Ian’s lets listen to Jesus

”God of wonders, God of grace” – “you make everything beautiful in your time.”

”If my creation we’re only able to fully see the beauty the harmony and the productivity of everything I’ve made, I am sure that they would be overcome with awe. But most important is the motive I have had in producing this creation, which is my love, and I want every being to experience that. That is the best I can give and the beauty of my creation is just a way of me expressing this huge love I have for it all, for you all. So pray that the eyes of your heart may be opened so that you can know this love to a greater and greater degree.”

As we get to the end of this most illuminating and important epistle, we meet a little of the author personally as he reveals his motives and desires. Read Romans 15:23 -33. This section gives us some insight into why Paul wrote such a detailed description of the gospel, which has become probably the most complete one in all His writings.

Paul, writing to a group of believers that he had never met, expresses his intention to visit them. However it seems that he had a wider motive, which was to to go on to Spain to take the gospel there after visiting Rome. It is generally agreed that the completeness of the description of the gospel was a sort of CV that Paul was using to introduce himself to the Roman Christians, with the ultimate aim of getting them to support and help him take the gospel further afield starting in Spain.

If we read Acts 21 – 23, we can see that his desire to get to Rome was fulfilled in a rather roundabout was, involving several years of imprisonment and an appeal to the authorities based on his Roman citizenship. It is clear from vv 30 – 33 that he expected opposition and even death. Notice how important it is to him that the recipients should pray for him and his mission. It is a humbling yet encouraging thought that we can participate in these types of outreach by getting on our knees to pray and which makes us partners in any such gospel work.

As I stand back and seek to hear Jesus in this passage, it is apparent that God is souvereign in everything, in some of the most amazing ways on a continuous basis. Paul never reached Spain but this letter has been the basis on which much of our understanding of the Christian faith rests. So the gospel has reached millions and millions of people over time, not just a few Spaniards. Paul’s plans to reach Rome were ultimately fulfilled, where he met Jesus after his imprisonment. Despite and perhaps through it, his great suffering and perseverance has given us a large part of the New Testament text. God was and is working all the time with the ultimate aim of His glory and ours.

I am also reminded how precious the gospel is and how important it is for each of us to be ready at all times, to give and answer for the hope we have, which will be shining through, if you are walking intimately with Jesus.

May you keep experiencing Jesus’ love, for which I pray for each of you. Till next week then.

Christ my sure and steady Anchor.

”An anchor Is intended to hold the ship secure when currents, winds and waves and even storms threaten the ship. You may feel at times that you are in the middle of such a storm, the wind and waves buffeting you, but within that, because of Jesus‘s death on the cross He is and will always be your sure and steady Anchor. While He calls you to fix your eyes on Him it is actually He that holds you fast when the current comes to rip you away. Your life, your hope, your future is securely held in and by that Anchor. So look up – all of you who read this – and see Christ holding you and surrender to him in faith.”

Please read Romans 15:13-22. Paul, having taken a strong line in addressing the Jews, seems to realise that he may have offended them and so in this section he seeks to soften the effect of his words to them by explaining the primacy he sees in his call to minister to the Gentiles.

But first there is vs13 which acts like a link. In itself the message is universal, to all of us Christians and actually deserves a close scrutiny and meditation. We all need the joy and peace which comes from the full reminder and assurance of our hope. This is guaranteed through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is how important it is. Do you have that joy and peace which comes from the hope God has promised? Pray for it and pray for others to experience it.

Now notice the theme if the next section. Paul is convinced of his calling to minister to the Gentiles. It is generally regarded that, although he was a Jew through and through, his ministry was primarily to the Gentiles, wherever he went.

What did that ministry look like? Refining it down to three verses; vs 16 b the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, vs 20 it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known. And a reminder of what he said in the introduction to the letter where he declared the gospel as simply obedience to God, vs 17 b leading the Gentiles to obey God.

I suppose for some of us we may have a specific sense of calling to preach the gospel in a specific place, I believe with my whole heart that the gospel is so precious that we all have the responsibility and the joy of sharing something of it to those we meet. The gospel is Christ and just a word here or there about Him can also be used by God to be life-changing.

So I ask our dear Lord to renew our fervour to share the mighty gospel in whichever way He leads us to. May He bless you all in this, this coming week.

“Here is love as vast as the ocean” – thank you Lord that I have been a recipient of that vast, immeasurable love.

”My Name, my very nature is made up from this attribute. The way I act, the way I see my creation, the way I see you, is through this vast filter of love. It is my longing that you may come to know over time how high, how wide, how deep and how long my love is and that it may make up the intimate experience of your relationship with Me. My whole program for you all is to bring you to a place where My love will become more and more real to you. And it is not directed randomly, it is directed at you and every person that reads this blog, personally.”

