Monthly Archives: February 2011

Psalm 50:16-17 (ESV)

But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

[17] For you hate discipline,

and you cast my words behind you.

Worship is a privilege. It is not a right. Of course in the political world of day to day affairs the right to worship is sacrosanct, as it should be. Human beings, political leaders, laws of men, simply should not have the ability to tell people who they can worship. It is a field outside their purview. They are called, in part, to enable all its citizens to be able to worship as they see fit.

There are limits on this, of course and that is right as well. No one, under the guise of religion, should be allowed to violate the universal sanctions against murder, stealing, adultery, child abuse, etc. So the political right of worship of what a person considers God, is to be defended by the powers that be. Governments are instituted by the one true God for the rewarding of the right and the punishment of the wrong (Romans 7:1-6).

And the principle of evangelism/proselytization should be permitted in the proper avenues of society. It is a Christian principle that it is the heart that needs to be changed before there can be genuine conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that cannot be legislated by law. But it should be permitted to make the attempt or else people will not be making their religious choices voluntarily and they will not be allowed to forsake religion according to the dictates of their consciences. We see people all over the world being refused the right to worship as they desire. Most of the time it happens to Christians who want to worship Jesus Christ. Only God can change the heart and no legislation should try to interfere in the process. When laws are put in place that prohibit people from freely choosing to worship whom they choose or freely recant a belief, then you have a very weak religious and political power structure. And you will have horrifying cruelty.

All of that being said it also needs to be said that God does not give people the right to worship whoever they want. Freedom of religion in the political realm does not transfer to God in the religious realm. On the vertical level no one has the innate right to approach God as he or she determines. Put bluntly, no one has the right to come into the presence of God as he or she chooses. It is by invitation only.

The people being addressed in Psalm 50:16 assumed that the qualification for worship was to be Jewish; to be part of the covenant community of Israel. They misread the invitation. They thought that their genetics trumped their behaviour. So they freely, and without conscience behaved in the manner described in verses 17-20 thinking that they could waltz into the place of worship, with no repentance, and claim membership in the covenant of Abraham. And they are rejected. God tells them they have no right to be there.

Who has a right to come into our churches and join with us on a Sunday morning? Entrance is freely available, on a human level, for everyone. But make no mistake. The reason all are invited to enter the building is because they are are first of all invited to repent and believe. They may come and sing and give and experience blessing. But God will still come to them and ask “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant upon your lips?”

Worship is not a right. It is a privilege. There is only one way that you will ever have the right to worship God. And that is through the blood of Jesus Christ. He grants the right to worship. Worship is a gift of grace and if you have not come to Jesus, you do not have the right that such grace grants. But you can.

There is only one way to God and that is through His Son. The governing authorities may protect your right to worship wrongly. But God does not. You can only get to Him through Jesus. And He is there for you and for all who will trust Him and all He did to win people to become real worshippers of the One True God.

Luke 7:18-23 (ESV)

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, [19] calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” [20] And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ” [21] In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. [22] And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, b the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. [23] And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to Jesus to ask if He really is the Messiah or if they should be looking for someone else. This is the miraculously born son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. This is the boy who has been told from infancy that his role in the world is very special. We would be foolish to think that little Johnny wasn’t taught by his parents, and others, about the events surrounding his birth. Imagine the wide eyed excitement on his face as Daddy related to him about the time that the angel Gabriel visited him while he was ministering in the temple and told him that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son. He told him about losing his speech and told him, with uncontainable delight about getting his speech back when that baby was born and he would recite again the song that he composed that day to celebrate what God was doing (Luke 1:57-79). “That son was you John. And your job is to announce to the people that the Messiah has come”. John would no doubt have been told that while he was still in mommy’s tummy he leapt for joy when cousin Mary visited once, because Mary was the mother of the Messiah. “And John, your cousin Jesus is the one that all the prophets said would come”.

This is the same John who proclaimed about Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This is that John who, before he agreed to baptize Jesus, said he was not worthy to untie Jesus’ shoes (Luke 3:15-16). John himself announced that he was the fulfilment of the prophecies regarding the promised one to come (Luke 3:4-6). And now he sends his followers to Jesus because he is having doubts about whether Jesus really is the “one who is to come”.

Matthew’s account of John sending disciples to Jesus to ask about who He was, we are told that John was in prison when he sent them (Matthew 11:2). This imprisonment would lead to John’s death and it may be that he is aware of that. But in any case it seems that things are not working out the way that John had envisioned. It seems that he is believing that if Jesus really is the Messiah then things should be happening differently than they are.

