Great Bible Truths with Dr David Petts

Talk 26    Mark 9:1-8    The Transfiguration – a Glimpse of Heaven

Welcome to Talk 26 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at Mark 9:1-8 where we read of a truly awesome event in the life of Jesus and three of his disciples. It’s what is known as the transfiguration. The chapter begins with Jesus saying:

I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.

There has been much discussion about what Jesus meant by this, but in my view the explanation is almost certainly found in the following verses where we read how Jesus took Peter, James and John up a high mountain and he was transfigured before them (v2). So let’s begin by reading verses 2-8:

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) 7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

Transfiguration is not a word that’s in common use today, but its basic meaning is transformation. The Greek word that’s used in verse 2 is metamorpho’o from which we get our English word metamorphosis which we use to mean a change in the form of a person or thing into a completely different one, as, for example, when a caterpillar turns into a chrysalis and then into a butterfly. In the case of Jesus, Mark tells us that

his clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them,

but in 2 Peter 1:16-18 Peter himself describes what he saw:

16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

He refers to the transfiguration as the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Compare this with what Jesus said in verse 1 about the kingdom of God coming with power). He uses words like, majesty, honour, glory, and God’s voice coming from the Majestic Glory. It seems clear to me that what Peter is describing is nothing less than a glimpse or foretaste of Heaven itself.

Of course, the day is coming when Jesus will finally come in power and great glory, a day Jesus refers to in 8:38 when he talks about the Son of Man coming in his Father’s glory with the holy angels. But that was not to happen yet. Jesus must first suffer and die and rise again (v12). The transfiguration was not the second coming, but it was certainly a prophetic foretaste of it, a revelation of Jesus in power and glory, that Peter wanted to assure his readers was not a cleverly invented story. He had seen it for himself. He knew it was true. And, as he was approaching the end of his earthly life, his hope and his faith for eternity were securely founded on the revelation of Heaven he had received on that mountain.

So, with this in mind, let’s look at the passage and see what we can learn about Heaven.

What is Heaven like?

If you know Jesus as your Saviour, you’re already on your way to Heaven, but do you have any real idea what it’s going to be like? My wife, Eileen, went to Heaven recently and I’ve been trying to imagine her there. Actually, I’ve found it quite hard, and I’ve realised how little we know about Heaven. Of course the Book of Revelation paints a certain picture for us, but it contains so much symbolism that it’s hard to know whether some passages are to be taken literally or metaphorically.

Even the great apostle Paul had to admit that now we know only in part (1 Corinthians 13:12) and that we cannot yet imagine the things that God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). So it looks as though we’ll have to wait and see. But that does not mean that we know nothing about what Heaven is like, and today’s passage gives us some clear pointers.

Heaven is a place of dazzling purity and awesome majesty

In verse 3 Mark tells us that Jesus’ clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. In Matthew 17:1 we’re told his face shone like the sun. Paul on the road to Damascus had a glimpse of that brightness. Testifying before King Agrippa he says:

At midday, I saw in the way, O king, out of heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round me a light – and having fallen to the earth…I heard a voice… (Acts26:13-14).

John on the Isle of Patmos saw it too:

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:14-18).

Heaven is a place of dazzling purity and awesome majesty. But it’s a place  where it’s good to be – a place where you’ll want to stay! Notice what Peter says in verse 5:

Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.

Of course he didn’t realise what he was saying. Jesus, Moses and Elijah would not have needed shelters! All Peter knew was that he wanted the experience to last.

Heaven is a place where the righteous dead are still living

v4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

           The Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death, once asked Jesus about a woman who had had seven different husbands because they all died one after the other. In the next life, whose wife would she be? Jesus replied that they were making a big mistake because they neither knew the power of God nor understood the Scriptures.

Quoting the well-known passage in Exodus 3, he pointed out that God had revealed himself to Moses, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The point here is that God did not say, I was. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had all died centuries before God said this. Yet God still said I am. He was still their God centuries after they had died, so they must be still alive!

Now, in today’s passage, we have another evidence of this. Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus. They had both died centuries earlier and Moses had died well before Elijah was born. So they were still alive long after they had died. What’s more, they were recognisable. We don’t know how the disciples knew who they were. Perhaps they overheard them referring to each other by name – it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that in Heaven we will be able to recognise and communicate with each other, even with Christians of earlier generations whom we have never met.

Furthermore, they were not only recognisable, they seem to have been still serving God. It must surely have been God who sent them to have this conversation with Jesus. The exact details and the purpose of the conversation we do not know, but Luke tells us that they were speaking about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). More of this later, but I’m glad that in the life to come it seems that God will have something for us to do!

Heaven is a place where Jesus is recognised for who he is

At the transfiguration God declares Jesus to be his Son (v7). The disciples are to listen to HIM. He is exalted above both Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the prophets). He fulfilled them both and supersedes them both. All authority is given to him.

No wonder Peter could say that Jesus received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

Heaven is a place where Jesus is recognised for who he really is, and only those who recognise it will be welcome in Heaven. In the end the disciples are left seeing no-one except Jesus (v8). In the final analysis, Jesus is all that matters. Not the Law. Not the prophets. Just Jesus. It’s our response to him that will determine our final destiny.

Experiencing a foretaste of Heaven

I have already suggested that the disciples’ experience of the transfiguration was a glimpse or foretaste of Heaven itself. But that raises the question whether it’s possible for us today to have such a foretaste – obviously not an identical one, because that was unique, but is there any sense in which Christians can experience a taste of heaven today? And the answer is certainly yes. They are rarely, if ever, as dramatic as that of the disciples at the transfiguration, but Hebrews 6 tells us that as Christians we have tasted the heavenly gift and… shared in the Holy Spirit… and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age (vv4-5).

In my book, Just a Taste of Heaven, I have sought to show that the supernatural healings we receive now through the power of the Spirit are best understood as a foretaste of the age to come, when we will enjoy permanent good health in the new imperishable bodies we will receive when Jesus comes again (1 Corinthians 15:52-54). But of course, healing is not the only foretaste. All the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are available, as he determines, to bring us into a new dimension beyond the natural level of our everyday lives.

This is confirmed by Paul’s use of Greek words like arrabon and aparche to refer to the Holy Spirit. Both these words indicate that through the Spirit now we may receive a foretaste of what Heaven will be like. But these experiences are of course just a taste! There’s much much more when Jesus comes again! But for a detailed explanation you might like to take a look at the final chapter of my book, The Holy Spirit – and Introduction, or listen to podcasts 022-024.

Meanwhile, as we wait for Heaven, there’s a sense in which we ourselves are being transformed. The same verb as is used for Jesus being transfigured, or transformed, is used elsewhere about Christians. In Romans 12:2 Paul encourages us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And in 2 Corinthians 3:18 he tells us that

 …we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

For us the transformation is gradual. The extent to which we reflect the Lord’s glory will depend on how much time we spend in his presence renewing our minds. Remember, the disciples experienced the transfiguration while they were alone with Jesus (v2).

What makes Heaven possible for us

We said earlier that the transfiguration was a metamorphosis – a change in the form of a person into a completely different one – not a different person, but a different form. But actually this was not the first transfiguration. Jesus had changed his form before.

Look for a moment at Philippians 2:5-8, which translated literally reads like this:

Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself empty, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

The word I have translated as form is morphe from which is derived metamorpho’o, the word used to refer to the transfiguration in Mark 9. So the first ‘transfiguration’ was the incarnation. At the incarnation he remained God but took upon himself the form of a man. At the transfiguration, he remained a man, but took again for a brief moment the form of God which he later resumed after his resurrection and ascension. Our salvation was only possible because Jesus was willing to take the form of a servant, to be made in human likeness, to appear as a man, and to humble himself to death on a cross.

As we have seen, he came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, to live a sinless life in obedience to his Father, to suffer and die in our place. We mentioned earlier that Luke tells us that Elijah and Moses were speaking with Jesus about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment (or accomplish) at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). The word used for departure in this verse is exodos which means a way out. Jesus’ death on the cross was to be his way out.

But it was also to be ours. As God provided a way out of slavery in Egypt for the Israelites in the Book of Exodus, so Jesus has provided a way out for us from the slavery of sin and the death penalty it brings. One day we shall all be transformed into his likeness, for we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Meanwhile let us seek to be daily transformed by the renewing of our minds and to allow the Holy Spirit to be constantly changing us from one degree of glory to another as we spend time in the glorious presence of Jesus.

Talk 25   Mark 8:27-38   The Challenge of the Cross

Welcome to Talk 25 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. If you listened to my Easter Sunday message recently (which was not part of this series), you will remember that we concentrated our attention on the repeated emphasis on the use of the word must in connection with Jesus’ death and resurrection.  One of the verses we referred to is found in today’s passage:

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

We saw that it was necessary for Jesus to suffer and to die and to rise again because that was the only way we could be saved. But in today’s passage we see that this was clearly something the disciples, especially Peter, didn’t want to hear. Nevertheless, Jesus went on to insist that not only was it necessary for him to suffer and die, but that if anyone wanted to follow him, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow him (v34).

This presented an enormous challenge to his disciples then, and, if we take Jesus’ words seriously, it is equally challenging for us today. In this passage we see three challenges:

·      The challenge of confessing who Jesus really is (27-30)

·      The challenge of acknowledging that his death was necessary (31-33)

·      The challenge of taking up our cross and following him (34-38).  

The challenge of confessing who Jesus really is (27-30)

27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" 28 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." 30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

The important thing here is not what other people – your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends – say about Jesus. What matters is what you say. And notice that the word is say, not think. Of course, what we say will be affected by what we think, but if we believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be, it’s important that we say so. Paul tells us that

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Of course, Peter had not yet come to understand these things, but by divine revelation (see Matthew 16:17) he had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and was not afraid to say so. Others might see Jesus as an outspoken preacher like John the Baptist, or as a powerful miracle worker like Elijah, or as just another prophet or religious leader, but salvation depends on the acknowledgement and confession that JESUS IS LORD. But, as the next few verses make clear, Jesus was not the kind of Messiah that Peter and the other disciples were expecting. They were certainly not expecting a Messiah who would suffer and die.

The challenge of acknowledging that his death was necessary (31-33)

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

The disciples would have understood that the Son of Man was a title used for the Messiah in Daniel 7:13-14.

And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is and everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

This was almost certainly the kind of Messiah they would have been expecting, and Jesus’ claims that as the Son of Man he had authority on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10) and to be Lord of the Sabbath (2:28) would undoubtedly have backed up their conviction. And later in today’s passage Jesus uses the title in connection with his coming in his Father's glory with the holy angels (v38), a theme which he repeats in 13:26 and 14:62. So their expectation was not entirely wrong. But it was only half the story.

Jesus now had to teach them that certain things had to happen first. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed. We should not be surprised at Peter’s reaction. Surely suffering and rejection and death could not possibly be the role of the Messiah? But in fact they were not only possible. They were essential. The Son of Man must suffer… And Jesus not only rebukes Peter strongly for remonstrating with him, but he repeats the message again and again in chapters 9 and 10 (Mark 9:12, 31; 10:33, 45).

But why was his suffering necessary? Why must he die? Because this was the only way that we could be saved. He died for our sins. He died in our place. He took the punishment our sins deserved. He died, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.

There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of Heaven and let us in.

To be saved we must acknowledge that his death was necessary. Our pride holds us back. Human wisdom rejects the message of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-19). We hesitate to admit that it was our shortcomings that made it so. But there was, there is, no other way. The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), for me, for you, and if it were not so, would the Messiah have allowed himself to be crucified? The challenge faces every man and woman, every boy and girl. The challenge must be faced, and it must be embraced. To be saved I must accept the fact that Jesus died for me.

The challenge of taking up our cross and following him (34-38).  

34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.  36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Having begun to teach his disciples that it was necessary for him to suffer and die and rise again, Jesus now includes the crowd. What he is about to say applies to everyone. Notice the use of the words anyone and everyone. There can be no exceptions. Acknowledge Christ and be saved or deny Christ and perish. The way of the cross is inevitable, not only for Christ, but for all who will follow him. If he must suffer, then we must expect to suffer too. We must take up our cross and follow him.

Peter, from whom Mark probably obtained most of the material for writing his Gospel, writing to Christian slaves who were being unjustly punished, reminded them of the suffering of Christ and told them:

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21).

If the opponents of Christ treated him unfairly, we must not be surprised if they treat us unfairly too. But Jesus said that whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Throughout the world today there are thousands who are losing their lives because of their faith in Christ.

But suffering for the cause of Christ must not be confused with the things we suffer along with the rest of humanity. By no means all that Christians suffer is caused by persecution. Most of our suffering is caused by the fact that we’re living in a fallen universe. In Romans 8 Paul tells us that, ever since the Fall, creation has been in bondage to decay and has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time (vv21-22). But our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (v18). Meanwhile we are still eagerly waiting for the redemption of our bodies (v23). So suffering is inevitable. We are not exempt from it. Until Jesus returns we suffer along with the rest of humanity. The difference is that we Christians have hope. If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.

So suffering along with the rest of humanity because we’re all living in a fallen universe is not the same as suffering for the sake of Christ. It is not taking up our cross to follow Jesus. Yet this is required of every Christian. Jesus says, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. This will mean different things for different people, but if I am not denying myself and actively choosing to make sacrifices for the cause of Christ, can I really call myself a Christian?

This choosing to deny ourselves and to live a sacrificial life for Christ is a practical demonstration of what is known as our identification with Christ. When we first came to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, believing that he died in our place, God counted Jesus’ death as our death, and we too were accepting his death as our death. That’s why Paul could say that we died with Christ, we were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, made alive with Christ and raised with Christ. In short, we are identified with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.

With this in mind, let’s compare verse 31 with verses 34-35. First Jesus teaches them that he, the Son of Man, must suffer many things and be rejected … and that he must be killed and … rise again. Then he says that as his followers his disciples must expect the same:

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.  

The pattern is the same. Rejection and suffering, followed by resurrection and reward. But of course, we don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to be rejected. But neither did Jesus. Hear him praying in the Garden of Gethsemane,

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death… My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:38-39).

Taking up one’s cross means saying this daily. Not what I want, but what you want.  Jesus didn’t want to suffer and die, but he chose the way of the cross, and so must we. But of course, the cross was not the end of the story. He rose again, and so, says Jesus, will we. What a wonderful promise to all who will accept him, but how serious a warning to those who reject him:

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels (v38)

And then he will reward each person according to what he has done (Matthew 16:27).

And in Matthew 10 he says:

32 Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. …38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The choice is ours. And the consequences of that choice are eternal. What choice will you make? Will you accept the challenge of confessing who Jesus really is? Will you acknowledge that his death was necessary for you? Will you take up your cross and follow Jesus?

It had to happen – or did it?

This week, as I was reading through the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, I was struck by a statement in John 20:9 which tells us that the disciples did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.

I found myself asking:

·      Why didn’t they understand?

·      What was the scripture that John was referring to?

·      Why did Jesus have to rise from the dead?

We’ll deal with the first two questions fairly quickly, before answering in more detail why Jesus had to rise from the dead.

Why didn’t they understand?

Four possibilities:

Some things we don’t understand until after they have happened

Their minds were clouded by unbelief – too good to be true?

Jesus had not yet opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45)

They had not yet received the Holy Spirit who would guide them into the truth (John 16:13).

What was the scripture that John was referring to?

It’s clear from Acts 2:24-32 that Peter, having been filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, now understood Psalm 16:8-11 to be a clear prophecy that Jesus would rise from the dead. He says in verse 24 that God raised (Jesus) from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Quoting where the psalm says

my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay,

Peter applies it directly to the resurrection of Jesus, saying in verse 31 that David saw what was ahead and

spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.

There are, of course, many other OT passages which prophesy the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (notably Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53). But we can’t be sure exactly what scripture John had in mind because he doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that Jesus himself had explained to his disciples that

he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Matthew 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22).

But notice that these verses not only say that he must be raised to life, but that he also must suffer and be killed. So that now widens our question. We need to ask not only why Jesus must be raised to life, but why he must suffer and die in the first place.

Why did Jesus have to suffer, to die and to be raised to life?

Because:

·      The Scripture must be fulfilled

·      It was the only way that we could be saved

The Scripture must be fulfilled

Matthew 26:53-54

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"

Luke 24:25-27

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Luke 24:44-47

He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Why are these references to the fulfilment of Scripture so important? Because what God says in the Bible MUST come to pass. He said, Let there be light, and there was light. What he says, happens. Jesus had to rise from the dead because in the Bible God had said he would. We’ve also seen that it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Why? Because he was God’s holy one.

But why did Jesus have to suffer and die. The NT gives us clear reasons for this, but, before we come to that, we need to think about what the words had to mean in this context. Did he really have to die? Didn’t he have a choice about it? Yes he did. Notice what he said in John 10:17-18:

The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.

So Jesus didn’t have to suffer and die. But before man ever sinned he voluntarily chose to do so, because he loved us. He knew that if he chose not to, there would be no hope for us. The only way to save us from the just punishment our sins deserve was to take that punishment for us by dying on the cross. So in Gethsemane he ratified the decision he had made before the world began. He knew he must suffer. He knew he must die. It was the only way that we could be saved.

It was the only way that we could be saved

Let me explain it like this. Because God loves us, he wants what's best for us.

Because he knows what's best for us he sets boundaries for our actions.

If we go beyond those boundaries, there can be serious consequences.

For example, we heard about the tragedy in Baltimore recently where a bridge collapsed.

I imagine that as soon as it happened, they erected a NO ENTRY sign to prevent traffic from crossing the bridge. If anyone ignored it the consequences could have been fatal.

It’s like that with God. NO ENTRY signs like You shall not kill…You shall not steal… You shall not commit adultery… You shall not lie are there for a good reason.

And the Bible has a word for ignoring God’s NO ENTRY signs. It calls it sin.

And if we disobey those signs, there’s a price to pay.

And the Bible is clear that this applies to all of us:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

There is no one who does not sin (1 Kings 8:46).

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8).

And the Bible warns us of the seriousness of sin. Sin separates us from God.

Our sins have hidden his face from us (Isaiah 59:2)

And unless our sins are dealt with, our separation from God will be eternal.

Jesus himself talked eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46).

Paul tells us that the price we pay for our sin is death (Romans 6:23)

So sin is serious. It separates from God. And there is nothing we can do about it.

We cannot hide it, for our sin will find us out (Numbers 32:23).

We cannot cleanse ourselves from it.

Turning over a new leaf today won’t eradicate yesterday’s sin.

No one can be righteous in God’s sight by keeping the law (Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16).

We have all sinned. We are all separated from God. There is nothing we can do. We all need a Saviour.

And this is why Christ died.

He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

He died on the cross to reconcile us sinners to God (Colossians 1:20).

He did this by offering himself as a sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2).

He died in our place. Because of our sin, we should die. Instead, Christ has died for us.

He took the punishment for us. He was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5).

He suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).

We deserved to die because of our sin, but because he loved us, he came and died in our place, so that we could live.

So why did Jesus have to suffer and die? So that we could be saved.

But what must we do?

You must be born again

Listen to what Jesus once said to a very religious man called Nicodemus:

I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'

Of course, Jesus was not talking about physical birth. He was talking about a spiritual birth where God so completely changes us that we become a new person. This happens when we repent of our sin and trust Jesus for forgiveness, relying on the fact that he has already taken the punishment for us when he died on the cross. The Bible also calls this being saved and it’s important because it’s the only way to get to Heaven. Jesus said,

I am the way… no one comes to the Father except by me (John 14:6).

And Peter said

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

And that’s why the gospel must be preached.

The gospel must be preached

Mark 4:43

But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God …because that is why I was sent."

John 9:4

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Mark 13:10

And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

And finally, in 1 Corinthians 15 we find two more MUSTs.

1 Corinthians 15:22-25

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

1 Corinthians 15: 50-53

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Your immortality is as certain as his reign!

Talk 24   Mark 8:22-26  The Healing of a Blind Man at Bethsaida

Welcome to Talk 24 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at Mark 8:22-26 where Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida. Jesus healed many blind people during the course of his ministry. Luke 7:21 tells us that he gave sight to many that were blind and the healings of Bartimaeus in Mark 10 and of the man born blind in John 9 are well known examples. But this incident, which is found only in Mark’s Gospel, is particularly interesting because it’s the only occasion where Jesus needed to lay his hands on someone twice before they were completely healed. So let’s begin by reading the passage together.

22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spat on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?" 24 He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."  25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village."

The first thing I’d like you to notice in this story is that some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. Of course, it’s understandable that a blind man would need others to bring him to Jesus, but what’s most significant here is that it is the people, not the blind man, who beg Jesus to touch him. This is quite different from the healing of Bartimaeus who is discouraged by the people as he seeks healing from Jesus and who calls out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, and to whom Jesus says, Your faith has healed you (Mark 10:46-52).

In fact Jesus uses this expression on several different occasions in the Gospels:

·      After giving sight to Bartimaeus (Mark 10:52)

·      When speaking to the woman who touched the hem of his garment (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 18:42)

·      to the grateful leper he had cleansed (Luke 17:19).

·      and to the woman who poured perfume on his feet and received forgiveness for her sins (Luke 7:50)

It’s exactly the same Greek expression on all these occasions, and it shows the important role personal faith plays in receiving forgiveness and cleansing and healing. But there are other occasions in the New Testament where it’s the faith of other people that brings about the healing:

·      The faith of the four friends who brought the paralytic  to Jesus (Mark 2:5)

·      of the Centurion for his servant’s healing (Matthew 8:10)

·      of the SyroPhoenician woman for the healing of her daughter (Matthew 15:28)

·      and the faith of the elders when anointing the sick with oil (James 5:15).

And here in today’s passage it’s the people who bring the blind man to Jesus who are begging him to heal him. It’s by no means clear how much faith the blind man had, but it seems safe to assume that he was in full agreement with his friends’ request.

The second thing we notice in this story is that Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village (v23). We’re not told why Jesus did this, but it reminds us of the deaf and mute man that Jesus healed in the last chapter. Jesus took him aside away from the crowd (Mark 7:33). We suggested there that he may have done so because he wanted to get the man’s full attention, to show him that he was not just one of the crowd, but an individual he cared about personally, or that perhaps Jesus himself felt the need to get away from the crowd, to get a moment of quiet when he could hear what God was saying about how to deal with this man’s need.

And on this occasion Jesus may have done so for similar reasons. However, in this case it seems that Jesus might have had a further reason for taking the man out of the village. Notice that, after he has healed him, Jesus says, Don't go into the village.  We have seen on several other occasions in Mark’s Gospel how Jesus tells those he has healed to tell no one about it, and it’s possible that this is just another such occasion. Jesus was concerned that his miracles

should not be the focus of people’s attention. They were signs to confirm the truth of his message. He wanted people to hear what he said, not just to see what he did.

But the fact is, we simply don’t know why he led the blind man out of the village. What we do know is that Jesus only did what he saw his Father doing (John 5:19) and the reasons for Jesus’ specific actions were related to what God was telling him to do, and to the individual needs of the person he was ministering to – a principle we should all be aware of when we are praying for the sick, and which is particularly relevant to the next thing Mark tells us:

When he had spat on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"

We’re not surprised that Jesus put his hands on him, but spitting on the man’s eyes is not what we might have expected. Of course, we remember how, when he healed the man who was deaf and mute, Mark tells as that Jesus spat and put his fingers in the man’s ears. We may also remember how, when he healed the blind man in John 9, Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes (v6).

There were no doubt specific reasons why Jesus used saliva in each of these three cases – one suggestion, for example, is that the man in John 9 was born without eyes and that Jesus was creating eyes for him from the dust of the ground, as God did when he created Adam. But, in the absence of any clear explanation in the Scripture, it would be unwise to jump to conclusions. It’s all right to suggest what the reasons might have been but beware of people who are over dogmatic on such matters.

As far as following the example of Jesus is concerned, we can learn from this that the Holy Spirit might lead us on rare occasions to do something out of the ordinary when ministering to the sick, but we need to be very sure that we are hearing God correctly, and we should remember that the New Testament authorises two main ways of ministering healing, the laying on of hands (Mark 16) and anointing with oil (James 5). But even with these, the important thing is to hear what God is saying. The New Testament offers no formula for healing.

Notice next, still in verse 23, that Jesus asks the man, Do you see anything? There is, of course, a simple explanation for this. It’s not immediately obvious to anyone except the blind person who has been prayed for (or treated medically for an eye condition) whether or not they can see. We have to ask them. But surely Jesus would have known. He was God, wasn’t he? Yes, but he was also man.

This simple question to a blind man reveals one of the great mysteries of the incarnation (cf. 1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus was both God and man. Not half God and half man, but 100% God and 100% man. Our finite minds simply can’t grasp it. But a God who can be fully understood by my tiny mind couldn’t possibly be God at all, could he? But the Bible is clear that while Jesus was here on earth, as man he did not know everything. He grew in wisdom and stature (Luke 2:52). Even though he never ceased to be God, when he was hungry and saw a fig tree he had to go and find out if it had any fruit (Mark 11:13).

So, here, to find out if the blind man can see anything, he asks him. There’s no need to look any further for an explanation.  Neither do we need an explanation for how a blind man knew what people and trees looked like. After all, we’re not told that he was blind from birth. But what does require an explanation is why the man is not completely healed immediately. Why did Jesus need to lay hands on him twice?

Answers to this seem to fall into three main categories:

·      Jesus was aware that the man was lacking in faith

·      Jesus was teaching his disciples that some healings would not be instantaneous

·      Jesus was illustrating his attempts to get his disciples to ‘see’ the truth about him.

Let’s consider each of these ideas in turn.

Jesus was aware that the man was lacking in faith

As we saw earlier, Jesus was constantly looking for faith in those who came to him. Sometimes it was the faith of the person who was in need. At others it was the faith of the friends or relatives who asked Jesus to help them. Whichever it was, it seems that it was the person who was bringing the request who was expected to have faith that it would be granted.

Now if this man was lacking in faith, we are certainly not told that he was. What’s more, it was the people who brought him to Jesus who made the request. And there is no mention of a sudden increase in faith before Jesus laid his hands on the man the second time, although we can imagine that his faith was encouraged by the improvement he experienced after Jesus laid hands on him the first time. However, we cannot say with any certainty that the reason why the man’s healing was not immediate was lack of faith.

Jesus was teaching his disciples that some healings would not be instantaneous

I suspect that this idea comes from the fact that healings today are often either partial or gradual. Of course we do see immediate answers to prayer for healing, especially in an evangelistic context when a miracle of healing is granted to help people come to faith in Christ (cf. Mark 16:15ff., John 20:30-31 etc.). But there are many cases where people ‘receive a touch’ of healing but are not completely healed. At other times, even when there is a full recovery, this may take some time before it is complete. And in attempting to explain the reason for these incomplete healings, it’s easy to refer to this passage as biblical evidence.

However, it’s surely clear that, in the case we are looking at, if the blind man’s healing was delayed, it was not delayed for very long! And it could hardly be described as gradual. Jesus lays hands on him, and there’s an immediate improvement. He lays hands on him again, and the healing is complete. If Jesus really wanted to show his disciples that some healings are not instantaneous, this was hardly the best example give them. Furthermore, there is no evidence of gradual or partial healings in the ministry of his disciples. That is not to say that  healing does not sometimes happen gradually or in stages – there’s plenty of evidence that it does. But I think it unlikely that this was the reason that Jesus laid hands on this man twice.

Jesus was illustrating his attempts to get his disciples to ‘see’ the truth about him

The merit in this suggestion is that it takes into account the context in which the story is set in Mark’s Gospel. As we saw in our last talk, Jesus was often disappointed with his disciples for their lack of faith and slowness to understand, and only a few verses before today’s passage we hear him saying:

Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?

The disciples had physical eyes to see, but they were spiritually blind. But Jesus did not give up on them. He persevered with them. And it’s possible that Mark included this story at this point in his narrative as an illustration of Jesus’ determination to persevere with his disciples until their spiritual eyes were opened to see who he truly was.

And this makes all the more sense when we consider what follows. Jesus takes his disciples to Caesarea Philippi and asks his disciples who they think he is. And Peter replies, You are the Christ. His eyes have been opened, but not to the whole truth, for when Jesus tells them about his coming death and resurrection, Peter refuses to accept it. His eyes has been opened to part of the truth, but he had yet to see clearly the whole truth.

I confess I find this explanation very appealing because of the context in which the passage is set. However, if Mark does include the story here as a kind of living parable illustrating how Jesus will persevere with people until they come to see the truth about him, that need not necessarily mean that this was why Jesus did it in the first place. The simple fact is, we simply do not know why Jesus healed this man in this way. The evidence for all these suggestions is inconclusive. And whatever explanation we prefer, we must be careful not to be dogmatic. What we can say with certainty is that Jesus did not leave this man unhealed.

So what other lessons can we learn from this passage?

We see that:

Nothing is impossible with God

He responds to our prayers

We may not understand why he answers in the way he does

What he does he does perfectly

He keeps on working in us until we see everything (including Jesus) clearly.

Once he could see clearly, the first thing this man saw was Jesus.

One day we will see clearly. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then (when we get to Heaven) we will see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Only a day before making this recording my darling wife Eileen went to be with Jesus.

Now she sees him perfectly. Oh hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. And one day we shall too.

Talk 23  Mark 8:1-21 Feeding the Four Thousand

Welcome to Talk 23 in our series on Mark's Gospel. Today we are looking at Mark 8:1-21. This passage includes the story of Jesus feeding the 4,000, which is similar in many ways to the account of the feeding of the 5,000 recorded in Chapter 6. As a result, liberal scholars have suggested that this is just a variant account of the same miracle rather than a totally separate one.

So today we’ll begin by looking at the biblical evidence that this was indeed a distinct event which took place at a different time, in a different place, and with a different group of people. We’ll then consider what lessons we can learn from the passage with regard to Jesus, his opponents and his disciples. So let’s begin by reading Mark 8:1-21.

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance." 4 His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" 5 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied. 6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.

14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 "Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod." 16 They discussed this with one another and said, "It is because we have no bread." 17 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. 20 "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." 21 He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

So, to begin with, what’s the evidence that this is not a variant account of the same miracle as the feeding of the 5,000 recorded in Chapter 6?

Why this is not a variant account of the feeding of the 5,000

We need not spend much time on this. If you take seriously the authority of the Scriptures, you will quickly see that this is a completely different miracle from the feeding of the 5000. Firstly, both Matthew and Mark record them closely together as two separate accounts of two separate miracles. Secondly, despite the similarities, there are also many differences in the details of the two accounts. Thirdly, the two miracles took place in different places and with different people. The feeding of the 5000 took place in the largely Jewish region of Galilee. The feeding of the four thousand was in the Gentile region of the Decapolis. And finally, and most important of all, Jesus himself refers to them as separate events. In verses 19-20 he says:

When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. 20 "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"

There is no way that Jesus could have said this if the two stories were variant accounts of the same miracle. And if Jesus was able to perform such a miracle once, he was certainly able to do it twice! But that brings us to what we can learn about Jesus in this story,

Lessons about Jesus

When we looked at the feeding of the 5,000 in Talk 18 we noticed three main characteristics about Jesus:

·      His compassion for the people

·      His concern for his disciples as he seeks to train them to trust him

·      His confidence in his heavenly Father.

And we noticed that these qualities are seen over and over again throughout his ministry. So it’s not surprising that we see them here as he feeds the 4,000. Again he has compassion on the people because they have nothing to eat (vv.2-3). Again we see his concern for the weakness of his disciples’ faith and their lack of understanding (vv.4, 17-18, 21). And again we see his confidence in God as he gives thanks for the few loaves and fishes he has (vv.6-7) and feeds a multitude with them. But perhaps there’s just one more thing we can learn about Jesus from this passage. The repetition of such a miracle shows us that if Jesus has done something once, he can do it again. And if he could do it again then, he can do the same kind of thing again today.

Lessons about his opponents

The Pharisees are mentioned in verses 11 and 13. In verse 11 they come to test Jesus and ask for a sign from heaven, to which Jesus replies

Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it (v.12).

And in verse 15 Jesus warns his disciples

Be careful…Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.

Two questions arise from these verses:

1.     Why does Jesus refuse to give his opponents the sign they are asking for?

2.     Why does he warn his disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees?

Why does Jesus refuse to give his opponents the sign they are asking for?

First, it’s worth noting the significance of the particular wording Jesus uses here. Although it’s not clear in our English translations, his hearers would have understood him as taking an oath. So his refusal to give them a sign was extremely strong. He was determined not to take a course of action that he had already firmly rejected when Satan had tempted him to throw himself down from the highest point of the temple (Matthew 4:5-6).

Secondly, please note that his refusal is recorded in all four Gospels. In Matthew 12:39, for example, Jesus also says that a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign and goes on to say that the only sign that would be given it would be the sign of his resurrection from the dead (cf. Luke 11:29-32). And he knew that even then, despite the clear evidence for his resurrection, they, like many today, would still refuse to believe.  Notice what he says in Luke 16:31 when talking about rich man and Lazarus:

If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

By mentioning Moses and the Prophets Jesus was referring to the Old Testament, the only Bible they had at the time. If people are determined to reject the testimony of Scripture, they will also reject the evidence for the resurrection. God does not work miracles in an attempt to convince those who, in their hearts, really do not want to believe, those who, like the Pharisees, only wanted to test him.

He does, however, work miracles to help those whose hearts are open to his word. John’s Gospel records seven signs to enable people to believe and in chapter 20 it says that

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (vv30-31).

It’s by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that we have eternal life. And miraculous signs are given to help us to believe. So when Jesus sent his disciples into all the world to preach the gospel, he promised them that signs would accompany their preaching (Mark 16:15-20). But, as may become clearer as we answer our second question, he does not work miracles for those who, like the Pharisees, have no intention of believing him.

Why does Jesus warn his disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees?

v. 15 Be careful…Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.

Yeast, or leaven, is what is needed to make bread rise. You only need a small amount and it will soon spread throughout the dough. In the New Testament, with only one exception (Matthew 13:33), yeast is used to symbolize evil. It’s an unseen influence that can spread quickly in any society or church. In 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Paul says:

Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Here Paul was referring to the Jewish custom of clearing the house of yeast before Passover. He sees the church as an unleavened batch of dough because Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us. We are unleavened. Sin has been cleared out because of what Jesus did for us. So we are told to be what Christ has already made us. In effect he is saying, Christ has made you holy, so BE holy. Live holy unleavened lives. And he uses malice and wickedness as examples of leaven or yeast, and sincerity and truth as examples of unleavened bread.

So if yeast represents something bad, what exactly does Jesus mean when he talks about the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod? The answer surely lies in what we have already seen about their attitude to Jesus. We saw in Talk 17 (Mark 6) how Herod:

·      Hardened his heart to God’s word through the preaching of John the Baptist

·      Refused to repent (of his adulterous relationship with Herodias)

·      Insisted on preserving his reputation at all costs

·      Was eventually complicit with Pontius Pilate in the crucifixion of Jesus (Cf. Acts 4:27).

And we have repeatedly seen how the Pharisees too persistently hardened their hearts against Jesus, even accusing him of being demon-possessed. Their reputation and social position were more important to them than the truth, and they were already seeking a way to kill him. Their words and their actions against him were expressions of what was already in their hearts. The ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees was essentially an attitude of heart that is persistently opposed to Christ.

And there are two possible reasons why Jesus warns his disciples to guard against this yeast. He knew that the attitude of the Pharisees and Herod (or Herodians) would eventually spread like yeast to make the entire population rise up against Jesus and he wanted his disciples to be aware of this. But it’s more likely in my view that he was warning them of the danger of allowing such an attitude to develop in their own hearts. Paul was later to warn the Corinthians that a little yeast leavens the whole lump. A wrong attitude of heart among Christians can spread very quickly in a local church and we must be careful not to allow our thinking to become like that of the world (Romans 12:2).

Lessons about his disciples

But that brings us finally to what we can learn about the disciples from this passage. In verse 4 they’re still asking the same kind of question as they did before the feeding of the five thousand: But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them? They were still thinking at a purely human level, and even after Jesus has worked a similar miracle again, he has to say to them:

17 Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" "Twelve," they replied. 20 "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven." 21 He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

They had failed to understand. They had failed to see and hear. They had failed to remember. But before we get too critical of these men, we need to examine our own hearts and ask if we are still prone to the same hardness of heart. The disciples had failed understand:

·       Who Jesus really is

·      Why his resources were not limited to the natural

·      Why they themselves need not be limited to their own natural resources.

They had eyes to see and ears to hear, but they were blind to what God wanted to show them and deaf to what he wanted to tell them. Are we so very different? I think not.

So what’s the cure? The key is in that word remember. We need to remember what God has said to us in his word. We need to remember what we have seen him do already in our own lives. And, most important of all, we need to remember who Jesus is. As we take our eyes off the problems that face us and our limited resources to solve them, and remind ourselves of who Jesus is, and the infinite resources at his disposal, we will learn, as the disciples eventually came to learn, that nothing is impossible to those who believe.

Talk 22   Mark 7:31-37 Jesus heals a man who is deaf and mute

Welcome to Talk 22 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at the story in Mark 7:31-37 of how Jesus heals a man who is deaf and mute. But before we turn to the passage, let me begin with a testimony of a similar healing that happened in my own family.

From my earliest years I can remember being told of how one of my aunts had been miraculously healed in answer to prayer . Her name was May and in the 1911 census she was recorded as being ‘deaf and dumb from birth’. When she was in her twenties, my grandmother took her to a divine healing meeting conducted by the evangelist, George Jeffreys , who placed his hands on her and prayed  for her.

That evening, as they were travelling home to Poplar in the East End of London, they went down to catch the underground train. While they were waiting on the platform, suddenly, with a shocked expression on her face, May put both hands over her ears. She could hear the roar of the train as it came through the tunnel approaching the platform!

Until that moment, from the day she was born she had never been able to hear, but now she could hear, and within a few weeks was beginning to speak. My father was her younger brother, and when, years later, I was told at school that miracles  did not happen, he was quick to remind me of my aunt’s healing. I suppose that’s why I’ve never doubted God ’s miracle working power and firmly believe that we should expect to see miracles today. But now, to the passage in Mark 7.

31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.

33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spat and touched the man's tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). 35 At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

This miracle is recorded only in Mark. It’s the simple but wonderful story of a man’s need and how Jesus met it. Jesus leaves the region of Tyre and Sidon and goes down to the region of the Ten Cities known as Decapolis. Some people bring him a man who is deaf and can hardly talk. There is no mention of faith in this story, but, as we saw last time, faith comes by hearing the message about Christ. How much these people were able to communicate with this deaf man is not clear, but they themselves had heard about Christ and had enough faith to bring him to Jesus. It’s interesting that in the New Testament it is often the faith of others that results in healing, and not always the faith of the person who is sick. Note too that they don’t specifically ask Jesus to heal the man, but just to place his hand on him.

But let’s look carefully at what Jesus actually does. The first thing we notice is that he took him aside away from the crowd.

He took him aside away from the crowd.

Why did Jesus do this? We’re not told. It can be great to be part of a crowd, especially where miracles are happening, but sometimes the crowd can be a distraction. The miracles Jesus is performing on others can in certain circumstances take our eyes off what he might want to do for us. Jesus deals with us as individuals. And in this case he wants to get the man’s full attention, to show him that he is not just one of the crowd, but an individual he cares about personally. Perhaps the man’s condition, unable to hear and hardly able to speak, made these personal moments with Jesus all the more necessary.

And perhaps Jesus himself felt the need to get away from the crowd, to get a moment of quiet when he can hear what Father is saying about how to deal with this man’s need. When ministering to the sick it’s so important to take time to hear what God is saying in each individual situation, and not be rushed into trying to deal with the needs of everyone who is asking for prayer at the same time.

He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spat and touched the man’s tongue.

Jesus usually healed by a touch or a word of command, and his disciples sometimes healed by anointing people with oil. On one occasion he even healed a blind man by anointing his eyes with mud made from the dust of the ground and Jesus’ own saliva (John 9:6). But occasions like this, and the one we are considering in today’s passage, were exceptional, and should certainly not be seen as a methodology of healing. Jesus’ only methodology was to hear what the Father was saying (John 5:19.)

So why does Jesus on this occasion put his fingers into the man’s ears, spit and touch the man’s tongue. It’s possible that he was miming. The people who had brought the man to Jesus had shown a measure of faith just by bringing him, but it’s possible that Jesus was also looking for faith in the man himself. And, as we have seen, faith comes by hearing… But the man could not hear. But by miming Jesus could well have been indicating to the man that he was intending to heal him, and the assurance that would give the man would create faith in his heart.

But another aspect of Jesus’ unusual actions is how personal and intimate they are. He is not just touching the man; he’s putting his fingers into his ears. He’s spitting and touching the man’s tongue, presumably with the saliva! Today we might say, He’s invading his space! But if we want God’s blessing in our lives, we must be prepared to let him invade our space. We must make room for him.

When he left heaven and came to earth he was, in a sense, invading our space, but he only did so because he loves us. And he’s constantly looking for that intimate relationship with us where he’s involved with every aspect of our being. If we allow him to do so, the reward, as it was for the man in our story, will be wonderful.

He looked up to heaven

Jesus often looked up to heaven when he prayed. He did so before he blessed the loaves and fed the five thousand (Mark 6:41). And the fact that he does so here suggests three things. First, Jesus had constant contact with heaven. He was sinless. There was no barrier between himself and God. At his baptism the heavens were torn open and the Father’s voice was heard saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mark 1:10-11). Jesus lived under an open Heaven.

Secondly, by looking up to Heaven Jesus would be reminded of what Heaven is like. In Heaven there is no sin, no suffering, no sickness. He taught his disciples to pray, Your will be done as it is in heaven… God’s will is that earth should be like Heaven. And Jesus had come to do God’s will (Hebrews 10:7). Jesus knew that in the age to come earth would indeed become like Heaven and he had come to show us by his sinless life, his love and compassion, and by the miracles he performed, what a foretaste of Heaven could be like.

And thirdly, looking up to Heaven was a sign of his submission to heaven’s authority. As we have already said, Jesus only did what he saw the Father do (John 5:19). He looks up to Heaven in submission to Father’s authority before he speaks the word of command – be opened. And we should never presume to speak a word of command in Jesus’ name without first receiving by the Spirit authority to do so from Heaven. We can not take authority. We only have it if it is given to us.

He sighed deeply

It’s been suggested that Jesus’ sigh reflects the cost and pain of ministry. And Jesus certainly did pay a heavy price, not just by his death on the cross to save us from our sins, but even through the years of preaching, teaching, healing, and training his disciples, he warned those who thought that following him might be easy, that Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Matthew 8:20).

But I think it more likely that Jesus’ sigh was an expression of his compassion for the suffering. Jesus’ compassion was the motivation for his healings. In Matthew 14:14 we’re told that he healed their sick because he was moved with compassion for them.  It was because of his compassion that he gave sight to the blind (Matthew 20:34), cleansed the leper (Mark 1:41), cast out demons (Mark 5:19), and raised the dead (Luke 7:13).

It is also possible to see his sigh as an expression of anger with this man’s affliction. Does not God, who is holy, have a right to be angry with sin? Yes, but his anger with sin springs not only from his holiness, but also from his love. He hates sin because he knows what it does to our lives. He hates sin because he loves us. And he hates sickness because of the havoc it wreaks in human lives. It’s because of his compassion for this man that he is angry with the affliction that bound him, and no doubt with any Satanic forces that may have caused it.

So Jesus looks up to Heaven and sighs, and then he says, Ephphatha, BE OPENED.

He said to him, Ephphatha… BE OPENED

Just one word – Ephphatha. One word from Jesus is enough. It was enough because it had all the authority of Heaven behind it. Jesus only did what he saw the Father do. He who said at the beginning, Let there be light, now says, Be opened. Now notice what it says in verse 35:

35 At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.

Th word translated at this literally means immediately! Immediately he could hear. Immediately he could speak – plainly. No wonder the crowd said, He has done everything well (v37). And, as my aunt’s testimony shows, the age of such miracles is not past, though admittedly she did not speak immediately she was healed. I think that perhaps her inability to speak had been caused by her being deaf. Once the Lord opened her ears she was able to begin to learn to speak. But this man began to speak plainly immediately. My aunt’s experience does not in any way suggest that miracles today cannot be as great as Jesus performed while he was here on earth. Did not he say,

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)?

No, my aunt’s experience simply shows that God deals with different people differently. What doesn’t change is his love, his compassion, and his power. But is there perhaps also a spiritual message in this miracle that applies to us all? Look at verses 36-37.

36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

When we met Jesus our ears were opened to his word and our tongues were loosened to speak it out. Have we begun to speak plainly to others about him? Are they overwhelmed with amazement? Does our testimony about Jesus cause them to say, He has done everything well? Do they keep talking about it?

