Saved to serve!

This morning, in my personal devotions, my reading was Matt.25:31-46. These are some of the words of the Lord Jesus concerning judgement. There is too much to share in a blog post but, perhaps, one of the most important lessons concerns behaviour. 

We read: "When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and feed Thee, or thirsty and give Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger and welcome Thee, or naked and clothe Thee? And when did we see Thee sick or in prison and visit Thee?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then He will say to those at His left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?' Then He will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 

What do these words say to us? May I suggest that the first thing is the certainty of His coming?  Secondly, that there will be judgement! But I want to emphasise what I see as a third lesson. If you read those verses carefully, you will notice that the charge against those who are condemned to eternal punishment does not concern what they have done, but what they have failed to do! There are sins of omission, as well as sins of commission! James writes: "Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." (4:17; my emphasis). The Westminster Divines defined "sin" as "... any want of conformity unto (omission), or transgression of (commission), the law of God." (Shorter Catechism). Not doing good is the moral equivalent of doing evil!

Of course, those who had - however unknowingly - served the Saviour (through serving others in His name) did not gain salvation by their good works! Paul makes that perfectly clear when, writing to the believers in Ephesus, he states that: "... by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast." (2:8-9). I have written in the margin of my Bible: "Salvation is not by works; but good works are the result of salvation." In that vein, Paul continues: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10; my emphasis). 

We do not serve to be saved - but we are certainly saved to serve!

You need to know the problem!

In January, on our way back to France, we collected a small caravan as we really have been missing our caravan holidays. It's a 24-year-old Eriba - caravans that were, I am convinced, designed by the designers of Dr Who's Police Telephone Box. They certainly seem to be able to hold much more than the external dimensions would indicate.

Anyway, last week we took the 'new' caravan for a test break, just to check that everything was working correctly. One of the differences between this Eriba and previous "full-size" caravans, is that the water supply is kept inside - with separate containers for the kitchen and the wash-hand basin in the toilet (yes, it isn't totally primitive!). I filled both containers when we arrived on-site, and  we settled down for a pleasant 'long week-end'. It was when my wife used the wash-hand basin that the problem surfaced (no pun intended!). The tap was obviously operating, as we could hear the pump in the reservoir working. However, instead of water flowing from the tap, it was bubbling into the cupboard below.

The resident  plumber (me!) was called to the scene and started to look for the source of the unwanted water-flow. I checked the connection to the tap, but all was well. I checked the top of the container, but it was tightly sealed. Eventually, I discovered that, when I had removed the container in order to fill it, I had inadvertently disconnected the feed pipe from the top. This meant that the water was being pumped out from that spot!

Well, having discovered the problem, I was able to easily deal with it, and the water flowed as it was intended to!

So why am I sharing this? Simply because I see, in the experience, an analogy of human life. So many are searching for meaning and purpose in life. However, if they are looking in the wrong places, they are never going to find the solution. Some will try to find it in their job; some in relationships; some in drugs (including alcohol and nicotine); some in power and authority. However, it was a wise man, named Blaise Pascal, who pointed out that "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing," or as Augustine put it many centuries earlier, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." Even further back in time, the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes wrote: "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." (3:11).

Our problem is what the Bible describes, so very simply, as "sin", defined by the Shorter Catechism as "... any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God." In more contemporary language, that is saying that if we fail to keep God's laws, or break any of them, then we are guilty of sin! And, of course, as the Bible also points out, that includes every one of us: "... there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom.3:22-23).

That's the problem! My sin separates me from my Creator, and there is nothing that I can do to rectify the situation. Thankfully, He has already dealt with the problem. The Blaise Pascal quotation continues: "... but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus." He, and He alone, is the answer. He gave Himself, as God in human flesh, on a cross at Calvary, that you and I might have the opportunity to be reconciled to God. What a wonderful offer! Have you taken it up? If not, then I urge you to do so without delay. 

You now know the problem - grasp the solution while you still have time. Remember, tomorrow isn't guaranteed to any of us"

Reformation.

