111. “Healthy Christian Living.” James 1:19-27

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

It isn’t easy living in today’s world with all its pressures and tensions. However the people to whom James wrote lived in a much more difficult world than the one we live in. In this letter James writes to tell his readers how they could live healthy Christian lives in the midst of adversity and even persecution. He spelt out for them how they could win victory in spite of all the pressures around them. In chapter 1 he reminded his readers that they had to take control of their lives and submit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 1. GOD REQUIRES THAT WE BE IN CONTROL OF OUR LIVES. Jas 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.

a). In Listening And Speaking.   When James writes about being quick to hear, he means being eager to hear, ready to receive helpful input. He uses the terms to be “slow to speak”and “slow to anger”. To be “slow to speak” doesn’t mean that one has to speak with a slow pronounced drawl. Rather it means that we are to think about what we are about to say before saying it. The passage here is similar to Ephesians 4:20-32 which we will look at in a later article.

What damage has been done to you by people who didn’t watch what they said to you or about you? Older folk might remember the warning notice in the time of World War 2 about passing on confidential information by gossiping. The slogan “Loose lips sink ships” was prominently displayed in public places. The imparting of secret information can cause disasters to happen. Any sort of inappropriate speech can bring hurt, pain, division and destruction. Human enemies can be guilty of this. Certainly Satan will use available humans to use hurtful speech as a means of damaging God’s people.

b). In Controlling Anger. James 1:20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. We don’t help the cause of Christ by giving way to angry speech. It can be a way of intimidating someone or bringing them under our control. But the Christian way is the way of love. It involves bringing release into people’s lives not binding them or destroying them.  We need God’s wisdom and His righteousness to have victory over our tongues otherwise they cause much evil, Jas 3:8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Do you need to repent before God of the things that you said in anger that have damaged the person to whom you said it, and damaged you as well? If you have been guilty, then you need to confess it before God and ask for His forgiveness in Jesus. Then you need to pray that the person may be healed of the damage you caused them.  If appropriate, you might need to ask for their forgiveness as well.

On the other hand you might have been the recipient of evil, angry, poisonous, hateful words and you feel contaminated, hurt, angry, bitter and terribly sad. If so, you need to do some forgiving of those who behaved towards you in these ways.  You also need to ask God to forgive you of any bitterness and to heal you of the damage those words brought to you. Words have power. As the writer of Proverbs 18:21 put it, Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Human words can build people up and encourage them. Human words can damage and help to destroy them.

2. THE ATTITUDES REQUIRED TO RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD. 1:21

a).  Ceasing from evil. 1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  To be removed are filthiness and rampant wickedness. These are the things that God sees as deliberate and ongoing evil. He sees them as repugnant and contrary to what He wants. If our minds are filled with evil or bitter thoughts we are not receptive to the word of God. If our hearts are not right with God and with one another we cannot receive what God would say to us through His word.If we deliberately speak evil or do evil, we are not open to God’s correction or blessing. All that is evil must be “put away”.

b).  Receiving it in humility. 21. receive with meekness the implanted word…..  “Meekness” is a strong word. It was used of the breaking in of wild animals. It is strength under control. It is submissive strength. Strong people are those who are humble, who learn to receive the word of God in their hearts and let it bear fruit in their lives. We need to get rid of all the rubbish in our lives so that God’s word can take root and bring changes to our lives. We need to be good soil as seen in the parable of the Sower as Jesus said, Mark 4:20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” Hear, accept, bear fruit. The word that is received and acted on will bear fruit.

3. OBEYING THE RECEIVED WORD OF GOD

a). Hearing AND doing. (22-25). (The word as a mirror into which we look.)  The word of God is described as a mirror. There are two ways of looking into a mirror.

i). A quick glance which brings no change. (Glancing /hearing). 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.  It is like when we are going out and have a last look in a mirror. We quickly check to see if we put on all the clothing we meant to put on; whether our hair (if we have any) looks respectable. Just a brief glance but no more. Such a cursory glance at the word of God brings no spiritual growth.

ii). A deep search to see what is there and how to act on it in obedience. (Searching/ obeying). 1:25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  The word to “look” here can mean to stoop to have a good look at something. Eg., Peter and John and Mary Magdalene stooped to look into the tomb. Luke 24:12, John 20:5, 11. We are meant to be those who delve deeply into God’s word. Wee are to learn to understand what it is saying. We are to put it into practice in our every-day living.

b). Pure religion means self-control. (26-27)

i). In speech. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless). We saw before that the mark of a mature believer is that he can control his tongue. The tongue of the person out of step with God is an unbridled tongue, a restless evil, spreading poison.

ii). In concerned action towards others.  True religion is not just focussed on oneself but in humility is focussed on the needs of others.

  •  27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. 
  • The supreme example of humility was seen in Jesus in Philippians 2 and verses 5 to 8. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. It is living for others, not simply living for our own interests.

iii). In separating from evil. James 1:27, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. We have to be squeaky clean! No stains, no spots, no mixed or hidden motives, but open before God as we seek to love and obey Him. 

 Healthy Christian living is not just an unrealistic ideal towards which we unsuccessfully strive. Rather it is playing our part in being open to the grace of God in every area of our lives so that He can be glorified in and through our lives as believers.

Blog No 111.  Jim Holbeck. Posted Friday 8th February 2013  

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Forgiveness, Healing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

110. Forgiveness. How God Gets Rid Of Human Sin. Micah 7:18-19.

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

We don’t need to carry a whole lot of guilt as believers, yet many people do. The truth is that God has removed our sins from us so that we don’t have to carry guilt any longer. We see that even in the Old Testament and especially in these verses from Micah 7:18, 19 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

There are tremendous truths in just these two verses. They speak of God’s steadfast love and compassion. They speak too of how His love is able to bestow forgiveness. He pardons (Hebrew = nasa) iniquity and passes over transgression.  (“Nasa” is used for “forgive” in several of the 600 plus occurrences of that word in the Old Testament. It refers to the lifting up or removal of sin leading to forgiveness.) [see my articles on “nasa” in articles 008 and 009.]

 In God’s compassion He deals with the sin of those who turn to Him for pardon. Micah used figurative language to describe what God does with sin. He will tread our iniquities under foot. Kabash is the word for “tread under foot” and means to “subdue, to remove, to crush” iniquity. God destroy its power in His people. He takes it away. Pardon is available as a result.

The other expression in 7:19 “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” powerfully describes the magnitude of the grace of God in forgiveness. There are a couple of ways of looking at this verse. One is that God takes sins from penitent people and buries them in the depths of the sea, totally out of sight. He takes them away to a place where they can no longer be seen.  In the expressive words of Matthew Henry, He casts them into the sea, not near the shore-side, where they may appear again next low water, but into the depth of the sea, never to rise again. All their sins shall be cast there without exception, for when God forgives sin he forgives all.

