“Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the word of God. But
you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”
Observation
Jesus continues to discuss with the Jewish people in the Temple
forecourts.
He tells them they are children of the devil because they love to do
the things he did from the beginning. The devil is a murderer and a
liar. Therefore they cannot see the truth that Jesus conveys.
Anyone who belongs to God welcomes God’s words.
The leaders accuse Jesus of being possessed by a demon. Jesus replies
that His only aim is to honour the Father. Anyone who obeys Jesus
will never die.
Application
Jesus
tells us here that anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to God’s
words. If we don’t want to listen to God’s words, it is a sign
that we do not truly belong to God.
When
I first got saved, my immediate priority was to read the Bible. I
started at Matthew and read right through the New Testament in a few
weeks. The Holy Spirit in me stirred up a hunger for the word of God.
If
you find that reading Scripture is too hard or if you are bored
during the sermon at church, then it may be a sign that you are
really not born again.
God’s
people love His word because it gives life. The Scriptures show us
who God really is, and what He expects of His people. Preaching that
is faithful to God’s word should make us hunger for more. That is
not to say that there are no bad preachers, but a pastor’s love for
God’s word should inspire us to go back to the scriptures for more.
Prayer
Lord I love you and I want to know you more. Please help me to read
and understand your word, and to know how to apply it to my daily
life. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 1:14. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 1:14
[Holy Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance. But how does this work? Why is the Holy Spirit a guarantee?
The Holy Spirit is given to christians when we are first saved. We speak of “having,” “receiving” the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit is “in” us. We speak from experience of the Holy Spirit, but we lack any objective measurement or framework to describe how this works.
We know that we know. There is a difference in our lives that takes place as we attend to the Holy Spirit’s directions.
Once we had no concept of the Holy Spirit in us, but now it is our experience that God fellowships intimately with us.
People experience the Holy Spirit is different ways. For some, there is an ongoing clear conversation in which they are often keenly aware of the Holy Spirit’s direction. For others, the Holy Spirit is a vague entity, occasionally experienced as a still, small voice that is easy to miss.
The Holy Spirit is manifest in the form of various gifts such as those in 1 Corinthians 12 in which various abilities are given in order to build up the church. The Holy Spirit is also revealed as, over time, various qualities (the fruit of the Spirit) become activated to make a believer more Christ-like in temperament (Galatians 5:22-23)
When we believe we receive the Holy Spirit who serves as a guarantee of what is to come, our inheritance.
Our inheritance is our salvation, God’s free gift of eternal life to all who believe. At the instant we truly repent of our sins and decide to follow Jesus, the Spirit comes in and “seals” that decision, guaranteeing that we will receive eternal life.
A guarantee is given by a producer or service provider that their product is fit for its intended purpose. For consumers this might be in the form of a promise to replace a defective item if it breaks down in a certain time period. For businesses it might be a statement that a product such as a fuel has a certain composition or a rating. If this product fails to meet the specification a purchaser is justified in suing for the damages they suffer.
The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our eternal salvation. We have this witness inside us that assures us that we are in relationship with God, and our destiny is not in doubt.
In most worldly guarantees, a corporation or a government stands behind the promise. With our salvation, it is God, our Creator and Redeemer, who stands behind the promise. In fact, He is the promise.
So God’s guarantee of our inheritance is to put Himself into us as a sign of what is to come.
The Bible does not give us much of an explicit description of what heaven is like or how eternal life will be lived. We do know that our relationship with God will be the focus of the new life.
In this life, sin blocks our relationship with God. For now we see in part, but one day we will see in fullness, in perfection. We will see the glory of God unfiltered by our physical limitations.
Since our relationship with God will be the focal point of eternal life, it is appropriate that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of what will come. We have intimacy with the Holy Spirit as a foretaste, or a deposit, of what will be.
The conversation that we have with the Holy Spirit, the revelations, dreams and visions, the power to heal- all of these things are a sign of what is to come later, our inheritance in Christ.
An inheritance is something we receive when someone dies. It is something they owned which is passed on to us.
The inheritance that we have comes as a result of the death of Jesus. We were estranged from God, alienated and far off. Then, the One and Only Son of God came into the world to pay for our sins and bring us back to Him. We are now a part of God’s family, reconciled and restored to our Father.
Now we are heirs of the Father, joint heirs with the Son as Paul says in Romans 8:17. The Father literally owns the whole of creation, and now we share in that inheritance. Everything that God has, we have too.
An inheritance is not always available immediately. The estate of the deceased person must be settled. Investments must be liquidated, property may need to be sold, debts must be paid, and so on. There is a delay between inheriting and receiving.
