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

 

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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.

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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

 

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101. Who is the Jesus Christ of Christmas? Part 1 of 4. Jesus the Creator

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Creator of this universe. Wow, that’s some statement! But a true one! You see, there are some things we need to recognise about creation. One is that no human was there to observe it. Our knowledge of the beginning of the universe has to come from revelation from Someone who was there and not from much later human investigation. The latter can only deal with what already exists rather than with how it came to exist.  Theories about creation will be precisely that, theories.  But Someone was there when it all began. He is the only eye-witness. He has revealed what happened. He says in His revelation that He created the world. The opening verse of His revelation (the Bible) reads, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.   Genesis 1:1.

 Jesus the Creator. God’s revelation goes on in the New Testament to show that God’s agent in creation was His Son Jesus. We get some indication of that in the way Jesus spoke of Himself during His ministry. For example consider some of His sayings. There is that strange phrase in John 8:58 where Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The “I am” is significant. That is the name that God gave to Moses to describe Himself, Exodus 3:14  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.'” Many see that Jesus was applying the name of God to Himself to indicate not only that He existed before Abraham was born, but also that He was equal with God. That’s how His hearers heard Him and they tried to kill Him as a result.

Another statement of Jesus in His prayer to His Father in John 17:5 adds weight to this interpretation, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” Here there can be no ambiguity about Jesus’ words. He was directly claiming to have existed with the Father before creation and to have shared His glory. In addition there are the other “I am’s” of Jesus in which He uses terms of Himself which apply to God Himself, such as “light and life.”

What the New Testament writers thought about Jesus and Creation.

The apostle John. His gospel begins in the same way as Genesis 1:1. However John uses the term “the Word” to describe Jesus as we see in John 1:1,2, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. This Word was the Creator, as the next verse states, 1:3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. Later in verse 10 John describes Jesus as the Creator, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” In case the identity of “the Word” was unclear John describes Him as Jesus in verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. So as far as the apostle John was concerned, Jesus of Nazareth was the creator of everything.

 The apostle Paul. He too clearly recognised Jesus as the Creator. In 1 Corinthians 8:6 he linked together God the Father and Jesus the Son in the act of creation, 1 Cor 8:6  yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Jesus, Creator of all things. In another passage he described Jesus as being the image of God and the creator of all things visible and invisible. He also added to that by stating that Jesus is the Sustainer of this whole universe, Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. St Paul then clearly recognised Jesus of Nazareth as being the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.

 The writer to the Hebrews. The writer not only indicated that Jesus was the Creator of the universe but also added the truth that He sustained the universe He created, Heb 1:1-3. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.  Again the references are unmistakeable references to Jesus of Nazareth.

 What does it mean for us that Jesus is Creator?

We are dependent on Him for our existence. It shows that He can’t be ignored by any human ever born in this universe. Our existence as humans was dependent on Him as Creator of all. Our ongoing existence is dependent on Him for He controls the whole universe. Our future existence is dependent on Him for He holds the future (and our future) in His hands. Our eternal existence is dependent on Him as we will see later, for He ultimately is the judge and our eternal destiny rests in His hands.

We need to become dependent on Him. This is the only way we can receive what He has planned for us in His purposes for the world. It means making Him the Lord and Master of our lives as we will see in Part 3 of our series.  In serving Him as our Creator we are enabled to fulfil our God-given purpose on earth, Ephesians 2:10  For we are His creation–created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. Otherwise our lives will lack purpose and meaning and be of no eternal significance.

 We need to become a willing part of His “new creation”. Paul describes all those who put their trust in Jesus as Saviour and Lord as being “in Christ” and part of a “new creation”, 2Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. How does that take place? Paul tells us in 2 Cor 5:15,  (Jesus) died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Life is mean to be lived for the sake of the One who died for us, namely Jesus our Creator, Saviour, and Lord. But more about that in Parts 2 and 3.

