It's always better to obey the Word of God

Jeremiah 37-38 teaches us the following lessons:

Beware of a 'false hope'

The temporary withdrawal of the Babylonian army from besieging Jerusalem, when the Egyptian army came out of Egypt, did not mean that Jerusalem was safe because the Word of the Lord was that the Babylonian army would return and the destruction of the city was a fixed certainty (Jer. 37:1-10)

Don't think that the servants of God will always have a 'first class' life experience

The prophet of God did not have an easy life. For his faithful declaration of the Word of God, Jeremiah got falsely accused and imprisoned and even cast into an empty, muddy cistern (Jer. 37:11-38:6)

It's always better to obey the Word of God

Even at the very end, while the Babylonians were besieging Jerusalem, God gave the people an opportunity to be spared and for the city to not get destroyed, if they would choose to obey the Word of God (Jer. 38:17-18, 20).

Application: It is ALWAYS better to obey the Word of God!

So, we don't want to cling to false hopes that all our problems will just go away, and we don't expect to be spared all the pains of this life, but we know that it is always best to follow the Word of God and generally if we choose to "obey now the voice of the Lord ....it shall be well with you" (Jer. 38:20).

Proverbs 25:28 ESV says:

"A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls."

Lord God of hosts, please give us the "self-control" to obey your Word and not give way to fear. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Don't try to burn the written Word of God

Jeremiah 35-36 are about how people respond to the written Word of God, and the message is, obey God's Word and be forgiven (Jer. 36:1-3), try to 'burn' (or destroy it) and be 'burnt' (or destroyed) (Jer. 36:30-31). 

Sadly we live in an age in which the written Word of God is being 'burnt' in many places as people attempt to silence what the written Word of God says about the idolatries of our days.

Here are some questions from Jeremiah 35-36:

• Do we obey the Word of God as consistently as the Rechabites obeyed the instruction of their father? (Jer. 35)

• Do we think we can somehow nullify the challenge of God's written Word ? (Like the Judean king Jehoiakim who burnt the scrolls of Jeremiah - Jer. 36:22-26)

• Do we realize that God will not allow His written Word to be forever destroyed or silenced? (See how despite all opposition Jeremiah ensures that God's Word is in written form and when burnt, it gets rewritten - Jer. 36:4, 18, 32)

• And are we willing to be a part of the persistent witness to the written Word of God despite opposition? (See how persistently Jeremiah gets Baruch to go and read the Word in the Temple even when Jeremiah had been banned from going to the Temple - Jer. 36:5-10)

With God the future is bright even if the present is bleak

My reading today, Jeremiah 33-34 can be summed up as 'With God the future is bright even if the present is bleak'.

In Jeremiah 33, a bright future is prophesied because of the righteous Branch, the Messiah. He is to be King of prosperity (Jer. 33:6), Priest of pardon (Jer. 33:8) and Prophet of purity (Jer. 34).

In Jeremiah 34, a bleak present is announced (at the time of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem) because of sin against God.

Application to us? Believers in the Jesus (the Lord or Righteousness, Jer. 33:16) are proclaimers of the bright hope and of the bleak consequences of sin against God.

Sin is mad and bad and dangerous to our health but God is merciful in our Lord Jesus Christ, our only hope!

Proverbs 25:25 ESV - "Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."

We are people of the thirst quenching, life refreshing and restoring GOOD NEWS of the Lord Jesus Christ who came from the far country of heaven as the Lord our Righteousness, King of prosperity, Priest of pardon and Prophet of purity.

Help me to proclaim Jesus in deed and word today!

Advancing Prayer

In a previous blog I wrote that the Lord's Prayer was Jesus' response to His disciples request to be taught how to pray (Luke 11:1f). The Lord's Prayer is so much more than just a prayer to say. This simple outline of what prayer involves is a rich and helpful guide to our praying involving Abba prayer, Adoration Prayer, Advancing Prayer and Asking Prayer.

In previous blogs I looked at Abba prayer and Adoration prayer, let's now consider Advancing Prayer.

