Who's on First?

John 12:12-24

Abbott and Costello are credited with the baseball comedy routine, “Who’s on first?” (What is on second base, Where plays third, and I think Why is short stop.) If I’m confused about the players and their positions, well, this report in John shows a somewhat similar confusion existed in the first-century Jerusalem as Jesus approached that city for the last time. John tells us He was met by cheering crowds, who greeted him as “King of Israel.” The raising of Lazarus had convinced the crowds: Jesus must be the expected Messiah after all. And so they shouted out praises and cried, “Hosanna,” which means “Save Now!” At last, what they thought, Jesus would get on with the Messiah’s real business, throw out the Romans, and make Israel a world power.

 A little later some Greeks approach one of Jesus’ disciples, and politely expressed their interest in seeing him. So Philip and Andrew passed on the message. “Some nice Greek folk would like to see you, Lord.” Perhaps they were thinking it would be good politics for Jesus to establish relationships with foreigners. Maybe Philip and Andrew would do for a diplomatic posting to a major city, like Corinth or Philippi!

 I can understand the crowds, the Greeks, and the disciples. They all had agendas that were important to them. And each had a big role for Jesus in his plans! There was only one problem. Not one had stopped to ask the truly crucial question: “Who’s on first?”

Jesus cleared up the confusion, though, just as He clears up  ours. After speaking of his death, Jesus said, “Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, my servant will also be” (verse 26) 

You see, the mistake made by the cheering crowds, the Greeks, and even the disciples–the mistake is still made by us, that causes so much confusion–is that all forgot who’s on first. God’s blunt and simple answer is, Jesus is on first.  

 We don’t lead, and expect Jesus to follow. 

We let Jesus go first, and we follow Him.

 If you can I keep this order in mind, it will clear most of confusion about life. We will seldom become depressed or anxious about why God doesn’t do things our way. We won’t expect Him to. And we will seldom wonder why God hasn’t blessed our plans, when we’ve gone to all the trouble of making them and then asking Him to bless. As the servants of Jesus we will have sought His will first–and then do our very best to follow closely where he leads.

 So enjoy the Abbot and Costello routine when you hear it. 

But don’t let yourself be confused about who’s on first in the Christian life, and who follows.

 Margaret Thatcher

 Ideally, when Christians meet, as Christians, to take counsel together, the purpose is not–or should not be–to ascertain what is the mind of the majority but what is the mind of the Holy Spirit–something which may be quite different.

Taken from, The Daily Devotional Commentary by Lawrence O. Richards

What Cost?

I read an article in the paper this week that you could pay up to £3000 to meet the actors of the tv series, Sherlock Holmes at the annual Sherlocked convention, you cannot even be sure the main characters will be there but you won’t get your money back. Why anyone one would want to pay that amount to meet a fictitious character I have to say is beyond me. I delved a little deeper into this and there are a lot of stars who charge anything from £350 for a quick hello and a photo to thousands for a dinner with them. I may be a bit green but these are just ordinary men and women who are either in the music business, or acting and I know they are probably very good at their job but let’s face it, nobody would dream of paying £3000 to have dinner with a man or women whose job it is to save lives whilst putting their own at risk!

These people who save up their hard earned money to pay people who already have more than enough just doesn’t make sense. But then neither does it make sense to me to pay someone for healing! The world is full of people on the make and the church is no exception, you only have to look at the faith and prosperity movement. People making money out of other people’s misery. I don’t find that in the word of God, far from it. So how much do you have to pay to meet God? How much do you have to pay to get into heaven? One thing is for sure no matter how much money you give to the church or a preacher that is not going to get you there. Neither is doing good words, neither is praying to Mary the mother of Jesus, neither is blowing yourself up. Neither is following every new thing that comes out in the name of Christianity, it’s been known for gardeners to keep poison in pop bottles. Don’t be fooled, there is only one way to God the Father, there is only one way to get eternal life in heaven, so what is the cost? 

You don’t have to pay a thing, you don’t have to earn it, you don’t even have to deserve it, it is all by the grace of God. Jesus bore our sins on the cross, He took the punishment for your sins, the only thing we can bring to this is our sin. We have a choice, accept God’s gracious invitation of forgiveness through His Son, repent. In other words, acknowledge that you are a sinner, ask God to forgive you, turn in the opposite direction from the one you have been going in and be born again. Jesus said that everyone must be born again to enter into God’s eternal kingdom.

Born again what does that mean? It means when we were born as a baby we were born already sinners, the sin nature was already in us and so our spirit was dead in sin. Being born again means that your spirit is alive when you come to Jesus for salvation. From that moment on we are no longer our own we belong to Christ and so we do His will instead of our own. People often say, why would a good God send people to hell? My question is, why would anyone choose hell over a good God? There are only two choices, God is not just good, gracious, merciful, kind, He is also holy, righteous and just. If you choose to reject His mercy, then you will come before Him for judgement and condemnation. Jesus paid the price for us to go to heaven, those who reject this pay the price of their sin themselves, that price is hell and damnation. It is worth it? I wouldn’t waste my money on the celebrities, are you going to waste your life in sin knowing now what it is going to cost?

Love Like a Morning Mist

In my daily devotions I have been studying Hosea. I have to admit it is the first time I have really looked at it rather than just reading it. God's heart for His people leapt out of the pages and I was overwhelmed by His love toward Israel and Judah despite all their sin and wickedness. despite the fact that they ignored the prophet, and all the other prophets. God gave them chance after chance to turn to Him with a contrite and repentant heart and submit to His will, but they would not.

