One Mind (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathise with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.”
1 Peter 3:8 NLT

“One-mindedness” in any group of people is an elusive quality very much in short supply. It seems in these days that everyone has an opinion about themselves and others, and they expect that opinion to be ratified and supported by everyone else. Those who don’t agree with their opinions find out that they are accused of being some sort of “-phobe” and cancelled from whatever forum or meeting place they frequent. And that often applies to Christians who adhere to Biblical views of morality and ethics. But Peter wasn’t writing to disparate groups of people, struggling in their own secular fogs. He was writing to those early Christians located in the Five Provinces in what is now modern Turkey. 

Being of “one mind” is important for a Christian fellowship. Imagine a football team that lacked a sense of unity, with each player intent on following their own strategy and game play. Chaos and ridicule would result and their future together would be in doubt. Just as in any team, sporting or otherwise, unity, one-mindedness, is an essential quality in Christian fellowships. The members must be of one mind when it comes to strategic fellowship decisions. One church I was in had a vision statement stencilled in big letters on the church wall. It was derived from a Bible verse, and there was no doubt as to why that particular fellowship of believers were there. In Romans 15:5-6, the Apostle Paul wrote, “May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ“. Unity between believers leads to corporate praise and worship of God. And Paul emphasised that this is what believers must do. Of course, it goes without saying, that an act of corporate worship genuinely and lovingly focused on God will override any internal strife and discord.

Paul also used the analogy of the composition of a human being when he described the importance of unity in a church. In 1 Corinthians 12:12 he wrote, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ“. Referring to our own bodies he continued, “But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18-20). So the picture emerges of a fellowship of believers made up of different people with different giftings, but all heading in the same direction and functioning together as they are united by their relationship with each other. They are of “one mind”. So we pilgrims must ask ourselves if we are one-minded with our fellow believers. If we find ourselves out of step and disagreeing with them then we need to sort out the issues with “a humble attitude”. A disfunctioning believer is a toxic influence in a church and something to be avoided at all costs, for Jesus’ sake.

Dear Father God. We know that through Jesus we are united. His saving grace brought us together, and we are truly thankful. Amen.

Self Honesty

Posted on by korgrocker

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us”. 
Romans 12:3 NLT

This is a difficult one. What do we think of ourselves and our abilities? And how do we know? There are some empirical ways of assessing our abilities, and academic exams are one of them. We might, for example, think we are good at arithmetic, and we can prove it by passing some sort of test. The same would apply to a driving test, where we can demonstrate to an external examiner our ability, or not, as the case may be. Similarly, we might think we are good at speaking a foreign language, something that is easily confirmed by a visit to that country. But these are all specifics. The problem comes when, for example, we say we are good at a subject like art just because we can pass an arithmetic test.

I used to work for someone who was an expert in his vocational field. He wrote for scientific and technical journals, and people consulted him about their theories and projects. So he started a company to market his products, thinking that he would have the same expertise and abilities when it came to business matters. Sadly he didn’t, and the company collapsed. Now here’s the reason – he didn’t have an honest evaluation of himself. He should have read the verse we are looking at today. The problem in much of today’s employment, particularly in white collar environments, is that those who climb the promotion ladder have to make claims about how good they are, by talking up their abilities. I was once in a project meeting with a very confident manager, who impressed the project sponsor by his apparent knowledge of the subject in hand. Afterwards I complemented him on his knowledge, to which he replied, “in a land of blind men, a one-eyed man is king”. The reality was that he had a good grasp of all the buzz words, but little else. But life isn’t like that for most of us.

At the other end of the scale, I have known people who are really good at something, but they lack the confidence to leverage their abilities, failing to make them a useful addition to their lives and the lives of others. But the emphasis in Paul’s message would indicate that this is less of a problem then being overconfident, by thinking that “you are better than you really are”.

Was Paul merely applying what he was writing about to spiritual matters or everything that the person, the “each of you”, was involved in? He was probably, in my opinion, referring to life, everything the person was involved in as they went about their everyday lives. Paul also included some guidance in his letter to the Philippians. “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too” (Philippians 2:3-4). He continued, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. …” (Philippians 2:5-7). The world has got it wrong. Society demands that self-promotion is necessary to get on, and be better than anyone else. The Christian way is the opposite, one of humility and preferring one another. A way where we step back and allow God to do the promoting. Because of Jesus’ humility, He was honoured, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names” (Philippians 2:9).

