! We all have a heart problem, no matter how much we try to deny it, and the NHS has no remedy available. We are unable to go and acquire a doctor’s prescription to cure a personal heart problem. No psychiatrist has a solution to the evil within a person; instead they can only try to fool patients into the conclusion that they don’t have a problem if they think a certain way. Quackery in God’s eyes. Jesus said that the problem of a failing heart exists within a person, but even they can’t see a problem because they have been deceived by themselves. We know the problems we have and we try and rationalise them so that we can live with our sinful hearts. Sadly, through our thoughts and intentions, we have a tendency to feed our heart on things that increase the evil within. We know it all. “Just one more glance” or “surely another … won’t matter” (fill in your own speciality). But an evil and wicked heart, suffering from all the conditions Jesus described, needs feeding, and that is where our hearts can be cleaned up, with much help from God of course. If we stop feeding our hearts with the things that destroy, then those qualities will shrivel and die. So if a thief stops dwelling on thieving, then his thoughts of stealing will gradually disappear. But there is only so much that a person can do and God’s help must be engaged. 

Sometimes, people describe an emotional person as one who wears their heart on their sleeve. But aren’t we glad that all that is within our hearts is invisible to anyone we meet. I look at a random stranger and I have little or no idea about what they are thinking, and neither do they about me. But God sees all, and why He still loves human beings after that, instead of recoiling in horror at what He sees in our hearts, is one of life’s mysteries.

Ezekiel wrote, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 36:26). In the end it is only God who can fix human beings and that redemption process started with Jesus and our faith and belief in Him. Through His death at Calvary, He took on our sins and started us on the journey to acquire that new heart Ezekiel told us about. Paul wrote, “For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:10). Our heart surgery starts quite simply with Jesus. There is no other way to find a remedy for all the evil that is within us. The wise philosopher wrote, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 4:23). Sound advice that we would do well to obey.

Father God, we lift our hearts to You, exposing all and asking for forgiveness and the surgery needed to clean up our inner beings. Only You have the remedies we need and we thank You and praise You for all You are and for Your unlimited love and grace. Amen.

Blameless Before God

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil. I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees. I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin. The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.”
Psalm 18:20-24 NLT

David was in a good place when he wrote these verses. He recorded how God had blessed him, with words such as “reward”, ”restored”, “innocence”, and “blameless”, and David was sure that he had not followed evil ways and he had “kept [himself] from sin”. He was also feeling good because he had “followed all [of God’s] regulations” and had “never abandoned His decrees”. But is that reality or wishful thinking? Looking at David’s life as recorded in the Bible, there were times when his claims of being blameless were true, but another time when he broke several commandments all at the same time (read the account of David and Bathsheba). David flip-flopped through his life much as we do, with the human predisposition to sin emerging from time to time, taking us away from God’s protective shield. 

But Paul had a different perspective, as we read in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. In David’s times there was a legalistic regime in place under the Old Covenant, where people could claim to be righteous if they followed all the rules and regulations laid down by God to Moses. But in what we call the New Covenant, we read (Romans 3:24), “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins”. We pilgrims know all about God’s grace with the wonderful divine exchange of Jesus’ righteousness for our sins. David claimed to be blameless through his adherence to God’s “regulations” and “decrees”. We pilgrims are blameless because of Jesus. 

Dear Father God. I don’t know where we would be if it wasn’t for Your Son Jesus. Expressing our gratitude doesn’t even scratch the surface of what You deserve. We can only bow before You in worship. Amen.

Gossip

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? … Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbours or speak evil of their friends.”
Psalm 15:1, 3 NLT

David continues to list who can, and who can’t, “worship God in His sanctuary”. Verse 2 of Psalm 15 noted that those with “blameless lives” and those who “speak the truth” have the necessary qualifications, but now we launch into territory where David lists specific exclusions that will stop any form of true and sincere God-worship. There will be those of course who venture into the grey border between speaking evil and speaking the truth. Sometimes our minds play tricks and lead us into places where we suddenly find ourselves saying things that we shouldn’t, but a Holy-Spirit sensitised spirit will soon recoil and lead us back to safety.

