Sunday 26 June 2016

Walking in Love

How many of us like walking? Is walking good for you?

In some parts of Scripture, 'walk' refers to living the Christian life, like Ephesians 5:1-2, which is about Walking in Love. (Notice how v2 says, Walk in love” in the ESV translation. The NIV translates it as, 'Live a life of love'.)

I read somewhere about a young man who told his father that he was going to get married. The father asked, "Are you in love?"  “I am," said the son.  “How do you know you're in love?" asked the father.  He replied, "Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn't feel the pain until I got home."

Is that love? I don't know, but what I do know is that in Ephesians 5:1-2 walking in love means to be forgiving and to be giving.

Firstly, walking in love means that we must imitate God and be forgiving. (Do to others as God did to us).

It says:

'Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. [5:1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [5:2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 4:32-5:2 ESV)

Do you see how these verses command us to be forgiving like God is forgiving?

What does it means to be forgiving?

It means if someone hurts or owes us we just let it go instead of paying them back, or operating in that 'you owe me' way (Mt. 18:28)

'Forgiving' in Ephesians 4:32 is a translation of  'χαρίζομαι', from χάρις meaning grace. In other words, we extend grace. Col. 2:13 says that God has 'forgiven (χαρίζομαι) us'. IE. We extend grace as God extended grace to us.

Grace has a lot of meanings, one of them is (according to Leon Morris's commentary on John 1:4) 'that which causes joy or winsomeness or kindness, showing underserved favour.'

I like to sum this up as BE NICE! To forgive people is to be nice to them, even if/when they are nasty to us! When the preacher goes on and on boring... we extend grace. When the worship is too loud, too soft, too long, not any of the songs we know or like... we extend grace. When a visitor sits in your favorite seat...we extend grace. When the youth do things that seem offensive to our culture ... we extend grace. When the coffee is lousy after church .... we extend grace

Secondly, walking in love means that we must imitate Christ on the Cross and be giving. (Live by the principle of the Cross).

The passage says:

"Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:2)

This passage tells us two great things about the Cross of Christ.

A.) The Cross is the once-for-all event where salvation was achieved by Jesus. It says that “Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

B.) The Cross is also the ruling principle of the Christian life. This verse says that we must imitate and express this kind of Christ on the Cross love. We must “walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Oxenham wrote, 'Love ever gives. Forgives, outlives, And ever stands With open hands. And while it lives, It gives, For this is love's prerogative-- To give, and give, and give.’

Thirdly, walking in love means that we express (out to others) what we experience (from God).

I read something by a doctor that said that 'the more love a baby gets from his mother, the more he is capable of giving love.'

The truth is that we can only express what we experience. That's what Ephesians 5:1-2 is saying:

'Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children (of God). [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.' (ESV)

These verses are saying that it's only as we experience being loved by God, our Father; being 'beloved' (or dearly loved) children of God, that we can we express love to others.

Note too that this experience of God’s Fatherly love is a corporate thing. The verse speaks of “beloved CHILDREN”, Not just as one child alone. It may be that God’s love flows best in His family, as against each individual always just alone with God.

So, to 'walk in love', look again at God’s forgiving love, look again at Christ’s giving love, and receive again God’s Fatherly love for His children.

Let me feel again the warmth of Your love, O Father God, that I may learn again to 'walk in love'. Amen.

Thursday 23 June 2016

From 'Prison to Praise'

Do you feel trapped and alone and faint of heart? Are people out to 'get' you and maybe trap you and trip you up?

That's how David may have felt as he prayed Psalm 142.

David prayed this Psalm as a cry for help when he was 'in a cave' , alone and surrounded by enemies trying to 'trap' him. He was down and faint of spirit, not sure which way to turn.

And his prayer ended with these words of faith:

Psalm 142:7 ESV
'Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.'

We too can turn to God in our need and, like David say,

'Let me be found in the place of your praise, in the midst of your people, experiencing your protection and provision!'

May the LORD, who alone is our only ultimate Refuge and Portion in Life (Psalm 142:5), bring us all from 'prison to praise'!

Tuesday 21 June 2016

The Question of Suffering

Terrible things are happening all over the earth. People get shot and killed in a night club. A politician in England gets killed in her constituency. Why do such awful things happen?

The Bible book of Job was written to deal with this huge question of suffering, excessive suffering when people have not sinned excessively.

In theological thinking this is called 'Theodicy'. The question of God's justice in the light of Human Suffering.

In Greek and later Western thought, theodicy led to the conclusion that God was not almighty or not just, and assumed that humans were innocent.

