The Faithfulness of God

It has been 10 years to the day that I arrived in Sydney on a Religious Worker's Visa to serve at Calvary Chapel Sydney as pastor.  I came without my family to begin preparing for the adventure of immigrating to a foreign land without any knowledge of how things would turn out.  All I can say is God is faithful and provided for our family at every step.  For all we gave up there was also gain beyond our expectations.  The difficulties and uncertainties were tempered by the greatness of the God who called us and would never leave or forsake us.  Just the fact we are still here after all this time is an amazing testimony of His grace and goodness.

It is fitting as I reminisce over the past 10 years in Australia I am struck by the contrast of how much God has done and how little I have accomplished.  It is true what the scriptures affirm, that in my flesh dwells no good thing.  Anything that resembles good from my efforts is all by the grace and power of God working in and through me, and this favour I do not deserve.  How good it feels to give all credit to God for doing the impossible time and time again, and for allowing me and others to be witnesses of His glory even in trials, pain, and trouble.  1 Corinthians 1:9 says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 

Yesterday was a great reminder of the faithfulness of God who hears prayers and provides for our needs.  Some might chalk it up to coincidence or wishful thinking, but I am glad to credit God for what only He can do.  In the afternoon I heard drops of rain sporadically pelt our roof.  The weather has been dry of late and I was not aware of rain being predicted.  I said aloud in the company of my family, "LORD, send the rain because we really need it!  Make it a flood--not a bad one, but with lots of rain."  Moments later hail and rain was absolutely bucketing down to the point I ran outside to cover my car with a thick blanket to protect it from hail damage.  This is something I never thought to do in Southern California where hail is rare and rarely bigger than a pea.  Laura and I stood looking out on the street from our room, marveling at the volume of water that rushed like a river past our house.

After the downpour, which lasted about 20 minutes, a rainbow appeared across the street exactly in the place it had a day previously.  I have never known rainbows to occur in the exact same location and I can tell you where it ends:  right on our street!  The God who causes rain to fall, makes rainbows appear in the skies, gave us eyes to see them and minds to turn towards Him, the God who was faithful to Noah, He is my God who has been faithful to me all my life.  The God who allows the ground to harden and grass to wither in heat also opens the heavens and causes refreshing, life-giving rain to fall.  The Almighty God has chosen to make a covenant with faithless people by His grace, and He causes rain to fall on the just and unjust.  The God who enabled me to become a citizen of Australia and buy a house will one day welcome me as a citizen of Heaven into the place prepared for me by His grace.  In God, His faithfulness, provision and promises I will be content.

A Powerful Testimony

A personal testimony is a useful witness for believers of the transforming and saving power of Jesus Christ through the Gospel.  The impact can be lessened when the focus is primarily on the sinful season of life before Christ or a conversion experience itself.  This leads to people thinking their "testimony" is boring or ordinary if they were raised in a Christian home and did not have a dynamic shift from drug-dealing pimp to pastor.  Those who glamorise a sensational conversion can potentially encourage people to seek a feeling or moment comparable to what they have heard to affirm the reality of God's work within them.  If a testimony stops at conversion, it isn't much of one.  A testimony without the Gospel lacks the power to save.  As a child of God in relationship with Jesus Christ there is much more to say with Him as the primary focus.

A testimony does not need to be long to have great impact.  I remember asking a friend how his wife changed after trusting in Jesus.  After a brief pause he said, "When she became a Christian she became a totally different person.  It was a good change."  It was not the person she was previously which impacted him but the loving person she became and continued to be day after day.  I like what pastor McGee said about the witness of a changed life:  "Note that Zacchaeus did not come to the door and say, "I want to give my testimony:  Jesus saves and keeps and satisfies."  Rather he said, "Half my goods I will give to the poor, and I will make right the things that have been wrong."  By this I know he has been converted.  And, friend, this is the only way the world will know that you are converted.  They do not know it by testimony; they know it only by what they see in your life.  If it were not for his changed life, I would never know that this old publican got converted." (Thru the Bible, Vol. IV, pg. 333)

When a person is born again through faith in Jesus, there will be a contrast inside and out compared to how we used to be.  Focusing on what we used to do or how much better off we are now misses the point entirely:  a testimony isn't so much about how we have changed but Who has transformed us by grace through faith!  The Pharisees grilled the man born blind Jesus miraculously healed so he could see clearly.  They asked, "Give glory to God, for we know this Man is a sinner."  The man answered in John 9:25, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."  The difference between this man's testimony and ours is at this point he had never seen Jesus, for he had been sent to wash in the pool of Siloam and came away seeing.  The Pharisees were hung up on how Jesus did miracles rather than the signs He did leading them to rejoice, believe, and follow the Saviour Jesus.  They cast the man out of the synagogue for his impertinence to suggest Jesus was of God because of the miracle He had done.

John 9:35-38 reads, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" ³⁶ He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" ³⁷ And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." ³⁸ Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him."  The man had been cast out of the synagogue, but he was not alone because Jesus sought and found him.  How different life would be for a person who had been born blind who suddenly could see perfectly, and even more profound is the difference in a person who has passed from life to death through faith in Jesus, knows God who speaks with him, worships His Creator and follows Him every day.  Now that is a testimony worth sharing that brings honour and glory to God!

