Do you want to be made whole? (I)

The man had an infirmity, and had been at the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years hoping to be healed. There were many there also waiting, for from time to time an angel came and stirred the waters, and whoever stepped in first was healed. The question at the title of the post is what Jesus asked him (John 5:2-6). At first sight, this might seem like a rather silly, even cruel question. I mean the man had been there thirty-eight years hoping to be healed. But actually, the question is a deep one. I mean you could imagine the man asking “Will I have to get a job? Will I have to leave this place, these are the only people I know?”

The man’s ailment was physical, but since Jesus tells us that He came to heal the brokenhearted and to set the captives free etc. (Luke 4:18), His question is relevant to us all. We all carry baggage from the past. And it is only in fairytales that we automatically live happily ever after, when we are rescued by our handsome prince, even when that handsome prince is Jesus. I mean after Cinderella had been abused all those years, she would have had issues. Primarily she would have had an orphan spirit carrying a sense of abandonment, loneliness, alienation and isolation. With 20/20 hindsight, I can see that for the first 20 years after my conversion, I was operating out of an orphan spirit. Coming to the Lord from the after effects of a broken marriage, I was, out of ignorance I believe, marginalized by the church, and rejected by some because I was divorced. It further wounded me deeply. I’m happy to say the church has substantially come out of that ignorance.

It seems to me, especially in the West, that many operate our of an orphan spirit. And whether this is you or not, we all have issues. We will not enter into the fullness of life we are intended to have (John 10:10a),nor we will not be becoming progressively free until we deal with our issues in a Biblical way (John 8:31, 32). Dealing with our issues is not easy period, but perhaps the hardest are our relationship issues. The reason we tiptoe around the elephant in the room, is because not to do so rocks the boat, it violates the unwritten, unspoken but nevertheless strongly held rules. And you are likely to be punished even when you come in gentleness and humility seeking to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Into all this, I believe, Jesus asks each and every one of us “Do you want to be made whole?”

Father, I remember reading somewhere that we would know a lot more about what ails us, if we were allowed to know. It strikes a chord with me Lord, because I have found the pressure to conform to the unspoken and unwritten rules enormous. I confess Lord, that when I woke up and started to see some of these rules, I was somewhat less than gentle. And years later I am still reaping the consequences of that. Part of the reason I write these blogs Lord, is that I want others to learn from my mistakes. But with those who have made the same mistakes, I want to press in with them, to Your promise that You will restore the lost years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). On that day the Lord, I believe I will declare that you have done all things well. And I praise and bless and worship You this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen

Was saved, am being saved, will be saved

There are, as it were, three phases to our amazing salvation, past, present and future. Past: “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (past tense - Ephesians 2:8). This is justification the forgiveness of our sins. You were justified..." (1Corinthians 6:11; Acts 22:16). Present: Paul told the Corinthians that we are “the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved” (present tense - 2 Corinthians 2:15). Future: “Our salvation is now nearer than when we first believed” (future tense - Romans 13:11). A little overly simplistically we were saved from the penalty of sin (justification), we are being saved from the power and the pollution of sin (sanctification), and we will be saved from the presence of sin (glorification).

I am saying that this classification is a little overly simplistic, because there are also past present and future aspects of sanctification (i.e. 1 Corinthians 6:11). Now I want to say very clearly that we are intended to have assurance, we are intended to know that we have been saved (1 John 5:12,13). But I also want to say that the Scripture knows nothing of a salvation apart from an ongoing transformation (Romans 12:1,2). We are told to “Work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), and “without holiness, no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Sanctification (salvation) though, is much more than becoming holy. It is also about becoming whole in body, soul and spirit, it is about having our hearts healed, it is about becoming truly free, it is about with His help dealing with the issues of life, it is about progressively moving into the promised abundant life.