Paul writes about self-evaluation through the faith that we have. To present this as an example, perhaps someone who claims to have a healing ministry, but doesn’t see the fruit of it, may not have the faith to make their claim. There is a partnership between a person’s spiritual and natural abilities, seasoned with the faith that comes from a lifetime of service to God.

So we pilgrims, humbly in God’s presence, work with Him to maximise our potential for His kingdom. Through our faith in Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit working within us. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). And, in the end, that is what we really want to do – please our loving Heavenly Father.

Dear Father God. We praise and worship You today, deeply grateful for Your presence in our lives. Please help us, we pray, to serve You with faith and in truth, trusting that it is only through You and Your Son, Jesus, that we can really succeed in all that You have for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.


No Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”
Romans 3:27-28 NLT

In this life, it is easy to find people who boast about their achievements. The general on a battlefield. The captains of industry who claim that they have built their companies from nothing, through sheer hard work. The aid worker who has helped large numbers of people. A charity that has influenced government legislation. The neighbour down the street who has purchased a new car. The list is endless. But all these achievements have one thing in common – a boast that their claims depend on human effort, and particularly theirs. 

What does this word “boast” mean? A dictionary definition is to “talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities“. There are two words in this definition that are worth noting – “pride” and “self“. In God’s eyes, both of these can be considered to be sins. There are some Bible verses warning against boasting. James wrote some words about misplaced self-confidence in James 4. Here is one of the verses he wrote, verse 16, “… you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil“. But James was not the only Biblical writer warning about boasting. Another verse from Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring“. Boasting is associated with evil people. Psalm 94:3, “They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting“. 

In our verses from Romans 3 today we see that, in our relationship with God, we have nothing to boast about. The Apostle Paul wrote a list of all the challenges he had experienced in his life, and how he could boast about them, if he wanted to. We can read about them in 2 Corinthians 11. But in verse 30 he comes from a different angle. He wrote, “If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am“. In the following chapter, he referred to having “a thorn in [his] flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). After asking God to take it away, he wrote ““Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Somehow, it’s not possible to boast about our faith, and not just because those worldly people around us perceive it to be a weakness. Why would we want to boast about such a thing? We can do nothing to earn our salvation. Through faith in Jesus, we accept the free gift of God, His salvation. The very essence of our faith is God. It’s all about Him and what He has done for us, and not about us at all. In Philippians 2:3 we read, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves”. Humility is the way forward for Christians. We have an inner strength that comes from knowing that God loves us personally and individually. And because of that we don’t have to puff ourselves up in front of our peers. We don’t have to make inflated claims about our worth, to try and make those around us look up to us. The Lord Himself will lift us up at the right time. We read in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour”.

Living in God’s Kingdom is counter-cultural for most of the time. The world’s values and virtues mostly don’t exist in God’s world. And boasting is one of them. 

Father God. Please help us to have a Godly perspective of ourselves, and not one dictated to by worldly people and values. Amen.

Speaking the Truth

Posted on by korgrocker

“Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Truth. In John 18, we read that Jesus came before Pilate and the subject of truth came up. We read, “Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked….”“. Pilate expressed, perhaps cynically, the uncertainty of “truth” from a human perspective. Absolute truth is a quality that eludes us, because we don’t have access to absolutes. For example, a witness in a court case promises to say “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. But what he says is only his perspective of the truth, based on his observations at the time the crime, was committed. Dictionaries don’t help much either – one definition of “truth” is “the quality or state of being true”. 

In John 14:6, Jesus said He is the truth. We read, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only Jesus is the absolute truth. What He said was true. True then and just as true today. And this gives a baseline of truth, against which all other “truths” can be compared.

So what was Paul meaning when he said, “we will speak the truth in love”. The previous verse in Ephesians 4 mentions the danger of lies appearing to be so convincing that they could be interpreted as truth. And the previous verse to that highlights the opportunity we have to grow in our knowledge of Jesus, a theme also in our verse today. The reality is that the closer we get to Jesus, the closer we will get to the truth. Truth becomes accessible to us, and this is a powerful place to be. Paul then cautions us to only speak the truth in a spirit of love. Earlier in chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul encourages us to always to “be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love“. And from that perspective, with a humble and gentle love that seeks the other person’s highest good, we can deliver difficult truths to help the other person to grow “in every way more and more like Christ”. 