In Biblical Hebrew thought, God is always both Almighty and Perfectly Just, and human beings are never entirely innocent in the sight of God.

And so for Job and his friends ( in the Biblical book of Job) the logical conclusion was that every person’s suffering was an indication of his guilt before God.

This theology often clashed with human experience.

Many people, like Job, had not sinned exceptionally but suffered exceptionally.

This gave rise to a great problem, and the God to whom the believer would always turn in times of trouble became the enigma.

In the speeches of Job in chapters 3 to 37, we hear the flawless logic of ‘orthodox’ Israelite theology and ‘the writhing of soul of the righteous sufferer who struggles with the great enigma’ (NIV Study Bible, p717).

The Biblical solution is also unique, and has to do with the great adversary (Job 1 and 2).

Incapable of contending directly with God, Satan seeks to frustrate the works of God on earth, and especially God’s special relationship with His believers, men like Job.

By accusing Job of being righteous merely for self gain, the way is opened for the great challenge.

God lets the accuser have his way with Job, within specified limits, and Job is robbed of every sign of God’s favour.

Job’s friends add to his suffering with their ‘orthodox’ theology.

God had become the great enigma, but Job clings to his God in persevering faith, knowing that one day he will be vindicated (See Job 13:18; 14:13-17; 16:19; 19:25-27).

Though he complains and curses the day of his birth, Job will not curse or deny God.

We read in Job 2:9-10 (ESV):

'Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." [10] But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.'

Eventually everyone is silenced, and then God speaks to Job ‘bringing the silence of regret for hasty speech in days of suffering and the silence of repose in the ways of the Almighty’ (NIV Study Bible p717) (See Job 38:1-42:6)

God also hears Job’s prayer for his friends (Job 42:8-10), and restores Job’s blessings (Job 42:10-17).

The message of Job may be summarized as follows:

God treasures our righteousness most of all. The adversary seeks to overthrow the purposes of God by attacking the righteousness of godly people. The suffering of the truly godly is the battlefield where Satan comes against God. Our persistence in faith expresses the victory of God. The suffering of the righteous finds meaning in great spiritual battle of the ages. 'The author of Job reveals information concerning the unseen spiritual battles that go on in this world. Since some of these events are a mystery to mankind, it is impossible for people to always understand the reason why God allows certain things to happen. This shows that reason cannot be the sole basis of a person’s relationship with God. Although wisdom writings encourage a rational understanding of life, they recognize the limitations of human wisdom and call people to fear God and put their faith in Him’ (From 'Exploring the Old Testament' by S.J. Schultz & G. Smith).

The story of Job reveals principles that need to be remembered when we reflect on suffering:

1. The Complexity of Truth

Simple theological answers don’t always fit a situation.

Job suffers exceptionally but has not sinned exceptionally (Job 4:7-8; 6:10,24, 10:6-7).

Sickness is not always a judgment on us (See also John 9).

When the LORD answered Job, He didn’t explain why but pointed to the limits of human knowledge (eg: Job 38:2, 39:1, 42:3).

2. The Attacks of Satan

The Book of Job teaches of the reality and role of Satan in our sufferings (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7)

(See also 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38).

3. The Big Picture

A bad thing can have a good outcome in the end.

Job ends up with twice as much as he had before, and greatly blessed (Job 42:10-17).

4. The Hope of Eternity

The Ultimate Biggest Picture. Job’s talk about dying gradually changes through the book.

From despair and longing to die (Job 3:11); that death is the end of everything (Job 7:9-10); that death is the ‘”land of gloom and darkness” (10:20-22).

Then a question of life after death surfaces (Job 14:7-14). "If a man dies, shall he live again?” (v14)

Finally, Job reaches an answer of faith in Job 19:25-27 (ESV) 'For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. [26] And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, [27] whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!'

Beyond the grave he will meet God as Redeemer, and not as angry Judge. Though he still has questions about his suffering, his faith has won through.

5. The Wisdom of God

Human wisdom is lacking. Job’s comforters, and their simplistic doctrine of justice, is inadequate (Job 42:7). God alone is wise (Job 28:12-13, 23, 38:1-4f)

6. The Sovereignty of God

The reason why good can come out of bad is the LORDSHIP of God. He is in control and even overrules in the affairs of Satan and people (Job 1:12, 2:6; 12:13-16). We may not always understand or like what He does, but we trust Him whatever (Job1:21; 2:10; 13:15). Job 13:15 (ESV) says, 'Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.'

