Working with Jesus

"You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴ No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. ⁵ And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops." 

2 Timothy 2:3-6

Last night at Calvary Chapel Sydney our group (Tribe) talked about Paul's exhortation to Timothy.  He used three different examples to instruct and encourage Timothy at the same time.

Soldiers on the front lines suffer many privations and cannot enjoy the presence of family or the comforts of home.  A soldier engages in warfare will not be looking for investment properties, buying stocks, or seeking to marry a wife.  He must remain vigilant, for his life and those he fights alongside are always at risk.  A soldier is trained to follow orders, and it is in his best interest to find favour in the eyes of his commanding officer.  In days past a man fought for a king who could bestow riches and honour:  what more could a man want?

Competitors in the Olympics games were people dedicated to mastery of their discipline.  Today people train from their childhood to hone their skills for the chance of obtaining a gold medal and global recognition as the best in the world.  The main point Paul makes is a participant must compete according to the rules to win the prize.  Each game or competition has specific rules which must be followed.  A false-start leads to disqualification, and the runners must follow the set course.  Only those who compete according to the rules can be crowned.

The third example is that of a "hard-working farmer."  Farming requires long days ploughing, planting, irrigating, harvesting, and preparing crops for market.  It means rising long before the sunrise, battling cold, heat, and insects, and the maintenance of fences and equipment.  Severe frost could mean the loss of crops, and drought can ruin the chance of a profitable growing season.   The farmer must trust the good seed will eventually sprout and bear fruit, even when nothing on the surface seems to be happening.  After hard labour and perseverance, the farmer is the one who receives the firstfruits.

In applying this to the Christian walk, we are like the soldiers who have voluntarily enlisted to serve Christ as King.  We must be willing and prepared to endure hardships, and in doing so we will please God.  Instead of being entangled with the affairs of life, we must make our commitment to God our chief priority.  In one sense we are also like the Olympic athlete, recognising God has laid a course before each of us to run.  If we desire to receive a full reward, we must run in obedience to God's Word.  Those who continue steadfast to the end will receive rewards and a crown of glory.  Finally, we are compared to hard-working farmers who are the first to partake of the crops.  We are to sow the good seed of God's Word with the promise of abundant life to be enjoyed now and for all eternity.

All we are and all we do can be redeemed for God's glory and eternal rewards.  Jesus is a triumphant warrior, a champion of salvation and righteousness, and a hard-working sower of God's Word and Saviour of souls.  We can follow His example and receive a full reward:  we can please our God who has enlisted us; we can compete and win the prize; and our hard work will bring increase for the kingdom of God we will partake of.  Exciting times, walking and working with Jesus!

Out of the Depths

"Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD; ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. ³ If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. ⁵  I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope."

Psalm 130:1-5

Often we must be taken to our lowest point before we will look up and cry out to God in earnest.  It may be we have prayed to God many times, but there is desperation and consciousness of our personal need in the depths.  We do not like to see anyone down or low, nor do we delight in being cast down ourselves, but being low may not be low enough.  We should not labour moved by pity to hinder anyone from reaching rock bottom by trying to fix their circumstances, for in the depths is the exact place where God works to deliver and change people for good.

Jonah is a man who cried to God out of the depths.  After God called and commanded him to preach in Nineveh, Jonah refused and boarded a ship headed in the opposite direction.  God prepared a powerful storm which tossed the ship with wind and waves.  While the crew panicked and called all hands on deck, Jonah initially remained asleep in the bottom of the ship.  He was at the bottom of the ship, but he needed to be brought lower.  He did not cry out to God in the storm because he had been sleeping through it!  Jonah instructed the crew to throw him overboard, for he perceived his disobedience was the cause of the storm.  It is possible Jonah expected to die, and this would have been easier than what God prepared for him.

God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he remained alive in the belly of the beast for three days.  After three miserable days beyond reckoning, Jonah found himself at his lowest point.  Only then did he cry out for God's attention and intervention.  Jonah 2:2-7 reads, "And he said: "I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. ³ For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, 'I have been cast out of Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.' ⁵ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; the deep closed around me; weeds were wrapped around my head. ⁶ I went down to the moorings of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. ⁷ When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple."