But finally, let’s remind ourselves that Jesus opens more than ears, and mouths, and eyes. He opens the door to Heaven to all who will believe. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gate of Heaven and let us in (C.F Alexander). He is the one who opens and no-one can shut (Revelation 3:7). He alone can open the book (Revelation 5:7). And in John 5:28 Jesus tells us that a time is coming when the graves will be opened and

all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

And Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that

the Lord himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command (a shout) with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ shall rise…

I wonder what that shout might be. Could it be Ephphatha?

Talk 21   Mark 7:24-40   The Faith of a Syrophoenician Woman

Welcome to Talk 21 in our series on Mark's gospel. Today we will be considering Mark 7:24-40 where Jesus casts a demon out of the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman. In recent talks we have seen how Jesus often tested the faith of his disciples, and today we will see him testing the faith of a Gentile.

The story is also recorded in Matthew 15:21-28 where Matthew adds some details that are not mentioned in Mark’s account. So, as I read the passage in Mark, I’m going to weave into it the extra details we find in Matthew. (If you’re looking at the notes the words in brackets are from Matthew).

24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre (and Sidon). He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was (a Canaanite) a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter (crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession’. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said). 27 "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 28 "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs (that fall from their master’s table)." 29 Then he told her, (Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted). For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter. (And her daughter was healed at that moment). 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus travels about 30 miles from the shore of the sea of Galilee to Tyre and Sidon which were Canaanite cities on the Mediterranean Sea just north of Israel. He must have been known at least to the Jews living in that area and was probably staying in the home of a Jewish disciple.

Mark tells us that he didn’t want anyone to know he was there. We’re not told why, but it was almost certainly so that he could take time to rest and to pray. But it wasn't long before the news got out about his presence in that territory and a woman whose little daughter was demon possessed came begging him for help. From all we have learnt about Jesus so far, we can have no doubt that he had compassion on this woman, but on this occasion he did not respond immediately to meet her need.

There are two possible reasons for this:

·      She was not a Jew

·      He was testing her faith

She was not a Jew.

Jesus says that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, and adds,

First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.

The woman would have understood what Jesus meant by this because the Jews frequently referred to the Gentiles as dogs.

At first sight it seems that Jesus is dealing with this woman very harshly, but we need to remember when he said it. God’s ultimate purpose was that the good news of the kingdom would be preached to all nations, but that was to take place after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that by his death Jesus broke down the wall of the temple that separated the Jews from the Gentiles, but during his earthly ministry Jesus’ purpose was first to give an opportunity to the Jews – the lost sheep of Israel – to repent and believe. But that did not mean that even then the blessings of his kingdom were completely unavailable to the Gentiles, if only they would believe. The true Jew, the true descendant of Abraham, has always been the person who believes as Abraham believed. Because of her faith this Gentile woman not only received healing for her daughter, but also became one of God’s children. But that brings us to the second reason why Jesus did not immediately grant her request.

He was testing her faith.

The fact that God sometimes tests us does not mean that he does not love us, but by being tested our faith is strengthened. Reading the passage, we see various facets of this woman’s amazing faith that provide important lessons for us today.

1 She heard about him

In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet (v25).

How had she heard and what had she heard? We don’t know. But Mark 3:8-12 might give us a clue:

When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."

She had almost certainly heard about the healings and the exorcisms. Why else would she come to Jesus to ask him to help her demon-possessed daughter? Her faith came by hearing the message about Christ (cf. Romans 10:17). The more we learn from God’s word about who Jesus is and what he did, and the more we learn of what he is still doing today, the greater will be our faith. And if we want others to come to faith in Jesus, we must tell them about him.

2 She acknowledged who he was

She cried out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me (Matthew 15:22). Admittedly, the Greek word kurios could be used then, as it still is in Greece today, as a polite form of address, rather equivalent to Mr. or Sir. But the use of the Messianic title Son of David surely implies that here it means something more. She certainly seems to have had an understanding of Jesus’ authority, rather like another Gentile, the Roman centurion, who came to Jesus for help, believing that Jesus could heal at a distance, and of whom Jesus said, I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith (Matthew 8:10).

So faith begins as a result of hearing about Jesus and coming to recognise who he is. When we do, the appropriate response is to humble ourselves. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

3 She humbled herself

·      She fell at his feet (v25)

·      She begged Jesus to drive out the demon (v26)

·      She recognised her need for mercy (Matthew 15:22)

·      She came and knelt before (worshipped) him (Matthew 15:25)

·      She admitted that she needed help (Matthew 15:25)

·      She acknowledged that she was not one of God’s children (vv27-28)

But despite all this she boldly persisted.

4 She boldly persisted

Notice that she begged Jesus.

The word used for begged here means that she kept on asking.

But Jesus doesn’t reply.

The disciples urge him to send her away because she keeps crying out after us.

Now Jesus speaks. I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.

Undeterred she comes and kneels before him and says, Lord, help me!

Jesus responds by saying that his first responsibility is to the Jews.

But she still persists. Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

To which Jesus replied, Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted.

Sometimes faith is rewarded immediately. Often it’s demonstrated by a dogged persistence that is determined to believe despite adversity and disappointment.

5 She believed

Why did Jesus tell her that she had great faith?

·      She believed that Jesus had the power to deal with an impossible situation.

·      She believed that he could do it at a distance. (She wouldn’t have expected him to come to her house).

·      She believed because her eyes were on Jesus, not on her ethnicity or inadequacy.

·      She kept on believing despite Jesus’ initial silence and apparent denial.

·      She declared her faith.

6 She declared her faith

In verse 27 Jesus says:

First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.

The word used for dogs here means little dogs and refers to family pets. It’s possible that what Jesus meant by this was that his first priority was to provide food for the children (teach his disciples), and not to allow pets to interrupt the family meal. But, as I have already mentioned, the Jews commonly referred to Gentiles as dogs. So there is also the implication that the time for the Gentiles had not yet arrived. Despite this, however, the woman replies:

Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs (that fall from their master’s table).

And it’s at this point that Jesus says:

Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. For such a reply, (literally, because of this word), you may go; the demon has left your daughter.

Notice that it’s because of her reply that Jesus says she has great faith. He clearly sees this as a declaration of faith. And the declaration of faith is important. In 2 Corinthains 4:13 Paul says:

It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken’. Since we have the same spirit of faith, we believe and therefore speak.

And in Romans 10:10 he says that it’s with our mouth that we profess our faith. But this is no ‘Name it and Claim it’ teaching. He does not say, I spoke, therefore I believed! He simply means that if we really believe something in our hearts we will declare it. On another occasion Jesus said, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). Jesus saw the woman’s declaration as evidence of the faith that was in her heart, and that was enough for him to grant her request.

7 She received what she asked for

30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

She received a foretaste of the blessings that would soon become available to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. And we too have received a foretaste of future blessings. In the gift of the Holy Spirit we have tasted of the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:4-5). For example, the ultimate healing takes place when we receive new bodies when Jesus comes again, but by the Spirit through the gifts of healing, which are distributed as he determines, we may receive by faith a wonderful foretaste of the age to come.

So, to conclude, if Jesus is testing your faith right now, remind yourself who he is, keep your eyes on him and not on the problem, humble yourself before him, persist in asking him to help you, and decare your faith in him. And at the right time, he will do it.

Talk 20   Mark 7:1-23 Beware of the Pharisees

Welcome to Talk 20 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at Mark 7:1-23 where the Pharisees see some of Jesus’ disciples eating food without first giving their hands the ceremonial washing that was required by Jewish tradition. So they ask Jesus about this. Jesus replies by quoting a passage from Isaiah where God says:

These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.

He then adds:

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.

As an example of this, Jesus points out that they were getting around God’s command to honour your father and mother by a practice known as Corban. Instead of helping their parents when they were in financial need, they would say that whatever money they had was devoted to God, and so they were unable to help them. In doing this they were setting aside the commands of God in order to observe their own traditions!

Jesus then calls the crowd to him and tells them that

Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'

When his disciples ask him to explain what he means by this, he tells them that what we eat or how we eat it can’t make us unclean because it doesn’t go into our heart but into our stomach and then passes out of our body. Mark then adds that

In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean."

Jesus then says that what makes you unclean is what comes out of your heart – things like evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. These are the things that make us unclean.

So what can we learn from all this?

Notice first the continued opposition of the Jewish leaders to Jesus.

The continued opposition of the Jewish leaders to Jesus

They seem to have been against him right from the start. They have challenged his authority to forgive sins, they’ve criticised him for eating with tax-collectors and ‘sinners’, they’ve complained that his disciples have done what is not lawful on the Sabbath, they’ve accused him of being demon-possessed, and they’ve already begun to plot how they can kill him. And now they’re complaining about the behaviour of his disciples again:

Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands? (v5).

And that was the root cause of their opposition – the tradition of the elders. There’s a clear contrast in this passage between man-made tradition and the commands of God.

The contrast between man-made tradition and the commands of God

Notice the repetition of the word tradition in this passage:

3 …the tradition of the elders.

4 …they observe many other traditions

5 …Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders…?

8 …You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.

9 …You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

13 …you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.

What stands out in these verses is that traditions are made by men, not God. They are handed down by men. And there is the danger that in following man-made tradition we may not only let go of the commands of God, but even nullify his word. It can also easily lead to hypocrisy.

The danger of hypocrisy

Look at verses 6-8.

6 He (Jesus) replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hupokrites which means actor. In ancient Greece plays were performed in amphitheatres by actors who wore masks. So a hypocrite is someone who covers up who they really are, pretending to be someone else. This was just what the Pharisees were guilty of, honouring God with their lips, but far from him in their hearts. Their hypocrisy involved insincerity and dishonesty.

As a result, Jesus said that they worshipped God in vain. They were not honouring God by teaching his word, but rules taught by men. They knew what God had said, but they had let go of his commands. In Matthew 23, talking of the Pharisees, Jesus said:

…do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. "Everything they do is done for men to see… (Matthew 23:3-4).

In fact, to get a full understanding of Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees, it’s worth reading the whole of Matthew 23, but the verses we’ve just quoted give a clear idea of the nature of hypocrisy. Their motivation for what they did and said was clearly wrong. They did not practice what they preached, and by their nit-picking rules they placed heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and were totally unwilling to lift them. But that brings us to the next key principle we see in today’s passage – the freedom that Jesus has brought us.

The freedom that Jesus has brought us

The legalistic regulations imposed by the traditions of men stands in stark contrast to the liberty that Jesus introduced through his teaching. Notice Mark’s statement in verse 19 that Jesus declared all foods clean! (Compare Peter’s experience on the rooftop at Joppa in Acts 10). What a contrast to the strict food laws imposed by Moses! As we saw in Talk 8, the kingdom of God which Jesus had come to proclaim could not be contained within the framework of Judaism. This is reflected in what Mark says in verse 3: The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing.

Admittedly it had taken some time for the church to break free from the restraints of Judaism, but the Council of Jerusalem (c.48-50AD) was a great step forward towards the freedom that Jesus had so vehemently proclaimed. I have dealt with this subject at some length in my book, The Voice of God, where I point out that the decision made by the church leaders in Acts 15 regarding food was an ad hoc decision motivated by the Holy Spirit to deal with a specific problem facing the church at that time. It was not binding on all Christians for all time. As we have seen, Jesus had already declared all foods to be clean, and this was clearly the understanding of the apostle Paul when he says in Romans 14:17-20:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.

The underlying principle in this teaching is love. When a Pharisee who was an expert in the Law asked Jesus, What is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied:

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"(Matthew 22:37-40).

Notice that Jesus says, All the Law and the Prophets. Not just the ceremonial law. All the law. The Ten Commandments are included. And everything taught by the prophets. The entire Old Testament. As Christians we are free from it all! But of course, if we really love God with all our heart and soul and mind, and if we really love our neighbour as ourself, we will not kill or steal or commit adultery etc. The Law was given to show us our sin and our need of a Saviour (Galatians 3:23-25). But now we are free. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free and we are to stand firm in that freedom (Galatians 5:1). As Paul says in Galatians 5:13-14:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’.

The importance of the heart

In verses 18-23 he says that nothing you eat can make you unclean because it doesn’t go into your heart. It’s what what’s in your heart that makes you unclean. In Matthew 5:27-28 , for example, Jesus warns against adultery in the heart. This is because, as he says here:

…from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'

This list is clearly connected to the Ten Commandments, where theft, murder, adultery, and coveting are strictly forbidden. But whereas the Ten Commandments relate largely to a person’s actions, Jesus is here emphasising the motivation behind those actions and the source from which they spring, the human heart. In Jeremiah 17:9-10 God says:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds (ESV).

The desires of our hearts influence the thoughts of our minds, and our thoughts determine our actions. But as those who have received Christ as our Saviour, Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us that we have confidence to enter God’s presence because Jesus has made a way for us by dying for us and as a result we can:

draw near to God with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…

What’s more, Galatians 4:5-6 tells us that we have been redeemed from the law and adopted as God’s children, and God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. That’s why, rather than giving in to the acts of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), we are able now to follow the desires of the Spirit allowing the fruit of the Spirit to grow in our lives:

Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

How different these qualities are from the attitudes and actions of the Pharisees. From their bad example there is so much we can learn to avoid. Even as Christians we can fall into their ways as even Peter did briefly (Galatians 2:11-13). As those who follow Jesus we should never:

·      Put man-made traditions before the word of God.

·      Find ways of getting around God's commands to further our own interests.

·      Impose heavy burdens on others by our legalistic rules.

·      Be more concerned with outward appearance than with true holiness.

·      Act like hypocrites, honouring God with our lips, but far from him in our hearts.

And, of course, unlike the Pharisees, we must practise what we preach.

If we don’t want to fall into their ways, we need to examine our hearts.

Talk 19 Mark 6:45-56 Jesus walks on water

Welcome to talk 19 in our series on Mark's gospel. Today we are looking at Mark 6:45-56 where we read the remarkable story of Jesus walking on water.This story, which takes place just after Jesus had fed the 5000, is a wonderful example of how Jesus continues to challenge and to strengthen the faith of his disciples. In it we see how:

·      The disciples were very slow to learn and to believe.

·      Jesus deliberately challenges their faith.

·      He supernaturally intervenes to bring them safely through the problem they are facing.

The disciples’ slowness to learn and to believe

Jesus was training his disciples to become fishers of men.

The most important part was teaching them to understand exactly who he was – the Son of God. He did this by the things he taught and the miracles he performed.

But the disciples were slow to learn and to believe.

Even after Jesus had risen from the dead he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen (Mark 16:14).

They were amazed when they saw the miracles, but again and again they reveal their lack of faith. Remember the storm on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus asks, Do you still have no faith?

And, in Chapter 8, when the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread with them, Jesus asks:

Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” “Twelve,” they replied. “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?” They answered, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:17-21).

It seems that Jesus was constantly working

·      to bring his disciples to a deeper understanding of who he was

·      and to develop their faith in God’s love for them

·      and his ability and willingness to meet their needs.

And believe it or not, he’s doing the same for us too.

So let’s look at the passage in more detail,

bearing in mind that Jesus’ aim is to strengthen the faith of his disciples – and our faith too.

Jesus challenges their faith

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Notice that Jesus made them get into the boat. The verb can be translated compel.

So he must have had a definite purpose in sending them on ahead of him and putting them at some distance from himself.

Part of that purpose was so that he could be alone and pray.

Perhaps he was talking to his Father about the disciples’ lack of faith.

And perhaps he sent them on ahead to test and strengthen their faith.

Soon they would be facing a storm without Jesus being physically present with them.

This is made clear in the next verse.

47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land.

John 6 tells us that the boat was about three and a half miles from the shore.

Matthew 14 adds that it was buffeted by the waves.

The disciples are in trouble, but Jesus is alone on the land.

At least in the earlier storm he was with them in the boat, even if he was asleep!

How often when we face problems do we feel that Jesus is no longer with us, no longer aware of our need? Help seems miles away. But look at the next verse.

48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night (i.e. between 3 and 6 am) he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them…

The disciples were having a hard time. The wind was against them.

They were straining at the oars. They were finding it difficult to cope.

But even though it was dark, Jesus saw them. He saw the problem.

And he sees us too, even when our circumstances are so dark that we cannot see him.

Jesus intervenes supernaturally

So …he went out to them, walking on the lake.

He found a way of getting to them, even though it was humanly, scientifically, impossible.

He walked on water! If he can do that, surely he can do anything.

Mind you, walking on water wasn’t his usual way of getting places. He only worked miracles when there was a need.

But why was he about to pass by them? Or he intended to pass by them.

He had come to help them, so why pass by them?

You would have expected him to go straight to them.

Was it to test their faith? To get their attention?

We don’t know, but sometimes when it seems that he’s passing us by, he’s doing it to test our faith or get our attention. Maybe he wants us to really cry out.

Note that when he hears them cry out in fear he immediately encourages them by speaking to them.

His power to answer is not limited by the way we ask for help.

Even when we cry out in fear he is there to help.  Look at verses 49-50.

49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

Why did they think he was a ghost?

Because it couldn’t possibly be Jesus, could it?

Surely nobody, not even Jesus, can walk on water.

So they settled for another, even more implausible, supernatural explanation – a ghost.

And it’s very much the same today. So many prefer other forms of ‘spirituality’ rather than believing the solid evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

But Jesus says, Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid!

But how can we take courage when we’re being buffeted by the waves?

How can we not be afraid?

The key is in those three little words IT IS I.

In context it could simply mean, It’s not a ghost. It’s me.

But literally translated we can understand it to mean far more than that.

Jesus actually says I AM. The name by which God revealed himself to Moses.

The eternally self-existent one.

If we wonder how it was that Jesus could walk on water, and how he could give Peter the power to do so, we have only to remember who he was –

The I AM with whom all things are possible.

But Mark doesn’t mention Peter walking on the water.  

It’s Matthew who tells us. At this point in the story before Jesus gets into the boat, Matthew tells us that Peter says, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water.

And Jesus says, Come.  

Then Peter gets out of the boat, walks on the water and comes towards Jesus.

But when he sees the wind, he’s afraid and begins to sink.

So he cries out, Lord, save me!

And immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and catches him.

You of little faith, Jesus says, Why did you doubt? (Matthew 14:28-31).

We won’t take time to discuss why Mark does not include this amazing miracle. Any attempt to do so would be sheer conjecture. What’s important here is that

·      Jesus is giving one of his disciples an opportunity to exercise faith in him

·      Peter actually walked on water

·      He soon wavered after Jesus told him to come.

This is so typical of the fluctuating faith of all the disciples throughout the Gospels,

and, if we’re honest, of ours today.

But back to the passage in Mark.

51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

Notice that Jesus didn’t rebuke the wind this time.

It died down as soon as he was in the boat.

His very presence was enough to calm both the wind and the anxious hearts of the disciples.

But what does Mark mean when he says that they had not understood about the loaves, and that their hearts were hardened?

And how do we reconcile this with Matthew’s account which says that they worshipped him saying, You are the Son of God!?

The reference to the loaves, of course, relates to the feeding of the five thousand earlier in the chapter.

It’s clear that they were not expecting such a miracle,

and, even when it happened, they did not fully understand the full significance of it.

Surely miracles like this were pointing to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, and yet they hardly dared to believe it.

They were amazed because they hadn’t understood who Jesus was.

And so, as we’ve already pointed out, their faith frequently fluctuated, up one minute, down the next. Or, down one minute, up the next!

And this may explain why Matthew could say that the disciples worshipped Jesus and said, You are the Son of God.

They’re doubting one minute, believing the next.

Their initial reaction is amazement. They want to believe, but they hardly dare to.

But after they witness the miracle of Peter walking on water their faith rises and they worship Jesus and acknowledge who he is.

Compare Peter’s confession in Matthew 16.

The realisation of who Jesus is comes by revelation from Heaven.

The process of coming to this understanding was gradual, reaching a climax in a flash of revelation. And it doesn’t just happen once. We need repeated revelation, and repeatedly to confess who Jesus is. And this was Jesus’ purpose – building their faith and bringing them to a steadfast understanding of who he is. It was a gradual process, as it is with us.

But however wavering our faith we can be sure that his faithfulness will always bring us to the other side. As verse 53 tells us – they crossed over, they landed… and they anchored there.

So, to summarise, in this incident we see how Jesus tests and strengthens his disciples’ faith. He sends them ahead without him. He allows them to go through another storm, but he still has his eye on them. He does the impossible by walking on water to encourage them and even allows Peter to walk on water too, despite his wavering faith.  And of course, he gets them all safely to the other side. It was Jesus who had told them to make the journey in the first place. And all this enables them to appreciate better who he is.

But before we leave Mark 6, let’s read the last few verses of the chapter.

54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.

These verses are a summary of Jesus’ ministry at that time. Notice the words wherever he was, wherever he went. The healings recorded in the Gospels were no isolated incidents. They were happening everywhere, in villages, towns, and countryside. As we saw in earlier talks, they were evidence of the truth that the kingdom of God was among them and that Jesus was who he claimed to be, the Son of God.

The need for any of us to walk on water today would be exceptional, but the need for healing is always with us. In the passage we have just read five facts stand out:

They recognised Jesus

They ran to him

They requested (begged) him to heal them

They reached out and touched him

They received their healing.

Is it always like that today? If we’re honest, the answer is no. The extent to which miracles of healing are happening varies from place to place. As we saw in Chapter 5, even Jesus’ power to work miracles was limited in Nazareth because of their unbelief. And there were times in his ministry when he didn’t heal everyone as we see from John’s account of Jesus healing at the Pool of Bethesda. The key to his miracles, and indeed to his whole life, was that he only did what he saw the Father do (John 5:19).

We cannot tell God what to do, but we can like Jesus spend time with God and let him tell us what to do. So the five points mentioned above are not a formula for healing. There’s no such thing, and the belief that there is can lead to bitter disappointment. But in our search for healing we can and we should recognise that Jesus is Lord, run to him with our request, and reach out in faith, believing that we will receive our healing in God’s own good time. He does work miracles of healing today, but we need to remember that all healing in this life is temporary. The ultimate healing will take place when we receive new bodies when Jesus comes again. Meanwhile, keep your eyes on Jesus. He will get you there.

For more on this important subject, please see Just a Taste of Heaven – a Biblical and Balanced Approach to God’s Healing Power, available from my website: www.davidpetts.org

Talk 18   Mark 6:30-44   Feeding the Five Thousand

Welcome to Talk 18 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 6:30-44 where we read of the amazing miracle of how Jesus fed over 5000 people with five small loaves and two small fishes. Mark tells us that these people were, as so many are today, like sheep without a shepherd, and today I want to concentrate on what the passage shows us about the people, about the disciples, and about Jesus.

But first let’s read the passage to remind ourselves of the details of what happened.

30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." 32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.

33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36 Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."  37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five – and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

The people

So let’s begin by considering the condition of the people. Verse 34 tells us that they were like sheep without a shepherd (34). To understand what this means we need to remember that the role of a shepherd was to lead and feed his sheep. This is well illustrated in Psalm 23 where David says:

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.

But these people were like sheep without a shepherd. Notice the word like. We’re not told that they were sheep without a shepherd. The Greek literally says they were like sheep not having a shepherd. But surely they had a shepherd. Wasn’t the Lord their shepherd? Didn’t Psalm 23 apply to them? Of course it did. The Lord was their shepherd, but, as so often with Israel of old, they were acting as though he were not, some because they were ignorant of it and others because they were unwilling to be led by him. And if you’re not willing to be led, you can’t expect to be fed! A sheep without a shepherd will probably find food somewhere, but it won’t find the green pastures and quiet waters that only the shepherd can provide.

What’s more, one of the great things about being led by the Lord is not just that he takes care of you and meets your needs, but that he gives you a sense of direction in life. He leads you. But the people in this passage, like so many people today, were aimlessly running to and fro, without any clear purpose in life other than to get their needs met. They ran on foot from all the towns (33). They were constantly coming and going (31). The word going here literally means departing. Why didn’t they STAY? Of course, some did. The disciples did. But many were departing. They were in a constant state of flux.

The key to understanding the root cause of this is found in verse 34, where we’re told that Jesus began teaching them many things. This shows very clearly that they had a lot to learn. Of course they would have known well enough about the current political situation with the occupying Roman forces as a constant reminder. They would have known about the history of their nation and of God’s deliverances in the past, and they were well aware of the religious laws of their Bible as they were interpreted by the rabbis in their synagogues. But there was still much that they needed to learn, that only Jesus could teach them. Only Jesus could show them the way to Heaven.

And it’s just the same today. Most people know something about politics and history and law. Some even know something about the teachings of the Bible, but there is still much coming and going, still no clear understanding of truth. Despite all the advances of science and our knowledge of the natural world, people are still living in uncertainty, with no real sense of direction and purpose in their lives. Refusing to be led by the good shepherd, they are failing to find the green pastures to which only he can take them. But that’s where our role as Jesus’ disciples is so important. It’s our responsibility to make sure that everyone at least has the opportunity to know the truth. It’s by knowing the truth that people are set free (John 8:32). So let’s now see what we can learn about the disciples in this passage.

The disciples

At the start of our passage the disciples have just come back from the mission Jesus sent them on. They were excited to tell Jesus all they had done and taught (30). They had preached that people should repent and they had cast out demons and healed many who were sick (12). And by the end of the passage they had become instruments in one of the greatest miracles Jesus ever performed. They were truly a privileged group of people.

But they were also in many ways quite ordinary people, and our passage reveals some of the weaknesses that are sometimes seen in our lives as Christians, and perhaps especially of those God uses in miraculous ways like healing. It’s clear from verse 31 that the apostles were under pressure from the demands of the people. So many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat (31) and, when Jesus suggested they go somewhere quiet to get some rest, it must have been frustrating for them to see that the people had got there ahead of them (33).

I can’t help wondering if the disciples were irritated by this. I know from personal experience how easy it is for this to happen. Just when we think we might have found a solution to a problem, it can so easily crop up again when we’re least expecting it. Problems do sometimes seem to get there ahead of us. And the ‘problem’ on this occasion was the very people whose problems they were there to deal with! They wanted Jesus to send the people away (36). The reason they gave might suggest that they were genuinely concerned for the people:

…so they can go …and buy themselves something to eat.

But was this really their motivation, or were they more concerned for themselves than for the people? After all, hadn’t Jesus told them that they needed a rest? Of course, we can’t be sure what the disciples’ real motives were, but if we’re honest we know how easy it is to think of a good reason for doing what’s most convenient for ourselves. Only Jesus was entirely selfless, putting the needs of others before himself.

But before we turn our attention to Jesus, we need to point out another weakness in the disciples that we often find in ourselves as well. Despite all the miracles Jesus had already performed, and indeed the healings and exorcisms they had experienced in their own ministry, the disciples still had a tendency to doubt when the problem they were confronted with seemed insoluble. When Jesus told them to give the people something to eat (37) they responded by saying, That would take eight months of a man's wages!

It seems they thought that Jesus was making an unreasonable demand. And at a natural level it probably would have been. It’s unlikely that they carried that much money with them, so how could they possibly feed a crowd of several thousand? Their mistake was to forget that when there was no natural solution, with God there might aways the possibility of a miracle. And, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we know that that’s exactly what Jesus had in mind.

So is it wrong to seek a natural solution to our problems when we know we have a miracle working God? By no means. We mustn’t limit God to working in one way only. We certainly mustn’t limit him to working naturally, but neither must we limit him to working supernaturally. For example, he may heal by natural means, or he may heal us supernaturally. Proclaiming the kingdom of God means proclaiming that God is king. That means that he decides! We should never forget that he is able to work a miracle, but that he may choose to work through natural means.

When looking for a miracle the important question is, Have you heard from Jesus? The disciples had the benefit of hearing directly from him and when they followed his instructions they discovered that on this occasion his purpose was a miracle rather than a natural solution to the problem. But that brings us to the person of Jesus himself. What does this passage teach us about him?

Jesus

Perhaps the most important thing we learn about Jesus in this passage is his compassion for the people.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

They were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began to teach them. We were all like sheep going astray (1 Peter 2:25), but like the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7), Jesus sought us and found us and has rescued us by laying down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). That’s what Jesus is doing for the people here in this passage, and Matthew and Luke tell us that he was not only teaching them and feeding them, but he was also healing them. Jesus was giving his life for them even before he died on the cross. And if compassion is not our motivation, then any words that we may say or any miracles we may perform will be of little value.

And Jesus’ compassion is evident not only in his care for the crowds. It is also seen in his concern for his disciples. They had just returned from a mission of preaching and healing and he knew they needed rest. So he says in verse 31, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.

It’s interesting that he does not say, go away and get some rest. He says, Come with me… He knew that they needed to be alone with him. In Mark 3:14 we read that he chose twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach… Now, as they return from the mission he sent them on, it’s just as important that they spend time with him even as they rest. It’s vital that Christian workers learn this lesson. We all need time to rest, and to rest in him.

And Jesus’ concern for his disciples is also seen in the training he gives them. He tells them, You give them something to eat. He involves them in one of the greatest miracles he would ever perform. He guides them step by step through a lesson in faith that so far they have never experienced. Notice the following six things:

1.     He asks them to assess the seriousness of the situation.

"How many loaves do you have? Go and see."

2.     He directs them to prepare for the impossible.

…have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

3.     He prays.

…looking up to heaven, he gave thanks.

4.     He acts in faith.

He broke the loaves.  

5.     He involves them in the miracle.

Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people.

6.     He does not allow anything to be wasted

the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces

 (cf. John 6:12 Let nothing be wasted). Perhaps for them to eat later?

He was not expecting this kind of miracle every day. Neither should we.

So in this passage we have seen Jesus’ compassion for the people and his concern for his disciples. But before we conclude we need to take note of Jesus’ confidence in his Father. He did nothing except what he saw the Father do (John 5:19) and so before he breaks the loaves and the fish he looks up to Heaven – unlike the disciples who looked around for the solution (36). He has already organised the people into groups ready to feed them although as yet he had only five loaves and two fishes. But his eyes were not on the paucity of natural resources, nor on the immensity of the multitude. His eyes were on Heaven.

And the qualities we see in Jesus in this passage are qualities that are seen over and over again throughout his life. He lived and died because of his compassion for us sinners who were like sheep without a shepherd. He was able to do this because of his complete dependence on and obedience to his heavenly Father. And he is still training disciples and involving them in miraculous provision to demonstrate his love and compassion for a world that is lost without him.

So let's be aware of the condition of the people around us, let's try to avoid the mistakes the disciples made, and let's follow the example of Jesus and love those who reject our testimony, even if necessary by laying down our lives for the sake of the gospel.

Talk 17 Mark 6:14-29  Herod and John the Baptist

Welcome to Talk 17 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at Mark 6:14-29 which relates the terrible story of the beheading of John the Baptist. The passage is set between Jesus sending out his disciples to proclaim the good news and their return to report to him all they had done and taught (v30). At first sight, the beheading of John the Baptist might seem to be something of a digression, but, when we remember the theme of our last talk, it becomes clear that there’s a very real continuity of thought in this passage.

Last time we saw how the people of Jesus’ home town rejected him and how, when Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against any who rejected their message about him. Today’s passage begins in verses 14-16 with the theme of people’s attitude to Jesus and his message, and continues with the story of how one particular person, King Herod, hardened his heart against the preaching of John the Baptist and ended up by ordering his execution. And we know from Acts 4:27 and Luke 23:12 that this eventually led to his conspiring with Pontius Pilate against Jesus himself.

But let’s begin by reading the passage to remind ourselves of the details.

14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 15 Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." 16 But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" 17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. 21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." 23 And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." 24 She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. 25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter. 26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The fact that Jesus' name had become well known (v14) is not surprising, bearing in mind the miracles he was performing and the great crowds who gathered around him. The miracles were causing people to wonder exactly who Jesus was. He reminded them of what they had heard about Elijah and the miracles he performed. Some even thought Jesus was Elijah, possibly basing their assumption on Malachi’s prophecy that God would one day send Elijah back before the day of the Lord came (Malachi 4:5). (Although Jesus said in Mark 9:13 that it was actually John who was the promised ‘Elijah’). Others thought that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. This included King Herod who said, John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead! (v16).

Mark then goes on to explain how and why Herod came to order John’s execution, but before we go any further it’s important to identify which Herod we are talking about, as the New Testament makes reference to no less than four different Herods, all of whom were unpleasant characters, to say the least. Perhaps it will be easiest to say which Herod this is NOT. This Herod is not Herod the Great (so-called) who wanted to kill the baby Jesus and massacred the baby boys in Matthew 2. He is not Herod Agrippa I, who was smitten by the angel of the Lord and died because of his pride in Acts 12, neither is he Herod Agrippa II before whom Paul conducted his defence in Acts 25-26. The Herod who executed John the Baptist was Herod Antipas whose final attitude to Jesus is found in Luke 23:7-12.

There we’re told that Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ trial, because Jesus came from the region of Galilee where Herod was the ruler and was therefore under his jurisdiction. Herod was pleased to see Jesus because, from what he’d already heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He asked him many questions, but when Jesus refused to reply, he ridiculed and mocked him, dressed him in an elegant robe, and sent him back to Pilate, who then became his friend although up to that point they had been enemies. Herod was thus complicit in the crucifixion of Jesus as Acts 4:26-27 makes clear:

The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to conspire against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed.

So Herod and Pilate banded together against the Lord and conspired against Jesus. And now, as we return to our passage in Mark 6, we see that it was by hardening his heart to God’s word through John the Baptist that Herod took the first steps that led ultimately to his role in the crucifixion of Jesus. His attitude to God’s servant, John, was finally to determine his attitude to God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus once said:

Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me (John 13:20).

To accept Christ’s message through the messengers he sends is to accept Christ himself, and to reject his message through the messengers he sends is to reject Christ himself. In rejecting God’s message through John, Herod finally came to ridicule and reject Christ.

But this need not have happened. Herod had every opportunity to accept John’s message of repentance. Verse 18 tells us that John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And the tense of the Greek verb indicates that he had done so repeatedly. But instead of repenting, Herod had John put in prison where John continued to preach the same message.

So Herod had plenty of opportunity to repent. He knew that John was a righteous and holy man. He feared him and he liked to listen to him but was greatly puzzled by what he heard. This verb (aporeomai) is sometimes  translated in the New Testament as perplexed and can also convey the idea of doubt. The mental confusion that caused Herod to doubt sprang from the fact that he knew what was right but was unwilling to do it.  There were so many voices clamouring for his attention – the voice of conscience telling him that his relationship with Herodias was sinful, the voice of John the Baptist constantly confirming that he must repent, the voice of Herodias demanding John’s death, and the voice of the flesh telling him that he must protect his own reputation at all costs. No wonder we’re told that he was perplexed.

And so, although for a time he protected John from Herodias’s thirst for his blood, the time came when, trapped by his own foolish vow, he murdered, without a fair trial, the man who Jesus said was the greatest person who had ever lived (Matthew 11:11), and in so doing involved a young girl[1] in the bloody process, undoubtedly psychologically damaging her for the rest of her life. But we know the story. It remains now for us to summarise where Herod went wrong.

It began with his decision to break God’s law and live in adultery with his brother’s wife. Instead of listening to the voice of conscience and repenting at the preaching of John the Baptist, he chose to continue to disobey God. Embarrassed by John’s public denunciation of his lifestyle, he attempted to silence him by putting him in prison. Infatuated with a young dancing girl he made a foolish oath, and when, at her mother’s instigation, she made the most outrageous demand, he lacked the moral courage to refuse it for fear of what others might think. This series of wrongly motivated decisions led finally to the ultimate decision – the rejection of Christ.

But before we conclude this message, let’s turn our attention away from the evil Herod to the man he beheaded, God’s faithful servant, John the Baptist. As we saw in Mark 1, the heart of the message God had called John to preach was that everyone needed to repent in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, and vast crowds came to be baptised in the Jordan confessing their sins. It’s clear from Luke 3 that the message was for all – soldiers, tax-collectors, religious leaders, and even for political leaders like King Herod. As we have seen, John told him in no uncertain terms that his relationship with his brother’s wife was wrong, and rebuked him for all the other evil things he had done (Luke 3:19) which led to his arrest, imprisonment and eventually his execution.

John was imprisoned before Jesus started his public ministry in Galilee (Mark 1:14) but his execution took place some time later. We know little of the time John spent in prison except that Matthew tells us that:

When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me" (Matthew 11:2-6).

John’s question shows that he was beginning to doubt if Jesus really was the promised Messiah despite the evidence of the miracles Jesus was doing. He was doubting the testimony of Scriptures like Isaiah 61:1-2 which Jesus said was being fulfilled in his miraculous ministry, and he was even doubting his own testimony that Jesus was the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. More serious still, he was doubting the testimony of God himself, who at Jesus’ baptism had declared that Jesus was his beloved Son.

These serious doubts would have been caused by the circumstances in which he found himself, unjustly imprisoned, and cut off from fellowship with like-minded people, but also perhaps by the expectation that the Messiah would proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). If Jesus really was the Messiah, why was John still in prison? It’s all too easy to doubt when circumstances tell us that God has not kept the promises we believe he has made us, and John was no exception.

But fortunately, there is a remedy for doubt. John sent a message to Jesus and Jesus gave him the answer. Note that even though John was doubting who Jesus was, he still made contact with him. If you’re doubting God, it might seem illogical, but contact him anyway. When my philosophy tutor at Oxford confidently asserted that he could disprove the existence of God, as soon as the tutorial was over I said, God, if there is a God, HELP. And he did! My AV Bible fell open at Psalm 119:99 where I read:

I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation.

And my doubts were gone. So if your circumstances are causing you to doubt, do what John did. Keep in touch with Jesus, and if it seems that he’s not keeping his promises to you, let him remind you of the things he has done for you and of how he has worked in the lives of others. Faith is not the absence of doubt. It’s trusting the Lord despite our doubts and leaving the outcome with him. In the KJV Jesus’ final word to John was:

Blessed is he who is not offended in me (v6).

John’s doubts were leading him towards the danger of taking offense at Jesus like the people of Nazareth in Mark 6:3. The Greek word is the same, and as we saw last time it’s frequently used in the New Testament to mean a stumbling block or something that trips you up. What tripped up the people of Nazareth was their refusal to see beyond the humanity of Jesus.  For John the potential stumbling block was that if Jesus really was the Messiah, why was he not setting him free from Herod’s prison?

One lesson we can learn from this is that we must not be offended by God’s will for our lives. Some promises – especially with regard to the body – will not reach final fulfilment until the redemption of the body at the resurrection. When circumstances are against us, and when we’re not yet experiencing the fulfilment of one of God’s promises, it's all too easy to give way to doubt. The remedy is to concentrate on the many wonderful promises we have seen fulfilled in our lives and to rejoice in what we hear God is doing for others, even if we are not yet experiencing the same blessings that they are. If the great John the Baptist could come to the point of doubting the very truth of what God had called him to preach, we should not be surprised or feel condemned if we are tempted to doubt.

Eventually, of course, John was liberated from the prison, but perhaps not in the way he was expecting or hoping. Death, for those who believe in Jesus, is the ultimate release, whether it be from imprisonment, or sickness, or any other form of suffering. Death is the gateway to Heaven where there is no mourning, or crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4). John’s headless body was laid in a tomb, but he himself was already enjoying the rewards of Heaven, far beyond the reach of evil people like Herod and Herodias.

[1] The Greek word korasion is used of Jairus’s daughter who was only 12 years old (Mark 5:41, 42).

Talk 15 Mark 5:21-43 More amazing miracles

Welcome to Talk 15 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. In our last two talks we have seen the mighty power of Jesus displayed in the calming of the storm on the Sea of Galilee and the deliverance of a man possessed by a legion of demons. We now turn to Mark 5:21-43 where Jesus cures a woman with a longstanding problem with bleeding and raises a dead girl to life. As today we won’t be working through the passage verse by verse, we’ll begin by reading the entire story to remind ourselves of what happened.

21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" 31 "You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?'" 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" 36 Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." 37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." 40 But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this and told them to give her something to eat.

The passage begins by telling us that once Jesus had come back across the lake a large crowd gathered around him. We have already seen how frequently Mark tells us that great crowds followed Jesus. In 1:28 we read that because of his miracles, news about him spread quickly over the whole region. In 1:32-34 we’re told that the whole town gathered at the door.

Just notice the references to crowds in the following verses:

2:2      So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door...

2:13    A large crowd came to him and he began to teach them.

3:7      A large crowd from Galilee followed

3:9      Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready....

3:32    A crowd was sitting around him...

4:1      The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat...

And now in 5:21 we read that a large crowd had gathered. And again in verse 24, A large crowd followed and pressed around him and in verse 31 the disciples say, You see the people crowding against you. But, of course, crowds are made up of individuals, and in the passage we have just read Mark tells us of two of the individuals who were part of the crowd. Their needs represent the needs of many in the crowd, and the needs of many even today – perhaps even your need. This passage reveals some important lessons about what to do when, like them, you’re faced with an apparently insoluble problem.

In many ways Jairus and the woman were very different. The woman who, because of her condition, was considered ceremonially unclean, would have been excluded from the synagogue. She was living with loneliness, sickness, and poverty. Jairus, on the other hand, as ruler of the synagogue, was in a privileged and financially secure position, enjoying the respect of the community. He had everything going for him. She had everything going against her.

Yet, despite these differences, there was one thing they both had in common. They both faced insoluble problems. She was beyond medical help and Jairus had a daughter who was dying. But they both found a solution – they came to Jesus. They came in different ways – he came openly, she came secretly – but they came knowing that their only hope of a solution lay in Jesus. But let’s look at each of them in a little more detail.

The woman

First, notice the severity of her condition. It had lasted for twelve years. She had spent all she had in seeking a medical cure, but instead of getting better, her condition was deteriorating. Mark says that she had suffered many things under the care of many doctors. Of course, the art of medicine was nowhere near as advanced as it is today, and we certainly should not take this verse to mean that it’s wrong to avail ourselves of medical help. (I deal with this in some detail in my book, Just a Taste of Heaven – a biblical and balanced approach to God’s healing power). Mark’s intention is not so much to criticise the doctors as to point out the extremity of the woman’s condition – that she had no hope, other than in Jesus.

But notice now what motivated her action. She was clearly very determined, but determination was not what motivated her. It was faith that motivated both her determination and her action. Jesus said it was her faith that saved her and freed her from her suffering (v34). She believed that if she could just touch his cloak, she would be healed (v28). But how did she come to have such faith? The clue lies in verse 27 – she heard about Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing the word about Christ.

No doubt she had heard about some of the miracles Jesus had already performed. The news had already spread far and wide and the miracles were the main reason that the people crowded around him. This woman was no exception, and she believed that what he had done for others, he could and would do for her. And her faith was rewarded immediately. At once (v30) Jesus’ healing power flows out of him. Immediately (v29) her bleeding stops and she feels it in her body. It’s never too late with Jesus, even after twelve years!

And with Jesus you so often get much more than you’re believing for. She receives far more than the healing of her body. Jesus knew that someone had touched him, and he kept looking around to see who had done it (v32). Why was this so important? The answer lies in verse 33:

33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth.

Again, I’m reminded of what Paul says in Romans 10. Salvation comes not only from believing in our heart, but by confessing with our mouth (Romans 10:9). The woman had already shown great faith, but Jesus wanted her to acknowledge what her need had been. This would not have been easy, bearing in mind the stigma of being ceremonially unclean that she had carried for so long. But her public declaration of it made way for Jesus’ public pronouncement in verse 34:

…"Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

There is so much more than physical healing here. The word for healed conveys so much more. It’s used frequently in the New Testament to refer to our salvation. And what a wonderful picture of salvation we see in this woman’s encounter with Jesus! There is acceptance – Jesus calls her daughter. There is peace – the Greek word is the equivalent of the Hebrew SHALOM. And there is freedom. In healing her Jesus restores all that the dreadful condition had stolen from her. And in saving us from our sins he has done the same for us.

Jairus

As we’ve already pointed out, unlike the woman who came to Jesus secretly, Jairus came quite openly. His daughter was dying, and he urgently needed Jesus’ help. We don’t know the nature of his daughter’s illness or how long she had been ill, but by the time Jairus was seeking Jesus’ help she was at the point of death. Her need of immediate attention was even greater than that of the woman. Jairus was intentionally looking for Jesus in the crowd and as soon as he saw him he fell at his feet.

In different circumstances, as a synagogue ruler, he might well have been reluctant to do this, bearing in mind the close connection synagogue rulers had with the Pharisees who were, as we have seen, already plotting to kill Jesus (Mark 3:6). But Jairus was not afraid to risk their displeasure. His daughter was dying, and he knew that Jesus could heal her. Like the woman, Jairus had faith in Jesus’ power to heal, and he was willing to humble himself publicly to beg Jesus to do so. Interestingly, he falls at Jesus’ feet in prayer before the need is met whereas the woman does so in thanksgiving after she is healed. In both cases the action is an appropriate acknowledgement of who Jesus is and what he can do.