So how does the pilgrim today speak out truths in love? We are all on our journeys through life; all at different stages. And one quality we must have is our love for fellow pilgrims. Then we can meet the criteria to say to someone, who is perhaps further behind on their journey, what they should, or shouldn’t, do. For example, someone who is engaging in some form of sinful activity would perhaps be helped by a fellow Christian lovingly pointing out the error of their ways. And we must also be aware that we too can be corrected in a similar way. But over it all, there must be a bridge of love, a relational bridge, over which we can walk with the other person, walking into truth together. Jesus said He was the Truth. He is the Truth. And as we grow to be more like Him, we too can perhaps get a glimpse of His loving truth as it works through our lives.

Being Humble

Posted on by korgrocker

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”
Ephesians‬ ‭4:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Being humble. If there was ever a life-condition that is truly counter-cultural then this is it. We live in a world where self is king (or queen!). Where we are told it’s all about “me”. Companies run courses in “self-assertiveness”. Children are encouraged to “stickup for themselves” in the classroom and playground. We’re told not to let people “trample all over us”. We score points if we get “one over” someone else. Our politicians look for opportunities to further their own ambitions, if necessary to the detriment of their colleagues. “Ruthlessness” is a quality often revered in others. But Paul says, “Always be humble and gentle” – living life the Jesus-way involves a lifestyle of humility. 

Jesus taught us how to be humble. In John 13 we read how Jesus, the disciples’ Lord and Master, did the most menial of tasks – He washed the dirt and grime from His disciple’s feet. This was almost too much for Peter – he couldn’t understand how Someone he looked up to, who he recognised as the Messiah, who he had placed on a pedestal occupied, in his mind, by the greatest Person who had ever lived, could wash his feet. This amazing Person kneeling before him, taking each foot in turn, washing away all the detritus from his feet and between his toes, wiping over the corns and callouses, and then drying them carefully on a towel. But that is what Jesus did in an eternal act of humility that was just as counter-cultural in those days as it would be today. Throughout His ministry, Jesus confronted those who were proud and arrogant; the door into the Kingdom of Heaven will be closed to such people.

Paul picked up this theme again in Philippians 2. We read, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had“. (Verses 3-5). 

So why is humility so important in the lives of Christians? And what does a humble lifestyle look like? The very essence of the Gospel is looking out for the needs of others instead of our own needs. We have a message of hope, a message that is counter-cultural in a war-torn and unhappy world. But to be delivered effectively it has to be supported by the right attitude. An attitude of love. An attitude of grace. An attitude of acceptance. An attitude of humility. We must always deliver our message gently and respectfully. Not rising to insults and rudeness. 

We all have faults. Don’t believe it if someone says they don’t. But we have a tendency to ignore our own faults and only see those in others. Paul reminded us in the second part of today’s verse that we must overlook the faults we see in our brothers and sisters in the faith, because we love them. Humility and gentleness leads the way in all our relationships, both inside and outside the Church. We pilgrims must remember that we are all “damaged goods”, damaged by sin, damaged by negative influences, damaged through contact with those in the world around us, damaged by our own misguided mistakes and choices. But, thanks be to God, He hasn’t finished yet in rebuilding our lives. We are being reborn and in the process we are becoming more and more like Jesus. And underpinning it all is love. Through our love for our brothers and sisters we must always treat them with humility and respect, mentally washing their feet every time we meet them.

Humility

Posted on by korgrocker

“Lord, my heart is not proud; 
my eyes are not haughty. 
I don’t concern myself with matters 
too great or too awesome for me to grasp.”
Psalms‬ ‭131:1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David is back in the writer’s chair. Scratching away with a quill pen on parchment or something similar – no ancient keyboards available. His thoughts for this Psalm have turned to humility. A quality much respected by God – we read in James 4:6, “And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”” In this Psalm, David declares that he is not proud, and neither is he arrogant. These are both qualities that are accepted, if not respected, in our worldly societies today but are anathema to the Kingdom of God. David continues by saying that he doesn’t get involved in matters that don’t concern him, or that he knows nothing about. As we delve down into the substance of this verse, perhaps there are uncomfortable feelings starting to emerge deep within us. When have we been found guilty of being too proud to ask for, or accept, help? Even when we desperately needed it? When have we looked down on others, thinking that we are so much better than them? And in our societies, everyone has an opinion. We pontificate on just about every subject that comes into our minds. 

“I can run the country better than our politicians”. 

“The Covid emergency would be nowhere near as bad if the public health authorities listened to me”. 

