Judging the Church

Posted on by korgrocker

“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.

Headed to Destruction

Posted on by korgrocker

“For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.””
1 Corinthians 1:17-19 NLT

Who are these people who are “headed for destruction”? In the context of 1 Corinthians 1:18, these are the people who have rejected anything to do with Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for the sins of men and women. We pilgrims are believers who have put their trust for their eternal future in His hands, but most people in the Western societies have not. Instead they rely on the “wisdom” that has a purely human origin. To the unsaved, the essential truth of the gospel equates to meaningless hogwash because the worldly mind only values and appreciates human wisdom. We all know what worldly wisdom is all about. For example, very well, and expensively, educated individuals stay awake at night trying to think through the deficiencies ands contradictions in theories such as evolution, theories that deny any involvement of God in the affairs of this world. Such evolutionists adhere to the belief that any flaws in their theories are purely transient and that with the application of more human knowledge, problems will be explained away. And when presented with facts that can only be explained by the involvement of God in the natural world around us, they still refuse to believe that there is a God in Heaven who created our world. Such people call themselves wise and intelligent, but as Isaiah recorded in a message from the Holy Spirit long ago, “Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear” (Isaiah 29:14). A couple of verses further on, Isaiah wrote, “How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”?”

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary atheist, said, “If you’re an atheist, you know, you believe, this is the only life you’re going to get. It’s a precious life. It’s a beautiful life. Its something we should live to the full, to the end of our days. Where if you’re religious and you believe in another life somehow, that means you don’t live this life to the full because you think you’re going to get another one. That’s an awfully negative way to live a life. Being a atheist frees you up to live this life properly, happily and fully”. That’s the wisdom of the foolish, from a man who fails to understand that a natural life spent in God’s presence is free of the restraints his intelligence thinks are there, a life that is then followed by eternity spent in the presence of the One who created this world in the first place. As I said to a God-denier the other day, I look up into the skies at sunrise or sunset and see an amazing display of colour and patterns, and all I can do is say “Wow”, and thank God for the experience. The problem that this man had was that he didn’t have anyone to thank for the wonder before him. Sadly, he walked away, too “intelligent” to accept that there was an alternative to his lack of a belief in God.

In these verses before us today from 1 Corinthians, Paul underlines the stark contrast between human wisdom and God’s wisdom. The prophet Isaiah rebuked Israel for relying on the “wisdom of the wise” and the “intelligence of the intelligent” instead of God’s divine wisdom. The believers in Corinth were making the same grave mistake. Rather than trusting in the wisdom that comes down from heaven, they were depending on the kind of wisdom the Apostle James wrote about in James 3:5b, “ … Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic”.  In their spiritual immaturity, the Corinthian believers were still thinking and acting like unbelievers. 

James wrote much about God’s wisdom. “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honourable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. …  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” (James 3:13, 17).‭ When God populated this earth with human beings, He gave them the brains that would enable them to make wise and intelligent decisions based on His ways. But when sin entered the world, very quickly mankind decided to replace God with their own wisdom. Such foolishness can be read about in Genesis 11:4, “Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world””. We’ll not bother with God, they said, and instead we will make our own lives based on our own thoughts, inclinations and ideologies. Selfishness and a rejection of God became the basis for human wisdom, and God called it foolishness. Yet God kept loving men and women on this earth, and He sent Jesus to die for our sins, taking on the judgement and punishment that we deserve. To decide to believe in Jesus in wise and intelligent, because through Jesus we align ourselves to God’s wisdom and intelligence, which is infinitely greater than anything devised by man. So it is with sadness that God has committed human wisdom and intelligence to ultimate destruction. There will be no opportunity for Richard Dawkins, or anyone else, to say, “Sorry God I got it all wrong” when they stand before Him to give an account of their lives. 

We pilgrims know all about the power of the Cross, to save us from sin and death, and provide a life that will be spent with God in His presence. Forever. And ever. And what else can we do than thank Jesus for making it all possible? We praise You Lord!