Read Romans 15:1-12. Paul is still expanding the theme arising from 12:1,2, ie the life the reader should be living in the light of the transformed life, arising from Jesus’ death on the cross. We have seen that we, as individuals, must show a changed life, and then flowing from that the witness of the church as a group of people transformed by God’s love. Chapter 14 dealt with grey areas and we now come to the major issue which has been appearing from time to time, all along in this letter, ie the issue of the relationship between Jew and Gentile.

This was a huge subject at that time. On the one hand the Jew who still felt they had the inner track, as it were to heaven, because of their whole OT history. Historically they had been warned to separate themselves from the pagan world around them. This resulted in totally different religious and social cultures. I suppose a little like our forebears felt about the black indigenous folk in this country. To get these two groups to work together was hard, but imagine the difficulty of persuading them to love one another.

In this passage Paul tackles the Jewish idea that the scriptures called on the Jews to keep themselves separate . Paul makes the point that even from the time of the Patriarchs there was a provision made for the Gentiles. The fact is that the idea of God was always that His people would represent Him to the Gentiles so that they also could be included in His future Kingdom. And he shows this quoting a number of OT scriptures. The coming of Christ has made this much more possible removing the previous barriers.

Without getting into the minutia of each verse the central command in verse 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, summarises Paul’s teaching here and is pretty much a universal command to all Christians everywhere. That is Christ’s word to us today. In Philippians 2 Paul uses a similar argument, but going further says “in humility consider others better than yourselves. This requires a real transformation of our minds, since we are all basically self-centred by nature.

It is, however, the oil that allows every growing church to reflect Jesus’ love within the church, as well as outwardly to the community outside. Let the challenge to us today therefore be to give attention to this command, asking Jesus to help us through His Spirit, to accept every Chrsitian brother or sister, especially those who we actually don’t particularly like for whatever reason.

May God bless you all till next week.

Oh the wondrous cross that bids me know that I can die and truly live.

”It is good and right to begin with the cross – because that is where your real life was reborn. My plan though, goes back to the beginning and all the time the cross was like a beacon of hope for a lost world. It represents my total commitment to my creation so that each one of you may know to what extent my love goes. It goes to the very end in death, it takes new wings in a life that happens after that. Keep your eyes fixed on Me and My cross and your hope will remain alive.”

We continue today with the overall theme of what the transformed life of 12:1,2 looks like. The overall theme is love, which is the basic standard of the new life. We must also remember that, while God is intensely involved and interested in each one of us individually, His bigger plan is the bringing of His kingdom into this world. The church represents the visible part of His kingdom and is also the main means that He uses to achieve this purpose. How we interact is therefore an important part of the church’s witness to the world. The “grey” areas of food and drink and keeping special days may seem of little importance, but may also represent a major source of conflict in a church congregation.

We continue with ch 14, please read Romans 14:13 – 21. We have already seen that we are all under God’s judgement and belong to Him.and therefore will be held accountable by Him.

In v 13 Paul takes on a more positive attitude, urging the reader to actively consider how their actions and words in these grey areas may affect the weaker brother and therefore be prepared to adapt ourselves and our behaviour so as not to offend the weaker brother. He goes on to make his own position very clear vv 17,18 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the HolySpirit. But follows that with the earnest appeal in vs 19 to make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. Underlining so strongly how important this is by saying the readers could destroy God’s work by not giving heed to what he has been saying.

So ultimately, if there are a group who feel strongly about these things they should keep it to themselves and not go around condemning those who don’t think like they do. He ends the chapter with the cardinal rule that everything that does not come from faith is sin. So really he is calling us out to sort our thoughts out with God to whom we owe all, and not to stir up the congregation and cause divisions.

So then we actually come back to the fact that the rule of love covers all these things. If in doubt ask yourself the question “how does what I do and say represent God’s love to the other person/people and to the world that is watching.”

May you all have a blessed week and long weekend break.

Be thou my Vision Lord of my heart, High King of Heaven my treasure thou art.

” Am I truly your treasure? in what ways do you know and are certain that I am your treasure? It is easy to say words of love and adoration, but the genuine proof of their reality lies in the way you live and think, the choices you make, where your thoughts and actions are directed for most of the day. Remember Romans 12:1 true worship means giving not only our thoughts and words to God but our whole bodies, our whole lives. Difficult? That is why I have transformed your mind and given my Holy Spirit to help you.”

