Examples For Us

Posted on by korgrocker

“Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”
1 Corinthians 10:9-11 NLT

Paul listed some additional events that occurred during the journey through the wilderness, a journey that should have taken the Israelites no more than a few weeks at most, but ultimately lasted forty years. It was a journey full of miracles, but also one marked by punishments that God inflicted on an idolatrous, complaining, and grumbling people. Yesterday, we considered the sexual immorality and idol worship. In today’s verses, Paul highlights two more episodes, the first of which can be found in Numbers 21. “Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!” So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died” (Numbers 21:4-6). This time, the sin of the people was one of ingratitude, rebellion, and grumbling. The Lord’s punishment was a plague of poisonous snakes and “many were bitten and died”. Well, it indeed focused their minds, and we read what happened next in the following verses, “Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a bronze snake and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!” 

The snake episode was a “type” of what was to come, with Jesus being raised up on the cross at Calvary, and anyone who looked upon Him with a believing heart would be saved, but from a different kind of death. Jesus Himself referred to the Numbers 21 event when He said to Nicodemus, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). 

The second reference from 1 Corinthians 10:10 pertained to another instance when the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. A man called Korah had initiated a rebellion against Moses. He was a Levite, but it appeared that he possibly desired to be a priest, and we can read the account in Numbers 16. The Lord dealt with rebellion with a terminal solution. The earth opened up, and the three rebellious families and all their belongings disappeared into a big hole, which closed over them after they had gone. But the rest of the Israelites were very upset by this. Numbers 16:41, “But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!”” The Lord was going to destroy them all, and he sent a plague that Moses only narrowly averted. Paul believed that the Lord sent an angel of death amongst the people, but the outcome was the same. 

Both these examples quoted by Paul in our headline verses today were “written down to warn” all who were grumblers in the Corinthian church, and, by implication, they apply to believers today. We don’t know for sure how the Corinthians reacted to Paul’s message, but we do know how we pilgrims should respond. When we wake up in the morning, do we grumble about anything? We could list many things, but none of them are worthy of a child of God. I once said to a man whom I met early one sunny summer morning, “Nice morning today”, to which he replied, “They’re all nice if you wake up”. Instead of grumbling about the injustices of life, we would do better to thank God for the new day granted to us and get up with a sense of anticipation about what God has in store for the day ahead.

Dear Heavenly Father. None of us knows the day or hour when we will leave this life, but while we are here and alive, we will thank You and praise You for all You have done for us. Please lead us in all that You want us to do today, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Moses Prophesied

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
John 5:45-47 NLT

Was Jesus correct when He told the Jewish leaders that Moses wrote about Him? Of course He was, although admittedly it wasn’t by name. Jesus quoted Moses’ writings several times in the Gospels. For example, we have 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 there is the parallel between manna and Jesus being the bread of life, or Jesus proclaiming that anyone believing in Him will produce rivers of living water flowing from his heart. The Jewish leaders, however, failed to make the connection between what was written in the Pentateuch by Moses, and the Man standing before them. Their minds and religious thinking was stuck in a groove more focused on a different religion of rules and regulations, and nothing was going to change their minds. Not even with God’s own Son standing before them.

But the Jews were not unique in their approach to matters religious. Today we have Christian denominations and movements stuck in their own individual grooves. For example, if we look at the Church of England, we find the Book of Common Prayer. In this worthy tome we will find Orders for Morning and Evening Prayer, various Creeds, the Order of how Holy Scripture is to be read, and so on. There are a shed full of scenarios for all the offices of the Church but perhaps we wonder why all this is really necessary. After all, the early Church liturgy can be found in Acts 2:42, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer“. So what would happen to the orders of service if Jesus came along with a counter-cultural exposure of congregants trusting in liturgies rather than His teaching as recorded in the Gospels? In Hosea 6:6 God said, “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings“. Perhaps we could write, “I want you to show love, not follow a liturgy. I want you to know Me more than a pew or the Book of Common Prayer”. Of course, I might be doing many sincere Christian believers a disservice, but I’m sure my readers will understand my point.

