Parable of the Talents

The Parable of the Talents

   A few thoughts/ questions that are presented by this parable.

   1. Our faithfulness is authenticated by our fruitfulness.

      The Lord expects a return on the talents he has given us, in keeping with the measure of gifting we have received from him. We can too easily divorce fruitfulness from faithfulness in an attempt to legitimise a lack of fruit in our lives. We can too readily hide behind the cliche of 'all that matters is being faithful', without addressing whether our faithfulness has/is bearing spiritual fruit.     The parable's main point is that authentic faithfulness will ultimately be tested and rewarded on the measure of our fruitfulness.
     One of the questions I often as of myself is 'What fruit do I have in the basket?' That fruit might be the fruit of the Holy Spirit in personal character (Galatians 5 v 22-23); the fruit of answered prayer ( John 15 v 7-8); the fruit of discipled, transformed lives (Isaiah 61 v 1-3); the fruit of the harvest (John 4 v 35); or the fruit of practically serving another in Jesus' name (Matthew 10 v 40-42). Whatever angle we have on fruit, the question remains the same; Do we have fruit in the basket that authenticates our faithfulness to the Lord?

2. The Lord is our judge.

     The one talent man had a terrible view of the character of God..' Lord I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed'. Jesus is perfect theology (Bill Johnson). His judgements will be full of grace and truth. He will not expect anything from us that he himself has not equipped us for. What will this judgment look like in practice?

Jesus will:

- Only expect fruitfulness in relation to the measure of our gifting. If we only have one talent, then only one talent of fruit is expected. If we have five, then a return of five is expected. It can be tempting for those of us with one talent to sometimes cast an envious eye on those with five. If we are tempted to do this, bear in mind that 'to he who has been given much, much more will be expected'.
     So, for example, if a one talent person has been given a one talent gift of prophecy, then let that person exercise that gift within the measure of faith given to them (Romans 12 v 3). It might be that all the Lord is expecting from them is to be a faithful voice of 'encouragement, edification, and comfort' within the boundaries of their local church family. The fruit of their faithfulness will be seen in the encouragement received by that church family. However, someone who has been given a five talent gift of prophecy will be expected to produce fruit on a much wider canvas than the local church. As well as the local church, they would operate prophetically on a wider front in a city, a region, or even at a national level. They would have the gifting and capacity to do this, and the Lord would be expecting a level of fruitfulness commensurate with those talents.

- Make his judgment at the end of our lives. All of us will give a personal account for the stewardship of our lives when we die (Romans 14 v 10-13), and so it is important that we finish our race well. One of the most overlooked words in the Bible is the word 'if', particularly when used in relation to running and finishing our lives well- eg Colossians 1 v 22-23, Hebrews 3 v 7-15. Starting well is important, but ultimately finishing well is even better.

- Take into account our circumstances, history, the measure of light and revelation we have received, and the opportunities we have had to exercise our talents. Interestingly, in the parable, it is the one talent man who offers up the lame excuses to justify his own laziness and indifference to the Lord. The other two men were far too focused on fully discharging their stewardships to invent excuses for being unfruitful.

- Publically honour at the end of the age all the hidden works and words of our stewardship. The hidden life is the rewarded life( Matthew 6 v 1- 18). Those of us with a more public profile will be rewarded no more than those with a more hidden one. Whether in public, or private stewardships, it is ultimately on the depth of our hidden life in God that we are rewarded.

3. Do not judge what only the Lord is qualified to judge.

     There are judgement calls we are expected to make in everyday life as part of our 'training for reigning'. Jesus expected his disciples to be able to discern the times they were living in, to see the hypocritical motives behind the teachers of the law, and to be able to prioritize matters that were of an eternal and essential nature, over those things that were not.
   However there are judgement calls that only God can make on our stewardships. What way look very ordinary in our eyes, might have enormous reward and favour in God's eyes. It is sobering to remember that the majority of the Jews in Jesus' day didn't rate, recognise, or receive who he was. We are no different today. What often saddens and staggers me are the spiritual blind spots we all have in failing to recognise when the Lord's servants are in our midst. How often have I been dismissive of a person's gifting, that one day the the Lord will openly and publically vindicate?

