Today I mowed the lawn front and back. As I wheeled the bin over to the middle of the front yard, I noticed a snail in the driveway with a freshly cracked shell. Feeling bad for the little guy struggling for life, I moved him off to the side. I must have accidentally damaged the shell as I focused on filling the tank with petrol, priming and starting the mower, and cutting the grass. After the job was done I walked by the area where I placed the snail. Some ants found him and were very excited. I was actually sad.
This kind of thing can happen all the time, and not only with snails. We can hurt other people without intending to be malicious. We can be so focused on the job at hand that we don't notice when we trample on feelings with harsh or careless words. Damage can be done that we never even see. When feelings are hurt, there are often two parties involved. Early in my Christian walk, I was more on the stomping end. Now I do my best to tread softly and slowly. Despite my best efforts, I'm sure I'll accidentally step on a few more snails and unfortunately on some feelings before my time on earth is done.
People are different than snails, in that they have God-given responsibilities if they are either a snail or a stomper in the case of offense. Jesus says in Matthew 18:15, "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother." Unlike a snail that cannot speak, a person who has been hurt or offended has the responsibility to go to the one who has caused the offense and bring it to his attention. For clumsy footed people such as myself, this verse is very appreciated. It brings things to our attention we could not see before and fosters reconciliation, humility, forgiveness, and unity. It also frees me when I am offended to reveal hurt in which a brother had a role and see Jesus do an amazing restorative work.
Everyone who walks the earth will fulfill both roles of being snail and stomper. No matter how careful we are, sometimes we take a bad step. No matter how tough a shell's exterior might be, deep inside people are all very tender and soft. Jesus is the one who gives us wisdom to approach our interpersonal relationships with humility, love, and grace. He is the one who makes us to dwell in unity!
19 January 2012
17 January 2012
The Jesus I Never Knew
It is amazing how God reveals more of Himself to us every day by His grace. This week the Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to the life of Jesus as never before. On Sunday mornings at Calvary Chapel Sydney, we have been studying the Gospel of Mark. For weeks we have been building up to the crucifixion of Jesus. If last week you were to ask me what passages I associate with the grief and suffering of Christ, several portions of scripture come to mind. I would have considered the moment when Jesus wept over Jerusalem, grieved that His chosen people were unwilling to be loved by Him. I would have cited the moment when Jesus laid down His will in Gethsemane, and when He experienced betrayal, torture, and suffered at the hands of merciless, hateful men. I would have thought about Christ being separated from God on the cross by the sins of the world when He cried out in a loud voice, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
This week God has shown me clearly that Jesus, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, experienced sorrow, heartache, and deep hurt long before His public ministry. Did you know that Jesus had it rough growing up? He was tempted to despair and embrace depression. He was even tempted to commit suicide! Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus was tempted in every single way that a man can be tempted, yet He did not sin. Sometimes our focus on the deity of Christ can shroud our eyes from His humanity. Jesus had feelings, greater depth and breadth of feeling than any other person who has walked the earth.
There is little spoken about the life of Christ in the Bible before His visit with His family to Jerusalem, and nothing more until John the Baptist points Him out at the Lamb of God around the age of 30. There are 30 years that are not described for us in narrative form in the Gospels. But God gave me some insight this week as I was reading into the Christ's childhood and what marked His life before His ministry. Jesus did not begin honouring and glorifying God only after His public ministry began. Long before, even as a child, Jesus consecrated His life wholly unto God. He always did what pleased the Father, even before He was a household name in Israel. From this we know that Jesus obeyed the Law perfectly. How did He learn to obey? Not through the correction of His parents (for He did no wrong), but by the things He suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8 says this of Christ: "...who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." In the days of His flesh, throughout His time on earth, even as a child and young man, Jesus cried many tears to God as He suffered. He did not begin interceding for men only after His ascension to the right hand of the Father. Even as a youth, Jesus interceded for those who hated Him. Did He not say, "Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you?" God heard and answered His prayers.
When Jesus cleansed the temple the first time, the disciples hearkened back to a Psalm which spoke of Christ: John 2:17 says, "Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." Since this is a clear reference to Jesus, let us read the rest of the sentence in Psalm 69 with this in mind. It gives us amazing, prophetic insight into the life of Jesus with His earthly family. Psalm 69:7-12 says, "Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children; 9 because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. 11 I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. 12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards."
