Jesus: Israel's Pearl of Great Price.

'Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it'
                       Matthew 13 v 45-46.

    The Parable of the Pearl would not have been lost on Jesus' Jewish audience. Israel as a nation was like the rich merchant in the parable, with a string of fine pearls in their spiritual history. In the Book of Romans, Paul cites a string of pearls that should have paved the way for Israel to have received Jesus as their Pearl of Great Price.
'What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God'- Romans 3 v 1-2.

Later in the book Paul recites these oracles as including 'the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises' - Romans 9 v 4. Despite having such a fine string of pearls, Israel rejected their Pearl of Great Price- Jesus.
    One of the consistent themes in Matthew's Gospel is that of fulfillment. With respect to Israel, Jesus is revealed as the one fulfilling all that Israel longed and yearned for, and all that she represented typologically as a type of Christ. These fulfillments include:

1. Jesus is now God's Presence with Israel - Matt 1 v 22-23.

   To know God now is to look to Jesus as the 'fullness of the deity in bodily form.' Israel was the womb preparing the way for Jesus to step into human history - Isaiah 49 v 1-3. Israel's calling as the servant to the nations is now fulfilled by Jesus, 'the true Light which gives light to every man' - John 1 v 9.

2. Jesus is Israel's Shepherd -Matt 2v 5-6.

    One of the greatest images in the Old Testament is that of God being revealed as the Shepherd of Israel - Psalm 23 v 1, Isaiah 40 v11, Ezekiel 34 v 11-31. Jesus is the Good Shepherd- (John 10 v 11), the one who fulfills all the pastoral imagery of the Old Testament. Jesus will  not only fulfill all that Israel longed for in a shepherd, but will also be a shepherd to the Gentiles as well. In John 10 v 16 we read: 'And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.' There is no division between Jewish or Gentile sheep.... one flock, and one new man in Christ.

3. Jesus fulfills Israel's Sonship- Matt 2 v13-15.

This quote is taken from Hosea 11 v 1, where the original quote is in relation to Israel - see also Exodus 4 v 23-23. Matthew sees Jesus as fulfilling Israel's sonship. The parallels are strikingly similar.
  Both Israel and Jesus were called out of Egypt. The infanticide that accompanied the birth of Moses under the tyranny of the Egyptian Pharaoh, mirrors the infanticide instigated by Herod around the time of the birth of Jesus. Israel had forty years of wanderings in the wilderness, Jesus forty days of fasting in the wilderness. Israel went into the land of Canaan with God's power and anointing on them, Jesus came out of the wilderness with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit upon Him. Israel went through the Jordan into their promised land, Jesus was baptised in the Jordan and heaven opened over Him. Canaan is the earthly inheritance foreshadowing Israel's (and our) spiritual inheritance in Christ - (Ephesians 1 v 3, 1Peter 1 v 3-5). Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the promised land.
    When the woman at the well was conversing with Jesus about worship, she pressed the point on whether geographical location with respect to Jerusalem was important. -( John 4 v 19-20). This was a question of major significance. We are familiar with the phrase that 'all roads lead to Rome', but for the pious Jew living in Jesus' day, all the roads of spiritual reality pointed to the temple in Jerusalem. Temple worship and the Torah were the glue that held Judaism together, and would have been the focal point of regular Jewish pilgrimage.
     When Solomon's temple was dedicated, the Lord placed His Name and ownership on it- (2 Chronicles 7 v 12-22). Jewish pilgrimage to Solomon's temple would have been synonymous with seeking the Lord's Name for His favour and blessing. Solomon's temple was destroyed during the Babylonian exile, but the temple of Jesus' day ( called Herod's temple), was still seen by religious Jews as the place where you met with God. It was still, along with the Torah, the focal point that held Judaism together.
   What Jesus said to the woman at the well is ground breaking. His pronouncement that 'the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father' is seismic in its implication. The true sons and daughters of God will worship the Father 'in spirit and in truth', without the need for any geographical centre in Jerusalem. The physical temple would no longer be a place of mediation between God and man, but rather He, Jesus, would now be the temple - the mediator between man and God-( 1 Tim 2 v 5-6).
   In John's account of the temple cleansing Jesus makes reference to His own body as being the new temple where God dwells:
'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty six years to build this temple, and You will raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.' ( John 2 v 19-21)
        The church is now the new temple where God lives by His Spirit-(Ephesians 2 v 19-22,1 Peter 2 v 4-10). One of the pearls that the majority of Israel held onto was the mistaken belief that they still had a privilege of sonship outside the new covenant that Jesus ushered in. Jesus is the fulfilment of their sonship.

4. Jesus fulfills Israel's calling as the Light to the Nations- Matt 4 v 12-1, Matt 28 v 16-20.

     In Isaiah 49 v 6, Israel is referred to as a 'light to the gentiles'. Israel was to be the elect nation that would reveal God's glory to all the nations. Israel's calling as that light foreshadows Jesus as the Light of the World. When Jesus declared 'I am the light of the world', he was taking that mantle off Israel and placing it onto Himself, rather like the Olympic torch being passed on from location to location.
    That torch has now been given to the church to be the light of the world, a point not lost on Paul. In Acts 13 v 47, he takes the very quote in Isaiah refering to Israel as the light to the Gentiles, and redefines its application in relation to his own church planting mission amongst the Gentiles.

  5. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah's Suffering Servant- Matthew 8 v 16-17.

     Perhaps no race has suffered more persecution than the Jews. Jewish culture was all but wiped out in parts of Europe during the Holocaust. The word Holocaust means burnt offering, and to many that is exactly what was happening to the Jews in Nazi occupied Europe.
    For many Christians, that burnt offering resulted in God establishing them again as a nation in 1948. This remains a controversial claim, but no Christian could seriously doubt the depth of Jesus' empathy with the suffering and pain the Jewish people endured in those satanic years. On the cross Jesus' final words, 'My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me? ', reveal how much Jesus can identify with those who are suffering and feel God forsaken.
   Jesus is the only burnt offering that makes peace with God possible. Whatever our view of the land and the modern political State of Israel, it is only Jesus who can fully restore and heal them as a nation. Land for peace will never bring peace to the Middle East. Only Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and Suffering Servant can do that for both Jew and Gentile alike.

