The day Jesus stopped...

Imagine a gift...it is in an attractive box, beautifully wrapped and decorated with a delightful ribbon. Some gifts are so beautifully and carefully wrapped it really is a delight for the receiver to discover what is in the box.

I was recently in Cambodia and I came bearing a gift.
Natural eyes could not see the gift but enlightened spiritual eyes could.
I held out the gift for people to receive because that is what you must do, isn't it? If I offered you a gift what must you do? Well, of course, you must receive the gift. So I held out the gift for people to receive.
What was the gift?
The gift was a Jesus who stopped.
Jesus is stopped today.
Oh I hear the purist Bible students saying that I have it wrong, Jesus is very active today and yes in a way they are right because the Holy Spirit is certainly active seeking, revealing Jesus and drawing people into the Kingdom of God.
But Jesus, He is stopped.
Before I say more about the stopped Jesus let me give you a little peak of what is in the box, the gift that I am holding out to you right now.
Can you see it?
If I lift the lid just a little maybe you can see inside, just a peak of the wonder of the gift of the stopped Jesus.
Now the Bible is very clear that if I tried to describe everything about Jesus, even everything that He did when He was here on earth all the libraries of the world would not have the capacity to hold them. That was John's thought in John 21: 25.
So I can't talk about everything that could be said but I want to share three...no four occasions when Jesus stopped.

• Jesus was walking and a man named Jairus came and fell at Jesus feet. Jesus stopped. Jairus entreated Jesus for his beautiful twelve year old daughter who was dying and Jesus began to go to her.
• There was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. The law said she was unclean and she should not have been where she was but she had heard of Jesus and she was determined on a course of action even if it was illegal! The crowds were pressing upon Jesus, jostling him and the lady snuck through the crowd of people and reached out her hand and touched just the hem of the garment Jesus was wearing. Immediately she was healed! Jesus stopped. He asked who had touched Him. The disciples thought him a bit crazy as many people were jostling Him but He stopped and sought the touch of faith. The woman knew she was caught out and came and confessed all. Jesus spoke words of glory over her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." Her faith had made her well? Was it her faith...no but it was her faith in the One before her and His blessing upon her was to 'go in peace...go in shalom.'
• Back to Jairus...a messager comes from Jarius's house saying that it was too late as the twelve year old daughter was dead. Jesus went to her and He stopped. He said that she wasn't dead , just sleeping and they all laughed. The stopped Jesus then put out His hand and took hers and lifted her up with the words "Child, arise" and she got up and ate.
•  Another day Jesus was walking and sitting by the road was a blind man. His name was Bartimaeus. There were a lot of people around and they were making quite a commotion. Bart asked what was going and and was told that Jesus, of Nazareth, was going by. Bart started calling out "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." The crowd told him to hush but he just called out all the more. Jesus stopped. He called for Bartimaeus to be brought to Him and asked him, considering his obvious condition, a most unusual question, "What would you have Me do for you?" "Lord, That I might receive my sight." The stopped Jesus spoke words of glory over Bartimaeus as He opened his eyes to see.
• Another day there was another fellow who was vertically challenged. His name was Zaccheus. Jesus was passing by and he wanted to see Him. So Zaccheus ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree. Jesus came right to the foot of Zaccheus's tree and He stopped. He called Zaccheus down declaring that this was the day the He would came to abide at the house of Zaccheus.
• Jesus went to the cross, He bore our sin to make us righteous. Our righteousness is all His doing and none of our doing. It is on the basis of His shed blood that we are righteous. He bore the lash, the beating, the stripes for our healing and well-being. He went into the grave and rose again and entered into the holiest of holies, the presence of God and was accepted. Our representative, the man, entered into the presence of God and He stopped. He sat down.

This is Jesus...can you see Him?

So today Jesus is stopped. Ephesians 1: 20 declares this the 'He (that is God) raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places.' Jesus is seated...stopped.
Why? And what is the significance of this for us?
When Jesus stopped in the few instances I have shared above He stopped to dispense blessing, to dispense the wonder of His grace and His stopped circumstance is no different today.
He is stopped to dispense His grace because this is the receiving day, the day of favour, the day when we, unworthy as we are, are blessed recipients of Him not because of anything we have done or do but purely because of what He did and the we are accepted totally and without doubt in Him.
Ephesians 2: 6, 7 goes on to declare that He (that is God) has 'raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come (from the moment He stopped) He might show the supassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.'

Jesus is stopped. Receive His blessing! Stop trying to earn it. Recognise the work is finished in the person of Jesus and just receive Him. He is EVERYTHING.

More about Wisdom...

'Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding...Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honour.' Proverbs 3: 13, 16
 

The Bible says in Proverbs 4: 7 that 'Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.'

Wisdom is, therefore, something to pursue.

So what is this wisdom?

In a recent post I drew our attention to King Solomon who, as a young man, was faced with a God who was giving Him the greatest of opportunities. In 1 Kings 3: 5 it is recorded that God Himself in all His glory and power was standing before Solomon in a dream and was saying 'Ask what you wish Me to give you.'
Solomon asked wisely and requested an 'understanding heart' so that he could judge the people of God and God granted him his request for wisdom and with 'it' gave him riches and honour.

