Work

Spot the difference...

Fishers of Men

Water to mine

Stones to bread

Law and Grace 

Love and Marriage / Horse and Carriage

Usually a person should keep on with the work he was doing when God called him. 

Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but of course, if you get a chance to be free, take it. If the Lord calls you, and you are a slave, remember that Christ has set you free from the awful power of sin; and if he has called you and you are free, remember that you are now a slave of Christ. You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears. So, dear brothers, whatever situation a person is in when he becomes a Christian, let him stay there, for now the Lord is there to help him.

1 Corinthians 7:20-24

Calling of Matthew

As Jesus was going on down the road, he saw a tax collector, Matthew, sitting at a tax collection booth. “Come and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him, and Matthew jumped up and went along with him. Later, as Jesus and his disciples were eating dinner at Matthew’s house, there were many notorious swindlers there as guests! The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher associate with men like that?” “Because people who are well don’t need a doctor! It’s the sick people who do!” was Jesus’ reply. Then he added, “Now go away and learn the meaning of this verse of Scripture, ‘It isn’t your sacrifices and your gifts I want—I want you to be merciful.’ For I have come to urge sinners, not the self-righteous, back to God.”

Matthew 9:9-13

Jesus invited Matthew, the man of finance, the tax collector to be his disciple, his friend. Matthew was despised and no doubt a lonely man. Of all the likely candidates to be the group’s treasurer, it was Matthew. But the job was given to Judas. The Lord is gracious and kind, he didn’t make Matthew the treasurer. But would things have turned out better if Matthew had taken the job. He may have had doubts because of his past but Jesus had forgiven him. Paul’s point is correct - Usually a person should keep on with the work he was doing when God called him.

God had given each one of us gifts and talents to do certain 

things well. But in our jobs, sometimes we can get burdened with problems, stressed, worn out. Sometimes our bosses ask us to do something we don’t feel comfortable with. We don’t enjoy our work. So the chef doesn’t want to cook at home even though he is the best qualified. But someone else has to step up and that person may not necessarily be that great at it. The Lord loves them for being willing but he must get frustrated when he sees the one who he has gifted refusing!

However, neither does the Lord want us stressed to the maximum doing something that we are not gifted for. I had a friend in Youth Group who told us that God wanted him to be a rock star. Needless to say, it didn’t eventuate. Nothing wrong with our hopes and dreams but it has to be connected to reality.

The calling of Peter and Andrew, James and John

One day as Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew fishing with nets, for they were commercial fishermen. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me! And I will make you fishermen for the souls of men!” At once they left their nets and went along with him. A little farther up the beach, he saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat mending their nets. He called them too, and immediately they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went with him.

Mark 1:16-20

Here there was a connection. These men knew how to catch fish. Now they were to catch men. 

God has called you to be a missionary? Then take your gifts and talents with you and build your mission around that. When we were young our family used to go for our holidays to stay at a bach belong to a doctor and his family. He and his wife were overseas working doctors in Haiti where God had called them. But they kept their bach in New Zealand and generously allowed anyone to go and stay there free of charge. I used to love looking at the visitors book, it was such a great place to go for a holiday. So in fact the whole church benefitted from their mission work. Those in Haiti and those left behind in New Zealand. The connection was maintained.

Of course I am not saying to stay in a job if it is bad for you, if there is a more suitable alternative. If your health is suffering - physical or mental - and it lasts longer than a holiday can fix, then it may be time to change.

But there is purpose in persevering through suffering because it will build your character. Daniel had to persevere as administrator of Babylon when he was doing a great job, he was exactly where he was meant to be already.

Betrayal

The subject of John 18 is betrayal. Can you see yourself in the story ?

1. Judas was intent to hand Jesus over to the authorities, it is not clear why. Did he want to provoke a revolution ? Maybe he thought Jesus would use his power to overcome the Romans. Maybe he thought Peter and the other disciples would rise up and fight, Peter and the others had stated they were ready to die for him. Was Judas angry at Jesus for exposing his sin of being a thief when Mary had poured the jar of perfume over Jesus ? Was he so consumed with having money that he just wanted the 30 pieces of silver ? Certainly the love of money is the root of all evil. But the love of fame, of power, of influence in this world are also great temptations that lead to evil. These are the very things Satan tempted Jesus with in the desert and he offers them to us as well. As John said, do not love the world or anything in it (1 John 2:15)

2. Fight or flight ? When the enemy attacks and fear rises up inside us, will we run or stand. So often, we will run in an attempt to preserve our own life. The disciples all ran away and thus betrayed Jesus. I’m sure we can all remember times when we haven’t stood up and been counted to those we love, when we’ve backed down and run away. Jesus is faithful even if we are not. He protected them from harm even in that moment - he told the soldiers to let them go. It fulfilled prophecy. 