As already mentioned, Paul tells us to work out our own salvation (progressive sanctification) with fear and trembling. And he tells us why. It is because God is at work in us in both our desires and in the wherewithal to to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13). I understand this to mean that if we are to be progressively free and moving into the abundant live, then we need to do that hard work of fully cooperating with Him in our sanctification. Salvation (justification) is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8), becoming free will cost us everything we have. In particular we will need to die, we need to reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God (Romans 6:11). Unless we take up our cross daily and follow Him, we cannot be His disciples (Luke 9:23). However “whoever loses their life for me will save it” (verse 24).

Father, I am not satisfied to have anything less than all that You have for me. But I need Your help to keep on doing the hard work of sanctification. I know that You will not do for me anything that I can do for myself, but You will certainly make up for what I cannot do (the Lord help them what helps themselves Hesitations 3:21 :) ). I thank You for this, this morning Lord, and also for the fact that You who began a good work in me will keep right on doing it until the day I meet You face to face. On that day I will know You because I will be like You. Hallelujah Amen

Never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done (Genesis 9:11)

The context of this morning’s quote from Genesis 9:11, is of the Lord , covenanting with Noah about withholding future deserved judgement. Without wanting to make too much of this, I could not help noticing this morning the verse numbers 9:11. What it did, was to remind me of the type of prophecy of judgement that we hear over and over. In particular in the mind of these prophets 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the various tsunamis and earthquakes etc., are seen as God’s judgement on the earth. But the fact of the matter is (skipping to the back of the book), that we are now living in the age of Grace. And in this day of Grace God’s message to this wicked and hurting world is “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

As the context of the quote below makes very, very clear, it’s not that there is no longer a day of reckoning. No, but rather it is that judgement is delayed because “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Kris Volloton tells of many of the same prophets who interpreted the above disasters as God’s judgement, also made dire predictions of events that did not come to pass. They then quietly withdrew their predictions when they didn’t happen. Such prophets do not understand what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55). The Lord knew He was taking a risk in withholding judgement until the last day, for “in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised” (2 Peter 3:3, 4)? In fact the kindness of God and His extravagant love is intended to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4; 5:8).

How shall we , who know and love the Lord, then live? Well, we need to come against evil in the opposite spirit. We read “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:18-21).

Father, what You call to it is impossible without You. But with You all things are possible. But Lord, the suffering You call us to at times, is nothing compared with what You went through for us in sending Your Son. Father You tell us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10). In view of this, the only safe place is for us is to stay close to the burning flame of Your love. Father purge from us everything that hinders our being true witnesses to Your amazing Glory and Grace. And we will give You all the honour and glory and praise in Jesus Name Amen

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord

The context of this morning’s quote from Genesis 6:8, is that because of the wickedness of man, and that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” God was determined to destroy, not only mankind, but also the whole of the animal kingdom. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Noah is a prototype, even before Abraham, of salvation through obedient faith. We read that it was through being moved by his godly fear to obedience, that he became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. There is not a trace here, of the so-called hyper grace that is disconnected from godly fear, holiness and obedience (see Hebrews 11:17; 2 Peter 2:15).

So then we see here in this first mention of grace, that it is undeserved favour, for Noah was surely included in God’s assessment of man. We also see that faith is much more than intellectual belief in the existence of God, it is something that moves a person to obedience to Him who cannot be seen (Hebrews 11:7 again). Furthermore, we see that God is interested in the salvation not only of the individual, but also of families. It is interesting to note that it was only Noah who is said to have found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Nothing is said about the other seven souls who were saved (1 Peter 3:20)

Recall that while pain and suffering and difficulties were part of the curse, the earth itself was included (Genesis 3:16-19). I remember being somewhat surprised to learn that after the revival in Pond Inlet, the berries and the caribou came back. Perhaps I should not have been, because “the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21). What I am seeing here, is that while the church needed to be in the “ark” for a while, it was never intended to stay there. In fact ultimately bringing the kingdom, the rule of God to earth as it is in heaven, is not just about the individual, it’s not just about the family, it’s not even just about the community. No, it is about the transformation of society, of towns of cities and of nations, and in end of creation itself. It is His desire that the whole world find grace in His eyes.

