My God Blog

2010-08-08T17:11:00.001+09:00

Scripture reading:
31"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. 32There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.
33"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

Observations:
(1) Why Jesus needed external testimony.

At first, the idea about Jesus needing external testimony seems puzzling. If Jesus is so powerful and great, why can’t he speak for himself? Surely anyone claiming to be the son of god could testify on their own behalf – could they not?

But this line of thought is misleading. Jesus is not saying that his own words are untrue or invalid. Rather, he is saying that by itself, his testimony in this regard would not be complete – at least not according to the standards of god as specified in Old Testament law.

Under Old Testament Law, one witness alone did not constitute a sufficient basis to convict anyone of a criminal offence (Deuteronomy 19:15). Instead, at least two were needed.

Jesus appears to be taking a similar concept and applying it to his own testimony about himself. A singular testimony was not, in itself, enough to establish a fact. Jesus needed additional proof from external sources.

(2) Multi-layered testimony.

This he has – from several different sources:

· John the Baptist (human testimony)

First, there is John, through whom Jesus has human testimony.

Upon being approached by Jesus on the banks of the river Jordan, John clearly identifies him as ‘The lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). John went on further to testify that he had seen the (holy) spirit descend upon Jesus from heaven, and that God himself had told him that Jesus was his (God’s) own son (John 1:32-34).

Jesus did not need testimony from John. As the son of god, he didn’t exactly need testimony from a mortal human being.

But the existence of John’s declaration did provide incontrovertible confirmation about the validity of Jesus’ words according to the requirements of OT law. With John’s testimony, he now had two witnesses (John and himself) – enough to satisfy the requirements for valid testimony under God’s law.

· The miracles (the testimony of works)

But Jesus had more. Much more.

Actions speak louder than words, and Jesus by this stage had some pretty amazing feats to put on his resume. The turning of water into wine (John 2:1-11), the healing of the royal official’s son (John 4:43-54), and the healing of the invalid at the pool (John 5:1-15) provide just a few examples.

And better was yet to come. Jesus would go on to heal the blind (Mark 8:22-26), cleanse people of leprosy (otherwise incurable in those days), cure paralytics with only his words (Mathew 9:1-8), exercise demons (Mark 1:21-28), feed five thousand people with only a few loaves of bread and a small number of fish (Luke 9:10-17), walk on water (John 6:16-21) and raise dead people (John 11:1-44). And this is not even to mention the miracle of the transconfiguration on Mt. Tabor (Luke 9:28-36).

No ordinary man could do things like these. Actions of this nature are the sole preserve of those with nothing short of divine authority - authority that can be given only by god the father, the creator and master of the universe.

· The scriptures:

The next post will deal in more depth with the question of how the scriptures pointed to Jesus.

For now, I simply note that multiple writers from the Old Testament did talk about Jesus, and that Jesus did fulfill everything that was said about him. In this way, the scriptures act as a further witness to Jesus and the claims which he made about himself.

· The biggest testimony – god the father himself.

But Jesus had even more testimony still.

And it came from the highest possible level – God the father himself.

The bible records two separate occasions upon which God the father provides specific testimony about Jesus being his son. First, there was his baptism, during which the gospel of Mathew (3:17) records that a voice came down from heaven, saying “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Then, there was the transfiguration, whereby Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James and John (Mathew 17:1-13), appearing together with Moses and Elijah. When this happened, God, through a voice from the cloud, repeated what had been said at the baptism.

In short, Jesus had: human testimony, through John; evidence-based testimony, through his works; scripture based testimony; and divine testimony from God the father himself.

Prayer:
Lord, you don’t have to prove yourself to us.

But you show your integrity and character through how you keep your word, and how your son, Christ Jesus, did not ignore the Old Testament but rather satisfied each and every one of the OT requirements in full.

Lord, in this, we can see character, we can see integrity, and we can see a lord that follows through on your word completely. We can know that your word has integrity, and that you are the one and only true god.

Help us lord, to never, for one moment, forget the wonder and beauty of your character.

These things I pray,

In the name of Jesus Christ our lord,

Amen.

Crossing from life to death (John 5:24-26)

2010-06-13T11:42:00.000+09:00

Scripture Reading:
(24) I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (25) I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the son of god and those who hear will live.

Observations:
(1) The significance of the crossing.

The first point which I would like to make with regard to the above passage relates to the importance of what Jesus is talking about - particularly his reference to crossing ‘over from death to life’ in verse 24

In life, some crossings are not overly consequential. Crossing a creek or river, for example, does not does not usually have much of an impact on anything – all that happens is that you get to the other side.

Others, however, involve life changing consequences. Crossing over the DMZ, the heavily fortified border zone separating North and South Korea – were it possible without being arrested or shot - would be one such example.

But the kind of crossing Jesus is talking about is on anther scale altogether. Consider how he describes this: from death to life. Pretty significant, isn’t it? Pure black and absolute darkness on one side, pure white and absolute purity on the other. You could not get two more polarised positions.

The contrast is mind-boggling. So too are the consequences: this is nothing less than our eternal destiny that we are talking about.

2) The meaning of the crossing.

What does it mean – to cross from death to life as Jesus puts it?

From my understanding, the implications of this crossing fall into two categories: those which relate to our current life here on earth; and those relating to our destination when we depart:

· Implications on earth.

First, let’s deal with the first category.

Obviously, anyone who is reading this is alive in a physical sense. But that does not necessarily mean we are alive spiritually. When god made us, I believe that he interwove into each and every one of us was a deep seated need. A need for meaningful and intimate relationships: first and foremost with him; and secondly with each other.

As our maker, he is our father. We belong to him and with him and his family. Whenever we live outside of this, we are not living the way we were meant to. It’s as if we are cut off from our family and our birthplace. Something is missing.

Conversely, when we accept god’s wonderful gift of forgiveness and salvation, our relationship with him is restored. Now we are living as we were meant to, and deep down, we hold a sense of wholeness and satisfaction. Now we are complete.

· Eternal implications.

More important still are the implications with regard to our eternal destination.

The kind of transformation that Jesus is talking about means going from a position whereby we were destined for eternal separation from god – cut off and living in complete darkness and coldness to one in which we are destined for a perfect relationship with god our father in heaven. It means literally going from being destined for a place of eternal punishment to being destined for one eternal glory.

Friend, I urge you. Come out of the cold. Come in to the warm, dry, fire of god’s family and his love.

Accept the sacrifice of his son on the cross as payment for your sins in the past, present and future.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, how can we put words on this kind of life-transforming event? Only you, lord, have such incredible powers, and we can only marvel in awe at who you are and what you give.

Lord, I pray now for any readers who are not in relationship with you: that they be led to you, and that they experience the same kind of amazing transformation which I myself have undergone according to your grace. Let them come out of the darkness and into the warmth of your never-ending love.

These things I pray.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our lord,

Amen.

The father-son relationship (John 5:19-23)

2010-05-30T17:19:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Observations:
What we can see here are three key points about: (a) the relationship between Jesus and God; and (b) two practical implications of this relationship for us in terms of our desire for a right relationship with god the father.

The observations which we can make in this regard boil down to three key points:

· Jesus’ authority comes solely from god.

In our world today, many of us are heavily influenced by our parents, especially when we are young.

But whilst we learn from them, we are not limited to or bound by the extent of their knowledge, achievements and experiences. Indeed, it is hoped that each generation will go further than those before them, that they will go above and beyond and discover new horizons. This is a natural process – one which we cannot stop, nor should we want to.

But with Jesus, things are different. Unlike our parents, who are human and therefore fallible, the father of Jesus (God) is literally the creator and author of life itself. You can’t go one better than god. His power and authority are infinite, and it is not possible to go higher than infinity.

Because of this, Jesus cannot exceed God the father. More to the point, Jesus depends on the father. Jesus is not a self-made man in this sense. By himself, he would have absolutely no power or authority at all. None whatsoever. By himself, he could have healed the blind man in the pool (see John 5:1-6), nor could he have turned water into wine, healed the official’s son or raised Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus could do these things solely and only because of God the father, on whom he is completely dependent and by whom the power and authority to accomplish these things is vested upon his shoulders.

· God has entrusted all judgment to Jesus.

One flow on consequence of this relationship is shown through versus 22&23, which show clearly show who our judge will be when the time comes for each of us to account for our time on this earth.

The thought of going before a ruler or judge to provide is not always an overly pleasant one, particularly when we ourselves are the ones who are being held to account with regard to whatever matters the confrontation in question relates.

But even where we face judgment, it is quite possible that this may not involve confrontation with the great big ruler in question. Rulers can delegate, and when this happens, the individual to whom we have to answer is not indeed the ruler himself, but rather his delegate, who is entrusted to make a decision on the big boss’s behalf. When this happens, the thought of the confrontation with the delegate himself can be a little unnerving. But this is not because of the individual delegate. Rather, it’s because of who the delegate in question works for and has been entrusted by – the great big boss.

It is the same with Jesus. Each and every one of us is accountable to the father when we die. But god the father has entrusted his son, Jesus Christ, in this regard, and for this reason, our destinies after death are in the hands of Christ Jesus.

· There is one way to god – Jesus.

Appealing though ideas about there being ‘many ways to god’ may be, they are not supported in the bible. The bible makes it clear that there is one way and one way only to god – through faith in Jesus Christ.

Personally, I am not a parent, but I could certainly imagine that almost all parents feel fairly strongly about the type of treatment which their children receive from others. Treatment given to children shows a great deal about how the individual in question feels about his or her parents. Why – because children are part of their parents. Children are part of their flesh and blood of their parents, and parents by nature have a very significant part of themselves invested in their children.

Likewise, how we respond to Jesus says a great deal about how we really feel about God. Jesus is his son, and we cannot claim to be in full relationship with god the father unless we have accepted his sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly father,

Thank you so much that you sent your son Jesus Christ into the world.

Through him, we saw your glory on full display. Through him, we saw all your power, might and wisdom, and a perfect demonstration of your unfailing love.

Lord, when we think about Jesus, let us never forget just who he is. Let us not forget for one second that you have not only made him our savior, but also entrusted him with our judgment, whether that be at the time of his return or at the time of our death.

2010-05-16T17:18:00.000+09:00

Scripture Reading
16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Observations:

(1) God is always at work.

Given the apparent contradiction with Genesis (where the scripture indicates that God ‘rested’ on the seventh day), I have to admit that I find the statement of Jesus in verse 17 about god always being at work a little difficult to understand.

Nevertheless, what we can see from this passage is that god never stops. He is always active, every second of every hour, of every day of every year. He is always watching over his creation. He doesn’t stop.

Although this passage is primarily about demonstrating god’s character, it also has some practical implications for us – especially for those of us who observe the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is intended for rest and worship. In general, those who observe it should abstain from traditional forms of work in the worldly sense. But there are limits to this, and the requirements should be observed with common sense. If your neighbour is sick, you do whatever you need to in order to look after them. Or if someone you know needs help, you do whatever it takes to provide the help that he or she needs. The Sabbath law does not prohibit kindness and love, nor should any follower of the lord lay aside these virtues simply because it happens to be a certain day of the week.

(2) Jesus refers to god as his father.

Although this was not actually the first time that Jesus had referred to god as being his father (that first happened in John Chapter 2, when Jesus referred to the temple (the house of god) as ‘my father’s house’ when driving out money-changers) the significance of these claims cannot be understated.

Up until now, many who have come across Jesus may have thought of him as a good and wise man – perhaps even a magician or a prophet. Even those who wouldn’t have considered him to be divine might have thought that he was pretty damn impressive.

But thoughts along those lines just don’t cut it now. By declaring himself to be equal with god, Jesus has raised the stakes no end. Now, we are only left with three possible conclusions:

a) He was not the son of god, and never believed he was.

In such a case, he was nothing but a rotten liar;

b) He was not the son of god, but honestly believed he was.

If this is the case, then he is a complete lunatic (fancy believing you were the son of god unless you really were), albeit an honest one; or

c) His claims were completely true and he is indeed the son of god.

There is no middle ground. Claims about being the son of god eliminate the safe, comfortable option. Anyone making claims like this are either liars or lunatics, or they are the son of god (as I believe) as per their claim.

(3) The Jews persecute Jesus.

Before we go being too hard on the Jews, it is important to remember one important fact - they may simply have been doing what they thought was right.

Had he not have been speaking the truth, Jesus would have been blaspheming against god – a sin punishable by death under Old Testament law, and the Jews (who genuinely believed this to be the case), would have been doing right by god in trying to kill him.

But this does not excuse them, nor are their actions forgivable. Jesus was telling the truth and the man which the Jews were trying to kill was none less than god’s only son. Sure, they most likely blind (figuratively speaking) rather than ill-intentioned, but this does not change the fact that they persecuted the son of god.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Thank you lord, that we are able to know that you never sit down and forget about the world. Nowhere do you stop and say “I’ll just sit down and rest for awhile – who cares if things go wrong in their world.” No. You watch over us all the time. Day and Night. Twenty-four seven.

Lord, forgive us whenever we fail to appreciate who you are. When we fail to appreciate just what you accomplished whilst here on this earth. You – the trinity, father, son and Holy Spirit, are nothing short of being our perfect creator. Let us not get conceited and offended when you show or talk about your greatness. Rather, let us bow down to you in submission and awe.

Father, whilst we should not judge anyone too harshly (we ourselves are sinners and not in any position to go passing out judgment), let us remember that those who were supposedly from your family did try to kill you (and, in a worldly sense, succeeded in doing so).

But let us also remember, lord, that this was done according to your design to demonstrate your greatness, which can be so clearly and explicitly seen through your unbelievable triumph over our sin on the cross.

In these things I pray.

In the name of Jesus Christ our lord,

Amen.

Who is this fellow? The son of God - that's who

2010-05-09T17:14:00.001+09:00

Scripture reading:
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Observations:
(1) Who does Jesus think he is? (Only the son of god).

One of the things which we can see clearly in this passage is that the Jews did not like anyone who gave an instruction which contradicted their man-made law, with anyone who did so being seen as rocking the boat.

How dare anyone challenge their religious and moral authority! How dare any man give an instruction which contradicts Jewish law. Who is this man? And what is his place to contradict Jewish tradition? He or she must think they are pretty damn special!

These are some interesting questions, and the answer brings out an important point.

So who is he – he is Jesus, that’s who. Son of god. Our messiah, our savior and our judge. The one who through his death on the cross took away the sin of those who believe. That’s who he is.

Nothing more, nothing less.

And what’s his place to contradict Jewish law? Again plenty.

As son of god, and one part of the holy trinity, Jesus is above laws made by man – way, way above. Neither is he in any way constrained by or bound to follow any form of Jewish tradition.

Don’t get me wrong, at no stage did Jesus contradict the laws as set down in the Old Testament in any way. Jesus was, is and will always be the only man to fully and perfectly obey and fulfill the entire old testament law.

But he was not subject any law or tradition laid down by man. And in no way at all was he shy of rocking man-made tradition in order to demonstrate the full extent of god, as he did not only on this particular occasion but many other occasions as detailed throughout the gospels.

[It is worth noting here that we are referring to law as made by the Jews themselves. We are not referring here to law made by god as given in the old testament (refer observation 1 in the previous discussion)]

(2) Give the credit to Jesus – and call him by name.

At first, the former invalid in this passage was not particularly certain about the exact identity of who it was that had healed him - obviously a deliberate choice on the part of Jesus, for whatever reason, not to reveal his identity on this particular occasion at the particular time.

But he did ascribe credit for his healing as best he could. By his reference to ‘the man who made me well,’ he sought to full recognition with regard to what had been done and who had done it in spite of his inability to name the man responsible.

(I am not particularly certain why Jesus, at first, choose not to reveal his identity to this man)

But after Jesus revealed his identity, the former invalid went back straight away and ascribed him full credit by name.

This is an important point. From time to time, our lord will do something special in our lives – be it a physical healing, new job or whatever. Whenever these things happen, we must not be hesitant in any way to ascribe full credit to our lord – both in the public domain as well as in our own private lives.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, let us never forget who you really are. When you were here in physical flesh, many, such as the Jews in the passage described above, failed to appreciate who you really were. And let us, when talking to you in our prayer, never forget who you really are.
You are our maker and our judge. Nothing more, nothing less. You are all powerful and above all. And you will not be constrained be constrained in any way, shape or form by who we in our feeble minds think that you should be.

Lord, sometimes you choose to bless us with positive and exciting things in our lives, be they new jobs, babies, the overcoming of sickness, or whatever. Whenever these things, by your deliberate and purposeful design, befall on us, let us never forget just who is responsible. Let us respond to good fortune the only that is acceptable - by growing in thankfulness to you for your graciousness and mercy which you have shown to us.

In the name of Christ Jesus I pray,

Amen.

Enjoy the gifts of god - don't be constrained by legalism (John 5:8-11)

2009-12-06T19:10:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

Observations:
(1) Don’t confuse man made law with that made by god.

At first glance, this passage might appear to highlight a situation of conflict between a direct instruction of Jesus (for the man to pick up his mat) and a conflicting instruction under the law as given by god relating to rules about the Sabbath.

If this were the case, then I would have a considerable challenge not only with this passage, but also with the entire gospel. I would certainly have a problem with putting my faith in anyone whose instructions or teachings directly contradicted those given by god in the Old Testament.

Fortunately, however, this is not the case. In no way at all was Jesus instructing the man concerned to break any of god’s laws.

Instead, the legal requirements to which the Jews in question refer related to man-made requirements which were made in addition to the law of god. They do not relate to the law itself. It was this man-made law with which the Jesus were in conflict, not the law of god.

Essentially, in Old Testament times, god commanded the Israelites to set aside one day, the seventh day of the week, as a time to stop what they were doing and cease to perform any form of work or toil. The purpose of this was two-fold: (a) for physical rest and restoration; and (b) to remember, reflect upon and honor god, their creator.

