“You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.”
Psalm 119:114
This Psalm of David is the longest of all of the Psalms, and the longest chapter in the whole Bible. Here, David is saying to the Lord that he finds his refuge and safety in the Lord. When Saul was searching for David, it was the Lord that told him where to Hide, to help protect him physically, and spiritually.
Likewise, we should find our refuge in the Lord. When we are being trialed and tested, we should look towards the Lord, we should put our hope in his word. We should trust in the Lord to hide us, to give us refuge, from the temptations of the world, and to shield our mind and soul from the harmful things that we often come across.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14,16
This passage from the Sermon on the mount is rather famous. It is part of a number of instructions to how his disciples should behave. Here, he is calling his disciples to be examples to the rest of the world, that their good deeds may encourage others to glorify God. In the Tyndale commentary, he writes,
But the disciples of Christ must not, through fear of being an unworthy influence, remain silent about their religion. They can, and they must, bear witness to the faith that is in them through personal example. This is the truth underlying the metaphor used by Jesus when He tells them they are the light of the world.
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So the disciples must not hide themselves, but live and work in places where their influence may be felt, and the light that is in them be most fully manifested to others – not for their own glorification, but that others may see that the light of real Christian goodness, finding expression in practical acts of loving-kindness and service, is a light not of this world but coming from God, and may in consequence be led to give honour and praise to its Giver
The Gospel According to St Matthew, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (General Editor Prof. R.V.G. Tasker), 1979 printing page 64.
I’ve heard this manifested in many different ways. People, like Major Brendan Nottle who runs the Melbourne 614 corps, working with the homeless, the poor and needy. I’ve heard it in suggestions to Christians that they should start each day with a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, meaning that they need to not only be in touch with God, but also in touch with the world. I’ve heard of it being manifested in people who are known as “the Christian” at work, who anyone can turn to when they’re going through a rough time.
What sort of things do you do to let your light shine?
The incipit page from the Gospel of John (Image by peterjr1961 via Flickr)
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
John 1:12-13
This is a beautiful passage from the beginning of John’s gospel, that says that all who believe in Jesus, all who accept him and trust in him, have the right to become a child of God, and accept all the inheritance that comes with that, to receive God’s care and protection.
This NIV translation has some interesting changes in verse 13. The NRSV translation of verse 13 reads “who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.” They both use the plural, “who were” or “children” as opposed to the singular “who was” which some old translations have. The singular implies that it is only Jesus that this passage is talking about, where as the plural implies that it is talking about everyone that accepts and believes in Jesus. But the next part, skipping the “not of blood” with the NIV translating that as being “not of natural descent” is a nicer translation, if not entirely correct, but it does reduce the chance of confusion. E.C. Hoskyns in his book The Fourth Gospel writes “The Evangelist cannot write that the Christians were not born of blood (singular), because their birth does in fact depend upon a death which later he describes as involving the outpouring of blood.” This depends on whether you believe that salvation comes through the death of Christ, or as this verse seems to imply only through belief in his name. Note that one does not discredit the other, it is all in which way your beliefs take you.
There are many who would say that belief that doesn’t include salvation through the cross makes you not a “real” Christian. To them, I would give this verse, “to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Personally, I believe that Christ died to forgive our sins as an amazing act of grace. He did this for all the children of God, all those who believe in his name.
A depiction of Jesus, teaching seated. (Image via Wikipedia)
Liesl and I have been asked to lead a service at the York Corps on August 7, and it’s apparently my turn to preach. Now, I’m due to have knee surgery on Tuesday (if I don’t there’s a whole heap of other problems happening, but I’m not going into that), which means I may well be on crutches when we do the service. So I’m planning to preach sitting down. Jesus often sat down while teaching, so why shouldn’t I?
It got me thinking about the times Jesus did sit down to preach, which mostly appear in Matthew’s gospel. This is all because Matthew’s gospel was written for a mostly Jewish audience, where Teachers would teach seated. So there’s the Sermon on the Mount, and the parable of the Sower and the seeds that fall on various ground, but these didn’t seem to grab me. I turned to chapter 14 and read of the feeding of the five thousand.
After this, I read the relating passage in the Tyndale commentary that we were given a while ago and I now have a bookcase to display them so I grabbed this commentary and this little bit sparked an idea.
As the day wore on, the disciples urged Him to discontinue His healing activity and to send the crowds away to obtain provisions before it was too late. Jesus, still moved with compassion for the hungry, shepherdless throng that surrounded Him, decides to use His miraculous power to satisfy their needs. But first He brings home to His disciples indirectly the fundamental truth that he has called them to be shepherds of the new Israel which constitute the Messiah’s flock, but that they will never be able to discharge that function in their own strength. All the power necessary for ‘feeding the sheep’ comes from Him, the chief Shepherd of the flock, and from Him alone. Such would seem to be the significance of Jesus’ words “They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” When they point out that their available supplies, “but five loaves, and two fishes” are totally inadequate for a catering task of such magnitude, He bids them bring their resources to Him; and in His hands they become so wonderfully multiplied that when the disciples receive them back from Him and distribute the broken pieces to the people they are found to be more than adequate for the entire company.
