Don’t Sin

We have concluded our series on holiness and, although my heart yearns to write endlessly, my time is temporarily occupied by a development we are busy with. Therefore I have decided to leave our study on the epistle of John for a while and just regularly place a golden nugget or some of my previous articles until such time as I am in a position to write regularly again. Do not forget to like my Facebook page at Word Bytes for then you have regular access to some more teaching.

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it,” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

I do not know what temptations you have struggled with before or currently have a hard time with. I know though, that I am tempted quite often to sin in a certain area. When temptation comes it usually works like this: Initially I resist it, but as the lies from Satan and the self-justification of my sinful nature increases, I sometimes give in to the pressure, my flesh enjoys it for a while, after which regret kicks in and condemnation follows. This is probably what Paul referred to when He wrote about the thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

It is easy to justify ourselves with the fact that we are weak, as an excuse to enjoy the sins that are common to man.

In church we, however, had a simple message the other day about the above passage in 1 Corinthians 10:13, which triggered the following thought in me:

The Lord promised He will give a way out of a temptation. If we therefore surrender to sin, we do not bear with the temptation supported by His power, but basically slap Him in His face so to speak, for we then show Him we did not want His way of escape, but rather desired to sin.

We read in Hebrews 12:4: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Say for instance you have parked your car on a sloped road facing a cliff. You get out having a look at the view, when your child releases the handbrake and the car starts rolling. You have just swum in some nearby pools and are barefoot. You run closer and throw your weight against the car which causes your bare feet to drag across the rough surface of the road until the no skin is left and blood flows. Are you going to let go of the car because your feet are bleeding and let it drop down the cliff with your child it? No, you are going to resist its momentum until you succeed.

Sin is like that car - a killer! It kills your godly potential, you success as a ministering Christian, the souls of those you influence and those you do not reach because of your sin of disobedience.

Sin is not only doing wrong things. It is any form of disobedience. “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin,” (James 4:17).

Are you resisting sin to the point of shedding your blood? Do you rely on the Lord for His way of escape?

Lord, you are purifying your church. Please include me.

Be Holy (Part Six)

Good day

We have been discussing the sanctification process, in other words becoming holy, from Philippians 2:12-16a for quite a few weeks now.

So what would the end result be that the Lord would like to see in us?

Philippians 2:15-16a tells us: “Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

From the passage above, which is the last section of the passage we have been discussing over the last number of messages, I have picked out a few key words describing what the Lord wants to see in us: blameless, harmless and without fault. The context within which this kind of life is to be lived is within a crooked and perverse generation – in other words completely different from the world. We would all agree that we live in a crooked and perverse generation, would we not?

The problem we have today – and they maybe even had those years, which is why Paul brought this up, is that Christians often blend in too well with this crooked and perverse generation, and most do not consider that what they do as wrong. We often justify ourselves with the fact that we are weak, or that all things are permissible (1 Corinthians 6:12), or that we are free in Christ. In all areas of life people fear to be different and then follow the crowd and in the process compromise a lot of individuality and happiness.

One issue that came to mind is for example film piracy. I know Christians that have a lovely Christian witness when it comes to words, but who download pirated films from the Internet by the hundreds. When I brought to their attention that it is stealing, my words were shrugged off and I was made felt that I am old fashioned. Needless to say they did not give the error of their ways a second thought – to them nothing was wrong with it. Some behaviour is intentionally corrupt, such as this example, but other behaviour is circumstantial, such as speeding because I am late. This can be changed through better planning, and the excuse that I am late would not change the fact that I still are open for blame, which affect my Christian witness as well as my relationship with the Lord and His blessing, since I disobey His commandments (John 14:21-23).

 We so easily justify our actions, but God's standard is clearly set in the Bible - “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), “become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault,” (Philippians 2:15) and so on. Then we ask why the Lord does not seem to answer our prayers.

