Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb
and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
Observation
Jesus enters Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. The great crowd that
had gathered for the Festival meet Him, take up palm branches and
shout “Hosanna!”
Jesus rides through the crowd on a donkey to fulfil Zechariah’s
prophecy.
The crowd that had seen Lazarus raised form the dead continue to
spread the word about Jesus, but the Pharisees be come more desperate
as they say, “the whole world has gone after him!”
Application
The ongoing reaction of people to the miracle of Jesus being raised
from the dead is a thorn in the flesh for the Pharisees. They claim
that “the whole world” is following Jesus because of the witness
of these people.
One of the the themes of John’s gospel is the power of testimony.
Here we see it again as people are wanting to follow Jesus because
others have told them what they saw.
My testimony is powerful because nobody can contradict it. It
happened to me. I was there. My life since I met with Christ
testifies to the transforming. power of salvation.
We can argue about theology, spirituality or philosophy. Everyone is
entitled to an opinion. Nobody can argue with my testimony.
The reason why the gospel spreads so rapidly and continues to impact
lives is simple. It is true experientially. Countless millions of
people around the world agree. Jesus is alive. He was dead but now He
is alive.
Prayer
Thank you God for the reality of the gospel. Thank you for this
relationship I have with you that changes everything. Amen.
Mary took a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she wiped it on
Jesus’ feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was
filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Observation
Lazarus,
Mary and Martha hold a feast in honour of Jesus. During the meal,
Mary takes a pint of expensive perfume and pours it on Jesus’ feet.
The fragrance fills the house.
Judas
asks why the perfume wasn’t sold to give to the poor. Jesus tells
him to leave Mary alone.
Meanwhile
a large crowd gathers to see both Jesus and Lazarus. The chief priest
make plans to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus.
Application
In a sacrificial act of worship, Mary poured out expensive perfume on
Jesus’ feet, and the fragrance of it filled the house.
True worship will always be costly. It may carry a financial cost as
we sow into God’s kingdom. A bottle of perfume worth a year’s
wages is an extravagant act of worship.
Mary’s worship was costly in terms of her reputation and people’s
opinions of her. She didn’t care about that. She poured out her
love for Jesus in a way that seemed excessive to all who did not have
a heart for worship.
Worship is about honouring Jesus. The whole feast was about Jesus,
not the quality of the food or the living standards of the hosts.
When we allow our adoration of Jesus to be side-stepped by the choice
of songs or the noise of children, we have missed the point. We must
focus on Jesus.
There is a fragrance about sincere, heart-felt worship. It fills the
house, even the city, and it transform the neighbourhood. It can do
nothing less.
Judas was not impressed. He didn’t see that Jesus, the Son of God,
was worthy of honour. He found self-righteous reasons to justify his
lack of worship, but he missed the point because his heart was not
right.
Prayer
Lord, teach me to worship you extravagantly all my life. Amen.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
Observation
At the Feast of Dedication, the Jewish leaders again confront Jesus.
They demand that Jesus tell them plainly that He is the Christ.
Jesus replies that He has already said plainly that He is the Christ,
and that His miracles confirm this. The problem is that they do not
hear His voice because they are not His sheep.
The Jews try to seize Jesus to stone Him, but He evades them and goes
back to the Jordan, where many believe in Him.
Application
To be a follower or a sheep of Jesus means that we recognise His
voice. There are several ways of doing this:
1. Through the Bible. The Bible is God’s word to us. It reveals His
nature, His desire to set us free from sin, and His will for the way
we should live.
2. Through the preaching of the Word and the worship of the community
of faith. The local church is a great focal point for seeing how
God’s people live, and also for pointing out the blind spots in our
understanding.
3. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of every true
believer. He is the voice of Christ inside us, guiding us into
righteousness, convicting us of sin, and raising our consciousness of
our ability and opportunities to serve Christ.
4. The extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit such as prophecy and
words of knowledge. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in the “still,
small voice”, speaking directly into specific situations. Sometimes
other people will bring to us a word that confirms what God has
already been saying to us, or perhaps sparking something new about
the direction we should take.
In all of these ways, the Lord never contradicts Himself, and our
main check should be the Scriptures. God will never tell you to
commit adultery or to steal; but He will give you insights into
loving Him and the people around you more.
Prayer
Thank you Lord that you speak often to us. Help me to recognise your
voice. Amen
The sermon for October 20th 2019 is now available on the New Life web-site. In this sermon, which is based on Jeremiah 31:27-34, I talk about God’s promise of a new heart.
Click here to listen in your browser, here to download the mp3.
