What every person should know
It is said that 97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola, 72% of the world has seen a can of Coca-Cola, 51% of the world has tasted a can of Coca-Cola. Coke has only been around 122 years (2020). Would the task of letting the world know the facts about Jesus Christ be completed by now had it been given to the Coke company instead of the church!
The Church’s Mission
When Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, he reminded them of the commission God had given him, to be the servant of God’s church, and he explained what this meant,
“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fulness . . .” Colossians 1:25
This remains the priority of all churches and all Christians, to teach people what God has said. This message is for all people of every nation, not just for religious people. Please note that all those who become Christ’s followers are called ‘saints’, which simply means the ‘set-apart people’.
“The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26-27
Sharing the news about the salvation that Jesus can give to everyone is the responsibility of all Christians. Paul continues to emphasise this,
“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:28-29
Notice the change in pronouns in the above verse. Paul starts by reminding his readers that sharing the gospel is the responsibility of all saints, the ‘we’ in this verse, and then illustrates this by saying that this is his priority too. He was undertaking exactly what he taught.
The structure of this sentence in the original Greek stresses that the responsibility we have is to everybody. ‘Every man’, meaning ‘every person’, is repeated three times. Literally the Greek reads,
“Whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom in order that we may present every man mature in Christ.”
The church’s mission of proclamation, our mission, is here subdivided into three areas.
1. Warning every person – the problem
The first part of the Christian message is bad news. Sometimes referred to as the Fall of Man, the bad news is a vital truth, that must not be overlooked. If the bad news is forgotten, churches will prioritise social actions as an end in itself. What is the bad news? Daniel explained this to King Belshazzar,
“You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honour the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” Daniel 5:23
God is God and will not be trifled with. King Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar’s grandfather, who had ruled Babylonia, then the most powerful kingdom on earth, had been forced to understand this through illness and had then concluded about God’s sovereignty,
“His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” Daniel 4:34-35
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 and the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1983. In his acceptance speech for this prize he said,
“More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’
Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’
If the root of sin is to forget that God is real and demands to be recognised, then we will also forget that God will, in due time, judge us all for the way we have treated him.
“Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment.” Hebrews 9:27
“He (the Lord God) will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.” 1 Corinthians 4:5
“There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God.” Romans 3:11, quoting Psalm 14:1-3
“There is no difference (between Jew and Gentile), for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
The bad news is stark and worrisome. All of us will stand before God in judgment and our spiritual nakedness will be obvious for all to see! Our efforts at self-improvement and our attempts to satisfy God by our religion are paltry efforts to correct what we ourselves cannot correct.
Every man needs to be warned about the dire situation we all are in and that we should therefore not cease searching for an answer before it is too late.
Several years ago a family visited Niagara Falls. It was spring, and ice was rushing down the river. Large blocks of ice were flowing toward the falls, and there were carcasses of dead fish embedded in the ice. Gulls by the score were riding down the river feeding on the fish. As they came to the brink of the falls, their wings would go out, and they would escape from the falls. One gull seemed to delay. It was engrossed in the carcass of a fish within the ice, and when it finally came to the brink of the falls, out went its powerful wings. The bird flapped and flapped and even lifted the ice out of the water, and it seemed it would escape. But it had delayed too long so that its claws had frozen into the ice. The weight of the ice was too great, and the gull plunged into the abyss.
Material possessions of this world can entrap us if we become too attached to them. They can blind us to the peril we are in and will take us to our destruction if we cannot give them up - ‘Oh, the danger of delay!’
2. Teaching every man – the answer
Just as every person needs to be warned about the crisis we face, so every man needs to hear of God’s solution to the problem. In spite of our rebellion against him he still passionately loves us and wants to have a warm relationship with each of us. Although we are totally unable to restore a relationship with God by ourselves there is an answer, one that has been provided by God himself. In John’s gospel the term ‘the world’ is used for a people who are in rebellion against God. The remarkable fact is that God still loves us rebels and wants the relationship with him to be restored.
Many ancient societies recognised their shortcomings in God’s eyes and consequently offered sacrifices to hopefully appease the God they had displeased. In the Old Testament the Jews offered animal sacrifices and transferred their sin to an animal. Not that an animal could itself bear the sins of people, and the animal’s death could not satisfy God. These sacrifices were symbolic of what God himself was going to do for us, once for all time, by the sacrifice of himself in the person of his Son.
Isaiah looked forward to the day when God’s Messiah would enter this world to be the final solution to the problem of sin.
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6
Jesus then comes and claims to be God’s Messiah, the one and only Son of God; he claimed to have a unique relationship with his heavenly Father.