But it’s at this point that the woman touches Jesus’ cloak and Jesus is delayed in getting to Jairus’ daughter. We can well imagine Jairus’ anxiety and frustration about this, but as we’ve already seen, it’s never too late with Jesus. So as we pick up the story in verse 36, even when  news comes that his daughter has now died, Jesus tells him, Don’t be afraid. Just believe. The Greek Imperative here means literally keep on believing. Jairus had had faith for his daughter’s healing, but now he needs faith that Jesus can raise her back to life. If ever we’re in a similar situation it will be helpful to remember that faith looks beyond the problem to the person who is able to solve the problem. Jesus was asking Jairus to keep on trusting him. Raising the dead is no more difficult for Jesus than healing the incurably sick.

So Jairus’ faith was tested, but the woman’s was not. Her faith was immediately rewarded. God deals with different people in different ways. Don’t be discouraged when you see others receiving an immediate response to their faith while yours is being tested. Remember that the Christian life is by faith from first to last (Romans 1:17) and that your faith will ultimately be rewarded.

After encouraging Jairus to keep on believing, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to Jairus’s home. On more than one occasion these three were chosen by Jesus to accompany him at critical times in his ministry – at his transfiguration, and in the Garden of Gethsamane, for example. But why he did not allow any of the other disciples to come with him is not clear. However, it seems reasonable to assume that all the disciples were at different stages in the development of their faith and understanding, and this may have been a determining factor in making his decision on this occasion.

If the other disciples thought that it was unfair – and this seems quite likely bearing in mind their indignation when James and John asked Jesus for unique privileges in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:35-41) – what they did not know was that in time they would all witness an even greater miracle than the raising of Jairus’ daughter – the raising of Lazarus. And eventually they would meet the risen Christ. God’s timing in his dealings with us is one of the hardest things for us to understand. We just need to keep on trusting him. He loves us and whatever he gives to us or withholds from us, is for our good. Christ is the head of the church and to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it (Ephesians 4:7).

So they arrive at Jairus’s house and there’s a crowd of people weeping and wailing, as was the custom at the time. Jesus silences them and says, The child is not dead but asleep. He says this to indicate that the child’s death was only temporary, because he knew that he was about to bring her back to life. But, quite understandably, the people laugh at him, knowing, Luke tells us, that she was dead (Luke 8:53). They may have known she was dead, but they didn’t know who Jesus was! To him who is the resurrection and the life (John11:25) raising the dead is no more difficult than waking them up. And the day is surely coming when the Lord himself will descend from Heaven with a loud command and those who have ‘fallen asleep’ in Jesus will rise from the dead. His command is enough. Talitha koum! Little girl, get up! And immediately she stands up and walks around. Yet another evidence of his deity, which, for the time being, must be kept a secret, because his time has not yet come.

But now let’s summarise what we have learnt from this passage about what to do when we are faced with insoluble problems. We have seen that, whatever our differences, we all need Jesus. We all have needs and we need to admit it. We need to acknowledge we’ve got a problem.

But however great your problem, Jesus has the answer. Make a conscious decision to come to Jesus. Ignore the crowd. Humble yourself – don’t worry about what others might think or say about you. Come in faith. Faith comes by hearing the message about Christ. Believe the message you’ve just been listening to. If you need more faith, read the Gospels. What he’s done for others, he can do for you. Trust him.

Sometimes our faith is rewarded immediately. Sometimes it’s tested. Things might seem to get worse before they get better – but keep on believing. Faith looks beyond the problem to the person who can solve it – Jesus. And it’s never too late for Jesus.

And finally, remember that Jesus can do far more than solve the problem you’re currently dealing with. Our greatest problem is our sin. But Jesus offers us forgiveness for all we’ve ever done wrong. He offers you peace, life, freedom, acceptance, restoration, and a home in Heaven when you die.  Acknowledge your need. Come to Jesus. Put your faith in him. He is the only solution.

Talk 14   Mark 5:1-20    Legion

Welcome to Talk 14 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 5:1-20 where Jesus casts demons out of a man who was inhabited by a legion of them. As the story is well known I’ll not take time to read through the passage in advance, but take it a verse or two at a time, beginning with verses 1-2:

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

In our last talk we saw how Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea (or lake) of Galilee and how the disciples were overawed, asking the question, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him. They had left from Capernaum at the northern end of the lake and this verse tells us that they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes which is south-east of the lake, so their crossing would have been about ten to fifteen miles. The region was largely inhabited by Gentiles and was part of a larger area known as the Decapolis (or Ten Cities) which is referred to in verse 20. It’s clear that Jesus had a definite purpose in going there (4:35) and this becomes evident in what happens next.

2 When Jesus got out of the boat

Literally, immediately Jesus got out of the boat. Students of Mark’s Gospel will know that one of the characteristics of his writing is the frequent use of the Greek word euthus (immediately). Its significance here may well be to underline that Jesus’ sole purpose in crossing the lake was to meet the desperate need of the demon possessed man. This is confirmed by the fact that in verse 21, as soon as he has dealt with the man’s need, Jesus returns to the other side of the lake.

a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs to meet him

Literally: …there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit (ESV).

Interestingly, in their accounts of the same story Matthew describes him as demonized (8:28) and Luke says that the man had demons (8:27). This shows that the gospel writers use different expressions to refer to the same man and the same condition. And elsewhere Mark himself uses these alternative expressions too. He refers to a person:

Having an unclean spirit (Mark 1:26)

Being demonized (Mark 1:32)

Having a demon (Mark 3:30)

So these different expressions are used interchangeably and it would be a mistake to try to differentiate between them. It’s clear that an unclean spirit is a demon and that a person with an unclean spirit may be said to be demonized or to have a demon. And any of these expressions can be used to refer a variety of different conditions caused by demonic activity. Perhaps that’s why Mark says here with an unclean spirit, when it’s clear from the story that he was controlled by many demons.

But now verses 3-5.

3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

These verses reveal the desperate condition of the man. There was a supernatural force within him that neither he nor anyone else could control. This was no mental illness, though people today might describe it that way. This was demonic power which no amount of medical or psychiatric treatment could have cured. Matthew 4:24 distinguishes between mental illness and demon possession, and it’s vital that we discern the difference, especially as some of the symptoms can be very similar.

But let’s take note of what the demons were doing to him:

·      This man lived in the tombs – he was cut off from society.

·      …no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain – he was beyond human help.  Cf. v. 4 No one was strong enough to subdue him.

·      For he had often been chained hand and foot – despite repeated efforts, nothing could be done for him.

·      … he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet – the demonic forces within him gave him supernatural strength (but only to harm himself further).

·      Night and day among the tombs and in the hills… - there was no relief from his torment

·      … he would cry out and cut himself with stones – he was bent on self-destruction. In John 10:10 Jesus told us that the work of the devil was to steal and to kill and to destroy. And that’s what Satan’s forces do. But Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and to give us life to the full. That was the reason he came from Heaven and that was the reason he crossed the lake.

But that brings us to verses 6-10:

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" 8 For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!" 9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.

It’s clear from the passage we’ve just read that everything the man says is inspired by the demons. He seems to be completely under their control. But if he is completely under their control, how is it that he comes to Jesus? The answer must surely lie in the fact that the demons were completely under the control of Jesus. Remember what we said when we were considering Mark 3:23. Jesus has already bound the strong man (Satan). In conquering Satan during his temptation in the desert and by his continued submission to his heavenly Father Jesus had complete authority over all Satan’s forces.

The man comes to Jesus because Jesus has come to him, and for him. There was no way the demons could stop him. All they could do was beg. The verb translated fell on his knees frequently mean worship, but that is not its meaning here. It comes from a verb depicting a dog crouching before its master and licking his hand. The demons cower before Jesus and pay reluctant homage.

7 He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" 8 For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"

Two things are clear here. First, what the man said was in fact the demons speaking through him as they had through the man in the synagogue in Capernaum (1:24). They knew who he was. They knew he had power over them. In fact, Mark 3:11 tells us that

Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God.

And, according to Matthew 8:29, they pleaded that Jesus would not punish them before the appointed time. The day is coming when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow… (Philippians 2).

And secondly, the response of the demons was a direct result of Jesus saying, Come out of this man… On seeing the man Jesus immediately commands the demon to come out of him. He does not enter into a lengthy discussion about the man’s problem. He does not ask what the man might have done that could have caused the problem. He knows the root cause and he deals with it.

9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many."

Jesus asks the man his name. Note, he does not ask the demon its name. There is no sound basis here for asking demons to name themselves, as some have taught. In the Greek text the word for him is masculine. If Jesus had been speaking to the unclean spirit it would have been neuter. So the man replies – but it’s clear from what he says that it’s the demons who are speaking through him – My name is Legion, for we are many. Of course, Legion was not his real name. It’s typical of Satan to try to rob a person of their true identity. To say this is not to suggest that every person with an identity crisis has a demon, but there can be no doubt that the rapid spread of this problem in recent years is of Satanic origin.

The number of demons need not concern us, but in the Roman army a legion would have numbered anything between 3000-6000 men, and verse 13 tells us that there were about 2000 pigs that were drowned in the sea after the demons had entered them. But what’s important here is that the number of the enemy is of no concern to Jesus. No problem is too difficult for him to solve. No enemy too numerous for him to conquer.

10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

No doubt the man himself, his judgment clouded by demonic influence, would be reluctant to leave the area. The tombs, after all, had afforded him a measure of security. One thinks of prisoners who do not want to be released because they’ve become used to the security of prison or of the addict who, despite the dreadful side-effects, is frightened to kick the habit because of the sense of security it gives him.

But it’s clear from the next few verses that the demons are speaking through him too. And they do so repeatedly. They don’t want to leave, but they know that they must because Jesus has told them to. So they ask him not to send them out of the area for fear, Luke tells us, that he might send them into the Abyss (Luke 8:31) the place of confinement for Satan and his minions (Revelation 9:1, 20:1-3).

11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Why did Jesus give them permission to go into the pigs? The demons were a highly destructive force and one suggestion is that it was better that they use it on pigs than on people. Others have concluded that it was to demonstrate his superior authority over the demons and to convince the people that the demons really had come out of the man. But we simply do not know. The one thing we can be sure of is that Jesus knew what he was doing. He knew that the time would come for Satan and his forces to be confined to the Abyss, and that time had not yet come. Perhaps we can all learn from this that when it’s unclear to us why God is allowing things to happen that we do not understand, he knows what he is doing. He knows the end from the beginning, and he is working all things together for our good because we are called according to his purpose.

14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man – and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

In these verses we see the reaction of the people to this amazing miracle:

·      Those who witnessed it were quick to tell others about it (v14, 16). This is not surprising. People are usually eager to talk about anything out of the ordinary.

·      Those who heard about it went to see what happened (v14). This is not surprising either. People want to see for themselves. It’s just natural curiosity.

·      When they saw the evidence for themselves they were afraid (v15). The reason for this is not so obvious. But people often instinctively fear anything they don’t understand, especially if it’s clearly supernatural. Even some Christians are afraid when the Holy Spirit is at work in a supernatural way. But we have no need to fear anything God does, because he loves us.

·      They pleaded with Jesus to leave their region (v17). Despite the beneficial outcome for the man, and potentially for the whole region, they ask Jesus to leave. Who can understand the motivation behind people’s decision to reject Jesus? Perhaps they were not ready to face up to the implication for their own lives of Jesus’ lordship so clearly demonstrated by his supreme authority over the demonic powers.

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

The people plead with Jesus to leave their region and Jesus gets into the boat. He does not stay where he is not welcome. But clearly the man he has delivered from demons wants to remain in his company, so he asks to go with him. No doubt he wanted to learn more from Jesus, and he certainly felt safe in his company. But Jesus says no. The miracle Jesus has performed is sufficient. The demons will not be back. And the man already knows enough to be able to tell others what the Lord has done for him. (Note the reference to Jesus’ deity here – compare how much the Lord has done for you with how much Jesus had done for him). He knows that Jesus is the Lord. He knows what he has done for him. He knows that he has had mercy on him. And that’s all we need to know to start to tell those nearest to about Jesus. Let's boldly proclaim the lordship of Jesus, how much he has done for us, and the mercy he has shown us.

Talk 13  Mark 4:35-41 Jesus calms the storm

Welcome to Talk 13 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today our subject is the well-known story of Jesus calming the storm. We’ll begin by reading Mark 4:35-41.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

So far Mark has given us several reasons why we should believe in the deity of Jesus. He takes Old Testament verses that refer to YAHWEH and applies them to Jesus (1:2-3). He records the words of the voice from Heaven saying to Jesus, You are my Son (1:11). Even the demons knew who he was – the Holy One of God (1:24). When the Pharisees accuse Jesus of blasphemy, asking the rhetorical question, Who can forgive sins but God alone? Jesus responds by saying that he has authority…to forgive sins (2:10) and demonstrates it by healing a paralysed man. He even claims to be Lord of the Sabbath (2:28). And now in the verses we have just read, he demonstrates his power over the forces of nature, leaving the terrified disciples to ask, Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!

So this passage may rightly be seen as further evidence of the deity of Christ. Who can calm storms but God alone? But the story also provides evidence of his humanity. He was asleep. Jesus was both fully man and fully God, a mystery that is beyond our human comprehension. But if my tiny mind could fully understand him, he could not possibly be God. So let’s just believe the biblical revelation of who he is and see how this passage applies to us today as we are confronted with the unexpected storms of life.

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.

There were also other boats with him.

Let us go over…

When Jesus called his disciples his first words were, Follow me. So it’s not the disciples who take the initiative here. It’s Jesus who says, Let’s go over to the other side. At first sight this might sound like a suggestion, but it’s clear from Matthew’s account that it was much stronger than that. Matthew says that Jesus gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. The one who spoke the word in the beginning and said, Let there be light, now says, We’re going to the other side. No wonder then that, despite the storm, they arrived at the other side.

They took him along

Again, Matthew’s account is stronger. It says, his disciples followed him. Either way, it’s clear that they were obediently doing what Jesus asked them to. And bearing in mind what was about to happen it’s just as well that they took him along with them. When we’re seeking to follow the leading of the Lord Jesus, it’s important that we ensure that he is with us in every step we take.

There were also other boats with him.

Mark is the only Gospel that records this. The word used for boats here is slightly different from the word used for the boat Jesus was in. The KJV version suggests that they were smaller. If so, they would have been in even more danger from the storm but notice the words with him. Not with them. Jesus is the centre of attention, not the disciples. And the people in the other boats are with him too. The miracle Jesus performs benefits more than the select few. And the miracles he performs for us, in delivering us from the storms we find ourselves in, may very well benefit others too.

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

Make no mistake about it. The problem they were facing was very real. Whatever problem you may be facing right now, it cannot be more serious than theirs was then. The disciples, who were fishermen and knew the lake well, recognised that they were in danger of drowning. In fact Luke’s account states clearly, they were in great danger. And to make matters worse, Jesus was asleep.

38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

As we’ve already said, Jesus was human and his sleep may well have resulted from the weariness that comes to us all when working hard. Preachers and teachers will understand very well what I mean, and if you have experience in ministering to the sick you will know how tiring it can be.

But Jesus’ sleep was not just a sleep of weariness. It was a sleep of faith. He had entrusted his life to his Father in Heaven and he knew that nothing could harm him. When we are asleep things are beyond our control, and when things are beyond our control it can take a lot of faith to believe that all will be well, especially in the middle of a storm.

But what do you do when God is asleep? Of course, God never goes to sleep (Psalm 121:3-4). But Jesus was God and Jesus was asleep. That’s part of the mystery of the incarnation that we mentioned earlier. For God to go to sleep he had to become a man. And as man Jesus was asleep, even though he was still God.

However, in trying to relate this part of the story to our own experience, perhaps we could say that there are times in the experience of every Christian when it feels like God is asleep. What should we do? Well, we could do what the disciples did and try to wake him up! Or we could just hold on tight and trust him to bring us through.

The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"

The disciples chose the first option. They decided to wake him up. We do something similar when we hammer on the doors of Heaven and repeatedly plead for an answer. And there are times when it’s appropriate to do that – remember the parable of the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-6)? God understands when we feel the need to pray like that.

But in the light of Calvary, we can hardly accuse God of not caring! I wonder if perhaps it was Peter who asked the question. Years later it’s clear he had learnt his lesson. Not only could he sleep in the prison knowing that, like James, he could be executed the following day (Acts 12), but at a time when the church was facing intense persecution he could write to his fellow Christians to cast all their anxiety on Jesus, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).

Yet at the time when the disciples woke Jesus up, it’s clear from their question that they believed that Jesus had the power to save them, but that they were doubting if he cared enough to do so! The fact that Jesus suggests in verse 40 that they still have no faith shows us that true faith is more than believing in God’s power to work a miracle.

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

Despite their lack of faith, Jesus works the miracle anyway! Note what he didn’t say. He didn’t say, I’m sorry guys. I’d have liked to have saved you, and I could have saved you, if only you had enough faith. As it is, I’m afraid you’ll have to drown… Of course he didn’t say that. Why? Because he did care. He did love them, and he had a purpose for their lives. And he does love you, and he does have a purpose for your life. Please remember:

GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU IS BIGGER THAN YOUR LACK OF FAITH.

The disciples didn’t need to wake Jesus up. He had said they were going to the other side and his word cannot fail. Believing in God’s power is not enough. Real faith trusts in his love for us.  Interestingly, in Matthew’s account Jesus’ challenge to their faith comes before he calms the storm. Sometimes it’s the condition of our hearts that needs dealing with before the external conditions of the storm we are facing.

Putting Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts together, which are probably only a summary of the events that took place, it seems that Jesus addressed the subject of the disciples’ faith both before and after he calmed the storm. Following Jesus is an ongoing experience of learning more and more how much we can trust him. Our faith in him grows as we understand his faithfulness. His faithfulness will be your shield (Psalm 91:4).

41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

They were terrified

Why? They had already seen miracles. In fact he had already given them authority to cast out demons and to heal diseases. But this miracle was different. It clearly demonstrated more than ever who Jesus was. The truth was beginning to dawn on them. They were standing in the presence of DEITY.

Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

God had allowed the storm. It had happened for a purpose. The disciples’ experience of the storm was a step forward in their understanding of who Jesus was. The same is true of the storms in our lives. We may not understand their purpose, but that does not mean that there is no purpose. And when he brings us through the storm we find we have a deeper appreciation of Jesus.

And so they reached the other side.

Of course they did!

And they got out of the boat and sat down on the beach, opened their sandwiches and had a picnic.

Of course they didn’t!

That of course is typical of what we would like to happen. Surely when we’re through the next storm we’re entitled to a break! And that is what sometimes happens. But not on this occasion. Just look at what happened next:

Mark 5:1-4

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Oh no! Not another problem! Yes, and following Jesus brings with it all kinds of problems. Sometimes it seems like problem after problem. But with Jesus, there’s a solution for every problem. Jesus’ life was far from easy, and he faced many problems. And eventually he faced the greatest problem of all – Death on a cross.

No, that was not the problem. The cross was the solution. The problem was your sin and mine. But Jesus dealt with it once for all at Calvary. He took the punishment all our sins deserved and he died on that cross. But he couldn’t possibly stay dead. He had promised he would rise again! And he did. And to prove it he appeared to his disciples for a period of 40 days and then ascended into Heaven.

And one day soon, he’s coming back, and he will take us to the other side. And then there really will be a picnic!

Talk 12 Mark 4:1-33 Jesus teaches in parables

Welcome to Talk 12 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re in Mark 4 where Mark records three of the parables Jesus used as part of his teaching method. A parable is an illustration taken from everyday life and used to teach a spiritual truth.  Its ultimate purpose is to make the truth clearer, but, as we shall see, sometimes people find it difficult to grasp the intention behind it. So we’ll not only be looking at the meaning of the parables in today’s passage, but also considering some problem verses which might seem to suggest that Jesus used parables in order to confuse people. But let’s begin by reading verses 1-9.

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

3 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times." 9 Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Again we see Jesus teaching from a boat because of the size of the crowd that had gathered to hear him (cf. 3:9-10). Mark tells us here that he taught them many things in parables and in verses 33-34 we’re told that with many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them... and that in fact he did not say anything to them without using a parable. We’ll consider the reason for this a little later, but for now it’s sufficient to notice that the parables recorded in this chapter are just examples of Jesus’ preferred method of teaching.

The parable of the sower in verses 3-9 is fairly straightforward. Using the only method available to him at the time, a farmer scatters his seed and it falls on different types of soil and, depending on where it lands, it produces varied results. That’s it. But what does it mean? Of course we know the answer because we’ve probably already read Jesus’ explanation in verses 14-20. But if we hadn’t I doubt if we’d have understood it any better than the disciples.

We’ll come back to verses 10-13 in a moment, but first let’s look at Jesus’ explanation:

14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 19 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop – thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."

The key to understanding the parable is found in verse 14. The sower sows the word. Once you understand that, the rest is relatively easy. Jesus’ explanation requires no further explanation. But perhaps it’s worth asking why Jesus told this parable in the first place. He gave his explanation to the Twelve whom he had chosen to send out to preach the word (3:14-15). So was he simply warning them and all preachers of the word ever since that their message would inevitably meet with a mixed reception? That must surely have been part of his intention. As we have seen in previous talks, he himself was receiving a very mixed reception to his message.

But his disciples were themselves hearers of the word before they became preachers of it. And the same is true of us. As hearers we need to make sure that our hearts are right if we are to be fruitful in his service. The parable applies not just to the initial time when we hear the message of the gospel, but whenever the word is preached. We must be careful not to let Satan take it away from us. We must not allow our hearts to become hardened. We must stand firm in times of trouble. And we must not allow worry or wealth or the desire for other things choke the word making it unfruitful.

And now, before we turn to the remaining parables in this chapter, we need to consider verses 10-13:

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!' 13 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?

These verses present a very real problem because they appear to be saying that Jesus spoke in parables to those who were not his followers with the express purpose that they would not understand him, because if they did understand him they might turn from their sin and be forgiven. But could Jesus possibly have intended that? Surely not, but before we can give reasons for rejecting that conclusion, in seeking to answer this question we need to:

·      bear in mind the overall teaching of Scripture

·      examine the context of the passage from Isaiah that Jesus was quoting

·      see how that relates to the context in which Jesus said it.

Firstly, then, the overall teaching of Scripture. This is totally contrary to the idea that Jesus deliberately taught in parables so that the people would not understand.  God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish (John 3:16). God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And Peter, of course, was present when Jesus originally spoke the words we are looking at. And it’s generally agreed that Mark gained most of the information for his Gospel from Peter’s eyewitness account of all that happened.  So it’s hardly likely that Peter would have understood Jesus to mean what the verse at first sight appears to mean – that Jesus spoke in parables with the intention that people should not be converted!

Secondly, we need to examine the context of the passage from Isaiah that Jesus was quoting. Isaiah was called to prophesy that God was going to punish the people of Judah for their rebellion against him.  They had disobeyed him time after time despite repeated warnings from God’s messengers the prophets. He would warn them again, but he knew from their past behaviour that they would not listen. They would hear him but not obey him. On this occasion forgiveness was not an option. God’s judgment was inevitable. It was the direct result of Judah’s persistent rejection of God. It came in 586BC when Nebuchadnezzar invaded and Judah went into captivity, away from her land (Jeremiah 52:27).

And thirdly, as we look at the context in which Jesus quoted these words from Isaiah, we see that things were not very different in Jesus’ day. He was repeatedly criticised and rejected by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Even his own family misunderstood him. And, as we have seen in previous talks, although the people of Capernaum came in crowds to hear him, this did not lead to their repentance. The parable of the sower shows that it not the fault of the sower that some of the seed is not bearing fruit. It’s the kind of soil upon which it is sown. If the word is sown in fertile hearts it will grow, but there’s little point in continually attempting to reap a harvest from hearts of stone. So Jesus was quoting the words of Isaiah in a context where people were hardheartedly rejecting him. But if they would change their hearts the way to forgiveness would always be open, as it was for Judah after 70 years’ captivity in Babylon.

But how do we apply all this to ourselves? Every Christian should be a sower of the word. We should tell others about Jesus. But as we do so we’ll find that there are different levels of receptivity among the people we speak to, and, as in Jesus’ day, some will simply not want to know. Perhaps one day they will, but until then there’s little point in trying to nag them into believing. If they’re not yet ready, they won’t understand. Perhaps that’s why Jesus told his disciples:

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave… and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them (Matthew 10:14, Luke 9:5),

something that Paul did in Acts 13:51 when the Jews in Pisidian Antioch rejected his message. What’s significant about this is not the actual shaking of dust off our feet – it’s symbolic significance would mean nothing to people today – but that Paul moved on elsewhere. If people’s hearts are hard perhaps we should prayerfully consider moving on to others whose hearts are softer.

But now let’s consider verses 21-34 which contain valuable truths about the growth of the kingdom of God. In verse 11 Jesus says that his disciples have been given the secret of the kingdom of God. It’s a secret because its truth is not immediately obvious. The kingdom of which Jesus was speaking was very different from the kind of messianic kingdom they were expecting. Now in verses 21-34 he shares three of the secrets of the kingdom:

·      The kingdom of God grows as God’s people let their light shine

·      The kingdom of God grows as God’s people spread the word

·      The kingdom of God grows gradually

·      The kingdom of God grows until the time for harvest has come.

The kingdom of God grows as God’s people let their light shine

21 He said to them, "Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.

Jesus says, Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? Matthew’s account makes clear what he is saying:

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).

As Christians we have received the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. We are to let our light shine. And we do so by the way we live, by our good deeds.

The kingdom of God grows as God’s people spread the word

We’ve already seen from the parable of the sower that the sower sows the word (v14). This theme is picked up in verse 26 where Jesus says, A man scatters seed on the ground. But we can only sow God’s truth in the measure that we’ve received it. Look at 23-25:

23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 24 "Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you - and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

These verses relate to our reception of God’s truth. First we need to hear it. We need to consider it carefully.  Then we need to use it, and the more we use it the more we receive. The motto of one Teacher Training College, when translated from Latin, was Teach that you may learn. Of course, we have to learn in order to teach. But it’s also true that the more you teach, the more you learn. So share what you do know of God’s truth and the Lord will give you more.

The kingdom of God grows gradually

This is clear from the two parables in verses 26-32.

He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

30 Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

The seed is sown. In time small shoots appear. It grows some more, and then, in God’s time – we don’t understand how – it develops into grain which eventually is ripe for harvest (vv26-29). The tiniest seed, given time, may surprise us with the size of the plant it becomes (vv30-32). When Jesus first spoke these words the disciples could not possibly have imagined how the small mustard seed of the kingdom would grow to be the worldwide church of today.

How has this happened? Because Jesus said he would build his church. Yes, he uses us to do it, but as Paul said when talking of how the Corinthians came to faith in Christ:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

It’s Christ who will build his church. But it’s our responsibility to sow the word and, like the farmer, patiently wait for the time of harvest.

The kingdom of God grows until the time for harvest has come

Jesus says in verse 29:

As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.

We can apply this to our efforts at sowing the word in the lives of others. Paul tells us not to become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). But the final harvest will come at the end of the world. In Matthew’s Gospel, sandwiched between the parable of the sower and the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus tells the parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30).

A farmer sows wheat in his field but at night an enemy comes and sows weeds. Rather than try to pull up the weeds straightaway, the farmer decides to wait until the harvest in case, in attempting to pull up the weeds, the wheat is damaged. At harvest time the wheat and the weeds are separated. The weeds are destroyed but the wheat is gathered into the barn.

In verses 37-43 Jesus explains the meaning of the parable.

The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

In the light of this solemn statement, we must surely rejoice that Jesus, not the devil, has the final word, that good will finally triumph over evil, that there will ultimately be universal justice, and that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Meanwhile, let us do all that we can to be faithful sowers of the word.

Talk 10   Mark 3:13-19   Jesus appoints the first apostles

Welcome to Talk 10 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be considering Mark 3:13-19 where Jesus appoints his first apostles. I say his first apostles because there were, of course, later apostles mentioned in the book of Acts – Matthias, who was appointed to replace Judas, and, of course, the apostle Paul. I have gone into some detail about this in my book Body Builders where I also mention Barnabas and James, the Lord’s brother, who are just two others named as apostles in the New Testament, and argue that there is no reason why we should not expect to see the ministry of apostles at work in the church today. However, today I will not be repeating those arguments, but rather consider what we can learn from these verses about this important ministry.

13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve - designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.

This verse teaches us important principles about how men and women are called to God’s service:

First, he calls those he wants

Actually, the translation wanted is rather weak. Those he wanted is literally whom he willed. In Acts 1:2 Luke refers to the apostles Jesus had chosen, or more literally, chosen out (i.e from among the rest). The call of God is rooted in the will of God. No doubt that’s why Jesus spent a night in prayer to God before appointing his apostles:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose (or picked out) twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles (Luke 6:12-13).

(Note, we’re not talking about salvation here. We’re talking about the call to apostleship. God is not willing that any should perish, and he calls everyone to be saved. But not everyone is called to be an apostle).

It’s not wrong to want to serve the Lord in a particular way (e.g. to desire to be a church leader - 1 Timothy 3:1), but no amount of wanting will make it happen if it’s not God’s plan for our lives. The gifts and ministries God distributes among his people are given as he determines (1 Corinthians 12:11) and it is God who places apostles in the church (1 Corinthians 12:28). And as Paul was to write later concerning his own apostleship, By the grace of God I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Secondly, he calls those who are already disciples

It’s noteworthy that those he chose to be apostles were already his disciples. Mark has already told us how Jesus had called five of those named in this passage – Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew – to follow him, and in the passage we’ve just quoted from Luke we’re told that Jesus picked out his apostles from among his disciples.  

And indeed, we would hardly have expected anything else. A disciple is a committed follower, someone who is willing to learn, not just one of a curious crowd who has come to see the miracles. Jesus said that the test of a true disciple is if they hold to his teaching (John 8:31). It goes without saying, then, if anyone is to be an apostle, someone who is sent to spread the good news about Christ and speak with his authority, they must first be a disciple.

Thirdly, despite what we have just said, those he called to be apostles had not been his disciples very long

They were called at the outset of Jesus’ ministry. They had a lot to learn but Jesus called them when they were relatively young. The gifts and calling of God are not dependent on age. Paul told Timothy to let no one despise his youth (1 Timothy 4:12). There’s a danger that older Christians sometimes find it hard to accept the ministry of those who are younger, and, conversely, young Christians themselves can be tempted to feel that they’re too young to serve the Lord.

Speaking from personal experience, I accepted the claims of Christ when I was just fourteen years old and began preaching in the same year. Hopefully, my understanding of God’s word has increased considerably over the seventy years that have followed, but the gift enabling me to preach was there from the start. When I was still in my thirties God showed me that I would become the Principal of a Bible College, but I, along I suspect with many others, thought I might be too young. But it happened as God said it would. Don’t be surprised if the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers that Christ is still giving to his church (Ephesians 4:11) arise from the ranks of young people.

And, fourthly, those he called were willing to come

How do we know? Because they came to him. Jesus didn’t compel them. He called them. The choice was theirs. Even Paul, who could say that God had set him apart from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15), had a choice about it. In saying this he almost certainly had in mind what God said to the prophet Ezekiel:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Ezekiel 1:5).

At first sight this seems as though Ezekiel had no choice about it, but as we read the rest of the chapter it’s clear from God’s warning not to disobey him that he did! Note that in this verse God knows Ezekiel before he creates him and appoints him. The key to understanding the mystery of God’s predetermined purpose for our lives is his foreknowledge. He chooses us in advance because he knows in advance that when he calls us, we will choose to follow him. God chooses us. Then he calls us. We respond. Then he appoints.

14 He appointed twelve - designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to heal diseases and drive out demons.

The main purpose of these verses is to reveal Jesus’ purpose in appointing apostles, and we’ll turn to that in a moment, but first it’s interesting to consider if there’s any significance in the number 12. And Matthew 19:28 may well indicate that there is:

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So the number of the twelve apostles corresponds to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. Now is not the time to enter into lengthy discussion of all the possible implications of this verse, but it does seem that Jesus is here giving an early indication of what was later to become clearer in the rest of the New Testament that the true Israel is not comprised of the physical descendants of Abraham, but of his followers, whether Jew or Gentile, who would believe as Abraham believed. The church was to become the Israel of God (Galatians 6:15-16, cf. 1 Peter 2:9-10, Ephesians 2:11-16). And the apostles Jesus appointed were to have a special role in the coming kingdom of God – which, incidentally, seems to indicate that The Twelve were a unique group and should be distinguished from later apostles like Barnabas, Paul and James to whom I have already referred. (For more on this, please see Body Builders).

But now let’s turn to Jesus’ purpose in appointing these men. We saw in chapter 1 how Jesus came proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God (vv.14-15) and how he called the four fishermen to follow him, saying, Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men v.17). They were to follow Jesus and learn from him how to proclaim the good news, and in so doing win other disciples for him. This same purpose is now made clear as he chooses and appoints the twelve apostles. They are to proclaim the good news and demonstrate its truth by healing diseases and driving out demons. And as we look at these two verses in a little more detail we see four key principles. He appointed them:

·      that they might be with him

·      that he might send them out

·      to preach (proclaim the good news)

·      to have authority to heal diseases and drive out demons.

that they might be with him

Before he could ever send them out to preach it was vital that they should be with him. They had so much to learn. If they were to proclaim God’s truth, they must first learn what it is. However great a person’s communication skills, if what they’re communicating is not the truth, they’ll do more harm than good. These men were to spend three years learning from Jesus and would continue to learn after Jesus had left them as they were taught by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-13).

We can apply this to ourselves in three main ways.

First, there is no substitute for spending time with Jesus if we want to be effective in his service. Secondly, if we’re called to full time service, a period of intensive training is highly desirable. And thirdly, we need continually and increasingly to be learning what the Holy Spirit is teaching us.

that he might send them out

The word that’s used for send here is apostello. The word that’s used for apostle is apostolos. An apostle is essentially someone who is sent. However, it’s important not to assume that every time the verb apostello is used in the New Testament it’s a reference to apostles. The word is used in a much more general sense to refer to anyone who is sent, as, for example, when Pilate’s wife sent a message to Pilate in Matthew 27:19. For more on this, please see Body Builders.

But with regard to the twelve that Jesus designated as apostles it’s clear that in the context apostolos is used in a much more specific sense.  The word is sometimes used to refer to someone who is sent with a special commission and authority to represent someone else, rather like an ambassador who represents their country in another land, and that’s pretty much how it’s being used here. Paul certainly understood his apostleship in these terms for he saw himself as an ambassador for Christ imploring people on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

But of course, we mustn’t limit the responsibility to be Christ’s ambassadors to those who are called to be apostles. We all have a responsibility to share the good news with others. He sends us out as ambassadors to tell others about the heavenly country to which we now belong and to represent our King as we live in a land which is not our real home, for our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). Why not ask God, Lord, who are you sending me to today?

to preach (proclaim)

The word translated preach here is the same as in Mark 1:14 referring to Jesus proclaiming  the good news. I must confess that some of the ‘preaching’ I have heard falls very short of proclaiming. The word means to herald or to announce. That’s what Jesus did and the disciples were to do the same because he had given them authority to do so.

And it’s clear from the last chapter of Mark’s Gospel that the disciples got the message. Jesus told them to go into all the world and preach (proclaim) the good news to all… (v.15). He promised them that miraculous signs would accompany their message, and in verse 20 we’re told that they went out and preached (proclaimed) everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

to have authority to (heal diseases and) drive out demons.

The reference to healing diseases is not found in all manuscripts but is completely in harmony with both Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts. In Matthew 8:1 Jesus gives them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and illness…

and in Luke 9:1-2 he gives them power and authority to drive out all demons and sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal those who were ill.

Taking these accounts together the message is clear. The good news of the kingdom of God is to be proclaimed and demonstrated with miraculous signs. This is to be done by those to whom Jesus has given the authority to do so. But does this apply to all Christians or only to those who are apostles? The answer is neither! It doesn’t apply to all Christians and it is not only for the apostles.

Why do I say this? First, it doesn’t apply only to apostles because it’s clear from Luke 10 that Jesus later appointed 72 others, who are not designated as apostles, and told them to heal those who are ill and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you (Luke 9:9). What’s more, it’s clear from Acts 8 that Philip, who was not an apostle, but an evangelist exercised a similar ministry.

And secondly, we mustn’t assume that it applies to all Christians because Jesus gave this authority to a limited number of people, whose names are given in verses 16-19, and he gave it at a particular time during his ministry. For example, in Matthew 10:8 Jesus gave the twelve people named in verses 2-4 authority to raise the dead, but that doesn’t mean that I can claim it as a promise, because the promise wasn’t made to me. If I am to raise the dead I must have Jesus’ authority to do so. And since Jesus is no longer with us in bodily form that authority can only come through the leading of the Holy Spirit. That’s why, after Jesus left them, even the apostles, who had already worked miracles while Jesus was with them, had to wait for the coming of the Spirit to empower them and lead them.

So the passages we’ve been looking at don’t give us a set of promises that we can appropriate for ourselves, but they do give us a clear indication of the kind of things we can expect to happen as we are led by the Spirit. We should expect miracles to confirm the proclamation of the gospel, but they will only happen as we follow the principles we have seen in these verses. We must spend time with Jesus, we must go where he sends us, we must speak what he tells us, and, as he through the Spirit gives us the authority, we will see miraculous things happen to confirm the good news we proclaim.

For more on this important subject, please see Just a Taste of Heaven – a biblical and balanced approach to God’s healing power.

Talk 9 Mark 3:1-12 Defying the Pharisees and dealing with demons

Welcome to Talk 9 in our series on Mark’s gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 3:1-12. In previous talks we have seen how Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God (1:14-15) and demonstrating with miraculous signs his authority over demons and disease. In chapter 1 he casts an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue at Capernaum, heals Simon's mother-in-law of a fever, and cures a man with leprosy, and in chapter 2 he heals a paralysed man, telling him first that his sins are forgiven.

We have also seen how his authority did not go unchallenged, particularly by the Pharisees, who understood full well the implications of the claims Jesus was making – his right to forgive sins, and to be the Lord of the Sabbath, which entitled him to heal on the Sabbath and to interpret the law of Moses very differently from them. Now, as we turn to the first six verses of chapter 3, we see Jesus once again antagonising his critics by healing on the Sabbath day.

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there.

Mark doesn’t tell us which synagogue it was, but it may well have been the one in Capernaum again. The man’s disability would have made him unable to work, particularly if, as early tradition has it, he was a plasterer.

2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.

Bearing in mind that there are no chapter divisions in the original text, some of them almost certainly refers to the Pharisees who had challenged Jesus at the end of chapter 2. They had clearly rejected his explanation of why his disciples were allowed to pick grain on the Sabbath, and would have hated his claim to be Lord of the Sabbath. To acknowledge the claims of Jesus would have undoubtedly required not only a massive shift in what they believed, but also a complete change in their lifestyle. People who are unwilling to repent will often look for a reason to find fault with Jesus – or with his followers as we saw in the last chapter.

3 Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Why did Jesus say this? Did he want to draw attention to the miracle? By asking the man to stand up in front of everyone, he would certainly ensure that all those present would witness it. His miracles were signs validating his message about the kingdom of God and he longed for people to believe it. But at this early stage in his ministry, as we shall see later, it seems unlikely that Jesus would have called the man forward just to draw attention to the miracle.

Alternatively, from the question he asks next in verse 4, it seems possible that he did it as a direct challenge to the attitude and teaching of the Pharisees. What better way to expose their hypocrisy and to demonstrate the truth that the meeting of human need is more important than the ritualistic observance of the Sabbath, than to show his compassion by working a miracle of healing on the Sabbath day in front of the entire congregation?

But more probably, in my view, Jesus called the man forward for the benefit of the man himself. In the culture of the day, it would have been natural for people with disabilities to want to keep themselves hidden, partly because many people were revolted by any form of deformity, and partly because these afflictions were widely regarded as having resulted from personal sin. Here, as with the healing of the woman with curvature of the spine in Luke 13, Jesus’ calling the person to the front was a declaration that their disability was nothing to be ashamed of, and their years of embarrassment were now over. It would also encourage their faith.

4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.

So far the Pharisees have said nothing, but Jesus knows what they’re thinking, so he anticipates their challenge by asking them a question. The Pharisees had so many man-made rules about the Sabbath that it was virtually impossible to do anything! But to do nothing when someone is in need is to do evil. If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them (James 4:17). Jesus was the only sinless person who has ever lived, and because he had the power to heal the man it would have been wrong for him not to do it. But he not only committed no sin, he was also never guilty of a sin of omission. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Surely the Pharisees knew he was right, but they refused to admit it.

5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Notice the strong emotions of Jesus here. He is angry and he is deeply distressed. It’s not wrong to be angry. It’s right to be angry about injustice, about cruelty, about hypocrisy, about anything and everything that spoils the world we live in. And God is angry about sin because he loves us, and sin is the root cause of all that’s wrong in the world.

But here Jesus is not just angry. He is deeply distressed. He grieves over the hardness of human hearts, yes, even over the Pharisees’ stubborn hearts. His anger is mixed with love. He is distressed because he knows there is no hope for those who reject him. Hear the distress in his voice as he weeps over Jerusalem:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matthew 23:37).

The simple fact is, we all have a choice. To believe Jesus or not. The man with the shrivelled hand was completely and immediately made whole because he chose to believe Jesus. The Pharisees were lost because they chose not to.

6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

We don’t know why the Pharisees were so opposed to Jesus. Were they jealous of his popularity? Did they hate anyone who didn’t agree with their point of view? Was their social position threatened by Jesus’ radical teaching? Or did his responses to their criticism make them look stupid? Whatever the reason, their opposition reached a point where they began to plot how they could kill him. They were prepared to break the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments to defend their interpretation of relatively minor regulations regarding the observance of the Sabbath!

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

The Jewish religious may have rejected him, but crowds of ordinary people were coming from far and wide because they heard all he was doing. Miracles, especially miracles of healing, always attract a crowd. We saw in chapter one how, when Jesus cast an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue at Capernaum, news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee (1:28). The people brought to Jesus all who are ill and demon possessed (1:32). After the healing of the leper the people came to him from everywhere (1:45). In chapter 2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left… (2:2). And so it goes on throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus.

And it continues in the book of Acts where, in 1:1 Luke refers to the record in his Gospel of all that Jesus began to do and to teach. Through the ministry of his disciples Jesus was to continue to do and teach as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Miracles like speaking in tongues and healings drew thousands under the sound of the gospel. And they still do so today, except where cynicism and unbelief are rife in society (cf. Mark 6:5-6 where even Jesus could do no miracles in his home town because of their lack of faith).

Of course, as we have seen in previous talks, although miracles may draw the crowds, they do not necessarily lead to repentance. Some come out of curiosity, others because they are desperate for a solution to their problem, but not all are grateful, as we see in the story of the ten lepers. So, what is the purpose of miracles? They demonstrate God’s love and compassion. They manifest his power. They confirm the message of the gospel. They make it easier for people to repent and believe. And they vindicate God’s righteous judgment on all who, having experienced them, persist in their refusal to repent.

9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.

This is not the only reference in the Gospels to Jesus teaching from a boat. The reason given here is to keep the people from crowding him. It would also have had the added advantage that more than those immediately next to him would be able to hear his message. Living by the sea I have often noticed on a calm day how much farther sound carries over water than on land.

It's interesting, too, that the disciples still had access to a boat.  Perhaps Zebedee, the father of James and John was still in the fishing business. The fishermen had forsaken everything to follow him, but God still had a purpose for the knowledge and experience they had acquired before their conversion.  Our natural talents, as well as any supernatural gifts he may entrust to us, can be very valuable in contributing to the spread of the message of the gospel.

10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.

Of course, Jesus was not afraid to touch or be touched by people with diseases. We have already seen how he touched the man with leprosy without fear of contagion. But we also know that he was able to heal at a distance, something well understood by the Roman centurion In Matthew 8, and the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7.

11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."

Notice the word whenever. Jesus cast out many evil spirits, but they all, without exception, acknowledged who he was. And they knew that he had power over them:

What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God! (Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34)

He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me! (Mark 5:7 and Luke 8:28)

They address him as Jesus of Nazareth, but they know that he is far more than a man from Nazareth. He is the Holy One of God. He is Son of the Most High God. They know that he has power to destroy them. As James, the Lord’s brother, tells us, Even the demons believe.., and shudder (James 2:19). Had James been present sometimes when Jesus had cast out demons and seen them cower before him? We don’t know, but whenever they saw him they fell down before him. And the day is coming when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow… (Philippians 2: 9-11).

How did the evil spirits know who Jesus was? Because before Satan and his minions had rebelled against God and were cast out of Heaven they had known him as the Son of God through whom and for whom they were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities, all things were created  through him and for him (Colossians 1:16). No wonder they shudder in his presence.