7. The Opportunity for Growth

God tests us to develop us. Job is tested severely, not to punish him, but to take him higher: in faith (Job 19:25-27), humility (Job 41:4-5), seeing God (Job 42:5), repentance (Job 42:6), prayer (Job 42:8-9) and blessings  (Job 42:10-17).

God allows Satan to attack Job to prove that Job’s devotion to God is more than ‘cupboard love’ (Job 1:9-12; 2:3-6).

Hopefully this wisdom from the  book of Job can help us in these troubled days I which we are currently living.

Thursday 16 June 2016

BE USED in doing Good Works

Our CLCB Vision slogan is Be Changed, Be Nice, Be Used.

This blog is about the 'BE USED' part of it.

The challenge is to BE USED in doing Good Works. We are not save by our good works but we are saved to do good works. Good works are the fruit not the root of our salvation. They express but don't earn salvation. This is how Ephesians 2:8-10 puts it:

'[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.'

Doing good works is not just about us trying hard, it's a matter of co-operating with God and working out what He works in. We see this call to co-operate with God in Philippians 2:12-13, which says, 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.' It's a matter of 100% me working it out and 100% God working it in. But we can't work out what God isn't working in and God works in our lives by His Spirit.

The promise of the New Covenant is found in Ezekiel 36:27 where we hear God say 'I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.' The heart of the New Covenant is this Divine enabling from within (See Jeremiah 31:31-34). The difference between law and grace is this matter of enabling. The law tells us what God wants and condemns disobedience, grace enables us to obey God (See 2 Tim. 2:1). It's therefore very important that we keep on receiving grace and allowing God to work in us by His Spirit.

Monday 13 June 2016

Be Nice extending grace to others

BE NICE

Our CLCB Vision slogan is BE CHANGED, BE NICE, BE USED. I have written about BE CHANGED in the previous blog. Let's now think a little bit about the BE NICE part.

As God in His infinite and amazing niceness extended grace to us, so we are called, as those who have received His grace, to be nice in extending Grace to others.

This idea of extending grace can be found in the Greek word charizomai which is translated as forgiven in Colossians 2:13. This verse speaks of God 'having forgiven us all our trespasses'. We could say that this verse speaks of God having extended grace to us.

Charizomai is also used in Ephesians 4:32, where it is translated as 'forgiving'. This verse speaks of our 'forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.' In other words, we forgive and extend grace to one another as God forgave and extended grace to us.

The idea of being nice and extending grace to others is developed in Ephesians 4:28-32 in terms of nice not nasty deeds, words and thoughts, as follows:

Nice Deeds of sharing not stealing.

v28 - 'Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.'

Nice Words of helping not hurting.

v29 - 'Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.'

Nice Thoughts of love not hate.

v31-32a - 'Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. [32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted'

And then in verse 30, we are told to be sure that we 'do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.' Not grieving the Holy Spirit, but making sure that He (God's Spirit) is happy to keep working in our lives is possibly the greatest secret to being nice and extending grace. The Holy Spirit is very sensitive. We don't want to hurt Him. We want to let Him work freely in our lives enabling the flow and extension of grace to others. And Ephesians 4:28-32 is saying that all those nasty deeds, words and thoughts are what can 'grieve' and hinder the present day working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. If we may have grieved Him, lets repent (See Psalm 51:9-11) and invite the Holy Spirit to come and happily work his flow of grace in our lives today.

From it's foundation in 1926 as an inter-denominational church, CLCB's redemptive gift as a church has been unity. Unity requires that we extend grace to others and express the niceness of Jesus into whose image God's Spirit is transforming us (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Thursday 9 June 2016

Be Changed by the Gospel


Be Changed 

Our CLCB Vision slogan is BE CHANGED, BE NICE, BE USED.

Let's think about the be changed part of it, which refers to the way we get changed by the Gospel of Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 helps us understand why and how the Gospel changes our lives.

1. It's the Pardon of God

In 1 Corinthians 15, we are told that , 'Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." (v3). When we turn to the OT Scriptures, we see that "he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). In other words, we get forgiven and go at last to heaven because of the saving event of the Cross. Hebrews 9:12 says that Jesus "by means of his own blood, (secured) an eternal redemption."

2. It's the Proof of God

To prove that the cross is the once for all event of our salvation, Jesus was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:4. His appearing to the apostles is what convinced them of the truth (1 Corinthians 15:5-9).

3. Its the Power of God

The Cross also releases "the grace of God" to chance our lives. In 1 Corinthians 15:8-10, Paul shares his experience of how the grace of God changed his life.He writes, "Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. [9] For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."