Blog No.101.  Jim Holbeck. Posted On Wednesday 12th December 2012

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100. Who is the Jesus Christ of Christmas? (An Overview)

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

We had just finished a Good Friday service. The Cathedral had been reasonably full as it always was for that particular service each year. From Noon to 3pm we had reflected on the meaning of the Seven Words of Jesus from the Cross and had sung some rich hymns interspersed between the readings. I was relaxing at home getting ready for the remaining rush of Easter services. The phone rang and I answered it to hear a woman’s angry voice.  “You spoiled the service for me!” That was the first time anyone had ever said that to me. Fortunately it was also the last. I was surprised because I knew that particular woman had always loved the Good Friday service each year. I wondered what was different about the service just finished that had caused her to be so upset? I didn’t have to wonder for long. She poured forth her grievances. It seemed that I had added something during the service that I hadn’t ever added before. She explained in words like these. “Every year I come to the service thinking about my own sinfulness and how Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins. Then I like to go home and keep reflecting on how sinful I am until I come to church on Easter Day and then begin to rejoice because Jesus is risen. But you spoilt it for me today when you said at the end of the service that we need to remember that Jesus’ death on Good Friday was followed by His resurrection on Easter Day.”

 I then remembered why I had said that during the service. There had been quite a large number of people new to the service. I had felt that if they were never to come to a Christian service again, they needed to hear the whole Gospel message that Jesus’ death for sinners was followed by His resurrection, as God raised Him from the dead on that first Easter morning. If He had not been raised there would have been no forgiveness of sin and no new life for those who would trust in Him as a Living Saviour. There was no really good news if Jesus had died on the cross, been buried and that was the end of the story. He would not have been the victor over sin, death and evil if He had not risen from the dead.

 That day I made a decision. I would never preach a message that was only half-truth. Whenever afterwards that I was to take a Good Friday service I would always mention the good news of the rest of the story seen in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Otherwise it would be a misleading message. It would not be the real truth. It would not be real in two ways.

Firstly, it would not be the real truth about Jesus. His body did not continue to decompose in a tomb in Palestine following His burial. Only hours afterwards, on the third day, He rose from the dead. It means that when we are taking a Christian service in the twenty-first century we can’t allow Him (in our minds) to still be in tomb from our present Good Friday to our present Easter Day. But that’s what the woman who rang me wanted to happen. It’s as though she was saying “I wanted Jesus to be in the tomb until Easter morning. Then I could be happy!”  One can’t ignore reality. The reality is that Jesus died on that first Good Friday and rose again on the first Easter morning and has been alive since that day and is alive for evermore.

Secondly it not the truth about ourselves as followers of Jesus. We can’t go back and live as though we were living in the time between Good Friday and Easter Day. From the first Easter Day and for every Easter day following, Jesus has been the living Saviour. He is the Living Saviour. It means too that because His death and resurrection have made forgiveness available that we can’t go back and concentrate on our sins while waiting for the next Easter Day to be able to rejoice in our forgiveness. Why? Because as believers we have forgiveness for all our sins. It is in Jesus through the blood He shed on the cross almost 2000 years ago.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7, 8 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8  which he lavished upon us.. . Forgiveness is ours NOW in Him and we are to rejoice every moment of our lives in God’s amazing gift of forgiveness to us in His Son. 

 What I would like to do in forthcoming articles is to look more deeply at who this Jesus Christ of Christmas really is so that we live in the world of reality and not in a world of make-believe or in a world of escapism from the claims upon our lives that come from this Jesus Christ of Christmas. 

Blog No.100.  Jim Holbeck. Posted on Wednesday 12th December 2012

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099. John Chapman. 1930-2012. Gospel Lover And Gospel Preacher. A Tribute

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

It was a surprise to learn that John Chapman had passed away. I read the report just after we had arrived back in Sydney from conducting a Healing Mission in Florida. I realised afresh that he had a big part to play in my being invited to do Healing Missions in the Unites States between 1999 and 2012. How? He had supported Dean Lance Shilton’s recommendation that I be appointed the Leader of the Healing Ministry in St Andrew’s Cathedral upon the retirement of Canon Jim Glennon. He was among the first to congratulate me when the appointment was announced. Becoming the Leader of the Healing Ministry opened up new doors for ministry in the USA, and for that privilege I owe a big debt of gratitude to Chappo. It is probably true to say that without his support I might never have been appointed as Leader of the Healing Ministry.  Nor had the privilege of ministering in the USA.

