Author: missionspaul

The Christmas Prologue 8: Let your glory fall again

John 1: 14 ^“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Moses saw it.

Isaiah saw it. A man disappointed, a failure in terms of his prophetic success and disillusioned. Yet he is granted a vision of the Lord. John would write later and say this was the glory of Jesus (12:41). This glory was the rescuing and recommissioning of this prophet. There is nothing you go through that you cannot find Him.

John sees later in a vision in Revelation 15:8 the heavenly temple filled with a cloud of glory.

Here John writes, “We have seen …” Not everyone has seen but we have. Referring to the Transfiguration where the face of Jesus shone like the sun; where Moses and Elijah appear standing alongside Jesus affirming his Messianic role; and where John hears a voice, “This is my Son.” That voice came from a bright cloud emphasising the visible glory of God.

Where is that glory that John speaks of now?

It is on the Church and in your life.

Where the glory is people will be attracted and will gather and the Church will grow.

Where the glory is miracles of salvation happen.

Where the glory is the broken bodies on our streets become the buildings of a new incarnation of the kingdom.

Whatever you are going through then pursue the glory.

In Exodus 33: 9-10 (the glory) descended and all the people saw the pillar of cloud. John says the Word became flesh and tabernacle/dwelt among us and we beheld/saw his glory! The glory isn’t worked up from man. It descends from God.

Again Lord we cry!

“On your Church let your glory fall. On my life as I go through this disappointment may I see your glory? Restore me and use me again. Glory come! Amen!”

The Christmas Prologue 7: Word became flesh

John 1: 14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Over the next few days we are going to be reminded through John’s ending of his Prologue to the Gospel that:

• There is nothing you go through that Jesus does not understand;
• There is no place you are in that you cannot find him;
• Jesus is in the unlikeliest of places.

‘The Word became flesh’ was shocking and it was meant to be.

‘Skin and bones’, with weakness and a body which was liable to sin.

Jesus was not a strange embodiment of a man, he was man, flesh, fully human.

He knew anger when things were being sold in the Temple.

He knew physical tiredness at the well in Samaria.

He knew hunger.

He knew upset at a funeral.

He knew agony on the cross.

Never think Jesus does not know what it is like.

There is nothing you go through that He does not know the experience of.

But there is more:

The Jews are afraid of taking God’s name and so have never used it. Instead they would use titles like ‘Holy One’ or ‘Name’ and also ‘The Word’. For example in a Targum (a paraphrased translation) of Exodus 19:17 it says “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet the Word.” The Jews were familiar with the Word as a designation of the divine.

John portrays Jesus not just as a man but so much more. He is the Word. “Jesus is not just man, He is God.”

The Word become flesh is God communicating not a set of rules but Himself.

The Word become flesh is not Jesus being an inspired carpenter or a model human being, but God himself.

Jesus’ words are above every other prophet or human being.

Jesus’ voice is God’s voice.

And today we are reminded that our God knows what we are going through because He walked amongst us.

The Christmas Prologue 6: Stability in a changing world.

John 1: 10-13 “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

John is clearly referring to the Jews and how in their rejection the Gentiles were given the same rights to be known as children of God. However, let us not look at us, but to Him and to His persistent unchanging love which is not slowed down by the negative response He gets.

He came and has kept on coming to the world He created, some don’t want Him but some do, but undeterred He keeps to His plan for us. He continually loves the unloved and the unloving of which we all were and at times still find ourselves back in those categories.

He is ruthlessly persistent in loving and wanting the best for our lives.

Here are 3 important truths to remember:

1. He does not change.

He remains everlasting, eternal, unchanging God, Father of lights with whom there is no shadow of turning. We change but He does not. We fall out of love with Him but He does not. We turn our back on Him but He does not. We want to give up but He does not.

2. He does not change His plans for you.

You may feel rejected or a failure, disillusioned or bitter, you may have changed your plans a million times, you may have even decided never to follow God again. Yet His plans for you are still the same. He cannot and will not change them. His plans contain promises that are not for your disaster but for your abundance, a future and a hope.

3. He does not change His love for you.

God loves with an everlasting love and an unchanging love. It is not conditional.

You are His. You belong to Him. No matter who you are or what you have done will never change the way He thinks about you.

In 2019 you will have seen many changes to your life. Successes but also failures. Fears and joys. Mountain tops and valleys. Heavenly experiences and hellish moments. You end this year either revived or exhausted. Whatever 2020 holds for you there will again be changes that you have to navigate through. But you will do it in the knowledge that your God will not change either His plans for your life nor His love for you!