But what about those people in our churches and fellowships who are hardened gossipers, not realising that they are saying or doing anything wrong? After all, they say, everyone knows this about a certain person, and they are just saying what everyone else is thinking. There is something juicy about a morsel of gossip, as Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18:8 (AMP), “The words of a whisperer (gossip) are like dainty morsels [to be greedily eaten]; They go down into the innermost chambers of the body [to be remembered and mused upon]”. Jesus said something scary, as recorded in Matthew 12:35-36, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak”. The Apostle James wrote about the role a gossiper’s tongue has in the speaking evil department, “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (James 3:6).

So with that as a background, those, who gossip about another person, or who harm them with their words, or even extend their malice and evil to words about their friends, are in a dangerous place where they exclude themselves from being able to worship in the presence of the Lord. But having said that, who is really free from talking negatively about another person? We all do it. We are all guilty of such a sin. There is something about human beings, that they tend to criticise, judge and speak negatively about another person. Often this is because we see in others negative behaviour that is actually something we are guilty of ourselves, and so we justify our own deficiencies by talking about theirs. We have a tendency to observe how someone else will dress and form an opinion, verbalising it to others. We will judge another person’s behaviour, even illuminating it with the help of carefully chosen Scriptures. But there is no other response to all of this than two words – STOP IT! 

We are a redeemed people, free from the punishment for sin, but our humanity, our “old man”, will constantly try and drag us back into a place where we lose our ability to worship the Lord. Before we speak out a negative or evil thought about another person, we must carefully weigh up what we are thinking of saying, in case we are becoming a gossip. And we pray for God’s help in being able to see others as He sees them. We don’t know why a person behaves in the way that they do but God does. And He loves them anyway. Solomon bluntly wrote, “Watch your tongue and keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble” (Proverbs 21:23). Jesus extended this theme to our thoughts and actions when He said, “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12). 

Dear Father God. Please forgive us for the times when we have been guilty of gossip. Please help us to discern our thoughts and change them before we speak them out, and please help us to see others as You see them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Entering The Sanctuary (1)

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.”
Psalm 15:1-2 NLT

David asked a difficult question, as he started to write Psalm 15. It was a straightforward question, that highlights the differences between a sinful man and a holy God. A gulf impossible to bridge, or so we think, because mankind is unable, by his own efforts, to reach the standard of holiness required by God. There will be nothing that is impure or unholy allowed, or even able, to be in God’s presence. God gave Moses instructions about how God could be accessed in the Tabernacle, because just to walk in when he felt like it would have dire consequences. Leviticus 16:2, “The Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses; if he does, he will die. For the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover”. The rest of Leviticus 16 provides instructions about how the High Priest and the people can be purified of their sins, a process of which we’re grateful we don’t have to follow today. But David was aware that a person’s sins would exclude them from God’s presence, hence his first answer to the question – “those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts”. But such an answer created more questions. Who is really absolutely blameless? Who speaks absolute truth? 

During the time ever since David took up his pen, the same questions have hung in the air. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had derived a code of conduct based on the Mosaic Law, with additions from the Rabbis, through which they believed they could achieve personal righteousness. But Jesus knocked that thought on the head in His Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:20, “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”

How do we become righteous? We start off with the verse part way in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3:16-17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him“. And Paul guides us to the next step, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24). Through repentance of our sins, through our faith and belief in Jesus, and through God’s grace, we embark on our journey to Heaven “justified freely by His grace”.

It is only righteous people who can enter God’s presence. We pilgrims enjoy “imputed righteousness”, righteousness that is credited to us because we have been made right with God. Jesus took on the punishment for our sins and gave us, in exchange, His righteousness. What a Saviour! A double exchange that cost Him everything and gave us right standing before God forever. This is a message that is News so good that we cannot but share it with anyone who will listen and at every opportunity.

Dear Lord Jesus. We love You, we worship You, we praise You, we thank You. Your grace has saved us forever. Amen.