As far as I understand it, the OT does not go into a great deal of specific detail in terms of the precise details as to exactly how the Sabbath was to be performed, and it does not specify a large range of do’s and don’ts with regard to this matter. Because of this, the Pharisees, a sect of the Jews, made their own regulations, was supposedly to help people to follow god’s law in the correct manner. It was these laws with which the man was in breach. At no time at all in the story described above does the man breach any laws as specified by the Old Testament.

The Pharisees, in their claims that the man’s actions in this case were in contravention of the law, had made the critical mistake of confusing their own laws with that of god. Bad mistake. We are nowhere near on the same level as god. He is the creator, we are his creation. Our rules will never, ever equate with his.

(2) Enjoy the grace of god, don’t be constrained by the religious ‘political correctness.’

The first thing that we see here is a direct clash between the political correctness of the day with regard to religious practices and the enjoyment of the amazing grace provided by the lord.

And the second thing that we see is the man making a correct choice between the two.

Granted we actually learn in the passage which follows those quoted in the scripture reading above that the man indeed did not actually see who it was who had healed him, and it is almost certain that his actions did not represent a purposeful decision to accept the magnificent grace of our lord.

All he knew was that somebody had healed him of an extremely serious physical condition, and that this somebody had now told him to walk. Who was he to question such a command? And why on earth should he not do so because of some man-made law about religion? Moreover, had those who were now lecturing him about legal requirements ever healed him? No. Had they ever bothered to about him or his condition? Probably not. And prior to his healing, had they bothered to take any notice of him at all? I doubt it.

My guess - the man was simply paying more attention to the man that had healed him as opposed to those who had done bugger all for him, just as any other sane individual would have done.

But whatever his motives, the point is that he did have a choice. On one hand, he could bask in the sunshine of the amazing grace provided by the lord (as instructed by Jesus) and on the other hand forfeiting the enjoyment of that grace because of legalistic, man-made religious requirements.

He made the right choice, and so should we. Whilst we should make every effort at all times to behave in a manner which is honorable to our heavenly father, under no circumstances should we allow legalistic, man-made requirements to hinder our full enjoyment of the amazing grace which is provided so lavishly by our wonderful heavenly father.

(3) Look at the bigger picture – rejoice for those on whom god shows favor.

One final point – the Jews in this passage had their priorities seriously out of order. Instead of simply being happy for the man, as they should have been, they were more worried about tripping him up on a pathetic small point with regard to legalistic requirements.

The law of god as laid down in the Old Testament lays down two key basic principles which form the fundamental cornerstone of the spirit of his entire law - love the lord god with all of our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. According to these basic principles, our most important concern when dealing with other people has to be their overall level of wellbeing - not the degree to which they comply or otherwise with man-made religious protocol. When the lord god does something wonderful like this, we should simply be glad for the recipient of his favor, not trying to trip them up on insignificant details.

Man-made religious protocol, in such circumstances, should be the last thing on our mind, and the Jews in this passage had plainly lost sight of the bigger picture of the law as laid down by god.

We must learn from this. Our focus, when dealing with other people, and indeed, at literally every moment in our lives, should be not on insignificant details but on living in a manner which is in tune with the basic fundamental spirit of god’s law – loving god with all of our hearts and loving others as ourselves.

Let’s just get these two things right and forget about minor issues relating to religious protocol.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, let us never, ever, replace your great law with our own.

Your law needs no addition - it is absolutely perfect and completely beyond rapproach as it is. It is absolutely sufficient in every way, and it is completely arrogant of us to think that we need to add to it in any way at all.

Moreover, it represents nothing but absolute and complete folly on our part if we try to put our man-made law above that holy one given by you. The day we do this, lord, we are lost.

Lord, let us never over-burden ourselves with political correctness with regard to religious protocol. Instead, let us bask in the glorious sunshine of the amazing grace which you provide so freely, and free our hearts lord to with an attitude of thanksgiving simply marvel and enjoy every good gift which you decide to shower upon us in your glorious mercy and love.

Finally, lord, let us never lose sight of the basic spirit of your law. We seem to have a hard enough time just getting the basics right, so instead of being overly concerned about small details, let our hearts focus on the bigger picture with regard to your great commands – loving you with all of our hearts and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

In these things, we pray.

In your great name,

Amen.

Jesus has the real healing power (John 5:1-9)

2009-11-29T19:04:00.000+09:00

1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

Observations:
Jesus, not mystical powers, has the power to heal.

In the previous passage (John 4:43-54), we saw a wonderful example of the extent of Jesus’ healing power through his healing of the son of a Royal Official in Galilee from what it appears was a life-threatening illness.

In this passage, we see his healing power again, with the patient concerned this time being an invalid of thirty-eight years.

As with the example in the previous passage, we are not given any information with regards to the specific nature of the illness concerned. Nevertheless, I would think that it would be safe to assume that the illness was of an incurable nature. The man in question suffered for thirty-eight years, and you would have thought that if the illness was indeed of a curable nature, then surely he would have been healed a long time prior to this particular event.

Another similarity which we can see between the above example and that from previous passage is the extent to which Jesus has complete and absolute power and control over sickness. In both cases, the individuals concerned were completely healed from their affliction by Jesus merely speaking it into existence.

But there would appear to be at least one key area of contrast – the attitude of the recipients. In the previous passage, we see that the boy’s father (a royal official) had demonstrate at least some degree of belief and confidence in the ability of Jesus to cure his son, going of his way specifically to seek Jesus out in a somewhat deliberate fashion. In contrast, the invalid concerned appeared to be placing his only some in some apparent mystical healing power of the water in the pool.

Granted, unlike the royal official, this poor invalid did not have properly functioning legs, and so it was not exactly possible for him to get up and take himself to see Jesus in a similar manner to the royal official in the previous passage. Bear in mind also the likelihood that this poor fellow had not even heard anything about Jesus at all up until this point.

Nevertheless, he was clinging on to a some futile hope about being healed by some mythical powers of the water, a fact which is testament to the to both the magnitude of his desperation and the extent to which his hopes were completely misguided.

My point here is simply this: we must be very, very careful where (and in what) we place our hopes and faith.

Putting our hopes in some form of mystical power or other form of rubbish leads only to disillusionment.

Putting our faith in Jesus, by contrast, does not. Jesus, the creator and author of life, has the power to heal literally any form of disease or disability as he chooses. As lord and ruler over all of the earth, he has complete and utter power, control and mastery over everything – with sickness and disease being no exception.

Don’t get me wrong, no one should expect simply to be healed instantaneously after a simple prayer. Indeed no where in the gospel does it promise that everyone who suffers from any form of sickness and disease will be healed at all, let alone on an instantaneous basis. God does not promise that everyone will be healed, and god will not accept being held to promises which he has never indeed given.

But god certainly has the capacity to heal absolutely any form of sickness and disease, and when we ask for healing in the form of earnest and faithful prayer, then god may (let me stress the word ‘may’) choose to demonstrate the extent of his glory through the healing of sickness.

Faith put in mystical powers is futile.

But faith in the wonder of our glorious heavenly father is truly powerful.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, let us never put our faith in anything except you.

Lord, we can invent all these crazy luck charms, mystical powers, wishing wells, star signs or whatever. But at the end of the day, these are all worthless.

You and only you have the power to heal or to protect. You, our creator, are the only one with any form of authority over our wellbeing, be it in the physical realm or, more importantly, in the spiritual realm.

When we suffer from physical illness, you and only you have the power to heal – not some magical charm. And when we are spiritually lost - when we fall away from you and are spiritually broken – only you can bring us back into the faith and light of your family.

Not some secret magical power lord, you and only you.

So let us set our faith squarely and solely upon you, and let us never look anywhere else.

In your great name,

Amen.

How Jesus reveals his glory though adversity (John 4:43-54)

2009-11-22T17:54:00.000+09:00

43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.

46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."

49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."

50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

Observations:
In the case described above, we see an example of how the glory of god can be shown through adversity.

Sickness is never pleasant, and nowhere in the bible does god guarantee that sickness will always be cured. Indeed, sometimes the lord does choose either for the individual concerned to pass on or for the sickness to continue for a considerable time period, even in spite of earnest prayers on the part of sufferers themselves or of their family and friends.

But on other occasions, the lord does choose sickness as a means to demonstrate his glory. This is one such occasion. In this passage we see a wonderful example of how Jesus has power over sickness and, as we see later, even over death.

The passage does not indicate the specific nature of the illness from which the boy concerned was suffering. What it does tell us, however, is that the boy was bed-ridden and his illness was life-threatening. In other words, the situation is pretty bloody serious.

In addition, it is not likely that the illness was of a nature which could be easily treated. The passage indicates that the official concerned travelled from Capernaum to Cana (about 40km) in order to plead for the help of Jesus. Such a trip would not have been necessary if the disease concerned had been of a nature which was easily curable – in such a case, the services of a local doctor in Capernaum would have been sufficient

Nevertheless, what I think we see here is a case of god using adversity in a deliberate manner for the purpose of demonstrating the extent of his glory. I believe that it was god’s absolute intention for the particular boy concerned to suffer from the particular illness concerned for the precise reason of the scenario discussed in the passage taking place.

What we see here is that although the official referred to in this passage appeared to have a fairly strong level of faith – his actions indicated a belief in the power of Jesus to cure his son’s sickness, and he did take Jesus at his word upon being given the assurance that his son would live – we see that the power of Jesus is much, much greater than what he had imagined.

We see in the story that the official concerned begged Jesus to come with him, perhaps out of a belief that Jesus would either: (a) not properly understand the situation; or (b) have to be physically present in order to heal his son.

But Jesus is more powerful than that – way more powerful. As the son of god, Christ already knew about the whole situation and fully understood the situation of the boy concerned. His physical presence was simply not required, and he was able to ensure that the boy concerned was healed simply by speaking it into existence.

This kind of reminds me of what we learn in Genesis, and how light came into the world simply by god speaking it into existence. That’s the power of god. In Genesis we saw the degree of his command and control over the natural universe in the way that he single handedly brought the concept of light into the world by simply speaking it into existence. In this passage, we see the extent of his command and control over the most serious and incurable forms of sickness, how he can heal sickness with his mere words. And in a later passage, we see how the lord has command and control even over death, when he raises Lazarus from the dead with his mere words.

There is nothing, not a singular concept in this entire world, which is beyond the command and control of our god. So powerful is he that he has complete control not only over the natural laws of the universe, but also over the extremely serious concepts of sickness and death.

Prayer:
Lord, when we look at your power, we can only stand in awe. Complete and absoulute admiration are nowhere near adequate words – your pure power and glory are just so far beyond words and so far beyond understanding that there is no way that our earthly hearts can even come close to its complete comprehension.

You have complete command over everything we can see - over the natural universe, over sickness, and even over death. How can us mere mortals of this world ever come remotely close to understanding?

Yet, for those of us who have accepted your great peace offering, for those which you have chosen to make up a part of your great family, we can only thank you that you have opened our eyes wide enough to let in the great torrent and flood of your amazing grace. And we know further, lord, that you will open our eyes to receive the full notion of your glory when we meet you in that great day in heaven.

Though many of us will experience persecution and difficult times prior to then, lord, when we see the full extent of your glory, none of that will matter and all of our tears will be wiped away and our hearts will be full of pure gladness, joy and understanding.

Lord, when we look at your greatness, we can only bow down and worship in awe – at the greatness of your power and love.

In your great name,

Amen.

Faith Should not depend on miraculous signs (John 4:43-54)

2009-11-15T16:08:00.001+09:00

Scripture reading:
43After the two days he left for Galilee. 44(Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there.
46Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48"Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus told him, "you will never believe."
49The royal official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live." The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."
53Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.
54This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

Observations:
· Why is Jesus so harsh on the Galilians?

At first, the approach of Jesus in this case appears to be a little puzzling.

The warm welcome which Jesus received, along with the request of the royal official would at first appear to indicate a positive response on behalf of the Galileans in terms of receiving the gospel.

Yet Jesus is particularly skeptical of these people. Why?

The answer would not appear to have anything to do with his previous visit to the region (refer John chapter 2), during which time the performance of his first miracle saw him turn water into wine. There did not appear to be anything which stood out about that encounter in particular which would have suggested any special degree of hostility toward him.

To be sure, immediately after leaving the region on the previous occasion, Jesus had encountered a degree of resistance from the Jews in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival. (After Jesus had overturned the table of moneychangers, the Jews who were in attendance at the festival had demanded from him the production of some form of miraculous sign in order to prove his authenticity – refer John chapter 2).

But this occurred in Jerusalem not Galilee, and there is nothing in particular found in the gospel to indicate that Jesus had, at this point, been subjected to any abnormal degree of resistance and hostility from the Galileans in particular.

So why then was Jesus so scathing of them?

There is no doubt in my mind that the answer lies in future events, which Jesus would have no doubt foreseen at the time of this event.

Whilst no abnormal degree of hostility was apparent Jesus’ previous visit to the region, the same cannot be said for later events, in which the gospels do appear to describe a significant level of resistance toward his message.

Chapter 6 in the book of John, for example, describes how the Jews of Capernicum demanded to see additional miraculous signs in order to authenticate his claims about himself, and how many of his followers were unable to accept some of the more controversial aspects of his teaching.

At the time of this passage, Jesus would have been well aware about how these future events would occur, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is what explains his behavior in this passage.

Prayer:
Lord, you can see through into the future.

In particular, you can see into each and every one of our hearts. You can tell who truly has faith in you from who does not. You can tell those whose hearts toward you are hard from those whose are not. You can distinguish without a shadow of a doubt those who have truly accepted your offer of forgiveness and salvation through faith in Christ from those who have not.

Lord, I pray that you may cleanse my own heart along with any of those who may happen to share in this prayer. Yes, lord, we ask for miracles especially in times of adversity. But lord whenever we ask for miracles, let it be because we have absolutely no doubt in our own hearts about what you are capable of, not because our hearts are hard and we are demanding some form of proof.

In these things I pray.

In your great name.

Amen.

The power of direct encounters with Jesus (John 4:39-42)

2009-11-08T16:03:00.000+09:00

Scripture Reading:
(39) Many of the Samaritans in town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” (40) So when the Samaritans came to see him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. (41) And because of his words many more became believers.

(42)They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you have said; now we have heard it for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the savior of the world.”

Observations:
(1) Being witnessed to is good, but directly seeing Jesus is better.

Pretend, for a moment, that you were a judge, and an accused murderer was on trial.

Which of the following would represent more conclusive evidence of his guilt – (a) hearing testimony from a witness who claims to have seen him commit the murder; or (b) seeing him commit the murder yourself?

The answer should be obvious, and for good reason, too. Whilst witnesses are prone to lying or being mistake, evidence seen through one’s own eyes is beyond dispute - a principle which we can see at work in the above passage.

We can see from the above passage that for some Samaritans, the woman’s testimony alone was sufficient for them to put their faith in Jesus.

But consider, for a moment, the statement in verse 41, that many more became believers after a direct encounter with him. It is apparent from the statement that for some people, the woman’s testimony alone did not in itself represent a sufficient basis for them to put their faith in Jesus. Instead, they wanted to see direct proof, a requirement which was satisfied through their own direct encounter with him.

Testimony about Jesus, it seems, though powerful, was not as conclusive as a direct encounter for some.

(2) Testimony should still be enough.

Notwithstanding the above point, this does not provide us with any form of excuse for refusing to believe the word of god in any way.

True, we do not live in the time that Jesus literally walked on the earth, and will not experience a direct encounter with him. And whilst it is possible to receive the message of Christ by direct revelation, testimony of others continues to represent the most common method by which the majority of us will be introduced to the gospel.

But not having physically seen Jesus does not, in any way, provide us with any excuse for unbelief. And when it comes time to face judgment, we will either be believers in Jesus as our savior or we will not be.

“I never saw him,” will be no excuse for not knowing him. Either you will know him or you won’t. No excuses.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, your presence is powerful and we can read in the gospels about how time and time again, people believed as a result of a direct encounter with you.

Lord, we will not have a direct physical encounter with you in our lifetime. But let us not use that as an excuse for unbelief, and when the day of judgment comes, please do not let me say that ‘I didn’t believe because I didn’t see you.’

Instead, let you say ‘he believed without seeing me, and therefore, he is one of mine.’

In your great name, I pray.

Amen

Enounters with Jesus change us - and people notice (John 4:28-30)

2009-11-01T16:00:00.001+09:00

Scriptural reading:
(28) Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, (29)“Come, see a man who told me everything that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (30) They came out of the town and made their way before him.

Observations:
The two key things which we can observe from these passages are as follows:

(1) Encounters with Jesus change us.

I find it highly unlikely that the woman described in this passage has ever had a greater life changing event than her encounter with Jesus.

She went to the well that day a broken woman, so ashamed (she was a prostitute, had five husbands, and was sleeping with a man who was not her husband) that she went to the well by herself in the middle of what we can only presume was a stinking hot day just to avoid any form of uncomfortable confrontation.

But she did not leave that way.

Her encounter with Jesus changed everything, a fact which is clearly evident in the immediate changes in her demeanor, actions and behavior.

No more tiptoeing out to the well by herself to avoid confrontation. No. Gone were her fear and shame as she was absolutely and completely overcome by a whole-hearted conviction to share the experience with other Samaritans.

Encounters with Jesus change lives, and it is just not possible to have a genuine encounter with Jesus for the first time and not be impacted.

(2) Others notice the changes.

Under no circumstances should the changes referred to above represent mere internalized changes which go unnoticed by others.

No, they are profound, and compel others to take notice.

Prior to her encounter with Jesus, it is pretty clear that the Samaritans did not think much of the woman and it is highly likely that they would not have given here the time of day.

