Missions Paul

How to be a friend and the results of being one, part 1

Over the next few days I want to explore these verses in John 15 v9-17 especially focusing on friendship and love. Hopefully, each day there will be an action and a result to consider.

December 2010 was a particularly bad winter, icy cold and snow continually falling meant that as a Pastor I had to make those difficult decisions to close the Church building down from services. We were in lockdown. Apart from a group who rented the building. They were the SAS of all groups. The Alcoholics Anonymous group met 3 times a week in our building and had never dropped a week and it continued throughout that lockdown. What an extraordinary organisation the AA are?! It was in June 1935, at the heart of the Great Depression, Bill Wilson, a failed stockbroker founded the organisation after meeting God in a hospital room. Since then much has been discovered in terms of psychology, neurology and human behaviour and yet contemporary medicine has arguably not managed to come up with a better alternative than the AA’s 12 steps which are centred on a small group of like-minded friends who provide support, honesty, and accountability.

 

On the night of Jesus’ death he speaks to his disciples about the most important command. It was his command to them that he had spoken of many times in the journey. That is of course, love and friendship.

In this lockdown season it seems that everything is coming to the surface. The good and the bad side of humanity. There are continually amazing stories of friendship, community and love. But there are also the despicable things that go on because for some they choose to never change even when the opportunity is given to do so. I really hope that post-lockdown when our churches gather back into their buildings that a new chapter of love and friendship will have noticeably already have begun.

 

How can I be a friend who loves?

 

Action: Find the common ground.

30 years before Bill Wilson saw the light, in 1905, a Boston physician named Joseph Pratt organized weekly meetings for patients with tuberculosis. He was simply trying to teach them better health habits; surprisingly, he discovered that the groups also excelled at providing emotional support. He concluded that by sharing about their “common disease” they developed a “common bond.”

V9-11 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

The common ground for the Church is the love found in God.

 

Result: Joy!

 

Jesus said in v11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Some people say you can have joy without being happy, but it usually those who are not smiling. Some people say their joy is deep down inside, but what good is a light that doesn’t shine?

Jesus spoke those words shortly before his dark Gethsemane and then accusation, slander and torture of Calvary. He spoke of ‘my joy’. He has joy remaining with Him at the time of his greatest trial and testing and Jesus wants you, whatever your trial or circumstance to have His joy in your life. It is not temporary, it is permanent based on His relationship with you. The greatest sign of God’s presence is joy and it comes through your love for others.

Nothing satisfies, renews and re-energises like the joy of the Lord!

How can we fight the battles of the Lord if we are downbeat?

How can we be a light to the world if we do not shine?

How can we set the world on fire if we are cold and dry?

We need joy in our hearts.

We cannot have a relationship with God without Him giving us joy. In Psalm 16 we are told that in Gods presence there is fullness of joy.

A joyless life is an un-revived life.

Am I heartless to talk about joy when the world suffers? No, I have found the church with the most joy is the church that is suffering. I have wept with Christians in many despicable places of the world only to see their smile return because God is with them. I always come away being moved by their joy more than their suffering. Joy conquers suffering.

We have a resurrection that conquers death and we have a joy in God that conquers the darkness of this world. And it all is birthed from loving others.

A building-less Church could become a better Church when we finally get back to our buildings.

John 15 v1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ 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. 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. ⁶ 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. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 

Most nations have national symbols for example, a dragon, lion or a unicorn! Israel has the Menorah and 2 olive branches but the national symbols are also the fig tree and the vine. There was a golden statue of a vine on the altar of their 2^nd Temple. Even their coins were inscribed with a vine. The vine was all around them. Jesus says the vine needs to be in them. It wasn’t strange that Jesus on walking from their Passover meal through the Kidron valley to the garden that he would talk about the vine. At their meal there had been a traditional blessing on their 3^rd cup of wine:

Blessed are You O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

What was strange was that the vine was never spoken of referring to an individual, but only as a nation. Plus when it was used it was always in terms of God’s judgment on His people.

Isaiah pictures Israel as a vine that has run wild, they are not what God intended. Jeremiah pictures Israel as a vine that is in a degenerate, unhealthy state. Hosea pictures Israel as a vine which is empty, it bears fruit only for themselves, not for God.

The vine, Israel and their God was the same as people who when talking of Church would think of people, a building and their God.

What Jesus says is this: I am the true vine. Not you. Me. Remain in me. Then you will bear fruit. The world will see you as my disciples and the Father will be glorified. Relationship with me not empty rituals is the key.