6. Jesus is the fulfilment of Israel's prophetic calling as the Servant of Justice and Mercy to the nations- Matt 12 v 15-21.

    This quote from Matthew is taken from Isaiah 42 v 1-4, the first of four servant songs recorded in Isaiah. Despite the flaws in all of our theological systems, most would agree that a commitment to justice and righteousness are central to Jesus' life and teaching. Those who have surrendered their lives to the Great Pearl- Jesus, are to walk as He walked.
    The Jews of Jesus' day were offended by His commitment to righteousness, justice, grace and mercy. He extended privilege to women, honour to children, and respect for aliens and strangers that put Israel to shame. For example, He commends a Roman centurion for his faith, and in so doing exposes the unbelief and lack of faith within Israel (Matt 8 v 5-13). He is happy to receive financial support from women ( Luke 8 v 1-3), something unheard of for a rabbi to do. He honoured children and set them as an example of how we are to receive the Kingdom of God.
   Jesus demonstrates to Israel what it means to be the embodiment of justice and mercy, and in so doing fulfills the Law. Without Jesus at the centre, the pearls of the Law and the land lack both life and fulfilment.

7. Jesus fulfills the office of Israel's King - Matt 21 v 1-6, 27 v 37.

    Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant God made with David, that covenant bring summed up in the following verse: 'And your house and your Kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.' 2 Samuel 7 v 16.
  Did this ever happen in Israel's history? Where was their king and their kingdom when in exile? Who was their king in their post exilic return to the land? Where was their king during the four hundred silent years between the two testaments? The answer is that only in Christ is the Davidic Covenant fulfilled. There was no king in Israel after the Babylonian exile, and hasn't been ever since that time. It is Jesus alone who fulfills the office of Israel's king.
    Don Carson in his book 'Scandalous' points to the irony of the sign placed over Jesus at crucifixion, 'THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS'. He comments that 'this very Jesus who is being mocked as a king, is INDEED a king'. Israel was holding on to the pearl of a wrong hierarchical understanding of kingship, rather than surrendering to the servant king revealed in Jesus. How hard it can be for any of us to give up a wrongly entrenched belief system, when confronted with the opposite of what we were hoping for!

    Alfred Edersheim was a 19th century scholar, and messianic Jew. In his work 'The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah', he comments that Israel began with one man Jacob, and ended with the one man Jesus Christ. All of Israel's calling and election is fulfilled in Christ. In Christ, God is now constructing one new man, where there is no historic divide between Jew and Gentile -Ephesians 2 v 11-22. Jesus and His church are the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament temple was pointing towards. All who have faith in Christ, Jew and Gentile, are fulfilments of the promise given to Abraham, that he would be the 'father of many nations'-Genesis 17 v 5.
   The reason Israel rejected Jesus was because He didn't conform to their own theology of a messiah. There was no place for suffering and death in the Jewish concept of Messiah. When Jesus spoke openly about His pending crucifixion, Peter tried to persuade Him otherwise. Peter had no concept of a crucified Christ, and his well meaning but ultimately demonic wisdom had to be openly challenged by Jesus-Matthew 16 v 21-23.
   As a nation they had completely misunderstood the nature of Jesus' calling and election, as well as that of their own. Israel was called to serve as a light to the nations, to be the seed bed through which Abraham's Seed ( Jesus) would be born, through whom all the nations would be blessed. They were to be the firstfruits of what would ultimately be a harvest of 'all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands'- Revelation 7 v 9.
   When Jesus walked amongst them, they had 'eyes to see but couldn't see, ears to hear but couldn't hear.' We all have a selectivity switch, where we switch off from anything we see or hear that doesn't conform to our world view. The Jewish view of their messiah was of a conquering emperor, not a suffering servant dying on a cross. How could they have constructed that view in the light of such a clear portrait of the Suffering Servant recorded in Isaiah 53?
    The Jewish nation rejected their Pearl of Great Price- Jesus, clinging instead to the lesser pearls that were all intended to point to Christ. In Jonah 2 v 8, we read 'that those who cling to worthless idols, forfeit the grace that could be theirs.' In Jesus' day, Israel's religious system had become an idolatrous self serving system. The language and actions of Jesus couldn't be more explicit.
    He cleared the temple of those who had reduced religion to an opportunity for financial gain. He likened Israel to a fig tree having plenty of religious foliage but no spiritual fruit (Mark 11-12-19). Israel had a form of godliness, but no power. Rather than being the House of Prayer for all Nations, Israel's religious system had become a demonised, idolatrous, and self serving institution. Jesus was a threat to those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. It was the desire to preserve their own self interests that lay behind the Jewish religious leaders' decision to conspire with the civil authorities to have Jesus crucified.
   It is easy for any of us to relegate Jesus to being the 'best in the line of' pearls. He is far more than that. Jesus stands in a unique category of one. He is not simply the best in a line of options open to us, He is the Pearl of Great Price. Israel had a string of precious pearls, but without Jesus at the centre, those lesser pearls had no eternal value. My prayer for Israel today is that they discover Jesus as their Pearl of Great Price, and that the long suffering Jewish people come back to Christ as their true source of peace.

Why a dove?

    It was while listening to a download from teacher and theologian Ray Mayhew, that I was prompted to think around this question that he posed; 'Why did the Holy Spirit fall as a dove on Jesus at His baptism?' He went on to comment that John the Baptist had spoken of Jesus coming to 'baptise with fire', and that at Pentecost tongues of fire had come to rest upon the disciples in the upper room. However, at Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus not as a tongue of fire, but as a dove. Why a dove?
    With these questions in mind I have reflected on what spiritual realities those looking on at Jesus' baptism would have seen, and how we bridge cultures to apply what is relevant for us today. These reflections are not in any order of importance and are intended to provoke us to think what our lives could look like as men and women upon whom the Spirit rests.