Everyone knew who John Chapman was. I first heard him speak when I was a layman in Brisbane Diocese. He came across to those of us newly converted to Christ as the jovial “Friar Tuck” of the Anglican church. His enthusiasm for the person of Christ, his obvious love for the Bible and his joyous demeanour certainly encouraged a lot of young fellows to seriously consider living and preaching the gospel that he preached. He was a true example of a gospel preacher, a real person without pretence, who loved the Bible, who loved Jesus and who loved people.  When I moved to Armidale to be the Dean of the Cathedral it became obvious that he had made an incredible impact in that diocese during his ministry there. It was always a joyous time for clergy and lay folk when he returned to preach in the diocese.

I saw a different side to his personality some years later. It was during a Preachers’ Conference in Sydney. John with others was to teach on preaching and then do a critique on the sermons of 3 selected participants. I had been chosen to be one of them. I didn’t particularly relish the idea of being “carved up” in front of my peers.  So I tried to do as much preparation as I could to lessen the pain. But some traumatic things took place in the days preceding the conference and I had little time to prepare a sermon. One was ministering to a young mother whose baby had died of brain injuries inflicted by the father. I will always remember the scene at the funeral at the graveside where family gathered in deep sorrow and obvious anger. It was deeply traumatic for all concerned. Another was getting ready for an appointment with a couple for a wedding interview when I desperately wanted the time to get a “good” sermon done.

As I preached that night at the Preachers’ Conference I shared some of the details of what had taken place during the previous week. It meant sharing honestly my deep humiliation when I discovered that the couple I didn’t particularly want to interview for a wedding were wide open to the gospel. Both of them gave their lives to Christ that afternoon. I shared too I had been deeply convicted that I had been more concerned about preaching a “good” sermon at the Preachers’ Conference than I was in spending time to meet the spiritual needs of a needy couple.

When the sermon was over I waited for the “carving”.  Chappo spoke first.  He said, “I’m moved. I’m deeply moved.” That was all he said.  I was astonished. To my mind there was nothing special about the sermon. But as I later reflected on that evening I realised what a spiritual giant of a man John Chapman was, to be touched by a sermon from a virtual nobody. His attitude that night taught me a lot about true humility. John would listen intently for God’s voice as the word of God was preached through all kinds of human instruments. He was humble, always hungry for God to work through him to bring others to Christ. I recognised by contrast that I had been judgmental in my attitude to the couple seeking marriage, seeing the interview as taking up my “valuable” preparation time.  The time spent sharing the gospel was never “wasted time” for John Chapman. It was his life.  It led to thousands of others finding true life in Christ through his ministry.

Like thousands of others around the world I praise God for raising up a man called “Chappo” to accomplish incredible things in His church in Australia and overseas.  Someone once said that the world has yet to see what God can do through a person totally committed to Him. He certainly did an amazing amount through “Chappo’s” dedicated commitment to Him. His courage in presenting the gospel encouraged many. His humility made many of us examine more deeply, our motivation and goals in ministry.

Blog No.099.  Jim Holbeck. Posted on Monday 19th November 2012

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098. What Do You Want Jesus To Do For You? Mark 10:35-45

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

(Adapted from a sermon preached at Winter Park, Florida on Sunday 21 October 2012)

We are looking at the words from our Gospel passage. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” (36)  And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” What a probing question from Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Fifty two years. That’s how long the Wednesday night Healing Service in the Anglican Cathedral in Sydney has been going.  Almost every Wednesday night for 52 years.  In that time, thousands of healings have taken place.  During the services we asked people to put up their hands if they needed prayer for any need they had. Some of our pray-ers would go to those people in the seats and ask them this question. “What do you want the Lord to do for you?” (The same sort of words Jesus used in this gospel passage.) They would tell us and we would pray according to their expressed needs.

I’d like to share just a couple of those healings that remind us that God brings His healings in His way, in His time, to His glory.

1).    THE WIFE A OF A MEDICAL SPECIALIST.  At the Wednesday night Healing Service

The first story is about the wife of a leading surgeon.  She had cancer of the brain. He had been given 2 months off to spend with his wife before she passed away. It was to help prepare him and their 2 young boys for life without her.  He brought his wife to our Healing service in the Cathedral. On the first night we prayed for her she was no more than a vegetable having been assisted into the Cathedral for the service. She looked down for the whole service. The next Wednesday night they attended for the second (and last time). She actually looked up at us as we prayed over her.