Not so after the encounter, where they left immediately in the middle of a stinking hot day to go and see what she was talking about.

What changed? One could imagine that they would have been a long way from certain as to whether or not she had seen the messiah.

But they sense that something about her had changed, and that she had most certainly seen something very significant. No longer could she be brushed off, she now had to be taken seriously.

That’s what I think happens when we ourselves have an encounter with Jesus. The response of others may not always be positive, but they do sit up and take notice.

Prayer:
Lord,

We cannot help but be changed upon the experience of our first encounter with you.

You are what we have been searching for all our lives. You, and only you, are our salvation. You, and only you are have everything we need.

You are so powerful that we just cannot avoid being changed by such encounters.

And lord, let the changes within us not remain solely in us. Rather, lord, let us shimmer like stars with your love, and let us be beacons of the light so that others can see your greatness and power.

In your great name I pray.

Amen.

Jesus knows who you are (refer John 4:16-18)

2009-10-25T15:58:00.000+09:00

The passage referred to above describes part of a rather peculiar conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob.

Upon being asked by the woman to deliver on his promise with respect the provision (from a spiritual viewpoint) of ‘living water,’ which would lead to eternal life, Jesus asks the woman to fetch her husband. He did this knowing full well the truth about her - that she had five husbands and indeed, was currently sleeping with a sixth man to whom she was not married.

I feel that there are two main lessons that we can learn from this passage:

· Jesus knows who you are – the good and the bad.

Whilst Jesus does not express outright condemnation upon this woman, it becomes abundantly clear that he knows about the extent of the brokenness and sin in her life, with particular regard for her adulterous behavior.

God knows each and every aspect of our lives inside out. He has an intimate and complete knowledge of our strengths and weaknesses, both the positive aspects as well as any areas of brokenness.

Accordingly, there is no point in lying to god, nor is there any point in trying to hide from our sin or brokenness. He can see right through us, as he can see right through any attempts on our part to avoid confrontation of the issues in our lives. Such effort are pointless when it comes to dealing with him.

Instead, we should confront the issues head on by acknowledging our areas of brokenness in an honest and open fashion before him. We need to come humbly before the lord and ask for forgiveness for the sins which we have committed in our lives.

When we do this, god has promised full forgiveness of our sins anyway.

Don’t hide before sins. Take them straight to the lord and ask for forgiveness through Christ.

· Jesus does not rush to condemn you for your sin.

In the passage referred to above, Jesus makes it abundantly clear to the woman that he knows and understands all about her life of promiscuity.

But he does not condemn her.

The worldly views prostitutes with disdain, and cannot wait, it seems to look down upon them with a sense of scorn.

But not Jesus. It is clear from the passage that Jesus does not approve of what the woman does, nor does he see it as any way acceptable.

But he did not scorn her, he was not interested in that. Instead, he had a point to make, to demonstrate to the woman his power to heal her brokenness.

It’s the same with us. We all have areas of some kind and Jesus knows full well about these. There is no point in trying to hide them from him, nor is there any point in trying to pretend that they are not particularly important – they are.

But Jesus does not want to condemn us. He does not want to look upon our areas of sin and brokenness with an attitude of scorn. Rather his desire is for the lord to be glorified and for his amazing love to be demonstrated by virtue of the act of restoring our relationship with him through his death on the cross.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, there is no point in us trying to hide from you.

You know us inside out. You know each of our strengths. You also know our areas of weakness, where each of us fall short, and the sin that stains each and every one of us.

Thank you that even though you know our darkest corners, you do not condemn us.

Indeed, you offer us the chance to come into the light, the opportunity to have our sins forgiven and to come into a right relationship with you.

Lord, without you, we are lost in our ways of sin. But in your presence, we can find peace, love, and more importantly, amazing grace.

For this I can only praise and thank you.

In your great name.

Amen.

God is about the spiritual, not the physical (John 4(7-24))

2009-10-18T21:24:00.000+09:00

(refer John 4: 7-24)

Observations:
(1) We care about the physical, god cares about the spiritual.

In the passage referred to above, which describes a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well, we see two good examples about how the nature of our focus differs from that of god.

In short, we tend to focus predominately upon the physical world, whereas god is far more concerned about spiritual matters than concerns of a physical nature.

The first example of this refers to the realm of drinking, water and nourishment. The conversation commences when Jesus asks the woman for a drink, but it soon becomes clear that the woman and Jesus are on completely different wavelengths, and their focus is worlds apart.

The primary focus of the woman is on the physical aspects, both in terms of the physical process of drawing the water from the well and in terms of the physical benefit which water provides in terms of temporary refreshment.

In contrast, Jesus was merely using the water as a metaphor from which to teach the woman a lesson. His focus was concentrated upon spiritual needs, about he (subsequently through his death and resurrection on the cross), and only he, could fill our needs on a permanent basis from a spiritual basis.

The second example concerns the realm of worship, a topic to which the conversation progresses after the initial conversation about water.

Here the primary focus of the woman is based around the physical aspects of worship, in particular the appropriateness of the location in which it takes place. Again in contrast, the concerns of Jesus revolve primarily around spiritual aspects. He makes it clear that god is much more concerned the state of our heart during worship, and the extent to which worship is conducted in a manner of genuine sincerity or public show.

Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not saying that god ignores or is not aware of the physical world, and countless of examples of how Jesus provides for our needs in a physical sense abound throughout the gospels, with the feeding of five thousand or the healing of Lazarus being two good examples.

Nevertheless, it is also made clear throughout the gospels that the physical world is not his primary focus, with the passage referred to above being a prime example, along with the conversation which follows the feeding of the five thousand in John Chapter 6.

Bottom line – we focus on the physical, but god cares about the spiritual.

Prayer:
Lord, our feeble minds are so small, we can only understand what we see around us.

Lord, we thank you that you take care of our physical needs. But lord help us to lift our hearts far above the physical attributes of this world, and set our hearts above and let thoughts of your magnificent greatness permeate from the core of our very inner being.

Lord, when we come to worship, let us not be concerned about physical aspects, such as the location in which the worship takes place. Rather, lord, let us set our hearts upon you, and upon the praising and honoring of your great name in a true spirit of wonderment and awe.

In your great name I pray.

Amen

The Permanency of the Healing of Jesus

2009-10-11T21:13:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

Observations:
(1) The gift of Jesus does not perish

Not much beats a cold drink on a hot day.

Perhaps except a nice warm shower after coming in out of freezing cold weather.

Only one problem – two hours later, you are thirsty again and in need of another drink. Or, with the shower example, by the next morning, or even by later that evening, you are dirty and cold, and in need of another shower.

In other words, the benefits provided by cold drinks or hot showers are temporary in nature and do not last. If you want to stay warm or refreshed as the case may be, you have to have another drink or shower – you have to keep going back for more.

Not so for the impact of Jesus, an impact which sustains us now and for the rest of our lives. In addition to the obvious benefit of salvation, we also receive something else when we truly accept Jesus as our savior – spiritual rebirth and a new heart.

The moment that you and I truly accept Jesus Christ as our savior, a kind of spiritual re-birth begins to take place. Under this process, the lord our god plants in us a seed of his own being and spirit in our hearts, which changes us on the outside by first changing us on the inside.

Jesus does not simply just simply visit us once (spiritually speaking) and go away, never to be seen again. No, instead, he invests a seed of rightesnous, a seed which never dies or leaves us. The seed grows, producing a spirit of righteousness which permeates our very being. Over time, it changes us, and helps us to grow up as children of god, overflowing with the type of characteristics which come from him, such as righteousness, kindness, compassion and love, just to name a few.

We receive the spirit of god once and once only, have no need to go back and keep receiving it. Instead, we receive it once, it is planted firmly in our hearts, and it stays with us for all time.

(2) God does not need us – we need him.

Refer back to versus seven, eight, nine and ten. The sequence of events is quite curious, commencing with Jesus asking the woman for a drink, it soon becomes apparent that indeed, it is the woman, rather than Jesus, who is in need.

I think there is an important lesson here for us to learn about our place before god. On one hand, it is certainly true that god, as our maker, is also our master, and that we must serve him by honoring him with all of our hearts. Nevertheless, I think it is all too easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking that we have something that god requires, and that he is somehow dependant upon us.

Not true. Rather, god has what we need – righteousness and the forgiveness of sins. We, as fallen man, have sinned before the lord, and are in need of forgiveness. He, great and mighty god, is the only one who is in a position to grant the forgiveness which we need. These are his and his only to give, and these represent our deepest and most desperate need.

We are the ones in need – not him.

True, under no circumstances should we adopt any form of consumer mentality towards the lord. Our thoughts and hearts should always be set on how we can honor the lord, not what he can give for us or do for us.

But we are the ones in need of forgiveness, something only our great lord can give.

Prayer:
Lord,

I thank you that you do not leave us, that instead, when we truly accept your peace offering on the cross, that you do not leave us to our own devices, but instead invest a part of you into our own beings, so that whilst we might occasionally feel hungry, thirsty or tired from a physical viewpoint, we need never feel that way from a spiritual viewpoint.

Lord, I pray that you let your spirit take control of my heart, and that you grow me up in the type of characteristics which I need in order to live a life which is honorable to your name. Characteristics of love, patience, kindness, compassion, meekness and self control, just to name a few.

Lord, we are sinful man, and there is nothing which we can do for you. We are in need of you, not the other way around. It is we who have sinned and are in need of forgiveness. It is you and only you who has the authority to grant what we so badly need.

I can only thank you that you promise to grant forgiveness so freely to anyone who accepts Christ as their savior.

In these things I pray.

In your great name,

Amen.

God is not constrained by cultural barriers

2009-10-03T21:11:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, 2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

4Now he had to go through Samaria. 5So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

Observations
This is the first part of the famous story about the curious meeting of Jesus with a Samaritan woman.

For today, I would like to look at the social barriers and how the work of god is not constrained by them.

Look again at verse 9, where the woman was greatly surprised about being approached by Jesus. Why – because of the social barriers which she had thought would prevent such interaction.

Broadly speaking, these social barriers stemmed from two causes; (a) racial divisions between Jews and Samaritans and (b) the woman’s own social status within her own people.

Jewish Samaritan hostility
A brief background is necessary in order to fully appreciate the divisions between the Jews and the Samaritans.

Prior to the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel consisted of twelve different tribes. However, after his death, attempts by his son, Rehoboam, to become king, were rejected by all but two of the tribes.

As a result, the nation of Israel was split into two, with ten tribes from the north (those who did not accept Rehoboam’s rule) electing Jeroboam as their king, whilst the remaining two tribes accepted Rehoboam as their king.

During the period of 724-722 B.C, the capital of the northern tribes, Samaria, was overrun by the Assyrians, who instituted a policy of mixing ethnic populations of captured nations. The result – a form of mixed breed, or hybrid race evolved, and these came to be known as Samaritans.

Feelings of bitter enmity developed between the Samaritans and the two remaining Jewish tribes, for which there were several causes. The mixed race nature of the Samaritans formed one source of contention, with the Jews seeing them as a source of half breeds, who were not proper Jews. Another factor was the division of land following the split, under which the northern tribes received the vast majority of the fertile land and springs. Finally, there was a considerable degree of competition between the two groups in terms of supremity of religious practices.

One consequence of the resulting chasm was a refusal on the part of the Jews to approach or talk to a Samaritan (and vice versa) – to do so being effectively taboo from a social standpoint.

An outcast
Aside from racial tensions, the woman’s own social status would have prevented any form of interaction between herself and Jesus.

It emerges later in the story that the woman had five husbands, and indeed, was living with a sixth man who was not her husband. Accordingly, she had a well earned reputation for sleeping with any man who would take her, and for this, she was a complete outcast, one who was ostracized even within her own community.

Evidence of the extent of this is prevalent throughout the story. Firstly, she was at the well alone, unusual as it would have no doubt been the norm for women to go together. It is more than likely that her ostracism was the cause of this.

A second indication is the time of day. Our passage above indicates that she went to the well at about the sixth hour, which, as I understand it, translates to about midday. Normal practice would have been to go early in the morning, before the worst of the heat struck, and the most likely reason for the woman going at this time would have been to avoid an uncomfortable confrontation.

Jesus not limited by social taboos
My point is that under normal circumstances, this interaction would simply not have taken place.

As people, our own behavior is naturally influenced by social taboos and customs, and as such, a Jew would not have talked to a Samaritan under such circumstances.

But Jesus was no ordinary Jew. He was nothing less than the son of god, and as such, he is a long way above social taboos, norms or customs, which will not constrain him in any way from completing the masterful plan of god

It was the will of god for this conversation to take place, and Jesus had every intention of the fulfillment of that will, irrespective of any form of social taboos or customs.

My key point here is simply this – the gospel is powerful, and no social or cultural barrier will ever constrain god in any way from revealing himself or making himself known to whomever he pleases.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, it is simply beyond our comprehension just how far you are above our petty social conventions and taboos.

I pray that through this episode, as well as throughout the entire bible, that you help us to be reminded of how far above our miserable squabbles you are. We can only thank you and praise you that your perfect will is carried out both in heaven and on earth. This is in spite of our pettiness and because of your greatness.

In your great name I pray.

Amen.

Eternal Life or Eternal Destruction (John 3:36)

2009-09-27T21:00:00.002+09:00

Scripture reading(36)
“Whoever believes in the son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Observations:
Does everyone go to heaven?

Would a truly loving god ever not allow anyone into heaven?

Is god’s love truly unconditional?

According to one commonly held viewpoint, there are no boundaries in relation to god’s love, and that his love is absolutely and completely unconditional.

This viewpoint may be popular, but does it accord with scripture?

No. Neither does the idea that everyone is granted entry into heaven after death, a viewpoint advanced by some who feel that a truly loving god would never deny entry into heaven for anyone.

Granted, ardent students of scripture will find several examples which describe the nature and extent of god’s love, – Romans 5:8-9 being a good example.

But nowhere does the bible say that his love is unconditional, and the concept that god’s love does not come with any conditions attached does not accord with scripture. Nor do the viewpoints that everyone goes to heaven after death, or that a truly loving god would never send anyone to hell.

Indeed, this passage, and others like it, contradict these kinds of popular beliefs. This passage makes it clear that there is one condition attached to god’s love and toward entry into heaven.

That condition is simply this: belief in Jesus Christ, god’s only son.

There is one condition, and one condition only, for entry into heaven after death – absolute faith that the death of Christ Jesus on the cross is sufficient to cover the cost of your sins. Those who believe in Jesus are granted immediate and full forgiveness for our sins.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for those who do not, whom the bible says are not forgiven for their sins and will be denied entry into heaven.

Why is god’s love not unconditional? I feel that it is important here to explore the issue of why some of the popular notions above do not accord with scripture.

The notions, that god’s love is completely unconditional and that a truly loving god would not deny anyone entrance into heaven upon death, are, in my view, based around a popular, worldly view of god, as opposed to a view of based around the teachings of the bible. This worldly view describes how we imagine god to be like, or how we believe that god should be, as opposed to how god is actually described in the bible.

One of the fundamental problems with this worldly view of god is that it tends to gloss over or ignore one very important fact – that we have all sinned against him, and that our relationship with him has been broken as a result. (refer Genesis 3)

The idea that a loving god would not deny entry into heaven to anyone, for example, would hold true if we had never sinned. If we had never sinned, if we had never rebelled against god, then any denial of entry into heaven on his behalf would be unfair and without justification. After all, what just god would deny entry into heaven to those who had done nothing wrong?

But this is not the case, and indeed, the bible says that each and every one of us has, at some point, turned away and rejected god. The first sin was committed in the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve at that time represented and acted on behalf of the entire human race at that time. But more than that, the bible claims that each and every one of us has, at some point, turned away and rejected god our maker and heavenly father.

This is where the worldly view falls down. For god to automatically grant everyone a free ticket into his heavenly home, he would have to pretend that our sin does not matter, or that it does not matter that we have rebelled against him rejected him.

But it does matter. God, with his complete integrity, could not just ignore our rejection of him.

That is why we need Jesus. Our sin cannot go unpunished, and someone needs to take the punishment for us. Either it can be Jesus, whose death on the cross god has deemed sufficient for the complete forgiveness of our sins, or it can be us, who will otherwise have to take an eternal punishment, in being locked out of the kingdom of god forever.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Sometimes, in our arrogance, we try to demand that you be whoever we want you to be.

We forget our place – that you are the maker and master of heaven and earth, and that we, lowly sinners, are accountable to you, not the other way around.

Lord, we try to gloss over our sin and our rebellion, and in our arrogance, we sometimes think that we are entitled to a place in your kingdom in spite or our brokenness.

But thank you lord, that you did not leave us broken. When we were lost, you have provided a way for us to be reconciled to you. You took the punishment on yourself, so that we may be forgiven, and so that the depth of your amazing character would be revealed and on full display.

For that, we can only fall down on our knees and praise you.

In the name of Jesus Christ our lord.

Amen.

Comming from above (John 3:31-36)

2009-07-19T21:45:00.002+09:00

Scripture reading:
(31) The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

(32) He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no-one accepts his testimony. (33) The man who has accepted it has certified that god is truthful. (34) For the one whom god has sent speaks the words of god, for God gives the spirit without limit. (35) The father loves the son, and has placed everything in his hands. (36) Whoever believes in the son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Observations:
(1) Jesus is not like us.

It is helpful in understanding the above passage to remember from the previous passage that it is John the Baptist who is speaking. In the previous passage, we saw how John saw Jesus as far above himself. John had to remind his own disciples that he was not the main event of the Christian message – that honor belonged to Jesus.

In this passage, John explains a little about why Jesus is so special, and why he himself was incomparable to Jesus.

Simply put, Jesus is from heaven, whereas John (like us) was from earth. As god’s son, Jesus had been given God’s holy spirit in full. God had given Jesus everything he had – completely divine power, divine character – everything.