The Christmas Prologue 5 – Know who you are and know who you are not.

John 1: 6-9 “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

He was just a man. Ordinary. Not the finished article and certainly not the light.

He was sent from God. He had heard a call from God to go. He had an experience of God but he certainly wasn’t the experience.

His name was John, it wasn’t Jesus.

Here is the thought today: you are important but not most important, understand and balance that well and you will fulfil the call God has for you. Get it wrong and you will be incredibly arrogant.

Let me try this again:

You are an ordinary person. Don’t think of yourself too highly because you aren’t. Take the pressure of yourself to be someone you are not. You will never keep up the fake attempt.

You have been sent by God. You are His witness. As you seek to show people Jesus. As you desire to see the light shine in the darkness then this is going to cost you. Christian witness is not safe. The cross and the bearer of it have become an abomination to many. This level of sacrifice needed as a witness is total. Your whole life. You may have lost a friend because of your witness but your fellow-witnesses across the world have lost their lives.

You have a name. You have an identity. God knows it. He is not confused by it. He has not made a mistake with you. You are meant to be here. Now thrive till you die.

The Christmas Prologue 4: Jesus is all.

John 1:3-5

A short one for Christmas Day!

v 3 “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

– He is in control of your life, He made it all!

v 4 “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

– He lightens the way for your life, He is the light!

v5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

– He overcomes your darkness, He is unconquerable!

He breathes into us life, He lightens the way for our life and nothing will overcome this life.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned! Isaiah 9

The Christmas Prologue 3: No beginning and no end.

John 1:2 “He was with God in the beginning.”

Jesus was there before it all began. He has no beginning. He is outside of time.

Before all time there was the WORD. He is pre-existent before anything was existent.

He enters the beginning. Because of this He will be there at the end.

When the end ends, He will still be there. He has no end.

He has seen it all. He has seen all that you hold dear.

We cannot contain Him to a time and a nation; to a scene; to a manger. We cannot hold onto Him. He is beyond our grasp. We cannot understand all there is to know about Him. He is beyond our capability to think.

Jesus did not begin 2,000 years ago in a manger, no crying he makes. He is before anything ever happened.

Now take your life, your short life, the years have gone by already so very quick and yet you have many unanswered questions, you have faced big dilemmas.

There have been no accidents in your life, neither your birth nor your death when it happens, nor anything in between. He knows the beginning and the end for each one of us and everything in between.

We can invite Jesus into our existence. But there is a greater invitation than that. An invitation for us to live our lives in His pre-existence.

You might not know why some things have happened or why they haven’t. But He knows.

God has and will always know what, why, when, where, how things are going in your life.

We need to trust in His pre-existence. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.

You may have many questions about your future. What does it hold? Will I cope?

Being outside of time He is already in your tomorrow, He is there waiting for you and He is here now with you.

This is enormous comfort. You will never be alone.

You will never have to wait for Him to catch you up. He is not following you.

Wherever you are, He is.

The Christmas Prologue 2: Jesus is God

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is the crux of the matter. This is the central truth of Christmas. This is why the major religions hate Christianity because of who we say the WORD is. Our LOGOS, our TORAH is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is God.

The cults of Christianity may hold the same beliefs yet it is verses like this that they twist to fit their deviances.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses for example (here’s what I learned at Bible College many years ago!!), here’s how they have translated the verse:

“and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.”

They have inserted ‘a god’ signifying Christ’s exalted status but as a creature. This translation helps them argue against the deity of Christ and his equality with the Father. But the ‘a’ is not there to be translated.

But why didn’t John simply write ‘and the Word was the God.’? That would have solved everything, right? NO. If John had used ‘the’ he would have confused the person of the Trinity and supported a heresy at the time (and still exists today) that all of God (the whole Trinity) was Jesus.

My memory served me well! I left Bible College in 1992!

John is writing his gospel so “that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:21). This first verse is crucial to John. He gets it right. He has to. Jesus is Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the SON, the TORAH, the LOGOS, the WORD and yet He is also God.

It is so hard for our tiny brains to fathom this. We never fully will on this earth. Our world is centred in uniqueness. No one person can actually be the same as the other, even family members. However, God is not us. Therefore, Jesus the Son is different to the Father and the Spirit and yet they are the same.

The second verse of the carol, O Come all ye Faithful says:

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created.

In our world we use this equation 1+1+1=3 and in God’s world it is 1x1x1=1.