We have always maintained the Church is not the building but sometimes our practices and programmes haven’t suggested it to be so. Now that we cannot get to our buildings we have been reminded as we look at our computer screens that the Church is definitely not the building. Can you imagine for a crazy moment if we were in some kind of lockdown from our buildings for a year? For 5 years? Awful thought. But just say a length of time enough for a new norm to have emerged for the Church, which didn’t involve a building. (This is not a hate your building campaign. I love buildings!) Now imagine if God used this time to prune the Church back?

Can you imagine for a crazy moment if what became the priority was our relationship with a) Jesus; b) each other; and c) the world around us?

Can you imagine Christians depending more on their own worship life to grow? Worship songs sung at home in throughout the day devotional times?

Last night I led a Bible study on ZOOM (the latest word that everyone knows which doesn’t now mean’ fast’ depending on wifi signals!) and in the breakout room the members of my group were saying how even more connected they felt at this time. They were carrying one another’s burdens like never before. Can you imagine a Church being recognised by its love?

Again yesterday I saw one of my ministers on social media out and about his neighbourhood with a loud speaker playing ‘Amazing Grace’ inviting people to join him in the hymn at the doors or windows. Can you imagine the fruit coming from this pruning being a new desire to connect to the world around us?

It will be great when we gather together again in buildings. But can you imagine what kind of Church will gather there after this season we are going through?!

Helped, Hugged and at Home in times of social distancing

We are certainly in days when helping one another has become thankfully one of the most important things we now do. To live selfishly seems pointless. We need each other as we are enforced to stay at home. One friend said to me the other day that they couldn’t wait for social distancing to end so that they can be hugged again. Today’s reading from John chapter 14 has good news for us, v15-31. On the night of his journey to the cross he tells his disciples and us some great news.

For those who follow Jesus he has a promise (v15 ‘If you love me, keep my commands.”)

The promise is the Spirit of truth, v17.

He is a person, (v17 The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him)

Paraclete is a hard word to translate and so we have various attempts of meaning which end up being inspiring to us:

He is your helper. He helps you to live for God. He gives you the ability and the energy to do what you have to do today. It is not true that you have no one to assist you nor anyone beside you. You have the other helper. The disciples had Jesus who stilled the storm when they were afraid and who fed the crowds when they had nothing. So whatever you need today there is a helper right by your side, the Spirit of truth.

He is your advocate, (v16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever) Just as Jesus was an advocate the Spirit is also. Jesus has in mind the court of heaven where the Spirit pleads on the behalf of his followers just as an advocate on earth defends the cause in the court of law. The advocate will do what Jesus did. When you don’t know who God is or what the Bible is really saying or even when people are against you, you have an advocate who will defend you. (v26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.)

He is your Comforter. He cheers you up. After social distancing we will hug again. It doesn’t take the pain away but it does help you get through the day when you have a friend who supports you.

He is your Peace. (v27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.) A peace that remains. It doesn’t change or die because of the circumstance.

What an incredible person the Spirit is! And where is he?

He is at home in you. (v17 But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you … v23 My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.) We! Where the Spirit is so is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit at home in you! For some today sadly home is a dream. In lockdown domestic abuse has risen and there are concerns for children at risk. It is unthinkable isn’t it? There is a home which is not a house with decorations. The home of the heart. The home in you. Your sense of well-being. Right now as a follower of Jesus the fullness of God dwells in you and is at home in you!

Why is this so important? Well the last point especially shows us we do live in a dangerous world. Today people will sadly die. Many will leave their homes with some anxiety of what they are about to face.

Jesus said this:

V17 “The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him … V19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” We live in a world which cannot see and doesn’t know who is living inside of you.

V30 “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me” For Jesus he could be referring to Caesar whose soldiers put Jesus on the cross. Or it could have been the high priest. It could also mean the enemy of our soul, Satan, who is behind the Caesars, the false priests and the betrayers of this world.

V31 “but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Come now; let us leave.”

Though we live in a dangerous world and though it is difficult to serve God. Jesus says the prince of this world only serves the purposes of God for it. His call to come and leave with him shows the intention of Jesus that no one was going to take his life but he would offer it to the world that the world may be saved.

So this lockdown, the social distancing and the evils of this world may produce circumstances that are dangerous to us but we are not alone. We have another who lives alongside us, at home in us, giving us a big hug today!