   1. An image of mourning. -Isaiah 38 v14, 59 v 11, Ezeikel 7 v 16.

'Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted' Matthew 5 v 4

    In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promises that those who mourn shall be comforted. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, and loves to respond to those who are aware of their need and dependency upon Him. He dwells with those who have the broken and contrite spirit of Isaiah 66 v 2, humbly responding to the Lord's word, the very opposite of self sufficient pride and man made religion.
    In recent weeks I have found myself mourning and lamenting the state of the nation. I have felt tearful, and at times angered over how much of our Christian heritage we have thrown away, and have found Psalm 11 v 3 a source of comfort- 'If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?'
   The answer is found in the next verse. As the church we are now the temple of God, ( 1 Cor 3 v 16-17, Ephesians 2 v 19-22, 1 Peter 2 v 4-10). We can pray and intercede for our nation, that God would continue to grant us grace and mercy. I am not one of those who subscribes to the doom and gloom school of prophetic intercession, and believe it is always God's desire for mercy to triumph over judgement, and that He wants to reveal His glory again in these islands. However, I have felt the Holy Spirit's grief over the pollution and destruction of so much of our Christian heritage.
      For example, I grew up in a school system where the Lord's prayer was prayed daily without any awkwardness. Prayer provides a covering over our governmental and educational ininstitutions, inviting the Lord's favour and blessing to rest upon them. Whilst acknowledging the pockets where this heritage still remains, the majority would now feel awkward having prayer at the centre of our government and education systems.
     As I pray and lament the apparent ongoing loss of our Christian inheritance, I am also inspired by the conviction that all is not lost. As I mourn and lament in the Holy Spirit, I am also convinced of the incredible grace and compassion of the Lord towards this nation, and firmly believe lamenting will be turned into the laughter and comfort of the Holy Spirit.

2. An image of atonement honouring the poor.

'And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons- one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean'

                                               Leviticus 12v 8

   Luke records that Mary offered the pair of doves for her purification after the birth of Jesus (Luke 2 v 23-24), the sacrifice of the poor. From the cradle to the grave Jesus is identified with the poor, and any serious move of the Holy Spirit will have the poor at the heart of it.
  The only cautionary note on this is to ensure that our serving of the poor is a response to the love that God has put into our hearts. That love will manifest itself in a variety of political and economic actions, from the micro level of caring for an elderly neighbour, to the macro level of confronting injustice and corruption in government.  
     My cautionary note of ensuring that we are responding to the love of God is because it can be easy for some of us to become zealots who end up cursing rather than praying for those who are the instruments of injustice. Our fight is not against flesh and blood,and we need to remember that Christ died once for all men. The one who died for the thief on the cross, and blind Bartimaeus, also died for the Herods and the Pilates of this world. Only when the dove rests on us can we love and serve the poor, and at the same time pray for the perpetrators of injustice.

3. Resting on a new creation and humanity.

    In Genesis 8 v 8-12, the dove that is released from the ark came to rest upon a new post flood creation. At Jesus' baptism the Holy Spirit found a place of permanent rest upon Jesus. In placing Jesus' genealogy immediately after His baptism, Luke deliberately makes a connection between Jesus, the second Adam, with the first Adam of creation.
    At His baptism Jesus is pointing to the cross where the old order of humanity in Adam will be buried with Him in death, and a new humanity ushered in through His resurrection. We are brand new creations in whom the Holy Spirit dwells (2 Corinthians 5 v 17).The old life of sin and death has been buried with Christ in baptism.
     We are now united with Christ in resurrection, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is now living in us! We live as joyful new covenant men and women, at peace with God and one another. Our emphasis  is growing into the new humanity that Christ has ushered in through His resurrection. We live as saints in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

4. Image of innocence and purity.

    'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God'.  
                           Matthew 5 v 8.

   Later on in his gospel Matthew records Jesus' words to the Twelve to 'be as shrewd as serpents, and as innocent as doves'. Purity of heart will attract the Holy Spirit.
    The lesson Samuel was taught when anointing the successor to Saul, that God looks at the heart not outward appearance, is one that can take a lifetime to learn. All of us can have an outward hit list of sin and behaviour that we find irritating, but how many of us have pride, carnal ambition , covetousness, lust, jealousy, manipulation, and self righteousness hidden behind a foliage of outward conformity to a right way of living?
    Jesus operated on a different playing field. He knew what was hidden deep inside the heart. A priceless passage for me personally, that has spared me time and time again is in John 2 v 23-25. It reads:
'Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the Feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in a man'.

    A caution and reserve in relationships is no bad thing at times, particularly with people you don't know very well. I have often been misunderstood for being aloof and one step back at times before committing myself to people. There are times when the Holy Spirit has simply been saying 'Not this one'.
God looks at the heart, through all the good and not so good outward behaviour, all the impressive and not so impressive testimonies. How discerning are we? Do we believe everything we see and hear, or do we probe a little deeper through the way things appear, not as self appointed sheriffs, but as watchmen growing in the insights of the Holy Spirit?