4. Divine boundaries bring enormous freedom to our lives.

   When we know who we are, and how we are gifted by the Lord, we are free to be ourselves without comparing ourselves favourably or unfavourably with one another. This goes against the spirit of the age that tries to seduce us with the deception that 'we can be who we want to be', rather than enjoying the freedom and boundaries of who God has called us to be.
    When John the Baptist was challenged to identify himself, he knew who he was, but of even greater importance, he knew who he was not. He knew that he was 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness', but he was able to say'I am not the Christ' ( John 1v 19-23). In discharging our stewardships, we need to know the boundaries that God has placed on our lives. Do we know who we are? Do our peers recognise who we are? Do we know who we are not? For those of us who are married, our spouse is probably the best judge of who we are, and who we are not!

Works of Faith towards the Poor

'For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also'.

                                                 James 2 v 26.

'An epistle of straw' was Martin Luther's uncomplimentary critique of the Book of James, seriously questioning whether it should be in the Bible. He wrongly saw in it a 'gospel of salvation by works' that appeared to contradict the 'salvation by faith alone' text of Romans1 v 16-17 that inspired the Reformation.
    In reality Biblical truth is held in paradoxical tension. Personal salvation is 'by faith alone', but 'works of faith' authenticate our life changing encounter with Christ. Jesus said as much in his teaching:
' Let your light so shine before men, that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven'
                                                   Matt 5 v 16.

     In this short paper, I want to give some of the key Biblical passages that have shaped my thinking and practice in serving the poor. It is far from comprehensive, and I am the first to acknowledge that I have so much more to learn and practice in my own life. I am keeping it to the main passages that are important to me, and have refrained from illustrating what I say with any personal examples or stories. I want to let the scriptures do the talking without the need on my part to over elaborate.
     I have found very inspirational a paper written by Ray Mayhew entitled 'Embezzlement: The Corporate Sin of the Western Church'. I have also found the teaching of Arthur Wallis invaluable on this subject.
      In Proverbs 19 v17 we read: 'He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given' To the pious God fearing Jew, giving to the poor was synonymous with living a righteous life. For example, when Job defends his innocence and righteousness, one of his primary appeals is to the way he had treated with honour the poor:

      'Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper..... ' I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame, I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I dud not know'

                                      Job 29 v 12, 15-17.

     All of us at sometime have either lent out or borrowed something from a friend that is still out on 'long term loan'. Others have lent time, money, and gifting to people and organisations and have received no reward or recognition for their efforts.
    What is striking about Proverbs 19 v 17 is that those who have given to the poor as an outworking of their faith in Christ, will be rewarded in full by God himself. We may never receive back things we have lent out to people in this world, but God will repay us in full for everything we have lent out to the poor on His behalf.
    In Matthew 25 v 31-46, in the parable of the sheep and goats, Jesus gives clear teaching when this repayment is made. There are six categories of the poor and disadvantaged that the saints are 'repaid' in full for serving. These are:

- The hungry
- The thirsty
- The stranger
- The naked
- The sick
- The imprisoned
 
       Interestingly, in commending the acts of the righteous towards these six groupings of people, Jesus uses the phrase:
'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to me'
                                             Matt 25 v 40.

     Some commentators have pointed out that the poor and destitute in this parable are the disadvantaged and persecuted parts of the global church. The emphasis on 'what you did for the least of these My brothers', clearly implies that it was those in a personal relationship with Christ who were the ones being served as well as the ones doing the serving. We are only Jesus' brothers if we are in personal relationship with Him (Hebrews 2 v 10-14).
    One of the yardsticks that the Lord will use to test and reward our faith will be based on how well we have treated the poor and persecuted parts of the church family (Galatians 6 v 10, Hebrews 13 v 3, I John 3 v 17). However we also have a mandate to serve the poor irrespective of whether they are part of the church or not. The Gospel is 'good news to the poor', and caring for the poor was seen as axiomatic for the early church (Gal 2 v 10).
    Our vision in serving the poor is to see them established as 'trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified (Isaiah 61 v 3). In Psalm 113 v 7 we read of the Lord that:

'He raises the poor out of the dust, And lifts the needy out of the ash heap, That He may seat them with princes- With the princes of His people.'

