Salt Changing the Earth

Good day dear friend

If you would kindly forgive me for not being active with this blog I would really appreciate it. The reason being that the Lord asked me to start publishing and marketing the books I'm deriving from all my writings. This is what kept me busy all these months.

It is, however, time to start getting active on the blog again, so I will work hard at getting a post at least once a week.

Salt Changing the Earth

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. (Matthew 5:13)

In this passage, Jesus spoke to His disciples. In John 17:20, He also prayed for His disciples,

but not for only them. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” We can therefore assume that these teachings are for all who believe in Jesus—that’s us. We are the salt of the earth.

We know that salt makes us thirsty, so our lifestyle and speech should cause people to become thirsty for our life and our Savior. Salt also gives flavor to food, so our lifestyle should have such a flavor that people desire it.

There is more to it though.

Salt serves excellently as an antiseptic.

As a pharmacist, I have recognized the antiseptic properties of salt. If you swim in the sea with a septic sore a number of times, it usually heals. Saltwater rinses help to cure some mouth ulcers. Sniffing a solution of saltwater rinses the sinuses, clearing away mucus and disinfecting the sinuses, thereby getting rid of sinusitis in no time. 

“You are the salt of the earth.” Notice that the passage includes the word “earth,” not “world.” I believe the Lord wants us, His disciples, to be the antiseptic of the earth. It is the purpose of Satan to make the earth sick, to cause sepsis in every possible area of the earth's set-up or mechanism. I don't have to tell you how upside down everything is on earth, from the politics right down to nature. The sepsis of the earth needs salt as an antiseptic to cure it, and we as Christians are that salt.

Jesus said three interesting things on the topic:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18, 19).

“All power” means He has power or authority over every other power or authority in heaven, which is the sky above us, the universe, and God's dwelling, and the earth. Because He has that power, we must go and make disciples who can be channels of that power. We must channel His power to rule over corruption, crime, unstable families, political violence, natural disasters, and so forth. Mark recorded Jesus’ final words as follows: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17-18). I believe that if Jesus had time, he would have listed all the powers that believers would be able to exercise.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:12, 13).

Jesus exercised power over sickness, political leaders, nature, and finance. He promised that anyone with faith in Him would do the same and even greater things than He did. The examples in the Bible such as the calming of the storm, Jesus walking calmly through a crowd about to stone Him, and His wisdom in shutting the mouths of the political and religious powers of the time are all examples of what His disciples can do in a much greater measure.

(To be continued)

Please have a look at the great deals we have in our bookshop on both e-books and paperback books.

Bookshop

Are You in Jesus?

The other day during our children’s outreach we were discussing Noah. I asked the children (and adults present) who of them never do anything wrong. Obviously nobody could claim it. I then explained to the children that in Noah’s time God had to destroy all sin on earth, simply because He could not tolerate it any more. I then asked them who would survive if God had to do it again today. After the children have contemplated for a while, one lad answered: “Jesus”. He hit the nail right on the head. God is going to destroy all sin again, and only Jesus and those who are in Him are going to be saved.

We read in Ephesians 1:3-4: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

Christ is blessed and chosen, and those who are in Him are going along for the ride.

But it is not only a ride, and staying in Christ is not automatic. Our actions and choices determine whether we are in Christ.

From John 15:4-7 it is clear that it is possible to leave Jesus (get out of Him) and do your own thing: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me,” (verse 4). We said just now that we are not only in along for the ride – we need to bear fruit. Judged by these words of His, Jesus assumed it to be obvious that His disciples will have a desire to bear fruit, for He gives us direction regarding the condition for bearing fruit – those who desire to bear fruit must remain in Him.

Then we read in verse 5:  “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Again Jesus stressed the point that we are to remain in Him if we want to bear fruit, taking it for granted that those interested in Him will have a desire to bear fruit. But then He added that, apart from Him, we are useless, again taking it for granted that we would desire to do something.

We need to search our hearts whether we are motivated to promote the Kingdom of God, and if we are, do we stay in touch with the Holy Spirit and remain in Jesus? It is only in Jesus that we will have what we need to bear effective fruit: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you, (verse 7).” This includes the blessings mentioned in Ephesians 1:3-4 above.

