Another “But”

Posted on by korgrocker

“The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.””
John 2:3-5 NLT

When God is around there is always a “but”. We may be in a hopeless situation, “but” …We look around us at our natural circumstances and see apparently insoluble problems. There is no food in the cupboard, or money in the bank account. There is an urgent need for medical supplies – the list is seemingly endless. But God …. In this case, it was Jesus’ mother who had the faith to see beyond the natural circumstances and pave the way for a remarkable miracle. “But … Do whatever He tells you”. In this situation, what would our expectations be? There is a problem – the wine supply has run out. No more of a basic commodity considered essential at a Jewish wedding celebration. There is a solution – Jesus is there. All that is missing is the faith to connect the two. That is, until Jesus’ mother Mary comes along. And of course, the obedience present to turn faith into a solution.

Perhaps with our natural point of view, we would start to imagine how a solution would emerge. For example, we might think we know someone who has a supply of wine stashed away, and wonder if we could persuade him, perhaps with Jesus’ help, to sell us some of it. Or could we persuade that shopkeeper to open up just for us. But we know what happened next, and who could ever have thought up a more unlikely outcome.

So when we face into a knotty problem, seemingly insurmountable, we have a pathway to a solution. As we outline the situation before us, the first step is to involve Jesus. He cares for us – 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you“. The second step is to believe, through faith, that Jesus has a solution. Luke 17:6, “The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you!” The third step is then to be obedient to whatever Jesus says. It may not be the outcome that we have in our minds. There may not be a cheque in the post, or a new car in the garage, but through faith we know He has the answer. In fact, Jesus is the answer. There is no-one else. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You are the Answer. There is none other. We worship You today. Amen.

A Wedding Celebration

Posted on by korgrocker

“The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration.”
John 2:1-2 NLT

John starts chapter 2 of his Gospel with “the next day”, an event right after Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael. A Jewish wedding was a great celebration, and some of them went on for days, with feasting and drinking. Dancing and merriment. But Jesus was there with His disciples, who we know from the previous chapter were Andrew, Simon, Philip and Nathanael. This event is a problem to some Christians, who disapprove of such occasions, and particularly that Jesus would have been there. Would Jesus have been joining in with all that was going on? No doubt in my mind at all.

How do we pilgrims feel about such events in our culture? Some weddings and their receptions can be bizarre, to say the least. Others are more traditional, with a church service and simple meal afterwards. But such events bring together families and sometimes expose fault lines that would rather have been forgotten. Family relationships that perhaps fractured over something quite trivial and were never resolved. But the whole point of a wedding is to dedicate a young couple to God with lifetime vows “’til death us do part”. And families and friends are invited to witness the occasion and share in the couple’s joy.

We pilgrims have another wedding to look forward to, as we read in Revelation 19:7b-9, ” …  For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God””. These verses describe the celebration, that followed the commitment made by believers to their Lord and Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. A wonderful picture of the time one day when we will all be united with Christ forever.

So the next time we receive a wedding invitation we remember the one still to come. It will surpass anything we have ever experienced before. It will be out of this world.

Dear Lord Jesus. Again we worship You, the wonderful bridegroom and husband to be. We look forward to receiving that invitation, to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Amen.

The Fig Tree

Posted on by korgrocker

““How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”“
John 1:48-51 NLT

In the Bible there are many occasions when fig trees are mentioned. We read in Genesis 3:7, ”At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves”. The only tree mentioned in the Garden was of the fig variety. The Promised Land contained riches including fig trees. Deuteronomy 8:8, “It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey”. So, the fig tree came to be associated with God’s blessing and security for the Jewish people. But the fig tree also became associated with it being a symbol of Israel itself and its peace and prosperity. 1 Kings 4:25, “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon”. 

Perhaps there was something symbolic in the association of Nathanael and the fig tree under which he was taking cover from the heat of the sun. Jesus used it as a reference point in a subsequent conversation, and from that Nathanael drew the conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for. 

So we pilgrims can draw several conclusions from this. Firstly, Jesus sees us wherever we are. It may be in a mundane place like standing under a tree, or at an office desk, or in a church pew. Jesus will see what is within us, as he saw the character of Nathanael. But we have to ask ourselves the question – does Jesus see someone who is a person of integrity, of potential, who will be of use to His Kingdom mission? Secondly, Nathanael was taking cover under a fig tree, a symbol of national identity. But here in the UK at least, the national identity is a secular mish-mash of chaotic confusion, where even morality and our Christian roots are being challenged and disregarded. So another question – what identity are we displaying to those around us? Too many church denominations are adopting the secular ways, committing themselves to even more uncertainty and turmoil when they should be Kingdom fig trees in their witness. Thirdly, Nathanael’s response to Jesus was one of recognition about who He was. Our response to Jesus’ call is crucial to our future with Him. Have we heard that call, and responded in praise and worship with a “Yes Lord”?