They keep saying “Plastic is forever” and wanting to ban plastic bags and straws to save the planet. It turns out that plastic does degrade realtively rapidly in the environment, under the influence of sunlight and microbes.
This article talks about plastic in the ocean, and we still need o be responsible in disposing of rubbish. There is no denying that animals near coastlines can be badly damaged by plastic, but outside of that particluar niche, not so much.
Science is beginning to win in the long battle over misinformed anti-plastic advocacy. It has been a long time coming. The most recent paper on the subject of pelagic plastic (plastic floating in the oceans) is from a scientific team at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, Mass., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
We are all familiar with polystyrene — it is prevalent in modern packaging, both as a solid, such as yoghurt cups, or in expanded form used for disposable foam drink cups. Much of the plastic flotsam found on the worlds beaches and floating in rivers is this ubiquitous plastic, particularly the expanded foam.
The new abstract of the new study starts with this:
“ABSTRACT: Numerous international governmental agencies that steer policy assume that polystyrene persists in the environment for millennia. Here, we show that polystyrene is completely photochemically oxidized to carbon dioxide and partially photochemically oxidized to dissolved organic carbon. Lifetimes of complete and partial photochemical oxidation are estimated to occur on centennial and decadal time scales, respectively. These lifetimes are orders of magnitude faster than biological respiration of polystyrene and thus challenge the prevailing assumption that polystyrene persists in the environment for millennia.” [ bolding mine — kh ]
It is about time that someone scientifically challenged the activist position held and promulgated by many environmental, anti-plastics and anti-corporate groups that “Plastic is Forever”.
Plastic is not forever. Glass, both natural and man-made, is forever, but not plastic.
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will
come in and go out, and find pasture.”
Observation
Jesus says that anyone who climbs into the sheep pen is a thief and a
robber. The person who enters through the gate is the shepherd. The
sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Jesus is the gate for the sheep. Whoever comes through Him will be
saved. The thief comes to steal and destroy, but Jesus came so that
we can have life to the full.
Jesus is the good shepherd. He lays down His life for the sheep. No
one can take His life from Him, but He chooses to lay it down because
of the Father’s command.
Application
Jesus is the gate. He is the way to salvation.
Jesus paints a picture here of a sheep fold. The true shepherd is the
one who lies across the entrance to protect the sheep. Others may
come to steal or kill the sheep, but they will come in over the walls
and not through the gate.
Jesus promises that if we go through Him we will be saved.
There is no other way to be saved, no other name that can bring
salvation. We cannot go through Mohamed or Buddha, through philosophy
or atheism, through acts of kindness or acts of valour. Only Jesus
will save us from our sins.
This is not just about eternity, important as that is. Jesus says
that the sheep come in and go out through Him to find pasture. This
is talking about provision and abundance in this life.
When we are with Jesus, we must not fret about where our next meal or
our next pay cheque is coming from. We trust Him and follow Him, like
good sheep, and He leads us to the good pastures.
Prayer
Lord, you meet my every need in this life and in eternity. You are
the gate and I choose to come in through you. Amen.
“Ever since the world began, no one has ever been able to open the
eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he
couldn’t have done it.”
Observation
Jesus comes across a man who was born blind. His disciples ask who
sinned to cause this to happen. Jesus replies that it is for God’s
glory, and proceeds to restore the man’s sight.
There is some doubt about whether this man is the same beggar, but he
keeps testifying “I am the one.”
The Pharisees get involved. They conclude that Jesus could not have
done this because He is a sinner. The man responds by saying, “God
doesn’t listen to sinners, yet Jesus healed my sight. He couldn’t
have done this if He were not from God.”
Application
The healing of someone born blind was a miracle that people believed
only the Messiah could perform. In the investigation into this
matter, every alternative explanation is explored. Even when it is
clear that the man born blind is healed, the Pharisees could not
accept that Jesus is the Messiah because they had already labelled
Him a sinner.
The man’s testimony is vital in this narrative. Nobody has healed a
man born blind, and certainly a sinner could not do this. Jesus must
be who He claims to be, even if the Pharisees don’t like it.
God
often comes to us in ways that are surprising or that defy our
understanding. Maybe we don’t like the person who prays for
healing for us. Maybe a prophetic word is delivered in a way we find
offensive.
Sometimes God answers prayer in a way that we don’t expect, and we
find it hard to see how this could be His work.
Always we need to look beyond circumstances and past our prejudices.
God appears to us in surprising ways because He is bigger and smarter
than we are!
Prayer
Lord, thank you for every answered prayer and every God encounter,
even when they don’t look the way I expect. Amen.
“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