And if we do not desire to bear fruit and because of that do not remain in Jesus, what then: “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned,” (verse 6).

How do you remain in Jesus? How do you actually remain in any relationship? By seeing your friend or spouse once a week for an hour; staring at one another? By just being on the receiving side, only calling on them when you need their help? No, the way any relationship grows is when we are there for one another, spending time together, and helping and supporting one another, making life easier for the other.

The same applies to being in Jesus. He needs us as much as we need Him. The greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Mark 12:30). How do you prove that you love your spouse? By saying every day that you love them? Maybe there is more to it, is there not? Loving your spouse is about doing those things that meet their needs. Does loving Jesus, and being in relationship with Him, entail singing in church with all your heart, soul, mind and strength that you love Him? I do not think so. It is doing with all your heart, soul, mind and strength that which He desires of you for the sake of the Kingdom. It is thinking about Him all the time, wondering what He desires of you next. It is laying down your life in order to proclaim His life (Matthew 10:39).

Are you in Jesus, or are you only concerned with yourself? Do you want to bear much fruit, hearing one day: “well done good and faithful servant”? Or do you want to be “picked up, thrown into the fire and burned”? (John 15:6)

Father, help me to remain in Jesus so I could bear much fruit?

The Sin of Missed Opportunities

One day, as the Holy Spirit prompted me to repent of opportunities that I did not pursue faithfully, I became aware of the sin of not being faithful with opportunities the Lord puts on our way.

We read in Colossians 4:5-6 (Amp): “Behave yourselves wisely [living prudently and with discretion] in your relations with those of the outside world (the non-Christians), making the very most of the time and seizing (buying up) the opportunity.  Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you].”

This refers to non Christians, but it applies equally to our interaction with one another.  What opportunities does the Holy Spirit refer to here?  We can call them Divine appointments.  In other words God has an appointment with you to make a difference in somebody's life, with the view to further His Kingdom in that person's life and the lives of those they influence.

Esau despised God's opportunity set out for him.

Holiness means to be set aside for God and we have learned a while ago that God being holy means that He is set aside solely for His purposes.  He has nothing on His agenda but His Kingdom.  Everything He works in and through us is for the sake of His Kingdom.

Therefore every opportunity He brings our way is Him trusting us to do it for the sake of His Kingdom.  This is why Paul urged believers to make the most of every opportunity coming our way.  It pleases the Lord when we obey by faith.

What does it mean to obey by faith?  When you receive a challenge maybe in your job, sport or hobby, you tackle it not necessarily having the required knowledge or skills initially, but by faith you proceed knowing that somehow you will figure it out.  I am sure many of us can identify with the scenario I have pictured here.

If we are able to do this for ourselves, how much more are we able to respond in obedience to an opportunity to help build God's interests, which He lays before us?  It is even easier, since we have the Holy Spirit guiding us in the successful pursuit of the opportunity.

We should consider how much we grieve the Holy Spirit when we, after He has gone to the trouble to prepare the opportunity for us, shove it back in His face so to speak.  How would you feel when someone volunteered to help you accomplish a project, you go through all the trouble to prepare their share for them, relying on their help, and then they let you down because their own interests are more important?

How does the Lord feel when we do it to Him?

What opportunities are we referring to?  These are opportunities to act on behalf of the Lord, since we are His hands, feet and voice.  These could be opportunities to encourage, share your faith, lead someone to the Lord, teach, help, serve, equip, plant a church, and use your gift - anything the Lord needs to build His Kingdom.

The second part of our passage under discussion (verse 6) speaks of how we should go about it.  It mentions graciousness of speech and being seasoned with salt. In my teaching on us being the salt of the earth from the Sermon on the Mount, we have learned that being the salt of the earth brings about tastiness for the Kingdom of God, a thirst for Him, as well as being an antiseptic, a preservative and a purifier of the earth and the condition it is in.  The same applies to the words and the way we address people. Seasoned with salt has to have the same effect as mentioned above.  Our words should create tastiness for the Kingdom of God, a thirst for Him, as well as antisepsis, preservation and purification in the person we address.