“‘I and the Father are one.’ Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him . . . ‘because you a mere man claim to be God.’” John 10:31-33
Jesus knew that it was his fate to be killed,
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
The apostles understood that this was why Jesus entered this world. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice to pay for our sin. Peter wrote,
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been saved.” 1 Peter 2:24
Paul wrote,
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
John wrote,
“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not only for ours but also for the sins off the whole world.” 1 John 2:2
There can be no better news to share with people. This is what everyone needs to hear. Anyone can be forgiven and become a member of God’s kingdom by turning to follow Christ. Without him we will perish. John summarised this in his famous verse,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
A headmaster wrote the following in his autobiography,
“I was happy in conversation with boys always to tell them what ideal behaviour was and where selfishness, cruelty and exploitation lay, but unwilling to talk of the very centre of Christianity, the meaning of the cross, because I found it at times repugnant and in part beyond belief. With this semi religion I was able to live with some contentment, but I knew well that it was ‘non-infectious’. That if what I believed was all Christianity amounted to, it would attract few. I knew that our Lord did not walk about Palestine beginning a world revolution, by saying,
“Come along everyone, be nice to everybody, be truthful, be honest. No, he spoke of repentance, of salvation from sin, of conversion.”
How right this headmaster is. People need to know that our root problem is our natural rebellion against God and that the solution lies with Jesus Christ.
But the good news doesn’t end there. When a person asks the Lord Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour he gives them the gift of his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants us to become like Jesus. We receive the Spirit when we first put our trust in Jesus.
“Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 1:13
The Holy Spirit motivates and encourages Christians to keep on living for Christ. His work is to point people to Jesus. Without his work we will never keep going as a godly set-apart people. We know we have the gift of the Holy Spirit when we,
a. We love Jesus and want to live pleasing him.
b. We love his word, the Bible. This is the main way God speaks to us today.
c. We love Christ’s people. There is a unique bond between all those who love Jesus.
d. We love to pray and involve our Lord in all we do.
e. We love to share the news about Jesus with others so that they too may be saved.
f. We come to hate sin. Our consciences become more acute.
We need to teach every man these vital truths and promises. In essence there are three aspects to the Christian good news which has been called the Tripartite gospel.
1. God has entered his world as Jesus, the Christ or the Messiah.
2. Jesus came to teach the world about himself and to become the final sacrifice for mankind’s sin so that we can have the assurance of being forgiven our sin and accepted into God’s family for eternity. He rose from the dead, so proving his claims.
3. The Holy Spirit is given to all Christians to enable us to keep living for Christ.
Further details of this Tripartite gospel can be found in the chapter ‘What is the Gospel?’ in my new book ‘The Duty of a Disciple’.
Teaching others was the priority of Jesus prior to his crucifixion. When Jesus was inundated with people wanting to be healed of their illnesses, he went off on his own to pray and then told his disciples,
“Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come. So he travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.” Mark 1:38-39
What was his essential message?
“Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’” Mark 1:14-15
But note that in Paul’s letter he adds,
“. . . teaching everyone with all wisdom.” Colossians 1:28
Our purpose in teaching is to promote the Lord Jesus. There are some who try to evangelise in such an obnoxious way that they do the very opposite and manage to put people off the most wonderful person who has ever lived. How we must pray for wisdom so that we do not miss opportunities to point people to Jesus but have the sensitivity to know when to change tack! There are many people around who are looking for answers to life’s deepest problems.
M.V. Varghese, a Christian, was among the crowds gathering at the Ganges. He came across Alila who was kneeling in the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast.
He knelt down next to her and asked her what was wrong. Through he sobs she told him,
“The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart, so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges, my first born son.”
Varghese's heart ached for this desperate woman. As she wept, he gently began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that, through Him, her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him strangely.
“I have never heard that before,” she replied through her tears.
“Why couldn't you have come thirty minutes earlier? If you did, my child would not have had to die.”
The good news is that any and every person can enter into a living relationship with God,
“. . . God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man christ jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men . . .” 1 Timothy 2:3-5
3. Presenting everyman mature in Christ
God is not satisfied with people accepting Christian doctrines in theory. He wants these truths to change people so that we become like Jesus both in character and purpose. Jesus personified the love, honesty and integrity of God and he wants his people to be the same. He also wants all Christians to be involved in sharing the gospel with others.
Churches must never be satisfied with good numbers attending their services. They must ensure that, by teaching the Word of God, Christians mature and live in the world worshipping their Lord 24/7. All Christians are full time workers – never part-time!
Some years ago, I was invited to lead a mid-week Exploring Christianity Course in a popular local Roman Catholic Church. After the first evening, an Irish lady came up to thank me. She finished by saying,
“I don’t know why everyone’s not a Christian,” but then she added, ‘After all, all God wants is one hour a week.”
What a tragedy it is for people to think of their relationship with Jesus in such an empty way.
We must never be satisfied till all Christians understand that full-time commitment is the reason they have been called by God and then determine to make living for him the priority of their life.
So our ambition in life, if we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, must be,
“ . . . warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom in order that we may present every man mature in Christ.” Colossians 1:28
Like Paul we should be able to say,
“To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:29
The big questions that God asks of each of us are, ‘Am I in Christ?’ and ‘Am I living as he wants? ‘
BVP
Religiously Sincere but not Saved!
