Gospel

Serving Christ Together

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” Mark 10:15

The faith of a child is a simple faith yet it is the very essence of what is required for a person to be saved. Their faith in parents is based on the relationship. The actions of parents will reveal whether that faith is well placed or not. One of my granddaughters, when very young, liked to jump into the pool for me to catch her. This was repeated many times until I was distracted by her younger cousin and missed her jump. Her faith in me vanished and no amount of encouragement could get her to jump to me again that day. Her child-like faith endured until the object of her faith proved unreliable. Jesus will never be unreliable though there may be times that we think He has. That is our error not His unfaithfulness.

In the verse previous to the one quoted above Jesus tells his disciples to bring children to Him while they are young and are still capable of that simple faith. Once the world has filled their minds with false ideas and questioned God’s reliability and love (Genesis 3:1-7) faith in Jesus will be more difficult.

It is not difficult to see why parents are, when possible, opting to remove their children from public education. Political lobby groups of the spirit of Antichrist know the value of the mind of a child and are doing all they can to fill children’s minds with worldly concepts and values before they hear the truth in the Gospel of Christ.

The role of parents is being diminished year by year by a world system that makes it difficult for a mother to stay at home. Mothers who choose to actually mother their children are not valued as they should be. There seems to be a move toward professional child carers who are under some degree of government control, through licensing, training, and often, through funding arrangements.

We have heard about the “stolen generation” in Australia’s past but now we are experiencing an attempt to steal a whole generation of children from their parents and destroy the intimacy of the parent-child relationship. Included in this is an attempt to prevent children hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We live in the world but we are not of the world. It is critical that we resist ungodly worldliness as much as possible and ensure that our children hear the true Gospel of Christ as early as possible. This role is for parents, grandparents and church family serving Jesus Christ together.

Greener Grass

“He has hedged me in so that I can’t get out” Lamentations 3:7

There will be times in our lives when we are in situations that we want to escape as quickly as possible. This may be one of the reasons some people suffer depression which may lead to taking their own life. They feel trapped and see no hope of being delivered from their painful situation.

Jeremiah’s situation included spiritual pain with the physical and emotional pain. His cry reveals that he was suffering because he had done all that the Lord had asked of him. His present affliction and pain was the response to his speaking, writing and doing as the Lord had asked.

He had proclaimed God’s word but the people had chosen to reject it and in rejecting it they took to persecuting God’s messenger. This is still the way of those who refuse to accept God’s word. That was bad enough but he also lived to see Jerusalem’s destruction. None of this needed to have happened had the people received the warning and returned to the Lord.

As we walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and seek to proclaim His gospel there will inevitably be times when we find ourselves in situations where we are being persecuted in some way and feel trapped. We want to escape. As far as we know we have been faithful in our walk with Jesus and sharing the Gospel. Yet, like Jeremiah, the response has been hostile.

The same can be said in regard to being a leader in the church. We long to see Christians respond to the Lord and grow, but they seem seduced and trapped by worldly values and ways. This is akin to Jeremiah weeping over Jerusalem. Jesus also wept over Jerusalem.

Many years ago, a man I knew well took his own life as a result of just such a situation. He had led many to Christ, but he became overwhelmed with grief over the worldly ways of some leaders of his church. It appears that he lost hope that it could be recovered. His response to the situation was not the right one – but it does show the depth of grief he suffered. Jeremiah grieved and Jesus’ grieved over Jerusalem’s failure to return to the Lord.

Jeremiah did not lose faith in the Lord, because he knew that it would pass. “For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He cause grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies” (3:31-32).

There will be times when we feel trapped with no way out, even though we have been faithful to the Lord. The grass may look greener somewhere else; the hunt for that greener grass may simply be a desire to escape a situation where we feel trapped. All the doors ahead may appear closed for now, but at the right time the Lord will open the way for us.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths” Proverbs 3:5-6.

A Faithful Ambassador

“This is the twenty third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened” Jeremiah 25:3

There are probably many people who share the Gospel who identify with Jeremiah. For twenty three years he had been a prophet of the Lord faithfully passing on what the Lord had given him to speak yet the people of Jerusalem and Judah had taken no heed. The Lord retained a remnant in Israel so the rejection was not total but successive kings of Judah had turned the hearts of the people away from the Lord. There were many other voices proclaiming what was supposed to be the word of the Lord but they were liars who deceived the people by telling them what they wanted to hear rather than the truth (27:10, 14-16). The same tactic is employed by some today. They proclaim a false Gospel while claiming it is from the Lord.