John the Baptist was a man from earth. God gave John some spiritual strength and insight – enough to fulfill his mission on earth.

But John did was not given everything that god has and is – Jesus was.

In a similar manner, whilst I believe that we are given sufficient spiritual strength and insight to fulfill our mission as god has allocated for us, we are not given all of god’s power and strength.

Jesus, and only Jesus, is given the holy spirit in full, and that is because he and only he came down from heaven.

(2) God has love within himself.

“The father loves the son.” (v35)

Consider this sentence for a moment.

Here, we see a critical aspect of the nature of our god - he has love within himself.

In order to understand this, it is helpful to understand the trinity concept. The trinity concept is one which is not always easy to understand or explain, and I will freely concede that it is not a topic which I understand particularly well myself.

But what it boils down to is this – our god is a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional god.

Our god operates as one full and complete unit, but there are three different dimensions to this unit – God the father, Jesus the son and the holy spirit.

Now each different dimension serves its own distinct purpose and function within the unit of god. But none operates in isolation. Instead, all three operate together as one unit in absolutely perfect and complete harmony and congruency.

Now then, when we see that god ‘loves’ Jesus, we see that one part of the trilogy of god loves another.

What this means is that god, by his nature, has perfect and complete love within himself. Unlike us, he does not need to receive love from external sources. No, rather, he has love fully contained within him. It’s inbuilt into him, it’s who he is.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus,

Thank you, that you are not like us.

We come from the earth, we were born in earthly bodies and are of this world. But you did not come from earth, you came from the riches and glory and splendor of heaven. We, with our earthly bodies, heart and mindset, simply cannot comprehend or put into words the extent of your greatness and love. Nor can we contemplate just what it would have taken for you to leave heaven for awhile and take the form of a lowly man on earth.

But we must be ever thankful for what you did, and the great sacrifice you made because of your love for us.

And lord, in love, we worship your character. As we have seen, you are the source of love and you have love within yourself, by your nature. We can only look at your nature and praise your wondrous glory.

In your great name we pray and worship.

Amen.

Understanding your place before god (John 3-22:30)

2009-07-12T21:42:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) 25An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew[a] over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
27To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ[b] but am sent ahead of him.' 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.

Observations:
Back in 2000, I was best man at a friend’s wedding.

I was truly honored to have been given this role, and it was an absolute pleasure to play a small part in their special day.

But as much as I was given an honorary role, the day was not about me, nor was I in any way the main focus. My role and the source of my joy, was to share in the occasion – not to steal glory for myself.

That was where my joy was, and I had to be (and was) content with my role.

I believe that every Christian has been allocated a role to play in the advancement of god’s great kingdom, and John’s example here demonstrates two important points about the attitudes with which each of us should adopt in our approach toward the fulfillment of our roles.

(1) Jesus is the central focus of the Christian faith.

It was Jesus who died for our sins, not us.

Jesus is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, not us.

He is the reason for our salvation. He must get the glory, not us.

Our role in the advancement of the kingdom of heaven is not to seek glory for ourselves. Nothing which we do in terms of building up the kingdom of heaven should be done for the purpose of seeking to glorify ourselves.

Instead, our goal should be to honor and glorify Jesus, our savior. We must seek to lead people to Jesus, not simply impress them with our theological knowledge or some other aspect of our religious life.

Our goal should be to see others worshiping and glorifying Jesus, not us.

(2) We must fulfill our roles with contentment and joy.

Whatever specific roles and tasks we are given in the advancement of the kingdom, we should fulfill those roles in a joyful manner.

In the case of John the Baptist, his main role was to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. When Jesus came, John’s mission had been accomplished and his joy was complete.

We, too, should serve the lord with a joyous and thankful attitude, and we should truly rejoice when we see the results of our service to the kingdom. When someone comes to Jesus the first time, our hearts should be filled with joy. When we see others praising the lord, we should overflow with happiness. When we hear stories of god turning people’s lives around, we should be filled with gladness and satisfaction.

Prayer:
Lord, let us never forget, that Christ and Christ only is cornerstone of our faith.

Forgive us, lord, for when we try to seek glory for ourselves. Forgive us for when our hearts are not truly set upon you or the advancement of your kingdom.

Set our hearts only on you, lord.

Lord, mould our hearts to have an attitude of joyful servitude. Let us never think of service to your kingdom as a chore – although sometimes it will not be easy. Let us always see service to your kingdom as our mission, and let us rejoice when we see the results of your kingdom being built up in heaven.

In your great name, Amen.

Light Shinning in the darkness (John 3-19:21)

2009-07-05T21:36:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(19) This is the verdict – light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light, because there deeds were evil.

(20) Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds may be exposed. (21) But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

Observations:
(1) “This is the verdict” (v19)

At first, this passage may appear to contradict what Jesus said in verse 17 (refer preceding study).

In that verse, Jesus specifically stated that his first coming was not intended as a means of judgment (it was intended as a means of calling those who believe in him to salvation). So why then is Jesus now using the term ‘verdict,’ a term commonly associated with judgments?

What does Jesus mean – this is the verdict?

The way I interpret it, Jesus is making a discernment based upon how men have responded to him to date.

Let’s consider the context of the passage. Jesus is now in Jerusalem. Up until this point, we have seen a variety of responses when people have been confronted with Jesus, the light of the world. (refer next point).

Some have responded positively, recognizing him as the messiah and savior. These included John the Baptist as well as the disciples.

Others, including many Jews in Jerusalem, have not, refusing to accept the authority of Jesus (refer John 2:12-25). In the preceding passage, Jesus refers to such people as being ‘condemned already,’ by virtue of their refusal to acknowledge him as god’s son and their savior.

I believe the ‘verdict’ is not, in my opinion a final judgment, but rather a discernment of Jesus based upon responses to him to date.

(2) “Light” (v19)

It is interesting to see the description which Jesus assigns to himself in this passage.

So far in the book of John, we have seen Jesus refer to himself as ‘the son of man” (v13) and implicitly, but not explicitly, as god’s son (v16,17). Now, in this passage, we see Jesus identify himself simply as ‘light,’ (v19).

So what does this description of ‘light’ say about the identity and character of Jesus? What does the term ‘light’ actually mean in this context. Let me give a few thoughts.

· The source of life.

In Science terms, the sun, the soul source of light on the earth, is the source of all life. Without the sun, no forms of life could exist.

In scriptural terms, Jesus is the light of the world. He is the author and giver of all life, and without him, no life can exist, physically or spiritually.

Jesus is life.

· Goodness.

Light is sometimes contrasted with darkness in a similar manner to the way that goodness is contrasted to badness. Light, is taken to mean ‘goodness’ in such contrasts, whereas ‘dark’ signifies badness.

Jesus is the light. Jesus is who is good. Indeed, Jesus is great beyond all possible comprehension.

· Transparency.

Darkness is a place where things can be kept in the shadows, where issues which people do not want to deal with can be hidden, where no one need see your dirty laundry.

Light, in contrast, is a place which is transparent. There is no place for hiding in the light – everything is on show. The pure holiness, righteousness, sinlessness of Christ was laid out in plain sight for everyone to see throughout his time on earth.

He kept nothing hidden. He was completely transparent.

(3) Come out into the light.

Honesty is the best policy – at least that’s what we are told, and it is a wise saying.

Yet personally, this is not always so easy to follow, and a tempting response to having done the wrong thing is to cover our own tracks any way that we can – hoping that no one finds out.

I think this tendency produces a barrier toward receiving salvation through Christ. In order to accept god’s peace offering on the cross, we first have to come to the point where we acknowledge that, at least some point in our lives, all of us have sinned against the lord.

2009-06-28T21:30:00.000+09:00

Scripture Reading:
(17) For god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (18) Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of god’s only son.

Observations:
(1) This passage does not mean there is no judgment day.

At first, this passage may appear to contradict other passages in the bible. Many other passages refer to a time of judgment, where Jesus will come back and judge the world – with who are considered to be righteous by the lord being taken to heaven and those who are not missing out.

But this passage says that God did not send Jesus into the world to judge the world.

How can this be? Why do some biblical passages claim that Jesus will judge the world when this passage appears to contradict such a claim? Isn’t this passage completely contradictory to other passages? Is there going to be a judgment, or isn’t there?

Yes, there is going to be a day of judgment, and no, I do not believe that the passages are contradictory.

I believe that this passage refers specifically to the first coming of Christ. There are actually two comings of Christ described in the bible. On the first occasion, Christ came to save us – he came to take the punishment for our sins and call people to salvation through him.

However, on the second occasion, often referred to as the second coming, Christ will come to judge the world.

This passage is clearly referring specifically to the first coming. Notice the tense used in verse 17 “For god did not send…” Past tense is used, meaning that the passage is referring to an action completed in the past. Passages which refer to the second coming refer specifically to a future event.

Accordingly, this passage is referring to the past event of the first coming, and does not in any way invalidated what other passages say about the day of judgment..

The purpose of the first coming of Christ was not to judge the world. Yes, there will be a day of judgment, where Jesus will return and judge the living and the dead. But first, he came to call us to salvation through his death on the cross.

(2) Non-believers and condemnation.

As with the previous passage, verse 18 reinforces the importance and consequences of believing in Jesus.

This passage states that he who believes is ‘not condemned’ and that he does not believed is ‘condemned.’

What does this mean? It means those who have faith in salvation through Christ’s death on the cross are forgiven by god for their sins, and will be free to enjoy everlasting eternal life in heaven after death. Unfortunately, not so for those who do not believe.

Why are non-believers condemned? Why does the bible say that non-believers will be denied the right to go to heaven after death? From a human perspective, this does not seem fair.

Verse 18 provides a few ideas as to why this so.

The latter half of the verse states that “..he has not believed in the name of god’s one and only son.” The previous verse (verse 16, refer previous post) describes how god sent his one and only son down to die for our sins.

This was a huge price for god to pay, one that is far beyond any of our wildest imaginations. Yet for all his great sacrifice, still some people fail to recognize or acknowledge god’s only son.

This is an insult to god, one he can’t possibly ignore or overlook. God simply cannot turn his head and say, “Oh well, they did not acknowledge my son. It doesn’t matter. No problem.”

No, he cannot do that. That is why he can only grant his peace offer of salvation and forgiveness of sins to believers, those who have acknowledged the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, we know from your word, that there will be a day that you return and judge every one of us. Lord, you are righteous and your judgment is just. We are accountable to you for our sins. You have every right to judge us.

But thank you, thank you, O Lord, that you did not just leave us dead and hopeless in our sins. Thank you that before you came to judge us, you came to call those who you wish to save to you.

We are all sinners and none of us can stand by ourselves in your judgment. But thank you that before you came to judge, you came to save those who you have chosen to believe in your name.

Lord, it is not our right not to recognize your son. Your son is righteous and holy, your son is our only hope to restoration with you. You sent your son to pay for our sins and we have no right not give him full recognition as your son.

In these things I pray.

In your great name,

Amen.

The heart of the Christian faith (John 3:16)

2009-06-21T21:25:00.002+09:00

Scripture Reading
(16) For god so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Observations
This passage summarizes the meaning of god’s act on the cross better than just about any other passage about the bible. The passage tells us:

· Who performed the action on the cross (god – refer discussion point 1)
· Why god performed the action (love – discussion point 2
· The object of god’s love (every human being – discussion point 3)
· What god did on the cross (sacrificed his son – discussion point 4)
· Who benefits from the act on the cross (believers – discussion point 5
· The consequences (for believers) of god’s action (discussion points 6 and 7)

These are all dealt with in turn in the discussion below.

(1) “For god..”

The first part of the passage tells us who performed the action on the cross – god.

This may seem fairly straightforward, but I think it demonstrates an important point about how we view the bible and the Christian message – that god, not us is at the centre of the Christian faith.

I think many in western society have come to view the Christian message as being about people first and foremost, and a common temptation is to adopt a me-centered, or us-centered view of the bible.

But we see here that we did not perform the key action of the Christian message – god did. God, not us, performed the greatest the action which forms the cornerstone of the Christian faith – the singular act which allows for our sins to be forgiven.

We cannot take any credit for our salvation – the action was performed by god, he is the one who must get all the credit.

This section also demonstrates how the bible, and indeed the Christian message is about god first and foremost – not us. The passage begins “For god..”

God is the subject of this passage, not us. God is who this passage is about, not us.

Likewise, the first words in Genesis, the first book of the bible, are “In the beginning, god ..”

Yes, we are the beneficiaries of god’s sacrifice, the objects of his infinite mercy and love. .

But the bible is not about us, nor is the Christian faith. It’s about our wonderful, beautiful creator – our heavenly father.

(2) “..so loved..”

This section states the reason for god’s action – why he made such a great sacrifice.

Why would god make such a sacrifice, particularly after man turned away from god?

Because of his great love for us - that’s why.

This speaks volumes about the nature and character of our creator. He created man. Man, his very own creation, turned away from him. But the richness of god’s amazing love is so great, that even after our rebellion, he did not give up on us.

Instead, he provided a way for us to be reconciled to him.

(3) “..the world..”

Who is the object of god’s everlasting love?

Are there any special qualifications? Does god love only the ‘good’ people? Does he discriminate on the basis of color, wealth, sex, race or socio-economic status? Is there anything we have to do in order to earn this love? Are certain types of people (prostitutes, homosexuals or drunkards) excluded?

In answer to the first question, we, the entire human race, were the object of gods love. The expression ‘the world’ here refers to every person in the world.

In answer to the second question – no. God’s love applies to every single person in the world. There are no exceptions.

Likewise, god’s peace offering on the cross applies to every single human being on planet earth, regardless of personal circumstance.

It may be tempting to think that certain people are un-deserving of god’s love. This may be true, but it misses the point – it’s not about who we are, but who god is. God’s act on the cross was a reflection of his character, not a reflection upon us. It was a demonstration of the extent of his justice, mercy and love, nothing to do with our character or standing.

It’s not about us, it’s about god and his amazing character.

(4) “...that he gave his one and only son..”

What was the cost of god’s love for us?

Was it something that didn’t really matter - something of insignificant value?

No. In this section, we get to the climax – the action. The first three parts of the verse tell us who did the action (god), the reason for the action (love) and the objects of his love (the world – including any person in it). Now, this section describes both the action itself and the extent of god’s love.

The action itself is this – god sent his son to die an excruciatingly painful death on the cross.

This is where it all happens, the climax of the bible, and the single most important event in history in terms of the relationship between god and man.

This singular action is what the whole Christian message is about.

What was the action? God sent his one and only son from heaven to take the punishment for the sins of mankind, and die an excruciatingly painful death by being nailed to a cross.

In addition to describing the action, this passage says a great deal about the extent of god’s love, and what he was willing to sacrifice because of that love. For those who are parents of a single child, there is probably nothing in the world that you would put that child to death for. Absolutely nothing, including your own life, would be worth giving up your child for.

But, that’s the price god was willing to pay in order for us to be reconciled to him.

Many times, people brush off god’s act on the cross, as if it was not significant.

Not so. To god, the importance of this event was beyond imagination, and the consequences were so pivotal that he gave up the one thing which mattered most to him beyond all else.

(5) “...that whoever believes in him..”

Who benefits from god’s sacrifice?

Or rather, who goes to heaven?

This section identifies the beneficiaries of god’s action – in other words, it tells us who receives god’s forgiveness and goes to heaven.

In addition, it challenges two commonly held fallacies. Many in the western world, including those who claim to be Christians, believe either one of two myths – (a) that everyone goes to heaven, or, perhaps more commonly, (b) that only ‘good’ people go to heaven.

Neither of these ideas are supported by the bible. Indeed, the bible directly contradicts both of these ideas. The bible states one criterion and one criterion only for entry into heaven – whether or not you believe in Christ.

Anyone, and I mean anyone, who has absolute faith that Christ’s death on the cross is a sufficient sacrifice to cover the cost of their sins, is a beneficiary of god’s action on the cross, and has guaranteed entry into god’s great kingdom of heaven.

On the other hand, those who do not believe in Christ do not benefit from his sacrifice on the cross.

To be sure, the passage states that the entire world, and everyone in it was the object of god’s love. But the passage also states that only those who believe in Christ benefit from his act of mercy.

To many, this may not seem fair. To some, it may not seem fair that anyone at all should miss out on receiving god’s gift of salvation. To others, the idea that one’s performance or morals on this earth are not considered does not seem just..

But god makes the rules, not us. And according to his word, those who believe in the death of Jesus benefit from his mercy, and non-believers do not.

(6) “..will not perish..”

This is where we move into the consequences of god’s action, and also where things get unpleasant.

There are two key consequences of god’s action on the cross, which are described in this section and the following section. The first, described here, deals with what believers avoid, the second with what believers gain.

By default, the passage also describes what non-believers will not be spared from, and what they miss out on.

What believers avoid, and what non-believers face, is death – eternal death. Essentially, this means permanent separation from god, and a one-way trip to hell – eternal punishment for our sins.

This is not a pleasant part of the Christian message, and it gives me no pleasure in saying this, but the bible says those who do not believe in Jesus, do suffer eternal punishment in hell. Not my words and not my rules, but that’s what the bible says.

To many, the idea that a loving god could send people to hell is incomprehensible. Indeed, if I made the rules, this fate would not befall upon anyone.
But god, as creator of the world, makes the rules, not me, and according to his rules, our sin brings with it the consequence of death. Those who believe in Jesus as their savior are spared this awful punishment. Not so, those who do not believe.

I’m not trying to scare anyone into becoming a Christian, but the bible does say that there is a consequence of not believing in Jesus Christ. This consequence is literally death and eternal punishment in hell.

But the good news is this – those who put their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior are spared from god’s wrath. They will not suffer eternal punishment in hell.

(7) “..but have eternal life.”