Jesus was no stranger to reproach or shame for God's sake, long before He grew to be a man. The Bible tells us that Jesus had half-brothers born of Mary. Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. To many people outside His family, Jesus was thought to be an illegitimate Son born out of wedlock. Yet notice that the Bible says that He was "an alien to my mother's children." David is writing these words empowered by the Holy Spirit, and how suggestive this is of Christ's relationship with His mother's children! The piety of Jesus caused them to think, "What is with Jesus? Is He from another planet? What is with His weeping, fasting, and wearing sackcloth? Why does He rise early and stay up late praying? That guy is just not normal! I don't think He's really our brother at all." Jesus was a byword among His own brothers because of His zeal for the Father's glory. This reproach for the Father's sake was borne by Christ even to Calvary. As He collapsed under the cross, people in the gate mocked and ridiculed Him. Even the drunks made up songs to scoff at Him. Jesus knew that people were against Him because they reproached His Father. But He felt the pain just the same.
When Jesus hung upon the cross He said "I thirst," knowing the scripture must be fulfilled (John 19:28-29). This scripture to which this refers is found in Psalm 69. This passage reveals a depth of suffering beyond our experience. Psalm 69:18-21 reads, "Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. 19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. 20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Only the Father could have known Christ's reproach, shame, and dishonour. Only the Father could comprehend how the reproaches of those Christ loved broke His heart and weighed Him down. He looked for comfort, for one person to show compassion, but there was none. This is a description of Christ's life that culminated on the cross. The reproach Christ endured did not begin or end there. We do Christ a grave injustice to assume His suffering was reserved to His hours on the cross.
When we magnify the suffering of Christ, His grace to us shines brighter. He was given gall for food and vinegar to drink, but He joyfully gives to us His broken body and shed blood. Whoever repents and partakes of Christ by grace through faith will live forever. Jesus is the One who makes our hearts a living spring of water, a fountain of the Holy Spirit. When we face trials, are reproached, and suffer, may we understand that Jesus knows our suffering and experienced greater still. He is able to bear our burdens, and has entreated us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. Hebrews 12:1-3 reads, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."
When we focus on our pain or struggles, our eyes have drifted from Christ. Look upon the face of Jesus today! Look upon Him stricken upon the cross, struggling for breath. See His sweat as great drops of blood in Gethsemane as He agonized. Look upon Christ weeping over Jerusalem! Look on Christ as He wore sackcloth and fasted as a young man and was greatly reproached. Think of His heart broken by His brothers and countrymen alike, completely misunderstood and hated. "Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." Jesus has not left us without comfort, but has provided the Holy Spirit to indwell and strengthen us as we live out our days for God's glory. How good is it to have a God who was in all points tempted and remained without sin! Not only that, but He has loved us with an everlasting love.
God knows your struggles, heartache, and pain. Turn your eyes upon Christ in trust. He treasures you above His own life and will never leave or forsake you. You are not alone!
This week God has shown me clearly that Jesus, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, experienced sorrow, heartache, and deep hurt long before His public ministry. Did you know that Jesus had it rough growing up? He was tempted to despair and embrace depression. He was even tempted to commit suicide! Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus was tempted in every single way that a man can be tempted, yet He did not sin. Sometimes our focus on the deity of Christ can shroud our eyes from His humanity. Jesus had feelings, greater depth and breadth of feeling than any other person who has walked the earth.
There is little spoken about the life of Christ in the Bible before His visit with His family to Jerusalem, and nothing more until John the Baptist points Him out at the Lamb of God around the age of 30. There are 30 years that are not described for us in narrative form in the Gospels. But God gave me some insight this week as I was reading into the Christ's childhood and what marked His life before His ministry. Jesus did not begin honouring and glorifying God only after His public ministry began. Long before, even as a child, Jesus consecrated His life wholly unto God. He always did what pleased the Father, even before He was a household name in Israel. From this we know that Jesus obeyed the Law perfectly. How did He learn to obey? Not through the correction of His parents (for He did no wrong), but by the things He suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8 says this of Christ: "...who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." In the days of His flesh, throughout His time on earth, even as a child and young man, Jesus cried many tears to God as He suffered. He did not begin interceding for men only after His ascension to the right hand of the Father. Even as a youth, Jesus interceded for those who hated Him. Did He not say, "Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you?" God heard and answered His prayers.
When Jesus cleansed the temple the first time, the disciples hearkened back to a Psalm which spoke of Christ: John 2:17 says, "Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." Since this is a clear reference to Jesus, let us read the rest of the sentence in Psalm 69 with this in mind. It gives us amazing, prophetic insight into the life of Jesus with His earthly family. Psalm 69:7-12 says, "Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children; 9 because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. 10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. 11 I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. 12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards."
