Ian’s lets listen to Jesus

Amazing Love how can it be that thou my God should die for me.

” Yes you should be truly amazed. The King of creation, the ultimate Father, the personal Shepherd – prepared to die for you, yes for you personally. I came to die for all of My creation to open the way for true fellowship which I have longed for from the beginning. Fellowship based not with a being who like a puppet has been created to obey everything he is told to do, but fellowship which is based on a choice – a choice to have fellowship with Me rather than claim the heart of fellowship for himself. Yet at the same time I have been wooing you and every other human into a love relationship with Me. So I have used my death on a cross as the ultimate love gift to you and every person who would receive it and enter into a marriage with Me as the Bridegroom.”

As John comes to the conclusion of the extensive teaching of Jesus on what it is going to mean to have a relationship with God through Him we come to a less pleasant aspect of what this fellowship will bring. Read John 15:18 – 16:4.

The theme of this teaching on relationship with Him moves now to another aspect of what this fellowship with Jesus is going to bring. The hate and rejection of the world. Being a disciple of Jesus is going to change you. That is the definite promise of the last few chapters. This change which is going to happen will not always be welcomed in the world. While on the one hand our love for each other and for the world should attract the interest and desire of the world, it often has exactly the opposite effect on many who embrace the values of the world.

From the beginning Jesus was rejected by many for various reasons. Behind it all of course we see Satan’s hand, but even without his influence many rejected Him. In today’s passage Jesus warns His disciples, that is you and I, that if we are like Him we must expect rejection and even hate from many as well as we follow Him. Of course we don’t experience it to the same degree and maybe as openly as we may think, but the promise is clear that if we follow Jesus as a branch of the Vine we can expect that to provoke feelings of hate from many in the world. This is another of the great enigmas of our faith. While Jesus’ love expressed through our actions and speech may attract some it often has the opposite effect on others.

The frightening thing is that if they hate you for demonstrating your Christian love they are actually ultimately rejecting God Himself vs 23. We should be careful though of not being the cause of that hate through the way we represent our Christianity. I am thinking here of brothers and sisters who are pharisaically judgmental in the way they treat outsiders. No one becomes a Christian by being told how evil they are. Of course we need to take a stand on open sin, but ultimately it is the Spirit that convicts and draws people to the love you are showing them. So in vv 26 and 27 we are reminded of the very real work of the Spirit, the Counselor in carrying you along in your testimony of God’s love. More on that next week.

My personal experience over time has been that the more active I am at any time with kingdom affairs the more likely I will be the focus of Satan’s attacks, often mediated by unsuspecting people. The original apostles were going to face huge opposition and rejection with most of them actually dying because of their faith. Jesus is warning them, but His warning goes down the ages and in many places Christians face huge persecution even today. I call on you all to think of these people in your prayers, while being warned not to take it personally if you face rejection in your personal life. We need to be continually conscious that we are involved in a very real if mostly unseen battle with the Evil one and we should constantly be on the alert for his whiles and ways. His aim is to bring discouragement and hopelessness and to make us ineffectual as witnesses.

We must also remember that Jesus has overcome Satan and therefore the victory has already been won although the battle rages on. So let us end by remembering Paul’s words in Philippians to “rejoice in the Lord always” and not let Satan have the satisfaction of seeing us discouraged. On that bright note may the Lord bless each one of you till next week.

Take my heart Lord prone to wander and seal it for thy grace above. My heart is on the loose Lord – only you can fasten it upon yourself.

”Just as all the rest of you, every little cell in your body, your heart was sculpted by me, deep in your mother’s womb. My eye was on it as also on the rest of you as I planned our love story together. To promote that love and see it flourish growing as a beautiful bud into a full bloom drawing it ever nearer to Me here in the heavenly realms. That has given Me such pleasure and such joy as does every other true son and daughter in My kingdom. Yes your heart may be prone to wander, but your deep desire as I measure it, is to fix it on Me and so I am busy all the time moulding and drawing that deepest part of your motivation into our love story which will be brought to a climax when you come to meet Me Face-to-face.”