   Providing basic humanitarian care and practical love towards the poor is an important but incomplete ministry. What distinguishes the church's mandate from mere humanitarian aid, is that the poor we are caring for 'might see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven'. 'Glorifying your Father in heaven' implies a person or community of people have had an encounter with the Lord for that to be an experiential reality. The language is rich in personal /corporate adoration and intimacy with God. It is as if the poor and disadvantaged have so seen and been impacted by the grace of God in our lives towards them, that they themselves have now become a part of God's family. By the rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit they have now been fully 'taken from the ash heap, and seated with the princes of His people.'
   All authentic works of God amongst the poor will produce 'trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified'. Healed lepers, prostitutes, blind Bartimaeus, the woman with the flow of blood, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the Gadarene demoniac, Mary Magdalene, and the thief on the Cross, are all examples of the poor and outcast being taken by Jesus from the ash heap and being seated at the table of princes. If Jesus is our plumbline, then serving the poor is more than humanitarian alleviation of poverty, important though that is. As the 'friend of sinners', Jesus transformed every life he touched, whether that person was a known name or not. They became prophetic signs that the Kingdom of God had come, and were the 'trees of righteousness displaying the glory of God'.
     It is interesting to read Ezekiel's account of what lay behind the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. We tend to associate sexual perversion as the sin of these two towns, and although that was the ultimate depravity that they fell into, the rot had set in earlier when they chose to shut their ears to cry of the poor. In Ezekiel 16 v 49 we read:

' Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom; She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.'

    When we close our ears to the poor, the Lord closes his ears to our prayers (Proverbs 21 v 13). When that happens corporately, society declines into the moral corruption that was not only characteristic of Sodom and Gomorrah's final days, but of all civilisations that have closed their ears to the cry of the poor. Giving to the poor seems to be one of the safety mechanisms that the Lord has given to help prevent societies from becoming consumed and ultimately destroyed through insatiable greed and idolatry.
    In conclusion, we care for the poor practically, prayerfully, and prophetically. Jesus is our plumbline, and our vision is to see the poor and needy transformed into 'trees of righteousness, displaying the Lord's glory'. Alleviating humanitarian disaster and disease is important, but we also want people to 'see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven'. Praising our Father in heaven would suggest that people have not only had their practical needs met, but have come into an understanding and intimate relationship with God themselves. We love the poor whether they love God or not, but an authentic work of God will at least be seeing some who have been ' taken from the ash heap and seated with princes'.
   To finish with, I have listed some of the questions that I personally ask when testing the quality of any work amongst the poor. These are:

-Whose name and honour is clearly being seen and heard? Is it Jesus' over and above anyone else? Or is His name relegated to the small print and either the name of a person or of the organisation gets the headline?

- Whose spirit and strength is this being done in? It is amazing what men and women can do without God. Only the strength and resources of the Holy Spirit bring about the permanent change that has the essential and eternal perspective in place. Could what we are doing be done just as well by a group of well meaning atheists or humanists?

- What transformation and change has taken place?  Humanitarian aid is important. Jesus fed the hungry with bread and fish. However, he also challenged and invited that same crowd to be transformed spiritually by feeding from him as the bread of life. It isn't enough to focus solely on alleviating physical needs, important though that is in demonstrating the love of God. We want to see total transformation of people's lives, city and nations filled with 'trees of righteousness, displaying the Lord's glory'.

Praying Mothers.

One of the foundational principles given to us in the Book of 1 Samuel in order to help us understand how the Kingdom of God works, is that of the importance a praying mother has in shaping the destiny of her child. The book opens with Hannah's prayer for a male child. The answer to that prayer is the birth of Samuel, and then through Samuel's ministry there begins a transition in  Israel from theocracy to monarchy.
      One of the mistakes we make is to judge on outward appearances rather than the heart. Who would have thought a praying mother would have given birth to the first kingmaker of Israel? Who would have thought that this little boy Samuel would go on to become a man who would bring the word of the Lord to all Israel?
    Praying mothers are of priceless value in the Lord's eyes. Hannah's prayer is very similar to that of Mary's in Luke 1 v 46-55. It was a praying mother behind the birth of Samuel, and a praying mother behind the birth and nurturing of Jesus. Paul will also commend Timothy's grandmother Lois, and mother Eunice,  for their spiritual nurturing of Timothy in his developmental years( 2 Tim 1 v 5).   
    It is recorded in both 1 Samuel 2 v 26, and in Luke 2 v 52 that both Samuel and Jesus 'grew in favour both with the Lord and men'. How much of that growing in grace was because of the godly praying of their respective mothers?     
     A brief look at their two great prayers recorded in 1 Samuel 2 v 1-10, and Luke 1v 46-55 will give all of us insights into the foundations of their prayer ministry, and especially provide an inspirational model for every praying mother in the church.