As stated above, god’s action on the cross has two consequences for believers in Christ. The first deals with what is avoided (eternal death) and the second deals with what is gained.

What is avoided is too unbearable to even contemplate. But what is gained, eternal life, is awesome beyond belief.

What exactly does it mean to have eternal life? My understanding is that the term ‘eternal life,’ refers both to the physical and the spiritual realm. It does not mean the avoidance of a physical death on earth. What it does mean is that after you ‘die’ on earth, you receive new life in heaven. You are taken up to heaven to receive new life there.

But there are two marked differences between the new life you receive and life on earth.

First, eternal life in heaven is just that – eternal life. Eternal life is never ending – it cannot be revoked and it has no end. Life in heaven is permanent - you don’t have to worry about being killed in a car accident.

The second marked difference lies in your relationship with our creator. On earth, we live in a broken world, a sinful world which has turned against the lord. In heaven, there is no brokenness, no despair, no pain and no suffering. In heaven, we live in a perfect relationship with the lord our creator. Spiritually, we are alive and alive in full. We are exhilarated, we are overjoyed. We feel nothing but the pure warmth of our creator’s love beaming down on us.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, what can we say?

When it all comes down to it, we were destined for death and eternal punishment.

Yet you, in your glory, showed the true extent of your grace and love. You paid the ultimate cost for our sin, a cost we could never understand. We will never be able to grasp the full extent of the price you paid, so that our sins can be forgiven a

Lord, I pray for each person reading this now, that they accept your peace deal, that you move their hearts to come and receive the abundant, pure and free grace which you over.
Lord, there is nothing we can do to earn a place in your great kingdom. All we can do is accept your great mercy and love.

In your great name I pray,

Amen.

Born again? (John 1:1-15)

2008-12-14T19:42:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life

Observations:
(1) We should not make assumptions about god.

In this passage, we see Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, make assumptions about Jesus. He comes to Jesus and says “We know you….who has come from god …”(v2).

Essentially, he was saying two things. Firstly, that they knew who Jesus was, and secondly, that they knew about the kingdom of god.

Little did he know, his false assumptions were about to be exposed. The response of Jesus took him by surprise. He was clearly on the back foot for the remainder of the conversation.

We must be very careful about the assumptions we make about god. Sometimes, I think that we try to contain god into a little box in our understanding. Our pre-conceived notions can block our hearts from being open to a fuller understanding of the nature of the lord.

Rather than making assumptions about god, we must allow him to speak to us, both through his word and through his spirit. Our hearts must be open to hearing him. We must be open to a greater understanding his true glory and honor.

(2) We cannot hope to understand god unless we have been born again.

How do we come to understand about god?

Formal study, whilst helpful, is not the answer. It would by quite possible to complete a Masters Degree in Theology and yet still not comprehend the unlimited justice, power, integrity, mercy and love of our magnificent creator.

Studying the bible is a wonderful way to gain a greater appreciation of the glorious character of our lord. But it is possible to undertake extensive bible study and still not comprehend the wonderful gift of our lord on the cross.

After all, Nicodemus, a member of the ruling Jewish council, was no doubt well versed in scripture. But his poor understanding of the role of Jesus as savior was exposed wide open in this encounter.

The greatness of the kingdom of the lord cannot be learned through academic comprehension.

The true power, glory, justice, mercy and love of the lord can only be learned through experience – the experience of being born again through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus on the cross.

What does it mean to be born again? How does one become born again?

Essentially, it means to experience complete forgiveness of sins through Jesus.

The bible says that the death of Christ on the cross is sufficient to cover the entire costs of all of our sins. Anyone who turns to god receives full forgiveness for their sins because of Jesus and his death on the cross.

Those who are forgiven through Christ receive a spiritual re-birth. Jesus died and was raised again three days later. In a similar manner, those who are forgiven through Jesus receive a spiritual re-birth. Physically, we remain in our regular state, but spiritually speaking, our old self dies and we are raised into a new spiritual life.

This is not a physical transformation, it’s a spiritual one. Spiritually speaking, we are born again, except that this time, we are born into the spirit of god, truly as one of his children. Spiritually speaking, we are born and raised into a new family and a new household, the kingdom of god.

The only way to truly know god is to experience him. This means experiencing the process of being forgiven for your sins and being spiritually raised into a new life through Jesus.

The greatness of god cannot be understood or comprehended without this experience.

(3) Status is worthless before god.

Within the world of the Jews, Nicodemus looked pretty good. As a member of the ruling Jewish council, he held a very respectable position.

He was the man. He had status, honor and apparently, a sound comprehension of the Old Testament. As a teacher of Israel, many looked up to him.

But did Nicodemus believe the word of god?

Apparently not, according to Jesus. Jesus said “I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (v12)

Moreover, in verse 3, Jesus implies that Nicodemus has not been ‘born again,’ and does not properly understand the kingdom of god.

It is possible that I am taking this passage out of context. It is also possible, given Jesus’ reference to ‘you people,’ (v10) that Jesus was not referring to Nicodemus personally, but either to the Jewish council or to the broader Jewish population within Jerusalem. However, Jesus does appear to accuse Nicodemus of not believing the word of god.

The point I am driving at is this – your worldly status does not matter when you stand before god. The only thing that matters when you stand before god is whether or not you believe in
Christ as your savior.

This applies for any man, woman or child. When it comes to standing before god, your earthly status does not count, whether you are a street beggar, prisioner, company owner, president, pastor or even the pope. The only thing that counts is whether your sins have been forgiven.

And, as we’ll see in the next passage, the only way that can happen is through belief in Jesus or savior.

(4) Jesus came from heaven.

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven.” (v15)

This says a ton about Jesus and why does not compare to any other man.

Each of us originated from the womb of another human. No matter how loving our parents may have been, they were imperfect human beings. We all originated from earthly beings and by nature, belong to the earth.

Jesus is different. He came from heaven - from god’s eternal heavenly kingdom.

His roots are different from ours. He came down to earth, but, unlike us, he was not really part of the world.

He is, and has always been, part of god’s great kingdom in heaven.

Prayer:
Lord, forgive us for the times when our hearts are not open to hearing about you and your word.

Forgive us for times when we assume in our ignorance to know things about you, even if those assumptions are not supported by your word.

Lord, we cannot comprehend the great height and depth of your incomparable justice, mercy and love unless we experience your great mercy through the forgiveness of our sins on the cross.

Lord, each of us is accountable to you and you only. Status before men does not matter if we are not right before you. So, let our hearts be set on honoring you, and let us all seek forgiveness from you for our sins through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus on the cross.

Lord Jesus, you are not one of us. We are from the earth, you are from heaven. We came from within a dirty, sinful, broken world. You are from a wonderful and perfect heaven.

In your great name,

Amen

What's in a Man? (John 2:23-25)

2008-12-07T19:30:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Observations:
(1) I have to admit that I do not understand this passage.

It seems clear that Jesus displayed the power of the lord by performing at least some miracles.

It is also clear that the crowd believed in his name because of what they had witnessed.

The point I do not understand is that about Jesus not entrusting himself to them.

What does this mean? Why was Jesus so particular about not trusting these specific people? I don’t know.

The context and location may provide some ideas. The location was Jerusalem – the same town of the crucifixion. This was also the same town where, before his death, Jesus arrived to a mass welcoming - only to have many demand his crucifixion shortly after.

Knowing what would later come, Jesus was doubtless wary of this crowd in particular. Jesus probably saw their belief as being shallow and fickle, especially given how quickly many turned against him at his crucifixion. This is the most likely explanation for Jesus’ distrust.

Furthermore, consider the context. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem to find that traders had turned the temple into a marketplace – not a great impression. If things like this were allowed to occur, it would be fair to say that the faith in Jerusalem was not strong.

Likewise, it was in Jerusalem that Judas was to betray Jesus into the hands of the Jewish leaders. This could also be a factor in Jesus’ response.

What is clear is that there was something different about the people of Jerusalem, some particular reason why Jesus had no trust in them.

But, as stated above, I do not understand the meaning of this passage.

Prayer:
Lord, when we put our trust in you, let our faith always be strong. Do not let our hearts change easily, but let us hold steadfast in good times and bad like a tree with strong roots. Let us stand strong, in solid ground, and never deviate from faith in Jesus.

In your great name I pray,

Amen.

Raising the Temple in Three Days (John 2:18-22)

2008-11-30T19:23:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
18Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 20The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Observations:
(1) Jesus claims, he delivers.

In the preceding verses, Jesus made a fairly significant claim. He said “How dare you turn my father’s house into a market.”

By referring to god as ‘my father,’ he was essentially claiming to be the son of god – a rather audacious claim. Accordingly, the response of the Jews, to demand a sign to prove his authority, is hardly surprising. Jesus was making a big claim.

They wanted to see proof of authority to make such a claim.

In response to this, Jesus made a big promise.

I feel that this promise was given for the benefit of the disciples, not for the purpose of immediately appeasing the Jews. It certainly was not what the Jews were expecting, or demanding. It is almost certain that many of the Jews would have been immediately satisfied by this response, particularly given that the promise was not fulfilled until several years later.

But the response was not made in the presence of Jews only. It was also made in the presence of the disciples, who were later to put their full trust and belief in him after the promise was fulfilled. It was them who saw the fulfillment of the promise.

Regardless of whoever the promise was primarily made for, the promise was fulfilled in completion. It may not have been fulfilled in the way expected by many, but it was fulfilled in completion. The body of Jesus, the temple of god, (see below) was raised three days after his death – exactly as promised.

Jesus promises, he delivers - a true sign of the pure integrity of our great lord.

(2) The church is not just a building.

What images enter your mind at the mention of the word ‘church?’

When I was a young kid, the word ‘church’ represented a place that I did not find particularly exciting. Sitting through long services with many old people was not much fun for a kid.

The common world view of the church relates to a building. The world see the church as a place that people (usually old) go to on a Sunday, as well as being where you go for baptisms, confirmations, marriages or funerals. They see it a place that you go to.

In the same way, the Jews at the time of Jesus saw the temple as a physical place.

Yes, it was a place of worship, but a physical place nonetheless.

Coming from this perspective, it was little wonder that the Jews could not understand the promise of Jesus. After all, a temple, in the literal sense, is a physical place. It’s where they went to worship god.

But Jesus was talking figuratively, not literally. Figuratively speaking, the body of Jesus Christ is the temple of god. Jesus, as part of the holy trinity, was god in the flesh – in the form of a man.

Therefore, the body of Christ was indeed the body of god.

Secondly, and most importantly, it was Christ’s body that was sacrificed on the cross and raised again. It was the body of Christ which took the entire punishment for the sin of man. Without this action, our relationship with Christ could not have been healed. Without this action, we not be reconciled to god, we would have no reason to worship god and physical temples would not serve a worthwhile purpose.

The body of Christ represents, in figurative terms, the true temple of god, the centerpiece of the kingdom of heaven.

Yes we go to physical buildings in order to worship. But the act of worship is not about buildings – it’s about Christ, and his death and resurrection. That’s what we celebrate. A temple is where we worship. Jesus is why we worship.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, I thank you that you didn’t stay dead on that cross, that the promise was fulfilled and you raised the holy temple of your own body.

Lord, we know we can have full confidence in your word. We know that you are a god of integrity, that when you promise that something will happen, it does.

Lord, we go to physical buildings to worship you. But let us not forget that the building is simply a venue, and what matters is why we worship, lord. And the reason why we worship is because of your great sacrifice on the cross – the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

That is why we are there, lord. It’s because of who you are. It’s because of your wonderful name.
It’s because of the amazing justice and love that you showed for us on the cross.

And in that, lord, we can only look at you in awe of your greatness.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our lord.

Amen.

Profiting from the kingdom of god? (John 2:12-17)

2008-11-23T18:49:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
12After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

17His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."

Background:
For those who are unaware, a little background into the concept of a ‘Passover’ may help in understanding this passage.

The ‘Passover’ feast originated during the time of Moses. Shortly before leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, god had inflicted a range of plagues on the Egyptians. During the final such plague, god struck down and killed the firstborn of every Egyptian household.

Israelite households were spared these calamities. On the night in question the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb. The doors on their households were to be marked with the blood.

In addition, they were to roast and eat the lamb for supper.

The blood on the doorway distinguished Israelite households from the Egyptians.
Egyptian households bore the full force of the plague, but Israelite-marked households were spared any impact. The plague literally ‘passed over’ Israelite households in a completely discriminate fashion.

The Passover was a demonstration that god had set the Israelites apart. They were chosen to be his people – part of the kingdom of god – separate from the Egyptians.

Subsequently, according to the lord’s decree, a Passover feast was to be celebrated by the Israelites as a lasting ordinance. At such feasts, the Israelites were required to bring an animal, which was to be sacrificed (killed) in honor of the lord’s act of mercy at the original Passover.

Observations:
I think there are three key observations that we can make:

(1) God must not be used for profit.

When the time for the festival came, the Israelites needed animals for sacrifice in order to correctly fulfill the requirements of the celebration (refer ‘background’ above). Accordingly, those who did not have a suitable animal had no choice but to purchase one.

This created a market for traders who, with little care about the meaning of the festival, were able to exploit the needs of god’s chosen people for their own profit.

This practice was an insult to god, as are all forms of viewing Christianity as a means to profit.
I am not saying here that Christians should never gain financially from service to the god’s kingdom. Pastors, church leaders or others who work in a church related role are entitled to have their material needs met.

The key factor here is motivation. In the case of those who work in church related roles, their primary motivation (usually) is furthering the kingdom of the lord. There is no problem with them receiving some form of financial reward. God looks into their hearts. If their hearts are set on honoring the kingdom of heaven, then he will be pleased.

Nor is it a problem for business to profit from religion in cases where such a profit is merely incidental to their regular business operations. For example, there is nothing wrong with a book publisher who profits from the sale of Christian books in addition to other books.

What is a problem, however, is the practice of viewing god simply as a means of profit, as in the case of the traders above. They did not care about the Passover festival, or about what its meaning. They cared only about the prospect of financial gain.

The disgust of Jesus demonstrates how god feels about such practices.

Men led by Satan ask how they can profit from the lord. Men led by the lord ask how they can serve, honor and glorify their magnificent creator.

(2) Jesus is not just a gentleman often imagined.

When you picture Jesus, how do you imagine him? What images spring to your mind?

Before I came to Christ, the image I used to have was that of a kind, serving gentleman - a good man, who would never hurt a fly. I pictured Jesus as being gentle and caring – always peaceful, never aggressive. A truly nice guy.

That picture is partially misleading.

True, Jesus had a pure servant heart. He was caring and he was a gentleman. But he was not always simply a ‘nice guy.’ He did not beat around the bush, nor was he afraid to rock the boat.

Jesus did not politely ask the men to kindly fold up their tables. He flew into a rage, and left no doubt whatsoever that their actions were completely unacceptable.

An interesting parallel may be drawn with the actions of god the father. The original Passover came about because the Egyptians persecuted the Israelites. God the father responded with a brutal act of destruction.

At this particular Passover festival, the sellers were exploiting god’s people. Jesus the son did not responded with an act of brutality. Not destruction, this time – but brutality none the less.

This demonstrates an important point about god’s character – he does not tolerate acts against himself or his people.

To be sure, god is full of mercy. He provided his son as a sacrifice for our sins.

But, for those who mock, exploit or persecute god or his people, his patience will run out.

And you don’t want to be on his wrong side when that happens.

(3) Jesus has extreme passion for the house of god.

The last part of the passage reads “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Why did Jesus fly into a rage? What was it about this action in particular which set Jesus off?

The response of Jesus demonstrates his pure passion for the house of god. Jesus is part of the holy trinity. As such, the kingdom of god is like his family home or household. It’s his home. It’s where he belongs – a sacred place. There is nothing he cares about more.

It is worth noting here that the house of god is not a physical building on earth. Maybe, there is a physical house in heaven, I don’t know. But the ‘house’ of god here refers to the kingdom of god, which in a spiritual sense, consists of the holy trinity and all of god’s chosen people.

When the traders used the festival for profit, figuratively speaking, they ransacked its entire meaning. It was like vandals coming in and destroying a holy place.The magnitude of Jesus response shows just how much the house of god means to him.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, let us never view any part of you or your kingdom as a source of profit.

The day we see your kingdom as a means for profit, is the day we insult you. Your kingdom is so much more. Your kingdom is about life – it is the source of life.

Let us serve and honor you and only you. Let our hearts be set only upon your kingdom. Rather than devising profit schemes, let us meditate upon your great mercy - the mercy in which you have shown fully to us through the death of your son on the cross.

Lord, you show us a great example of your passion for your kingdom. Let us worship your great kingdom with reverence. Let us love the great kingdom you have created.

And let us worship and adore you who made that great kingdom.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our lord.

Amen.

The first miracle (John 2:1-11)

2008-11-16T22:49:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(1) On the third day, a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, (2) and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. (3) When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him “They have no more wine.”

(4) Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

(5) His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

(6) Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.

(7) Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim.

(8) Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, (9) and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

Then he called the bridegroom aside (10) and said “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.”

(11) This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Observations:
(1) Jesus lived the way he promised.

Back in John 1:50-51, we saw Jesus put his reputation on the line by promising Nathanael that he would see great miracles.

In this passage, Jesus commences action upon his promise. The act – turning water into wine – was the first of many miracles Jesus performed. In doing so, he started delivering on what he had promised to Nathanael.

This is just one of many examples throughout the bible which attests to both the character of Jesus the son and that of god the father – he doesn’t make bold promises lightly – what he says he will do – he does.

(2) God is not a ‘kill joy.’

A common perception of god in the world is that he is a kill joy. Some have the idea that being a Christian means locking yourself away in a cupboard and never enjoying the fruits of life – something like what we see in the movie “Flowers in the Attic.”