3. Jesus was first taken to Annas the father in law of Caiaphas the high priest. This indicates some sort of religious dynasty and who was really behind Jesus’s arrest that in the first instance they went to the father in law not the actual high priest. Caiaphas was probably in on the plot but he may not have been. At the same time, it could have been Caiaphas using Annas to rubber stamp the arrest. Have you ever felt like you’re a pawn pushing someone else’s agenda, betraying who you really are or want to be ? 

4. John was known to Caiaphas and got in the front door. He went in to support Jesus but honestly he had no impact on the proceedings. Despite our best intentions, we can fail to identify with Jesus when the chips are down. He didn’t outright deny Jesus like Peter did but nevertheless he didn’t speak up when he knew he could of. John would have had some regrets in that moment. It was a passive betrayal.

5. Peter lied, he actually denied knowing Jesus. Interestingly, John came to the gate and told the servant girl to let Peter in. When he walked in, Peter would have known it was important not to let on who he was otherwise he could be thrown out. He was already in the wrong head space the moment he was let in to a place he was not meant to be. Often we set ourselves up to betray. We are better off to avoid the place of temptation in the first place.

6. Pilate ignorantly betrayed Jesus, he claimed not to even know what truth was. He lied to himself, his wife had warned him that Jesus was a good man. Pilate condemned an innocent man to death, an unbelievable act of cowardice. We can never say we didn’t know. 

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.

John 19:39

Did you know that aloe is used to relieve sunburn and heal wounds and that myrrh is used as an antiseptic in mouthwashes, gargles, and toothpastes. It is also used in some liniments and healing salves that may be applied to abrasions and other minor skin ailments. The Father used their offering to heal Jesus wounds in the tomb ! 

Promised Land

I prepared this as the last part of a 6 part series on Exodus I was doing when my brother died and so never got around to using it so it’s a little unfinished. I realised recently that I am too busy and need to stop, let go and listen to the Lord instead of rushing around in circles, getting nowhere.

The Lord said to Moses, “Lead these people you brought from Egypt to the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ I will send an Angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It is a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’; but I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn, unruly people, and I would be tempted to destroy you along the way.” 

When the people heard these stern words, they went into mourning and stripped themselves of their jewelry and ornaments. For the Lord had told Moses to tell them, “You are an unruly, stubborn people. If I were there among you for even a moment, I would exterminate you. Remove your jewelry and ornaments until I decide what to do with you.” So, after that, they wore no jewelry.

Exodus 33:1-6

God gave Moses the task to lead the people to the Promised Land but he wouldn’t travel amongst them because of their disobedience..

Israel went into mourning. When the people heard the stern message they were sorry and they repented with tears which was proved by them not wearing their jewellery. 

It is one thing to have God’s promise of salvation. God cannot lie, we will be saved if we believe the Gospel. But if we make disobedience a pattern of our lives, constantly falling into sin then we can lose God’s presence and that’s an awful way to journey through life going around in circles in the desert. 

However, what is worse than travelling around in circles is if we do not repent even once, we are sealing a worse fate. Because, nothing changed, we remained as an unbeliever, our life ended in ruins, and there could be no redemption. 

Please understand I am talking about the person with an unrepentant heart. They don’t battle against sin, they think that the Grace of God is like an insurance plan, a licence to do what they like with a guaranteed payout at the end.

As J John the UK evangelist says, some people think they can make an 11th hour confession to the priest and repent on their deathbed so they continue to live a life of sin. They finally realise their terrible error when they die at 10.30pm. They are already a finished work by the time the priest turns up. What I mean is, imagine your life as a tree which is to become a carving. Early on, the Artist can still change the shape of the wood but by the end the carving is formed and cannot be changed.

What will the people say when the story is over and the book is closed ? It doesn’t matter a lot what people will say. People remember good things about even the worst of people. But it only matters what God will say. 

The thief on the cross was saved at the last moment because he saw who Jesus was and repented. There was no time to put things right but there was still time to call out to Jesus to remember him. That is very different to the person who knows who Jesus is but won’t repent when they have the chance believing they can live their life and be saved later because God is gracious. 

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:7-19

I can’t see your heart today but the Lord can. Moses spoke to the Lord as his friend;

Moses talked there with the Lord and said to him, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people to the Promised Land,’ but you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You say you are my friend, and that I have found favor before you; please, if this is really so, guide me clearly along the way you want me to travel so that I will understand you and walk acceptably before you. For don’t forget that this nation is your people.” And the Lord replied, “I myself will go with you and give you success.”

