Salvation Through Judgment

Psalm 43               Isaiah 65:1-9             Luke 8:26-39

Salvation Through Judgment

I think that one of the saddest statements in Scripture is found in the Gospel of John 1:11. John reported that when Jesus came to his own, his own did not receive him. This is the tragedy of the Gospel story. Those who claimed to worship the one true God failed to recognise him when he came to live among them. 

One of the causes for this was that they had muddled the Word of God by adding their own rigid explanations and unchallengeable traditions. We see Jesus correcting the misapplication and misinterpretation of Scripture time and again throughout his ministry. “You have heard that it was said,” Jesus told the crowds…please notice he did not say you have read that it was written…You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.” Jesus was challenging the oral law of the Jewish leaders. 

And then to the Jewish leaders he said, “You disregard the Word of God because of your tradition.” It was this repeated challenge to the status quo that eventually led to the crucifixion. Jesus came to his own people and his own people, not only refused to receive him, but they rejected him and simply got rid of him. “…the reason many of the leaders would not see was because they could not see…they had ears, but they did not listen…they had eyes, but they did not see…their hearts were closed, not open…they could not receive anything.”  They were completely unteachable and consequently unreachable and unchangeable. Jesus had come to his own, but his own were not willing to come to him…and judgment would surely follow this rejection.

But this was not the first time that God levelled this charge of pig-headedness against his people. In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 65 we read that God held out his hands all day long to an obstinate people who had chosen to disregard God’s Word and to live by their own set of rules…rules that mirrored the beliefs and practices of the other nations around them…the offering of incense to foreign gods and goddesses, the practice of necromancy, and an outright rejection of the purity and dietary laws. 

In many ways, John was simply echoing Isaiah and many of the other Old Testament authors when he said: He came to his own and his own did not receive him. 

But the triumphant beauty of the Gospel is that it doesn’t end there. John went on to say, “But to all who did receive him, to those who believed on his name, he gave power to become children of God.” Or, to return to the words of Isaiah, God chose to reveal himself to those who did not ask for him. He chose to be found by those who did not seek him. To a nation that did not call on his name God said, “Here I am.”

We see this rejection/acceptance or the judgment/salvation theme throughout Scripture. Right from the moment sin first entered the world, salvation has always come through judgement. Paul repeatedly stated that salvation came to the Gentiles as a result of God’s judgment of those who rejected him.  Speaking of the refusal of some Jews to believe in Jesus, Paul said in Romans 11:11, “because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.” What is mind-blowing about this statement is that it is an allusion to what God said through Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21. “They made me jealous,” God said, “by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.” The Gentiles who once were not considered a people, became the people of God…a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…everything the Jews had once been called prior to their rejection of Jesus.

It is interesting to note as one reads through the Gospels, that while Jesus was often tested and rejected in his own country, the moment he crossed into pagan territory people received Him and believed in Him. The Samaritan woman and her village is one good example, as is the Canaanite woman in Phoenicia. The Gadarene demoniacs and their people are another good example. 

As we read in our Gospel lesson: After a day of challenges and teaching, Jesus told his disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee to the territory of the Gadarenes. Out of sheer exhaustion, Jesus fell asleep in the boat. But as they were crossing the lake, a storm suddenly blew up, as it often does in this area…a storm so powerful that even these experienced fishermen panicked. Jesus, of course, did not, as he knew who held his life in his hands, so he continued to sleep. Peter’s hysterical rebuke earned him a composed rebuke in return. After calming the storm, Jesus simply asked, “Where is your faith?” It is the same kind of statement Jesus made later to Philip. “Have I been with you so long, Philip and still you don’t know me?” 

But try to put yourselves in the sandals of these disciples. You know, it is one thing to heal people…another to drive out a demon…even another to bring a dead person back to life. But to command the unpredictable and uncontrollable forces of nature? Who could do that? Only one who was greater than the created order itself. 