Another way of looking at this verse comes from seeing how the phrase depths of the sea is used elsewhere. There is an interesting passage in Psalm 68 that has similarities with Micah 7:18.19. Psalm 68:22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, 23 that you may strike your feet in their blood”.  The Egyptians had once pursued Moses and Israel into the Red Sea but the pursuers were buried in the depths of the sea and God saved His people. Now in Micah 7,  the enemies of Israel who sought to hide from the judgment of God could not escape from Him. He would bring them out from the depths of the sea (where they were trying to hide from God) to face His judgment. His people would have victory over their enemies as their feet “struck” or “waded” in the blood of their enemies. This would be an expression of His pardon in forgiving His people and enabling them to have victory over their enemies. The theme of freedom from enemies could also be seen in the only other reference to the depths of the sea, in Isa 51:10, with its allusions to the crossing of Red Sea.  Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

What wonderful truths we see in these 2 verses in Micah 7. Notice how 3 words for sin are used in the passage, iniquity, transgression and sin. These signify the breadth and depth of His forgiveness. God pardons iniquity. He passes over transgression. In His compassionate love He gets rid of sin by crushing it underfoot and by casting into the depths of the sea. Someone once said that when God cast our sins into the depths of the sea He also erected a sign saying, “No fishing!” We are not to focus on our sins by dragging them up from the depths of the sea where God has buried them in order to focus on them again (a self-imposed guilt trip). Rather we are to focus on Him, recognising that He has done something about human sin in His forgiving love. As forgiven people freed from guilt we should look to Him for the grace to have ongoing victory over temptations to sin as we seek to live for Him day by day.

Blog No.110.  Jim Holbeck. Posted on Saturday 26th  January 2013. 

Posted in Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

109. Forgiveness And Life For Those Who Turn From Sin To God. Ezekiel 18:21-23.

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

The young fellow smiled as he said, “What I would like to believe is this. You can do whatever you want to do in life and then just before your last breath, you can say, ‘Please forgive me God’, and He will forgive you. If I do that I can go to heaven. Am I right in believing that?” Sadly he was mistaken. It is true that there such a thing as “a death-bed repentance” where someone just before he or she dies repents of their sins and asks God to forgive them. But such incidents are rarer than people think. Very often the attitude to God that people have throughout life remains the same as they draw closer to death. Indeed no one can ever be sure they will be in a position to be able to make any decisions in the moments before they die. What light can this passage from Ezekiel cast on the situation, “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

Notice what Ezekiel wrote. The people are here called “wicked” in verse 21. The Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, uses the word (anomos) which means “lawless one”. It indicates that such a person does not seek to live by God’s laws. He has committed “sins”, verse 21. He is guilty of “transgressions”, verse 22. He has run his life, “his way” and not God’s way, verse 23. A similar outlook on life is encapsulated in the words of the famous Frank Sinatra song, And now, the end is near, And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain ….. I did it my way. The problem with such an outlook on life is that the person who lives by that philosophy (doing one’s own thing in life) is ultimately a creature who is rejecting the Creator’s plan for him or her. In other words, they are in rebellion against their Creator.

What is involved for humans to know God’s grace in forgiveness? The previous verses provide an answer. They have to turn away from all their sins. This means a total re-orientation in life. Again the Greek version helps us. The word for “turn” is (epistrephō). It is used in the Bible for turning around, for moral change among other things. They are turning their backs on the sins they once committed in turning back to God and His laws. Not only that but they need to be committed to keeping God’s statutes. They need to keep on doing habitually what is right and just in God’s eyes.

If they make that commitment then God declares what will happen. They will not die spiritually but will find life in God. Not only that, God declares they will be forgiven as they learn to be righteous in His sight. God forgives them as seen in the statement “none of the transgressions they have committed will be remembered.”  Again this is similar in thought to Isaiah 43:25 and Jeremiah 31:34 where God promises to remember the sins of the penitent no more.

In verse 23 God declares His heart through Ezekiel’s words, 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? He wants people to turn from their sins back to Him so that He can forgive them. He desires that they turn from their way, doing their own thing in life, to instead walk in His way. He derives no pleasure from the death of those who fail to turn to Him. He longs for them to find life. This concept is taken up in the New Testament in 2 Peter 3 where Peter writes about the loving nature of God, The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2Pet 3:9. Every day brings us another opportunity to get right with God by turning from our sins back to Him. Every day also brings us the chance to turn from doing our own thing in life to turn to Him to know His grace to enable us to live in the way He wants us to live. But it also means that as each new day arrives, there remains one less day to make that commitment to Him before it is too late.
Blog No.109. Jim Holbeck. Posted on Wednesday 23rd January 2013

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

108. Forgiveness. God Casts Our Sins Behind His Back. Isaiah 38:17

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

George was suffering from a deep sense of guilt. He had hurt a lot of people during his life. But he had repented of all he had done and had asked God for forgiveness. He had also contacted many of the people he had offended and asked for their forgiveness. He had known a real sense of release by doing so. Many had freely forgiven him. Others were not willing to do so. But he had done the right thing in apologising to them and asking their forgiveness. Yet there still remained an ongoing sense of guilt about some aspects of his past.

He was introduced to a verse from the Bible that brought him a deeper sense of release from guilt. It was this verse from Isaiah 38:17, Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.  This is another of those word pictures God gives us in His word to enable us to grasp the reality of His forgiveness.

The phrase “behind your back” is found only a few times in the Old Testament. It can refer to people rejecting God by taking their eyes off Him and as a result casting Him behind their backs. Such was God’s charge against Jeroboam’s idolatry in 1 Kings 14:9)  but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back.  A similar charge was levelled by God against the people of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 23. The people had turned away from God as verses 29 and 30 indicate, Your lewdness and your whoring 30  have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.  God declared His punishment on them,  Ezek 23:35,  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”  It is a foolish and dangerous thing to turn one’s back on God. He notices!

 What a contrast then is this truth in Isaiah38:17. Hezekiah the king had repented of his sin against God and had been forgiven by Him. Hezekiah wrote, Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.  When people turn to the Lord, He does deliver their lives from the pit of destruction. In addition He does something about their sins. He deliberately casts their sins behind His back. In this way God is conveying the truth that those sins are no longer before Him; He no longer looks at them; He no longer sees the penitent as being guilty of them. He will not bring those sins back against them again.

