Eagerly Waiting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:7-9 NIVUK

What do we pilgrims feel about the return of Jesus? Does the thought full us with dread or a pleasurable anticipation? I suppose it all depends on our circumstances, exposing the dilemma facing us Western Christians. We have so much in terms of material wealth that we have a reluctance to let it all go. Even those who complain about their lack of money and difficulties in making ends meet in a society experiencing a cost of living crisis, probably have more possessions available to them than many of the Corinthian believers. It is all relative. Of course there are many, too many, people who suffer from poor mental health and who would welcome relief in a new world that would accompany Jesus’ return, each set free at last from the depression and other conditions that blight their lives. But in the main we fill our lives with more and more “stuff”, clogging up our clarity of thought and vision of a new order in God’s presence. 

The early First Century Christians were convinced that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. In fact, in their expectations He could return at any time, and His imminence focused their minds. They woke up in the morning, thinking “is this the day”? In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, Paul reassured the believers that those who have died while they wait for Jesus would not be disadvantaged. He wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him”. But the days passed and Jesus did not return. But that did not stop them living as though He would come in the next hour or day. And so they eagerly awaited His return, not lacking “any spiritual gift” and assured that Jesus would “keep [them] firm to the end”. 

But here we are two thousand years or thereabouts later and Jesus still hasn’t returned. In Matthew 24:3 we read of a conversation between Jesus and His disciples. “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’” The first part of their question referred to the Temple and Jesus’ prophecy that it was going to be destroyed (this subsequently happened in AD 70). But the disciples were also concerned about the end of the age. Jesus’ answer started in the next three verses with a discourse following of the end time events, “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth-pains”. History records the signs Jesus warned us of, signs that He said were just the “birth-pains”, preceding the End Time events. Recent happenings in the Middle East have caused some speculation that we are in the same situation as the First century Christians, awaiting Jesus’ imminent return. Even some well known and respected pastors have been inclined to comment through social media postings that we could be just about at the time of the “End of the Age”. But Jesus later said, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matthew 24:34. That has obviously not happened so there have been several opinions expressed by theologians over the years about what Jesus meant. We must remember the dual question asked by the disciples and possibly Jesus was referring to the  destruction of the Temple when He said this. Or He might have been referring to a future generation that would still be alive when He returned. But come what may, as a Bible commentary states, “Both views, as well as many others, agree that in at least one sense, Jesus is right now at the gates, ready to return. Nothing stands in His way, and He waits only for the Father to send Him, at the moment only the Father knows. He could arrive at any time”. 

In Matthew 24:42, we read that Jesus said, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come”, and in the next chapter Jesus gave three illustrations of the importance of being ready for His return. We have the parables of the Ten Virgins, the Three Servants, and then the Sheep and the Goats. The conclusion in the first parable included the five virgins who were not ready for the return of the Bridegroom, and we read, “Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’ “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’” (Matthew 25:11-12). And Jesus finished with, “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:13). But the story of the Sheep and the Goats is more than a parable, more than just another Biblical story. It is a stark warning of what is to come and what Jesus will be expecting to find when He returns. 

So back to the question I started with. What do we feel about the return of Jesus? The Corinthian believers were “eagerly awaiting” His return. Are we, and if so, what are we doing about it? We can’t just sit on a Sunday pew, comfortable in our Western Christianity, praying that nothing will disturb our status quo. We have to do the things Jesus has asked of us. And if we dread His return we must look closely at our relationship with Jesus, and pray that He will once again empower our lives through the Holy Spirit within us. 

Father God. We repent of our lukewarm faith, without power and effect. Please forgive us for our spiritual lethargy, and help us once again to find our first love, that time when we first encountered You and were infused with the excitement of knowing You. May we too be like those early believers, eagerly awaiting Your return. In Your precious and holy name. Amen.

God’s Gracious Gifts

Posted on by korgrocker

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.”
1 Corinthians 1:4-6 NIVUK
“I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus. Through him, God has enriched your church in every way—with all of your eloquent words and all of your knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.”
1 Corinthians 1:4-6 NLT

Now that the greetings are out of the way, Paul thanks God for the Corinthian church. In spite of all its problems, and the difficulties that Paul knew he had to address, Paul could straight away see the good and the potential in these people. And he thanked God for them. Such a view of people, imperfect sinners that we are, is God’s view through His grace “given [us] in Christ Jesus”. That is the most precious gift God has given mankind, one that is eternal and all encompassing. One that is the only possible way to reconcile mankind to God, and that is Jesus, His Son. When we think of gifts, our materialistic minds immediately picture something valuable that we have been wanting for a while. But such a gift is only temporal and will disappear, because it will be left behind when we leave this earth. The only lasting gift is Jesus, because it is only through Him that we can receive the greatest gift of all time – eternal life in God’s presence. And it is all about Jesus and His grace. 