5. The dove is an image of sensitivity.

     Unlike a pigeon that will think nothing of eating of out of your hand, a dove will fly away at the slightest noise or movement. They are highly sensitive birds. Dr R.T. Kendall picked up on this comparison between doves and pigeons in an address he gave. He commented on how insensitive all of us are at times, practising what he coined 'pigeon religion'.
   He would quote amongst others the example of Samson. As Samson slowly gave in to the temptations of Delilah, he gave away the secret of his strength. When the Philistines attacked him, he got up and thought that he could shrug them off as he had done before. On this occasion he 'knew not that the Lord had departed from him' -Judges 16 v 20.
   We can easily offend the Holy Spirit, often with the type of unchecked motives and attitudes we have already touched on. Tongues and prophecy without love in our hearts soon become clanging gongs and clashing cymbals. Gifts of the Holy Spirit, lovely works of grace, can be seen to wrongly promote those we think have the Lord's favour over those we think don't have that favour. The dove that fell on Jesus remained on Jesus. We want the Holy Spirit to remain on our lives, not simply to touch us from time to time in meetings. The Holy Spirit found a permanent and sensitive place to rest and be at home with Jesus. That would not have gone unnoticed by those watching on at his baptism.

The Sociology of Knowledge applied to Biblical Interpretation

      'Our understanding of Scripture must always be open to refinement. All interpretations of Scripture need to be tentatively final. They have to be final in the sense that obedience cannot wait for the disciple to read yet one more technical article in biblical studies. At the same time, all efforts in biblical interpretation are flawed. Our interpretation of Scripture, therefore, must never be closed to correction and revision.'       
Ken Bailey -'Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes.'

The Sociology of Knowledge encourages us to look at the influences that have shaped our thinking, and how those influences are then transfered on to our interpretation and understanding of the Bible. Ken Bailey goes on to quote Lesslie Newbigin's insights about the "plausibility structures" through which we see the world, so to quote again from Bailey's book: "What he, (Lesslie Newbegin), means is that each of us perceives reality through the lenses of our language,culture,history,politics,economic theories, religion and military."

  We often talk about the 'clear,objective meaning of a passage', but our problem as interpreters is that we are often very subjective in our exegesis, unaware of the subtle influences that our own personal contexts have brought to our interpretation. A young man growing up in a culture where women are dishonoured, patronized, and considered second best, could easily read into 1 Timothy 2 v 12 a convenient censorship on women taking a full and active role in the teaching faculty of the church. A theology of restraint on womens' ministry is then constructed, which is more the product of a skewed cultural lens rather than a commitment to Biblical integrity.
The illustration of attitudes to women is a helpful one. Jesus came into a Jewish culture that had the most appalling attitude to women. Jewish men of Jesus'day would be known to thank God that they had not been born a woman. Rabbinic schools were male only territory, with many embracing the often quoted motto 'that the scriptures would be better burnt than be handled by a woman.' Into this type of hostility, Jesus openly affirms women, even allowing them to support his ministry financially ( Luke 8 v 1-3). It would have been unheard of for a rabbi to openly receive this kind of support from women.
  He had no problem with Mary sitting at his feet, opening up a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well, or instructing a woman to go as the first witness of His resurrection and to inform the rest of the disciples. My point is that whatever our present conclusions might be on womens' ministry, the lens through which we interpret the scriptures needs to have Christ at the centre, and not any social or cultural stereotypes. This is true of everything we interpret in the Scriptures.
  A person may have grown up with an alcoholic parent whose alcoholism led to significant hardship in the family. Understandably, we might construct a temperance theology, but one that has more to do with our negative experiences than on on what the Bible actually has to say about the drinking of wine. Drinking to get drunk is clearly out of bounds, but the drinking of wine in itself is not.
     All of us have blind spots, where personal history has shaped our world view. What we might think is 'the clear objective teaching of the Bible', may actually be more a case of me reading into the Bible what I want it to say in order to legitimize my own personal preferences. A person born with a silver spoon in their mouth , growing up in an environment where they had everything they wanted on a plate, could easily misunderstand the nature of Christ like servanthood. Serving others in the spirit of Mark 10 v 45 is a lot more costly than giving people the time and resources from your life that you will not miss.
     The Western Church has been significantly shaped by Aggressive Capitalism. We can all quote the well known verse that 'a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions', but how many of us live as if the opposite were true? Why is it that a corrupt version of the 'Health and Wealth Gospel' can thrive in the Western Church, but would be laughed out of court in the North Korean or Chinese Church?
    I found this quote from Graham Johnson's book 'Preaching to a Post Modern World' more than struck a chord. He writes:

   "The Book of Job shows how God will not be pressed into an apology or explanation. Yet how often have Christians confused the living God with a vending machine? Are we looking to put in the coin and get the answer? When the machine fails, we kick it and demand 'Why?' "
   In the West we can so easily reduce our Christian faith to the vending machine illustration. When things go wrong, particularly in relation to life's comforts, we can be tempted to throw a tantrum. We read into the Bible that we are,as Christians,able to be immune from life's unpleasantries.
   A friend of mine observed that the persected church will pray courage prayers to see them through life's hardships, whilst in the West we will generally pray comfort prayers to get us out of life's hardships. Both types of prayer are fine- it's just that in our culture the comfort prayer rather than the courage prayer are more the norm.
  
      In one of the chapters of 'The Act of Bible Reading', edited by Elmer Dyke,the contributor Craig Gay,encourages us to have 'a little healthy suspicion toward all of those who are so anxious to tell us how we ought to read and understand Scripture.' The church pastor who is always talking about tithing, and whose salary depends upon the generosity of the church he pastors is an obvious example. Who is empowering who when the salaried pastor constantly reminds his church of the blessing that will come to them when they give their tithes to the local church?
    What is not so obvious are the subtle pressures that can be used to legitimise everything that the nation of Israel does and stands for in the Middle East. This will be the subject of a seperate blog, but suffice to say that the whole subject needs serious and objective rethinking. Who is empowering who when we are told that God will remove His blessing on the nation or person that doesn't pray for Israel? Where is that kind of fearful persuasion found in any chapter of the New Testament?
   I will leave the final word with Eugene Peterson. In his foreword to 'The Act of Bible Reading', he comments that 'Historically Christians have been concerned about how we read the Bible as that we read it'. He goes on to say 'that those who don't know the world of the Bible are likewise dangerous to themselves and others.'
  The world of the Bible is a far cry from the Western Culture that I live in. I couldn't determine the times and seasons for my birth and upbringing, but I can attempt to increasingly approach the Scriptures like a child, aware that I am so dependant upon the Holy Spirit, and the cumulative wisdom of others to find the life of Jesus within them.