When George read those words he realised afresh that God’s forgiveness was based on His amazing grace. George knew he could never earn such a release from his sins. He acted on that objective truth in God’s word that God had cast his sins behind His back and began to affirm to himself that he was forgiven. That objective truth in God’s word became an inward reality as George continued to affirm that truth.

It reminds us that all the promises of God are eternally objectively true. But it is only as we come to know them AND act on them that they become true in our human experience as believers. There are so many of God’s promises that people have heard about. But it is only as people believe them and act on them that they became personally real in their subjective experience.

Do you have a niggling sense of guilt about anything in your life? Then confess whatever it is and ask God to forgive you. Then thank Him for doing so in Jesus, and begin to affirm the fact that you are forgiven and that God has indeed cast your sins “behind His back”.  George did and it transformed him. You can too because God’s grace extends to all who believe and act on His promises.  “He hides our sins behind His back”.  What a blessed thought! What a relief! What a gracious God!

Blog No.108.  Jim Holbeck.  Posted on Tuesday 22nd January 2013. (47th Wedding Anniversary. I remembered! Praise the Lord!)

 

Posted in Forgiveness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

107. We Need To See Ourselves As God Sees Us. Seated With Christ! Ephesians 2:4-7

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

As Alice sat in the doctor’s waiting room her mind began to imagine the highly invasive medical treatment her body was about to endure. This was last resort treatment! Radical! Unknown in most countries! She faced treatment that might or might not work! She needed a deep assurance of God’s love and presence. As she thought about her God and her relationship with Him, a passage of the Bible came into her thoughts. As she meditated on the passage she was filled with an incredible sense of peace as she later described it. All fear and trepidation vanished and she was ready to face the coming medical assault by the grace of God. What was the passage that brought her such a sense of security and peace? Might it help us in the difficulties we face?

In fact the passage has brought great peace to millions who have begun to live by its truths. There are many sensitive people in the world who are very conscious of their own failures. Many of them wonder how God could put up with them when they feel that they keep on failing Him. They think, I have been a believer for so many years now, but I don’t seem to have matured a great deal. I still face the same difficulties and temptations and they are still hard to overcome. Or they may begin to think that they are being hypocritical in not living more victorious lives. The enemy, Satan the accuser, uses the opportunity to get them to doubt their commitment and their motives. The hymn writer Canon Henry Twells put it so well in his hymn, “At even ere the sun was set”. One verse describes those who are sensitive in nature about their short-comings and explains in his words, And they who fain would serve Thee best, Are conscious most of wrong within. It is those who want to draw closer to God and to have more victories in their lives who are the most conscious of their own short-comings and sin. On the other hand those who are far from God and have no desire to draw closer to Him are not really conscious of their sin. It just doesn’t matter to them. How then can the passage we have in mind help sensitive people who want to have more peace in their lives?

The passage which helped Alice and can help people today is from Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 to 7. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– 6  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Alice had been taught that she had to see herself as God saw her. What she came to understand from these verses was this. She understood that God saw her as sitting at His right hand “with Christ”. She initially didn’t feel that to be true.  However she also had come to understand that reality is how God sees things, not as we see them or feel about them. The objective truth was that Alice was sitting in the doctor’s reception room as she meditated on this passage. But she recognised another objective truth. At that very moment God saw her sitting at His right hand with Christ. So as she sat in the waiting room she “practised the presence of God”, and turning to her left she said, “Father, I thank You that I am in Your presence. I commit my whole future to You”.  She experienced a deep peace in His presence. The more she thought about the passage and affirmed its truths to herself, the more they became a part of her. The peace remained following the invasive medical procedures. As she continued to picture herself sitting with Christ at God’s right hand and handing all her concerns over to God she experienced what Paul described in Philippians 4:6-7 as the peace of God, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 What does it mean for the believer today that they are “seated with Christ” in the heavenlies through their faith-union with Christ?  It means three things in particular.

1).        It means they are seated in the place of honour.  Christ had perfectly fulfilled the will of His Father through His life and death. God had honoured Him by raising Him to life and seating Him at His right hand.  He was and is now in the place of honour. But so too is the believer who is seated with Christ.  God honours those who honour His Son by raising them with Him in His sight.   There are few on earth who honour Jesus as they should. That is why God honours all those who take the gift of His Son seriously. Jesus is precious to His Father. He sees those who trust in His beloved Son as precious because such commitment to Jesus is so rare. Believers bothered to take Jesus seriously. God takes them seriously and has honoured them by seating them in the place of honour with His Son.

2).        It means that they are seated in the place of acceptance with God. God accepted all Jesus had done on earth as sufficient for His plan of salvation. The law of God had been fulfilled by Jesus’ life and obedience. Human sin had been died for by Jesus. Believers who accepted Jesus as Saviour were in turn accepted by God. In other words God accepts all those who accept His Son.  There can be no greater acceptance than to be in the place of acceptance with God, at His right hand with Christ. Believers may do many things to become more available to God in His purposes, but they can never become more acceptable to Him than they already are through their faith-union with Christ.

When believers really understand this truth it means the end of trying to become more acceptable to God through trying to do more and more things to please Him. People are either accepted by God or they are not. All those who become believers will be accepted. All those who refuse to accept Christ as Saviour will be rejected.  It also means the end of mental self-flagellation. We can so easily mentally punish ourselves for not meeting our own expectations, let alone what we imagine God’s expectations to be for us. To understand that God has raised us up with Christ and has already seated us with Christ means He has accepted us as we are. Our striving to live only for Him will be motivated by our love for Him and not by a desire to become more acceptable. We never can be! We are accepted now!

3).        It means that they are seated in the place of authority. Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God to be the King of kings, the Lord of lords and the ruler of this universe. Believers have the privilege of praying in His name, calling on His authority. This authority was given to believers in the Great Commission in Matthew 28,  18  And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  It means that believers can experience victory in their personal lives as well as in their work or ministry for God. They are not struggling for authority in life. They have it through their relationship with Jesus in whom all authority resides.

Every believer is going to have a difficult time living in a difficult world. There are times when we may feel that we are trudging through mud, so slow is our spiritual progress. At other times the enemy Satan (as the accuser) tries to get us to doubt God’s love for us. He may feed into our minds thoughts that suggest we don’t measure up. That we are hypocrites. That we will never have victory in some areas of life. That we are not very nice people. Or he may try to put fear into our minds that we are not yet ready to meet God.

But as Alice proved in the most extreme situations, it is possible to know God’s peace and power to cope when you know you are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. She began to base her whole life on the assurance of her acceptance by God. She often visualised herself sitting with Christ in the heavenlies in the place of honour, acceptance and authority. It meant she could trust Him for every moment of her life. In the opinion of her close friends, she did! Continually!