From God’s Gift of grace, flow many other gifts, and all because Jesus, when He left this world, gave us His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who dwells within each one of us. Paul noticed that it was through this Gift of Grace, that the church in Corinth had been enriched, and he mentioned in his letter that they were an eloquent group of people blessed with the right words to say from a knowledge base enhanced by their experience of Jesus. There is a noticeable difference between a church or fellowship moving in the light of God’s gifts, and one that isn’t. Someone mischievously once asked a church if they would notice if the Holy Spirit had left them. It was a sobering thought for the congregation, but a good question though and one that many a church would do well to dwell upon. Pope Leo XIV, in his first public address after his recent election, emphasised the Holy Spirit’s role in guiding the Church and the lives of believers. A extract from his inaugural sermon to over 80,000 people went like this, “But when the Holy Spirit comes [people] receive a new way of seeing things, an interior understanding that helps them to interpret the events that occurred and to experience intimately the presence of the Risen Lord. The Holy Spirit overcomes their fear, shatters their inner chains, heals their wounds, anoints them with strength and grants them the courage to go out to all and to proclaim God’s mighty works“. Is that our experience of the Holy Spirit in our churches and fellowships? It seemed to be in the Corinthian church, at least to start with, and here was Paul reminded the believers there of the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit. But we pray too that the words from Pope Leo don’t just resonate with the Roman Catholic estate, but also stretch into churches everywhere, and especially those that have chosen to try and compromise with a society that has sadly fallen out of step with the truth and purity of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit can’t dwell in such a place.

What about us pilgrims? Have we become complacent and find that we are missing the excitement of the first days when the Holy Spirit transformed us inside? When we felt a bountiful supply of joy and love welling up within us? Or do we daily go out very consciously aware of the Holy Spirit empowering us and equipping us for all that we expect to meet, in the office, or in our contacts with random people we are going to meet? The Pope has got it, because he knows that the Holy Spirit transforms lives today, just as He did when He visited the gathered disciples in that Upper Room, with a sound like a roaring wind accompanied by tongues of fire. The Pope painted a picture straight from Scripture, of the Holy Spirit being the Healer, the Overcomer, the Anointer, and the One who provides strength and courage in an age of despair. And the result? We pilgrims, full of the Holy Spirit, can go out and “proclaim God’s mighty works” just like the early disciples did, shaking up the status quo in the Middle East in the process. 

Something the Pope said struck a chord with me. He said that the Holy Spirit shatters internal chains. So many people go through their lives stuttering along, held back by the state of their inner beings. Even we pilgrims can be suffering from fears, anxieties, depression, poor mental health, and many other things that modern psychologists fix a label to. Aspergers, ADHD, PTSD, and other acronyms define a person who can then be tempted to stay in that state, comfortable to remain compatible with the diagnosis, behaviour defined accordingly. But that is not how God sees us. We won’t have any of these conditions in Heaven, because there will be no more sickness, no more pain. So why are we children of God comfortable with them in the few years before we cross the Great Divide? With the Holy Spirit within we have no need to be chained to such conditions.

God’s gracious gifts can all be traced back to the Source, Jesus. He is the greatest gift of all. Ephesians 2:4-5, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved”. God has given mankind all the resources and gifts they need to be able to be His children. So when we have a tendency to opt out of living God’s way, we must remember that the Holy Spirit is within us, resourcing us to face down all that this evil world throws at us.

Dear Father God. Through Your Spirit we have all the gifts for life that we need. Please help us to use them well and effectively, enabling us to be the pilgrims You have called and chosen. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Grace and Peace (2)

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

In his greeting to the Corinthian church, Paul finished with “May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace”. Yesterday we considered grace, as we receive it in bountiful measure from our Heavenly Father, and as we show it to others as we meet and greet others in our churches and fellowships, and extend it to those in our societies. Today we are going to consider “peace”. Jesus said to His disciples as He was preparing them for His departure from the world, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). Anything that Jesus said or did was important, but this was a gift to the men who had been with Him for the past three and a half years, a gift of enormous value, a priceless legacy, as they would find out in the years ahead of them. 