Having commented, in the previous post, on the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act in the UK Parliament, and the almost nine million deaths that have resulted from it, I want to comment, in this post, on a 500th anniversary - that of the nailing, by the German monk Martin Luther, of his "99 Theses" to the door of the church building at Wittenberg. It was that event that started what is known to historians as the Reformation (although there were a number of folk who had raised serious doubts about some of the teaching of the Church of Rome, prior to Luther. By the way, I deliberately use that term as "Roman Catholic" is, in fact, an oxymoron!).

Many are the books that have been written about the Reformation - both its history and its theology - so all that I wish to do is to look, briefly, at what are known as the "Five Solas". These are five basic doctrines/principles that sum up the difference between the Church of Rome and what the Reformers saw as the truth of the written Word of God. Undergirding these five solas is the phrase: ecclesia semper reformanda est, which means”the church is always to be reformed.” The very authority of the written Word of God is the subject of the first Sola:

1. Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone).

Rome did not deny the authority of the Scriptures but, like others, they added to them! In their case, they taught the authority of the church (of Rome); its traditions; its councils; its pope. The Reformers disagreed! They claimed, and taught, that all Christian practice and doctrine should be based on the clear teaching of the Bible.

Of course, God Himself has established certain authorities: the state (Rom.13:1ff); elders in the church (I Tim.5:17; I Pet.5:5); parents (Eph.6:1); but Scripture alone is truly ultimate. If any of these other authorities depart from Biblical teaching, they are to be rejected.

The Scriptures are the inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient Word of God. When the Bible speaks, God’s people should hear, heed, and obey the Word by His grace. Not only this - the Bible proclaims the Truth of the other solas, namely that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ. Man has not been saved for his own purposes but for God’s purpose and glory. Also, from beginning to end, the Biblical record points towards the Lord Jesus. So, the second of the Solas concerned 

2. Solus Christus (Christ alone).

The issue that started Luther on his journey of discovery concerned the sale of "indulgences". Put simply, this practice stated that one could obtain forgiveness of sin by making a cash donation to the church, for which one received a piece of paper stating that the donor's soul was ready to be admitted to heaven! The practice was started by Leo X in order to raise funds to rebuild St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Failure to purchase indulgences meant that one had to pay for one's sins in purgatory - the unBiblical Roman concept of a "limbo" in which the dead may finish atoning for their sins.

Luther was passionately opposed to this practice, and he and the Reformers taught the Biblical truth that salvation is through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus, on the cross - and that alone! As far as I know, the sale of "indulgences" within the Roman church no longer takes place. However, there is still great store put on the intercessions of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and of the so-called 'saints' (every true believer is, in New Testament terms, a "saint" - just read the NT letters!). However Mary, though honoured among women, cannot help in the area of salvation. In fact, she herself had to be saved by the finished work of Christ in His perfect life and vicarious death. This is why she could say that she rejoiced in “God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). What is true of Mary is also true of all the so-called 'saints' of the Church of Rome. There is no treasure chest of merit in heaven out of which the church can draw saving merit. Nor do we need a priest to intercede for us. Indeed, through Peter, God the Holy Spirit states clearly that all disciples of Jesus "... are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, ..." (I Peter 2:9; emphasis added). Salvation is through Christ alone Who is Himself “... the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6; note the definite article as emphasised).  Charles Spurgeon said, “I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.”

The third of the Sola principles is

3. Sola Gratia (Grace alone).

Sinful man can never - absolutely never - be reconciled to Almighty God by his own efforts. I cannot earn His fellowship; I cannot buy His fellowship; I do not deserve His fellowship. All that I - and you! - deserve is His judgement and wrath. The only reason that I may be the recipient of His great salvation (Heb.2:3) is by His grace - His unmerited favour and blessing. This is often defined using the word as an acronym: God's Riches At Christ's Expense. In Jesus, Almighty God paid the penalty for my sin and so satisfied both His justice and His love. As Paul states, in his letter to the believers in Ephesus: "... by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God - not because of works, lest any man should boast." (3:8-9). What a wonderful gift it is - and it is yours if only you will open yourself to Him (Who already knows you through and through!) and, in repentance and faith, accept it. And that faith is the subject of a fourth Sola:

4. Sola Fide (Faith alone).

The Reformers rightly taught that all of our Christian life is by grace from beginning to end. Not only is the gift of Christ a gift from God, but the very faith required to lay hold of that gift is itself a gift. One of the great themes of Reformation theology was "justification by faith", and not by any declaration of the church (of Rome), or through penance, indulgences, or any other means. Justification is the declaration, by Father God, that we are treated as sinless in His sight because of the atoning sacrifice of the Son, at Calvary. In the English language, it is sometimes explained as God treating me "just as if I'd" never sinned - even although I have sinned; do sin; and will continue to sin while in this mortal body that I inhabit.. Of course, filled out correctly, the doctrine should be: "Justification is the act of God by which He declares sinners to be righteous because of Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone." The final Sola is

5. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God alone).

The bottom line is that the Triune God receives the glory and honour for my salvation. Paul wrote to the early disciples in Rome: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid?' For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever. Amen." (11:33-36; emphasis added). The Psalmist had the same aim in mind when he wrote: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory, for the sake of Thy steadfast love and Thy faithfulness!" (Ps.115:1; emphasis added). This Sola emphasises the the glory of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - as the goal of true life. As the compilers of the Shorter Catechism were later to put it, in the Q & A form of the catechism: "What is the chief end (i.e. prime purpose) of man?" "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." (emphasis added).

These five teachings were at the heart of the Reformation. Would that they were at the heart of the church, worldwide, today! As I look around, I see so much of the church that, rather than being a prophetic voice to the nations, is no more than a subservient reflection of the social norms that, sadly, are so much at odds with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, the Christ! T.F.Torrance wrote: “The world likes a complacent, reasonable religion, and so is always ready to revere some pale Galilean image of Jesus, some meagre anaemic Messiah, and to give Him a moderate rational homage. . . . The truth is that we have often committed adultery with alien ideologies, confounded the Gospel with the religions of nature, and imbibed the wine of pagan doctrines and false principles and deceitful practices. We have sought to bend the will of God to serve the ends of man, to alter the Gospel and shape the Church to conform to the fashions of the times. We have yielded to pride and to the lust for power. We have been intimidated by the might of the beast through society, or the crowd, or the state, and betrayed, again and again, the cause of our Saviour.” (The Apocalypse Today; James Clarke & Co Ltd; 1961; p.155). His words show, sadly, how far the church has departed from those early Reformation principles.

Let those of us who seek to see the Name of Jesus honoured and exalted pray that, in these last days, the Lord will move, by the Spirit, in cleansing and purifying power throughout the church in the UK, and elsewhere, removing all that would seek to dilute, denigrate, diminish, deny, and even destroy, the true Gospel message, and revive His true people that there might be, in these end times, a mighty ingathering of precious souls to the Kingdom of God - and all to His glory.

Footnote! To the best of my knowledge, there is no "set in stone" order to the Five Solas. However, the order in which I have given them above is not, I realise, the most common. I use it because I find it to be more "consecutively accurate"! By this I mean that it is the Scriptures that tell me of the Christ, and the grace of God that I may receive by faith, and all to His glory.

Some of the words and concepts used here are dealt with, more fully, in my first two books (vol.3 currently being proofread - available, DV, early in the New Year). Please see the links at the top of the page.

Ivy - and sin (Part 3).

At the back of the house in Gardonne are some fruit trees.  We have a pear tree (sorry, no partridge!); a cherry tree; and two apricot trees!  They all need some TLC, and both pruning and feeding but, next year,we hope that we might have a reasonable crop.  Actually,  I started the pruning of the pear tree, yesterday - and gathered 27lbs of pears in the process.  That is without any care!

