Month: August 2024

As I sit here at my desk in the room where I meet with my lord every day – I imagine Hm sitting on a chair here with me. I don’t need to go into a special “prophetic” mode, I can simply speak to him and listen to what he says.

“This presence of mine which I am glad you are learning to appreciate, is available to everyone of my dear children. I am speaking continually to you all, yet the noise of the world and your heart’s desires drowns out much of it. That is why you need my written word to bring you back to what you know is true and you can take your communication forward from there. As you have said at the beginning – ours is a real relationship, an interaction between the two of us, so as you speak to me I am answering you in various ways. When you look back at the end of the day you will be able to detect how I have guided you and be able to just rejoice and enjoy our daily togetherness.”

Today we are looking back again at John’s Gospel from chapter 6:34 to 59. Last time we focused on God’s grace in calling us and including us in his kingdom plan. We focused on the reality that on our own we would not come to God, but that he draws us to himself. With the important reminder that we have to accept this gift by faith for it to become real.

Before we go on, let us take a step back again and look at the wider context of this passage. It started with a miraculous feeding of the 5000. We saw that this event happened at the time of the Passover. (v4). We reflected that the miracle was a reminder to the people and to us of God’s rescue of his people from Egypt, which was celebrated at the Passover annually. Having rescued the people God took them into the desert. One of the things that they had to learn was to be totally dependent on Him for everything. To teach them this in the desert surroundings where there was nothing else available he fed them with manna every day. This was a reminder that they were able to and should depend on him entirely for their sustenance. This is a very real reminder to us today as well.

The people demonstrated their lack of faith and appreciation by grumbling, instead of being thankful. This made God very angry. Today, we are reminded in chapter 6:43 of this attitude which demonstrates a clear lack of trust in the fact that God does provide and knows what’s best for us.

From verse 44 Jesus returns to the central message of obtaining eternal life. He first reminds the reader that the initial step is to listen to the Father which will lead them to Jesus. However, he takes this a step further in revealing that he represents the Father. That in Him we can actually meet with and listen to what the Father has to say (vv45, 46).

He now escalates his message by saying that true faith is demonstrated by actually eating the bread. He then reminds them, verse 48, that he is the bread, Verse 51. He then takes this a step further and reveals that the bread is actually his flesh which he will give by his life for the world. Going on from verse 53 he takes this concept of eating the flesh and drinking the blood a step further. What he is doing here is drawing this whole teaching of the bread to a point which indicates the central teaching of the gospel. The teaching that he has to die on the cross. for the sins of the world. And what is more it is not just enough to know this but that one must actually partake of this by faith represented by actually eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Saviour.

Standing back and looking at the bigger picture we can see that setting the whole narrative against the backdrop of the Passover was pointing to the real Passover which happened in the week when Jesus was crucified. Placing this teaching of the centrality of Jesus‘s work on the cross to provide eternal life against the backdrop of the Passover in the center of the first half of the gospel highlights its centrality in the life and mission of Jesus.

Reading this message and seeing how John has structured it to enable us, the reader to understand the real nature of Jesus’s mission to the world and how we need to relate to that to benefit from it as we believe it and trust in the One who the message is about, has been really exciting. Making it all the more real. I trust that this has been an exercise which has strengthened your faith. If there is anyone who who may read this and has not yet placed their trust in Jesus, maybe this will encourage you to do that.

May our Lord bless you all. Till next week then.

” Your Grace still amazes me, your Love still a mystery.“ These words from this song speak to the depths of my heart and soul.

” You are right to be amazed by my grace. My grace is the starting point in the entire creation process. It is the engine which keeps the whole of my creation going and it covers the wonderful, glorious conclusion of my process to bring my kingdom about. While you are already amazed at my grace you, like most of my children have not yet plumbed the full depths of what it truly means, because it is an attitude which is so foreign to the self-centred attitude of mankind in general. So it has been and still is my purpose to continue to introduce you and all who read this to new and greater insights as to what my grace is all about so that as you respond, you will be more and more amazed.”

As we tackle the next section of John chapter 6:34–59, I want to deal with it in two sessions. The golden thread that has been running through the text till now has been the word “belief” or faith. In the first paragraph from verse 35 John repeats the word believe three times. But in this paragraph he brings the full impact of that to a point out.