12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was

Jesus refused to accept the testimony of demons, even though what they were saying was true. Before we attempt to answer why, we need to bear in mind that it was not only demons that Jesus told to be silent. We’ve already seen in Mark 1:44 how he tells the leper he has healed, See that you don’t tell this to anyone. In 5:43 he tells Jairus not to let anyone know about how Jesus has raised his daughter to life. In 7:36, after the healing of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, he says the same thing. In 8:30 after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, and in 9:9, after their experience of the transfiguration, he even tells his disciples not to tell anyone about him.

So, although, in the case of demons, Jesus may have ordered them to be silent as they were hardly reliable character witnesses, this would not account for why he told the people and his disciples to be silent. One explanation that’s frequently offer to this question, often referred to as the Messianic secret, is that if Jesus were openly identified as the Messiah the people would have probably attempted to crown him as their king, which was not, of course, in line with the reason he had come.

This may well be correct, but in my view another explanation is far more compelling. It’s clear that the restrictions Jesus imposed on his disciples were only temporary. In Mark 9:9, after his transfiguration, Jesus tells his disciples to tell no one who he was until he had risen from the dead. And in Acts 1:8 he tells them – and us – to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

So the restrictions he placed on telling others about him were temporary. But why? The answer surely lies in a combination of the two last points we have mentioned. The timing wasn’t right for the majority of people to know who he was, because if they did, they would want to make him the wrong kind of king and this could disrupt the years of training the disciples would need to fulfil their role of spreading the gospel after Jesus had returned to Heaven.

But that leads us to the subject of our next talk when we shall see how Jesus delegates his authority to the apostles he has chosen and gives them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons.

Talk 8     Mark 2:18-28     Jesus Questioned About Fasting and the Sabbath

Welcome to Talk 8 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re looking at Mark 2:18-28 where Jesus answers questions about fasting and the Sabbath. As we shall see, these questions arose, partly from a genuine desire to know the answer, but more often from the critical attitude of the Pharisees who, like many people today, were only looking for a reason why they should NOT believe the claims of Jesus.

In the first part of this chapter, we saw the beginning of opposition from the Jewish religious leaders, especially the Pharisees. They question his right to forgive sins. They ask why he keeps company with tax collectors and sinners. Now they’re asking why his disciples don’t fast and why they’re breaking the law regarding the Sabbath. And in chapter 3, which we’ll look at next time, they look for an excuse to accuse him by watching to see if he will heal on the Sabbath day. They even start to plot about how they can kill him. It’s important to bear this overall context in mind as we consider the two issues raised in today’s passage which relate to the disciples’ behaviour with regard to (1) fasting and (2) the Sabbath.

Questions about fasting (vv18-22)

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?" 19 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting

Although regular fasting wasn’t part of the Law of Moses, by the time of Jesus it had become an important part of Jewish practice and was observed not only by the Pharisees but also by the disciples of John the Baptist. But the behaviour of Jesus and his disciples seemed to call into question the ceremonial law of the Old Testament and how it was currently interpreted and put into practice. In particular, it raised questions about fasting, and, as we shall see, the observance of the Sabbath (vv23-28 and 3:1-6).

Some people came and asked Jesus

The Greek just says, they came and said to him. So, in the context, the question is asked by John’s disciples and the Pharisees. Interestingly, Matthew (9:14) only mentions the disciples of John, and in Luke (5:33) it’s the Pharisees who asked the question. As we’ve already seen, the Pharisees were constantly looking for opportunities to catch Jesus out, but the motive of John’s disciples may well have been genuine.

They were probably fasting and mourning because John had already been imprisoned (1:14), and John would soon be taken from them.

How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?

Whatever the motivation behind it, the question is quite understandable. Why weren’t Jesus’ disciples fasting? Jesus’ replies by using three different analogies – a bridegroom, a patch of cloth, and a wineskin.

Vv19-20 The analogy of a bridegroom

19 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

To understand what Jesus is saying here we need to remember that in both Old and New Testaments God’s people are referred to as his bride. For example, Isaiah 62:5 God says:

As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

(cf. The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-14, and Revelation 21:2).

God is the bridegroom, and his people are his bride. So, in using this analogy and applying it to himself, Jesus is surely implying his deity. But that is not his primary purpose here. His main point is that the period that he was with his disciples was not a time for them to fast. Fasting was usually associated with repentance, sorrow and mourning. But, in leaving everything to follow him, Jesus’ disciples had already repented and the time of fellowship while he was with them was a time for joy, not sorrow. The time for sorrow and mourning would come when he was taken from them – an early indication that Jesus already knew that he would eventually die for their sins.

On that day (NIV) is literally in those days. This suggests that the time for sorrow and mourning after Jesus’ crucifixion would be limited. It would soon give place to the joy of resurrection and would hardly be true of the disciples after Pentecost. But that does not mean that there is no place for fasting today. It’s clear from the book of Acts (e.g. 13:1-3) that there are times when fasting is appropriate especially when it's accompanied by prayer.

But personally I see no clear basis in this passage for ritual fasting or for the observance of Lent, and although it’s right to remember regularly Christ’s suffering and death as we take communion (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), whatever the date on the calendar might be, I cannot help rejoicing in the knowledge that Christ is risen! If I mourn anything, it’s that my sin made his suffering necessary.

So the first part of Jesus’ answer to the question was that it was not the right time for his disciples to be fasting because they were enjoying fellowship with him while he was still with them. And, as we have seen, it also includes an implicit claim to deity and a prediction of his death.

But the second part of his answer, where Jesus uses two further analogies, makes another astounding claim. The kingdom of God which he had come to proclaim (1:14-15) could simply not be contained within the framework of Judaism. What Jesus had come to introduce was entirely new.

V21 The analogy of a patch of cloth

So in verse 21 Jesus says:

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse.

The old garment of ceremonial Judaism was torn, but the new piece of Christ’s kingdom would only pull away from it, as it very quickly did as we see in Acts 15 with the church’s decision not to insist on circumcision for Gentile believers. The same point is made in verse 22 by Jesus’ use of the analogy of a wineskin.

V22 The analogy of a wineskin

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

Wineskins were watertight bags made from a goatskin. New wine was always put into new wineskins, because in time it would expand and stretch the bag. Old wineskins had already been stretched, and so if new wine were put into them, as the wine expanded it would only burst the wineskin. The lesson goes even further than the illustration of the patch of cloth. The new and the old are incompatible. Jesus had come to introduce something entirely new that would not only break free from the old (Judaism) and, if it didn’t, it would ultimately destroy it. But that brings us to verses 23-28 where Jesus is questioned about his disciples’ behaviour on the Sabbath.

Questions about the Sabbath (vv23-28)

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?" 25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions." 27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

It wasn’t unlawful for the disciples to pick the heads of grain. This was explicitly permitted by the law of Moses for the benefit of the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10). But Exodus 34:21 did say that even in the time of harvest the people must rest on the Sabbath. This is presumably what the Pharisees had in mind. But what the disciples were doing was hardly harvesting.

It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t get into a debate on the correct exegesis of these Old Testament verses – the Pharisees would probably have loved that – but he gets to the heart of the question, the purpose for which the law was given. It was given for the benefit of man.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (v27). All God’s commandments are given for our benefit. God loves us, and he knows what’s best for us. What matters is not the letter of the law, but its intention. This is made clear in verses 25-26.

25 "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

This is a reference to 1 Samuel 21:1-6 where David clearly broke the letter of the law given by Moses in Leviticus 24:9. And Jesus condones his actions! But why? Didn’t Jesus say that he had not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it? Yes, but he also taught that love (for God and for one’s fellow man) is the fulfilment of the law. So David had acted correctly because he understood that human need must take precedence over ceremonial law. So, as we shall see next time, Jesus taught that the Sabbath was a day to do good (Mark 3:4).

27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

God created the Sabbath for our benefit, not his own. The laws about the Sabbath were given to ensure that God’s people took time to rest, did not exploit those who worked for them, and made time to worship the Lord – even the command to worship him was given for our benefit, not God’s.  

It’s noteworthy that in the teaching of Paul, the question of observing the Sabbath was a made a matter of individual conscience (Romans 14) and it’s worth remembering that the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week (i.e. our Saturday), not Sunday which was and – despite the wrong impression created by modern secular calendars – still is the first day of the week. Nowhere does the New Testament refer to Sunday as the Sabbath.

I’m so glad that most churches have now broken free from the restrictions that used to be placed on what Christians were allowed to do on Sundays. For example, we were told that it was wrong to buy anything on a Sunday as that made other people work when they should have been in church. I well remember putting a coin in a vending machine to buy a bar of chocolate as a group of us were travelling to take the Sunday evening service in another church. I was quickly challenged by one of my friends who told me that I shouldn’t be buying anything on a Sunday. Of course, the rebuke was well intentioned, but rather like the Pharisees, they had forgotten the intention behind the rule. The only thing I was making work that Sunday was a vending machine! And, incidentally, as we were travelling by rail to get to our destination, there were real people who were working to make our journey possible. My friend hadn’t thought about that.

But that brings us to the final verse in the chapter.

28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath

Wow! What a claim! We have already seen how, by referring to himself as the bridegroom, Jesus has made an implicit claim to deity. But now the claim is far more explicit. Not only does he again use the messianic title, Son of Man, to refer to himself, but as the last Adam, the representative man who came to succeed where Adam failed, he claims to be Lord of the Sabbath.

In making this statement Jesus is claiming to be the ultimate interpreter of the entire law of the Old Testament. He has the last word on the subject. How often did he say, You have heard it said of old time… but I say unto you? To understand it correctly the Old Testament must always be read in the light of the New, and especially in view of the teaching of Jesus.

So let’s conclude by reminding ourselves of the indications of Jesus’ deity we have seen in Mark chapters 1 and 2.

In 1:1 he is introduced as Jesus Christ the Son of God

In 1:3 the quote from Isaiah identifies him as YAHWEH

In 1:11 God’s voice is heard from Heaven saying, You are my Son…

In 1:34 we’re told that the demons knew who he was

In 2:10 he demonstrates supernaturally his authority to forgive sins

In 2:19 he refers to himself as the bridegroom, a title used of God’s relation to his people in both Old and New Testaments

In 2:28 he declares himself to be The Lord of the Sabbath.

It’s clear that the Pharisees understood what Jesus was claiming. And, as we shall see next time, that’s why they wanted to kill him.

Talk 7   Mark 2:13-17   The Call of Levi

Welcome to Talk 7 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. We’ll begin by reading Mark 2:13-17.

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

As we saw last time, Jesus’ home was now in Capernaum (v1), a village on the western shore of Lake Galilee. We have also seen how, wherever Jesus went, large crowds gathered. There were two main reasons for this, his teaching and his healing. In Mark 1:22 we read:

The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

And in verses 27-28 we’re told that:

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

Mark goes into great detail about the miracles of healing and exorcism that Jesus performed, but he says relatively little about his teaching. Here in verse 13 he simply says, he began to teach them. However, as we’ve said before, the miracles were not the message, but served as signs confirming the truth of the message (cf. Mark 16:20). In Mark 1:14 Jesus proclaims the message that the kingdom of God is near and tells the people to repent and believe the good news. In 2:2 he speaks the word to them, and in verse 13 he teaches them. It’s clear that he used a variety of methods to communicate the message.

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

It’s important not to miss the connection with the previous verse. Jesus began to teach the people as he walked along. It’s so easy to think of teaching as something that you do in a standing (or sitting) position. But here Jesus is teaching as he walks along. A walk with someone is a great opportunity to share God’s truth with them. (When I was a Bible College principal I sometimes felt that I was able to teach my students more as I travelled in a car with them than when I was in the classroom).

It's interesting too that Jesus felt able to interrupt his teaching to speak to an individual and call him to follow him. The call of Levi (identified as Matthew in Matthew 9:9) is almost identical to the call of the four fishermen in chapter 1. Jesus is walking along, he sees them, and calls them to follow him. And immediately they do so.

But the fishermen were earning an honest living. As a tax-collector, Matthew almost certainly was not. The story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19 indicates that tax-collectors were certainly in a position to extract money under false pretences. And because of their reputation they were outcasts from Jewish society, being treated as traitors as they served the hated Roman authorities. They were viewed as the worst of sinners – but Jesus had come to call sinners to repentance, to seek and to save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).

So, Matthew gets up and follows him. As the fishermen had left their nets, he leaves his tax-collector’s booth (Luke 5:28 says he left everything), to become one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. I wonder if the other apostles were surprised at Jesus’ choice. There is certainly no suggestion that they were, and neither should we be when he calls people with a questionable background into church leadership today. What matters is not what they were, but what Christ can make of them when they repent.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

Luke describes this meal as a great banquet. The angels in Heaven rejoice when a sinner repents (Luke 15:10) and it’s right that we should do so too. Overjoyed at his newfound salvation, Levi throws a banquet to celebrate in honour of Jesus. And perhaps he did it, too,  to provide an opportunity for his former business associates to get to know Jesus. Those who have just found Christ have a unique opportunity to tell others about what he has done for them.

If we are really grateful for what Christ has done for us, we will do the same – at the ‘banquet’ we call the communion service or eucharist, where we regularly remember and celebrate the Lord’s death, and as we testify to those around us of the transforming work Jesus has done in our lives.

We also see in this verse how the sinless Christ was willing to look like a sinner (as he was at his baptism in 1:9) foreshadowing his redemptive work on the cross, where he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He mixes with those seen as the worst kind of sinners. But the fact is that we’re all sinners – or we were, until we met Jesus – and not one of us is worthy of his grace. The word Christian occurs only three times in the New Testament, but far more frequent is the use of the word saint to refer to Christian believers. We who were once sinners God now calls saints.  What amazing grace!

16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

Despite the miracle performed on the paralysed man earlier in the chapter, the teachers of the law are still criticising Jesus. Now the question is not, What right has he to forgive sins? but Why is he eating with sinners? Did these Pharisees really think that they themselves were sinless? Probably not, but they certainly considered themselves a cut above the rest. Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the tax-collector illustrates their attitude perfectly:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:9-14).

Of course, Jesus didn’t condone sin, but he mixed with sinners because their need was so great, and he loved them and sought to save them. Luke 7:36-50, where Jesus is in the home of Simon the Pharisee and where a woman who has lived a sinful life anoints Jesus’ feet with perfume, also illustrates what we’re talking about here. The Pharisee can’t understand why Jesus would allow a sinful woman to touch him, making him ceremonially unclean. Jesus explains that those who love him most are those who have the most to forgive. He tells the woman, Your sins are forgiven… your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (to repentance)."

Jesus’ message was that people should repent and believe the good news (1:15). This is what he came for. Of course we know that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and everybody needs to repent and believe the gospel. So Jesus is not suggesting here that the Pharisees were righteous and did not need to repent. But if no one is righteous then everyone, including the Pharisees, needs to repent and receive the forgiveness Jesus so freely offers. It’s true that the healthy do not need a doctor, but if everyone is sick, then everyone needs him.

Note, incidentally, that, although in the context this was not his intention, Jesus here acknowledges our need of the medical profession. Some Christians, because of God’s promises of healing, believe that to consult a doctor is an evidence of lack of faith. The people who take this view are usually those who believe that Jesus died for our sicknesses in exactly the way that he died for our sins. Both in my PhD thesis and in my book Just a Taste of Heaven, I show that this is not what the Bible teaches and that to teach this is not only erroneous but also potentially dangerous.

Although this is not directly relevant to the context of the passage we are studying in Mark 2, because it’s so important, I will conclude this talk by giving you a brief summary of why I believe it’s quite appropriate for us to seek medical help and advice, even though we passionately believe in the supernatural power of God to heal the sick today.

Firstly, it is noteworthy that on at least three occasions the New Testament actually advocates the use of medicinal means. One clear example, is Paul 's recommendation to Timothy  to take wine for the sake of his stomach (1 Timothy 5:23).  A further example is the instruction given to the church at Laodicea to purchase eye salve that they might see (Revelation 3:18), and although the use here is clearly metaphorical it seems hardly likely that such a metaphor  would have been employed if the use of medical  means were disapproved of.

Yet another example is the use of oil  and wine in the Parable of the Good Samaritan  (Luke 10:29-37).   In v.33 the Samaritan takes pity on the wounded man and in v.34 dresses his wounds , pouring on oil and wine.   He then takes him to an inn where he takes care of him.   It is clear from the context that the purpose of the oil and the wine was medicinal and Jesus  commands his followers to Go and do likewise (v.37).  

Furthermore, there is no clear evidence in either the Old or the New Testament of a negative attitude towards the use of medicine. In fact, as we’ve just seen, there are indications of a positive attitude. This suggests that as Christians today we too should be positive about it and be grateful to God  for the advances in medical science that have been made since Bible times.

But given that the use of medicine and the medical  profession is appropriate for a Christian, the question arises as to when we should avail ourselves of it, bearing in mind that God has promised to heal us. In this connection it is important to realise that it need not be a question of God or medicine. It can, and probably should, be a matter of both. As Christians we should seek the Lord in everything, so we should not, like Asa (2 Chronicles 16:12) , consult the doctor  and forget the Lord. On the other hand, we should remember that God works through the natural as well as through the supernatural . It would seem foolish to ask God for a miracle  when there is a simple natural solution.

A good illustration of this principle is God ’s miraculous provision of food for the Israelites when they were travelling through the desert. Exodus 16 reveals how God provided ‘manna’ as food for his people. There was always enough for each day …until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna  until they came to the border of Canaan (v.35). This is confirmed in Joshua 5:12. The manna  stopped the day after they ate food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year  they ate the produce of Canaan.

The lesson from this is very clear. God  has many natural ways of providing for the needs of his people. It is when our needs are beyond our natural resources that we may expect God to provide supernaturally. God does not work miracles when there is no need for them. Applying this principle to healing, since we are to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), we should pray as soon as we are ill and continue to pray until we are better. But that does not mean that we should not consult a doctor  or take medicine.  Indeed, in most cases it seems that it is through medical  means that the Lord chooses to heal us. Where human skill is insufficient, however, as Christians we have the assurance that even when something is impossible with man, all things are possible with God .

Talk 6   Mark 2:1-12   Jesus Heals a Paralysed Man

Welcome to Talk 6 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’re in chapter 2 and we’ll be looking at the first 12 verses to which the NIV gives the heading, Jesus heals a paralysed man. And that indeed is what the story is about. It’s about Jesus, it’s about healing, and it’s about a man who could not walk. But, as we shall see, it’s about far more than healing. So let’s read it.

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralysed man, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

So, as we’ve said, this passage is about healing, but it teaches us far more than that. It teaches us about who Jesus is, about the seriousness of sin and the importance of forgiveness, about faith, and about different groups of people and their attitude to Christ. We’ll work through it a verse or two at a time and then summarise the lessons we have learned.

1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home.

As we saw last time, Jesus had extended his ministry beyond Capernaum, travelling throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons (1:39). Now he returns to Capernaum, which this verse refers to as home. When the people hear this there’s an immediate effect:

2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.

The house is filled with people and they overflow into the street. As we saw in chapter 1, it was his miracles of healing and exorcism that attracted the crowds, but Jesus’ primary purpose was to preach the word to them. His miracles were not the message. They were signs confirming the truth of his message – The good news of the kingdom of God (1:14). Compare Mark 16:20 (the very last verse of Mark’s Gospel):

Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them.

Notice the extremity of the man’s condition. He was paralysed. He was clearly unable to get to Jesus without considerable help. He wasn’t walking with a man on either side supporting him. It took four men to carry him there.

4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

These men were clearly determined to get their friend to Jesus. And, as the next verse reveals, they were clearly men of faith. What would be the point of going to all that trouble if you didn’t believe that Jesus would work a miracle?

5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralysed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Jesus saw their faith. This could mean the faith of the four men, or it could include the faith of the paralysed man himself. He certainly exercised faith in obeying the command of Jesus to get up and walk. But, either way, it wasn’t just his faith. In my book, Just a Taste of Heaven, I have a chapter on the relationship between faith and healing. As I examined the passages in the New Testament where faith is mentioned in connection with healing, I discovered that in half the cases it was the faith of the sick person that resulted in healing, and in the other half it was the faith of someone else. In fact it’s the person bringing the request for healing who is expected to have faith. Later, in Mark 6:5-6, we’re told that Jesus was unable to do any mighty work in his home town because of their unbelief.

But why does Jesus say, Son, your sins are forgiven, before he heals this man? Three possibilities come to mind:

a.     The man’s sickness was the result of his sin

b.     The man believed that his sickness was the result of his sin

c.      Jesus wanted to emphasise that the forgiveness of sin is far more important than the healing of the body.

With regard to a. This is certainly a possibility. The Bible makes it clear that sickness is sometimes the result of personal sin, but both Old and New Testaments are equally clear that this is by no means always the case. (For more on this, please see the relevant chapter in Just a Taste of Heaven).

Regarding b. Even if his sickness was not caused by sin, the man may very well have believed that it was, because this was the common view at the time. I’ve heard it suggested that Jesus just wanted to reassure the man by putting such thoughts out of his mind. But if that had been his intention, would it not have been easier to say, Son, this sickness has not been caused by your sin?

Surely it’s much more likely that Jesus simply wanted to emphasise that the forgiveness of sin is far more important than the healing of the body. The effects of sickness may last for a lifetime. Sin has eternal consequences.

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Well, they certainly got one thing right. Ultimately it’s only God who can forgive sin. Of course, we can, and we must, forgive those who sin against us, but every sin against man is a sin against God. For example, I can forgive you for stealing from me, but in stealing from me you have broken God’s law, You must not steal. All sin is an offense to God, and it’s only God who can give ultimate forgiveness.

So the teachers of the law were right about that. But what they failed to see was that Jesus was not blaspheming, because Jesus WAS God. And that’s exactly what Jesus is claiming when later he says, the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (v10). Their fundamental problem was that their attitude to CHRIST was wrong. Note how they refer to him as this fellow. Their preconceived ideas blinded them to who he was.

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?

While Jesus was a man here on earth, he did not know everything. (See Mark 11 where he expects to find fruit on a fig tree when there was none). But he received supernatural revelation through the Holy Spirit, as we sometimes do through spiritual gifts like what is often referred to as a word of knowledge. So the fact that he knew what they were thinking is not, in my view, a proof of his deity, but it is a sign of the truth of what he was saying.

9 Which is easier: to say to the paralysed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?

The point here is verifiability. No one could verify the statement that the man’s sins were forgiven, but if gets up and walks, the integrity of Jesus’ words is immediately verified. In other words, it’s easier to say that a person’s sins are forgiven, because there’s no immediate way of knowing if it’s true. It’s much harder to say, Get up and walk, because everyone will immediately see whether he does so or not.

10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralysed man, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."

In healing the paralysed man Jesus demonstrates his authority to forgive sins and in so doing demonstrates his deity. The term Son of Man is a Messianic title. The signs he performed confirmed that he was indeed the Messiah, God’s anointed one. This passage shows the urgent priority Jesus placed on forgiveness – he even wanted to forgive the critics, if only they would believe (v 10, that you may know…). It also indicates his willingness to die for us. It was his claim to deity that led to his crucifixion.

12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

This astounding miracle resulted, first, in amazement. This is one of the main purposes of miracles. They are signs and wonders. They are designed to make man wonder, to think and to ask, What does this mean? (as, for example, the miracle of tongues at Pentecost).

It also resulted in praise to God. But God is looking for more than praise. He’s looking for repentance. Jesus’ message was Repent and believe the good news (1:15). And, as we’ve seen in previous talks, it’s clear from Matthew 11:23 that, despite the miracles, Capernaum did not repent.

So now let’s try to summarise some of the lessons we have learned from this passage.

·      What we learn about healing, sin and forgiveness

·      What we learn about people

·      What we learn about Jesus

What we learn about healing, sin and forgiveness

Jesus has power to heal incurable diseases

Jesus heals in response to faith

Jesus makes it clear that sickness, however serious, is not our greatest problem

Sin is more serious than sickness

What we learn about people

Some people come to Jesus because they’ve heard what he can do

Some people come to Jesus because of their desperate need

Some people come to Jesus because they care about their friends or family

Some people reject Jesus and only want to criticise

What we learn about Jesus

Jesus knows the thoughts of our hearts

Jesus is God himself and only Jesus has authority to forgive our sins

Jesus loved us enough to die for us – his claim to deity was why they crucified him

Talk 5   Mark 1:29-45 Miracles of healing in Capernaum and beyond

Welcome to Talk 5 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 1:29-45. We’ll begin by reading verses 29-31.

29. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30.  Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her. 31. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

As we saw last time, Jesus has just cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue. He and his disciples now leave the synagogue and go to the home of Simon and Andrew. This passage gives us an interesting insight into family life at the time. Although Simon was married, his brother Andrew was living with them, and so was his wife’s mother. For the extended family all to live under the same roof was normal at the time and is not uncommon in some parts of the world today. This may well account for the fact that, later in his ministry, Simon Peter, also known as Cephas, was able to take his wife with him on his apostolic travels, as did some of the other apostles (1 Corinthians 9:5).

However, more important than the social conditions prevailing at that time, is the miracle of healing so briefly described in the verses. Simon’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. They tell Jesus. He responds immediately, goes to her, takes her hand, and helps her up. She is healed straightaway and is able to wait on them. So Jesus’ response to the need is immediate and so is the healing.

Interestingly, in Matthew’s account of this miracle, Jesus simply touches her hand (Matthew 8:15), and in Luke we’re told that he bent over her and rebuked the fever and it left her (Luke 4:39). Of course, the differences in these accounts are not contradictions. They complement each other and give us the full picture. They all show his willingness and power to heal. Sometimes Jesus healed with a touch, at others with a word of command. In this case he does both. I have often preached about his miracle, usually from the passage in Matthew, and have commented that in many ways his word is synonymous with his touch. He touches us with his word.

On one such occasion, in March 2009, on a visit to Portugal where I was teaching for a week in Mount Hope Bible College near Lisbon, I was asked to do a weekend of teaching in a place called Tomar. On the Sunday morning I was preaching about the power of Jesus and how He healed people just by touching them. I explained that today He often ‘touches’ us through the message that is preached and that He could touch and heal people now, even while I was preaching. While I was saying this, I noticed a woman in the second row who was quietly crying.

As soon as the service ended, this woman came to me and spoke to me. She did so through an interpreter as I don’t speak Portuguese.  She insisted on showing me the lower part of her leg which for some time had been very swollen, had caused her great pain, and which had been greatly discoloured. Her friend, who interpreted for her confirmed that this was true. However, during my preaching the swelling had gone down completely, the discolouration had disappeared, and she was no longer in pain. Her tears were tears of joy! She pulled up her trouser leg and revealed a perfectly normal ankle. There was no evidence that she’d ever had a problem.

32. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33. The whole town gathered at the door, 34. and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

We saw last time that in verse 28, after Jesus had driven out the demon in the synagogue, the news spread quickly throughout Galilee. This is demonstrated by the immediate effect on the people of the town. In fact, the whole town gathered at the door. It’s understandable that people who are suffering will flock to someone who is able to meet their need, but sadly this does not always lead to genuine conversion, as the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19 makes clear. And, as we saw last time, the miracles Jesus performed in Capernaum did not bring the people to genuine repentance.

In the New Testament, miracles almost invariably attracted the attention of the crowds, and the same is generally true today, though their effect seems to vary in different cultures. For example, in Africa multitudes used to gather at the evangelistic and divine healing crusades conducted by Reinhard Bonnke, but I know from personal experience and acquaintance with him that the effects of his ministry were considerably less in Europe. Rather as in the ministry of Jesus, the Lord could do no mighty work because of the scepticism and even cynicism in the region, although he did lay his hands upon a few sick people and heal them (Mark 6:5).

Despite this, Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons. We’re told in verse 41 and elsewhere that he did this because of his compassion (Matthew 14:14, 20:34, Mark 1:41, 5:19, 9:22, Luke 7:13). In healing the sick he demonstrated the love of God, even for those who were ungrateful, just as later he died for the sins of the whole world even though he knew that many would reject him.

In verse 34 Mark tells us that Jesus drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. We have already seen one example of this with the demon-possessed man in the synagogue (vv24-25). Jesus tells the demon to be quiet because it knew who Jesus was – the holy one of God.  James 2:19 shows us that even the demons believe – and shudder. They believe, but they do so grudgingly. Jesus silences all such testimony. He looks for a voluntary and glad acceptance of who he is, as the truth is revealed by the Spirit of God to those who repent and come to faith in him as their Saviour.

Finally, in Matthew’s account of these miracles (8:17), he says that Jesus performed his healings

…to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."

This is one of the ‘proof-texts’ used by those who believe that Jesus died for our sicknesses in just the same way that he died for our sins. However, as I have argued in detail in my PhD thesis, and in a more simplified way in my book, Just a Taste of Heaven, whenever Matthew quotes the Old Testament he does so in connection with the events in Jesus’ life and ministry that he is there and then recording, not to something that will take place later. And in Matthew 8:16-17 he uses the quote from Isaiah in connection with Jesus’ healing ministry in Galilee, not in the context of his atoning work on the cross, which took place three years later. So, as we’ve already seen, Jesus’ miracles are best understood as signs of the kingdom of God. They confirm the truth of the gospel message as they demonstrate God’s power and his loving compassion for those who are sick.

35. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36. Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37. and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" 38. Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." 39. So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Verse 35 undoubtedly reveals the key to Jesus’ power. Although he was the Son of God (v1), and although he had been baptised in the Spirit (v10), he still needed to spend time alone in communion with God. He got up very early, he found somewhere to be alone, and he prayed. It was surely on these occasions that he received revelation from God about everything he was to do. In John 5:19, after he has healed the man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day, he says:

 I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

This surely makes it clear that even Jesus could not tell God what to do. And we, as his disciples are to follow his example. We are God’s servants. He dictates the agenda. If we are to be used in healing, as Jesus was, we must first hear what God is saying. The level of our authority is directly related to the extent to which we are hearing what God has to say.

But these verses also give us an insight into two other aspects of public ministry:

(1)  the external pressure of both the disciples and the general public demanding attention (36-37), and

(2)  the inward pressure of one’s personal conviction of God’s call and purpose for our lives (38-39. Cf. also v45).

God’s call to serve him is what should motivate all we do, but if we are to be effective in his service we must find the right balance between spending time with him and responding to the inevitable demands made by our fellow Christians and the desperate need of those who do not yet know Jesus. This is probably the most important reason why we need to follow closely the example of Jesus in seeking to win others for him.

And finally in verses 40-45 we have the account of the healing of the leper.

40. A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." 41. Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" 42. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

There are several points of interest here. First is the fact that the leper came to Jesus. This was unusual in that lepers were required to keep their distance due to the highly contagious nature of the disease. Perhaps his boldness in doing so can be accounted for by the fact that he had presumably heard of the miracles Jesus had already performed and that, like the four lepers in 2 Kings 7, he felt he had nothing to lose.

Secondly, what he says makes it clear that he did not doubt Jesus’ ability to heal him, but that he was unsure of Jesus’ willingness to do so. I’ve often heard it said that to be healed we must not only have faith that God can heal us, but also that he will. But that is clearly not the case. Jesus healed the leper despite his lack of faith in his willingness to do so. But Jesus’ words of reassurance – I am willing – are surely an encouragement to us all. This is the only case in the Bible where someone prays in effect, Lord, heal me if it is your will. And Jesus replied, I am willing. In the light of this, and the fact that Jesus never refused healing to anyone who came to him, we should surely continue to expect healing, at least until he shows us that there is a reason for his not doing so (as in the case of Paul’s thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 11 where the apostle was told that God’s grace would be sufficient for him).

Thirdly, Jesus’ motive for healing the leper was compassion. Ignoring social convention and the danger both of catching the disease and of being made ceremonially unclean, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man – because he loved him. And we’re reminded, as we saw in an earlier talk, of Jesus’ willingness to be baptised even though it made him look as though he was a sinner who needed to repent. These things all foreshadow – they are a prophetic picture – of all that Jesus was to do on the cross. Although he never sinned, he was willing for God to treat him as a sinner so that he could make us acceptable to God (2 Corinthians 5:21 CEV). And he did so because he loves us.

Fourthly, please notice that the healing was immediate. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured (v42). In the Gospels Jesus’ healings were almost always immediate. There is little evidence for miracles of gradual healing. Admittedly, in Mark 8:22-26 the healing of the blind man was not instantaneous, and the ten lepers who came to Jesus for healing were all healed, but it was only as they set off to see the priest as Jesus commanded them that on their way they were healed (Luke 17:14).

However, it’s clear from the context that these healings occurred almost immediately or at least very soon after Jesus had ministered to those who were suffering. This does not mean of course that God may not sometimes have a purpose in gradual healing today, but healings really need to be immediate if they are to fulfil their purpose as manifestations of the kingdom of God and as signs confirming the truth of the good news of the gospel.

43. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44. "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 45. Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Why did Jesus tell him not to tell anyone about his healing? Because he didn’t want people to come to him simply for the physical benefits they could get. He had compassion on the sick and never refused healing to anyone who asked for it, but he didn’t go looking for the sick and the demon possessed. He didn’t advertise his healings – nor did the apostles in the book of Acts – his miracles advertised him! His priority, as we have seen was to take time to hear what his heavenly Father was saying.

So he tells the man he has healed to obey the Law of Moses in Leviticus 14 for the priest to examine him and confirm the healing. We might have thought that the man would have gladly obeyed Jesus’ instructions out of sheer gratitude, but instead he does the opposite! We’re not told why, but whatever the reason, his enthusiasm to tell his story didn’t help the cause of the kingdom of God. The proclamation of the good news of the kingdom of God is demonstrated with miraculous signs and wonders, but his kingship does not take away our freedom of choice or our responsibility to obey him. And surely the greatest evidence that Jesus is Lord is in the obedient lives of those who profess to follow him. If we want Christ’s kingdom to be extended, we must do things his way.

And finally, seven key points to summarise what we’ve been saying:

(1)  Jesus’ authority to heal sprang from the time he spent in communion with God and his obedience to what God revealed to him.

(2)  The purpose of Jesus’ healings was to confirm the good news of the kingdom of God and to show his compassion for suffering humanity.

(3)  His healings, as signs of the kingdom, were immediate rather than gradual.

(4)  Jesus healed by a word of command, or by a touch, or by both.

(5)  While his healings brought multitudes under the sound of his teaching, relatively few became true disciples.

(6)  Despite this, his willingness to be identified with suffering and sinful humanity foreshadowed what was to happen at Calvary.

(7)  His willingness and power to heal all who came to him, like his willingness and power to save all who come to him, were no guarantee that all would come. But he heals and he saves anyway, because he loves us. The choice is ours, whether we come to him or not.

Talk 4   Mark 1:21-28  Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit

Welcome to Talk 4 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 1:21-28. So far we have seen how Mark introduces us to the good news about Jesus who is the Son of God. He tells us of the preaching of John the Baptist whom God sent to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus. His message was Repent and be baptised.

He tells us of Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan and how, immediately after his baptism in water, where God declared him to be his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased, he was baptised in the Holy Spirit and equipped with power to fulfil his God-given mission.. This was to be the time when Jesus would start his public ministry, and after a period of fasting in the desert where he conquered Satan’s temptations, he began preaching the good news of the kingdom of God evidenced by miracles of healing and deliverance.

We saw how Jesus called the four fishermen, Andrew, Simon, James and John, and we saw through the example of Jesus, and the response of the disciples to his call, key principles of  how to win other for Jesus.

Now in today’s passage, and in the rest of the chapter, Mark gives us examples of what proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God actually means in practice:

21-28 Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit – a miracle in the synagogue

29-31 Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever – a miracle in a home

32-34 Jesus heals all the sick and demon possessed – miracles outside

35-39 Jesus spends time in prayer

40-45 Jesus heals a leper.

But today we’ll just be looking at verses 21-28 where Jesus delivers a demon possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum.

21-28 Jesus Drives Out an Evil Spirit – a miracle in the synagogue

21. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. 23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24. "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" 25. "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. 27. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

21 They went to Capernaum

After Jesus has called the four fishermen to follow him they go to Capernaum. Capernaum was a small town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

It’s probably where the four fishermen were living. If you go there today you can see the remains of what is believed to be the house where Simon Peter lived and the synagogue where Jesus preached.

and when the Sabbath came

So they came to Capernaum and it seems that they stayed there for a few days, at least until the following Sabbath.

Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.

We know that it was Jesus’ custom every Sabbath to attend the synagogue (Luke 4:16), where, like any other adult Jewish male, he had the right to teach. But his teaching was different!

22. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

It was the custom of the rabbis in those days to be constantly quoting the opinions of others, but Jesus spoke with an authority that came from Heaven. This undoubtedly sprang from who he was, the Christ, the Son of God (v1), but at a human level, resulted from the time he spent in prayerful communion with his heavenly Father (cf. v35).

In teaching and preaching in this way, he was not only instructing the congregation in the synagogue, but also setting an example to his disciples, and us, as to how the kingdom of God should be proclaimed (cf. v14). He was showing them how to become fishers of men. Of course, there is a time and place for giving a reasoned explanation for why we believe what we believe (1 Peter 3:15), but, as the apostle Paul discovered, the enticing words of man’s wisdom are no substitute for preaching with the demonstration and power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:1-4). This is nowhere more evident than in the reaction of the people to Jesus in the synagogue:

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him" (v27).

This, of course, was the result of Jesus having just cast out an evil spirit, described by Mark in verses 23-26:

23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 24. "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!" 25. "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" 26. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.

23. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit

The same incident is recorded in Luke 4:33ff where again the NIV uses the word possessed to describe the man’s condition. However, literally translated, Mark says:

And there was in their synagogue a man with (or in) an unclean spirit and Luke describes him as a man having a spirit of an unclean demon (Luke 4:33).

I mention this simply to point out that the New Testament uses a variety of different expressions to refer to what today is commonly described as demon possession (another of which is to be demonized (e.g. Matthew 4:24, 8:16, 28, 33; Mark 1:32, 5:15,16, 18; Luke 8:36). It’s clear to me that all these expressions are used interchangeably and that it’s a mistake to try to draw a distinction between them.

What’s particularly interesting is that in the case we’re looking at the man was in the synagogue. But this is no basis for the argument that a born-again Christian can be demon possessed. There is no evidence that the man was a believer (even though the demon in him knew who Jesus was). Literally translated, verses 24-26 read:

Away! What to us and to you, Jesus of Nazareth? You came to destroy us. I know who you are – the holy one of God. And Jesus rebuked it, saying, Be silenced, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit tore him and cried out with a great voice and came out of him.

It’s important to note that it’s the demon, not the man, who is speaking, though the demon is speaking through the man. And it’s the demon that Jesus rebukes and tells to be silent. The demon says, Away! It wants Jesus to keep his distance. Jesus and demons have nothing in common. An unclean spirit cannot bear the presence of the holy one of God.

The NIV translation Have you come to destroy us? can equally well be translated as a statement rather than a question. (There are no punctuation marks in the Greek text, so it could mean You have come to destroy us). The demon knew who Jesus was. It might well have known the purpose for which he has come – to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

Notice that Jesus didn’t argue with the demon. He didn’t need to. He had complete authority over it. He didn’t need to take authority. He exercised the authority he already had, because he was a man under authority – the authority of his Father. He rebuked it and commanded it to be silent and come out of the man. And, of course, it did!

Now please note that I am not teaching a methodology for exorcising demons here. But there are at least two clear principles implicit in what I have said:

1.     As Christians we are in Christ (Ephesians 1:13) and Christ lives within us by his Spirit. Demons cannot cohabit with Christ. They flee from his presence. So I believe it’s a mistake to attempt to cast a demon out of a Christian. As Christians we need to resist the devil and sometimes it’s necessary for another Christian to stand alongside us in prayer when we’re under attack. But we don’t need exorcism.

2.     If we’re going to be used in setting others free we need to be living under the authority of Jesus. We cannot take authority. In the Bible, authority is always something that’s given. We only have authority if we’re under authority. We either have it or we don’t. If we have it, we don’t need to take it. We exercise it. And if we don’t have it, no amount of ‘taking’ it will help.

But that leads us to the question, Why did Jesus cast out the demon? The man certainly didn’t ask Jesus to help him. There are several possible answers to this. Consider the following:

1.     Because the man was causing a disturbance in the synagogue.

2.     Because the man was so controlled by the demon that he was incapable of asking for help.

3.     Because it was not yet time for Jesus to fully reveal who he was.

4.     Because he refused to let the devil set the agenda.

5.     Because he hated the devastation the enemy had caused in this man’s life.

6.     Because he had compassion on the man. Compare v 41 where Jesus is moved with compassion for the leper.

7.     Because the reason he had come to earth was to destroy the works of the devil. The Greek word for destroy in 1 John 3:8 is luo, which means to loose or undo. The devil binds people. Jesus unties them. He sets them free.

8.     Because he knew that it was his Father’s will (cf. John 5:19).

9.     Because casting out demons was a sign that the kingdom of God had come.

10.Because the miracle would cause the people of Capernaum to become his disciples?

Now, although most of these suggestions have merit – some more than others – I think the first one is improbable and the last one is definitely inaccurate. Look at verses 27-28:

27. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching – and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 28. News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

The people were amazed, but did they repent and believe? Compare Matthew 11:20-24:

20. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent…

23. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you."

This indicates that despite the miracles he performed there, the people of Capernaum did not repent. Possibly because of pride. The simple fact is that where miracles of healing and deliverance are taking place people will come out of curiosity and in the hope that their needs will be met. But though many are healed, relatively few become true disciples of Jesus.

So why does God bother? Because miracles are signs of the kingdom and make it easier for people to believe. God wants everyone to be saved, but the choice to repent and believe is theirs. It’s one thing to be amazed at the miracles, as the inhabitants of Capernaum were, but quite another to believe the message of the kingdom of God and to repent and put your trust in Jesus as your Saviour.

And perhaps this is why we don’t see more miracles in this country today? Even Jesus could do no mighty work in Nazareth because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6). Unbelief in a community inhibits the miraculous. And so can lack of faith and prayer on the part of God’s people. But that doesn’t alter the truth that miracles are God’s way of confirming his word (Mark 16:15-20). It’s our responsibility to preach the word and be led by the Spirit as we believe for miraculous confirmation. But we will have more to say about this in future talks.

Talk 3  Mark 1:14-20  Winning others for Jesus

Welcome to Talk 3 in our series on Mark’s Gospel. So far we have seen how Mark begins by establishing very clearly that Jesus is none other than God himself who came to make possible the forgiveness of our sins. To prepare for his coming the people were to confess their sins, repent and be baptised. But when Jesus came he would do more for them than baptism in water ever could. He would baptise them in the Holy Spirit.

I also pointed out that in New Testament times repentance, faith, water baptism and baptism in the Spirit would usually have all taken place on the same day, and that, though these are each distinct elements with the process of Christian initiation, they would probably have been viewed as all part of the same event.

In our last talk we saw in the baptism of Jesus, his willingness to be identified with sinners even though he was sinless, his determination to do what is right, and his desire always to do the will of God. And we suggested that, if we truly wish to be his disciples, we must not only repent and believe the gospel, but that we should follow his example and be baptised by total immersion.

We saw too that Jesus’ baptism in water also teaches us about the relationship between water baptism and the baptism in the Spirit. The baptism in the Spirit was the gateway to his miracle working ministry. For Jesus, this was received at/after his baptism in water. And this was just what the early disciples expected and, although this is rarely the case today, it is certainly what we should be teaching and believing for.

And finally, we considered five reasons why the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Perhaps the most important of these was that we could learn from his example how to deal with temptation. We saw the importance of keeping full of the Spirit, of being led by the Spirit, and of correctly understanding and using the Spirit’s sword, the word of God.

Today we’ll be looking at Mark 1:14-20. The passage introduces us to the message that Jesus preached and how he called his first disciples. It also shows us how, like the first disciples, we can get involved in spreading the good news of the gospel – how we can win other people for Jesus. The key, as we shall see, is found in verse 17 where Jesus says:

"Come, follow me, …and I will make you fishers of men."

If we want to win others for Jesus, we must first follow him ourselves. And we must allow him to make us. And as we work through the passage we’ll see from the example of Jesus and the response of the disciples several other important principles. But first, let’s begin by reading the whole passage.

14. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of (the kingdom of) God. 15. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" 16. As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18. At once they left their nets and followed him. 19. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

After John was put in prison (14)

Mark begins by mentioning briefly that John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, had been put in prison. We know from chapter 6 that this was because he had annoyed Herod by telling him that it was not lawful for him to have married his brother’s wife. Undeterred by this news, Jesus begins his public ministry. He preaches essentially the same message as John – Repent and believe the good news. Despite the possible danger in doing this – John was eventually executed by Herod – Jesus is determined to do God’s will. So the first thing we can learn from the example of Jesus is that if we are going to be used in spreading the good news, we must not be deterred by apparent setbacks. We will need to embrace the danger.

