One Lord, Jesus Christ (1)

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many Lords. But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.”
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 NLT

Paul made two unambiguous statements about God and Christ in the last verse of our reading today. He said we live for God the Father, but through Jesus Christ. They identify two separate roles for God the Father and God the Son, in that all things were created by the Father, but through Jesus. These statements are foundational to the Christian faith, and there is no alternative way of life for any pilgrim. We considered the Father yesterday, and now we turn to Jesus, “through whom we live”. 

All the way back in Genesis 1, we see that God “spoke” the heavens and the earth into being. Genesis 1:3, “Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light”“. But if we now turn to John 1, we find out about what was said. John 1:1-3, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him“. So we find the Trinitarian relationship between the Father and Son, because God spoke and Jesus was the Word, a partnership that has always existed. In Genesis, we read that humanity was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26f), and we must consider what that truly means. God had already created the angels – we don’t know exactly when, but this probably occurred before the world was created – and He then created human beings, populating both the spiritual realm and the natural world. Two separate kingdoms have existed, one eternal and one bounded by time, but it was God’s desire that He brought them both together under the authority of His Son, Jesus, as we read in Ephesians 1:9-10, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfil his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth”. 

The mind-boggling truth is that through the Word, the logos, we find the God-man Jesus walking this world, bringing God’s love and grace to people dying in their sins. Jesus was, and is, the Logos, as described by John, who went to great lengths to explain and correct false beliefs and ideas about God, and to provide us with the proper and correct facts about Him. In discussions with the JW’s, we will find that they do not believe that Jesus is God, a member of the Trinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Their version of John 1:1 (New World Translation) reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god”, and that identifies the JW’s as a sect that denies the divinity of Jesus as He went about Palestine showing His love and grace for the people. There are other differences, but we need to beware of a religion claiming to be Christian but one which has been infiltrated by the devil.

One of the first things that Jesus said when He started His public ministry was, “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” (John 3:16). We are all very familiar with this verse but the word “perish” is often overlooked. We go for the “love” bit and how we must believe in God’s Son, but the consequences for people who don’t are that they will perish. Back to Genesis 1:26. Being created in God’s image means that with the package came free choice, a huge responsibility that is avoided by most of the people in our unbelieving society. It is a responsibility because those who don’t believe will “perish”and we know what that means if we read Revelation 20. And to those who claim a God of love would never send anyone to hell, we have to respond with the message that He would not overrule their right to free choice and turn them into an automaton. Instead, He sent His Son, full of unlimited love and grace, to take on the punishment they deserve and by His sacrifice ensure that they will never perish. 

There was a time in Galilee when Jesus addressed a couple of local news reports, brought to Him by the people there. The first was concerning Pilate, who had murdered some people in the Temple while they were offering sacrifices, and the second was when eighteen people died after a tower in Siloam fell on them. But Jesus turned the emphasis around, ““Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too” (Luke 13:2-5). Jesus’ response was clear. Don’t get caught up with temporal matters and neglect the reality that unless we believe in Him, repenting of our sins, then we will “perish”. 

We pilgrims live our lives through the lens of the Cross, where we lay our burdens down and believe that Jesus died for our sins. Paul reminded the Corinthians of that, and, with a sober and realistic perspective, we too take on board what it means to live through Jesus, the Son of God.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your Son Jesus and all He has done for us at Calvary. Thank You that through Your plan for salvation You have saved us from perishing in a terrible place. Amen.

Judging the Church

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.””
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 NLT

Now here’s an interesting Scripture. Paul said that it was the responsibility of the Corinthian congregation “to judge those inside the church who are sinning”. But didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged“? But actually, as we drill down into what Jesus said, we find that there is a standard by which believers will be judged, and that standard is applied to the believers in the church who are sinning. Yes, it is judgment, and the judges, the church believers, will themselves experience the same standards, but applied to themselves. In a previous blog, we considered church discipline, as Jesus laid out in Matthew 18, but how else could this process be followed without judgment being involved? So the guilty person or people have to be removed from their fellowship, as Paul and Moses said, at the behest of the congregation. I suppose that the problem comes if the congregation is split on the issue, some wanting to deal with the sin, and others saying, “let’s give him a chance – after all, everyone sins, don’t they?”