Chapter 14 is perhaps a chapter that is not given nearly enough attention to. The theme of the interaction of the members of the church for the benefit of the whole continues. Paul is busy spelling out the details of the overall instruction of what it means to love one another. The theme of the whole chapter is directed at how we see and interact with each other in the church, especially focussed on the grey areas where people so easily condemn each other.

There are two areas he addresses: food and drink; special days, like the Sabbath. He does so against the backdrop of weaker and stronger brothers in the faith. It is one continuous thought but we will deal with the chapter in two parts. Scan the whole of ch 14 but focus on the first 12 verses.

As an aside may I say that I have observed that these type of issues often cause more division in the church than most others.

The underlying principle that we have to keep in mind lies in vs 12. Each of you will give an account of himself to God. So that points back to the fact that when we condemn people for behaviour which we don’t approve of, we are taking up the position of God.

The problem of food and keeping special days of course highlights the difference between the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers that Paul is facing. But we still have those issues today in the church. From the food perspective we have the issue of whether it is OK to drink wine. But also more and more people are becoming focussed on not eating meat and following vegetarian and vegan diets. Not so prominent is the discussion on the importance of the Sabbath and other “holy days”.

The principle Paul highlights in these first12 vv is that the “stronger” brother has the freedom to eat what he likes and not be limited by regarding certain days as special. It is up to the stronger brother to avoid making an issue of these things. It is the one depicted as the weaker brother who is likely to judge. Ultimately the principle is the same for both, clearly voiced in v 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant ? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

And in vs 10 For we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. And vs 12 So then each of. Us will have to give an account of himself to God.

What Paul is saying, we must recognise that it is God who is the ultimate judge and He decides what is right so we must remember that before we criticise others in these grey areas. This does not take away the responsibility we have towards others to minister to them if they’re openly sinning in other areas.

This is such a tricky area, but nevertheless one we should consider carefully. The ultimate purpose of the command to love remains supreme and should be demonstrated by the unity we, as believers show towards the outside world. That unity remains God’s aim as Jesus said in John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. It is the important role of the stronger brother to help the weaker brother feel secure in his faith and benefit from the communal spirit.

More on this subject next time. In the meantime may God bless each one of you.

Love lifted me, when nothing else could help love lifted me.

”Yes I am the embodiment of love, I represent the whole concept of love in my being. Remember in 1 John “God is love”. My being cannot be separated from my attitude towards you, which leads to the way we can interact. As you learn more about me you are also learning more about love. So the concept that “ Love is the fulfilment of the law”, Simply recognises that the theme of love should control all our interactions and your interaction with each other and the world. When you doubt ask the question” Does this action or attitude reflect my love?”

As we pursue the consequences of living a life that has been transformed by the renewing of our minds, we have come to a focal point where we should recognise the importance of love being the guiding principal for our lives and our relationships both with each other and the Lord. Please read Romans chapter :8-14. We need to remember verse 10 which described love as the fulfillment of the law, to see the relevance of versus 11 to 14.

i was reminded again this week how important it is for us to remember, when we are having our devotions that they are more than just words on paper, as important as that source may be, but that we are meeting with our living God and interacting with him. It is very easy to slip into the mode of just trying to understand the script and forgetting their aim to understanding and experiencing our love relationship with our Saviour.

Today’s few verses from 11 to 14, act as a powerful motivation for us to make this way of living out out relationship with God by demonstrating our love for our Saviour and for each other as a way of living that is in line with God‘s will for us. The New Testament reminds us continuously that the world is rushing towards a conclusion of judgement and salvation when Jesus comes again. Since 2000 years have past it is easy forget the urgency. While He tarries we may pass from this life at any moment. So there is no room for complacency.

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.” So let us “Rather clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ”.

May God bless each one of you this week.

Christ the sure and steady anchor in the fury of the storm.

” I stand as your Rock, a fixed position which cannot be moved. Not only can you stand on that Rock – I will lead you there and steady you on it. All you have to do is to decide to follow Me and allow Me to lead you. To set aside your pride-filled plans which drag you away, and even in those I am pursuing you and drawing you back to the Rock again. Rest assured today – you and all who read this, that My goodness and mercy will follow you, not in a sense of being behind you, but in a sense that pursues you through every aspect of your lives.”

We continue to look at how our transformed lives are to play out in our everyday lives. Read Romans 13:8-10. I want to stand still on these verses because they are so central to the New Covenant and our lives as Jesus followers.

A key word in this section is “fulfilled”. In the sermon on the mount Jesus said “I have not come to abolish them (the law) but to fulfill them”. If we look at 13:10 today “love is the fulfillment of the law”. What does that say about Jesus? What does that say about the whole law as laid out in the Old Covenant?

