From Sin to Righteousness: A Journey with Jesus

Posted on by korgrocker

“If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT

We pilgrims are now a new creation. We used to sing about it. But the difference between our old sinful way of life and the new one living under the glory of the New Covenant is stark. The difference between guilt and innocence, condemnation and holiness. Paul compares the “new way, which makes us right with God” with “the old way, which brings condemnation”. Do we really get how dramatic and life-changing the new way is? Is God’s glory really penetrating everything we think and do? 

Jesus taught the people about the Kingdom of God, and he said, “ … You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32). But Jesus said more, “ …I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” John 8:34-36). Do we pilgrims really know and live out that truth? We pilgrims once lived our lives as prisoners, locked away in a world of sin and condemnation. We were far from God, even going as far as denying His very existence. We arrogantly sang the song “I’ll do it my way”, over and over again, denying our human weaknesses and often finding out the hard way that sin is our master and the consequences are dire. 

Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers about what it means to live as unbelievers. About the Gentiles, he wrote, “Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:18-19). To my shame, that was me, and probably you as well, as we lived in our old ways of sin. I can remember a speaker one Sunday, starting his sermon with the words, “Today you will see a miracle”. In his message, he confessed that there was a point in his journey through life when he faced a fork in the road: one way led to a life of crime, and the other to a life following Jesus. And that was his conclusion, because the miracle was that he made the right choice.

Paul continued to the Ephesians with these verses that clearly explain the transition from the Old to the New, “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:20-24). It’s all about our “selfs”, old and new. I always picture them as a garment, an all-in-one “Onesie” or something like that. There is this black one that we automatically put on without thinking, a garment that is impregnated with sin. And there is a white one hanging on the peg, a garment of “righteousness and holiness”. Sometimes it is helpful to imagine removing the black one and putting on the white one. But we have a problem: we are reluctant to throw away the black one. We find it comfortable to wear, and it is all too often our default garment of choice. 

Isaiah wrote, ““Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). There is only one way to obtain a garment “as white as snow”, and that is through Jesus and His atoning sacrifice at Calvary. There is no other way. But we are free from the need to wear the old because “the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed [us] from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2b). Jesus, the Son, has truly set us free from our old ways of sin, and we live our lives in the glory of the new way in Him.

Dear Jesus, our Lord and Master. We thank You for leaving Heaven and coming to this world as a human being, setting aside all Your privileges for the sake of us pilgrims and all those still to respond to Your message of hope and grace. We worship and praise You today. Amen.

The New Glory

Posted on by korgrocker

“If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!”
2 Corinthians 3:9-11 NLT

Through the word “glory”, Paul compared the Old and New Covenants. The Old Covenant was given through Moses, and it was a Covenant of works based on external rules, animal sacrifices for atonement and human effort to obey all the requirements of this Covenant. It is a human trait that if a set of rules is necessary, then they will be resented and circumvented wherever possible. Take, for example, speed limits. Most people, I’m sure, will break them at one time or another, whether they intend to or not. And if a notice is placed on a door that says “Do Not Enter”, sooner or later someone will have a peek inside to find out why. Of course, some rules are there for life-saving reasons, and, generally speaking, if the reasons are understood, the rules will be obeyed. However, people take risks and break rules, leading to many injuries or deaths that could have been avoided if people had only obeyed the rules. The Old Covenant was only ever temporary in God’s Plan for humanity, because it pointed towards the time when the Saviour would come. By obeying the rules of the Covenant, Israel was established as a holy nation, set apart as God’s own people, and, in the process, Israelite society became cohesive and was greatly blessed by God when they kept their side of the Covenant. The Old Covenant was glorious through the radiant face of Moses, showing God’s presence, through the indwelling of God in the Tabernacle, and through the exposure of sin and its remedy with the blood sacrifices.