God is a triune God. “Tri” meaning three, and “Unity” meaning one.

How exciting is this opening verse from John! He knows it and he best expresses it keeping in mind to protect from every heresy he can think of at the time.

It still serves us so well today.

Further to this we and John knew what the prophets said of the Messiah being God.

For example, in Isaiah:-

7:14 the Virgin will give birth to a child and he will be called Immanuel ‘God with us’.

9:6 A Child is born, a son is given, he will be called Mighty God.

John had seen for himself and the gospel writers have painted us the picture of Jesus who accepted worship. Even from the beginning of his life on earth we read:

Matthew 2:11 Magi saw the child with his mother Mary and they worshipped him.

In Matthew 14: 32-33, Jesus accepted worship from his disciples when they got back into the boat and the storm had died down. Jesus didn’t say, “Stop, I’m just a prophet. Stop worshipping me.”

Jesus claimed to be God himself. John would write later in his gospel:-

6:46 Jesus was referring to himself who is the one who has seen the Father and that he is the sole medium by which men may come to know the Father.

8:19 If you knew me, you would know my Father also.

14:8-9 Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father, “Have I not been with you all this time?”

And the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Thank you John!

And you?

Who do you say I am? Jesus asks.

The place you give Jesus is crucial.

I saw a nativity scene the other day and heard an onlooker shout ‘where is Jesus?’ and sure enough there was a crib but no Jesus. The nativity scene was lovely but where on earth was Jesus? Stolen? Forgotten to get out of the box?

Make sure today that you worship Jesus, love Jesus, pray to Jesus and hold on to:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is God.

The Christmas Prologue 1 – the true meaning of life, WORD, LOGOS and the TORAH

John’s gospel was written around 80-100 AD but it was the first fourteen verses that were venerated in the Middle Ages by the Roman Catholic Church where they were worn around the neck to ward off evil spirits. They would read it over the sick and newly baptised. Putting aside such veneration I do want to elevate these powerful verses as we approach and walk through Christmas into a new year. Here is the Prologue:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

History tells us that in 500BC the Greeks were asking whether in a changing world there was an abiding principle, a reason for it all. Their conclusion was summed up in one word, ‘WORD’ which is the English translation of the actual word, ‘LOGOS’.

This was later developed by the Stoics who talked of the LOGOS as the world-soul and they began to shape their whole lives around the LOGOS.

At the time of Jesus there was an Alexandrian Jew named Philo who had a Hebrew and Greek background and he took hold of the LOGOS idea and developed it.

But what is LOGOS/WORD? Philo believed:-

1. The LOGOS has no distinct personality, it is described as a rudder to shape man’s course or an instrument to fashion the world.
2. The LOGOS is God’s first-born Son (but not as we know it) and implying a pre-existence.
3. The LOGOS bridges the gap between God and the world.

This was the Greek thought regarding the meaning of life, the LOGOS. John knew this Greek thought when he wrote his gospel but he also knew the Jewish thought found in our Old Testament:-

1. The WORD (LOGOS) had creative powers (Genesis 1; Psalm 33)
2. God offers His care through His WORD (LOGOS) (Psalm 147, 148)
3. God’s LOGOS will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55, Psalm 147).
4. Judgment is executed by the LOGOS (Hosea 6).
5. The LOGOS is the means of revelation in the prophets.

Further to this the Jews believe that Dabar, Hebrew for WORD is the Torah, God’s way of communicating with us.

They believe:-

1. The TORAH was created before the foundation of the world.
2. The TORAH lay on God’s bosom.
3. God created through the first-born and the first-born was the TORAH.
4. The words of the TORAH are life for the world.

Sound familiar?!

WORD, LOGOS and the TORAH, Trying to answer the meaning of life.

John is fully aware of the Greek and Jewish position regarding this meaning of life, the reason for it all, why we are here and what our purpose is. This is how he starts his gospel:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

To the Greek, John says, “this rational principle of the universe that you hold to is a personal being and has become human.”

To the Jew, John says “your thought of pre-existent DABAR is kind of correct but there is so much more and He was never created. HE has personal attributes and HE has been here and I have seen HIM. The TORAH is JESUS CHRIST!

Jesus is not only the reason for the season, He is the reason for life.

Jesus is not only the true meaning behind Christmas, He is the true meaning to everything.

From the springboard of this LOGOS and TORAH, John would go on to record Jesus’ statements that he was the bread, the light, the door, the Shepherd, the Resurrection and Life, the Way, Truth and Life and the vine and he does so with 2 simple words, ‘I AM’ that not even Moses used for God they were so holy.