Recognising Grace

       An important area of personal discipleship is the development of a spiritual faculty that will help us to distinguish between the Lord's grace on our character, from that which is on our works of service. The two are not necessarily the same. One only has to look at the disciples to see ample evidence that being used by the Lord to do amazing things in His service, is not necessarily a vindication of our character and personal spirituality.
       Despite being involved in many miracles, time and time again they are caught arguing about who is the greatest, who will be the leader, and who should and who shouldn't be included within their ranks. This dichotomy isn't limited to the New Testament. Jonah witnessed an amazing revival amongst the Assyrians in Nineveh, but was so angry with God for sparing them, he sat down in a sulk and wanted to die! Jacob plotted, schemed, and ultimately succeeded in deceiving his brother Esau out of his birthright. Aaron had a major architectural role in the construction of the golden calf at Sinai. In Jacob and Aaron's case, they would both go on to become men whose lives spoke as loudly as their works.
     One of the evidences of spiritual maturity is a growing self awareness and understanding that every calling on our lives is a calling of grace. With that in mind, I have listed a number of clues that can help us identify authentic grace operating in our lives. As already pointed out, we need to discern between the grace of God that is changing our lives, as opposed to that which is on our ministry or service. The two are not necessarily the same.
     Jesus reserved some of his strongest words for those who thought that the quality of their performance for Him would compensate for the lack of passion and desire to both know and become like Him.
  " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. " Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" "And then I will declare to them, ' I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' Matthew 7 v 22-23.
      Grace is our teacher to change us into the image of Christ.
     'For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good'. Titus 2 v 11- 14.
     What are the clues to look out for in recognising authentic grace on a man or woman? I've listed a few that I look for, and I hope and pray people will see more and more of these clues in my own life and pilgrimage. I am very aware that I am still very much a work in progress.

   1. People of grace walk with a limp.

        There is nothing new in this statement, and many have used it in relation to Jacob walking with a limp after his wrestling match with the Lord (Genesis 32 v 22-32). Equally well known and quoted is the reference to Paul's thorn in the flesh ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7-10).
   The point is that there is a humility and vulnerability in anyone who has had any serious encounter with the Lord. Isaiah was never the same man after his encounter, recorded in Isaiah 6. Peter was not the same man after the Lord's recomissioning of him in John 21. John on the island of Patmos, was left prostrate when he encountered a small glimpse of the Lord's glory.
    When our spiritual eyes are opened, we see how merciful and mighty the Lord is. Everything is put into a correct spiritual perspective. We echo the words of Isaac Watt's hymn, that 'All the vain things that charm me most, are surrendered to His blood'. Whatever giftings, abilities, riches, wisdom, or strength that we possess, all have been freely given by the grace of God. We are grateful recipients of undeserved privilege and mercy.

2. We walk as sons not slaves.

    One of the greatest enemies to true spirituality is false humility and its accompanying 'worm theology'. An encounter with the Lord will leave us in no doubt that we are undeserving recipients of grace and mercy. However, that same encounter will leave us in no doubt of God's love for us. God is Love! He has redeemed us, and has now 'blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ' (Ephesians 1 v 3).
     Humility that comes from God's grace working in us gives us a confidence and boldness to approach our Heavenly Father in prayer. True humility has a correct view of the Lord, and of ourselves as co-heirs and sons in Christ. We share the Father's house and heart. We were once alienated from God, but now we are his children.
    A child of God is a spiritual prince, not a pauper; a warrior of love and truth, not a worm begging in prayer like a modern day Oliver Twist for a morsel of spiritual blessing. Grace is the foundation upon which we access the full rights of sonship in Christ. Growing in sonship is one of the great clues of God's grace being evident on a person's life.

3. Success, Sacrifice, and Suffering converge in a servant lifestyle.

     One of the greatest passages that reveals the nature of Jesus' life and ministry is Isaiah 53. In this servant song, Jesus is presented as one 'familiar with suffering', and one 'stricken by God'. Through suffering and sacrifice, Jesus succeeded in 'bringing us peace..., by his wounds we are healed'. All three- success, sacrifice and suffering, converge together in the servant, Jesus. What an example to follow!
     We can't even begin to follow this example without the grace of God. However, I do believe that these outstanding qualities of sacrificial suffering servanthood, are part of the foundational grace that God ultimately declares successful. The radical Jesus models a completely different paradigm of a life given to the Kingdom of God. I am always a little cautious of anyone who carries the outward trappings of success, without any of the wounds and suffering that will naturally accompany our daily carrying of the cross.

   'In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persected, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived'.      2 Timothy 3 v 12-13.

4. Security, Simplicity,and Submission converge in a self effacing lifestyle.

      Insecurity is something that we all struggle with, and the battles will be different from one person to the next. As a church pastor, I have observed that insecurity in church leadership will often manifest in the following ways:

- A desire to have a finger in every pie, so that one can keep control of everything. Those who are often saying that they are committed to team ministry are often the ones who in practice end up leading one man shows.

- A pre occupation with being given recognition and opportunity.The question 'Where do I fit in?', becomes more important than the positioning and serving of others.

- Commitment more to ideology and sociology as the glue to keeping the organisation together, rather than Christology. We become more concerned with the values that empower and protect the leadership and the movement/ organisation, than we do in promoting the values of the Kingdom of God.
  
     When we follow Jesus, we are not that bothered where we fit in or whether we are getting recognition. Our security is in the grace of God, and not whether people recognise our gifting or calling. We know God will be looking after the details of our lives. We don't take ourselves too seriously, and can see the tremendous security and healthiness in submitting to the grace of others around us.
    I often find that there is a simplicity of manner, life, and expression on those living out of the grace of God. Complex things are made simple; there is an ease in being in their company; you are free to be yourself without being judged; you find yourself wanting to follow Christ with greater passion.