1. Both had joy in the place of prayer.

      1 Sam 2 v 1, Luke 1v 46-47.  

    All great moves of God are birthed in joyful prayer. One of the characteristics of the Kingdom is 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit'( Romans 14 v 17). These women were characterized by joy.

2. Both knew that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  

1 Sam 2 v 3, Luke 1 v 52.   

   Humility is one of the foundational keys to authentic spiritual sight. These women were sensitive to what attracted the Lord's presence, and to what would grieve Him. The Kingdom of God is released through men and women of humility, not through men like King Saul who have statues built to their own honour(1 Samuel 15 v 12).

3. Both knew that God wanted justice and vindication for the poor.

(1 Sam 2 v 8, Luke 1 v 53).

Proverbs 21 v 13 says this:

'Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, Will also cry himself and not be heard'.

   As we give to the poor our money, time, and lives, then we will find a greater openness from the Lord towards us in prayer.

4. Both knew that the source of their strength was the Lord.

(1 Sam 2 v 4, 10. Luke 1 v 51, 54).      

    The story of the Tower of Babel teaches us many things, one of which is how determined men can be to build very impressive empires and portfolios without any help from the Lord. David wrote in Psalm 20 that although 'some trust in chariots, and some in horses', he would trust in the name of his God.    
    Our strength is from the Lord, and often that will be in our weaknesses. When a mother is tired and exhausted at the business end of yet another long day mothering children, those prayers spoken over their children at night carry far greater weight and strength than we realise. In our tiredness and vulnerability, the Holy Spirit can help us in our weakness. How many men and women are where they are today because of the faithfulness of a praying mother?

5. Both kept the Lord's Name central in their prayers.

     There are 22 references in Hannah's prayer, and 17 in Mary's to the Lord in one way or another. We are the Lord's servant, he is not ours. We are blessed by the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom is not our servant. All honour and blessing belong to Him, and in our praying the Lord is the centre of gravity, not us.

6. Both knew that prophetic prayer was as much about moral formation as it was about discerning the future.   

   Both their prayers could be summarized with the words of Amos 5 v 24:

'But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream'.

    Prophetic ministry and prayer are built on the foundation of moral and ethical leadership in the Holy Spirit. Praying mothers can demonstrate in their words and actions how to model correct living and speaking in this 'crooked and perverse generation'(Phil 2 v 15).

7. Both of them knew how to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked.

   (1Samuel 2 v 9, Luke 1 v 52,54).     

    Both Hannah and Mary could discern between the proverbial fool and wise man. God loves all men, but some through their own choices are commended as wise, and others fools. Hannah would not have been taken in by the lifestyles of Eli's sons(1 Samuel 2 v 12-17). Praying mothers can be wonderful moral compasses in helping train their children to distinguish good from evil.
     I for one am convinced that praying mothers and listening children are essential foundations in the Kingdom of God. Often their lives are hidden ones. However, the Lord sees what is done and prayed in secret and will reward in full these champions of the faith.

The Inward Curvature of the Heart

The Inward Curvature of the Heart.

  " The beginning of love is the will to let those we love to be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them'.

                                          Thomas Merton .

      Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who welcomed the 'four walled freedom' of monastic life. This quote from his work 'No Man is an Island' reflects part of his own pilgrimage as a Christian mystic whose writings have inspired many.
     His comment on human nature is similar to that observed by Martin Luther, who thought there was an 'inward curvature of the heart' in all of us, distorting even our best efforts with a propensity to honour the qualities that we most admire in ourselves. I find Jesus' words on this inclination of the heart very helpful and therapeutic:

  " You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' " But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, " that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. " For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? " And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? " Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect".