One meaning of the word “peace” is the absence of war. As I write, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue, with the added danger of Iran being drawn into conflict. But in addition there are ethnic battles going on in other parts of the world, including the strife bubbling up between supporters of different religions and political groups. Even here in the UK trouble breaks out through marches and other forms of protest, emotions running high and police being needed to “keep the peace”. A constant debate goes on in our universities and on social media as to what constitutes “free speech” and what has crossed the line into hate or racial crimes. “Peace” in our societies seems absent and elusive, and men and women everywhere are fearful, for their future and the future of their children and grandchildren. People become anxious and worried, a state of a lack of peace, when they are unsure and uncertain about the outcome of what is happening around them. In fact, some people become fearful when they take a plane journey or even when they try and cross a busy road, even to the point that they stay at home, as happened during the Covid pandemic, afraid of all sorts of outcomes, most of which are statistically unlikely. The more resilient and optimistic amongst people try and rationalise their feelings by putting their trust in their wealth, possessions and even governments, but there still remains nagging doubts and a plethora of “what if’s”. 

In the Old Testament, the concept of peace was well known. There are verses that support the idea of a lack of conflict between nations, between people and between God and man. When all three boxes were ticked then the Jewish people lived in a state of “peace”. It was, and still is, the custom of the Jews to use the greeting “shalom” when they met with each other. We see its use in scriptures such as 1 Samuel 25:6, “Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own!” This verse was a forerunner to the episode where David asked for supplies for his men from a man he had been protecting, a man called Nabal. Instead of showing them favour, Nabal shouted insults at David’s messengers and sent them away empty handed. Nabal’s wife saved the day with a truckload of supplies, and David’s response was, “ …  Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands … Then David accepted her present and told her, “Return home in peace. I have heard what you said. We will not kill your husband” (1 Samuel 25:32-33, 35).

Peace was an important state to be in, and ever since the Fall, peace has been in short supply. But Jesus wasn’t meaning a kind of worldly “peace”. The best kind of “peace” that the world offers just doesn’t remove feelings of anxiety and fear. Worldly peace is never with us for long, if at all, but the peace that Jesus offered is eternal. Hebrews 6:18-19, “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary“. Back in John 14, the chapter starts with Jesus’ words, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me“. God has promised us that in Him we can find the peace that we need in our souls. But it requires faith to believe His promises. The terrible worriers amongst us will always be lacking peace, but that is really a display of a lack of faith. In John 14:2-3, Jesus followed His statement about not letting our hearts be troubled with, “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am“. Regardless of what this world throws at us, in God we have the source of peace, eternal peace. Jesus Himself. 

As pilgrims, we therefore walk by faith, not by sight, and we believe and apply the advice Paul wrote in Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful“. So when we start to become fearful through world events, we instead turn to the Source of peace, God Himself. He will never let us down. Psalm 46:1-3, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!“

“When peace like a river” was a hymn written by Horatio Spafford after his four daughters were lost in a shipwreck. The words continue, “whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul“”. That’s God’s peace in action. Could we have written that hymn? We must pray that we become so assured in Jesus and His peace, that we too can weather the storms of life. If God is our strong tower (Proverbs 18:10), then what do we have to fear? In God we can find the peace that our souls yearn for, forever.

Dear Heavenly Source of Peace. We praise You today, and pray for more faith and grace in our lives so that we can sing the hymn with conviction – “It is well with my soul”. Amen.

The Sanctified Ones

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

Paul wrote that the believers in Corinth were chosen and called by God for a specific purpose – they are to be His holy people. Paul went on to write how this was going to happen, “He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus” and, this is the good bit, “just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours”. So Paul wrote that all believers everywhere are “God’s holy people“, and that includes us pilgrims, nearly two thousand years after Paul put pen to paper (actually, he probably dictated his letter to his “brother Sosthenes” who theologians think was his scribe, or at least had some part in crafting the letter). 

So what does it mean to be one of God’s own holy people? In some translations, we read the letter was addressed to those, “sanctified in Christ Jesus”, using a word with a special meaning for Christians – to be sanctified is to be set apart for God. This happens when someone becomes born again, that point when they become a believer and follower of Jesus. In His High priestly prayer, Jesus said about His disciples, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:16-17). There is only one Source of absolute truth, God Himself, so it is only He with the authority to make anything holy. But being sanctified is not just a New Testament experience. The Israelites were also commanded to be such in Leviticus 20:7-8, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you“. The Jews were a people set apart for God, and it is remarkable that through millennia, God’s people still exists intact as a distinct nation. The Bible sets out a number of things set apart, or “sanctified” for God’s purposes, not just His people. We read about the items used during the sacrifices in the Temple, for example. But in this world, there is a distinction between worldliness and Godliness, and this is something we pilgrims work hard to honour. We must remember who our Father in Heaven is and be clear about what that means. “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). There is something precious and very important about being in God’s family and with Jesus as our older brother.