Jesus went into Galilee (14)

Before Jesus could proclaim the good news he had to go. Actually, the Greek literally means, he came. I’m reminded that before Jesus could tell us the good news, he had to come. He had to come from the glory of Heaven to a sin-sick world to make our salvation possible. And if others are to be saved, we too need to go. This is what he commanded us – Go into all the world and preach the good news (Mark 16:15). And the world begins right where you are. Jesus went into Galilee. Jesus had been brought up in Nazareth, which is in the region of Galilee. He went to where he had been brought up. If we’re going to be used in spreading the good news about Jesus, we must be willing to go. If need be, to the ends of the earth, but at least to those who are already around us. This implies intentionality. To catch fish, you have to GO fishing.

proclaiming the good news of (the kingdom of) God. (14)

The message must be proclaimed, announced. Of course, it’s no good talking the talk if we’re not walking the walk. Nevertheless, living good lives is not enough. Actually I’m not living a good life if I’m not telling others what they need to hear.

The message is good news about God. More specifically, the kingdom of God. It’s good news that God’s in charge. More of this in a moment.

The time has come (15)

For thirty years Jesus had been relatively silent, but now the time had come. How did he know? He lived life in dependence on his Father and in close fellowship with him. He was now baptised in the Spirit and empowered to begin his ministry. It was through the power of the Spirit that the kingdom would be manifested.

In Matthew 12:28, after healing a demonized man who had been blind and mute Jesus says:

If it is that by the Spirit of God I drive our demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (v28).

The kingdom of God is near.  Or, the kingdom of God has come.

The Greek verb engizo literally mean to come near.

The kingdom is present wherever the king is present. Wherever Jesus was present, there were manifestations of the kingdom like healing and casting out demons. And in Matthew 10:1 he gave his disciples authority to do the same:

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

And in verses 7-8 he went on to say:

As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

They did this with the special authority Jesus gave them at that time. Later, after Jesus had returned to Heaven, to do these things they had to wait until they were baptised in the Spirit. Their authority would come from the Spirit, and the miracles they performed, like those performed by Jesus, would be done through the direction and power of the Spirit. When we’re baptised in the Spirit we should expect him to work miracles through us. It’s not so much a matter of claiming promises as being led by the Holy Spirit.

Repent and believe the good news! (15)

The message we have to share with people is good news, demonstrated by amazing miracles of healing, deliverance, provision and forgiveness. But its blessings are to be received by repenting and believing. When we share the good news with people, we must not dodge the issue of repentance. It’s not good news for those who refuse to repent and believe.

So we’ve looked at the example of Jesus. We’ve seen that if we are going to be used in spreading the good news:

·      We must not be deterred by apparent setbacks. We will need to embrace the danger.

·      We must be willing to go.

·      We must be willing to speak.

·      We should expect God to work miracles through us as we are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

·      We must not dodge the issue of repentance.

But now let’s look at the response of the disciples.

16. As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18. At once they left their nets and followed him. 19. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

17. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

The purpose of our calling to follow Jesus is to make us fishers of men (17).

18. At once they left their nets and followed him

At once… they followed him

Taken with verse 20 where we’re told that Jesus called his disciples without delay, we see three things:

·      We should not delay in telling others the good news.

·      When Jesus calls us to salvation, we should not delay.

·      When he calls us to serve him, we should not put off the decision.

There is a clear sense of urgency in all this, and this is emphasised in verses 18 and 20 where the fishermen left their nets (v18) which were their livelihood, and their father (v20). They left their family as well. They left all to follow him. Their attitude can best be summarised in one word – COMMITMENT.  As CT Studd, a Cambridge graduate and former England cricketer once said:

If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.

And Studd lived up to his words. After his father’s death, he gave away his entire inheritance and became a missionary, serving the Lord in China, India, and finally in Africa. Now we may not all be called to give up our means of livelihood or our family to follow Jesus, but we should all be willing to do so. We are all called to commitment. So now let’s summarise the principles we have discovered in today’s passage.

·      When Jesus calls us to salvation, we should not delay.

·      When he calls us to serve him, we should not put off the decision.

·      We should follow his example and allow him to make us fishers of men.

·      We should not delay in telling others the good news of the kingdom of God.

·      We should expect God to work miracles through us as we are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

·      We must not be deterred by apparent setbacks. We will need to embrace the danger.

·      We must be willing to go.

·      We must be willing to speak, and we must not dodge the issue of repentance.

Of course, we’re all different, but how can these principles be worked out in YOUR life?

Talk 2   Mark 1:9-13  The baptism and temptation of Jesus

Welcome to Talk 2 in our new series on Mark’s Gospel. In our first talk we saw how Mark begins by establishing very clearly that Jesus is none other than God himself who came to make possible the forgiveness of our sins. To prepare for his coming the people were to confess their sins, repent and be baptised. But when Jesus came he would do more for them than baptism in water ever could. He would baptise them in the Holy Spirit.

From elsewhere in the New Testament, we saw that it was through the work of the Spirit that we are empowered to live new lives by being born again. We begin to show the fruit of the Spirit which Paul describes in Galatians 5. And when we are baptised in the Spirit we are told in Acts 1 we receive power to be effective witnesses for Christ.

I also pointed out that in New Testament times repentance, faith, water baptism and baptism in the Spirit would usually have all taken place on the same day, and although today we often think of each of them as distinct experiences, the early disciples may well have thought of them all as part of the same event. This probably accounts for those occasions in the New Testament when writers may appear to use expressions like repentance, baptism, or baptise in the Spirit to refer to the whole event of Christian initiation, not just to the distinct aspect that each of these terms represents. If all this seems a bit complicated, don’t worry. I’ll be saying more about this when we look at the baptism of Jesus and its close relationship with his baptism in the Spirit.

So today we’ll be considering:

·      The baptism of Jesus

·      His baptism in the Spirit

·      His temptation in the wilderness

We’ll begin by reading verses 9-13.

9. At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. 10. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." 12. At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13. and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Jesus’ baptism

Notice, first, how Jesus was baptised. As we said last time, in the Greek language in which the New Testament was originally written, the word baptise means immerse. This is confirmed by how Mark describes Jesus’ baptism. In verse 10 he refers to Jesus coming up out of the water. This implies that he had first gone down into the water. In fact, wherever the New Testament gives us a description of people being baptised, it’s clear that baptism was always by immersion. For example, in Acts 8:38-39 we read how Philip baptised the Ethiopian eunuch:

…Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

So Jesus, like everybody else, was baptised by being immersed in water. But why was Jesus baptised? We saw last time that John was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (v4) and that the people were baptised confessing their sins (v5). But Jesus had no sins to confess. He was God’s beloved Son with whom God was well-pleased (v11). He was the spotless Lamb of God who had come to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). In fact, Matthew 3:14 tells us that, when Jesus came to John to be baptised, John protested, saying, I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?

So why was Jesus baptised? Jesus himself gives us the first part of the answer in Matthew 3:15, where he says. Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness. The purpose of Jesus’ life was to do the will of God, right down to the last detail. This is no more clearly seen than in the Garden of Gethsemane when, the night before he was to be crucified, Jesus prayed earnestly that, if it were possible, he might not suffer the agony of crucifixion, but, in total submission to the will of his Father, ended by saying, Yet not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39). Everything he did was motivated by his desire to do God’s will (Hebrews 10:7). So for Jesus, being baptised was an essential part of doing God’s will. He said it was necessary to fulfil all righteousness.

For Jesus the ultimate fulfilment of all righteousness, of doing God’s will, was to die on the cross to save us from our sins. But how does this relate to his baptism? Perhaps the answer lies in the understanding that his baptism in water was a foreshadowing of the baptism of suffering he was to endure at Calvary (Matthew 20:22-23, Luke 12:50). At Calvary Jesus suffered the death of a common criminal. This made him look like a sinner. But more than that, when he died on the cross he was carrying our sin.

And at his baptism too, to those who were watching, he looked like a sinner. The sinless Lamb of God identified with sinners. Perhaps that’s one reason why the voice from Heaven was heard, saying, You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased. All the others who were being baptised were sinners, but God was making it clear that his Son was different.

Finally, before we leave the subject of Jesus’ baptism, it’s perhaps good to remind ourselves that his baptism is a compelling reason for us to be baptised. In John 12:26 Jesus told us that if we serve him we must follow him. And 1 Peter 2:21 tells us that Jesus has left us an example that we should follow in his steps. For more reasons why we should be baptised, please see You’d Better Believe It, pages 83-85.

His baptism in the Spirit

10. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.

I’m referring to this as Jesus’ baptism in the Spirit because of the words descending on him. Jesus himself identified the baptism in the Spirit as the Spirit coming on us (Acts 1:5, 8), and his promise was fulfilled in the experience of the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 1:17), the Samaritan converts (Acts 8:15-17), Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:44-46), the Ephesians (Acts 19:1-6), and countless millions of Christians ever since.

The purpose of this wonderful baptism in the Spirit was, and still is, the equipping of God’s servants with power for service, and even Jesus needed this empowering of the Spirit before beginning his miracle-working ministry. Of course, the miracle of the incarnation – how Jesus could be both fully God and fully man – is a mystery. But while he was here on earth as a man he was totally dependent on his relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was a man under authority (Matthew 8:8-9) and the miracles he did were performed as a result of the anointing of the Spirit (Acts 10:38).

It’s noteworthy, too, that all three Persons of the Trinity are actively present in the passage we’re looking at. Jesus, God the Son, is coming up out of the waters of baptism. The Holy Spirit is descending upon him like a dove. And he hears the voice of God the Father speaking from Heaven. If Jesus needed this empowering of the Spirit, how much more do we?

So Jesus is baptised in water and in the Spirit on the same occasion. But what is the relationship between them? Notice, first, that in all four gospels being baptised in the Holy Spirit is distinguished from being baptised in water. John was baptising in water, but Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit.

The nature and purpose of baptism in the Spirit is not made clear here – as we have seen, Jesus himself does that in Acts 1:4-8 – but it is evident that Spirit-baptism is not only distinct from water-baptism but also vastly superior to it and more important than it. Jesus is greater than John, and the Spirit is greater than water! So water-baptism must never be confused with Spirit-baptism.

However, Jesus' baptism does indicate that there is a close relationship between them. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at or at least immediately after his baptism in water. And, as I mentioned last time, elsewhere in the New Testament the baptism in the Spirit usually occurred at about the same time as baptism in water.  It happened so close to it that we might reasonably say that it happened at baptism. Yet its timing was usually sufficiently distinct from baptism for us truthfully to say that it happened after baptism. That’s why, in my book, The Holy Spirit – an Introduction, I coined the phrase at-after. I suggested that Jesus received the Spirit 'at-after' baptism.  Consider the following literal translations:

Jesus, having been baptised, came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him like a dove (Matthew 3:16)

And Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan by John. And immediately, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit coming down like a dove (Mark 1:9-10)

And it came to pass that, while all the people were being baptised, Jesus also having been baptised and continuing to pray, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended.... (Luke 3:21-22).

We notice that in Matthew Jesus has already been baptised, but he is hardly out of the water when the Spirit comes upon him. In Mark he is coming up out of the water. In Luke he has been baptised and is continuing to pray when the Spirit descends.  From this it is clear that Jesus' baptism in the Spirit occurred immediately after his baptism in water and yet was in a very real sense a definite part of it. So it would be wrong to teach that the Spirit is automatically received at baptism, for reception of the Spirit is distinct from baptism. Yet we must equally strongly resist the temptation to make a wide separation between them, for they are closely associated in the New Testament. We should expect people to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit at or shortly after water-baptism (unless, like Cornelius, they have already received beforehand). For the promise still holds true:

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

Jesus’ temptation

We now come to the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Mark records this extremely briefly:

12. At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13. and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Matthew and Luke are far more detailed. All three synoptic gospels tell us that after his baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert where he was tempted by the devil. But Matthew 4:1 clearly indicates that the temptation was the purpose of Jesus’ being led into the desert. He was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. At first sight this seems a rather surprising statement. The Lord Jesus himself taught us to pray that we should not be led into temptation and James 1:13 makes it clear that no-one is tempted by God. So why did the Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted?

Before attempting to answer this question we need to remember that although God tempts nobody he may nevertheless sometimes allow temptation in order that we might be tested. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will not allow us to be tempted more than we can bear and that he will always provide a way of escape. In Jesus’ case God knew that he was able to fight off the devil’s temptations successfully. But what was God’s purpose in allowing his temptation? In my book, The Holy Spirit - an Introduction, I suggest five things:

So that Jesus might truly sympathise with us in our temptations

In Hebrews 4:15 we are told that Jesus is a high priest who can sympathise with our weaknesses because he was tempted in every way just as we are - yet was without sin.

So that he might succeed where Adam failed

In several passages Paul contrasts Jesus with Adam and refers to him as the last Adam (e.g. Romans 5:12ff, 1 Corinthians 15:21ff (esp. vv45ff). The temptations Christ resisted in the desert may be compared with the original temptation faced by Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Where Adam failed, as we all have at times failed to resist temptation, Jesus triumphed.

So that he might demonstrate his perfection

Hebrews 9:14 tells us that through the eternal Spirit Christ offered himself unblemished to God. Nothing but a perfect sacrifice could atone for sin. In overcoming the temptations to which all other human beings have succumbed Jesus demonstrated that he was a worthy sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

So that we might learn from his example how to deal with temptation

Because Jesus has overcome temptation, he has shown us how it is possible for us to do so. In this connection notice the importance of:

a)     keeping full of the Spirit (Luke 4:1)

b)     being led by the Spirit (Luke 4:1). It is noteworthy that Luke says that Jesus was led by the Spirit in (not into) the desert. The suggestion is perhaps that the Spirit assisted Jesus during his temptations.

c)      correctly understanding and using the Spirit’s sword, the word of God. The Word of God is called the sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17. Jesus used that sword against the enemy by quoting the Word in connection with each temptation (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).

Notice, too, that Jesus was tempted to doubt what had happened when the Spirit came upon him after his baptism. God had said, You are my Son (Luke 3:22), but Satan came with the temptation, If you are the Son of God.... (Luke 4:3, 9). As Christians we are sometimes tempted to doubt the genuineness of what happened at our baptism in the Spirit. Like Jesus we must resist with the word of God. A helpful scripture in this connection is Luke 11:11ff. We sometimes need to remind the devil - and ourselves - that God does not give snakes or stones or scorpions to his children.

So that he might prove that he could be trusted not to abuse his miracle-working power

Two of the temptations suggested that Jesus should use his miracle-working power for the wrong reasons, i.e., to satisfy personal desires and to exhibit God’s power as a spectacle to the crowds. The right motivation for the working of miracles is love (1 Corinthians 13). Jesus had received the Spirit in order that his anointed ministry might begin (cf. Luke 3:22, 4:18ff).

Before embarking upon that ministry, it seems that his motivation for working miracles first had to be tested. We mustn’t be surprised if God tests us before entrusting us with more of his supernatural power.

But now it’s time to summarise what we’ve said so far.

In our first talk we saw that the coming of Jesus was good news. He was none other than God himself who came to make possible the forgiveness of our sins. We saw the importance of repentance, confession of sin, and water baptism. This was to prepare people for an even greater baptism, a baptism which came from Jesus himself, the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

We saw that it was through the work of the Spirit that we are empowered to live new lives by being born again. We begin to show the fruit of the Spirit which Paul describes in Galatians 5. And when we are baptised in the Spirit we are told in Acts 1 we receive power to be effective witnesses for Christ.

In this talk we have considered:

·      The baptism of Jesus

·      His baptism in the Spirit

·      His temptation in the wilderness

In the baptism of Jesus, we have seen his willingness to be identified with sinners, even though he was sinless, his determination to do what is right, and his desire always to do the will of God. And, if we have repented and believed the gospel, we learn from his example that, if we truly wish to be his disciples, we too should be baptised by total immersion.

But Jesus’ baptism in water also teaches us about the relationship between water baptism and the baptism in the Spirit. The baptism in the Spirit was the gateway to his miracle working ministry. For Jesus, this was received at/after his baptism in water. And this was just what the early disciples expected and, although this is rarely the case today, it is certainly what we should be teaching and believing for.

Finally, we considered why the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Perhaps the most important answer we gave was so that we might learn from his example how to deal with temptation. We saw the importance of keeping full of the Spirit, of being led by the Spirit, and of correctly understanding and using the Spirit’s sword, the word of God.

If Jesus so needed the help and power of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling God’s will for his life, how much more do we?

Next time: Jesus calls his first disciples – what lessons can we learn about winning others for Jesus?

Galatians   Talk 10 Galatians 6:1-18

This is the final talk in our series on Galatians. We have seen that the main theme of the letter has been to show that salvation is by faith and not by works. Faith in Christ’s substitutionary, all sufficient, atoning death is the only way to Heaven. Attempts to get there any other way will fail. The law of the Old Testament could not save us because no one, except Jesus, has ever kept it in its entirety. But Jesus’ death has set us free from the law. We must be careful to stand firm in that freedom and not to get entangled with the legal requirements of the Old Testament.

For Christians Jews – and particularly the Galatians – there was the threat of the Judaizers, those who were teaching that faith in Christ was not enough and that circumcision was necessary for salvation. And although this may not be directly applicable to most Christians today, there is always the temptation to trust in other forms of religious practice – baptism, confirmation, church attendance etc. – when none of these things can save us. With regard to baptism, for example, we should be baptised because we are already saved by faith, and because Jesus has commanded it, but not in the misguided hope that getting baptised will save us.

Salvation cannot be achieved by self-effort. It can only be received because of God’s grace by trusting Christ to save us. And when we receive that salvation we are enabled by God’s indwelling Spirit to fulfil the only law that really matters, the law of love, which, as we saw last time, finds wonderful expression in the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. But that now brings us to the final chapter in the letter, which Paul begins by giving examples of how the fruit of the Spirit will be in evidence among us.

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load.

These verses had a specific application to the Galatians, and scholars have speculated on what that might have been, but it’s clear that the principles Paul is teaching may be applied to all Christians, and that’s how we’ll be considering them today.

1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

Who can fail to be moved by the sacrificial love shown by Christians like Mother Teresa? But although such compassion for the poor is at the heart of the Christian message (cf. Galatians 2:10), what’s even more important is, in the words of James 5:20, to turn a sinner from the error of his way and so save them from death and cover a multitude of sins. The greatest love we can show anyone, whether a Christian or not, is to warn them of the consequences of sin.

So Paul says that if we are truly spiritual (manifesting the fruit of the Spirit), and we become aware that a fellow Christian has been overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort (Amplified Bible) we are to seek to restore them gently (without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness). We need to remember that we too may be tempted.

2 Carry each other's burdens…

Carrying each other’s burdens could well mean helping our fellow Christians with any difficulties they may be facing, but bearing in mind what he has said in verse 1, Paul may mean that we are to be patient with their failings.

2 …and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

By carrying each other’s burdens we show our love for one another. And as we saw in chapter 5, love is the fulfilment of the law. The law of Moses contained numerous rules and regulations, but the law of Christ is love. If I love my neighbour I won’t steal from him, if I love my wife I won’t commit adultery. If we truly love, we don’t need the law, not even the Ten Commandments! We will keep them because we love God and we love our neighbour.

3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Still keeping verse 1 in mind, we are to beware of pride, especially when we are aware of the failings of others. We should watch out in case we are tempted in the same way. We are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. This involves humility.

4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without

comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load.

We are not accountable for the actions of others, but we are accountable for our own. Beware of the danger of comparing yourself with others. We should not think of ourselves as superior to them, even if they have sinned. And we should not think of ourselves as inferior either. We are to have a sober estimation of ourselves. We are what we are by the grace of God and we carry a responsibility to use what we are, and the gifts he has given us, for his glory and not our own. That brings us to verses 6-10 where Paul draws attention to the benefits that we reap if we sow to please the Spirit. Note the references to sowing and reaping as we read these verses.

6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor. 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

The underlying principle is these verses is found in verse 7.

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

A man reaps what he sows.

This is universally true, and here Paul applies it in a variety of contexts.

6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

This demonstrates the responsibility of those who are taught to support financially those who teach them. Paul develops this more fully in 1 Corinthians 9:1-14. The principle that we reap what we sow financially is also very clearly taught in 2 Corinthians 8-9 (esp. 9:6-11).

8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature (flesh), from that nature (the flesh) will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

We pointed out in talk 8 that the translation sinful nature is not helpful. The word in Greek means flesh. Paul expands on this in Romans 8:1-9 where he concludes by saying that you are not in (the realm of) the flesh but in (the realm of) the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Before we became Christians we were all in the realm of the flesh because we were spiritually dead, but when we were born again we became spiritually alive.  

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

In our last talk, when we were talking about goodness as a fruit of the Spirit, we referred to Colossians 1:10 where Paul says:

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.

Now in Galatians 6 we are told that doing good works will reap its own reward. Note the following:

·       We should take every opportunity to do good to all people, especially to our fellow Christians.

·       This may cause us to become weary and there’s a danger of giving up.

·       But we reap what we sow, and if we persevere, we will be rewarded.

·       This will take place at the proper time. (This may be in this life or the next).

Now to the final eight verses:

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! 12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God. 17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

11 See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

Paul usually dictated his letters, so it’s unlikely that he physically wrote the whole of Galatians. However, to prove its authenticity, these last few verses were written by his own hand, just as we might sign a letter that had been typed. What he writes here is very much a summary of what he has been saying throughout the letter. Have nothing to do with the teachings of the Judaizers.

12 Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.

The Judaizers’ motives are entirely wrong. They want you to be circumcised because they want to make a good impression as far as their fellow Jews are concerned and to avoid being persecuted by them. They may keep the law about circumcision, but they don’t obey the whole law. Yet they want you to obey this particular part of it so that they can boast about you flesh.

14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Paul, however, would boast about nothing except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it’s the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). Nothing else matters. As far as the world is concerned, Paul considers both himself and the law as dead. Compare Galatians 2:20. (Remember the teaching I gave in earlier talks in this series on our identification with Christ).

15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

Paul couldn’t be clearer. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been circumcised or not. What matters is being born again.

16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

Peace and mercy only come to those who follow the teaching of justification by faith. They are the true Israel, the Israel of God. It’s perfectly clear from all that Paul has said so far that God’s Israel, those whom God considers to be Israel, is comprised of all those, and only those, who, whether Jew or Gentile, have put their trust in Christ for salvation.

17 Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Paul has said enough. He does not want to be troubled again by this matter. His body bears the marks of his suffering for Christ. That’s enough trouble, without the addition of all the pain the Galatians were causing him by their forsaking the gospel he had preached to them (Cf. 1:6). But despite that, he prays for those who are truly his brothers that they will experience anew the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ by which they had been saved.

So what is the overall message of Galatians?

We are saved by believing and continuing to believe that Jesus’ death on the cross is all that is necessary for salvation. Trusting in anything else in addition calls into question the genuineness of our faith in Christ.

Are you trusting in Christ alone for salvation? There is no other way to be saved.

We have now concluded our series on Galatians. God willing, we will start a new series in September. So there will be no new podcasts during July and August, but, if you’d like to keep listening, there are over 200 to choose from, details of which can be found on my website: https://www.davidpetts.org/podcast

Galatians  Talk 9   Galatians 5:22-23 The Fruit of the Spirit

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE SUBSTANCE OF THIS TALK IS TAKEN FROM MY BOOK

THE VOICE OF GOD – How he speaks to us today

In our last talk, as we were looking at Galatians 5:13-26, where Paul is contrasting the acts of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, we saw that we need to:

1.     Remember that even after we become Christians there’s still a tendency to sin in our flesh.

2.     Recognise that we cannot overcome this by obeying man-made rules and regulations.

3.     Reckon ourselves to be dead. Dead to the law, dead to sin. Dead to the acts of the flesh. We’re identified with Christ. We should live like Christ.

4.     Rely on the help of the Holy Spirit.

Today we’ll be considering the fruit of the Spirit in more detail. Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23. These are qualities that should be evident in the life of every Christian as they reflect the character of Jesus which the indwelling Spirit of Christ seeks to reproduce in us. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (You’ll find similar lists in Colossians 3:12-15 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

As we read the Gospels it is not difficult to see these qualities in the life of the Lord Jesus. And, as we see what Jesus did, God speaks to us challenging us to do the same. Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). And, of course, our attitude will determine our actions. Let’s look at this wonderful ‘fruit’ in more detail asking God to speak to us through the attitude and actions of Jesus.   We’ll take them in reverse order from the list in Galatians so that we will conclude with love which is undeniably the greatest of all the fruit of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Right at the start of his ministry, straight after he was baptised in the River Jordan, Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.  Then, Matthew tells us:

After fasting for forty days and forty nights, he was hungry (Matthew 4:2).

He was hungry. What an understatement! He had eaten nothing for six weeks! I feel hungry if I haven’t eaten for six hours! Then, suddenly, an opportunity comes to break his fast. Some of the stones in the desert may have looked like loaves of bread. You’re the Son of God, aren’t you? says Satan, Why not turn these stones into bread? Now Jesus knew that he was the Son of God. God has said so (just three verses earlier) at his baptism:

This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

Jesus knew that he had the power to do what Satan suggested, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. I can’t imagine how strong the temptation to eat must have been, but Jesus chose to listen to his Father rather than to Satan. He answered:

It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4).

What amazing self-control! Where did it come from? His relationship with God, his desire to please him and his knowledge of God’s word. Could there be any greater demonstration of self-control? Yes, and we find it in Matthew’s account of the crucifixion:

Those who passed by hurled insults at him… saying… ‘Save yourself. Come down from the cross if you are the Son of God!’ (Matthew 27:39-40).

And Jesus was the Son of God, and he could have come down from the cross. But he didn’t. Despite the agony, he stayed there. Why? Because he knew that if we were to be saved he must die for our sins. He must pay the price. He must take the punishment. So he stayed there. He stayed there because he loved us.

The Greek word translated as gentleness in Galatians 5:23 carries with it the thought of humility. Paul uses it a few verses later when he says:

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted (Galatians 6:1).

This warning, to watch yourself because you might be tempted too, clearly implies that Paul is using the word gently to mean in a spirit of humility. This is confirmed by the paraphrase in the Amplified Bible which interprets gently as not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness. So it seems reasonable to assume that this is how he is using it when talking about the fruit of the Spirit just a few verses earlier.

The humility of Jesus is most clearly expressed in two main New Testament passages. The first is Philippians 2:5-11.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

This passage speaks for itself. It took humility for someone who was equal with God to become a man, to become a servant, to become nothing. And yet he humbled himself even further. He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. And as Christians we’re encouraged to have the same attitude.

The second passage is John 13:1-17 where Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. In verse 1 we’re told that Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. He knew that he was shortly to be crucified. But he also knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God (v.3).

And so he did something that would be an active demonstration of the truth later to be expressed by Paul in Philippians 2. It would demonstrate his humility and give his disciples an object lesson in how they too should behave. He got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist (v.4). Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel (v.5).

This was a symbol of what he would accomplish on the cross enabling his disciples to be washed clean by the shedding of his blood. That’s why it was important that Peter, who had protested, should allow Jesus to wash his feet too (vv.6-10). And Jesus’ humility, his willingness to wash feet, to cleanse us from sin, was another expression of his love.

Finally, when Jesus had finished washing their feet he put on his clothes and returned to his place (v.12). What a wonderful symbol of Jesus returning to his place in heaven after he had finished his redemptive work on the cross! (Compare Hebrews 1:3 …After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven).

Then he said:

Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (vv.12-17).

From the very beginning of his life here on earth Jesus came to do the will of God. Hebrews 10:5-7 tells us that when Christ came into the world, he said…I have come to do your will, O God. Even at the age of 12 Jesus knew that God, not Joseph, was his true Father (Luke 2:49). And throughout his life he was faithful to his Father’s will.  In John 4:34, when the disciples were trying to persuade Jesus to eat something, he said:

My food…is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

And in John 6:38 he says

I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

But his faithfulness to God and determination to do his will are no more clearly seen than in the Garden of Gethsamane on the night before Jesus was crucified. In Matthew 26 we’re told that he took with him Peter, James and John, and told them, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow… Stay here and keep watch with me (v.38). Jesus then went a little farther and fell with his face to the ground and prayed:

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will (v.39).

He then returns to his disciples and finds them sleeping! And this happens twice more. Jesus prays the same prayer, comes back, and finds them sleeping.

This sad story reveals in stark contrast the unfaithfulness of the disciples and faithfulness of Jesus. The disciples can’t even stay awake even at the time of Jesus’ greatest need. Jesus knows what’s going to happen. The thought of crucifixion horrifies him, and he asks his Father three times if there is any other way. But ultimately, when he knows that there is not, his faithfulness shines through.

Yet not as I will, but as you will.

But this story not only reveals Jesus’ faithfulness to God. It shows his faithfulness to his disciples. If Jesus had refused the way of the cross – and he could have – what hope would there have been for them or for us? Perhaps the sight of the disciples sleeping reminded him of the weakness of human nature and our need for him to save us. His faithfulness, motivated by love for his Father and his love for us, gave him the strength to carry on.

The English word goodness, like the word good, can be used in many different ways. It’s very flexible. For example, we can talk of a good meal and we can refer to someone as a good person, but the meaning of good in each case is rather different. The same is true of the Greek words for good and goodness (agathos and agathōsunē). So we can’t be entirely sure of how Paul is using the word in Galatians 5:22. However, in the New Testament the word is frequently connected with doing good works and in Colossians 1:10 we read:

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

The reference to bearing fruit in this verse seems to suggest that the fruit of the Spirit which Paul calls goodness relates to:

·       Living a life worthy of the Lord

·       Pleasing him in every way

·       Doing good works

·       Growing in the knowledge of God.

And, of course, that’s exactly what Jesus did. He lived a sinless life. He pleased God in every way. As a human being he grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). And Peter, when summarising Jesus’ ministry, said of him that he went about doing good and healing… (Acts 10:38). He not only was good. He did good. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit to

preach good news to the poor… to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour (Luke 4:18-19).

Similarly his kindness overflowed again and again as he met the needs of the poor and needy. Consider, for example, his kindness in turning water into wine at the wedding-feast at Cana in Galilee. We are so often preoccupied with the amazing miracle that we neglect the kindness of Jesus in performing it. And his goodness and kindness were surely motivated by his love.

The English word patience comes from the Latin verb patior meaning I suffer. That’s why people in hospital are called patients – people who are suffering. But the Greek word makrothumia, translated as patience in Galatians 5:22, has a wider meaning. It comes from two other Greek words, makros meaning far and thumos meaning wrath or anger. So to exercise makrothumia is to keep your anger far from you. It’s used elsewhere in the New Testament to mean patient enduring of evil, slowness of avenging injuries, or patient expectation.

It’s not difficult to see all these qualities in the life of the Lord Jesus. He was consistently enduring opposition from sinners (Hebrews 12:3), he prayed for the forgiveness of those who crucified him (Luke 23:34) and he endured the cross, scorning its shame because he patiently expected the joy that was set before him (Hebrews 12:2).

But he was patient with his disciples too.  They were so slow to learn and to believe. On the eve of his crucifixion they still had not fully understood who he was. In John 14:2-9 Jesus tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house (v.2) and that they know the way (v.4). Thomas says to him:

Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?

Jesus answers:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him (vv.6-7)

Then Philip says:

Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.

Imagine how Jesus must have felt. In a few hours he’s going to be crucified. And still they don’t understand who he is. I know personally the frustration of a teacher whose students still haven’t got what I’ve painstakingly tried to teach them! Yet I hear infinite patience in Jesus’ reply:

Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (v.9).

Peace of heart, as every Christian knows, springs from that peace with God which results from our being in right relationship with him. Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). But Jesus had no need to be justified. He was the sinless one. He always lived in right relationship with Father! Yet there’s one occasion when it appears that Jesus is not at peace. As he bears our sins in his body on the cross he cries in anguish: My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?    (Matt 27:46).

It’s as if God has turned his back on his Son. Jesus has forfeited his peace. He’s bearing your sin and mine. And God is too holy to look at sin (Habakkuk 1:13). Jesus sacrifices his peace that we might have peace with God. And he does it because he loves us.

And Jesus’ relationship with God was the source of his joy too. He lived life in God’s presence, and in his presence there is fulness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Luke records that Jesus was full of joy through the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21). What a pity that so many stained-glass windows and paintings portray him with a long and gloomy face! Jesus was a man of joy! Admittedly, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).

But that was primarily at the time of his passion, both in the Garden of Gethsemane and the events that led to his crucifixion. As with his peace, so with his joy. He sacrificed both so that we could have them.

Finally, Jesus was a man of love. Love is the greatest of the fruit and it is possible to understand Paul’s teaching in Galatians as meaning that love is the fruit and that the eight other qualities are manifestations of it. That’s what I’ve been trying to demonstrate as we’ve looked at each of the fruit of the Spirit. They are all, in one way or another, a manifestation of love (Compare, for example, Colossians 3:12-14).

Jesus’ love is evident throughout the New Testament, not just in the Gospels. Paul could refer to him as the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20) and this reference to the cross reminds us that Calvary is the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever seen. And, what’s more, Paul says he did it for me.

But can we expect to manifest fruit like this in our own lives? Yes we can. Through the help of the Holy Spirit. This is where I find 2 Corinthians 3:18 very helpful. Paul tells us that as we contemplate the Lord's glory, we are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, and this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! …Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John3:1-2).

The more we see Jesus, the more we become like him.

Galatians   Talk 8   Galatians 5:13-26

As we have seen again and again in our studies in Galatians, Paul wrote this letter to demonstrate that salvation is by faith and not by works. Last time, as we looked at 5:1-13, we saw how Paul encouraged the Galatians to stand firm in their faith in Christ and not to get entangled again with the burden of the law from which Christ had set them free.

In verse 1 he had said:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

He goes on to say that circumcision means nothing. All that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Now, in the second part of the chapter, he picks up this theme by saying in verse 13:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (the flesh); rather, serve one another in love.

Having emphasised that we’re called to freedom, Paul now makes a very important clarification. He doesn’t want to be misunderstood. Freedom does not mean freedom to indulge the flesh. (The NIV translation is unhelpful here. The word is sarx which means flesh. I’ll be saying more about this in a moment). We’re not free to indulge the flesh. We’re free to love, and love is the fulfilment of the law (14). The important thing is to be led by the Spirit. This results in two things. If we live by the Spirit:

1.     we are not under the law (18) – which he has discussed at length already

2.     we will not gratify the desires of the flesh (16).

But what does he mean by the flesh? It’s probably best understood to be the tendency to sin that we have all inherited from Adam. But to clarify this we need to consider two other NT passages, Hebrews 12:9 and Romans 7:8-11.

In Hebrews 12:9 the writer distinguishes between:

our human fathers who are the fathers of our flesh

and

God, our heavenly Father who is the Father of our spirits.

So, we do not receive our spirit from our parents. That is given to us by God. And surely God would not give us anything sinful? But our flesh, which we receive from our parents, has an inbuilt tendency to sin which is ultimately inherited from Adam.

With this in mind, we now turn to Romans 7:8-11 where Paul says that before the law came, sin was dead. He applies this to himself personally. Once he had been alive, but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and he died. Sin took the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived him, and put him to death.

Now if we apply this to ourselves, we were all born with a tendency to sin. This tendency was not in our spirit which God gave us, but in our flesh, inherited from Adam.  We were spiritually alive until the time came when we understood, through God’s commandments, the difference between right and wrong, and, because of the tendency to sin in our flesh, we have chosen to do wrong. At that moment we died spiritually, and we needed to be born again. When we were born again, we became alive spiritually, but there remains in our flesh that tendency to sin, to which Paul tells us in Romans 6:11 we must consider ourselves as dead, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now, back to Galatians 5:13

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (the flesh); rather, serve one another in love.

We’re not to use our freedom in Christ as an excuse for giving in to the temptations that come to us because of the tendency to sin that is natural to our flesh. We can overcome them because, through the Holy Spirit’s work in regenerating us, we are spiritually alive. In verses 16-17 he says that if we live by the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The desires of the Spirit and the desires of our flesh are diametrically opposed to each other. And without the help of the Spirit we cannot do the good things we would like to do (cf. Romans 7:18-8:2). But if we are led by the Spirit and follow the things we know he desires, we will fulfil the requirements of the law (to love God…) (18, cf. Romans 8:4 where he says very much the same thing).

With all this in mind we now turn to verses 19-26, where Paul contrasts the acts of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit.

The acts of the flesh

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Paul says that the acts of the flesh are obvious. He nevertheless feels the need to cite some examples! This is clearly not an exhaustive list as he adds at the end, and the like. He assumes that his readers will be well aware that these things are wrong, as he has already warned them about them. This was presumably when he planted the churches in Galatia, as there is no specific mention of them earlier in the letter. But what does he mean in verse 21 when he says that

…those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Those who live like this, literally translated, is those doing these things. However, the verb doing is a present participle, which in Greek implies continuous action. This is presumably why NIV translates it as those who live like this.

Paul is not saying that anyone who ever does any of these things will never go to Heaven! He is reminding them that when he first preached the gospel to them he had warned them about the eternal consequences of sin, and now they are Christians they need to be aware of the dangers of reverting to their old lifestyle. Both the present and future blessings of the kingdom of God are forfeited unless they repent,

The fruit of the Spirit

In stark contrast to the acts of the flesh is the fruit of the Spirit.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The law of the Old Testament was against the things listed as the acts of the flesh, and so is the law of love that is the fulfilment of the law. If you really love God and other people, you won’t do the things listed as acts of the flesh, and you will do things that manifest the fruit of the Spirit. There is no law against love!

The fruit of the Spirit is such an important subject that we’ll devote an entire talk to it next time. So now let’s move directly to verse 25 where Paul reminds us that we live by the Spirit. We have eternal life through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit.

And just as we are saved by faith and continue to live by faith, so too at conversion we are sanctified by the work of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:11) and by the same Spirit we are enabled to live holy lives. Compare Colossians 2:6 – just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.

So Paul says, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. We who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (24). This takes us back to Galatians 2:20-21 where Paul says:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

In talk 4, I explained this in some detail and in case you missed it, I encourage you to go back there and read my notes on the subject of our identification with Christ, which I concluded by saying:

Because Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, and because we have put our faith in him, we are identified with him. We are in Christ and Christ lives in us. By accepting him as our Saviour we accepted his death as our death (and that’s why our sins are all forgiven). So, if his death was our death, we’re dead! We no longer live, but Christ lives in us.

So how in practice do we keep in step with the Spirit?

We need to:

1.     Remember that even after we become Christians there’s still a tendency to sin in our flesh.

2.     Recognise that we cannot overcome this by obeying man-made rules and regulations (cf. Colossians 2:20-29 where Paul says that they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence).

3.     Reckon ourselves to be dead. Dead to the law, dead to sin. Dead to the acts of the flesh. We’re identified with Christ. We should live like Christ.

4.     Rely on the help of the Holy Spirit.

We’ll be talking about this next time as we consider the fruit of the Spirit which are a wonderful summary of the character of Jesus. These are the kind of things that will be evident in our lives if we seek to be led by the Spirit rather than trying to please God by our own good works.

Galatians   Talk 7     Galatians 5:1-13

Let’s begin with a reminder of why Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians. It was through Paul’s ministry that they had become Christians, and they had believed his message that salvation was by faith in Christ and not by trying to obey the law of the Old Testament. However, since his departure, others had taught them that faith in Christ was not enough, and that circumcision was necessary for salvation.

So Paul writes to them to correct this error, and so far he has said:

·       The message he preached he had received from God and not from man

·       The Galatians had accepted it.

·       The apostles in Jerusalem had endorsed it.

·       The Galatians knew from their experience of receiving the Spirit that the way God worked in their lives was in response to faith and not to obedience to the law.

·       The law itself teaches that justification is by faith and not by works.

·       The law had had a purpose – it was to demonstrate our need of Christ.

·       Once Christ had come, there was no further need for the law.

And as we saw last time, at the end of chapter 4 Paul uses Abraham’s two sons to illustrate the difference between the old covenant God made with Israel at Sinai (the law) and the new covenant made with all who are justified by faith in Christ.  Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, was a slave. Isaac’s mother Sarah was free. So, by analogy, Paul argues that, as the spiritual descendants of Abraham, because like Abraham we are justified by faith, we are free from the bondage of the law.

And the theme of freedom continues at the beginning of chapter 5 where he says:

1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Paul reminds them of the state they were in before they became Christians. The law was their slave master. In it there was no hope of salvation because they were unable to keep it. But when they put their trust in Christ, they were set free from the bondage of the law. They were justified by faith, not by works.  Christ had set them free, and Paul pleads with them not to go back to trying to be right with God by putting themselves under the requirements of Old Testament law again. He now addresses the serious implications of letting yourself be circumcised:

2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.

First, note the certainty of Paul’s words. Mark my words! (Read my lips!)

Secondly, notice their seriousness – Christ will be of no value to you at all.

The next verse gives us Paul’s reason for saying this:

3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

To be circumcised implies that you’re looking to the law to save you, but, as Paul has already pointed out (3:10), the law requires obedience to it in its entirety. It’s all or nothing. If you’re looking to the law to save you, you’ve got t obey all of it! Salvation through the law, if that were possible, would require TOTAL OBEDIENCE to it. Salvation through faith in Christ requires TOTAL TRUST in him. So Christ is of no value to you at all, because your trust is not total. So in verse 4 he says:

4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Why does Paul say this? Because circumcision shows that you believe that Christ’s death was not enough. You are no longer trusting in his grace, but in your works to save you. And salvation is by faith from first to last (Romans 1:17). We must continue to trust him for our salvation.

Paul’s warning in these verses is so strong that it’s hard to believe that it is purely hypothetical. To seek to be justified by our good works means that:

Christ is of no value to you at all (2)

You are alienated from Christ (4)

You have fallen from grace (4).

Now as we turn to verse 5, please note that the first phrase should read For by faith… not But by faith… (as in NIV).

5 FOR by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

The reason that you’ve fallen from grace is that by being circumcised you’re trying to be saved by obedience to the law, but it’s by faith that we are saved. Our only hope of the righteousness that’s necessary for salvation is through the work of the Spirit. This happens in response to faith and not to works.

But why does Paul say that we’re waiting for righteousness? Haven’t we already received it? Yes, when we trust Christ to save us we are justified (counted as righteous). Our faith is accounted to us as righteousness. But salvation has implications for the future as well as the present.

·       When we first trusted Christ we were saved.

·       As we continue to trust him we are being saved.

·       And when our time on earth comes to an end we will be saved.

The righteousness we already have though faith in Christ will find its ultimate fulfilment when we finally stand before God clothed in the righteousness which by his grace we have received by faith.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Once we became Christians it no longer mattered whether we had been circumcised or not. It’s irrelevant to our salvation. Faith is all that matters, and this is expressed through love.

Love is the fulfilment of the law. As Paul says in verse 14:

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."

            (Compare Romans 13 where he expands on this).

So we’re not saved by obedience to the law, but by faith. Nevertheless, genuine faith will result in good works, works of love which fulfil the essence of the law.

7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

Paul often compares the Christian life to a walk or a race. The Galatians had made a good start and at first were running well but had been put off course by the Judaizers whose teaching did not come from the Lord. The one who calls you could refer to Paul himself (cf. 1:6), but since Paul had received his teaching directly from the Lord, it amounts to the same thing. The teaching of the Judaizers was out of harmony with Paul’s preaching and with the gospel the Lord himself had given him to preach. (Compare 1 Corinthians 14:37).

9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough."

10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.

The danger with false doctrine is that it can spread very quickly. Paul warns them of the danger, which in the light of verses 2-4 was very real, but it’s not too late for the Galatians (who he still refers to as brothers - vv11, 13) to return to the truth, and Paul is confident in the Lord that they will do so.

However, the person who is causing the problem will pay the penalty for doing so. Paul does not specify what that penalty might be, but there are serious consequences for those who pervert the truth. There are eternal consequences for those who persist in their error.

11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

To understand this verse, we need a bit of imagination. Why does Paul say, If I am still preaching circumcision? Presumably because some of the Jews were saying that he was doing so. But why would they say that? Perhaps some of the Judaizers were telling the other Christians that Paul was preaching circumcision in order to back up their own argument.

Of course, Paul was not. So why does he say, if I am still preaching circumcision? This implies that at some time he had preached it. But when? There is no evidence that it had ever been part of his gospel. In his earliest recorded sermon (Acts 13) he clearly proclaimed the forgiveness of sins through Christ and that through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain through the law of Moses (vv 38-39).

In my view, the clearest and most likely explanation is that he is referring to his pre-conversion days when he would have fervently proclaimed the need for circumcision.

The fact that now, as a Christian, he was teaching that circumcision was no longer necessary, was probably one of the main causes of his being persecuted by the Jews. So, if it were true that he was preaching circumcision, it was natural for him to ask, Why am I still being persecuted? Compare Galatians 6:12-14 where he says:

Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

To the Jews the message of the cross was an offense or stumbling-block (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23) because, among other things, it made circumcision unnecessary. And it remains a stumbling-block to all those who are trying to be justified by their own self effort.