But then, as they were still trying to wrap their minds around what they just witnessed, an unearthly scream shattered their reflections. In Matthew’s account of this story, there were two men, not one. I think that perhaps the reason Luke only mentioned one man is because the other demoniac was silent. Be that as it may, let’s get back into those disciples’ sandals and try to sense what must have been going on in their thoughts. We are told that the man was so riddled with demons that he was called legion. Now think on that. A Roman legion was 6,000 men strong! This is not just one solitary bothersome fallen angel inhabiting this man. This was a formidable army of dark powers!

And yet…the voices coming out from this man were pleading for mercy! Jesus, on the other hand, was composed and not at all alarmed. He was in total control of the situation, just as he had been with the storm. And then, according to Matthew, with a single word, “Go!”, the demons were cast out into the herd of pigs. 

Now, we’ve heard this story so many times that it has lost some of its impact. Again, try to put yourself in the place of the disciples. What had they just witnessed in a very short space of time? The storm was one thing – that was natural. The Gadarene demoniacs presented them with a storm of an altogether different type. This was unnatural or supernatural. Who was this man who could calm a raging storm, but also cast out raging demonic forces? What kind of power did he possess? 

It is interesting to note at this point, that these Gentile men quite literally lived among the dead in the tombs and, no doubt, fed on swine’s flesh…an intriguing connection with our Isaiah passage…only these were not insolent Jews…these were ignorant pagans.

Now, I want to draw your attention to the fact that when the townsfolk asked Jesus to leave the area, the freedmen asked if they could go with Jesus. But Jesus said they needed to return home and tell their families what God had done for them. At this point, I’d like to fast-forward to the feeding of the four thousand, an event that happened in the same general area as this story. As we read that account, we are amazed to find that the same crowds who had once asked Jesus to leave a few months back, now flocked to see him. This can only be a result of the faithful witnessing of the two freed men. This story is reminiscent of the Samaritan Woman story. Non-Jews responding to Jesus in a way his own people had largely not responded. 

He came to his own and his own did not receive him, but…as many as received him, to those who believed on his name, he gave power to become children of God. 

The stubborn resistance of the unbelieving Jewish leaders, and the ever increasing reception of believing Gentiles into the Church, is spelled out in painful detail in the book of Acts. This Jewish resistance and rejection of Jesus and his faithful witnesses ultimately culminated in the destruction of their city and their temple in AD 70. But judgment led to salvation…for both the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles as the New Jerusalem continued and continues to spread throughout the world.

This is still true today. When people of faith begin to replace God’s Word with philosophies and ideologies of their own, they inevitably begin to slide down into insignificance and eventual oblivion. What is dead cannot offer life. Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life…reject him and you have nothing to offer. In fact, you shackle yourself to the forces of darkness as you deliberately choose to live among and embrace the spiritually dead. 

It is only when you are confronted with the living Christ…it is only when you come under his merciful judgment…it is only when the words “Be still” and “Go” are spoken…it is only then that you are saved from slavery to sin and Satan and are brought from death to life. Salvation can only come through judgment. You cannot hold onto grace and sin at the same time. Pretence is meaningless. The Jewish leaders had a form of godliness…to all around them they looked so pious and so holy…but inside they were full of death. It is judgment that breaks open the tomb and raises the captive to freedom. 

Now, I understand that I am preaching to the choir here. You are not among those who have not received or believed in Jesus. So, I am not about to issue an altar call here.

But I am going to challenge you by asking if you are like the freed Gadarene men…are you telling those who have not yet received or believed in Jesus how much God has done for you? Are you witnesses to his awesome greatness and power? You may not have seen a storm stilled…you may not have witnessed an exorcism…or a miraculous healing…or a resurrection…but you have witnessed his ability to open spiritually blind eyes, to unstop spiritually blocked ears, to break up the fallow ground of spiritually stony hearts, and to fill a spiritually dead tomb with his lifegiving Spirit. You have witnessed the judgment of your sin and have received salvation by responding to that conviction with surrender…and you are now numbered among those who are children of the living God.

