Jesus

Discrimination conquered by Christ

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Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

After the northern kingdom of Israel was carried off into captivity to Assyria in approximately 722 BC, people of other captive nations were brought in to occupy the land along with the impoverished Jews who were left behind.  They mingled and married and became a mixed breed of people known as Samaritans. A Jewish priest was brought back to teach them to worship the God of the Jews. (2 Kings 17) But they accepted only the Pentateuch as scripture and the Jews considered them inferior.  The hostility was such that strict Pharisees would not go through Samaria, but would cross the Jordan to avoid walking through that land.

When the Jews wanted to insult Jesus, they called Him a Samaritan (John 8:48)

In John 4, Jesus took His disciples into Samaria where He transformed the life of the woman at the well, and consequently the entire city. But we read no more about the Samaritans during the earthly ministry of Jesus.

On the day of Pentecost when the church was born and for some time afterwards the gospel was preached to the Jews. But with persecution came the scattering of the church. Most of the disciples had to find another place to go. Philip chose Samaria.

He wasn’t forced to go there. He went of his own accord and preached Christ to them. These despised and rejected people embraced the message of the One who was despised and rejected for them.

Since that time the message of the gospel has been preached all over the earth as the Spirit of God has stirred the hearts of men and women to leave everything to bring this gospel to people of different races, languages and customs.

Discrimination and racism were defeated on the cross. If you are a follower of Jesus and those things still live in you, draw a little closer to Jesus and hear His heart yearning for every nation, tribe, people and tongue. Let Him teach you to yearn and to love likewise.

You…not your money

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James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

I had always thought of this verse as referring to the physical need the widow and orphan would be in because of not having a husband/father in the household. But the verse doesn’t tell us to give them money or even any type of physical thing. It says to visit them.  Not just throw our money at them (like we can be so accustomed to doing because it’s easy) but giving some of our life to them.

Visit (Strongs #1980) means to look upon or after, to inspect, examine with the eyes in order to see how he is, i.e. to visit, go to see one; to look upon in order to help or to benefit

This verse doesn’t exclude helping in physical ways, but it involves so much more. Go see them, care for them, be with them.  Give them the most valuable thing you possess – your time.

Oh brethren, I fear that we have become content with demonstrations of love that are far below that which Christ intended.

Spirit driven life

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Acts 27:40 And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore.

Paul and all the people were on a ship that had been in a terrible storm for some time but land was finally in sight. Nothing mattered except getting to shore. The anchors (those heavy weights that kept them from moving) weren’t retrieved and brought into the boat for later. They were cast off and left behind. They didn’t put oars in the water to try and control the pace of the boat, they raised the sails and let the wind take control.

It made me think about times when my life has been in a storm, tossed around…up, then down. Feeling out of control, I have been tempted to grab the oars, start rowing and controlling things. But should I? Is it not better to just take my hands off everything and let it all be in His control…..raising the sails of my life that I might be driven by the Spirit of God where He wants me to go?

Yes. Yes it is!

Absent God

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Jeremiah 2:6 Neither did they say, ‘Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’

Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ and those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Israel had seen the works of God like no other people in history. He was intimately involved with them. From their exodus from Egypt, to their possession of the promised land and establishment of a kingdom and king, God was in their midst, making Himself known. The stories of God’s mighty works for His people were passed down from generation to generation. But at some point the stories were no longer a reminder of their inheritance as the people of God but were merely tales of the adventures of people from many years past. Perhaps God became to them like a character from a story book. Distant. Fictional. And here at hand were these idols, so seeable and touchable and convenient. Why spend all that time and effort seeking after a God they couldn’t see when there were already so many to choose from right in front of them? They had never personally known God’s presence so His absence really was of no consequence to them.

As God rebuked the people for their idolatry and reminded them of His works, He didn’t say “these are the things I did for your fathers”. He said “I did these things for you”. The things He did for the generation of Moses and the generation of Joshua, He did with the current generation in mind. He wasn’t just the deliverer of one generation that was in Egypt. He was the deliverer of every generation. Everything He was to those in years past, He longed to be for those in the present.

When Jesus stood up in the synagogue He read from the scrolls that the people heard every Sabbath. They were historical. Familiar. But He wanted them to know that they were a present reality:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19

Sadly, many preferred the familiarity and comfort of the empty religion at hand rather than the cost of knowing a present God.

We too live in a day when our New Testament history has been relegated to the status of story. The power of God and the presence of God are mostly extinct among the people of God. And we have not recognized its absence because we have never truly known its presence. Rather than asking “where is the Lord?”, we too have found it more convenient to embrace methods of worship that are at hand and convenient – our religious activities, our spiritual disciplines, and our moral uprightness, and to live without the His power and presence in our midst.

The God of miracles from the book of Acts has not changed nor lost His desire to move in miraculous power through His people and appear in supernatural presence among His people. He is just wanting for us to realize what we’ve neglected for so long and to care that we’ve lost it.

God help us.

