Honourable Behaviour (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honourable behaviour, and they will give honour to God when he judges the world.”
1 Peter 2:12 NLT

Imagine the following fictional scenario – a Christian family each Sunday walk out to their car in the drive, dressed in all their finery, carrying their Bibles, and drive off for church, returning just as immaculate a couple of hours of so later. There is the man and his wife, and two children, a boy and a girl. They are noticed by the neighbours each week, and their diligence in following their faith is well known in their community. But on a Friday night, the husband can perhaps be found in the local pub, cursing and swearing with the locals. The wife attends an activity group in the next village and is well known for her tendency to gossip. Well, these are exactly the sort of situations that we must guard against. Peter wrote, “Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbours”. Living properly means we must behave in a way that corresponds to our faith.

Jesus was scathing about hypocrisy. He hated the behaviour of people who claimed to be holy and full of faith but who were full of lies and deceit inside. In Matthew 23 we read, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28). On my morning walk today, and after a very windy night, I came across a branch about a metre long and a few centimetres thick. Outside the branch looked all as it should be, bark intact and apparently healthy, but when I examined the inside at the point of breakage, it was rotten. I showed a dog walker and he reflected that it was a bit like society – looking good on the outside but rotten within. A cynical point of view, but perhaps he had a point. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:20, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see”? The Apostle James wrote in James 1:26, “If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless”. There are plenty of verses in the Bible about the way we should behave, internally and externally.

The duty of all believers is to “walk the walk” and “talk the talk”. In other words, we must behave in a way that coincides with our faith. And not just how we think God wants us to behave, but in a way that our neighbours think we should behave. As an example, it isn’t necessarily wrong to have a drink at a bar with our friends, but, perhaps for the sake of an alcoholic neighbour or workmate, it might be better to avoid doing that, or at least only drink something that is alcohol free. In James 1:22, we read, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves”. In other words, we must behave in a way that aligns with God’s Word, because that is the way He wants us to live and for the benefit of the “unbelieving neighbour” who lives next door. Our lives sometimes will be the only manifestation of the Gospel people will see. St Francis of Assisi is credited with the quotation, “Preach the gospel at all times. And if necessary, use words“. Perhaps a very valid point when we consider “honourable behaviour”.

Dear God. We are Your representatives here on Planet Earth. Please help us to live in an honourable way so that You get all the glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Spiritual Sacrifices

Posted on by korgrocker

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT

The Jewish religion was based on the sacrifice of animals and other items on the altars located firstly in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Sacrifices were typically for an offering for sin, such as we read in Exodus 29:36a, “Each day you must sacrifice a young bull as a sin offering to purify them, making them right with the Lord … ”. But Jesus became an eternal sacrifice for all sins and His death on Calvary sealed the New Covenant between God and man. The prophet Jeremiah foretold of the New Covenant, as we read in Jeremiah 31:33, ““But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people””.

Just as the Old Testament priests were responsible for offering up sacrifices to God, we pilgrims of the new Covenant “offer spiritual sacrifices that please God”. So what are these “sacrifices”? One go-to Scripture is in Romans 12:1, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him”. Then we have the sacrifice of praise, as we read in Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name”. In the Old Testament, incense was offered up as a sacrifice, and this is often associated with prayer. We read in Psalm 141:2, “Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering”. 

We pilgrims offer up sacrifices to God that consist of our prayers, praises, worship, our bodies – in fact everything we do we can turn into a sacrifice to God, as we do it in His name. That is what a living sacrifice is all about. We lay ourselves willingly on the altar before Him, remembering the words of the old hymn, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee“.

Dear Lord. We offer up our sacrifices of praise today in deep gratitude for Your grace and love. Amen.

Being Born Again

Posted on by korgrocker

“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”
1 Peter 1:23 NLT

We of course remember the conversation that took place between Jesus and Nicodemus, where Jesus said to him, “ … I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:5-7). Earlier in John 1:12-13, John wrote, “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”. So Peter reminded the early believers in the five provinces of their new state as God’s children, following their rebirth. 

Those early believers were facing into a perilous existence, with persecution even to the point of death not being uncommon. So the references to the new life in the Spirit was timely and encouraging. It gave them hope for the future, that regardless of what was going to happen to them, their lives would continue. So the new birth that Peter was writing about would not soon be extinguished. It would last forever. Because God said so though His “living word”, who, of course, was Jesus. He was and is the living Word, and though Him we have an eternal hope. We will move on from this life, whenever it will end, into a life spent in eternity. That life will never be under threat of extinction. There will be nothing that will take it away. Paul wrote at the end of Romans 8, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). That love of God, that did not even deny us salvation through His Son, Jesus, is eternal, never ending in its scope and accessibility.

