Category Archives: good news

Also includes what it means to be a disciple. Materials for a lesson in the His Story Module.

Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

A Step Up: Rejoice Always

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Yesterday I posted an Old Testament command to not allow feelings of depression to overcome me.  Or at least that is the way I interpreted Joshua 1:9 and, with some success but also some failure, put into practice yesterday.  Being brave and not allowing myself to be discouraged certainly beats moping about all day (or even moping for an hour or any amount of time). This morning the Lord brought to my mind the New Testament command (by the Spirit through Paul in 1 Thess. 5:16-18) to:

  1. Rejoice always
  2. Pray without ceasing
  3. In everything give thanks

Which is a step up on what I was putting into practice yesterday.

The Holy Spirit in us is our hope and one of the fruits of the Spirit is self control.  If God is commanding this then it must be possible.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this works out.

This is God’s Word and it is either living and active to you or it is not.  If this word is living and active to you then why not put it into practice?  He wouldn’t have brought it to your attention unless He wanted to give you the strength to also do it.

Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

Be Attitudes

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The eight beatitudes are nearly the first thing Jesus says in the Gospels. They reveal His heart.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the [a]earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:3-11

These are the types of people God has time for:

The poor in spirit. People with this attitude are the opposite to the pushy, showy type that are always in your face and who are full of self importance.  We all know someone who is “poor in spirit” but filled with the Spirit.  That’s because the Holy Spirit is, like Jesus, humble and gentle at heart (Matt. 11:29).  These are the type of people that get into heaven.

Those who mourn.  In this life there will always be mourners.  At some stage we all are likely to mourn the loss of someone we love.  Jesus knows that and says He will comfort us.

Those who are humble.  I’m not sure what the difference between these are and the poor in spirit.  Nor do I know why they inherit the earth specifically.  Perhaps there isn’t supposed to be a difference.  The lowly in heart get both heaven and the earth.

Those who hunger and thirst for justice.    Jesus knew these guys would be satisfied.  He also knew at what cost that would be to Him.  There will be justice also for those who refuse to receive the grace of God and create injustice.

The merciful.  This is something we should all do. We will all need mercy.

The pure in heart.  These will see God.

The peacemakers.  Peacemakers are not looking out for their own wants, but are involved in reconciling opposing parties.  Everyone can see that they are children of the God of peace.

Those who do what is right.  You don’t have to explicitly do something in the name of Christ for this to apply to you. Anyone who stands up for the oppressed or does what Jesus would do might be persecuted for it.  These also are the types of courageous people God wants with Him in heaven.

Jesus’ followers.  Be prepared to be mocked, persecuted and lied about.  But be very happy about it when you are!

faith, General Principles, good news

Judgement?

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Some years ago, some people came up to Jesus and asked him about cause and effect. They were wondering if the people who had died in a recent building collapse were worse sinners than those who died a natural death.

Jesus’ response played down the manner of the physical death and drew attention to the state of the questioner’s hearts. If you don’t repent, he said, then you also will die in like manner. 

13 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:1-5

In another incident Jesus’ disciples ask him about a man that had been born blind. Again they were wondering about cause and effect. Was this man the sinner or his parents that he was born blind? In this case Jesus said neither but that he had been born that way to glorify God. He then healed him.

9 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

John 9:1-7

In both cases Jesus repudiates the idea that there is a direct link between a man’s (or woman’s) circumstances and his (or her) sin. This is one of the main reasons Jesus also tells us not to judge.

Sometimes there is a link between a person’s lifestyle and an early death or a sickness or condition. Man’s heart so easily judges in those circumstances. One of the main reasons Jesus confounded the religious people of his day was because he was happy to be in the company of such people, sinners. He saw a bigger picture and knew that the hearts of the ones who had fallen into various immoral or harmful lifestyles were more humble than the ones who prided themselves in not having lived that way.

Very often the only difference between a self-righteous, judgmental person and someone who regularly sins in some other more publicly obvious way is that the latter knows he needs a saviour whereas the former doesn’t.

Very often that was the only difference that needed addressing as far as Jesus was concerned.

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

John 9:39-41

Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

Peace and Rest

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There are many places in Scripture where God tries to tell us just how important he considers it that His people should be walking in peace.

