One Lord, Jesus Christ (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“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

We pilgrims know that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is our Lord and someone special to us, because our faith is founded on His sacrificial death at Calvary, a hill just outside Jerusalem. A death experienced by the Son of God as He took on the punishment deserved by sinful men and women so that they could stand cloaked with righteousness before Father God. And so we refer to Jesus as Lord.

But what does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord? In those days when Jesus walked around the Palestinian countryside, the title “lord” was commonplace because it was a recognition of a leader or a person with some importance. It was not initially a reference to Jesus’ deity because that came later. In fact, we recall the incident with Thomas after Jesus’ resurrection, when Jesus suddenly appeared through a locked door and stood among His disciples. We pick up the account in John 20:24-25, “One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side””. At this stage, “We have seen the Lord” was a respectful reference to Jesus, and something He referred to in John 13:13, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am“. But this all changed when Thomas encountered the risen Jesus. Back to John 20:26-28, where we read, “Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed“. Thomas added the divine to the word “Lord”, transforming the meaning to something that equates to “Jesus is God”. 

As an aside, in the UK today, we have a “House of Lords”, an unelected body of politicians who have many similar functions to the House of Commons, the elected part of our government. It scrutinises legislation, holds the government to account, and considers and reports upon public policy. This “House” of “Lords” (and “Ladies” as well) consists of religious leaders (bishops and the like), hereditary peers and political appointees. But there is nothing anywhere near “divine” about them. They are merely a hangover from Britain’s feudal history, and of no relevance to the “Lord” we are referring to, but worth mentioning to avoid confusion.

Generally speaking, a lord is someone with authority, control, or power over others; to say that someone is “lord” is to consider that person a master or ruler of some kind. However, when we apply this definition divinely to Jesus, we discover something awe-inspiring and special. By saying “Jesus is Lord,” we are acknowledging that we must live our lives in complete obedience to Him. In Luke 6:46, Jesus said, “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”, and that is the issue. We sing the song “Jesus is Lord” with great enthusiasm, but do we really know the implications of what we are singing? If we are not in complete obedience to Him, would it not be more honest to sit this particular song out and not sing it at all? A person who says, “Jesus is Lord,” with a complete understanding of what that means (Jesus is God and has supreme authority over all things) has been divinely enlightened, as we read in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit“. We need that Holy Spirit revelation about Jesus being Lord to really understand what it means.

And so we come to Matthew 28:18-19, the Great Commission, “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Because Jesus is Lord, He is God, and He has the authority to command us to do something. I have met some Christians who say that they are unsure of their role as believers, but if nothing else, the fact that they acknowledge Jesus as Lord means that they are commissioned and authorised to share the Good News of God’s plan of salvation with those people around them. But that is only part of it. As we read through the Bible, we find other ways in which the Lordship of Jesus needs to be recognised and applied in our societies, workplaces, schools, universities, neighbourhoods, and families. In our relationships with one another. In fact, our lives are the very medium in which God has chosen to make Himself known to the world around us. Are we shining like a beacon for God, or are we unrecognisable as a Christian? 

We must, of course, remember that one day the Lordship of Jesus will have to be recognised by everyone, believer or not. Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. 

And so back to where we started today. Jesus is Lord. If He isn’t, then He’s not Lord at all. There is no halfway house. We can’t allow Jesus to be Lord of only a part of our lives, while we retain ownership of the rest. A sobering thought, because our sinful nature, our “old man”, wants to hang onto the bits of our lives that we enjoy. But thankfully, God is gracious and patient. The Holy Spirit will gently lead us through the process of sanctification, bringing more and more of ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus. It is a lifetime process, and one that won’t be complete until we stand before God in Heaven. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Please forgive us for our sins and our rebellion against Your Lordship. Amen.

The Sanctified Ones

Posted on by korgrocker

“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

Paul wrote that the believers in Corinth were chosen and called by God for a specific purpose – they are to be His holy people. Paul went on to write how this was going to happen, “He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus” and, this is the good bit, “just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours”. So Paul wrote that all believers everywhere are “God’s holy people“, and that includes us pilgrims, nearly two thousand years after Paul put pen to paper (actually, he probably dictated his letter to his “brother Sosthenes” who theologians think was his scribe, or at least had some part in crafting the letter). 