This praying that seeks the advance of God's priorities must precede our Asking God for things in prayer.

Advancing prayer is expressed in Matthews version of the Lord's Prayer as:

' Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' (Matthew 6:10)

By 'kingdom' is meant the rule and reign of God.

This Advancing in prayer means firstly that we accept God's Sovereign rule

"Your kingdom" indicates that this rule and reign of God is an established reality. This is not a prayer for God to become or to be made king. God is forever king. Psalm 10:16 says, "The Lord is king forever and ever". Psalm 145:13 declares, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations", and in Jeremiah 10:10 we read that "the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King."

The sun rises and sets. The rain waters the earth. Crops grow. We eat and drink and survive and this is all because God is Sovereignly sustaining His creation. (See Psalm 104).

But in this Advancing prayer we do more than just assume the sovereignty of God. We also entreat God’s Saving rule.

We pray ‘your kingdom come' so that 'your will be done on earth as it is in heaven'. This could be seen as a simple definition of what Jesus meant by the kingdom of God: namely, God ruling so as to get His will done. Another way of seeing this is as God coming to save the earth from all that is contrary to His will.

Though God sovereignly overrules the earth in providence and sustenance, many things happen on 'earth' that are not the 'will' or desire of God as it is revealed in the written Word of God (see Psalm 40:8).

When we pray ‘your kingdom come’ we are asking God to come and savingly rule the earth so that His ‘will’ gets ‘done’.

What does it look like when God’s will gets done? Answer, it looks like heaven! We pray 'your will be done on earth as it is in heaven', because ‘heaven’ is the realm in which God’s will gets perfectly and continually done. Think of heaven, where there is no sickness, no suffering, no sin, no separation from the manifest Presence of God. Heaven is a healthy, happy, peaceful, loving, prosperous, God-conscious, worshipping place.

We are given a glimpse into heaven in Revelation 21:3-4:

‘[3] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. [4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (ESV)

In this prayer we seek the advance of God’s saving, ‘kingdom’, rule so that this ‘earth’ becomes more like ‘heaven’: more of the dwelling of God with His people, more laughing, more health and less of things like sickness and suffering that cause crying, pain and death.

And the great assumption of this advancing prayer for God’s kingdom to come is that we welcome God’s Spirit rule.

When we pray ‘your kingdom come’ we need to remember how it is that the kingdom of God comes. In Matthew 12:28, Jesus said, ‘If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’ From this verse we learn that ‘the kingdom of God’ comes ‘by the Spirit of God’. We see the same thing in Romans 14:17, which says that ‘the kingdom of God is ….in the Holy Spirit’.

When we pray for the advance of God’s saving kingdom rule, we are actually praying for God’s Holy Spirit to ‘come’ and establish more of ‘heaven’ on earth.

What an awesome and powerful way to pray!

Premier Prayer Guide (2) Adoration Prayer

Premier Prayer Guide (2) - Adoration Prayer

In this series of blogs I am thinking about how the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus' response to His disciples request to be taught how to pray (Luke 11:1f), is so much more than just a prayer to say and is an outline of what prayer involves.   In the last blog I looked at Abba prayer and now I would like to consider Adoration prayer, which is what we are entering into in the words, 'Hallowed be your Name', the second line of the Lord's Prayer (See Matthew 6:9).

The Lord's Prayer teaches us of this important adoration aspect of prayer. Before we seek the advancement of God's kingdom on earth and before we start asking God for His help, we need to take some time to adore the Holy One in the contemplation of His Name  and in worship, praise and thanksgiving.

God's Name is more than just an 'identification tag', like our names might be today. In biblical thought God's Name is the revelation of who He is and what He does (cf. 1 Sam. 25:25 for this understanding of what a name signifies). Some have said that the Old Testament contains about 16 names for God, all revealing various truths about Him. (See the list below).

Every revelation of God's Name is holy and is to be hallowed, treated as high, lifted up and holy, worthy to be revered and adored. Isaiah 6:3 tells of how the seraphim in heaven worship and adore God's Holy Name crying:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory".

