nobrokenreed

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.

Worthless idols

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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.

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