In the midst of life there is death

In the midst of life there is death.

This week two of our friends died. It was rather sudden but at least we know where they have gone. We may be sad to be separated for a while but we know we will be reunited soon.

The disciples on that first Good Friday had no such assurance. Jesus had told them often

enough that he would be crucified and would be raised from the dead but somehow it just hadn’t sunk in. They must have been devastated to see their Lord and Master crucified like a common criminal.

Grief and unimaginable bewilderment must have hung heavily upon them.  Jesus was dead. There was no expectation of resurrection. No eager waiting for the third day. Just despair that all their hopes and dreams had been nailed to the cross with Jesus.

Even when the news of Jesus’ resurrection began to filter through to the disciples they were very reluctant to believe it. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus came and rebuked them for ‘their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen’.

How patient Jesus was with them. Finally they got it.  The day of Pentecost came and those timid disciples were transformed into bold, brave ministers of the Gospel. Thousands were saved and great miracles flowed through them.

Today, as we celebrate Easter, we have the wonderful assurance that though we remember with great sadness Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and iniquities, we also rejoice that death could not hold the perfect Son of God. He has indeed risen.

When our friends went to be with Jesus, it was not the end. It is the beginning of a new eternal life – that great gift from a loving, patient God to a sinful, rebellious people. I know that our friends are with him because they accepted that gift. Their sins are forgiven, the slate wiped clean and so we know they have gone to heaven.

However that free gift has to be accepted individually by each one of us. There is no other way by which we can enter eternal life with him.  Death may be with us in the midst of life but through Jesus life after death with him is available to all who would call on the Lord and be saved.

Be still and know that I am God

Be still, and know that I am God;
      I will be exalted among the nations,
      I will be exalted in the earth.  Psalm 46: 10

One of my favourite books of the Bible is Isaiah.  His gift of beautiful poetry and wonderful use of words is an inspiration. However Isaiah lived during some very troubled times in the kingdom of Judah and he must have experienced great highs and lows during his ministry.

The early chapters of Isaiah were written during the reign of King Ahaz, a wicked king of Judah who did not follow in the path of King David.  He reigned in the troubled times of the Assyrians whose total warfare of terror, destruction and deportation was both brutal and barbaric.  The surrounding nations of Syria or Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel suffered greatly at their hands. Indeed it was the Assyrians who took Israel into exile as God had promised because of their unfaithfulness to him.

These were truly terrible days and King Ahaz did all he could to appease the Assyrians but to no avail. Isaiah kept urging him to seek the Lord, turn back to him because only he could help. Instead King Ahaz closed the temple and set up his own altar which he had built modelled on one he had seen and liked in Damascus (II Kings 16).

Nevertheless, in the midst of all this, Isaiah prophesies one of his most famous and frequently read encouragements found in Isaiah 9. At Christmas we usually hear and read just Isaiah 9: 2, 6 – 7 because this is the most obvious prophecy about the Messiah but the first seven verses of the chapter taken together were indeed a source of great encouragement in the dark days of King Ahaz’s reign.

God promised through Isaiah that the northern lands of Zebulun, Naphtali and Galilee which had suffered terribly at the hands of the Assyrians would one day be greatly honoured. This of course was fulfilled during Jesus’ ministry there. God promised the people who were walking in the darkness of despair that a light will dawn, that the yoke of oppression will be broken and all the tools of warfare will be burnt.

This will happen because a child will be born, a royal child from the house of David who will rule with justice and righteousness for ever. ‘The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’ God will make sure this happens and he has. He has sent his son Jesus who even now is reigning in glory and will one day return to the earth to establish his kingdom on earth for ever.

In the midst of despair and terror, God spoke words of life and hope to the Jewish people. God never left them even when they were eventually taken off into exile; he is indeed Immanuel God with us.

In the midst of our trials and difficulties, no matter their source, he will speak words of life and hope to us if we will be still and know He is God.

Healing the nations

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fall. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.  Ezekiel 47: 12

This passage in Ezekiel 47 is one of my favourite passages of Scripture. The river of God is the river of life because it flows from God’s sanctuary. Everything about the river of God speaks of abundance.  The river flows from ankle deep to so deep that no one can even cross it (47: 5). A great number of trees (47:7) grow along its banks. The life giving water turns salt water to fresh (47: 9).  Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows with large numbers of fish. (47: 9). The river is so abundant in life that fishermen will fish all along the banks of what is now the Dead Sea.

Even the marshes and swamps, not touched by the river, will be useful for salt. Finally abundant fruit will grow from the many trees growing on both banks of the river. The trees are so healthy and full of life that their leaves do not wither and their fruit doesn’t fall to the ground. In fact the trees produce a fresh crop of fruit every month.  Their fruit is picked for food and the leaves of the tree are for healing. In Revelation 22:5 which also speaks of the river of God, it says the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.

What a wonderful picture this is of the life giving river of God. It is full of hope for the believer that God wants to bring fullness in every way to unpromising, barren situations. It speaks of the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit who wants to flow through our lives, our churches and nations bringing his life giving abundance to all he touches.

How we need that work through the life flow of the Holy Spirit. In particular we need the healing of the nations. The planet is full of wars and disputes. Nation is rising up against nation and there is hatred everywhere. There is so much entrenched racialism and bitter hostility often going back centuries that needs the restoring work of the Holy Spirit. 