The New Covenant was prophesied in Jeremiah 31:21-32, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord”. The Old Covenant was impossible to keep, and the Israelites repeatedly broke it, but the next verse provided a tantalising glimpse of what was to come. ““But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people””. The New Covenant (through Jesus Christ) is an internal transformation by the Holy Spirit, offering eternal forgiveness and righteousness through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice, with a law written on hearts, not stone, providing direct access to God. It’s a shift from a system of works to one of grace and faith. At the last Supper, we read, “After supper [Jesus] took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you” (Luke 22:20). There will never need again to be a blood sacrifice, because Jesus provided that for all time. And that is the glory of the New Covenant, sealed with the Holy Spirit, who lives within us.

The Old had glory, when obeyed, but how much more the glory implicit within the New Covenant. We pilgrims are children of the New Covenant, blessed and forgiven. There is no more condemnation of the Old, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:1-3,  “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. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins”. 

In our New Covenant freedom, we pilgrims can enjoy the benefits of communion with God forever, set free from the sin and death that marked those of the Old Covenant. But that does not mean that we can do what we want, breaking all the rules and regulations that come our way. We are a new people, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”. We are now, through our faith in God and His grace, experiencing the glory that God always intended. How does that make us feel? There has to be a feeling of excitement inside us, no matter what circumstances we face. Paul wrote, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later” (Romans 8:18). Today, we enjoy a glimpse of the Heavenly glory, as though the clouds above momentarily part to give a glimpse of the blue sky beyond. One day, in God’s presence, His glory will be revealed in all its fullness. 

Dear Heavenly Father in Glory. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

From Law to Spirit: A Journey of Faith and Ministry

Posted on by korgrocker

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”
2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NLT

Paul seemed to be answering questions or comments from the Corinthian believers, asking about his mandate to preach to or pastor the people there. Earlier, he had referred to “letters of recommendation”, and now he writes about his qualification to minister the New Covenant through God and His Spirit. There was no formal training programme for Paul, leading to a Diploma in Preaching or a PhD in Pastoring. He was indeed familiar with the Old Covenant and the Hebrew writings of the Law and the Prophets, and claimed to have been schooled by Gamaliel, one of the most respected Rabbis in Jerusalem at that time. Then Paul had that encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, sealing his mandate to preach the Gospel as an Apostle. He was a qualified man, if there ever was one, to be a Minister in the New Covenant. 

The New Covenant is spiritual rather than a list of dos and don’ts, which expose sin and lead to death. Paul wrote in Romans 7:9-10, “At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead”. The remaining verses of Romans 7 explain very clearly the battle with sin and the Law, and Paul continued with the wonderful verses in Romans 8:1-2, “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”. Through the Holy Spirit within us, we have life, but believers tend to fall back and look again for rules to govern their lives. But Paul wrote, “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” (Romans 8:10). 

Every spirit-filled believer is qualified to be a Minister of the New Covenant, just as Paul was, because we are all called to be ambassadors for Christ wherever we find ourselves. We preach a message of reconciliation to God through Jesus and His death and resurrection two thousand years or so ago. It is a simple message, little more than we read in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. Jesus died and rose again just once, for the salvation of all human beings, past, present, and future, regardless of ethnicity, education, or ethos. His message of the Kingdom of God is there to preach to whoever will listen, and even to those who won’t. We are very quick to warn those around us of danger. A faulty traffic light, or a dangerous pothole. Bad weather or illness. Computer scams or fraudulent builders. The list goes on, and social media amplifies the reach of the warnings. But why is it that the most important warning of all, that without Jesus, people are going to “perish” and head for hell, is ignored and never propagated? 

We pilgrims are qualified ministers. But we are more than that in God’s sight. Peter wrote, “But you are not like that, 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” (1 Peter 2:9). We must do what ministers do, and tell others about the terrible times coming soon, because that is what the Bible teaches. And through it all, we must tell people of the love of God and the day of judgement, and the opportunity they have to repent and secure their future. Not by following the Law, with its rules and regulations about how to live a good life, but by introducing them to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who will come and live within them. Jesus said to the Pharisees and people of His day, “ … I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:34-36). We minister the Gospel of freedom and life, and it is all made possible through Jesus. There is no other way to Heaven.

Heavenly Father. Please lead us to places where we can minister the Good News about Jesus. And we pray that You will open hearts and prepare the ground. We are all qualified to be Your ambassadors and ministers for Jesus. Thank You. Amen.