Surely, that is a story worth repeating.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl June 2022

June Newsletter

Johann and Louise: Training Disciples to Make Disciples in the Netherlands Who would have known that settling in could be so unsettling? Moving to the Netherlands has been one of the steepest learning curves we have ever had to scale.    This is the first time that Louise and I will be serving as missionaries in a country so technologically advanced. Most things - from trains to banks to something called DigID - work with Apps on your cell phone! One would assume that this would make things a lot easier, but for technologically challenged people like us it is quite the reverse. Simple things like opening a bank account proved to be an exercise in total exasperation. Add to that the fact that the official communication is all in Dutch. No, Afrikaans is not helping us here...to the contrary. It works against us as many words either do not mean the same thing or they simply do not exist. A recent example is when asked what I would like to drink I replied, in what I thought was Dutch, 'net water' which means, in Afrikaans, 'just water'. But what I actually said in Dutch was that I wanted anything but water! The word 'excuse me' in Afrikaans actually means 'please clean me' (think baby diaper) in Dutch! While many folks are kind enough to speak to us in English, the legal forms for most requirements are in Dutch. And oh my, there are many requirements...and every one costs us dearly. (Nearly $1,000 just to obtain original marriage and birth certificates with apostilles from South Africa!) But, while we still have a number of untied loose ends hanging around, we are making headway...slowly.  I was licensed to serve in the Diocese of Europe on Sunday May 15. A number of local clergy, personal friends, and friends of Christ Church were in attendance as well as the head of the Intercontinental Church Society, Richard Bromley.    Louise and I are learning new modes of travel in the Netherlands...trains, buses, trams, and bicycles. Given the recent hikes in prices of fuel, the latter is fast becoming our mode of choice. While it may take longer, it is not as hard on the already tight budget and it has health benefits...mentally, physically, and spiritually. The Netherlands is a beautiful country and designated bike lanes often take you through woodland areas.    We are still working on our visa applications, so prayers are appreciated. We have fulfilled most of the requirements for the IND and are now waiting for the residency cards.  Christ Church, Heiloo is a small but vibrant community of believers who strive to love and serve our Lord. Most members are expats from the US, the UK, South Africa, and other European countries, but we also have a number of Dutch locals. We also have lots of children, which is such a blessing! There is a strong sense of responsibility with regard to outreach which is very encouraging. Even though only 50 members, they support and pray for five different missions and the recent Women's Retreat had 20 non believers in attendance! Pray for fruit on their efforts!  Most Dutch people are not aggressively opposed to the Gospel. They are simply indifferent. This is the first time Louise and I have worked in such a secular society, so please do pray for wisdom as we seek to reach out to our neighbours.  Louise and I recently attended a Biblical Theology Conference in a quaint town by the name of Amerogen. This was not only spiritually invigorating and reviving, it was also very encouraging to see so many Dutch pastors and church leaders, especially the younger generation, in attendance. Tyndale seminary hosted the conference, but there were other Christian organisations present with whom we could network. Pray for God-connections for us. The Queen, Louise's mum, will be visiting us in July. Even though she is 97 years old and rather frail, it is her express desire to visit the place of her birth and childhood one more time. Our sons will also fly in from Boston and Stockholm to spend some time with her. Please pray that this will be a blessed visit.  Langham publishers have told me that the sequel to Breakfast on the Beach: The Development of Simon Peter will be published later this year. I have asked them to please consider having the book available before the New Wineskins Conference in September, so please pray with me that this will be possible. In the meantime, I am working on a Study Guide for Breakfast...something I have never done before, so please bathe this in prayer as well.  Thank you for your ongoing support. I realise that at this time of financial crisis, many of our supporters are giving sacrificially. We are humbled and challenged by your faith in continuing to give to the Lord's ministry in spite of rising costs. The cost of living in the Netherlands is a lot higher than what we are used to, but we are learning the art of finding deals! But the bottomline is we are so grateful to everyone who prays for us and supports us financially and otherwise. As always, our SAMS support account could be better, but then again it could also be worse. The Lord knows our needs and we leave that in His hands. Bless you and thank you.   All our love Johann and Louise Support Us Johann and Louise spent two years helping to develop the St. Frumentius Seminary in Gambella, Ethiopia. At present, they are mostly working in Southern Africa where they are serving in seven southern African countries, although they continue to work with the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa as well as other southern and northern African countries, through engaging in a disciple making movement in order to grow the body of Christ. They are partnering with J-Life and other like-minded ministries. This ministry is massive and has the ability to reach thousands. We are sent  through the Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, a missionary sending community, engaging in building relationships with the worldwide church to experience the broken restored, the wounded healed, the hungry fed, and the lost found through the love and power of Jesus Christ.  Support SAMS Copyright © 2016 Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders, All rights reserved. www.sams-usa.org      Our mailing address is: PO Box 399 Ambridge PA 15003 Attention to: Johann and Louise van der Bijl Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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God can use you as a key to unlock hearts for Him