While we live in this life, we cannot receive all of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit for now is our portion or deposit guaranteeing that the rest will come.
One day we will possess the inheritance, and be possessed by it.
Words cannot express nor minds imagine what heaven is like. There have been many people who have claimed to have gone there for a while before returning to earth. The book of Revelation gives a glimpse of the glory awaiting. Literally we have no words to give content and context to our destiny.
So in the meantime we live in fellowship with the guarantee of the inheritance, the Holy spirit.
The words “to the praise of his glory” relate to the single sentence of verses 13 and 14 which gives a brief story of salvation. In Christ we heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, received the Holy Spirit, and the deposit of our inheritance, all to the praise of his glory.
Just as the Holy Spirit is a testimony to us of God’s promise, so too our lives being redeemed, empowered and made holy, are a testimony to the world of God’s grace.
This is all to the praise of His glory. We are living testimonies of God’s glory, stories of the efficacy of God’s big rescue plan and of His love for all people,
Key points in this verse:
The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of our inheritance
We have to wait to receive the fullness of the inheritance
our relationship with God now is a sign of what is to come
Less than two years since taking office, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has helped Ethiopia achieve the kind of peace and reconciliation once deemed impossible, including resolving a border conflict with its East African neighbour Eritrea.
Though some Ethiopians have questioned whether the recognition has come too soon, the Nobel Committee stated, “… even if much work remains, Abiy Ahmed has initiated important reforms that give many citizens hope for a better life and a brighter future.”
At 43 years old, Ahmed is Africa’s youngest leader. He made quick and deliberate efforts toward reform when he took office in April 2018.
Ahmed signed a peace accord with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea last year, after decades of political stalemate and two years of violence that cost 80,000 lives along the border. The two countries have grown increasingly open to one another, with resumed air travel and telecommunications, the New York Times reported.
The prize announcement commended his leadership, saying:
He spent his first 100 days as Prime Minister lifting the country’s state of emergency, granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, discontinuing media censorship, legalizing outlawed opposition groups, dismissing military and civilian leaders who were suspected of corruption, and significantly increasing the influence of women in Ethiopian political and community life. He has also pledged to strengthen democracy by holding free and fair elections.
As CT previously reported, Ahmed also helped reconcile two branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which split for political reasons in 1991. Orthodox represent the largest religious group in the country (around 40% of the population, compared to 19% Protestant and 34% Muslim).
He fostered reconciliation between Muslims and Christians in his hometown of Beshasha while a member of parliament and immediately began meeting with Abune Mathias, the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as prime minister, offering his support to help end the schism. Negotiations had been cautiously ongoing for years, but perceptions of government opposition muted the effort, reported OPC News.
The son of a Muslim father and Orthodox mother, Ahmed is a Protestant Pentecostal, or “Pentay,” like many Ethiopian politicians.
His faith is seen as a driving factor in his push for peace. “There is something of the revivalist preacher in the way he evangelizes for his vision,” BBC News noted. “He has the energy, the passion, and the certainty.”
According to the Catholic Herald, Pentecostal beliefs correspond with the sense of hope and ambition in politics. “The beguiling feature of Pentecostalism is the idea that nothing is impossible,” said Andrew DeCort, director of the Institute for Christianity and the Common Good,
A member of the Full Gospel Believers’ Church, Ahmed told followers after taking office, “We have a country that is endowed with great bounty and wealth, but is starving for love.”
After today’s announcement, the prime minister tweeted, “I am humbled by the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. My deepest gratitude to all committed and working for peace. This award is for Ethiopia and the African continent. We shall prosper in peace!”
Ahmed is the 24th Nobel Peace Prize recipient from Africa; last year, the award went in part to Denis Mukwege, a Christian doctor dedicated to healing rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my
disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. You will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Observation
Jesus continues to teach the crowds at the Temple. He tells them that
because they are from below and belong to this world, they will die
in their sins.
The people do not understand who Jesus is or what He is saying to
them. He tells them that when they see Him lifted up on the cross,
then they will know that He is the one sent by the Father.
Everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and many of those who claim to
be children of Abraham are in fact children of the devil.
Application
The true disciple of Jesus is the one who remains faithful to His
teachings. Saying a prayer or going to church will not save you. You
must be born again in such a way that your life reflects the
teachings and the lifestyle of Jesus.
A true disciple walks the walk as well as talking the talk.
As we grow in faithfulness to Jesus, we will increasingly know the
truth that sets us free.
There are two aspects to this word truth.