The New Covenant

Posted on by korgrocker

“For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 NLT
“And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”
Matthew 26:27-28 NLT

The New Covenant is particularly important for us pilgrims, signifying as it does the relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ, established by his sacrificial death on the cross. This covenant involves God’s promise to forgive sins, write his laws on the hearts of believers, and provide a direct, personal relationship with Him, superseding the Old Covenant that was based on the Law of Moses and animal sacrifices. These words are easy to write, but they will never replace the feeling in our hearts the reality of who Jesus was, and still is today. As we read the Gospels and follow His life from a manger in a stable, all the way to a hill above Jerusalem, from which the resurrected Jesus ascended into Heaven, with the details there of all He did for us, we can do nothing else but fall to our knees in deep gratitude and bow to the ground in worship. And if it is possible for things to get any better, we know that Jesus is still alive today, and is in Heaven preparing a place for us to live with Him forever (John 14:2-3). 

But the possibility of a new covenant to replace the old one first appeared in Jeremiah 31:31, 33, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. … “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people”. Ezekiel also wrote about the New Covenant when he wrote, Ezekiel 36:26-27,  “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations”. But in the Old Testament, these prophetic writings were intended for the Jews. Even Jesus’ celebration of the Last Supper was with His Jewish disciples. But, thankfully, we know that through God’s grace, the New Covenant was extended to include the Gentiles, believers such as me and my fellow pilgrims. How do we know that? If we read Acts 10 we see the pivotal event where God showed Peter that he was to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

Ezekiel wrote about a new heart and spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and obedience to God, all achieved through belief in Him. The New Covenant is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned toward Him. Jesus Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and His death on the cross is the basis of the promise. Through God’s grace, we have before us the way to fellowship with God forever. The New Covenant is based on God’s love and grace, and it is within the grasp of all people, who only need to respond by believing in Jesus and coming to Him at the Cross in true repentance. What else can God do to restore His relationship with mankind? He cannot turn us into automatons, people without the ability to freely choose our destiny. Instead, He made a way through Jesus —a New Covenant that He will never break. But a covenant is between two parties, so what is our responsibility? A Christian’s responsibility to the New Covenant is to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, who is the mediator of this superior covenant. This involves not trying to earn salvation through personal effort, but instead living a life empowered by the Holy Spirit to reflect God’s will through love, worship, and obedience to Christ’s teachings. Through this, a path of salvation and sanctification leads to Heaven’s door.

What do we pilgrims think about the New Covenant? To answer that, we look to Jesus and none other. Only He has the words of eternal life, and we now dedicate our lives to Him. Today and forever.

Dear Lord Jesus. You prepared the way for everyone in the whole world to find the path that leads to eternal life with You. For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Amen.

Keeping His Covenant

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.”
Psalm 25:8-10 NLT

God made a covenant with Israel, as David knew when he wrote, “The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands”. This verse implies that those who don’t keep His covenant, obeying what it means, will fail to live with God in the ways that He intended. It also means that such covenant-breakers will fail to experience His “unfailing love and faithfulness”, leaving them outside the “shelter of the Most High” (Psalm 91). A scary thought I’m sure for God-fearing Israelites, but when we look back at their history we find many times when they generally failed to “keep His covenant”. The prevailing covenant in David’s time would have been the Mosaic covenant, given to Moses many years before. This was a conditional covenant, summed up in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before”. 

God also made a covenant with David, promising long life for his kingdom. 2 Samuel 7:16, “Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever”. And we pilgrims know, of course, the Man who subsequently sat on the throne of David, as we read in Isaiah 9:7, “His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” The Angel Gabriel also told Mary, Jesus’ mother-to-be, the same message, “He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David” (Luke 1:32). 

