You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet, you refuse to come to me to receive this life – John 5:39-40

The famous English preacher once quipped that the traditional church in England, the C of E, believes in God the Father, Son and Holy Scriptures. Perhaps unkind, but there is an element of truth in it.

This passage in John comes after the religious leaders of the day had begun harassing Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. So blinded by their own indignation were they, that they couldn’t see the miraculous when it stood before them. What’s it all about? Well, many things happened at the fall of man, but one of the most devastating was our pursuit of idolatry. “There is a God-shaped void in every human,” says Lewis, and we will find almost anything to fill it. Believers are not immune either, in fact they can be awful offenders in this area.

A read through the Old Testament will show you that idolatry was Israel’s fundamental sin and one which led to their exile in 597BC. They pursued other Gods with vigour, even from the time when they were in Egypt. God spells it out to them with crystal clarity in Isaiah, when he asks them how something fashioned by human hands can possibly replace him, who created all things. But, however they tried, they simply could not help themselves and their story is one of being continually sucked into the void of neighbouring countries Gods, fashioned from human hands.

And of us? Surely in our modern sophistication, with our disdain of the supernatural and simple culture such as back then, we couldn’t possibly pursue idols? We have access to science and the truth. Then, there is the church, with all her splendour, buildings, history, tradition; not to mention the access she now has to riches and techniques to get even more, well defined programmes to lure others in and the vast machinery that comes with any modern corporate institution.

In this passage the idols had changed, the religious leaders had swapped wooden images for the Law, but the outcome was the same, a life far from contentment; instead they had one that was complex, self-centred and riddled with angst. The idolatrous life demands that others follow our path, it is the consummate self-centred and self-righteous way. Political leaders ascend to their own thrones and demand allegiance, money screams ‘more’ to us as we throw our lives into making piles of it and even the church demands we subscribe to doctrine and dogma, ‘ours is the only way.’ We counsel married couples who idolise each other, and in the process strangle their marriage to death.

There is a tiny and deadly passage in the second book of Kings where God says that people who worship worthless idols, in time become worthless themselves. Imagine, God who made people in his own image, calling them worthless, suitable only for the fire and the scrapheap. It is a devastating statement, but the ultimate outcome of worshipping something else.

What is the opposite of idolatry? It would seem to me that perhaps contentment might be. In case you’ve missed it, the Gospel of Jesus, from the first verses of Matthew to the end of Jude, spell out a Christ who forsook all the heavenly glory to come to earth as man, and show us how to live. His devotion to the Father led him to a life of simplicity and contentment, in spite of the awesome power he displayed from time to time.

The prevention from us becoming idolatrous, whether it be with secular or our religious pursuits, is to devote ourselves to Christ. Never is it spelt out so clearly to us than here, where he says that even those who read their Bible expecting anything other than a relationship with him are liable to be misled. All of Scripture points to the centrality of Jesus Christ, and he is the answer and the antidote to our tendency. We must devote ourselves not only to reading and listening to him, but to behaving like him as well. He demands that we pursue him at all times, that we be filled with his Spirit anew each day, that we adopt his love for others, his devotion to God and that we relate to him every day, even every moment of our lives.

I have discovered a secret in my life, and it is this; when he is the centre of all of my life, then my problems in life, which can appear many, lose their sting. Whenever my focus is shifted away from him, my life drifts out of kilter.

Each of us must ask everyday of our lives, what have I replaced him with, what else is there in my life that has dethroned the only one that can bring me that contentment? If you are uncertain, ask him. In my experience he will hold it up in front of me in the next few days of my life so that I am left in no doubt.

Friends don’t refuse to come to him, he offers a life so free, free of idols especially. He must be our all. Everything else leads us to death.

“there is no judgement against anyone who believes in him”  John 3: 18

Jesus spoke scorchingly about sin as he walked the earth; he knew more than we do, that sin has brought decay and destruction into this world, as each of us turns our back on God and pursues our own way of life.

He also knew that God was not going to let us go unpunished, but there is a judgement coming, from a God whom the Bible describes as a ‘consuming fire’. You may not read about this is in the world’s press, and our governments of the day may find it unpalatable to teach such things, but here Jesus provides us a nicely rounded Gospel.