Speak God's Word Faithfully

I am amazed how the Bible remains as relevant as ever:  the very issues faced by the early church concerning practices, doctrine, liberty and society are ongoing.  Seeing the scriptures have been inspired by God for our learning, one might assume the lessons would have been learned by now.  Alas, our own lives are a testimony against this idea.  Like the children of Israel who saw God's miraculous wonders and did not obey Him, we can be exposed to the teaching of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit and remain in darkness.

Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  There are a lot of people who claim to have knowledge to shed light on the true meaning of the scriptures who distort the truth, a practice far more dangerous than outright lies.  With the internet it has never been easier to share the scriptures or espouse twisted interpretations of them than today.  It is very easy to choose interpretations which suit our own prejudice and bias and to reject wholesale those who do not align with our current understanding.  With our feet firmly planted in the truth of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, the light of God's word guides us to a safe haven like a lighthouse does a ship in a stormy sea.

I increasingly appreciate the power of God to reveal Himself and to protect us from error.  In the days of Jeremiah the prophet, people prophesied falsely in God's name and shared dreams which contradicted the word of God spoken through him.  In a land rife with error Jeremiah did not try to censure or oppose all the error which floated around.  God spoke in Jeremiah 23:28-29:  "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. ²⁹ "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"  There is a difference between the word of men and the word of God even as chaff is separate to wheat.  Chaff is the thin, papery and indigestible covering of grain which blows away in the wind and is lost forever during threshing.  Wheat can be planted, produce a crop, be ground into flour to make bread and sustains life.  Chaff and wheat grow together yet are fundamentally different.

God's word is not threatened, undermined or undone by dreamers and false prophets.  God does at times speak through dreams and through prophetic utterances, but His word spoken faithfully and rightly divided provides all people need to thrive.  God compared His word to a fire that consumes, a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces.  Prophets spoke God had not spoken to, and they ran when He had not sent them.  They were spiritual plagiarists and forgers, repeating lies rather than speaking God's word faithfully.  God was against the false prophets and would hold them to account.  The exhortation given to Jeremiah is a fitting one for those who fear the LORD today:  we have His word and let us speak God's word faithfully.  It is implied we would also walk according to it in the fear of the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:32 says, "Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD."  Better to stick to the truth revealed through scripture than to rely on dreams for guidance.  There were reckless prophets before Jesus, and those promoting falsehood remain to this day.  If we will profit and cause others to do so, let us be those who seek the LORD and speak His word faithfully.  There are many who recklessly lead others to err, but what is the chaff to the wheat?  Should we cease from sowing grain to pursue those who scatter chaff?  God's word is good and satisfying for our souls, and we ought not to become weary of feeding on it, following and sharing it.

The Life-Giving God

 Often God does not answer our prayers in the way we expect.  Because we believe there is no time like the present for God to do His miraculous works we can become disillusioned and complacent when nothing good seems to happen.  So many of our problems stem from a perspective which focuses on the problems rather than God who is sovereign, powerful and glorious.  We forget God operates outside of the confines of times to accomplish His purposes which are far greater in scope and impact than our requests give Him credit for.

Baruch was a man who feared God who was troubled and dismayed with the state of Israel.  Life was hard and the word from the LORD was not uplifting in the slightest.  When it seemed life could not be any worse, life became exponentially more so!  After Baruch wrote the words of woe dictated by the prophet Jeremiah he thought, "Woe is me!  The LORD has added grief to my sorrow and I find no rest."  A child of God who feels and says this often has neglected to consider the goodness of God who graciously speaks to us and brings comfort to our hearts.  The fiery trial we beg God to bring to an end may be permitted to continue, and the exercise of faith in looking to the LORD will work to refine us through it.

God had a word for Baruch and for those who find rest elusive in Jeremiah 45:4-5:  "Thus you shall say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. ⁵ And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh," says the LORD. "But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go."  Baruch was looking for rest where none could be found, in the cessation of judgment from the LORD upon a rebellious, faithless people marked for judgment.  God pointed out how Baruch's lack of rest came from striving to seek great things for himself when he could have been best served seeking God.  God would tear down what He had built like a builder does an unsafe, condemned house from its foundation to make a habitable structure again.

Israel would go into captivity and there would be great adversity, yet God would give Baruch life wherever he went.  In Jerusalem, Babylon and along the way God would be a loving Father to Baruch.  It may not have been the life Baruch would have chosen for himself, but it was better than he or anyone else deserved.  Has not also God been gracious to us through Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life?  In Christ we are protected and preserved in all seasons of life because our souls have been redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus who died on Calvary and rose from the dead so we can live forever.  We have a life to live beyond the boundaries of this earth in the presence of God forever!  Isn't He the great One we ought to seek, the God who is with us and will never leave or forsake us?  The God who gave us life knows how to live to the full, and this abundance is ours in Jesus Christ alone.