We pick up this beautiful relationship picture of a vine as we continue to read in John 15:7-17. Over all this Jesus reveals an important purpose of this relationship story: That Jesus’s joy in us will make our joy complete vs 11. It may be that we see our role in keeping our side of the relationship as a bit onerous, but Jesus wants it to be a continuous, growing experience of Joy for us. Hence Paul could say in Philippians, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Let us look now at the various components of our relationship with Him as revealed in this section.

Firstly, Jesus’s promises: vs 9 He has loved us, just as the Father has loved us.

Vv 7, 16 Whatever we ask (within this relationship) He will give us.

Vs 14, We are His friends.

v 15, Everything He has learned from the Father He has revealed to us. This is a wonderful promise of the completeness of His word.

v 16, He chose us we did not choose Him. He has always taken the initiative in our love story.

v 16 He has appointed the place for us to be where we will be able to produce the most fruit.

Then within this relationship He has also pointed out what our responsibilities are to be: We are to remain in Him v 7, in His love v 9. This is revealed by us keeping His commands, v 10, 12.

By remaining in Him (I like the old translation ‘abide’, speaks of a whole lifestyle), we will be able to produce fruit. It seems as I stand back, that the ultimate purpose of His relationship is revealed by our producing fruit. He repeats this several times vv 2, 4, 5, 8, 16. In fact v16 sums it up “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last” . It is important to notice that while it is our responsibility to produce fruit, it is the natural result flowing from a healthy covenant relationship where we continue to abide in Jesus

He does not really explain exactly what He means by fruit except to emphasize the importance of Love. Taking and appreciating the Father’s love and demonstrating it by loving one another. This echoes His word in 13:5 “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” . It seems our life under the new covenant is covered by this command, from which all the other’s flow.

What an appeal, what a promise, what a joy to be able to be part of this. To have a real, viable relationship with the Living God through His Son who opened this way and sent His Spirit to mediate all this for us. I am almost overwhelmed by the thought of all this as it comes rushing in to my consciousness and understanding. Why don’t you meditate on it and allow the pictures to become part of your whole default being? And ….. let’s all keep abiding in Him. God bless till next week.

And can it be that thou my God should die for me? What a thought – the God of the universe, Creator of all has made a way forward that He himself should, in a mysterious way die for me and for you personally. What a thought, what an amazing truth?

“It is really impossible for you to grasp the full dynamics of that statement because My ways are so much higher than your ways, My thoughts than your thoughts but the facts are there and the specifics of a great event which was fired by My love for My creation, for you and all who read this blog. An event which demonstrates more graphically in image that in word that if I should be prepared to die for you – how much more will I give you all things you need and most of all My love which is inseparable from Me. Take that in every moment of the day and let it continually transform you.”

John’s story continues into one of the best-known chapters in the bible. The chapter on the vine and the branches. Let past familiarity not rob you of the insight into this astonishing bit of teaching. Read John 15:1-11. Although the scene has changed to some time later, the flow of teaching continues from the previous chapter. John is putting together a number of stories which are aimed at encouraging the reader to understand the benefits and dynamics of having a relationship with God the Father through Jesus, the Son.

One of the reasons this passage is so well-known is that it is relatively easy to understand the point of Jesus’s teaching. Read it through and meditate on it, especially as it applies to you. While it is easy to understand it is not always obeyed completely. The message is clear: God wants us to produce fruit. Fruit are the signs of a good relationship with Him. But fruit will only grow on a branch that is healthy and well-fed. Whose responsibility is it that this should happen? Well God desires to bring His side of the deal. He wants a healthy branch, yet it behoves each one of the branches to make use of all that the Vine offers and starts with the instruction to abide or remain in Jesus. A continued state of close fellowship.