We pilgrims are very grateful – actually our feeble attempts at gratitude hardly give it justice – for Jesus coming to this world and giving us a New Covenant. Jeremiah prophetically wrote down, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. … “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33). Although Jesus said He would fulfil the Law of Moses (the Mosaic Covenant – Matthew 5:17), he also promised a New Covenant. Luke 22:20, “After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you“. The New Covenant was given first for the Jews and then the whole of mankind, but what was this covenant? In many ways the whole of the New Testament is based on the premise that Jesus, the Son of God, came to this world to shed His blood to take away the sins of the world. Hebrews 7:22, “Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God”. The New Covenant is the promise that God will forgive sin and restore fellowship with those whose hearts are turned toward Him.

But what does all this mean for us pilgrims? We now live in the wonderful Kingdom under God’s grace.“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And this salvation is gained through faith in Jesus, that He died for us at a place just outside Jerusalem called Calvary so that our sins can be forgiven. What an amazing giving and loving God, that he would do all of that just for you and me! We have the wonderful promise, originally given to David, that He will lead us “with unfailing love and faithfulness“. He did then and He still does today.

But there are two parties to a covenant. God has promised our eternal salvation through grace, through the blood of Jesus. Paul wrote, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (Romans 8:11). Our responsibility is to exercise faith in Jesus, the One who fulfilled the requirements of the original Mosaic covenant on our behalf and brought an end to the required sacrifices through His own sacrificial death. We pilgrims now share in the inheritance of Christ, as we read in Hebrews 9:15, “That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant“.

We pilgrims are highly favoured and very blessed. And so grateful, that we have so much in response to so little from our side of the Covenant. The most valuable possession that can ever be considered and imagined is ours for free. It costs us nothing, but it cost Jesus everything. What can we do other than praise and worship Him. Today and every day.

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on our lives. You have provided us with more than we could ever have imagined. We praise and worship You today. Amen

Insight For Living (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living. Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.”
Psalm 19:8-9 NLT

We left the last blog thanking God for David and his example for living. We thank him too for the Psalms he wrote. But David lived under the Old Mosaic Covenant, that was nevertheless designed to establish a unique relationship between God and his people, outlining laws and rituals to guide their lives, and demanding daily sacrifices in atonement for their sins. However, throughout the Old Testament there were glimpses of the New Covenant, notably through Jeremiah and Ezekiel. ““But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart” (Ezekiel 36:26). God knew what was coming and He gave His servants pointers to the climax of history – Jesus Himself.

The New Covenant is not based on the Law but on God’s grace. Paul wrote, “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace” (Romans 6:14). Salvation is a free gift, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The writer of the letter to the Hebrews wrote, “If the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. … When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:7, 13).

We pilgrims responded to the words of Jesus, applying His teachings to our lives. We journeyed to the Cross through the words of the Gospels, and we fell on our knees before God when the reality of John 3:16-17 penetrated to the very cores of our beings. To think that God Himself could come to this world and die for us, taking on the punishment for our sins in our place, has only two responses possible. We pilgrims have chosen the right way, the way of life, but most people in our secular societies have chosen the wrong way, neglecting God’s gracious invitation for salvation. Such people have effectively chosen by default to die in their sins, a decision consigning them to a lost eternity, a fate which Jesus warned against – Mark 9:47b-48, a place of horror where they will” … be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’”

So we believers turn to God’s Word, finding the commands of the Lord and giving us the clarity of how to live our lives God’s way, as the Holy Spirit leads and guides us. Our spiritual rebirth has given us access to the Kingdom of God, and there we find “insight for living”. Not only have we access to all the Laws and the Prophets of the Old Testament, but we also have the New Testament, containing the words of Jesus and the writings of theologians like Paul that has founded our faith. There is much that can be written about living our lives God’s way, but perhaps a good place to start would be to ponder on the words of Jesus in John 15:4, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me“. Our lives must be aligned to Jesus, and in everything we do He must be glorified. John 15:8, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father“. There is a sobering question, much bandied about at youth conferences towards the end of the last century – “What Would Jesus Do”? It’s a good question, but thankfully God is patient allowing us a lifetime of discipleship to respond. In the meantime His grace and willingness to forgive prevail. David knew that, and he wrote Psalm 86:5, “O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help“. 

David wrote, “The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living” and that statement has never lost its meaning. As we fill our hearts and minds with the truth of God’s Word, we will find all the help we need to live a life God’s way. We will find that the Holy Spirit gently but firmly guides us through the minefields of life and we give Jesus all the glory.