Elvis has left the building

John 14 v5-14

“Elvis has left the building” used to be announced at the end of Elvis Presley’s concerts to encourage his hysterical fans to accept that there would be no further encores and to go home. The first known use of ‘Elvis has left the building’ was printed in the DETROIT TIMES, 23/11/56:

“Presley gave his guitar a final bang, flung it from his shoulder and fled the stage seconds ahead of the mob. Outside, a car waited, with door open and motor running. By this time, his press agent, Oscar Davis, was on the stage. He grabbed the microphone and yelled:

“Elvis has left the building. Hold it. Hold it. Elvis is gone.”

The Kelsey Grammer sitcom ‘Frasier’ used a play on the line at the end of each show – “Frasier has left the building.”

Elvis, Frasier and THE CHURCH HAS NOW LEFT THE BUILDING!

John writes his gospel to communicate that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Temple. He still is. The Temple will fall. Jesus predicts that. The glory of God is in Jesus not the Temple. Jesus is the presence of God and the centre for all activity under heaven and on earth.

Jesus announces he is leaving them. He is only a young man but it is time to go. Jesus will leave the building soon.

Thomas thinks geographically, v5 ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ ⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

Philip is thinking supernaturally, v8-14 Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they 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 Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

The answer to Philip is you have what you want but you cannot see.

The world calls to the Church, ‘Show us your God’ and then tries to fit the God they want into their own frame of thinking.

The Church cries to God, ‘Show us your glory’ and then does the same.

Don’t you know? Haven’t you seen? Will you not believe?

The Church has left the building for the first time since anyone can remember.

What does the world see?

Jesus says it has to be two things: His words and works that bring people to know God.

May our words not be our own, v10

May we dwell in God and He in us, v11

May our works be His works, v12

Isn’t that amazing?

Then we read something even better than that. We can ask for anything and He will do it! But we know that’s not strictly true. Because not only has Elvis left the building but our loved ones have too. Our friend, spouse, parent and child, we asked but they didn’t stay. That ask wasn’t just anything it was something really special, very important. Easter Sunday has just gone, it can be a very difficult day to rejoice in the Resurrection when the loved one died. Why didn’t they stay in the building? Why did they have to leave? It is because when we ask we ‘ask in my name’, v14.

Jesus would ask that very night in the garden of Gethsemane. ‘I don’t want to go’.

In my name means according to His will, not ours; His word, not ours; His glory; not ours. Asking God for something can in fact be the most submissive and painful thing to ever do! Only the brave ask God in His name.

Jesus tells his disciples they will do even greater things. How is that possible to do anything greater than even just one of the miracles of Jesus?

Well Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God in Judea and Galilee and his disciples would go to the ends of the earth; Jesus had hundreds of followers when he left the building but within 40 days they would be gathering thousands; in a few years the gospel would end up in Rome of all places but 2,000 years later it is now all over the world.

What Jesus is saying is this, when I leave this building, it isn’t over, go further.

Elvis has left the building. Jesus has left the building and maybe you’re loved one has too.

We don’t all leave at the same time though we would want to. One day someone will mourn you leaving the building too.

In lockdown the CHURCH has left the building and the message is the same. It isn’t over!

We carry on, we go further, we have more experiences, we carry the words and the works until the day comes and we too leave the building.

Meditation on the Positive

Retracing our steps because of Holy week we commence again back in chapter 14.

John 14 v5-6 “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The one person who can settle the agitated and distressed soul is Jesus.

During this difficult season we are on we must discipline our minds to meditate on what is good.

To the person who is trying hard, you feel drained from fighting, one step forward and two steps back. You are striving to succeed, afraid you might not make it.

Be still. Let these words fall on your mind today:

Do not let your hearts be troubled (v1) Mediate on these words I AM THE WAY.

To the person who has been questioning why something happened, you may have felt deceived and God has been unfair. You are confused. You have a mountain of questions.

Be still. Let these words fall on your mind today:

Do not let your hearts be troubled (v1) Mediate on these words I AM THE TRUTH.

To the person whose physical sickness has damaged them more than their physical health; they are drained of energy in their very being. To the one who doubts whether they will be in heaven when they die. To those who have suffered the death of a loved one and is dying inside because of it.

Be still. Let these words fall on your mind today:

Do not let your hearts be troubled (v1) Mediate on these words I AM THE LIFE.

Easter Sunday – What Mary saw and heard!

John 20 v 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

She is not alone, the other Gospels help us with that; she is with Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and the other Mary. In a society where women did not count it is amazing how God orchestrates the women to be the first on the scene to witness the resurrection of Jesus.