Doubt is not a good thing. We should not conclude here that if John the Baptist fell into doubt then it is OK if we do. Not at all. But we do conclude that if someone as great as John the Baptist, with all the miracles that he had seen, with the knowledge of his own birth and purpose, with having actually met Jesus and baptized Him – if John the Baptist falls into doubt, then it is likely that we might too. John ends up in prison and begins to wonder what in the world is going on. Jesus has not performed according to expectations.

Doubts are not new. We do not fall into doubt because our times are more uncertain or because we know more about science and the universe. We doubt because “seeing is believing” and we are called to walk by faith and not by sight. John had expected to see unbelievably great things happen by now. He may have expected to be sitting on a throne next to Jesus by now. Unfulfilled expectations may have contributed to John’s doubt. What contributes to yours? You say you never have any? Great. Now you have a lie added to your sins. We all have doubts.

In replying to John, Jesus simply draws attention to what He is doing. Circumstances can make us doubt. We get sick. There’s no money. Giving the Gospel doesn’t produce the converts we had hoped for. In fact, it gets us ridiculed. Christians fight with each other. The list is long of things that contribute to our doubts. Jesus, as with John, does not respond by clunking us on the head with a rock. He draws our attention to Himself. What is tugging at your faith today? Be assured that greater people than you have had them and God got them through them. And He does not love you less. He will help you too.

Get into the Scriptures and in your prayers tell God that you are having your doubts. John the Baptist took his concerns right to the source. You should do the same.

Psalm 51:1 (ESV)

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

You cannot ask for mercy from an unloving God. Neither can you expect to receive mercy from one whose love is doubtful. God is both loving and steadfast in His love. We sin – repeatedly. And when we do we get to feeling that there is no way that God is going to forgive us this time. Whether it is the sin we have struggled with for years or just the plain old fact that we keep sinning in a variety of ways, we start believing that God is like us. We would not keep forgiving. Our love is not steadfast. Our mercy is not abundant.

David had committed murder, and adultery and lying and failure to perform his duties as king. He had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, Nathan the prophet, the captain of his army, the nation, his wife, his family … the list is endless. And the only thing that enabled him to get back on the right track was that he knew that God’s love was bigger than his sin.

This, we do not say, in order to encourage people to sin. When great love and mercy cause a person to sin with abandon, planning to repent later in the hope that God’s love is greater than his sin, he is testifying that he is so far from God that He has never really known Him and will not truly repent in any case. Planned repentance is not a quality we find in Scripture anywhere. Having inserted that needed caveat, we return to our regular programming.

Our problem, when we feel we have sinned beyond the grace of God, is an ignorance of God, an ignorance of what happened at the cross, and a reshaping of God into our own image. God’s love is steadfast. We are not forgiven because of our superior grovelling. Such thinking is just works righteousness dressed up to look more religious. We are forgiven because God’s mercy is abundant – beyond our ability to comprehend, and because His love is steadfast – it is rock solid and it is utterly dependable. It is too great to comprehend.

We are forgiven because God sent Jesus into the world to save us. He saved us by taking the full wrath of the Father upon Himself for our sakes. He absorbed all the wrath that was due to us for eternity – in a matter of three hours. There is no coming to understand the magnitude of the love of God for us.

And His forgiveness is just that big as well. David does not ask to be forgiven out of God’s abundant love. He prays to be forgiven according to the abundance of God’s love. That means that the forgiveness will be as big as the love that spawned it. How willing is God to forgive? Look at the cross. If God should refuse to forgive a true penitent He would be claiming that the cross of Jesus had been exhausted of its ability to triumph over sin for us. God will never dishonour His Son that way. So we are forgiven because God loves us. And we are forgiven because God loves His Son, works for the glory of the Son and will smash Satan into oblivion because of the work of the Son.

David lived a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But he was still forgiven on the basis of its merits. He may not have known what was entailed in “steadfast love”, but his request was honoured. He was forgiven according to the steadfastness of God’s love for him. He was forgiven by virtue of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as every forgiven person from Adam and Eve to the last forgiven person in the history of humanity have all and will all be forgiven. It is a powerful, abundant mercy. And it is for all who truly seek Him and for all who truly rest in him and never trust themselves. In the face of such a love, how could we ever seek to work our way into the good books of God? It would be an insult to the cross. Just hang on His abundant and steadfast love. It will powerfully change you.

Psalm 52:4 (ESV)

You love all words that devour,

O deceitful tongue.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. What a lie. It is a lie of gargantuan proportions. Words can kill, start wars, cripple, end marriages, abuse children. There is no end to the damage that can be, and is, afflicted by words. Speaking to wicked people David says that they love words that devour. Here, the words that people utter are compared to a ravenous beast that tears it prey asunder. The very words they speak devour. And what they devour is destroyed. Most often it is other people who become the meal that these words feast upon.