This is a talk given in a family service and therefore geared towards little children rather than adults. It had to be translated as well, and consequently had to be kept short. But basic stories like this can speak even to adults, right?

Psalm 42            2 Kings 5:1-19a

God can use you as a key to unlock hearts for Him

Introduction:

Have you ever been scared? 

Who did you want to comfort you when you were scared?

Lesson: 

Many, many years ago, in a country far, far away from here, there lived a young girl who was very scared. Her mommy and daddy were not with her. They were far away in her home country. You see, she was as servant, living and working in the home of a stranger in a foreign country. She felt very alone. 

To make matters worse, the master and mistress of the house did not believe in God. But the mistress of the house was kind to her even though she was a servant in the household.

The master of the house was a very important man in the government of his country. His name was Naaman. Naaman was the top commander of the army of the King of Aram. But Naaman was very, very sick and nothing could make him well again.

But the little girl knew and loved God very much and she knew that God could do anything…that God could heal her master, Naaman. She also knew that God wanted everyone in the world to know him and perhaps, if Naaman was healed through prayer, God might use the healing as a key to unlock his heart so that he would believe in him and serve him. 

“But”, she thought, “who would listen to a little servant girl like me?” 

Every day she prayed and asked the Lord to give her the courage to speak to her mistress about her master…and then one day, she plucked up enough courage and said to the lady of the house, “There is a man of God in my home country. If my master would go to see him, he would pray to God and he would be healed.” 

And do you know what happened?

Yes, Naaman listened to the little girl’s advice and he got permission from his king to go to her home country to meet with the man of God. 

Does anyone know what the man of God told Naaman to do?

Yes, he told Naaman to go and dip himself in the Jordan River seven times. And Naaman was healed! Isn’t that wonderful?

Now, do you think it was the water that made Naaman well? 

What do you think made Naaman well?

Yes, it was God that healed Naaman. God healed Naaman because Namaan obeyed the words of the man of God. But, after Naaman was healed, his heart opened up to the Lord and he believed in God and served him for the rest of his life.

But the key that unlocked Naaman’s heart was the courage of a scared little servant girl who knew God and loved God. A little servant girl who knew that God loved the whole world and wanted everyone in the world to love Him too. If the little girl had not spoken to her mistress, Naaman would not have known about the man of God who would pray for his healing. 

Application:

Do you sometimes want to tell other people about God? 

Is that easy, or are you sometimes a little afraid of what they might say or do…or what they may think of you if they know you believe in God?

I think this little girl was afraid too, don’t you?

But that did not stop her from telling her mistress about God, did it? 

But what did she do? 

Yes, she prayed and asked God for courage…for him to help her.

You too can pray and ask God to help you tell others about God.

God can use anyone as a key to unlock the hearts of those who do not yet know Him.

God can use even you!

The Value of the Church

Psalm 8                            Romans 5:1-11                     John 16:12-15

The Value of the Church

Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t simply put a stop to everything? If he has made all things new, as the New Testament teaches us, why is there still sin and suffering and sorrow? Scholars down through the centuries, all by far my superiors, have debated and argued and written about this question…and I am under no delusion that we will find an answer to that question today. 