Her life on earth had been hell before she met Jesus. She had 7 areas of dysfunction in her life. Seven major areas of weakness and of pain and torture. Her life was characterised by these plagues. Then she met Jesus. He gave her a new personality. He restored her and made her whole.

When you have been forgiven much you love much.

No wonder she loved him. Oh how she loved him. This love was not sentimentalism or emotionalism. She owed her all to Jesus.

The first day of the week. God’s new week. It was still dark but the darkness was fading, the sun was rising and the Son was alive.

v2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Mary jumps to conclusions. We don’t know who she is referring to, who ‘they’ were. Was she referring to the enemies of Jesus? Having murdered him they are playing some sick joke in stealing his body? Was it Joseph and Nicodemus, this was a temporary tomb anyway, have they re-sited his body to a more permanent place? The conclusion she didn’t jump to was that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They would see Jesus at the resurrection (the end-time Last Day) but not now. This is why John makes sure his gospel reveals a risen Lord and that the resurrection was to man before God the Father (v17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”)

John (we presume) had looked inside the tomb and Peter had gone inside. But everyone has gone back home and Mary is left. Look what happens.

V11-15 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Where had the angels appeared from? Or were they there in the tomb but Peter and John had failed to see them?

Your tears of brokenness can give you an ability to see what others are seeing. Angels seen through tears of loss. ‘They have taken’. ‘I have lost everything, my life, my all.’ Spoken to angels that the others couldn’t see.

Your tears of brokenness can lead to you being quite irrational. There was no way Mary could get the body on her own.

Your tears of brokenness can lead you to revelation. We can focus on the fact that she didn’t see Jesus but what she thought was the gardener. That is true. But it was an amazing revelation also. “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener” and here stands the One who will bring life to a garden of confusion, hurt and sin. She saw correctly in a wonderful way.

v16  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Powerful, deeply moving and it starts by Jesus calling her name.

He called my name and I ran out of that grave.!

It happened to Lazarus and it happened to Mary!

He is Risen!

v18 “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Mary, the one who was the most broken of all women became the first witness of the resurrection. You may think you have nothing. You may feel disqualified from many things. However in your devotion to Jesus you heard your name!

Holy Week – don’t be stressing, just keep a Sabbath.

What happened on the second day?

“Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19 v42

Jesus had no place to lay his head (Luke 9:58) and he had no family tomb either. His death came suddenly for the disciples and no one had thought of what to do with the body of their Lord. Two secret disciples had a solution. Joseph had a tomb very near to the cross that had never been used and so he and Nicodemus before sunset on the Friday laid Jesus there temporarily before the Sabbath began on the Saturday. Isn’t it a lovely thought that Jesus was laid there temporarily?!

So it is Saturday.

What is happening?

Three things.

1. The enemy secured what they thought was their victory.

• The religious leaders were not observing what they taught which was one of the charges they laid at Jesus – keeping the Sabbath, ““The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.” Matthew 27
• They were remembering the words of Jesus more than the disciples. The last thing on the disciples mind was stealing the body! They were not thinking about the teaching of Jesus, there was no expectation, “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” Matthew 27 v63-64.

 

Sometimes it may feel it is getting worse than it gets better. The enemy of your soul will try and secure your defeat.

Keep your eyes off what you think the enemy has done. Turn your face away. Don’t listen to the voice of negativity that tries to knock at your door. It’s not over. There is someone else who is active.

 

2. Jesus was doing something though we are not absolutely sure what that was.

We know that Jesus told the thief he would be in Paradise with Jesus that day (Luke 23 v42). We also know there are various Scriptures that would indicate Jesus went to preach in hell (Acts 2 v27; Romans 10 v6-7; Ephesians 4 v8-9; 1 Peter 3 v18-20). However, many have debated over the generations on what these Scriptures actually mean. So I think it is fair to say Jesus was doing something but we are not 100% sure what that was even if we might have an idea. I like this position. I don’t like the position of being so sure of what and where God is. Prophecies during a pandemic are to be taken lightly. To have had them before would have been more helpful.

On the Saturday of your trauma it is simply enough to know that God is still active. Whatever He is doing it will be for the ultimate good. That is enough to rest on. That brings us nicely to the third point.

3. The disciples are not stressing, they just keep the Sabbath.

“Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation…” Because it was the day before the Sabbath and everyone rests on that day they laid Jesus in the tomb.

Luke helps us here. The women saw where Jesus was laid, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (23 v56).

It is not a day to do nothing. That feels like a waste to me. It is a day of rest; of sleep; of worship; of silence; of fuelling the tank; of friendship, love and kindness.