Dear Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world. Thank You for ll You did and still keep doing for mankind in every generation. We pray for our families, our children and grandchildren, and the generations following, that Your presence will be with them, providing them with the intelligence that comes from above instead of the intelligence that is purely human. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

The Fate of Sinners

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t let me suffer the fate of sinners. Don’t condemn me along with murderers. Their hands are dirty with evil schemes, and they constantly take bribes. But I am not like that; I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy. Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly praise the Lord.”
Psalm 26:9-12 NLT

David asked the Lord to spare him from “the fate of sinners”. In David’s society, people who committed crimes suffered some form of punishment. Leviticus 24 lays out some examples of punishments for lawbreakers, who committed crimes such as blasphemy, murder, theft, and injury, where we read the punishment was “a fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Leviticus 24:20). Stoning was usually used for capital offences. But in the Psalm 26 context, David appeared to be considering behavioural issues – “their hands are dirty with evil schemes and they constantly take bribes”. There was in those days, and still is today, a level of moral lassitude that falls just below the radar of a definition of being a crime but is sin nevertheless. Jesus brought such behaviour to the fore in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell“. The problem for humans in all generations is that sin in God’s eyes can only be discerned by Him. So David cried out to the Lord to not let him suffer the fate of sinners because “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).‭‭

But what is the fate of sinners? The Old Testament, pre-Jesus, belief was that when someone died they went to a place called Sheol. Faced with the fabricated evidence that Joseph had died as the result of an attack by a wild animal, we read of his father Jacob’s reaction in Genesis 37:35, “Then all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in mourning for my son.” And his father wept for him”. Both good and bad people went there and it seemed to be some sort of holding area for departed spirits. David also believed that the wicked ended up in Sheol. Psalm 9:17, “The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), Even all the nations who forget God”. So David and his generation would have no doubts about “the fate of sinners”. Jacob considered Sheol to be a place of mourning, but little was written about what it would be like until Jesus came, and provided some teaching. But one thought spans all the Biblical scriptures, and that is that after a person died, they went to a place of conscious existence, and there are hints that there were degrees of comfort there, depending on whether or not the person had led a good or bad life in God’s eyes beforehand.

In Luke 16 Jesus told the story of a Rich Man and a beggar called Lazarus. Some claim that this was a parable, but Jesus offered no explanation and the story was not about a natural environment that people could relate to, such as sheep and arable farming. It was a statement of fact presented in a way that fitted in with Jewish thought at that time. Basically, the Rich Man had a good life and ended up in Sheol (Hades in the Greek) where he found a place of torment. We can refer to it as “hell” because it was hot – we read, “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames'” (Luke 16:24). So there was communication of sorts with the other compartment in Sheol where the poor man went when he died. We can call this place heaven, because Abraham was there. In the next two verses we read, “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there'”. 

The New Testament belief is based on the Rich Man and Lazarus story, in that people who have died end up in a place of conscious existence, depending on how they lived their natural lives. Believers end up in a place Jesus called Paradise (Luke 23:43). Unbelievers end up in a place of torment that appeared to be another compartment in Hades. Jesus introduced another name for this place – Gehenna, a Greek word used in Mark 9:45. But Hades or Sheol, the Biblical view is consistent with David’s fear about the “fate of sinners”. One place of conscious existence divided into two compartments – paradise (a preview of Heaven) or Gehenna (a preview of hell).  

And then the story gets tragic and sombre. One day all these souls in Hades will be resurrected and judged, as we read in Revelation 20:13, “And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades (the realm of the dead) surrendered the dead who were in them; and they were judged and sentenced, every one according to their deeds”. Thankfully, believers will already have been resurrected by this time and will be living with the Lord in Heaven. 2 Corinthians 5:7-8, “For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord”. 1 Thessalonians 4 provides further details. 

David called out to the Lord to save him from “the fate of sinners” and he could do that because he walked with integrity and was redeemed by the Lord. Through his faith in the Lord I’m sure that we believers will probably have the opportunity of speaking with him one day. But we mustn’t rest on our laurels because there is a society full of people who, like lemmings, are rushing headlong to the wrong place. I keep banging on, I know, about reaching out to the lost, but these are serious times. Every day on my prayer walks I ask God beforehand to lead me to opportunities where I can share His message of hope. We don’t know if the next seed we plant might be in the heart of another Billy Graham.

