Grace and Peace (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Clean Hands

Posted on by korgrocker

“I wash my hands to declare my innocence. I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders. I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.”
Psalm 26:6-8 NLT

David made a declaration about his innocence before God by washing his hands. Why should that be of any significance? We earlier considered Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god”. In Biblical days, the washing hands had several meanings. The Pharisees were obsessed with hand washing, as we read in Mark 7:3-4, “(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles)“. The first mention of Biblical hand washing was in Exodus 30:18-21, when the Lord gave instructions to Moses. “Make a bronze basin, with its bronze stand, for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come”. The Jews have maintained this tradition right up to the present day, particularly before eating bread. In strictly Jewish homes, the dining table has become a replacement for the Temple altar, which was destroyed in AD 70. 

But the washing of hands was not just a Jewish ritual and like them we wash our hands to rid them of contaminants that might do us harm if we ingest them. Physical hygiene is not just a modern phenomenon. But in Biblical times hand washing was also a sign of spiritual cleansing. James 4:8, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded“. ‭‭Hand washing was associated with inner purity, to some a ritual but to others a necessary means of focusing minds. There are other parts of a Christian’s liturgy that do the same. Human beings seem to sometimes need something that connects them to God and His demands. In a conversation with religious leaders, Jesus reset the meaning behind hand washing. “Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’ Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:1-3). The disciples asked Jesus for an explanation, and we read His response, “‘Are you still so dull?’ Jesus asked them. ‘Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them'” (Matthew 15:16-20). 

Another reason for hand washing was demonstrated by Pilate at Jesus’ trial. Matthew 27:24, “Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”” That very act has survived in our language today with an expression such as “I wash my hands of this”, signifying that we are giving up on something because it is something we are unable to change. Think of a rebellious teenager’s bedroom for example.

Before David could come into God’s presence, though, he was careful to clean his hands and ensure his innocence. We pilgrims have to do the same, not by literally washing our hands, but by confessing our sins and cleansing our hearts. We sing the song, “Purify my heart” and it continues, “Cleanse me from within and make me holy“. Nice sentiments, but I wonder sometimes what the congregants really understand what they are singing. But the lyrics are an accurate reflection of what we as believers must do. As we read in Psalm 24, only those who have “clean hands and a pure heart” can enter the Lord’s presence. But as we pilgrims know, it is hard, even impossible, to generate within us a pure heart in our own efforts. We need God’s help. After the Bathsheba debacle, David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). We may not have broken the three commandments that David did on this occasion, but we still need that “clean heart”. John, the Apostle, wrote, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And there we have it. We are light dwellers, reliant on the blood of Jesus for cleansing us from our sins. There is no other way into God’s presence.

Dear Heavenly Father. From You comes the light we need to be able to dwell in Your presence with clean hands and hearts. We thank You for the blood of Your Son, Jesus, through whom our cleanliness is assured. Amen.

Lurking Sins

Posted on by korgrocker

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.“
Psalm 19:12-13 NLT

David had a thought that worried him. He wanted to be pure and sinless before God but was concerned about sins “lurking in [his] heart” that were hidden. But were they sins that only he knew about or were they sins that he was unaware of? I think it was the former. Regarding the latter, there are sins that we may be unaware of, but we can be assured that the Holy Spirit and God’s Word will bring these to our consciousness sooner or later. And in the end all sin will be exposed. Jesus said, “For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all” (Luke 8:17). 

Believers may be conscious of their hidden sins but rationalise hiding them because they think that they are just personal and no one else is involved or hurt by them. But sin is sin and will emerge eventually. God gives us time to deal with our sins, through repentance and forgiveness, but if left too long, then in love He will engineer circumstances that cause us to face the gravity of the sins and force us to deal with them. We should note that dealing with sin involves repentance, where we don’t just confess our sins, but we turn away from them, never to commit them again. The confessing of sins without repentance is not really dealing with them. Being remorseful usually happens when someone is caught red handed in their sin. But there is some sinful behaviour that will take a lifetime to sort out because it involves character traits that need to be controlled. James highlighted the dangers of an uncontrolled tongue. “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. …  And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!” (James 3:6, 10). Perhaps repentance for a tongue “set on fire by hell itself” will take time as Holy Spirit refines and guides.