Lord Jesus, when You came You told us “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 1:15), meaning I believe that it is here, but not yet here in its fullness. I need to repent this morning Lord for myself, and for a large part of the church that for too long, has been concerned only about itself, and not about society. It was distressed to learn that research has shown that where the church is not concerned about the transformation of its cities, the more the church thrives, the worse the surrounding city becomes. Thank You Lord for the glimpses that You are giving of cases where the church is truly taking its mandate to heart, and cities and even nations are being transformed. And so I pray the prayer this morning Lord that I know is according to your will. I pray kingdom of God come, will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven in Your lovely and precious Name Lord Jesus Amen

Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it

We were saying yesterday, that God’s rejection of Cain and his offering had nothing to do with his anger, but his anger was certainly a problem. The warning about sin desiring to have us is, of course applicable to all sin. Jesus puts it this way “he who sins, is the slave of sin” (John 8:34). The fact of the matter, is that either we rule over sin, or it rules over us. And the picture given here in Genesis 4:7, is of a crouching tiger waiting in hidden readiness, to pounce upon us unawares. The phrase “at your door” is about the danger being very, very close to home. James tells us, that the first step towards putting our head into the lion’s mouth (to mix metaphors), is that we are drawn away by our negative emotions and desires (James 1:14).

In the case of anger these negative emotions could be jealousy, the desire to get even, it could bitterness etc., etc. We are not told what was going on inside Cain’s heart, but as a general principle, it’s not hard to see that when we nurse such negative thoughts and emotions, they grow exponentially. And they will be diminished neither by stuffing them down, nor by giving them free range! The writer to the Hebrews likens bitterness to a root growing within us. Such a root chokes out the positive emotions such as love, joy, peace etc.. The negative emotions overflow and defile many, likely including those we love the most (see Hebrews 12:15; Galatians 5:22). In Cain’s case, it lead to murder (Genesis 4:8).

The early chapters of Genesis chronicle the history of what happens when sin is left unchecked. We read “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). The default then, is to go wrong, sin desires to have us too, and we too must rule over it. In particular we need to be continually reminded that we are in the war to the death with the enemy of our souls. And starting with love, forgiveness and the like, we must make sure that we do not fail to obtain the grace that we so desperately need to overcome (Hebrews 12:15; 4:16). In the case of anger we need to learn to take it to God (Psalm 142:2), and by the Spirit put to death both the deeds and the desires of the flesh (Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:24).

Father, it is safe to keep coming back over and over to the key verses on this subject. In particular Lord while anger in and of itself need not be a sin, we do need to make sure that we do not sin in our anger, and that we do not let the sun go down on our wrath (Ephesians 4:26). And while self-control is both part of the fruit of Your Spirit and a command, it is only in partnership with Your Spirit that can put to death the deeds and the desires of the flesh. When we do our part Lord, You make up for what we cannot do (Philippians 2:12, 13). And I thank You for the comfort and empowering nature of these things this morning Lord in Jesus Name Amen

Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

God had accepted Able and his offering, but He had not accepted Cain and his offering. The content of this morning’s title were God’s question to Cain. I have heard sermons on this passage that concentrate on the content of the offerings saying that a blood sacrifice was what was needed here. But there is no mention of sin, and grain and cereal offering were regularly offered and clearly accepted later (Exodus 29:41). It is also to miss the point that it was not only his offering that God did not accept, it was Cain himself. Cain was not only angry, he was very angry (Genesis 4:4-6).