Shall we jog our memories a bit and answer the following questions honestly to ourselves:

1. What is it in your life and behaviour that prevent you from being blameless?
2. Put differently; what in your behaviour can the world accuse you of/blame you for, in which you are none different from them, especially those hidden sins that nobody but you and the Lord know about.
3. How often do you harm others, whether it be emotionally by your words or attitude, financially by taking money that should not belong to you (even if you harm the government of big organisations, or the church) or spiritually by not sharing with them the love and gift of Jesus.
4. How many faults do you justify yourself for, in other words you know your should work at your weakness(es), but you accept it as okay, since you feel nobody is to judge you for it, even if this weakness harms others.

“For narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are a few who find it, (Matthew 7:14).” There is not much space for anything but you and the Lord on this road and the Bible states there are only a few that will find this way. So how then about the millions of people calling themselves Christians? “ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables, (2 Timothy 4:3-4).” “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.” (Matthew 7:21)

Dear friends, we have no time or space for a double life – a life that is divided between the Lord's desires for our life and our desires, which usually are those of Mammon, the god of money and materialism. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

Today I want to put all of us before the same challenge than Elijah did Israel in 1 Kings 18:21: “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” To Israel Baal represented the Lord’s enemy, so does mammon and self to us.

I think it is important to go into your inner room, to search you heart and ask how far are you short of being blameless, harmless and without fault in terms of God's standards as compared to the world's standards, for you are responsible for those “among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life,” (Philippians 2:16a). In other words, what does the world see – your sinful nature or the word of life you hold on to?

Holy Spirit, I want to be blameless, harmless and without fault, shining as a light in the world, holding fast the word of life. Please guide me.

Be Holy (Part Five)

Good day

In the last message we discussed one reason why we want to be holy – so we can see God and have a relationship with Him in His presence.

Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Now that we know why we are working out our salvation as per the passage above, we are going to look at how we are to do it. We find the answer in the next verse: “... for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” How do we understand this then? We are told to work, but in the very next verse we are told that it is God doing the work. Are we then back to passive Christianity where we live as we like, believing that God will change us at His leisure, only to discover years later that nothing has changed?

This is a team effort. The next sentence in the passage above tells us to “do all things without complaining and disputing.” I have added a sentence in there that you have read a few times by now. When we accept Jesus and are born again, our spirit is saved from damnation and renewed, but we have a lot of carnal behaviour that need to be dealt with. The Holy Spirit then starts working at the purification process of our soul and Satan starts counteracting this work. Our flesh (sinful nature or carnal man) kicks back in rebellion, and the spiritual man supposedly works with the Holy Spirit at renewing ourselves. This whole process takes place in our mind and is based on decisions which are executed by actions. Romans 12:1-2 summarises it well: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (we are encouraged to present ourselves so God so He could work in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure – Philippians 2 above). And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” 

We see from a number of passages that our relationship with the Lord is compared to that of the potter to the clay, for example in Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.”

At the day of our salvation, the Potter has bought this lump of clay and therefore delivered it from getting lost into purposelessness. Then He starts working at it to change it into something useful. The problem with human clay or a living sacrifice is that we have our own will. The Potter cannot just form us at His good pleasure - He has to work with us. We have to work along with Him. He will for example see some impatience that needs to be removed and will then create circumstances to test our patience so we can see what we are like. Unless we are in relationship with the Holy Spirit we will sense the test, but will not respond to it appropriately, because we have not heard the Holy Spirit telling us where He is going with our life.

The Holy Spirit may tell you: “We need to get rid of that impatience in your life, since I am love and can therefore not abide with impatience, which actually is lovelessness, since love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4).” Can you imagine you getting impatient with those around you, or with God, in the throne room of heaven? If you are prepared to work with the Holy Spirit, He will allow circumstances to test your unacceptable behaviour, and it is up to you whether you are going to work with Him to get rid of that behaviour.

I have had a serious challenge the past couple of weeks. My love, in reaction to people’s behaviour, was tested. The way I responded left me less than proud of myself, and I came to the conclusion I had to deal with that lack of love in my heart. This is not going to come by itself, for the Holy Spirit is going to lead me in dealing with it, but I will have to make a decision as to how I will exercise love in future. During this difficult time Julia, my wife, was worth a pot of gold to me.

Sanctification (becoming holy) is a process that the Lord works in us with our permission and cooperation, and we need our Christian family to support us as we go along, and at the same time we need to support others.

Holy Spirit, please help me to follow your guidance.