Sincerity is admirable but what we think or do can never be enough to satisfy the God who made us. The story of the Rev. William Haslam deserves to be more widely known. From childhood he had been sickly but he found much comfort in hearing the Anglican Prayers for the Sick which assured him that if he died he would go to heaven. He did recover but still took his religious obligations seriously and eventually was ordained. Later he wrote,
"I little dreamed if I had died in that unpardoned and Christless state, I should have been lost for ever for I was profoundly ignorant of the necessity of a change of heart - perfectly unconscious that I must be born again of the Spirit".
He regarded faith as his commitment to serve God instead of the fact that Jesus had come from God to die for him. It was his attempts to being righteousness that were his hope. He said,
“I did not look to the Bible, but to the Church, for teaching, for I was led to consider the private judgement on the subject of Scripture statements was very presumptuous. I got moreover, into a legal state, and thought my acceptance with God depended upon my works, and that His future favour would result upon my faithfulness and attention to works of righteousness which I was going. This made me very diligent in prayer, fasting and good deeds ... I took it for granted that I was a child of God, because I had been baptised and brought into the Church and having been confirmed and admitted to the Lord's Table, I concluded that I was safely on the way to heaven. I see now the error of this earnest devotion, and that I was going about to establish my own righteousness instead of submitting to the righteousness of God.”
His preaching at this time was all about the Church, he thought that church membership gave salvation
“I preached that forgiveness and salvation were to be had in and by the Church, which was as the Ark in which Noah was saved. Baptism was the door of the Ark, and Holy Communion the token of abiding in it and all who were not inside were lost.”
Yet there were many people living in Cornwall who were Methodists or followers of John Bunyan and he wondered what would happen to them when they faced God in judgment. Would they be saved? One day he asked a man why he did not come to the parish church. He replied,
“Cornish people are too enlightened. Only unconverted people and backsliders go to such a place.”
He became increasingly perturbed about this new birth that so many were talking about. Then his gardener fell seriously ill. The doctors pronounced him a dying man. When faced with eternity, all the teachings of the Church and sacraments that the vicar had given him failed to give him an assurance of peace with God. In his distress, the poor man asked a converted neighbour to visit him. This man, instead of giving him false comfort, showed him from the bible that he, like everybody else, was a lost sinner in the sight of God, and that he needed to come to Christ just as he was for pardon and peace. The gardener was brought under deep conviction of sin, and found great peace when he believed what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for him. The news spread all over the parish that the ‘parson's servant had been converted’. Mr. Haslam called upon the sick man, to try and reclaim him for the Church. When he called, instead of finding him lying upon his bed, a dying man, he found him walking about the room full of joy. The gardener told his vicar the peace and joy he had found in the Saviour, and then declared he was going to pray for ‘his dear master’ to be converted too.
Shortly after this he visit ed the Rev R Aitken, a nearby evangelical vicar, who asked why he was dissatisfied in his work. He replied,
“Because I am making a rope of sand, which looks very well till I pull it, and then, when I expect it to hold, it gives way. These Cornish people are ingrained schismatics.”
Mr. Haslam then spoke of his gardener's conversion.
“Well,” said Mr. Aitken, “If I were ill, I certainly would not send for you. If you had been converted you would have remained at home to rejoice with him. It is very clear you are not converted."
“Not converted? How can you tell?”
“Have you peace with God?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get peace?”
“I have it continually. I get it at the Daily Service, I get it through prayer and reading, and especially at the Holy Communion; I have made it a rule to carry my sins there every Sunday, and have often come away from that sacrament feeling as happy and free as a bird.”
“How long does this peace last?”
“I suppose, not a week, for I have to do the same thing every Sunday.”
“I thought so,” he replied. Then, opening the Bible, he read from the fourth chapter of John, "Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing up into eternal life".
Mr. Aitken then pointed out the difference between getting water by drawing from a well, and having a living well within, springing up.
Mr Haslam said that he had never had heard of such a thing, so asked him:
“Have you this living water?”
“Yes, thank God, I have had it for the last thirty years.”
“How did you get it?”
He pointed to the tenth verse,
“You would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water".
“Shall we ask Him?” said Mr. Haslam.
Together they knelt down and prayed. Mr. Haslam was overcome, and wept. On the way home he was greatly troubled lest he should be one of those the Bible talks about, who had thought they were all right, and yet heard the Lord say to them,
“Depart from me; I never knew you.”
His mind was in a turmoil from Thursday till Sunday and he felt totally unfit to take the service. However, he nerved himself for the effort. He had not prepared a sermon, but when he was reading the Gospel he thought he would just say a few words of explanation, and then dismiss the people. He took his text from the Gospel for that day, “What think ye of Christ?” He explained how, when Christ put this question to the Pharisees, they did not understand that He had come to save them. In his own words, he then describes the marvellous happening that took place:
“Something was telling me, all the time, ‘You are no better than the Pharisees. You do not believe He has come to save you any more than they did.’ I do not remember all I said, but I felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul, and I was beginning to see what the Pharisees did not. Whether it was in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but all of a sudden, a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in Cornish fashion, ‘The parson is converted! The parson is converted! Hallelujah!’ In another moment his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation. Instead of rebuking this extraordinary ‘brawling'’as I should have done in former time, I joined in the outbreak of praise, and then gave out the Doxology - ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow’, and the people sang it over and over again.