Earlier in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote, “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns” (1 Corinthians 5:5). This is another mystery that needs further thought. The man has openly sinned, and presumably, he has refused to change his ways. Incidentally, the stepmother has not been included in Paul’s recommended disciplinary actions, so perhaps she is not a member of the church in Corinth and has been included among the unbelievers outside of it. If this is in fact the case, then Paul wrote that she is outside the jurisdiction of the church and therefore not their responsibility. Paul was clear that it would be God who judges the unbelievers, not the church. But the man himself must be handed over to satan. In other words, he has to be removed from God’s protection in the church because of his sin, and once on the outside with the unbelievers, he will perhaps be attacked and tested in the same way that Job was. We read in Job 1:12, ““All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence“. Other theologians think that this means satan will be given the freedom by God to end the man’s earthly life, either quickly or through a long-term illness. But there is always the hope that God may use satan’s destructive work in the man’s life to lead him to repentance. For the man, the hope is that this action will result in the eternal salvation of his spirit. It is unclear if the man is understood to be a believer who will ultimately be saved by God’s grace or an unbeliever who may come to genuine salvation by this act of removing him from the church. But the goal of church discipline is not retaliation, but rehabilitation: to convict the man of his sin, to encourage repentance and restoration. Galatians 6:1 “Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself”.

There is a doctrine in some evangelical churches that says “once saved, always saved”, and they point to this verse in 1 Corinthians 5, amongst others, as justification. He may be outside the church now, but there was a time when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. So, did God’s grace then apply to his situation eternally, and mean that regardless of his subsequent sins, even if he was unrepentant, that he would be saved anyway? Personally, I don’t think so, but there are probably those who do. Thankfully, it is God who is in control, and we pilgrims have faith and trust in Him that He can be trusted to do what is right.

Paul wrote that it is the responsibility of those in the church, the believers, to implement what he has recommended. But sometimes church members are reluctant to get involved, fearful of doing something wrong, or ending up in a situation that might, for them, go very wrong. There is also the incorrect interpretation of what Jesus said about judgment, which bothers some. But we know that through Jesus and by the power of His Spirit, we will access all the wisdom that we need.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please lead and guide us in Your ways as we stumble along through this life. We pray for our leaders and those in our churches, that they will hear Your voice and do what is righteous in Your eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Chosen By God

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”
1 Corinthians 1:1-3 NLT

We’re going to take a break from the Psalms for now and spend some time in the Corinthian letters, which Paul wrote in the middle of the First Century AD. A few years earlier Paul had established the church in Corinth, and while away in other places, probably including Ephesus, he wrote the first epistle, followed by the second, three or four years later.

The authorship of the Corinthian epistle was clear, because the letter starts with the name of the author. Paul established the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey, as we read in Acts 18. Paul tried to convince the Jews there about Jesus, but eventually gave up – Acts 18:6, “But when they opposed and insulted him, Paul shook the dust from his clothes and said, “Your blood is upon your own heads—I am innocent. From now on I will go preach to the Gentiles””. Paul therefore started the church in the home of a man called Titius Justus, who lived next door to the synagogue. It seemed to be quite a successful church plant with even the leader of the synagogue becoming a believer. Reading further, “One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, “Don’t be afraid! Speak out! Don’t be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me.” So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God” (Acts 18:9-11). ‭‭

Paul started his first letter by reminding the Corinthians about his credentials, “chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus”. Paul was different from the other early Apostles because he met the risen Jesus on the Damascus Road, on his way to arrest some early believers. We can read the account of how that happened in Acts 9, with the commissioning of Paul recorded in Acts 9:15-16 through a believer called Ananias. “But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake””. A clear endorsement of Paul’s apostleship and he did indeed suffer much as he travelled around the Middle East on his missionary journeys. But what choice did Paul have, after such a dramatic encounter and conversion? Paul would never be the same again and all that zeal directed and focused on doing the early believers harm was now to be re-focused on spreading the Gospel. Paul was an extraordinary man, and very worthy of the title “Apostle”.