5. Silence, Serenity, and Sufficiency in Christ, converging in a hidden life.

    In Proverbs 27 v 3, we read that the provocation of a fool is heavier than a stone. I know there are times when I have been provoked to speak or express annoyance, that has made me look more the fool than the person who has provoked me. Remaining silent when under provocation requires incredible levels of grace. Jesus remained silent before his accusers. How often have I regretted not doing the same when under provocation?
    A hidden life with the Lord is one of the keys to remaining silent under provocation. When we do need to speak, we will do so with poise and appropriateness, rather than reacting to the circumstances and people around us.
         All of our callings are callings of grace. Whether we have one, two, or five talents, they are gifts of grace that we exercise to glorify God. However, the grace of God on our service is not always necessarily a vindication of the Lord's grace on our lives. As we have seen, the Bible is full of examples of where people have been used by the Lord inspite of themselves. May we be those who are known for the grace of God on both our lives and our works of service. Where God's grace is on what we do, because of, rather than inspite of, how we are living before Him.

Prayer is the Work

       The more I reflect,the more I am convinced that without a hidden prayer life,we could all slip into a lifestyle of independence,a mere play acting at following Christ. At worst, this could lead into a lifestyle of pride and arrogance, and a misplaced belief in ourselves not too dissimilar to that which motivated the construction of the Tower of Babel. The Babel story has many applications, not least of which is how much man can build without any help from the Lord.
In my experience there are two extreme positions to avoid. The first is monastic retreat, where I simply use prayer as a comfort blanket to avoid getting my hands dirty in a messy broken world. The other is where I am too cavalier in rushing in where angels dare to tread, and see prayer as no more than a prologue or appendix to my own agenda. As in all things, Jesus teaches and demonstrates a rhythm of life that is anchored in the fruit of answered prayer. I have put a number of those principles down which I have found helpful in my own prayer pilgrimage.

1. Jesus deliberately made time to pray. '
    
'Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed'.      Mark 1 v 35.
 
  Prayer wasn't the prologue or the appendix to Jesus' day. Prayer provided the fuel and focus for His mission. Rather than staying static in the place that he had just performed numerous healings, His response to His disciples' request was 'Let us go somewhere else' ( v 38).
   His prayer life gave Jesus clarity of focus, and kept Him dancing to the Father's calling on His life, rather than the agendas of men. The message of the gospel accounts is clear. Jesus deliberately diaried in significant and regular times of prayer. We need to do the same. I am all for 'praying on the move', in the mix of life. However that is not the same as intentionally making room for prayer with no other agenda.

2. Jesus prayed in relaxed locations.

Jesus prayed at times in the wilderness,
on a mountain, or in a garden.There would be times when he was alone  (Luke 6 v 12, 9 v 18,11 v 1), and times when he would be praying with those close to Him ( Luke 9 v 28-31, 22 v 39-46). We need to find what times and locations are best for us.
      I personally find walking in the countryside, preferably in the early mornings very helpful. For others, it might be late at night over a coffee in their lounge. We need to find what works for us. We also need to get the balance right of how often we are on our own in prayer, and when we need to be praying with others for support. Jesus had a select number who He would share His heart with, as well as a clear personal prayer life with the Father.
  I've often found it helpful to offload major burdens on to the Lord first, in private, and to then pray through those same issues with close friends. Praying with others is important, but it is not a substitute for our own personal prayer life.

3. Praying out of Sabbath Rest.

'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest' Matthew 11 v 28.

  We find sabbath rest in Jesus because He is the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus delighted Himself in His Father's love, and the security of that unconditional love is the foundation for our own lives. At His baptism, Jesus heard the Father's words of affirmation and love before He had done any ministry ( Matthew 3 v 13-17).
  When we are secure in that same love, we can then pray for all that is on our heart with poise and passion . We won't be praying to score reward points in heaven, or to use prayer as a place to tell God how great we are, and how not so great others are. Sabbath rest is the place where we are better able to hear God's voice, and begin to get our prayers from heaven, rather than from ourselves.

4. Prayer is the place of submission.

    In the Gethsemene account of Jesus' last moments before His arrest, we see Him praying the ultimate prayer of submission. In the words of a Graham Kendrick hymn, 'Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered'. His submission to the Father, in the place of prayer, brought Jesus into line with the Father's will. This cup of suffering could not be removed by prayer, but Jesus would need prayer in order to help Him drink it down to the dregs.
  Prayer cultivates a soft and teachable spirit, to the Lord and to one another. When any group of Christians regularly pray together, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ becomes a lot easier than if you were not praying together. All of us at some point will have to drink a cup we would rather avoid. Through learning to pray in submission with others,with a humble spirit and contrite heart, we can access the grace to help us at that moment of need.

5. The Scriptures come to life.

     In the wilderness, Jesus is meditating on the scriptures, and uses them to resist the devil's temptations ( Matthew 4 v 1-11). The marriage of prayer and the scriptures were the foundation of Jesus' understanding of spiritual warfare. It isn't enough to simply have the scriptures in our hands, we need to learn how to pray the scriptures into reality.
  At a personal level, I have a number of foundational scriptures that the Lord has given and clearly confirmed over the years. Quite often I will go back to them, at times with a little fasting, to pray over them again and again. It is thrilling when you see them become more and more a reality in either your own life, or in the lives of others. When the devil attempts to undermine, there is no substitute for concrete, prayed through scriptural realities to draw strength from.
   Jesus' desire was to only say and do what the Father gave Him to say and do ( John 5 v 19-30, 12 v 49-50). He knew what was in a person's heart, and knew the right word to bring at the right moment. It was Jesus' rhythm in the place of prayer that fuelled His words and works. We need to follow in His footsteps. It can be so tempting to'wing' things in our own strength. God is gracious, and will often bless our efforts, but it is often inspite of us rather than because of us.