But, as with most things, I believe truth is simple rather than complex. Perhaps that is why Jesus said the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like children…children who have not yet learned to be critical in their thinking. Most children, barring those who have been robbed of joyful simplicity through abuse by authority figures, are not prone to see things from many different angles…what they see is what they accept…and trust is normally not an issue.

I think behind the obsessive desire for God to bring an end to the present age lies a faulty understanding of how God works. Most westerners, at least, have embraced a philosophy of prosperity and ease and this has slowly seeped into the theology of the Church. When the going gets tough, the tough are exposed as, well, not so tough…and we are quick to pray for a speedy rescue. Come quickly Lord Jesus! And if there is no immediate deliverance forthcoming, our faith begins to crumble. Perhaps God doesn’t love me, perhaps God doesn’t care, perhaps God does not exist…

We also live in a throwaway society where old or used or damaged or broken things are easily and quickly discarded and replaced by new things…until that new thing becomes old or used or damaged or broken. But God is not like that. He doesn’t simply discard his creation or his creatures. God does not abandon us or give up on us. We learn that lesson throughout salvation history starting in Genesis chapter 3. God could have caused everything in the universe to implode on the day Adam and Eve disobeyed him so that he might start again with a new and unflawed creation…but he didn’t, did he?

I think one way to illustrate the way God works is the Japanese art form known as Kintsugi which means "golden joinery". Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

The Kintsugi technique treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. As a philosophy, kintsugi embraces the flawed or the imperfect, because it sees value in the marks of wear in any given object. Actually, the technique highlights the cracks and repairs by using a shiny precious metal because the artists view the cracks or fractures, not as irredeemable imperfection, but rather as just one event in the long life of the object. Therefore, the mended object is treasured instead of discarded. Its service is not brought to an end at the time of its damage or breakage.

In the same way, instead of discarding his broken creation, God picked up the pieces and slowly began to repair the damage, not with precious metals, but ultimately with his only Son’s precious blood. But the effect is the same…while we humans are not flawless, and while creation still groans in pain waiting with us for our complete redemption, in Jesus we are redeemed, repaired, and restored for use by the King.

I believe this is the gist of what Paul was saying in Romans 5. When we were still powerless, Paul said…when we were still enemies…when we still broken, Christ died for us. Jesus picked up the pieces of our shattered lives and glued us back together with something far more precious than gold. He glued us back together with love. He did not trash us…he did not discard us…he took us as we were, put us back together, and filled us with his Spirit so that, even in the midst of brokenness, we might continue our service as living examples of his grace and mercy. 

It is interesting that in both cases…those who lovingly piece back together the shards of smashed pottery, and God who lovingly pieces back together the fragmented lives of believers…the object is to redeem the brokenness. The vessel does not remain broken. It is repaired so that it might be used as it was intended to be used. So too with the followers of Jesus. While the signs of breakage…the scars of sin…may still be quite visible, we are remade to serve as we were intended to serve. But, although our God meets us in our mess, he does not intend to leave us there. Just like the mended piece of pottery demonstrates the skill of the artisan, we too serve to display the grace and mercy of our God. 

The repair work itself proclaims that God values us enough to mend us. In fact, we could say that it is our brokenness that showcases God’s love for humanity. It is by our mended lives that others see the true character of God…he loves us enough to fix us. Our mended cracks display his greatness.

It is our repaired brokenness that serves to show the glory of God, and therein lies the role of ongoing suffering. Suffering is, in many ways, part of the redemptive process. The repairing process takes time. If the piece of pottery is to be used, the artisan must make sure that it is well mended. As sad as it may sound, suffering serves the same purpose. Suffering, Paul said, produces something…it produces a hardiness…a strength. Suffering, he said, produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope…a hope that will not fail us nor frustrate us nor disappoint us. Ultimately, it is suffering that produces a hope that will hold even in the darkest and most difficult of times.