Revelation 4:8 reveals that the same repeated heavenly adoration continues:

'And the four living creatures, ..... day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" ' (ESV)

In prayer we join in with this heavenly chorus of perpetual adoration of God.

This threefold repetition of holy emphasizes that holiness is the main characteristic of God's being. This word 'holy' (qadosh in Hebrew, hagios in Greek) refers to the idea of separation, or that God is set apart and high above all that He has made. Though God draws near and is imminent, He is also 'high and lifted up' in transcendence. Isaiah 'saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up' (Isaiah 6:1) and the seraphim are adoring this lofty set apartness of God.

Isaiah 57:15 says:

'For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:"I dwell in the high and holy place .....'(ESV)

One possible way to enter the heavenly chorus of adoration might be to use the names of God revealed in Scripture.

Here are some of God's revealed names in the Old Testament for us to use as we take some time in adoration prayer. *

* El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty, All Sufficient One, speaks of God's power and provision, Genesis 17:1)
* El Elyon (The Most High God, speaks of the exaltation of God, Genesis 14:18)
* Adonai (Lord, Master, speaks of the Lordship of God, Genesis 15:2)
* Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah, YHWH, God's special Name of promise, covenant and salvation, Genesis 2:4; Exodus 3:14; 6:3)
* Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner, speaks of God as the flag of encouragement, hope and focus in the battles of life, Exodus 17:15)
* Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd, speaks of the intimacy, care and friendship of God, Psalm 23:1)
* Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals, speaks of God our healer and restorer, Exodus 15:26)
* Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There, speaks of God not abandoning Jerusalem but abiding and restoring, Ezekiel 48:35)
* Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness, speaks of God straightening out our relationship with Himself, Jeremiah 23:6)
* Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You, speaks of God setting us apart for Himself, Exodus 31:13)
* El Olam (The Everlasting God, speaks of the eternity of God, Genesis 21:33)
* Elohim (God, speaks of the plurality of God as majestic Creator and hints of the Trinity, Genesis 1:1)
* Qanna (Jealous, speaks of God's zeal for His people as His exclusive bride, Exodus 20:5)
* Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide, speaks of God as the provider of the substitute sacrifice, Genesis 22:14)
* Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace, speaks of God as giver of completeness, Judges 6:24)
* Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts, The Lord of Armies, speaks of God as mighty and victorious over all attacks, 1 Samuel 1:3)

We could also use God's names revealed in the New Testament as we adore and revere Him.

* Father (The source of all fatherhood, good and generous to all, Ephesians 3:14-15; Matthew 7:11)
* Jesus (Our Saviour, Matthew 1:21)
* Holy Spirit (Our Helper, Ephesians 1:13; John 14:16)

(*I adapted this list of God's names from the article on God's Names at https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm)

Premier Prayer Guide (1) Abba Prayer

Prayer is possibly our most important activity and the main way to make progress in our lives in the Lord. Through prayer we tap into the beyond imagining resources of heaven (See Ephesians 3:20). But prayer is also possibly our biggest challenge and might be for some our most neglected opportunity. I find myself regularly repenting of my lack of sustained, decent praying. I am always wanting to learn more about how to pray and I repeatedly find myself being led back to the Lord's Prayer as the resource for an effective prayer life. The Lord's Prayer was Jesus' response to His disciples request to be taught how to pray (Luke 11:1f). The Lord's Prayer is so much more than just a prayer to say. This simple outline of what prayer involves is a rich and helpful guide to our praying.   In the next few blogs I would like to share some thoughts on the four big ways of praying that Jesus teaches us in the Lord's Prayer. We will look at Abba prayer, Adoration Prayer, Advancing Prayer and Asking Prayer.

Abba Prayer

Today lets take a quick look at Abba Prayer as revealed in the first line of the Lord's Prayer.

Jesus said, 'Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven'
(Matthew 6:9).

Jesus is here teaching us that prayer begins as an intimate relationship with God 'our Father'.