So ignore what the enemy has done or may still be trying to do; trust God hasn’t stopped working for you and you choose your Sabbath and rest your soul, heart and mind. For tomorrow will be quite a day!

Don’t be stressing, just keep a Sabbath.

Holy Week – don’t be playing games of gain, just keep giving your life.

They had tried death by spear, by boiling in oil, impalement, stoning, strangulation, drowning, burning – and all had been found to be too quick. They wanted a means of punishing criminals slowly and inexorably, so man devised the cross. It was almost ideal, because in its original form it was slow as it was painful … and the condemned at the same time were placed fairly before the gaze of the people.

A second consideration was nudity. This added to the shame of the evildoer and, at the same time, made him helpless before the thousands of insects in the air.

The Romans adopted the cross as a means of deterring crime and they had faith in it.

Something painful happens at the cross which might not have looked so to the onlooker.

We acknowledge the double-mindedness of the Palm Sunday crowd, the cowardice of Pilate, the vindictiveness of the Religious leaders, the anger and the insults, the spitting and the beating that Jesus received, the thorns and the nails. But something aggressive was taking place in a passive way. Yes, passive aggressive behaviour at the foot of the cross. Let’s read:

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.  “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. (John 19: 23-24).

It was a game of humiliation

The first Adam came into the world naked. But he turned his back on God and his sin brought humiliation and he sowed fig leaves together and made coverings.

The second and last Adam, Jesus, went to the cross, sinless and clothed. They stripped him of his dignity and he died naked.

As a shepherd was tending his sheep, two wolves attacked. One of the wolves killed the mother of one of the youngest lambs; the other wolf killed a small lamb as its mother looked on helplessly. The shepherd finally succeeded in driving the wolves away, but he was left with a dilemma. He had lost one mother and one small lamb. Now he was in danger of losing a second lamb because its mother had been killed and none of the other sheep would nurse the lamb since it was not their own. Then the shepherd came up with a plan.

He took the sin of the dead lamb and put it over the live lamb. In doing this, he caused the grieving mother to recognise the orphaned lamb as her own. So the mother accepted the little lamb, nursed it and it became her own.

When Jesus went to the cross He laid His coat of righteousness over our unrighteousness so that we are now clothed in Christ. We are accepted by God because His clothes of righteousness are on us.

No one likes being humiliated. To be made small, to flatten and to be weakened. Things may go wrong in your life. However no matter how you try and cover over, whether it be by clothes of education, success, popularity, wealth or religious duty, it is futile.

“Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 13 v14

It was a game of gain.

Are we at the foot of the cross for what we can gain from it?

They gained from Jesus what He wasn’t giving. They took the clothing of Jesus, but from Jesus they took nothing. They left with his clothes but they walked away empty-handed.

Many deny the cross but take up the benefits of Christianity.

Gain is the most important part of their life

Some church noticeboards should read: PEACE AND PROSPERITY FREE FOR ALL; NEXT PERFORMANCE SUNDAY 11AM

Jesus noticeboard still says: SELL ALL YOU HAVE; GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE POOR; THEN JOIN US!

There isn’t anything wrong in being rich as long as being rich is not the purpose of our being.

Churches are not car showrooms enticing people to buy their products. People still need to come the way of the old rugged cross.

It is a game which was foretold.

David prophesied it in Psalm 22 v18.

Just because God knew the bad thing was going to happen it doesn’t mean it isn’t bad. Putting Jesus on the cross was wicked and playing a game of dice for his coat in front of him was despicable. It was bad.

But it does mean the bad is held in the hand of good. It is Good Friday.

Everything that happens to us as God’s children is for good. It may be hell at the time, but it is for good. God is behind everything that happens to you as you follow Him. God can take the worst scenario that ever happened to a person and turn it into good so that it would appear to be the best thing that ever happened. Romans 8 v28.

Let’s not play any games but let us once again lay our life down at the foot of the cross.

 

Holy Week – don’t be giving up just keep going: for Edwin.

Waking this morning heavy hearted. Last night another of our wonderful Pastors went to be with the Lord. We were praying much. Again we contended for a shepherd, a wonderful man, fantastic husband and father to 2 sons. It is unthinkable, sobering, silencing. I cannot think in my time in one year of losing so many young Pastors who had so much more to give. Heaven rejoices but we weep.

I have just read the whole of John chapter 18 v1-11

Here are my thoughts.

He went into the garden of grief.

