August 2016

When people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “surely he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” – John 6:14

They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you” – John 6:30

Humanity is immensely fickle. We are prepared, on the whole, to do or say anything to get what we need or want, such is our insecurity. Who will help us if we don’t help ourselves?

We are connected with a couple whose lives are messy. They have an unwanted one-year-old and are addicts. Their tendency is to drift in and out of our lives, depending on their needs. When the ‘God stuff’ we bring to them is too much, they drift away. They can do without him for now. Just recently, we became rather concerned about the mixing of a lifestyle of drugs and bringing up a toddler, and told them so in as loving a way as we knew how. The response was fierce, how dare we “Jesus freaks”… and on it went.

Their substance abuse though, caused them to write off their car, and having nobody else to turn to, they reached out to us. Perhaps the Jesus people weren’t so bad. Would you help us? We joyously laughed at their fickleness.

The opposite of fickleness is to remain steadfast. That doesn’t mean that we don’t know exactly what is going on around us, but it means we are able to live through it. Jesus was steadfast, and remains so. Earlier in Matthew, it said he would not entrust themselves to them, it means that he knew exactly what they (we) are really like. When it all becomes too hard, God is shoved to the side and we stamp our feet to get our own way. ‘Show us a sign’ we yell at him.

Jesus loved people regardless of who they were, or what they thought they might be able to do for him. He healed them whether they believed in him afterwards or not, he forgave them whether they were grateful, he loved them even when he knew they would commit an atrocity against him personally. He was in all his actions, steadfast.

How do we become like him?

As I was thinking about these verses over the past few weeks, I realised that we move away from being fickle when we root ourselves in Jesus. When we are not dependent on the opinion of others, when we no longer care what people really think, when we understand that we will not get everything we want on this earth, and in fact the very worst may happen, then we can begin to enjoy a steady life, filled with contentment and peace.

The Apostle Paul understood this perhaps more than anyone. Throughout his beautiful letters, he refers time and again to the changing circumstances around him, yet he himself is anchored. What is it though that he has learned to anchor himself with, so that such circumstances, wearing as they may be, didn’t drag him down? It is the constancy of the love of God. Magnificently in Romans 8:31-39 we are given a glimpse of what Paul holds onto. The fact that God loves him through Christ, and that no matter what happens to him in this life, it is a love that will continue on forever.

I have watched this in my own life. I think as a young man I was the prince of fickle, able to change my mind on any whim or desire that needed gratifying. Living only for the moment, I was the master of mistrust. Looking back, it seems hard to believe I am the same person, if we met now I wonder if we would be strangers? His love now permeates my life. God has changed me, and the more he has, the more I have asked him too.

But the change process can be tough, we don’t change easily.

It is this constancy, this steadfastness that we must so desperately share with others. Many of the people we meet are tired of life. They have tried all the world has to offer and it has come up short. They want, something or someone who is reliable. We should introduce them to the steadfast one.

But, it takes time. Time for people to see who the answer really is, time for them to change. In the meantime, mostly they remain fickle as the crowds were with Jesus. Feed us one day, crucify him the next, just for a few coins.

We love our friends who waver, because we want them to see, to know the one who does not. We want to show them that there is another way, a better way – not our way, but his way. Delightfully, we can relate. We are no better, which makes it so wonderful, we have simply been changed.

We must tell others, that he, the one who is constant, who is true, can change them as well. All they must do is ask. Let us begin that this week because he asks us too. Then, if they invite us, lets walk with them as he changes them and us as well. What a delight!

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people come to look for him. Turning to Philip he asked, where can we buy bread to feed all these people? He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do – John 6: 5-6

The Book of John reveals a God who came near to us. In Jesus we see Emmanuel, ‘God with us’ and he walks, talks, eats and shares his life among us. We get to see Gods character up close, and it is a beautiful picture in all ways. Here, in this simple and often read passage we see another of his characteristics, his greatness. With that, we are able to compare his greatness with ours.

I read this week that the next ‘biggest’ complex in the world is due to be finished in Dubai at a height of 1 km. It is one of a number of monuments going up to man’s greatness around the world at the moment. Without doubt many of these will be spectacular. We might ask, which one exactly is the pinnacle of human achievement – which empire can we point to across the ages and say, ‘that is one that achieved so much?’ Babylon perhaps, or maybe Rome? The British empire as a more modern example. We can consider the glory of each, with monuments and beacons that in some cases have endured through to today, a legacy to a bygone era of greatness.

The contrast with God’s greatness though, is that his greatness is for all of us. The empires of the world, both past and modern are built for the benefit of just a few. Few get to really enjoy them, but we are left in no doubt as to who they are really built for. This is in total contrast to the great works of God in Scripture, which are for the benefit of mankind and always have a purpose to achieve good for all.

God’s greatness also seems so effortless compared to our own. While we need to muster all of our intelligence and power, with months even years of consumed planning and preparation, his greatness seems always to be to hand.

There is a winsome teasing with Philip the disciple here, that belies what Jesus really did. In the Old Testament, His Father sustained an entire nation in a Limestone desert for 40 years (the same desert that defeated the entire army with all of its modern machinery in just a few days) through the provision of a daily supply of food. Jesus readily and easily achieves the same feat, sustaining people in their time of need, again with food. Father and Son in harmony, at work. Greatness.

With effortless compassion, his divine power shows each of us that our ability to sustain ourselves is limited, that our achievements are contained within his much greater ones. Did Philip have the answer to the needs of those around him? Were any of those in the crowd able to offer suitable provision; when it really counted, did their, or do our achievements count for anything much?

But what of God, does he ask anything of us in return? What does he ask us to achieve in this life? I might be simplistic in my thinking, but I think that what God asks each of us to achieve in our lifetime is simple obedience to him. Little, if anything more.

For the believer, this is most important. We must come simply to God, take what he has given us and share it among those around us. We must minister to the sick, to the poor, the marginalised and those in need. In doing so, we copy his Son. We are not called to elevate ourselves in anyway, but to be the humble servant of Christ, sharing his greatness amongst all people. That is important as well. We have access to the greatness of God because of the Son, who sent his Spirit to us.

In my view, a changed life is truly evidence of the greatness of God, perhaps far more impressive than feeding multitudes or parting oceans. Lives that are stuck, lives that cannot move forward are able to be changed by him alone. That is our ministry to this world, the life of a believer. Taking his greatness to a cynical and hardened world, and watching hearts of stone being replaced with hearts of flesh.

We have read this passage many times, and perhaps the greatness of God has escaped us here. Maybe it is the humility of his greatness that passes us by, but it is there nonetheless. In fact, the greatness of God is on display all around us, mostly in the lives of those who have been changed by him. Do we miss it because we are consumed by our own achievements, our own successes and greatness?

One day, God is going to erase all the achievements of man in an instant.

How will we be when each of us, with nothing in our hands, stands before God? He may I fear, ask each of us just one question as we stand before him, and it will be this: ‘What did you do with my Son in your life?’

The answer to that question will provide a complete picture of our lives and all we achieved. Let us be prepared.

Archives for August 2016

The Fickle Crowd

The Greatness of the Son

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