At least twenty other people that morning found real peace through the Saviour. The news spread in all directions that ‘the parson had been converted, and that in his own pulpit, and by his own sermon’.
The church could not hold the crowds that came in the evening. I told the people that if I had died last week I should have been lost for ever, but now the Lord had ‘brought me out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a Rock and put a new song in my mouth’.
The Church was filled with praise, and many were saved. The glorious work that God had started spread, and revival broke out in many places around.
This is an extraordinary story but is it what Jesus and his apostles taught?
True worship in the New Testament
Nicodemus was a distinguished Jewish leader who went to visit Jesus one night. He was an upright religious man with orthodox Jewish views. Yet some of the first words Jesus said to him were,
“I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
This great theologian could not understand what Jesus was saying,
“How can a man be born when he is old?” John 3:4
To this Jesus somewhat cryptically replied,
“I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:5-6
Jesus is saying that a spiritual rebirth or new beginning is essential for people to enter the kingdom of God. We become new people, the old life has gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus is teaching Nicodemus that this new life centres on himself,
“No-one has ever gone into heaven, except the one who came from heaven - Son of Man.” John 3:13
This is then explained very clearly in what has become perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Everything centres on having this deep, personal relationship, this belief in Jesus. This paragraph continues,
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18
Jesus is God’s truth and the decision to put him in the centre of our lives is the way into God’s Kingdom of Light, and this will produce an obvious change that all can see.
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:21
Paul wrote about many of his fellow Jews,
“Brothers, my hearts desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to Christ’s righteousness. Romans 10:1-3
The concern here is that people may be saved. According to Paul being religious and even being zealous about the religion we believe in does not mean that someone is right with God, that they are saved. Zeal that is not based on God’s truth does not impress God. The only righteousness that is enough for us to acceptable by God is a righteousness received as a gift because we are committed to God’s Son.
The very religious Pharisees were appalled at the teaching of Jesus who regarded them as the enemies of God. In contrast, the Pharisees considered that their zeal and the fact that they followed what they understood God’s word to say, meant that God must accept them. However Jesus taught that the only way to salvation was to believe in him and that meant to obey and follow him as he is the only Son of God. He said,
“I tell you the truth. A time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:25-26
It is our attitude to Jesus that determines whether we are saved or not. A man who had been born blind was healed by Jesus. The Pharisees were livid because Jesus had done this miracle on the Sabbath when they allowed no form of work. The healed man was excommunicated from the Jewish fraternity because of his allegiance to Jesus.
“Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked, ‘Tell me that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You now have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’” and he worshipped him.” John 9:35-38
This is a remarkable conversation. Excommunication was a frightening fate. Others were not allowed to talk with you or trade with you. You were exiled and the only hope was to move and start again in an area where you are not known. Yet Jesus does not spend time commiserating with the healed man – there was something far more important. This man needed to understand who it was that had healed him as faith in him gives the benefit of eternal life.
Religion had ostracised this man but, because he became a worshipper of Jesus, he was given something much greater. Jesus is stressing that it is possible to be religious but not to realise that that does not give relief from God’s judgement. How we respond to Jesus now will be the basis for our future judgment when we meet God face to face. Jesus goes on to explain this,
“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blin will see and those who see will become blind.” John 9:39
The religious Pharisees thought they knew the truth, but they had overlooked that their Scriptures point repeatedly to the coming of the Messiah, the man they were rejecting. Clearly some of them understood what Jesus was inferring,
“Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, ‘What? Are we blind too?’ Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:40-41
They thought they could hide behind their religion and their zeal – what a terrible mistake. What Jesus demands is that we worship him both ‘in spirit and in truth’. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, who had had five husbands, that up to that time people could only become the people of God through Judaism but now this was to be opened to people of all nations,
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the |Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship him is spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
Jesus is teaching us that there is much ‘false worship’. The worship God requires is inward, it is a spiritual act not an activity. It must also be based on the truth and he repeatedly reminds us that he alone is the only truth acceptable to God. Jesus said later,
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
There is no eternal benefit in being involved in a church or any other religious activity, if Jesus Christ is not Lord of my life, if his Holy Spirit is not living in me. The evidence that I have the Holy Spirit is not that I have been baptised or confirmed, it is my life is seen to be under the control of the Lord Jesus. The effects of the Holy Spirit’s presence will include,
We have been given a love for Jesus, what he wants is most important in my life.
We begin to hate the sin in our lives, our consciences become more acute.
We are given a love for the Bible, the Word of God, we want to understand it more.
We are given a love for other Christians and enjoy meeting with them.
He helps us to pray and involve the Lord in all we do.
He gives us a longing to share Jesus with others.
If we do not have these marks of the Holy Spirit developing in our lives we must ask ourselves whether we are really Christians. Paul wrote,
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9
To love my church, my denomination or my religion will not save me in that final judgment. To live relatively good lives will not save us, it is only through a personal surrender to Christ that I can receive His Spirit and so be saved.
“Brother, are you saved?” We think such wording is only the territory of religious fanatics. But the word ‘saved’ is a good Bible word, and we ought not to avoid it. In Acts, chapter 16, the Philippian jailor, who was about to take his own life said to Paul,
“What must I do to be saved?”