“When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.” John 18:1

John doesn’t tell us of the agonising prayer that Jesus went through, he doesn’t need to, he has already told us the many times Jesus’ heart was troubled of what lay ahead.

The first garden God walked in He ended up banishing us from it because of our sin. But here in what John simply calls an olive grove Jesus commences the road of redeeming us of that sin. Of course John will later get a Revelation of the end-time garden with the Tree of Life planted there.

The Olive grove garden is the battle with grief. A garden of betrayal. A garden of threat from the detachment of soldiers. A garden of revelation as Jesus responds with the ‘I AM’ that John has used throughout his gospel and which is attributed to the name of God in the Exodus. A garden of supernatural activity as the soldiers fall down under the revelation of Jesus. A garden of human activity that tries to take matters into their own hands as sword-wielding Peter did. We deal with all that activity in our lives. Pastors know this more than many as they carry the burdens of people, laying their lives down, battling the injustices and standing up for those who are rejected. One of the things people will say today about Edwin is that he was a shepherd, a caring, strong but gentle man.

The Olive grove was as we know called Gethsemane which means Olive Press. This garden has many emotions as grief locks us down.

The betrayer and the enemy do not spring on Jesus as in an ambush. He knows. He understands the time and the season. He knows the moment. How? It is in the hidden place.

This is the key.

John doesn’t mention it. The praying Jesus. No one needs to know your hiding place either. No one needs to know your cries for help, the battle with grief or your submission to Him. Gethsemane will crush you. It will be your greatest trial to see who’s will you follow, yours or His. Surviving Gethsemane is not to just come out of it but it is to submit to the destiny on your life. It happens through the place that you don’t have to even mention to anyone else.

Holy week – don’t be fighting just be loving

So I learnt this week that due to the corona virus The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was closed. This has happened before of course, in 1349! Due to another pandemic called the Black Death.

A few years ago I was privileged to visit this Church which isn’t probably where Jesus was crucified and where he rose again. Nevertheless it is a treasured site and is occupied by six Christian denominations. The primary custodians are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic Church, with lesser duties shared by Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox churches.

Can you imagine what might happen if 6 Christian denominations occupied a holy site? Well, before you think of the answer let’s read a prayer of Jesus hours before he went somewhere close to this site. Keep reading because I need to tell you about the ladder.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23

What a lovely prayer for Christian unity!

Back to the holy site and our imagining the Christian unity that Jesus prayed for.

In November 2008 a fistfight broke out which you can see on Youtube! It shows a fight between the blue, the black and the red team. It’s like the worst Churches Together meeting you have ever attended. Areas of the Church are rigorously defended by each group. The Copts and the Ethiopians are in continually fights over a small section of the roof. So there is one Coptic monk at any given time sitting on a chair to demonstrate their claim. In the summer of 2002 with the sun beating down, a monk moved the chair 20cm into the shade and a fight broke out in which 11 people were taken to hospital.

Can you imagine these groups agreeing to take care of the fabric of the building? No of course not and as a result it is in disrepair. This division has gone on for centuries. As a result not one of the groups hold the keys to the Church. In the 7^th century till now the keys have been held by a Sunni Muslim Family. (I thought the keys were given to the followers of Jesus?!)

So who does Jesus pray for?

Having prayed for his disciples, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” That is you and me. For what?

 

“… that all of them may be one … brought to complete unity”.

 

We need to fight and contend more for unity and not to win and gain. What does that look like? Someone has to get on the cross. The Church which is meant to be the holiest site in Jerusalem worship the cross but no one has ever got onto it, though they would love to pin their worshipping neighbours on it. Why?

 

“… just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us … Then the world will know that you sent me…”

 

We love because we replicate the relationship of the Father and the Son.

We love because we desire the presence of God in our lives.

We love because it is the greatest evangelistic tool.

Without love there is none of the above!

 

Let me tell you about the ladder. It is actually called the Immovable ladder. No one knows how this ladder propped against a window got there but presumably to make some kind of repairs. No one knows who it belongs to. So it stands there since at least the early 1700s. It has only been moved twice where the parties all agreed it would be moved temporarily so that repairs could be made.

I wonder how many Immovable ladders there are in Church. Sometimes they are called sacred cows and elephants in the room. What cannot be touched or spoken about? What are we afraid to say? What about the reverse? Are we teachable? Can we be corrected so that we become better people? Or if someone dares mention an area of our life that we are sensitive about do we react? Immovable ladders do not bring people to Jesus, unity does.

As we journey with Jesus during Holy Week don’t be fighting just be loving.