Solomon had riches and honour, he had the left hand of wisdom but he didn't have the right hand.
In 1 Kings 3: 14 God said to Solomon that 'if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments...then I will prolong (lengthen) your days.'
Solomon, sadly, was under the Old Covenant and so the terms of his walk were conditional upon him walking in the ways, statutes and commandments of God and history records that Solomon was unable to do it.
Solomon had the left hand of wisdom but not the right hand.

So what about you?
If you believe in Jesus, as this is the ONLY commandment that you have (1 John 3: 23), then you are under the New Covenant.
Under the New Covenant Jesus Himself is the 'right hand' and therefore to pursue wisdom is to pursue Jesus.
HE is our wisdom!
When we have Him we possess the two hands of wisdom. Those that possess the two hands have length of days and riches and honour.

Now how do we 'pursue wisdom'?
You cannot earn wisdom. You cannot deserve it. You cannot study for it and receive it as a certificate. You cannot buy it.

Wisdom, that is Jesus Himself, ONLY comes by His unmerited favour, His grace, that which we don't deserve but comes purely on the basis of the love of God and under the terms and conditions of the New Covenant, ratified in the blood of Jesus, which says 'their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more' (Hebrews 8: 12) the foundation upon which God says He will 'put, write and be' our God (Hebrews 8: 10).
Oh the freedom of this! Can you receive it? This is freedom.
No longer relying on me and what I do or don't do but TOTALLY and UNDENIABLY relying on Him, our Jesus, and His finished and completed work at the cross. There He bore my sin once and for all and in His shed blood I am the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21).
There are many religions in the world and they all have factors that make them interesting, maybe even desriable, but none have the eternal factor of the person of Jesus. He is the difference. As we appropriate Him we rise above the religions into the difference that is Christianity (because as I have said before Christianity and religion ARE NOT the same).

So receive the word of God.
Pursue wisdom for this is the principal thing...what is wisdom?
Wisdom is the person of Jesus.
Pursue Him, He is EVERYTHING!
Beloved, this is the day of the Lord's favour (Luke 4: 19), this is the day of Grace, this is the day of Receiving, this is the day of sitting in the place of rest (Ephesians 2: 6), this is the day that the Lord has made...why do you strive so hard to achieve wisdom?
No longer is the command to do, or don't, but simply to believe.

Receive Him and in the receiving receive the promise of the two hands...length of days and riches and honour.
They are yours to take...do not walk by the blessings that litter your life and pursue an alloyed 'religion' mixing law and grace.
Throw out the law and receive the grace...receive Him who is everything, receive Jesus Christ.

God bless your day.

The Genie of the Lamp...

Aladdin found an oil lamp in a magic cave and when he rubbed it there appeared a genie who gave him power, splendour and wealth, and the hand of the beautiful Princess Badroulbadour.

The common cartoon image of the genie is the all-powerful figure dressed in his pyjamas offering three wishes...so...let me ask you this question...if the true All-Powerful One were standing before you now and asking for your request what would you say?

I am intrigued today by an eighteen year old young man who had very big shoes to fill as he ascended the throne of his father who was in that very position. Before him was God and God was asking him what he would like Him to do.

(That makes me think of blind Bartimaeus...he was blind and begging by the roadside when Jesus walked by. Hearing the commotion Bartimaeus asked what was going on and was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Bartimaeus then begins to call out for Jesus, the Son of David to have mercy on him. When told to hush up he calls out all the more. Jesus stops; he calls Bartimaeus to him and asks the most unusual question..."What would you have Me do for you?" I have always thought that was such an unusual question...Bartimaeus was blind! And Jesus ask him what he wanted Him to do! Funny question!)

The eighteen year old was Solomon, the son of King David. David had died and Solomon was ascending the throne of his father and before him was the true All-Powerful One, God Himself, and He is asking Solomon for his request. This is recorded clearly in 1 Kings 3: 5. Solomon has gone to Gibeon to offer a thousand burnt offerings on the altar to God and it says,

'In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish me to give you."'

Now it says nothing about any restriction or limitation, placed by God, on what Solomon could ask.
Solomon could have asked for wealth, health, happiness, glory, splendour, honour...even the head of his enemies on a silver platter! It intrigues me then that Solomon asked for...

'Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?' 1 Kings 3: 9

God was pleased with this request. God granted Solomon his request and added riches and wealth, and honour 'such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like.' Even today the wealth and splendour of Solomon, and his kingdom, are legendary.

So what has this got to do with us? Listen to these words from the Bible and I'll leave you to ponder these things for yourself.

'But by His (God) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,...' 1 Corinthians 1: 30
 

'Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.' Proverbs 4: 7
 

'That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.' Ephesians 1: 17-19
 

Wow! There is a lot I could say about that but instead hear these words.

Jesus said...

'Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.' Matthew 7: 7-8 

Jesus is stopped today and standing and He is calling you to Him and He is saying to you...

"What would you have Me do for you?"

What will you ask?

A Conundrum!...