Paul was chosen “by the will of God”. But in a sense that also applies to all believers. In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul wrote, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”. Jesus said to His disciples, and by extension to us as well, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name” (John 15:16). In our arrogance, sometimes, we claim that we “saw the light” and chose to become a believer, but God knew otherwise, as we saw from Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:4. Romans 5:6, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners“. Jesus didn’t have to do that. Perhaps we think sometimes that surely God must have had a Plan B for reconciling man to Himself, less demanding and dramatic, but God knew best, as always, and His Plan A was a demonstration of love so profound that it caught the devil on the hop and defeated him once and for all. But most importantly God provides an opportunity today for people to respond to Him, with grateful hearts in this season of grace, and discover His love for them, as they embrace Jesus’ sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins.

Regarding us pilgrims, Peter in his first epistle wrote, “ … for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). We pilgrims are royalty, chosen by God. What a wonderful place to be. God loved the world, and Jesus died as the outworking of that love. We pilgrims now have the opportunity to tell people about what happened two thousand years ago, and we take note of the sermon preached by Peter in Acts 2. At the end we read the corollary, “With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40). Peter didn’t try and convince his audience that God loved them, asking them to respond to that love. Instead he warned them of the consequences of refusing to believe in Jesus and in the process living a life the same as the sinful people around them. God has put before all human beings an open door with a sign hanging on it inviting everyone to step inside. Inside they will find the road to eternal life and a personal experience of God’s love, the consequence of being chosen by God.

Dear Lord God. We know that You choose us and love us, Your children, and we are so very grateful. But many around us are totally unaware of what lies before them beyond the grave. Please lead us to people with open hearts, people willing to stop, listen, and take note that this season of Your grace won’t last forever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Rejection

Posted on by Adrian Clark

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Salvation of the Lord

Posted on by Adrian Clark

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

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

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

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

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

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

God is My Strength

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“O Lord, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs. Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.”
Psalm 22:19-21 NLT

It is almost as though David has suddenly woken up and has now realised that God is there for him, able to save him from whatever caused his terrible vision of crucifixion. In distress and under attack he must have been, but he knew that God was his strength. But what did he mean by that? David spent much time with God, during those years looking after his father’s sheep. Instead of wiling away the time in pointless ways, David pulled out his harp or whistle, and worshiped God in the long hours. In those formative years, David learned much about God and how He helped him in times of need. We read the story of when Goliath was taunting the Israelite army and David ended up in front of King Saul. We can pick up the story in 1 Samuel 17:32, ““Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”” Saul’s response in the next verse emphasises David’s youth, ““Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”” But the next three verses were very telling, “But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God!” (1 Samuel 17:24-26).‭‭ David knew all about his capabilities because God had repeatedly been his strength in a time of need. David knew that when faced with a seemingly overwhelming and fearful opponent, such as a bear or lion, God was his strength, and his relationship was such that he knew God would help him defeat this Philistine. He said to Saul, “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”” (1 Samuel 17:37).

Psalm 22, however, paints a picture of a different enemy to that of a bear, lion or even a Goliath. In Psalm 22:12-13 he wrote, “My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey”. And while facing this terrible situation, David had a vision of what his enemies would do to him. He did what we all do – get bogged down in imagining the consequences and what might happen, before we think of God. And isn’t it amazing that even when our enemies or difficult situations haven’t yet appeared, we start imagining what might happen if they did. The “wee small hours”, while we are supposed to be asleep, can become an imaginary battleground, where we stand in a place of potential danger, like the carpet in the boss’s office, or before the bank manager, and it is there that we generate various scenarios in our minds of the worst possible outcomes, and before we know it, we are living every terrible moment as if we have lost our jobs or are having to face into the consequences of bankruptcy.

There is another Psalm that I have turned to in times of distress in the past – Psalm 91. we read, “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day” (Psalm 91:3-5). A picture of God’s all-encompassing protection and salvation. But it was verse 7 that God revealed to me one day when the company I was working for had announced the necessity for redundancies. It reads, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you“. How that promise of God encouraged me, and I indeed was kept safe from losing my job.

The Apostle Paul, like David, also knew about God being his strength. We read in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength“. 

We pilgrims are convinced of God’s strength in every aspect of our lives. In fact, we know that God is so strong that He will bring us home one day regardless of our challenges and circumstances. What is there to fear? Yes, our fleshly nature sometimes rises up and gives us grief, but in the end God will prevail over all the odds. We are on the winning side, forever.

Dear Heavenly Father. You are a strong tower and we can always run to You in times of attack. We thank You today. Amen.