When Paul saw the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, he was 'born' again (1 Corinthians 15:8), and he was converted and changed from being Jesus worst enemy to being His greatest apostle by 'the grace of God' that flows from the Cross (v9-10).

What began with a new birth and conversion on the Damascus Road, when Paul met the Risen Christ, became an ongoing process of change (1 Corinthians 15:10). This process aspect of being progressively changed by the Cross is seen also in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 when it refers to "the gospel .....by which you are being saved "

4. It's the Provision of God

God's forgiveness and life changing grace in the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen needs to be received and held fast by faith. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, says, "Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain."

We can't earn salvation by our good works, we simple receive our salvation, achieved on the Cross, by faith. In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul, writes about faith and works:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." 

Faith receives the free gift of salvation. Works express our salvation. We are saved for works, not by works.

In Galatians 3:8, Paul gives us a definition of the Gospel:

'And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed."'

From this we see that to "justify....by faith" is "the gospel". In other words, the gospel is Justification by faith.

Think about it like this. Imagine that you stood before God and He said to you, 'Why should I let you into My heaven?' What would you say? You might answer by mentioning something you had done, which would indicate that you saw entry into heaven as based on your works. Or you could answer that you were trusting in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, which would indicate that you accepted that entry into heaven is by faith in Christ alone.

5. It's the Priority of God 

In 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul refers to the priority of the Gospel, saying: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures."

It's 'of first importance' and therefore must be central to our lives and church. Everything we preach and believe and do as a local church must agree with and clarify the Gospel. People sometimes ask why we do or don't do certain things in our church. The answer should always be that everything we do or don't do is determined by whether it will clarify or cloud or contradict the Gospel.

Paul's Gospel clarifying motive is seen in his missionary strategy expressed in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, where he explains how he does or doesn't do things and he sums up his Gospel approach  in verse 23, saying, "I do it all for the sake of the gospel".

We want to avoid compromising, clouding, or cluttering the Gospel with error, tradition or culture (see Galatians 2:14; Matthew 15:1-20; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

Everything we say or don't say, do or don't do should be determined by whether it will clarify the Gospel.


Sunday 5 June 2016

Change is a challenge

Well, I have decided to start a new blog. I did have an old one which I stopped using some years ago, so here is a new go...


I have called this blog Repeatedly New because that is what the word renewal means. (See Ephesians 4:23 where 'renewed' is a translation of the Greek word ἀνανεόω from ἀνά , meaning repeatedly and νέος; meaning new).

Today in church we were thinking about Change, which is the focus of Ephesians 4:17-24, where the Apostle Paul says that change is a must (call it being different and holy), change has happened for those 'in the Lord' (call it conversion and repentance) and change is also happening (call it renewal and being made repeatedly new).

Change is a challenge.

Some of the questions change may raise are:
  • Can we change? 
         Can a leopard change his spots?   

          Change seems too difficult 

           The view of Pessimism.
  • Do we want change? 
           Maybe we feel happy as is

            The way of Complacency
  • What change? 
            Not sure what change means 

            The problem of Confusion

Here at our local church, Christian Life Camps Bay we are going though an exciting story of change. Part of this story of change has been the way God has led us into a Vision of how He is calling us to change.

At a recent Elders time of prayer and waiting on God for fresh vision we unanimously agreed that God had set the following Vision before us as a church:

Our Vision at CLCB is be Growing in Numbers, Youthfulness and Making Disciples who are Changed, Nice and Used.

Our summary slogan for this vision is: Be Changed, Be Nice, Be Used.

In this blog, let me just end of by explaining a little about that word YOUTHFULNESS.

Let me say right out that this is does not mean that we are only interested in young people. Not at all. We are wanting to become a family with a range of ages from infants to very mature. I myself have just recently turned 60 and I am now very definitely in the seniors category. 

What we mean by growing in youthfulness is two things:

A. We are seeking to be renewed or repeatedly made new.

No matter what our physical age we are calling in the promise of Isaiah 40:31 that those 'who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.' 

'So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.' (2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV)

B. We are seeking to pass on the faith to another generation.

It is said that the the church is always just one generation from extinction. Sadly I see around me a number of churches that did not pass on the faith to another generation, that got trapped in just pleasing their own generation, that are just about to close their doors when the last member dies. We do not want to be like those in the period of the Judges who failed to pass on the faith to another generation (See Judges 2:10). As an older person myself, I want to do as much as I can to help younger people and children come to know and love Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

May a part of my praying ever be in these words of Psalm 71:18:

'So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.'