6. Jesus commended perseverance in prayer.

   Luke records two stories to emphasize the importance of perseverance, in Luke 11 v 5-13, and 18 v 1-8. Both stories challenge me. I often wonder how many unfinished prayer projects there are in heaven, resembling an incompleted building site. Jesus taught and modelled persistent and persevering prayer. If we are to see sustainable spiritual change in our churches and cities, then surely a foundational life of persevering prayer amongst the leaders of those churches and cities has to be axiomatic?

7. Jesus inspired others to pray.

In Luke 11 v 1 we read that the disciples came to Jesus and wanted Him to teach them how to pray. They had clearly seen something in Jesus' prayer life that caught their attention. Two questions. When was the last time you asked anyone to teach you how to pray? Secondly, has anyone ever asked you to help teach them how to pray, on the basis of seeing you pray, rather than merely hearing you talk about prayer?
  Prayer is as much caught as taught. We need teaching, but there is no better place than to actively engage in prayer, either on our own, or with others. Some of my most treasured moments have been in places where people have modelled prayer to me, praying that has been on a different planet.

8. Jesus is looking for a House of Prayer

''My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" Mark 11 v 17.

  Jesus taught and modelled prayer that had both the personal and global context in view. So for example, he cared passionately for individuals like Lazarus and Zaccheus, but commissioned the disciples to go and preach to the nations. He had both a vision for individuals, but also saw the bigger picture of discipling whole nations. He was also concerned for the immediate needs of people, as well as the eternal realities to come.
    So, for example, He would feed a large crowd with a few loaves of bread and fish, but at the same time remind that same crowd that there was something far more important to life than simply having their stomachs filled ( John 6 v 25-59). Our prayers need to reflect both of these opposite perspectives. We need to pray and act with individuals in mind, but also pray and act with the bigger picture of discipling nations in mind. We need to pray and act with people's immediate needs in mind, but also recognise the eternal backdrop and consequences of how people respond to Jesus.
  A few thoughts then on how Jesus positioned Himself in prayer. If there is some truth in that old cliche, that 'a man is only as big as his prayer life', then my prayer is 'Lord teach me how to pray'. The last thing I want to do is make prayer the prologue or appendix of my life.

Contending for the Faith.

' The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men.'

                                               Psalm 12 v 8.

    One of the principles that we often quote in our Bible interpretation is that of objectivity. What does the plain, objective meaning of this text mean? How would this have been understood by the original recipients?
   They are good questions. The problem is that as interpreters we are less objective than we think. We have all been shaped by parental background, education, social class, church history, and many other factors. If you gave this verse to ten different people, they would all have a different view on what was vile and honoured by men.
   A mother who had lost a child in a Bangladeshi work house accident, might suggest that aggressive Western Capitalism was responsible for her child's death. The poor working conditions, low wage, and exploitation of child labour in order to produce cheap clothing for the European markets could legitimately be seen as a vileness honoured in the West.
    A father from England who had lost a son fighting a war in some distant land might have a different view altogether. A single mother living as an asylum seeker in an inner city suburb, would have a different view to that of a middle class solicitor.
    From a personal perspective, my own interpretation has been shaped by a recent rereading of the Book of Jude. It is his exortation 'to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints' that is currently shaping my thinking. So if you were to ask me how I currently see Psalm 12 v 8, my answer would be that anything corrupting, polluting, hindering, dishonouring,or diluting the Gospel of Christ is a vileness that needs to be 'earnestly contested.'
    With that in mind I offer a few thoughts from the Book of Jude. On the surface the book can appear heavy going, but it's message is a very important one, and should be taken seriously.
     His primary concern in the first nineteen verses is to spell out the dangers of allowing false teachers to have a prominent place within the community of believers. He uses a series of triads to expose what lies behind their motives for ministry, and the effect their ministry has within the Body of Christ if left unchecked.
     The first trio of illustrations are the references to Israel's wilderness wanderings, the fallen angels, and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. In verse eleven, there is another triad, referring to Cain, Balaam, and Korah. Arrogance and rebellion would be two adjectives that describe the common thread in all six of these examples. Jude goes on to describe these false teachers as being like 'late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.' It is very strong language.
    An illustration that I found helpful to understand why Jude uses such strong language is taken from a medical paradigm. If there was a global pandemic killing millions on a weekly basis, and the antidote for that pandemic became known and available to all, we would be delighted and determined to get that antidote out into the world. However, if we became aware that the manufacturers of that antidote were diluting it down to make personal gain, and that the diluted antidote was now ineffective, we would be very angry that a small number were making gains at the expense of other peoples lives.
    In the same way, Jude is angered that the false teachers are polluting the gospel and rendering it ineffective in peoples lives. Furthermore, they are doing so for personal gain. So, in verse sixteen, Jude refers to them as 'grumblers,and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.'
     Jude's reference to Cain, Balaam, and Korah is sobering. I'm not sure that they intended to go down their chosen pathways to destruction, but all three were enticed and ultimately trapped in the course of time by their own personal Achilles' heel.
    Cain's sin is a lack of brotherly love, and the Apostle John writes in his letters on the seriousness of this sin. So, in 1 John 2 v 9-10, we read:
' He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.'
     A lack of love would account for the instability and destructive nature of these teachers. Jesus spoke very openly about the need to love one another. One of the characteristics of false teachers is a lack of Christ like love for the Body of Christ. We can't say we love the Head without also loving the Body.
     Balaam's error is to see godliness as a means to financial gain. When there is a preoccupation with money and vested self interest, the warning signs should be noted. It is worth remembering that the foundational sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not sexual immorality, but one of being 'arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy' ( Ezeikel 16 v 49 ). It was the over indulgent and idolatrous enjoyment of pleasures that then led them into the immorality that we more commonly associate them with.
     Korah and his followers had an attitude problem with Moses' leadership. They wanted to be preeminent. That is nothing new. John, in his third letter, refers to a character called Diotrephes who also wanted preeminence in the church. There is a divisive and unhealthy interest in being prominent that can characterize false teachers.
     Jesus said we would recognise a teacher and a prophet by the fruit in their character, and not on their doctrine alone ( Matt 7 v 15-30).   Towards the end of his letter, Jude gives another triad of characteristics that are associated with true spirituality. He exorts his readers to 'pray in the Holy Spirit, keep themselves in the love of God,and to look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us into eternal life'.
     The foundation of who we are is the mercy and love of God. The false teachers that Jude is warning of are those who hanker after position, power and status. We have no right or claims to any of these things. We can however legitimately call on the Lord for mercy and love to prevail in our lives. With that foundation of mercy and love in our lives, the Lord will bestow privilege and honour....but it is His initiative to give that, not ours to ask for it. Let us keep on contending for the faith, and in so doing promote the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Signs and Wonders.

