Month: January 2011

All For Jesus

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8

Quite likely, if any of us were asked if we would like to be nearer to God in intimacy, we would say that we would. There are probably several reasons why we are not more intimate with God than we are and the reasons may be different for each one of us. However, they could probably all be summarised under one heading which James gives us in the preceding verse. The one heading comes in two aspects, a positive and a negative. “Submit to God. Resist the devil. ”

The devil would have us believe that we can draw near to God and still dabble in sin but this is contrary to what God says. James says that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” and goes on to say, “whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Jesus said, “if we are not for Him we are against Him.”

Clearly we must be continually choosing to draw near to God and continually resisting the world that is under the devil’s power if we would be friends with Jesus Christ.

There will be obvious expressions of this in our life style as well. These are not manufactured by deliberate choice but will come spontaneously from the heart. James tells us some in this passage: we won’t speak evil of other Christians (v11); we won’t make inflexible plans but allow the Lord to lead us (vv 13-16); we will do the good we know today because we know that tomorrow is no certainty (v17).

When these expressions are coming from the heart it will be because we are resisting the devil and submitting to God. This is outward evidence that we are experiencing inward intimacy with God. Refuse to believe the devil’s lies but readily believe all that God has said and you will be drawn nearer to the heart of God.

Morality Insufficient

“Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 6:6

A long time ago someone said to me that a certain person would make a fine Christian. It wasn’t hard to understand what the person meant but it showed a misunderstanding of the Gospel message and what it is to be a Christian.

What they meant was that the other person lived a moral life of high standard. Did that person love Jesus? No! Did he care that Jesus died on a cruel cross for his sin? No!

A perfectly moral life may be an abomination to God if it is not lived in absolute dependency on Him. A wealthy ruler came to Jesus and asked Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18) Jesus asked him if he had kept all the commandments that address human relationships. He had kept them all from his youth but that wasn’t enough. He had neglected the commandments toward God.

There are people in our community who are morally very good toward men but have no time for the Lord Jesus Christ. Some may be very religious, even regularly attend a church, like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day but Jesus said, “that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

The evidence that a person is alive to God through Jesus Christ will be a growing likeness to Jesus Christ, not only in His morality toward other people in society but especially in his love toward God and Jesus Christ revealed through a knowledge of and obedience to His Word.

The most ungodly person you know will make a fine Christian when once he/she is created new in Christ’s likeness. The most moral person you know, who has not received Jesus Christ, is an abomination to God and must repent to be saved.

Faithful Father

“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Mark 10:15

The actions of the disciples that provoked these words (Mark 10:14, 15) from Jesus are helpful to us. The parents of the children wanted Jesus to ‘touch them.’ The disciples thought the children would only distract Jesus and be a pest. How wrong they were!

In His gentle rebuke of the disciples and correction of the parents Jesus reveals that the kind of faith that results in salvation is the same kind of faith that a child has. In fact no adult can be saved without this kind of faith.

What kind of faith is it? It is the kind of faith that expects to be loved and cared for because of the relationship with the one who is the object of faith.

For a child, the object of faith is their parents. Children expect their parents to love them and demonstrate that love by providing for and protecting them. Of course some parents do not live up to these expectations and a child may cease to have faith in its parents.

When we come to our heavenly Father with this same kind of faith, He is faithful and justified in providing all our need. What is our need? We need to be delivered from the power of sin, death and the devil.

We come to Him with this kind of faith because we realise that He loves us and has sent His Son to take our sin upon Himself.

Children will find it easier to have this kind of faith while they are young and have not been let down by adults so often. Our heavenly Father will never let us down. He is faithful and true to His word. The first word of faith is, “Thankyou.”

Is He Mad?

“Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said”. Matthew 26:63, 64

I have heard it said that Jesus Christ never claimed to be God. If that is true, why was He crucified? All the evidence from the Bible and history is that this was the only legitimate accusation against Jesus. On a number of occasions the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, chief priests and elders in Israel all tried to make other accusations against Jesus, but their lying witnesses’ testimony couldn’t stand scrutiny.

The only legitimate accusation ever made against Jesus that would stand scrutiny was that He claimed to be “equal with God” (John 5:18; 19:7). For the Jew this was blasphemy to call oneself God and so it would have been for Jesus – unless He really is God! This is the reason they give for seeking Jesus’ death.

When you read John’s Gospel (the whole New Testament testifies of Jesus’ deity) you cannot miss the fact that Jesus, when asked, always affirmed that He is God come clothed in humanity – Emmanuel = God with us.

The question of Jesus’ deity is still the critical question for people to answer. Was Jesus a liar, deceiver, absolutely mad or is He God who has taken on humanity?

In order to respond to this question it is reasonable that a person have the evidence at hand. No one is expected to buy a house without being able to test that it will stand and provide what they expect from it. It is our privilege to share that evidence verbally and also from the Scriptures so that people can make a free-will choice to receive or reject God’s Gift in Jesus Christ. Their eternal soul depends on their decision.

Delegated Authority

“If you ask anything in my name I will do it.” John 14:14

It isn’t unusual for Christians to take phrases or sentences of Scripture out of context and misapply them because they have also misunderstood them. Nominal Christianity does it frequently and it can be very dangerous to one’s life and, in some cases, allow a person to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that they are missing heaven.

When Jesus said the above words to His disciples there was an in-built condition, “in My name.” The condition is that what we are asking for is something He has given to us. “In My name” means, “on my behalf”. When a company allows its employees to sign cheques they are only permitted to do so within their delegated authority, in the name of the company. It is the name of the company that is on the cheque.

It is just so for us. It is Christ’s name in which we have delegated authority to act. The Bible reveals the scope and limitations of that delegated authority. When we ask in accordance with His will, recorded in His Word, He will give it and we can be confident of that.

In the context, the asking and receiving is conditional upon faith in who Jesus is (He who believes), asking in accordance with Jesus’ words (In My name), and loving Jesus supremely, evidenced by keeping His commandments (John 14:15).

This becomes an invitation to us to discover from the Scriptures just what we are and have in Christ and ask Him to manifest that in us by His Spirit. James 4:3 says we must guard our motives for asking or we will receive nothing. Jesus says that our motivation for asking is “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”