12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves (cut themselves off)!

In verse 10 Paul talked about one person who was throwing them into confusion. Now, as previously in 4:17, he refers to them in the plural. Perhaps the individual he refers to was the ringleader. Paul wishes that they would cut themselves off. This is literally what the Greek says and in my view is best left ambiguously. Paul’s intention may well have been what the NIV translation suggests, but it could it simply mean that he wished they would cut themselves off from the fellowship of believers so that their evil yeast might not spread throughout the whole church? He could well have meant both.

So, to summarise, in today’s passage Paul has encouraged the Galatians to stand firm in their faith in Christ and not to get entangled again with the burden of the law. If you’re trying to be justified by obeying the law, you are alienated from Christ. Christ is of no benefit to you. You have fallen from grace. So avoid the teachings of the Judaizers who will pay the penalty for teaching a false way of salvation. In Christ circumcision means nothing. All that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

And that leads us to the second part of the chapter, the theme of which is summarised in verse 13:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (the flesh); rather, serve one another in love.

He then goes on to contrast the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit, the first of which is love. But that’s something for next time.

Galatians   Talk 6   Galatians 4:1-31

At the beginning of this chapter Paul picks up on what he has been saying in Chapter 3:23-25 about the temporary nature of the law. He uses a mixture of metaphors to illustrate this.

In 3:23 he sees the law as a jailer keeping us in prison:

23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law (literally, we were being kept under the law), locked up until faith should be revealed.

In 3:24-25 he sees the law as a pedagogue – an entrusted slave who would lead a young child to school. Its purpose was to lead us to faith in Christ:

24 So the law was (our pedagogue) put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the (pedagogue) supervision of the law.

In 4:1-3 he sees the law as a guardian and trustee appointed by a father until the time came for a child to receive its inheritance:

 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world.

The point of each of these metaphors is to show that since the coming of Christ the law is no longer needed:

4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

Note:

            God sent his Son at just the right time

            He was born under the law so that we could be set free from the law

            We are redeemed – bought from slavery under the law  

            We have the full rights of sons

            God has given us his Spirit – if we are led by the Spirit we are not under the law

(cf. 5:18)

We are heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

In the light of all this, in 4:8-11 Paul says, Why are you turning back?

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

Verses 12-20 reflect Paul’s feeling that in deserting his gospel the Galatians were deserting him (cf. 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting…).

The meaning of verse 12 is unclear, but is probably best understood as follows:

Brethren, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I also have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [in the days when I first came to you; do not do it now (Amplified Bible).

He reminds them of how well they had received him when he had first come to preach the gospel to them:

13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14 Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.  15 What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

The main point of these verses is Paul’s disappointment at the change in the Galatians’ attitude towards him. They are rejecting him in favour of those who preach a false gospel. But he warns them that these Judaizers are wrongly motivated:

17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you [from us], so that you may be zealous for them.

Paul’s motives, however, are pure:

18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

·       He is always zealous for them (18)

·       He is agonizing over them (19)

·       He longs to be with them (20).

Note incidentally, that verses 13-14 also shed light on the subject of healing:

·       Even great Christians (cf. also Epaphroditus, Timothy, Trophimus) get sick

·       They are not always immediately healed

·       God has a purpose in allowing sickness.

In the final part of the chapter (vv. 21-31) Paul uses what is technically known as a rabbinic argument. This is a way of interpreting scripture that he would have learned when he studied under rabbi Gamaliel. His reason for using it here is probably because his Judaizer opponents may well have been familiar with this form of argument and, although it is not something we easily follow today, it would undoubtedly have been understood by them.

But before we look at the argument itself, it will be helpful to remind ourselves of the truth that Paul was seeking to demonstrate by it. We have already seen that Paul’s overall purpose in Galatians was to establish that:

·       no one is saved by obeying the works of the law but by believing the promise of God

·       salvation is by faith alone, not by faith followed by circumcision.

·       the true descendants of Abraham are those who believe as Abraham believed

·       the true Israel is made up of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile

·       the law enslaves and imprisons people because of their failure to keep it.

Paul now uses an illustration from Genesis to demonstrate these principles. He uses Abraham’s two sons to illustrate the difference between the old covenant God made with Israel at Sinai (the law) and the new covenant made with all who are justified by faith in Christ. He points out that:

22. …Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.

Abraham had two sons:

Ishmael, whose mother Hagar, was a slave

Isaac, whose mother Sarah, was free.

(So, by analogy, the spiritual descendants of Abraham are free from the bondage of the law).

23. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.

Ishmael was born naturally

Isaac was born supernaturally as a result of God’s promise

(So Isaac represents us Christians because we are supernaturally born again).

24 These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.

Hagar and Sarah represent two covenants. God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Paul uses Hagar to stand for Mount Sinai because both she, and the law given at Sinai, produced slavery in their children. And, Paul says, the present city of Jerusalem is also in slavery with her children. So he seems to be saying:

·       Hagar was in bondage (as Sarah’s maidservant)

·       The law puts us in bondage (for reasons he has already given)

·       The (then) present city of Jerusalem was still in bondage (because it had rejected the way of salvation through faith provided by Christ).

BUT

26. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27. For it is written: "Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labour pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband."

By contrast with the earthly Jerusalem, however, is the heavenly Jerusalem (the Messianic kingdom of Christ). She is our mother, and her children are free. What’s more, the (spiritual) children descended from Sarah, the barren woman, far outnumber those who are naturally born.

28. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." (Genesis 21:10)

We Christians are children of promise. We are not naturally born, like Ishmael, but supernaturally born, like Isaac. We are born by the power of the Spirit. Verses 29-30 are a reference back to Genesis 21:9-10. Paul sees Ishmael’s mocking Isaac as symbolising the way the Judaizers were persecuting those who believed his message. But the two cannot coexist. There is only one way of salvation. We must be careful not to compromise.

31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

So we are not like Ishmael, born into slavery. We are free from the law, and as Paul will say at the beginning of the next chapter:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again with a yoke of slavery.

Galatians   Talk 5   Galatians 3:1-29

As we saw when we were studying the first two chapters of Galatians, Paul wrote his letter to them because of the dangerous teaching that had crept into the churches there – that obedience to the law of the Old Testament was essential to salvation.

In chapter 1 he insists that:

·       the only true gospel is the one that he has preached to them (6-10)

·       he had received it by direct revelation from God and not from any human source (11-24).

In chapter 2 he tells how:

·       the message he preached had been accepted by the apostles at Jerusalem (1-10)

·       he had opposed Peter for his inconsistent behaviour by no longer eating with Gentile Christians for fear of what the circumcision group might think of him (11-21).

These verses include the substance of what he said to Peter and form the beginning of a new section of his letter where he gives theological reasons for his teaching that justification is by faith and not by works.

Now, in chapter 3, Paul begins by appealing to the Galatians’ experience of the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives (1-5) and then to the experience of Abraham (6-25) to argue his case. We’ll begin by reading vv 1-5.

1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing – if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Paul has already expressed his astonishment that the Galatians have so quickly turned to a different gospel from that which he had preached to them (1:6). Now, in verse 1, he reiterates his amazement and reminds them that they had been saved by believing his clear presentation of the message of Christ crucified. In verse 2 he appeals to their experience:

Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?

But what does he mean by receiving the Spirit? To understand this correctly we need to consider what happened at Pentecost when Jesus’ first disciples received the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). This was something Jesus had promised them, and which would empower them to be his witnesses (Acts 1:4-8).

It was something promised to the converts at Pentecost if they would repent and be baptised (Acts 2:38-39).

It was so important that when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had become Christians they sent Peter and John to lay hands on them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-18).

And Peter describes the experience of Cornelius and his household as having received the Holy Spirit just as we have (Acts 10:47).

Finally, when Paul finds some disciples at Ephesus, he asks them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? (Acts 19:2) which, of course, implies that it’s possible to believe without at the same time receiving the Spirit.

Now all these examples taken from Acts use the terminology of receiving the Spirit to refer to the supernatural experience of the baptism in the Spirit, rather than to the Spirit’s work in regeneration, but is this the way that Paul is using it here in Galatians?

In my view the answer is definitely YES. We know from Acts 19:2 that Paul used the expression in this way. And it’s unthinkable that on such an important matter Luke, who was one of Paul’s close travelling companions, should use the expression differently from Paul. And in verse 5 the reference to God giving the Spirit and working miracles seems to confirm this.

But what about verse 3, where Paul says:

After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

Doesn’t this suggest that Paul is using receiving the Spirit to refer to their becoming Christians?

The answer to this lies in remembering that, unlike today, when people receive Christ as their saviour but very often are not baptised in water until some weeks or months later – and may or may not be baptised in the Spirit later still – most people in New Testament times would have been saved, baptised in water and baptised in the Spirit all on the same day.

So for them each of these things would have been part of their overall experience of beginning the Christian life. Right from the start their supernatural experience of being baptised in the Spirit was part and parcel of what it meant to be a Christian.

Assuming this to be the case with the Galatians, we can now understand Paul as saying:

You know from your experience of how the Holy Spirit works that it is not in response to human effort, but in response to faith. This is true of how you received the baptism in the Spirit and of the miraculous ways God works in your lives. The same is true of your salvation. You are saved by faith and not by works.

Moving on now to verses 6-9, we find Paul using quotes from the Pentateuch to make several points with regard to Abraham. This would be particularly significant for the circumcision group as it was to Abraham that God first gave circumcision as a sign of the covenant he had made with him. He points out that:

·       Abraham was counted righteous (justified) because of his faith. He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (6)

·       As a result, it’s those who believe who are children of Abraham (7)

·       When God promised Abraham that through him all nations will be blessed (8), it revealed God’s intention to justify the Gentiles by faith

·       So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (9).

And how are they blessed? By being declared righteous in God’s sight, just as Abraham was, by faith, and as a result be able to receive the promise of the Spirit by faith (14).

This is in direct contrast to those who rely on observing the law (10). They are cursed rather than blessed. In verse 10 he says:

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."

The people who were insisting that circumcision was essential to salvation were relying on the law to save them. But the problem with this is that the law itself says that everyone who does not obey everything in it is cursed. So Paul is saying, If you think you can be saved by obeying the law, remember that you must obey everything in it! And since you can’t, you are cursed, not saved.

11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."

What’s more, says Paul, the Old Testament itself teaches that you can’t be saved by obeying the law, because it says in Habakkuk 2:4 that the righteous will live by faith. But the law isn’t based on faith, but on obedience to it, because it says that the man who does these things will live by them. So salvation by the law, if that were possible, would be dependent on obedience to all of it. And if we’re not, we’re under its curse. But, thank God, Christ has redeemed us from that.

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

So what is this curse of the law that Christ has redeemed us from? It’s our failure to keep it in its entirety! As we shall see later, the purpose of the law was to highlight our disobedience to God and to point to our need of a Saviour. By his substitutionary death on the cross Christ has borne the penalty that our disobedience to God deserves.

If we understand this verse correctly in its context, we see that by the curse of the law Paul is not referring to specific curses contained within the law (e.g. Deuteronomy 28), but to the fact that, unless we keep every part of it, the law places us under God’s curse.

But, thank God, he has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and his purpose in redeeming us is not just negative. In verse 14 we read that:

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Paul then proceeds to explain in greater detail what he has been saying by using the illustration of a covenant (15). He likens the promises God made to Abraham and his seed to a covenant that cannot be broken, and he clarifies that the use of the word seed in the singular implies that it refers to just one person, not many, and that person is Christ (16).

It is in Christ that all the nations of the world will be blessed (cf. 7). The law, which came 430 years after God made this promise to Abraham, does not do away with God’s covenant promise (17). And since the blessing depends on God’s gracious promise, it cannot be dependent on keeping the law (18). (Therefore, salvation is not dependent on circumcision).

So what was the point of the law? Paul gives his answer in verses 19-23. It was a temporary addition until Christ came (19). It was not opposed to God’s promises, but the problem with the law was that it couldn’t impart life (21) because the whole world is a prisoner of sin (22).

 So the only way that the promise can be received is by faith in Jesus Christ. And until he came everyone was imprisoned by the law (23). As we shall see next time, Paul will go on the clarify this in the opening verses of chapter 4, but first he seems to want to break away from his discussion of the shortcomings of the law in order to remind us of the blessings of faith in Christ.

We’re all children of God

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,

We’re identified with Christ

27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Your identity is not in your nationality, social status, or even your gender. It’s in Christ!

We belong to Christ. We’re the true children of Abraham. We have a wonderful inheritance

29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians   Talk 4   Galatians 2

So far in this series we have seen that Paul’s purpose in writing Galatians was to correct a serious doctrinal error. Some were teaching that faith in Christ was not sufficient for salvation and that obedience to the law of the Old Testament, especially with regard to circumcision, was required as well. The situation was so serious that Paul went so far as to say that if anybody preached a gospel other than the one that he had preached and which the Galatians had accepted, they should be eternally condemned!

If this seems rather strong, we need to remember that our only hope of salvation is through believing that Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved when he died on the cross. This and this alone is all that is necessary for salvation. To teach that something else is necessary is to deny the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice (v21) and encourages people to put their hope in a false ‘gospel’ by trying to get right with God by our own good works.

In defence of the gospel he preached, Paul begins in chapter 1 by making it clear to his readers that:

·       He had not received it from any human source.

·       He had received it from Jesus Christ himself by personal revelation.

And as we saw last time, Paul’s determination not only to preach that message, but also to defend it at all costs, was emboldened by three things:

1.     He remembered the futility of his old way of life

2.     His sole desire was to please God

3.     He knew God had called him.

Now, as we move into chapter 2, Paul continues to speak of his own experience (1-10).

He bases his argument against the need for circumcision on the fact that when he had gone up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, James and John:

·       They had not compelled Titus to be circumcised although he was Gentile (3)

·       They had added nothing to his message (6)

·       They had endorsed his ministry to the Gentiles (7-10).

It was important for Paul to stress these things because the Judaizers, with their insistence on obedience to the Jewish law,  probably felt a loyalty to the apostles in Jerusalem and he needed to make it clear that they had endorsed his message. These points will become clear as we now read verses 1-10, which I shall read without further comment.

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2  I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

4 [This matter arose] because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

6 As for those who seemed to be important - whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance - those men added nothing to my message.

7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. 8 For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

However, although Paul was glad of the approval of these brothers, he was not afraid to point out the inconsistency of Peter on these matters. In verses 11-13 he says:

11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13  The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Peter

Peter was afraid and hypocritical. He was not infallible. He was in the wrong.

He was still capable of giving in to the fear of what others might think of him (cf. his denial of Jesus).

This was after Jesus had forgiven him and after he had been filled with the Spirit at Pentecost.

This shows that the baptism in the Spirit is not an experience of entire sanctification, as some have taught.

If our actions are not consistent with our professed beliefs, we may lead others astray.

Paul

Paul was not afraid to confront Peter publicly.

He opposed him to his face (not behind his back).

He told Peter first, before telling others about it (e.g. writing to the Galatians).

Confronting people when they are in the wrong takes courage. But if we don’t speak up, we may be guilty of condoning their attitude and actions by our silence.

The beginning of the theological argument (15-21)

Having made his case from his own personal experience, Paul now uses the substance of what he had said to Peter to begin his theological argument.

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16  know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. 17 "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. 19  For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

I’m not intending to deal with all these verses in detail. We’ll be concentrating on verses 19-20. But first my attempt at a paraphrase of verses 15-18, the meaning of which is not immediately clear.

15-16 Paul appeals to the experience of his Jewish Christian readers. They have put their faith in Jesus Christ and they know that no one can be saved by observing the law.

17 But that doesn’t mean that, although we still sometimes sin after we are saved, the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ is promoting sin (cf. Romans 6:1).

18 If we rebuild the law after we have rejected it as a way of salvation, by our inability to keep it we will only prove that we are breakers of the law.

But now let’s turn our attention to verses 19-20.

19  For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

What does Paul mean by died to the law?

It’s probably best to understand this as meaning that Paul started to think of himself as dead as far as the law was concerned. Compare Romans 6:11, where he says something similar:

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

As we shall see later in the series, the law was given to make us aware of our need of Christ because of our inability to keep it in its entirety. We are to think of ourselves as dead to the law because obedience to it cannot save us.

When Paul was confronted by the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, the direction of his life was completely changed. Until then he had been preoccupied with obedience to the law and his understanding of it had led him to persecute Christ’s followers (Acts 22:3-4). But once he had met Christ he began to see himself as dead as far as the law was concerned because now he was to live in obedience to Christ. His question in Acts 22:10, Lord, what shall I do? makes this clear. And when we come to chapter 5 we’ll see how all this works out in practice.

Like Paul we are to think of ourselves as dead to the law and dead to sin. This is because of what Paul says in verse 20:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Greek verb that’s used here is sustauroo. It’s the same verb as is used in the Gospels where we’re told that there were two thieves crucified with Jesus (Matthew 27:44). The Greek word for cross is stauros and stauroo means to crucify. The prefix su- or sun- means with. So sustauroo means to crucify with… Now there are at least ten Greek verbs in the New Testament that begin with the prefix su- or sun- and which speak of different aspects of our relationship or identification with Christ.

This would be a whole series of studies in itself, but here’s a quick summary. The New Testament teaches that we:

·       Were crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6)

·       Were buried with Christ (in baptism) (Colossians 2:12, Romans 6:4)

·       Have been raised with Christ (Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 2:12, 3:1)

·       Have been made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5, Colossians 2:13)

·       Are seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6)

·       Are joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)

·       Suffer with Christ (Romans 8:17)

·       Will reign with Christ (2 Timothy 2:12)

·       Will be glorified with Christ (Romans 8:17).

At first sight, this subject of our identification with Christ is rather difficult to understand. So let me explain it like this. When Jesus came to earth he identified himself with humanity. At his baptism, although he was sinless, he identified himself with sinners. At Calvary he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sin. He was, in effect, saying to God, Let my death count as their death. The penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23), but because Jesus’ death counts as ours, the penalty has already been paid. By faith we are made righteous in God’s sight. He sees us as he sees Jesus. By his death on the cross Jesus identified himself with us. When we believe this and accept him as our Saviour, we identify ourselves with him.

With this in mind, let’s go back to Galatians 2:20

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Because Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, and because we have put our faith in him, we are identified with him. We are in Christ and Christ lives in us. By accepting him as our Saviour we accepted his death as our death (and that’s why our sins are all forgiven). So if his death was our death, we’re dead! We no longer live, but Christ lives in us.

And finally in verse 21 Paul makes the obvious point in defence of his gospel, if it were possible to be saved by obeying the law, there was no point in Christ dying for us.

But thank God, he did. And because he did, and because by accepting him we identified ourselves with him, we should think of ourselves as dead. Dead to thinking that we can save ourselves by our good works. And dead to sin, because Christ now lives within us.

How can we live our lives by faith in the Son of God?

By remembering that he loved us and gave himself for us.

That’s my motivation for living.

I hope it’s yours too.

Galatians.      Talk 3.

Galatians 1:10-24

In the first two talks we noted that Paul’s purpose in writing Galatians was to correct a serious doctrinal error that had crept into the churches since Paul had planted them. Paul had taught them that we are saved by faith in Jesus, and not by observing the law of the Old Testament, but some were now teaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation, and Paul was amazed that they had so quickly turned away from what he had taught them.

The version of the ‘gospel’ these people were teaching was radically different from the gospel Paul preached and the situation was so serious that Paul went so far as to say that if anybody preached a gospel other than the one that he had preached and which they had accepted, let them be eternally condemned!

And Paul had good reason to speak this strongly. The truth of the gospel was at stake – the gospel for which Christ had died, the gospel which is the only way by which we may be saved. In later chapters Paul would give good theological reasons in defence of the gospel he preached, but first he wanted to make it clear to his readers that:

·       He had not received it from any human source.

·       He had received it from Jesus Christ himself by personal revelation.

This is the main purpose of what he writes in today’s passage, which we’ll read first before considering each of these two points in turn.

Galatians 1:10-24

10. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11. I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

15. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16. to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17. nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

18. Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19. I saw none of the other apostles – only James, the Lord's brother.

20. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21. Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23. They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24. And they praised God because of me.

He had not received it from any human source

In verse 11 Paul says:

the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.

This is so important that he repeats it in three different ways:

I did not receive it from any man (12)

nor was I taught it (12)

I did not consult any man 16).

He wants the Galatians (and us) to know this (11), because believing the true gospel is the only way of salvation. A man-made gospel will save no one! The good news of salvation through faith has its origin in heaven and was received by revelation from heaven. It was God who had set Paul apart and called him by his grace and who had been pleased to reveal his Son in and through Paul (15-16).

So in verses 17-22 Paul emphasises that immediately after his conversion he went into Arabia before returning to Damascus. It was not until three years after that, that he went to Jerusalem where he stayed with Peter for fifteen days and also met James, the Lord’s brother. Paul’s purpose in saying this is to stress that he did not receive his gospel from anyone, not even Peter or James, as he did not meet them until at least three years after his conversion, but in case anyone is inclined to doubt him he says in verse 20:

I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

He had received it from Jesus Christ himself by personal revelation

The gospel Paul preached came directly from Jesus Christ by supernatural revelation. That’s why he was so determined to defend it. In today’s passage we see three things that emboldened that determination:

1.    He remembered the futility of his old way of life

2.    His sole desire was to please God

3.    He knew God had called him

He remembered the futility of his old way of life

13. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

He was in Judaism (13, 14). Note how Paul is already referring to Judaism as distinct from Christianity. Judaism had been his way of life (13). He was advancing in it (14). He was extremely zealous for its traditions (14). His sole aim was to please men (10).

But now he was in Christ. Christ was now his way of life (cf. 2:20). His sole aim now was to please him.

Once we give our lives to Jesus, there’s no turning back.

His sole desire was to please God.

10. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Notice the words now and still. Before his conversion Paul’s aim was to please men, but now he is a servant of Christ. His sole motive was to please God. There was no hidden agenda. He was not politically motivated. If we’re intent on pleasing other people or worried what they will think about us if we don’t do the kind of things they do, our determination to follow Jesus will be weakened.  Our motive in all that we do must be to please God. As we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God, we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

He knew God had called him

15. But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16. to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles…

But when God

Paul had been extremely zealous for the traditions of his ancestors (14), but when God… Because he had been such a fanatical opponent of Christianity, Paul was ever conscious that it was God who had initiated his conversion. It was God who had who set him apart from birth, and called him by his grace, and had been pleased to reveal his Son in him.

set me apart from birth

Literally, from my mother’s womb. How did Paul know this? Perhaps like Jeremiah (1:5) the Lord had told him so. The fact that God has a purpose for our lives from before we were born does not mean that we are predestined to do what he tells us. We all have a choice as to whether we will obey him when he calls us. As Paul later said to King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

called me by his grace

It is by grace that we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves – it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2). If it were not for God’s grace we could not be saved. And it’s because of the grace of God that all we have to do is have faith – and even that is given to us by God. What’s more, it is by grace that we are called to serve him. It’s a privilege to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

reveal his Son in me

We might have expected Paul to say to me rather than in me. Of course, God did reveal his Son to Paul on the Damascus Road. But He revealed Jesus to him in order that he might reveal him in him (or through him). God makes himself real to us so that through us others might know him too.

so that I might preach him among the Gentiles

This was God’s specific purpose for Paul. It was made clear to him right from the start. The book of Acts reveals how that purpose unfolded step by step in Paul’s life. After the initial call which motivated his entire Christian life, Paul received guidance from the Holy Spirit as and when he needed it.

Conclusion

Paul’s purpose in today’s passage was to make clear that the message he preached did not come from man, but by supernatural revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ. At the heart of that message is the wonderful truth that we are not saved by obedience to the law of the Old Testament, but by trusting Jesus as our Saviour. Paul’s determination not only to preach that message, but also to defend it at all costs, was emboldened by three things:

1.    He remembered the futility of his old way of life

2.    His sole desire was to please God

3.    He knew God had called him.

And as we shall see next time, his calling to preach that message was confirmed by other apostles in Chapter 2.

JESUS CHRIST, THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH

As I was thinking and praying about the message I should bring on the weekend of the coronation of King Charles III, a phrase from Revelation 1:5 came to my mind:

JESUS CHRIST, THE RULER OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH.

Of course, the word king is used in a variety of ways, but its general meaning is someone who rules and it’s in that sense that we’ll be looking at it today. But first, let’s read Revelation 1:4-8.

4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.  So shall it be! Amen.8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Notice that this passage has something to say about:

·       King Charles, who is one of the kings of the earth.

·       The Lord Jesus Christ, the king of kings, who is the ruler of the kings of the earth.

·       Us Christians who as Christ’s church are a kingdom of priests.

A.     The kings of the earth (5)

Of course, King Charles is just one example. But let’s not to concentrate on King Charles. Rather, let’s take a brief look at what the Bible says about kings and rulers in general. Much of what we say will apply to King Charles – I’ll leave it to you to decide how much – but in many mays it’s more applicable to those who hold high office in government. Please notice 4 things:

1.     Their authority to rule is God-given

Romans 13:1

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Of course, we know that historically this has been used to insist that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority. King James I of England (1603-25), for example. Fortunately, we know that  her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II understood her role as one of servanthood, and there are indications that King Charles will be adopting the same approach. Indeed, in our constitutional system, the power of the monarch is extremely limited anyway.

However, the NT clearly teaches that God himself is the source of all authority, and that all human authority is delegated from him. That’s why as Christians we should obey the laws, pay our taxes etc., unless, of course, the law of the state is contrary to God’s law. But those to whom God has given authority are ultimately accountable to God for the way in which they handle that authority and are responsible for the wellbeing of their people.

2.     Their accountability to their ruler

As we have seen, verse 5 describes the Lord Jesus as the ruler of the kings of the earth. He is the king to whom all other kings are accountable. He is the King of kings. The late queen was very conscious of this, and it is said of Queen Victoria that she hoped that the Lord would return in her lifetime so that she could be the first to cast down her crown at his feet. If only world leaders were equally aware of their accountability to him.

3.     Their responsibility for the wellbeing of their people

Some of the parables Jesus told teach clearly that we are all accountable to God for our use of the things he has entrusted to us. This is particularly true of those who are in authority. The more we have been entrusted with, the more is required of us. Read Ezekiel 34 to see what God says about the shepherds (i.e. kings) of Israel, who had looked after themselves rather than caring for the people.

4.     Our responsibility to those in authority

a)     We should pray for them

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:2)

b)     We should submit to them

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and commend those who do right (1 Peter 2:13).

c)     We should honour them

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honour the emperor (1 Peter 2:17).

B.     JESUS – The ruler of the kings of the earth (5)

WHAT HE IS:  

The ruler of the kings of the earth

The kings of the earth are temporal. They live, they die. And their authority perishes with them. But Jesus is eternal. Before Abraham was, I AM. He always has been, and he always will be, and his power and authority will never end.

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:15-16

God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever. Amen.

N.B. Here God is described as the only ruler. But in Revelation 1:5 Jesus is described as the ruler of the kings of the earth. This is just one of many evidences for the deity of Christ.

The Eternal Son of God

Grace and peace to you from

him who is, and who was, and who is to come

and from the seven spirits before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ (4-5).

Cf. verse 8

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."    

The faithful witness

Jesus said that the reason he came into the world was to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37). His word is reliable. You can count on it. Everything he ever said was true. And because he wouldn’t deny the truth, they crucified him. But God raised him from the dead. Jesus was vindicated! He had said that he would rise from the dead, and he did. And he has promised eternal life to those who believe him. Because he lives, we shall live also. You can rely on what he says. He’s the faithful witness.

The firstborn from the dead

Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Compare Colossians 1:18 where he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

And in verse 15 he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Everything in heaven and earth was created by him and for him (16). He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (17). In short:

He is supreme in the church. He is supreme in the earth. He is supreme in heaven. He is supreme over death itself.

And in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that his victory over death is the basis of our victory too:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his turn, Christ the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him (1 Corinthians 15:23).

WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US:

He has freed us from our sins by his blood (5)

We have all sinned, but because Jesus died for us, when we accept him as our Saviour we are freed from the penalty of sin.

He has made us a kingdom, and priests to serve his God and Father (6)

More of this in a moment.

He has promised to come again (7)

7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.  So shall it be! Amen.

The details need not concern us. What matters is:

·       He is coming

·       Those who rejected him will know they were wrong

·       There will be ultimate justice

·       But we have nothing to fear because he has freed us from our sins…

And all this is because he loves us (v5).

C.     YOU AND I  as part of the church, a kingdom of priests

6…and has made us to be a kingdom, and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession…

Revelation 5:9-10

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Note: he has made us…  you have made them… We’re already a kingdom of priests.

But they will reign on the earth.

Exactly what this will mean in the age to come has not been revealed, but 2 Peter 3:13 tells us that

In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells.

All earthly rulers are temporary.

Only Christ the supreme ruler is the King Eternal.

We, as Christians, are already part of his kingdom – a kingdom of priests with direct access to God.

But in the age to come WE WILL REIGN WITH HIM.

Galatians   Talk 2.  Galatians 1:6-9

In our first talk we began by looking at three reasons why Galatians is important:

It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

It's of practical relevance to our daily lives.

We then made a start on the text by reading the first 6 verses:

1. Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead  2. and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:  3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4. who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5. to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

We noted that Paul’s purpose in writing was to correct a serious doctrinal error that had crept into the churches since Paul had planted them. Paul had taught them that we are saved by faith in Jesus, and not by observing the law of the Old Testament, but some were now teaching that circumcision was now necessary for salvation, and Paul was amazed that they had so quickly turned away from what he had taught them (6). And that’s where we pick up the reading today. Let’s read verses 6-7.

6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel –

7. which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

v 6 I am astonished

After the customary greeting at the beginning of his letters, Paul usually says something to commend his readers, even if later he has to say something to correct or rebuke them, but the problem in Galatia is so serious that he moves straight into the issue he urgently needs to deal with. He is astonished, astounded, appalled at what they are doing. There are some issues in church life where we need to be direct, although the usual approach to those who need to be corrected is gentleness (6:1).

so quickly deserting

He’s astonished that they’re departing from the gospel he preached to them, but particularly that they’re doing it so quickly. It wasn’t long since they had heard and received his message of salvation by faith in Christ, but they had soon moved away from it when they heard a different ‘gospel’.

the one who called you

But they were not only rejecting the true gospel. They were rejecting the one who had called them. But what does Paul mean by the one? Does he mean himself or Christ? Of course, it is Christ who calls us to salvation and the rejection of Christ is far more serious than the rejection of his messengers. But Jesus did say to his disciples, Whoever rejects you rejects me (Luke 10:16), so is there a double – or even treble – meaning here? In rejecting Paul’s message, they were rejecting the messenger, and in rejecting the messenger they were rejecting Christ, the one who sent him.

What should we do when people reject our message? Paul was certainly exasperated by the behaviour of the Galatians, but he did not desert them. He felt responsible for them and cared enough to warn them of the serious consequences if they continued to reject his message.

by the grace of Christ

As Christ’s messenger, Paul had called them by the grace of Christ. Grace, the unmerited favour of God, was the heart of Paul’s message. On his first visit to Galatia he had preached that

Through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39).

And this was the message of his grace (14:3).

If the churches he is writing to in Galatians are the same as those he planted in these chapters in Acts, they had certainly already heard Paul’s message of justification by faith.

and are turning to a different gospel

But now they are turning to a different gospel. The word Paul uses for different is heteros, which means another.  In Greek there are two different words for another:

            heteros which means another of a different kind

            and

            allos which means another of the same kind.

Paul uses both these words in verses 6-7. In verse 6 he says that the Galatians are turning to another gospel. Here he uses heteros. Their so called ‘gospel’ of justification by obeying the law of Moses was a totally different kind of gospel than that which Paul preached, justification by faith. Gospel (euangelion in Greek) means good news.  And their insistence that for a man to be saved he must be circumcised as well as believe was certainly not good news!

In most countries today circumcision is probably not the issue that it was back then, but any insistence that any ritual baptism, communion for example is essential to salvation is a false gospel. We should be baptised and take communion because Jesus commanded it, but it's only faith that saves us.

v 7 which is really no gospel at all

In fact their ‘gospel’ was really no gospel at all. Translated literally, what he says is:

which is not another.

Here Paul uses allos (another of the same kind). Their ‘gospel’ is not the same kind at all. It’s bad news, not good news.

some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ

Any teaching that detracts from the simplicity of the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith is in fact a perversion and will only lead to confusion. In 1 Corinthians 14:33 Paul tells us that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. It was God the Holy Spirit who brought order out of chaos (Genesis 1:1).

8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned

9. As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

But even if we…

In effect, Paul is saying, Even if I start preaching a different gospel, don't believe it! The message of the gospel is more important than the messenger, however impressive their credentials, their personality, or their presentation. It’s the truth of the message that validates the messenger.

or an angel from heaven

This may reflect the Jewish belief that the law had been given through angelic mediators (cf. Acts 7:38) but is more likely to be connected with the fact that Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). Confusion is his work and he’s still in the confusion business today. What Bible believing Christian can fail to see the hand of Satan in the upheaval of moral standards that has taken place in recent decades, as biblical revelation has been rejected, even in some churches, and replaced with the mistaken ideas of godless people?  Those who bring confusion, whether it’s into the churches or into society at large would do well to heed Paul’s urgent warning in these verses:

But why the repetition? This may be just for emphasis, but As we have already said (9) may well be a reference to his teaching when he had planted the churches. However, the two verses are not entirely identical:

Verse 8 refers to the gospel he had preached.

Verse 9 refers to the gospel they had accepted.

Paul had not only preached the true gospel, but the Galatians had accepted it.

let him be eternally condemned

The word Paul uses here is anathema. He uses it in Romans 9:3 where he says that he could wish himself accursed from Christ if only his fellow Jews might be saved. The plain sense there is that he would have been willing to sacrifice his own salvation if only it could achieve theirs. And in 1 Corinthians 16:22 he uses it to say, If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ let them be accursed. So the NIV translation, eternally condemned, here in Galatians, does not seem inappropriate.

But did Paul really want anyone to be eternally condemned? If it sounds like it here, we need to remember that Paul had dedicated his life to preaching the gospel so that others might be saved. If his words seem harsh, we should remind ourselves that God himself, who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, will not force salvation on anyone. He has provided the way of salvation through faith in the atoning death of Christ, but, if that is rejected, Jesus said those who do not believe are condemned already (John 3:18).  This is because the only way of salvation is through faith in Christ – and that’s because only Christ was capable of saving us.

So here in Galatians Paul is only affirming what God has already said. Those who were teaching, and those who were believing, a different ‘gospel’ were denying the total efficacy of Christ’s death on the cross, and to reject that is to reject the salvation that it offers. And as Paul says elsewhere, Their condemnation is just (Romans 3:8).

This matter is so important, and Paul cares so much about those he had led to Christ, that he urges them to reject the false gospel of the Judaizers and to return to the gospel by which they had been saved in the first place. Salvation is dependent on accepting the gospel. We cannot lose our salvation, but this passage shows that we can reject it by rejecting the gospel we once believed.

Paul’s teaching throughout Galatians reminds us of the urgency of both believing (and continuing to believe) and preaching the one true gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. We will return to this theme again and again, but as we do so perhaps we should ask ourselves how seriously we are taking our responsibility of sharing this truth with others.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians.    Talk 1. Why Galatians is important

Welcome to a new series of talks in which we will be studying Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this talk we’ll be looking at the first five verses, but I’ll begin by giving you three reasons why Galatians is important.

1.      It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It's clear from what Paul writes in the letter that the young Christian Church was facing very real problems. Christianity had its beginnings in Judaism and the majority of the first Christians were Jewish. But as more and more Gentiles became Christians the question arose as to whether the Gentile Christians needed to obey all the laws of the Old Testament.

The most significant of these was the Jewish rite of circumcision, and some were insisting that Gentiles who became Christians needed to be circumcised if they were to be saved (Acts 15:1). The matter was so serious that the apostles convened a special meeting to discuss the matter, sometimes referred to as the council of Jerusalem, details of which are given us in Acts 15. It was probably around this time (AD49) that Paul wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia, where the problem was particularly acute. Humanly speaking, if the church had insisted on circumcision, Christianity would have made little impact on the Gentiles and almost certainly would never have grown to become the world’s largest religion as it is today.

And Galatians was again to become highly significant in church history several hundred years later, when, as a result of reading it, an Augustinian friar named Martin Luther (1483-1546) became convinced that Christians are saved through faith, and not as a result of their own efforts, which is the main theme of the letter.

2.      It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

In the first two chapters, speaking from his experience, Paul insists that his apostolic authority comes from none other than God himself (1:1), and that the gospel he preaches is the only true gospel (1:6-10), because he received it by revelation from Jesus (11-12), not as a result of human consultation (1:16). Only later, in response to a revelation, did he go up to Jerusalem and set before the church leaders there the gospel that he preached to the Gentiles (2:1-2) and Titus, who was a Gentile Christian accompanying Paul, was not compelled to be circumcised (2:3). In fact, James, Peter, and John had recognised the special ministry that God had given to Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (2:7-9) and in 2:15-16 Paul reports how he had said to them:

We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Having recounted his own experience in chapters 1 and 2, at the beginning of chapter 3 Paul appeals to the Galatians’ own experience of how the Holy Spirit works among them, not because they observe the law but because they believe (1-6). This is followed in the rest of chapter 3 and throughout chapter 4, by a theological explanation of why we are made right with God, not by our good works, but by our trusting in Jesus, something which Paul develops later in greater detail in his letter to the Romans. But that leads us to the third reason why Galatians is important:

3.      It's of practical relevance to our daily lives

Paul’s teaching that justification is by faith and not by works is not just a theological theory. It’s of vital importance to our lives, and not only to our initial experience of salvation, but also to how we live our Christian lives from day to day. So in chapters 5 and 6 Paul offers a practical application of all he’s been saying in the first four chapters.

Christ has set us free from the law of the Old Testament and we’re not to let ourselves get tangled up in it again (5:1). We’re free from it, but we’re not to use our freedom as an excuse for wrong-doing. The important thing is to serve one another in love (5:13) because love fulfils all the requirements of the law (5:14). In fact, the whole law can be summarised in the commandment, Love your neighbour as yourself. We can do this if we live by the Spirit, and if we live by the Spirit we are not under the law (16-18).

In verses 19-21 Paul lists what he calls the works of the flesh – the kind of things the Spirit will not prompt us to do – and in verses 22-23 he tells us of those things which will be evident in our lives if we follow the leading of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He calls these the fruit of the Spirit.

Finally, in chapter 6, we fulfil the law of Christ (2) (the law of love)

·        by gently restoring those who have sinned (1)

·        by carrying each other’s burdens (2)

·        by carrying our own burdens (4)

·        by pleasing the Spirit (8)

·        by doing good to all (10).

Of course there is far more in Galatians than the brief summary I have given so far, and we’ll be looking at each chapter in more detail in future talks. But I hope I’ve said enough to persuade you that Galatians is well worth studying, because, as we have seen:

It has made a significant impact on the history of the church

It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works

It's of practical relevance to our daily lives.

But now, let’s make a start by reading the first six verses of chapter 1.

1. Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead  2. and all the brothers with me,     To the churches in Galatia:  3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4. who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5. to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel..

Paul, an apostle

Paul begins his letter with his name, which was the custom at the time (unlike our custom of leaving our name until the end of a letter). He then immediately reminds the Galatians of his apostolic calling. (For a detailed study of apostles in the New Testament, please see Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, Chapter Two). The word apostolos in Greek literally means someone who is sent, but usually carried the idea of someone who had been given special authority to speak on behalf of someone else, rather like an ambassador. The more important the person he was representing, the more important the ambassador himself, and Paul knew that he was representing the highest authority of all.

sent not from men nor by man

Acts records how, before his conversion, Paul had already been an ambassador – an ambassador sent by man to persecute the church (Acts 9:1-2, 22:4-5, 26:9-12).

but by Jesus Christ and God the Father

But now he is God’s ambassador. He needs to remind the Galatians of this, because they had so quickly moved away from the truth of the gospel he had preached to them and in doing so had deserted him (v6).

who raised him from the dead

It was the risen Christ who had appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road and given him his apostolic authority.

v.2 and all the brothers with me

We don’t know who these brothers were as Paul does not name them and we can’t be sure of the exact timing of the letter. However, despite the apostolic authority he had been given, Paul was not a loner. Whatever our gifting, we all need the fellowship, encouragement and support of fellow Christians. Perhaps Paul’s reason for mentioning them here is to stress that, although the Galatians were deserting him, there were still those who were loyal to him and the message he preached.

To the churches in Galatia

There has been some debate as to who these churches were. Those who are interested should consult the commentaries. But what’s important is that they were churches that Paul had planted and had originally received gladly his message of salvation through faith in Christ and not by observance of the law.

v.3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Paul often sent this greeting at the beginning of his letters, but this was no mere formality. It’s a measure of the stature of the man that he could speak grace and peace over those who were rejecting his message.

v.4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father

the present evil age

Since the coming of Jesus the Christian message has transformed society wherever it has been accepted, yet who can doubt, as we look at the world around us today, that we are still living in the present evil age of which Paul speaks in this verse? Yet there is hope in this verse, because it’s the present age that is evil. The Bible is very clear that things will be different in the age to come!

who gave himself for our sins to rescue us

We have all played our part in contributing to the evil of this present age. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But Jesus came to rescue us. He did this by giving himself for our sins. He did this by dying on the cross and taking on himself the punishment our sins deserved. In doing so he has rescued us from the penalty of sin, he continues to rescue us from the power of sin, and one day, in the age to come, he will rescue us from the presence of sin.

according to the will of our God and Father

And he did this according to the will of God. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). But, as Paul tells us throughout Galatians, a vital aspect of the truth is that salvation is through faith and not by works. How grateful we should be for that! Our good works could never save us, but by his death on the cross Jesus has made salvation available to all who will believe. No wonder Paul could say in verse 5:

to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Next time, we’ll pick up where we left off, beginning with verse 6.

Dr David Petts preaching at Brixham Community Church, 19th March 2023.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

It is finished (John 19:30)

The Death of Jesus

28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."

29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.

30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

IT IS FINISHED

What was?

But far, far more than that!  It was the end of much, much more.

The old covenant that God had made with his people, the Jews

Hebrews 8:7-13

7 … if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

8 But God found fault with the people and said (in Jeremiah 31:31-34): "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

11 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

13 By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete…

The OT is a revelation of the old covenant that God made with his people, but the OT itself promised that the day would come when God would make a new and better covenant with them.

We are not living under the old covenant that God made with the Jewish people, but under the new covenant which is sealed with the blood of Jesus.

When Jesus died on the cross he declared, IT IS FINISHED (John 19:30). The word 'finished' here means 'accomplished' or 'completed'.

Jesus had completed the work his Father had given him to do. His death on the cross provided atonement for our sins and was the fulfilment of all OT law. His finished work on the cross is the basis for the new covenant which extends beyond the Jews to the Gentiles as well…

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility

Matthew 27 :51

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.

And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Hebrews 2 :14-15

…he too shared in (our) humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

‘Tis finished! The Messiah dies, cut off for sins, but not his own.

Accomplished is the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done.

‘Tis finished! All the debt is paid. Justice divine is satisfied,

The grand and full atonement made. God for a guilty world has died.

The veil is rent in Christ alone. The living way the heaven is seen.

The middle wall is broken down and all mankind may enter in.

The types and figures are fulfilled. Exacted is the legal pain.

The precious promises are sealed. The spotless Lamb of God is slain.

The reign of sin and death is o’er, and all may live from sin set free.

Satan has lost his mortal power. ‘Tis swallowed up in victory!

Saved from the legal curse I am. My Saviour hangs on yonder tree.

See there the meek expiring Lamb. ‘Tis finished, he expires for me.

Accepted in the well-beloved and clothed in righteousness divine,

I see the bar to heaven removed, and all thy merits, Lord, are mine.

Death, hell, and sin are now subdued; all grace is now to sinners given.

And lo, I plead the atoning blood, and in thy right I claim thy heaven.

Charles Wesley

When you come together

Talk 12   Putting it all into practice

As we now turn to suggesting how we can put Paul’s teaching into practice, it will be important first to consider exactly who is responsible for doing so.  And, as we look again at 1 Corinthians 14:26, it becomes immediately apparent that the verse is addressed to everyone in the church:

What then shall we say brothers and sisters? When you come together, everyone has…

So everyone has a responsibility in this matter. But that raises the important question of the role of church leaders. What exactly is their responsibility? In my book, Body Builders, I have discussed the role of church leaders in some detail [1]. There we noted that their responsibilities include shepherding the flock, instructing them in the truths of God’s word, and managing and directing the affairs of the church (1 Timothy 3:5, 5:17).