Another outworking of being sanctified involves our physical bodies. I regularly see people, mainly younger ones, looking after the physical fitness of their bodies, as they jog and run around our parks and streets. Others frequent the gyms that seem to have sprung up everywhere, that offer a variety of pieces of equipment, all designed to develop and strengthen our muscles. Nothing wrong with any of that, but sadly people also use their bodies for things that are not quite so honouring to God. Paul warned the Corinthian church about the importance of their bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body“. These verses are the conclusion to a passage referring to the practice, rife in Corinth at that time, of people using the services of prostitutes. But it is not just the physical act of prostitution that is wrong but also any practices that head in that direction, such as the use of pornography. We are set apart from the world and all its temptations and practices, as a holy people, saved and sanctified in accordance with God’s will.

“God invites us sinners to come to Him “just as we are” and receive His mercy and forgiveness. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit begins His amazing work of transforming us into the image and likeness of Christ. To be sanctified means that God loves us too much to let us stay the same” (quote from gotquestions.org). It is a serious business being a believer and follower of Christ. Peter wrote, ” … 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. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy”” (1 Peter 2:9-10). As God’s people we have attained royal status and that has responsibilities. We don’t live in the way that we used to. The stark contrast between the two kingdoms is clearly set out by Paul in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. The good news is that the Holy Spirit, working within us, undertakes the process of cleaning up our lives and sanctifying us, but we have to co-operate with Him. He works through those gentle whispers, those pricks from our consciences, those verses we read in His Word, all the while helping us to see that what we might be doing is sinful, and not appropriate behaviour for someone who is a child of God. Thankfully, God in His mercy, doesn’t set out a detailed list of rules and regulations that we have to follow all from day one. It takes a lifetime, and more, to become holy as God wants us to be. His grace prevails every day.

So we pilgrims stay close to God and His thoughts and ways. Paul wrote, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Retraining our minds to only think thoughts that are sanctified is a challenge, but it is a challenge we much accept. In our own strength we don’t have a hope, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, we cannot fail.

Dear Father God. You are the amazing God who graciously and lovingly helps us through our perilous days on this planet and in this life. It is help that we need but through Jesus we have all we need. Thank You. Amen.

Called By God

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

Yesterday we considered Paul’s assertion that we have been “chosen by the will of God”. Today we look at Paul’s next statement, presented as fact, that those in the Corinthian church had been “called by God”. In other translations, this epistles starts with ” … Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, …”, indicating that being called and being chosen are much the same. However, being “chosen” doesn’t somehow have the same active meaning as being “called”. Back in my school days we sometimes used to assemble at lunch times for a game of football. Two captains were chosen and they in turn selected their teams, calling out the best footballers. Sadly, I was rubbish at football so was always the last choice but once chosen the teams battled out their game, being called to play football. We talk about being “called” into a profession, like nursing. Or being “called” to be a missionary or minister. The implication is that in the job scene, being “called” is being chosen to work in a profession that is perhaps shunned by others because it is too difficult, messy or just doesn’t fit with personalities or characters. Take being a pastor for example. A person may be a believer, but the thought of having to shepherd people perhaps just doesn’t appeal to that person because they just aren’t a people person, and instead prefer to administer or teach. Paul was called to be an Apostle, implying that having been chosen he now had to live a life represented and dominated by working out his calling.

We look at the “calling” of James, John and Peter, to see how they became Jesus’ disciples. In Luke 5:10-11 we read, “His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus“. At Jesus’ suggestion, the soon-to-be disciples had just had a miraculous catch of fish, convincing them that they had to follow the Master. A bit further down in Luke 5 we read about the calling of Levi (Matthew), “Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him” (Luke 5:27-28). The first four disciples were chosen into a calling following Jesus for three and a half turbulent years, years that, with the other disciples, established their later role as the early church fathers. 

What is our call as believers in God? We know that we were chosen “before the foundation of the world”, but we are also called to be someone. In Ephesians 4:1 we read, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God”. All believers, pilgrims everywhere, have a calling, and in Ephesians 4 Paul continues, “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace”(Ephesians 4:2-3).‭‭ The life of a Christian is a calling, but it is more than a job of work, it is a lifestyle that will continue for all eternity. In another epistle, Paul wrote, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:9). So our calling involves living a life of holiness. That may conjure up in our minds pictures of monks or nuns dressed in their habits, but that would be incorrect. Today’s believers are facing into seemingly insurmountable challenges as we are bombarded with the products of this evil and wicked world, deflecting us away from the calling to be holy. Being chosen leads to being called to do and be someone. 