However, while one of the apricot trees has a reasonable amount of fruit, the other has next to nothing.  The reason for this is, I suspect (I make no claim to any level of horticultural expertise!) the fact that the bottom half of the trunk was smothered with ivy!  I have managed to remove all of it but, if I am correct, then this demonstrates another aspect of sin.

Perhaps, at this point, I should remind you of the definition of sin!  According to the Shorter Catechism, "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God."  In other words, sin is not simply 'breaking the law' - although, for example, if I rob a bank; commit murder, or rape; or give false testimony in a court of law; I have sinned.  However, there is much that I do - and much that I fail to do - that does not break human law, but is still sin in the sight of Almighty God!

A major problem with sin is that it usually appears to be attractive!  I am not going to be tempted into a sinful sexual liaison with someone whom I consider to be ugly!  I am not going to be tempted to break into a toy-shop, and steal all of the Monopoly money!  I am not going to car-jack 30-year-old rust-bucket with smoke billowing from the exhaust!  I am only going to be tempted if the woman is, in my eyes, beautiful; if the money that I am able to steal is in a recognised currency; if the car is a latest model of an expensive marque!

However, as the old adage has it "All that glisters is not gold", and that is never more true than when we sin.  I start that affair - and then discover that it costs me my marriage, my home, my family, my personal integrity.  I steal that money - and then realise that I am going to have to be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.  I take that car - and find out that I am unable to handle such a high-powered vehicle, as I take a bend in the road at too fast a speed, and end up in hospital (if not the Morgue!).

Just as the ivy sucks the life out of a tree, so sin sucks the very life out of we human beings.  Praise God that there is an answer.  He has promised that "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (I Cor 10:13).

When the Lord Jesus hung on the cross at Calvary, He not only bore your sins, and mine, in His own body (see I Pet.2:24), but He actually became sin (II Cor.5:21), in all of its putrefaction, and ugliness, and nastiness, and blackness.  I believe that it was at that moment in human time that He uttered what is usually referred to as 'the cry of dereliction' - "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Mark 15:34).  But Mark continues his account: "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom."  That great cry was a single word: "Tetelestai" - "Finished"!  This was not the weak whimper of one who had decided to give up!  It was the mighty shout of triumph of One Who had completed the work that the Father had given Him to do.  And, with the veil of the Temple ripped in two, the way was made open for you, and for me, to enter directly into the presence of the Almighty, Creator God.

Don't let sin suck the life out of you!  You see, it's not just your natural life that is effected, but also your eternal destiny.  The choice is yours - eternity in His nearer presence; or eternity cut off from Him - and aware, too late, of your own foolishness in rejecting, or even neglecting, His claim upon you.  May you, if you have not already done so, "Come to Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (I Peter 2:4-5).

The answer is in the book!

Antony is a delightful young Portuguese boy who regularly visits the elderly couple who live opposite us at our static caravan in France.  If we are around, he usually comes over to us for a chat - in order to improve his English language skills!

Yesterday, as we were chatting, in both English and French (we like to improve our own language skills as well!), a word cropped up that was causing all three of us difficulty.  At last, my wife disappeared - only to return a few minutes later.  "Let's check the book", she said.  "The answer is always in the book."  The book to which she was referring was one of our French/English dictionaries and, indeed, we found the solution to our little linguistic problem.

However, my mind went off at a tangent.  "The answer is always in the book."  I thought of the problems in the world; in our society and culture; in my own family circumstances.   "The answer is always in the book." 

Perhaps the Lord is telling me something!   On Monday, I ended up writing about the Maker's Manual.  Tonight, I'm writing about the Book.  In each case, I am thinking about the written Word of God - the Bible.  It does, indeed, have the answers to all of life's basic problems.  Indeed, it has the answer to life's basic problem (singular!) which is sin.  That's not a word that is considered to be acceptable in our politically correct culture.  However, that does not alter its reality.  Each of us is aware of it, even if we don't accept, or acknowledge, it. 