God cannot feed the branch if it does not stay connected to the vine, drawing sustenance from it. How do we do that? Well that is what relationship is about. There are many facets. We need to feed on His word, and relate to Him by speaking to Him in prayer. Then there is a constant sense of obedience and surrender to His will. There is interaction with others in the kingdom family. Teaching and fellowship both in the church and elsewhere. If we do not participate and draw from these and the many other ways that God provides we will dry up and produce only shrivelled and sour fruit of self pity, complaining and bitterness.

God is always busy in the lives of the branches. He uses His painful pruning shears to cut off the dead wood of our branch lives. We don’t always see it that way but in everything that happens to us He is busy and often pruning away those areas which stop us from producing fruit. Like in agriculture, when a branch has been pruned it gathers new vitality and produces a greater abundance of fruit. While the immediate experience may be uncomfortable or even painful the harvest of fruit that is produced thereafter makes it really worthwhile.

The question we should all ask ourselves is: am I so closely bound to the Vine that I am producing fruit which honours Him and goes towards the building of His kingdom? What is stopping me from truly feeding effectively from Him? The ultimate repeated instruction is “abide (or remain) in Me”. That is a minute by minute state of close connection with the Father through the Son, a connection which is demonstrated by obedience. 15:10.

Then, most importantly, he returns to the earlier statement when He was introducing the concept of a relationship with the True God through Jesus the Son in John 14:14. That this close relationship with the Father gives you the privilege of asking anything in Jesus’s name and He promises that it will be given you 15:7. This promise is part of the privilege of having a real relationship, one of a branch remaining and depending on the Vine. But notice it is contingent on remaining in the vine. Its aim is to help you produce fruit for the glory of God. And by that to show that you are His disciples. We cannot demonstrate true discipleship and God’s ongoing love without this dynamic. It is an amazing promise, often misunderstood because it is not read and understood in the context of the whole passage.

Friends, why don’t you read this passage again and allow your mind and imagination to run as you ask Jesus to speak to you through it. Let it become part of your thought process and flow into your mind as you apply what you are hearing.

God bless till next week.

”I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, that you should die for me – a sinner, condemned, unclean”, but do I really appreciate the true awfulness of my sin – so awful it drove Jesus to die a horrible death on a cross to redeem me? I use the word easily, applying it to myself almost as if it is a badge of honour that qualifies me to receive Gods hard won forgiveness and to become one of His precious children.

”Words, if used often enough may lose some of the impact of their full meaning. Sin was the catalyst, the cause of the huge trouble creation is in, the huge trouble mankind in general and each one of you specifically experiences. Look around you at the suffering, disease, poverty, crime, war, floods, earthquakes, genocide, murder, rape et cetera et cetera and hang out a banner over it – a banner spelt SIN. And in the middle is I. Each one of you has this problem. Creation groans waiting for its release. Stop from time to time and remind yourself of the seriousness of that short word that lies beneath all this horror and appreciate Jesus’s death again afresh, understanding the absolute need for His awful suffering”.

We continue now by reading John14:25-31, as Jesus continues to introduce to us, the reader, the full understanding of what it means for His disciples (and us) to have a relationship with Him. Last time we met the One whom He called “the Counsellor” and saw how He was going to be the main player in building out and maintaining this supernatural relationship.

In vs 29 He closes the bracket which He opened at 13:19, where He explains the reason why He is using this time to explain these things. He is preparing them for the almost excruciating thought for them that He was soon going to leave them physically. I don’t think we can overestimate the huge sense of loss they were soon going to experience. He wanted to soften this by showing the fact that His leaving was actually going to benefit not only them but all of mankind after His death. He goes on to tell them that by telling them all these things in advance when they happened later it would greatly expand their faith in Him.

His death was going to make it possible for them to have such a close relationship with Him because the Father was going to actually give each one of them (and every believer since) the presence of His Spirit to dwell within them. And in this section He is explaining what the full significance of that will be.