1 Peter 2:9 reads, ” … 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”. Consider this, there we were as unbelievers, bumbling along in our sinful lives in an evil and dark world until we somehow heard a voice calling us. It may not have been an audible voice from Heaven, but through a series of contacts, conversations and situations we found ourselves looking at a wonderful world as a believer. The calls continued and one day we transitioned into God’s world of light. God’s goodness indeed. And Peter reminds us that our calling is to “show others the goodness of God”.

So are we pilgrims working out our calling as believers in Jesus? I suspect we all are, possibly at different rates, or in different ways, but with an active faith like we have what else could we be doing? But that is not to encourage complacency, because we know that the heart is deceitful above all else (Jeremiah 17:9). Day by day we come before God in our prayer times, as we study His Word, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in the times ahead.

Dear Father God. There was that day when we heard Your voice calling us and we responded at the foot of Jesus’ cross as we confessed and repented of our sins. We thank You for Your grace and mercy and Your love that never fails us. Amen.

“Teach Me Lord”

Posted on by korgrocker

“Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence.”
Psalm 27:11-12 NLT

David is back worrying about his enemies again. But he has made a strange association between the Lord’s teaching and relief from attack. He wants the Lord to lead him along the “right paths” and we can see why. To avoid being the brunt of verbal attacks, false accusations and violent assaults, he needs to weave a path that avoids political intrigue, contact with the wrong people and unwise decision-making. Proverbs 3:5-6 is highlighted in my Bible, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take“. Verse 5 emphasises the tendency that human beings have to “do whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The writer of the Proverbs was also aware of this – Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, But its end is the way of death“. Even we pilgrims make bad decisions or take the wrong paths some times, but at least David knew his weakness and was aware of where true wisdom could be found. Do we also? But did David follow that advice? Do we, come to that? David was always praying for guidance, almost as a routine. For example Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you“. 

One way that we can avoid taking the wrong path can be found in another Proverb, 11:5, “The righteousness of the blameless will smooth their way and keep it straight, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness“. What is the source of this righteousness? The only true and dependable source is God Himself. Only He can see the end from the beginning, and we can only gain His insight by living a life where we can hear Him. But even that is not enough. Paul wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through Jesus we find the righteousness we need to keep our paths straight and smooth. We also have to be obedient to what He says. We used to sing a chorus in Sunday School, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way”. But the first verse of the hymn shows the insight of its Victorian composer, John Sammis, 
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
The phrase, “The light of His Word” nails it. The place where we will find insight to God’s righteousness and direction is found in His teaching from the Bible. When we read it we do indeed find the Light, because regardless of when and where we live, there will always be some wisdom that will apply. The Bible is a complete manual of how to live life God’s way, and when we do that we will find the teaching and wisdom we need to take the “right paths”. 

A difficult position though is found when we are the focus of false accusations, as David seemed to be. People in certain professions are particularly vulnerable, foster parents, teachers, social workers, policemen and women, in fact anyone who is in regular contact with children or vulnerable adults. We live in an evil and wicked world and being able to navigate through life unscathed is rare. We need to constantly pray for protection and wisdom from the Righteous One. And if we find ourselves ensnared, as David was at times, we continue to trust in the Lord. We may find ourselves in the middle of a minefield but God knows the path to safety.

The Lord is the best Teacher because He knows exactly the course that we need. He sees right into our hearts and His course of teaching is custom made just for each one of us. His precepts and commandments will keep us on the straight and narrow path, and His presence will lead and guide us. His teaching will not be a three-year university course because it will take a lifetime for it to be completed. But He will never refuse the plea from one of His children – “Teach me Lord”. The challenge for all believers is will they will stay the course.

Dear Father God. Your are the Mighty Teacher, the Saviour of mankind. We praise You today. Amen.

Rejection

Posted on by korgrocker

“Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Saviour. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”
Psalm 27:9-10 NIVUK

Being rejected is a terrible thing to happen to a person, especially if the rejection comes from loved ones such as one’s parents. David asked the Lord not to hide His face from him. The NLT’s version reads, “Do not turn Your back on me”, but the Bible translations all provide a record of an appeal from David against his perception that he was being rejected. As we read on, David sets an order of priorities, with the acceptance by the Lord being even more important than acceptance by his parents. But why would the Lord turn David “away in anger”? Perhaps David was having a wobbly moment, when he wondered about his status in God. He knew he was a sinner. He knew that he was imperfect and prone to do things that would displease the Lord. Things that might have been so bad that he feared the Lord would be angry with him. But in spite of his status as King of Israel he came before God as a servant, reminding Him that in the past He has been his Helper. 