How careful these truths should cause us to be in our conversations and communications with others. Before you hit “send” get a night’s rest and re-read your missive and see if it really is what you want to say. The whole mess is compounded by the fact that we do not see ourselves the way other people do. We think we are being composed and conciliatory while those we are speaking to are wondering why we are raving and being so obnoxious. Realizing that words are powerful destructive forces and also that our own self perceptions may not be what other people’s perceptions of us are, ought to make us very careful regarding the words we use and the manner in which we use them.

The Scriptures are full of such warnings. Read through the Book of Proverbs and see what is said there about the tongue. Out of the seven things that the Lord hates, three of them have to do with the misuse of the tongue.

Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV)

There are six things that the Lord hates,

seven that are an abomination to him:

[17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

[18] a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

[19] a false witness who breathes out lies,

and one who sows discord among brothers.

And be sure not to omit the most famous biblical text of all regarding this weapon of mass destruction – James 3:2-12. It is not a flattering assessment but it is painfully true and if we are honest we will feel the pain of it.

The world is busy going to hell because of a lie that was believed, uttered in sinless Eden, and responded to with the assurance that to believe what was said by a subtle beast was better than to believe what God had already said. Words are very powerful indeed. They really do devour and if we really believe the Gospel and have God Himself dwelling in us we can begin to demonstrate that glorious truth by reforming the way we talk. If all believers would guard their tongues and speak only what is for the edification of other believers (Ephesians 4:29), the world may not have the horrible opinion of evangelicalism that it has. The saddest thing of all is that quite often the critics of the church are right and they have the quotes from our mouths to prove it.

Let’s do great exploits for God. Let’s talk in a God pleasing manner. The world will be turned upside down by such radical faith.

Luke 7:11-17 (ESV)

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. [12] As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. [13] And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” [14] Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” [15] And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. [16] Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” [17] And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. There is much wisdom in this expression. It no doubt grew out of an observation of those who have power. Well meaning people get into a position of power, whether political, corporate or yes, even ecclesiastical, and it goes to their heads and they begin to think that they deserve to be in charge and throw their authority around and ruin everyone who has the misfortune to be under them. It happens all the time. We are seeing the results of it in Egypt right now. God, by definition, has absolute power. But it does not corrupt Him. We get corrupted by power because we are at heart sinful. God is holy. The best form of government would be a benevolent dictatorship and God is both powerful and benevolent. And we can do no better than to live our lives under His loving authority.

In the text before us we encounter both power and compassion. Jesus has the power over life and death. He is able to raise the dead. But will He? Why should He? He certainly did not interrupt every funeral He encountered. The text tells us plainly that in this case He did. Verse 13 – And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. Jesus raised the woman’s son because He had compassion on her. She has lost her only son. She is now alone; she has no means of income or support; Jesus sees her and is moved with compassion for her. And the compassion moves Him to use the power that is His for the benefit of this woman. It is the perfect combination.

Power and compassion. Many of us have compassion but are powerless to do the good that we wish we could do. Many people have power but they do not use it for compassionate purposes. Jesus has both.

This raises the whole issue of why an all powerful God would allow the suffering that marks this world to continue. The unbelieving will quip that if God is loving then He cannot be all powerful or else He would, out of that love, end the suffering of the world. If He is all powerful then He cannot be loving because He does not use His power to compassionately end the suffering in the world. The text before us points out that Jesus is both powerful and loving. People may still ask why God does not use His power to end suffering, but even when Jesus was here He did not fix up everybody.

We do not sit in judgement on the almighty. He is God and we are not. He has told us to make the world a better place, so we need to be careful of just what evil we charge God with. God is all wise and He knows what He is doing. This account in Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus is both powerful and compassionate. He refuses none who come to Him. He does not always heal or resurrect or put an end to trouble. But He has done all that can be done to ultimately defeat evil and put it to death. He did it on the cross. And the Scriptures are clear that when Jesus returns evil be put to death once and for all.

In the meantime we are to be the feet and hands of Jesus in a world that desperately needs a little compassion. Before we start levying guilt upon God we need to ask ourselves just how compassionate and loving we are – for He has given us the job of being His hands and feet in this very needy world. We can take a loving, compassionate all powerful God to a world that needs to hear about Him. Let`s make sure we do.

Luke 7:1-9 (ESV)

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. [2] Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. [3] When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. [4] And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, [5] for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” [6] And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. [7] Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. [8] For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” [9] When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

There are many things that can be said from this text, so we limit ourselves to four small observations. They have to do with the qualities of real faith in Jesus and the Jesus who is worthy of such faith. The centurion in this story is commended by Jesus for a faith that does not exist even among the people of Israel.