So what is sin?  Well, there's a full chapter on the subject in Great Words of the Faith (see above!), but it has been put, succinctly, by the authors of the Shorter Catechism: "Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God".  In other words, sin is not just breaking the law of the land; sin is not just something that is sad, or unfortunate; sin is not just something that upsets me.  Sin is failing to do what God expects from me (sins of omission), or doing what God says I ought not to do (sins of commission).

The Bible has the answer.  It teaches that, although I offend Almighty God, His love for me is such that He has already paid the penalty, and borne the punishment, for my sin.  In the Persona (not a typo - see the chapter on the Trinity in Great Words) of the Son, He hung on a cross, dying the death that I deserve to die.  I am totally unable to satisfy the demands of God's law; I can only come, in repentance (yes, there's a chapter on that subject as well!), and faith, and accept the salvation that He offers, in Christ.

Concerned about your sin?  So you should be!  But remember, the answer's in the Book.  Why don't you read it and find out more. 

If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me at author@minister.com   I would not recommend the comment facility on the blog as, since Disqus took it over, I appear to have lost the ability to not display!

What's in a name?

Have you heard the one about the woman who changed her name, by deed poll, so that she could have a word for each letter of the (Roman) alphabet? Yes, it sounds like the opening line of a joke - but it's actually true (if newspaper reports are to be believed!). The woman, formerly known as Ceejay Epton, is now legally known as Ceejay Apple Boat Cat Dog Elephant Flower Goat House Igloo Jellyfish Kite Lion Monkey Nurse Octopus Penguin Queen Robot Sun Tree Umbrella Whale X-ray Yo-yo Zebra Terryn Feuji-Sharemi. To use a common cliché, "You couldn't make it up!"

To me, the silliest aspect is that she hasn't used a single name that is recognisable as referring to a human. Indeed, I doubt that even pet-owners would use them for their animals! It's almost as if she picked up a dictionary and just randomly chose a word from each section! With just a little more thought, she might at least have been Aileen Barbara Catriona Dorothy Edith Fiona Gloria Heather Iona Joyce Kathleen Lorna Marsali Nancy Oprah Pauline Quintina Roberta Sarah Tabitha Una Victoria Wendy Xara Yvonne Zoe!!! (and, yes, every one of those is a legitimate female name - and, for all but a few, I know females who bear one, or more, of these names!).

But so what? After all, as Shakespeare's Juliet has it, "... that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;"

Perhaps, in the 21st century, it doesn't really matter. The lady in question has had her moment of fame - although she certainly isn't going to be receiving a Christmas card from me! I'd have to start addressing the envelope at the beginning of December!!!! However, this was not always the case. There was a time when a child's name was very carefully chosen, as it was deemed to direct both character and destiny. Even today, many people want to know the meaning(s) of their name(s). [My own, by the way, mean "strong" and "noble-spirited" - so I am not unhappy!]

Of course there is one particular name, given to the mother of the Child even before He was miraculously conceived within her (Lk.1:31). It is the Name that is above every name; the Name at which, one day, "... every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, " as every tongue cofesses "... that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil.2:10).

So, what does that Name mean? In the original Hebrew form, Yeshua, it means "God is my salvation". This Child was born to save. But who needs a Saviour? Obviously, those in need. If I am swimming, comfortably, in my local swimming pool, I don't need a saviour. However, if I am being swept out to sea by currents against the power of which I am totally helpless, then I most certainly do.

That against which I am, in my own strength, totally helpless every day of my life, is sin. It, in turn, is defined as "... any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God" (Westminster Shorter Catechism). So, if I break the law of God - either by failing to do that which I should, or doing that which I should not - I am guilty of sin: and I need a Saviour. Praise God that, by both His life (Rom.5;10), and His death (Rom.5:6) Jesus - God the Son - has provided the salvation that I could never gain for myself. Through Him, my sins are forgiven, and I am made a friend of God (Rom.5:11). Oh there's more to it than that - repentance, confession, acceptance. But that's the end result, and in that I may rejoice. As the accompanying video reminds us, "Jesus paid a debt He didn't owe, because we had a debt we couldn't pay."

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus - now there really is "something about that Name"!