Reviving Our Souls

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
Psalm 19:7-8 NLT

Instructions, decrees and commandments. When these come from the Lord, they “revive the soul“, they make the simple wise, bring “joy to the heart“, and provide “insight for living“. A description of complete spiritual food. But we look this morning at “reviving the soul”. 

So what is the “soul”? According to “gotquestions.org”, “the human soul is the part of a person that is not physical. It is the part of every human being that lasts eternally after the body experiences death“. So when we are born we have a physical body and a soul. We also have a spirit which, according to the Bible, seems to be the driving force behind what we do, and in places in the Bible is used interchangeably with our souls. 

The next question is about why our souls need to be revived. As we go through life, we become tainted with sin and the pressures of life, and our souls become discouraged and start to shrivel away into something a long way from which God intended and created. I would contend that poor mental health can be caused by a damaged soul. Our bodies can continue to function but without achieving their full potential that can be achieved when our souls are operating as they should. So what does a “revived” soul look like? 

Firstly, a soul will only function as God intended if it is saved. We talk about our evangelistic efforts being about saving souls, and that is literally correct. 1 Peter 1:9, “The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls“. Jesus came with a message of hope and we pilgrims did indeed trust Him with our lives and the salvation of our souls. We read Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved“. Not that these verses are not about a physical salvation, such as being rescued from a shipwreck, but about our souls. We all know that one day our bodies will die, but our souls are eternal and a wise person ensures that their souls end up in a place where they want them to be – in Heaven and not Sheol, the place of the dead, where there will be torment and tears (read the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16). 

Secondly, a saved soul needs to maintain a way of life that is aligned to God’s way, bring it rest and peace. If, after salvation, our souls become corrupted by sinful living, then they will eventually die. Jesus had a soul, and He reminded His disciples about the importance of following His ways for the health of our souls. Matthew 11:28-30, “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light””. Living our lives God’s way ensures that we have a rested soul, bringing peace and wellbeing to all that we are.

Thirdly, we need to feed our souls in the same way that we feed our physical bodies. Both have needs to maintain life,  but with very different foods. David wrote in Psalm 19:7a, “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. …”. “The instructions of the Lord” are contained in His Word, the Bible, and we need to read it, meditate upon it, digest it, and apply it. I once met a person who we could describe as being a “troubled soul”, experiencing hassles and problems in their life that needn’t have been there. The asked me a question that had a clear Biblical answer, and I asked them if they had read this in the Bible. The person claimed to be a Christian so I was a bit shocked when they informed me that they didn’t have a Bible. We will never be able to properly feed our souls unless we read “the instructions of the Lord”. People in the world spend a fortune on clothes, food and cosmetics to maintain their physical bodies, that will one day wear out and be consigned to a grave, but fail to properly look after the part of them that is eternal. Inexplicable?

But we pilgrims know the importance of our souls and our relationships with God. David did and he wrote about them. So today, I wish all my readers “Bon Appetit” as they gorge on the food that will never make them fat and instead will revive their souls. 

Dear Father God, thank You for Your Word, providing food for our souls. We would die without it. Amen.

The Shield of Salvation

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
Psalm 18:32-35 NKJV

David continued to write with war-like tones, referring to strong arms able to “bend a bow of bronze”, with training for warfare, and containing a reference to a shield, an essential device in the hand-to-hand combat of those days, and able to fend off missiles coming towards the warring soldiers. These verses previously appeared in 2 Samuel 22, with the addition of “Your right hand has held me up” to Psalm 18:35. But, regarding the shield, this was not any ordinary shield – it was a “shield of salvation”. In a military setting, such a shield could be the difference between life and death, especially because it was the Lord’s shield. How would that work? Well, with a foe pressing hard with sword or some other sharp or heavy device, perhaps the defending soldier would feel the shield move in a direction, and at the right speed, necessary to save his life. The Lord’s shield of salvation saved his life.

But this morning, we will be concerned with another type of shield, to be used in spiritual warfare. In spiritual realms we know that ” … we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). In such an environment we need a different type of shield, because holding up a square piece of metal in the face of the devil will not prevent his attacks at all. He attacks in evil ways, by trying to get us pilgrims to sin, or by confusing our minds with worldly philosophies and ideologies, that sound plausible but instead are subtle ways of drawing us away from God’s truth. Another way the devil lures us away into error is by twisting Bible verses, causing us to fall into error. He is behind theologies such as Universalism, that maintains everyone will be saved and go to Heaven, regardless of their faith and actions in this life. The list of ways in which the devil and his minions attack us is long and comprehensive, and, knowing their ploys, Paul helpfully described in Ephesians 6 five items of spiritual armour, and one item of attack, to keep us safe on our journeys to our Heavenly home. 