I spent the past weekend in the company of a bunch of men.
The majority were Christians and the others not.
It is so interesting to observe when these two 'worlds' rub up against one another.
As I rode home (it was a motobike weekend) I thought about the counsel that we have all heard that we, as Christians, are 'in the world, but not of it.'
Now is that a verse from the Bible? Maybe someone can help me with that because as I write this I have no availability to find out whether this is from the Bible or not. Certainly my experience has been that if it is not an actual Bible verse then it has been established by 'us' as having the same weight as a Biblical verse!

I then, as I rode, thought about the time when I personally had my first real interaction with a God who wanted to have a relationship with me. During that first conversation one of the things this voice said to me was this...God said that He understood that I had walked away from a church that had no real relevance to the world in which it lived but He said that here (in the church in which I was sitting at that moment) was a church which "had a desire to be relevant".
The pastor on that day was preaching on the (then) church value of 'Relevance'. It is interesting that the church of which I am a member has since abandoned 'Relevance' as a value as such but I couldn't help think about whether or not we had actually arrived at this value of being 'relevant' to the world around us, and to which God brings us into contact constantly.

Now here's the conundrum...how do we be in the world but not of it?

When I was young 'contact' with the world was not encouraged. Any personal relationships with things perceived as 'worldly' were openly discouraged whether that was in a sporting team, in a social setting or through common interests this contact was taught to me as not being a good or desirable thing. Many times I had heard the words "but it's worldly" as a concrete and justifiable reason for not engaging.
This resulted in extreme frustration for me because it produced in me a double life...I had my Sunday life and I had my Monday - Saturday life and the two were exceedingly different. The other thing this produced was an ability to lie as I avoided the two conflicting in any way.
Now that is me but things have moved on.
I went to great lengths to divest myself of this hypocrisy and exceedingly and openly engaged a life that was not 'christian' in nature or behaviour.

Now here I was and am and God was and is talking to me about relevance...about being relevant. Here I was with the 'issue' of relevant Christianity staring me full in the face as He talked to me about this as I observed two very different camps interract on a simple bike riding weekend.
So...relevant to who? Well relevant, I expect, to those around me who don't have what I have, don't know what I know, who are lost but don't know it.

I have said this before but I need to say it again. Christianity and religion are not the same. Why is it that millions of people who have the same desire for relationship, who have the same 'eternity' placed in them by our common Creator, would never consider stepping into one of our 'churches'?
Do you know, I believe, that the reason is that church has ceased to be a place of Christianity, and all that truly means, and has rather become a place of religion and the man who unwittingly is seeking God, even he who knows nothing of God knows that religion isn't it, and so rejects it. I have heard their conversations so many times where 'christian' and 'religion' become confused and I have to tell you we (the 'churchies') have done that! And not only that we show it by what we do.

Now I recall Jesus praying for those He was to leave in the world upon His departure...I think John 17...and the basic tenet of His prayer was that they be kept that they may be used that the world may believe.

How do we be in the world but not of it?

Do we win the world by separating ourselves or do we win the world by accepting them and engaging with them? Do we engage with their banter, full of innuendo and foul language, or do we separate ourselves away? If the answer is to engage then to what level do we engage?

I am nothing special but I have been given an acceptance in both camps. Combined with this I have been led to a place were I openly and with substantial spiritual indignation have rejected 'religion' and embraced 'Christianity', and the two ARE NOT the same. I don't care what your church/denomination dogma says religion is man placing his controlling 'law' upon people in the name of God and by God I have been set free from the death of the law to the fullness of the super-abundant grace of God in Jesus Christ...I am free and I WILL NOT sit under your rules anymore. God loves me and my role is to show that love.
Now do I engage in the depravity of the world's conversation...no, and with my 'worldly' mates I will openly ask them to desist from some of the things they say but do I then separate myself and show my disapproval? NO, a million times no. Jesus engaged with the most undesirable with the purpose of engaging.

So...to those who came on the weekend's ride and engaged with a group of blokes who even if they don't know it are searching for that indefinable, that thing that appears so unreachable that they could not even define it, to those who engaged thank you.
Your actions showed relevant Christianity in all it's fullness and spat in the eye of religion and all its falsity.
If we are to engage this world we will hear some bad language, some foul conversations, some disturbing stuff but quite frankly get over it!
In the midst of it you will hear the cry of a lonely man who recently turned fifty and doesn't believe he will see sixty, a man who has no satisfying relationship with his wife, who has no satisfaction in his life except when he joins a simple motorbike ride. This man text me after I arrived home and this is what he said..."Only wanted to say..I just love rolling with you. I'm well aware I'm not in your league. Would be an idiot to think even close. Its a sheer pleasure to be invited to roll with and be a part of what appears to be an ever-growing group. I truly thank you".

You need to know that when the cry of this man was heard there was myself and one other of the Christian camp sitting there and the other came to me later and said that he would be praying.

So here is the question...if we had not engaged we would NEVER have been in a position to hear his cry and we then would never have been in a position to pray for him and without the prayer his case is lost and hopeless eternally.

We have to engage. How can we hope to influence if we don't engage? Do we get down in their sludge, no, but by God we have to be close enough to give them a hand up!