Sins and Wickedness

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“O God, you take no pleasure in wickedness; you cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked. Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence, for you hate all who do evil. You will destroy those who tell lies. The Lord detests murderers and deceivers.”
Psalm 5:4-6 NLT

David started this Psalm groaning and crying for help. But after praying he waited on God expectantly, waiting for an answer to his woes. In the meantime, he reminded God of some things, perhaps to help Him along to reaching a decision over what was making him groan. In the three verses today, David mentioned things that God cannot accept – sins, wickedness, pride, evil, murderers and deceivers. None of these character traits found in human beings will ever be found in Heaven, in God’s presence. In fact, they will be judged and punished long before the people concerned got anywhere near God’s domain. God knows that He is holy and pure, and there is no way anything will be allowed to violate who He is. He knows all about these things so why was David reminding Him about them? Probably because listings them will act as a warning both to himself and to others. All types of sin, regardless of what they are and where they have come from, will one day be dealt with.

David lists some reactions of God to his list of sins. God takes “no pleasure in wickedness”, He “cannot tolerate the sins of the wicked”, the proud will not “stand in [His] presence”, He hates “all who do evil”, liars will be destroyed, and God “detests murderers and deceivers”. But in today’s more theologically liberal wings of the Christian church, such Godly sentiments would be rejected. Such doctrinal adherents say that God is love, and therefore would not have such negative emotions. Can a God of love actually hate someone, even if they are evil, they say? But such people forget that God has many attributes to add to His perfect love – righteousness, justice and holiness to name just three.  David had a wonderful relationship with God and he knew God loved him, but he also knew that God’s love could not be overruled by evil.

We pilgrims are, and will be eternally, grateful for Jesus and His demonstration of God’s love and grace to a wicked and evil world. Jesus proclaimed to the world that all those who believed in Him would inherit eternal life. But His message was underpinned by David’s experience of God, in that a person’s belief in Jesus had behind it the whole message of repentance and forgiveness, grace and salvation. There is no way a believer can accept what God has rejected, so we pilgrims follow too the way of holiness and purity, in preparation for our lives in Heaven.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Jesus, Your Son, and His sacrificial death at Calvary, opening a door for mankind to walk through into Your presence, holy and forgiven. Amen.

It Is Finished

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfil Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
John 19:28-30 NLT

The crucifixion account in John’s Gospel lacks the other details contained in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, but John recorded the way Jesus finally died. The Scripture that Jesus fulfilled was in Psalm 22:15, “My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead” and Psalm 69:21, “But instead, they give me poison for food; they offer me sour wine for my thirst”. There was nothing more that Jesus had to do, to complete His mission to Planet Earth. He had done everything that His Father in Heaven had asked of Him. Even on the cross, Jesus could remember the Scriptures and the prophetic words uttered in Psalm 69 would resonate with Him. But it was more than coincidence that there was some sour wine available, because it was used, when mixed with gall, to provide a little pain relief to those being crucified. On its own, the sour wine would have provided a little alleviation of thirst, and perhaps would have extended the time of consciousness for the dying. Jesus tasted the wine and then called out the timeless three words, “It is finished”. He finally then “gave up His spirit”. 

Jesus made it clear in John 10:17-18 that He had the power to allow Himself to be killed but would also return to life. “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded“. Back in the Garden during His arrest Jesus reminded the disciples that He could call upon a large number of angels to protect Him, but He didn’t and what followed, right through to His final words, demonstrated Jesus sacrificing His life voluntarily. Without His death there would be no resurrection. Without His willingness to take on the sins of humanity there would be no salvation and eternal life with God.

John’s account told us that Jesus “gave up His spirit” when He died. His dead body remained on the cross but His spirit went elsewhere. There are an intriguing couple of verses in Peter’s first epistle – “So he went and preached to the spirits in prison— those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood” (1 Peter 3:19-20). What that is all about I’ll leave to the theologians, but the point is that, although His body was of no use any more, Jesus’ spirit was alive and well. And so it is with human beings. After death our spirit lives on and dwells somewhere else. Paul referred to it as being “unclothed”. Will believing spirits end up in the “many rooms” or “mansions” that Jesus taught His disciples about? Perhaps, but it is clear that the place for spirits after death will either be in “Paradise” (read the account of the thief on the cross next to Jesus, a sinner saved in his final moments) or in prison, like the people who died in the flood. Also worthy of mention is the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, where the Rich Man ends up in torment, and the poor man “in the bosom of Abraham”. Spirits after death go to one of two places that we can refer to as either Heaven or hell. 