This is in contrast to a meaningless, repetitive, mere 'heaping up empty phrases'. Prayer is so much more relational than just saying 'many words' (Matthew 6:7).

When we pray, we relate to a 'Father who knows what we need before we ask him'.
(Matthew 6:8).

This prayer relationship with our Father is not meant to be a sort of religious performance to be 'seen by others' (Matthew 6:5). In fact the heart of prayer begins in a 'secret' intimacy with 'your Father' as you find a place of solitude to be with Him (Matthew 6:6).

This does not mean that prayer is a totally private thing just for me and my God. In one sense all prayer is personal but never totally private. The Father is never only my Father. All prayer is really a 'family' thing for we are praying to 'OUR Father'. Even when I get alone geographically with the Father, I have spiritual access to Him as part of His huge community of believers 'who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Corinthians 1:2. See also Ephesians 2:18). What I am saying is that praying people are Church people and on a regular basis they will express this spiritual family belonging by gathering with brothers and sisters in Christ to pray together in addition to their alone times of prayer (See Matthew 18:20; Acts 2:42).

For some people the name 'Father' may be a bit of a challenge because their earthly father was not a good reflection of the 'heavenly' Father. It is important to realize that God is the first and finest Father, the originator of all fatherhood (Ephesians 3:14-15). Prayer relates to the perfectly good 'heavenly' Father.

That our Father is 'in heaven' also refers to the fact that He is not restricted in any earthly sense and is everywhere present in the unseen realm of spiritual reality (which is heaven).

This personal spiritual intimacy with God as 'Father' is not possible without the re-creative and enabling work of God's Spirit. In John's Gospel we are taught that those who believe in Jesus, in the sense of receiving him, are born of God and become His children. The Apostle Paul teaches about a work of God's Spirit who adopts us into God's family and enables us to pray and call God 'Abba, Father.' Abba is an ancient Aramaic word meaning something like our word Dad. (See John 1:12-13; 3:6-8; Romans 8:15).

Having believed and received Jesus and with the help of God's Holy Spirit within us we can enter into Abba prayer.

One way of enjoying our relationship with 'our Father' could be to slowly and reflectively repeat the simple prayer, 'Abba, I am one of your beloved children'. As we quietly say this little prayer to our Father we can recall the amazing revelation that we are His 'beloved children' (Ephesians 5:1. Here the word 'beloved' is used as a translation of the Greek word 'agapetos' which means dearly loved, much loved.)

Prayer is grounded in this wonderful reality of the love of God 'our Father in heaven'.

Why desire the gift of prophecy?

Why desire the gift of prophecy?

In 1 Corinthians 14:1, the Apostle Paul says, ‘Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy’ (ESV).

The question is, why is the gift of prophecy so special?

In trying to answer this question, let me share a few thoughts about the New Testament gift of prophecy.

1. The Apostle Paul writes about the New Testament gift of prophecy as a lower level of prophetic revelation. It is not at all on the same high and perfect level of inspiration as the Prophetic and Apostolic writings of the Bible. As we will see, the New Testament gift of prophecy is not perfect but “in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9) and it needs to be tested and evaluated by the Scriptures, which are on a much higher level of inspiration and are perfect (See 1 Corinthians14:29, 37-38; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22;  2 Timothy 3:15-17; Psalm 19:7; Romans 7:12).

We occasionally hear people who speak in a rather disparaging way about Bible teaching and then rave about a prophetic word that was given. Though some Bible preaching is below standard, we do need to beware of thinking that prophetic words are somehow better or more powerful than the Scriptures. In fact the exact opposite is true. It is the written “law of the Lord” that is “perfect” and always able to “revive the soul” (Psalm 19:7).

2. As was noted above, the gift of prophecy must be submitted to the words of Scripture.

1 Corinthians 14:37-38 says:

‘37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. ‘(ESV)

As a foundational Apostle of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:8-10), Paul was given God’s special ‘grace’ to write Scripture. His letters were recognized and included in the Bible as ‘a command of the Lord’. 1 Corinthians 14:37-38 spells out the need for people who move in the prophetic gifts to ‘acknowledge’ and ‘recognize’ the Scriptures. If such prophetic people don’t do this and if their prophecies are therefore inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible, then they are to be ‘not recognized’ and their prophecies not accepted.