In the New Testament we are commanded to strive to enter the rest that the Israelites failed to enter because of disobedience (Hebrews 3: 12 – 4:11).

In the Old Testament God enshrined rest in the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11). He considered it so important that the penalty for violating that commandment was death (as shown in Numbers 15:32-36).

Despite being told the penalty for breaking the Sabbath, when faced with the violation (Exodus 31:14) they hesitated before carrying out the punishment -understandably. Of all the various death penalties meted out to the Israelites under the Law this one seems most harsh.

Thankfully we are not under the Law. Nevertheless there are sins that lead to (spiritual) death (1 John 5:16) and for us as Christians it would appear that consistently not being in rest is one of them.

Jesus emphasized again the importance of resting in Him in John 15: 1-7 where he mentions some quite shocking consequences of not abiding in Him. We can be cast out of His body that way.

From my own experience I have noticed both in myself and others that if I am not in rest it is usually because I am not trusting in God – I am anxious or worried –  or I am proud and rising up in myself, full of myself. Neither of these states is pleasing to God and, if continued in, they will inevitably result in separation from God.

Actually, spiritual death is worse than physical. So let’s strive to enter that rest.

And remember, there is always hope in Christ. All you have to do is come to Him. No matter where you’ve been – or how often you have been out of rest – you will find a welcome there every time you turn to him (the old fashioned word is “repent”). His death on the cross has made that possible.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Matthew 11: 28-30 (NASB).

General Principles, good news

The sower sows the word

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faithfulwon's avatarfaithfulwon

This was the first blog that I posted almost exactly 4 years ago.  It addresses a theme – the Word of God – that comes up many times in subsequent blogs.

Luke 8:11 explains that when the Scripture talks about seed it  is referring to the word of God.  Its one of those key verses like Rev. 1:20 which explains an object picture that God uses to describe something spiritual.

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8 is an important one to understand (Mk 4:13).  Seeing our souls as a garden enclosed (Song 4:12) helps.  It is a very large garden capable of growing all sorts of trees and plants.  Just like any garden, if it is left untended it will grow weeds.  The best thing is to clear it, break it up (Hosea 10:12) and sow the word of God.

However there is a more general sense…

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Discipleship Series, faith, General Principles, good news

He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion

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C.S. Lewis describes Aslan in those terms to Lucy in one of his Narnia chronicles, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The concept of a three personal God is very precious to me.  I love the idea that He is not depending on us before He works miracles, not even on our faith.

Of course, without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 6:11).  Anyone that comes to Him must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that seek Him.

But when it comes to doing miracles, God isn’t limited by our faith.  He is quite capable of doing His own thing.

John wrote his gospel after the others.  And one of the things he does in his gospel account is write about miracles that have nothing to do with anyone’s faith except that of Jesus Himself.

  • In Chapter 5 he heals a man that was 38 years beside a pool waiting to try and get in when it was stirred up.  All he asks is whether he wants to be healed or not.  To this the man replies in a manner that shows that he only believed that the stirred up pool could save him, not Jesus.  Nevertheless Jesus heals him.  Later the same man betrays Him to the Pharisees.
  • In Chapter 6 Jesus feeds the five thousand when the only response of anyone present to his command to feed the people  was “What are these among so many?”.
  • In Chapter 11 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.  We know Lazarus was incapable at the time of exercising faith(!).  But Martha who was capable showed significant unbelief despite earlier promising statements.  There is no sign anyone else had any faith that He would do this. (Go and read it).

There are times when people do exercise faith in John’s gospel.  In these cases Jesus says a very specific word, the person concerned obeys and the miracle occurs:

  • In Chapter 4 the royal official sees his son healed after doing what he was told.  But it was probable that Jesus healed his son before that anyway.
  • In Chapter 9 he heals a man born blind after he does what Jesus says.  Here is an example of a man hearing the Word of God in a specific way, being obedient to what he heard and then seeing – literally – the miracle occur.

If you want to see miracles the key is to be where Jesus is (John 12:26) which means definite and continuing obedience to what He says.  Now all I need to do is put this into practice a bit more myself!

church, Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

Biblical Rejoicing

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“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials”

James 1:2

Biblical rejoicing has nothing to do with being happy or experiencing pleasure and everything to do with faith.