God has used a protracted process from the beginning through the Old Covenant period, leading the people through legal imperatives to a “Person”. Many people live their lives trying to stay right or be right with God by keeping the law, as they interpret it. For example because of the emphasis in the OT on the Sabbath, there are many who feel they have satisfied God by regarding a Sunday as special. In the process they miss the intention of the Sabbath. The Sabbath, in many ways, is the personification of our relationship with God through Jesus. It is a reminder of the gospel.

I have often said that the gospel is not a message in words, but is a message focussed on a Person – Jesus. Jesus is our Gospel. Part of that is that Jesus is our Sabbath. It is in Him that we find true rest (Mat 11:28). In the same subtle way since Jesus came, every law flows from our hearts and transformed minds to reflect Jesus and His relationship with us. The concept of love (agape) is what moulds this in our minds to guide us in our interaction with others. In the same way we cannot do this unless Jesus is moulding us through His love first.

So, in a way the various written laws become promises. Hence “do not commit adultery” becomes “you shall not commit adultery” And as Jesus says, this all starts in the mind. So, are we each carrying this out perfectly? No of course not. There’s still the battle between our old selves and the new spiritual self going on. But the focus now is on growing in our understanding of the huge difference this makes in the way we relate to the law of the OT. Central to that is our growing intimate relationship with Jesus, which should constantly be being replenished.

So does that mean we should not regard Sunday as special? Of course not. Our focus though, should be different. Not on all the things we should not do, but rather on the opportunity of building our relationship with Jesus and carrying out the message about Him to as many people as possible. To rest and recreate and build friendships for the kingdom. Recognizing that Sunday is the Lord’s day and that every day is our Sabbath in Jesus.

And so the whole law can be summed up in the command to love God and love one another. That covers all the aspects of our lives as we interact with our Lord Jesus and as it flows to those around us.

This is an important issue, so why don’t you reflect on it in our comments section?

God bless you all till next week.

How worthy …..How worthy! The King in all his glory.

”Do you understand My glory? The weight of it which recognises My value – to the whole universe, but also and especially to you and your blog readers – a worth which, if you can behold it in your mind’s eye, should draw the deepest praise from your heart. You can renew your delight and anticipation at the thought of seeing My glory firsthand one day. In the meantime you can find My worth described throughout My word and learn more and more about it and Me. The creatures and the elders depicted in Revelation cast themselves down in the presence calling out “You are worthy, our Lord and God ….”. Let that meeting be the hope you keep close to your heart as you look forward into the future.”

Please read Romans 13:1-7. This is a well known passage which often draws debate. The question which is often raised is, “At what point is it OK to disobey the Government, if they are doing wrong or behaving evilly?”

The instruction, however appears to be quite clear. Obey the government because they have been placed there by God to keep order and to punish wrongdoing. Now remember Paul was writing to the Roman Christians who were being persecuted by their government, yet he says that if we rebel against authority we are rebelling against God vs 2.

Let us take a step back and notice first where this instruction has been placed in context. The wider context is Paul’s reminder that our correct worship is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices because our minds have been transformed 12:1,2. Immediately, this passage is bracketed by two statements on the overall importance of living our lives by the standard of love (12:9; 13:8) And just before this passage the instruction is to love our enemies. From that it is clear that Paul is showing us that the transformed Christian should not begrudge his service and obedience to authority, but actually positively do your share as it were, even if we do not particularly like the present government.

Can that be hard sometimes? Absolutely, but the answer is not to be law-breakers and dissatisfied citizens because we don’t like those in authority at the moment. May we work against them politically in a legal sense? Of course. Our whole attitude goes towards our Christian witness. If we become disgruntled, complainers we are aligning ourselves with God’s enemies, remember the book of Numbers.

But what about if you are expected to do something which is explicitly forbidden in God’s law? Well we should never go against His law. But what about grey areas? Well the answer is in vs 5: “conscience” we are then to let God guide you according to His word and apply it to your conscience, where God is actually communicating with you internally. Later in14:23 Paul reminds the readers, “everything that does not come from faith is sin”. Be sure that it is what faith is leading you to do.

In the end those circumstances are probably not so common, so we should be instructed by the overall message in this passage to be obedient and loving citizens, setting an example to others

May you all have a blessed week.

This the power of the cross – Christ became sin for us!