Paul said,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It’s the most important question you can ever ask. “How can I be saved?”
True worship in the Old Testament
The is a widespread misunderstanding that in Old Testament times people were saved by obeying God’s laws. The Pharisees took this to an extreme and thought that because they meticulously followed the rules they would be acceptable to God. Jesus disabused them of such ideas.
In all of time, people have only been saved by a personal commitment to God. In the first book of the Bible, the need for personal faith is emphasised,
“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6
To be acceptable to God we must be righteous people but when we try to be holy by our actions we all fail miserably. Righteousness is a gift that is only given to those who have entered into a personal relationship with God and subsequently with his Son. The prophet Isaiah realised this,
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6
Outward religious devotion and social activities cannot make us righteous, we need the righteousness that only comes as gift, a gift to those who have opened their hearts to the Lord. The proff that we have opned our hearts will be a changed life that centres on living to please Jesus. This will be seen in the way we obey him, just as in Old Testament times obedience to the Law of God was not the means of becoming righteous but the effect of being made righteous through faith.
When Moses summarised the teaching of God to his people, before they entered the Promised Land, his emphasis was on the relationship with God that everyone needs.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4
“Fear the LORD your God, serve him only . . .” Deuteronomy 6:13
Evidence of this love will then be seen in obedience,
“Be sure to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight so that it may go well with you . . .” Deuteronomy 6:17-18
Jesus himself made the same point, salvation can only be found in a love for Jesus, but such true true faith will always be followed by obedience,
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
He then repeats this, just to ensure that we all hear his message!
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” John 14:23
Joshua became the leader of the Children of Israel as they took over the Promised Land. When he was born in Egypt, his parents had called him ‘Hoshea’ which means ‘Saviour’. Later, as they travelled through the wilderness Moses changed his name as no man could be called the Saviour of God’s people. His name was changed to ‘Joshua’ which means ‘the Lord saves’ (Numbers 13:16). It is an abominable heresy to think that by our own behaviour we sinful people can ever become righteous enough for God. Our salvation depends to God giving us the status of being righteous as a result of our relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Joshua was clearly concerned that the Children of Israel had not clearly understood the necessity of having a personal relationship with the Lord. He summonsed all the people to meet him at Shechem. There they ‘presented themselves before God’. This was to be the Lord’s final message he was to give to his people through the elderly Joshua, who died soon afterwards. Joshua begins by emphasising the source of what he had to say,
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says . . .” Joshua 24:3
No-one could go away saying that what followed was just Joshua’s own ideas. He then related the story of how the Lord had first called Abram, who came from a family who ‘worshipped other Gods’ and brought him into a relationship with him alone.
Repentance means a change of mind, in which we agree to live as God wants and not as our selfish natures prefer. It is the key to true spiritual worship. Everything was initiated by the Lord for his own ends. Then the Lord sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt and the Lord brought them into the Promised land which he gave to them. But this initiative by the Lord requires a response,
“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness . . . But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 2:14-15
Joshua was teaching the people that what God requires is genuine heartfelt worship of the Lord who has chosen them and given them so much. This has never changed. The people made a quick decision,
“We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” Joshua 24:18
But Joshua knows people, quick decisions can easily be reneged upon so he reminds them of their weakness and of the consequences if the are insincere.
“You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” Joshua 24:19-20
True worship involves a radical change in life in which we each make a permanent decision. In this respect it is similar to what marriage is intended to be – a lifelong relationship of service.
“But the people said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:21
That generation had made their decision, The Lord will be their God, they will live as he wants.
The prophet Joel reminded God’s people that they must worship God authentically and not just outwardly,
“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending catastrophe.” Joel 2:13
John Wesley
John Wesley was an ordained Anglican minister who was full of zeal but he was almost in despair. He did not have the faith to continue to preach. When death stared him in the face, he was fearful and found little comfort in his religion. To Peter Böhler, a Moravian friend, he confessed his growing misery and decision to give up the ministry. Böhler counseled otherwise. “Preach faith till you have it,” he advised. “And then because you have it, you will preach faith.” A wise Christian once made a similar statement: “Act as if you have faith and it will be granted to you.”
John acted on this advice. He led a prisoner to Christ by preaching faith in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. The prisoner was immediately converted. John was astonished. He had been struggling for years. Here was a man transformed instantly. John made a study of the New Testament and found to his astonishment that the longest recorded delay in salvation was three days - while the apostle Paul waited for someone’s eyes to open.
The Moravians assured him their personal experiences had also been instantaneous. John found himself crying out, “Lord, help my unbelief!” However, he felt dull within and little motivated even to pray for his own salvation. On that day, May 24th, 1738 he opened his Bible at about five in the morning and came across these words, "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should partakers of the divine nature." He then read similar words in other places.
That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate, London. Someone read from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m. “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” He was especially encouraged by the following words,
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
It took him some time to learn how to live the life of faith, for he did not always experience this joy and thought he had fallen from salvation. It took time for him to see that it is not Christ and good works, but Christ alone who saves, resulting in good works.