Jeremiah seemed alone in proclaiming the true word of the Lord yet he refused to compromise to appease kings, priests, other prophets or even to save his life (26:8). He would rather be an offense to people than offend the Lord.

The world might judge him as being unsuccessful but the Lord judged him otherwise. Successful in ministering the word of God is not determined by whether hearers receive God’s word. Success is measured in whether one is faithful to the Lord’s word and calling.

Jeremiah had to withstand the wrath of kings, accusations from religious leaders and stand face to face, in the presence of witnesses, with one who claimed to speak for the Lord but was a liar (28:1). He did this knowing that there was a strong movement among the false prophets to have him killed. He would not compromise the word of the Lord to save his life. His words to them were, “I am in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you” (26:14).

Like Daniel’s three friends, he knew that whether he lived or died he would not compromise the word of the Lord (Daniel 3:18). Like the apostle Paul he knew that, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

The church needs people who will proclaim God’s word as He gave it and not how people want to hear it. In the days of Jeremiah the false teachers were in the majority and they ridiculed, mocked and threatened Jeremiah. They deceived the people who then suffered the Lord’s chastisement. By rejecting the faithful word and believing a lie they set themselves against God.

A person may spend twenty three years as Christ’s faithful ambassador but whether they are successful or not is not in the numbers of people who respond and follow Christ. False teachers more readily gain a following because they speak what fallen people want to hear. The successful ambassador of Christ is the one who stands firm and faithful to Christ’s word even in the face of threats and persecution. The acclaim of people and numbers are no way to measure success. Faithfulness and obedience to Christ are the only measure and Jesus Christ alone is able to measure that.

Everlasting Joy

“When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish and the hope of the unjust perishes” Proverbs 11:7

Jesus said that He came to save that which was lost (John 3:17; Luke 19:10) and He has sent all who have been saved to continue His mission. While we are often inclined to only speak of the blessings that come to those who respond positively to the Gospel of Christ it is also necessary to speak of the tragedy that awaits those who reject Jesus. Jesus frequently does this. The watchman must give a clear warning of the danger in order to rally a response.

Quite likely we have all experienced times when we have put a lot of time and effort into achieving a certain goal only to have it unravel and remain unrealised. That is a disappointing and deflating moment as we consider the wasted time, energy and effort. Multiply that thousands of times over and we will begin to understand the depths of anguish and futility that the one who has his expectation bound in this life will realise immediately after bodily death. There will be the realisation that his ambitions and everything he laboured for all have come to nothing, are of no value and his life wasted in futility. There will also be the gut wrenching moment of realisation that there is no second chance.

The Good News of the Gospel is that Jesus has provided a sure expectation that will not end in futility. The reason for Jesus coming was so that we might be saved from sin and its consequences. He is the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world on Calvary’s cross. Jesus said that He came that we might have abundant life (John 10:10).

He also said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). An attempted burglary next door, as this article is being composed, put these words into perspective.

Let us not treasure earthly temporal things but rather treasure those things that are eternal. Later in Proverbs eleven we read, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise” (v 30). Christ’s mission is our mission, to seek those who are lost that He might save them. This will be eternal treasure from which there will be only everlasting joy.

Introducing Our Friends

“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.” Luke 7:47

We live in a day when the name of Jesus Christ is used in personal and public language, and in the media much more than a few decades ago. Unfortunately those who do not know Him are using it all too frequently in a wrong way and those who say they do know Him are not using it enough in a true way.

Most who use the name of our Lord as a swear word have no idea what they are doing. They are not aware that He is a real person, their Creator and the One to whom they will account for their life. This is not entirely their fault. They have been seduced and deceived. Jesus gave His people, the Church, the privilege and responsibility to preach the Gospel concerning Himself in life and word. Jesus will forgive the abuser of His name and change their heart when they realise who He is and ask for that forgiveness.

People who know that we have a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, grounded in love, will be less inclined to use His name in such a degrading way. In order to help them to that understanding we ought not to play the role of spiritual policeman or judge – but rather be a friend of Jesus informing the uninformed about who He is and what He has done for them.