Being born again is a spiritual state available to all. We pilgrims can look back to the time when we believed that Jesus died for us on the cross, that He came back to life from the grave, and provided the only way to Heaven. Romans 5:8, “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners“. We responded to that love and we’ll never regret it.

Dear Father. You loved us so much that You made a plan to redeem and save us. We will offer up our praise and worship to You for all eternity. Amen.

Equality

Posted on by korgrocker

“And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favourites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.””
1 Peter 1:17 NLT

We look around us and see others who seem so much better than we are. Or we feel smug because we think we are better than them. I have come across families where a mother perhaps has a favourite son, or a father a favourite daughter. In the workplace, a manager favours one of his employees over another. A school teacher has his or her “pets”. These are all human traits that are sinful and nothing to do with life in the Kingdom of God. The reality is that in God’s eyes, everyone has the same status. He “has no favourites”. 

In our contact with our fellow human beings it can be very difficult to be truly impartial. We might be put off by someone’s behaviour or speech, cringing because of their brashness or coarseness. Our own prejudices prevail and often colour our opinions when faced with the way someone dresses. And we can get caught into the trap of being critical about others, just because they don’t conform to our own false and worldly standards. The Apostle James, in his letter, wrote, “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favour some people over others?” (James 2:1). Blunt and to the point. He went on, “For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewellery, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?” (James 2:2-4). Finally, he concluded, “But if you favour some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law” (James 2:9).

In 1 Samuel 16 we read the story of how God sent the prophet Samuel to the home of Jesse to anoint Israel’s future king, to replace Saul. Jesse had eight sons and one by one they were paraded before Samuel but God didn’t choose any of them, until David was called in from his work in the fields. But as God rejected the first son, even though he was favoured by Samuel, we read, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”” (1 Samuel 16:7). That really sums it up. In our humanity we concern ourselves about how a person looks or behaves, but, in reality, it is what is within them that matters.

A sober theme today, but we have to be discerning. People can be manipulative. They can ingratiate themselves before another to gain favours, to get their way. But our discernment starts with the condition of our own hearts. Is our behaviour aligned with God’s ways? Is what we think compatible with God’s thoughts? Once we have sorted out our own lives under God’s gaze, we can then pray for His guidance as we look at other people. And we might just be amazed at seeing others as God sees them. I have come to know some lovely people but, superficially at least, they don’t conform to my expectations. Paul wrote “Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory” (Romans 15:7). God doesn’t much like our sinful behaviour either, but through Jesus He has accepted us, warts and all. How can we not accept others, especially as He has?

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your grace, that saved a sinner like me. In Your name we accept our brothers and sisters. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Obedient Children

Posted on by korgrocker

“So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.”
1 Peter 1:14 NLT

The Bible includes many references to God having children. Not natural children of course, but spiritual sons and daughters. However, there was one exception – Jesus. The Apostles’ Creed includes the following statement, “ … I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary …”. Jesus pre-existed his birth to Mary, as we know, but God chose to bring about the miracle of the virgin birth to introduce His Son into the world. The Creed goes on to say “ … He ascended into Heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father …”.About Jesus we read from Philippians 2:8, “he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Jesus was the first, the ultimate even, obedient child of God. 

The world is full of natural children. Everyone has a mother and a father, even if certain ideologies are trying their best to convince otherwise. But everyone has an opportunity to have a spiritual Father. 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”. In John 3:5-6, Jesus explained something to a Jewish leader. “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life””. 

So, we have a scenario where, on the one hand, we have Jesus, the Son of God, the obedient Son, showing us perfection in everything including His obedience to His Father. On the other hand we have a sinful world full of natural birth people, and who are disobedient about anything to do with God. A nightmare scenario for our loving Heavenly Father? But one which He in His grace had a plan to resolve. We read about the obedient Son in Hebrews 5:8-9, “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him”. And we read about the plan, so simple yet so profound, 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”. 

What grace! What love! Who would ever have thought that we sinful human beings can become children of God. It starts with being obedient to His invitation through Jesus. Saying “Yes Lord!” to open the door into our spiritual birth. And our lives then become aligned to His as we are obedient to the truths made available to us through His instructions and precepts that fill His Book, the Bible. Obedience to parents is sometimes an unpopular course of action. But with God He expects us to be obedient. Not for His sake so much as for ours. Living life God’s way becomes eternal.

Dear Father God. We thank You for conceiving the plan to save mankind and bring about our new birth as Your children in Your family. Amen.

Prepare Your Minds

Posted on by korgrocker

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”
1 Peter 1:13 NLT

What do we pilgrims make of this verse? It’s an “action” verse with instructions to do things. It starts with a “so”, so we need to look at the context of the previous verses. Peter had previously reminded his readers that they were experiencing the salvation foretold by the prophets of old, that the “Good News” they had subsequently heard was preached to them through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was all a very timely reminder of the saved state they were now in. And because of where they were at, it was now time for action, it was time to prepare their minds. It was all connected with the “hope” they now had “in the gracious salvation” that was their inheritance. And Peter reminds them this will finally happen “when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world”. 

For the early believers, Christ’s return to Planet Earth was considered imminent. There was of course the statement Jesus made at the end of His conversation with Peter, as recorded in John 21:22, “Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”” And we can read what other New Testament writers wrote in their letters. For example, James 5:7-8, “Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near”. The old Apostle John recorded what Jesus said to him in his vision – “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book. ” … “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds” (Revelation 22:7,12).

So, what was the preparation Peter was advising? He was writing about their mindsets. They were to be mentally prepared for what was to come. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesian church, wrote, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:21-24). That too is a call to action, a preparing moment, a step in the sanctification process we must all go through.

But Peter didn’t write any specifics. What was the “action” and what was the “self-control” required? If we pilgrims were reading the same text today, what “action” would we need to implement? There is of course an internal implication, as we clean up our thinking, with the Holy Spirit’s help, to get rid of the all the wrong and sinful thoughts we experience. For example, if we are worriers, then we consider what Paul wrote to the Philippian church – “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6). There is also an external implication to “action” and “self-control”. We must endeavour to make every opportunity to be salt and light in our communities, sharing the Good News that we have responded to, with others. And together with fellow believers we will find ourselves in a place of anticipation for receiving the fruits of our hope in Jesus. We don’t know when He will return, but we need to be ready in any case.

Dear God. We pray, as many of the saints have done over the centuries, for the return of Your Son to this sad and dark world. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Watching Angels

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

Peter wrote that the preaching of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit was “all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching”. How do we feel about angels? Do we think that they exist or are they just mythical entities, superstitious legacies from a bygone age? I used to know an old lady whose driving skills were atrocious, but she never seemed to experience any bumps or scrapes, arriving at her destinations totally unscathed. The suspicion was that she had an angel positioned on each corner of her car, keeping her safe. Someone else I knew always advised against speeding when driving, as the angels then couldn’t keep up. The concept of guardian angels has always been with us.

Personally, I’m convinced that angels are real and play a very important part in our lives, even though we cannot see them. In my walks around the woods near my home I sometimes meet a man who shows an interest in spiritual matters, and I have shared the Good News with him on several occasions. But Peter said that angels are “eagerly watching” me as I speak with him and you can just imagine what they might have been saying. Perhaps they were trying hard to put words into my mouth. Or praying that the other man would open his mind to the Gospel truths. One thing is certain though, and that is that the angels were excited about the “Good News” being shared, because, as Peter wrote, “it is all so wonderful”. 

Angels are created spirit beings, who live in Heaven. So we cannot see them as tangible beings although we presume they can see us. To enable us to see them, they have to somehow acquire an earthly body. Daniel saw such an embodied angel, as we read in Daniel 10:5-6, “I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people”. Those men around him knew something was going on but they didn’t see what Daniel saw. In Revelation 22:8, John wrote, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me”. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 13:2, “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it!” 

We may be unconvinced of the presence of angels. Our scientific and technological age discounts anything spiritual because it can’t be measured or observed. But the Bible is full of references to angels and to ignore them impoverishes our experience of Scripture. In Hebrews 1:14 we read, “Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation“. Psalm 91:11, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go“. But as we preach the Good News to those around us we do so with the knowledge that angels are “eagerly watching” what is happening. And we read in Luke 15:10, “In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents“. Can you imagine it – when we pilgrims became believers the angels had a party in Heaven! As we share the Good News with our friends and families, let’s remember there’s a party coming!

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your servants the angels. Amen.


Trials and Testing

Posted on by korgrocker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul’s Fellow Workers

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“Timothy, my fellow worker, sends you his greetings, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. I, Tertius, the one writing this letter for Paul, send my greetings, too, as one of the Lord’s followers. Gaius says hello to you. He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends you his greetings, and so does our brother Quartus.”
Romans 16:21-23 NLT

Another eight names appear in Paul’s letter to the Romans. We know of course about Timothy; in fact we know quite a bit about him. Paul nurtured him as a “true son in the faith” – “I am writing to Timothy, my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace” (1 Timothy 1:2). He was well taught in the faith by his mother and grandmother, “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you” (2 Timothy 1:5). Timothy probably pastored the Ephesian church for a while – in his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth” (1 Timothy 1:3). And Timothy was obviously ill with some gastric condition – Paul advised him to, “Don’t drink only water. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach because you are sick so often” (1 Timothy 5:23). And there are other little gems about Timothy that we can pick up from Paul’s letters.

Then we find that Paul didn’t write this letter himself, but used the services of a secretary called Tertius. From the customs and traditions of the time, we can draw other conclusions about Tertius. He may have been known by the Roman believers, because that is why he greeted them in this letter. Other traditions say he may have been a slave who went on to become a Bishop, but the one fact we do know something about is that he faithfully transcribed all of Paul’s thoughts and instructions. Perhaps he even thought “How much more, as he started the umpteenth new page!” 

Gaius was the church host, we read, and Erastus was a man in high office, being the city treasurer – a useful man to have in the church role! But in this list of names, a picture of men of solid faith emerges. We are so grateful for the early Christians because of the legacy they left us. We know little about them, and for every name that Paul mentioned there were many more working behind the scenes. But their fortitude in difficult times is a glowing testimony to the love and power of God. We pilgrims today have the opportunity to leave a legacy for the generations and generations following us. We mustn’t waste the opportunities that we have.

Dear Father God. Our gratitude to those early Christians knows no bounds. You know who they are and we look forward to being able to thank them personally one day. Amen.

Obedient to the Lord

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“But everyone knows that you are obedient to the Lord. This makes me very happy. I want you to be wise in doing right and to stay innocent of any wrong. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”
Romans 16:19-20 NLT

Paul is happy because he knows that the Roman believers are obedient followers of Christ. A faith statement on his part, but one he felt, through the whispering of the Holy Spirit within him, to be the case. In those days, without the benefit of the New Testament writings, the truth about God’s plan and His message of salvation through Jesus came through reference to the Jewish Bible and through the Apostles’ teaching. And of course the Truth came through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul implied through the next few words in Romans 16:19 that “obedience to the Lord” would lead to righteous living which was wisdom, but he also appealed to his readers to stay innocent of any wrongdoing. In other words they should avoid sin. The person of satan emerged as a potential assailant, but through “the God of peace” he would soon be a defeated foe. 

We pilgrims today have a much easier time in knowing right from wrong, and how to be “obedient to the Lord”. But translating that “knowing” into practice in our society today is far from easy. Even the church leaders in our land are promoting behaviour that the Bible clearly says is wrong. If Paul was around today, would he still be “very happy”? Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments”. Obedience to Christ is fundamental to the Christian. At best, it may appear old fashioned in the eyes of the world. But at worst it may lead to imprisonment or even death, as in other nations. We must stand firm – “But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29). The Gospel that we preach is counter-cultural and to many an offence because it challenges lifestyles, and attitudes and more. But we have to be obedient in doing what God has asked us to do, because salvation comes through Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:6, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. When challenged by Jesus about his future relationship with Him, “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God”” (John 6:68-69).

We pilgrims have a clear understanding of how we should live our lives. But obedience to the Lord is a key that will unlock the doors of Heaven. We cannot compromise. In this season of “Pride” marches, I read today of a Christian councillor who tweeted on social media, “Pride is not a virtue but a sin“. As a result he has been suspended from the Conservative Party, and “cancelled” by six other organisations. Here is his full tweet, “When did Pride become a thing to celebrate. Because of Pride Satan fell as an arch Angel. Pride is not a virtue but a Sin. Those who have Pride should Repent of their sins and return to Jesus Christ. He can save you“. And he quoted Isaiah 3:9, “The very look on their faces gives them away. They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it. They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves“. Obedience to the Lord is going to cost us, folks. But there is no other way. Again I write that we cannot compromise.

Dear Father God. We pray together for the Christian Councillor who has lost so much for standing firm on Your Word. Please restore to him all that he has lost and more. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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