As time went on, John Wesley was mightily used of the Lord to reform England. His Methodists became a national force. John rode thousands of miles (as many as 20,000 a year) preaching as only a man filled with the Holy Spirit can preach, telling the gospel to all who would listen. He acted "as though he were out of breath in pursuit of souls." Wherever he preached, lives changed and manners and morals altered for the better. It is often conjectured that his preaching helped spare England the kind of revolution that occurred in France.
Today there are many who accept the need for Christian morality but reject Christ. The Scriptures are clear that he alone is the pillar of our faith, and if we belong to him we are also pillars on which the house of God is built. Without having Jesus as the Lord of our lives no-one will be eternally saved. Winston Churchill rejected what Jesus claimed about his being God but was a strong advocate for Christian morality. Once he said, to his eternal loss:
“I could hardly be called a pillar of the Church. I am more in the nature of a buttress, for I support it from the outside.”
BVP
Bibliography:
1.Egermeier, Elsie E. John Wesley, the Christian hero. Anderson, Indiana: Gospel Trumpet, 1923.
John 9. The Blind See, the Sighted are Blind (Copy)
Reading
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” 10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.
39 Jesus said “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
In a recent radio broadcast I was asked,
“Is there anything unique about Christianity?”
There is no doubt how the apostles, who wrote or authorised all the New Testament, would answer. They all considered Jesus and his message to be completely different from those of all other spiritual leaders. Jesus made this extraordinary statement and repeated it publicly,
“I am the light of the world.” John 8:12, 9:5
No-one had ever spoken with such megalomania as Jesus. He puts Mohammed Ali and his boast, “I’m the greatest!” into the shade.
The writer C.S.Lewis made a brilliant statement about humility in his book ‘Mere Christianity’. He suggested that if we were to meet a truly humble person we would never come away thinking they were humble. A person who keeps hinting that they are ‘ever so ‘umble’, like Dickens’ Uriah Heap, are really self obsessed. In contrast the truly humble man would be completely interested in the other person.
Jesus was such a person. He was genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. Yet he made the most astonishing claims about himself such as this. He claimed to be the one and only Son of God that the whole of creation had been waiting for. He proved this by performing extraordinary miracles culminating in his resurrection from the dead. But when these claims are compared with the humble manner he treated others, even social outcasts, we are faced with a unique, impossible, even supernatural paradox. No-one else has combined these two extremes in one personality.
The story given us in John chapter nine demonstrates how and why Jesus relates to different people. We are clearly meant to apply the lessons given there to ourselves.
1. THE LIGHT HAS COME
Jesus is saying,
“I am the only person in the world who understands what life is about!”
“If a person doesn’t follow me, they will never understand what life is for.”
This is staggering. He is saying, “Life is about me and following me!” In the next chapter Jesus said,
“I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10
In anybody else such claims would be disregarded as the ranting of a demented megalomaniac but those living closest to him concluded he really was the Son of God.
Today our society needs to ask, “What is life about?” Is it just for making money and being financially secure? Is it just to raise a well adjusted family? Is it to satisfy my sexual needs? Is it to care for others? These all have their place but Jesus says that even together they are not enough. He says that if we want to see clearly what life is about, then we need him, the creator of the universe, to be at the centre of our lives. Nothing less will do.
I have met many people whose lives have demonstrated a peace and security that is extraordinary. I used to work as a Consultant surgeon and will never forget one lovely lady who was in hospital with advanced cancer. She was very weak and was waiting to die. On a ward round which was attended by many students, junior doctors and nurses she asked,
“Mr Palmer, when am I going home?”
“Alice, you wouldn’t cope on your own at home,” I replied. She smiled,
“No. I mean to go home to be with the Lord Jesus.”
She had such peace. She had found something that money, families and satisfying jobs can never give us. She had a personal relationship with God. Her Lord had given her knowledge of what life is about.
The extraordinary story told in John chapter nine is included in order to demonstrate who Jesus is and what he offers everyone. Seven hundred years earlier the prophet Isaiah had foretold many of the features that would enable God’s Messiah to be recognised when he came to earth. He would come as a baby, he would perform remarkable miracles. He would die and then rise from the dead. Three times Isaiah mentions the miracle of his giving sight to the blind that the Messiah would do.
The man begging at the roadside had congenital blindness. He had never seen a beautiful sunset. He would have been denied an education. His life would be one of dependency on others. Then Jesus walks by and his life is never the same again. That is the way it is with Jesus. No-one can meet him and remain the same person.
Jesus’ disciples do not have the same love for people that Jesus had. Their interest in the poor man is to use him as a visual aid for a theological debate. They ask,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents?” John 9:2
Don’t you feel sorry for this man? Have you ever been in a situation, such as a hospital ward round, where people talk about you as if you were not there? Jesus makes a definitive statement,
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” John 9:3
If you are a parent of a disabled child this is important and very comforting. Too many of these parents load themselves with unnecessary guilt.