Be Holy (Part Four)

Good day

Since we are working on this passage, I am leaving it on here for now, but today we are looking at another reason why we need to be holy.

Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

We hear so much these days about the Lord being merciful and in complete control of our lives, creating the impression that we do not need to do anything apart from enjoying the Lord and singing praises to Him. If this is true, why would the above and many similar passages then be emphasized in the Word of God?

The Holy Spirit had these written in the Word because “without holiness no-one will see the Lord,” (Hebrews 12:14). This is interestingly enough written in the context of the passage on God’s discipline (Hebrews 12:4-13). You may decide for yourself whether you are prepared to submit to the Lord's discipline in order to be set aside for His plans for your life (becoming holy).

 

Why would we want to see the Lord and how would we see Him? This could be viewed from two perspectives – seeing the Lord one day in heaven and seeing Him whilst we are on earth. Only you as an individual can answer the question why you want to see the Lord. I have mentioned the following comparison before in my writings as a way to understand these things. I once reasoned with the Lord on the subject of the fairness of rewards to Christians. I told Him that surely Christians who sacrifice their entire life for His service could not receive the same privileges in heaven than those who accept Jesus and then live couch-potato-like, self-indulgent lives. I then saw a vision of old Jerusalem set amongst the surrounding villages. Inside the walls was the King's palace with its gardens and in the palace was the courtroom where the King abides.

I was then shown three passages:

1. Mark 16:16: He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
2. John 3:3: Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” and in verse five  “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
3. Hebrews 12:14: Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

I believe the Lord revealed to me that those who just believe in Jesus, but do not work on a relationship with Him, will go to heaven, but will live in the New Jerusalem outside of the King's palace. Those who were born again will see and enter the Kingdom of God, in other words will enter and live in the palace, but will not see the Lord; and those who sought holiness and an intimate relationship with the King of kings will see the Lord and fellowship with Him in His courtroom. In short, the kind of relationship we have with Him on earth, whether aloof or intimate, will just continue in heaven. Is this a good motivation to work at holiness and obedience as per Philippians 2:12-16?

When we grasp understanding of something, we usually use the expression: “I see”. In such a situation we do not really see something with our optical eyes, but do so with our eyes of understanding. This is the other way to see God - by Him revealing Himself to us. We then see Him with our spiritual eyes – not as a figure, but as a person in His way of thinking, His personality, His plans and motives, His character and His will with our lives. Jesus made a profound statement in John 14:21, which I think receives too little attention in the Christian fraternity: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Other translations use the words ‘reveal’ and ‘show’ in the place of the word manifest. In other words Jesus said He will make Himself visible to our spiritual eyes if we care enough to consider His instructions important enough to obey – thus setting ourselves aside for Him and being Holy.

We then read in verses 22-23 of John 14: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'” Those living holy lives will be loved even more by Father God and therefore the relationship will be so intimate, such as in a family environment, that revelation will be automatic.

Would you like to see the Lord? Then separate yourself from the flesh and the world and obey Jesus’ instructions.

Lord, I want to be holy.

Be Holy (Part Three)

Good day

I hope you were challenged by the previous messages. We continue today with this passage:

Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Why did Paul mention ‘fear and trembling’ in this context? When we work hard, together with the Holy Spirit, at having ourselves saved/delivered from those things that keep us from becoming holy, setting ourselves apart to accomplish the purposes of God, our enemy will not like it and will work against us by affecting our circumstances and by increasing persecution. Because of this we may feel reluctant to continue with our pursuits in obedience to the Lord, due to fear of opposition and persecution that may follow.

This is Biblical, since Jesus said that we will have trouble in the world (John 16:33), Paul mentioned hardship to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:5, 2 Timothy 2:3) and many of us can testify to it. The natural reaction to facing huge challenges is fear, but we do not need to yield to it, for we read in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Then we need to face another fear as well – the Lord is not to be messed about and demands holiness and perfection (maturity). I think we rely too much on grace as previously mentioned. Will you forever get away with sloppy work at your job? Your employer certainly puts pressure on you to excel, and if you are self-employed your customers and the competition demands excellence. Therefore if we do not act excellently, the fear of getting reprimanded and disciplined, losing your job, losing customers and losing a market share cause you to improve in excellence, do they not? So how about our service to God? Do you fear His discipline when you are lazy or disobedient?