In vs 26 He tells them that The Holy Spirit will continue to teach them and remind them of all the things He had said to them. We should stop there as we consider this. The key to us hearing Jesus through His word and any other way He decides to speak to us is the work of His Spirit, who is intimately bound to us every moment of the day and night. We have that supernatural connection! Friends it was the rediscovery of this that set off the Charismatic renewal. Because the Spirit is so humbly apparently quietly, working in the background He has over the years almost become lost in sight by many evangelicals. We need to be reminded of His work and rediscover the awe at the thought of His continued presence indwelling us and what that means for us as we live our Christian life.

If we are to be true witnesses for Jesus, it is the supernatural work of the Spirit that will make that possible and one of the best ways is explained in the next verse. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”.

Can I ask you, each one of you my beloved readers, do you know that peace? Or are your hearts deeply troubled. The presence of God’s peace in the midst of the turmoil of this world is one of the greatest witnesses to His supernatural work. Real peace (shalom) does not always come instantly, but grows as we grow in our faith and trust in His full providence over every aspect of our lives and those of our dear ones. But every true Christian should know something of this huge promise from our all powerful, all knowing Creator.

The passage ends with a reminder of the very real role of Satan in the turmoil of this world and the fact that we are warned in several places to be on our guard against His attacks, using the full armour that God has given us to resist him. It is when we are complacent towards him that we are the most vulnerable.

”Come let us leave” he ends the chapter with. So we will see next time how chapter 15 continues this revelation. God bless and take care.

Worthy – worthy – is the Lamb who is a King – the King of all creation – yet slain. He is worth everything I have and am.

“I receive your praise, as I receive the praises of countless millions of your brothers and sisters. The time will come when you will really understand how worthy I am. You will understand the true depth of the meaning of that word as it describes Me. How can you put a price or a worth on anything as great and stupendous as I am in my Father and for what I have done? Just allow it to sink in to your mind and cause it to well up in you with a sense of gratitude and love and express it in song yes, but also in obedience in all spheres of your life and your thoughts. It is cosmic but it is also personal – the great transformer of your life.”

As we read John 14:15-24, we are introduced to another aspect of the Trinity. We have met Jesus and discovered that He and the Father have such an intimate connection that Jesus Himself is described as being God. That the supernatural work He has done has been the Father working through Him. Vs 10. This new aspect is in fact a Person. Jesus calls Him the Comforter. The Greek word is actually “Paraclete” which means “one who comes beside you”.

This passage is perhaps the most expansive in describing the person and work of the Holy Spirit that we have. Notice first of all the continued context of the intimacy of relationship. Jesus with the Father and flowing from that us. But now this “Person” of the Spirit who Jesus is introducing to us appears to be the very factor that is going to draw us into the same sort of relationship with Jesus that He has with the Father.

Three times in these few verses Jesus reaffirms that he is speaking of our relationship with Him and the whole Trinity. Vs 15 If you love me you will keep my commands.

Vs 20 b, I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, and I am in you.

Vs 23 b My Father will love him (you), and we will come to him (you) and make our home with him. (You)

Key to this relationship is the other statement which is repeated: Obedience vv 15, 21 23. We need to understand it is not obedience that brings the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. Obedience is the fruit of our relationship with the Trinity. It is a demonstration that we have entered into this relationship. It is Jesus way of saying, “this is for those who have become my children, who are now part of the family”. Notice that the emphasis is not on faith here. The emphasis is on obedience. Does that mean that faith is not important? No – it means we only know that someone really has faith by seeing them live a life of obedience to Jesus commands.

In other words the clearest indication of the reality of our faith is the fruit we produce, here described as obedience. It is with that in mind that God sends the Comforter. He is the one through whom we are going to be enabled to produce fruit. Galatians 5:22 His role is to maintain and bring to fruition the relationship that God desires with us and the reason He sent His Son to die. His role is integral to that of the Father and the Son, as important in completing the relationship triangle. Yet He is the least visible. His work is to throw light on the Father and the Son.