But there is even more to ongoing suffering than this. I believe suffering serves to keep us humble…it serves to remind us that we did not earn our salvation. Suffering serves to remind us that we are all flawed…that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…that none of us are perfect…none of us are complete. Suffering serves to remind us that none of us have arrived yet. We are all at once saved and yet still being saved. Salvation is, in many ways, a lifelong journey that starts when we first surrender our brokenness to Jesus. 

And therein lies the reality of life in the Church. We are all broken…we are all in some or other state of repair…none of us are perfect as all of us are flawed. Only one is perfect and that is the Lord who has saved us and who is still putting us back together again through the ongoing sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. As such, we need each other because we are not all broken in the same way nor are we all mended in the same way. We all have different gifts and skills that work together to unite the broken pieces that we are. As the redeemed body of Christ, we are meant to be interdependent and as we serve our Lord and serve each other in the limitations of our own fragility, the world is confronted with the truth…that God loves…that God values the world so much that he was willing to give his Son to die for us even while we were still powerless…while we were still without God…while we were still rebellious sinners…while we were still shattered, broken, and cracked.

Therein lies our value. What is a human being that God should be mindful of him? the Psalmist asked. The answer lies not in the human, but the God of the human. We are valuable because God values us…we are bought and paid for with the priceless blood of Jesus.

Today, we gather as a body of believers to hold what is called the Annual General Meeting. Far from being a chore or a burden or a bore, this meeting serves to highlight everything I have just said. We are people who are loved by our Maker…loved enough to be put together, not just as individuals, but as members of his Body. Each one of us is like a broken piece of pottery…every piece is needed to make the vessel whole again. I need you and you need me, and we all need each other. The Annual General Meeting illustrates the necessity for every member to work together to make this body function properly. From the opening prayer asking the guidance of our Lord, to the apologies of those who are absent, to the minutes of the previous meeting, to the various reports, to the activities of the church council, the chaplaincy, and the synod…all these things demonstrate our need to work together as a body in our collective service of our Lord.

It is here, in what may seem to some to be mundane, that we see God at work. Every action…even if flawed or imperfect…every action, regardless of how big or how small…every action performed by one of his children is precious to him because every one of his children is precious to him. He’s proved this by demonstrating his love most clearly on the cross of Jesus Christ…he’s proved this by not discarding us…by not ending it all and starting anew…he’s proved this by picking us up and putting us back together again. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022

Trained, Equipped, and Mobilized

Psalm 33:1-12           Acts 2:1-21           John 14:15-17, 25-27

Trained, Equipped, and Mobilized

Every job has its requirements…whether it be a degree or diploma or experience or expertise or even on-the-job training…prospective employers expect their prospective employees to possess certain qualifications for whatever position they wish to occupy. Plus, most companies expect employees to attend some sort of refresher courses or advanced training courses at regular intervals.

Well, the same ought to be true for the most important work in the universe. Being witnesses to Jesus requires preparation and training and regular refresher courses. While the great passion of the followers of Jesus ought to be to love God and to love people, the great purpose of the Church is to continue to do and teach everything Jesus did and taught while he was here on earth. Jesus final command to his group of followers was for them to make disciples of all people groups. But Jesus knew that in order to do what he did, his followers then (as now) needed to be trained and that training in the art of making disciples is illustrated most clearly by what Jesus demonstrated through and in his own life and ministry.

Before mobilising his followers, Jesus taught them the true meaning of the Scriptures and showed them clearly how to apply what they learned. The call of Jesus to follow him was a call to do what he did...to copy him…to live like him and to love like him. But in the first century, there were many teachers and many followers and, like today, many different ways of understanding the Scriptures. Initially, God gave Israel the tribe of Levi to lead them and teach them the biblical requirements so that they might lead lives that would reflect the holiness of God. They were not given land like the other tribes because their role was to teach the law. So, instead of land, they were given cities throughout the land of Israel…48 cities in total, 4 cities in each tribal area. The apparent purpose of this dispersal of the Levites throughout the land was to enable them, as the official representatives of God, to instruct the people throughout the land in the law and in worship. The cities also served as cities of refuge for a person who accidentally committed murder.