The Gospel According to St. Matthew Tyndale Commentary (General editor Professor R.V.G. Tasker), 1961. Page 143-144
Reading this passage sparked a light in me. When Jesus says “They need not go away; you give them something to eat” (NRSV), he’s telling the disciples that they are able to feed the people spiritually. Yet they aren’t able to see past the physical needs into the spiritual needs. And then as the commentary points out, it is only through Jesus, the “chief Shepherd” that we have the power to feed five thousand people, spiritually, and when we come to him, when we rely on him, we are able to do the seemingly impossible.
So, that’s where my thoughts are at a couple of weeks out from the sermon. We’ll see how they turn out. But for now, a question for you to think about: Do you think you could feed five thousand? If not, how many could you feed?
This topic suggestion, Why is it so hard to forgive?, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.
Father, forgive us, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend, But I forgive you (Image from Flickr by bija1agape. Quote from Naj on Flickr)
A line that so many Christians will know so well, coming from the Lord’s Prayer. As with many aspects of Christianity, it can often be much harder to live this out than it is to say. As such, we often hold onto sin long after it has occurred.
For example, I held onto a sin against me for many years. After being bullied in year 11 and 12, I refused to go near the school for a couple of years. While the school itself had done nothing wrong – in fact it did everything it could to help me through the period – I held onto that sin, I held it against the school. Continue reading “As we forgive those who sin against us”→
The cover of Daena's 365 days of kindness… journal.
Today I’m putting the focus on my friend’s blog, 365 Days of Kindness. Daena is an incredible young lady, and one of my close friends. Last year, she started Project 25, encouraging people to do random acts of kindness.
This year, she decided to expand, and challenge herself to do a random good deed every day for a year. She’s writing them down in a journal, and slowly uploading them to her blog. She’s a bit behind (having only recently uploaded the ones for January), however it is a fantastic project, and a wonderful challenge.
We find this mentioned in the gospels of Jesus.
“Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Matthew 22:36-40 (MSG)
The second commandment that Jesus lists here – love others as you love yourself – is just what Daena is practicing here, Loving others, whoever they may be, as she loves herself. Wouldn’t the world be an amazing place if we all followed Daena’s lead and looked for ways to show love to others?
As I did last week, I’m posting the Sermon that I preached on Sunday. This was at my church, at Floreat Salvation Army, and was part of my pre-college assessments. The reading that this sermon is based on comes from James 2:14-24. Continue reading “We are all called”→
On Sunday, I took a service at Cottesloe Uniting Church. This was my first service at a Uniting Church, and I had to put the service together – not knowing what a Uniting Church Service consisted of. I think I did ok. Anyway, I thought I’d publish my sermon from Sunday. The bible readings for the day were Acts 2:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13; and John 20:19-23. I’m backing up this week, I’m preaching at Floreat this Sunday. I think I’ll be building a bit off of this sermon as well as the one that Lt. Gareth preached at Floreat. Continue reading “What do we do with these gifts?”→
I’ve been at a Candidates weekend for the Salvos this weekend. I’ve had an incredible time, meeting people all considering heading to the Training College to become Salvation Army Officers. Over this time, I’ve also been reading Bill Hybel’s Just Walk Across the Room. I’d like to quote a couple of paragraphs.
Better than anyone in history, in any field or discipline, Jesus capitalized on the possibility in people – the hidden potential inherent in all of us. Talented entrepreneurs in our society see hidden potential in a product or service before anybody else does – and as a result of pursuing their vision, cutting-edge companies emerge. Expert athletic coaches often spot hidden potential in a high school football player or tennis player, and because of applied foresight, collehe sports dynasties are built.
But Jesus had a corner on the “potential” market. He had an uncanny ability to look past the obvious flaws in people’s lives and envision who they could become if the power of God were released in their lives. Intrinsically, he just wondered about people. Wondered what they could become. Wondered how they might look in a transformed state. Wondered what impact they could have if their lives were invested in things of eternal value.
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“All things are possible” was Jesus” mantra. All things. And countless lives were transformed because he chose to look past the surface stuff to see what was ultimately possible.
For every person here this weekend, God has looked past the flaws that we all have, and has seen the potential we have to change the world for Jesus. He has called us, and we have responded. For some of us. It’s going to college next year, for others, it’s going in a few years. For some, that calling may not include college. But we have all heard his call, and have responded.
God sees your potential. All he’s asking is for you to respond.
I’ve finally got around to start reading Bill Hybel’s book, “Just Walk across the room” and it’s already got me posting something, and this is only from the introduction!
Bill is telling us of the time when he was seventeen and he accepted Jesus into his heart. He was at a camp, and one night had a realisation that Jesus loved him, and there was nothing he could do to earn that love. He ran back to the dorm to tell his mates, armed with a series of “Guys, did you know…?” questions. They all came back to him saying “Yea, yea, Bill, we know all that.” He said to himself, “I just never got it until now.”
How often have we heard the stories of the bible, yet only really got the meaning of them later. You might read it and get new insight, or have it explained in a different way and suddenly, it all fits. We can know, but sometimes we just really don’t get it.
For me, I had one of those moments on a spiritual retreat, Chrysalis. I heard the story of the Prodigal Son explained in a really simple way, and it just clicked. That story that I had such a hard time relating to for all those years, suddenly I could see myself in every character in the story. I knew the story, I just didn’t get it. Now that I get it, I can take that knowledge into my life, and live accordingly.
Have you had a light bulb moment, where you suddenly understood something that you’ve known for a while?
Ben Clapton 