Historically in the evangelical church the role of The Holy Spirit has often been neglected in their teaching. The charismatic renewal of the 70’s and 80’s was almost a reaction to that and focused to a large degree on a rediscovery of the importance of the Spirit’s role. Unfortunately as often happens it brought that role so much to the foreground that it changed it from a sort of silent partner in the Trinity to being on the forefront of the stage. That has subsided to some extent and I think everyone is more aware and sensitive today to the work He is doing.

Ultimately He is then an integral part of this relationship which Jesus is unfolding in these chapters. So as the Easter events are unfolding over the next days remember that it is His Spirit that is making all this real and interpreting it for us. What a wonderful God we serve!

May you all have a blessed Easter as we remember and relive the most important part of our faith which we call “The Way”. God bless till next week.

A wooden cross? The symbol of the most painful death by execution for the worst of criminals. How could that be the symbol of our faith? The symbol of Hope for everyone?

“That is what sets the whole of the Christian Faith apart from any other belief system. The enigma – the King of all creation, the very Creator, condemned as a common criminal of the worst kind. Take it in. Stricken for us! Made to be a guilt offering for you and everyone else who deserves to die for their sin of rejecting God as the only true one to worship, obey and follow. Every morning as you wake up and take your first breath, it should come home to you again in a flood of grateful thanks. That moment which changed the world, changed history, and set you free. Yes I did it for you personally and for every other person who would choose to believe and receive the most precious gift of eternal life with Me in the centre”.

We continue today with the conversation Jesus was having with His disciples about His departure, His destination and how they were to follow Him as the only Way. We read John 14:8-14.b

Jesus continues the conversation about who He is. We have already considered previously the importance of seeing Jesus as no less than God Himself, clothed in human flesh. It was obviously hard for the disciples to take that in and process it, just as it is for us today. We can read it over and over again, but until it grips our hearts it will not make any real difference. Key to seeing this are words like,”Don’t you know Me, Philip?”, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”. “Believe Me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in Me”.

The trend of this conversation is leading to an astounding statement. A principle which will be fleshed out more in the coming chapters. “You may ask Me anything in My name, and I will do it.” How did He get there from the previous conversation? What does it really mean? What did. It mean to those disciples and what does it mean for you and me today? I suppose this statement and others like it have been debated and written about many, many times over the years and that is not the purpose of this platform.

What i believe we need to see is the progression in Jesus’s thoughts. He is describing the close relationship He has with the Father and then goes on to explain that the miracles He has done have arisen from God within that relationship which he has with the Father. And now what? How does that affect us?

Well, He is following the thought which flows from that revealing and reminding the disciples of the relationship He has with them. This relationship is intended to be equally intimate to His relationship with the Father. So within that relationship they and us not only have the same intimacy but also the full benefit of the power which He has displayed in doing the miracles He has just mentioned. Notice the words, “It is the Father living in me, who is doing the work”. Just so we have the benefit of Him being within us and so we have access through Him, not only to the presence of God but to His full power.

This is actually quite mind-blowing. What is happening now is a start to a slow revelation of the full benefits of being in a relationship with the Father through Jesus. We need to take this carefully, one step at a time to peel back the layers so that we can eventually understand the full meaning of this enormous privilege we have as Christians, as children of a loving Father. I think that most of us do not really fully appreciate what this means and therefore don’t fully embrace the complete benefits of our relationship with Him.

As we approach Easter meditate on these truths and I will see you next week again.

Worthy is the Lamb, the Darling of Heaven crucified, worthy is the Lamb, crown you with many crowns, seated on the throne.

”Close your eyes and let the visual images I use to transmit my message of hope and salvation to you, play out before you. A lamb – the combination of helplessness, of true humility, apparently unable to fend for itself. Yet given the highest honour – the throne of the world, the ultimate ruler and King. That is how my nature is meant to unfold to you. Embrace it in your heart; the picture of a lamb, not just any lamb, a Lamb so precious that He is known as the “Darling of Heaven”, being mistreated and killed by the most brutal means, for a purpose – to take the Father‘s wrath on Himself so that you all may go free – what a Saviour – deserving all your worship – worthy indeed is the Lamb to receive many crowns.”