By now, I’m sure my readers will also recognise that I am passionate about the Bible and its integrity and value in supporting life in the Kingdom of God here on 21st Century Planet Earth. In His day, Jesus came as the fruition of many prophecies about Himself, and He accused the Jewish leaders of not believing in Him in spite of all the evidence that said He was who he said he was. In particular He pointed out the incongruity of the leaders putting their hope in Moses and his writings, and yet refusing to believe and understand what those writings meant in the Person of the Man standing before them. But we pilgrims today must never abandon or rationalise the Scriptures to make them fit in with our ideologies, liturgies or world views. Just because we don’t understand, or refuse to understand, what the Bible says about living in the Kingdom of God, it doesn’t meant that what is written isn’t valid. We will never achieve everything that the Bible says we need to attain holiness by trusting in our own strength. But through the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, we can stand before God righteous and holy. It’s all about Jesus, not about the man made liturgies we love to install in our churches and fellowships. 

There is much more written about Jesus in the Bible. Throughout all the Old Testament books there is a thread foretelling the Messiah, woven almost into every page. And then He burst upon the scene, making an impact that launched the new order, the New Covenant between God and mankind. Most of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day failed to recognise Him, as many still do today. We have to remember though that the enemy has blinded the eyes even of God’s own people. But one day everyone, including all powers and authorities, will be forced to bow the knee before Jesus, the Son of God.

Dear Lord Jesus. We give You all the praise and glory. 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.

Frustrated Plans

Posted on by korgrocker

“I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles.”
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT
“I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that many times I have planned to come to you, (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit [of my labours] among you, even as I have among the rest of the Gentiles.”
Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬ ‭AMP

Paul seemed desperate to get to Rome to visit the Christians there. But he “was prevented until now”. The Amplified version implies that his efforts in planning his visit were still active, but he lacked the opportunity. And the New Living Translation mentions Paul’s desire to see spiritual fruit in the lives of the Roman Christians, as he has observed in others who weren’t Jews.

Do we find the reference to “Gentiles”  mildly offensive, because that is who most of us are in our societies? The use of the word has connotations, perhaps, of a second class of person, the Jews being the first class. And certainly, that was how the Jews of that time viewed those who were not Jewish. But nothing could be further from the truth, as can be seen in the early church that was established and growing throughout the Middle East at that time. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:13, “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptised into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit”. Through the sacrificial death of Jesus at Calvary, when He died for our sins, God’s grace and forgiveness was extended to all of mankind, should they choose to accept it. As some have said, there is level ground in front of the Cross. God treats everyone equally.

But moving on to Paul’s dilemma about his plans. Do we pilgrims have plans to do some work for God but have been prevented from doing so? Has God said to us that He wants us to do something but we don’t know how to make it happen? Then we are in good company. With Paul, he found a way around the problem by writing a letter. Everything he wanted to do in person was poured out though his pen, extending the reach of his God-given influence beyond what he could have achieved by making the long journey to Rome. But to Paul that was second best. He really wanted to be in Rome, right there with his Christian brothers and sisters.

Sadly, some people with God-given plans, have found themselves unable to fulfil them. and they end up living a life of frustration. Perhaps they have been held up by family pressures, or ill-health, or laziness. Perhaps they have taken a wrong turn in their lives and have become distracted by a relationship or career choice. But God never asks us to do something that we are unable to fulfil. He is not a stern taskmaster treating us as slaves, there to do His bidding. When we receive God’s call, we must submit to Him with the faith and knowledge that he holds all the resources we need to fulfil the task or tasks He has set for us. Paul couldn’t wait to do things for God. His encounter with Jesus was so real that it transformed his life, and he couldn’t wait to complete the plans God had set for him. And neither must we.

What do we do if God asks us to do something, but we’re not sure if it really is a request from God? We pray about it, asking God for confirmation. We seek counsel from other respected and wise Christians, and, if we are still unsure, we put what we feel God has asked us to do on the “back burner”. letting it simmer away in our prayers and meditations, before we take any steps that we would later regret. Remember too, that God is unlikely to ask us to do something outside our natural and spiritual giftings.

Perhaps we feel that God has not asked us to do anything for Him. If that is the case, we open the Bible. A good place to start might be Colossians 3:23-24, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ“. Another useful Scripture is Matthew 28:19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit“. Such Godly plans might seem a bit uninspiring but often God won’t entrust big plans to us until we can be found faithful in smaller tasks. Luke 16:10, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. We remember that Moses spent forty years herding sheep for his father-in-law before God found him ready for a bigger assignment.

We pilgrims use every opportunity to reach those who need us. If personal contact is not an option, we have social media and even emails or letter writing to keep in touch. And we remember that one day, there will be no restrictions. All of God’s plans will be fulfilled.

Dear Father God. You have tasks for us to do and we pray that You will lead and guide us in the right paths. In Jesus’ name. Amen.