Exodus 33:12-14

Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle and the glory of the Lord filled it. Moses was not able to enter because the cloud was standing there, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Whenever the cloud lifted and moved, the people of Israel journeyed onward, following it. But if the cloud stayed, they stayed until it moved. The cloud rested upon the Tabernacle during the daytime, and at night there was fire in the cloud so that all the people of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.

Exodus 40:34-38

So the Lord was with Moses but not amongst the people. Many people today look to the Pope or their Minister. Because that man is considered holy, they follow him without really experiencing God for themselves. They think you can only find God in Church. They don’t realise they can have a personal relationship with him just like Moses had.

Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. The Law will not get you there. Only the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promise of God which cannot be changed. He is faithful, we are not.

Then Jesus shouted out again, dismissed his spirit, and died. And look! The curtain secluding the Holiest Place in the Temple was split apart from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and rocks broke, and tombs opened, and many godly men and women who had died came back to life again. After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the cemetery and went into Jerusalem, and appeared to many people there.

Matthew 27:50-53

Jesus death on the Cross made possible for us to have the kind of relationship that Moses had and also guaranteed our resurrection from the dead. That eternal life begins the moment you become a Christian. The curtain separating you from the Lord is torn away and you can go to Him. Before I was a Christian, death seemed like a wall of blackness. I couldn’t see anything but black beyond the wall. But now death is only a door to walk through to that place where Jesus is and where those who have gone to him before are now.

We are not in the Promised Land yet, we do live with that tension, but we have a glorious hope as Paul described;

But I am telling you this strange and wonderful secret: we shall not all die, but we shall all be given new bodies! It will all happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For there will be a trumpet blast from the sky, and all the Christians who have died will suddenly become alive, with new bodies that will never, never die; and then we who are still alive shall suddenly have new bodies too. For our earthly bodies, the ones we have now that can die, must be transformed into heavenly bodies that cannot perish but will live forever. When this happens, then at last this Scripture will come true—“Death is swallowed up in victory.” O death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin—the sting that causes death—will all be gone; and the law, which reveals our sins, will no longer be our judge. How we thank God for all of this! It is he who makes us victorious through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, my dear brothers, since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted as it would be if there were no resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Lord, today I want to put aside all these things I have to do, and all these things that are just a distraction and meet with you as Moses did - face to face. Thank you for these quiet moments, let me rest and listen to your voice !

The Global Government Election

The subject of today’s message is global government. In NZ we have an election in 2 months so we all have some decisions to make about who we’d like to run our country for the next 3 years. Later in November is the US election. How we vote perhaps more than ever before will determine our future world because not for a long time has there been such division in society of which is the right way to go. 

I was a bit worried to speak today. I spent the lockdown watching and reading a lot of media about end times and associated conspiracy theories. Many theories clearly do contain a lot of truth. Others, look way out there. But when you hear current and former world leaders like Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Scott Morrison saying that the only solution to fighting Covid-19 and for freedom is global government, you realise we are standing at the edge. There are open plans for global government, I don’t believe that people of influence necessarily know what they are doing though. We know we are not wrestling flesh and blood but dark principalities and powers.

I never could understand how the apocalyptic prophecies of Jesus and Paul could be true at the same time. How could the world be suffering disaster after disaster, be a chaotic mess and people be so deluded to be saying « peace and safety » as Paul prophesied ?

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

However this has now come true. If people are serious to think that having a vaccine and a microchip will keep the peace and make everyone safe they are indeed deluded.

Even though many of the events of our time indicate Jesus will be returning soon, nevertheless all of these things left me a little gloomy, which is why I wasn’t sure to speak today.

Jesus said to look up, watch and pray as the day of his return is getting  closer even at the doors. God’s government, the Kingdom of God has already started and is coming in great glory which is our great hope !

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”

Revelation 21:1-4

If you are troubled by what is going on in our world I want you to listen to this beautiful psalm. It is amazing to think that this is written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. 

What fools the nations are to rage against the Lord! How strange that men should try to outwit God! For a summit conference of the nations has been called to plot against the Lord and his Messiah, Christ the King. “Come, let us break his chains,” they say, “and free ourselves from all this slavery to God.” But God in heaven merely laughs! He is amused by all their puny plans. And then in fierce fury he rebukes them and fills them with fear. For the Lord declares, “This is the King of my choice, and I have enthroned him in Jerusalem, my holy city.” 

His chosen one replies, “I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, ‘You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory.’” “Only ask and I will give you all the nations of the world. Rule them with an iron rod; smash them like clay pots!” O kings and rulers of the earth, listen while there is time. Serve the Lord with reverent fear; rejoice with trembling. Fall down before his Son and kiss his feet before his anger is roused and you perish. I am warning you—his wrath will soon begin. But oh, the joys of those who put their trust in him!

