Month: September 2024

Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me – surround me please Lord with yourself.

” You are in Me – not because of anything you have done or achieved – but because I chose you before you were born, I predestined your life as part of my greater plan, I forgave your sins and sealed you into myself and all this I did because of my love, covering you with my grace. You are safely buried within me and my love – my death on the cross made that not only possible but certain. So every one out there who has encountered my love and is sealed within me may have absolute assurance. All that you need now is to realise the full extent of my love for you and all the saints. What a glorious community you are part of even though it doesn’t always look like it! It is My community and My family and I am building it into My glorious kingdom which will last forever. So rejoice in Me, keep rejoicing always.“

We continue in John 7:25 – 36. In his narrative John is casting his net wider now to get more opinions about who Jesus is. The key verse in this section is perhaps verse 27, “But we know where this man is from, when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from”. We have already seen in verse five that his own family did not believe in him being the Messiah because they knew him too well. Probably we should not blame them, having grown up with him through all the phases of childhood into his present adulthood.

Later in the chapter in next week’s reading we will see a number of opinions about who this man really was. What struck me as I read through this passage was the fact that the Creator God had come to identify himself with mankind and done it so successfully that it was difficult to distinguish him from anyone else. The only way to know who he was was by the unique characteristics that he displayed in being able to do supernatural miracles and the amazing teaching that he gave whenever he opened his mouth.

This concept of God coming to earth to experience and identify himself with mankind is totally unique amongst all religions. Divesting himself of his supernatural Divinity he was able to so mingle with us here that people had difficulty in identifying him as the expected Messiah king. Not only did he fully identify himself with us he also suffered with us and on our behalf. This placed him in a unique position to be able to understand exactly how we experienced all the different facets of life from great joy and elation to deep pain, suffering and rejection..

In Hebrews 2:17 ff we read, “ for this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.“ It bears meditating on the uniqueness of this ministry of God through Jesus to us and the incredible comfort that brings us.

Back in John’s gospel we read in verse 31 that many in the crowd put their faith in him. This concept of people putting their faith in Jesus is mentioned several times in this early part of John and it appears that it was often just superficial belief. Of course it would only be possible to really trust Jesus once he had gone through the crucifixion and resurrection, showing what his mission really was intended to accomplish. I suppose John was trying to differentiate between those who wanted to believe and follow him from those who sought to harm him and were actively planning against him.

Wrapping this up I found new meaning in Jesus’ humanity and his ability to identify with me as a person in my particular circumstances. What an incredible comfort that is. At the same time I needed to ask myself how deep is my faith really? Do I really understand these amazing revelations and do I really fully trust in my Saviour Jesus?

Bless you till next week.

Christ is risen – arise my soul! The thought of your resurrection explodes on me again. Against all the laws of this world you took back your life – as a demonstration of your dominance and control of your creation.

” The act of my resurrection was not only or primarily to demonstrate my control of creation, although it does do that. It was primarily to demonstrate the finality of the victory which I won on the cross. The victory over the forces of darkness, the victory over the sinful nature of all those who would choose to share it. The victory over the curse my Father has placed on the earth. The victory which shows that I have the final say. There are many convulsions going on in the world as the forces of evil try to fight a rearguard battle – but I have news for them – the battle has already been won – and you all participate in that victory although the dust of the battle is still all around you. Look up and see the light – my light shining brighter than the Sun and calling you Home.”

We are reading John 7:14 – 24. Jesus follows his brothers to the Passover festival at Jerusalem secretly. He is not yet ready to expose himself to the possibility of a premature conclusion to His ministry by being put to death at this stage. However He is seen teaching in the temple courts and the crowd is amazed by His teaching. This reaction of amazement is mentioned a number of times in the gospels as a response by the hearers to the demonstration of His supernatural nature in His actions and teaching.

This section makes two important points. The Pharisees have been beating Jesus with the law and here Jesus addresses His relationship to the law. The first important point that we can see from this section is that the law was intended to bring life and wholeness. We see that in verse 23 b: “Why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the sabbath“?The law was never meant to limit and judge. We read in Paul’s letters that the law was given so that we may understand what sin is. However the ultimate purpose of the law was to lead us to Christ. In Romans 10:4 we read that “Christ is the end of the law”, in other words he was the ultimate fulfilment of the law. He personifies the law in all His actions and teaching.