3. The gift of prophecy is not perfect but is “in part”.

1 Corinthians 13:9 says:

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” (ESV)

As has been said, the Scriptures are ‘perfect’, not ‘in part’, but prophecies today are only partially right and that is why they need to be evaluated. So when we hear someone share a prophetic word, we need to listen for the good ‘part’, as it were. The person sharing the prophetic word may indulge in a bit of preaching or commentary that gets added to the ‘part’ that was given as a gift from God and occasionally, there may even be bits of the sharing that are ‘evil’ which must be rejected. This leads us to the next point.

4. Prophetic words must be carefully evaluated and the good parts kept.

1 Corinthians 14:29 says:

‘Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.’ (ESV)

1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 says:

‘20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.’ (ESV)

Most of the time, I think that we can leave this evaluating to the individual. I don’t think that church leaders need to give a comment on the value of every prophetic word that gets shared. If something ‘evil’ gets said, then a correction would be in order.

This evaluating must also be done in a loving context. This is why 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, is between 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14, the gifts chapters. If we do not encourage a loving environment in our church meetings, people will be too scared to share anything for fear of being corrected. My point is that we so value the gift of prophecy that we encourage people to have a go and share a word. If they get it a bit wrong, we just lovingly let it go (and say nothing). If they happen to get it badly wrong, we lovingly correct the error without making people too scared to ever have a go again.

5. This gift of prophecy is available to all Christians in the New Covenant

1 Cor. 14:31 says:

‘For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.’ (ESV)

This not to say that all will have a prophetic motivation or a prophetic ministry or even operate regularly in a prophetic sphere of ministry. The three big lists of gifts in the New Testament speak of spiritual gifts in three main ways. Romans 12:6-8 speaks about motivational gifts as the gifts we have and that God by his grace has given to us in a constituted way. Ephesians 4:11-12 is about the ministry gifts that we become. This passage is about leadership ministry gifts and different spheres of ministry for all God’s people.  1 Corinthians 12:7-11 is about manifestation gifts, the gifts we seek, which are given situationally and are not constituted. It is these manifestation gifts of prophecy that are available to all believers in Jesus. God can use any one of us to manifest a gift of prophecy in a given situation as needed.

6. The gift of prophecy is to be eagerly desired.

1 Cor. 14:1 says:

‘Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.’ (ESV)

1 Cor. 14:39 says:

‘So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy…’ (ESV)

It is not just a case of saying, ‘If God wants me to manifest this gift, He will give it to me.’ Some who are theoretically accepting of the spiritual gift of prophecy are actually not very keen to ever actually share a prophetic word. We need to move from a passive intellectual acceptance of the possibility of prophetic gifts to a passionate seeking that we ‘may prophesy’. Come to church asking God to give you a word of prophecy.

7. The gift of prophecy is not to be despised.

1 Thessalonians 5:20 says:

‘Do not despise prophecies.’ (ESV)

This seems to be the opposite extreme from those who value prophecies over Scripture. It may be because prophecy is only ‘in part’ and lower than the perfection of the Bible that some ‘despise prophecies’ as too simple or too obvious. For example, if someone shared a prophetic word about how God loves us, a person who despises prophecy may think that it is so obvious because the Bible tells us this. It may however be very encouraging for someone to be assured of God’s love.

8.  The gift of prophecy is to be desired because it is very useful in building up, lifting up and cheering up.

1 Corinthians 14:3 says:

‘The one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.’ (ESV)

This is the normal function of the gift of prophecy: to build up, encourage and comfort. This gift of prophecy may occasionally be corrective or directive, but this would be exceptional and therefore must be handled with much more care. In our church I feel that people can be given freedom to share words that build up, lift up and cheer up, but words that correct or direct may not be shared without first running it by an Elder. This is because a word of correction or direction that is wrong could do some serious damage!

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.

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'!

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.'