Jesus was no stranger to reproach or shame for God's sake, long before He grew to be a man. The Bible tells us that Jesus had half-brothers born of Mary. Jesus had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. To many people outside His family, Jesus was thought to be an illegitimate Son born out of wedlock. Yet notice that the Bible says that He was "an alien to my mother's children." David is writing these words empowered by the Holy Spirit, and how suggestive this is of Christ's relationship with His mother's children! The piety of Jesus caused them to think, "What is with Jesus? Is He from another planet? What is with His weeping, fasting, and wearing sackcloth? Why does He rise early and stay up late praying? That guy is just not normal! I don't think He's really our brother at all." Jesus was a byword among His own brothers because of His zeal for the Father's glory. This reproach for the Father's sake was borne by Christ even to Calvary. As He collapsed under the cross, people in the gate mocked and ridiculed Him. Even the drunks made up songs to scoff at Him. Jesus knew that people were against Him because they reproached His Father. But He felt the pain just the same.
When Jesus hung upon the cross He said "I thirst," knowing the scripture must be fulfilled (John 19:28-29). This scripture to which this refers is found in Psalm 69. This passage reveals a depth of suffering beyond our experience. Psalm 69:18-21 reads, "Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. 19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. 20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Only the Father could have known Christ's reproach, shame, and dishonour. Only the Father could comprehend how the reproaches of those Christ loved broke His heart and weighed Him down. He looked for comfort, for one person to show compassion, but there was none. This is a description of Christ's life that culminated on the cross. The reproach Christ endured did not begin or end there. We do Christ a grave injustice to assume His suffering was reserved to His hours on the cross.
When we magnify the suffering of Christ, His grace to us shines brighter. He was given gall for food and vinegar to drink, but He joyfully gives to us His broken body and shed blood. Whoever repents and partakes of Christ by grace through faith will live forever. Jesus is the One who makes our hearts a living spring of water, a fountain of the Holy Spirit. When we face trials, are reproached, and suffer, may we understand that Jesus knows our suffering and experienced greater still. He is able to bear our burdens, and has entreated us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. Hebrews 12:1-3 reads, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."
When we focus on our pain or struggles, our eyes have drifted from Christ. Look upon the face of Jesus today! Look upon Him stricken upon the cross, struggling for breath. See His sweat as great drops of blood in Gethsemane as He agonized. Look upon Christ weeping over Jerusalem! Look on Christ as He wore sackcloth and fasted as a young man and was greatly reproached. Think of His heart broken by His brothers and countrymen alike, completely misunderstood and hated. "Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." Jesus has not left us without comfort, but has provided the Holy Spirit to indwell and strengthen us as we live out our days for God's glory. How good is it to have a God who was in all points tempted and remained without sin! Not only that, but He has loved us with an everlasting love.
God knows your struggles, heartache, and pain. Turn your eyes upon Christ in trust. He treasures you above His own life and will never leave or forsake you. You are not alone!
16 January 2012
Give Yourself to the Holy Spirit
I have been blessed and challenged through the reading of They Found the Secret by V. Raymond Edman. Chapter 18 speaks of the yielded and consecrated life of Walter L.Wilson. Like all people, Dr. Wilson was not always yielded to the Holy Spirit. Edman relates how Dr. Wilson lived a Christian life for many years independent of the Holy Spirit's power. His concern was that any focus on the Holy Spirit would reduce the glory of Jesus Christ. Yet we read in scripture that the Holy Spirit will not glorify Himself but magnify Christ. Jesus says in John 16:12-16: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. 16 "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."
On page 122-123, V. Edman speaks of a sermon God used to confront and change Dr. Wilson through the renewing of his mind. "Then came January 14, 1914, Dr. James M. Gray, at that time a clergyman of the Reformed Episcopal church, and later the beloved and revered president of Moody Bible Institute, was speaking in Kansas City on Romans 12:1. Dr Wilson recalls the impact of that message: 'Leaning over the pulpit, he said, 'Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus Who asks for it. He has His own body. It is not the Father Who asks for it. He remains upon His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God could have made a body for Him as he did for Jesus, but He did not do so. God gives you the privilege and the indescribable honour of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth. If you have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb then yours is a holy body, washed whiter than snow, and will be accepted by the Spirit when you give it. Will you do so now?''"
This was the prompting Dr. Wilson needed to give himself fully for use by the Holy Spirit. On page 123 his prayer to the Holy Spirit is recorded from his own lips: "My Lord, I have mistreated You all my Christian life. I have treated You like a servant. When I wanted You I called for You; when I was about to engage in some work I beckoned You to come and help me perform my task. I have kept You in the place of a servant. I have sought to use You only as a willing servant to help me in my self-appointed and chosen work. I shall do so no more. Just now I give You this body of mine; from my head to my feet, I give it to You. I give You my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain; all that I am within and without, I hand over to You for You to live in it the life that You please. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a bed with cancer. You may blind the eyes, or send me with Your message to Tibet. You may take this body to the Eskimos, or send it to a hospital with pneumonia. It is your body from this moment on. Help yourself to it. Thank You, my Lord, I believe You have accepted it, for in Romans twelve and one You said "acceptable unto God." Thank You again, my Lord, for taking me. We now belong to each other."
