A Door of Opportunity

Posted on by korgrocker

“When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me. But I had no peace of mind because my dear brother Titus hadn’t yet arrived with a report from you. So I said goodbye and went on to Macedonia to find him.”
2 Corinthians 2:12-13 NLT

Troas and Macedonia, the first a city and the second a region in Northern Greece. We can read a bit more detail about these two places in Acts 16. On Paul’s second missionary journey, he travelled to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he met Timothy, who joined him and Silas as they journeyed on. It was at Troas that Paul received a vision, as we read in Acts 16:9-10, “That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there”. We can read more about what happened there in Acts 16. But Paul had a dilemma. In some ways, he wanted to continue his journey onwards to finally reach Corinth, but he found “doors of opportunity” not just in Troas but also in the Macedonian cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Paul was primarily an evangelist who planted churches, and the preaching of the Gospel drove him onwards. But he was also an apostle who was concerned about the churches he had planted. 2 Corinthians 11:28, “Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches”. 

We pilgrims have “doors of opportunity” at times on our Christian journeys. There will be occasions of rest, and others of fruitful service, but if we are open to the Holy Spirit, there will be times when God has a mission for us. Paul was just a human being open to being used by God. Of course, we will not have all the opportunities that Paul had because the world is a very different place today, but the Holy Spirit goes before us, opening doors. Paul wrote, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do” (Ephesians 5:15-17). 

Many Christians think that doing good works for God will earn them their salvation. Others recognise they are saved but believe salvation could not be that simple, and they feel pressured to do philanthropic work, even on a small scale, just in case they have misinterpreted the simplicity of the Gospel. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it”. But in the next verse, Paul wrote, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. So, we are saved by grace alone, not by anything we can do for God. But through our salvation, we have work to do “which God prepared in advance for us to do”. 

We pilgrims will encounter “doors of opportunity” which we will not discover located in the pew on which we are sitting. What we mustn’t do is walk by the doors, failing to push them open and discover what is behind. They may not look like opportunities, but more like drudgery, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will discover a time of blessing as we serve God and His people. The doors before us include opportunities to reach people with the Gospel. Peter wrote, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). That is a very wide job description, but one that has one thought at its core – service to others. So we pray and ask God to show us a door so that we, too, can be an instrument in His hand to build His Kingdom.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please show us the way so that we can do the work that you have prepared for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Differences

Posted on by korgrocker

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NIVUK

In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, he mentioned a gift received by all believers in Jesus – the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Previously, Jesus had encouraged His disciples when He said that He would send them an Advocate, the Holy Spirit.

“If you love me, obey my commandments.“

John 14:15.

John 14:15-17, “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognise him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you”. Jesus was faithful to His word, and we all know the Acts 2 story – “And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability” (Acts 2:4). This wasn’t an occasion without drama and impact! But my point this morning is that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they make Jesus Lord of their lives through the repentance of their sins. There are not many different types of Holy Spirit, one for each person, because there is only one. This is how Paul began his teaching to the Corinthians about the gifts of the Holy Spirit: many gifts, but one Holy Spirit. In the days ahead, we will explore what these different spiritual gifts are. 

“All Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they make Jesus Lord of their lives”

Paul continues with the thought that “There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:5). In other Bible translations, the word “services” is replaced by “ministries”, but even though there are differences between ministries, there is only one Lord commissioning them. So, in our churches, we have the pastors and teachers, the evangelists and so on, with each person, or even several people, performing the same function. But these are the headline roles, and the ones that people think of when the word “ministry” surfaces in conversations. We forget about the other equally important roles that are present in a church or community. The people who maintain the building, cleaning and decorating, repairing and maintaining, are equally important. A bit further down in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul equates a fellowship of believers with a human body, as we read, “Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body” (1 Corinthians 12:14-15). Just as all our body parts have a particular “ministry”, so does the body of Christ as a whole. 

Paul concludes the three verses we are considering today with, “There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work”. We have gifts, ministries, and different ways of doing things, but in everything it is God who is at work in them all. But if we stop and think, aren’t we all glad that each person is unique? What if God had created a race of human clones, each identical in looks and abilities? Where would the variety of gifts and ministries then be found? God created each one of us just as He planned, and after our creation, He broke the mould, so that there would never be another you and me. Yes, we may have character traits inherited from our parents. But they uniquely combine to make us who we are.

The differences between believers enrich the Body of Christ in all its facets and functions, and we should be content with how God has made us. We must never spend our time fretting because we are looking at someone else, wishing that we had their gift or ministry. Our function instead is to be faithful with the gifts God has given us, so that one day we will hear those wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. 

Dear Father God. Thank You for making us just as we are, with all the gifts and ministries that You want us to have. Please help us to be content and continue in our Christian lives, as we become more and more like your Son, Jesus. In His precious name. Amen. 

Slaves of Sin

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”
John 8:34-36 NLT

The old Bob Dylan song lyrically exposed the dilemma for mankind:
“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”.