                                       Matthew 5 v 43-48

     Christian love is far more radical than merely 'loving our own', or loving those qualities we see in others that we admire in ourselves. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live and love the Jesus way. The apostle Paul would comment that 'we are always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body' ( 2 Cor 4 v 10). His insights put a fresh clothing of understanding on what Jesus meant by ' picking up our cross daily, and following Him'. The degree to which the selfless, incarnational love of Christ is revealed in and through me is the barometer reading of how intentionally I am embracing the Cross of Christ. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up, and can never be a substitute for love.
      At a conference two years ago, the writer and apologist Os Guiness gave one of the most helpful answers to one of the most challenging questions facing the church today. He was asked ' How do we respond to those like Richard Dawkins who are being so aggressive and militant against the Christian faith'? His answer was 'that our love card must always stretch further than our truth card. As Christians we are first and foremost defined by our reflecting the love of Jesus. When people know they are loved, they are more likely to listen to the truth we embody'.
   It is one thing to quote, but quite another to outwork and live this simple but profound truth. The inward curvature of my heart would prefer to throw hand grenades of truth from a distance, and reserve my love for those who most reflect the morals and ethics I admire. Applying the Jesus plumbline, it is how much I love my enemies and bless those that persecute me, that reflects how deeply the cross has transformed my life.
    Alan Scott, pastor of Causeway Vineyard commented that ' We don't love our communities in order for them to become Christians. We love them because we are Christians'. This is far more than a play on words.
    In every community there are people whom we find difficult to love, perhaps even open enmity between families. Do we only love those that we think are likely to become a Christian? Do we only love those who are 'open to our message'? Do we only love those who have qualities that we admire? Do we only love those who have the means to repay us in kind?
    I find that asking these questions gets to the heart of what Merton was exposing in his reflections. Without the daily application of the Cross I quickly revert back to simply loving those qualities that I can see and admire in others. Without the Cross, my attempts to love are flawed by the inward curvature of my heart. Only by embracing the Cross can I begin to incarnate the unconditional love of Christ towards my neighbour, whoever that may be, and wherever that may take me.

Why a thorn in the flesh?

" To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong".

                             2 Corinthians 12 v 7-10.

Many have speculated on what Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' might have been. I'm not interested in doing that here, but I would recommend an excellent book on this subject written by Dr R.T. Kendall, called not surprisingly 'The Thorn in the Flesh'. He covers in detail the various thorns that many of us have to live with, and is pastorally very sensitive in lifestyle application.
   My question on why the Lord allows these thorns is answered in the earlier verses where Paul speaks about being 'caught up to third heaven and paradise', hearing in vision 'inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell'.The Lord allowed the thorn in Paul's life to prevent him from becoming conceited. There is a weakness and endearing vulnerability in any man or woman who has spiritual depth in the Lord. Like Paul, they know that whatever has been accomplished in and through their lives has been a work of grace from beginning to end. There is no place for subtle boasting or attention grabbing headlines over their life's script.
    All who have known any significant measure of grace will at some point have come to that place of self awareness that ' this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us'. Jacob is one of my favourite examples of someone who learnt this secret. After his wrestling match with God, Jacob is left with a permanent limp, and his account of the event is very clear: 'For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved' ( Genesis 32 v 30). The next verse says how 'the sun rose on him (Jacob), and he limped on his hip'. This new day of favour for Jacob would be characterized with a limp. In his weakness God's grace would begin to shape Jacob's (Israel's) destiny to be the womb that would bring forth Abraham's seed...Jesus.
    The thorn prevents us from becoming conceited and falling into the pitfall of taking credit for that which belongs to the Lord alone. There can be a subtle smugness that can creep up on us when we have known the grace and power of God flowing through our lives. We can come to think of ourselves as indispensable and irreplaceable. Eugene Peterson gives this insight of human nature in his book 'The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction'.

  ' I want to appear important. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands on my time are proof to myself and to all who will notice- that I am important. If I go into a doctor's office and find there is no one waiting, and I see through a half open door the doctor reading a book, I wonder if he's any good. Such experiences affect me. I live in a society in which crowded schedules and harassed conditions are evidence of importance, so I develop a crowded schedule and harassed conditions. When others notice, they acknowledge my significance, and I my vanity'.