1) Humility – The centurion has real humility when it comes to Jesus and asking Jesus for a favour. In verse 6 he says, through his servants, that he is not worthy to even come in person and ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. But there is another way he demonstrates real humility. He comes to Jesus for help. Faith in Jesus Christ means coming to the realization that we are completely incapable and He is able to do whatever He pleases. The centurion knows he is powerless. But he also knows that Jesus is all powerful. There is no such thing as proud faith and when a person can look at himself and get puffed up, and look at others and feel superior, then you can be sure that he is not looking up with a sense of inability.

2)Need – the centurion has a need. Faith in Jesus Christ comes to Him in desperate need. It starts with repentance and salvation. And it continues in a life marked by repentance and dependence. But again, this sense of need is not a morose feeling of uselessness. It is a realization that while I cannot meet the needs of my soul, Jesus Christ most certainly can. This faith has real joy because its hope is firmly set on that which will not disappoint. The issue is never how much we are able to do. The issue is always what can Jesus do for me. He starts by meeting the biggest need of all, our need for forgiveness and eternal life. It goes on from there with the meeting of real needs throughout our whole life. We are needy. He is more than able and lovingly willing to answer our calls to Him offered in real faith.

3)Acknowledgment of Jesus – We hear much about the need for faith, but the real issue is where our faith is placed. The centurion could have sent his servants to the Pharisees to have his servant healed but he would have been sent away with a servant still sick. Faith is not a magic formula for getting things done. Faith is trusting the supreme power to do what only He can. Tied to this is the acknowledgment that Jesus is who He really is. Believing in Jesus demands believing right things about Him. If you believe Jesus is a plumber on Davenport Road you do not have real faith. If you believe Jesus is just a man you do not have real faith. If you believe He is the first of all created beings, you do not have real faith. Jesus Christ is the eternal, uncreated, sovereign Ruler who came into the world as a human being. The centurion acknowledges Jesus supreme authority and that is where our faith must begin.

4)Call – And finally, the centurion calls out to Jesus for help. Saying you believe that Jesus can help you and refusing to call to Him and ask Him to help is a statement that you do not believe at all. Faith must be expressed. It consists of dependence that leans hard upon its God and is marked by prayer.

This is Christian faith. It is not all that faith is but it certainly is not less. The emphasis of this account in the life of Jesus is about a man who had great faith. But it is more about the One who is worthy of all faith. The centurion was not sent away empty and neither are we.

Luke 6:46-49 (ESV)

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? [47] Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: [48] he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. [49] But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Obedience to Christ is good for you. In this text Jesus is contrasting the man who obeys him and the one who does not. The one who obeys is like a house built on the rock. When the storms come it stays standing. Disobedience is like a house built on sand. Because it has no foundation the storm will cause it to collapse.

There is no prosperity Gospel being taught here. Jesus is not saying that obedience will make you rich or healthy or comfortable. What He is saying is that when you do get sick, or have financial setbacks or persecuted for the faith or experience a host of other calamities, you will not collapse under the weight of them. This is because the one who obeys Christ is the one who trusts Christ.

Sometimes obedience does not seem like the best route for us to take, but because we believe it is always better to do what God says and not go our own way, we do what we know is right anyway. And we do it gladly. The faith that obeys even in the face of the difficulties obedience brings will grow stronger. It has already shown a willingness to do the right thing. When hardships come the faithful will not falter like those who have relied on their own wisdom and strength.

Those who disobey are those who think they know better than God what should be done in situations. Even though they know what the Word of God says, they do otherwise because they fail to see the good in obedience. They think hey know that obedience will result in bad things happening. The first love for these people is not God’s glory, or faithfulness. It is comfort or ease or prosperity. The threat of trouble is a greater incentive than the thought of drifting away from God. When difficulties come they will not stand, because they are out of resources. They have already demonstrated that they are not willing to trust God when times are easy. When times get rough they have only their own resources to tap into and they find them woefully inadequate. They collapse.

This could be seen as a type of prosperity teaching. The prosperity is not of money or health or fame or anything connected to the temporal. It is the prosperity of inner strength, character in the face of opposition, faithfulness when it seems that God is not hearing. Jesus does not say what the storms are that beat at these houses, and that means that it does not matter what they are. Whatever they are the obedient will have built up a strength that will sustain them in difficult days. Whatever he does prospers – not materially, but in a much better and more meaningful way – in the soul, in the mind, in the heart. Obedience to Christ is good for you.