The difficulty with our sin, is that we can only compare ourselves to other sinners, and so we get a very jaundiced view of the world. “I’m not as bad as him, but perhaps not as good as her” our logic tells us. God’s yardstick in the heavenly courtroom will be perfection, and there will be no grading system. The examination is either pass or fail, and we are told repeatedly that we have all failed. (Incidentally, that is quite different from saying we are all failures).

What we find so fascinating when we get out on the streets to tell people about Jesus, is that it almost comes as a relief to many to hear that they are sinners, the same as everyone. The church, with its holding onto a ‘priesthood’ (a grave sin in itself) has created a system of grading with the intention of making good people better. But, what if you are never good enough in the first place? Once people decide that they are not good enough, they shrug their shoulders and decide, ‘what’s the point?’

There are two of the greatest truths in eternity encased in these verses, which have been hidden in plain view. The first is this, God loved us while we were still dead to sin. We could no more change our condition than a brick becoming a tree, so God took the initiative, and he did it because he loved us. Never forget that, it is vital to the story.

We see the awfulness of sin around the world today, and it is ugly, destructive and filled with violence. The offense against a Holy God is severe.

Yet here Jesus tells us, that in spite of that, God loves us and so decided to do something about it. Friends, we believe in a God who is in the business of pushing back the darkness in the world, and calling us back to himself, until one day he has us to himself and will finally complete the job he wants to complete. This is not static Father Christmas up in the clouds, this is a Holy God who deals with the muck in our lives. He loves us.

Secondly though, we find the idea of ‘guilty or not guilty’ very difficult to come to terms with. We know we still sin, and so we have lingering doubts about whether we are actually good enough. What does good enough actually look like?

The severity of our rebellion, was more than matched by the severity meted out on the Son of God, and he has completely cleared us of our wrongdoing. I wish I could get more people to understand this. So many believers linger in doubt. If we put our faith in him, there is no judgement. When you stand before God, there will be no file kept. God will run his finger down the ledger and see your name in the Book of Life, and the case will be closed.

We must tell people the full Gospel when we talk to them about Jesus. They must hear it all. Our grubbiness, and self centredness which has caused such strife in the world. God’s love for us, and the fact that he moved first. On acceptance of the free gift that is offered in Jesus Christ, we are set free.

The guilty verdict has gone. Let’s meditate on that this week, and make it a part of our being. It will change our perspective on everything.

 

“no one needed to tell him what makind is really like” – John 2:25

John 3 contains perhaps the most significant passage of the entire Bible, one so deep you could easily spend months just dwelling on these small verses alone. The love of God, the Son of God, why Jesus, the answer to life, it’s all contained in this passage.

It begins with a conversation, between a young, 30 year old man and a leader of the Jewish council, who was likely in his 60s or even 70s. Such conversations were rare, not because they took place which they often did, but because the younger seems to be instructing the older. Nicodemus was on the Jewish Sanhedrin, and notably absent in the vote required to convict Jesus to death (along with Joseph of Arimathea). You would suspect his absence was due to an ongoing relationship with the young Christ, which probably started here.

“What do you mean, how can an old man go back into his mother’s womb to be born again?” he asked Jesus.
Jesus’ response to this question, aligns very much with his thoughts at the end of the previous passage. So the story of the Gospel unfolds.

 
We can talk about it more in the coming weeks, but here we learn something of the Gospel message, and that is firstly that a) sadly, we are untrustworthy and cannot be relied upon to complete the task but then b) God is capable of completing the task and can be totally relied upon. It is the human story, and what makes the Gospel of Jesus Christ so compelling. God rescues me, he wants to rescue me, and he is the only one who can rescue me. I may be reluctant to face that, I certainly don’t deserve it and at times I probably don’t enjoy or even want it. But God, contrary to all our wants and expectations offers us this second chance in spite of ourselves. Salvation, rescue remains in nobody else but him.

The more immersed I become in that rescue, the more incredible it becomes to me; the vast assurance of God against my own paltry efforts. Humanity flails against what God can and will do, and in vain we watch governments and humans subject each other to vast experiments that invariably bring catastrophe.
But, when we as believers see the transformation of another person because of the purpose of God, through Jesus Christ, we are simply astounded and delighted.
“how are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

As the Kingdoms of men crumble over the centuries, behind all the dust and rubble still stands the towering figure of Jesus Christ. In him is revealed the love of God, with his vast assurance of the rescue of mankind, not as a group or conglomerate, but as an individual, “so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life”

Let’s find someone to tell this week, and see what God will do.