But this truth was not just for Alice to reflect and act on. It is true for ever believer and has been from the moment they believed. There is no need to struggle for acceptance with God. Believers ARE accepted by Him. There is no need to keep on hoping that one day God will accept us. No, He tells us that we are accepted in Christ. From the firm basis of our acceptance we reach out to Him to give us the grace we need to live for Him. This is what St Paul had in mind in Philippians chapter 2. He said we were to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”, 2:12. He didn’t say that we had to work FOR our salvation. Rather from our sure security as believers seated with Christ in the heavenlies we are to work out in practice what God Himself is working in us in the power of His Holy Spirit.

So today as you read these words what might it mean personally to you if you believed and acted on the truth that you are, as a believer, already seated with Christ in the heavenlies?

Blog No.107.  Jim Holbeck.  Posted on Sunday 13th January 2013

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Real Life Stories, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

106. Another New Year Resolution? Or A New Beginning? 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Jim Holbeck

What makes us tick? What do our lives revolve around?  Perhaps some of us have never found the answers to those questions. That’s why we keep going around in circles getting nowhere except getting more unhappy and more unsettled and perhaps more unwell. That’s why we keep making New Year resolutions every year in a determination to be different “from now on”. Finally after many years of frustration we finally make a New Year resolution that remains the same every year. A resolution not to make any more New Year resolutions! We lose hope that life can be different. Paul in this passage in 2 Corinthians 5 gives us hope. Hope that life can indeed be far different from what it is for us at the moment. Here he gives us some powerful motives for living in today’s world. We need all of these motivations to live lives of joy, peace and deep personal meaning.

  1. 1.        The Right Fear Of The Lord. 5:11. 

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.   The wrong sort of fear can be debilitating and dangerous to our physical and emotional health. Especially the fear of death which the Bible says can keep us in life-long bondage to the devil, Heb 2:15,(Jesus) likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15  and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. But Jesus came to set us free from that wrong sort of fear.   The right sort of fear can be very healthy. It makes us wise. Prov 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.  We all need wisdom and insight in a world that is not always as it appears to be. Having a healthy respect for the Lord enables us to get things, situations and people in true perspective. The right fear of the Lord gives us security,  Acts 9:31  Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. The right fear of the Lord is not a cringing fear that makes us afraid of God. It can be the sense of awesomeness we have of a righteous, holy God whom we know also to be loving and gracious to those who love and obey Him. To have such a healthy fear of the Lord means that we lose our fear of other humans. If He is on our side, who can be against us, writes Paul in Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  He commits Himself to those who commit themselves to Him.

 

2. The Compelling Love Of Jesus. 5:13-14. 

13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. “Controls” can also be translated, “surrounds, hems in, rules, constrains.”  It can refer to Christ’s love for us.

i. The love of Christ = Christ’s love FOR us.   This was seen in His coming to earth to become human. It was seen in His willingness to suffer misunderstanding, rejection, mocking, and ultimately death on a cross for our sakes.  It is indeed a wonderful thing to see the transformation in people when they come to realise how much God loves them.

ii. Or the love of Christ IN us.  The love Christ has placed in our own hearts by His Spirit. When we open our lives to the Risen Christ, we are able to love others with God’s love.  Paul wrote in Romans 5:5 that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. His Spirit motivates and empowers us to love with His love. It is agapē  love, God’s love, a love for the undeserving, the unworthy and the unattractive.

To know Christ loves you can be transforming. To experience His love flowing through you is even more transforming. I saw the incredible difference it made to an unattractive man many years ago. Unattractive because he was a real “sour-puss”.  I was asked by a Christian woman leader if I would talk to him. He was a boarder in her home and was a grumpy depressed alcoholic, never able to hold onto a job. As we talked he angrily told me he had grown up in the 1930’s in Germany and was appalled that many of the leaders of the church youth groups had become leaders of the Hitler Youth Movement. He had been so appalled that he had given up on God and on Jesus for the 30 plus years since. He felt it was all so hypocritical. I said to him, “Hey! you’re on God’s side. He thinks it’s hypocritical too.”  It’s as though I hit him across the head with a bit of 4 by 2 (inches) timber as we say in Australia. It woke him up. It just blew his mind that he was on God’s side! On His side against evil and hypocrisy. He was so shocked by the thought, that he let me pray for him that he might draw nearer to the God whom he had been rejecting for over 30 years. Later he booked himself into a clinic to get “dried out”. He made a deeper commitment to Christ. He was tremendously changed by coming to know that Christ loved Him. He was filled with love for Christ and with the love of Christ. He became a completely different person. If you are a romantic person you might like to know what happened next! He and his very godly ex-missionary Christian landlady fell in love with each other! They married! The last time I saw them they were joint managers of a Christian bookshop. He had no hesitation in telling people about his love for Jesus and about Jesus’ love for him and for others like him.

3. A Deep Sense Of Gratitude To God. 5:15. 

 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. That’s what my German alcoholic friend discovered. He was extremely grateful for the fact that Jesus had died for his sins and for the sins of the whole human race. The result was that nothing would be too much for him to do for Christ.

But it is also God’s purpose that we should live for Him. If for our sake He died and was raised, then God’s purpose is that we live for Him rather than for ourselves from now on.  Who or what is the centre of your universe? Is it you? Or is it your health or even your healing? Is it your prosperity? Is it your own plans for your future, or is it Jesus?  Paul says the same thing in Romans 12:1, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (or your reasonable service.) It is perfectly logical that if Christ as the Son of God and the Messiah died for you and me that we should now live for Him in presenting all we are to Him.

Has God’s purpose in the death of Jesus for you been fulfilled in your life or are you still in control and not Him? You cannot go against the purpose of God and not suffer. If Christ is not the Lord of your life you are out of His will for you.  There is no real abiding blessing being outside the will of God. The big challenge for you and me is not the question of whether we will give ourselves completely to God or not. We have to do that because that is His purpose for us. The challenge is, just when we are going to do it. Each day we keep Him outside our lives is a day in which we are going against His express purpose for us. And missing out on the experience of His love.

Why not, at the beginning of a New Year, give Him YOU. That’s what He wants. Not just your time or your praise or your money. He wants YOU! If you are a sensitive person you might think, What if I make that commitment to Jesus and give Him ME, can I keep on in obedience to Him? I don’t ever want to be a hypocrite.” The answer is “Yes!” as Paul goes on to indicate. You can live as a committed believer with expectancy that life can be vastly different by the grace of God.