How do you experience God when you read through the books of the prophets? Do you see Him in there as a loving Father pampering Israel with words like: “Do not worry my dear people; I am tolerant of your serving of idols and you ignoring me, because I love you”? No, He revealed Himself as a jealous God exercising discipline on those who disobey. ‘But we are in the dispensation of the New Testament,’ you may say, ‘God has changed into a loving Father, full of grace and mercy.’ Has He? How about the example of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-9), or Jesus’ parable on the talents relating the consequences for the servant who hid his one talent (Matthew 25:24-30), His words in Matthew 7:21-23 where He cautions us to be obedient to the will of His Father or He will reject us at the day of judgement, or the warning in Hebrews 12 about the necessity of discipline as we have discussed a while ago. The list of references in the New Testament to God as a righteous God expecting results and obedience is quite long.

I have a temptation that I struggle with. I have fought it in prayer, worked hard at removing it from my life, but it keeps on being a thorn in my flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). I know God’s grace is sufficient for me, but I also know I cannot just accept sin (Romans 6:1-2). I have to work at getting rid of it. God is merciful and His grace sustains us whilst we work at our salvation from sin, but we need to keep working. At the occasions that I submit to this particular temptation, Satan and my flesh have all kinds of lovely justifying arguments why it is not that bad, but I still get disciplined. At times when I am too weak to resist and yield to it, I immediately repent and work it out, for I know discipline will follow and I dread the consequences.

I love my children and therefore had to discipline them so they would not proceed with unacceptable behaviour. They feared the discipline and therefore complied. The Lord loves you and therefore has to discipline you (Hebrews 12). Fear His discipline and work at getting rid of those things in your life with which the Lord cannot get along with.

Excuses are not going to have any benefit when we stand before God on the day of reckoning. We need to prepare to stand proud before God one day like the servant who handed his Master five more talents which he obtained through dedication to the expectations of his Master.

Next time we will look at why this is necessary in the light of our relationship with God and how to go about it.

Lord, please show me the truth.

Be Holy (Part Two)

Good day

In the previous message we said that because the Lord is holy and therefore set aside for His purposes, we need to be holy and set aside for our purposes.

What is the Lord’s purpose? Why did He select Abraham and from him developed the nation Israel? Why did He send His son to humiliate Himself and die the horrible death on the cross?

We read in John 3:16 the famous passage: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we are encouraged to pray so “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

The world is a war zone where Satan does his ultimate to prevent the abovementioned desires of the Lord to happen. God on the other hand does not fight Satan, but has always availed Himself to His people to use His power to resist Satan and to rule their own territory with the Lord as their support – first the nation of Israel, and now the gentiles in Christ Jesus as well.

It is, however, a Biblical fact that Israel had to be disciplined regularly because they deserted the Lord often. To put it His own words in Jeremiah 2:5, 7 and 8: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters? I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. 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.”

After having used prophets the many times He tried to win His people back, God then sent His own son as the greatest Prophet to show His people Israel a new way where they don’t need to keep the law anymore. This privilege was extended to the whole world through the apostle Paul and the publication of the Bible. But has the Lord changed? No, He is still a jealous God who wants His people and His glory for Himself. He is still holy and set aside for Himself. 

And have the people changed? No, we still forsake the Lord and run after idols. Just have a look at your life and calculate how much time and attention you really give to the Lord and His Kingdom needs and how well you know Him and how available you are to change.

Therefore, as we mentioned in the last message, we are told in Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

What do we need to be saved from? It is from all the things that keep us from being holy - being set aside for God and His Kingdom. Israel served the gods of the nations around them. Who do you serve? There are many gods we serve today that are subtly introduced to us by the spiritual ‘nations’ around us: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 6:12). Like Israel had to decide not to ‘defile the Lord’s land’ by following idols and not to ‘walk after things that do not profit’, we need to decide the same.