Of course, we pilgrims know where we are going. We have no doubts. But many around us are like lemmings, heading for destruction over the cliff of death. Once beyond life, there is no going back. We pilgrims have a mission and we mustn’t give up spreading the Good News about Jesus.

Dear Lord. We thank You for sacrificing Your life so that we could receive forgiveness for our sins. We worship You today. Amen.

Crucify Him

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.””
John 19:5-7 NLT

Why were those days so cruel, with such a form of execution that combined unending and endless torture that only came to an end when death arrived? Why not a simple and quick method that would achieve the same end? And why such a sentence for someone who makes a claim, any sort of claim, about himself? Were those people of Jesus’ time, the Jews and their leaders, a particularly unsophisticated and bestial people placing no value on a human life? Of course, we 21st Century people, would never behave in such a way. Or would we? People today are just as wicked and evil as the Jews who were shouting “Crucify Him” two thousand years ago. The same devil. The same sin. We only have to open a media news report to find just how bad people are. And the sobering question is, would we too have shouted “Crucify Him” as we stood there in the Jerusalem crowd?

In 1 Peter 2:22-24 we read, “He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed“. Why didn’t those Jewish leaders just leave things to God for Him to deal with them, because, as Peter wrote, doesn’t He deal fairly with people? But human beings demand justice in this life, as most think little about the life to come and the final judgement. Human justice is flawed when it comes to things about God. But humans cannot and mustn’t stand in God’s place casting judgement on fellow humans in cases where only God can see the truth and decide fairly. 

Around us there are many strident voices demanding “justice” that aligns with their particular ideologies. Church history is littered with stories of people being condemned for “crimes” that are imagined or superstitiously derived. The cruelties didn’t end at Calvary and we soberly consider the fate of those caught up in the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, or the deaths of the Covenanters. But today in our hearts, cruelties are still prevalent. We look at another person who has done us wrong, even inadvertently, and anger and thoughts of punishment rise up within us. And every time we sin we are in danger of crucifying Jesus all over again. We read in Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame“. 

We pilgrims are dedicated followers of Jesus. There is no turning back for us. The journey before us may not be easy. There may even be times when we think that the road is too tough. But there is only one way into God’s presence and that is through Jesus. There will be many temptations on the way, trying to draw us up some cul-de-sac or other. Little voices may whisper in our ears that just once won’t really matter. But, as Jesus did, we look ahead resolutely to what is before us, and as we do we see the glow of Glory appearing on the horizon. For believers in Jesus, a new dawn is coming.

Dear Father God. You are the new dawn in our lives, reality in times of human cruelty. We pray for the opportunities to share Your love and grace with those around us. And we pray for all those in a place of leadership, that they will come to know You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Rooster Crowed

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.”
John 18:25-27 NLT

There are moments in our lives when the enormity of something we have done, or the consequences of a bad decision are suddenly before us. Something perhaps we promised to do or not to do. And all of a sudden we end up having a rooster moment. We experience a feeling in the pit of our stomachs as we find ourselves facing into a situation that we cannot avoid. I remember entering a packed train carriage one commuting morning and ended up standing in a section of the carriage close to a woman who seemed to be having a difficult conversation with a boyfriend or partner on her mobile phone. The carriage was unusually quiet as my fellow travellers became caught up in the emotions of the conversation, one side of it only, of course. But the rooster moment for the person on the other end of the phone was her statement, “You told me I could trust you”. Soon after, she pressed a button on her phone and stored it away, but the silence in the carriage continued, the woman herself staring sightlessly out of the window at the passing countryside. 

Peter we know had promised never to deny Jesus. We read in Matthew 26:33-35, “Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same“. But John 18 records Peter’s three denials, “The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed” (John 18:17, 25, 27). And Matthew 26:75 records Peter’s response, “Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly“. 