·         How often have you obeyed the Holy Spirit when an opportunity came your way?

·         How often have you ignored such opportunities because you had other agendas?  

·         Do you think the Lord will keep you accountable?   

·         Do you think the Lord need you to accomplish His holy purposes with His Kingdom?

·         Are you available?

Lord, I repent of my reluctance to obey you.  Please enable me to hear your voice better and to respond in obedience and faith.

Are you really dead to self?

Who is self?

Who did the disciples consider themselves to be? From their remarks on who is the greatest (An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest – Luke 9:46), the mother of Zebedee’s sons who asked for them to sit on both sides of Jesus when He became king (Matthew 20:20-22) and Peter's attitude of self importance (Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” – Matthew 26:33) we can see that self was initially first and foremost to them. 

    

Even though Jesus did all the miracles and often spoke of His heritage, they still perceived Him from an earthly perspective and because of this perception they sought position in Jesus' expected hierarchy. Self was first on the minds of the disciples until Jesus died for them. This shook them so hard that they went into hiding, not really knowing what to do.

It was only after the Holy Spirit was poured out on them that they understood the spiritual significance of Jesus' purpose for coming to earth. This together with the hours of training they received from Jesus caused a miracle in them - self died. Thereafter only one thing mattered - the Kingdom of God and its King.

Has Jesus died for you? No, that answer came too quickly. After all the teaching the disciples received about what would happen to Jesus, they were still very much focused on self, until the reason why Jesus died and resurrected became reality for each one personally. The stark realization that that which they witnessed during the crucifixion was actually for them personally, made them painfully aware of how petty their self centred attitude was in the light of Jesus' display of ultimate selflessness. If you had to literally stand at the cross during the crucifixion and became aware of your selfishness in the light of Jesus' selflessness, would you have changed?

Only when the Holy Spirit reveals to you the reality of Jesus' sacrifice for you personally, will self die in you and will you walk in the selflessness and power of Jesus. John the Baptist who was already rock bottom in terms of material goods and social status declared that Jesus had to become more and he less.

I ask again; has Jesus died for you in the sense that you are so awed by it that you will gladly shift self out of the way so Jesus could shine instead. Are you so stunned by His sacrifice that you are ashamed of your attitude in life?

Holy Spirit, please fill me with an awareness of Jesus' selflessness so I can become like Him.

Are you dead (part four) to pet sins?

This may be a touchy subject. Let us first define pet sins. A pet sin is something you enjoy, but which is evil in the Lord's eyes. It is usually something we justify ourselves for. The knowledge that we are free in Christ does not help much when it comes to this self justification. Some of us are very aware of this sin, but some don't see anything wrong with what they are doing. We think that God does not mind our pet sins, since we think they are forgiven in Christ and therefore we reckon we are free to sin as well. There are, however, many passages contradicting this self justification of which the following are the most relevant:

1 John 3:5-6: ^“But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”

Romans 6:1-4: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

 Romans 6:15-17: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

1 Corinthians 6:12, 13B (Amp): “Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [to save, sanctify, and raise it again].” This is written in the context of sexual immorality.

We find a similar passage in 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (Amp) in the context of the believer’s freedom: “All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]. Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbour].”

Examples of pet sins are:

Serving Mammon, in other words enjoying and making use of the comfort and enjoyment that money and a materialistic lifestyle brings at the cost of service to the Kingdom of God. It is very convenient to live as you like, avoiding the obvious sins, but only tagging Christianity along as an eternal security measure. The problem is that in this process a serious sin is committed, which is disobedience to the Holy Spirit, since obedience may cause us inconvenience regarding our lifestyle of materialistic comfort.

Sports: An excessive awareness of and participation in sports, either as spectators or athletes at the cost of serving the Kingdom is sin. Again we have self justification here. “I take part to the glory of God.” What you need to ask yourself is what is in your heart. How does your focus benefit and promote God's Kingdom in that souls are saved, people are discipled and educated in God's ways. If you only use yours being a Christian to benefit your sport and the image you portray, you sin. If you put the watching of and participation in sports above the development and usage of your gift to serve the Kingdom, you sin and need to die to this sin.