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,”

1 Peter 1:6-8

We rejoice because we believe.  Our rejoicing in trial proves our faith.

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.12“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great;”

Matthew 5:11-12  (a beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount)

As an example of rejoicing in adversity consider this testimony of a brother of two of the Egyptian martyrs beheaded by ISIS in Libya a few weeks back.

I had a bit of a sore leg today and I was trying out the rejoicing from within that the Holy Spirit seems to always be doing in me, if I’d but listen.  Seemed to work.  I had this curious sense of experiencing the pain and considering it a joy though not enjoying the experience in any sensual way:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3-5

Rejoice always!

Finally my brethren rejoice!

Discipleship Series, General Principles, good news

The company Jesus keeps

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The Great Banquet

Grasping God’s Word – Assignment 15-2

Passage

When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus replied:

“A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’  But they all alike began to make excuses.

The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.  Please excuse me.’

Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out.  Please excuse me.’

Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

The servant came back and reported this to his master.  Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’  ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’  Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.  I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Luke 14:15-24

Context

Luke 14:7-14

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honour at the table, he told them this parable: 8 ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, “Give this person your seat.” Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better place.” Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

12 Then Jesus said to his host, ‘When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

The Main Point

The parable is introduced in the context of someone making a statement about the kingdom of God.  So we can take it that the original audience and readers would have understood the parable to be about that.  Then it is not unreasonable to assume that the “certain man” Jesus introduces is God who has prepared a feast for His people.  The point first century readers would have picked up is that those he first invited – the Jews – refused to come to what he had prepared and so he invited the Gentiles, the spiritually (and materially) poor, crippled, blind and lame who are outside the house to come instead.

The context in which Jesus spoke brings home the point for his audience at the time of his telling of this parable.  Jesus is at the house of a rich Pharisee (v1) who, no doubt, would have invited his – equally rich – friends to dinner on many occasions.  This time, for whatever reason, he has invited Jesus along with them – there is no mention of any of His disciples or followers being invited.  It is not clear how the man with dropsy got in, perhaps he was one of the Pharisee’s old servants, but the attitude of the Pharisee and his friends before and after the man is healed does not impress Jesus (v2-6).  Neither does the guests approach to the table (v.7 – 11).  Jesus then challenges the Pharisee to not just invite his relatives and rich neighbours to meals like this one but also the poor, crippled, lame and blind (v12-14).

Jesus then explains in this context that God has invited some people to a feast.  Jesus gets the Pharisee, and his guests, to imagine what it would be like if, after all the preparations, all his friends began to make excuses not to come – some of them quite lame (excuses that is).  Jesus knows what God will do, He will invite others to come in their place.  Actually He will go out and make them come in.  And they won’t be healthy and rich like the Pharisee’s friends, they will be poor, crippled, lame and blind like the man with the dropsy.  With all that context, the message must have come home loud and clear to the Pharisee and his guests:  you may have invited Jesus to your house but unless you understand His heart towards the poor and outsiders you are in danger of taking His far more important invitation to the Kingdom of God too lightly and missing out.

Application

We often use the phrase “I invited Jesus into my heart”.  However this parable makes it clear that if you have invited Jesus in to the house of your soul you can expect Him to bring a lot of others with Him.  He kept some strange company of outcasts, poor, lame and crippled.  He is not impressed by how clean, tidy and well-ordered your house may be, or how well off you are, he will still bring them with Him.  We need to be open to the company that Jesus keeps.

Autobiographical, General Principles, good news

Different View Points

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The role of the Holy Spirit

Grasping God’s Word Assignment 12-1

John 3:16

“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.”

John 3:16 (NIV)

A learned intellectual interprets John 3:16

A man with 2 Ph.Ds specialising in NT studies who has not believed and encountered God in the Spirit would have a cognitive understanding of the passage.  He might discuss it in this way:

“The passage says that “God” loved the world so much that he gave his “son” for it.  According to this passage by John the mechanism for living for eternity is to believe in “the son”, i.e. the man Jesus.  I would say that it is true that anyone who has the Christian faith can be deluded into thinking they will live forever and that that is not a bad thing.  For most people, having the hope that they will live forever should keep them happy through difficult times.  It is noticeable that the Christian gospel has a great effect in poor countries where the consolations of this life are far less and the hope for an eternal life of happiness most required.