It is a fact today, as it has always been when human beings have been around, that God gets angry with His created peoples. This is not because He is a petulant Being, taking the huff when rejected. God is omnipotent of course, and not reliant on human behaviour. God is perfection, in terms of love, grace, holiness, righteousness, justice, and so on, and He will become angry with anything that violates His character. In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read, ““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”“. Paul wrote about why God could get angry. Romans 1:18, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness”. We therefore get an insight into what David was so concerned about. Perhaps he had done something that was so bad that he feared that God was angry with him. Of course, we know about the affair with Bathsheba, where David broke three commandments at the same time. Did that make God angry with him? As Isaiah wrote, it is difficult for human beings to understand what God is thinking about them, and that made David rather anxious and fearful about God’s response to him. So he did the only thing he knew how – he came to the Lord with a servant heart. After Bathsheba David wrote another Psalm, which starts, “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins” (Psalm 51:1). David prayed for God not to ” … banish [him] from [His] presence …” (Psalm 51:11), for forgiveness (verse 14) and for restoration (verse 12). But the focus in this Psalm was in the way David came before the Lord – Psalm 51:16-17, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise“. 

In the Old Testament days, time and again the Jews rebelled against God and He became angry with them. They were warned, as we read in Deuteronomy 11:16-17, “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you“. We know what happened to the Jews, with punishments such as being exiled and there were others, individually and for the nation as a whole. In those days, the human propensity to commit sin and rebel against God prevailed. But God was merciful to them and His love always prevailed. 

Fast forward to the New Testament and we read in John the Baptist’s introduction to Jesus about yet another example of God’s love, this time through His Son, Jesus. “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment” (John 3:36). A stark choice for humanity, and we see the love that Jesus had for mankind manifested in human form as He walked the paths of this world. As I have written many times before, we live in a season of grace, where God is holding back the consequences of His anger with evil and wickedness until the time comes to proclaim judgement. John 3:16 is a verse that seals the fate of unbelievers everywhere and at anytime across the ages because it determines which path a person takes after death. 

David knew in his spirit that God’s anger would be a terrible thing to face into, and he feared God’s rejection above all else. He needed God in his life above all else and he prayed that God would not leave him, forsake him or reject him. And at the end of Psalm 27:10 he received the assurance he was looking for – “the Lord will receive me”. What a relief! Blessed assurance! Are we pilgrims unsure about God’s feelings for us? We needn’t worry at all because of Jesus. Paul wrote, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:1-2). And in Romans 8:10, “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God”. God hasn’t rejected us. In fact He provided a way back to Him through Jesus, regardless of how far we have fallen into sin. What a wonderful and loving God we serve.

Dear Heavenly Father. We know You are always there and You never reject us. Please forgive us for the times when we have rejected You, and we pray that You “renew a right spirit” with us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

The Salvation of the Lord

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.”
Psalm 27:1-3 NLT

Once again David wrote about the salvation of the Lord. To him it was something he returned to time and time again, because his life in the present and his ultimate future in the Lord were important to him and always foremost in his mind. Yes he had his wobbly times but throughout his life the salvation he was sure of in God was never in doubt. In those Old Testament days, salvation to the Jews meant deliverance from sin and suffering. It was a dual blessing, both for protection and safety for their bodies, and the same for their souls. But David wasn’t the only Old Testament saint who was aware of the “salvation of the Lord”. In Isaiah 12:2 we read, “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defence; he has become my salvation”. He was prophesying about a day to come when “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). If we read the previous chapter we can see who the Source of this salvation will be. In another example, Moses reassured the Israelite slaves, terrified of the pursuing Egyptian army drawing ever closer. “And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever” (Exodus 14:13). Spiritual and natural salvation; the Lord supplies all that we need, body, soul and spirit.

In the New Testament there is the story of Paul and Silas, whipped, imprisoned but not suppressed and downcast. There they were, feet locked in the stocks, in a damp, cold, and stinking Philippian jail. But they weren’t moaning about their lot in life and their sore backs. We read what they were doing in Acts 16:25. “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them“. After the miraculous unlocking of all the cell doors, the jailer asked Paul how he could be saved, and Paul’s answer was, “ … Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). Salvation comes in many forms and with many introductions, but it all can be traced back to Jesus. He said in John 14:6, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. In Acts 4:12 we read what Peter and John said to the Sanhedrin about the risen Jesus, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved“. And that is it really. Salvation is universally available through Jesus, and always has been, from the foundation of the world.