Dear Lord Jesus. We worship You today, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Amen.

Stairway to Heaven

Posted on by korgrocker

“As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” “How do you know about me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.””
John 1:47-51 NLT

In this, the last verse of John 1, Jesus told His disciples that they would see “the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man”. And He referred to Himself as “the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth”. Superficially, this claim by Jesus might seem wondrous, but with little practical application in today’s world. That is, until we see this for what it is – a doorway, a connection, an opportunity, a picture, of the link between the spirit world of Heaven, and the human world of Planet Earth. We remember the Sunday School story of Jacob’s Ladder, the account of which we can read in Genesis 28:12, “As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway“. Jacob only saw a vision of what was to come, a vision fulfilled by Jesus.

Jesus, in His statement about the stairway, released a profound truth that reverberates across this world and all generations who have ever lived within it, and who are yet to be born. There is no other link between the Kingdom of God, and the kingdom of this world. Jesus said in John 14:6, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. There is no other way into God’s presence. Many other religions claim otherwise, but their adherents will be disappointed. 

But we read that angels are using this staircase and provide a link between Jesus and His Heavenly home. The angels are servants of God and through Jesus they are able carry out God’s plans in this world. They come and go as God requires. So we mustn’t be surprised if one day we meet an angel. He might not be immediately recognisable as such but perhaps we will look back at this particular point in our lives and wonder.

This picture of the busy staircase between Jesus and Heaven provides us with a faith-link right into God’s presence. We pilgrims know Jesus and we have access right to the throne of God, in faith that, through Jesus, the staircase is still alive and well and doing what God designed it to do. The disciples found it, saw it, and one day made use of it themselves. We modern day disciples will one day discover its marvels at first hand, as we pass into God’s presence. So it goes without saying that we must introduce others, who don’t know Jesus, to this gateway into God’s Kingdom, the gateway who is Jesus Himself. Many want to get into Heaven, but they will never find out how without our introduction to the Saviour.

Dear Father God. Please lead us to those who need to find You and Your stairway to Heaven. Amen.

The Lamb of God

Posted on by korgrocker

”The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ I did not recognise him as the Messiah, but I have been baptising with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”“
John 1:29-31 NLT

The sacrifice of lambs was an important part of Jewish religious life. We can perhaps remember the story in Exodus of the Passover, where a lamb was killed and its blood wiped over the door posts of the Israelites’ dwellings. The application of blood indicated to the angel of death that he was to “pass over” all those living inside. Also, lambs were offered as sacrifices in the Temple, morning and evening, as part of the offerings for the sins of the people. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the Jewish system of offerings all pointed to the coming Messiah, and the people hearing John’s message would have been familiar with the Passover celebrations and the whole purpose of the sacrificial lambs. The prophecy in Isaiah 53:6-7 clearly made the connection between the sacrifice for sin and the role in that played by the Messiah. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”

Today we pilgrims don’t depend on the slaughter of animals for the forgiveness of our sins. The “Lamb of God”, Jesus Himself, became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is only through Him that we can receive redemption. Isaiah wrote, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own“. Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). One of the constants we meet in life is sin, a spiritual disease endemic in every human being. But through Jesus we can be released from the consequences of that sin, and be able to stand before God clothed in the righteousness of the Messiah. So today, and every day, we turn to the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.  There is no other way into God’s presence. Jesus made a profound statement, eternal in its reach and consequences. It is timeless and irrefutable. 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“. We pilgrims burrow our way into the implications of this verse, as we journey towards our goal. The gateway to the narrow path that leads to eternal life starts at the Cross of God’s Lamb, Jesus.

Dear Father God. Who ever heard of a god who became a human being! But Jesus did and we are eternally grateful. Amen.

Jesus Unrecognised

Posted on by korgrocker

“John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.“
John 1:26-28 NLT

John had a very public ministry and he was known throughout Israel. The people considered him a prophet and, as such, an important man. Such was his fame that the authorities were wary of him. Jesus had a conversation with some religious leaders about John. He asked them a question, as recorded in Mark 11:30-32, ”“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet“. John had some important information for the Jews, about Someone who was far greater than he was, but at this stage in His ministry, the Man of whom John spoke, had yet to be recognised. 

