Monday, October 29, 2012

Shouting Across a Chasm

God has put us in a world where things run very differently form the way they run in heaven. We are called to live by faith that the precepts of heaven will work in a world where the governing principles and beliefs appear very different. We have a phrase for someone who can make things work using the precepts of this world; 'wordly wise'. However God is looking for something else. As the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6 makes clear, Jesus wants us to function in a way that is alien to this world.

Our hearts have been born of the Spirit of God if we have been born again. Our hearts belong to heaven. We are not wholly comfortable with this world. This is to be expected. Paul calls us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3v2). We are asked to pray 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven'.

We are told to ask, seek, knock. We are calling across a chasm. God can hear though. We are asking for heaven to be exhibited on earth. We are looking for two worlds increasingly growing apart to be reconciled. We are calling for heaven to be manifest on earth. We may do so mostly selfishly, looking for the provision and security of heaven to be shown in our own lives. We may do so less selfishly, asking that poverty and oppression end for others; for the justice of heaven to be manifest on the earth. Either way is faith, but I am confident that those who rule and reign over most in the age to come will be those who used their faith most selflessly in the present age. They are the ones I would want to have high positions in heaven.

Why does God leave us in a world with frequently hostile ideologies and principles? Partly to show us they do not really work. Peace and fulfillment elude humanity. Dreams prove evasive, hollow and deceptive. Partly to develop a longing for heavenly precepts and peace which will cement our citizenship in heaven when they are fulfilled. He wants to strongly align our hearts with heaven even in the presence of strongly opposing practices and philosophies. It is our faith in the God of heaven which enables us to live a life not conformed to this world. That faith is more precious than pure gold in his sight. 1 Peter 1v7 Romans 12v2

Friday, October 26, 2012

Wickedness or Weakness

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.    (Mat 5:6 NRSV)

Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."    (Mark 14:38 NRSV)

Those whose inner desire is for righteousness, will be fulfilled. They will inherit the Kingdom. We are talking here about true righteousness. God's standards, achieved by God's means.

God knows that we are weak and fearful a lot of the time. However, he does not confuse our weakness with wickedness of the heart.

There are many who, when intimidated, will act against their best conscience. They do not want to, and if the external pressure was removed, they would act righteously. This was true of Abraham in the matter of Sarah his wife when he feared that Pharoah would desire her. He anticipated trouble and told Sarah to tell a lie to keep them out of trouble. He repeated the same tactic again with Abimelech king of Gerar. My mother grew up in Nazi Germany and tells of times when she was told to be quiet about dissenting opinions held within her household for her own good. She obeyed the advice.

God knows those whose hearts are essentially given over to his righteousness, longing for his appearing. They may display moral weakness and compromise, but God sees that they are essentially 'men after his own heart' like David.

Do not allow the Devil and your own thoughts to condemn you concerning failures which do not fully reflect your heart.

For without cause they hid their net for me; without cause they dug a pit for my life.    (Psa 35:7 NRSV)


They repay me evil for good; my soul is forlorn.    (Psa 35:12 NRSV)

There are those who delight in wickedness and cruelty for it's own sake, even when there is no evil being done or being threatened. These people cannot be trusted with heaven because they will misbehave even when there is no reason to. They are originators of evil, rather than complicit with evil. They are wicked.

Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered; and who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you! When you cease plundering, you will be plundered; When you make an end of dealing treacherously, they will will deal treacherously with you.    (Isa 33:1 KJV)

David exhibited behaviour which was wicked when he committed adultery and arranged murder. However God chooses to forgive him. He expresses hot displeasure at what David did, and says that discord will be sown in David's family. However God does not take his Spirit, his salvation or his promises away. David had a heart after him. Since the fall man has had a body, 'the flesh', which is inclined to sin. I do not believe it has to sin, because Jesus walked in a body of flesh and was tempted. He suffered human weaknesses but did not succumb to them (Hebrews 4v15). The New Birth happens when we want God and do not want to sin anymore; at least not in our heart of hearts. Progress in the Christian life happens when we resist sin in the flesh. If we sin after the new birth, there is forgiveness when we confess our sin (1 John 1v9).

An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.    (Prov 17:11 KJV)


An evil man seeks only rebellion. He is motivated by rebellion against God in the deepest place of his heart. He is, like Satan, an originator of evil rather than one who is oppressed or tempted by another and responds with compromise and therefore sin. Such a one will reap an eternal environment of evil people. No rest.

And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.    (Isa 19:4 KJV)

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.    (Isa 45:7 KJV)
  
This last verse is intriguing. Ultimately God takes responsibility for the existence of evil because he set in motion a universe in which it was and is possible for evil to develop. However he is never the originator of evil.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:    (James 1:13 KJV)

He permits evil to overtake evildoers as a discipline and as a warning against the pursuit of evil. He allows evil to infringe on the lives of the righteous to draw them closer to him and to show forth his glory in us to a lost world, assuming we handle it correctly.

God does not hold us responsible, in terms of our eternal destiny, simply for evil deeds committed. He has taken the punishment for these himself. However, he does hold us responsible if we refuse to take his remedy for evil within us. The remedy, of course, is faith in the death and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ.

Ultimately therefore evil is rooted in rebellion against God. This focuses down for us now, after the fall, on our acceptance or otherwise of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

What looks like extreme wickedness, such as the case of David in 2 Samuel 11, does not result in David being judged a wicked man. Ultimately, because he has a heart after God, seen in his subsequent contrition and repentance, God sees David as weak rather than wicked. Conversely, there are those whose sin looks less severe, but who have a heart to boundless sin if they thought they could get away with it. They look to have a minor weakness but God can see they are actually wicked.