God’s land is our hearts and bodies, and like the ungodly nations tempted Israel to serve idols on the land that belonged to God, so the evil spirits tempt us to serve idols with our hearts and bodies – land that belongs to God. This is why Paul encourages us to work at getting saved from all these things that stop us from being altogether holy – set aside for God.

What are these idols? They are anything of the world that does not relate to God’s Kingdom and can be very subtle and easily justifiable. What is it that stands in your way to serve God wholeheartedly? Is it maybe sport, socialising, television, a career or religion? Religion encompasses your ‘wonderful’ pastor or great church – anything that keeps you from accomplishing your personal calling and holiness. 

Holy Spirit, please show me my idols.

We will continue next time.

Be Holy

Good day

In the last two messages from 1 John 2:3-6 we have discussed the importance of obedience and the importance of walking like Jesus did. This should be imperative if we know Him and would like to know Him even better.

We are going to deviate slightly, but not really, because what we will discuss here is directly related to knowing the Lord.

Leviticus 19:1, 2: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’”

The definition for being Holy is to be set apart, and we generally see it as being set apart for the Lord and His purposes. However, God declared in this passage that He is holy, and this is general knowledge to Christians. How then can He be set apart for Himself? This is exactly what it is. The Lord is totally set apart and devoted to Himself. His entire focus is on Himself and His purposes. We simply need to read through the Bible to see the many references of God to Himself.

Is this then a bad thing? No, if the Lord's attention has to be divided by non-godly things that distract Him, how would He accomplish the amazing plan He has with the world, with His Kingdom as well as with the salvation and development of souls for unification with His Kingdom and His purposes. The Lord separated Himself altogether from anything that is worldly. He is not involved when we engage with things of this world, and everything He does benefits His Kingdom. God is completely focused on and dedicated to His calling, character and the reason for His existence.

He expects His people to be Holy because He is Holy. We need to be set apart for that which we are called for within His purposes and Kingdom, simply because God is set apart for His purpose. We need to be dedicated and devoted to the calling with which we are called simply because He is dedicated and devoted to that for which He exists.

In our small group we have discussed the fact that an unholy lifestyle is too easily justified by the fact that the Lord is full of grace. Grace seems to be a cop-out for our lack of commitment and obedience. But what is the standard that Jesus set for us? We said in our previous message that we will answer to Jesus on judgement day according to the standards He set for us in the commandments He personally preached, as well as the commandments the Holy Spirit gave us via the pens of the apostles as recorded in the epistles.

I do, however, want to lift out a couple of Jesus standards that we find in the Bible. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This is written in the context of Jesus' command on loving your enemies. If you look at man in his natural state, who is quite accurately portrayed by worldly people, would you say that loving your enemies comes natural? How can you feel love towards, and pray for those who seek your downfall?

Neither can the Lord feel love towards any sinful human being, of whom many hate Him, but He chose to separate Himself from any form of human nature and be different. Therefore He chose to act love toward them and, in spite of feeling like destroying them, like he did with the flood (Genesis 6:6-7) and with Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18) and like He wanted to do with Israel in the desert when He spoke with Moses (Exodus 32:10), He acted in love by sending His only Son (John 3:16).

In the same way He desires of us to be perfect in separating ourselves from being human and being more godly. Therefore we are told is Philippians 2:12-16: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing (these are the things the Lord prompts us to do in order to change), that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life...”

Read the last passage carefully again. Is this not a description of the process of holiness, also called sanctification? The “salvation” referred to here is being saved or delivered from those things that keep us from becoming holy, i.e. separated from the earthly things.

Would you please consider the chilling passage in Hebrews 12:14: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.”

Where do you stand?    

Lord, help me realise the essence of becoming Holy.

Getting to Know Jesus (Part Two)

Good day

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked, (I John 2:3-6).

Last time we came to the conclusion that the way to get to know the Lord is to copy what He has done, through obeying what He has commanded as well as done. In that way we understand how He thinks and why He has given the commands, and therefore get to know Him.

When I read this passage once more another truth struck me and I was amazed once again at how alive the Bible actually is.