Would we pilgrims recognise Jesus if we met Him one day? Isaiah warned that Jesus would have no great distinguishing features of other attributes. We read in Isaiah 53:2, ”My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him”. Western films portray Jesus as a white male but the reality is that Jesus would have been of middle Eastern appearance. We build in our minds a picture based on His ministries, His compassion, love and so on, but there was nothing that set Him apart physically. But that doesn’t alter the fact that Jesus was, and is, the Son of God. 

If we were able to recognise Jesus and His saving grace, others will too. Someone introduced us to Jesus. We may or may not have been looking for Him. We may have been sadly distorted in our perception of who He was. But He found us anyway and we responded to His love and grace. We came to Him in repentance and received the gift of eternal life. I recently had the opportunity to thank the man who introduced me to Jesus, even though it was quite a while since I had met with him. What a privilege it is when we pilgrims have an opportunity to introduce someone to Jesus. They may not recognise Jesus at first, but through His love and grace they will come to take the first steps into His Kingdom. Jesus made such an impact on the Apostle Paul that he wrote, ”Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ“ (Philippians 3:8). That’s how important Jesus is. 

So do you know Jesus? Can you consider Him your friend? We can all get to know Jesus now, in this life, and we will be in His company forever in the life to come. What a privilege! What a Saviour!

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for coming to this world all those years ago. You are preparing a place for us in Heaven and we look forward to joining You there. Amen.

Rights

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”“
John 1:24-25 NLT

More questions for John, this time concerning his apparent intrusion into an area the Pharisees considered to be their religious “”right”. They claimed exclusive rights over all things spiritual in Israel and tried very hard to stop anyone trying to take over part of what they do. Apparently, baptism was not something new to the Jews. They used immersion in water as a ritual act of cleansing when a Gentile converted into Judaism. But John’s baptism was applied to the Jews themselves, as a public declaration that they had repented of their sins. Not something the religious authorities would have been pleased about because they considered that their exclusive territory.

Should we pilgrims have been baptised, by full immersion as those in the early church were? Peter’s first recorded sermon included this verse, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The reference, “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” implies full immersion in water, a public declaration of faith and one that clearly transitions a person into the Kingdom of God. It is also something very significant in the life of a believer because, in times of stress and doubt, their heritage can be referred back to. Baptism is a spiritual event just as significant as any other identity document.

John was asked, “what right do you have to baptise?”. In some countries today, there are very few “rights” let only being able to be a believer in Jesus. We mustn’t forget that many will consider it a privilege to be able to express our religious and social freedom in a Western nation. In John the Baptist’s day, the rights of an individual were few, being impacted by poverty, the Romans and by the religious authorities. But John wasn’t fazed by that and he just got on with what God had commissioned him to do – “prepare the way …”. We pilgrims also have a task before us, and one that is likely to be impacted by the conversion ban legislation that is slowly, but inexorably, passing its way through the UK parliaments, central and devolved. In the Anglican and Presbyterian denominations here in the UK, there is a restriction on who can officiate at services, but believers in Christ are all “ordained” in their own right – ” … 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” (1 Peter 2:9).

So what “rights” do we pilgrims have, in our spiritual and religious duties? There is nothing complicated here. We just get on with what God has asked us to do. It may not be easy. For some it may be dangerous, for others inconvenient. It may cost us our money and time. But the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us – that is God’s “right”. There is a higher law at work and one that, when followed, could lead us to our own “cross”. The Creator God of this world had the “right” to send His Son, Jesus, to save the world. We pilgrims have dual citizenship – we are citizens of the nation in which we were born, but we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. The authorities may remove or amend our “rights” in our natural kingdoms, but they cannot touch our “rights” as children of God at all. And we know which kingdom will prevail in the end.

Father God. Only You can determine our true rights. Through Jesus we are privileged citizens in Your Heavenly Kingdom for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus is God

Posted on by korgrocker

”No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”
John 1:18 NLT

I have never seen a famous historical person such as Shakespeare or John Wesley, because they were dead before I was born. But I know about them from their writings and biographies, and have seen artist’s impressions through paintings and drawings. But God is different. Even though He has always existed, no-one has ever seen Him, for one simple reason – He is Spirit. Human beings are natural and physical. There are occasions in the Old Testament when the greats of old such as Moses, Elijah and others apparently came close to seeing God, but not in any coherent and tangible way. But back to, for example, John Wesley. Although I have never seen him in the flesh, I can find out many details about him. His life has been picked apart by others who knew him to the extent that I can almost imagine that I have met him in person. 

When Jesus came, He revealed God to us. In the same way a son can tell us much about his father, through his memories, his mannerisms, his looks, Jesus told us much about His Father. We read in John 14:8-10, ”Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me“”. In his Colossians letter, Paul wrote, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9). 