Psalm 2

That is such good news we can only marvel in wonder at the future. And yet it can be hard to believe that all will be well and God is in control when we are facing all kinds of difficulties and trials down here. We don’t escape the troubles of life just because we are Christians, in fact it can be even worse to be one of God’s people, as it is for Christians in China, or was for the Jews in Nazi Germany. 

If you remember the hit Boney M song from the 70’s, the lament

By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land?

Psalm 137:1-4

It is thought to have been written by Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who is also thought to have written the book of Lamentations.

It was written during the 70 years of captivity in Babylon when everyone was gloomy throughout their lifetimes. We have been living in a pandemic crisis for just a few months and already we’re going crazy. Will life return to normal or will we remain in a form of captivity for a very long time ? We don’t know. 

How can we sing a song as captives in this strange land we are in ? How can we grow like trees by the Rivers of Babylon ? We are to wait on the Lord, maintain hope and remind ourselves of his goodness and faithfulness.

One of the great hymns is based on the Lamentations.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord  is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24

While we live through this great trial, we can remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and that he will bring an end to all the governments of the world to replace with his son Jesus.

That’s all good and a comfort but we cannot isolate ourselves from the reality we are facing. It will be tough.

First of all we have to acknowledge the situation we are in. We can’t deny it is bad and we have to admit we can’t fix it. The right thing is to turn to the Lord. I think it’s fair to say that these last few years have seen one disaster after another not just in the world but in NZ. We have tried to fix each one but every time another one comes. We have done everything as a Nation but repent. 

When our government passed laws in opposition to God’s ways, people said « see the sky has not fallen in ». Are we ready to reconsider our position ? We are like the Pharaoh of old who feigned repentance for a while until God relented each one of the plagues. 

But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 9:20-21

Repentance is a missing word from much of Church messaging today. We have been presenting only the nice bits. The kindness but not the severity of our God. It’s because the Church is comfortable and our message is primarily pitched at believers. We are preaching to the converted. But the message to non-believers is different. They need to hear to escape the coming wrath of the Lord. But they won’t get that if we only tell them the blessings of being a Christian. It will sound like they can have their own life + Jesus. 

Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’

Jeremiah 17:23

For the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

Proverbs 3:12

One week during the lockdown, in the midst of gloominess, I read Ephesians and I got a perspective on God’s government. As I read I remembered verses from Genesis and Colossians and how in the beginning God created an order of government starting from himself, he created order on every day

In Genesis 1

⁃ the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night

⁃ plants producing seed

⁃ man and woman to govern over nature

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

in Genesis 2, a second account is given in more detail about mankind specifically. it was pointed out to me that on every occasion it is the LORD God who acts, for example...

The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

The LORD God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed.

Genesis 2:8

The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)

Genesis 2:9

Etc

So the LORD God is above all the maker of everything but he places order in the creation so there is government at every level and peace. 

But then in Genesis 3 it opens with

Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

Genesis 3:1

See that ? The first time the serpent speaks he drops LORD off God’s name, and just calls him God.

Satan is a usurper. He himself wants to rule.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground—mighty though you were against the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, “I will ascend to heaven and rule the angels. I will take the highest throne. I will preside on the Mount of Assembly far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.” But instead, you will be brought down to the pit of hell, down to its lowest depths.

Isaiah 14:12-15

Satan tempted Eve who with Adam had been given joint governance over the World to reject the LORD God, to make herself like God

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:2-5

Satan was tempting Eve to join him in his rebellion, his plan to ascend into the most High, to govern and rule.

That is the tragedy of Mankind. We chose the government of the Serpent over the government of The LORD God.

That is what brought The LORD God’s judgement, banishing us from his Kingdom (The Garden of Eden) into the World as we know it (The Kingdom of Satan who was also banished). We are all born under Satan’s government and there is only one escape, one way back and that is Jesus, which the mystery of the Gospel reveals is the LORD God himself which Colossians says;

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:15-20

This is the real election, the only one that matters. You need to decide who is telling the truth and can deliver on his promises. Which Ruler gets your vote for Global Government;

• Satan the incumbent ruler of the World you were born into because of Adam and Eve. He says «  Do as thou wilt » His one is easy, familiar and pleasant and he offers everything now.
• Jesus, the King of Heaven. He says « I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me » His way is the narrow and difficult path, the future hope.

I reject the global government on offer at the moment because I see what it really means. It is man saying we can solve everything, we can find the answers apart from God. It keeps us in Satan’s Kingdom.

But there is a Global Government coming under the LORD Jesus Christ and that gets my vote. Tick that box !