Tuesday 28 March 2017

Who is Jesus for?

1 Timothy 1:15
'The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'

Jesus didn't come to build up the Holy and righteous, he came 'to save sinners'. That's one of the things I love about Jesus, he didn't hang around with all the people that got it right. He went out and spoke to anyone. The blind called him, rich men approached him, soldiers of the occupying force asked for his help, prostitutes touched him, those with diseases came to him, the hungry listened to him, fishermen followed him.

Jesus is applicable to all.

He didn't come to Earth to be surrounded by people who have got it right, in fact he sought out those who hadn't. Yes, he did go to the temple, but most of the events we hear about Jesus are not in the temple, they are out in the streets, amongst people in their everyday lives.

That's where Jesus can meet with you today.

You don't even need to be looking for him, most people weren't. They were begging on the streets, doing their jobs, fetching water, then Jesus shows up. For many their lives were never the same again.

Jesus can change your life today.

It doesn't matter if you don't feel like you've  got it all together, or if you are desperate for change in your life - those are the people Jesus came to meet.
Most of the people that realised they needed something else in life called out to Jesus. They recognised there was nothing they could do to change their situations, but maybe Jesus could. The blind called to him and wouldn't be silenced, the lame were carried to him, a woman reached out and touched him to be healed. Jesus had mercy on them all.

Jesus will have mercy on you too.

He has the power and authority to forgive you because he is God. Jesus wants to save you from the mess you are in. Call on him and see what difference he makes.

Wednesday 22 March 2017

The aim of our charge is love

1 Timothy 1:5
'The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.'

Paul is saying here, that the aim, the goal of our purpose as children of God is..... LOVE, no new news there. However what struck me is that Paul explains this love as a set of components. It's like a compound. Unless you have all the elements necessary then you won't have the overall compound that is the love Paul is talking about. Paul demonstrates that Love is the compound made up of three elements; A pure heart, good conscience and a sincere faith. All of these elements are essential to love, it's not true love unless you have all three.

So, let's look at these elements.

A pure heart
A heart can only be pure if it's cleaned up from all the bad stuff. If there's; unforgiveness, hate, lust, any kind of ungodly desire, then the heart is not pure. Surely no-one can have a pure heart then? We all have stuff within our hearts which we are not proud of, or thoughts that we aren't happy about but we don't seem to be able to help it.
That's why Jesus came.
He came and died, then rose again in order for us to be cleaned up. He purifies our hearts if we believe and trust in him. Jesus is the greatest demonstration for us of a pure heart. He never did any wrong, He wasn't corrupted by sin and all his motives were good. If you are conscious that your heart isn't pure, ask Jesus to take away the thoughts, the deeds, the desires and purify your heart. He has died for those things so that you too can be set free and have a pure heart.

A good conscience.
Oh my, it seems to get harder! A good conscience. We often have little battles in our minds; what's the right thing to do, the easiest thing, the nicest thing (for others or us), what do I actually want to do.
It's like a constant stream of pondering and decision making. It can be quite tiring.
To have a good conscience is knowing that the decisions we make are the right ones. Not feeling guilty - now that wouldn't that be freedom! Not feeling ashamed of current or past mistakes or decisions, but having a clean slate. Starting afresh. This can be true for you and I.
If we turn to God, admit that we mess up, and accept Jesus died for us, then we can replace our confused conscience with a good one. The old mind is renewed.
The Bible says, when we follow Jesus we are given, 'the mind of Christ' (1 Corinthians 2:16). I think most of us will agree that Christ (Jesus) was a pretty good guy, and made good decisions, so if we have his mind we will have the same ability. I'm not saying that the internal discussions that are within ourselves will stop, but we will have more of a sense of what we should do - it's still up to us to decide to do it though!

Sincere faith. 
Now this is the bit that's left up to us. This is our responsibility. God sorts out the other bits when we repent and believe in him. This part is our duty. Sincere faith.
Just saying we believe in God and Jesus is not enough. Do you live like you know it? Has your life changed from before you discovered the truth about who God is?
Is your faith displayed? Do you practice what you preach? Do you walk in the ways God guides you to go? Or are you harbouring secret sin or avoiding going to church or ignoring what you know is right to do?
Sincere faith knows what is right, and does it.
Sincere faith is not passive, it is active.
Unless your faith is sincere, grounded, wholehearted, then what kind of faith is it?