Thankfully, the rooster moment for Peter was not terminal and we will read what happened later. But for us too, those occasions in our lives when we screw up and hear a metaphorical rooster crow, are not terminal, as we come into God’s presence, confessing our sins and seeking forgiveness. Paul wrote, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:1-2). Fellow pilgrim, you may have messed up. I may have messed up. But we love Jesus and have the assurance that He is never going to bar the door into Heaven for a repentant sinner, no matter how loud the rooster crows.

Dear Father God. Thank You that You pick us up when we fall, dust us off, and put us again on the right path to Glory. We are so grateful. Amen.

The Questioning

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Inside, the high priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them. Jesus replied, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret. Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. They know what I said.” Then one of the Temple guards standing nearby slapped Jesus across the face. “Is that the way to answer the high priest?” he demanded.”
John 18:19-22 NLT

A clash of two kingdoms emerged that night, as the Jewish world based on a strict but skewed interpretation of the Law of Moses came up against God’s Son and His world of grace and love. Annas, the high priest’s father-in-law, would have been hoping to trap Jesus, forcing Him to say something that could be construed, to his warped perspective, as blasphemy, thus facilitating a death sentence. But Jesus was not going to play any of his games, and received a slap across His face in the process. But the arrogance of a mere man questioning the God who created him is incongruous, to say the least. But we know that one day that same high priest will stand before Jesus, as He sits on the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15). What will he say, I wonder? Will he gibber and splutter and continue in his arrogance? Even when the guilty verdict is passed down? Will he even try to point out the error of God’s ways to His face? Or will he stay silent, as the enormity and realisation of what he had done penetrated his dark soul? But even for a died-in-the-wool Jew determined to eliminate Jesus from the face of the earth, his ultimate fate doesn’t bear thinking about.

Jesus correctly pointed out that nothing that He had said was said in secret. It was all public, in the Temple and synagogues, and as He walked the highways and byways of Palestine and Judea. As He fed the crowds of men, women and children. As He taught from a boat just off the sea shore. Jesus had a very public ministry and one that founded the faith that drives us pilgrims forward in our journeys towards the Land of Glory. Jesus asked Annas why he asked Him the questions about His teaching and about His followers. Of course, Annas knew all about Jesus’ ministry and teaching because otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have been standing before him. The potential for entrapment has always been a possibility in the courts of history. 

Before we pilgrims climb up onto the moral high ground, we should pause. We look at Annas and recoil from any thoughts about doing what he did. But didn’t we too point a finger of disbelief and antagonism to the Son of God through the sins that beset us before the wonderful day when we discovered the truth? Was it not a possibility that Annas, and any malignant leader before or since, had a light bulb moment before they died, thus ensuring their salvation, plucking them from a fate worse than death? The thief on the cross, in his dying moments, was promised a life in Paradise after reaching out to God’s Son. Our God is in the recycling business – He takes rubbish, because that is what we were, and produces from it something beautiful and fit for a life with Him one day. 

We should also pause before we point fingers at anyone around us who behaves in a way that is sinful and that violates our cosy Christian ways. We mustn’t and cannot judge others, because in the same way that they behave, we are also guilty. In John 8:7, we read about Jesus’ response to demands that a woman caught in adultery was stoned, in accordance with the Law of Moses. “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”” We might never have been in such a situation, or so we think, but whatever the cause, we are not entitled to throw stones. In the John 8 account, everything went quiet, as the executing committee, with stones already in their hands, stopped to think. We then read in John 8:9, “When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.” With the sound of rocks and stones hitting the ground still in our ears, we pilgrims too must also “slip away” leaving our judgements behind, because we are sinners, albeit saved by grace, but sinners nevertheless. And the story ends with Jesus’ loving and gracious response, “Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (John 8:10-11). That message is a personal one to each of us, pilgrim or not. And on our knees this morning we come to our wonderful Saviour, confessing our sins in repentance, and asking for His grace and love, His forgiveness, to once again flood over us.

Dear Lord Jesus. There are always sins lurking in our human lives, waiting to emerge into the light of day. Please forgive us and help us to focus on You rather than those around us. And we pray for forgiveness today, once again, because only You have the power to forgive sins. In Your precious name. Amen.