Paul struggled with sin, as we read in Romans 7, “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. … I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (Romans 7:18, 21-23). But Paul continued, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 7:25-8:2). That must be worth a “Hallelujah!” or two this morning.

David asked God to cleanse him from the sins lurking in his heart, because he said he will then be “free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” Through the blood of Jesus we too are cleansed from all our sins. 1 John 1:7, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Andraé Crouch wrote a song, “The blood that Jesus shed for me … will never lose its power“. And a hymn written by William Cowper many years ago reads, There is a fountain filled with blood , Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;  And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains:” David didn’t know the redeeming power of Jesus’ shed blood but his relationship with God was such that he knew where he could go to be cleansed from his sins. We are indeed a blessed people today, living as we do in this season of God’s grace.

Father God. We thank You for Your grace and love. We confess our sins to You today, confident in the redeeming power of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. We worship You today. Amen.

The Shield of Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
Psalm 18:32-35 NKJV

David continued to write with war-like tones, referring to strong arms able to “bend a bow of bronze”, with training for warfare, and containing a reference to a shield, an essential device in the hand-to-hand combat of those days, and able to fend off missiles coming towards the warring soldiers. These verses previously appeared in 2 Samuel 22, with the addition of “Your right hand has held me up” to Psalm 18:35. But, regarding the shield, this was not any ordinary shield – it was a “shield of salvation”. In a military setting, such a shield could be the difference between life and death, especially because it was the Lord’s shield. How would that work? Well, with a foe pressing hard with sword or some other sharp or heavy device, perhaps the defending soldier would feel the shield move in a direction, and at the right speed, necessary to save his life. The Lord’s shield of salvation saved his life.

But this morning, we will be concerned with another type of shield, to be used in spiritual warfare. In spiritual realms we know that ” … we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). In such an environment we need a different type of shield, because holding up a square piece of metal in the face of the devil will not prevent his attacks at all. He attacks in evil ways, by trying to get us pilgrims to sin, or by confusing our minds with worldly philosophies and ideologies, that sound plausible but instead are subtle ways of drawing us away from God’s truth. Another way the devil lures us away into error is by twisting Bible verses, causing us to fall into error. He is behind theologies such as Universalism, that maintains everyone will be saved and go to Heaven, regardless of their faith and actions in this life. The list of ways in which the devil and his minions attack us is long and comprehensive, and, knowing their ploys, Paul helpfully described in Ephesians 6 five items of spiritual armour, and one item of attack, to keep us safe on our journeys to our Heavenly home. 

David described a shield of salvation, something that protected his body from attack. Paul described a helmet of salvation, to protect our minds, where the majority of evil attacks will take place. We read in Ephesians 6:17, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God“. We might even put the helmet and sword together as an invincible combination able to complete the advice in James 4:7, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you“. 

Regarding salvation, we would do well to even go through the motions of taking an imaginary helmet and placing it over our heads, praying as we do for God’s protection through the blood of Jesus to keep us safe. Our salvation is a daily need, and one that we must dwell upon and pursue all the time. A Roman soldier’s helmet had to be tightly fitted over his head, buckles adjusted, straps inspected and tightened, every time he put it on, because one that was loose and liable to fall off was no good at all in protecting his head from an enemies sword. And I would suggest that our spiritual helmets of salvation must always be polished and inspected, to make sure that there are no sins reducing their usefulness. Because of the power of the cross, our enemy the devil no longer has any hold on us. Jesus died in our place on that Calvary Cross and His blood is an eternal demonstration to the devil that we are under God’s protection. We are now a different people, not trapped anymore in a world of sin and evil, twisted, defeated, and led away by our enemy to a lost eternity.

So on our knees today, once again we confess our sins, and in the process we remind our spiritual enemies that we are God’s children under His protection with His shield or helmet of salvation protecting us every day of our lives. God’s plan for our salvation is complete and achievable as we allow His love and grace through Jesus rule and direct our lives.

Dear Lord Jesus. You saved is through Your selfless act of taking on our punishment on our place. Through You we are assured eternal life with You in Heaven and beyond. We are so grateful. Amen.

