Month: May 2012

Family Resemblance

“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother” (Mark 3:35)

In times when being a Christian does not attract persecution there is no risk to a person who makes the declaration that they are a Christian. In Australia at present we live in that kind of religious climate. The result has been that many claim to be Christian when in fact they are not. It isn’t that they are being deceptive or untruthful but that they do not know how to become a Christian or what it means to be a Christian as the Bible defines the name. As Jesus has said (Matthew 7:22) there are going to be some extremely disappointed people.

The Gospel is clear that salvation is the result of faith in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ but it is just as clear that when one has done so there will be a change of life from within. James addresses this in his letter. Jesus calls it “born from above” and Paul and Peter as a new creation.

In another place where people call Jesus “Lord, Lord” (Luke 6:46) these people mark themselves as not being Christians because they do not do the will of God. This is in contrast to the words of Jesus quoted above where those who are Christians do the will of God. A person who is not a Christian can not do the will of God and neither can they until they are born from above. It isn’t that doing the will of God makes someone a Christian but it is a means by which they reveal that they are a Christian and can discern for themselves that they are genuine.

Surely this is a matter in which we do not want to be deceived or get it wrong. Our eternal destiny hangs in the balance. If we have no desire to do the will of God or we attempt to do so for personal or commercial gain then we can be sure we are not born of God. On the other hand, if it is our desire and delight to please God by doing His will, whatever the personal cost to us, then we have assurance that we are children of God.

Even though Jesus’ siblings and mother were present He affirmed that spiritual kinship is more intimate than bodily relationship.

Jesus always did the will of the Father and those who are in His family will display a family resemblance by also doing the will of the Father. Anyone can say they are a Christian but the one who truly is will show a definite resemblance to the Lord Jesus Christ and one of those characteristics is doing the will of God.

Challenge or Change

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Perhaps one of the more frequent comments regarding preaching, Biblical teaching (in any of its media) is that one has been challenged by it. It may be surprising for many of us to discover that the word “challenge” does not appear in the Bible. Even the concept does not appear in regard to the effect the Word of God will have on a person – either believer or non-believer.

Sometimes it seems that we speak as though being challenged is the intended end of any biblical teaching.  The intent of the Word of God is to convict us not challenge us. When we accept that it is the Holy Spirit convicting us that there is an aspect of our lives contrary to the Divine Nature then we can move on to humble repentance. Following repentance there will be transformation. The word “transform” comes from the same word from which we get metamorphosis. This word describes the process that a caterpillar experiences when becoming a butterfly.

It would be profitable for each of us to spend some time regularly asking ourselves whether we are being transformed. “Am I more Christlike than I was one year ago?” If we haven’t changed we will be unable to answer such a question and we should take a serious look as to the reason why not. Paul writes that if we would be transformed it is the mind that must be the recipient of correct input and the correct input is God’s Word (Romans 12:2).

What did Paul mean in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (quoted above) when he wrote “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory?” As we look into the “mirror” of God’s Word we will be convicted (never challenged) so that we might repent and be transformed from glory to glory. The transformation is from living as a fallen person to expressing the Divine Nature in our physical bodies (Romans 12:1). The Christian being constantly transformed will reveal the glory of God more and more completely. The glory of God is His own Divine Nature.

If anyone says it cannot be done then that one is, at best, a defeated Christian. Jesus lived a God glorifying life in His body and the risen Jesus can do the same in our bodies if we will let Him do so by fulfilling the conditions He gives us in the Bible.

The reason we say that a sermon or some Biblical teaching has challenged us is because we do not want to face up to the fact that the Holy Spirit has convicted us of the need to make some change in our lives. If it is only a challenge we can convince ourselves that it is a good idea but we do not need to respond. If we acknowledge that it is the Holy Spirit convicting us then we know we cannot throw away the teaching we have heard or read without serious consequence.

A Mother Most Blessed

“Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel’” (Ruth 4:14)

The story of Ruth is that of a kinsman redeemer and the word translated “close relative” means one that is able to redeem an inheritance in the covenant promise of God. This is what Boaz did for Ruth.

When we pray we do not know how or when the Lord will answer. In the verse above the women of Bethlehem expressed their heartfelt desire that Naomi’s grandson (Ruth and Boaz’s son) would be famous in Israel. They could never have dreamed how that prayer would be answered. This child, Obed, Naomi’s grandson, became the grandfather of King David and generations later his descendants were Joseph and Mary. Mary was the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How did this come about since Naomi had left the land of Israel and Ruth was a Moabite? The Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Lot preferred the worldly things to godly things but about 500 years later Ruth reversed that.

Ruth had married a son of Naomi while Naomi was in the land of Moab. In the ten years of that marriage she had no children but she grew to love Naomi and the Lord, Naomi’s God. She refused to leave either Naomi or the Lord and returned to Israel with Naomi. There she met a ‘close relative’ (kinsman redeemer) named Boaz whom she married in accordance with the Law. Their marriage soon produced a son, Obed, who would receive the inheritance that came through his grandfather, Elimelech, Naomi’s husband.

The history of the people in the book of Ruth encapsulates the plan of redemption that God has for mankind and the earth and explains why God took on humanity. God had given Adam dominion over the earth but he surrendered it, including mankind, to Satan. The story of the Bible is God’s plan to redeem and restore the earth and man to His intended place.

By way of the cross the price of redemption was met. The eternal Son of God who is also the Son of Man in One Person shed His own blood that we might be redeemed. Being both God and man Jesus is the ultimate Kinsman Redeemer.

The women who blessed Naomi had no idea of the magnitude of the Lord’s response to their prayer. We should never underestimate the Lord’s response to our prayer either.

Making the Connection

“I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat” Mark 8:2

Multitudes of people had come to Jesus possibly out of curiosity regarding His teaching or His miracles. Why they came isn’t so important but rather how they leave. This is always the case when people encounter Jesus and this has not changed through time.

For three days this crowd had listened to Jesus’ teaching and observed miracles but their provisions depleted to the point that Jesus observed that they had no food remaining and there was no opportunity for them to acquire more.

Jesus said that His compassion came from the fact that He was about to end this assembly and the large number of people would be returning to their homes. Some would have a long way to travel on their return journey without food and there was a risk they might not make it in good health.

Once again the disciples express their total inability to do anything about the situation. There was not enough food for them let alone anyone else. Only Jesus would be able to meet this need.

The disciples may have remembered intellectually that God had provided Israel with manna in the wilderness but that they had not made the connection that it was Jesus who provided that manna. Even the recent feeding of 5,000 men plus women and children seems to have fallen from memory.

They appear to be just like us. We read and think we understand the Bible yet do not make the connection between the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus with whom we relate. It takes circumstances in our lives, usually difficult or impossible ones, to bring the two to be as one.

Jesus is not at all unmindful of our physical needs. We always have and always will require provision for our physical being. God demonstrates His faithfulness daily in providing us with what we need. When He saw people in need He had compassion and met the need as He was able.

If we really believe that Jesus will provide all we require for eternity it is an easy matter to believe He will provide all we need now. If we doubt His ability or willingness to provide now we show the same lack of faith that the disciples did and reveal that we have doubts about His providing for us in eternity. Jesus’ intervention in impossible situations will increase our faith.

Jesus may not ask us to feed such a large crowd but He will present impossible situations in our lives in order that we may call upon Him and see His response. When these times come James gives us an appropriate response: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting…. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man” (James 1:5-8).