“The boss doesn’t have a clue about the best way to make widgets”. 

The list of our arrogant declarations knows no bounds. 

David continues in this Psalm by sharing what works for him – he told himself to “calm down”. The analogy with a weaned child is interesting – perhaps a child leaving behind their need for a mother’s milk is like us leaving behind our dependence on others for our spiritual sustenance, instead encouraging us to work out for ourselves our relationship with God and His Word, feeding our souls with the richness of God’s food. And in His Word we will find what God really thinks of pride and arrogance.

Paul wrote these words in his Roman epistle, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” (Romans 12:3 NLT). Hmmm…

So to our inevitable question – how does this Psalm help the 21st Century Pilgrim? By encouraging us to look to Jesus. Back to Paul again. He wrote to the Philippian church (2:5) – “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” If we follow Jesus and His example of how to live, we can’t go wrong. So we pray, “Please help me, Lord!”

Troops and Walls

Posted on by korgrocker

“To the faithful You show Yourself faithful, 
to the blameless You show Yourself blameless, 
to the pure You show Yourself pure, 
but to the devious You show Yourself shrewd. 
You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. 
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. 
With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.”
‭Psalms‬ ‭18:25-29‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm 18, at first sight, seem a bit difficult to understand. What was the psalmist, David, getting at? He used words such as “faithful”, “blameless”, and “pure”. Was he perhaps implying that the qualities he lists have to be in our characters before we can see them in God, even though they are a part of His nature? Perhaps a faithless person wouldn’t see a faithful God because they wouldn’t understand what being faithful was all about. An impure person wouldn’t understand the purity of our Heavenly Father. But is God “shrewd”? Perhaps that is how He appears to someone with devious qualities, whether He is or not. The Psalmist goes on to explain that the quality of humility leads to salvation, unlike that for the proud, the haughty. A sentiment exemplified by Jesus, in the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:8, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” 

David continued with positive statements about the impact God had, and continued to have, on his life. Reading the Psalms written by David, you can see that he had many dark moments but here he is declaring that God had turned around his depression into a condition of lightness. In addition, God had empowered David to take on seemingly impossible tasks, in battle for example. Think about the Goliath episode. David’s logic as explained to King Saul, was breathtakingly simple, as we can read in 1 Samuel 17:36-37, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Almost as an aside, David didn’t appear before Goliath with a slingshot, never having used one before. As a shepherd, he spent hours perfecting the art of projecting a stone with a sling, and he probably set himself up a target and persevered, aiming and hitting, until he had the confidence in his ability. And when a lion or bear appeared on the scene a well-aimed stone would soon discourage them. So when Goliath stood before him, he forensically looked for a chink in the armour, found it above Goliath’s eyes and clinically proceeded to despatch him with a single small stone. But. A big but. David knew that he could do nothing on his own account. He needed God in his life to lead and guide and help him achieve what he had to do. David slung the stone. God helped it to the target. David built up his faith in God in the sheepfolds, on the open hills, in the pastures, as he protected a flock of sheep from predators. And that faith stood him in good stead as he took on the battles in war-torn Palestine. He knew that with his little ability and God’s limitless resources, he could have the confidence to take on tasks that would frighten most of his peers.

To be able to trust God for whatever life throws at us, equipping us for the battles ahead, takes two steps. Firstly, like David, we must develop the skills needed for our lives. Getting an education, learning a trade, practising playing a guitar, and so on, all the time keeping our eyes on our calling, focusing on our vocation. The Apostle Peter was a fisherman, but Jesus taught him how to use those skills to be a “fisher of men”. Sometimes we will perhaps get discouraged, thinking that our simple skill can’t be of any use to God. But God has a way of turning our little into great things for Him. Secondly, we need to spend time with our Heavenly Father. By being diligent in Bible reading and prayer, communicating and building a relationship with Him, testing our faith as we go, we learn to trust Him more and more. A toddler doesn’t leap out of the cradle one day saying that he is going to walk. There are some interim challenges he faces on the way, through crawling, sitting, and getting knocks and bumps, before the big day when he stands. And then he makes the first wobbly steps. Faith doesn’t appear overnight – it takes diligence and perseverance through the knocks and bumps as we grow. 

So back to today’s verses. He keeps our lamps burning, if we let Him. And that wall in front of us, or that Goliath in the office – they are not as big a problem as the enemy would have us think. That mountain might just turn out to be a molehill. Because God is on our side.