4.  An Expectancy That Life Can Be Different. 5:16-18.  

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Paul as a brilliant man had got it all terribly wrong before he committed himself to Jesus. He had once regarded Christ as just an ordinary human, an impostor, a blasphemer. He had put Jesus into an ordinary human category, until he met the Risen Jesus on the Damascus road, and he knew Jesus was what he claimed to be. He was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. He had to change his viewpoint, and indeed his whole way of life. He himself had become a new creature and he knew that old things were passing away and all things were becoming new. He also knew it could be so in the lives of other people. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. How new can you and I be? Paul had a choice of 2 words to use for “new” when he wrote this letter.  One word neos mean recent or a brushed up version of the old. But he used another word kainos which means radically new, new in form or character. Christ can make us brand radically new and can keep on changing us to be more and more like Him.

Paul had also written of the transformation that can take place in humans as people’s minds are renewed through an ongoing commitment to God, Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our attitudes can be transformed as our minds are renewed. We can believe that nothing is too hard for God.

Our expectancy can be deepened as our minds are renewed. We can believe that God can fulfil His promises even in our own lives.  We begin to expect and to see more answers to prayer as we act on those promises.

We can become more open to what God wants to do in our lives as we trust Him more.

We can even be set free from the categories we put on ourselves, or allow other people to put on ourselves. We refuse to be negative. We no longer say these things about ourselves, “I couldn’t do that.  It would be too hard.” Or “I’m really quite ill. I can’t expect to get better. “ Or “I suppose when you get to my age you can expect all these things to go wrong with your body”. We unconsciously begin to fulfil our own prophecies. We bring things on through fear and anxiety or because we expect to be afflicted in certain ways. Commitment stops that wrong thinking.

God wants us to open our minds so that they are not shackled by old ways of thinking.

We need a renewed understanding of Him, His word, His promises.

In Christ we become brand new creatures.

We have a new nature. 2 Peter 1:4, we become sharers of the divine nature.

We have a new love, the agape love of God Rom 5:5 shed abroad in our hearts.

We have a new focus in life. We see ourselves as having been “died for” by Christ. So now we live for Him for every moment of our lives.

We can see our lives revolving around Him rather than around ourselves or one another. We are centred on Christ because God the Father is centred on Him in His purposes.

We can see ourselves being healed by Him as part of His purpose to enable us to live for Him.

You need to give Him You, so that He can give you what you need to live for Him, whether it is healing, guidance, or some other blessing.

The challenge is when? Paul concludes this chapter with a challenge to his readers to get right with God. (2 Cor 5:18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6:1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2  For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!  

Our commitment to Him is not to be a well-intentioned New Year resolution, “Next Year”! Nor is it to be “Tomorrow!” Rather our commitment is meant to begin “Today!”

Blog No 106.  Jim Holbeck.  Posted on New Year’s Day 2013

 

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Healing, Real Life Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

105. The Challenge of the Christ of Christmas. Galatians 4:4-5

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

Over the last week millions of people all over the world went to Christian services to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. What was so significant about His coming into the world at this time almost 2000 years ago?  What does His coming tell us? Paul reminds us in Galatians 4:4-5.

 1.   GOD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT. Verse 4. v.4, “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son.” The time was right, from God’s point of view, for Jesus to be born as a human baby at that first Christmas.  We can say humanly speaking, it was an ideal time for Jesus to come to earth. The different cultures had prepared the way for His coming. For example:-

A.  The Roman Empire. The communication system was highly developed. Roads had been built throughout the Roman Empire. It was safe for trade to be conducted in various places, for the Roman army kept watch over the main trade routes. Because of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace, there was political stability in the world under the Roman Empire. It was a relatively safe time in which to live and to travel.

B. Greek Culture. The common language of Greek was known and understood by most people. The Old Testament had been translated into a Greek version so that many could understand the way God had been active in history in the lives of His people. Even New Testament documents were written in the common language of the day, so that most people could understand them.

C. Jewish Culture. The Dispersion meant that many of the Jews had been scattered throughout the world. Synagogues had been established even in small towns where the Jews could gather together to read and study the Old Testament Scriptures. Many Jews were praying and expecting their Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, to come.

BUT, there was a spiritual vacuum.  The gods of the Greek and Roman cultures hadn’t satisfied. The Jews felt restrained by the law. It pointed out what was right and wrong but did not give power to do the right. They were not free politically either. They were subject to the Roman authorities, and not just to God. They didn’t like it one little bit. People were looking for something to happen. In many ways it was a time similar to our own day, in which we’ve become disappointed with the things of the world. In human terms we despair at the seeming incompetence and apparent arrogance of world leaders. We are amazed that humans could so easily thumb their noses at God in rejecting His rule over their lives. Many today too are looking for something more real and satisfying than what they are presently seeing and experiencing.

IT WAS AT THIS TIME THAT GOD SENT JESUS INTO THE WORLD.   Here was the power of God and the love of God in action. Jesus came into the world He had made, in the form of a baby. It wasn’t easy for the people of that day to recognise who Jesus was as the Messiah and the Son of God. They failed to see how God’s purposes were being fulfilled in the birth or the death of Jesus. A crucified Messiah? Foolishness to the Greeks! Crucified in weakness? A stumbling block for the Jews! Paul quoted the scripture from Deuteronomy 21:23 when he wrote in  Gal 3:13  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”. If Jesus had been crucified, then of course He must have been under the curse of God in their eyes. He was, but it was for our human sin not for His. Paul put it in Romans 5:6, “while we were yet helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” And Peter expressed it, 1 Pet 2:24, Jesus Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. ” The death of Jesus was planned from all eternity and happened at exactly the right time in human history.

But note:  We see these truths now in retrospect. We see the way all things came together at that particular time for the Christ to come. However the people of that day may not have seen it at the time, as we see it now. The coming of Jesus back then may have been on an ordinary day in an ordinary year for most people.

You and I don’t always see the significance of what God is doing at any particular time. Some people came to the Healing Service in the Cathedral in Sydney, not realising that their lives would never be the same again as God ministered to them in love and healing power. It can be the same when the people of God come together in many different places around the world. He can touch their lives so that they are changed forever. It could be on a very ordinary day that you have an encounter with God. In retrospect you may see it as the most significant day on your life. But why did Jesus come?