This passage tells me that if we really know Jesus we will keep His commandments. It portrays to me a characteristic of Jesus that is not often mentioned in Bible based messages. John, the apostle, knew Jesus very well. A few messages ago we discussed how John was very much loved by Jesus and that he probably preferred to spend time with Jesus rather than to fool around with his friends. It would therefore be safe to deduct that John knew Jesus very well and therefore cautioned in the passage above that ‘if you know Jesus, you would not dare to ignore His commandments’. As I read this passage recently I became so intensely aware that Jesus was and still is not to be fooled around with. Most good leaders I know are firm and do not fool around with their job or with their followers.

Paul referred to the Lord in 2 Timothy 2:3-4 as a commanding officer and in Matthew 7:21-23 it is very clear that the Lord does not take nonsense:  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

How do you perceive a commanding officer? Would he tolerate slackness and lack of discipline? Would a military commanding officer accept deliberate disregard of his instructions and commands? No, disciplinary action is bound to follow. No army is a democracy and it is so for a reason. If instructions are obeyed at the leisure of the soldiers’ discretion, how effective would such an army be on the occasion of an enemy attack? Therefore the soldiers are trained to respond to orders. When the commander says jump, a soldier does not ask why, but simply how high?

The Kingdom of God is not a democracy either. It is simply a case of God commands and we obey. But does it actually happen that way? I don't experience much of that kind of discipline among Christians. The Lord, however, is gracious while we are still on earth, but when judgement and reward time comes, we will experience the consequence of our level of obedience. Jesus compares Himself to a master who goes away for a long time in Matthew 25:14-28. I don't have space to quote the whole section here, but we see that Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like this man who handed out the talents. A talent at the time was a form of money and we tend to compare it with what we call talents these days.

The message Jesus wanted to bring over, however, was that whatever we receive from the Master of the Kingdom - be it a talent, a gift according to Romans 12:6-8 or an on-the-spot instruction - need to be consciously multiplied faithfully and fruitfully to the benefit of the Master, and it usually requires work from everybody. As we read this parable we see that both received and reproduced according to his ability. We also see that the talents were returned to their original owner. It did not belong to the servants, but the owner rewarded the faithful servants with increased authority and the privilege to have brought joy to the Master. Our reward is the Master’s joy and this should be sufficient to us.

Our time and resources do not belong to us, just as a soldier in active service does not own anything pertaining to his calling. He just uses what is given him to the benefit of the commanding officer.

Something else that we need to keep in mind we read of in Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

What has been written in your book? We will not be judged, for Jesus took the judgement for us, but we will answer to Jesus for what we did, because He took our judgement. He will follow the standards He set in His commandments when He measures our obedience and determines our rewards. Think of the standard He set for the person in the parable of the talents, who hid his talent instead of multiplying it, i.e. having been disobedient.

Lord, please give me grace to obey and have understanding of what Jesus expects of me.

Getting to know Jesus

Good day

Today we are going to have a further look at the 1 John 2:3-6: “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says "I know Him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.”

If a child copies his parent he will become very much like that parent. It is said: “Don’t tell me, show me.” This is exactly what Jesus came to do. Everything He told us to do, He did Himself. If we therefore do what He tells us to do, both in the Bible and on a daily basis through the Holy Spirit, we will have firsthand experience of what He is like and will have understanding of how He thinks, what He exactly wants and of His nature.

It is also said that we should not judge anybody until we have walked in their shoes for a while. Why is it so? Because then only can we have understanding of what such a person is like and goes through. If an expert in an interest similar than yours, comes to you offering you the opportunity to spend a few days with her while she shows you the ropes, giving you the chance to follow her actions and do things yourself, would you not learn much in the process about her and the interest?

Can you see why the church is weaker than it used to be during the time of the book of Acts? The apostles were fresh from a three year period of seeing Jesus in action. He allowed them to do some of the things He did, and by the time they were filled with the same power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they knew Jesus so well that they literally did the same miracles and taught with similar power. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8), but we have allowed certain theologies to enter our hearts and minds that weaken us. We tend to follow authorities that do not teach what Jesus taught, and that keep the majority of soldiers in the pews as passive listeners to impressive messages. Many Christians are satisfied to simply follow the religious duties of going to church and giving a little in order to sooth their consciences.