Can you see that? In verse 37 Jesus states, “ All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” He then goes on to say that what he is speaking about is access to eternal life; verse 40. Stop and consider the full impact of what that statement is saying. If we take these words at their full meaning then our entrance into eternal life depends entirely on God.

Yet we have been continually reading about the key response that each person that was accepted by Jesus had is belief. So here is the conundrum. On the one hand God has chosen His people even before he has created them. On the other hand from our perspective we will not be accepted into eternal life unless we exercise faith or belief.

Perhaps verse 44 throws some light on to this apparent mystery. “ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me, draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” If we stand back and ponder this mystery, we may see that while we have the responsibility of responding to God’s revelation and actions, the whole process is under his control. This is what I call the “truth in tension”. The truth lying in tension between two apparently opposite ideas.

Standing back again to get a better perspective, there is one word that comes to mind that covers this whole process. That word is Grace. The whole concept of God’s grace is perhaps so foreign to our human nature that we find it difficult to fully take it on board.

So this is how I understand it. God has a plan, a magnificent plan, which includes every person that he has created. Within that plan he has created a people who will eventually become part of his kingdom into eternity. You and I are part of that plan. He has a specific plan for each one of us. Your eternal destiny has already been determined as part of that plan. However it is necessary in some mystical way for us to buy into that plan, as it were and to receive this blessing of being part of his chosen people – by faith. The only action from our perspective is that we need to respond by receiving what he wants to give us. It’s just that – a gift. Any effort on our part to do something to enable us to be part of this great plan is counter-productive and acts against the whole concept of grace.

But you say to me, if the destiny of each person has already been determined, why would it be necessary for us to be witnesses to this fact, to go out and share our faith and take this message, this incredible message to the ends of the Earth? The closest that I can come to an answer to that question is that, that is the way God has determined that his message should be spread. In just the same way as he has determined that for him to give us eternal life as a gift is necessary for us to receive it by faith before it is activated, as it were.

The huge and basic difference between Christianity and all the other religions is this whole concept of grace. God has done it all! We only need to believe and demonstrate that by receiving. Go and digest this fact. I have been struggling to do that the whole week. May our dear Lord bless you all till next week.

I become acutely aware that my time spent in singing worship songs as I prepare myself for my special one on one time with my Lord – is in danger of becoming a mechanical repetition, a rote – while my mind is really not focused on actually meeting my Lord one on one.

” How hard it may seem for you to keep your focus on Me and My loving communication with you. But, this is in the nature of the human condition, surrounded by spiritual forces dragging your attention away from Me. And touching the deep core of sin which remains in each one of my children even when they have been redeemed and set free. However, even as you became aware of the danger of a mechanical repetition – it was Me calling you back to My side where you can experience My real love – even though I am not physically present. Remember though, every person who loves you and expresses that in My name is acting on My behalf.“

Let us turn now again to John’s telling of the story of Jesus. We are looking at chapter 6:25-34. The setting, just to remind you is the feeding of the 5000 and the subsequent walk by Jesus on the water as He moved to the other side of the lake. In short order we have seen two amazing miraculous signs. In verse 25 we now see that the crowd has followed Jesus and found him again.

In verses 26 and 27 Jesus puts his finger on a subject which should resonate universally. The question is, “Why was the crowd so eager to follow Jesus”? That is perhaps the same question everybody who prays to him should ask themselves, including us. Jesus points out to the crowd that the reason they are following him is because of the bread that he had produced. What he was meaning is they were following him for what they could get out of him. Many, many people who pray to Jesus simply see him as someone who will respond to their needs, without recognising that what he desires is something far greater.

In verse 27 Jesus points out to them that the miracle was a physical representation of what he wants to do spiritually for them and for us. His aim, as he puts it, is that they should have “food that endures to eternal life which only the Son of Man, (Jesus) can give them”.

Then comes the key statement which governs the whole of our relationship with him. When the people ask him what work they must do (presumably to attain eternal life), Jesus replies the only work that they need to do is to have faith in God. That is really the key to the whole of the gospel. As hard as it must have been for them it is perhaps universally true that mankind in general finds it difficult to appreciate the full extent of God’s grace. Our whole relationship with him is governed by the concept of grace. There is no work, nothing that we can do to enable us to receive this huge gift of eternal life. As much as we would like to believe that we in someway can contribute to it, it remains a free gift and any attempt by us to earn it totally nullifies its amazing value. All we need to do is to receive it by faith.