As a parent there have been many times when I have had to punish my children for various things, did they listen, did they take heed, not always sometimes it was a long time before they no longer made the same mistakes. Despite my frustration, anger, and hurt did I stop loving them? No, I did not, but when they were grown they made their own choices and did their own thing, some left and moved away but then came back, some moved away and never came back, keeping themselves estranged from me and the rest of the family. I pray that one day there will be reconciliation and restoration of our relationship. God's heart was broken and continues to be so today, He hasn't finished with Israel, He loves Him with an everlasting love and has promised that one day all Israel will be saved. But what about the rest of us, the Gentiles so to speak, God yearns for us also and longs that we should know Him. He gave His Son to take the punishment for our sins that we might be righteous, free, and have a joy and peace that the world knows nothing of. A joy and peace that doesn't depend on how I'm feeling, or on my circumstances, on whether or not I have a job, or am in good health. It is a joy and peace that is rooted in Christ Jesus. We can accept His gift of salvation or we can reject it as Israel in Hosea's time rejected their God, the only true God, the Creator of the world.

When we accept it then we don't abuse it, there is a very wishy washy, sentimental idea of the gospel in some of our churches today, it's alright because God loves me so I know He'll forgive me. We would be absolutely incensed if we heard a husband say of his wife, "It doesn't matter what I do to her because she will always forgive me" and yet this is how people treat God. Our lives are to be lived for Him, and we should allow Him to live through us. We are the heart of God on earth, we are to love the Father, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and the lost as Jesus does. We are His eyes here on earth, we are to see and take note of injustice, pain, and heartache, we are His ears, we are to hear the cries of the lost, and the lonely. We are His mouth we are to speak against injustice, we are to speak for truth, the absolute Truth against the lies, and hypocrisy in our churches. We are His feet and hands and we are to go where their is a need and help. We are to do what we can, where we can, when we can in the name of Christ for the glory of God and His kingdom. Our heart should beat in tune with His.

Lawrence O Richards wrote the Daily Devotional Commentary, here is an excerpt on Hosea 6. Love Like a Morning Mist

Some people are hopelessly optimistic. “I know,” they say “I know I did wrong, and God has punished me for it. If I just say, “I am sorry,” everything will be alright, won’t it? That’s a kind of blithe optimism portrayed in verses 1-3. and it makes God shake His head in frustration. These people seem to think that if they come to God and say “please,” the Lord will be so delighted that He’ll fall all over Himself to do them good. But God wasn’t interested in superficial religion then. And He isn’t impressed by it today. God’s judgements were intended to bring about fundamental change in attitude, not a return to church! And so God said, “Your love is like a morning mist,” and I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” What do these two phrases tell us? First, that God isn’t interested in fleeting emotions we may feel toward Him. He wants complete commitment. There’s a vast difference between the “I Love you’s” breathlessly exchanged in the backseat of a car, and the "I do’s” shared at a wedding!

Second, love for God is to be shown not in religious ceremonies but in daily life. Flowers are nice. But real love is better shown by helping with the dishes, changing dirty diapers, and “being there” when support and encouragement are needed. God isn’t satisfied with a bouquet tossed His way on Sunday. He wants us to show our love for him daily by doing His will. And so God seems to shake His head, and in frustration wonder aloud, “What can I do with you, Ephraim?” Despite the testimony of God’s Law and the words of His prophets, Israel's concept of relationship with the Lord still remained shallow. And today we also tend to have a shallow concept of God. God has no use for a “love” that is as fleeting as the morning mist.

"If you truly want to help the soul of your neighbour, you should approach God first with all your heart. Ask Him simply to fill you with love, the greatest of all virtues, with it you can accomplish what you desire." Vincent Ferrer.

Love, bears all things

  

Robes of Righteousness

The last two weeks at the Salvation Army home league in Ripley have been most interesting, you can read all about it here: What Will you be Wearing?

The first week we had been invited to a royal garden party and I completely forgot and turned up in my usual garb of jeans and t-shirt. The following week we had a spiritual insight into the week before, what struck me was that everyone else was ready, well prepared and dressed for the occasion that is certainly a good thing to be in the spiritual as well as the natural. Had this been the real thing and I had turned up dressed as I was to meet the Queen I never would have got through the first gate.

It reminded me of how we are to be prepared, ready and dressed in the right apparel for the Lord’s return or for when He calls us home. Pamela reminded us that we must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ and when He comes again for His church each one of us must be so clothed. If you have not repented of your sins, (we are forgiven only through Jesus the Son of God and His death on the cross), then you will certainly not be able to get into heaven and you will certainly not be able to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb.

 Revelation 19: 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints, if we are in Christ then we are saints and it matters how we live, how we act, how we speak etc. If our acts are of this world then our garments will not be clean and they will not be righteous and we shall not be ready. If you want to go to heaven if you want to live for ever with God and the Lord Jesus Christ on the new earth then you must have on the right garments, this is what Jesus says happens when you don’t. 

Matthew 22:1-14 

The Jews at this time had rejected Jesus as their Messiah, they didn’t want to recognise Him as God’s Son. Many in these days make light of God’s word and warnings, they believe you can get to heaven in your own strength providing you’re good and you haven’t done anything nasty, but the Bible tells us that all have sinned in which case all are in need of the saving grace of God. 

Jesus came for the good and the bad, any who are willing to come to repentance acknowledging their sins, repenting and believing in Him for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

Make sure you are wearing the right garment when God calls you home or when Jesus comes back, cast off all the filthy garments of this world and trust in the saving grace of our God.

Isaiah 61:10