It was by reason of his affliction Jonah cried out to the God he at one time fled from.  He had been brought down to hell, down in the cold crushing depths of the sea - and it was there he discovered he was heard by God.  Jonah had finally been brought to the breaking point by extraordinary circumstances, and it released the prayer for deliverance God delighted in and was prepared to answer.  No one likes the dark depths, but even in those seemingly God-forsaken places His light shines brightly for those looking for Him.  Sometimes we are truly incapable of seeing anything, like Jonah in the belly of the great fish.  But we, like Jonah, can cry out to God.  A tiny baby which cannot express himself in speech can cry, and when we direct those cries to God He will hear us based upon the promises of His Word.  Crying for ourselves does nothing, but God is moved when we cry out to Him in faith.

So if you find yourself at the breaking point, do not stop on the threshold of brokenness.  Forfeit your pride and self-pity and all backup options and throw yourself on the mercy of our great God who hears, forgives, and saves.  Then do as Jonah did, obediently doing the very thing God told you to do at the beginning without resistance.  The depths are not fun but they can be most fruitful.  Turn your eyes away from the impossibilities, away from self, and look again to God in His sovereign throne.  Those who trust in Him will never be put to shame.

Hiding or Helping?

"You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. ² And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. ³ You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother's, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself. ⁴ You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again."

Deuteronomy 22:1-4

When I was a kid, playing "Hide and Seek" in the backyard was good fun.  It was simple enough to understand and play.  The one who was "it" would stand at home base, and in our case was a pole or a pepper tree.  The seeker would close their eyes, count to ten, and upon finishing the count shout, "Ready or not, here I come!"  Then a mad scramble from hiding places ensured as the seeker drew near, and the race was on to touch the base before being tagged (or tipped, for Australian readers).  The rules were simple and everyone regardless of quickness could play.  Despite the seemingly necessary arguments over if you were actually tagged or not, it was a game we happily played over and over again.

As we grow up, life becomes much more complicated than simple childhood games.  Input from parents, educators, and exposure to a world of ideas in print and media (in addition to personal experiences) reveal astonishingly different perspectives.  In formative years these days all are made painfully aware of the rights of each individual to assert what they believe to be true and live accordingly.  Whilst everyone has a God-given right to choose whom or what we will serve, many are cautious not to impose their personal beliefs or views on others.  A culture of political correctness avoids anything which could be construed as offensive or divisive.  This cautious consideration of the feelings and convictions of others when exercised in humility and love is healthy, but can also lead down a path which avoids our personal responsibility to intervene when things go bad, even in the lives of fellow Christians.

I am a city-dweller, but as I read the beginning of Deuteronomy 22 I was carried away to a quaint country town with rolling green hills, a large paddock, and a gate which always seems to swing open when the neighbour is out of town.  I can imagine sitting at the kitchen table and seeing my neighbour's sheep or ox wandering where it should not be and muttering to myself.  Three times in the passage God forbade His people from seeing a lost or wandering animal and hiding themselves from intervening.  We've all done this, like when the phone rings or there is an unexpected knock at the door and you choose not to answer it.  We may "hide" for many reasons, and perhaps on some occasions it might be legitimate.  But if we will be honest, we know exactly how that tired old farmer would feel if he saw that stubborn ox wandering off again:  not my problem!  I have enough work with my own flocks and herds.  Why doesn't he fix that gate anyway?  Serves him right if his stock wander off.  It isn't only farmers who turn a blind eye to a wandering sheep.

We sometimes struggle to know when to step in when we see something that seems off.  A few months ago there were loud, angry shouts late at night on my street.  At the time I wasn't sure what was the right thing to do.  I felt something should be done, but what?  Should I walk up to the house and knock on the door?  Should I call the police?  Would my action be seen as an unwelcome intrusion?  These are the kinds of thoughts which flood our minds and can paralyse us from helpful action.  You don't need to be a farmer to notice when a sheep is caught in a barbed wire fence or a ox or donkey is stuck in the mud.  God didn't want His people to see a problem and ignore it, even when it involved their neighbours' animals.  We naturally want to hide from conflict and justify our reasons for avoiding intervention.  That is why God put these commands forbidding "hiding" in His Law, so all who became aware of a wandering, lost, or fallen animal were responsible before God to act for the good of the animal, even caring for it as their own until it could be safely returned.