To compensate for the lack of arable land by which they could provide for themselves, God established the system of tithing…every member of every other tribe had to give ten percent of their income (which would in their case be crops and livestock) so that the Levites could focus on what they were intended to do…to study and teach God’s Word to God’s people. But as you read through the history of Israel, you will notice that the tribes were not always obedient with regard to tithing (among other things) and the result was the Levites were forced to be bi-vocational in order to live…and soon, the law was no longer being taught and the nation began to slide down that slippery slope of compromise with the ways of life and the religions and practices of the nations around them. 

The prophets repeatedly warned the people that if they continued to live disobedient lives, God would discipline them…and if they did not respond positively to this discipline, the Lord would eventually expel them from the land. And this is exactly what happened. It is a long and sad story, but the short version is that Israel was permanently exiled by Assyria in 722 BC and in 586 BC Judah was exiled by the Babylonians. 

The Jews in exile in Babylon realised that the reason this had happened to them was because they had disobeyed God’s commandments. So, in order to prevent that from ever happening again, some of the teachers of the law began to provide fairly extensive commentary on the Scriptures. This developed over time and by the time of Jesus, the oral law was in full force. The purpose of the oral law as a code of conduct was to provide sufficient rules to control the behaviour of the people of God. This was later written down in the 3rd century AD and is now called the Mishnah. 

But, as you can imagine, there were different views on the interpretation of Scripture…some were lenient, others stricter...some were inclusive, others exclusive…but these differences of opinion served to only confuse the people. What had God really said? And, consequently, what should have been a relationship of love and peace and joy, became a legalistic chore and a burden.

So, when Jesus began to teach his disciples about life in the kingdom, he knew what he was up against. A set of rules and regulations and traditions that were so ingrained that it would take years to dismantle a system that dominated life from the cradle to the grave. You can see the beginning of this attempt to dismantle the oral law in the beatitudes…Jesus said repeatedly, you have heard that it was said…but I say to you. He was not going against what was written, but what had been said about what had been written, in other words, the oral law or, as Jesus would often refer to it, the tradition of the elders. 

And so, for three years, Jesus taught large groups and mid-sized groups, but mostly he taught a small select group we call his disciples…twelve men, symbolically representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and a number of faithful women disciples. He even had a smaller inner core group of three, Peter, James, and John, with whom he went even deeper, investing more of himself in their training as leaders of what would become the extension of himself once he ascended the throne. 

But dismantling years of misleading instruction doesn’t happen overnight. Close to the end of his earthly life, we hear Jesus saying things like, ‘have I been with you so long and still you don’t know me?’ or ‘do you still have no understanding?’ or ‘where is your faith?’ or ‘how slow of heart you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken!’. Right up until the end, Jesus was still correcting their misunderstandings. He clearly taught that his kingdom is not an earthly kingdom and yet just moments before the ascension the disciples asked him if this was the time for the restoration of the physical, geographical kingdom of Israel. 

For three years he had taught them the true meaning of Scripture. For a period of forty days between the resurrection and the ascension, Jesus took them through the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and working his way through all the prophets. In one sense this was easier for him than for most of us because the disciples, even some of the women, had been committing most of the Scriptures to memory since the age of three. But my point is, Jesus taught to correct misleading interpretation of the Word.

But the mind is a strange thing…it seems to like ruts…it doesn’t deal with change easily. Perhaps it is laziness, perhaps it is pride, or perhaps it is force of habit, but it prefers to keep things the way they have been. My mother always used to say, ‘a woman convinced against her will, is of the same opinion still’. I’m not sure that only applies to women, methinks not, but the sad reality is that people do not change gears easily, and the disciples were no exception. 

So, what was Jesus’ solution? After telling his disciples that his followers would be known for their obedience to his teaching, Jesus said this: “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you…I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you in all truth.”