So we pilgrims, by following Christ, follow God, and in Him we will find a complete diet for our souls. In our natural world, there is much fretting and fussing over the food we eat, or don’t eat, or can’t eat. I know someone who is almost paranoid about the perceived harm done to their body by ultra processed foods. There are many diet sheets loudly proclaimed by their adherents. But there is only one diet for our spiritual lives and that can only be found in the Bible. Nothing ultra processed there! In this Book we will find out all that we need to know about our Trinitarian God. Fellow pilgrims – are we reading it? As often as we can? Through it God feeds our spirits. 

Two thousand years ago a baby was born, of peasant parents in humble surroundings, but that Child started a life dedicated to His Father that ended on a Roman Cross in the greatest sacrifice, and consequent moment in history, that this world has ever seen. Many, if not most, have discounted it as being irrelevant to them and their lives. But we need to proclaim this wonderful Son to all regardless. At every opportunity. How else will people know the wonderful God, the Creator of this Universe?

Dear Father God. Thank You for Jesus and all You have done for us. Amen.

Moses and Christ

Posted on by korgrocker

”For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.“
John 1:17 NLT

John writes now about the comparison between what is effectively law and grace. The Jews, the Israelite nation, had escaped from Egypt, and were two months into their journey to the promised land when they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. There they set up camp. And Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God. “ … The Lord called to [Moses] from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel” (Exodus 19:3). Then followed the giving of the Ten Commandments and a series of instructions and laws that God had designed for the benefit of His people. Deuteronomy 28 starts, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will …” (Deuteronomy 28:1), and then there follows a list of all the good things God’s people will enjoy if they are obedient to Him. But the Israelites were warned what would happen if they failed to keep to these commandments. “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). The down side of being disobedient to God is well documented. Blessings would follow obedience to God and curses would follow if disobedience was the norm. Through the law given to the Israelites came a definition for sin. But there was a problem – no person could become pure enough by following the law to satisfy God’s requirements. 

Paul started his life as a Pharisee, and he was so zealous to protect the Jewish way of life, with its laws and customs, that he even persecuted the early Christians. Galatians 1:13, “You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.” But there was then that day when he experienced God’s grace in all its fullness after seeing a bright light, a vision of Jesus. We read, “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”“ (Acts 9:4). Paul’s conversion was total and dramatic. He transitioned from law to grace.

What do we pilgrims think of law and grace?  Jesus didn’t come to this world to replace the Law with something else. He came to fulfil the Law by becoming the final sacrifice. So instead of trusting in rules and regulations, we trust in Jesus. We read in Romans 3:20, ”For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are“. Instead, ”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). This does not mean that we maintain sinful thoughts and behaviours. We bring them all to the Cross in repentance. The Law shows us what God wants (holiness), and grace gives us the desire and power to be holy.

Father God. We worship You today, deeply grateful for all You have given us. Amen.

Grace Upon Grace

Posted on by korgrocker

“From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.”
John 1:16 NLT
“For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favour upon favour, and gift heaped upon gift].”
John 1:16 AMP

We can’t get past the word “grace” in our Christian lives. The reality that Christ took on Himself the consequences of our sin, dying on a Roman cross, so that we could stand before God clothed in Christ’s righteousness, is grace beyond anything we could expect, or even deserve. A reality that can only drive us to our knees in grateful thanks, in worship of God’s Son Himself. The acronym for grace – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense – is well known but it is underpinned by today’s verse from John 1. There is no limit to God’s grace. 

A church leader I used to know was a great public evangelist, and one of his methods of gaining attention to the Gospel message was to try and hand out a bank note to a stranger in the shopping mall, emulating in a small way God’s grace. Many rushed on by, too busy or too uninterested, to stop and take the gift. Such are those who reject God’s offer of salvation, eyes blinded by the world and its sinful pleasures. They fail to see that the best offer they will ever receive in this life, worth far more than any of the world’s riches, has passed them by. For all those who have turned their backs on God, rejecting His free offer of salvation, spurning that “grace upon grace”, there is an awful alternative. Jesus said, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” (Matthew 16:26). The alternative to accepting God’s graciousness is eternity spent in a place, as Jesus described it, “where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out” (Mark 9:48). 

For those who accept God’s offer of salvation will truly discover “spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing“, as they journey towards their goal of eternal life spent with God. To send His Son to live and die with human beings was the ultimate act of grace. 

Dear Father God. On our knees we thank You for Jesus and His willingness to die so that we might have life. Such grace! Amen.