This means having Christ’s compassion as He revealed in His interaction with a woman in Luke 7 and not a spirit of criticism. Only “Christ in you” can be compassionate in this way. The natural man cannot. Our desire is to bring ­two of our friends together, Jesus and the one to whom we are speaking.

Eagerly Waiting

“We ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we are saved for this hope … we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8:23, 24, 25)

If Paul could visit our contemporary Christian Church he would probably be terribly grieved in his heart. So few of us know what he really meant. We have little or no experience of what it is to eagerly wait for Christ’s coming and the new creation and neither do we “groan” under the weight of sin, decay and death in the world.

The things that many of us seem to be eager about today is our boy/girl friend, prospective marriage partner, career, super and retirement, or the next holiday to see the world.

Paul says that this world groans to “be delivered from the bondage of decay” and that it “groans and labours with birth pangs.” Both people and the physical world we live in are “groaning” under the weight of evil and degradation more than ever.

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). It would seem that the hearts of many Christians are not eagerly waiting for Christ’s return and for the new heavens and a new earth. For many our treasure is earthly and not heavenly. Millions are still going into eternity without having the opportunity to even hear the Gospel. They are dying in natural disasters, wars, famines and through sickness, many while still children, but our concern is more focussed on our own comfort and well being. We hoard so we can live comfortably in retirement. We build “barns” to hold our ever increasing material goods, we worry about our earthly investments with only a modest thought to heavenly investments.

We have become replicas of Jonah who refused to take God’s message to Nineveh preferring they perish without God’s grace rather than that he obey the Lord and warn them of the judgment and destruction to come.

We are not called to change the world by argument or force. We are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ and prepare them for His invitation to “Come up here.” Heaven is being with Jesus.

If Jesus were to come to you and say, “Come up” would you falter or would you eagerly press into His presence?

You have answered the question in your heart. If there was a “what about …” or “who would care for …” or any other thought other than “lets go” then your treasure is on earth and you are not “eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of your body.”

You can do something about that.

Restoring Speech

“Behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the days these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time” Luke 1:20

Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, had been praying for many years for a son and Gabriel had come to tell him that their prayer was to be answered. By the time Gabriel came to Zacharias he and Elizabeth were both well past child-bearing age. Gabriel told Zacharias that they would have a son and, to give assurance and certainty to the prediction, even told him to name him John. It would not have escaped Zacharias’ notice that the name John means “God is gracious.” By the grace of God they would have a miraculously conceived son.

Not only would they have a son but that son would be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (v 15) even from within the womb and have a unique ministry to Israel preparing the way for Messiah.

One could scarcely blame Zacharias for taking a deep breath and reviewing what he had heard but sadly he followed that with a response that many of us might do as well. He doubted that the Lord could do it because he looked at his circumstances and not at the Lord.

The angel told him that he would be mute until all was fulfilled. The fact is that we have nothing to say apart from what God has spoken. Notice that Zacharias should have taken the word of the Lord literally. Had he done so, he would have had the privilege of sharing the promise of a son with family and friends; but because he didn’t believe the word spoken, he lost that privilege and joy.

If we don’t take the Gospel of Christ in its plain ordinary meaning and believe it in our hearts then we have nothing to offer this world and would be better off mute. We will also lose the joy and privilege of sharing the Gospel of Christ.

God did not restore Zacharias’ speech until he showed evidence of faith by naming his son John. If we have strayed from speaking the word of God faithfully, He will also restore our ability to speak His word and bring life to the spiritually dead when we return.

John writes that it is God’s word that sets His people apart from the world (John 17:17), not the various interpretations that people may apply to it. “Your word is truth” he wrote. The official in Capernaum found saving faith when he “believed the word that Jesus spoke to him” (John 4:50) as did many others as recorded in the Gospel accounts.

When we don’t take Jesus at His word we make Him appear a deceiver or liar and we lose all credibility as a witness of Jesus Christ. An ambassador speaks the word of his country and an ambassador of Christ speaks Christ’s word.

For Their Sake

“The Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, ‘Repent now …’ ‘Yet you have not listened to Me,’ says the Lord” Jeremiah 25:4-7

It isn’t unusual for people who faithfully share the Gospel of Christ to be concerned at the deafness of those with whom they share. Sometimes Christians may think that they are the problem and become discouraged in speaking of our Lord and Saviour. We may think that no one is interested. That is, of course, wrong thinking; it is the outcome of believing something that is not true. There are people who are ready to hear the Good News.