I believe God is pleased for every person to pray this prayer. It does not matter if you do not yet know Jesus Christ, or have long laboured for Christ without such yielding to the Holy Spirit. Those who come to God in humility He will in no wise cast out. Won't you completely submit to the Holy Spirit today - and the next day, the day after that, and on and on into eternity? This is the only way your life will glorify Jesus Christ to the full.
On page 122-123, V. Edman speaks of a sermon God used to confront and change Dr. Wilson through the renewing of his mind. "Then came January 14, 1914, Dr. James M. Gray, at that time a clergyman of the Reformed Episcopal church, and later the beloved and revered president of Moody Bible Institute, was speaking in Kansas City on Romans 12:1. Dr Wilson recalls the impact of that message: 'Leaning over the pulpit, he said, 'Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus Who asks for it. He has His own body. It is not the Father Who asks for it. He remains upon His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God could have made a body for Him as he did for Jesus, but He did not do so. God gives you the privilege and the indescribable honour of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth. If you have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb then yours is a holy body, washed whiter than snow, and will be accepted by the Spirit when you give it. Will you do so now?''"
This was the prompting Dr. Wilson needed to give himself fully for use by the Holy Spirit. On page 123 his prayer to the Holy Spirit is recorded from his own lips: "My Lord, I have mistreated You all my Christian life. I have treated You like a servant. When I wanted You I called for You; when I was about to engage in some work I beckoned You to come and help me perform my task. I have kept You in the place of a servant. I have sought to use You only as a willing servant to help me in my self-appointed and chosen work. I shall do so no more. Just now I give You this body of mine; from my head to my feet, I give it to You. I give You my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain; all that I am within and without, I hand over to You for You to live in it the life that You please. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a bed with cancer. You may blind the eyes, or send me with Your message to Tibet. You may take this body to the Eskimos, or send it to a hospital with pneumonia. It is your body from this moment on. Help yourself to it. Thank You, my Lord, I believe You have accepted it, for in Romans twelve and one You said "acceptable unto God." Thank You again, my Lord, for taking me. We now belong to each other."
I believe God is pleased for every person to pray this prayer. It does not matter if you do not yet know Jesus Christ, or have long laboured for Christ without such yielding to the Holy Spirit. Those who come to God in humility He will in no wise cast out. Won't you completely submit to the Holy Spirit today - and the next day, the day after that, and on and on into eternity? This is the only way your life will glorify Jesus Christ to the full.
15 January 2012
A Shepherd's Love
It is not uncommon to see ants scurrying around the door at Calvary Chapel Sydney. As I greeted people arriving to church yesterday, I noticed an ant casualty. In trying to elude the sun, this unfortunate ant had found a spot under someone's shoe. A few minutes later I saw the ant carcass had been picked up by another ant and was carried away. My mind went to the proverb of Solomon recorded in Proverbs 6:6-8: "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, 8 provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest." One of the things ants do is pick up their fallen. When ants die, they release oleic acid during decomposition which alerts other ants to dispose of the deceased.
One tradition in the United States Marines for which they are known is they never leave their own behind. When another soldier is wounded or falls in combat, his brothers in arms with carry him to safety - even at the risk of their own lives. All these thoughts came together in a flash as I considered what our family had read in Ezekiel the night before concerning God's love towards His children. Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-16 reads, "For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day...15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."
For me this ant illustration was a strong exhortation to examine myself in light of God's description of what pastoral work includes. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. He feeds the flock, seeks the lost, brings back those who have been driven away, binds up the broken, and strengthens the sick. By the grace of God I desire Jesus Christ to do these things through me and others in the church. How good it is to have such sweet affection and desire of God fixed upon us! This is the same love that God desires to work in and through us to reach the world. May we submit to such love!
One tradition in the United States Marines for which they are known is they never leave their own behind. When another soldier is wounded or falls in combat, his brothers in arms with carry him to safety - even at the risk of their own lives. All these thoughts came together in a flash as I considered what our family had read in Ezekiel the night before concerning God's love towards His children. Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-16 reads, "For thus says the Lord GOD: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day...15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."
For me this ant illustration was a strong exhortation to examine myself in light of God's description of what pastoral work includes. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. He feeds the flock, seeks the lost, brings back those who have been driven away, binds up the broken, and strengthens the sick. By the grace of God I desire Jesus Christ to do these things through me and others in the church. How good it is to have such sweet affection and desire of God fixed upon us! This is the same love that God desires to work in and through us to reach the world. May we submit to such love!
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