So we pilgrims don’t need to look back, satisfying though that is sometimes. We are a people who look forward to see the fruits of our salvation, in the Kingdom of which we are now a part. We are like the man Jesus told a parable about, who discovered a cache of treasure in the middle of a field. Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field”. Or the merchant who discovered a pearl of great value, and who sold all that he had so that he could purchase it. Although in monetary terms, our salvation is a free gift from God (“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8)), we are aware that it has cost us our old, sinful way of life. We are now new creations, as we used to sing many years ago. But the Treasure we have found has to be shared with others, because that is what Jesus has asked us to do.

Peter wrote, “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). We do indeed love God with a gratitude that will last forever as we trust Him with our lives for all eternity.

Dear Lord Jesus. Our salvation is all about our faith in You, because You came to this world to save us. Please forgive us for our doubts and lapses back into the old kingdom, and please help us, we pray, and keep us safe on the remainder of our journey in this life. In Your precious Name. Amen.

Solid Ground

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t let me suffer the fate of sinners. Don’t condemn me along with murderers. Their hands are dirty with evil schemes, and they constantly take bribes. But I am not like that; I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy. Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the Lord.”
Psalm 26:9-12 NLT

David was sure of his footing in God when he wrote the final verse to Psalm 26. Of course, he was referring to his spiritual standing, but I’m sure he felt it extended into his natural world as well. David was going through an euphoric state of mind at that time and all was lovely. His glasses, if he had any in those days, would have been tinted with a wonderful shade of rose. He felt so good about things that he wrote that he would “publicly praise the Lord”. David wrote other Psalms, and the first two verses of one of them read, “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along” (Psalm 40:1-2). Another time, another place, perhaps, but another occasion when God came through for him. God was always there for David, regardless of his circumstances, and his relationship with the Lord was strong and vibrant, every minute of his days. 

Solid ground is something we humans take for granted. There is no obvious first hand experience of hurtling around a star we call the sun, other than the periods of light and darkness, sunrise and sunset. We build our houses on ground that we assume will be solid and immovable for the years ahead. We compare old photos with those taken today and the same landscape features are still in place. We walk in places with rocks and packed earth and our senses tell us that we are in the presence of “solid ground”. But that is all in line with our local natural world. Things get a bit wobblier, however, when we consider the state of the world and news reports of wars and famines, earthquakes and fires. In these circumstances we become a bit less sure. There is a tendency to stick our heads in the sand and hope things will blow over, and that is a human trait also present in the Old Testament times. In the days of Amos, one of the Minor Prophets, the Israelites were ignoring the political situation of the world immediately around them. Amos 6: 1, 3, 7, “What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem, and you who feel secure in Samaria! You are famous and popular in Israel, and people go to you for help. … You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer. … Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end“. The people in Israel denied anything bad was going to happen and continued to behave in the sinful and evil way that was their norm. Yes, the ground wasn’t literally shaking but their society was, and soon after Amos’ prophetic messages, God allowed them to be led away into exile. 

Jesus told the parable of a rich and successful businessman farmer, who had enjoyed a bumper crop that year and had to build new barns to hold it all. His conclusion was that this gave him “solid ground” for his retirement and he was going to spend it all partying. He said to himself, “ … My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!” (Luke 12:19). Unfortunately for him, though, something was about to happen that would disrupt his plans. The next verse in Jesus’ story is, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’” The “solid ground” underpinning his retirement plans suddenly imploded and he found himself in a place in Sheol where he could not access the fruits of his labours. 

In our natural world we know statistically that the ground we assume is solid is most likely going to still be solid tomorrow and the next day. Yes, there may be an impact from an asteroid, or something else may fall from the sky disrupting our assumptions, but these are unlikely events, not to be considered by even the most paranoid amongst us. We have enough to worry about in our daily lives. What we should be concerned about, though, is the ground we are standing on in the spiritual world we live in. Regardless of what will happen to this planet, our souls will survive and go on living for all eternity. So we need to ensure that we are standing on the ground God has supplied for us. The Bible talks about God being our Rock. David wrote, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my saviour; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety” (Psalm 18:2). He repeats this theme in Psalm 62:2, “He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken“, referring of course to the Lord, His God. 

Jesus also taught about having a solid foundation to our faith. Matthew 7:24-25, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock“. We pilgrims are believers with a faith founded on Jesus’ teaching, a faith that will survive everything and anything that comes against us. There is plenty of troubles in human lives but through God and His promises we will survive all of them. Regardless of what we are going through, God is there with us, step by step. Sharing our pain. Feeling our sorrows. Empathising with our needs. We are like the Israelite slaves, fearing the pursuing Egyptian army, but listening to Moses as he said, “ .. Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again” (Exodus 14:13). Paul referred to Moses and the Israelites’ miraculous journey through the wilderness when he wrote, “All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that travelled with them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

The Lord is our Rock because we can trust in Him. He is also our strength (Ephesians 6:10), and we who believe in Him find a place of safety in Him, just as David did all those years ago. Can I ask a question, dear fellow pilgrims? What ground are you standing on today? Let us not be complacent and instead continue our journey in fear of the Lord, trusting in Him and His promises.