Applying these principles to 1 Corinthians 14:26, this clearly implies that, apart from any other duties they may have, church leaders have a special responsibility in ensuring that what Paul teaches is put into practice whenever Christians come together to worship the Lord. If church members are to fulfil their responsibility to participate in the meetings as Paul teaches in 14:26, church leaders will need to encourage them to do so. The purpose of this talk is to offer some guidance as to how they might do this.

Being fully persuaded in your own mind

Now that we’ve almost finished this series, the time has come for you to make up your mind. I encourage you to read again chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians and especially consider what implications 14:26 might have for your church. In Romans 14:5, Paul wrote:

Let everyone be fully persuaded in their own mind.

Although written in a different context, this principle is of vital importance in every area of our Christian living. We must take care that we are not tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching (Ephesians 4:14).

This is particularly relevant in situations where the implementation of a 14:26 style of worship could be controversial. Change often makes people feel uncomfortable, and some of them will probably tell you so. But, if you are fully persuaded in your own mind that this is what God says, you will be able to bear criticism patiently and in time, hopefully, to persuade them of the truth. That’s why it’s especially important to pray for guidance.

Praying for guidance

In making these suggestions on how we might lead our church into a more biblical way of doing things, I am well aware that every situation is different. Apart from the obvious denominational differences in styles of worship and leadership, there are sometimes very different ways of doing things in churches of the same denomination. That’s why, I have placed prayer for guidance high on our list of priorities.

Once we have grasped the truth of God’s word on the matter, we need to pray for guidance on how and when we should introduce these things. When seeking to introduce any form of change where there has been a well-established tradition, I have personally always felt it wise to take things slowly and only introduce the change after teaching clearly why the change is both biblical and necessary. But that’s something for the leaders of each local church prayerfully to decide together. Which leads us to our next point.

Consulting your fellow leaders

As I’ve just mentioned, I realise that different churches have different forms of leadership. Although I am fully persuaded that team leadership should be the aim of every local church, it’s not my intention to argue the point here, as I have already done so at some length in Body Builders. However, I would suggest that, even in churches where there is only one leader, it would be wise for that leader to consult with key people in the church before seeking to implement any major changes in the style of worship.

On the other hand, where there is already an established pastoral team, it’s important that each pastor or elder is committed to the principle of 14:26 meetings and that the team agrees on how it should be applied in their local situation. Decisions need to be made not only on how and when to introduce it, but also on how to interpret and apply Paul’s teaching, particularly where there is legitimate room for different ways of understanding what he is saying.

I have listed below some of the issues it would be wise to consider. I have already expressed my own opinion on these matters, but it’s for each leadership team to make their own decision. The sort of things I’m referring to are:

a) With regard to speaking in tongues when unbelievers come in, should there be:

            No tongues at all?

            Tongues only if interpreted?

            Everybody speaking in tongues?

b) With regard to the gift of interpretation of tongues:

            Should this sound like praise or prophecy?

            What does Someone must  interpret mean (v. 27)?

            Should a fourth utterance in tongues be interpreted?

            Should private tongues be interpreted?

c) With regard to the gift of prophecy:

            How many? 2 or 3?

            How do you judge it? Who should judge it?

            How do you apply v.30? 

And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.

Once you have decided these issues you will need to teach them. But there may be other areas where teaching will be needed too.

Teaching the people

I have discovered from years of experience that you get what you teach for. Jesus said, You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). God’s people are released into freedom when they know the truths of God’s word. Few will be saved if we do not preach the gospel. Few will be healed if we do not preach about healing. And the same applies to the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit which are essential if our meetings are to follow the biblical pattern of 1 Corinthians 14:26.

It is vital that when people become Christians they are encouraged to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit  as soon as possible after their conversion (Acts 2:38). This gives them an early introduction into the charismatic  dimension of life in the Spirit . And, of course, they must be taught to keep on being filled with the Spirit on a daily basis (Ephesians 5:18, 2 Timothy  1:6).

And once people have been filled with the Spirit, it’s important that they receive teaching on spiritual gifts . It’s important that we give clear guidelines for the use of the gifts (as Paul  did in 1 Corinthians 12-14). This way the people feel the security of knowing how and when they may be appropriately exercised. That’s why we need to have decided in advance what our policy will be with regard to the issues we just mentioned.

We must encourage people to exercise the gifts  and lovingly correct them where necessary. The gifts are not infallible, and because we are human, people will make mistakes. But if these are corrected lovingly and sensitively, the whole congregation will feel secure under a firm but caring leadership , and those who are beginning in the gifts can learn to excel so that the church  might be built up (1 Corinthians 14:12).

Finally, we need to remember that the best way to teach is by setting an example. We need not only to tell people what they should do, but, equally importantly, to show them how to do it. Some of the fastest growing churches  in the world are churches where the leadership  sets the example in the use of spiritual gifts . However, it’s important that leaders do not give the impression that they are the only ones that God can use in the exercise of these gifts.

Making space

And if we really want to encourage people to participate in our meetings, we must make space for them to do so. We have already acknowledged that it will be difficult to put into practice the principles taught in1 Corinthians 14:26 in a large gathering, but there is no good reason why space could not be made available for people to participate for at least a part of the meeting.

Another way to make such participation possible would be to ask the congregation to break into groups of say seven to ten people and encourage them to share together for perhaps twenty minutes or so. I once did this after teaching for six Sunday mornings on 1 Corinthians 12-14. I encouraged everyone to say at least something that might be a blessing to others, even if it was just a favourite verse of Scripture or the verse of a hymn. And I was pleased to hear afterwards how grateful the people were to have been given the opportunity to do so.

You might also consider arranging some special ‘14:26 meetings’ either on a Sunday or during the week. This could be a useful way of gradually introducing a congregation who have been unused to it to this style of worship. If you decide to do this it would be wise to tell people in advance what you're going to do and to come prepared to participate.

And of course, an obvious setting for this kind of meeting would be in home groups. However, before attempting to do so, home group leaders might well need training and teaching the principles we have already discussed.

Creating a suitable environment

Finally, it’s vital that we provide the right environment for the gifts  to flourish. If as leaders we seek to create an atmosphere of love (rather than criticism) in the church , people will not be afraid to move forward in faith . In the right kind of spiritual atmosphere spiritual gifts  flow naturally and easily. It is not difficult to have the faith  to prophesy  in a fellowship where believers love  each other and want to edify one another and where the leaders will sympathetically encourage us and, if necessary, lovingly correct us as we seek to move forward in faith.

Conclusion

My purpose in this series has been to show that we should take seriously Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:26 and encourage a greater measure of Spirit-led congregational participation in our meetings. We have acknowledged that the things that Paul wrote are the commandments of the Lord (14:37), not just for the Christians in first century Corinth, but for us today.

In order to put 1 Corinthians 14:26 in context, and to understand more fully what Paul is saying in this verse, we have examined chapters 12-14 in some detail and have seen that there’s a supernatural dimension to the worship of the church expressed in the manifestation of supernatural gifts given by the Holy Spirit (12:1-11) and that these all spring from our being baptised in the Spirit (12:13), which is an experience promised by Jesus and described by Luke in the Book of Acts.

We saw that Paul’s teaching that the church is the body of Christ, that every member of the body is different, and that everybody is needed (12:12-30), undergirds his recommendation in 14:26 that everyone should have opportunity to contribute to the meeting.

Furthermore, his teaching that everything we do must be motivated by love (13:1-13) and that, as an expression of that love, we must always seek to put other people first (14:1-25), impinges directly on how the principles taught in 14:26 should be applied in practice. This will mean, among other things, using correctly the spiritual gifts God has given us by taking responsibility for our actions (14:26-40).

In this connection, we examined carefully Paul’s teaching on tongues, interpretation, and prophecy in chapter 14, as these are the subjects he concentrates on in that chapter and are specifically mentioned in 14:26. We sought to clarify the meaning of verses that are open to differences of interpretation and to suggest how they might be applied in practice, acknowledging that in everything we must submit to the authority of scripture (14:37).

Finally, in this talk we have offered some guidelines as to how all these things might be put into practice. Church leaders have a special responsibility in this, and, as I have said more than once already, it is not my intention to tell leaders what they should do – that is their responsibility under God. But it is my sincere prayer that what I have said may be of some help in bringing our meetings closer to God’s revealed will for what should happen when we come together.

[1] See especially the chapter on Pastors.

When you come together

Talk 11   Identifying Underlying Principles

We have now completed our examination of 1 Corinthians 12-14 with a view to seeing how Paul’s teaching in those chapters might help us better understand the verse upon which this series has been based, 1 Corinthians 14:26. In our consideration of chapter 12 we saw from the first part of the chapter that we should expect the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in our meetings and that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the gateway to those gifts.

In the second part of the chapter, we highlighted the principles of unity, diversity and interdependence. The different gifts we have are all given by the same Spirit, and we all belong to the same body. Every part of the body is important, and every part needs each other part.

The chief lesson that we learnt from chapter 13 is that nothing that we have and nothing that we may do is of any value without love. We also saw that, wonderful though they are, supernatural gifts have their limitations. They are neither permanent nor perfect. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. And that’s because that which is perfect has not yet come.

In chapter 14 we discovered that most of Paul’s teaching is taken up with the value and use of the gifts of tongues, interpretation, and prophecy, and so we devoted the last three talks to discussing what Paul teaches about each of these gifts in that chapter. We looked in some detail at his specific instructions and sought to clarify their meaning where that was open to possible differences of interpretation and application.

With all these things in mind, we now return to 1 Corinthians 14:26 to consider in more detail some of the things we outlined in the Introduction.

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

The first thing to remember about this verse is that Paul is giving guidance on what should happen in a meeting of BELIEVERS. This is clear from the overall context, from the use of the words brothers… when you come together, and from verse 24 where he says if an unbeliever comes in. So I am not suggesting that the principles taught in this verse should be applied to an EVANGELISTIC meeting, for which his recommendations might have been different.

Secondly, as I pointed out in the Introduction, the words, What then shall we say, brothers? are a recommendation rather than a criticism, as some have suggested. Clearly this is crucial to all that I am arguing in this series, but my confidence is based on Paul’s use of the same Greek phrase in verse 15 where it’s clear that Paul is making a strong recommendation.

Thirdly, in the Introduction we identified three key principles in this verse:

·       Participation

·       Variety

·       Edification.

We will now explore these concepts in more detail.

Participation

Paul hardly needed to recommend that the Corinthians participate in their meetings. That was something they were doing already. Verse 23 seems to suggest that there were occasions when they were all speaking in tongues at the same time and this was something Paul wanted to discourage, especially in the presence of unbelievers. This is why he felt the need to limit speaking in tongues to two, or at the most, three.

The problem was not lack of participation, but too much participation in things that did not edify the church. So verse 26 is both a recognition and a recommendation. A recognition of what was already happening, and a recommendation that whatever that was, it should be done for the strengthening of the church.

But to say this is not to minimise the importance of the whole verse as a recommendation to us. Referring to the things he has listed in the verse, Paul says, All of these must be done. And they must be done for the strengthening of the church. As we saw from chapter 12, every part of the body is needed. There should always be opportunity, whenever we gather together, for the expression of the many gifts and graces that the Spirit has imparted to the members.

Of course, it would not be possible in most churches for every person present to participate in every meeting, other than to join in singing the songs and, perhaps to say an occasional Amen to what is being said by others. But there should always be opportunity for them to do so.

And they should be encouraged to do so. People are more likely to participate when time is specifically allocated for this and it’s made clear that participation is welcome. If we really want people to participate, we must make room for it, even if it means arranging smaller meetings, or, in larger meetings, breaking down into small groups for part of the service.

But, as I said in the Introduction, it’s not my intention to try to tell church leaders what they should do. If we really believe that the things that Paul has written in this chapter are the Lord’s command (37), we will find ways of implementing them that will work in our particular situation.

Variety

Paul refers to:

a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

These are, of course, just a representative sample of what might happen in a meeting, but they suggest three main areas:

·       The musical dimension (a hymn)

·       The doctrinal dimension (a word of instruction)

·       The supernatural dimension (a revelation, a tongue, etc).

We have already dealt with the supernatural dimension at some length. So we will confine our attention to the musical and doctrinal dimensions.

The musical dimension

The first thing Paul refers to in 14:26 is a hymn. Actually the word in Greek is literally a psalm. A psalm has been defined as a song or poem used in worship, so the translation hymn is quite appropriate. Of course, at the time Paul was writing to the Corinthians they would not have had the vast repertoire of hymns and songs that are available to us today.

However, because of the Jewish origins of the Christian church, it’s likely that their main source of songs for worship would have been the Book of Psalms that we have in our Bible. In fact, where the word psalm is used everywhere else in New Testament it refers to one of the Psalms, so this is probably what Paul had in mind when he said:

Everyone of you has a hymn (or psalm).

But what exactly did Paul mean by this? Although we cannot be sure how this recommendation would have been applied in Corinth, there is one clear implication in what Paul is saying. Everyone should have the opportunity to contribute to the worship by having a song. But how do you have a song? This surely means more than joining in the songs chosen in advance by the pastor or worship leader! And Paul is hardly suggesting that everyone should have the opportunity to sing a solo, wonderful though the ministry in song of Christian vocal artists may be.

In my view, the most appropriate way of implementing Paul’s recommendation within the context of modern worship is to give opportunity for people to choose a hymn for everyone to sing, or, in a time of open worship, to spontaneously start singing a well-known hymn or chorus for everyone to join in.

I realise that this may not easily fit in with modern styles of worship where the pursuit of excellence in performance is paramount, but I know from experience what a blessing it can be when someone in the congregation spontaneously has a song in one of the ways I have just suggested.

Finally, with reference to the songs we sing, may I make two pleas to Christian song writers? First, with regard to the tunes, would you please compose tunes that are quickly learned, easily remembered, and easily sung by members of the congregation who don’t have your musical expertise?

And secondly, please remember that the words of a song are more important than the music. Music is valuable, not only because it helps us express our emotion and lifts our spirit, but also because it helps us remember what we sing. So it’s important that our words clearly express in easily understood English the great truths of our faith. Your songs have the potential to be remembered far more than my sermons! So please make sure you’ve got your theology right, and, if you’re not sure, get someone else to check it for you.

Finally, we need to consider the only other reference to singing in 1 Corinthians 14, where in verse 15, talking about singing in tongues, Paul says:

I will sing with my spirit (in tongues), but I will also sing with my mind (in a language I understand).

However, as we have already seen, this is part of what Paul is recommending for the use of tongues in private, which raises the question as to whether singing in tongues is appropriate in public. There may be a reference to this in Ephesians 5:19 where Paul mentions spiritual songs along with psalms and hymns. KJV is more literal than NIV when it translates this as

speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…

We know from 1 Corinthians 14 that speaking in tongues is one way of speaking to ourselves and to God (28) and that in doing so we are praying or singing with our spirit (14-15). However, it’s unclear whether, in Ephesians 5:19, Paul is envisaging a public or private situation. The reference to heart rather than hearts might suggest that he is speaking to them as individuals, whereas speaking to yourselves (plural) could be taken to refer to when they are gathered in worship.

Perhaps he intends both. At Pentecost the disciples were filled with the Spirit both collectively and individually and we need, both as a church and as individuals within it, to keep on being filled with the Spirit. If I can sing in tongues privately to maintain the fulness of the Spirit, cannot the church do so collectively? I confess that I was once rather concerned about this, especially when unbelievers were present, on the basis of what Paul says about them thinking we are mad (14:23). But the following episode made me think again.

During part of the time when I was Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College, the college chapel was across the road from the main part of our campus, and the students’ worship could easily be heard by anyone passing by. There would often be times when everyone was spontaneously singing in tongues to worship the Lord, and I wondered what the local residents might think of it.

But I was greatly reassured when I heard that one of them had asked:

What is that beautiful singing I sometimes hear when I walk past your chapel? It’s so unusual, and it gives me a great sense of peace.

The Corinthians were undoubtedly out of order in the way they were exercising the gift of tongues and clearly needed the strong warning that Paul gave them. But perhaps today he might be encouraging  some churches at least to move in the opposite direction and be less concerned about what outsiders might think. As at Pentecost, there will always be those who criticise the moving of the Spirit, but if we are able to give an explanation of what’s happening, as Peter did, there may well be more who are persuaded by our message than those who oppose it.

The doctrinal dimension

The Greek word translated in NIV as a word of instruction is didache, which literally means teaching. It can also mean doctrine (which comes from a Latin verb meaning teach). Paul says relatively little about this in 1 Corinthians 14, but in verse 19 he stresses the importance of teaching when he says:

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue,

and in verse 31 when he says:

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

And of course, as we mentioned in the Introduction, most of the contents of Paul’s letters were written to instruct the churches in the truth and to expose false doctrine. As I have said elsewhere,

What we believe is of vital importance. The scriptures were written that we might know the truth, and that the truth might set us free (John 8:32). Every genuine experience of the Spirit finds its foundation in the truth of God’s word. The Bible is the inspired word of God. It teaches the truth – about God, about man, about life and death, good and evil, heaven and hell. If we want to know the truth about any of the important questions of life, we will find it in the Bible[1].

John tells us that

Anyone who… does not continue in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son (2 John 9).

Jesus himself told his disciples to beware of the teachings of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:12) and said that their teachings were just rules made by men (Matthew 15:9), and Paul warns us of the same danger in Colossians 2:22. But what a wonderful contrast is the teaching of God our Saviour (Titus 2:10) which is to be recognised by a right attitude to Christ (2 John 7-10) and a right attitude to scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).

We need to know what we believe and why we believe it so that we can by sound doctrine convince those who contradict us (Titus 1:9). It is by knowing the truth that people are set free (John 8:32). That’s why Paul told Timothy:

Devote yourself to… teaching. Watch your life and doctrine closely; persevere in them; because if you do you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:13, 16).

The sound exposition of the Scriptures is essential whenever we come together.

Edification

We said at the beginning of the talk that the three key principles underlying 14:26 are participation, variety, and edification. Now that we have discussed the first two of these, we turn to the subject of edification, which, without doubt is the major theme of the whole chapter. If love is the dominant theme of chapter 13, in chapter 14 edification is the way that love is expressed in the context of the gathered church. That’s why Paul says everything must be done for the strengthening of the church.

We have already looked at Paul’s specific teaching in chapter 14 in some detail, but now it will be helpful to consider the key principles that underly that teaching and see if they can be applied more widely than the specific issues Paul was addressing in Corinth. As we do so, we will discover five principles that need to be applied if our meetings are to be edifying.

Putting other people first

This is the principle underlying Paul’s teaching in verses 1-5. There he is saying that in church prophecy is more valuable than tongues because when you speak in tongues you edify only yourself, but if you prophesy you will edify others. He picks up the same theme in verse 17:

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.

The principle underlying this teaching is putting others first. And that principle can be applied far more widely than the issue of speaking in tongues. It’s good that I have the freedom to stand and worship the Lord while others are sitting down, but if by standing I prevent the person behind me from singing because they cannot see the words on the screen in front, I may be giving thanks well, but the other person is not edified. People need to be taught to be considerate to others in the way they worship the Lord.

Intelligibility

Another of the ways we can build up our fellow Christians is by making sure they can understand. In verse 9 Paul says:

Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying?

Of course, he talking about the futility of speaking in tongues in church unless it’s interpreted. It’s pointless unless people can understand it. But that’s true of everything we do in church. Not everything we say in English is easy to understand – but it should be! This applies to our preaching, our prayers, the songs we sing, our praise and worship – everything. In verse 16 it’s clear that Paul expects that everyone present should be able to say Amen to whatever we say, but to do that they must first understand it,

…how can one who… does not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?

Again, in the context, he’s talking about speaking in tongues, but the underlying principle of intelligibility has a wider application. For example, how can I say Amen  to someone’s prayer or praise if I can’t make out what they’re saying because the people around me are making too much noise, or if the background music is too loud? Which, incidentally, it often is. Saying Amen means expressing your agreement with what’s been said, and you can’t do that if you haven’t heard it properly.

Responsibility

As we saw in the last talk when discussing prophets and prophecy, Paul says that

The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (32).

This implies that both prophets and those who have the gift of prophecy are responsible for how they use their gifts. But the need to take responsibility for our actions goes far wider than the gift of prophecy. If God has entrusted us with any spiritual gift, we are responsible for how we use it.

For example, the Holy Spirit does not force us to speak in tongues. He enables us to do so. We are responsible for when, how often, and how loudly. This principle applies to everything we do in church. We are to follow the teaching of Scripture and of our leaders (37-38) and we cannot make the excuse, I couldn’t help it. The Holy Spirit made me do it. And, as we have already said, the very fact that Paul gave us instructions on how these gifts should be used implies that we are responsible for how we use them.

Order

Paul says that God is not a God of disorder but of peace (33), and it’s our responsibility to see that everything is done in a fitting and orderly way (40). In the context this meant ensuring that speaking in tongues should be done one at a time and that only one person should interpret each utterance (27). And the same principle applied to the use of prophecy (30).

Paul’s specific teaching on this is still applicable today, but the wider principle holds good for everything we do. Everything should done in a fitting and orderly way. Interpretation of what is fitting and orderly will possibly vary from church to church, and there will undoubtedly be cultural variations, but the leaders of each church should be able to agree on what is appropriate in their situation, bearing in mind the overall principles taught in Scripture.

Balance

Finally, it’s clear from Paul’s teaching that there needs to be a measure of balance in our meetings. In Corinth there was too much speaking in tongues. In another church it might be too much music, or even too much teaching! If there is to be the variety of which Paul speaks in verse 26, and if each member is to have the opportunity to contribute, church leaders need to ensure that there is a healthy balance in each meeting.

But that is not to say that there cannot be special occasions when an entire meeting is given over to teaching, or to prayer, or to worship, for example. Such occasions are not to be confused with the regular meetings of the church, where preserving a measure of balance will be essential to the edification of all God’s people.

So, to summarise, in this talk we have examined the three principles underlying Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14:26 – participation, variety, and edification. We noted that our meetings should include the supernatural, the musical and the doctrinal. But, most important of all, we saw that everything should be done for the edification of the church, and that this will be achieved by putting others first, making sure that what is said is intelligible, taking responsibility for our actions, and by preserving order and balance  in our meetings. These principles have a wider application than the specific areas that Paul was addressing in the Corinthian church. Exactly how they should be applied is for each local church leadership to decide.  And that is something we will be discussing in our next and final talk.

[1] Introduction to You’d Better Believe it. This book contains teaching on the basic doctrines of the Christian faith and is available from www.davidpetts.org.

When you come together

Talk 10.   Paul’s Teaching on Prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14

Having discussed Paul’s teaching on tongues and interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14, we now turn to the subject of prophecy. We will consider what it is, its value and purpose, its limitations, and its use in church.

What is prophecy?

In both Old and New Testaments the basic meaning of the word prophesy is to speak on behalf of someone else. A good illustration of this can be found in Exodus 7: 1-2 where the Lord says to Moses :

See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet . You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go…

Aaron  is called Moses ’ prophet  because he is going to speak on his behalf. Understood this way, to prophesy is to hear from God and then pass on to others what he has said [1].

Today, however, prophecy is often used to mean foretelling the future, but although it can contain an element of prediction, this is not its essential meaning. And it should not be confused with preaching or teaching. In Body Builders I described the gift of prophecy as:

speaking on behalf of God by the supernatural  inspiration of the Holy Spirit  for the strengthening, encouragement  and comfort of the church . It may at times contain elements of revelation  or even prediction , but must be distinguished from the ministry  of the teacher  whose message comes from God by way of the Scriptures. 

In the New Testament, apart from the many references back to the prophecies contained in the Old Testament, we find that there are three different ways in which the words prophecy and prophesy are used.

First, remembering that the basic meaning of prophesy is to speak on behalf of someone, as God’s people there’s a sense in which we can all ‘prophesy’ because we are all called to speak on his behalf. The purpose of the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost  was that we might receive power  to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). The Spirit was poured out so that all God’s people could prophesy  – sons and daughters, young and old, servants, men and women  (Acts 2:16-18).

Secondly, however, although we are speaking for God when we witness for Jesus, it is not the same as the gift of prophecy that brings strengthening, encouragement and comfort to the church (14:3). In 12:8-11, where Paul  lists nine spiritual gifts , one of which is prophecy , he says:

 …to another prophecy … he (the Spirit ) gives them to each person just as he determines.

This shows that this gift  is not given to everybody, and Romans 12:6 backs this up by saying:

We have different gifts  according to the grace  given us. If a man’s gift  is prophesying…

So, although all Christians are to ‘prophesy ’ in the general sense of speaking on God’s behalf, not all will exercise the gift of prophecy Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians.

And, thirdly, not all who exercise the gift of prophecy will be prophets  in the Ephesians 4:11 sense. In Body Builders I have suggested that the clearest role of a New Testament [2] prophet is to be seen in the ministry of Agabus who spoke with great revelation  from the Spirit  (Acts 11:27-28, 21:10). This included the accurate prediction  of certain future events. His prophecy  about a widespread famine (Acts 11:27-30) and  his prediction of Paul 's captivity in Jerusalem  (Acts 21:11) are well-known examples of this. They demonstrate that his ministry  involved more than the simple gift  of prophecy.  In short:

·        All God’s people should prophesy  (speak on his behalf).

·        Not all will receive the gift  of prophecy  (to edify the church ).

·        Not all of these will exercise the ministry of a prophet like Agabus .

With these things in mind, as we now turn to 1 Corinthians 14, it should be clear that it’s the gift of prophecy and possibly the ministry of prophets that Paul is talking about.

The value and purpose of prophecy

Returning now to 1 Corinthians 14, as we read verse 1 it becomes immediately clear that Paul valued prophecy very highly indeed. He says that we should eagerly desire it:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

This is the main theme of the chapter. He ends the chapter as he has started it:

Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy…(39).

The Greek word Paul uses for eagerly desire is very strong. It’s the origin of our English word zeal. God wants us to be passionate about prophecy. Notice that in verse 1 Paul doesn’t say or. He says and.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts.

The pursuit of spiritual gifts is not an optional extra. We must not say, I have love, so I don’t need spiritual gifts. We must eagerly desire spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of prophecy (1). But why?

The value of the gift is to be seen in its purpose. We should be passionate about prophecy because it edifies the church. Paul says in verses 4 and 5:

… he who prophesies edifies the church. I would rather have you prophesy… so that the church may be edified.

What he means by this is explained in verse 3 where he says:

But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

In the context of church worship this is the practical outworking of Paul’s teaching about love in chapter 13. We are to love our fellow Christians, and if we love them we will want to be a blessing to them, to strengthen, encourage, and comfort them. And that’s what prophecy does.

But that’s not all. Prophecy can also have a powerful effect on unbelievers who may come into the church. In Talk 8 we discussed some of the difficulties in understanding verses 22-23, but verses 24-25 are very clear:

But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all,

25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

So prophecy is to be valued very highly, not only because it strengthens, encourages, and comforts believers, but also because of the powerful effect it can have on people who do not yet believe. But having said that, prophecy is not without its limitations. In 13:9-10 Paul says:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

This is because at present our knowledge is incomplete. We see but a poor reflection as in a mirror (12). Our prophecies are imperfect because they are our prophecies, and we are not perfect yet. That’s why in 14:12 Paul tells us to try to excel in it. If our use of God’s precious gifts were perfect, we would not need to try to excel in them – in fact all Paul’s instructions about their use would have been unnecessary! And that’s why we’re told in 14:29 that we should weigh carefully what is said. But that brings us to how prophecy should be used in church.

The use of prophecy in church

Perhaps the first thing to say about the use of prophecy in church is that we should always bear in mind its purpose, which is to strengthen, encourage, comfort, and edify God’s people (3-4). There is no suggestion that it should be used to rebuke them, or even to give them guidance.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:14 that it’s our privilege as God’s children to be personally led by the Spirit . Guidance received through prophecy should simply serve as confirmation of something that God has already spoken to us about in our hearts. A good example of this is found in Acts 13:1-3 where the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch were told by the Holy Spirit to set Barnabas and Paul apart for the work to which he had already called them [3].

So, bearing in mind the purpose for which the gift of prophecy is given, we are now in a position to consider Paul’s specific teaching on the use of the gift in church. This is found in verses 29-32 where he says:

29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

Two or three prophets should speak (29)

Note the contrast with verse 27. Paul does not say if with regard to prophecy. It is not merely to be permitted but to be encouraged. The prophets should speak. But how is Paul using the word prophet here? Is he talking about prophets like Agabus, the kind of ministry he refers to in Ephesians 4:11, or does he mean those who exercise the simple gift of prophecy?

Some have suggested that two or three prophets should speak in verse 29 refers to those with the ministry of a prophet (as in Ephesians 4:11), but that when Paul says in verse 31 you can all prophesy he is referring to the whole church. However, the use of the word for in verse 31 clearly identifies the people he is speaking to as the prophets he addresses in verses 29-30. This means that verses 29-31 must all refer to the same people, either those who are prophets, or those who have the gift of prophecy, or even to both.

In my view we cannot say with certainty which group Paul is addressing in these verses, it is very clear that the principles he is teaching apply to both. The first of these is that although prophecy is to be encouraged its use is to be limited and it needs to be judged or weighed carefully.

The others should weigh carefully what is said (29)

The verb translated weigh carefully is the same as is used for distinguishing between spirits in 12:10. The clear implication is that every prophecy needs to be evaluated, and this illustrates the point that we made earlier that it is by no means infallible. However, despite its limitations, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20 that it’s not to be despised. But even that  may indicate the possibility of human weakness in the operation of the gift, for why else would the Thessalonians have been despising it?

So prophecy needs to be judged or weighed carefully. But this raises two questions. The first is: Who is responsible for judging it?  Looking at the immediate context, Paul seems to mean the other prophets. The things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned (2:14), and those with a prophetic gift are more likely to accurately weigh a prophetic revelation.

But surely the others may be applied more widely than that? As we have seen, there is a sense in which all God’s people are prophets, and we all have the capacity, and the responsibility, to weigh prophetic words. And certainly those who are pastors or teachers have a special responsibility to be alert for anything that might mislead the flock.

Secondly, we need to consider the question: How is prophecy to be judged? There are two areas of importance here, its authenticity and its application. By authenticity I mean its conformity to Scripture. Paul is very clear in verse 37 that what (he is) writing… is the Lord's command. All prophecy must be judged in the light of what the Spirit has already said in the Bible.

By application I mean that we need to consider to whom the prophecy may apply. Is it for me? Is it for the whole church? How do we apply it in practice? These are decisions that we all must make after hearing a prophecy. Clearly, we cannot judge it until we have heard it! However, in some churches people who feel they have a prophetic word to bring are expected to share it with the church leadership before bringing it publicly. The church leaders evaluate it before it is given. The advantages of this are twofold:

·        It prevents any unauthentic or inappropriate prophecy being given in public.

·        Those who are inexperienced, but eager to prophesy, feel more secure in having their prophecy confirmed by the leaders before bringing it.

However, it’s surely unthinkable that those with a proven track record in prophecy should have to consult the church leaders before they prophesy. Their prophecies should be judged after they have delivered them, which is almost certainly what Paul intended. Furthermore, the insistence that leaders must be consulted before prophecies are given seems out of keeping with the encouragement Paul gives in verse 26 for all to participate, and with the spontaneity implicit in his teaching on the matter in verse 30.

And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop (30)

This not only shows the spontaneity that Paul envisages; it also shows that, although the purpose of prophecy is mainly the strengthening, encouragement, and comfort of the church, it may also contain an element of revelation. It also seems to suggest that it was the custom to stand when prophesying while others were seated. Perhaps the second person would stand to indicate that they had received a revelation from the Spirit and that is how the first person would know it was time to stop. Be that as it may, the important point here is that each prophet must be prepared to make room for others who exercise the gift.

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged (31)

What does Paul mean when he says, You can all prophesy?  In my view this cannot possibly refer to all the congregation, as this would contradict the principle taught in chapter 12 that the gifts are distributed as the Spirit determines and would be out of harmony with the phrase to another prophecy (12:10).

Taken in context he must surely mean that all the prophets, or all those with the gift of prophecy, may prophesy. Each person must be given opportunity to exercise their gift as the Spirit may lead, but presumably not in contravention of the two or three principle of verse 29.

The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets (32)

It seems likely that by spirits here Paul is referring to their spiritual gift. While the Greek word pneuma normally means spirit, Paul does use it in 14:12 to refer to spiritual gifts, when he says, Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel… Understood this way, verse 32 means that the spiritual gift of prophecy is under the control of the person who exercises it.

Indeed, all the gifts that God gives us are under our control. This is clear from the fact that specific instructions are given for their use.  If the use of the gifts were only dependent upon the Holy Spirit  himself such instructions would be both inappropriate and unnecessary.  And because of our responsibility for the control of the gift  God has given us, as we have already seen, Paul  teaches that we are able to:

·        regulate the number of prophetic utterances in any one meeting (14:29).

·        cease prophesying if something is revealed to someone else (14:30).

·        prophesy  rather than speak in tongues  if unbelievers are present (14:23-25). 

Our ability to control the gift  of prophecy also implies that we are responsible for the terminology in which we express the message that God has given us.  Since we are not infallible, we would be wise to phrase our prophecies in the third person rather than the first, to talk of God as he and not I.  For example, it would be better to say

 The Lord loves you...

than to say, ‘

               I love you, says the Lord.

We may believe that God has given us something to say, but we are not God, and we should not talk as if we were! 

But that now brings us to the final verses of 1 Corinthians 14. As our subject in this talk has been Paul’s teaching on the gift of prophecy, we will confine our attention to those verses that are directly relevant to this subject. Verses 34-35 in the NIV read as follows:

34 women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

It is clear that in the context silence is relative and not absolute. The exhortation relates to asking their husbands questions at home (35) and not to worship or exercising spiritual gifts such as prophecy. In fact we read in 11:5 that Paul permitted women to both pray and prophesy in church, and although it’s possible to pray silently, it’s certainly not possible to prophesy silently!

37 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. 39 Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40  But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

As he draws to his conclusion Paul summarises his teaching on public worship in a few short verses. Whatever your spiritual gift may be you must submit to the authority of the apostle’s commands (37). This has obvious implications with regard to the authority of Scripture, but also to the authority of ministry gift over spiritual gifts. Prophecy is to be encouraged and tongues should not be forbidden (39). Whatever happens, everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Next time, we’ll be looking at the key principles that underlie Paul’s teaching in this chapter with a view to indicating how church leaders might seek to implement them in their churches.

[1] For a more detailed study of this, see the chapters on Prophets and The Gift of Prophecy in Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow.

[2] Old Testament prophets do not serve well as an illustration of the role of prophets today. Before Pentecost only a few people experienced the Spirit. Since Pentecost the gift of the Spirit has been available to all (Acts 2:17).   It’s the privilege of all God’s children to be led by his Spirit (Romans 8:14). The role of prophets since Pentecost, therefore, differs considerably from that of Old Testament prophets. See Body Builders for further clarification.

[3] See also Paul's attitude to the prophecy of the prophet Agabus in Acts 21:1-15. Agabus predicts what will happen to Paul, but he does not tell him what to do.

When you come together

Talk 9 Paul’s Teaching on Interpretation of Tongues

The gift of interpretation of tongues is a gift imparted by the Holy Spirit that enables Christians to understand what is said when someone speaks in tongues. It is given to individual Christians, as determined by the Holy Spirit, with the specific purpose of edifying the church.

Paul’s entire teaching on this gift is found in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14. In chapter 12 it is mentioned twice, first in verse 10 where it is mentioned among the list of supernatural gifts given to individual Christians as the Holy Spirit determines, and then in verse 30 where Paul asks the rhetorical question, Do all interpret? clearly implying that all do not. This means that apart from Paul’s overall teaching on supernatural gifts, some of which we have outlined in Talk 2, our main source of material for understanding this gift is found in 1 Corinthians 14. In this talk I will:

·       Examine the references to interpretation of tongues

·       Discuss certain practical issues that arise from this

·       Share a personal testimony.

References to interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14

These are found in verses 5, 13, and 26-28. We will examine each of these in turn.

Verse 5

The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless they interpret so that the church may be edified.

This verse makes clear the purpose of the gift – the edification of the church. We have already seen that in verses 1-5 Paul is arguing that prophecy is preferable to tongues because prophecy edifies the church whereas speaking in tongues does not, because no one can understand it (2).

Here, however, he acknowledges that if speaking in tongues is interpreted it can edify the church, in which case it is as valuable as prophecy. But this need not mean that it’s necessarily the same as prophecy. We will discuss this later when we consider the form the gift should take.

Verse 13

In verse 12 Paul underlines his teaching that the main purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the church by telling the Corinthians to try to excel in gifts that build up the church. This gives the reason for what he says in verse 13.

Anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

He says this because the only way that speaking in tongues will edify other Christians is if it is interpreted. This does not mean, however, that all interpretation should be given by the person who has spoken in tongues. Far from it. The interpretation may very well be given by someone else. And to allow someone other than the speaker in tongues to interpret means that more people are participating in the meeting, something Paul is keen to encourage, as the next passage makes clear.

Verses 26-28

26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

Verse 26 is the key verse upon which this series is based. It gives clear guidance on the sort of things we should expect in our meetings, and it’s noteworthy that tongues and interpretation are included in what Paul is recommending. But note the use of the word if in verse 27:

If anyone speaks in a tongue…

This shows us that Paul does not automatically assume that there will be speaking in tongues in the meeting. The things mentioned in verse 26 are not obligatory ingredients for every meeting. They are the kind of things to expect, but not necessarily in every meeting. The manifestation of spiritual gifts will vary from meeting to meeting as the Spirit leads. The main point is that whatever is taking place, everything must be done for the strengthening of the church.

So, if anyone speaks in tongues, what should happen next? Paul is quite clear on this as the following literal translation shows:

If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be by two or at the most three people. And let one person interpret (my translation).

At first sight the first part of the verse is reasonably clear. Paul seems to be saying that during the course of a meeting, no more than three people should speak in tongues. But this clearly applies to the use of tongues for the purpose of interpretation, because he says, Let one person interpret.  However, he does allow for the private use of tongues in church, provided that this is done quietly, speaking to oneself and to God (28) and this need not be limited to three people because it is done privately.

Furthermore, even with regard to the use of tongues for interpretation, bearing in mind the flexibility of starting and finishing times that would have been current in Corinth, it’s possible that Paul meant no more than two or three people should speak in tongues before moving on to other things. We will consider this further when we discuss practical issues that arise from Paul’s teaching.

Another practical issue that we will need to consider in due course is how to understand and apply the final part of verse 27, which NIV translates as, Someone must interpret, but which KJV translates this as,

Let one interpret (my emphasis),

which is the literal translation of the Greek word that Paul uses here. The word is heis and students of Greek will know that this is used for the numeral 1. (The Greek for 1, 2, 3, is heis, duo, treis). It occurs 20 times in 1 Corinthians and everywhere else it can only mean one. That’s why, in the translation I offered earlier I translated it as

Let one person interpret.

But does this mean that Paul is saying that if there are two or three utterances in tongues, the same person should give the interpretation for all of them, as some have suggested? I think not, and I will give my reasons for saying so later.

Finally, we have already commented on verse 28 in the last talk with regard to speaking in tongues, but Paul’s use of the word interpreter is interesting. He says:

If there is no interpreter, the speaker (in tongues) should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

The term interpreter clearly indicates that those who exercised the gift of interpretation were seen as permanently possessing the gift. If that were not so, how could the speaker in tongues know whether there was an interpreter present or not? Supernatural gifts are not something which God gives and then takes away. They are given to individual Christians (12:8-11) for the benefit of the church. A person who has interpreted once can be expected to do so again. Obviously this places a heavy responsibility on the interpreter, as I know from my own experience, which I will share I the last part of this talk.

Practical issues arising from Paul’s teaching

The form the gift should take

We saw in the last talk that Paul describes speaking in tongues as speaking with our spirit as distinct from speaking with our mind (14:14). This may take any one of several different forms – prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and speaking mysteries, which, we said, could well be connected with declaring the wonders of God revealed in the truths of the gospel. Now, if the gift of interpretation enables us to understand what is being said when someone speaks in tongues, it follows that the interpretation should take the same form as the tongue, whether prayer, or praise, or thanksgiving etc.

It’s my view that interpretation can take any of these forms and it would be wrong to limit its expression to just one of them. However, in some churches interpretation almost always takes the form of a prophecy and in others it tends to take the form of praise. Those who take the view that interpretation should take the form of a prophecy base their argument on 14:5 where Paul says:

The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless they interpret so that the church may be edified.

The argument goes like this. Prophecy edifies the church. Interpretation edifies the church. Therefore, the interpretation of tongues equals prophecy. But there is a logical flaw in this argument. It’s like saying,

Tea is a drink. Coffee is a drink.

Therefore, tea is the same as coffee!

Paul says that both prophecy and interpretation edify the church, but that does not necessarily mean that they do so in the same way. If, for example, interpretation were to take the form of praise, rather than prophecy, would it not edify the church? And who is not edified by the psalms of praise? I have personally been greatly edified by both forms of interpretation.

Those who insist on praise interpretations base their argument on the NIV translation of 14:2, which reads:

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him…

So, it is argued, if the tongue is to God, the interpretation must be to God, in the form of either praise or prayer. However, as I explained in the last talk, a more literal translation would be:

For the person speaking in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he is speaking mysteries with his spirit (my translation).

This makes clear that the reason for saying that speaking in tongues is to God is that no one can understand it. When the disciples spoke in tongues at Pentecost, did it not speak to men? And why was this? Because they understood what was being said. It follows, therefore, that if tongues in church can be understood through the use of the gift of interpretation, it can most certainly speak to us.

I have said more on this in the chapter on interpretation of tongues in Body Builders, but I hope that I have said enough here to show that both praise and prophecy style interpretations are legitimate manifestations of the gift and we should accept and encourage both.

Two or at the most three…

I suggested earlier that, bearing in mind the flexibility of starting and finishing times that would have been current in Corinth, Paul may have meant that no more than two or three people should speak in tongues before moving on to other aspects of worship. However, I am not convinced that this would be helpful for most of our meetings today, but during protracted meetings like days or nights of prayer it would make room for further expressions of the gift. For meetings of normal length, it would, in my view, be wise to apply quite strictly the limitations Paul imposes in this verse. But that raises the question, What should we do if someone brings a fourth utterance in tongues? Should it be interpreted?

The first thing to say in response to this is that it’s unlikely to happen if the church has been taught how spiritual gifts should be operated in our meetings. However, on the rare occasion when it might happen, my own view is that it should be interpreted on the grounds that the overriding principle in Paul’s teaching in this chapter is edification, and interpreted tongues are more edifying than tongues that are not interpreted.

However, to avoid repetition of this, I would gently point out to the congregation that the scriptural limit is two, or at the most three. But this is something about which the leaders of the church should decide in advance their interpretation of Paul’s teaching and how it should be applied locally.

Let one person interpret

I said earlier that the Greek in verse 27 is best translated as, Let one person interpret. This in fact reflects how the Authorised Version translates it and, as a result of this, some churches have taught that, if there are two or three utterances in tongues, the same person should give the interpretation for all of them.

However, although this is a valid application of what Paul is saying, I think it more likely that his intention is to say that each utterance in tongues needs only one person to interpret it – an instruction that may well have been needful for the unruly members of the Corinthian church.

A personal testimony

I said earlier, when talking about Paul’s use of the word interpreter (28), that a person who has interpreted once can be expected to do so again. Paul’s teaching implies that, if we want to speak in tongues publicly, we need to check that there’s an interpreter present. And if there is, we are free to go ahead. That places a heavy responsibility on the interpreter to be ready to interpret at any time, because we do not know when someone is going to speak in tongues..

I confess that I have sometimes found this difficult and am often tempted to doubt, wondering how I can be sure that any interpretation I might bring will be correct. But I have also discovered that, as we overcome our doubts by trusting the Lord, he does not let us down, as the testimony I’m about to share confirms.

I first started interpreting tongues as a student at Oxford, shortly after I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal church I was attending in Oxford was a good church and the gifts of the Spirit were in evidence during most Sunday morning services. However, there were one or two occasions when speaking in tongues was not interpreted, and I was quite concerned because I knew that this was not in line with Scripture.

I shared my concern with a friend who was an evangelist and he said that the solution was simple. I should interpret it. But the problem was that I didn’t have the gift of interpretation. To which he replied, Then ask for it. As I knew that this was in line with 1 Corinthians 14:13, I began to pray that God would give me the gift, and a few weeks later the opportunity came. Someone spoke in tongues, and I was expecting, and hoping, that someone else would interpret it! But when no one else did so, I began to speak out in faith, believing that God would not let me down, yet wondering all the time if I was saying the right thing!

For months I wondered if the gift  I had received was genuine, or whether it was ‘just me’. Then, one day, at the close of a meeting in which I had interpreted, someone came up to me and told me that they had received word for word the interpretation which I had given.  I had exercised the gift in faith  for months, but finally I had God's confirmation that it was real.  Similar confirmation has come dozens of times since. The following testimony is the most outstanding example.