The weeks went on and I was saddened to hear after a couple of months that she had passed away. The following Wednesday I noticed the doctor in the Healing service. At the end of the service I went to see him to express my condolences. I was surprised when he said to me, “Jim, did you know she was healed?” I must have looked utterly shocked. You know that some people can be in denial. But here was a medical specialist telling me that his wife had been healed and I knew she had just been buried. He must have seen my shocked expression. He smiled and said “Jim, let me tell you what happened after that second healing service when you prayed for my wife.”

He told me the story. They went home from the service. It seemed as though nothing much had happened. The next morning he woke to find his wife smiling beside him. She was as she had always been, before the cancer took hold of her mind. For the next few weeks she was the wife and lover she had always been to him. She was the beautiful loving mother that she had always been to their 2 young boys. For those 2 months it was as though there was nothing wrong with her. They had the time to enjoy trips and picnics and had a wonderful time together as a family.

At the end of those 2 months, he woke one morning to find his wife dead in bed besides him. He said to me, “But Jim she was healed. She was wonderfully healed for those 2 months. What happened was a miracle. It just can’t happen medically. I lived with a miracle for all those weeks. The last memory I have of my wife is of a woman who loved me deeply. The last memories our boys have of their mother, are of a mother who was fun to be with. A loving mother who loved them so deeply over those 2 months. I will always be grateful to God for the healing He gave to my wife during that time. It was a miracle.  He saw it as time they were given together when it seemed impossible for anything good to happen in their situation.

2).   A DYING BABY. At Our Healing Ministry Centre In Inner Sydney.

This second incident happened at our Healing Ministry Centre in inner Sydney, just a few kilometres from the Cathedral. About 9 pm one evening there was a knock at a side door that was rarely used.  My wife Carole and I were in the room with the Manager and Assistant Manager of our Healing Centre. We opened the door to find a young couple holding a tiny baby that was only hours or days old. They had been told by the specialists at one of our major children’s hospitals that the child could not survive. It would be dead within hours. They told us that they had been given special permission to bring the baby to our Healing Ministry Centre to receive prayer. They came immediately without being able to contact us.

So here was the scene. Four of us in the room with the parents, and a child who would be dead in a few hours. What do you do in such a case?  PRAY! But what to pray? For comfort for the parents or healing for the child? Again it was a case of “What do you want the Lord to do for you?” Their answer was, “We want Him to heal our son.”

We prayed over the little baby asking that God would touch the child in His love and power. Then they left, going out through the same side door to take the child back to the hospital. We heard nothing more. We often talked among ourselves over the following years about what a strange occurrence it was. We wondered what had happened to the parents and the baby.

About 10 years later there was a knock on the front door of our Healing Ministry Centre. We opened it to find a young couple standing there. The man said, “Do you mind if we come in and talk to you for a moment?” When we were seated inside the fellow asked, “Do you remember us?” We had to say, “Well not really? Were you guests here once?” She said, “No, but can you remember the night we knocked on that side door because our baby was about to die?” Of course it all flooded back into our memories. Then pointing to the young 10 year old boy who was with them, she said, “Well, here he is!” He didn’t die. He has no problems at all since that night you all prayed for him.  We just wanted to come back to thank you all for praying for him. God answered our prayers. We were so grateful to God for saving our son’s life that we have now entered into full-time Christian ministry. We are now both Pastors in a Pentecostal church.” 10 years of wondering were solved as they gave testimony to the grace and power of God in saving the life of their child.

The thing we have learned in more than 50 years in the Healing Ministry is that God loves to answer His children’s prayers. As Jesus promised in John 14:13-14, (13)  WHATEVER you ask in my name, THIS I WILL DO, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.(14)  If you ask me ANYTHING in my name, I WILL DO IT. But He does it in His own way and in His time. We need to pray that we will be able to recognise how He brings the answer.

TODAY is another day in which we can know His love and power in our own lives. The Risen Jesus stands among us. As Jesus promised,  “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My name, there am I in their midst,”  Mat 18:20. He says to each and every one of us, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Do you want Him to do something about the (USA) nation that it may continue to be a nation whose motto is “In God we trust.” Then tell Him what you want.  Do you want Him to do something about your children or grandchildren caught up in addiction to alcohol, drugs or sex.  Tell Him what you want. Do you want Him to do something for you personally. Your illness or weakness? Your stress and anxieties? Your depression? Your own addiction? As we pray, tell Him what you would like Him to do for you.  Then thank Him that He has heard your prayer and that He will bring His answer in His way and in His time and always to His glory.