Yielding to the desires of the sinful nature (the flesh):

These could be greed, dishonesty, anger, selfishness, lust, pornography, vanity, hatred, unforgiveness, corruption, manipulation, etc. There are many demands we receive from our flesh or carnal nature that need to be overcome and die, since they stand in the way of our purity and an unhindered relationship with the Lord, (Galatians 5:16-26) Do not be deceived. God may love you as you are, but without holiness no-one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). The word holiness here means sanctification or being made holy. This is a process. See the series on holiness to be found in the archive to the right of the Word bytes blog in August and September 2014.

Satan and his demons attempt to use these weaknesses in the flesh to make us ineffective and delay God's plan with us. The Lord, however, uses them to form our character and to teach us a victorious life as well as self control (Paul’s thorn – 2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The aim is for the above-mentioned things to die so we could be completely sold out to the Kingdom - or as Isaiah put it in his famous chapter about True Fasting: “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

Lord, please show me my pet sins and help me die to them.

Are you dead (Part Three)

In the previous message we started looking at what is it in us that should die?

The next thing that should die is our pride. If we look carefully at our lives we will find a lot of pride. Maybe you will see what I am getting at by answering the following questions.

·         Do you get agitated when someone underestimates your ability, understanding, intelligence etc?

·         Do you get envious of someone whose gift appears to be better than yours?

·         Do you get jealous when people appear to adore or enjoy someone else's ministry gifting or style?

·         Do you jealously hold onto the power that you have obtained over time?

·         When your faults or errors are pointed out, do you retaliate - even if only in your heart and thoughts?

·         Are you acting in self defence when you feel threatened regarding your power, popularity or position of influence?

·         How dependent are you on the Lord? Do you consult Him in everything you do, because if we don’t, we tell the Lord in essence we can do it ourselves and don't need Him - pride?

·         Do you try to control – even the works of the Spirit?

·         When you pray publicly or minister, do you catch yourself thinking whether you impress God or listeners?

I think you get the gist of what I am saying. “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:11-12). I think the reason why we do not see the kind of power that Jesus and the apostles used to see is because pride stands in the way. Most of us want to be seen. When a move of God happens somewhere else, we often want it as well. Why would that be? What is the motive behind our desire?

Jesus' focus was completely on His Father (John 8:27-29) and the disciples' focus similarly on Jesus via the Holy Spirit (John 15:5). We say all the right stuff, but what do we think? Are you like the apostles who gave their lives for the Kingdom's sake, or are you like Ananias and Sapphira who lost their lives lying to the Holy Spirit in order to impress others to maintain their pride.

Jesus humiliated Himself to the lowest possible level and the result was that He was exalted to the highest possible level. Even in this high position He still humbles Himself by pleading on our behalf before the Father.

How low are you prepared to go or is pride standing in the way? Do you think if pride stood in their way the apostles would have been so recklessly obedient. Paul used to be a man of stature (Acts 23:6), yet he did not think twice to obey to the point of a life as described in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29. How do you think a man of his position felt about being flogged, thrown into jail, and chased out of town by hooligans? If you were in his position, would your pride not have retaliated?

Take Jesus - how many times do we see Him defending Himself? Who was He and where did He come from? If He had any pride, how would He have reacted to the way He was treated? If you were in His shoes, how would you have dealt with it?

And Peter? He had a good deal of pride that Jesus had to deal with, but when the Holy Spirit took over it all changed. Maybe this is the secret. Who controls us - our pride or the Holy Spirit?

If pride is altogether dead and we have no self centred motives left, we are about ready to move in the same power Jesus did. Miracles and healings are not the only manifestations of power - any evidence of God's power backing His servants is a manifestation of the humble being exalted. I am thinking of teaching, serving and witnessing that result in salvation and faith.

The letter kills, but the Spirit brings life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). A word uttered or a deed done in pride is void of power, even though it is from the Word of God, whereas the latter done in humility in the Spirit works change.

Just after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts, Peter simply witnessed without signs and miracles and well researched words and 3000 got saved in an instant. What happened? After the recent events and his experience with the Lord Jesus Peter was humble enough to have the right motive for his actions – the will of God. With him out of the way the Holy Spirit had the stage to show God off. They same happened throughout the book of Acts with all the believers.