This was true for those people following after Jesus then, but it is equally true for each one of us. Even though we may have received this gift, there is always the possibility that when we do anything of value for the Kingdom, we may think that in some way what we have done has earned us something more of God’s love and attention. The true secret of living the gospel life is understanding this important aspect of God’s grace. He loves us to the maximum and nothing we can do will make him love us more.

In verse 32 we see Jesus taking this teaching one step further. He has been revealing up to now that the bread miracle has a deeper spiritual meaning representing the spiritual food that God wants to give the people. In verse 32 Jesus reveals that in fact the spiritual food comes from His Father and in vs 33 is actually embodied in him personally, “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives His life to the world”. This introduces the next part of his discussion which we will look at next week.

Friends, these are amazing truths that are expressed in this section. We are probably familiar with these concepts but it is possible that they lose their impact over time. So this passage brought me to reconsider my time with and approach to Jesus and my loving service for him, which is a gift which he has given to me and I should be careful to not have the wrong attitude towards it.

Lovely chatting to you all again this afternoon. May the Lord bless you until we meet again next week.

Singing The old classic hymn about the Old Rugged Cross, I realize how we can romanticize something which was cruel beyond imagination. Yet as I think through this I also realize it is because what was accomplished there has come to mean so much to me and all of us.

”Never, never get tired of contemplating what happened that day at Calvary. Yes it was the cruelest death that could have been devised by the Romans – yet through that so much was accomplished. The whole course of history was re-set and a new era arose. In my word I don’t focus on the drops of blood mingling with the soil, but rather on what was being accomplished. Yet it is good to remember that all that happened was and is a sure sign of my love for you and my whole creation and as much as I was prepared to go the whole way how much more am I prepared to give you all things – all things you need for life and godliness.”

We follow the unfolding story of Jesus as told by John in ch 6:14-24.By now Jesus has attracted a huge crowd which had followed Him to a deserted mountainside, where, after some teaching, He again transcends the natural with a supernatural feeding of the multitude. This is not happening in a vacuum. The people of Israel had high expectations that the promised Messiah was due to come at any moment. vs 14. (Deut 18:15-19, was widely regarded as the prophecy of the future Messiah). As I have mentioned before their expectation was very much on a worldly King who would come and lead Israel to freedom again like Moses had done in Egypt.

Having demonstrated His divine power Jesus now senses that the people are so excited that they intended to take Him by force and make Him king. (6:15) so He slips away and disappears.

The story of Him walking on the water links this above story to the discussion from v 26 on the bread of life or heaven. It is easy to rush on to the discussion from v 26, but let us stop a moment and consider what this passage means and how it applies to us. If we were doing an in depth bible study we would compare this story in all the gospels to get the best understanding of it. However when John wrote this gospel it was intended to be a stand alone account of Jesus’ life and works. So, let Jesus speak to us from it like it is in the context it is situated.

We have been following the progressive revelation of who Jesus is and what He has come to do. So we last saw that the miracle of the feeding was a fulfilment of the Passover and God’s rescue from Israel. The people picked that up too, it seems. So this is possibly a picture of the miraculous crossing of the Israelites over the Red Sea. It is easy to become so used to stories like this that they lose their impact as to how supernatural this event is. Jesus is transcending all the laws of nature to be able to actually walk on top of water. No human has ever managed that except with a surf ski to stand on.

On top of this there is the mention of the fact that there was a storm brewing and the fisherman were in trouble. Not only does Jesus arrive on the scene at just the right time and instantly, after they take Him into the boat they find themselves at the shore. Jesus only utters 4 words. “I am, don’t be afraid!”. I am being the title of Yahweh.

Now these things need to be taken seriously and personally. As much as Jesus was aware of the disciples being in trouble and arriving on the scene at just the right time and then taking them straight away to their destination, He is aware of exactly where you are at every given moment emotionally and physically. He has the supernatural power to do whatever is necessary to take you through. We should never, never underestimate His power or His purpose to care for us. We just need to remind ourselves that, as Christians, He is already in the boat with us. Yes, like the disciples, He allows us to row into storms, sometimes extremely vicious storms, but He is always in control and will never let you be tested more that you can handle with His help.

So, may you be comforted and strengthened by this very familiar passage as you apply it to yourself personally. Have a blessed week, see you next week.