Blog No. 098.  Jim Holbeck.  Posted on Sunday 18th November 2012

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097. Healing a Church, a City and a Nation. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Jim Holbeck

(Adapted from a sermon preached in Florida on the night of the 2012 Presidential elections.)  (2Ch 7:14)  If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. This verse is often quoted when there is a service to pray for rain. I preached on the verse when I was the Dean of a country Cathedral in Australia which was in the grip of a terrible drought.  Let me share the background and encourage you with what God did in His love and mercy.

1).  A TOXIC SITUATION.  HOW GOD BROUGHT HEALING.

My wife and I and our family had gone to minister in what was normally a very beautiful part of the world.  However a toxic situation had arisen. There had been widespread attacks on a conservative minister who had been elected as bishop. He was the right man for the position but some academics in the city had vented their disapproval of the appointment. Not only that but the previous Dean of the Cathedral had moved on suddenly to the surprise of the parish. We arrived in the beginning of a drought. The farmers had no crops. The sheep were dying in the fields.  The famous Australian gumtrees were dying being poisoned (we were told) by a small beetle. There was desolation everywhere. I went there to be the new Dean of the Cathedral.

A marvellous thing happened a short time later. The ministers in the city got together to pray. We would meet one morning during the week from 6.30am to 7.30am. We gathered together to pray for one another and for the city. We sat in a circle and put what we called a “hot seat” in the middle of the group. Any minister could sit there and ask the rest of us to pray for whatever need they had personally or for their parish. We would gather round and lay our hands on that person for God’s protection and for blessing on their ministry. We wanted the Lord to be exalted in all the churches.

The drought continued. So we began ecumenical services in which we prayed for rain. The first was in our Cathedral and I preached on this passage from 2 Chron 7:14.  At the end of the service we went out into the bright sunshine into a shower of rain. It was a bright blue sky except for a little white cloud immediately over the Cathedral. It was as though God was saying “YES!” to what we were doing.

We worked together to try to win the city for Christ. We invited a Christian motor cycle gang called the God Squad to come and speak to the schools in the city. Dozens were won to Christ. We invited women to come to a mid-week luncheon to hear the evangelist from the God Squad talk to women on what Jesus could do for them and for their families. Seven hundred women came. Dozens of others had to be turned away.

We invited David Watson and his team from York in England to do a mission in the town. We filled the University hall with hundreds of secondary school aged children. Dozens more came to know Christ. Then a very significant thing happened. It was the night of the final public Rally with David Watson and his team. The 1000 seat University Hall was booked out. I was to lead the evening as the Chairman of the Ministers Fraternal. Just as I was about to leave to go to the meeting, I received a phone call to say that a teenage lad whom I knew had been playing squash and had received a direct hit to his eye.  The doctors thought that he would almost certainly lose the sight of that eye. They were worried about the other eye as well. As I opened the meeting I told the crowd what had happened and invited them to pray with me for the young lad. So 1000 people (perhaps a majority being Christians) prayed with me. The next Sunday I told the Cathedral congregation what had happened. Then I asked the young lad to stand up and face the congregation. He had nothing wrong with either of his eyes. God had marvellously healed him. Word quickly went around the whole town of his marvellous healing.

The rains came. The drought was broken. It was as though God had baptised the earth with water to refresh the land and had poured out his Spirit on all the churches in the city. Our evening service grew from a handful to sometimes well over 200, mainly young people gathering together to praise God.  People were coming to the communion rail after the service and giving their lives to the Lord. Others received wonderful healing.

We joined together from all the denominations in the city in processions of witness in the main street of the city singing God’s praises as we went from one church to another in procession. The desolation had gone. The toxicity disappeared as the Spirit of God began to fall on people and a great sense of spiritual refreshment came on the believers in all the churches.  The people of God had become energised by the Holy Spirit of God.

Then it was time to leave that Cathedral to go to the Cathedral in Sydney. Just before we left I was asked to pray for a young woman who hadn’t been able to fall pregnant after 10 years of marriage. IVF treatments hadn’t worked. Humanly speaking there appeared to be no hope she would ever have a child.  I met her and her mother in the Cathedral during the woman’s lunch-break. Her mother and I prayed over her. A few months later her mother rang and said, “We’re going to have a baby”.  The daughter had conceived naturally within a month of our praying together.  It was a great encouragement as we settled into a demanding role in the Cathedral in Sydney.