    The virus of pride is so deeply entrenched in all of us, that perhaps it does need at times something as strong as a 'messenger of Satan' to prevent conceit overwhelming us. This all seems very drastic, but the fruit that it produced in Paul's life (delighting in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties) should check any temptation on our part to relegate this episode in Paul's life to a peculiarity unique to him. In 'Mere Christianity', C.S.Lewis devotes a whole chapter to 'The Great Sin'-pride. It is worth looking at what Lewis has to say on this ' worst of all vices'.

    'It is a terrible thing that the worst of all the vices can smuggle itself into the very centre of our religious life. But you can see why. The other, and less bad, vices come from the devil working on us through our animal nature. But this does not come through our animal nature at all. It comes direct from Hell. It is purely spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly. For the same reason, Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's Pride, or, as they call it, his self respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity- that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self- controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride- just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

     If Lewis is right, and I think he is, then perhaps there are times when drastic surgery is needed on our lives to prevent the spread of this spiritual cancer. Thorns in the flesh are not appealing- Paul wouldn't have pleaded with the Lord three times for his to be removed if they were appealing! However, the self evident fruit this produced in Paul's life is surely an encouragement to any of us who are currently struggling with any thorn in our flesh.
   If pride really is the Mount Everest of sin, then perhaps it does take a thorn in the flesh from time to time to 'keep our boasting in the Lord', and not in ourselves. Lewis finishes his chapter on 'The Great Sin', with the following insights:

   'If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed'.

    My conclusion is that 'every good and perfect gift is come from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows'. Whilst the thorn was clearly a messenger of Satan, the Lord clearly gave permission for this, not unlike when the Lord allowed Satan permission to torment Job. If the fruit of this thorn is to produce a greater dependence on the Lord, a safeguard against the cancer of pride, and a harvest of grace and righteousness in our lives and the lives of those we are serving, then perhaps it is no bad thing that the Lord doesn't always answer our prayers for deliverance in quite the way we want and expect.

Seven Tests of Authenticity

    'The nature of deception is such that we don't know we are deceived until after the event. We use the past tense, 'I was deceived', rather than the present tense 'I am deceived'. Rather like sleep, we only know how long we have slept when we have woken up, a retrospective insight'.

                                            Ray Mayhew.

   The warnings about deception are numerous in the New Testament, especially of false teachers and prophets that at the end of the age 'will deceive even the elect if that were possible'. Ultimately, we recognise a teacher or prophet by their fruit, and not simply their doctrine. In Jude v 11 we read the following warning:

'Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah'.

   All three examples had chosen a pattern and way of life that led to their destruction. When we walk in a 'way' of life, be it a love of money, sex, or power, that is contrary to the life and way of the incarnate Christ, then the letter that people read of our lives will be smudged and polluted beyond comprehension. It won't be the incarnate humility and grace of Jesus that the world will see and read, but rather the pride and selfishness of a world system that is the very antithesis of all that Calvary models to us.

    One of my favourite authors is A.W. Tozer. He died in 1963, but his insights are still relevant today. On this subject of recognising deception, he offers seven tests to evaluate authenticity of either a spiritual experience or teaching. These are as follows:

1. How do I view God in the light of any new teaching or experience?

2. Does this new teaching or experience in any way lessen who Jesus is?

3. Do I have a greater regard and love for the scriptures?

4. Does what I experience or am taught have any precedent in church history?

5. Do I grow in humility, or do I grow in pride and self promotion as a result of what I am taught or have experienced?

6. Does my experience or teaching divide the church?

7. How does this teaching and experience affect my attitude towards sin? Does it cause me to legitimize what the Bible declares illegitimate?

    He comments that it is quite often the zealous believer that can be more prone to deception. Sincerely wanting more of God, they can be seduced more readily than the half hearted person who has long since settled for spiritual mediocrity. All the more reason why those of us who have the privilege of teaching regularly in one context or another remain fully committed to 'watching our life and doctrine closely'.

Where is your joy?