Firstly there is truth in respect to doctrine and scripture. As we
live out the path of discipleship, we will gain greater insight into
who God is and what the Bible teaches.
Secondly, Jesus is the Truth. He says, “I am the Way, the Truth and
the Life.” So as we determine to walk with Jesus we get to know
Him better, and He is the Truth.
The truth sets us free. True religion s about freedom from guilt and
shame. True religion sets us free from meaningless rituals based on
fear of an angry God. Jesus Christ has set us free from all guilt,
shame and fear.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus, you are the truth that sets me free. Help me to walk
in your ways every day so that the truth of who you are opens up in
me. Amen.
“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to
walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.”
Observation
Jesus continues to teach the people. He says He is the light of the
world, but the Pharisees say His testimony about Himself is not
valid. Jesus says His Father testifies about Him also, so there are
two witnesses- Jesus and the Father.
The Pharisees say they don’t know His Father, not realising that He
is talking about God.
Application
Jesus is the light of the world. He brings knowledge of the grace of
God to all who will receive it.
Light is the source of nearly all life on earth- without light there
are no plants. Even people need exposure to sunlight to produce
Vitamin D. Jesus came to bring abundant life to the world. Without
Him, we live ghostly, miserable existences that lead to hell.
Light brings knowledge and interaction with our environment. We use
sight as our main source of knowledge in the world. Jesus brings us
true knowledge about eternity and salvation.
Light
brings safety. Crime plummets in areas where there is adequate
street lighting. The people of darkness don’t like the light to
expose their deeds. Jesus protects us from the deeds of satan, the
prince of darkness.
Light
cleanses and purifies. Sunlight kills germs in clothing. Ultraviolet
light is often used to purify drinking water. Jesus cleanses sin
from our lives, removing the desire to sin as well as the results of
sin.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world. Come and light up my
life, purify my heart and make me like you. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 1:13. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians
1:13
In him, you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of
salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised
Holy Spirit.
Having talked about the Jews who were saved by faith in Christ
(“we”), Paul now turns to the saved Gentiles, the “you” in
this verse.
We ,the Gentile believers, are included with the Jewish believers.
This is the significance of the word “also”. The Jews were the
first to believe, but in Christ we Gentiles are also saved.
Apart from timing, there is no difference in the destiny or the
quality of salvation of those who are Jews and those who are not
Jews. As Paul says in Romans, God has made one race or type of
humanity out of what was formerly two, and now there is no
difference.
This is so important to understand. The Gentiles have been grafted
into God’s kingdom, but that does not mean that we are not part of
the tree. And those who were born as Jews still need to be saved by
faith in Christ. People who make distinctions between Jews and
Gentiles (or between Israel and the Church), and those who argue that
Gentiles must take on aspects of Judaism to be properly saved have it
all wrong.
Paul notes here a three part salvation process
We hear the word
We believe in Christ
We receive the Holy Spirit
The gospel of salvation is the word of truth. The gospel is God’s
good news first announced by Jesus. The gospel can be expressed in
many ways, but its heart is found in John 3:16. “God so loved the
world that He sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
We were dead in our sins, lost and far from God, with no hope for
salvation. Good deeds could not atone for our sins, and false
religion left us in bondage to rules that only served to convict us
of our hopeless condition.
Then Jesus came and set us free. His death on the cross paid the
price for every sin ever committed. Suddenly there was light in the
darkness.
This is the Good News about salvation. Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners.
The gospel is the word of truth. It is God’s word to us so it
must be truth. Jesus is the word become flesh. He is the light in
which there is no darkness. In Jesus we have all truth.
The devil is the father of lies. He is the cause and source of
every deception, every falsehood, every forgery. The devil delights
in lies because they hide what is true.
The Father is the source of all truth. Every revelation, every
discovery, every scientific fact, owes its existence to God.
When we say the gospel of salvation is the word of truth we are
saying it is from God and it reveals God.
We live in a post-truth society where it is claimed that we are
free to believe whatever resonates within us at the time. The whole
concept of truth is considered by some to be a tool of the white
patriarchy.
Nevertheless, the law of gravity applies to everyone, regardless
of their race, sexuality or gender. Everyone who jumps from a tall
building in an attempt to defy gravity will themselves be broken by
gravity.
The gospel is God’s word of truth and it applies equally to all
people everywhere.
Hearing the gospel is not enough in itself. We must also believe
in Christ. The word believe is often thought of as being a weak word
of less credibility than knowing.
Believing in Christ means something stronger. We hear the word of
truth and we decide to stake our lives on it. We don’t just have an
intellectual belief that we are saved by Christ, but we know and
trust that the word is true.