Now back to John’s gospel. Just a few verses as they are so rich in meaning, ch 14:1-7. Before the members of the early church became known as Christians they called themselves “The Way”. Each one was part of this exciting new movement which was focused on one main purpose. They had discovered the true “Way” and wanted to reflect that to the world. Where did they get that idea? I suppose the whole of Jesus’s teaching would have reflected that, but the actual passage where this title arises is the one we read today.

Jesus has been trying to get His disciples to understand that He was going to leave them soon, meaning His approaching sacrifice on the cross. It must have been most puzzling to them as on the one hand He said He was leaving them and on the other that He was not really going away. Vs 36 must have been really difficult for them. “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” What on earth was He talking about?

This is where the impetuous Peter puts his foot in it as usual, insisting nothing would stop him from following Jesus! Please don’t be too hard on him. Imagine their confusion. He was the Messiah, coming to rescue Israel and now He is “going away”without apparently having accomplished anything.

So in Ch 14 Jesus tries to introduce them again to the difference between this world and the Spirit world which no-one can see. In reality, what Jesus says here is mind-boggling. This is not your ultimate abode. This world is only temporary, the place He was going to is permanent, and guess what, Jesus has gone ahead to sort things out for them and for all of us, so that we will not only get there but be most welcomed, with our own place specially prepared for us.

It is not coincidental that this passage is recited at many funerals. It is one of the most encouraging passages in the bible. Unfortunately we have all heard it recited off pat so often that we are often no longer struck by this tremendous message. Stop and let that thought sink in to your inner heart.

But now we come to the key to this passage. Can you see what it is? Thomas leads us to it. “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the Way? Then comes the favourite passage of every true believer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through Me”.

Christians are often accused of being exclusive. This passage is exclusive! There is no other way, if you are to believe the bible. It has become fashionable to suggest that there are many ways to heaven depending on what faith you follow, but this verse gives that the lie. Our way is exclusive and our life style should show how different we are. However we should not use this exclusivity to turn inward and show our backs to the world. Our faith is ultimately invitational and we should at all times have our arms wide open to welcome the world like Jesus’s were on the cross, but not at the expense of our belief!

The early Christians understood this clearly. Perhaps that is one reason the early church grew at such a phenomenal rate. They had the message and lived the lifestyle. Loving Jesus first and their neighbours like themselves. Is that how you picture your lifestyle to be? If someone had to describe you would they put that first?

Friends, as we approach Easter, we are going to hear several deep truths, maybe repeated in various ways. Do not let that interfere with the awe you should be feeling to be part of this, most exciting, exclusive Way. Be ready to share it with whosoever the Lord brings across your path. God bless till next week.

What is impossible for man is possible for God. There is so much in that phrase – it tells us so much about you oh Lord my God.

“The eye of a needle – a camel passing through it. That is such a small thing against the backdrop of my whole creation. Wherever you look, if you would just see, you will see the possibilities I have made real. But the most impossible – salvation for men’s souls could only be accomplished at the cost of my dear Son‘s life. He had to die as the only answer to true forgiveness of the world’s sin and for the restoration which I desire so that I can have peace with My creation and enjoy an ongoing relationship with all of it. From that arises My glory and ultimately your glory as well. Enjoy meditating on these great truths.”

We go on to John ch 13:31-48. As Judas departed to set a series of events in motion which will ultimately result in Jesus being crucified, Jesus covered that leaving with a statement which is astounding. Now, He says , the Son of Man and God is glorified. The glory appearing now will reach its climax when Jesus ultimately takes the sin of the world on Himself at the cross.. Notice the interplay of glorification of the Father and the Son. Both are being glorified.