2.   WHY GOD SENT JESUS. V.5

i. To set us free from the condemning law. Gal 4:5  to redeem those who were under the law.   “Redeem” means to set at liberty those who were previously bound. The law of God promised life to those who perfectly obeyed it. It also promised condemnation to those who disobeyed it in any way. It said “Do this and you will live” and promised death to those who didn’t obey it perfectly. But Jesus came to fulfil the law by living a perfect human life, and by dying a perfect human death for sinners. Christ redeemed them by His death. Now we are able to come to God through Him. The writer to the Hebrews put it, Heb 10:19  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. Now through Him we are able to live in a personal loving relationship with God

ii. To enable us to be adopted as His children. Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Jesus died for us that we might receive adoption as His children, through faith in Him. He came and died so that we might live in a relationship of love, not law, with God Himself.  John wrote of the coming of Jesus that He came to bring light, life and acceptance to the world,  John 1:9  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12  Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Grace! Freely forgiven and accepted in Christ. Truth! Reality! The real God offering real love to real people as they opened up to Him.

At that first Christmas Day God sent His Son into the world as a gift to be received by faith. Millions throughout the world and through the ages have done so over the succeeding years. But the number of Christmas Days is coming to an end. Jesus will return to pass eternal judgment on all who have ever lived and on those who are alive at His coming. The basis of the judgment is what they have done with God’s gift. Those who have received God’s gift of Jesus will live with Him in bliss for ever. Those who have ignored God’s gift will not.  A frightening prospect! But one that can be averted by putting one’s faith in Christ.

As I write these words it is New Year’s Eve. 2012 is coming to an end in about 2 hours. It is a very special time for me. It was at this precise moment in 1958 that I was struggling with the question, “What should I do with Jesus? Should I continue to reject Him? Should I humble myself and invite Him to be my Saviour and my Lord?” I made a decision. It was the most important decision I ever made or will ever make! I decided to repent on my sins and to ask Jesus to come into my life to be my own personal Saviour and Lord. There in that little flat in Griffith Street, Tweed Heads-Coolangatta in Australia I knelt beside my bed and prayed asking God to forgive me and inviting Jesus to come into my life. Life has never been the same since. Different! In every way! Coming to understand the written word so much more clearly. Coming to love the Living word, Jesus, more and more dearly. Knowing that the Almighty God has a plan and purpose for me in His world. Knowing His strength to be able to do it. Knowing I am loved by the God who so loved the world (including me) that He gave His only Son to come and die for me so that I might have life, in abundance! I received God’s Christmas gift back in 1958 and have never regretted it. But a question for you to  answer. Have you received God’s Christmas gift, the gift of His Son to come and live in you by His Spirit, so that you can become part of the family of God? It’s a question that only you can answer. And answer it you must! Soon!

Blog No.105.  Jim Holbeck.  Posted on New Year’s Eve, 2012.

 

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

104. Who is the Jesus Christ of Christmas? Part 4 of 4. Jesus the JUDGE

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

Jesus the judge! Surely an oxymoron! Surely those words cannot stand together in the same phrase! Jesus in His teaching encouraged the needy to look to Him for help. But He also warned those who were rejecting His teaching, of the dangers of doing so.  In fact He often spoke of Himself as being the eventual judge of humankind. We look briefly at the subject of judgment in the Bible and specifically at the role of Jesus as judge.  You see, judgment is not a topic we can ignore in the Bible. There are over 200 references to “judgment” in the Bible and over 250 to “judge”. The vast majority refer to divine judgment. We now look at many of those references to see to what extent the role of Jesus includes judgment. Coming to a deeper understanding of the truth about Jesus during this Christmas season might just mean that we really have the best Christmas ever as we learn to appreciate Him more and more!

 1).        GOD’S JUDGMENT IS ALWAYS JUST AND THOROUGH

Abraham had a sense of the justice of God as he said in Gen 18:25  … Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Meaning of course, that which is just in the eyes of the all-seeing and all-knowing God.

David likewise saw God as just, Psa 9:7  But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8  and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

Solomon reflected on the nature of God and on the meaning of life. He recognised that God set the rules for humans to live by and that in His judgment He would miss nothing.  He concluded, Ecc 12:13  The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14  For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

 2).        JESUS ACTS AS GOD’S AGENT IN JUDGMENT

As we come to the New Testament we see that God has delegated judgment to Jesus His Son. As Jesus said, (Joh 5:22)  The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. He added, Joh 5:27  And he has given him authority to execute judgment.

Judgment was a joint responsibility. The Father and He would pass judgment,  (Joh 8:16)  …it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. Paul also recognised that shared responsibility in judgment, and saw Jesus as God’s agent in judgment, (Act 17:31)  because he (God) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man (Jesus Christ) whom he has appointed. Also in (Rom 2:16) Paul says that God judges but He does it through Jesus, on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by (dia = through) Christ Jesus.

 3).  EVERYONE WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD

Paul shows the accountability of all humans before God in these verses, Rom 14:10 …For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; …12  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Judgment will be just because Jesus will judge on the basis of the true knowledge of good and evil. 1Co 4:5  … the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. And also in 2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, .. good or evil.

Jesus’ judgment of people will include those who die before His second coming and those who are alive at the time, 2Tim 4:1  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: This is what Jesus taught regarding His second coming and the resurrection that would then take place, Joh 5:29  all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

All humans must die and face inevitable judgment, Heb 9:27  … it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment

 4).        THE BASIS OF JUDGMENT

A).       One’s Attitude To Jesus and His words

Jesus taught that condemnation is a present reality for those who have rejected His message, Joh_3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Such people need to believe in Christ to avert condemnation, as Paul wrote in Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Jesus’ words form the basis of His judgement, (Joh 12:48)  The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

At His second coming Jesus passes judgment on those who have rejected His teaching, 2Th 1:7 … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8  in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Jude in his epistle also refers to the second coming of Jesus and says His judgement will be executed on those who are ungodly and who spoke evil of Him,  Jud 1:14  …Behold, the Lord comes … 15  to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness … and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

 B).       Ungodly Behaviour And Speech

On the day when Jesus establishes His kingdom, judgment will take place on the lawless, Mat 7:22  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Marriage is to honoured and not defiled through sexual immorality or adultery. Such guilt will be punished.  Heb 13:4  Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

 C).       Refusal to repent

People in Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum would be judged because they had failed to repent in spite of seeing Jesus’ miracles, Mat 11:20  Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.,

Hard impenitent hearts lead to judgment, Rom 2:5  But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

God shows no partiality but is just in His judgment,  Rom 2:6  He will render to each one according to his works: 7  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10  but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11  For God shows no partiality.

A refusal to repent is not an option. People are commanded to repent of sin, Act 17:30  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent 31  because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed

 5).        WHAT HAPPENS IN GOD’S JUDGMENT?

A).     The Separation Of Good And Evil

In the parable about the sheep and the goats, Jesus saw people as guilty if they failed to follow His teaching and to care for one another. The “sheep” are rewarded for caring Mat  25:40, and the “goats” are punished for not caring. Mat 25:45  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” “Eternal” marks the seriousness of God’s judgment.