Dear Father God. You are the only true righteous and holy God, full of grace and love. Lead us we pray to those who are perishing in their sins, so that we can share about all You have done for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cries for Help

Posted on by korgrocker

“They called for help, but no one came to their rescue. They even cried to the Lord, but he refused to answer. I ground them as fine as dust in the wind. I swept them into the gutter like dirt.”
Psalm 18:41-42 NLT

Gruesome language from David in our verses for today. Not words that apply literally though; instead an allegorical representation of what David would perhaps have liked to do to his enemies. David was showing his disdain for his enemies when he wrote about grinding “them as fine as dust”, because dust is considered useless and of no consequence, a nuisance to be discarded. But what David felt about his enemies was not in itself a problem to them. After all, what people we don’t know think of us is not really of any consequence. What matters is having a relationship with people, such as our friends and family, that contains mutual love and respect. 

We turn to God and wonder what He thinks of His enemies, all those people who deny that He exists, or refuse to obey His commands. Does He consider them as “dust” in a world full of people numbered ” … like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore …” (Genesis 22:17)? In the brief life spans of human beings they have an opportunity to make choices about their relationship with their Creator God. But afterwards they may indeed become like “dust … swept … into the gutter like dirt”. There will come a time when God’s enemies will be in a place where they effectively don’t exist anymore. Like dust, they will be useless and will have lost the opportunity to spend eternity in a wonderful place called Heaven. Instead they will find themselves in a terrible place, regretting forever their wrong choices, hence the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42). They are dust, unloved, unnoticed and ignored.

In our societies, people without a relationship with God will nevertheless have a faint but tangible impression that there is a “higher power” somewhere, overlooking our planet. These people, however, will have rejected a personal and loving relationship with Him, putting themselves in the focus of Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:23, “But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws’”. But notwithstanding this, such people, in a time of crisis, will call out to God for salvation from whatever they are facing. And they find that, as David recorded, “He refused to answer”. Why should God answer the prayers and cries for help from people He doesn’t know?  David had a great relationship with the Lord, and He had many testimonies of answered prayer, such as earlier in Psalm 18:3, “I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and he saved me from my enemies”. But David noted that when his enemies called upon the Lord, He refused to answer. 

God always answers prayers, including cries for help, if we pilgrims are patient enough and sensitive enough to hear God’s voice. God’s answers fall into three categories – “Yes”, “No”, and “Maybe” or “Not Yet”. How long it will be before His answers to our prayers and cries for help come about is up to our faith. Jesus said, “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). Matthew 21:22 adds the word “faith”, “You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it”. We understand, of course, that our prayers must align with God’s will if we are looking for a positive answer.

In John 9 we can read the account of the occasion when Jesus healed a blind man. In the ensuing, rather scathing and hostile conversation with the Pharisees, the blind man said, “We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will” (John 9:31). That verse showed an insight into God’s ways that applies to all who call upon His name for salvation. David’s enemies cried out to the Lord for help but “He refused to answer” because God didn’t know them – they were sinners. 

The Bible is full of references to the conditions necessary for God to hear us. Proverbs 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous“. 1 Peter 3:12, “The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil”. And a few words from the old Apostle John, “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for” (1 John 5:13-15). 

Dear Father God. We know that You listen to our prayers and always give us an answer. We understand that what we hear may not align with our human thoughts, but we trust You in knowing what is best for us. Please increase our faith, we pray. Amen.

The Lord’s Guidance

Posted on by korgrocker

“I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.”
Psalm 16:7-9 NLT

Have we pilgrims ever woken up in the morning with the answer to a difficult and seemingly insoluble problem solved, and in the front of our minds? Well, the answer is here before us today. David wrote “even at night my heart instructs me”. How can that happen? Well, we might spend the night sleeping but our wonderful God doesn’t. Psalm 121:3,“He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber“. God is awake and watching over us, night after night. We may toss and turn, fretting over the problem, but quietly and in the background, the Lord is working, and sorting things out for us – if we let Him. And here’s the thing. Why is it that we so often turn to God as a last resort instead of praying, asking for help, and, in faith, sleeping peacefully while God works things out for us. Of course, the solution He gives us might not be the one we would ideally like, but if we trust Him then He will resolve the issues.

David writes some wonderful promises of God in these two verses before us today. The Lord guides us, He is always with us. He is right beside us, and through all of that, we will not be shaken. What a wonderful picture of God’s care for each one of His children. David had no doubts because he knew, a positive statement of fact.