Now I must admit I am not sure I understand fully what this glory is exactly. In ch 17:5 Jesus calls on His Father to give Him the glory He has always had when He was together with Him before His earthly mission.

What is significant is that God has, throughout the scriptures sought to glorify Himself. That is His ultimate aim and here is a major step towards that. Then comes the surprising part – we are to share in that glory one day according to Romans 8:30: And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified and those He justified He also Glorified. In a wonderful way we have already received God’s glory yet our ultimate glorification will only happen when we go to be with Him. Well, what will that look like? We can only imagine and wonder and maybe get a bit excited.

As Jesus launches into what is often called “His final discourse” He again warns the disciples that He is going to leave them to go to a place where they would not be able to follow Him. That must have been most distressing to them. We have the benefit of seeing the bigger picture but these men had left everything and followed Him believing, rightly so, that this was going to be permanent. Yet here He is saying words which sound like He is abandoning them and leaving them to their own devices.

Peter, as impetuous as usual insists that no matter where Jesus is going he will follow Him. It is easy for us to be critical from a distance but we need to live ourselves into that moment to understand the confusion these men were surely feeling. Yes Peter is going to disown Jesus, but heh, the rest weren’t even there. They had all run away.

Now we come to the most important part of this passage. Can you see what it is? It governs every part of our Christian life. Vs 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. This command gathers all the rest together and is the most pertinent instruction to us today. What a challenge!

If God’s church is to be the witness He so eagerly desires, it should be characterised by genuine love demonstrated clearly between its members. No in fighting, no back stabbing, no “skindering”. No running to the news media about the sins of others. No court cases between members, I can go on and on as I look at the public face of many churches today. Let us all take a good look at ourselves and determine, with the help of God’s ability to overcome the impossible, to be known for our love for one another.

Plenty to chew on for this week. May you all receive His blessing.

What an absolute privilege it is to sit here this morning in Your presence knowing You have invited me – it draws great feelings of worship, praise and rejoicing.

”Yes Ian I have desired that you be with Me and spend time communicating with Me, just as I long for each of My children’s time devoted wholly to Me. This is precious to Me and it should be equally precious to you. Think about it, the creator of the universe here in the room with you, in you, around you. Although you cannot see Me you can experience My presence in so many ways by faith. Through My word especially and through the songs of praise, but in many other ways which involve every one of your senses. Spend time in quiet just listening and enjoying My presence.”

As we read John 13:18-30 we feel we are entering an unbelievably dark episode of Jesus’s life. It is succinctly described in the last vs: 30b: “It was night”. It was surely night but symbolically it was night as well as Judas leaves to do the deed he has been chosen to do.

I am sure every reader of this blog has at some time or another experienced the pain of betrayal. Someone who you respected and enjoyed turning against you and causing you some measure of harm and pain. Once again, because of our familiarity with this story it is maybe easy to gloss over the details of Judas’s betrayal.

Think of it however. Here was one of the close-knit “inside” group of Jesus’s disciples. What had they not all experienced in the three years of Jesus’s ministry? The teaching, the fellowship and especially the love that Jesus had surely been demonstrating them as the made their way by foot around the territory. Sitting now at the table, close enough for Jesus to reach out and pass him a morsel He had dipped in the wine. Judas, accepting this intimate gesture.

Once again I was struck by Jesus’s humanity as described here. It is, as I have said previously so easy to imagine Jesus’s feelings and thoughts to be different to ours because of His divinity, however John again draws attention to Jesus mental and emotional suffering in the brief sentence in vs 21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” So much like we would be, a perfect high priest who has suffered in every way we have so that he can understand and minister to us.

We know, of course that Jesus was aware of his impending betrayal a long time before, because of His continual references, reported in the various gospels to His impending death preceded by a betrayal. What is a timely reminder of all these events, which are depicted here in extraordinary detail, is that this was all planned long beforehand vs 18 This is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread lifted up his heel against Me’.