Dear Lord Jesus. We thank You for showing us the way with Your words of eternal life. We praise and worship You today. Amen. 

Holy Priests

Posted on by korgrocker

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honour. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 NLT

When we mention the word “priest” what comes to our minds? An Anglican will form a picture of a person, usually a man but it could be a woman, wearing a long robe and other accoutrements, who stands at the front of the church leading the service in accordance with the liturgy and worship service of the day. For Roman Catholics a similar picture might result, but the “priest”would also be available for other duties such as confessions. But whatever religion we follow, the “priest” is a minister who purports to teach and lead his adherents, with a sacred involvement in his parish and consequent liturgical duties, and looking after the spiritual needs of the community. 

In the book of Hebrews, we read about the ultimate High Priest, Jesus. Hebrews 7:16, “Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirement of belonging to the tribe of Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed”. The writer, or writers, of the Hebrews letter wrote about the connection between the priests of the Jewish religion, and the High Priest of the New Covenant, Jesus. In Hebrews 8:6, we read, “But now Jesus, our High Priest, has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood, for he is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God, based on better promises”. Just as in the Old Covenant, the priests stood between God and man, Jesus, in the New, ministers “a far better covenant with God” because He is God. We pilgrims now each have access to the throne of God. No more earthly priests required. This is made clear in Hebrews 10:19-22, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

We pilgrims have an important role as the “holy priests” that Peter wrote about. We are part of God’s “spiritual temple” and we are responsible for sharing the “good news” about Jesus and His saving grace. There is no more important job for a priest. All the liturgical flummery we find in some denominations will probably not help a person find God. Rather, it might even put them off. But sharing what God has done for us will be a matter of life and death. Our personal testimonies of God’s grace, love and mercy are priceless and worthy of a “holy priest” in the Kingdom of God.

Dear Lord Jesus. We are indeed Your representatives here on Planet Earth, priests in Your kingdom. Please help us to become more like You, day by day. Amen.

Covenants

Posted on by korgrocker

“They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”
Romans 9:4-5 NLT

We mustn’t forget the Covenant, made between God and His people. We read in Genesis 12:1-3 how God established a special relationship, a covenant, with Abraham; “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you””. We read in Exodus 19:4-6 God’s message to Moses, “‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel”. An awesome responsibility for the Israelites. To support the Covenant, God set out rules and regulations, the Law, that had to be followed, and we can read about that in Exodus 20 and throughout the Books that constituted the Jewish Torah. However, regardless of how the Israelites behaved, and their success at keeping their side of the bargain, the Covenant God made with Abraham and the nation he fathered was unconditional.

We Christians, with the benefit of our Bibles, can look back at two Covenants. The word “Covenant” means an agreement or promise, often underpinned by a legal document. And God has committed Himself to making a Covenant with His peoples everywhere. God cannot lie or break a promise, so the Covenant that He made was everlasting. So when Paul wrote about God making covenants with the Jews, His people, that meant there was an eternal agreement that would never be broken. 

The Covenant that God made with the “people of Israel” included “wonderful promises“. He gave them territory, and promised that the Jews would be a nation that one day will bring blessing to all the families on earth. The Israelite nation were chosen to be His adopted children, with all the benefits that result. Deuteronomy 28 lists the blessings that will be enjoyed by the Jewish nation if they keep the Covenant with God. Many of the Biblical prophecies about the Jews have not yet been fulfilled, but they will be because what God has promised will come to pass. 

But perhaps the biggest and most important promise that God made to His chosen people was the Messiah. Isaiah prophesied, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (Isaiah 7:14). And Isaiah 9:6-7, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” With the benefit of hindsight, we saw that happen with the birth of Jesus, bringing salvation to a lost people and a dark world. And yet the promise of the Messiah won’t be fully fulfilled until we see Jesus reign for all eternity, a government bringing peace that “will never end”.  