This is a misconception. To be sure, Christians are called to abstain from certain activities, such as sexual promiscuity or alcohol abuse. But at the same time, god created many wonderful things for us to celebrate and enjoy.

The gift of marriage is one such wonderful occasion. Far from abstaining from the celebration, we see that Jesus joined in. Not only did he personally join in, but when tragedy almost struck and the wine ran out, Jesus saved the day and allowed the celebration to continue.

God has given us many wonderful things in life to celebrate and enjoy. We should not hold back in enjoying the lord’s great gifts, but should take an attitude of enormous gratitude to our maker.

(3) Sensible enjoyment of alcohol is Ok.

This is not the main point of the passage and I do not wish to labor upon this point.

Some Christians abstain from alcohol by choice, others believe that drinking alcohol is a sin.

However, we can clearly see here that god is not opposed to enjoyment of alcohol per see. We see here Jesus turning water into wine. Later we see Jesus giving wine to his disciples during their final feast together.

It seems clear to me that sensible enjoyment of wine is OK. Abuse of alcohol, or getting drunk, is not behavior which honors the gospel. But sensible enjoyment is not a problem.

(4) Jesus does not refer to Mary as his mother. (v4)

The manner in which Jesus addresses Mary in this case demonstrates not only an important aspect of the relationship between Jesus and Mary, but also of the character of Jesus himself.

Jesus addresses Mary as “Dear woman,” – not as his mother.

Why didn’t Jesus address Mary as his mother? I believe the reason for this is that from a spiritual viewpoint, Jesus had no mother, nor did he need one.

John chapter 1 describes how Jesus, from a spiritual viewpoint, has always existed. The existence of Jesus in physical form commenced after he was born to the virgin Mary. However, the spiritual existence of Jesus had no commencement.

Physically, he was born to Mary. Spiritually, he has always existed.

For this reason, from a spiritual viewpoint, he had no mother. Nor did he need one.

It should be noted, however, that whist the manner which Jesus adopts toward Mary does not indicate an intimate relationship, nor does it indicate rudeness or disrespect. According to one of my former pastors in Australia, the expression “Dear woman,” was not, in this context, a patronizing expression.

Jesus did not address Mary as his mother, but nor does he address her in an insulting manner.

(6) God does not act according to our time schedule.

Not only does Jesus not address Mary as mother, but he also made it clear that he would reveal his glory when the time was right, and not when Mary asked.

In this case, Jesus performed the miracle nevertheless. But he also made it clear that neither the problems faced by the wedding party, or Mary’s wishes, would dictate when the time was right for him to reveal his glory.

Often times, we think feel that god should do what we want and act according to our plans and schedules. Perhaps this is a product of the consumer oriented societies of the western world - where we are encouraged to think of ourselves, as individual consumers, as being the centre of the world.

But god will not simply conform to our desires. He is the creator of the world, we are his creation.
We are accountable to him, not the other way around. He will carry out everything according to his perfect plan in his own time. Sometimes, this will conform neatly into what works conveniently for us. Other times, it will not.

But he does things according to his plan and schedule, not ours.

Prayer:
Lord, I thank you that you fulfill your promises.

When I look at your word, it reveals a maker who does not make empty promises, but rather a maker who can be totally and completely trusted.

Lord, I thank you that you gave us many wonderful things to celebrate and enjoy. The gift of marriage, where you join two people in lifetime partnership, is simply a marvelous gift.

Lord, so many times, we think you should do things our way and conform to our plans and schedules. Remind us in those times, Lord, that we are under your authority, not the other way around. Humble our hearts to accept your plans.

In these things I pray. In your great name.

Amen

Jesus knows who you are (John 1:43-50)

2008-11-09T22:41:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."

44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

46 "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit."

48 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49 Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel."

50 Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that." 51 He then added, "Very truly I tell you, you will see 'heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Observations:
(1) God is not always who we expect.

I personally became a Christian and put my faith in Christ nine years ago.

However, I have often found that I have held ideas about god which I later found to be completely unsubstantiated by what the bible says.

Our natural tendency is to view god as how we think he should be – not how the bible says that he is. It can be difficult to cast aside pre-conceived notions about how we think the lord should be like and how we think he should act.

But god will not be confined to who we think that he should be. He acts the way he is.

We can see a good example here. Both Phillip and Nathanael had a were well-versed in the Old Testament – a fact that we can see from Philip’s reference to the law of Moses. Both were familiar with the concept of the messiah. Both had their own ideas about what the messiah should be like.

Nathanael’s idea was completely misplaced.We are not told what Nathanael expected. Perhaps, he expected the messiah to come in some form of grandeur and splendor. Maybe, he would descend from the clouds. At the very least, the messiah would come from a more dignified region or town.

Clearly, he did not expect the messiah to come from a modest region.

In Nathanael’s case, his pre-conceived notion of the messiah was blown apart by a physical encounter with Jesus. But I think we can learn an important lesson. Too often, we approach god with pre-conceived notions. This could lead to disappointment when god does not do what we think that he ought to.

God will not simply do what we think he should do. He rules over us, not the other way around.

(2) God knows your name.

Have you ever felt small and insignificant? Ever felt that that huge guy in heaven is too big to care about us or any of our daily lives?

Good news – god does not view us that way. God cares enough to know everything there is to know about us.

In the previous passage (John 1:42), when Peter was bought before Jesus, Jesus looked straight at him and said “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephras (which, when translated, is Peter).”

Jesus knew Peter by name. Not only that, he knew about Peter’s family background. Peter was not some unimportant part of the masses of unknown. He meant enough to Jesus that Jesus already knew him by name.

Moreover, consider verse 47, when Jesus saw Nathanael approaching. Jesus already knew everything about his character, and confidently stated that there was nothing false about him.

That much, Jesus could not have known from simply being told by others. In order to be able to make that much of a statement about someone, you have to know their character inside out.

God is not distant. He does not consider us as unimportant. He knows each of us by name, family background and character. He knows everything that there is to know about us

(3) Jesus put his reputation on the line.

If someone came up and told you that you were going to see “heavens open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man,” what would you think? Would you think those claims might be a little extravagant?

By promising this, Jesus was putting himself on the line. If he had delivered something less, his credibility would have been shot to pieces and he would have been exposed as a fake. He could not, after making such elaborate promises, afford to come up short.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord I thank you that you are not distant. You do not sit up in heaven and take no interest in our lives. You are not some distant creator who doesn’t really know us.

You know us by name. You know what is happening in each of our lives.

Lord, so many times, we see you as we think you should be, not as your great word says that you are. Lord, help open our hearts and minds to learning more about your character. Let us dwell upon your great character every day.

Lord, you made great promises about what you would do through your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you lord, that throughout his life, your son fulfilled what was promised and your glory was on full display for us to see.

In these things, I pray and thank you for.

Amen.

Boldness and Humility (John 1:19-28)

2008-11-03T11:30:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(19)Now this was John’s testimony given when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. (20)He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”
They asked him, “Then, who are you. Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Phrophet?

He answered, “No.”

(22)Finally, they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

(23)John replied in the words of Isaiah, the prophet. “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way for the lord.”

(24)Now some Pharisees who had been sent (25)questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ?”

(26)“I baptize with water,” John replied. “But among you stands one you do not know. (27)He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

(28)This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Observations:
I have written in earlier posts how I feel that we can learn a lot from the attitude of John the Baptist.

Here, John states his identity and place before god in a clear and unambiguous fashion.

John shows true humility in his responses to the questions. He does not try to pretend he is something he is not. Nor does he overstate his significance. John states clearly that he is not the Christ and acknowledges that compared with Christ he is nothing.

But whilst his responses show a truly humble attitude before god, there is no sign of false humility. Nor was he in any way apologetic. John clearly knew and unambiguously stated his role and identity before god.

God gave John a mission and he boldly fulfilled that mission. He did so with no regard to either what others may think or any personal cost to himself. God gave him a role, John fulfilled that role. God gave him an identity and a place, John assumed his identity and place assigned by god – no questions asked, end of story.

John never shied away from being who god made him to be or doing the work god had assigned him. Nor should any Christian. Whatever god has called us to do in life, we should do boldly and without hesitation. Whoever god has called us to be, we must assume our place and live out god’s plan to the full.

Like John, we too must understand our place before Jesus. Compared to Christ, we are nothing.

As we have discussed previously, Jesus is the author and source of all life. He came from heaven to earth, lived a sinless life and laid down his life so that our sins could be forgiven.

We, sinful man, pale in comparison. We must never forget that.

At the same time, god has a specific plan the lives of every believer. All believers in Christ have a specific place in his kingdom. We must summon courage and fully carry out god’s plan in full.

How do we know what god’s plan for our life is?

God may or may not choose to tell us his plan in advance. One good idea is to pray for God’s continued guidance, that he may guide us through life and in making decisions according to his will.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, you are everything. We are nothing.

Lord Jesus, you, who were before all things, the creator and source of all life, came down from heaven to earth. You lived a perfect, sinless life and sacrificed yourself on the cross so that we could have life.

Your greatness, your power and your love are beyond comparison. We, sinful men and women, do not even deserve the right to be able to speak your name. We are not worthy to be part of your family.

But thanks to your great sacrifice on the cross, we, all believers, can be take up a place in your family. And lord, let us assume our place in your family with boldness and courage as well as graciousness and thankfulness.

Guide us lord, in our decisions. Guide us into the fulfillment of your plan for our lives. Give us courage and strength to stand out from the world and assume firmly the role you have allocated to each of us.

In these things I pray,

In your great name,

Amen.

Our part as witnesses to the kingdom of god (John 1:35-42)

2008-11-02T22:25:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(35) The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. (36) When he saw Jesus standing by, he said “Look, the lamb of god!”

(37) When the two disciples heard him say this, they turned around and followed Jesus. (38) Turning around, Jesus saw them and asked, “What do you want?”
They said “Rabbi” (which means ‘teacher’) “Where are you staying?”

(39) “Come,” he replied, “and you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying and spent the day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

(40) Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. (41) The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him. “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). (42) And he bought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephras” (which, when translated, is Peter).

Observations:
I’d like to make some observations here about witnessing to the gospel.

(1) Witnesses to the gospel play an integral part of building the kingdom of god.

There are two paths via which people come to know god. Firstly, the bible records some people who came to god through either direct contact with Jesus or divine revelation. Whilst Jesus walked the earth, many came to know him through direct contact. And the bible records some examples (e.g. Paul) of people who received to gospel through divine revelation.

Yes, god can work divine miracles. However, in the majority of cases, people receive the gospel via other believers. This is what we see here – John witnessing to two of his own disciples (more on that in a later post) and Andrew, in turn, witnessing to Peter - witnesses witnessing about the gospel to others, who, in turn, become witnesses and witness about the gospel to yet others still.

God is not in any way reliant upon this method, but it seems to be the most common way for the kingdom of god to expand most of the time.

I believe that all who know Christ as their savior are given an active role in the growth of the kingdom of god. God, as we see in the book of Genesis (the first book in the bible), is an active god. He believes in activity, not passivity, and I believe that he has an active role for every believer.

True, I believe that god chooses to give special spiritual gifts to special people for specific purposes. But no matter what, every single follower of Jesus can (and should) be a witness for Jesus. There are no special qualifications.

Every believer, I feel, should seek to be active in two ways – knowing Christ themselves (usually through reading the bible) and making him known by being a witness to others.

(2) Being an effective witness to the gospel does not require education or talent. (v41)

Do you know your bible inside out? Are you particularly talented at speaking or presenting new ideas in a persuasive manner?

If the answer to one or both of these questions is yes, then I have good news. If the answer is no, I have the same good news:

You can be an effective witness to the gospel.

In verse 41, Andrew has only just heard the news about Jesus. Now it does appear that Andrew previously had a reasonable background knowledge of the old testament - after all, he was one of John’s disciples. But, this was Andrew’s first encounter with Jesus.

How did Andrew approach the task of making Jesus known to others?

Did he go away and study for six months to refine his knowledge of the OT and write a carefully scripted answer to every possible question about Jesus? No.

Did he follow Jesus for a while to undertake a detailed study of him? No.

Did he ‘brush up’ on his techniques at people persuasion? No.

He went straight into action. Immediately after meeting Jesus himself, he found his brother and shared his good news. Instinctively and instantaneously, Andrew found himself being an effective witness for the gospel. He did not need special skills or training - he simply went into action.

I’m certainly not saying that we should not undertake diligent study of the bible. Nor am I saying that careful preparation for sharing the gospel is a bad thing. Objections to the gospel must be expected, and in dealing with these, it does help, I think, to be battle ready.

What I am saying, is that we should not put off the task of sharing the gospel with others.
Start today.

(3) First, you must encounter Jesus
So, then. What does it take to be an effective witness to the gospel?

When we look at the story of Andrew, we can see, I think, three key aspects of Andrew witnessing to Peter.

First, Andrew had a personal encounter with Jesus. Before Andrew could tell Peter about Jesus, he had to know Jesus himself.

So must we. Before we go out and tell others about Jesus, we must first come to the point where we ourselves know Christ as our savior.

We can only share with others what we know ourselves.

Now, we will not, like Andrew, have a physical encounter with Jesus. Our encounter with Jesus will be spiritual. The point which we need to come to is where we can confidently affirm Jesus as our savior, where we have absolute faith that all of our sins have been covered by the death of Jesus on the cross.

If you have come to that position already, you are ready to be a witness to the gospel.

If not, I do not believe that you are ready to be a witness to the gospel at this point.

(4) Second, you must follow Jesus:

There was one thing Andrew, as well as the other disciple of Jesus, did betwee the point of encountering Jesus and the point of Andrew becoming a witness to Peter:

Andrew followed Jesus.

Andrew, and the other disciple, literally turned and followed Jesus. They turned around, giving up whatever else they were doing in their lives, and followed their messiah.

We, too, must follow Jesus in our own lives. For us, following Jesus will not be a physical act, as with Andrew, but a spiritual act. It’s turning around our lives and following a life worthy of the gospel. It’s turning from any areas of sin in our lives and instead following the ways of righteousness.

If we truly know Jesus, we will follow him. We won’t do it perfectly, and some of us will still fall back into sinful ways, but we will be drawn naturally to following the ways of Jesus – if we truly know him.

It’s all well and good to go out and share the gospel with others. But our sharing of the gospel will be much more effective if we, ourselves are living the gospel. We cannot share what we don’t follow. The people whom we share the gospel with must be able to see the grace of god in how we live, as well as what we say.

(5) We must bring people to jesus

In verse 42, the bible says that Andrew brought Peter to Jesus.

That’s exactly what sharing the gospel is about – bringing people to Jesus. In the same way that Andrew bought Peter to Jesus, we, too, must try to bring those with whom we share the gospel to Jesus.

In the case of Andrew, his act of bringing Peter to Jesus is a physical and literal act. In our case, bringing people to Jesus is a figurative act, not a literal one. We might choose to take them along to church or to a home bible study group. We might introduce them to online bible study groups.

Whatever we do, I think that we need to bring people to a place where they can meet other believers, learn about Jesus and experience some form of worship.

There, they will be able to experience Jesus for themselves. Whether or not they accept Jesus into their lives will depend on them and god. But we must bring them to a place where they can experience the saving grace of Christ.

Prayer:
Lord, I pray for two things.

First, for us to know you. Lord, we cannot witness effectively to others until we actually know you ourselves. So lord, ever so much more, please shower upon us more and more understanding of your perfect justice, power, mercy and love, so that we may know you more fully every day.

Second, I pray that you equip us with the courage and wisdom to follow you and to share the news of your great mercy and love to others. Lord, how often I fail in this simple task!

Lord, let others look upon us and not only hear about you from our mouths, but see your work and your grace in our lives. Let our words and our lives be a witness to your glory.

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

John's Testimony About Jessus (John 1:15-19)

2008-10-27T10:22:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:

(15) John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said ‘he who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” (16) From the fullness of grace, we have received one blessing after another. (17) For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (18) No one has ever seen god, but God the One and Only, who is at the father’s side, has made him known.

Observations:
(1) Although I am focusing on the character of Jesus Christ, our savior, I think we can learn a lot about the attitude we should take before god through looking at John the Baptist.

More will be written about this in future posts. But for now, let’s consider John’s testimony about Jesus in verse 15:

“He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”

John knew and understood his place before Jesus. So should we.

In earthly terms, John was slightly older than Jesus. Attitudes of people toward their ‘seniors’ and ‘juniors’ varies from country to country and from culture to culture. But in most cases, those who are slightly older tend to look down a little on those who are slightly younger. Accordingly, John might feel ever so slightly justified in perhaps looking down at Jesus a little.

But, John the Baptist knew who Jesus really was. In John Chapter 1:1-5, John the gospel writer describes how:

• The existence of Jesus, like that of god, had no beginning;
• Jesus is the source of all life; and
• all things were made through Jesus.

John the Baptist recognized and acknowledged that Jesus was before him. Yes, John’s birth on earth predated that of Jesus, but Jesus existed from the beginning of time. Therefore, Jesus was ‘before’ John. Jesus was not just before John in terms of physical existence. Jesus was before John, and is before all of us, in all aspects of life. Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life – we haven’t. Jesus, by his death and resurrection, saved people from their sins – we can’t. Jesus came from the father, from god – we didn’t. Jesus, being fully god, is the creator and source of all life – we aren’t.

In short, Jesus is before us in every way.

Knowing all of this, we can learn from the attitude of John about humility toward Jesus. John the Baptist showed the appropriate respect before Jesus. He humbled himself and demonstrated appropriate respect and reverence toward Jesus.