Dear Father God. Only You are the Rock worth standing on. All other ground is nothing more than quicksand. Thank You for Your strength and presence. Amen.

Redemption and Mercy

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t let me suffer the fate of sinners. Don’t condemn me along with murderers. Their hands are dirty with evil schemes, and they constantly take bribes. But I am not like that; I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy. Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the Lord.”
Psalm 26:9-12 NLT

It is commonly said that we live today in a season of grace, where ” … God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins”(Romans 3:24). We deserve judgement and punishment, but through Jesus we have been freed from the penalty for our sin, and, instead, we have been granted His righteousness. But David wrote about God’s mercy, not His grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favour, giving us what we don’t deserve, while mercy is God’s withholding of what we do deserve – specifically, the punishment for our sins. Through His grace and mercy, David asked God to redeem him from his enemies, who were harassing him with their threats, lies and hypocrisy, and in the process show him mercy. David knew the Lord, and how good He was to him. We read another David Psalm, Psalm 145:8, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love“, a psalm he wrote calling everyone to praise God every day, but David didn’t know the risen Jesus personally. David knew about the coming Messiah, and he wrote prophetically about Him in Psalm 22, so in a sense he did know about God’s grace, personally experiencing many times the outworking of God’s unmerited favour.

In modern times we use the word “redeem” in ways such as redeeming a loan, meaning to pay up the outstanding balance. The word crops up in relation to other business transactions and someone making use of a pawnbroker may return later to redeem the article pawned. But there is a great example of redeeming in the Book of Hosea. God asked the prophet Hosea to “marry a promiscuous woman”, a prostitute, and for a while his new wife, Gomer, had Hosea’s children and the marriage existed as a sign to Israel and Judah that God loved them even in their prostitution to idols. But Gomer left Hosea and returned to her old profession. Hosea pursued her, found her, and bought her back from slavery to prostitution, redeeming her from the consequences of her old ways. Hosea’s life was symbolic of God’s intention towards wayward Israel, showing them a path towards redemption and their status as His people in the land promised to them. But in spite of Hosea’s warnings the people just mocked him and ignored his warnings. The Jewish exile followed soon after.

We pilgrims today are a people who have believed and obeyed the warnings given to the peoples of our age. In Acts 2 we read at the end of Peter’s sermon about Jesus and His crucifixion, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation’” (Acts 2:37-40). That call to “repent and be baptised” still hangs in the air today, as God’s grace and mercy prevails in our wicked world. There are many in our society and generation today who need to heed Peter’s warnings and pleadings. 

It is so sad that so many lovely people today have rejected the King of glory, Jesus Himself. In this season of grace they have the opportunity to be redeemed from their sins but have turned their back on Him just as Israel turned its back on God in the 8th Century BC. Hosea warned them with his messages time and time again but the people ignored him. Peter warned the people in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost to “Save [themselves] from this corrupt generation”. Many accepted the call but equally many turned away. But all is not lost, because we pilgrims carry the message of God’s grace and mercy wherever we go. People everywhere have access to the Gospel and have no excuse for turning their backs on God.

We pilgrims are a thankful people because we have, in our spirits, seen the Lord. His Spirit lives within us, leading us, guiding us, encouraging us, filling us, and empowering us. What a blessed people we are! We are free to go to church, joining in the fellowship meetings, engaging in the Communion services, listening to God’s Word expounded and living a life of God’s blessings. A life Utopian in its potential, but sin is always lurking at our doors, seeking to destroy us and drag us back into the evil world around us. But we have the opportunity for embracing God’s grace and mercy, because He has redeemed us from our sins and one day we will enjoy His perfect presence forever. A time for God’s grace and mercy is with us. The news headlines may preach their messages of transient doom and gloom, but it will not always be that way. Secular messages spawned in the devil’s newsrooms and in evil people’s hearts may be promoted in the media but there is a higher power and authority with His hand on this world, a hand full of grace, mercy, love and compassion. Shout it out, Folks! This world needs to hear Good News. It needs God’s grace more than at any time in our history. We pray for revival and a new awakening, and look to God to fulfil His will and purposes for this generation.

Thank You God for Your grace and mercy, unwarranted favour to sinners like us saved by Your grace. Thank You. Amen.