Jesus has something much more important to teach all people. He repeats his claim,
“I am the light of the world.” John 9:5
To support this claim he spits onto the ground and made up some mud. This paste he applied to both eyes of the poor man. Then Jesus said,
“Go wash in the pool of Siloam.” John 9:7
John then says succinctly,
“He went and washed, and came home seeing.” John 9:7
Seldom has an event so stupendous been reported so briefly. It reminds us of Julius Caesar’s statement when he had conquered Britain,
“Veni, vidi, vici,” meaning “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
“He went and washed and came home seeing.” John 9:7
Significantly non-Christian writers, such as Josephus, reported that Jesus was widely known to have performed extraordinary miracles. Today, even with modern medical technology, we cannot do anything like this miracle. However what Moorfield’s hospital cannot do, Jesus did.
2. THE BLIND SEE
This miracle was enacted to illustrate Jesus’ claim, “I am the light of the world.” This is what he came to reveal to all of us. He wants to flood our lives with his life so that we can all say,
“Now I can see what life is about. I can see the point of life.”
This is a beautiful picture of what Christ can do for the spiritually blind. They are just as blind spiritually as this man was blind physically. Jesus really is ‘the light of the world’ for all.
What are the symptoms of being ‘spiritually blind’? People may not recognise the affliction but the essential problem is that Jesus has been moved offstage. The vital relationship with the Lord God through Christ is not pivotal in our daily thoughts. I put myself in the centre, my happiness, my reputation, my success are preeminent. In practice I play God. I set myself up as my own authority and live to please myself.
George Bernard Shaw, in his play ‘The Doctor’s dilemma’ describes the doctor with these words,
“ . . . a self-made man who worships his creator.”
A spiritually blind person does what pleases him, irrespective of others needs. I do play God. If I am not happy with my marriage I will ignore my vows to God and walk out. There are four hundred and eighty divorces every day in this country. A spiritually blind person’s self-centred life may be polished and sophisticated or terribly gross. The basic deisease is the same.
But Jesus brings great news, so we need not remain spiritually blind.
Have you met people who say they were once spiritually blind but have now seen the light and been changed? When I first went up as a fresher to university I was outwardly quite respectable. I came from a good home. Possibly I behaved better than some. However I could not see what my life was about, what its purpose was. I needed a purpose that would last into old age and terminal illness. Then I got to know some students who pointed me to Jesus as opposed to religion; school had put me off religion! I became convinced that Jesus’ claims were true and committed my life to him. He then started the business of changing my life.
What did Jesus do to give the spiritually blind ‘sight’ or perhaps better put as ‘insight’?
“He came, he died, he rose again.”
When he died on that cross God took on himself the punishment for my wrongdoing, for my putting myself centre stage, usurping God’s rightful place. He wants to wash away the dirt in my life, my sin. He does this only when I believe in him, when I open my life to him, to follow him. There is much evidence to support this message. There is strong, objective, historical evidence but in addition our instincts shout that Jesus is telling the truth.
This is the Christian message that Christians have been sent to share. Significantly ‘Siloam’, the pool where the man was sent to wash the dirt away, means ‘Sent’.
The identity of Jesus is fundamental. Who is he? If he is God’s Messiah then the entire world needs to know about him.
Unfortunately even the most convincing evidence will not change some people.
3. THE SIGHTED ARE BLIND
The story now reads like a court case with a succession of witnesses being brought in. It is apparent that some, particularly the religious, are determined not to believe in Jesus, whatever the evidence.
a. The local people
Some of the locals could not believe that the healed man really was the same person they had earlier seen begging,
“Soe claimed he was. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him’. But he himself insisted, ‘I am the man’” John 9:9
This is extraordinary. They would not believe in spite of the evidence. Some claimed the sighted man must be a double since everyone knows that people blind from birth can never see. They think,
“This notion doesn’t fit with our understanding of the world.”
They cared little what the Scriptures had told them. The Scriptures repeated say that when the Messiah comes to free His people he will act in this very way. Even the religious accepted that God had acted supernaturally when the Jews were freed from Egypt by Moses.
b. The man himself
When he assured them that he was the same man, more aggressive questions flowed from the sceptics.
“’How then were your eyes opened?’ they demanded.” John 9:10
It did not make sense to them. The man couldn’t explain the mechanism his healing either. He simply tells them that he obeyed Jesus and as a result he can see.
c. The Pharisees
There is no way they would seriously consider Jesus’ claims.
“This man is not from. God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” John 9:16
Anyone who does miracles on the Sabbath is ungodly, Q.E.D.. Miracles constitute work, so Jesus had broken the law. Actually God only stopped his work of creation on the Sabbath; he continued to sustain all he had made even on the Sabbath. The religious were trying hard to avoid facing the key question,
“Is Jesus from God?”
It is obvious why. If Jesus did these miracles by God’s power they should listen to what he said and follow him. This they were determined not to do that.
“The Jews still did not believe that he had been born blind and had received his sight . . .” John 9:18
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say ‘would not believe.’ The same goes for many today, belief in Jesus is definitely not on their agenda.
d. The parents
The next to be interrogated were the parents,
“Is this your son? . . . Is this the one you say was born blind?” John 9:19
They affirm these two facts but the Pharisees were not content to leave it there.