David described a shield of salvation, something that protected his body from attack. Paul described a helmet of salvation, to protect our minds, where the majority of evil attacks will take place. We read in Ephesians 6:17, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God“. We might even put the helmet and sword together as an invincible combination able to complete the advice in James 4:7, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you“. 

Regarding salvation, we would do well to even go through the motions of taking an imaginary helmet and placing it over our heads, praying as we do for God’s protection through the blood of Jesus to keep us safe. Our salvation is a daily need, and one that we must dwell upon and pursue all the time. A Roman soldier’s helmet had to be tightly fitted over his head, buckles adjusted, straps inspected and tightened, every time he put it on, because one that was loose and liable to fall off was no good at all in protecting his head from an enemies sword. And I would suggest that our spiritual helmets of salvation must always be polished and inspected, to make sure that there are no sins reducing their usefulness. Because of the power of the cross, our enemy the devil no longer has any hold on us. Jesus died in our place on that Calvary Cross and His blood is an eternal demonstration to the devil that we are under God’s protection. We are now a different people, not trapped anymore in a world of sin and evil, twisted, defeated, and led away by our enemy to a lost eternity.

So on our knees today, once again we confess our sins, and in the process we remind our spiritual enemies that we are God’s children under His protection with His shield or helmet of salvation protecting us every day of our lives. God’s plan for our salvation is complete and achievable as we allow His love and grace through Jesus rule and direct our lives.

Dear Lord Jesus. You saved is through Your selfless act of taking on our punishment on our place. Through You we are assured eternal life with You in Heaven and beyond. We are so grateful. Amen.

Satisfied Hunger

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Arise, O Lord! Stand against them, and bring them to their knees! Rescue me from the wicked with your sword! By the power of your hand, O Lord, destroy those who look to this world for their reward. But satisfy the hunger of your treasured ones. May their children have plenty, leaving an inheritance for their descendants. Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”
Psalm 17:13-15 NLT

Again, a theme of the difference between people who “look to this world for their reward” and God’s “treasured ones”, a difference between unbelievers and believers, finishes Psalm 17. At first glance, David would seem to be obsessed by God’s judgement of the wicked unbelievers, comparing them with the lot of the favoured believers, between those heading for a lost eternity, and those who will go to live with God forever. But then what could be more important? Compared to eternity, the life span of a human being is indeed infinitesimally short. James 4:14, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone”. Eternity is a concept that is difficult to imagine, because humans are constrained in a temporal world, the result of sin with lives cut short in a cursed world, a world that, as Paul wrote in Romans 8:22, “ … has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time“. But in this world, the believers and unbelievers jostle along, side by side, heading for a final separation at the End of the Age. 

David wrote that the unbelievers, by their choices, will end up satisfied with the things of this world, a portion allotted to them as a reward for their brief life. In 1 Timothy 6:7, Paul wrote this to Timothy, “After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it“. That is the truth about temporal rewards. So many people spend their short lives trying to accumulate wealth, property, goods, and the things of this world, only to reflect on their death beds that none of it can go with them across the Great Divide. And we even find that such people find that their lives are shortened by the stresses and anxieties involved in the process. 

Jesus said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”, echoing David’s prayer for God to “satisfy the hunger of [His] treasured ones”. Our “daily bread” isn’t just the food we eat of course. It also refers to our spiritual “bread”, the Word of God that sustains our souls. God’s food is a complete formula designed for the health and wellbeing of all. 