That is something which I do not always do. Too often, I focus on my own needs, not upon my savior. Too often, I am too busy running around chasing my dreams and materialistic things instead of using my time and money in ways which honor god.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that it is necessarily a bad thing to work for your dreams or to attain material things. But what I need to do is focus my priorities. I must learn to first seek to give Jesus the appropriate level of respect, be it in spiritual ways such as prayer and my thought life, or in practical ways such as how I use my time and money, or making the effort to care for and love those in need.

(2) “For the law was given through Moses, Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ”

For those who may not be aware, the ‘law’ being referred to here is ‘mosaic law.’ Essentially, this refers to a set of laws for holy living which god gave to Moses after he (god) had lead the Israelites in an escape from an oppressive regime in Egypt.

The law is detailed throughout the second, third, forth and fifth book in the bible: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It contains something like six hundred commandments. These include the famous ten commandments – which outlined the main points of the law.
Both Israel as a nation and each and every Israelite individually were required by god to follow the law, which defined god’s way of living. Living by the law was living god’s way. Breaking the law was a sin against god.

The requirements of the law were extremely burdensome. With the exception of Jesus, no one was able to follow them in full. Accordingly every single Isralite (except Jesus) sinned against god as some stage in their lives, as has every single person that has ever walked this earth.

Whilst the law proved impossible to follow, I feel that it still reveals a large part of the character of god. As far as relevant to this discussion, the law shows us:

• how high god’s standards are;
• the degree of pureness, cleanliness and holiness of god;
• just what it would take to please god (basically, absolute perfection); and
• how far short we fall of god’s standards

God’s requirement was for nothing less than full compliance with his law. God is perfect and he simply cannot tolerate any sin or breaking of any of his holy laws. But we are not perfect and fall well short of his requirements. God simply cannot overlook this and it creates a problem between us and god.

Thankfully, through Christ, we are shown another side of god – his perfect grace, mercy and love. Although we fall well short of god’s requirements, god does not simply abandon us. Instead, through his great mercy, he offered to everyone his own solution to our sin. He sent his one and only son to pay the price for our sin.

So, through the law, we see god’s perfect standards. Through Christ, we see god’s perfect mercy and love.

(3) “No one has ever seen god, but god, the one and only, who is at the father’s side, has made him known.”

Ever heard anyone claim to have seen god? Maybe you have. Next question, what exactly were they taking?

Physically seeing god does not appear to be a common experience. Personally, I’ve never just been driving down to the road and just happened to see god on the side of the road. Nor have a said to my nephews or nieces “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ‘g’ – god!”

Seeing god was not a common experience for Old Testament characters either. Moses, for instance saw only an angel through flames of fire from within a burning bush.

Come to think of it, the Old Testament does not describe anyone seeing god – no one at all. God the father spoke directly to certain people, but no-one actually saw him.

So, I am highly dubious of any claims to have seen god the father.

But, although we cannot and have not seen god, Jesus, his son, has made him known. Jesus has shown us the full character of god. As we have discussed at length in prior studies, Jesus showed the full power of god through his miracles, the faultlessness and cleanliness of god through the perfect way in which he lived and his amazing justice, love and mercy through the his death and resurrection.

Jesus fully reflected the character of god in every way. If you want to know about the character of god the father, look at Jesus, his son. Through him, the full character of the father is displayed.

Not only that, but Jesus, through his death and resurrection, made relationship with the father possible. Before the act on the cross, the problem of our sin was blocking us from relationship with the father. But, this barrier has been torn and all who truly believe in Jesus can share full relationship with the father.

We will not see god the father until we die. But we can know his full character by looking at the son. And through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are free for full relationship with the father.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,
Lord, let us humble our hearts before you. You existed when time commenced. You created everything and are before everything. Let us humble ourselves and look upon you with mass reverence.
Lord, you showed us just how perfect you are through your law. We can never come anywhere near your standards, lord. We’re just not good enough. We’re just sinful man. But thanks also for showing us grace through Christ. Without grace, we would be lost. Without grace, we could have no relationship with you.
Lord, we will never see you until we die. But thank you oh so much for revealing yourself to us through your son, Jesus Christ. Through him, we have the privilege of knowing you. Through him, we can have full relationship with you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
In the name of Jesus Christ our lord,
Amen.

The Word became flesh (John 1:14)

2008-10-19T21:30:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(14) The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.

Observations:
I would like to break this passage down into five parts and deal with each part separately.

Part A - “The word became flesh.”

One of the most misused phrases in the bible.

Robert Kiyosak, in his series “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” series, quotes this passage in support of his view about self-talk – that your self-talk helps to determine your destiny.

This is an absolutely ludicrous interpretation of the passage. The passage has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with self-talk. To quote this passage in support of self-talk is to take the passage way, way, way out of it’s proper context.

Leaving aside such ridiculous quotations, what does it mean that the word became flesh? I must acknowledge that I do not fully understand this passage, so I cannot explain it fully.

Nevertheless, I’ll make some suggestions based upon what I think.

The passage is literally referring to Jesus coming in the flesh and body of a man, and living among us. The ‘word’ here (also referred to in John 1:1) probably refers to both the Old
Testament and to Jesus.

The Old Testament prophesized a savior. When Jesus was born, the prophesy came true.

Accordingly, the prophesy became flesh both literally and figuratively – literally, as in Jesus was born in the physical body of a man, and figuratively as in it came to pass.

‘The word’ here also refers specifically to Jesus. It was, after all, Jesus, who literally came in the flesh.

Jesus claims that the scriptures point to him. I believe, therefore, that the expression ‘the word became flesh’ refers to what was foretold in the scriptures becoming literally true in terms of

Jesus, the savior, being literally born in the flesh.

Part 2 – And made his dwelling among us

It can be tempting to view god as being detached from human life.

Under this view, he sits on his high horse in heaven all day long. He does not know or care what it’s like to have to confront the challenges of life on earth.

But the scripture does not support this view.

The scripture says that Jesus – the son of god (and himself fully god) – came down from the father, took on the physical body of a man and actually lived among us. He confronted (and overcame) all of the temptations and challenges of living a real human life in a real human body amongst real people. He was fully god, but he also experienced first hand the trials of living as a man on earth.

Therefore, we cannot say that he is indifferent toward our lives on earth. He isn’t. Jesus came in a very deliberate manner from the father lived a full life with us on earth as one of us.

Nor can we say that he does not understand human struggles or pain. He does, through first hand experience.

Part 3 - “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only”

In this statement, I think that John is referring to the whole and complete event of Jesus’s birth, death and resurrection.

Jesus did not hold back. He displayed the full extent of the glory of god – his great power, understanding, perfection and love. He did this both through the perfect life he lived and the great sacrifice of his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. God’s sheer power of was on full display through the miracles which Jesus performed. His all-surpassing knowledge, wisdom and understanding of god was fully demonstrated through his groundbreaking teaching of scripture. The absolute perfection of god almighty was displayed through the pure and faultless way in which Jesus lived – fulfilling god’s law completely with absolutely no sin in any way. Finally, the perfect love of god, which surpasses all knowledge and understanding, was demonstrated through the death of Jesus on the cross, as payment for the forgiveness of our sins.

If we want to know about the absolute glory of god the father, we need only look at the life, death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. There, god’s full glory – his power, understanding, perfection, justice and love, were on full display.

Part 4: “Who came from the father”

I have spent the last two years of my life living and working in a foreign country. I am from Australia and I am now living in rural South Korea.

The Koreans have been very kind to me and have welcomed me into their country. But I will never be one of them. I am different to them in many ways. Koreans observe very strict social rules. Whilst I try to respect Korean customs, but am prepared to break them if there is a good enough reason to do so. Koreans operate under a clearly defined social hierarchy – and will never question someone above them. I do not care as much about social hierarchy. Koreans are good at sitting cross legged whilst eating dinner. I simply can’t do it.

I see the world differently to Koreans. My beliefs, thoughts, mannerisms and actions are different to theirs. I love them and their way of life, but I am not one of them. I am different and I always will be.

The same is true with all foreigners who I meet in Korea, whether from England, New Zealand,
Scotland Australia, America, Canada, or other parts of the world. We are all different to Koreans.
Why am I different? I am different because of where I came from. I came from a different place.

Throughout the gospel, it is clear that Jesus is completely unlike anyone else in any way. He told oceans to be calm and they obeyed – no human could do that. He displayed unlimited understanding and wisdom, far beyond that of any other human. He lived a perfect, completely sinless life – no other person has ever done that. He laid down his life for the lord – few people have done that.

Why was Jesus so different? He was different because of where he came from. He lived a sinless life because he came from the father, who is sinless. He had complete control over science and nature because he came from the father, the creator of the earth. He had unlimited knowledge and wisdom because he came from the father, who has unlimited knowledge and wisdom. He spoke the truth boldly because he came from the father, who is full of nothing but truth. He had mercy on tax collectors and sinners because he came from the father, who is full of mercy and grace.

Finally, he demonstrated perfect love on the cross, because he came from the father, whose justice and love are perfect and unlimited.

Part D: “Full of grace and truth”

These words, used to describe the fundamental nature of Jesus and how he lived on earth, speak volumes about the character of god the father.

Jesus came from the father. His character and nature perfectly reflect that of god our heavenly father. Jesus came full of truth and grace and those traits came directly from the father. This means that the character of god the father is absolutely full of truth and also of grace.

Throughout his life on earth, Jesus spoke the truth boldly. Now this is easy when the truth is easy to accept. But when the truth is difficult to accept, then it’s all too easy to water it down.

The gospel contains some fairly difficult truths as it is. It is difficult for people to accept that they have failed god and are in need of salvation. It is also difficult to accept that a loving god would ever punish people for their sins.

But add to this what Jesus had to say – that he was the savior – that he was the son of god – and that all who believed in him would have their sins forgiven, and the truth gets harder still to tell.

But Jesus never once backed away from the full truth. Not once did he water down or sugar coat the truth.

Not only this, but Jesus lived the truth as well. During his lifetime, he fulfilled everything which had previously been prophesized about the savior. Moreover, he lived a perfect life and perfectly fulfilled the requirements of god’s law.

Jesus not only spoke and lived the truth in full, he also spoke and lived a life full of grace and mercy.

There is no better illustration of this than on the cross. Jesus had been crucified, severely beaten and nailed to the cross without doing anything wrong. At that point, Jesus would feel entitled to be at least a little angry. But his response: “Forgive them father, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Those words speak for themselves about the extent of Jesus’s grace and love.

Prayer:
Thank you, lord Jesus.

You were up there in heaven, in marvel and glorious majesty. We were down here. Little people, sinful man. Completely underserving of your grace.

Yet you, though you were everything, came from heaven to earth and took on the form of literal human flesh. You know what it is like, lord, to be one of us. You have literally lived on this earth amongst us as one of us.

Yet, though you lived in human flesh, you did not hold back in showing the wonderful glory of god the father. You demonstrated the full extent of his power through the many miracles you performed. You also demonstrated his purity and truthfulness by the perfect way in which you lived on earth. Finally, lord Jesus, you demonstrated everything about the lord – power, truthfulness, justice and mercy – through your death on the cross and resurrection.

You were able to demonstrate all of this because you came from the father, full of grace, love, glory and truth. And then, at the resurrection, you went back to the father, after all had been accomplished.

Jesus, I am lost for words when I think about you. Your greatness is just beyond comprehension. I can only fall down on my knees and say “Thank you, lord. Thank you.” When we turned away from you, you never disowned us. You paid an amazing price to allow sinful men and women to be included amongst your glorious family.

I can only thank you and praise you.

Amen.

Becoming a child of god (John 1;12-13)

2008-10-12T21:24:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(12) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of god - (13) children not born of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of god.

Observations:
The previous post was not particularly uplifting.

We saw that Jesus came to the world and that the world, as a whole, rejected him.

This passage brings some more uplifting news. Whilst the majority of people rejected Jesus, some believed in him. To these people, the gospel says, Jesus gave the right to become children of god.

Normally, when I believe in someone, seeing them succeed fills me with encouragement and enthusiasm. Seeing them fail brings fills me with disappointment, particularly if the failure is for ethical reasons.

People who succeed and live an honorable life provide others with inspiration, encouragement, belief, a role model and many other positive things. But what heroes and mentors can give to others who believe in them pales in comparison to what Jesus gives to his followers – the gift of becoming a child of god.

When looking at this passage, I think there are three important questions to consider:

(1) Who gets to be a child of god?(2) What does it mean to be a child of god?(3) By whose design do we become god’s children?

Who gets to be a child of god?Simply put – those who believe in Jesus.

This is a highly controversial point. Some believe that a truly loving god would think of everyone as his children. They feel that everyone should be able to go and be with god in heaven when they die.

But the gospel does not support this viewpoint. The gospel specifies only one way for us to enter god’s family – to believe in Jesus.By human logic, this may not seem fair. But god, our creator, decides who enters his family. We don’t make that decision – god does.

What does it mean to be a child of god?

It is interesting to note the words used here – a child of god. When I look at my relationship to my earthly parents, I make three key observations:

• Being a child is who you are, not something you earn.

I did nothing to earn the privilege of being the son of my parents. I just simply came out.

If I had simply ‘came out’ of somebody else’s womb, I would not be a child my parents. Nothing I did – no amount of good works which I performed for them – would have changed one fact - I would not have been their son.

But, fortunately for me, I came out as my parents’ son. I did not earn the right to be the son of my parents, I just came out that way. It’s simply who I am.

Being a child of god is something that you are at your very core being. You don’t earn it, if you believe in Jesus, you simply are that way. It’s just who you are.

• Second, being a son is permanent.

Many times, I have not done the right thing by my parents. But no matter what I do – no matter how many arguments I have with them or how many times I dishonor them – one thing will not change - they will always be my parents and I will always be my son.

Similarly, there are times in our lives where we all wander from god’s ways. When this happens, he may provide some fatherly discipline. But no matter what we do, as long as we believe in

Jesus, we will always be his children.

Our heavenly father will never expel us from his family. God has a permanent place reserved for us in his family and nothing will ever change that.

• Finally, being a son is intimate.

When you are a member or employee of a club or organization, you get actively involved in the activities of that club or organization. But at the end of the day, you go home.

You may work together to achieve some common goals, but you do not relate intimately with them in the same way that you relate to your own family.

God shares an intimate relationship with his children. He is not cold, dispassionate or detached from our lives.

No. He cares for his children like a father cares for his son.

Being a child of god is a phenomenal gift which believers in Christ have been granted through Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.

By whose design were we made a child of god?In short – god’s. (v13)

Believers in Christ have been chosen by god to be born of god. This was god’s deliberate design.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, the whole world, including all of the people in it, and yes – including us, has rejected you – our creator. You have every right to be angry. You would have every right if you were to turn your back on us in disgust.

Yet, in spite of all this, because of your pure love and your great mercy, you still invite believers into your great family. You and only you have made us this way.

We cannot earn a place in your family and we have no right to be there. But, in your great mercy, you have made us your sons and daughters.

We can only stand in awe. We can only fall down on our knees and say “Thank you, Thank you.” I am astounded when I think that you, great and holy creator, love me, a lowly, sinful human being, enough to grant me a place in your great family.

In your great name I pray.

Amen.

The Rejected Son (John 1:10-11

2008-10-05T21:18:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(10) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. (11) He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Observations:
Earlier in John, we saw some pretty amazing things about Jesus.

Amongst other things, we have seen that Jesus:

• existed at the beginning of time;
• is inseparable from god the father;
• was the creator of everything that existed; and
• is the source of all life, having life within himself.

Does that sound exciting?

If a man put that on his resume, wouldn’t he be sought after?

He would - if you believed him. And many did. The gospels do say that Jesus had many followers.

But even though many people believed him, the great majority did not. Many people despised Jesus, believing he was a fake or a religious nutcase. Some even saw him as a blasphemer against god.

So Jesus, after having made the whole world, and all of the people in it, himself came into the world, his own creation. The world’s response to our maker – “Reject him. Mock him. Laugh at him. He’s just a raving lunatic – or worse, a blasphemer. Kill him. Crucify him!

Nothing had changed. In Old Testament times, before Jesus, god had been rejected over and over again by the people he made. Some people made a decent attempt to follow god (although all sinned against him at some point), but the great majority rejected him and his ways. They set up idols to worship instead of god.

Now, when we see god come enter the world in human form, we see the same pattern arising.

Many did believe and follow him. But the great majority rejected and despised him, not recognizing that he was indeed their maker. Over and over again, we see man rejecting god.

I wonder how god feels about all this. I wonder how you would feel if you made an entire world and all the people in it, and then the people who you owned and who you made, rejected you.

You make them, you own them, they are yours, and yet they reject you. Could you let that go unpunished?

Personally, I would be extremely and uncontrollably angry. I would unleash complete destruction.

I have heard people say that “a truly loving god would never send people to hell.” This, from a human perspective, is an understandable way of thinking.

However, this viewpoint ignores the fact that we have rejected god. We have turned our back on god. God cannot let this go unpunished.

Fortunately, we will see from the next passage, god is merciful and has a solution toward dealing with our rejection.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father.

Lord, you created the whole earth and all of life, yet we rejected you. You are the source of all life – you gave us everything that we have and everything that we are – yet we hid from you, spat on your face and turned away.

Lord, we can only look on our rebellion with shame. Who do we think we are to have a right to turn our back on you? You are our maker, who are we to reject you?

Lord, for our shameful rebellion, we can only beg for your mercy. We see in the next passage that despite our rebellion, you, in your mercy still provide a way for us to be in relationship with you.

Lord, all we can ask for is your mercy.

In the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord

Amen

Making the way for the lord (John 1:6-9)

2008-09-28T21:11:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:
(6) There came a man who was sent from god: his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe. (8) He himself was not the light: he came only as a witness to the light. (9) The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Observations:
I make two key observations here.

(1) It is interesting to note the description we are given about John the Baptist. We are not told here where he grew up, his occupation or any other of the things we might expect to learn about a man.

