Role Models and Red Lines

Posted on by korgrocker

“I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.”
1 Corinthians 10:33 – 11:1 NLT

Do we pilgrims have any “red lines” in our lives? Is there anything about what we do, how we spend our time, and govern our thoughts, that is non-negotiable and something that we would not be prepared to abandon? Paul had his faith in Christ and all that that entailed. His “red lines” included his desire to share the Good News about Jesus with everyone he met, his life of prayer and devotion to God, and his pastoral care for the churches he founded. He was not distracted by family needs, particularly by marriage, as we read three or four chapters before in our verses today. Paul was a driven man, totally devoted to his “red lines”, which didn’t even stop when he was imprisoned. His life was structured yet flexible enough to adapt to any situation or circumstance that he encountered. He wrote to the Philippians, “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13). 

At the start of our new chapter in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul encouraged the Corinthians to imitate him because he was a Christ-imitator. This might have been difficult for some in Corinth, because different preachers there had their own followers. In 1 Corinthians 3:4-5,  Paul wrote, “When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us”. But Paul wasn’t looking for people to follow him, or perhaps even to behave like him. He exhorted the Corinthians to imitate his devotional life and his works of service. Not everyone could preach like Paul. Not everyone had his theological training, refined and powered by a miraculous and personal encounter with Jesus. However, they could establish the structures and principles that would guide them on their journey to Heaven. And regarding the last verse of 1 Corinthians 10, we read about Paul’s desire to introduce everyone he could to God’s saving grace. “I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved”.

Paul developed the same thoughts in Philippians 2, something that we pilgrims would do well to read and re-read. Regarding our relationships with others, this is what he wrote in verses 3-4, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too”. And then he followed it with, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had”. We, too, must imitate Christ in all that we do.

So, back to our “red lines”. Most people need to install some form of structure in their lives as they go about their daily business. There is an observation that I often hear from retired people, in that they never know what day of the week it is. The structure afforded by employment has gone, and unless they put something else in place, the days will merge into a featureless mist of wasted time and opportunities. We pilgrims would be well-advised to spend time in days that otherwise will drift away from us by reading our Bibles and praying to our wonderful Heavenly Father. For me, this is a “red line” so important that, if circumstances prevent me from having a “Quiet Time”, my day loses its lustre. There is something significant about turning our thoughts to the Heavenly realm in prayer and meditation at the start of a day, and asking for a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit to empower me for the day ahead. And then I personally try to supplement my morning devotions with a prayer walk when I can bring other issues before God, and look for opportunities to introduce people to Jesus. Another “red line” for me is attending church on Sundays, as well as prayer meetings and Bible studies if available, and if my circumstances allow. But we are all different, and we must all ask God for His guidance and help to establish some spiritual “red lines” in our lives, remembering that there is no condemnation for any of God’s children.

Dear Heavenly Father. There is no substitute for spending time with You, and we are so sorry for the wasted days when our humanity gets in the way. Please help us establish good habits in our busy days, when we can structure our lives around You and Your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Day of Preparation

Posted on by korgrocker

“When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!” “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away.”
John 19:13-16 NLT

The common belief is that the Passover festival took place on the Jewish Sabbath, and that forms the basis of our Easter weekend when we Christians assume that Jesus was crucified on what we have come to call Good Friday, with the Jewish Passover being the following day. This then means that Sunday is the first day of the Jewish week. But according to the Jewish calendar, the day of Passover could have been on a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. This year, 2024, Passover took place on April 23rd, which was a Tuesday. Another fact about Passover is that the Day of Preparation ends at sundown. Theologians disagree about which day of the week Passover took place when Jesus was crucified because it is not totally clear in which year it took place, but in the end we do know that Jesus was crucified on the Jewish Day of Preparation, hence the unseemly haste in which the Jewish leaders wanted to complete their terrible deed. 

A Day of Preparation is not just a Jewish religious phenomenon. In business terms, presentations are prepared for meetings and sales pitches. When we go on holiday, we prepare for the event, booking tickets and packing suitcases. We examine flight or train timetables and select the best options. As we come up to retirement, we prepare for the increase in leisure time, or at least should do. Very importantly, our young people prepare for their exams by spending hours going through previous exam papers and swotting up on the exam material. But in spiritual terms, the need to prepare for anything is less obvious or expected. Of course, the preacher will prepare a sermon and the worship team will prepare the songs or hymns and practice where needed. But what about those who come to church, those in the congregation? I suspect that many people, including me at times, miss out on the blessings of God because we haven’t prepared our hearts in such a way that we are in a place to receive all that God has for us. And then there is the importance of being prepared in case someone asks us one day about how we became a believer in Jesus. 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect“. Jesus warned His disciples about being prepared. Matthew 24:44, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him“. And we know what happened to the five young women who were unprepared and who brought insufficient oil for their lamps, as Jesus told in the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25). 