Now anger, in and of itself, was not the problem, since “if you do well you will be accepted” (verse 7). What we do with anger can be a problem, but anger in and of itself is not wrong. In fact Jesus himself was angry at times (Mark 3:5). In fact we are told “Be angry and sin not, do no let the sun go down on your wrath (Ephesians 4:26). In fact, anger can give us the energy and courage to do what otherwise we might not do. Jesus was angry but still fully under control when he cast the money changers out of the Temple. I mean he took the time to make a whip of chords. People were being ripped off, and His anger was a righteous anger (John 2:14-16). That is not always the case with us!

God’s questions, as always, are significant, and He asks Cain why he was angry. We are not told why, but we can make some educated guesses. The older brother in the story of the prodigal son, for example, was offended and likely jealous too (Luke 15:11-28). Perhaps Cain in making his offering was going through the motions, in which case it was how he was presenting the offering, rather than the offering itself. Was he drawing near with his lips, but having a heart far from God (Isaiah 29:13)? But in any case “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7), and this was clearly a heart matter. Perhaps he was angry with God too, but in any case he would not have been rejected if he had done well (verse 7 again).

Father, all though the Scriptures we see over and over, that You strongly desire relationship with us, and it is clear that we need to keep our hearts with all diligence (proverbs 4:23). Please keep us from offence in whatever form it may come. Your love and passion for us knows no bounds, and a lukewarm response to You simply makes You want to puke (Revelation 3:16). Please fan the flame again of our passion for You again this morning Lord, so that we may fully return to our first love. Thank You that You have provided all we need to do this, and I am knocking and seeking for this again this morning Lord (Revelation 3:15-20) in Jesus Name Amen

For your sake I curse the earth (Genesis 3:17 NKJV)

In the beginning the Lord had created the heavens and the earth including all the animals, and topping of the glory of creation with Adam and Eve. He saw that what He had created was very good. The Lord had made just one prohibition, and Adam and Eva had blown it (Genesis 1:1, 31; 2:16; 3;6). God’s response is basically summarized is the title of this morning’s blog. Other translations have “Cursed is the ground because of you.” This speaks to me of punishment and I think that this is not right (there is no perfect traNslation). “For your sake” speaks to me of the Lord saying that He changed the DNA of creation so that bad choices would have bad consequences (Galatians 6:7). This is intended to help us see our need of Him, and ultimately to restore relationship with Him and each other, the very thing that was lost at the fall. Our prison system testifies to the fact that punishment is often far from redemptive!

C.S. Lewis had an interesting saying to the effect that God whispers to us in our pleasure, but shouts to us in our pain. Physical pain is an indication that something is wrong and shows us our need of a doctor. Similarly the pain and difficulties and consequences of life are designed to show us our need of the great Physician, and to lead us back the the shepherd and guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25). I know it was the consequences of my own poor choices that ultimately lead me back to Him. But I seem to have needed to have the rug pulled out from under my feet several times before I was willing to take notice. We can be stubborn and/or afraid. How many of us know of cases where someone fearing he or she had cancer refused to go to the doctor until it was too late?

God took a big, big chance when He gave us free will. But without free will love is meaningless. In order for love to be love, there has to be a choice. I mean He could have made puppets, but what He did was make us significant, and that had to include the fact that our choices be significant too. He created us this way, knowing we would go wrong, but He did not simply leave us stuck in the consequences of our sin. No, at great cost to Himself He provided the way for us to be able to choose to return to Him and then to cooperate with Him in the reversal of the fall. Greater love has no man than this, that He lay down His life for His friends. This is what Christ did, and we are His friends if we obey his commandments (John 15:13,14).

Father, the phrase the goodness and severity of God comes to mind (Romans 11:22). In particular, the severity and the significance of our choices. And just as the one who fears he or she has cancer and refuses to go to the doctor must suffer the consequences, so we too must suffer the consequences of not choosing You. The goodness of God though, is designed to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). So once again this morning Lord I come to You as a little child and I surrender to You. I thank You for Your salvation and for increasingly moving me into the abundant life, and I give you all the honour and glory and praise again this morning in Jesus Name Amen