Speaking in Symphony

In a meeting this week I was asked to describe the way God spoke to me when it came to deciding to move to Australia before I was aware of any open door.  I suppose I can describe it as similar to a symphony:  a crowd of musicians playing a variety of instruments led by one Conductor.  God is unlimited in the means and manner He speaks to us, confirming His leading by the Bible, other people, what some people might call "coincidence," and the witness of our own conscience, motives, and thoughts.  God is intimately acquainted with all people and knows the way to communicate in a way we can receive.  When we seek the LORD He is faithful to speak.

I remember the day very well God's call to go to Australia was crystalised in my mind.  Even the date was significant and unforgettable, commemorated in the title of this blog:  March 4th, 2009.  From early in our relationship my wife always said "March 4th" was her favourite date because it was also an action--something I never thought of.  On a day that started like countless before it, I rose early to spend some time with the LORD in prayer and reading the Bible.

On that particular morning I read Luke 23 and was struck by Luke 23:26:  "Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus."  I imagined what was going through the mind of Simon, a Gentile who was "laid hold of" to carry the cross for the bleeding, dying Jesus.  He had come out of his country, something I vaguely felt for years God was leading me to do.  The fact Simon was laid hold of suggests there were no volunteers willing to assist Jesus.  It occurred to me:  that is what the life of a follower of Jesus looks like.  I cried out to God in prayer basically saying, "Let that be me!"

That afternoon the pastoral staff was invited into the pastor's office for our regularly scheduled meeting.  My pastor was impressed by the testimony of a missionary he just heard of:  Gladys Aylward.  He conveyed this amazing story of how she was a British woman who went to China, ended up buying an orphaned child, and ended up being greatly used by God.  When I went back to my office I looked deeper into her story and was gobsmacked:  this was the first person I ever heard of who had a particular place on her heart--God put China on her heart without knowing anything about it, and God had done the same to me concerning Australia, specifically the east side.  Very strange indeed!

Being a Wednesday, I went home from work to exercise, shower, and have dinner before returning to church for the evening service.  As I walked past the globe in our home, I thought to myself:  what is the furthest east point of Australia?  I spun the globe and found Brisbane.  I tackled exercise with earnest, literally raising my voice to God to provide direction and help me to know His will.  Ten minutes in I thought I heard my flip-phone ring and contacted my wife Laura who told me I needed to check my email.  One of the high school students in the youth group needed a personal reference right away.  I opened the email and found an attachment of a template for the reference written in gibberish--all except the heading which read:

To: Somebody, Someone

100 Long Street
Brisbane, Australia

I seriously started shouting!  "What!?  God, you are CRAZY!  You are wild!"  After I calmed down a bit I thought, Brisbane eh?  And that's where I started looking.  I found there was a Calvary Chapel plant in Springwood and sent a letter introducing myself and telling my strange story about how I believed God was leading me to somehow minister in some capacity in Australia.  Amazingly my letter received a positive response and it was the first connection I made in Australia which has grown exponentially.  Hearing from God did not mean the process was quick or easy but God was faithful to speak in symphony and provided enough information for each next step of an amazing journey of following Jesus.

I am not a special case.  On the basis of God's Word I have all confidence God will speak to you too when you seek Him in His time and way.  God spoke to Samuel when he was a child who did not even know the LORD!  God has provided His Word and is the best communicator.  We are the weak link with our lack of seeking God and our chronic unbelief.  But praise be to God for His goodness, grace, and mercy.  He has done all things well.

The Love of God

It is important to understand how the coming of Jesus was intended to impact the views of people previously under the Law of Moses.  As believers who hold to the divine inspiration and relevance of all the Bible, it is vital to our understanding that the New Testament holds precedence over the Old.  This is not to say the Old Testament is of lesser value or is in any way outdated.  It is all the infallible Word of God and the context, with the help of the Holy Spirit to compare scripture with scripture, guides us into rightly dividing the word of truth with practical application.

Just this morning I was reading what David wrote in Psalm 139:19-22:  "Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. ²⁰ For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. ²¹ Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? ²² I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies."  David viewed those who walked wickedly as enemies of God, despised them, and even desired their destruction.  In seasons of self righteousness I have sadly done the same.  To his credit the very next verses David humbly implored God to search his own heart and see if there be any wicked way in him so he could be led to life everlasting.  But just because David hated bloodthirsty blasphemers would it be righteous for me to do so?  King David was a ruler under Mosaic Law which governed him in his execution of justice.  Jesus Christ, the KING OF KINGS, has the right to overrule those who came before Him and who could not comprehend the grace of the Gospel yet to be revealed.  It was because of God's love for all the world--sinners deserving and destined for destruction--that Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

Jesus said to the amazement of His disciples who revered David in Matthew 5:43-48, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? ⁴⁸ Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."  We are not made perfect through the hatred of others but by faith in God and are enabled by Him to love them as He does.  God's love in no way tramples on divine justice for Jesus was crucified on Calvary as a substitute for sinners.  Seeing God has graciously atoned for our sins, forgiven us, and imputed the righteousness of Christ to us by faith, we are to love others--even our enemies.  God knows who His enemies are and will deal with them in His time and way, and we are to do righteously in loving them in the meantime.

It's natural to hate the haters, yet as we receive the grace and love of God and walk in it we will be hated for it.  The apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:11-16:  "For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, ¹² not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. ¹³ Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. ¹⁵ Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶ By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."  David's love and hate seemed very much black and white, an "us and them" based upon works or affiliation.  John threw a curveball in emphasising our call and responsibility to love the brethren:  our fellow believers.  We wouldn't hate other professing Christians, would we?  Of course we would, and we have!  We have loved others less because we knew them well, because we were close to them, because we had high expectations they did not rise to meet.  We are often far more critical of people in our circle and forget to extend to others the patience and grace God has freely given to us.