    This is a question Paul asked the Galatians ( Galatians 4 v 15) and one that I ask myself from time to time. The Galatians lost their joy through a legalistic corruption of the gospel. We may not have that problem in our contexts, but the devil will still try to rob, steal, and kill our joy in the Lord. Sadly, we are often better at doing this to ourselves and one another without any assistance.
   Joy is one of those words, rather like 'blessing' and 'grace' that has been so misused and wrongly trivialized that it is in danger of being relegated to being a Christian cliche. Definition and meaning are important, and I have found The New Bible Dictionary definition of joy very helpful:

'Both in the Old and New Testaments joy is consistently the mark both individually of the believer and corporately of the Church. It is a quality, and not simply an emotion, grounded upon God Himself and indeed derived from Him ( Pslam 16 v 11, Phil 4 v 4, Rom 15 v 13), which characterizes the Christian's life on earth (1Pet 1 v 8), and also anticipates the joy of being with Christ for ever in the Kingdom of Heaven.'

   Jesus is the dictionary to interpret and understand all things, and the presence of joy is a clear litmus test that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In John 15 v 11, the gift of the Lord's joy is promised to all those who are abiding in the Father's love. This quality is evident even in Jesus's darkest hour on the cross, something picked up by the writer of Hebrews:

'Let us fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God'.

                                     Hebrews 12 v 2.

    It is in those dark moments in life that we can sometimes lose our joy and peace in the Lord, but this verse suggests that even in those dark moments there can still be access to a joy in the Holy Spirit that goes beyond our circumstances. The Book of Psalms was Israel's 'Book of Common Prayer and Worship', and provides some excellent insights into how we can be real with the Lord in life's difficulties and still remain buoyant in the Lord's joy. It is worth looking at one or two of them.

1. Honesty with the Lord.

   The Psalmists didn't hold back on how they felt about life in all its complexities. Here are just a few references to look up:

a. Psalm 3 v 7. David asking God to break the teeth of the wicked.

b. Psalm 5 v 10-11. David being less than loving towards his enemies.

c. Psalm10 v 12-15, Psalm 73 v v 1-3. David and Asaph frustrated at the apparent prosperity of the wicked.

d. Psalm 41 v 4-9. David perhaps in one of his more melancholic moments.

     David and the other Psalmists were real about how they felt, and had no problem expressing that to the Lord. If you look at some of Jeremiah's laments the language is even more striking, on one occasion even accusing God of deceiving him! (Jeremiah 20v 7). This is spiritual therapy.
   Rather than burying our anger, hurts, and frustrations, we take them to the Lord first. When I am feeling angry or negative about something or someone, I have found that praying and talking it through with the Lord privately has been of enormous value. Once offloaded, you are then able to see more clearly and remain in the Lord's joy. As I pray and wait on the Lord, the reassurance of his presence becomes the foundation to my thinking again. I begin to see things and hear things from a heavenly perspective.
    This was the experience of Asaph in Psalm 73. Having offloaded his frustrations about the apparent prosperity of the wicked, he then enters the Lord's rest, and sees things from heaven's perspective their eventual end- Psalm 73 v 12-24. When we see things from heaven's perspective, joy and peace are restored to our troubled souls. Sometimes we may need a trusted friend to help us rediscover the joy of the Lord's presence, but we need to be careful that we aren't using friendship in an inappropriate way to wallow in self pity.

2. Valuing the Lord's presence more than anything or anyone else.

    It is the Lord Himself who is our source of joy. When David's sin with Bathsheba was uncovered, his primary concern was that he would not lose the Lord's presence in his life. The Lord's presence meant everything to David. After being confronted by Nathan, he comes out with this amazing cry from the heart:

'Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me'.

                                 Psalm 51 v 10-12.

   David knew it was the Lord's presence in the Holy Spirit that brought the joy of salvation, and he didn't want to lose that at any cost. Sadly, if you read the account of Saul having his sin exposed by Samuel, you will see that Saul was far more concerned about what people would think of him than how the Lord felt..see 1 Samuel 15 v 24-30, especially verse 30.    David wanted the Lord's presence as priority. Saul was more concerned with saving face before people. David wanted the joy of the Lord's presence to remain, and to help others learn from the error of his ways (Psalm 51 v 13). Saul was only concerned with receiving the continued honour of the people.
   We lose our joy when, like Saul, we are more concerned with how people see us than how the Lord sees us. When we are wanting and striving for the affirmation of people over and above the Lord's presence, we lose our source of joy. All of us have to watch this. It may be our marriage, our parenting, our performance at work, our church service, our friendship groupings. We can all be tempted to be more concerned at what image we are projecting for the people audience, than desiring the Lord's affirmation and presence.
   Some of the most insecure people are church leaders, desperate to tell you how well their church is doing, how many people they have baptized, and who they know in the national church scene. When these words are in the mouth of one like David, it is a real blessing. When in the mouth of one like Saul they are toxic.