I know that gravity is real, not just an abstract theory of
physics, but a daily reality in my life. I can fall over and hurt
myself. I can imagine falling from a great height and so I am nervous
when I am near a cliff edge.
I know in my head that the laws of aerodynamics are also true. I
see planes take off and land at the airport. When I buy a ticket and
get onto a plane, I am saying that I trust the pilots, the
maintenance engineers, the air traffic controllers and a host of
people to get me safely into the air and back down again.
Many people believe the gospel is true, but fewer people take the
step of trusting Jesus, believing that He alone has the power to save
us.
When we trusted in Christ, we were sealed by the promised Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is promised to everyone who believes. God is
no longer “out there”. He is in me, empowering, sanctifying and
making me more like Jesus.
We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God’s mark of
ownership on me. He seals us to remind us that we have been set apart
for His purposes, to live as His bond- servants.
The seal is for our benefit not God’s. When I allow the Holy
Spirit to work in me and through me, it is a reminder that I have
been bought at a price and I am no longer my own.
The gift of tongues is a daily supernatural expression of the God
who is in me. The “little miracles” of words of knowledge and
prophecy are a powerful sign that God’s power has sealed me for His
purposes.
The fruit of the Spirit- love, joy, peace, and so on- are a sign
that God is at work transforming me, lifting me out of my bondage to
sin and self, and changing my temperament to be a holy person.
The benefits of salvation are not limited to individual people.
God is building a Kingdom made up of millions of born again
disciples. As our individual lives are transformed in God’s three
step conversion process, we influence and shape the culture around
us, even changing nations.
We hear the gospel, believe in Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.
Then we have the responsibility to pass it on, to speak the words of
truth so that our neighbours can hear, believe and receive,
Key points in this verse:
There is no difference between Jew and Gentiles
To be a part of God’s kingdom we must hear the truth, put
our trust in Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.
Belief in Christ is total surrender not just believing facts.
Scripture
Then Jesus stood up. “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of these condemn you?” “No Lord”, she replied. Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
Observation
Jesus is at the Temple when the Pharisees bring a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. They demand to know whether Jesus says what they should do with her.
Jesus says that it is acceptable to stone her, but the one who has never sinned should throw the first stone. One by one, the accusers slink away.
When they have all gone, Jesus tells the woman He does not condemn her. “Go and sin no more,” He tells her.
Application
Jesus is not saying here that sin does not have consequences. He is not denouncing the practice of stoning adulterers. In this situation, He sees that the woman’s sin is incidental to the political games being played by the Pharisees.
When He reverses the condemnation game back onto the Pharisees, the woman is left with no one to condemn her. According to the rule set by Jesus Himself, He was qualified to stone her, being without sin. But He chooses not to condemn her.
Jesus is qualified to condemn each one of us, but in His grace, He chooses not to.
Grace brings responsibilities. “Go and sin no more,” Jesus tells the woman.
This does not mean that she must be perfect. She is to give up her ways of rebelling against God’s ways, that is, to repent of her sins, and live for God.
Jesus calls us to the same kind of repentance. I do not have to be morally perfect in every way, but I do have to set my desires on living for Jesus.
Prayer
I thank you Jesus that for those who follow you there is no condemnation. Please help me to be faithful in serving you. Amen.
“Anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me
may come and drink. For the Scriptures declare: “Rivers of living
water will flow from his heart.”
Observation
Jesus stands in front of the crowds and invites them to believe and
drink. Rivers of living water flow from Him.
The crowd is divided, with some believing Jesus is the Messiah,
others a prophet, still others saying He can’t be the Messiah.
The Pharisees deride the guards for failing to resist Jesus. When
Nicodemus says they should not condemn Jesus without a trial, they
turn on him also.
Application
Jesus is the source of living water, and He gives it freely to all
who receive Him. The living water is, in fact, the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit brings:
joy to the downcast
hope to the hopeless
salvation to the lost
power to the weak
comfort to the mourning
healing to the sick
Whatever our need, Jesus is the one who fulfils the need thorough the
Holy Spirit.
When you are in a dry and barren place, the only thing you can think
of is the need for water. That is the priority, because without water
you will soon die.
Many people are in spiritually dry places, but they don’t see their
need for Jesus. There is a deception there that blocks their
understanding. When they see a person who is full of the abundant
life, the living water of the Holy Spirit, then the blindness can be
removed.
The Holy Spirit is a gift that multiplies as it is given away. If we
let the river of life flow through us to impact other people, they
can be transformed too.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, Living Water, flow through me and fill me with your
life, and flow on to others that they can also receive your life.
Amen.
New Life Narrabri 