Loving others means to speak the truth motivated by the love of God and others even when it is unpopular or hurts.  And when we have chosen to exercise faith in God by loving others sacrificially we ought not to be shocked when we are hated by the world for it.  Our call is to go far beyond "an eye for an eye" or even the Golden Rule (to do to others as we would have done to us) but to love one another like Jesus loves us.  Loving strikes at our hearts and souls, continuing to refine us when our exterior seems clean and sanctified.  We are finite in every respect but God's love is infinite.  Love is of God and the only way we can begin to love like Him is when we are born of God through faith in Christ and know God as the Holy Spirit fills us.  Brothers and sisters, let us love one another even when we are hated.  As we have freely received let us freely give.

Tempting Thieves

I don't think we can imagine a world where the almighty, living God is not good.  If God was not good, there could be nothing resembling good in the world.  It is only because God is good there are admirable and praiseworthy characteristics in people.  Love, joy, peace, and kindness are a reality to be desired because in God we find all these things.

Today I checked out a new sandy spot to metal detect and I saw a sign which was amusing and confronting at the same time.  The beautiful natural landscape was in stark contrast to the reminder that everything is not right in the world.

The sign read in all caps:  "BEWARE:  DO NOT TEMPT THIEVES, DO NOT LEAVE VALUABLES IN VIEW, LOCK YOUR CAR."  The only reason why these signs were placed throughout the car part was because people do not keep God's 8th commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal."  The signs warns and urges law-abiding citizens are to take precautions against thieves because only a little temptation is required to bring wickedness to the surface which negatively impacts everyone.  It is a tragedy innocent people need to take responsibility to prevent "tempting" criminals when people shouldn't steal in the first place.  But stealing is what thieves do, always looking for an easy score.  Jesus is the only one who can fundamentally change the hearts and minds of thieves.

How grateful I am for the righteousness and wisdom of God!  Instead of being a thief He is a generous provider of gifts out of His storehouses of grace.  Not only does He provide for our physical needs but through the Gospel makes a provision for corrupt thieves to be given a new heart which desires to please God.  Without God there would be no hope for thieves, liars, fornicators, and idolators--for anyone!  Faith in Jesus Christ as LORD is all He requires for salvation, for Jesus spoke from the cross to the repentant thief:  "Assuredly I say unto you, today you will be with me in Paradise."  Isn't that awesome?  How great is the benefit for all mankind because of the God's goodness.

Though the signs did not instill any confidence in the security of the lot, I did find a handful of items--probably nothing anyone would be interested to steal. :)

Textbook Hypocrisy

God has many lessons to teach us outside of church, practical sermons we can put to personal use.  Yesterday I was gifted one such lesson.  Our church building is located in an industrial park which has unit numbers painted on each space in the carpark in addition to a sign on the kerb.  I removed the signs to prep the concrete to install new signs and placed them on top of the kerb in the meantime due to rain.  When I arrived at church yesterday the signs had been thrown into the planter.  There are almost always people who utilise our parking spaces since we do not keep regular business hours.  Seeing those signs in the planters made me shake my head and smile, imagining people could then justify parking in our spots.  This is a picture of hypocrisy that seeks to justify self.

I was suddenly reminded of an event which unfolded over 15 years ago when I worked in the shipyard at NASSCO.  One of my work mates came into the shack before work absolutely beaming, and this was out of the ordinary because of his usual sullen disposition.  He couldn't contain his excitement as he gleefully produced a one hundred dollar bill:  "Look what I found!"  Then he proceeded to tell the story.  As he was walking in the gate he noticed what looked to be money "working its way out" of another worker's pocket.  When the bill fell out of the pocket he quickly pounced on the cash and pocketed it.  "Finders keepers!" he said triumphantly.  I was aghast.  "You know who dropped the money?  You saw it fall?  That's stealing!" I asserted.  He did not feel guilty in the least:  he justified keeping the money because he didn't take it out of the man's pocket but picked it up off the ground.

Now as I considered these two sets of experiences I was driving to an appointment.  50 metres ahead of me a large bus suddenly indicated to merge into my lane.  Not content to dawdle behind a bus I sped up beyond the speed limit rather than slowing down.  There was plenty of room behind me anyway.  Then it struck me:  what if that bus had been a police car?  I can say without question I would have slowed down and welcomed the police car to take a position in front of me.  I don't know anyone who enjoys being tailed by police.  What did my actions demonstrate?  Textbook human hypocrisy!  It is the same folly that justifies parking in reserved spot because there wasn't a permanent sign affixed; it is the same hypocrisy which justifies stealing because someone else's money touched the ground without their knowledge.  Me speeding up to pass the bus gave me insight into my own heart and my need to confess and repent of my sin.

It is one thing to recognise hypocrisy in others or to freely admit we are hypocritical too, but to take the lesson to heart is to repent of our own hypocrisy and walk uprightly in the future.  So the next time there is a bus or anyone else indicating to merge, I ought to treat them with the same care as a police cruiser I have no intent to offend.  This "respecting of persons" (or vehicles!) is not potentially in play only when driving but in all interactions.  As a child of God it is my calling to walk in love towards all whether behind the wheel or picking up after vandals.  Praise the LORD He is patient, gracious, and forgiving because without Him I would be adrift and lost forever.