Jesus knew full well that if left to their own devices, the disciples would slip back into their old ways of thinking…and so he promised not to leave them on their own, but to send them his Holy Spirit who would continue to remind them of the teaching they had received from Jesus. God had promised through the prophet Ezekiel that the day would come when he would cleanse his people from their impurities, give them new hearts and new spirits, and place his Spirit in them who would move them to follow his decrees and to be careful to keep his laws. 

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” Power to be obedient to God. Power to live according to his Word. Power to be witnesses to him wherever they went. And that is exactly what happened on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came upon the 120 disciples in Jerusalem just as he had on Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle and the Temple…but this time the pillar of fire came and rested on every one of them because every believer in Jesus is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are the living stones that now make up the spiritual house of God. Those who are in Jesus – Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female – we are the chosen people…we are a royal and holy priesthood…we are a holy nation…we are a people who belong to God and who are indwelt by God…so that, like Israel of old, we might declare the praises of him who calls people out of darkness into his marvellous light. 

Once we were not a people…but now, because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are the people of God. We have been born from above. We are new creations. That, dearest beloved brethren, is the power of what happened at Pentecost. This day marks the inauguration of the New Covenant in which God forgives our sins and chooses to remember them no more. THAT is power! The coming of the Holy Spirit is nothing less than the beginning of a renewed creation. The old has passed away…the new HAS come! Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the primeval darkness prior to the commencement of the creative acts of God, so too with us…the Holy Spirit lives in us, making us new and empowering us to be the agents of renewal in the world.

But how? How are we to fulfil the command of Jesus to disciple the nations?

Have you ever wondered how Jesus did what he did? Of course, Jesus was God, but the Scriptures teach us that when he came in the likeness of humanity, he chose to live his life never more than a man so that he could be a living example of what the obedient life might look like. So, if Jesus didn’t play his “God-card”, so to speak, how did he do what he did? Have you ever thought about that? 

Well, for starters, he studied and memorised the Word of God, like every other Jewish person of that time. He studied it and internalised it for thirty years while living and working as a labourer before he embarked on his public ministry. 

He also spent hours and hours in prayer, listening carefully to the still, small voice of the Father. Jesus said he only spoke what he heard from the Father and only did what he saw the Father doing. He was in tune with the will of God by knowing the Scriptures and knowing the God of the Scriptures. 

But we are also told that Jesus was Holy Spirit directed and Holy Spirit filled. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, anointed by the Holy Spirit, guided by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and resurrected by the Holy Spirit. So, how did Jesus do what he did? By being Word-centred, prayerfully dependant, and Holy Spirit filled. 

God’s Word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit. That’s how Jesus did what he did.

But pray tell, do we not have the same three resources? We have the Word of God. We have access to the Father through prayer. And we have been united with Jesus in his resurrection by the Holy Spirit, we are born again through the Holy Spirit, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit, we are guided by the Holy Spirit, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live like Jesus lived, love like Jesus loved, and make disciples like Jesus made disciples.

The power of the Holy Spirit is not just so that we might do great things. You can heal people and prophesy, you can have faith to move mountains…you may impress many…you may even impress yourself…BUT to change the orientation of a sinful, selfish, self-obsessed, self-absorbed, self-centred heart to a holy, God-centred, other-person-centred heart – THAT is power!

God’s Word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.

With these three resources, we too can be trained, equipped, and mobilized to do what Jesus did and to teach as Jesus taught. As God’s people, we have been given a task…we have been given a ministry – the ministry of reconciliation of misguided and lost individuals to God through Jesus Christ…we are the new living temple of the Holy Spirit…we are the holy priesthood. And, like the Levites of old, we too are distributed among the nations to be cities of refuge…cities of learning…cities of life.

We have God’s Word. Let’s read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. We have access to the Father. Let’s live prayerfully dependant lives. We have the Holy Spirit…the most powerful Person in the universe. Let’s walk in step with him. 

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2022