 B).       Punishment On The Unrepentant Wicked

Jesus executes eternal judgment on those who refuse to refuse to know God and on those who disobey the teaching of Jesus. 2 Thess 1:7 … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8  in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

 C).       There Are Rewards For Those Who Trust And Obey

Believers have passed out of judgment into life through trusting in Christ for salvation. However there is still a judgment leading to rewards for believers who faithfully build on the foundation of Christ, 1Cor 3:12  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw– 13  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

Paul looked forward to a reward for his faithful service, indeed a victor’s crown, (2Ti 4:8)  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day,

 6).        HOW TO AVERT JUDGMENT

One can only do it in the way God has appointed. That is, through repentance and trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Joh 5:24  .. whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

It means becoming someone “in Christ” through believing in Him, Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

By living a righteous life in the sight of God, Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29  and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

 7).        DOES GOD WANT PEOPLE TO FACE HIS JUDGMENT?

The “delay” in the second coming of Jesus is not due to weakness on His part. Rather it is the evidence of His mercy in giving people time to repent of their sins and turn to Him for forgiveness, 2Pe 3:9  The Lord is .. patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. How surprised some people might be who scoff about Christianity and at the second coming of Christ if they were to discover that He is waiting for some of them to repent before judgment comes. But the time for people to repent is coming to an end. He knows the day of His coming. We don’t!

God so loved. Jesus loved. Jesus died for sinners so that people might be spared judgment by trusting in Him, Jn 3:16, he (God) gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. People perish because they continue to reject the love of God and the gift of forgiveness and new life in Jesus.

 8).     THE JESUS TO BE THE JUDGE THEN, WANTS TO BE OUR FRIEND NOW

A).       We become friends of God by trusting and obeying Him

Abraham trusted. He trusted in God and His promises. (Jas 2:23)  “Abraham believed God, … and he was called a friend of God.

Jesus encouraged His followers by calling them His friends, (Joh 15:15)  No longer do I call you servants… but I have called you friends

B).       Jesus can help us as no other friend can.  He gave this invitation to all those in need, Mat 11:28  Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He wants to help us as we live for Him, 29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

C).       Jesus wants to be our close friend.  We need to abide in Him and in His words.(Joh 15:7)  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. AND (Joh 15:9)  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

D).       We can be confident when He comes again. Those who are friends of Jesus can look forward to His coming without fear,  (1Jn 2:28)  And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

 Summing up.  We have seen in these 4 articles discussing the Jesus Christ of Christmas, some important truths about Him that we need to recognise and act on. He is no longer wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. He is sitting at the right hand of God in glory. He is not a victim dying on a cross. Rather He is the risen triumphant Lord. Indeed the Jesus whom we worship at Christmas (and for every moment of our lives) is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. But He is also the Creator of this universe. He is the Saviour of the world for all those who will receive Him into their lives. He is the Lord of the universe and of the church. His will must be sought and done. He is the One who is coming to judge. But praise God, by the mercy of God, this Jesus has become my friend and I trust He is your friend as well.

IN BRIEF, JESUS-(CREATOR-SAVIOUR-LORD-JUDGE) – AND OUR FRIEND BY THE LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD.

Blog No.104.  Jim Holbeck. Posted on Tuesday 18th December 2012

 

Posted in TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

103.Who is the Jesus Christ of Christmas? Part 3 of 4. Jesus is THE LORD

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

It is obvious that many people don’t understand what it means that “Jesus is Lord”. How can one know this? For the simple reason that if such people did understand the significance of Jesus Christ as Lord they would not do or say the things they do. World political leaders or rulers would not dare suggest some of the changes they are suggesting if they recognized that Jesus is Lord. Our own lives might be radically different if we ourselves really recognized Jesus as Lord and lived in the light of that knowledge.

The Significance Of The Fact That Jesus Is “Lord

The New Testament word for “Lord” is “Kurios”. It was also used as a title of respect in greeting in New Testament times. It can refer to a master or an owner or a person of significance such as an Emperor. But the important difference is seen in its use as the New Testament Greek equivalent for the Old Testament Hebrew word  “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” or YHWH. It was used of Jesus in New Testament as “Lord Jesus Christ” some 64 times and as “Lord” or “Lord Jesus” in many other references. Well, in what sense is Jesus Christ, “Lord”? We see it in three main areas. 1. He is Lord of this universe. 2. He is Lord of His church. 3. He is meant to be the Lord of the life of every person. Because it is a massive topic I will set it out under various headings with some verses illustrating these truths. This should make it easier for folk to investigate further these important truths.  How important? To say of life and death importance would be to trivialize the situation. Rather these truths are of spiritual (or eternal) life and death significance.

1).        JESUS IS LORD OF THE UNIVERSE. He made it. He keeps it going

A).       Jesus Sustains The Universe He Created

1Cor 8:6  yet for us there is one …. Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Col 1:17 … And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Heb 1:3  …he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

B).       Jesus Controls The Powers Of Darkness

Col 1:13  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Col 2:15  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

C).   Jesus Is Uniting All Things In His Universe In Himself

Col 1:19, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Eph 1:9  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (HCSB,-to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him). “Unite” or “bring together” is ανακεφαλαίομαι (anakephalaiomai) or the process is called (anakephalaiosos) or “recapitulation”. It means to sum up, gather together in one, or literally unite under one head. No matter what governments and peoples of the world may be doing in their ignorance of Jesus as Lord, Jesus is at work establishing His purpose in the world.  Uniting all things under His headship.

D).       Jesus Is Waiting For People To Repent Before He Returns.

2Pet 3:8  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. His delay in returning is not a sign of His weakness but rather of His mercy.

E).       Jesus Is Returning To This World.  “Coming ready or not!” 2Pet 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, … .  Such a prospect should lead to holy living, 2Pet 3:11  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness.