We are simply told (a) who he was sent from; (god) (b) his name; (c) the purpose and mission of his life (a witness to Jesus); and (d) that he himself was not the savior of the world.

In writing this, the gospel writer considered how John related to Jesus to be of far greater importance than any of the worldly facts about John’s life.

I’m sure John did other things in his life. I’m sure he didn’t simply baptize people from dawn until dusk every day. But it is clear that the god’s entire reason ever creating John was for John to be a witness to Jesus.

This has led me to thinking - what will others say about me after I die? I hope I have plenty of worthy achievements for others to talk about. I hope others can honestly say that I was a man of integrity, loyalty, courage, compassion and love.

However, above all, I hope others get up and say “there was a true witness to Jesus.”

(2) The second key observation that I make about this passage is the deliberate manner in which god prepared for the arrival of Jesus.

In the Old Testament times, prophets and angels foretold the coming of Christ. Now, we see god send a man sent from god whose entire purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus to come into the world and to prepare the world to accept Jesus.

God was not casual or haphazard in preparing for the coming of Christ. On the contrary, he was meticulous and very deliberate the specific way in which it had to happen.

The purposeful manner of god in this passage underlines two further observations we can make.

Firstly, god himself is very deliberate. He is not, impulsive, haphazard or rash in what he does.

There are many other examples in the scripture of god being very deliberate about his plans and actions for the world.

Secondly, we can observe the great importance which god himself placed upon the coming of
Christ into the world. Poor planning is a sign of lack of importance attached to an event. This event, the coming of Christ, was thoroughly and perfectly planned. Everything had to be right before the world was ready for Jesus, our savior, to enter into the world.

From god’s point of view, the coming of Christ into the world was of critical importance.

We too, should view Christ’s coming in the same way.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father,

Lord, whatever else I do with my life, let me be a true witness of Christ.

Grant me the courage, wisdom and the desire to life my life as a witness to Christ – both in terms of spreading your word and in terms of how I live out the life you have granted me.

Father, we can see the great emphasis you placed on the coming of your son – your own coming
– into the world. Let us sit up and take notice. Let my heart dwell always on the fact that you came from heaven to earth to pay the sacrifice for sins and to win eternal life for your chosen people.

The coming of Christ fundamentally altered the state of our relationship with you. Before, we were under your wrath. But Christ (or you) earned forgiveness for all believers. Now, we can live as your children and are free to live in an intimate relationship with you.

In the name of Christ Jesus

Amen.

Jesus: The Author of Life (John 1:3-5)

2008-09-21T20:51:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:

(3) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (4) In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

Observations:
(1) Jesus is the creator of everything (v3).

Every single thing that you and I know on this earth - every planet, every mountain, every city and even every ant - was created by Jesus.

Jesus (being fully god – refer previous post) is the author of all life. He is solely responsible for our existence and the existence of anything around us. Absolutely nothing in our universe exists which is not part of the perfect design of Jesus.

The earth was not made because of some scientific accident. Our universe exists because of god's deliberate plan.

(2) Jesus is the source of all life (v4).

As the author of all life, god is also the source of all life, in both the physical and spirital sense.

Jesus is the only being that has life within himself. We can only have life ourselves by god giving it to us. We cannot have life, of any form, without god. Everything that we have, everything we are, literally every breath we take is given to us by god.

Without Jesus, we have nothing and are nothing.

(3) The world does not understand Jesus. (v5)

Whilst Jesus is our maker and the maker of everything, the world, including us, has not understood god. No one can fully comprehend how great god is. Our small human minds cannot begin to comprehend the pure, unlimited greatness, power, justice and love of the creator. He is so great he is well beyond anything we could imagine.

God is the creator of the world, the architect of all of our life the one and only source of life itself.

If I ever understood even a tenth of the greatness of god, I would probably fall down on my knees and be struck with a pure sense of awe at even the thought of his name.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly father

Lord, you are the creator of everything, the source of all life.

Everything on heaven and earth conforms to your perfect plan. We don’t always understand it, but we know you are in perfect control of everything.

Without you, we are nothing.

We have not understood you. Open our hearts to understanding the pure depth of your greatness, your power, your justice and your love.

In this I pray, in your great name.

Amen.

Jesus: The Eternal Existence

2008-09-14T18:59:00.000+09:00

Scripture reading:

(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god. (2) He was with god in the beginning.

Observations:

Who and what is this passage about?

It’s about the nature and character of our savior, Jesus Christ.

This passage talks about ‘the word.’ Later in John chapter 1, ‘the word’ becomes flesh, and it becomes clear that the ‘word’ John refers to is Jesus.

I don’t know why John does not refer to Jesus by name here, but I don’t feel that point is terribly important. What is important is what the passage says about the character of Jesus Christ, our savior.

The passage makes two clear statements:

(1) Jesus has always existed. He literally had no beginning. (v1)

Hang on! Wasn't Jesus only born about two thousand years ago? How then can John say he existed in the beginning? Isn't this ridiculous?

The scripture does describe how Jesus was born in the flesh to the virgin Mary, about 2,000 years ago, and so the above line of thought may sound logical. Our own existence commenced the day we are born in the flesh. Therefore, it is natural for us to assume that commencement of existence always happens on the day of birth and that the existence of Jesus started the day he came out of Mary.

But that assumption is wrong. The existence of Jesus commenced before he entered the world in human form. Two thousand years ago, Jesus took on the physical form of a man. But his existence did not commence at that point. From a spiritual viewpoint, he had no beginning. He existed at the beginning of time.

It is difficult for us as humans to comprehend this. Everything we know in the world, including our own lives, had a beginning. We are naturally uncomfortable with the notion of any form of existence without a beginning.

However, the passage states clearly that Jesus already existed at the beginning of time. He had no beginning and will have no end. He is literally eternal. He will always exist.

(2) Jesus has an intimate relationship with god, and indeed, is god.

As I was writing this, I started to write about some observations we could make from this passage about the character of god the father.

When I think about the creator of the world, I usually think about one big creator and father in heaven called god. The image I picture is that of an all powerful, great big loving old man.

But this passage does not talk primarily about god the father. It talks about Jesus.

It is interesting to note, however, just how close the description of Jesus in this passage is to the description of god the father in Genesis 1:1, the first book in the bible. The first part of Genesis describes how god the father existed at the beginning. The first part of this passage describes how Jesus existed at the beginning.

The descriptions are remarkably similar. That’s because Jesus and god exist not separately, but together. They are part of the one unit. They are inseparable from one another.

The passage describes the 'word' (Jesus) as being with god and as being god. Being with god implies an extremely strong relationship or bond. This bond is unbreakable – because Jesus actually is god. The two are one.

This brings us to an important point in understanding in both the character of god and the character of Jesus. I naturally tend to think of god the father as a singular being. I also tend to think of Jesus as a singular being, related to but separate from god.

But this notion does not match the description of either in the bible.

They may have separate functions, but they exist together (along with the holy spirit) as part of one unit.

I don’t fully understand exactly how this relationship works. But the scripture tells us that it does work, so that’s good enough for me.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly father,

Lord, there are so many things that we will never know about your character.

We just cannot imagine how great you are. Your infinite existence is beyond our imagination. Our small minds can only try to imagine. You were there from the beginning of time. You will never cease to exist. You are just that great and that almighty.

Help me lord, to meditate daily. Let my heart understand more and more just how great you are. Let me never lose sight of your great power, your perfect justice and your great mercy and perfect love.

In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit.

Amen.

Summary of the Christian faith

2008-09-07T20:33:00.000+09:00

Dear readers,

In the coming posts, I will undertake an in-depth study of the book of John, one of the four gospels in the bible.

Through the book of John, I think we can learn a great deal about the nature and character of Jesus Christ, whom, according to the bible, paid the price for our sins through his death on the cross.

However, before that, I think it's important to step back and look at the overall message of the bible, the fundamental tenants of the Christian faith. Accordingly, in this post, I will attempt to summarize what I believe are the core principles of the Christian faith.

Core beliefs of the Christian faithI believe that the Christian faith can be summarized in seven key principles. These are:

• God is eternal (Genesis 1:1)
• God created the whole world (Genesis 1&2)
• God made man and put him in charge of the whole world (Genesis 1&2)
• Man rebelled against god (Genesis 3)
• God became angry with man (Genesis 3)
• Though angry, god loved man and sent his son to pay the price for the sin of man (John 3:16)
• Those who believe in Jesus are forgiven and pardoned of their sins (John 3:16) and are assured of a place in heaven after death

Now, lets look at each of these key points in turn:

(1) God is eternal.

The very first words of the bible read, "In the beginning, God.." (Genesis 1:1)

The bible asserts that, before the beginning of time, before the world as we know it came into existence, god, the creator of mankind, already existed. God's existence predates the universe, he existed before the beginning of time as we know it.

In fact, he did not have a beginning. He has always existed and always will exist. He is eternal - he had no beginning and will have no end.

This is a difficult concept for us to believe or comprehend. Everything we know is finite - it has a beginning and an end. We are conditioned to think in terms of the finite and are not comfortable with the concept of infinity, or eternality. It is just not a concept we can grasp easily.

However, the bible indeed states that god is eternal. He literally had no beginning and will have no end. He will always exist.

(2) God created the universe.

The bible clearly identifies god as the creator of the universe.

In point (1) above, I mentioned the first passage of the bible, Genesis 1:1. The full text of that passage reads "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

The above passage clearly and unambiguously identifies god as the creator. The remainder of chapter Genesis Chapter 1 then goes on to describe the process by which god created the world.
Christians believe that god is the author of all life as we know it.

Everything, absolutely everything, including the heavens, the earth, all living plants, animals, and all other features of the universe were made by the craftsmanship of god – our wonderful and magnificent creator.

(3) God made man in his own image.

Chapter 1 and 2 of the book of Genesis describe how, after he had created the universe and made all the plants and the animals, god made man.

However, there are several key features about the creation of man which distinguish us from either plants or animals.

Firstly, man was created in the image of God. The glory of god himself was meant to be reflected in mankind. We were made to radiate the pure greatness and wonderfulness of our father.

Secondly, man was put in charge of the entire earth, which we were intended to rule.

I liken this to an owner/manager relationship. God, who created and owned the earth, appointed man to manage and rule the earth on his behalf.

His role was creator and owner of the earth, our role was manager, accountable only to him.

Thirdly, man was told to be fruitful and increase in number. (Genesis 1:28) God made man to be productive, constructive and successful. Man was not only made to manage, he was made to achieve results. Moreover, mankind was given a mandate for unlimited expansion of its species.

Man was not like plants or animals. Man was given special status by god.

(4) Man rebelled against god.

But there was a problem - mankind did not follow the plan and rebelled against god.

The first act of rebellion came in the Garden of Eden, a story told in Chapter 3 of Genesis. God placed Adam and Eve (the first people) in the garden, and told them they could eat from any tree, except one particular tree - that of knowledge of good and evil.

However, after being deceived by the devil, they proceeded to eat from the forbidden tree. This was an act of defiance, a form of rebellion against god. Man was, in effect, turning away from god and going his own way.

The original sin was committed by only two people. However, at the time, they represented the entire population of mankind, and their actions represented actions performed on behalf of the human race.

Moreover, their actions set a precedent, and the bible says that all people have turned away from god at some point in their lives. No matter how good we may try to be, each and every one of us, at some point, has turned away from god.

(5) God became angry with man.

God had created mankind and made him ruler over the earth. Yet man, god’s own creation, had deliberately gone against his plan like a disobedient child.

The lord burned with anger. He himself is perfect, and he cannot, with his character, tolerate any form of sin or rebellion against him.

He could not simply overlook this and pretend that everything was OK.

As a consequence, the relationship between god and mankind was broken, and our relationship with him suffered a deep split. We had fallen from the grace in his eyes. He could no longer share a relationship of integrity with us. From a spiritual viewpoint, we were cut off from him.

A wide range of adverse consequences resulted, including death, disease, starvation, war and many other forms of suffering.

But, most importantly, man was denied eternal life, meaning that our final destiny changed from heaven to hell.

Before sin came into the world, our destiny was eternal life with god. We were meant for a perfect relationship with our creator that literally had no ending. But as a consequence of our sin, our days became numbered. Moreover, rather than being destined for eternal life in heaven after death, our destiny changed and each of us became destined, literally, for eternal punishment in hell.

(6) God sent his son to pay the price for the sin of man. (John 3:16)

God was outraged beyond comprehension at the rebellion of man.

However, he is so merciful that his ever-abundant, perfect love for mankind remained.

Man was broken. We could do nothing to heal our relationship with god. Only god could do that - and through his great mercy, he provided a way for our relationship with him to be restored.

His solution was to offer mankind a peace deal, under which God provided Jesus, his one and only son, as a sacrifice for our sin.

For those who accept the deal, Jesus, effectively becomes our substitute. Instead of us having to bear the cost of our sin, (which would have involved eternal punishment from god in hell) the entire cost of our sin was poured out upon Jesus, who suffered a painstakingly horrific death on the cross.

Jesus has effectively taken the punishment for our sins in our place. As a result, those who accept god’s peace deal are spared his anger and are destined for an eternal, perfect relationship with our creator in heaven after death.

(7) Those who believe in Jesus are forgiven and pardoned of their sins.

Who benefits from god’s great sacrifice? Does everyone qualify? What do we have to do to receive god’s forgiveness?

The bible says that all we have to do is accept god’s peace deal. Those who accept god’s peace deal are assured of forgiveness from their sins and an eternal place in heaven upon their death.

How, then, do we accept god’s peace deal?

Simply by putting our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It means having absolute faith that the through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus on the cross, your sins have been fully forgiven.

Those who have such faith have accepted god’s peace deal and have had their sins fully forgiven by the lord, and will be free to enjoy everlasting eternal life in a perfect relationship with our creator in heaven.

What about those who do not believe?

This is where the Christian message becomes highly controversial. Unfortunately, the bible says that those who do not have faith in Christ have not accepted god’s peace deal. Nor, have they had their sins forgiven.

Accordingly, upon death, non-believers will be subject to the full wrath of god. Being permanently cut off from god, they will suffer eternal punishment in hell. Although this is unpleasant to talk about, it is what the bible says.

But for those who accept god’s peace deal and put their faith in the death and resurrection of
Christ Jesus, the bible says that our sins have been entirely forgiven by our wonderful and merciful god. Upon leaving this earth, we will share eternal relationship with our glorious father in heaven.

Let me stress, this is not because of anything special that believers in Christ have done. Rather it’s because of the wonderful and merciful character of our eternal creator, that he would make a great sacrifice to pay for the cost of our sins.

Comments Policy

2008-09-07T16:01:00.000+09:00

Dear readers,

The intention of this blog is to be interactive in nature and to stimulate discussion and debate about the character of Jesus Christ.

Accordingly, I cordially invite you to participate in the discussions on this site, and your thoughts, insights and opinions. In addition, you are more than welcome to create a link back to your own blog.

However, I do ask two things. Firstly, I ask that all comments be relevant to the topic. Secondly, I ask that all commentators adopt a polite, courteous and respectful manner toward other readers. Religion is a sensitive and emotional topic and I ask that commentators are sensitive to the feelings of others.

Spam is not welcome on this blog, nor are messages which may unnecessarily cause offense to other readers. Such messages will be deleted.

Cheers

Andrew

Introducing the site and the author

2008-09-07T16:00:00.000+09:00

Dear readers,

Welcome to the My God Blog!

I hope that you find the discussions on this site to be interesting and stimulating, and that you are inspired to discover more about the Jesus Christ and about the Christian faith.

Introducing this site

This blog is dedicated to the study of the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, whom I personally proclaim as my savior.

The objective of this site is to examine:

• the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus; (as stated above)

• the character of Christ Jesus as well as that of God our heavenly father; and

• the consequences of the coming of Jesus for our relationship with god the father.

The primary reference for this blog will be the book of John, one of the four gospels (stories about the life of Jesus) in the bible.

I aim to post one new entry to this site every week. Each entry will contain the following:

• a bible reading from a passage of scripture;

• some comments or observations which I feel we can make based on the passage concerned; and

• a personal prayer which I have been inspired to write, based on the passage in question.

Please feel free to join the discussion and comment upon the issues discussed on this blog.

Introducing the author

Hi. My name is Andrew.

I am a native born Australian currently living in South Korea.

In the late 90’s, I graduated from Deakin University with a Batchelor of Commerce degree. After graduation, I worked for several years as an accountant, during which time I attained the status of CPA (Certified Practising Accountant).

In 2005, I moved to the central area of South Korea, where I work in a small country town as an English teacher.

I enjoy hiking, writing on the web, studying Korean, listening to music and reading.

I converted to Christianity over nine years ago, shortly after graduating from college.

Why I created this blog

I created this blog for three main reasons:

First and foremost, I created this blog in honor and worship of god, the father and creator of mankind, and of Jesus Christ, the son who gave his life as a ransom for our sins.

I love god, our creator, with all my heart. My desire is to live a life which in honorable to him. It is my desire to share with readers just how great I believe he is, how much I love him and, more importantly, the extent of his amazing love for us.

The second reason is to provide an opportunity for readers to have an open discussion about Jesus. I hope that through this site, readers will have an opportunity to broaden and deepen their understanding of the Christian faith, as well as the nature and character of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, I hope that to inspire you to look more closely at your own beliefs about religion, god and the Christian faith, if you have not already done so.

Disclosure

I do not have any formal biblical qualifications or training.

The observations which I make on this site are simply what I have observed from reading the passages in question. Many passages in the bible are open to more than one interpretation, and there is no guarantee that my observations are correct or the only possible way to interpret a passage.

Readers are advised not to simply accept my interpretation of the passage in question. Instead, readers are advised to look closely at the passage and form their own conclusions about its meaning and potential applications.

Cheers

Andrew