The whole time in that city in the country reminded me that the Lord is the Lord of this universe. No matter how great may be the toxicity in people’s lives, or in cities or in politics, God can still do His thing if people are willing to be used by Him. IF they humble themselves, and pray and seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways

2).  GOD WILL BE PRAISED FOR HIS MERCY AND GRACE

I don’t have time to tell you of the amazing things God did in the Healing service in the Cathedral in Sydney during our 18 years there. I repeat WHAT GOD DID! We witnessed what He was doing, as His word was preached.  Let me jump right ahead to 4 years after my retirement from the Healing Ministry in Sydney. I was invited to preach at the 50th Anniversary of the Wednesday night Healing Service. I shared some of the great things God had done in answer to prayer at the service during 50 years. It was a reminder to many present who had come to the service over the years with broken hearts, broken limbs, broken marriages, broken relationships, shattered dreams and God had healed them. I made the point in the sermon that the Healing ministry was God’s ministry. He is the Healer. Then I said these words, “The Healing Ministry is not about Jim Glennon (my predecessor and founder of the ministry). It’s not about Jim Holbeck. It’s not about young Chris.”  (the new Leader). I pointed to the heavens and said, “It’s all about Him!”

And then it happened. Spontaneous combustion. Volcanic eruption. People jumped to their feet shouting out “Alleluia” or “Praise the Lord” or “Thanks be to God”. Many other expressions of praise and thanksgiving filled the Cathedral. Others stood and silently stretched out their hands to heaven. It went on for over a minute and it ceased as quickly as it had begun. I had never seen anything like it in almost 30 years of Cathedral ministry or 42 years in ministry. It was a spontaneous outburst of praise to God. It was as though God had baptised us with an outpouring of joy and love and His healing grace. I was still standing there in a pulpit waiting for the noise to die down, my hand still pointing to the heavens.

No human could have orchestrated such an outburst of praise. It was as though the hearts of the people overflowed with praise and thanksgiving to God for all he had done for them personally over the years. Many of us felt that we were standing on holy ground in the Cathedral that night in the presence of the Risen Lord.  When a Bishop came forward to pronounce the blessing, he said, “That is the most fun I have ever had in this Cathedral.”  It was a moment of glory. It reminded me of the passage in Luke 19 where there had been a spontaneous outburst of praise when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered in verse 40, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” The stones didn’t need to cry out that night in the Cathedral. The people were released to cry out in their adoration and praise and thanksgiving to God. We returned home praising God that He had been honoured and glorified by His people on that special night in the Cathedral.

Just a little over a week later one of our family members was touched by the Lord and brought into the kingdom of God.  In God he trusted. “In God we trust” was the cry from the people in the country Cathedral as they humbled themselves to pray for rain and for God’s blessing on the city. “In God we trust” was the cry of the people in that 50th Anniversary service in the Cathedral in Sydney as they rose as one person to praise God for their healing over 50 years.

HOW ABOUT TODAY? (The night of the USA elections)

The USA motto is “In God we trust”.  Florida’s motto is “In God we trust”. Tomorrow about half of the people in America will be sad. The other half will be joyful. One of those men Mr Obama or Mr Romney will become the most powerful human in the universe.  But he won’t be able to transform human hearts. He won’t be able by himself to reverse the slide towards secularism or a turning away from God. He will either help or hinder what God wants to do in His world. But no matter how we voted, we will be on the victory side tomorrow as believers. Our God reigns in His universe.

The risen Christ stands among us tonight as the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the only ruler of princes. He it is who holds the whole universe in His hands. He it is who accomplishes His will through (or sometimes in spite of) the politicians we elect. He is the God who can transform toxic situations and who can transform and heal you and me. It depends on whether we do our part in what He wants to do.  He encourages us in His word, (2Ch 7:14)  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. In response to His challenge to us we can offer Him all we are to be used in his purposes and can receive from Him the healing we need to do His will. Would you pray with me a simple one sentence prayer so that you and I as individuals can be healed to become part of what God wants to do in His world. “Lord Jesus, I invite you to do in me and through me what you wish.  To Your glory.  AMEN”.

Blog No.097. Jim Holbeck.  Posted in Florida. Sunday 11th November 2012

 

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