It is important that we pilgrims prepare our hearts before we move into the day. Many call a time of morning prayer and Bible reading a “Quiet Time” but I prefer to call it a time of preparation. How can we honestly face the hassles and struggles of the world without having first touched base with our Heavenly Father? How do we know what He wants us to do in the day ahead if we haven’t first asked Him for directions? And then stayed long enough to hear His answer? But it is a dangerous thing to do, to ask God what He wants us to do this day. We might hear something that totally upsets our plans. There was a day when a man called Ananias received a vision and we can read about what happened next in Acts 9:11-19. It goes without saying that Ananias must have had a prepared heart beforehand. 

We pilgrims are children of God, and what child doesn’t look to his or her Father for encouragement, love, and the resources for the day ahead. But if we don’t spend time with Him, then how will we ever be effective as a Christian, effective in our own personal lives or instrumental in ministering in the lives of others? Let’s prepare our hearts today in the presence of Almighty God. After all, only He has the Words of eternal life. 

Dear God. Our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak. Please help us to get into routine of being prepared before we start the day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Over the Sea

Posted on by korgrocker

“After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)”
John 6:1-4 NLT

As written in the previous chapter in John’s Gospel, Jesus had been in Jerusalem for one of the Jewish Feasts, and while there He had healed a paralysed man lying next to the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus’ instructions to the healed man were recorded in John 5:8, “Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”” The Jewish leaders took exception at the healed man doing work on the Sabbath (they considered that carrying a mat was “work”) and this initiated a conversation between the hostile leaders and Jesus, where He explained His authority and mission. We now move on into John chapter 6, where we find that Jesus had travelled back northward to Galilee and then across the Sea of Galilee to a more remote region on the other side. He did this because, as we find out later, He probably wanted some peaceful quality time with His disciples. But the crowds kept following Him. They were huge crowds, John wrote, made up of people wanting to see the miracles of healing that Jesus was committing. 

Jesus had become a celebrated figure to the people in Galilee. Imagine the popular music stars of today, followed around by adoring fans and the newspaper photographers, never able to get any time on their own. Followed to their gigs. Followed to their hotels. Never a let up and never any privacy. But unlike the pop stars of today, Jesus never turned anyone away. Healing the sick was not the only reason why Jesus was in the Holy Land at that time. He knew His time on earth was not going to be very long, and He was desperate to train up the young men who were His disciples. So He climbed a hill with them, and we read that he “sat down with his disciples around him”. In those days Rabbi’s sat down to teach their disciples.

Matthew 4:23,25, “Jesus travelled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. … Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River”. This was perhaps Matthew’s account of what John was recording in his Gospel. But Matthew continued with, “One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach them” (Matthew 5:1-2). Helpfully, Matthew recorded what Jesus taught about and we can read the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7.

We pilgrims also have a mission here in our societies and nations. The Good News about Jesus and His love and saving grace, must be shared with those around us. And in the Great Commission we are told to make disciples. Not of us, or course, but of the wonderful Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is unlikely that huge crowds will be following us, but it is quite likely that distractions will try and pull us away from what we should be doing. Things like extra shifts at work, or lots of emails. Perhaps it is the golf course tugging us away from our mission. But whatever it is, we must be self disciplined just as Jesus was. But Jesus never stinted having quality time with His Father in Heaven and often He arose early to go out on His own to spend time in prayer. 

Do we pilgrims prioritise spending time in prayer and reading God’s Word in the Bible? For me it has to be early in the morning as otherwise the pressures of the day invade my personal space and it becomes too late. Jesus was in constant communication with His Father, and through that received guidance and spiritual sustenance for His mission. We pilgrims need to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit who resources us for the day ahead and leads us into all truth. and as we listen to what He has to say, perhaps the day before us will become less of a hassle than we otherwise would have expected.

Dear Father God. We thank You for all Your resources and encouragement. We pray again today for more of the life-giving water of Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.