Some things just need to die today

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1 Kings 2:24 “Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

Adonijah had already attempted to take the kingdom before Solomon was crowned as David’s successor. And now he asked for David’s concubine. Concubines were only handed down to the next king, so by doing this Adonijah attempted to undermine Solomon’s authority and position in the eyes of the people. Solomon had previously shown mercy to Adonijah as long as “he proves himself a worthy man, not one hair of him shall fall to the earth; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” 1 Kings 1:52. After all, they were raised as brothers. But Solomon could not allow the latest challenge to go undealt with and he swiftly brought the promised consequences to Adonijah. It had to be done. That leopard wasn’t going to change his spots.

We would do well to learn this lesson from Solomon and deal swiftly and decisively with those rebellious things in us and around us. If we want to serve as kings and priests to our God then we must be prepared to deal harshly with all that interferes with that. The flesh will not change it’s spots. Neither will the world. Some things just need a speedy execution.

A certain part

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Acts 5:1-2 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

As far as we know from Scripture, this is the first episode of corruption within the church. It didn’t take long for it to happen. But when it did happen it would have been imperceptible to the natural eye. If the Holy Spirit hadn’t given Peter supernatural insight into what was going on, he would have received what Ananias gave as the whole, and the assembly of believers would have rejoiced in his generosity. Ananias and Sapphira would have rejoiced in the praise of men and very possibly have gone on with the church, cutting corners with God at every opportunity. But God was having none of it and sent a message loud and clear that day- He was nobody’s fool and those who only give a certain part are not worthy of the honor due those who give the whole.

I believe Ananias and Sapphira would have survived that day if they had only admitted it was a certain part. And I believe many of us in churches across the land are in danger of making the same deceptive offering to God…acting like we are giving Him all but really only surrendering a certain part to Him.

A certain part. Not just a random part, but a chosen, a particular part. What we are comfortable giving. Maybe we feel good about fully giving God the spiritual parts of our life, but not the finances. Not the future plans. Those need to be kept back.

Whatever it might be, God isn’t unaware. Those around us may believe that we are totally sold out to Jesus, but God knows the truth about us. He won’t strike us dead for it, but we suffer loss in every area of life that we greedily cling to. Some may disagree, saying that those areas of their life are actually going pretty well. However you have no idea the tremendous things God may desire to do in those very areas if they were yielded to Him. We don’t need to be afraid of full surrender. He doesn’t desire it so He can hurt us, but in order to bless us.

So it’s up to you. Do you want a certain part of your life blessed or your full life blessed? Go ahead and give it all to Him.

Believer, the end is glorious

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The world has been crazy lately in so many ways.  It’s been a time of suffering, fear and hopelessness for many.  And we don’t know what we may face tomorrow.  There is an anticipation (in America at least) that there will be a time of trouble very soon.  Turning our attention to the media has resulted in anxiety and fear of the future.  But when we turn our attention to the word of God we see that the end of all these things is glorious.

“Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun. For the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.”   Revelation 22:1-5

The days ahead may very well be challenging, but we have a sure word from God – we will see His face. Hold onto this hope and let it carry you through every difficulty.

Quotes – William Gurnall

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Tell some of adding faith to faith, one degree of grace to another, and you shall find they have more mind to join house to house, and lay field to field. Their souls are athirst, ever gaping for more. But of what? Not of Christ or heaven. It is earth. Earth they never think they have enough of, till death comes and stops their mouth with a shovel full, digged out of their own grave.

William Gurnall – The Christian in Complete Armour

Just passing through

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1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims…..

I haven’t done lots of traveling in my life, but when I have taken trips packing is a big deal. There are lots of things that provide comfort and ease of living at my home, but when I am traveling, most of these things must be left behind. Whether traveling by car or by plane, there is limited space to bring belongings along. So I must pack the things that I feel are most necessary for the place I’m going. The more things I bring with me, the more cumbersome toting them around becomes. Those who travel frequently learn to pack light. It just makes the trip easier. The trip is only temporary and we will return to our home soon. Oh if we could learn this lesson as believers regarding our life. We aren’t home. When we get home we will have comforts and pleasure in the heavenly glory such as we could not have imagined. We will not be lacking a single thing. But when we live on this earth as though this is all there is, as though it is preeminently important in this life to acquire and obtain for ourselves more and better comforts and pleasures, we will inevitably find our pilgrimage through this life encumbered and our life in God choked out. Even Solomon, gifted with exceeding wisdom by God and wealthy beyond what we can imagine, wrote about the vanity of acquiring things (Ecclesiastes 5)

We are sojourners and pilgrims traveling through this life. We are just passing through. Whatever we acquire here must be left behind when we graduate to heaven and frequently those things become the subject of quarrels among those whom we leave behind. Many of our precious treasures may be sold or given away to strangers. All the things we labored for and lived for in this life will testify against us in the next.

It is good for us to learn to travel light through this world. If we store up treasures, let it be those that will await us in heaven.