Although the Pharisees held the law up constantly as a standard by which people should live, they themselves were guilty of breaking the very spirit of the law which was to give life. It is so important for us today to understand the role of the law so that we live our lives according to the gospel of Jesus who is the fulfilment of the law and not by trying to legalistically obey each letter of the law.

The second point in this message comes from verse 17, where Jesus says, “if anyone chooses to do God’s will, he find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own”. The underlying message of that statement is that for us to understand the whole of the interaction of the law and Jesus we have to have an attitude of willing obedience to God’s will. We see elsewhere where Jesus explained this in his parables for instance in Matthew chapter 13 where he says, “whoever has will be given more and he will have an abundance”. This is an underlying principle which is necessary for us to understand if we are going to fully grasp the whole teaching not only of the law but of the Bible.

This spiritual principle pervades the whole New Testament. On the one hand there are the insiders who are willing to receive and obey the teachings of Jesus of whom it is said they will receive more and understand more clearly. On the other hand are those that are sceptical and are called outsiders. What little understanding they have is drained away from them. The Pharisees were a clear example of this latter group. Despite the clear evidence that had as to who Jesus was they did not understand and continually rejected him. This reminds me of the importance of our attitude towards the Scriptures when we read them. Are we ready to receive them and put them into practice or are they simply words which may be interesting or not?

It is also important to note that Jesus continues to hold up His relationship to His Father as a vital part of understanding who He is and what His mission is.

There is plenty here to consider and apply to ourselves. Be blessed till I see you again next week.

I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene – the living God. I never cease to be amazed at the fact that the Creator of the universe invites me and each of you to meet personally with him. He who flung the stars into space has more than enough time for little old you and little old me. What a privilege that is!

”As I am gathering people from all over the world to sing to me and laud my name the prospect ahead is of a mighty multitude all together singing in harmony. A multitude identified by one single characteristic – that they have been washed clean by my blood which I shed on the cross. A multitude who are identified by that single characteristic – they are in Jesus – in Me. So all that separates has been washed away and there will be a mighty bond of love – fired and fed by my love which is immeasurable and the source of all love between my people. As you imagine this huge crowd you are able to get a small foretaste of what this is all about. The whole of this life I am preparing you for that wonderful gathering at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.”

John Ch 7:1 – 13. There is a lull now in John’s manuscript before the next body of teaching. In the background we must remember that the main theme of this Gospel is iterated in the questions, “Who is this man?” and then, “What did he come to do?” In today’s message we see how even Jesus‘s own brothers didn’t understand who he was at this stage. (vs 5). They were no doubt basking in the growing popularity of Jesus as he did amazing miracles. They didn’t understand that the real purpose of his Mission was going to be accomplished through his death, which was obviously not a popular thought.

In the background the clouds were gathering (vs 7) But for Jesus the time was not yet ripe for this final act to play out. Therefore he was keeping himself with a low visibility especially when he came to Jerusalem where the religious leaders were obviously more active.

John keeps the question of his identity alive through the discussions amongst the various players in his story. So we see for instance in versus 12 and 13 how the people were speculating about who this man is. The reader is invited to take the evidence that is laid before them and and make a decision for himself.

For me the key moment in this passage is in vss 6 & 7. Here Jesus repeats the statement twice that the time for me has not yet come. He is obviously referring to the final act of his life which would still be sometime ahead. This reminds me however very clearly of how carefully God plans out his creative purpose. Now you may be thinking it was obviously clear that he would have a plan for Jesus, but what about us? I want to make it clear that God is as much interested in each one of us and his timing in our lives is always perfect. I can attest to a number of incidents in my life which showed to what fine degree God timed certain events to accomplish its purpose.

It is a hugely comforting thought in my life when things just didn’t seem to be working out and sometimes even if there was apparent chaos, to know that in the background God was busy working out the plan that he has for me and those around me.

The other interesting point in this passage is the fact that Jesus’s own brothers, having grown up with him did not yet believe in him. Obviously familiarity breeds contempt. I don’t think that we should be too hard on them as it appears that later at least some of them came to believe fully in him and to follow him, for example we have James and Jude. Just like Jesus‘s mother Mary had to step past seeing him as her little boy and place her faith in him to be saved, so his brothers would have to do the same thing. This reminds me so clearly that we cannot inherit faith or membership of the kingdom of heaven. It is something which is acutely individual for each one of us.