” It is maybe hard to imagine that a cruel instrument of death would be the source of power. Your faith your life is indeed transformed by that one act of my son Jesus – through his death immense power was released – power to transform you by firstly winning forgiveness of your sins, which enabled you to be reconciled to me – from there to have a new life slowly drawing you out of the grip of the old nature and helping you to take on the new nature. Welcome to my new kingdom of transformed, adopted brothers and sisters.”

We have been looking at the practical outworking of the transformation of our minds and hearts in the way we live and conduct ourselves. Romans 12:1 ff. In the forefront is the need for the church to reflect the new values of the transformed community. That is the “showcase” of the new kingdom. From vs 9 we see that love is the overarching command which governs our behaviour and interpersonal interaction. Today we will look at 12:14-21.

I have tried to stress how important it is to understand that the power to live the new life is released when we receive God’s righteousness and His Holy Spirit to live this new life. These commands are not suggestions they are clear instructions. Looking at how impossible several of them seem to be, we must therefore understand we cannot try and live like this in our own strength. The churches round the world are full of people trying to be Christian, without the transformation which takes place when we receive the Holy Spirit. So these instructions clearly follow the first 11 chapters of the letter.

One of the basic instincts of the old nature is a sense of outrage when we are harmed or antagonised and that emotion is almost immediately translated into feelings and then plans for revenge. If you watch any number of movies you will see how many of the stories are based on the achieving of revenge for some act done against the main character(s). This produces a sense of satisfaction and therefore appreciation of the story. The story has spoken to that desire for revenge, the desire to prove self-righteousness and satisfy our sense of entitlement, which we all have.

So the instructions in this passage are entirely counterintuitive. And reflect back on the nature of real agape love. We need to allow the Spirit to help transform our thinking, becoming humble, regarding others as more important than yourself (Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility consider others better than yourselves) This is hard for us as pride is basic to our old nature and we have to bury that and regard everyone, even those who are of low position worthy of association.

From vs 17 Paul addresses this sense of revenge directly. It is not just a question of a change of attitude. It starts there but must be put into practice. The basic change in attitude that is necessary is to be prepared to hand over the feelings of revenge to God for Him to satisfy, and to trust Him to do what is right in His sight. In the meantime, you can’t necessarily change your feelings about someone who has harmed you but you can take action for their benefit if the opportunity should arise. Hard? Of course that is why when this is played out in the real world it becomes such a powerful testimony to the transformation which takes place when we receive His Spirit.

There can be no real harmony in a Christian fellowship if there are feelings of being hard done by and subtle plans for revenge circulating among some members and that is where God wants His love to be a shining example, reflected in our ability to love one another across the barriers of race and class and culture.

God bless you all till next week.

For God so loved…..that he gave…….and is still giving.

”My hand is open, I have been moved by love from the very beginning. Everything I have done is motivated by my bottomless love – which I express in a multitude of ways, from my creation to relationships and every need you have. In return? I long for you to love Me – to fall completely in love with Me so that will motivate every part of your life, from interaction with Me to the same for others. I have made the way, shown it, and now empower you and every reader of this blog to do the same.

We continue to look at the way our response to God’s love in giving ourselves to love and serve Him, (Rom 12:1,2, plays out in our lives and the life of the Church. We start with the understanding that we cannot live this life without our minds being totally transformed. Last time we looked at how Paul was indicating this should manifest in the church. Today we start looking at the wider picture, not only the church but our interaction with the world. Please read Romans 12:9-13.

We will just focus on this first paragraph. Paul first picks up the concept of love. He will come back to it later in more detail. Let us remind ourselves of Jesus’ words in Mark 12:29 ff after being asked what is the most important command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength….Love your neighbour as yourself. This command to love actually summarises the whole Torah.

We should realise that the “love” word used here is unique to the Christian faith – “agape” which describes an attitude which goes way beyond our feelings and is expressed in our dealings and actions. It speaks of a self sacrificing attitude where we regard others and their needs as greater than ours.

In our passage today Paul contrasts love with evil as the opposite. Challenging the reader to be sincere and a priority in our interaction with other believers, starting off by demonstrating this by honouring others above ourselves. These are easy words to say or read but, we all know that they can be challenging when we deal with specific individuals, where we will need the transformation and power provided by the Holy Spirit to do it.

He then pours out a staccato of instructions, which each need to be prayerfully considered, as they contribute to the functioning of a healthy church. I will leave you all to do just that personally as they are self-explanatory, but very important in building a healthy, transformed life in a real church . As you read each instruction ask God to show you how you are doing with that one and asking Him to help you where you need it and maybe improve on it in your specific circumstances. Try imagining how it should manifest itself in your life.

Next week we will. Look on the other instructions of Paul. May God bless you all.