And because of these promises, David “bless[ed] the Lord”. How did he do that? By his praise, his worship. His prayers, his faith, his obedience – in fact by acknowledging all that God had done for him and for all His wonderful attributes. David had a close relationship with God, so close that as he went about his business he was conscious of God beside him, leading and guiding. Was this just for David and the saints of old, and not for us? Was a personal relationship with God just for the times long ago and not applicable in today’s world? Of course not because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), and if that is true of God’s Son then it must be true of Father God as well. 

So, how do we develop a personal relationship with God, as David did? It starts at the Cross of Calvary, where God’s Son Jesus died instead of us taking on the punishment for our sins personally. We confess our need for Him, admitting that we are sinners, and in faith look to Jesus as our Saviour. But this is not to be just a one-off experience. We then need to develop a personal relationship with Him, by prayer and reading all about Him in His only written Book, the Bible. Like David, we spend time with God, including Him in our daily lives, in our decisions, in how we relate to those around us, in our jobs and schools, and not just on a Sunday. It’s a day by day thing. And we find that the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. In John 14:16-17, Jesus said, “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 recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you”. And, of course, we can’t do all of this on our own, because we must join a Bible-believing church where fellow believers can help us to grow spiritually. 

Of course, our relationships with God don’t end with the grave, and we know that we continue to live with God, enjoying eternal life with Him forever. I had the privilege of being able to pray with a dear lady lying in a hospital bed, in her last hours yesterday. She had had a life full of troubles and problems but through them all, she had remained firm and vibrant in her faith in the Lord. And as my wife and I prayed, the peace that came over her was remarkable. She received a glimpse of Jesus, I’m sure, a preview of what was to come just two or three hours later. What a wonderful God we serve, and, as David did, we bless Him today, and every day.

Thank You Father, that You are with us day by day, Your presence always there. Amen.

Flagrant Sinners

Posted on by korgrocker

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honour the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts.”
Psalm 15:1, 4 NLT

David lists three more character necessities for those who want to worship the Lord in His sanctuary. We must “despise flagrant sinners”, “honour the faithful followers of the Lord“, and “keep [our] promises”. To be clear, we pilgrims can worship God anywhere but there is a sweet spot where we can do so from a position of having a clear conscience, free from the little accusing whispers in our minds that get in the way of true worship. Once there the sweet spot takes us to a connection with the Lord that somehow seems to take us into Heaven itself. 

But who are these “flagrant sinners” that David warned us against? Other translations refer to a “vile” or “evil” person but however we consider these words, there is something or someone here that we must avoid. The word “vile” describes a deliberately wicked, morally worthless person. “Despise” comes from a term which can also mean “to hold in contempt” or “to disdain.” These are strong words and highlight the importance of our being set apart from contact with such people, as we continue to journey on our walk of holiness. But Paul said “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” so does that mean we should despise everyone, because everyone sins? Of course not, because to do so would turn us into monks, shut away in a monastery away from contact with other human beings. The key word here is “flagrant”, describing those people who are open in their sin and who flaunt it in everyone else’s face, impervious of the offence that they are causing. We can find many examples of this on social media, where disgusting sinful rants emerge far too frequently, rants that abuse our political leaders, rants that target the sexuality of people they think they know, and so on. 

The word “despise” can mean that we should avoid, as a general rule, contact with these “flagrant sinners”. I say as a general rule, because there are some who find that they have a ministry of grace to these people. It depends on how strong their faith is. We read in Jude 1:23, “Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives”. There are many who have dedicated their lives to working with the “flagrant sinners”, people like Jackie Pullinger working with drug addicts and dealers in Hong Kong. But we must be careful. Paul wrote, “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13). So it makes sense to beware of places where we know there is a temptation too great for us to avoid. Think of a person who is an alcoholic entering a bar with a pocketful of cash.

David advised that those who want to worship God must avoid anything or anyone that gets in the way, even if it means taking an extreme position in the process. Whatever we fill our minds with, such as what we watch on TV, or listen to on the radio, or during conversations with people we meet, or find on YouTube or elsewhere in the Internet, will divert us away from the ability to worship God in the way he desires. There will be nothing sinful present in God’s presence or in His worship.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please help us to avoid people and places that will divert us away from worshipping You in spirit and truth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Worthless Chaff

Posted on by korgrocker

“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. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.”
Psalm 1:4-6 NLT

The Psalmist pulls no punches when he considers the behaviour of all those who have no access to the river of life. He defines them as being wicked, like “worthless chaff, scattered by the wind“. For those unaware, chaff is the husk that grows around grain and it is discarded during the winnowing process. It has no human food value and is really of no value at all. In the farming culture of Israel in those days, chaff would have been a well known nuisance to be disposed of. But having defined the status of those who are like trees cut off from the life-giving river, the psalmist goes on to set out their fate. There is a time of judgement coming, he says, and the wicked will be condemned. A stark end for those who have rejected the opportunity to believe in God and follow Him. And to complete the picture, he writes that there will be a time when the sinners will have to be separated from the godly.