So what does it mean to be one of God’s own holy people? In some translations, we read the letter was addressed to those, “sanctified in Christ Jesus”, using a word with a special meaning for Christians – to be sanctified is to be set apart for God. This happens when someone becomes born again, that point when they become a believer and follower of Jesus. In His High priestly prayer, Jesus said about His disciples, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:16-17). There is only one Source of absolute truth, God Himself, so it is only He with the authority to make anything holy. But being sanctified is not just a New Testament experience. The Israelites were also commanded to be such in Leviticus 20:7-8, “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you“. The Jews were a people set apart for God, and it is remarkable that through millennia, God’s people still exists intact as a distinct nation. The Bible sets out a number of things set apart, or “sanctified” for God’s purposes, not just His people. We read about the items used during the sacrifices in the Temple, for example. But in this world, there is a distinction between worldliness and Godliness, and this is something we pilgrims work hard to honour. We must remember who our Father in Heaven is and be clear about what that means. “So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). There is something precious and very important about being in God’s family and with Jesus as our older brother.

Another outworking of being sanctified involves our physical bodies. I regularly see people, mainly younger ones, looking after the physical fitness of their bodies, as they jog and run around our parks and streets. Others frequent the gyms that seem to have sprung up everywhere, that offer a variety of pieces of equipment, all designed to develop and strengthen our muscles. Nothing wrong with any of that, but sadly people also use their bodies for things that are not quite so honouring to God. Paul warned the Corinthian church about the importance of their bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body“. These verses are the conclusion to a passage referring to the practice, rife in Corinth at that time, of people using the services of prostitutes. But it is not just the physical act of prostitution that is wrong but also any practices that head in that direction, such as the use of pornography. We are set apart from the world and all its temptations and practices, as a holy people, saved and sanctified in accordance with God’s will.

“God invites us sinners to come to Him “just as we are” and receive His mercy and forgiveness. When we are saved, the Holy Spirit begins His amazing work of transforming us into the image and likeness of Christ. To be sanctified means that God loves us too much to let us stay the same” (quote from gotquestions.org). It is a serious business being a believer and follower of Christ. Peter 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. “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy”” (1 Peter 2:9-10). As God’s people we have attained royal status and that has responsibilities. We don’t live in the way that we used to. The stark contrast between the two kingdoms is clearly set out by Paul in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. The good news is that the Holy Spirit, working within us, undertakes the process of cleaning up our lives and sanctifying us, but we have to co-operate with Him. He works through those gentle whispers, those pricks from our consciences, those verses we read in His Word, all the while helping us to see that what we might be doing is sinful, and not appropriate behaviour for someone who is a child of God. Thankfully, God in His mercy, doesn’t set out a detailed list of rules and regulations that we have to follow all from day one. It takes a lifetime, and more, to become holy as God wants us to be. His grace prevails every day.

So we pilgrims stay close to God and His thoughts and ways. Paul wrote, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Retraining our minds to only think thoughts that are sanctified is a challenge, but it is a challenge we much accept. In our own strength we don’t have a hope, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, we cannot fail.

Dear Father God. You are the amazing God who graciously and lovingly helps us through our perilous days on this planet and in this life. It is help that we need but through Jesus we have all we need. Thank You. Amen.

Passing the Exam

Posted on by korgrocker

“You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. You have scrutinized me and found nothing wrong. I am determined not to sin in what I say. I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people. My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you.”
Psalm 17:3-5 NLT

David points out to God several ways in which he claims he has achieved perfection. God, he says, “You have scrutinised me and found nothing wrong“. David said his speech is sinless and his following of God’s commands faultless. But who can ever make such claims as these? Is David stating facts or is he self-deluded? The one theme threading through these verses today is that David is doing nothing that will cause God to censor him. He is ticking all the boxes required of a follower of God. Of course, that was how God created human beings, sinless beings who would follow Him and would fellowship with Him forever. But after sin entered the world, everything went wrong and God, the perfect sinless and holy Being, had to recoil from contact with His creation and their new-found desire for sin and evil. They had become tarnished and polluted by sin to the point that their evil and wicked ways created an impenetrable barrier between God and man. But there were Davids around in every generation. People who were determined to follow God and His ways, and aspire to be sinless in their thoughts and behaviour.

God gave His people, through men like Moses, laws and regulations that defined how His people should behave, in the hope that this would resolve the problem of sin. And for many it did, with Godly men and women following Him faithfully all their lives, but as we know, the animal sacrifices were replaced by the ultimate sacrifice, God’s Son Himself. Jesus died, taking on the punishment for sin that was ours to bear, so that we could be covered by His righteousness and able to come into God’s presence, pure and holy, acceptable in His sight. So our thoughts and deeds are cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, and we can claim correctly that we are truly without sin.

If only that was how things were going to stay. Sin is always waiting for an opportunity to destroy the perfection God intended. In Genesis 4:7 God said to Cain, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master“. But our redeemed hearts and minds are constantly being tempted by sinful desires. The Apostle James wrote, “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). Peter also gave a warning, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith …” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). We pilgrims, like David, live in a hostile environment, where there is always something or someone trying to pull us back into the sinful ways of the world. The battle is incessant, and if it wasn’t for Jesus, it would have been unwinnable. 

We pilgrims must regularly pray David’s prayer at the end of psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. It’s a dangerous prayer to pray, in that something might, in fact it probably will, bubble up to the surface and stare us in the face. We find yet another crossroads in our lives. The way of sin to the left, the way of God to the right. Which path do we take? We know which way we should go, but it’s difficult and costly. At this point so many of God’s people camp out, unable to move on, deferring the decision for as long as possible. Other people take a left turn, hoping for a miracle to happen, with the sin that is consuming us disappearing. However, they are more likely to find the left path circles around and brings us back to the crossroads with the same sin still there. Even more sinners will find that God introduces some discipline. Proverbs 3:11-12, “My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights“. God may even allow us to face the consequences of the sin, forcing us to stop procrastinating and instead make us deal with it.

But in it all, we pilgrims are on a journey to Heaven and some of us can see a glow in the sky before us. God wants us to be holy like His Son Jesus, and our journeys we call sanctification. Of course, we will never succeed in our own strength, and it is only by allowing God to work within us that we can clean up our lives, leading us to claim as David did that He has “scrutinised [us] and found nothing wrong“. But we are human and we keep short accounts with God, confessing our sins when we do wrong. And His peace and acceptance will flood over us, once again.

Dear Father God. You see our hearts and we pray that You indeed bring to the surface anything that shouldn’t be there. We’re so grateful for Your love and grace, bountifully available to all who call upon You. Amen.

The Lord’s Promises

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.”
Psalm 12:6-8 NLT

The refining process is a technology that has been around for thousands of years and in David’s day the silversmiths knew how to refine the semi-precious metal, silver, to increase its purity. A furnace was involved and the silver was melted, impurities skimmed off, a process repeated again and again, as the silver gained purity. We can just imagine David watching this process happen and immediately thinking of an analogy of the Lord’s promises. Of course, God’s promises are never in need of refining because they were, and are, totally pure and totally perfect. There are no imperfections included in any of God’s promises. 

A Google search will uncover a Bible absolutely full of the promises of God. In the context of Psalm 12, the verse about the purity of God’s promises precedes David’s assurance that the Lord “will protect the oppressed”. In Psalm 145:20 we read, “The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked“, a promise that will come to fruition sooner or later. In Psalm 1:4-5 we read, “But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly”. We have the separation of the Godly, those who love God, and the wicked, who reject anything to do with God. A stark dichotomy that will finally be resolved at the end of the age. There is a parable taught by Jesus in Matthew 13, and in it we find this verse, “That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous” (Matthew 13:49). If Jesus said it, then it will happen, and that’s a promise!

It can be said that the very act of becoming a believer in Jesus is the start of a refining process. In Isaiah 48:10 we read, “I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering”. The furnace that is life is hot and sometimes painful, including much suffering, but it is a necessary part of our journey to Heaven because there will be no impurities in Heaven. Peter wrote, “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Nothing has changed, folks. 

The Lord has written down for us His true and perfect promises, all contained in His Word, the Bible. Bibles such as those distributed by the Gideons contain helpful pages that list God’s promises in response to common human conditions. But anyone can open God’s Book and find the answer to their questions and dilemmas. However, God’s answers to life’s questions cannot be found hanging in the air. We have to search the Scriptures and find Hid promises, and that can only be done if we read the Bible. And having read it, we need to read it again. And again. And we find that, amazingly, every time we read a passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us something new. Something fresh. Something precious from God Himself.

Dear God. We thank You for Your Word, the Bible. Guide us in Your ways as we discover more and more about You, we pray. Amen.

Holiness and Truth

Posted on by korgrocker

“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”
John 17:13-19 NLT

Jesus prayed, “Make them holy by Your truth”, and He mentioned this again at the end of verse 19. What did He mean by this? How can truth make us holy? To answer that we have to consider the two words involved. God’s holiness is His absolute and complete perfection. In God there is not even a hint of unrighteousness. Everything about God is perfect. Perfect love. Perfect grace. Perfect everything. And this applies to truth as well. His truth is the only and perfect truth. God’s truth is absolute. So, in God, the one doesn’t make the other. He is perfect holiness and perfect truth. So, from that bedrock, that foundation, we then turn to what the Bible says.

Peter wrote to believers in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy””. Over the page we read, “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). So, believers must aspire to be holy just as God is. But becoming holy is a lifetime’s work. Sin is always knocking at the doors of our hearts and we must stay close to Jesus and His cross for our redemption and forgiveness. The process of becoming holy we call sanctification and it is a major part of our pilgrimage to Heaven.

But how can truth make us holy? Jesus helped in His prayer when he said, “teach them Your Word, which is truth”. The Bible, God’s Word, is a gold mine of truths, all of which will make us holy, if we apply them to our lives. For example, we read the Ten Commandments and find truths for holiness. We read the Beatitudes and find more. But something we soon find is that holiness cannot be achieved through our own efforts. The Pharisees tried it, and, full of pride, thought that they had achieved it. Matthew 23, though, records what Jesus thought about the Pharisees, and His closing words include, “Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?” (Matthew 23:33). 

We pilgrims are a sanctified people, a people who are set apart from the worldliness around us. In bygone days, some excluded themselves from society, dedicating their lives to being monks or nuns, people who dedicated their lives to prayer. They declared their sanctified status by dressing and living in a certain way, and the custom even continues today, with the ministers of certain denominations wearing what are called “dog collars”. But true sanctification is what is happening in a person’s heart. The outward signs of holiness must start inside. Jesus said in Matthew 23:25-26, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too“. 

Step by step we pilgrims march on, and in the process we pursue a life of holiness. We allow the Holy Spirit to reveal within us the parts that are making us unholy, and we slowly do what He suggests, always bearing in mind Hebrews 12:14, “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord“. “Working” at becoming holy is not an easy process but thankfully God is patient.

Dear God. Only you are holy. Only You have the Words to help us and the grace to make it happen. We worship You today. Amen.

Chasing Desires

Posted on by korgrocker

“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.”
1 Peter 4:1-3 NLT

In his writings, Peter paints a picture of a restlessness driven by sinful desires. He writes about anxiety, evil, immorality, lust, feasting, drunkenness “and their terrible worship of idols”. We can just imagine a painter or sculptor of old representing such scenarios though his artistic medium. But Peter acknowledges that “godless people” enjoy doing these things. There is something about “sin” that is attractive and appealing, and is very hard to give up. Good people today might point out that these were symptoms of Peter’s generation and that they don’t apply to them. But as any street pastor will say, High Streets late on a Saturday night will find people enjoying alcohol-fuelled revelry. “Feasting and drunkenness and wild parties” were not just features of Peter’s society.

Peter reminds his readers that they have finished with sin. Rather, they must be “anxious to do the will of God”. Of course they are, because it is not possible to follow God’s ways and the ways of the world. Putting it bluntly, one way leads to eternal life and the other to eternal death. There couldn’t be a starker choice between two extremes. Jesus taught much about life in His Kingdom being so different to life in the kingdom of the world. The dichotomy between them is illustrated in His teaching about money, which is a worldly commodity. We read in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money“. 

The key word Jesus used was “enslaved“. In a conversation with some of His followers, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). In Galatians 5:1, Paul wrote, “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law“. He repeated what Jesus said in John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free“. I have included the words of the old Bob Dylan song in blogs before, but the words of the chorus are profound.
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

By default, people gravitate to being sinful. Their fleshly desires prevail over that other small voice within, and “the evil things that godless people enjoy” are the result. And they end up enslaved to a lifestyle that is against what God desires. But all that changes when we meet Jesus. Suddenly, all the sinful desires we have are exposed by His light and we realise what they are. The Holy Spirit exposes our sinful lives and helps us realise that God’s way is the only way. We become “anxious to do the will of God” and start to apply and enjoy the freedom we gained when we repented of our sins and believed in Jesus.

Living God’s way is a lifetime task. One that He helps us with, but one in which we can so easily get caught out when our old sinful nature emerges into His light. In Ephesians 4:21-24, Paul wrote, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy“. The theologians call this process sanctification. We are being made holy by following God’s ways. And one day we will be truly perfect, set free from our sinful lives for all eternity.

Dear Father God. We don’t want to chase after sin, but so often we get caught out. Please help us day by day, as we journey through the sinful minefields of life. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 NLT

Continuing in the opening remarks in Peter’s letter, we find he writes about salvation. So far he has reminded us that we have been born again because of the resurrection of Jesus. Then Peter highlights our Heavenly inheritance. And now he brings into the mix our faith, God’s power and our coming salvation, due to be disclosed “on the last day for all to see”. Just three verses at the beginning of this letter but such a profound and concise summary of important aspects of our life as believers. 

Peter implied that we haven’t yet received our salvation. But we have to be careful how we use this word. “Salvation” comes in three parts. We were saved, we are being saved and we will be saved. It is a life time process, reliant on our faith in God, and the way we live our lives. After we repented of our sins and turned to God we were saved. But if we then reject that decision and return to our old ways of sin then we fail to keep the second part of the process. Day by day we walk in faith, reliant on the Holy Spirit within us to help us. Paul wrote about this in Philippians 2:12-13 and the Amplified version of the Bible makes the process very clear. “So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energising, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfil your purpose] for His good pleasure.” (Emphasis mine). Finally, as Peter wrote, we will one day, on the last day in fact, “receive this salvation”. The theological names for this process are Justification, Sanctification and Glorification. We are Justified before God when we made a decision for Christ, we are Sanctified as we “work out [our] salvation”, and we are Glorified on the “last day”. 

In his great sermon following the Pentecost experience, Peter said this, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Just a few words but how profound they are. That’s where we pilgrims started our Christian lives, being birthed into a new existence. And what he preached obviously had quite an impact because 3,000 were saved that day. It must have been an amazing spectacle observing that many baptisms!

“It is by his great mercy that we have been born again” Peter wrote to his Turkish audience. And in the end, it is all about God and His mercy. We have been released from the penalty we deserve by His grace. We are saved. And now we pilgrims are being sanctified through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. It’s all in God’s plan and He gets all the praise and glory.

Father God. Through Your grace and mercy You have saved us. We know that it is an ongoing process and we thank You for Your help in the journey. We worship You today. Amen.

Our Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armour of right living.”
Romans 13:11-12 NLT

I’m sure we have all been in a church meeting at some time when a testimony is given, about someone who was saved on such and such a day and what an impact that had had on their lives. But Paul wrote here in Romans 13:11 that “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed”, implying that the original assumption of claiming to be saved might be flawed. So which is right?

We first have to consider what we mean by “being saved” or “salvation”. The dictionary definition is “deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ”. And that is indeed the case, because one day, at some time in the future, we will enjoy bring able to enter God’s presence. Through our faith in Jesus, we believe that He dealt with our sins at Calvary. No sinful person can ever enter God’s presence, so through His grace, He provided a way in which our sins can be forgiven. So we are saved. And Paul reminded his readers that the time when they will enter God’s presence was getting nearer. 

But there are in fact three phases in what we call “salvation”. The testimony from a person claiming to be saved is the first step in a process, that starts with their faith being placed in Jesus and ends with the receipt of a resurrection body when we enter God’s presence. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. Note that Paul didn’t say you are saved, but “you will be saved”. God’s grace in accepting a sinner who turns to Him is life changing and incomprehensible to many. But it’s all about His gracious love for His human creation. Warts and all, everyone has an opportunity to be accepted by God. We should note what Peter said in his Acts 2 sermon. In Acts 2:38 we read, “ … “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit””. The first step that all Christians must take involves repentance from sins and turning to God away from their old sinful lives. 

The second step is what the theologians call sanctification. A long word meaning that we are being made holy. God won’t accept anything that is unholy in Heaven. But through a growing up process, the new Christian learns how God wants him or her to live. In 1 Peter 1:14-15, Peter wrote, “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy”. Such a process would be impossible in our own strength, but God sent the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to help us. Romans 8:11, “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”. Note that Peter told his listeners in Acts 2:38, that by turning to God, they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. One follows the other. We cannot turn to God but deny access to the Holy Spirit. 

The third and final step is the wonderful realisation that we will one day be glorified. This is when we will receive a resurrection body just like Jesus’s. Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”. Colossians 3:1-4, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory”. Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians, “We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

We pilgrims made a decision to follow Jesus, taking the first steps in our journey to glorification. It’s a lifetime commitment, and the wonderful thing is that God will never reject a repentant sinner. We may be a few minutes away from glory, or many years, but God will accept all those who repent.

Sadly, there are many who have decided that they don’t want to be with God for eternity. Foolishly, they think that they can continue their sinful ways after death, if they even believe in an afterlife. One of my neighbours thinks that he will join, what he calls, “the big party downstairs”. Others think that death will bring oblivion, so why not just enjoy the sinful lives they live while they can. But Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, warning them to wake up. He knew what would happen to those who refused to accept God’s wonderful and gracious of salvation through Jesus, and he didn’t want his friends in Rome to be counted among them.

Dear Father God. How can we thank You enough for Your grace and love, so freely given. we worship You today. Amen.

Living For Themselves

Posted on by korgrocker

“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.“
‭‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT

There were no doubts in Paul’s mind when he penned that God will “pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves”. He was convinced that selfish living will not end well, when eternal life after death is taken into account. But is such a response from God a bit unfair? After all, in today’s society, just as much as it must have been in Paul’s, a failure to look out for our own interests will have disadvantaging consequences. 

The two thousand years between Paul’s times and today have seen enormous changes to our societies. Today, we see huge technological changes, a much-enhanced standard of living (at least in Western countries). Better education and health. Our human rights, though not perfect, are much improved when compared with Paul’s day. But there is one thing that has not changed since the days of Adam, and that is man’s propensity to selfishness and sin. And another thing that hasn’t changed is that God is righteous and holy, meaning that there is no home for sin anywhere near Him. In fact, He deals with sin and wickedness by ultimately ensuring it is contained in a place called the Lake of Fire.

So what does “liv[ing] for themselves” look like? Obviously, it is a lifestyle that promotes a person’s own needs above the needs of those around us. The Bible recorded an episode that took place between Ahab, Israel’s king, and Naboth, the owner of a vineyard that Ahab wanted. Naboth refused to sell it to Ahab, so the king had a strop and we read about it in 1 Kings 21:4, “So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth’s answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat!” It’s a fascinating story of someone who lived for himself, and you can read it in the rest of 1 Kings 21. As far as kind Ahab was concerned, selfishness ruled the day. 

But the Bible has some helpful Scriptures, detailing how we should live, rather than how we shouldn’t. We have 1 Corinthians 10:24, “Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others“. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4, “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 one more from 1 John 3:17, “If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?”

These helpful verses, showing the right way to live, are the truth. If we obey, then we are not living for ourselves. If we don’t obey then we are. And rejecting the truth leads to a life of wickedness. It takes a lifetime of living God’s way to reduce the selfishness within us and replace it with the truth of God’s ways. Sometimes we reflect on our lives and wonder if we’ll ever get anywhere near God’s standards. Following our justification through the blood of Jesus, we embark on a journey of sanctification. In Jesus’ wonderful prayer in John 17, we read in verse 17, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth”. Through Jesus we started the process of being made holy at the Cross, and He will never give up on us.  In 1 Corinthians 1:30, we read, “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin“. 

No longer do we pilgrims “live for ourselves“. We look out for our friends and neighbours. Our families. Even strangers in difficulties. And by so doing we are being obedient to the truth. And sparing ourselves from the wrath and anger of God. 

Dear Father. Your Words are the truth and we pray for more of You in our lives, helping us to become more and more like Jesus. We are so grateful. Amen.

‭‭

Words

Posted on by korgrocker

“And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them.”
Ephesians‬ ‭4:29‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
James‬ ‭3:9-10‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

The Passion Translation of our Ephesian verse today uses the phrase “ugly or hateful” to describe undesirable words. In other translations we have “unwholesome” and “foul or abusive“. They all build a picture that Paul was trying to get across to his readers, that the words we use are important and that we need to make sure we use the right words, both in what we say and what we mean. He wasn’t the only New Testament writer who picked up on this theme. James, one of Jesus’ half-brothers, said much the same in our second verses today.

I walked past a group of men the other day, and their discussion about the war in Ukraine was interlaced with so many swear words that I quickly walked by. Hateful words cursing human beings. Seemingly the exact opposite of what Paul and James were writing about in their letters. But we don’t have to be using profanities for the words we say to still tick the “ugly or hateful” box. What about the times when we have run someone down. Perhaps a political leader we don’t like? Or our boss at work? The next door neighbour? In the process using words that are far from the definition of “words of grace”. James was quite right when he said that words from our mouths can at times be used and uttered in worship and praise of God but at other times can be destructive and offensive. 

So how does a 21st Century pilgrim only say words that are “beautiful gifts“? Holding our tongues when we hit a thumb with a hammer? Praying for our enemies not curse them? Cleaning up the words that come out of our mouths in a worldly workplace full of profanities and hate speech? And it doesn’t just end with our spoken words. If social media had been around in Paul and James’ days they would have included trolling and other negative posts in their teachings. Because God clearly was speaking through them and wants our “words of grace” to penetrate into this dark world with laser-sharp illumination. Showing a better way. A counter-cultural way.

It all boils down to our choices. We have a choice over what we say. We can react in anger and say things we will later regret, or we can hold our tongues, letting the feelings inside of us subside. Paul in Romans 12 wrote this, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect”. 

In the verses in Romans 12, Paul exposed the importance of our thoughts. Someone once said, “What consumes your mind, controls your life.” I would develop this to say, “What consumes your mind, controls what you say”. There is a key for pilgrims in this sentence from Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” We must turn our backs on the worldliness around us, instead allowing God to work in our minds, bringing to bear more of His presence, bringing sanctification to our “little grey cells”. Then our speech will become less and less problematic. A sanctified mind will make the right choices and the right speech will result. What we say to others will be gracious and “beautiful gifts“. But all of this won’t happen overnight. God is in no hurry. He is gracious, loving and gentle. And as we learn more and more to turn to Him in times of stress what comes out of our mouths will be the voice of God, helping those around us.