The aim of our charge is love...
Do you have all the elements necessary to demonstrate God's love through your life?

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Hopefully saved

1 Timothy 1
'God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope'

God our saviour 
God has saved us from ourselves. He will rescue us from the danger we put ourselves in. He will free us. Liberate us from all the guilt and shame that we carry around from the past, from the things we know we have done wrong or are continuing to do that we know aren't right. God knows that we carry the weight of it around with us. That's why He sent his son. He freed us by allowing us the opportunity to get to know who he is and accept that; He loves us, He forgives us and accepts us.
God is our champion. He is our liberator. He is our knight in shining armour that has charged along and whisked us away from the brink of death, eternal death.

That would not be enough though.

To be rescued - it's great and all that, but what next?

Unless life has a future it's futile.

Unless there's more to life than this freedom from what we do wrong, then it's pretty pointless. There must be a meaning to it, a purpose, a hope. That's why Christ Jesus is our hope.

Christ Jesus our hope

What does your hope rest on?
Do you hope for good luck? Hope your talents, skill, studies are enough? Do you hope in someone else? Or in a particular organisation? These hopes are fallible. At some point they will let you down. The will break your trust or just not deliver what you expect - then what? Then what is there left to hope for or left to hope in?

Jesus.

That's the answer. He is our hope.

There is no point being saved if we have nothing after that. Hope is the desire and expectation of joy to come.
There is purpose in being rescued - there's better stuff coming. Jesus was and is our hope, and he will be our hope for eternity.
Through Jesus' life and death he has given us hope.

God has promised that, 'whoever believes in him (Jesus) should not perish but have eternal life.' (John 3:16).
For me, that's something to live for, the promise that there will be life after this one. There is more living to be done after this Earthly life vanishes, once this mortal body decays there's even greater hope because of Jesus.

We need both a saviour and a hope. If it's one or the other it wouldn't work. What hope would there be if we were stuck overwhelmed by the weight of our wrongdoing? What purpose would we be rescued for unless there's an expectation that there's something better?

Wednesday 8 March 2017

It is good to have a king

Throughout the book of Judges, this phrase continues to occur, 'In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.'

We might think; So what? Who cares? That's probably a good thing right?
No king - no-one to pay taxes to, no-one to fuss around, if you don't have a king, then you don't have palaces to maintain, there's no-one to lead wars so it must be peaceful right?

When there's no ultimate authority, like a king, then like the verse says - people can do what they want - great then everyone will be happy right?
If , 'Everyone did what was right in his own eyes'. Then people should be content, people do what they want and get what they want - that's the way to happiness isn't it?

Now, let's think about it - if 'Everyone did what was right in his own eyes' is that such a good thing?
If everyone did what they want, what would that look like?

It would mean we could each make our own individual moral code, and we would justify our own actions. It would be very much every man for himself. Making up their own rules, taking vengeance where and how you see fit. Now, that would be ok if we only had to live with ourselves. However, we are part of; families, villages, towns, cities and countries and within those there are people. These people probably won't have the same kinds of self imposed rules or moral code as you, then there's a problem. Without a specific ruling authority then every man can do what they like when and how they like and the effects the others around them. Families, towns and countries are effected when there is no leader, no king to direct the best order of things.

Israel is a great example of this. They have no king, and often no judge bringing order for periods of time - no one is in charge. Following these times something disastrous happens because the nation takes matters into their own individual hands. We see this in different countries in the world today. Rather than being united under one king, or ruler, people make their own rules for their own individual lives, there's the usurping of governments and guerrilla warfare. Disorder, chaos and oppression reign instead.

For Israel their ultimate king is meant to be God - the Israelites were his chosen people. Time and again their usurp His place by putting themselves first and their desires first. Chaos, disorder and oppression occur when they don't look to their ultimate king.

It's the same for us. Our country has a queen, so we have an authority in this country who is responsible for the wellbeing of her subjects. Yes, we do have to pay taxes, but we also have laws which we are all required to obey for the wellbeing of everyone in this country. Rules are there to protect us and others. They help prevent the whole country from descending into anarchy. they are for the benefit of those within the kingdom. They are to protect and promote the wellbeing of those within the kingdom.

The same is for the kingdom of God. Some people believe Christianity is a bunch of old fashioned rules. What it really is, is a group of people who decide that God is their king. Yes, there are rules and guidelines that God gives, but like for our country and our queen - they are to promote the wellbeing of the people within the kingdom.