May our Amazing Saviour continue to be the centre of your thoughts this week.

Oh Lord, how majestic is your Name, I am completely humbled at the thought of your mighty Majesty, power, wisdom and not least your (chesed) love.

” Ian look up to the heavens and see the multitude of stars in the sky. Each one has been crafted by Me. I know the properties and idiosyncrasies of each one – yet against that vast backdrop I have made a Home for you on Earth. That home is designed with you and your brothers and sisters in mind– To fit you and to fit My plan completely. It is good that you are filled with wonder and want to worship Me – but maybe the most amazing fact is that I have cared so much for you all that I sent my Son to die on the cross to make it possible to be at peace with Me and carry on a relationship with Me. Receive all this by faith and wonder and enjoy my Presence with you.“

We are in John chapter 6 from verse 60. Last week we saw how Jesus escalated His teaching about being the bread of life to revealing that it would be necessary for every disciple to eat of his body and his blood, if they are to have a relationship with Him into all eternity (vv 53-56). Today we see what the response of the folk that had followed him up to now was.

In verse 60 the disciples said that this is a hard teaching, according to the NIV. A better translation may be that they were disgusted by his teaching. Now we need to ask ourselves why they were disgusted and why they found this teaching so unacceptable. Going back to verse 26 we remember that Jesus accused the people of simply following him for what they could get out of him. This followed after he had fed the 5000 miraculously and it seemed that this idea of a miraculous provision was sufficient to attract many people.

in verse 53 Jesus escalates the concept of him being THE bread that they should eat. Bread would indicate sustenance. Now he starts speaking of them eating his body and drinking his blood. This speaks of death. He is introducing the fact that his mission is much more than just revealing his ability to provide sustenance. To complete his mission He would have to die. What is more this was not an esoteric idea. It was something that his followers would have to take to heart and participate in. While Jesus spoke these words it is probable that the majority, if not all those who follow him would not have understood the full implications of what He was saying. So why were they so disgusted?

Jesus was doing what He often did, that is to use physical lessons to teach spiritual truths. One of our greatest problems is to be able to understand spiritual things which we cannot see. Yet as we read this passage today we must understand that the real lesson is spiritual. Those original disciples may have had a much greater difficulty in relating the physical to the spiritual than us. So being told that they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood must have brought pictures of cannibalism to mind.

Even His chosen 12 were mostly slow to really understand the full meaning of His teaching. We should not be too hard on them though because we ourselves are mostly slow to understand. Sometimes even things which should be quite obvious. There is a dimension in the spiritual which requires His revelation for us to fully grasp the meaning and we need to be ready to respond to what He is saying to receive the full revelation.

In verse 61 we are once again told that the disciples were grumbling. This attitude of dissatisfaction reveals the opposite of faith and an open mind to receive Jesus’s revelation. As the chapter comes to the conclusion we see that many of the disciples are disillusioned and stop following him. He challenges his own disciples who confirmed that they won’t turn away. In the process we can see how fully Jesus knew all these people when he warns that there is one of the 12 who would later betray him.

Now friends, one of the prominent lessons from this passage is a reminder that there are many who appear to follow Jesus as long as it suits them. The church is probably full of people like that. When difficulties arise these people turn away from Jesus in disappointment because they had the wrong expectations from him. I had to examine again my own expectations from my relationship with Jesus to be sure that I don’t fall into that category even in a small way.

Another important reminder in this chapter is the danger of grumbling along with others who you feel that you agree with. The reminder here is that when we grumble we are demonstrating the fact that we don’t really believe that the circumstances that we are experiencing are completely providential from God. It is often the most visible symptom of a lack of faith.

The story of the path to the cross was one which was obviously going to be very difficult for those disciples to understand and to appreciate. I suppose it is the one aspect of Christianity which puts many people off from believing in him. We should never be tempted to play down the importance of the cross because that is the the key moment in the whole of the gospel and in history in general. Without the cross there is no Christianity.

God bless till next week. Enjoy the Spring.