nobrokenreed

The Fickle Crowd

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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!

The Greatness of the Son

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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.

Light of my life

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Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! – Matt 6:22-3

Can you see the light? This passage comes at the end of the Beatitudes, and I have been thinking about it all week. It is so insightful about our human condition and how Jesus relates to us.

Light in Scripture means so many things doesn’t it. In Isaiah 9, it says a people living in darkness have seen a great light and there it is referring to Jesus coming to the Jews first, and then the Gentiles. The wise men were guided to him by a great light, John announces him as “the light of the world” and in Revelation, we will live for eternity with him as the light that literally replaces the sun. Jesus then, clearly, is the light that is referred to throughout Scripture.

But there is more to it than that as well isn’t there. Light and darkness often refer to our condition, with specific relation to our sinful state before God. We are said to walk in the light, when Christ’s righteousness covers our own. That is getting closer to what Jesus is talking about here. He says that the eye is the lamp of our body; we see with our eyes, and the question for all of us is, can we see the light? When we can light, or righteousness, floods our entire body.

This has been illuminating for me (!) over the past few weeks, which I will come to in a sec. You see, there is another passage in Scripture that says ‘the prince of this world has blinded the hearts and minds of unbelievers.’ It is a powerful statement and it ties back to this passage, and to the entire essence of why Christ was sent. Aside from making a person right with God through his own sacrifice, the very first thing Jesus through his Spirit does in a believer’s life, is enable them to begin to see light and darkness, or right and wrong. The world simply cannot determine the difference on its own.

We are counselling a married couple at the moment, walking alongside them as they try to save their marriage – I wonder if we learn as much as they do in the process. One is barely a believer, the other not, and as a consequence they cannot see where they are going wrong. What is wrong, is their sin, which is ‘piled high to heaven’ to lift a phrase from Isaiah again. Only Jesus can shine his light into our lives so that we can actually discern what is wrong with us. When we can discern, then we can see to change, and as we begin to make the change (with his help) things improve. Without his light, we grovel in darkness, unaware of the real problems.

This has been enormously helpful in realising that without Christ, people simply cannot see the difference between light and dark, right or wrong. We start to make up our own morality and we’re often  only vaguely aware that something is even really wrong.

Jesus finishes this passage with an alarming ending – that is, if we see the darkness in our lives as being light, then we really are very dark indeed. This is exactly what we are seeing in our couple at the moment – unable to judge by the true light of Christ, everything is ‘good’ – even the bad. We pray then, that the Lord of Light will ‘unblind’ them, so that they may recognise what is wrong. Christ and us together can begin to change our lives for good.

Think this isn’t important? God thinks it’s crucial. If we can’t see the darkness of our own lives, then what Jesus warns us here is that we will descend into such darkness and always justify it as being ‘light’. Think ISIS as a current example.

It is why, when we present the Gospel on the streets, we almost always start with trying to open people’s eyes up to sin. As we do, we pray that He begins to open their eyes to what they are being told, so that they can see – perhaps for the first time. Jesus is always the answer to our sin. Always.

I don’t know if all of that is clear but I hope so. Friends, the enormity of the task is overwhelming. We must all learn to bring Jesus into our conversations. We must try to find a way to gently show people that they are sinful as well, and along the way, pray that he will open their eyes and shine his light. It is the beginning of salvation. The beginning of all hope.

Christ at the centre

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But someone else is also testifying about me and I assure you that everything he says about me is true..of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved..the Father who sent me has testified about me himself..and you do not have his message in your hearts because you do not believe me – the one he sent to you – John 5:32-38

Peter Hitchens once said that this world is fast becoming an unfit place to live. If you read the news then you would certainly start to think that might be the case. Globally, there seems turmoil at a political, social and financial level unexperienced in the world before. Terror is the new word on the streets.

At the micro level though, the situation is just as bad. School children are confused about their identity and sexuality, relationships are torn apart and substance abuse is out of control. People seem to live in genuine fear and it is a frightening scenario. We are meeting with and counselling a number of couples who are in great pain over their relationships, and this week, a young mother we knew well, at barely 50 died of a stroke leaving behind a devastated family. Everything is awry and the question being asked is, who will save us from all this?

When we go out onto the streets of Sydney, we hear and see the same things; people are uncertain, worried even fearful about their everyday lives. Even amongst the very middle class, there is growing uncertainty about our world. It is becoming every man for themselves, or else who will protect us. Is that how you feel in your own life?

The one thing that interests us though, is people’s response to God. The most devout agnostic, seems to hold out hope that some deity might come and rescue the situation, somehow – and include them with it. It seems when hope in ourselves fails, we long to hope in something else to rescue us, and God still tops the list of most likely candidates.

In this short passage in John, Jesus gives us some great insights into what God is going to do, and how he is going to respond. Simply, he is going to do it all through his son, Jesus Christ. In fact, from this moment on, he will do nothing outside of his son. All Scripture, we are told here, points to this moment in time, when Jesus the divine comes to earth as man. He reflects back a perfect relationship with his Father, and goes so far as to say he can do nothing but that which he sees his Father doing. In doing so, he shows us, the created, how God would like us to live, and how in so living, we might create a better world on this earth, imperfect though it may be.

We need to pay attention to what Jesus is saying, as it affects us all deeply. He tells us to mimic him in every way; in how we treat others (especially others who are in distress) how we relate to him, his Father and all those God puts across our path. In fact, he tells us here, that we must respond affirmatively to himself, as the chosen one of God. Only then will things straighten out.

Every week we talk to dozens of people, most of whom profess to have a relationship of some description or other, with God. Which God many of them are not sure about it, but they do say they have a belief in him. Is that enough?

Well, Jesus tells us plainly that we are to put our faith in him. As we talk with others, it becomes evident who really has a relationship with God, because of how they frame Jesus in their lives, how they do or don’t speak about him. Everyone talks or expresses an opinion about God, yet few ever know or consider his Son. But Jesus tells us – and the entire canon of Scripture backs him up, that he is the very front and centre of God’s purpose.

As I ponder the world around me, including the wars, governments, factions or sides, people’s beliefs or disbeliefs, their purpose in life on both a large and small scale, it all seems to centre around the person of Jesus Christ. He remains to this day, the one still standing at the epicenter of all things and everything is about him.

If that is the case then, there is another part to this story, and it is our response to him. If he is the centre of all things, is he the centre of your life and mine? Jesus demands a response to the question, and is backed by his Father in heaven. In all our conversations with people, this is the one question that leaves people dead in their tracks. He is God’s final response to the problems of the world, and I believe that no matter how bad it becomes, God does little or nothing until we begin to respond to his Son – on both a global and personal level.

For those of you who believe, let me also say that it is our role to issue the challenge to others, what will you do with Jesus, what is your response going to be, in whom will you put your faith? Many, many people express an opinion or belief about God, but so few put their faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. That is usually because they have never been told and our job is to break into their world with the news, however uncomfortable that maybe.

Let us today not only believe in him, but act on our beliefs and encourage others to explore the depth that is found in him alone. As he says later on, there is no other name under heaven or on earth, by which we will be saved. It seems, he can’t come soon enough.

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