Who do you show off? Remember there is no point in only answering with words. What is in your heart?

Lord, please reveal my pride so I can humble myself completely.

Are you dead? (Part Two)

In order to understand the phrases dying to your carnal self and hating your life, we need to define them. You hate your life when you hate the fact that the busyness of your current life and the demands of your selfish nature stands in your way to obey the Lord’s every command and be as fruitful as possible. Dying to self is to do something about it and remove these from your life so you have more to give to the Lord.

What is it in us that need to die?

Our life needs to die. “What do you mean my life? What am I worth dead?” you may ask. If you live YOUR life, you live it as you like for yourself. You make decisions according to your desires, your passions, your lusts, your comfort and securities. This is what needs to die. So what does such a life look like? In looking at it we assume you are a Christian and could build your life around any of the following:

a.    You have a comfortable (in many cases a very luxurious) home, an impressive career, a number of pleasurable activities, inclusive of the cars you drive, the sports you play and the social life you live. Christianity is an essential status you had to acquire and you make sure that your giving and your presence at church circles are not passed unnoticed.

b.    For some who were not so fortunate in life to have the opportunity to acquire loads of money, the basis of their Christianity is actually very similar than described above. The way around the lack of money is being one-eyed king in the land of the blind. You make sure you impress those around you with a lifestyle and a presence that are just a little more impressive that those of others. Quite often power, such as in serving in many committees, forms part of the package.

c.    For a third type of Christian comfort is the name of the game. You do your Christian duty by paying your tithe and sooth your conscience by attending church regularly, attending home cell and so on. You just do not want to be asked to be involved in any more, since it may interfere with your sports idolatry or social life.

d.   Some Christians are ambitious and climb the ladder of success in sport and career, tagging Christianity along because they really would not like to wind up in hell.

The Lord Jesus said in Mathew 7:21-23 under the chapter heading “True and False Disciples”, that many will tell Him they have done all these wonderful things in His name and for Him, but He told them He does not know them. Why is this? It is actually quite simple – those who do not die to themselves and hate their own lives, only tag Christianity along with their self-centred lives, which they love more than the author of this Christianity. They never go to the trouble getting to know Jesus through studying His Word and obeying what He tells them to do and therefore, when they approach Him on the day of judgement, He seriously cannot recall that He ever met them, because they never had a relationship with Him.

How much do you know about the Lord? Do you know which of your actions He likes and dislikes? Do you know what His exact will for your life is and what He wants you to do to get there? What is it that stands in your way to get to know Him better and find out what He desires for you?

In human relationships, such as with your spouse, partner or boss, you know what to pursue with the person involved in the relationship and what to avoid. As you get to know your boss, you know what not to do and what to do to avoid his displeasure. The same applies to your spouse.

Why would it be different with the Lord of hosts? If the Lord Jesus and the angels had to step lightly to stay in favour with Father God, why would it be different for us? A general lie that is preached these days is that the Lord’s love is unconditional? If it had been so, why did He deal so severely with certain people, including those of the New Testament? Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) come to mind. Why did He not just give them a fair chance to come to their senses and repent? If He loved them unconditionally, why did He act so severely?

God seeks holiness and obedience? He probably made an example of Ananias and Sapphira as a message to the Christians in the ages to come. If He had to act so severely with all Christians lying to the Holy Spirit, many more would have died. Maybe this is the reason why certain Christians died prematurely. Only God knows, but since the passage about Ananias and Sapphira concludes with these words; “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events”, should we not fear God enough not to act like them.

As I studied the book of Acts and came to the account of Ananias and Sapphira, I felt the Lord said to me the church is polluted with Ananiases and Sapphiras. How often have you deceived people with your spiritual motives, creating an untrue impression of yourself or what you do in order to impress those who matter? God is not to be fooled around with. He may be merciful right now, but there are lots of evidence in the Bible that we will answer one day for our actions and motives. Can the Lord say of you as He said of Job: “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 2:3)

Lord, you need me to be wholly available to help in the harvest. Help me to hate and die to those things in my life that keeps me from getting there.

To be continued.