Jesus was a man, an extraordinary man, but simply believing in him could not make someone live forever and, obviously, doesn’t since all people die.  Though I can see how people who do believe in him must be consoled in difficulty, I cannot see how doing so could possibly make people live forever.

Anyway the idea that God, if he exists in the form described in the NT, would have a son is foolishness and the whole idea expressed in this passage is also foolishness if interpreted in a literal sense.  But the message in this passage is one of the best means there is for pacifying and comforting people in trouble with no other hope, as so many are in this world,.”

A mature believer interprets John 3:16

This is how a mature believer (like me) might interpret it:

“When I met God on the back of a bus travelling from Mullingar to Galway on May 7th 1980, one of the first things He did was convict me of the truth of all the Scriptures including this one.  I believe that God is and that He is good.  I believe He has a Son, Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour, whom He sent to earth, who came of His own volition and who died a horrible death so that my sins might be taken out of the way and so I can have eternal life.

The life to come is not an extension of the time frame of this present body I am in but a new life in a new eternal body which is maintained by the Spirit of God Himself.

I continue to believe and act accordingly since I have the Spirit of God in me leading me into all truth.

I continually remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and continue to believe and receive eternal life, the deposit of which starts in this life with the Holy Spirit within me.  I don’t just have a cognitive understanding of this passage but a fully engaged, continuing life experience with the author of it.”

A 9 year old child interprets John 3:16 having just given her life to Jesus

“Daddy, Jesus died for me!”

church, General Principles, good news

Word Study – “Sick”

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Grasping God’s Word – Assignment 9-5

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. 

James 5:13-16a

The Greek word for sick – ασθενει – in this context is transliterated: Astheneo

Strong’s number: 770

It is used 33 times in the NT:

  • Sick (19 times): Matthew 10:8, 25:36, 39; Mark 6:56; Luke 4:40; John 4:46, 5:3, 7, 11:1-3, 6; Acts 9:37, 19:12, 20:35; Phil. 2:26-27; 2 Timothy 4:20; James 5:14
  • Weak (14 times): Romans 4:19, 8:3, 14:1-2; 1 Cor. 8:11-12; 2 Cor. 11:21, 29, 12:10, 13:3-4,9;

From the contexts in other passages it would appear that this word could as easily be translated “weak” as “sick”.  In English these two words are quite related but our understanding of the microbes that cause sickness make us more inclined to separate the meanings than would have been the case for people in James’ time.  If we use “weak” instead of “sick” in James 5:14 we have:

“Is anyone among you weak? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;”

When we take the overall context of James 5:13 -16 we can see there is a connection between being weak, or sick, and sin.  The effect of the elders anointing is not just to make the person well physically but also spiritually – his sins will be forgiven.  In verse 16 the key to healing is that you confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.

In verse 15 the word translated “sick” is actually a very different word (κάμνοντα) which is only used one other time, in Hebrews 12:3, and there it is translated “weary”.  So if you feel weary confess your sins to each other and pray for each other and you will be healed.

Nowadays we are inclined to view disease and sickness differently from James.  For us there is only a tenuous connection, if any, between our personal actions and sickness.  Sickness is caused often by viruses or bacteria which seem separated from our moral actions.  As a Christian in the 21st Century the connection between sin and sickness is less personal, more related to the general fallen condition of the world than anything that we personally may have done.  But if you think in terms of sickness being weakness and put yourself in the context of a 1st Century Christian who knows nothing about viruses and bacteria then you might see the connection between personal sin and weakness or sickness more easily.  This also explains Paul’s warning about taking communion in an unworthy fashion (see Thoughts on Communion: Healing and The consequences of communion).

Things can come around though.  The bible’s wisdom does not seem so archaic in this regard if you are into holistic medicine.  Lifestyle and a tendency to sickness go together.  If your lifestyle is one of abusing the body through excessive alcohol or smoking or immorality then it is easy to see how those sins can affect your health also.  Other sins such as worry and anger also have physical effects causing illness or weakness or both.

In this passage though the emphasis is not on the sin causing the illness.  The Lord is gracious and he heals first and, then, forgives your sins also.  He doesn’t place the emphasis on the sin but rather on the healing of the sickness or weakness.

Which is just like Him, isn’t it?