In eternity Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). Jesus died for everyone and in heaven there will be a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

I believe though God wants churches to be places not just of healing from sickness and disease but also healing and restoring relationships between people including healing between nationalities from racialism and prejudices - now. The Church can be a picture of genuine love and fellowship between people from all nations that provides a picture to unbelievers of God’s love for his world.  Nowhere else can there be genuine love between people of all nationalities than in the Church where God’s river flows.

 

Is life meaningless?

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my work and this was the reward for all my labour.

Yet when I had surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve.

Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.    Ecclesiastes 2: 10 – 11

 There can be times when we look at our lives and wonder whether we have achieved anything worthwhile. The writer of Ecclesiastes, thought by many to be King Solomon, evaluated his life and despite all that he had achieved (and Solomon achieved more than anyone else I Kings 4: 29 - 34), he wrote that it was all meaningless. In fact he says, ‘for a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless (2:21).

 At some point in your life, you may realise you are not going to do some of the things that you thought you might do or even wanted to. These can be hard pills to swallow. Perhaps you have not got married, had children, got the promotion you expected. Perhaps an accident, disability, ill health, divorce or redundancy have stopped you achieving what you thought of as your heart’s desire. Nevertheless that does not mean your life has been meaningless or worhtwhile.

We can look at our life and draw some wrong conclusions. If we evaluate our lives by the world’s standards, very few of us will have any achievements to commend ourselves. The world only values the outwardly successful, famous or beautiful. However if we look at our lives from God’s perspective with an eternal mind set, things look very different. God values the faithful, trustworthy, honest, diligent, persevering, kind, loving, joyful, peaceful person. What matters most is not our achievements but our fruit. 

 Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy says of those people who see their life as a failure; much of the distress of these good people comes from a failure to realize that their life lies before them; that they are coming to the end of their present life, life ‘in the flesh’ is of little significance. What is of significance in the kind of person they have become. Circumstances and other people are not in control of an individual’s character or the life that lies endlessly before us in the kingdom of God.

For the Christian, this life is not all there is. This is just the start and we look forward to a life in eternity when all things will be restored. The best really is to come and we must not look at our life or anyone else’s and see it as meaningless or a failure. We have a wonderful future with God and we must always keep our eye on that truth for God has incredible things beyond our imagination here on earth ready for us when our earthly life finishes. Our life truly is going from glory to glory.

 

It's the thought that counts

It is more blessed to give than to receive.  Acts 20: 35

There is no doubt that when giving a gift, it is the thought that counts.  Some of the best gifts I have received have had small monetary value but huge value in terms of the thought behind the gift. One Mother’s Day I received four gifts from my children, none of which had great monetary value but each of which said a huge amount about the giver. Each child had taken a great deal of thought to give me something that would bless me and therefore each gift was very precious to me.  Amongst the gifts was a CD compilation of my favourite worship songs put together by my younger son. The thought behind it was amazing that he knew the songs I liked and as I listened to it for the first time, I never knew what the next track would be and so the gift became a blessing over and over again.

It is very hard to give something to someone who seems to have everything. The Royal Family apparently only gives small gifts to each other at Christmas. The Queen was reportedly delighted when someone gave her an apron. She loved it and whoever had given it had thought about it and knew it would give her pleasure.

God has everything and it all belongs to him. In themselves the Trinity are complete. They need no one or nothing more but yet they draw us into this complete relationship of love. Their love is so overwhelming they want all of their wonderful creation to enjoy it. So what can we bring to the One who has and is everything?

The answer of course is the only thing we have to give – our lives, our hearts and our love. So many people want to live independently of God not realising they are denying themselves the greatest gift that has been given to humanity – a relationship with God. What else could anyone want? Everything else pales into insignificance.  Yes man’s greatest treasure so often is his freedom and his independence, not realising that actually he is not living free but in bondage to sin, pain and suffering.  Only a life given freely to the one who gives life can lead to true freedom for mankind.

Jesus gave us all he could give; his life. The greatest gift we can give is our life given back to the one who loves us so much he died for us so we could enjoy fellowship and true freedom with him.

Trusting God with our hearts

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding Proverbs 3: 5

When we become Christians we talk about giving our lives or our heart to the Lord but these two expressions are not the same. Giving our lives to Jesus talks about living for him instead of ourselves; we prioritise him in our lives so he becomes the most important person in our daily existence. Giving our hearts to Jesus is about how we feel and think about him and others. It is about letting Jesus touch and heal our emotions so we reflect his love and kindness to others.  

When I gave my heart to God, it was strongly encased in a hard shellto protect it because I had decided that due to past wounds, no one would hurt me or get too close to me again. By nature I am soft hearted but I felt people didn’t care about me that much; they had hurt me and so I let this hard shell surround my heart. I had to ask Jesus to take away the hardness.  In addition my heart had some very sore scabs from the wounds I had suffered from misunderstandings and thoughtlessness on the part of others. I had to ask Jesus to heal my heart and with his love and grace he has soaked away the hard shell and the sore scabs so my heart is much softer now towards both him and others.

I also had to learn to trust him to look after my heart and protect it from the inevitable hurts, pains and disappointments of this life. This was a really hard thing to do because by entrusting my heart to Jesus it felt like it was sitting exposed on the palm of his hand. It made me feel very vulnerable. However Jesus has proved faithful and he has protected me so when the knocks and hurts of life come, I have not had to withdraw in anger or silence from others. I have been able to stay open to them knowing God has my heart firmly and safely in his hands.

It can be a very daunting thing to give our hearts to Jesus but he wants us to walk in freedom not hidden away behind our own shells of protection, nursing our wounds but to walk openly being able to show love and grace even in the face of unkindness knowing that God will protect and look after us.