Going Away

Posted on by korgrocker

“But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you.”
John 16:5-6 NLT

If someone says that they are going away, the natural, unthinking almost, response is, “Where are you going?” Well, Jesus said to His disciples that He was going away “and not one of you is asking where I am going”. Even if they had known where He was going, surely Peter, the impetuous one, would have made some comment. Throughout His time with His disciples, Jesus dropped many hints about how He would exit this world. We read in John 2:22, “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said“. Another example is in the following chapter in John, John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up“. Then we have John 13:33, “Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going“. 

But in John 13:36 we read that Peter did in fact ask Jesus where He was going, “Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later””. So Jesus must have meant something deeper and more profound when He said “not one of you is asking where I am going”. Jesus went on to say that instead of being concerned with what was going to happen to Him, they were more worried about themselves, “Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you”. That is a natural human response, of course, along the lines, “If You leave us what will happen to us?”. 

Jesus was facing into a horrific series of events, made infinitely worse by His knowledge of them beforehand. But He was seeing beyond that to the time when He would return to be with His Father back in Heaven. Mission accomplished. The most important three years that this planet had ever seen, years that contained God’s plan of salvation for all humans beings past, present and future. God didn’t create a race of robots that would live for a while on Planet Earth and then automatically enter His presence. In stead, He created a race of free-thinking people “in His image” who had free choice and could therefore decide where they would spend eternity. God effectively entered into the recycling business. He took men and women, soiled and dirty through wickedness and sin, and turned them into His children, clean and righteous, and all through the ministry and blood of Jesus. But there was and is a catch – the men and women concerned about their sin had to make a choice to accept the remedy, and to decide to follow Jesus. Decide to believe in Him, and allow Him to cleanse them from their sins. But isn’t it strange? People living their sinful lives prefer to stay that way, a bit like pigs preferring to wallow in a mudhole. 

Jesus was leaving this world so that His message could continue through His disciples. But there was one essential factor for which they had to wait – the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:9 (“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him“) was followed by Acts 2:4 (“And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability“). And that preceded a series of events ever since through the generations of faithful men and women who have shared Jesus’ message of salvation. Jesus went away, but it really has been as though he never left. What a Saviour!

Lord Jesus. We read about Your exploits here on Earth and wonder. And through Your shed blood, the devil is a defeated foe. Thank You. Amen.

Entirely Clean

Posted on by korgrocker

“Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!” Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.” For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.””
John 13:9-11 NLT

Sandals were common footwear in those days, and inevitably a person’s feet became dirty and grimy after walking anywhere. In that dry and hot climate, roads and paths would have been very dusty, and of course the proliferation of livestock would have introduced more unpleasant factors. So Jesus spoke the obvious when He said that a person who had just bathed would have been clean, except for his feet. But Jesus introduced a spiritual hint into the conversation when He said that not all the disciples were “clean”. 

Spiritual cleanliness was very much sought after in Jewish life. This had roots in the idea that touching certain animals, for example, would make a person ceremonially “unclean”. Leviticus 5:2, “Or suppose you unknowingly touch something that is ceremonially unclean, such as the carcass of an unclean animal. When you realize what you have done, you must admit your defilement and your guilt. This is true whether it is a wild animal, a domestic animal, or an animal that scurries along the ground”. A skin disease such as leprosy could also be considered to make a person “unclean”. Leviticus 13:3, “The priest will examine the affected area of the skin. If the hair in the affected area has turned white and the problem appears to be more than skin-deep, it is a serious skin disease, and the priest who examines it must pronounce the person ceremonially unclean.” Jesus was scathing about the cleansing rituals undertaken by the Pharisees – Luke 11:38-39, “His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness!” Of course God’s original intention was to relate holiness to a person’s spiritual condition through everyday objects and customs. Leviticus 10:10, “You must distinguish between what is sacred and what is common, between what is ceremonially unclean and what is clean.”

Thankfully, we pilgrims are not subject to all the Jewish rules and regulations that refer to ceremonial cleansing. We know that our state of physical cleanliness is not related to our spiritual state. Through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins by the shedding of His blood at Calvary we are made “clean” spiritually, and attain the holiness that God demands. Ephesians 4:24, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” David wrote in his 24th Psalm, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3-4). At the moment of salvation, we are made completely clean and righteous before God and only then can we share in His godliness.

Dear Holy God. We too need to be holy to come into Your presence, our hands clean and hearts pure. Thank You for Jesus, who made it all happen. Amen.