3. Not taking ourselves too seriously.

    'My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.' Psalm 131 v 1.

   David is the 'man after God's own heart', Israel's greatest King, one who was promised 'a house and kingdom that shall endure for ever', author of over seventy psalms, and ultimately a pattern of the Christ who was to come. For David to say that he didn't concern himself with great matters is a terrific understatement. He did concern himself with the Lord's matters, but in making the Lord his preoccupation David was able to put his life and insights into their proper perspective. No matter how great the experience or insight that David had, they were as nothing compared to him knowing and intimately enjoying the Lord's presence.
     The same is true of Moses who had some many shock and awe moments with the Lord, but his advice in Psalm 90 v 12 seems a little bit of an understatement in the light of those experiences:

'Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom'.

    Moses, like David and any man or woman of God, knew that no experience or revelation could ever be a substitute for personal intimacy with God Himself. When we have a glimpse of the Lord's greatness we begin to take ourselves a lot less seriously. As one wall poster pointed out in my university days, 'There is a God....and you aren't Him'. When we learn to not take ourselves too seriously, the joy of the Lord's presence becomes a greater reality.

4. Delighting in our salvation.

a. Psalm 16 v v 8-11.

     Fullness of joy is only found in the Lord's presence. We are the Lord's servant first before we are the servant of men. One of the primary causes of joy leakage is when we allow other people, projects, and purposes to be promoted before the Lord's presence in our priorities.

b. Psalm17 v 15.

An eternal perspective on life puts everything into its proper place. Seeking the Lord's face and not just the hand of His favour was David's priority. He knew significant favour from the 'Right Hand of God', but it was no substitute for the longing in his heart for face to face intimacy with the Lord. His hand had been trained for battle (Psalm144 v 1), but that was no substitute for delighting in the vision of one day seeing the Lord's face.

c. Psalm 37 v 3-4.

    Our salvation is past, present and future. We have been saved (Titus 3 v3-7), are being saved (Phil 2 v 12-14, 2 Peter 1 v 10-11), and will in the future be fully glorified in resurrection ( Romans 8 v 18-30). As we delight ourselves in the Lord's salvation today, we are thankful for the initial act of salvation in our past, and excited about the prospect of future glory. As we delight ourselves in the Lord, his desires become our desires, his priorities become ours and we never lose sight of our amazing and thoroughly undeserved salvation.

d. Psalm 84 v 1-2.

     We worship a living God who speaks and answers prayer. We enter into the joy of prayerful communion with the living God (Isaiah 56 v 6-7), into the joy of heaven's priorities (Luke 15 v 7, 10, 32), and the joy of Jesus's victory over Satan, sin and death (Luke 10 17-20). The Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14 v 17).        When we prioritise seeking first the Kingdom of God, joy will always be the hallmark of our lives. That joy is the Lord's presence with us, God Emmanuel, in every season of our lives. That joy is not first and foremost an emotion, feeling, or light hearted approach to life, but a person- Jesus Christ.
    His presence will bring laughter and light heartedness. He will also be the anchor of hope joy and peace in our grieving, hurting, fears, uncertainties and pain. In those more sorrowful moments, we can still know joy when we know that it is Jesus with us who is our ultimate source of comfort.
   I will finish with a personal testimony to that end. Some time ago the Lord revealed to me how he felt about something that had happened in my life. The pain, tears, and agony of soul came like waves of the sea throughout the day. I did not feel any joyful emotions at that time. However, by the evening the Lord had lifted this burden. The lightness and joy of the Lord's presence was so tangible that it was difficult to believe it was the same day.
   The Lord's presence was my joy. I can remember the day because it was so extraordinary, but also because we had a small fall of snow. The snow was significant, because I was under deep conviction of sin in my attitude to another brother, and when breakthrough finally came, the Lord used the snow to remind me that 'though my sin (my attitude toward this person) was like scarlet, it was now as white as snow' (Isaiah 1 v 18). On the back of conviction and repentance came a greater release of the Lord's presence, and with that His joy, in my life.