We pilgrims know of course about the “White Throne” judgement. Revelation 20:11, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide“. A time of judgement is coming for all people and the remainder of Revelation 20 is sobering reading. It was William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, who said, “Most Christians would like to send their recruits to Bible college for five years. I would like to send them to hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry”. 

We pilgrims have the opportunity to warn those around us of the coming judgement. We have what William Booth called a “compassionate ministry”, as we reach out with the message of hope to a dying generation of people, who will otherwise end up as “worthless chaff” in a place where they don’t want to be. 

Dear Father, we pray today for our friends and families who are heading for a lost eternity. Please open doors for us, and lead us to whoever You wish, for us to share Your Good News. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Is Always Ready to Hear

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.” “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.””
John 9:28-33 NLT

Mr Blind-no-more wasn’t afraid to stand up to the Pharisees, unlike his parents. The Pharisees argued that because they didn’t know where Jesus had come from, then His miraculous act of healing lacked validity. They maintained that it couldn’t have been God, or anyone representing Him, who performed the miracle, because whoever did it should have first checked things out with them and obtained their seal of approval. The Pharisees’ view of God was boxed in by their interpretation of the Law of Moses. But Mr Blind-no-more had a different logic. He said that regardless of the Pharisees’ opinion, which was, “If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.” He went further by turning the Pharisees’ logic around and said that regardless of where Jesus had come from, He must have come from God to perform such a miraculous healing. 

In the middle of the exchange, Mr Blind-no-more said that “God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will”. Such a view was commonplace in the legalistic environment of those days, that God listened to those who were for Him, and He didn’t listen to those who were against Him. So according to the Pharisees, if Jesus was a sinner, the miracle, if it happened, couldn’t have been from God. 

Does God only listen to the prayers of a righteous person? If we believe that then we are doing what the Pharisees did – we have put God in a box. God is compassionate, loving, and gracious, and He will do what He considers to be right. And if He answers the prayers of someone who doesn’t believe in Him, then that is His prerogative. Quite why such a person would pray to Him is perhaps academic, because there are unbelievers’ prayers heard by God in the Old Testament. In Genesis 21 we can read the story of Hagar and her son Ishmael. Or the people of Nineveh in Jonah 3. In times past, desperate people have cried out to God for relief from their situation. Sometimes He answered. In. 1 John 5:14, we read, “And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.” Perhaps that verse also applies to anyone, believers or not, who pray in accordance with His will. 

Sadly today we in the UK are living in an increasingly secular society. And the names of God and His Son are only used in expletive phrases. People fail to believe that he exists, their minds blinded by the enemy and his servants who come up with all sorts of theories (for example, evolution?) that try and explain the world around us. And instead of turning to God when circumstances dictate, they even turn their back on Him and some even go to occultism for a remedy. It must break God’s heart to see such happenings, as it did in Genesis 6:6, “So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart”. But there will come a day when God will be universally acknowledged. 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”.

We pilgrims love the Lord. We are His children and we know that He listens to our prayers. Of course, every cry for help will not always be answered in the way we desire, because we live in a fallen and sinful world, but God is always there for us in our times of trouble. And by faith in Him, we are overcomers, rising above our circumstances. 

Dear God. We thank You that You always hear our prayers. And whatever our circumstances we acknowledge that You have our interests at heart. We praise You today. Amen.

Revenge

Posted on by korgrocker

“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.””
Romans 12:19-20 NLT

Paul follows on from his previous theme of not responding to evil with more evil. He warns his readers that they should never take revenge, instead leaving room for God to deal with the perpetrators of evil. It should be noted that God will get angry with them, as He does with all sinners. And He has promised to deal with these evildoers. 