Jeremiah writes that he faithfully proclaimed the word of God for twenty three years (Jeremiah 25:3) without national response. He was ostracized, imprisoned, mocked and threatened with death for his efforts. Was there something wrong with the message, the messenger or the audience? Though it has never been the case we seem to have the wrong expectation that the world will welcome the Gospel of Christ. Jesus said otherwise. Our message may be faithful and we may be faithful in our presentation (and we must ensure these) but there is still the matter of the hearers. The wonderful thing is that we are privileged to be part of the process of a person coming to and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. The angels in heaven are still daily rejoicing over sinners who repent.

The world may assess success based on numbers or economics but the Lord assesses success on faithfulness. Whenever the Gospel is faithfully presented the Lord is glorified in the world regardless of the response but He is glorified in a very special way when a person repents.

Only a true and intimate relationship with the Lord kept Jeremiah faithfully proclaiming all the words that the Lord had given him even in the face of death threats (Jeremiah 26:11-13). There were times that he was despondent and depressed but the Lord revived him and gave him another word to speak and he spoke it. The people hated and despised him for the messages he brought from the Lord but he persisted for more than the twenty three years mentioned here.

Was he a failure? The answer to this is clearly, No. The Lord told Jeremiah to tell the people of Judah that individuals who defected to Nebuchadnezzar would not be killed but preserved ready to return to their land seventy years later (Jeremiah 21:8-10; 25:11). All those who heard the word of the Lord, believed it and acted upon it were saved. The majority refused to do this and perished. Those who acted on the word of God that he spoke certainly recognized that he had successfully fulfilled his mission.

This is still a valid picture for people today. We may faithfully proclaim Christ with seemingly little response but for the sake of those who do hear, believe and act, we must persist. For their sake we press on faithfully proclaiming Jesus Christ.

There was a day many years ago when a man and his wife invited me to their home and faithfully shared the Gospel with me. Even if I was the only person who ever responded to their sharing it was worth it to me and I love them for it. Let us continue to faithfully preach the Gospel of Christ and surely there will be those who will respond. What if you were that one longing for the word of truth?

No Debate

“Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not arbitrate with a man.” Isaiah 47:3

It appears that many people think that God is much like our legal system that can be moved to give puny sentences, even for fairly serious criminal offences, or even be given what amounts to a non-sentence – a “good behaviour” bond.

After being found guilty of a crime lawyers do their best to get their client off the hook so far as penalty is concerned. They may claim it is someone else’s fault or the result of unexpected circumstances. They may try and shift the blame to society, to parents, to friends or just being with the wrong crowd; anything in an attempt to reduce their client’s responsibility. An appeal that it is “out of character” is always false. We all act according to our character. An offender may come to court with an outward appeal that is unrecognisable to their friends. A new suite, neat hair and groomed in all outward appearance including body attitude and facial expression; anything that gives an appearance of righteousness is appropriated.

Anyone who thinks that God can be fooled by this hypocrisy will be bitterly disappointed. The unforgiven sinner who appears before Him will be wholly exposed as to his guilt as one naked before God. There will be no hiding behind the excuses that one may use in an earthly court and no one will be cleared by blaming the devil. He did not make them do it.

Isaiah 47:4 reminds us that God is holy and is therefore unable to allow sin in His presence. This is the basis of God’s judgment. He is holy, He is sinless and totally without corruption.

Anyone who thinks they will be able to debate or argue with God with regard to entrance into His kingdom is grievously mistaken. He says that He “will not arbitrate with a man.” Each person will have to accept responsibility for their own choices and actions. They will not be able to shift blame and they will be held accountable.

But there is good news! Christ Jesus died for our sin! Paul writes, “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). We cannot gain eternal life or entrance into heaven by attempting to mitigate our culpability or reduce the penalty for sin. God will not arbitrate. However, we may gain eternal life and heaven as a gift but that gift is bound up in Jesus Christ. John writes, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe on His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (1:12, 13). Later John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

If we try and debate with God about our sin He will not hear or participate. He knows all there is to know and He judges with perfect justice. However if we agree with His judgment of our sin and the due penalty He pleads with us to ask Him to forgive us our sin as a gift; “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.