The same dilemma accompanies sinful man – we are either slaves of sin or we are slaves of righteousness, there is no grey area or other option.  Of course, this applies spiritually, and our default state is as a sinner. No-one is ever born a righteous person. Romans 5:12, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned”. So Jesus makes a truthful statement in that sinners are slaves to the sins they commit. Mankind has to face the reality that, without some action, they will remain slaves to sin for all their lives, until there comes that point when it is too late to implement a remedy. To the Pharisees in the crowd, there wasn’t a problem, because they were ancestors of Abraham, and had never been slaves of anyone. But as we know, Jesus was talking about a spiritual principle. Paul, an ex-Pharisee, got it, and put it very well in Romans 5:18-19, “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous”.

So how does the Son set us free from our slavery? The answer came in John 3:3. In His conversation with Nicodemus, “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God””. If a natural birth results in a sinful existence, then we have to experience a second spiritual birth, into the righteousness of the Kingdom of God. John 3:5, “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit””. There are two births for every child of God, and Jesus told the crowd around him that they were all enslaved in their lives of sin. However, there was a remedy – by believing in Him they would be released from their slavery.

These were timeless words from Jesus. They applied when He first made them as He was surrounded by a hostile crowd, resistant to any form of change or correction or alternative to what they believed. But His words have hung in the air ever since, fruit to be plucked by a sinful soul desperate for freedom. That was us pilgrims one day, but we must never forget those truthful words of Jesus, in case we look back and see the sinful world beckoning. The devil won’t give up, ever. 

Father God. Thank You for Your escape plan for sinful man. It’s all about You, Jesus. Amen.

Be Careful

Posted on by korgrocker

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.‭‭
Ephesians‬ ‭5:15-17‬ ‭NLT

I’m sure we all take care in the way we live. After all, we are wired to keep ourselves safe from danger, and that basic instinct increases, and becomes more important somehow, as we get older. But there are adrenalin junkies who take on incredible tasks, performing feats of courage and ignoring danger. I’m thinking of people like mountain climbers, or single-handed Atlantic rowers. Perhaps those who fly hang gliders or head for the breakers to surf their way ashore. There are also those who engage in more insidious tasks, taking illicit drugs of unknown content or purity, or those who deliberately head for temptation, trying to determine how strong they really are.

But this is a worldly perspective. As Christian pilgrims, we take seriously Paul’s instructions about the way we live. Not for us the way of fools, exploring places where we should never go. Instead we must seek out the ways of wisdom. True wisdom has its source in God. In James 1:5, we read, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking”. There is another helpful verse in James 3:17,  “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favouritism and is always sincere”. Following this advice will help us live like wise pilgrims.

In our verse today, Paul continues by encouraging us to make the most of our lives. He was right, when he wrote this Epistle, by discerning that the days were evil. And our days in the 21st Century are still evil. Nothing has changed over the centuries. The media is full of reports of crime, drug taking, wars and so on. An evil world where our enemy, the devil, prowls around causing mayhem and distress. An evil world where sin is endemic. But as we read in a recent blog, we are light in this dark and evil world, and must be opportunistic in shining our light into dark places. We must be counter-cultural pilgrims walking against the tide of those of humanity who are sadly and unknowingly heading for a lost eternity. And we must be diligent in aligning our lives to the true Way, avoiding the false and evil ways of darkness. Thinking clearly. Remaining focused on our assignment, doing God’s work. True in His service.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Posted on by korgrocker

“I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” But as I stood there in silence— not even speaking of good things— the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:” Psalms‬ ‭39:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Psalmist is in worldly company. This Godly man is in a quandary – the worldly talk going on around him is distressing and sinful. It probably contains language and humour he disagrees with, and alludes to practices he abhors. So he keeps silent. And becomes seriously upset internally – turmoil is the word he uses to describe his feelings. And eventually he is unable to hold within himself the feelings of frustration, and he blows up, blasting his companions with a torrent of words. Sound familiar? It’s a place where I have been during my work-a-day life. Conversations take place in the office that I find degrading and upsetting. Gossip, smutty jokes, character assassination, foul language, sexual innuendo. It’s all there and as a Christian it’s a place where I don’t want to be. But I have to be there because it’s a place where I earn the money I need for life.

But there is a different meaning in these verses. We see from later in the Psalm that the Psalmist is perhaps quiet before the “ungodly” because of his sins. And in the Psalm he goes on to reflect on the temporary nature of life, his sins, his hope in God, being disciplined by God and finally pleading with God for his prayers to be heard.

But whatever interpretation we choose, the message is clear. The dichotomy between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world is stark. We can’t have a foot in each kingdom. Jesus was clear about this in His teaching during what we call the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus said, “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.” Once settled in the Promised Land, Joshua delivered a rousing message to the Israelites which was recorded in Joshua 24:15, “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” The choice he laid before his countrymen was the same choice we have before us today. Whom will we serve? As for me I can say without hesitation – I and my family will serve the Lord.