We have all received at least one gift from Romans 12:6-8, of which Jesus had all. The only way to know how to use your gift effectively is to seek opportunity, in obedience to the Holy Spirit, to learn from Jesus how He did it. This happens through obeying the teachings of Jesus that relate to your gift. The church leaders should actually set up opportunities for everybody to learn to use their gift effectively. Not everybody is gifted to for example teach, but to those who can, Jesus gave guidance in the Bible on how to, and the Holy Spirit empowers them whilst they do what Jesus asks of them.

These teachings of mine are not pre-planned or researched. The Lord told me to write, so I enquire what the Lord wants me to write about. I then sit down, start typing and voila, an hour later I am finished, ready for editing. There have been times that I thought it a good idea to write about something, which was not the Lord’s will, and I sat in front of the keyboard with a proverbial mouth full of teeth, not knowing what to write. You see, I just obey and the Holy Spirit does the rest and in the process I get to know Jesus and receive more to give.

The same applies to each gift mentioned in Romans 12:6-8. We need to get to know Jesus by obeying His commands regarding our gift and walk in our gifting as He did in His, and do what He tells us today. If a team works together, they get to know each other so well that they don’t even have to communicate much. They just have to glance at the other to know what to do next. How about you and Jesus as a team?

The ideal church will equip their members (Ephesians 4:11-16) to do what Jesus did so they could get to know Him so well, that they would harmonise with Him as He moves along by the Holy Spirit, reaching out to the souls He dearly loves. If all Christians aim to do the above, each one only within his or her gifting, learning to know Jesus and walking as He did through obedience, pew warming would be of the past and every Sunday worship will become rejoicing due to the testimonies of God’s greatness that obedient people, who teamed up with the Holy Spirit during the week, brings.

Lord, please use me to help transform your body.

The Self Test

Good day

We read in Psalm 139:23, 24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Ping, the test is on and your motives and attitudes are being monitored and gently you receive feedback through the spirit channel:

1.   This is why you go to church.

2.   This is why you are a pastor/elder/church leader.

3.   This why you use your money like that.

4.   This is why you have this attitude towards your spouse.

5.   This is why you have this attitude towards the government.

6.   This is what you know about Jesus:

a.   This is what Jesus’ commandments tell you about His character.

b.   This is how Jesus and the Holy Spirit feel in your company – uncomfortable or pleased.

c.   This is how Jesus experiences your attitude, obedience or disobedience.

d.   This is how Jesus feels about your attitude towards poverty, riches, sexuality, money etc.

We can go on and on. Can you see that the answer to the above could be either positive or negative? We can either have a right or wrong attitude and motive. What is right and wrong therefore? When do you sin and when not? In the last few discussions we have talked about sin and last time we have seen that, when it comes to sin, Jesus is our Advocate who covers for us with the Father, but in turn disciplines us to keep us in line with His standards.

We are not Christians so we can go to church, or to feel good about our good deeds, or to accomplish certain dreams and ideals or ambitions. Right and wrong is not established in our perception or that of our communities. The purpose of Christian life is to know Jesus and His idea about right and wrong.

We read in Jeremiah 9: 23-24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD,’” and in John 14:21 Jesus said Himself: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him,” and then we see in our passage of this week, 1 John 2:3-6: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

What is the Lord like? The trend of Jesus’ parables such as the shrewd manager, the talents and so on indicates that God has a businesslike thinking pattern. This also comes out in His making covenants with man, and the many times it is written “if you do this, I will do My part...”

If we look at all my messages from the first epistle of John during the last few weeks we see that our fellowship with God is important to Him, but that sin blocks that relationship. Jesus suffered much in order to obtain a position of Mediator and Advocate on our behalf and therefore, thanks to Him, we have been forgiven the sin of eternal damnation and have access to the Father through Him. By doing that He has kept His part of the bargain or the covenant. Now He expects of us to obey His commandments, as He obeyed His Father’s.

It is by grace that we are saved and we cannot work for it (Ephesians 2:8-10), but according to various passages, including these above, we cannot know and understand Jesus and thus share in His victory, if we do not obey everything He told us to do and walk like He did. There is no such thing as just getting saved and happily riding along on the glory train.

Once again we need to remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Lord, help me to keep your commandments.