The Jews reject Jesus as WORD. Our world is indifferent to the WORD but still pursue their LOGOS.

But the WORD said it and John records it.

Jesus is the WORD, the LOGOS and the TORAH, the true meaning of life. There is none other.

He is.

 

 

Are you ready for something amazing to happen?

Luke 24: 50-53

⁵⁰ When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. ⁵² Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ⁵³ And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

 

I commenced writing a devotional from Luke’s gospel on the 30^th October 2018. Here we are today closing the gospel with the disciples and the Church continually at the temple. Luke had started his gospel there. The Temple.

“Luke has commenced his gospel with a married couple, old in years, but who knew how to do the right thing. Little did they know they would be the parents of the one who was to prepare the way for the Messiah.

Zechariah was chosen that day to burn incense. In the temple he would sprinkle frankincense on the fiery coals and a fragrant cloud would rise. He would prostrate himself on the floor and pray for the peace of Israel and give thanks for previous blessings. He had studied how to do this though this was most probably his first time.

It was a special day for him. He was just a priest, not a High Priest, just an ordinary one and yet the dice rolled in his favour apparently because out of at least 20,000 other priests he had been chosen. Luck? Miracle? Or indeed chosen?

For decades, Zechariah served God in a way which was ordinary, yet he did the right thing. He and his wife had a social stigma, they were childless. But their silent God did not prevent their commitment to Him. Their God was far more than what He could give them.”

Throughout his gospel Luke has continued to point us to the Temple. Whether it be Jesus on top of the temple in his temptations or the religious praying there in competition with others or the deceitful trading, the battle for the true worship within the temple is seen.

In the last verse of his gospel Luke leaves the reader on a cliff-hanger. The Church are continually in the temple and they are praising God. Something is about to happen surely? Something does that changes the landscape forever and that comes in part 2 of Luke’s writings.

When Jesus, the Messiah, is at the centre of our lives. When our true worship is all about Him. When we acknowledge our lives are indeed the Temple and Jesus is on the throne of it. When this is in place, then we are set, we are ready, keep worshipping for something powerful is about to happen!

SIN AND THE SPIRIT

Luke 24 v 44-48

⁴⁴ He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Over a meal of fish Jesus expounds the Scriptures and the disciples get it!

They understand and ‘finally’ we cry!

Their minds are opened and they see Jesus, the Messiah, throughout the historical story.

The death and the resurrection are there and they have witnessed it.

Now comes the direction that they are going to need. What happens now? Two thousand years later, the same instruction is before us, it still applies today. “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations”

I have been so blessed to have a heart for the nations. God gave it to me. It wasn’t naturally there. The nations are where we experience the ‘magnifying of God’ in our lives. I have found the presence of the Lord in places I never thought existed and I am a better man for it. I have spent the last 20 years in Africa and found that within its beauty lies so much division. The nations in Africa with all their ethnic, tribal and political groups struggle over each other’s ‘sins’ and lack of repentance. Forgiveness is hard to find at times when fists are raised high or being thrown in the direction of the sinner. The Bible is quoted, justice is demanded and the jihad of the Church commences to the grievous end.

But I have found in the last 18 months as I have focused on the UK that we are the same.

There are battles rising over sin, repentance and the forgiveness of it. The Church is trying to preach ‘repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name’ yet faces in-fighting and division over what it defines as sin. It seems with our own rise of tribalism found in every sector each has their own definition of sin.

What is sin to me may not be sin to you. You may be offended by my sinful ways and believe I should repent and be forgiven when I think I am not being sinful.

Of course if there is no God then sin is largely irrelevant, certainly in terms of offending Him.

So how do we progress?

We need what Jesus said he would send and what the Father promised. We need power from on high. We know that to be the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit to move not only in the nations of the world, but in the UK.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to understand what is sinful to God.

We need the Holy Spirit to convict us of that sin.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to preach.

We need the Holy Spirit to take our words and make them full of His power.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to be able to repent and change our ways.

We need the Holy Spirit to help turn us around and turn to Him.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We need the Holy Spirit for us to forgive the sins that have hurt us.

We need the Holy Spirit to cleanse our lives so that we can see differently the lives of others.

We need the Holy Spirit on the Church.

If the Church tries to do all the above without the Holy Spirit then we will just be fighting flesh and blood.

Jesus send the Holy Spirit again and again.