2).        JESUS IS LORD OF THE CHURCH

A).       The Church Is Built On The Truth That Jesus Is “The Christ, The Son Of The Living God”. (Mat 16:18)  … you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

B).       The Church Was Established On Jesus’ Sacrifice On The Cross.  (Act 20:28) … care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood   (Eph 5:23) ..Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour.  (Eph 5:25)… as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

C).       Its People Are Committed To Christ As Head Of The Church

Jesus IS the head of the church. (Eph 1:22)  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.    (Col 1:18)  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Leaders and all believers must submit to Jesus as the head of the church. (Act 9:31)  …. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.   (Act 14:23)  And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.     (1Co 1:2)  To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

 3).  JESUS IS LORD (AND MUST BECOME LORD) OVER ALL INDIVIDUALS

A).  We Must Personally Submit To His Lordship Over Us

2Cor 5:15  and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

B).  That Submission Must Be In Every Area Of Life

Col 3:23  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

C).  Submission To Him As Lord, Transforms Us

As we maintain our focus on Him. 2Cor 3:16  But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

As we present all we are to Him. Rom 12:1  …. present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  2  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As we ask Him to fill us with His Spirit. Eph 5:18  … be filled with the Spirit, 19  addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21  submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

 So here is a quick summary before Christmas about the Jesus Christ of Christmas. What it shows though is that some politicians who want to force changes on the beliefs and practices of churches are really transgressing into forbidden territory. It is not their prerogative to “call the shots” for believers.  The head of the church is Christ Himself. Whenever politicians or rulers suggest things which are in accord with Jesus’ teaching, they need to be obeyed. Whenever they seek to impose beliefs or practices contrary to the revealed will of Jesus in God’s word, they need to be rejected in appropriate ways. It is not that many of these politicians or rulers are megalomaniacs thinking they are superior to Christ. At least one hopes that is not so! Though one does wonder at times! More probably they just don’t know who He is. Nor do they understand their own need to be subservient to Him and to His will for humanity. The Jesus Christ of Christmas is meant to be the Lord of everything in the lives of every person. Jesus is the Creator of the world. Jesus is the Savior of the world. Jesus is the Lord of His universe and of His church. In the next topic we will see that ultimately He is the Judge of all. The privilege of living with our God-given freewill in His world, brings responsibilities before Him as well.

Blog No.102.   Jim Holbeck.  Posted on Monday 17th December 2012

 

Posted in TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

102. Who is the Jesus Christ of Christmas? Part 2 of 4. Jesus THE Saviour

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

No wonder the baby born to Mary was called “Jesus”. Mary’s husband Joseph was told by an angel of the Lord in a dream, that the child to be born to Mary was to be called “Jesus.” Not only that but His name would represent His mission, Mat 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” The name “Jesus” meant “one who saves.” Mary also received a visitation. The angel Gabriel appeared to her and gave her this news, Luk 1:31  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. She was also told about His mission but in different words, Luk 1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And in verse 35, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God. So from the very beginning Joseph and Mary knew that this child was special. They would come to know that He was God’s Messiah, God’s anointed One (the Christ) Who had to die for the sins of the people. Not only that but He would establish a kingdom, an eternal kingdom. He would also be called the Son of the Most High God and the Son of God. All of those truths were revealed by God through angelic messengers.  

 There are few references to Jesus as Saviour in other parts of the Gospels (but see Lk 2:11 and John 4:42). However Luke the Gospel writer also wrote The Acts of the Apostles and there recorded the words of Peter in Acts 5:31  God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins, and the words of Paul in Acts 13:23  Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as he promised. St Paul is the New Testament writer who most often used the word “saviour”. He specifically called Jesus, “Saviour”, in these references ( Eph 5:23  … Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. Php 3:20  But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. 2Tim 1:10  and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus.  Titus 1:4  … Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.  Titus 2:13  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Titus 3:6  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

 Peter is another writer who had no hesitation in calling Jesus, “Saviour”. His speciality is in combining the words “Lord” and “Saviour” of Jesus in the one phrase. For example, 2Pet 1:11  … the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2Pet 2:20  … through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2Pet 3:2  … the predictions of the holy prophets and the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He also links “God” and “Saviour” in 2Pet 1:1… the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 The apostle John (and writer of the Gospel) sums up the truth about Jesus as Saviour in 1John 4:14  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. It was God’s eternal purpose that Jesus should be the Saviour of the world. That’s why He sent Him on that first Christmas Day to fulfil His God-given role of “saving” the world.  

 If it is true that Jesus Christ is THE Saviour we need to ask a couple more questions.

From what does Jesus save people?

From God’s wrath and condemnation. Acceptance of Christ brings salvation. Rejection of Him brings condemnation, Mar_16:16  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  Jesus came to save but rejection of Him leads to condemnation, Joh_3:17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Faith in Christ leads to being right with God and not having to face His wrath, Rom_5:9  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

From perishing. 1Cor 1:18  For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  Paul outlines why people are deceived and perishing. They chose to reject the truth which saves, 2Thess 2:10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

From the threat of enemies. Luk_1:71  that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Faith in Christ puts us on His side.  As Paul explained in Romans 8:31 , If God be for us, who can be against us? The risen, ascended Christ is actually praying for His followers, 8:34, and believers are more than conquerors through Him, 8:37.  

 How are people saved?

By the grace and mercy of God. Act_15:11  But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” Eph_2:5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, (He) made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– Eph_2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Grace not works, 2Ti_1:9  who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.  Tit_3:5  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.  God in His mercy and love longs for people to find salvation through the truth, 1Ti_2:4  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

By trusting in Christ for salvation. Note the connection between believing and being saved in these verses, Mar_16:16  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Luk_8:12  The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Inward conviction which leads to outward expression is necesary for salvation, Rom_10:9  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  The Philippian jailor had an experience of the power of God as He opened prison doors by an earthquake. He questioned Paul and Silas, Act_16:30  Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  31  And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”  When Paul thanked God for the faith of the believers in Thessalonica he saw their salvation coming from God’s action upon them by His Spirit and their response in believing the truth of the gospel, 2Th_2:13  But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

By coming to God through Christ. He is the way, and the only way of salvation, Joh_10:9  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Act_4:12  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

By calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. To call upon the name of Jesus was to call upon Him personally. Rom_10:13  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Act_2:21  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

By believing the gospel message. Faith came through believing the gospel message, Acts 11:14  he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 1Co 15:1  Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2  and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. Preventing the gospel from being preached was a serious offence in God’s sight, for it prevented the Gentiles from responding to the message and being saved, 1Th_2:16  by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved–so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!

Summary: Every time we approach another Christmas period, we need to recognise that we naturally begin to think of the Christ-child on Christmas morning. However we can’t leave Him as an infant in our imagination for the weeks and months to follow. That is not honouring to Him. Nor is it real. The Christ-child became an adult human who died on a cross to bring salvation to humankind. As the verses above show clearly, this Saviour of humankind was and is none other than the eternal Son of God Himself. He alone brings forgiveness. He alone brings new life. He alone is the Saviour of the world. However He needs to be believed in, to be received, for forgiveness and eternal life to become ours. As John wrote of Him in John 1:1:9  The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10  He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. 11  He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12  But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13  who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. Through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, we become Children of God! Born of God!  Halleluia! What a Saviour!

Blog No.102.  Jim Holbeck. Posted on Sunday 16th December 2012

 

Posted in Forgiveness, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment