Gentiles – God’s Own People?

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And if the Gentiles obey God’s law, won’t God declare them to be his own people? In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NLT

This statement from Paul must have been highly upsetting to the Jews. How dare he say such things, they must have thought. But Jesus did much the same to the Pharisees. In John 8, the Apostle John recorded the gist of a conversation Jesus had with some Jewish people of His day. And the dialogue highlights exactly what Paul was saying to his Jewish Christian friends in Rome. We read what the Pharisees said in John 8:33, ““But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”” The Jews basically took the huff because Jesus seemed to be saying to them that they were missing the most important truths that have ever been exposed. They thought, wrongly of course, that because they were of Abrahamic descent, everything about their lives and future was OK.

To take a step back, Jesus made an astonishing claim about Himself when He said, “… You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free“. He went on to clarify that He was talking about being a slave to sin, and He went on, “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:36).‭‭ This was an incredible claim that Jesus made, and it dropped into the Pharisaical culture like an atom bomb. And to really rub it in, Jesus went on to challenge the whole basis for the Abrahamic religion practised by the Jews in His day. The Pharisees said, ““Our father is Abraham!” they declared. “No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example” (John 8:39). And Jesus led them straight back to the very foundations of their faith. We read in Genesis 15:6, “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith“. 

It’s not religion that will save us. When we stand before God it will do our cause no good at all if all we can do is to base our claim to salvation on our religious ways. On how much we gave to the church offering, how often we went to church, how many hymns or carols we could sing by memory. How familiar we are with the denominational liturgies, or what church volunteering opportunities we became involved with. What really counts is our faith. The Apostle Paul said to the Philippians church, “… I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9). 

Paul said to the Roman Jews that His people are not those who, even though circumcised and Jews by birth, fail to obey His law. And he pointed out to them that the uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law have a mandate to condemn the Jews who don’t. 

We pilgrims today look back at the situation that erupted between Paul and the early Christians in Rome, and are perhaps tempted to take the moral high ground. But we shouldn’t, because we can fall into the same attitudes of mind, the same traps, that Paul’s readers had obviously done. Faith and obedience are the parameters that drive us to be true followers of Jesus. Not religion and liturgies.

Dear Father God. It’s all about You and Your love, not about us and our religions. We commit afresh to following Your Son Jesus today, with faith and obedience. Amen.

Circumcision

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT

Way back in Genesis 17 we read about how God decided to make a covenant with a man, then called Abram. “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants” (Genesis 17:1-2).

From God’s side of the covenant, He promised Abram many descendants, and a land in which to live. In the process, his name was changed from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of a multitude”, confirming that God promised that Abraham would become the father of many nations. But Abraham also had his side of the bargain to keep. We read this in Genesis 17:10-11, “This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between Me and you”. And so the Jewish custom of circumcision was introduced and faithfully followed generation after generation, right up until the present day.

However, Paul was continuing in his tirade against the Jewish Christians in Rome, who were all puffed up with their self-perceived status as special Christians. Perhaps there was a whiff of Gnosticism lurking in the air. But whatever the situation was, Paul dropped a bombshell – he told them there’s no point in being circumcised in you don’t obey God’s law. And just to add to their discomfort, he said, because of that, they might as well be uncircumcised Gentiles, surely an insult if there ever was one.

Is there a learning opportunity here for us 21st Century pilgrims? I would say so. And I’m not suggesting that all us men rush out and find a clinic prepared to circumcise us. Perish the thought! No – for the Jews, circumcision was supposed to be an outward sign of someone dedicated to God and His service. But sadly they ended up going through the motions of their religion, but neglecting its spirit. They felt secure in their physical status but were missing what that status really meant. Paul wrote very clearly to the Corinthian Christians the following, “For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments“. (1 Corinthians 7:19). 

We pilgrims must be a people who are obedient to keeping God’s commandments, in the way Jesus taught in Matthew 22:37, “Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind””. A people who are in a loving relationship with our wonderful Heavenly Father. Paul said to the Philippians, “For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort” (Philippians 3:3). Paul said in his Colossian letter, “When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature” (Colossians 2:11). So, the whole meaning of the word “circumcision” has been expanded to mean the removal of our sinful nature, and by so doing, has brought us closer to being the people God wants us to be. 

Sadly, many Christians have become somewhat tarnished in their faith. They go through the motions of the religion, attending church, warming a pew, putting an offering in the collection bag and so on, without stopping to think about what they are doing, or are supposed to be doing. The loving relationship that God so desires with His creation is far from their hearts. By so doing they are behaving much like the Jewish Christians in Rome. Perhaps, Paul would have said to them that they may as well have been unbelievers.

The clear message to us pilgrims is this – don’t get caught up in the trap that Paul warned his protégé Timothy of. We read in 2 Timothy 3:5, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!”

Father God. We are so sorry that we neglect the loving relationship so freely available to us all. We get so caught up in our daily activities that we forget to put You at the centre of what we do. Please forgive us, we pray. Amen.

Blasphemy

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth. Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonour God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.””
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT

Paul wrote a withering and hard-hitting critique of the behaviour of the Jewish Christians in Rome. He pulled no punches and the more sensitive of his hearers would have been squirming in their seats with red faces as Paul’s letter was read out. There is no direct quotation “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you” that the Bible scholars have been able to find, but the nearest one, they say, is from Isaiah 52:5, which reads, “”What is this?” asks the Lord. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long.”” If that was the Scripture Paul had in mind, then he seemed to be quoting it a bit out of context, but that just adds to the authenticity of his account. The meaning of Isaiah 52:5 fits in very well with Paul’s tirade, particularly when it moves on to verse 7 in the chapter. 

But what is blasphemy? The word is not in common everyday use, even in our churches. But it is a very important word, because it describes the “act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God” (dictionary definition). In Isaiah 52, the background is of a people oppressed by a stronger nation, first Egypt and then Assyria. And the contempt shown to God’s people, the Jews, leads to God’s name being blasphemed “all day long”. In a sense, today, Western Christians are treated with contempt. We are considered to be deluded, worshipping a being that is foreign to the secularists in the society around us. A being they perceive as being more a tradition than anything relevant. A being only found, within old dusty buildings filled with the music and lyrics of a bygone age, long gone. But there’s a strange phenomenon – all these people who don’t know God, who deny His very presence, and who want nothing to do with Him –  they use His name frequently as part of colloquial expletives in conversation. I’ve written before about a lady I used to work with who, although a confirmed, and even mildly aggressive, atheist, frequently punctuated her conversations with “Oh my god”, presumably to add some weight to the more extreme parts of her dialogue. But she had failed to make the connection between her state of God-denial and the use of His name in her conversation. After I had pointed out this anomaly, I never heard her use the expression again. But there are other references to the names of God and Jesus that are frequently used in our society, in a sadly wearying and constant flow of blasphemy.

In some cultures and religions, blasphemy is a capital offence. Apparently, there are thirteen countries in the world that retain the death penalty for the offence of blasphemy. 

But back to our Scriptures in Isaiah 52. In Isaiah 52:6, God introduced a “but”. Don’t we need God’s “buts”! We read, “But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them”. As God’s people, we know it doesn’t matter what those unbelievers around us say, because one day they will be held to account for their words. They can blaspheme all they like. The important thing is that God said He will reveal His name to us, His people. And He says it’s a powerful name. 

One day, all those people who blaspheme God’s name will have a nasty shock. What they considered and used so contemptibly will bring them to their knees and they will have to declare that Jesus is Lord. We read that in Philippians 2:10-11, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. 

Back in our verses from Romans, the enormity of the responsibility we have is clear. Are we pilgrims doing anything, or behaving in such a way, that causes those around us to blaspheme? It’s always a good thing to do a spiritual check up from time to time, to make sure that what we are doing, or the way we are doing it, never dishonours God. 

Father God. We echo the prayer Jesus taught His disciples and hallow Your name today. We honour You. We elevate You in our thoughts and prayers. We declare our love for You, the one and only Mighty God. Amen.

Being Self-Taught

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth. Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonour God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.””
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul pointed out to his Jewish Christian friends that before they could have a mandate to teach others, they needed to be able to teach themselves first. He wrote, “if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself?” Though Paul wrote in the singular, the implication was that he was writing to a whole group of people. 

Teaching is a difficult job. The challenge of being able to communicate a subject or idea to a group of students in a way that engages them and transfers information, with the goal of retention by the hearer, is a skill that is unfortunately rare. This can be a problem in things like religious education, particularly here in the UK. The RE teacher will teach what is factually correct about all “faiths” but will fail to communicate the spirit behind them. So an RE student will come away from his or her classes with head but not heart knowledge. Back in my school days, just about the most unpopular subject was Latin. But me and my school friends were very fortunate in that we had a teacher who was passionate about his subject and brought the Latin language to life. As a result I still retain items of Latin grammar in my mind, even today, many years later. But teaching style was not really what Paul was writing about in his letter.

A better way of teaching is not just through the dispensation of words but by a lifestyle, that lives out the subject matter. Jesus was the Master teacher using this technique while He was here with us on earth. He spent three or so years of His life in a transparent example of how to live, really live, as a true God-follower. Not only did He “talk the talk” but He also “walked the walk”. His prayer life, His attitudes, His teaching, His love and grace, His compassion – it was all there for His disciples to emulate. And because of the faithfulness of His disciples, we have written accounts of His sinless life that we can refer to. Jesus was passionate about living life God’s way.

Paul was saying to his friends in Rome, as well as us today, that the best way of teaching others is by example. He said that if his friends were to be effective teachers, then they had to not just tell their followers how to behave but show them, from their own life experiences. As an example, an ex-drug addict is better able to reach and teach other addicts if they can demonstrate that it is possible to kick the habit and move on. But perhaps you can see where I am going. There was a day when we pilgrims had an encounter with the living God. We were transformed from being citizens of the kingdom of darkness to being citizens of the Kingdom of Light. Where we are now was summed up by the Apostle Peter in 1Peter 2:9, “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” We are not people who teach others a few dusty, lifeless and historical truths about a man called Jesus. Instead, we can teach others about the wonderful Son of God, and what He has done for us. We are like the buyer of pearls that Jesus told His hearers about in Matthew 13:45-46, “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!” We have indeed found something so precious that we give up all we have, all we are, for the privilege of being a child of God.

But here’s the thing. We mustn’t be like the Roman Jewish Christians who apparently failed to display any of the fruit that comes from knowing God. If they had had a life-transforming and personal encounter with the risen Jesus, their lives would have been transformed. Paul was knocked off his horse by an encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road. We may have not experienced anything quite so dramatic, but the very fact that the God of this universe cared so much about us that He sent His Son to die for us in our place, taking on Himself the punishment we deserved for our sins. The “wow!” that comes from us in response must surely impact those around us, giving us a mandate to “teach” them about the wonderful God we worship.

Dear Father. We are truly wowed by Your presence in our lives. With grateful hearts we praise You today. Amen.

A Guiding Light

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth. Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonour God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.””
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul continues in his rant about the Jewish Christians in Rome. He points out that they have the benefit of knowing what righteous living is all about because they have been schooled in the Law from an early age. The problem is that this seems to have introduced feelings of arrogance. Paul points out to them that they know all about the Law, they rely on it, he says, and therefore they claim to “know what is right”, claims added to because they know their special heritage. They are now all puffed up with their knowledge and assumed standing before God, and are convinced that they can act as examples to the Gentiles around them, teaching them all about God. Live like us and do what we do, they say, and you won’t go far wrong.

But Paul points out to them that they need to get their own lives in order before they can take the moral high ground and teach others. And he finishes these verses with the damning indictment that because of their hypocrisy, the very people they are trying to be an example to are taking the view that if this behaviour has God’s blessing then they want nothing to do with it. The classic trap the Jewish Christians had fallen into was the one described in the familiar line, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say”. Has anyone ever heard a parent say that? Or someone else in authority? 

Jesus had a run-in with the Pharisees over this very problem. They started off by asking Him for the reason why His disciples didn’t follow the Jewish traditions of things like hand washing. Jesus’s response was, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:7-8). And as usual, the finger of the Master landed right on the issue. 

Hypocrisy is an easy trap to fall into. As an example, someone I knew once stuck a fish symbol on the boot of his car, advertising the fact that he was a Christian. But one day he drove in a hurry through a small village, significantly exceeding the speed limit, and causing dismay to the locals. He stopped a few miles further on for petrol, and one of the cars he had overtaken in the village pulled up behind him. The driver got out and proceeded to point out to my friend that if he was going to advertise his Christian faith, he needed to do it in more ways than just putting a sticker on his car (or words to that effect). But of course such a problem would never arise with us pilgrims, would it? Our driving manners are exemplary, aren’t they?

We read what Jesus thought about hypocrisy in His Sermon on the Mount. We read in Matthew 7:3-5, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye“. And this is the theme Paul took up in His letter to the Roman Jewish Christians.

A common objection from people who turn down an invitation to a church service is that the building is full of hypocrites. That may or may not be true, but the world’s perception of Christians has been tarnished by the behaviour of some, hopefully just a few. The people in our secular societies look on, expecting more from Christians than perhaps they should. They observe one Christian behaving badly and straight away decide all Christians are the same. We know that we are “work in progress” but that’s no excuse if our behaviour causes those around us to stumble. 

Most people’s view of Jesus can only be obtained by observing His followers. We pilgrims need to bear that in mind the next time our right foot on the gas pedal feels a bit heavy.

Dear Father God. We are “work in progress” we know, but that is not an excuse for sinful behaviour. We are so grateful for your patience and grace – where would we be without it! Amen.

Special Relationship

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT

Paul starts the verse we are reading today by making reference, with a hint of sarcasm, to the fact that at least some of the people in the Roman church still call themselves Jews. Superficially at least, there is nothing wrong with that. Most people call ourselves after their origins. So I might call myself British. Others might call themselves American. We call ourselves after the country in which we were born. But it appears that the Roman Christians of Jewish ancestry had two problems. Instead of relying on the saving grace of Jesus and His sacrifice at Calvary for their salvation, they instead had returned to obeying the rules and regulations of God’s Law. Their second problem was that they claimed to have a special relationship with God and they were boasting about it. Now it should be said, that neither being obedient to God’s Law or claiming to be part of His chosen people are in themselves wrong. Both claims made by the Jews in the Roman church were factually correct.

God’s original intention was that through a system of laws and precepts, He established everything the Israelites needed to do, to have the relationship with Him that He wanted. Jeremiah 7:23 says (God speaking through Jeremiah), “This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’” Deuteronomy 30:10, “The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul“. Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment in the Law was “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38). And in Matthew 5:19, Jesus taught, “So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven“.

Jesus taught about the spirit of obeying the law in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart“. Obeying the letter of the Law is achieved if a man is totally faithful to his wife, and he doesn’t enter into any adulterous relationships. However, the spirit of the Law would say that even if a man looks at another woman lustfully, then he is breaking the Law. The problem for the Roman Jewish Christians was that they were trying to obey the letter of the Law rather than the spirit of the Law, (which was what God wanted).

The people in the Roman church would have claimed that through their birth they were Jews. Paul himself made that claim because he wrote down his origins in Philippians 3:5, “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one!...”. So Paul himself was obviously very proud of his roots.  In Deuteronomy 7:6 we read, “For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.” Of course this is a wonderful place to be, to know that, as a member of a race of people, you are in a special relationship or privileged position with God. But Paul rose above these thoughts. We read what he said in Philippians 3:7-9, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith”.

So we pilgrims have a challenge from a verse that at first sight doesn’t seem to apply to us. Well, perhaps that is what we think. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. We too can fall into the Jewish Christian traps that Paul was writing about. By introducing a legalism into our faith, so that we go through the motions of worship and prayer but our hearts, our thoughts, are elsewhere. Or we try and take the moral high ground when the world around us seems to sink lower and lower into sinful depravity. Instead, we must remain close to God in our relationship with Him. Keeping short accounts with Him if we lapse into sinful ways. Choosing to live a life of devotion focused on our loving Heavenly Father. One thing we cannot do is try and live a life with one foot in the secular society around us, and the other in God’s Kingdom. 

Dear Father. We repent today of our feelings of pride and legalistic tendencies. We reach out to You, knowing that Your love and kindness is always there for us. We love You Lord. Amen.

Secret Life

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT

We all have what Paul referred to as a “secret life”. We have become well accustomed to the knowledge that our thoughts are private. Sometimes, jokingly or otherwise, we will look at a person during a conversation and say that we know what they’re thinking, but that cannot really be the case. Our thoughts are hidden from those around us. They form for most a safe space where we can be alone with our thoughts, feeling safe in the knowledge that no-one knows, or so we think, what is going on in our minds.

But what does go on in our minds? We have practical thoughts, planning out the day ahead. We have feelings or thoughts of pleasure or pain. In our minds we feel anxiety or security, depending on our circumstances. In our minds we develop our characters and our motives in life. External influences can promote all sorts of thoughts, too complex to list. Our minds flit from one thought to another and back again in a seemingly unending circuitous and exhausting world, reaching far beyond our physical presence. That “secret life” embedded within us can go on to produce good or bad actions and behaviour. Our minds can become scrambled and sick. What an incredibly complex part of our soul or spirit lives between our ears. Our brains are very complex organisms but, like the central processing unit within a computer, external observations may see electrical impulses but not what they mean.

But there is Someone who can see what is going on within our minds, who can see our “secret life“. That Person is our wonderful Heavenly Creator God. Our thoughts and emotions also belong in another world, a spiritual world which God created and has access to. Is it a bit radical or misguided  to think that? Is the promotion of a parallel spiritual universe just a fiction? But how else can we explain where God lives and a verse like Jeremiah 17:10? We read, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

A much quoted verse in Hebrews 4:12. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires”. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews connects what God says, and has said, with an analogy using our physical bodies. In God’s Word we have a contact point between the spiritual world governing our thoughts, and the physical world where we can use our other organs, such as our eyes, to find out how our spiritual world should behave and think. 

But for everyone there will come a time when our inner thoughts will be judged. Jesus, the Son of God, knew about people’s thoughts. We read in Matthew 9:4, “Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?”” He also warned that one day everything will be exposed. We read in Luke 12:3-4, “The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” Jesus did some straight talking to the Pharisees, as we read in Matthew 12:34, 36, “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak”. What we are thinking determines what we say, and one day all those thoughts and words will be judged.

When will that time be? We read about the final Judgement Day in Revelation 20. It will be a terrible time for all those whose names are not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. But we pilgrims know how to ensure that we are saved from a judgement with such a dreadful outcome. And so we pray with the Psalmist his prayer recorded in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life“. That path starts at the Cross, and continues with the transforming of our thought processes through the Holy Spirit. We read in Ephesians 4:23, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes“. What a wonderful Heavenly Father we worship! Through His Son we have so much to look forward to, as He helps us day by day in our walk to eternal life with Him.

Father God. We thank You for Your Spirit, so freely available to us. We pray today for a fresh infilling with Your Spirit, to help us move onwards in our daily journey through this physical life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Instinctive Law

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT

A human being is an incredibly complex organism. The physical content of bone, blood, muscles and organs is amazing in itself. But when the spiritual side of us, something that no researcher or surgeon can find, remove or dissect, is added into the mix, it is somehow incredible that so many of our scientists and educationalists believe it all happened by chance. Our ability to think, to meditate, and behave, with emotions that can be so unpredictable, somehow has to be connected to a wonderful Creator God. Human behaviour is something that is least understood by our medical and mental health practitioners, and often today a pill is prescribed to “fix” a problem that has a spiritual root.

Something that God designed into His creation, human beings, was a conscience. Somehow, we are programmed with enough of God’s law to understand what is right and what is wrong. Our behaviour is therefore shaped and directed by what God has put within us. But there’s a problem. We call it sin. And we end up in an internal tussle, with our sin dragging us one way, and our consciences saying something different. Every day we face into the consequences of this struggle and it will never cease until we achieve the reality of our salvation. We will come back to this very problem later in this blog.

The Old Testament prophesied that the Old Covenant between God and His people, the Jews, was not working out as God had planned it. Though there were a small minority who perhaps claimed that they were keeping His laws, the majority weren’t. Having a set of laws invites people to live a legalistic life, but God wanted to enjoy a relationship with His people. And being a box-ticker is not being a child of God. Jeremiah prophesied what God was going to do. 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”“. With the benefit of hindsight, we know what happened “after those days”. God sent His Son Jesus to be our Saviour, something we are celebrating in this Christmas season.

The question for us pilgrims is this – what is the state of our hearts? Not the physical organ that pumps blood around our bodies, but that complex invisible organism within us that is our central processing unit. Where are thoughts and responses are churning away. Where are consciences are dealing with factors such as sin. Have we given up and instead have shut our spiritual life away somewhere and allowed sin to rule our days? Or are we in good spiritual health, walking hand in hand with our wonderful Heavenly Father? One of my go-to verses is 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness“. That verse wasn’t written to unbelievers but to believers. Fellow pilgrims on their journey to Heaven. Of course, we will screw up from time to time, but it is not inevitable, as we allow that God-made organism within us, our consciences, to function as they should. as we bring our thoughts and desires under God’s spotlight, He will expose any issues and help us seal with them. If we let Him.

Dear Heavenly Father. We are indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made”. And we have You to thank for that. We worship You today. Amen.

Obeying God’s Law

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT

Reading these early verses in Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, we might be thinking that there seems to be a problem between Jews and Gentiles. Paul spends a lot of time dealing with them separately, as he is doing in these verses today. What was going on? A little bit of extrapolation from the political and religious situation in those days of life in Rome perhaps indicate that the Jews were trying to separate themselves from the Gentiles in their churches. Perhaps they were trying to reinstate their historical standing before God and resist the introduction of Gentile believers. But whatever was going on, Paul brings them down to earth with a bump. He was in fact saying that the Jewish believers were no better than the Gentile believers. And he sets out in these early chapters the reasons why.

In these verses today, Paul was pointing out that sin is sin, whether committed by a Jew or a Gentile. Without God’s saving grace, the result is the same. But is it a bit unfair to say that God will judge those who had never heard His law just as harshly as those who have heard it? We’re back to the conscience factor. Regardless of the Law, God has wired us all with a conscience. So intuitively we know, when it comes to our behaviour, what is right and what is wrong. But the reality is that regardless of whether or not we have a set of rules and regulations, a law, to follow, sin will be judged one day. 

We pilgrims have a God-given responsibility to communicate, both to ourselves and to others, that sitting in a church pew on a Sunday won’t necessarily make us either a Christian or righteous before God. In that very same pew, we will hear much about God, about His law, about His attributes like love, grace and righteousness, but in return we must always be aware that we must act upon what we hear. So, if we hear about God’s love, we must be aware that we have a responsibility to show that same love to others. In 1 John 4:10-11, we read, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other“. And in 1 John 2:4-5 we read, “If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him”. If we hear about God’s love but don’t show love to those around us, then we are doing exactly what Paul warned the Roman Christians about – they listened to God’s Word but they didn’t obey it. And the same warning rattles down the centuries to our spiritual inboxes today. Just to consign it to our spiritual spam folders just won’t do. As Paul wrote, “It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.” James wrote in his epistle, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:22-25). What we must do can’t be clearer than that.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your patience and grace. Without it we would be lost. We worship You today. Amen.

No Favouritism

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honour and peace from God for all who do good—for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Are there any Christians out there with feelings of insignificancy? Who feel inferior to the other people populating the pews in their church? Who sit in the prayer meeting thinking that they could never pray wonderful prayers like the man over there or the woman sitting next to them? Who look at the great men and women of the church on YouTube, or a televised Sunday service and see ministers who appear to be so much better than them? Well, I have good news for you this morning. “God does not show favouritism“. We must shout this from the rooftops. Write it on Post-It notes and stick them on the bathroom mirror and anywhere else we look at regularly. God doesn’t look at the outward fluff and bubble. He doesn’t care about how many “thee’s” or “thou’s” we include with our prayers. There is a Scripture worth considering in 1 Samuel 16:7, “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“”. Jesus once said to a group of Pharisees, “… You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honours is detestable in the sight of God“. (Luke 16:15).

In our societies today there is a grading of people, according to attributes such as their financial worth, their skin colour, their education. Where they live. Where they were born. Where they work and what sort of employment they have. Who their ancestors were. Even our religious and spiritual persuasions. A complex mix of parameters that define us in the eyes of our fellow men. But none of these matter at all to God. At a stroke, God demolishes all the characteristics considered important by mankind, and instead looks at our hearts. That inner part of us that constitutes our souls or spirits. Our thoughts and intentions. Because of our position in the societies in which we live, we may or may not have feelings of inferiority or superiority. Misplaced feelings of pride and righteousness are perhaps in there as well. But all these things matter not at all to God. In looking at our hearts, what is He looking for? 

Perhaps a good place to start is with Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. By steeping ourselves in God’s Word we will find out what He finds “good and pleasing and perfect”. We will find out what His will is for us. And we will develop a relationship, strong and enduring, with our loving Heavenly Parent. 

God doesn’t favour any one of His children more than another. We all have access to His Heavenly home. He listens to all our prayers, regardless of how simple or complex they are. In fact, He knows what we are about to pray before we even utter a word. He nurtures us. He leads and guides us. He has an individual plan worked out for each one of us. And each plan is different, tailor made just for us. We mustn’t forget as well, that He lives within us by His Spirit. When all these factors are added together we find that it doesn’t really matter what those worldly people around us think of us. What matters is what God thinks. And He is with us every day, every hour, every minute, cheering us on. Helping us on our journey through life’s minefields. And one day we will find ourselves in a new home. There’s no favouritism there either.

Father God. As we stand before You, feeling Your penetrating gaze pass over our hearts, we pray for forgiveness for all the wrongs and other sins You find there. And we thank You for Your grace and mercy. Amen.

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