Signs and Wonders.

      'Signs reveal Jesus as God at work amongst us, but they also reveal how unready so many of us are to accept and embrace what is revealed and how contentious we can become when the God in heaven that we worship turns out to be involved in the details of our lives on this earth in ways that don't fit our misconceptions'.

                                         Eugene Peterson

        One of the popular paradigms for reading John's Gospel, is to look at the seven signs recorded by John that Jesus did, all of which reveal God at work in His creation. The signs are done in order to promote belief and faith in Jesus, as the 'Way, Truth and the Life'.
         In his book,'Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places', Peterson comments that 'Signs and wonders are.....'an essential part of the biblical story and it's continuation and out working in the Christian life; but out of context, apart from God's revelation of himself in Jesus, severed and then removed from their organic positionings in the intricate and detailed formation of God's people,they are simply things, miracle commodities that are bought and sold on the religious stock exchange'.
       The seven signs in John's Gospel are as follows:

1. Turning water into wine in Cana- John 2 v 1-11.

2. Healing of an official's son in Capernaum- John 4 v 46-54.

3. Healing of the paraplegic in Jerusalem- John 5 v 1-18.

4. Feeding of the 5000 in Galilee- John 6 v 1-15.

5. Stilling of the storm on the Lake of Galilee- John 6 16-21.

6. Healing of the man born blind in Jerusalem- John 9 v 1-41.

7. Raising of Lazarus from the dead at Bethany- John 11 v 1-54.

            There are a number of interesting issues raised, and I will touch on three:

1. Jesus is centre stage in all seven, and the signs are like a divine sword that seperates those who believe and those who reject the purposes of God for their lives. In the sign of the feeding of the 5000, many later choose to no longer follow Jesus. With the man born blind, the man is thrown out the synagogue, and disowned by his parents. After the raising of Lazarus, the plots to kill Jesus intensify. Despite seeing the official's son healed in Capernaum, Matthew would comment in his gospel, ' And you Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you'. Matt 11 v 23-24. Signs and wonders expose where our hearts are in relation to the author of those signs. Jesus is a sign spoken against,Luke 2 v 34-35, and to some he is the aroma of life, but to others the aroma of death. The man born blind not only received his sight, but came into a spiritual understanding of who Jesus is. That could not be said of his parents, who seem to be more concerned with appeasing the synagogue rulers, than they do delighting in their son' s healing and salvation.

2. It is interesting to note who and how Jesus approached in these signs. We are not given the names of the paraplegic, the royal official in Capernaum, or the man born blind. We are given Lazarus' name, and a reference to Andrew, and Peter in the feeding miracle. The Lord is concerned for the named and the unnamed, the known, and the unknown. The royal official would have had influence, the blind man and paraplegic no influence. The royal official may also have been a gentile, we are not told. Each is approached individually. All in their own way were bruised reeds . Lazarus a dead reed.Jesus had time and room for them all, but each of these signs is full of depth and meaning, that goes much further than the immediate manifestation of power. The loaves and fishes' sign is full of Old Testament imagery of Jesus being the ultimate fulfillment of the manna from heaven, the bread that came down as the bread of life. Lazarus' resurrection is a powerful sign pointing back to Ezeikel's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, and of how God's Spirit can breathe life into dead bones. The paraplegic's thirty eight years as a cripple, carries allusions of the time that Israel spent wondering as a cripple in the wilderness. For those who had ears to hear, and eyes to see, it would have been very clear that Jesus was saying a lot more through each of these signs than simply the sign itself. They were signposts pointing to himself as the 'Way, the Truth, and the Life'. We need a reality of God's manifest power today to have that same effect. The signs point to the deeper and ultimately far greater questions of 'What are you going to do with Jesus? Who is he? Do you know him?'

3. It is interesting to see where these signs took place. A wedding, a home, a lakeside, on a lake, on a roadside, by a place of pilgrimage, and outside a tomb. Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into all areas of life. Not one of these signs were performed within the framework of synagogue meetings. The Lord is the Lord of all creation, and not just of our gathered meetings. One of the allusions in the seven signs of John's Gospel is to the seven days of creation recorded in Genesis. John has already introduced his gospel with clear echoes of Genesis 1 in the introduction. 'In the beginning was the Word....' and so on. These seven signs are creative miracles that remind us that God is still at work through His Son in His creation. Those in blindness can know the touch of Jesus, the light of the world, and can see again. The God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills has unlimited resources to get what He wants done in and through our lives. Death is swallowed up in life, and stale life can be transformed into the new life and wine of God's Kingdom. We could go on and on! We want to see more powerful acts of God in meetings and in life. Come Lord Jesus, and demonstrate through us your people who you really are into this world in which we are called to be your salt and light! Turn water into wine, transform dead crippled religious systems into life giving springs and rivers. Demonstrate you are no man's debtor, and that in you is more provision than we need. Powerfully demonstrate your victory over the sting of death, and breathe life into dead tombs. Hallelujah!