David finished Psalm 17 with the thought that one day he will wake up and see God’s face. I sometimes think of Lazarus, graveyard dead and who had been buried in a tomb four days previously. He was wrapped in grave-clothes, lying on a cold slab in a rock tomb, when suddenly through the cloth strips covering his ears, he heard someone calling his name with a loud voice. Jesus, of course, called out, “Lazarus, come forth” or probably more colloquially, “Lazarus, come out of there!” and that was enough to miraculously wake him up and completely reverse the decaying process. We next find Lazarus hopping his way out of the hole in the rock, constrained by the strips of cloth that had been tightly wrapped around him. I would have loved to have been there, seeing the reaction on people’s faces, but the thrust of this story is what it could mean for all believers one day. After we too have died, will the next thing we hear be the voice of Jesus calling our names? What applied to Lazarus will apply to us as well, because we too have been called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. Lazarus woke up in a dark tomb to then continue his previous earthly life, having to die again one day, but we will wake up to a life with God, and, as David wrote, “be satisfied”. 

David was certain that because he was righteous then he will see God one day. We have the same assurance, because Jesus Himself gave us His righteousness in exchange for our sin. That momentous day on a hill called Calvary was enough for Jesus to take on all our sins, receiving the punishment that was ours to bear. And amazingly, because of Jesus, we will see God one day. Too good to be true? Too good not to be.

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your Son Jesus and all He did for us. May we live our lives honouring to You, day by day. Amen.

Tale of Two Peoples

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord. Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the Lord will protect his people.”
Psalm 14:4-6 NLT

Graphic language from David. He sets out the difference between those who acknowledge God and have a relationship with Him, and those who are evil and don’t. A very clear distinction emerges between two groups of people, one group, probably the larger, oppressing the smaller group of people who are relatively and apparently disadvantaged and oppressed, a scenario that has been repeated time and time again throughout history, but with one difference – the smaller group are God’s people. And for that reason the evil people should beware. Their actions are unacceptable to God and when He acts, “terror will grip them” because the Lord will protect His people. 

But David wrote, “They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord”. What was he getting at here? The Message translation reads, “Don’t they know anything, all these impostors? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this— Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray?” (Psalm 14:4). The picture emerges of evil people who contemptuously dismiss others who don’t follow their ways, quickly terminating the social occasion and moving on to spend time instead with their evil peers. A fast food meal is a sad and sorry way to fill an empty stomach, with processed foods often pre-cooked, heated up and served in a box and eaten with fingers. They provide little proper nutrition and too many of them can even be harmful. They are eaten quickly, with little enjoyment or consideration for the God who provided food for life. And so it is with the way unbelievers tend to regard God’s people. A meeting which they terminate quickly, rudely and overbearingly, not considering that the people before them have touched God and are His people. And worse than that, they will perhaps also take steps to introduce difficulties in the plans of God’s people, just out of spite.

A sad tale of two peoples, but for those who have rejected God, the evildoers, their lives will not end well. David wrote that “terror will grip them”, something that will happen either in their current lives or when they stand before God to give an account of their lives. David returned to this theme in another Psalm, where we read, “For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land” (Psalm 39:9). Paul adds a few more details in Romans 2:6-8, “He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honour and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness”. 

So why do people reject God and carry on in their evil ways? It’s all about the pleasures of sin, and the human tendencies and traits that underpinned an old song, “I’ll do it my way”. People don’t want to live a life during which they perceive they will lose their freedom of choice and independence. An evil person wants to behave in any way he chooses and although bounded by the laws of the society in which he lives, when that society is godless as well, then he’s happy. The sad thing is that there are many people who think they are living a “good” life and, if there is a God, they will never be turned away at the pearly gates.  They claim that it would be an injustice if a loving God would overlook and disregard what they consider to be their goodness. But if they only lifted the Bible for a moment and started to read, they would soon discover the truth and start to feel an ominous terror emerging in their souls. But, as David wrote, they will “never learn“. 

We pilgrims, however, will never give up in our love and care for the evil people around us. We may not perceive the evil within them but God sees all, and He asks us to be as gracious and patient as he is, extending His message of salvation while there is still time. Peter wrote in his second letter, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9). God never intended anyone to end up destroyed and consigned to hell. That will be the place He originally intended to be the final home for the devil and his angels, but, think about it, where else can God send those people who, because they are evil, cannot be accepted into Heaven? A sobering thought, and to find themselves in the company of the devil for all eternity is enough to strike terror into anyone. But God will protect His people, as David wrote, and we are so thankful for that. So we continue into the day ahead, with thankful hearts, repenting of our sins, and praising the God whom we love so much.

Yes Lord. We love You. We praise You. We thank You. You are the One who blesses and loves Your people, forever. Amen.