Jesus came, ushering in the New Covenant. Jeremiah prophesied that it would happen, ““The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). About Jesus, the writer of the Hebrews said, “That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

God never breaks His promises. His Covenants are eternal. And we pilgrims can be part of God’s covenant promises. Forever.

Father God, we thank You for Your faithfulness. It is everlasting, full of love and grace. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Outsiders

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”
‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:11-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Jews considered themselves, and still do, a race set apart. God’s own people. And the Jewish opinion of non-Jews was the derogatory phrase used by Paul, “uncircumcised heathens“. Sadly, the act of circumcision became a symbol of great pride to the Jews. What was originally designed to set them apart as God’s special people became pointless – God desired circumcised hearts, devoted and obedient to Him. But Jesus changed all of that. He set the scene in the famous Scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…“. This “world” set out an all-encompassing , all-inclusive description of the nations that populated the planet at the time when Jesus was having his chat with Nicodemus. And by further analysis of Scripture, the “world” is inclusive of all people, then and now. But Jesus focused His ministry on His own people, the Jews. And after His death and resurrection His master plan kicked in – where better to start a new God-world order than with God’s chosen people. And His chosen disciples. 

Cornelius, the Centurion, had the distinction of being the first Gentile person converted, though did the Samaritan women in John 4 come into the “Gentile” category? But come what may, Jesus gave us a commission  – Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8. The Samaritans and the people called “Gentiles” saw the fruit of it. The Ephesian church was in the main populated by Gentiles and Paul reminded them that they used to be “outsiders“. They were “living apart from Christ” and “excluded from citizenship among the people if Israel“. Not a lot going for them until, that is, they embraced the Gospel in all its fullness. 

The “covenant promises” Paul referred to was the Old Testament covenant, that was exclusively claimed by the Jews. Unless they converted to Judaism, Gentiles, the “outsiders” and “uncircumcised heathens“, had no Old Covenant blessing. But the Jews and Gentiles together, those who believed in Jesus, were the first fruits of the New Covenant of God’s love and grace.

In our pilgrimage through life can you imagine what it must be like “without God and without hope“? What a dark, depressing place that must be. And yet so many people in today’s societies are in that place. Forced to rely on their own resources – pilgrims without God neither know where they are going or what life holds in the future. Living in the “now” is ok as far as it goes, but sooner or later the “now” comes to an abrupt halt and suddenly becomes that place Paul mentioned – a place “without God and without hope“. We must continually look for opportunities where we can open the door wide enough for the “outsiders” to become “insiders”. And never lose sight of the fact that it is through God’s grace we are “citizens” in His kingdom.

Covenants

Posted on by korgrocker

He always stands by his covenant—
    the commitment he made to a thousand generations.
Psalm 105:8 NLT

This verse describes God’s faithfulness in the covenant He made to His people, the Jews. It’s a covenant He is going to keep. What was it? A covenant is a binding agreement made between two parties. And in Genesis 17 we read, “.. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you“. He will not try and wriggle His way out of it, when the going gets tough, as humans might do. But the covenantal agreement between God and His people was in two parts. God promised for His part to be always with them. And for their part they had to be obedient to Him and His laws, with a regime of sacrifices to atone for their sins. And as far as God was concerned His promise was eternal. Sadly, we see from the Old Testament the constant struggle the Jewish nation had in keeping their part of the agreement. 

Through Jesus, God brought about a New Covenant. This New Covenant was mentioned by Jeremiah – he could see, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a time coming when God would initiate a New Covenant. We read in Jeremiah 31:33, “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” In Hebrews 7:22, we read, “…Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God“. In the New Covenant, God offered the free gift of forgiveness for our sins through Jesus’ sacrificial death at Calvary, and our responsibility is to have faith in what He did for us, in the process enjoying an eternal relationship with God.

But will God’s commitment come to an end? In today’s verse the Psalmist points out that God has limited His covenant to a thousand generations. It doesn’t seem so much until we realise that the genealogies in the Bible add up to around one hundred generations from Adam until today. So a thousand generations is as good as eternity.
But the important point of the Covenant is that God is a real, loving, Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus died to redeem us from the consequences of our sins, and we have an invitation to spend eternity with Him. Seems a good deal to me.