Just as you and I have been chosen before time to be adopted as children of God, so Judas was chosen before time to be THE betrayer, which set the ultimate rescue plan in motion. Maybe, like me, you may say “Was this really fair to him?”. The whole question of predestination is an enigma that we as mere mortals, looking through a glass darkly, may only understand, if at all when we go to be with the Lord. We need to focus rather on the certainty we receive from the fact that we have indeed been chosen before time, according to God’s mercy and grace for a specific purpose, which He will work out in our lives.

Once again we can only wonder at this plan of God which we are seeing being played out here in the scriptures. A plan so unique, so brilliant, yet so painful. Plenty to meditate on as we continue in this Lenten period.

May God bless you all as we draw closer to our celebration of Easter.

It is hard for me, as I meditate on the presence of the Lord and meeting with Him. It is hard for me to imagine the perfection and beauty of the Lord meeting me in my imperfection in a world which is broken.

”Ian, to understand and make sense of these thoughts you have been having you need to remind yourself of your new identity. The moment your eyes were opened to me you were taken into Jesus. Now your identity is no longer in yourself but in Jesus. So when you feel you are failing, I see not your failures but Jesus because He surrounds you and gives you your identity. Yes you need to and are continually growing more and more like Jesus through his Spirit and by His grace but your identity is constant. I see Jesus when I see you. I continually wash your feet to cleanse that part of you that is being contaminated by the world, but that does not reflect your identity. Your new identity was given you when I first washed the whole of you”.

We come today to a well known story that happened at the beginning of Passion week – where Jesus is described washing the disciples feet. John 13:1-17. It is easy to switch off when we read a passage like this while thinking we’ve heard it so often However I believe it is an extremely important passage, placed strategically to set the whole scene of what the Christian life is to be like. What must characterize it.

In Mark’s gospel the same teaching is taken up in one verse also placed at this time in Jesus’ life. “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42,43.

So as you read it let your imagination go. See the group of disciples with smokey lamps lighting the room, the smell of unwashed bodies and the lamp oil mixing with that of the food. The disciples would have been sitting on cushions on the floor with their feet extended behind them.

Now read the introduction in vs 1. Jesus knowing His time had come wanted to show His disciples the full extent of His love. Now notice the second part of the next vs. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power ……….. This act that is described must be seen against those two statements. The most powerful being, God Himself in human form who could have done anything on earth that he wanted, chose to demonstrate His love by washing the disciples’ feet. The most menial task, dirty travel-worn feet. No convenient baths and showers. Jesus bends down with water and a cloth and commences to wash each disciple’s feet. Notice, even Judas’ feet. The one through whose absolute betrayal was the first step to His horrible death.

Do you want to be important in the kingdom of heaven? Get down and start washing feet. Not necessarily literally but symbolically in your daily walk as you emulate Jesus’ statement in Mark “I did not come to be served but to serve”. Now read vv 14-17. That is exactly the instruction Jesus gives to His disciples. Wash one another’s feet. But more go out and wash the feet of every one whom you would serve.

In His enthusiasm Peter of course gets it wrong at first. “No please wash me completely”. Then Jesus adds the rider which is so important. I have already washed the whole of you. Well, washing feet in the kingdom, with the right motive should always flow out of a relationship with Jesus which was launched when we first encounter Christ and receive His forgiveness and Spirit, symbolically being washed all over as He cleanses and forgives us. It is not a way to win your membership to the kingdom.

Why do we call it a “service” when we meet on Sunday at the church? That is the opportunity for us to practise our service, but it should not end there it should go everywhere we go during the rest of our time. Unfortunately I do believe that there are many who get this order wrong and believe by going to a service and learning to serve is the way into the kingdom. We all know that is the wrong order, but there are many who don’t understand that.

Se friends go and serve. There is no better way than that to enjoy your life of abundance in Jesus. See the last vs in this section: “Now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them” vs 17.

See you all next week again.