Paul quoted two Scriptures in the verses from Romans 12 . The first is from Deuteronomy 32:34-35, “The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury? I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them’”. God may not deal with those who commit evil acts straight away, even though we might want Him to, but He has promised to take a careful note and put it somewhere safe in His “treasury”. There is no escape for those who commit evil acts, because one day they will have to account for their behaviour. No deed ever committed will go unpunished. So that crime committed against an old lady, for example, that roused such indignation in the community, will catch up with the perpetrator one day. The books being stored in God’s “treasury” will one day be opened and the video of what really happened will be replayed before everyone. Imagine the shame! But, worse, will come the verdict – Guilty! 

Some people struggle with the thought that God gets angry. Well, Jesus did. Not often but we read in Mark 3:5, “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored”. Jesus was angry with the irrational and misguided responses of the Pharisees in the synagogue, but note that, although He had the power to zap them on the spot, He moved on and healed a man with a withered hand. Those Pharisees were in for trouble, because God made a note of their evil response to His Son. Jesus was angry, yet in His anger He didn’t sin. 

The second Old Testament Paul quoted came from Provers 25:21-22, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you”. How does that work? In God’s Kingdom, there are a different set of rules applying. Whereas in our earthly kingdoms, our enemies will be locked up, and their malevolent intentions suppressed, in God’s Kingdom, we citizens treat our enemies with respect and compassion. We provide them with the basics of life, food and water, and show them kindness when none is deserved. That’s hard! It goes against everything we feel inside. But that is what God has asked us to do. Imagine a world where every evil act received such a kind, loving and compassionate response. There wouldn’t be much evil remaining for long. 

There is a battle raging against Christians in the West, around the gender ideologies. And the proponents of this evil want to close the churches who resist their wayward demands, demands that are in direct conflict with what the Bible says. We could join or organise the marches, the rallies, and write angry banners, or we could pray for them with compassion for their confusion. We gently make our views known to our politicians, expounding the love that we have. And as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8b, “ … for love covers a multitude of sins”. I know that this verse was meant for Christians, but the principle remains. 

Paul wrote that there was a partnership between God and His followers. We respond to evil well and without sin. He will bring the punishment on those who sin against us. That is God’s way, and, by following it, we will truly conquer the evil that is so prevalent in our communities and nations. Small steps accumulate. Short prayers are answered. And we pilgrims will one day experience the reward promised us. 

Dear God. You promised to deal with evildoers. That takes a lot of pressure from us, because we don’t have to. Thank You. Amen.

God Forgives Sinners

Posted on by korgrocker

“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it: “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.””
Romans 4:5-8 NLT

It is an amazing and counter cultural fact that we receive the currency of Heaven without having to work for it. In God’s economy, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) but those who put their faith in God are rewarded with the most valuable currency ever invented – righteousness in God’s sight. So it is not surprising that David expressed his “joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin”. 

It is easy to put our faith and forgiveness on the back burner, because we think to ourselves that Paul’s verses on faith and righteousness, death or forgiveness, will only happen after we pass from this life. But nothing could be further from the truth. Paul quoted the first two verses from the Davidic Psalm 32. But the next two verses are important. We read in Psalm 32:3-4, “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.” This is reality and increasingly our medical professionals find links between our personal sinful state and our physical and mental wellbeing. God never designed us to carry a heavy load of sin. The sad thing is that so many people try and deal with their sins by visiting a psychiatrist or therapist, in the forlorn hope that in that way they will gain peace of mind. But nothing could be further from the truth. A sticking plaster approach to fixing our sins doesn’t work. There is only one remedy, and that is to have “faith in God who forgives sinners”. 

A clear conscience is the remedy for the problem that David wrote about. After suffering much physically for his state of unconfessed sin, David wrote in the next verse in Psalm 32, “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone“. And I can just imagine David jumping around in gleeful abandon, as he wrote the last verse in this Psalm, “So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”

In Psalm 32:6, David wrote down a warning about the urgency of dealing with, and that means the confession of, our sins, before God. We read, “Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment“. I read this morning about the sad and sudden death of Jeff Beck from bacterial meningitis. He was one of the guitar greats of all time for his particular genre of music, rock and blues. I don’t know where he stood in relation to God, but the suddenness of his death highlights the urgency of getting right with Him, while there is still time. Remember, somebody adopting the default position of failing to get right before God will mean ending up in a lost eternity. We don’t know how long we have left in this life, whether young or old. But we do know the One who knows.

Dear Father God. We confess our sins before You today, and are grateful for Your forgiveness. We worship You today. Amen.