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul spoke of the passage in the Law which forbade the muzzling of the ox which tread the grain.  The principle is the working animal has a right to partake in the fruit of his labour.  He explained that God cares for people as well as oxen, and those who labour in the Word and provide spiritually have a right to be supported financially by the church.  With this insight, knowing God cares for people as well as oxen, an application of the Deuteronomy 22 passage is when we see a brother or sister wandering from the truth we have an obligation before God to lovingly intervene according to scripture.  Galatians 6:1 says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted."  Instead of hiding, when we see someone in trouble we ought to come to their aid.  That is exactly what Paul was doing in writing this letter to the church in Galatia.  They had strayed from the simplicity of the Gospel, and Paul wrote to them to admonish and correct their erroneous thinking.

At our church we have a small box for "Lost Property," and in the States we called this facility the "Lost and Found."  When we find something which belongs to someone else, we should do what we can to return it to them.  When we see a child of God wandering from the faith or fallen into sin, we must not hide ourselves from them.  We are called to help them return to the simplicity of faith in Jesus and obedience to Him, and He will lift them up.  The Good Shepherd of our souls has provided every sheep of His pasture spiritual eyes to see, and when we notice something is off in a brother or sister we are called to exhort, rebuke, and encourage such a one to return to Jesus.  It also may be we are the ones who are wandering from our paddock, lost along the road.  Let us be receptive of God's correction, even when it comes from a fellow brother or sister in the LORD.  We have all been lost at one time, and by God's grace we have been found.  May gentleness, grace, mercy, and love be hallmarks of our faithful service to our LORD and our attitude towards our fellow believers.

Nothing Is Impossible (For God)

Nothing is impossible for God.  As the Almighty God over all He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we ask or think.  Whilst a lack of faith in God can limit Him (Psalm 78:41; Matthew 13:58), God is gracious to do miraculous things we never asked for or expected.  When God says something, we know He will follow through.  How blessed we are to be those who believe and say like Mary, "Let it be to me according to your word."

In the Gospel of Luke there are two times the scripture affirms through God all things are possible, and nothing is impossible for Him.  The context of these statements is most compelling.  The first is when Mary was met by Gabriel and was informed she would conceive and bear a son who would be called Jesus, the Son of the Highest, who would have an eternal kingdom.  She said, "How can this be, since I have never been with a man?"  Conception was not even conceivable because she was a virgin.  Luke 1:35-37 provides Gabriel's response:  "And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. ³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible."

Mary was told she would conceive the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The impossible pregnancy of Elizabeth provided an encouragement for Mary's faith, for she who had been called "barren" was now with child in her old age.  It is in this context he concluded, "For with God nothing will be impossible."  There are many women called barren in scripture God made most fruitful.  All who have struggled to conceive should take great comfort in this.  With the knowledge God has called some people to celibacy, like Jesus Christ, we can have a fulfilling life (single or married) with or without descendants.  When God says He will do something, He will do it in His time - even if it really is impossible for us.  We can take heart in God's ability to do what our best efforts cannot.

After the rich young ruler came to ask Jesus what he needed to do to enter heaven, Jesus had a discussion with His disciples.  They were shocked when He said it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.  Men cannot serve God and money, and the love of money keeps many from obedience and allegiance to God.  It is clearly impossible for a camel to pass through a needle, so the disciples rightly mused:  "Who then can be saved?"  Jesus replied in Luke 18:27, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God."  It is impossible for any man to save himself, but through Jesus even rich men can be born again and saved by the Gospel.

If God wants a barren woman in her old age to conceive and bear a son, she can and will.  God caused Mary to conceive the Son of God without having been with a man at all!  God is able to bring new life to souls dead in sins and cause them to live forever.  Our God is one who brings life:  impossible, abundant, eternal life.  Let us continue praying and trusting that nothing is impossible for God.  Jesus has brought life and hope for all who believe, and may it be to us according to His Word!