“How is it that he can now see?” John 9:19
It is interesting that when faced with a difficult choice people often resort to asking questions that are impossible to answer, thinking that this lets them off the hook. They keep asking ‘How?’ as if they had witnessed a conjuring trick, knowing that nobody could answer,
“How can a sinner do such miraculous signs? John 9:16
“But how can he see now . . .?” John 9:21
“How did he open your eyes?” John 9:26
However they never ask the important questions such as ‘Who is Jesus’ or ‘Why did he do this?’
Realising the Pharisees deep antagonism against Jesus the parents back off and suggest they talk to their son. The following verse says it all, real pressure would be exerted to prevent people believing in Jesus,
“ . . . for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.” John 9:22
Excommunication was a fearful prospect. People would not talk or trade with you. You would have to move and perhaps the sentence of excommunication would follow you around. In 1997 157,000 Christians were martyred for their faith in Jesus.
In desperation they recall the healed man. The Pharisees are clearly getting rattled as they seem to be losing the battle.
“Give glory to God, we know this man is a sinner.” John 9:24
‘Give glory to God’ was a way of saying ‘Swear on oath’. Even this blatant ‘leading of the witness’ failed to work. The man does not back down under the pressure.
“One thing I know. I was blind but now I see.” John 9:25
He is a changed man and will not deny it.
People are changed by Jesus in many ways. Charles Bradlaugh was a Victorian atheist who opposed Christianity. He challenged a Christian minister to a debate. The minister, Hugh Price Hughes agreed, on one condition, that Mr Bradlaugh would bring a hundred people whose lives had been changed for the better by following atheism. Mr Hughes would bring a hundred whose lives had been changed by following Jesus. Knowing that Mr Bradlaugh could not fulfil this demand he dropped the number to fifty, then twenty, then ten, and finally one. Mr Bradlaugh had to withdraw the invitation.
4. THE CHOICE
I was speaking with a medical student about the evidence that Jesus was the Christ, the Saviour of the world. He seemed impressed so I asked if he would consider becoming a follower of Jesus. He replied,
“I admit that the evidence is strong, but, to be honest, I don’t want to change the way I live.”
Bob Dylan once sang,
“You’re going to have to serve somebody.”
When I first went to college, I knew that my Christian friends had something I needed. It took me a little time to realise that it was a relationship that I needed.
I love what comes next. The man understood what was going on. With brilliant sarcasm he asks,
“Do you want to become his disciples, too?” John 9:27
Clearly this man has been won over by Christ. “What about you?” he asks. It is a vital question for all to answer as only Jesus’ followers receive the forgiveness that is vital for acceptance into God’s kingdom. The religious respond by hurling insults. “We are the religious leaders, we follow Moses. How dare you tell us who to follow!” They did not understand that even Moses foretold about Jesus and now worships him.
The tension mounts and it is all over the identity of Jesus and his authority. There is a terrible blindness here which persists to this day. Many refuse to acknowledge that it is only a personal relationship with Jesus that will save them.
Christianity is not an ethic; it is essentially a relationship with the living God through Christ that will affect all I am and do.
It is so common for good, moral, religious people to hope that their lifestyle and activities will satisfy God. But he has said clearly that our works can never be good enough. God’s standard is absolute righteousness. Only the righteousness of Christ can gain me admission into God’s kingdom. That status of being ‘righteous’ is given as a gift only to those who follow Christ; this is what being ‘born again’ means.
Bishop Taylor-Smith was a corpulent Chaplain General to the Forces. One Sunday morning he was preaching in Salisbury Cathedral. Wanting to emphasise this necessity of the new birth he said,
“My dear people do not substitute anything for the new birth. You may be a member of a church, but church membership is not new birth. Jesus said, ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’.”
On his left sat the Archdeacon in his stall. Pointing directly at him the Bishop said,
“You might even be an Archdeacon, like my friend in his stall, and not be born again. Remember, ‘Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’.
A day or two later he received a message from the Archdeacon.
“My dear bishop, you have found me out. I have been a clergyman for over thirty years, but I have never known anything of the joy that Christians speak of. I never could understand. Mine has been a hard legal service. I did not know what the matter was with me, but when you pointed directly at me and said,
“You might even be an Archdeacon and not be born again; I knew in a moment what the trouble was. I had never known anything of the new birth.”
The next day the Archdeacon and the bishop met up and they went through the Bible together. Then the Archdeacon knelt before his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and took his place as a sinner who desperately needed Christ’s forgiveness.
It is vitally important that we don’t harden our hearts as the religious Pharisees did. They began by looking for reasons not to believe, they became more entrenched in their position, then they angrily hurl insults and this finally leads to persecution, they expel the follower of Jesus.
In contrast the blind man allowed Jesus to put mud on his eyes, he obeyed Jesus when told to go and wash. After he was healed he kept telling what he knew of the truth in spite of the antagonism of the questioners. His journey ended with him believing in Christ and speaking up for him.
All of us have to decide about Jesus, a decision with eternal consequences.
BVP