Someone once said that there are those who wrestle with God hoping to lose, and those who wrestle with God hoping to win. In other words, there are those who see sinful rebellion in themselves and don't want it, and there are those who actually love it and are unrepentant. 

Monday, October 8, 2012

Wonder- Revelation 4 and 5

When I was a child in the UK I used to get a weekly thin magazine called 'World of Wonder'. Within its covers were articles on diverse noteworthy subjects. Everything from architecture through science to outstanding personalities from history. It did instill in me a sense of wonder and curiosity. As time goes on though, this world can get more wearisome as we get familiar with its ways. Things can lose their shine and freshness. It is exciting to watch young children approach life with this innocence and amazement. Two days' ago, I made a flying model plane from polystyrene and cardboard. Esther, our youngest daughter was so excited. When it flew, she shouted 'you are the best daddy ever!' We then made 6 more in kit form and took them into the squatter camp; the kids there loved them too.

For us all, an encounter with God can give our hearts hints of heaven and give us fresh eyes to appreciate the good things about this mortal life. It can moderate and mollify the frustrations of this life by putting this life in perspective.

If you, like me, are prone to being a world-weary cynic, we can approach Bible passages about heaven with jaundiced or tainted eyes. I have only recently been really impacted by Revelation chapters 4 and 5, helped along by some of the material available from Mike Bickle on this subject.

Formerly I read them from a viewpoint a bit like the inhabitants of Duloc in the movie 'Shrek'. The ruler, Lord Farquart, had servants hold up signs telling them how to respond at public events. The signs said things like, 'laughter', 'gasp', 'awe', etc. Similarly, the courtiers of an earthly ruler might brief visitors on correct protocol in the presence of the ruler.   

However now I see that the living creatures, elders and others around the throne of God do not need to be told how to react and respond. They are simply, and continually, lost in the wonder of who God is. That childhood wonder has returned, only probably better than ever. Wonder, as well as love, has surrounded and engulfed their consciousness.

There are facets to God and our future heavenly existence which are, it seems, not fully describable from within our current experience. Our experience here is limited by our mortal bodies and their earthly environment.

At the resurrection, there will be aspects and dimensions of sense, emotion and intellect which God has ordained to await those who look forward to His coming. Not only that, He will be awaiting us, waiting to serve us at table! All regret, pain, frustration and dashed hope relating to this mortal life will dissolve due to the new perspective of eternity.

Let's read this passage asking God to breathe into us the life of heaven as we go. Revelation Chapters 4 and 5

Also    1 Cor 12v4,      1 Cor 2v9,        Luke 12v37

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Polishing to a Point

Imagine our knowledge of God as a sharply polished point, a point worked on by tools onto a rod of, say, steel. A scribe, an engraving tool. The tool serves to write on peoples' hearts. Indeed the knowledge of God has power to change our hearts for the better.

Imagine we are working on that point from three different angles. If you are mathematically inclined that means you turn your steel rod through 120 degrees and work at polishing it again.

The sharper the point, the more effective the scribing tool will be.

Remember the scribing tool represents our knowledge of God.

So what are the three directions from which we sharpen the point? What are the three areas which we need to reconcile in order to relate to God successfully? I would suggest these three:

The Righteousness of God; his idea of right behaviour, which we must accept, because he is not going to change it. His righteousness represents the ultimate and eternal demands of God on us, because without holiness we will not see the Lord. God's righteousness is not relative and it is not cultural, His demands are absolute, He is a holy God.

Sacrifice, the path by which our failings and failure to live right are covered until we learn to live right.

Empowerment, the ability and energy to live right.

These themes run right through scripture.

The person of Jesus and his life have completely answered these three issues. The Gospel means everything is resolved; the point is sharp.

Jesus taught the righteousness of God in a very exacting way. The physical act of sin in transgressing the Ten Commandments was outlawed under Moses; Jesus makes it clear that God is after more. He is purity of heart, and that is what he is looking for in us. Reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6 makes this difference between action and intent clear.

Likewise, the Book of Hebrews makes it clear that the Old Covenant of Sinai gives an inadequate, temporary sacrificial system which leaves an abiding consciousness of sin. Jesus, however, is a completely effective sacrifice for all sin.

Romans 8v9 and 1 Corinthians 15v45 makes it clear that Jesus, when he ascended, was One with the Life -Giving Spirt. The very nature, power and ability of God Himself is available to us to fulfill His requirements, His righteousness. 

The Law, on the other hand, only takes us part of the way down each of these three roads, righteousness, sacrifice and empowerment.The point is blunt. The scribe cannot write effectively on the human heart.

As explained above, the Law tends to deal with the externals of righteousness. It cannot get to the deep underlying problems of the heart. Jesus highlighted underlying conditions in his teaching; the things that make a heart worthy or unworthy of eternal life in heaven.

Likewise, Jesus offered up, as both High Priest and Sacrifice, a completely effective atonement for all sin for all time, past, present and future. The Law was only a temporary covering, not a remission, for sins for those who kept the rigid and costly levitical sacrificial system.

In terms of empowerment, the Law is weakest. It does not actually help you to live right. it is here that the New Covenant is the most wonderful, because it empowers us with God Himself, as the Holy Spirit.

We need to be aware of and thankful regarding these differences, and how fortunate we are that we are under the New Covenant of Grace! Righteousness, sacrifice and power are effective and abundantly and freely available.