In November 1977 I was serving  as Acting Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College prior to becoming Principal in 1978. One Saturday evening we took a bus-load of about 45 students to Bethshan Tabernacle in Manchester. There were several hundred people in the meeting during which the students sang and testified, and I preached. As soon as I had finished preaching , a woman near to the back of the meeting began to speak in tongues . As I was still at the microphone, it seemed appropriate for me to interpret  so that everyone present would hear and be edified. As usual I spoke out in faith  what I felt the Lord had put on my heart. When I had finished, we sang a hymn and the pastor  closed the meeting in prayer .

As soon as the meeting was over, one of our students, Guetawende Roamba from Burkina Faso rushed up to me. He was clearly very excited, and when I asked him what was the matter, he told me that the woman who had spoken in tongues  had been speaking his native language. Now in Burkina Faso they speak French, and because I also speak French fairly fluently, I knew that she had not been speaking French. So I wondered what language it might be.

‘What language?’ I asked. Moré, he replied. Frankly, at that time I had never heard of it – and we found out later that the Irish lady who had spoken in tongues  had never heard of it either! But I was excited that I had been present when speaking in tongues had been recognised as a real language.

At the same time I was not a little concerned because I was the one who had given the interpretation! I had been interpreting tongues since I was a student at Oxford in 1960, but it had always been (as it always must be) ‘by faith ’. I had simply trusted the promise of Jesus  that God gives good gifts  to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11). Of course, I had no need to fear, but it’s easy to imagine how embarrassed I would have been if I had ‘got it wrong’ in the presence of one of my Bible  College students!

I hardly dared ask the question, but I knew I had to.

And what about the interpretation, Gueta? Was it accurate?

 Of course, you know the answer, because I wouldn’t be telling this story if the interpretation had been wrong!

What an amazing thing! The Holy Spirit  inspired an Irish woman to speak an African language which she had never heard, or even heard of, and then gave the interpretation to an English man who had never heard of it either! God is faithful. His word is true. And his Spirit  is still at work distributing his gifts  as he himself determines.

When you come together

Talk 8   Paul’s Teaching on Tongues in 1 Corinthians 14

So far in this series we have suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 should be taken as a serious indication of what God desires when we meet for worship, and we have been looking at chapters 12 and 13 to see how they might influence our understanding of this verse.

In chapter 13 Paul has demonstrated the futility of spiritual gifts unless they are exercised in love. He now goes on to give practical instructions concerning the use of the gifts in public worship. The underlying theme of the chapter is edification, which must be the basic motive for the exercise of spiritual gifts. Prophecy is seen as the most appropriate means of edifying both believers and unbelievers. The New Testament believers’ meeting was a time when all should participate with a view to edifying the church (26).

In this talk we’ll be considering what Paul teaches in chapter 14 about speaking in tongues. In following talks we’ll consider what he says about interpretation of tongues and prophecy, as they are all mentioned in verse 26 and much of the rest of the chapter is taken up with these themes. As we do so, we will discover what Paul has to say about the value, purpose, and use of these gifts.

In the final talk we’ll be looking at some of the key principles which underlie his teaching, such as edification and the need for intelligibility, variety, order, and balance in our meetings. Handling things in this way will mean that we will not be moving through chapter 14 verse by verse, as Paul’s teaching on each of these themes is scattered throughout the chapter.

Today we will seek to answer three questions:

·       How does Paul describe speaking in tongues?

·       What is the purpose of speaking in tongues?

·       How is speaking in tongues to be used in church?

How does Paul describe speaking in tongues?

Perhaps the first thing to say is that Paul uses exactly the same Greek expression as is used by Luke when he describes the events that took place at Pentecost. Acts 2:4, when literally translated, reads:

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages…

I have translated the word for tongues here as languages for two reasons. First, because the context clearly shows that the disciples were speaking the languages of the people in the crowd, and secondly, because tongues is in fact just another rather old-fashioned word for languages. Our English word language is derived from the French word langue which can mean either tongue (the thing in your mouth you speak with) or language (the thing you speak).

The words used by both Luke and Paul are laleo (speak) and glossa (tongue or language). So when Paul talks about speaking in tongues he is referring to the same phenomenon as took place at Pentecost when the disciples spoke languages they had never learned. However, at Pentecost there were people present who recognised the languages the disciples were speaking, whereas usually there is no one present who will recognise the language we are speaking. This is probably why in 1 Corinthians 14:2 Paul says:

For the person speaking in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he is speaking mysteries with his spirit (my translation).

Here Paul tells us that when we speak in tongues we are speaking to God. This is because, unless it’s interpreted, as we shall see later, no one can understand us. We are speaking mysteries with our spirit. Indeed, we ourselves do not understand what we are saying. This is confirmed in verse 14 where Paul says:

…if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

So speaking in tongues is speaking a language we do not understand and which no one else can understand. When we speak in English we are speaking with our mind. We understand what we are saying. But when we speak in tongues we are speaking with our spirit, and we do not understand what we are saying.

In verse 14 Paul has described speaking in tongues as praying with our spirit, but in verse 16 it’s clear that it can also be praising:

If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say "Amen" to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?

So he also refers to it as thanksgiving and this is repeated in verse 17 when he says:

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.

This is in harmony with what we read in Acts 2:11 when the bewildered crowd at Pentecost exclaimed:

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!

This could either mean that the disciples were praising God in tongues or that they were proclaiming the gospel. The Greek word musterion which Paul uses in verse 2, which tells us that when we speak in tongues we are speaking mysteries, is used elsewhere in Paul’s writings to refer to the gospel as a secret made known by God to man (my italics) through his Spirit  (e.g. Ephesians 3:4-5). 

So Paul describes speaking in tongues as speaking with our spirit rather than with our mind. He uses verbs like speaking (2), praying (14), praising (16), and giving thanks (17). And, as at Pentecost, it can also be a sign for unbelievers (22). But this is something we will discuss in a moment.

What is the purpose of speaking in tongues?

The apostle Paul valued very highly his ability to speak in tongues. In verse 18 he says:

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

But in verse 19 he adds:

But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

This makes clear that, although he spoke in tongues a great deal when he was not in church – that is, when he was in private – he did not do so in public. In an earlier talk we have already argued that the distinction between the public and private use of tongues explains what Paul means when he says in 12:30, Do all speak in tongues? All may speak in tongues privately, but not all will do so publicly.

But chapter 14 sheds light on both these uses. The purpose of private tongues is, as we have already seen, that we might speak with our spirit as distinct from speaking with our mind. This may take the form of prayer, or praise, or thanksgiving. Used in this way it is an important means of building ourselves up spiritually, as Paul says in verse 4, He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.

This is presumably why Paul valued so highly his personal use of tongues, and it may well be what he was referring to when he told Timothy to fan into flame the gift of God that he had received when Paul had laid his hands on him (2 Timothy 1:6-7). Verses 14-15 reveal Paul’s personal determination to do the same:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

He is clearly recommending that we should do the same. And if we really want the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in our meetings, we will be willing to make time in private to pray, not only in English with our mind, but also in tongues with our spirit.

Now with regard to the purpose of the public use of tongues, we have already mentioned the day of Pentecost, where the miracle of unlearned Galileans speaking languages they had never learned led to the conversion of some 3000 people. But his was clearly not the scenario Paul had in mind when he said to the Corinthians that tongues are a sign for unbelievers (14:22).

It’s clear from the next verse that, far from expecting unbelievers to come to faith when hearing speaking in tongues, he thinks it more likely that they will conclude that the Corinthians are out of their mind! So in what sense are tongues intended as a sign to those who do not believe? As we examine the passage in which he says this we find what at first sight appear to be two contradictions, one with regard to speaking in tongues and the other regarding prophecy:

·       Regarding tongues, in verse 22 Paul says that they are a sign for unbelievers, but in verse 23 he implies that it’s not good to speak in tongues in their presence in case they think you’re out of your mind.

·       Regarding prophecy, in verse 22 he says that it’s not for unbelievers, but for believers. However, in verses 24 and 25 he says that if unbelievers come into a meeting where everyone is prophesying, they will be convinced that they are sinners and fall down and worship God.

So how do we explain these apparent contradictions? Paul’s instructions are fairly clear. He is continuing the theme he started at the beginning of the chapter that prophecy is preferable to tongues. It is more helpful to believers and now, he says, it is more helpful to unbelievers too. So if unbelievers come in, it’s better to prophesy than to speak in tongues.

But the argument he uses to back up this teaching is extremely difficult to follow. However, one possible way of resolving the difficulty is to begin by taking the reference to prophecy in verse 22 as referring, not to the gift of prophecy, but to the prophecy of from Isaiah 28:11-12 that he has just quoted. Abstract nouns like prophecy usually take the definite article in Greek, whereas in English we leave it out. So he propheteia can be either translated prophecy or the prophecy. In Matthew 13:14-15, for example, he propheteia is used to refer to a specific quotation from the prophecy of Isaiah. It is possible that Paul is doing the same here.

Taken this way, verses 21-24 could be paraphrased as follows:

21 In the law it has been written that I will speak to this people in other tongues (even though they are an unbelieving people, as the context of Isaiah 28:11 makes clear) and yet they will not listen to me, says the Lord (Isaiah 28:12).

22 So, on the basis of the quote from Isaiah, tongues were and are given as a sign to unbelieving people. However, the prophecy (Isaiah 28:11-12) is not given for the benefit of the unbelievers but for us believers in order the we might act upon it in the following way:

23 (Because Isaiah’s prophecy was written for us believers telling us that the unbeliever would not hear even the sign of tongues), when we gather together in worship we shouldn't speak in tongues when unbelievers are present, because it's a sign they will reject (and will only lead to their condemnation).

24 On the other hand, if we all prophesy the unbeliever will be convinced…

Although we cannot be sure that I am right in understanding the passage in this way, this suggestion does overcome a notorious difficulty for which, in my view, no satisfactory explanation has been offered so far. But, even if it’s correct, we still have the difficulty that Paul’s warning that, if we all speak in tongues unbelievers will say that we are out of our mind, appears to be contradicted by events on the day of Pentecost.

However, we need to remember that in Acts 2, when some 3000 people were added to the church, the first effects of the miracle of tongues were bewilderment (6), amazement and perplexity (12), and, on the part of some, cynicism (13). It was the preaching of the gospel by Peter that led to their conversion. So Paul’s warning that speaking in tongues may lead to opposition, and his insistence that prophecy – speaking words that people can understand – is preferable to tongues, are not out of harmony with Acts 2.

On the basis of all this, it’s better, in my view, to consider the use of tongues as a sign to unbelievers as something exceptional[1]. We rarely, if ever, know that a language we may be speaking in tongues is going to be recognised by someone present and we must trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to speak that language if he so determines. He alone knows what impact it will have on the hearer.

But this is by no means the only way that tongues may be used in public, as Paul makes clear in the opening verses of chapter 14, where he says:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

The reference to interpretation of tongues in verse 5 makes clear the purpose of its use. It’s for the edification of the church. Tongues are unintelligible unless they are interpreted and without interpretation the speaker is just speaking into the air (9).  But when interpreted they can fulfil a similar function to prophecy, which also edifies the church (4) bringing strengthening, encouragement and comfort (3).

We will return to this in the next talk when we consider Paul’s teaching on the gift of interpretation of tongues, but for now it’s sufficient to note that the purpose of the use of tongues in church must surely be the same as that of the gift of interpretation – namely, the edification, strengthening, encouragement and comfort of believers.

How is speaking in tongues to be used in church?

Despite Paul’s clear teaching that prophecy is preferable to tongues (1-5), he by no means discourages the use of tongues in church. Although in verse 5 he says that he would rather have them prophesy, he does say, nevertheless, I would like every one of you to speak in tongues. And we have already seen that he expects speaking in tongues to be a regular part of the worship of the church (26) and it is certainly not to be forbidden (39).

However, the key to its use in church is that it needs to be interpreted so that everyone may be edified. In fact, in verse 28 he tells us that

If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

This suggests that the personal use of tongues in church is not prohibited, but it must be done quietly as it will edify no one except the speaker (cf. 4). Speaking out loud in tongues, therefore, is to be strongly discouraged unless it is intended that it be interpreted, and that of course will require someone with the gift of interpretation to be present.

This may, of course, be the person who has spoken in tongues, as in verses 12-13 Paul encourages those who speak in tongues to pray for the gift of interpretation:

So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church. 13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.

But if a person who wants to speak in tongues does not possess the gift of interpretation, they must first make sure that someone is present who does, and if not, they must speak quietly to themselves and to God (28).

However, if an interpreter is present, the speaker in tongues may  speak out loud with a view to its being interpreted for the edification of the church, subject to the conditions Paul gives in verse 27, where he says:

If anyone speaks in a tongue, two, or at the most three, should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.

This instruction is so clear that it hardly requires further comment, but we will discuss some of the practical implications in the final talk in this series.

Conclusion

In this talk we have argued that when Paul uses the term speaking in tongues, he is referring to the same gift as the disciples received on the day of Pentecost – the ability to speak languages they had never learned. We saw that tongues may be expressed in a variety of ways, including, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and declaring the wonders of God.

We discovered that when we speak in tongues it’s our spirit that is praying, not our mind. God gives us this gift to help us edify ourselves – to build ourselves up spiritually. It is also given so that when it’s interpreted it will edify the church. It can also be used as a sign to unbelievers when, as at Pentecost, they understand the language that is being spoken.  Finally, we saw that Paul does expect this gift to be in operation in our meetings, but that it should be used quietly if it is not for interpretation. It must only be spoken aloud if an interpreter is present, and  it must be used only two, or at the most three, times in a meeting. We will consider this further in the next talk when we examine Paul’s teaching on the gift of interpretation.

[1] There are of course many documented cases of tongues being recognised as the language of someone listening. See two examples from my own ministry recorded in Signs from Heaven – Why I believe.

When you come together

Talk 7. We’re Nothing without Love – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Corinthians 13 is one of the best-known chapters in the Bible. It is often chosen as a reading at weddings and is widely recognised as one of the greatest statements that has ever been written on the nature of love. I well remember how it was read on the first and last day of every term in the Chapel at Brentwood School where I attended as a pupil in the 1950s.

Verses 4-8 are a favourite source of sermon material for many a preacher and Christians have often been challenged to replace the word love with their own name and ask how true these verses are in their own lives.  By contrast, of course, all Paul says about love is wonderfully true as we look at the life of the Lord Jesus, and I confess I find it easier to use his name, rather than mine, to replace love throughout these verses:

4 Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind…

So there can be no doubt that the truths Paul teaches about love in this chapter extend far beyond the context in which it is set. But they do nevertheless have an immediate relevance to all he is saying throughout chapters 11-14 about what should happen when Christians meet to worship the Lord.

And that is what we will be considering in this talk. How does 1 Corinthians 13 affect our understanding of chapter 14, and of 14:26 in particular?

We will divide the chapter into three sections:

·       It’s all meaningless without love (1-3)

·       The nature of love (4-8)

·       Recognising our limitations (8-12)

It’s all meaningless without love (1-3)

In the opening verses of the chapter Paul says:

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The general sense of this passage is very clear and requires little comment here[1]. In saying this, however, we must be careful not to diminish its importance. Its clarity must not detract from its urgency. Nothing is more important than love. Whatever gifts we may have and whatever we may do, if our motive is not love, it counts for nothing. Without love I am nothing (2) and I gain nothing (3).

This principle applies to every function of the body of Christ, not just to the things mentioned in these verses, which are just illustrations of it. As we saw in the last talk, every part of the body is needed. Every member is important. And when one member suffers, we all suffer (12:26). Each member should have equal concern for every other (12:25). And now in chapter 13 Paul says that the only way that all this is possible is when we love one another.

So the things Paul refers to in verses 1-3 are just illustrations of the great principle of the paramount importance of love. But why does he choose these particular illustrations to make his point? The answer must surely lie in the particular problems facing the church in Corinth at the time. It’s evident from chapter 14 that there were problems in Corinth with their use of gifts like speaking in tongues and prophecy which are the two gifts he mentions first here in chapter 13. And the reference to knowledge may well reflect what Paul has said in chapter 8 about food sacrificed to idols, where he stresses the importance of love compared with knowledge:

We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God (1-3).

This, along with the final verses of chapter 1, indicates that some of the Corinthians were in danger of boasting about their knowledge and wisdom. There Paul reminds them that they would be nothing if it were not for the fact that God had chosen them and called them:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord" (1:26-31).

This is surely why he reminds them in 13:4 that Love… does not boast. And it may well account for the inclusion of faith that can move mountains (13:2). Spiritual gifts are charismata. They come from God’s grace. There is no room for boasting, however greatly God may have used us.

So as we later consider Paul’s encouragement in 14:26 for all to participate by bringing a contribution to our meetings, we need to remember that whatever we may bring must be brought in love and that, of course, includes humility. But now we need to consider how verses 4-8 might affect our understanding of 14:26.

The nature of love (4-8)

As I have already acknowledged, these verses have a far wider application than our understanding of chapter 14. But chapter 13 is no mere parenthesis. It is set firmly between Paul’s teaching in chapter 12 on the importance of the role of every Christian within the church as the body of Christ and his application of that principle in chapter 14 where he gives specific direction as to how certain roles are to function when the church is gathered for worship.

Furthermore, the link in Paul’s thinking between chapters 13 and 14 is clearly established in 14:1 where he says:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

As we will see in the next talk, the underlying principle of all he says in chapter 14 is putting other people first which is surely the main way in which we express our love for them. Prophecy, for example, is to be desired more than tongues because it edifies others, not just ourselves (14:1-5). So his teaching on the nature of love in 13:4-8 has a direct application to our understanding of chapter 14 and of 14:26 in particular. But how? Paul says:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.       8 Love never fails.

Some of these wonderful attributes of love are more obviously applicable to the contents of chapter 14 than others. So it is these that we’ll consider here, bearing in mind that they have a wider relevance that’s beyond the scope of our present discussion.

Love is patient

In a gathering where each member is encouraged to contribute something for the edification of the others (14:26), there is an evident need for patience. Waiting one’s turn isn’t always easy, especially when some people are praying or prophesying at great length. As a preacher I confess that I have often been somewhat lacking in patience when the musicians are prolonging the worship to a point where I am wondering if there will be enough time left for me say all that I believe God’s given me to say. But then I do well to remember that the congregation may well need to be patient with me!

Love is kind… it is not rude

Consideration for others is so important if the meeting is to meet its full potential. My old pastor, Alfred Webb, used to compare the time available in a meeting to a cake. If there were six people around the table, hopefully you wouldn’t dream of taking more than one sixth of the cake! So, he said, don’t take more than a fair share of the time available. Be kind. Making way for others is certainly taught in 14:30 where Paul encourages someone who is prophesying to stop if someone else has a revelation to share.

Of course, kindness in a meeting can take many forms, but perhaps one of the most important is with regard to judging other people’s contributions to the meeting. Paul encourages us to try to excel in the use of the gifts God has given us (14:12), but that implies that the level at which we use them may not always be at the highest, and we are in need of kindness when this is clearly the case with regard to the contributions of others.

Love does not boast…It is not proud… It does not envy

We have already noted that pride was a major problem at Corinth – pride in who their favourite preacher was (ch.1), pride in their tolerance (ch. 5), pride in their knowledge (ch. 8), and possibly, here in chapter 13, pride that they were able, so they believed, to speak the languages of angels (v1). There is also a suggestion of pride in 14:37 where Paul says:

If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.

No doubt it would have been difficult for some to submit to Paul’s apostolic authority in this matter, but the key to humility is the understanding that we are what we are by God’s grace (15:10). Pride and boasting are totally inappropriate for a Christian:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:8-10).

All that we have and all that we are is by the grace of God. And this includes the gifts that we may use in our meetings. They are charismata.  They come from God’s grace. So there’s no basis for pride, and there should really be no need for us to envy our fellow Christians, but sadly it’s all too possible to do so.

We may envy the gifts God has given them, or the amount of time allotted to them, or the prominence given to them in the meeting. But if we love them we will be glad for them. Why am I glad when my children and grandchildren are taking part in the meetings? Because I love them! But as a Christian I am called to love every member of the body of Christ, and I should rejoice with them (12:26) when they are honoured.

Love is not self-seeking

That this was a problem in Corinth is clear from the fact that at the Lord’s supper – which at that time would have been a meal rather than the tiny emblems that are generally used today – some were going hungry while others were getting drunk:

For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk (11:21).

It’s not surprising, therefore, that this self-centred attitude manifested itself in other areas too, as we see in the opening verses of chapter 14. The Corinthians were edifying themselves by speaking in tongues (v.4) but needed to be encouraged to prophesy so that others might be edified. But this is something we will address in more detail in the next talk.

Love… rejoices with the truth… It always protects

Much of what Paul writes in his epistles is there for the express purpose of safeguarding the truth. What we believe is of vital importance. It determines our eternal destiny. And nowhere is this more important than when we are gathered together in church. Among the things that Paul encourages in 14:26 is a word of instruction – literally a teaching.

Love is to be the motive for all that we do, and that includes teaching. In Mark 6:34 we read that Jesus was moved with compassion for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and so he began to teach them many things. In John 8:31-32 he said:

If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Love was the motive for his teaching and its purpose was to set people free. The same must be true of those who bring a word of instruction in our meetings.

But the need for truth is relevant not only to teaching, but also to prophecy. As we shall see in the next section, we know in part and we prophesy in part (13:9). Our knowledge and prophetic insight are limited. That’s why we all have a responsibility to weigh carefully what is said (14:29).

Recognising our limitations (8-12)

Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The overall sense of these verses is very clear. Paul has already taught us that supernatural gifts are pointless unless they are motivated by love (1-3). He has explained what he means by love and extolled its virtues (4-8). Now in verses 8-13 he makes it clear that, although there will ultimately be no need for supernatural gifts, love will remain for ever. It never fails (8). It remains (13).

In Chapter One we discussed what Paul means by perfection in verse 10.  We rejected the views of the cessationists who believe that perfection refers to the completion of the canon of Scripture. The supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit will be at work in the church right up until the Lord’s return. In the age to come, prophecy will not be needed – it will have already been fulfilled! Words of knowledge will be unnecessary – we shall know fully, even as we are known! But until then, these wonderful gifts are essential to the effective witness and worship of the church.

But wonderful though these gifts are, their operation is not infallible. We know in part and we prophesy in part. The contributions Paul is encouraging in 14:26 must be understood in this light. God’s gifts are perfect, but we are not. We do not yet see face to face. Paul says, we know… we prophesy. The gifts come from God but they come through us, and we are fallible.

This must affect our understanding of all that Paul says in chapter 14, not just verse 26. As we eagerly desire spiritual gifts we are to try to excel in our use of them (12). This clearly implies that it’s possible to exercise them without excelling in them. That’s why words of prophecy need to be weighed carefully (29) and why Paul found it necessary to give instruction as to how the gifts should be used. Had the operation of the gifts been infallible, such instruction would have been unnecessary.

In short, whatever contribution we may make during the course of a meeting, we must always be aware of our own fallibility. Paul encourages us to participate (26), but to make sure that we do so in love. Our use of spiritual gifts may well be imperfect, but he tells us to eagerly desire them (14:1) nevertheless. But that’s something we will consider in more detail in the next talk.

[1] In Body Builders I have already discussed what Paul means with regard to controversial issues like the meaning of tongues of angels and whether martyrdom is a gift of the Spirit. I see no need to repeat my arguments here, as these things are not, in my view, directly relevant to the subject of this series.

When you come together

Talk 6 Everyone is needed

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

In our first talk we saw from 1 Corinthians 14:26 that one of the features to be expected when Christians meet together is the power of the Holy Spirit manifested in the use of supernatural gifts which are given as the Holy Spirit determines to individual Christians for the benefit of the church.

In this talk we’ll be considering 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 and its bearing on those words in 14:26 where Paul says every one of you has. His clear intention is that they should all actively participate in the worship of the church, but they needed to do so in a spirit of unity and love. Their lack of love was evident from the serious divisions in the church (chapters 1-4), their need to consider others in the way they exercised their freedom (chapters 8-10), and their selfish behaviour at the Lord’s Supper described in chapter 11.

In the light of all this, it’s easy to understand why Paul felt the need to address the question of unity in chapter 12, of the importance of love in chapter 13, and of the need to put other people first in chapter 14. Keeping all this in mind will help us to understand more clearly the passage in 12:12-31.

We also need to remember that in the first part of the chapter Paul has been dealing with supernatural gifts. This is the immediate context of the passage we are about to consider. In verse 12 Paul says:

For the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

The use of the word for shows that there is a link between what Paul has just said in verse 11 with what he’s about to say in verse 12, and this indicates that supernatural gifts are still very much in mind. However, the subject is now broader and Paul’s teaching applies, not just to supernatural gifts, but to every function of the body, by which Paul clearly means the church, the body of Christ. He is drawing a parallel between the church and the human body. Just as each human being has one body which is made up of many parts, so too the church, which is the body of Christ, is one body with many parts.

Paul goes on to develop this theme in the following verses where the major theme is unity and interdependence in the midst of diversity. He shows that all the members of the body are different (diversity) but are united by the fact that they are all part of the same body and empowered by the same Spirit (unity). Each part of the body is dependent on each of the other parts. Everyone is needed (interdependence). Just as the parts of the human body all need each other, so the individual members of the church all need each other.

The table below outlines the verse references for each of these themes:

Diversity:    4, 5, 6, 8-11, 12, 14, 20, 28.

Unity:         One Spirit:  4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13.

                    One Body:  12, 13, 20, 24-25.

Interdependence:  21, 25, 26.

We will now consider this in more detail under the following headings:

·       The illustration of the human body (14-26)

·       The illustration applied to the church (27-31).

The illustration of the human body (14-26)

Paul’s use of the human body as an illustration of the church and its members is easy enough for even a child to understand. He reminds us that our body is not made up of one part but of many (14). He then mentions different parts of the body – feet, hands, ears, and eyes – to point out that every part of the body is needed. Just because a foot is not a hand, it does not mean that it’s not part of the body (15) and just because an ear is not an eye, it does not mean that it’s not part of the body (16). In fact,

If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? (17).

Paul then goes on to say that God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be (18). And because it is God who has done so, it follows that every part is necessary. No part can say to another, I don't need you (20-21). Even the weaker and unpresentable parts are indispensable (22-23).

And that’s why there should be no division in the body. Its unity is expressed in all the parts having equal concern for each other (25) and the fact that,

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it (26).

Now it should be clear that in this passage Paul has been reminding the Corinthians of things they already know about their own physical bodies. But by telling them at the beginning (12) that the church is the body he is really concerned with, he knows that the Corinthians will have a pretty good idea of what he is getting at.

And so should we. The key lessons are as follows:

·       The church is the body of Christ (12, 27)

·       The parts (or members) of that body are individual Christians (27).

·       Every member is different from all the others, but every member needs all the others (21).

·       Every member is needed because God has put them just where he wants them to be (18, 24). Everyone is indispensable (22). Everyone is special (23).

·       No member should ever say of themselves, I am not a part of the body (15-17). We mustn’t think of ourselves as useless. Whether we believe it or not, like it or not, we belong to the body.

·       No member should ever say of another member, They are not a part of the body. We mustn’t think of anyone as useless (21-24).

·       All the members should have equal concern for each other (25).

We’ll consider how all this affects our understanding of 14:26 after we have examined verses 27-31.

The illustration applied to the church (27-31)

In verse 27 Paul says:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Paul now begins to apply to the church the principles he has been teaching in verses 12-26, and it’s important at this stage to remind ourselves of something we have mentioned already. What Paul is saying is not only applicable to when we gather together for worship – though that, of course, is our main focus in this book – but to the wider ministry of the church. The body of Christ is at work 24/7, not just for an hour or so on Sundays! This is reflected in verse 28, where Paul says:

 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

Here Paul lists some of the different gifts and ministries that function within the body of Christ. These are not intended as an exhaustive list, but as representative samples of how different parts of the body are at work, whether in a church meeting or outside it.

It is not my intention to discuss in detail the precise nature of each of these gifts. I have already done so at length in my book Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, (where, incidentally, I suggest that the Greek translated by NIV as those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, might be better understood to refer to the roles of deacons and elders).

But what’s important here is to notice that Paul begins by saying GOD has appointed. This reemphasises what he has already said in verses 18 and 24:

GOD has arranged (18) and GOD has combined (24).

We are what we are because that’s what GOD has made us, and that’s why every member of the body is important. Whether we are an Ephesians 4:11 gift, like apostle, prophet, or teacher, or whether we have supernatural gifts like working miracles, or healing, or speaking in tongues, we need to understand that it is by the grace of God that we are what we are and have what we have. As Paul later says of himself,

by the grace of God I am what I am (15:10).

Here Paul is referring to his role as a church leader, an apostle, and it’s significant that, in the list we are now considering, he puts apostles first. And although it’s unlikely that he’s implying some form of hierarchy when he says, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, it’s clear from chapter 14 (and especially 14:37) that Paul understood that the use of spiritual gifts like prophecy, tongues, and interpretation was subject to his apostolic authority.

Turning now to verses 29-30, we see that Paul repeats (in question form) the list of functions he has mentioned in verse 28 – though note the omission of those able to help others, and those with gifts of administration, which is probably because Paul felt it unnecessary to repeat all the functions listed in verse 28 to make his point. He says:

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?

The sense of these verses is very clear. The questions are rhetorical. The answer Paul clearly expects to each question is NO. Paul is reiterating his point that just as all the parts of our body are different and have different functions, so too all the members of the church are different and have different roles to play in the body of Christ.

It's particularly important to understand this when we consider the implication of his question, Do all speak in tongues? which clearly indicates that all do not. This is sometimes used as an argument against the teaching that we should expect to speak in tongues when we are baptised in the Holy Spirit, but that argument is easily dismissed when we bear in mind the context of Paul’s question which, as we have seen, relates to functions within the church.

This is confirmed by his next question, Do all interpret? The purpose of the gift of interpretation of tongues is the edification of the church (14:5) and it is clear, therefore, that when Paul says Do all speak in tongues? he is referring to the use of tongues in church. However, in chapter 14 Paul distinguishes between the use of tongues in church and its use in private:

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue (18-19).

This surely indicates that in private Paul valued highly his ability to speak in tongues.

This is how he could pray with his spirit (14:14-15) and was a valuable way of edifying himself spiritually (14:4), but in church his teaching gift would be of more benefit to other members of the body of Christ.

Once we have understood the clear distinction Paul makes between the use of tongues in church and its use in private, the meaning of his question in 12:30 becomes very clear.

Does everybody speak in tongues with a view to its being interpreted for the edification of the church? No.

That does not mean, however, that it would not be beneficial for every Christian to speak in tongues privately in order to pray with the spirit. And that ability, as we have seen from Acts, was imparted when new converts were baptised in the Holy Spirit.

But we must now turn our attention to how Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 12 affects our understanding of 14:26, where he says:

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

1 Corinthians 14:26 in the light of chapter 12

In our first talk we identified three key principles in this verse – participation, variety, and edification. These principles may be seen as a summary of all that Paul is teaching in these chapters and all three are implicit in his teaching in chapter 12. In fact, what Paul says in chapter 12 enriches our understanding of what he means in 14:26.

With regard to participation, in 14:26 Paul says, When you come together, everyone has… or as later versions of NIV put it, each of you has. The implication is that every member of the body has the potential to bring something to the meeting that will be a blessing to others.

In chapter 12 we see examples of the kind of things that people might bring, and we’re told that in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work (6). The Spirit distributes his gifts  to each one, just as he determines (11). And, as we have seen, the major emphasis of verses 12-26 is that every part of the body is needed. The head cannot say to the hand, I don’t need you (21). So, if everyone is needed, there must surely be room for them to participate.

With regard to the variety, in 14:26 Paul mentions a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. There are three main elements here – the musical, the doctrinal, and the supernatural. We will say more about these when we reach chapter 14, but it’s evident that Paul expected all these elements to be present when Christians meet in church.

It's interesting that in chapter 12 Paul appears to say nothing about the musical, though it would undoubtedly be included in the different kinds of service he mentions in verse 5. He also says little in this chapter about the doctrinal, although its importance is strongly implied in verse 1 where he says that he does not want his readers to be ignorant,  and he mentions teachers in verse 28. But we need have no doubt about Paul’s view of the importance of sound doctrine, which is evidently his major purpose in writing his letters and becomes very evident in his teaching in chapter 15 on the most important doctrine of all – the resurrection of Christ.

However, if in chapter 12 he has nothing to say directly about the musical, and relatively little to say about the doctrinal, he has plenty to say about the supernatural. We have already seen that the gifts he lists in verses 8-10 are supernatural gifts, that the supernatural is still in mind in his illustration of the human body as the body of Christ, the church, and that supernatural gifts are still very much in evidence towards the end of the chapter in verses 28 and 29. It seems likely, therefore, that the variety he has in mind in 14:26 would be far wider than the things he mentions there, and could well include any or all of the gifts and ministries he has talked about in chapter 12.

That brings us finally to the principle of edification of which Paul speaks in 14:26 when he says that all of these must be done for the strengthening (or edification) of the church. We will say much more about this when we come to chapter 14, where edification is the dominant theme of the chapter. For now it’s sufficient to note that it also underlies his teaching in chapter 12. The gifts of the Spirit are distributed for the good of all (7). We are baptised in the Spirit for the benefit of the church (13). And each part of the body has been placed there by God for the benefit of all the members because we all need each other (14-26).

So chapter 12 enhances our understanding of what Paul teaches in 14:26, but it also sets the context for our understanding of what he about to say about love in 1 Corinthians 13. But that’s the subject of our next talk.

When you come together

Talk 5 Baptism in the Spirit (3)

Applying what we’ve learnt from Acts to 1 Corinthians 12:13

In this series we are looking at what we should expect in our meetings as we gather together to worship the Lord. We have suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives a clear indication about this and have noted among other things the importance of congregational participation and variety of manifestation, including supernatural gifts like speaking in tongues and interpretation.

We’ve examined the supernatural gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and noted our total dependence on the Holy Spirit if these gifts are to be in operation in our meetings. We are now considering the significance of 1 Corinthians 12:13, and I have argued that in this verse Paul is talking about the same experience as Jesus spoke about in Acts 1:5-8, and several examples of which we see later in Acts.

In our last talk we examined those examples in more detail and discovered that the baptism in the Spirit was promised by Jesus in Acts 1:5, was received by the first disciples when they were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2:4, was made available to all who would repent and be baptised (Acts 2:38), and received by subsequent disciples in Acts chapters 8, 9. 10, and 19. We saw that the baptism in the Spirit is not the same as the Spirit’s work in salvation or sanctification, but is an enduement with power for service accompanied by miraculous manifestations including speaking in tongues.

Today we’ll be considering how all this applies to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, and perhaps the first thing to say is that, because the baptism in the Spirit was so vital to the experience of the early church, it’s unthinkable that Paul could have a radically different understanding of what it means to be baptised in the Spirit from what we have discovered in Acts. So what we’ve learnt from Acts must inform our understanding of what he means in 1 Corinthians 12:13 when, following my translation, he says that we were all baptised in the Spirit for the benefit of the one body.

In Talk 3 I began by arguing that the first part of 1 Corinthians 12:13 should be understood to mean that Christians are baptised in the Spirit for the benefit of the church. The supernatural gifts listed in verses 8-11 come as a result of believers being baptised in the Spirit and are to be used for the benefit of the whole church (13). We then saw in Talk 4 that in Acts the baptism in the Spirit is a supernatural experience accompanied by charismatic gifts including speaking in tongues.

So, both in Acts and in 1 Corinthians, baptism in the Spirit is closely related to supernatural gifts. But in Acts the emphasis is on evangelism, while in Corinthians it’s on the edification of the church. Or to put it slightly differently, in Acts the gifts which result from the baptism in the Spirit enable those who are not yet believers to come to faith, while in Corinthians they edify those who are already believers and strengthen their faith.

I see, then, no disharmony between Acts and 1 Corinthians 12:13 with regard to the baptism in the Spirit. The difference in emphasis is easily understood in the light of the fact that in Acts Luke is primarily concerned with evangelism in the power of the Spirit, and in 1 Corinthians 12-14 Paul is concerned with pastoral issues relating to the use of spiritual gifts in the worship of the church. The baptism in the Spirit enables both.

So, if we’re to expect the supernatural in our meetings (14:26, 12:1-11 etc), we are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit, and since spiritual gifts are operated by individual Christians, it’s vital that those who do so are baptised in the Holy Spirit. I say this because, from everything we have said so far, it should be clear that the baptism in the Spirit is what has often been referred to as the gateway to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

Personally, I have reached this conclusion because I believe that we must decide what to believe on the basis of what we understand the Bible  teaches, not on the basis of our experience. Once we have done that, we may evaluate our experience in the light of Scripture , rather than trying to read our experience into God’s word.

So, if what we have been saying about the meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:13 is correct, it must surely follow that from a biblical perspective the reception and operation of supernatural gifts will be preceded by the baptism in the Spirit. And as far as Acts is concerned, it is significant that the baptism in the Spirit  always came before the manifestation of spiritual gifts .

The first disciples did not begin to speak in tongues  until they were first filled with the Spirit at Pentecost  (Acts 2:4). The same is true of Cornelius  and his household (Acts 10:44-46). And in Acts 19:1-6 the Ephesians spoke in tongues and prophesied after the Holy Spirit  came upon them. Indeed, the fact that people were usually baptised in the Spirit on the day they were saved suggests that the manifestation of spiritual gifts  before being baptised in the Spirit would have been unlikely.

But can we insist that the baptism in the Spirit  must precede the manifestation of spiritual gifts? After all, we read that Jesus’ disciples worked miracles   and this was, of course, before their baptism in the Spirit at Pentecost . However, as we examine these passages in the gospels we discover that they did so in a special authority  delegated to them by Jesus  at that time. After Jesus went away, they needed the Spirit if they were to continue to work miracles (cf. John 14).

So in my view the baptism in the Spirit  is rightly understood to be the gateway to spiritual gifts . Indeed, we might well ask how anyone could expect to manifest the gifts that come from the Spirit without first being filled with the Spirit himself. But we must now consider how all this works out in practice.

The idea that the baptism in the Spirit  is rightly understood from a biblical perspective to be the gateway to supernatural  gifts  raises certain practical questions with regard to how this teaching  should be applied today. What, for example, can we say of Christians who exercise spiritual gifts but who either would not claim to have been baptised in the Spirit or who do not believe in the baptism in the Spirit? How do we explain this and what should be our attitude to such people?

In my view we should certainly not say that their gifts  are not genuine! Personally, I distinguish between what I see in the Bible , and therefore teach, and what God in his grace may do today even if it is not completely in line with my understanding of the biblical pattern. It seems to me that God is far more willing to give than we are to receive. He is longing to lavish his gifts upon his people if only we would desire them more! This means that he is pleased when any of his children seek after any spiritual gift , whether or not they have come to understand or believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit .

This may well explain why some have been greatly used in healing  even though they have a different understanding of what it means to be baptised in the Spirit . In my view we should thank God for the way he is using them, but still encourage them to receive the baptism in the Spirit with its accompanying blessing of speaking in tongues , for how else will they be able to pray  with their spirit  (1 Corinthians 14:14ff)? 

But instead of looking at the experience of others we would do better to consider our own. If we have been baptised in the Spirit , we should press on to the gifts  by eagerly desiring them and praying for them [1]. And if we have not yet received the baptism in the Spirit, we should ask God to fill us today. Our heavenly Father  does give the Holy Spirit  to those who ask him (Luke 11:13) and Jesus  said that if we are thirsty we will drink (John 7:37-39). As we reach out in faith  he will not disappoint us [2].

To summarise, then, I believe that in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul is referring to the same experience as Luke describes in Acts, where Christians receive the power of the Spirit accompanied by the manifestation of supernatural gifts. Those gifts are vitally important, not only in confirming the message of the gospel, but also when Christians are gathered together in worship. It follows, therefore, that, if we are to see them in operation in our meetings as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14:26, we need to encourage all Christians to be baptised in the Spirit. It is only through the power of the Spirit that we can properly fulfil our purpose as members of the body of Christ.

[1] See Body Builders, Chapter 15.

[2] For practical help  on how to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit , see The Holy Spirit  – an Introduction, Chapter 7.

See also A New Dimension – How to be filled with the Holy Spirit available from www.davidpetts.org

When you come together

Talk 4 Baptism in the Spirit (2)

Baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts

Baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts

In this series we are looking at what we should expect in our meetings as we gather together to worship the Lord. We have suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives a clear indication about this and have noted among other things the importance of congregational participation and variety of manifestation, including supernatural gifts like speaking in tongues and interpretation.

We’ve examined the supernatural gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and noted our total dependence on the Holy Spirit if these gifts are to be in operation in our meetings. We are now considering the significance of 1 Corinthians 12:13, and in our last talk I argued that in this verse Paul is talking about the same experience as Jesus spoke about in Acts 1:5-8, and several examples of which we see later in Acts. In this talk we’ll be looking at those examples in more detail in order to help us better understand what it means to be baptised in the Spirit.

This will be important because in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul does not define baptism in the Spirit. This is almost certainly because he knows that the Corinthians will understand his terminology. He is using their knowledge of an experience with which they were already familiar to illustrate the unity of the body of Christ. So for us to understand what he means by baptism in the Spirit we need to turn to the book of Acts which often describes experiences referred to in the epistles and helps us understand them.

To begin with, it will be helpful to understand that although Acts contains only two references to the words, You will be baptised in the Holy Spirit[1], it’s clear that Luke uses a variety of expressions to refer to the same experience. These include:

So all these expressions are references to the baptism in the Spirit and teach us something about it. For example, we’ve already noted that in Acts 1:5 Jesus said:

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit’…

He goes on to clarify its meaning in Acts 1:8 when he says:

…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And the power they were to receive from the Spirit was supernatural, miracle-working power, as the opening verses of Acts 2 make clear:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:1-4).

The promise that Jesus had made them was fulfilled. He had told them to wait for the gift that God had promised (Acts 1:4) and that they would be baptised in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). This would be the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them empowering them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). And this happened on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak languages they had never learned (Acts 2:4).

As a result of this amazing miracle, a large crowd gathered and, after Peter had preached the gospel to them, over 3000 people were added to the church. Acts goes on to tell us how, through the power of the Holy Spirit, thousands more people became Christians and churches were established throughout the then-known world.

But there’s more that we can learn from Acts about what it means to be baptised in the Spirit. Please note carefully the following points:

It’s not the same as becoming a Christian

The first thing to notice is that when the disciples were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost they were already followers of Jesus. Their experience of the Spirit that day was not what made them Christians. They had already left all to follow Jesus (Matthew 19:27). They had confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). He had told them that they were already clean (John 15:3) and that their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). But until Pentecost they were not yet baptised in the Spirit.

We see something similar when we look at the Samaritans who were converted through Philip’s preaching in Acts 8. They had believed Philip as he had preached the gospel to them and they had been baptised (v. 12), but the Holy Spirit had not yet ‘come upon’ any of them (v. 16). However, when Peter and John placed their hands on them (v.17), they received the Holy Spirit.

Other examples in Acts are the apostle Paul who was converted on the road to Damascus but was not filled with the Spirit until Ananias had laid his hands on him (Acts 9:3-17), and the Ephesians in Acts 19:1-6. The Spirit came on them after Paul had laid hands on them after he had baptised them in water after he had explained to them that it was Jesus who was the Christ about whom John the Baptist had told them. (Note, too, from the examples we have mentioned that the baptism in the Spirit was often received through the laying on of hands, but in the New Testament this was never used to impart salvation).All these examples show us that, when Luke uses expressions like ‘being baptised in the Spirit’, ‘being filled with the Spirit’, ‘receiving the Spirit’, ‘the Spirit coming upon a person’, he is not talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives which brings about our conversion.  Being baptised in the Spirit is different from being born again[2].

It’s not the same as sanctification

The next thing to notice from the Book of Acts is that being baptised in the Spirit is not the same as sanctification. It’s something that happens suddenly. Let’s go back to the first few verses of Acts 2. For ten days the disciples had been waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were no more filled with the Spirit on the ninth day than they had been on the first day! But on the tenth day, the day of Pentecost, they were suddenly (v. 2) filled with the Spirit (v. 4). This is clear from the use of the word ‘suddenly’ in verse 2 and from the tense of the Greek verb which Luke uses in verse 4. And the same is true of the verb used in Acts 4:31 when the disciples were filled again with the Holy Spirit[3].

Other examples in Acts include Acts 1:5 where Jesus promises his disciples that they will be ‘baptised’ in the Holy Spirit and Peter’s statement in Acts 11:15 that the Holy Spirit ‘fell on’ Cornelius[4]. Falling seems to suggest something that happens suddenly and ‘baptism’ – always by immersion in the New Testament – can certainly not be administered gradually! This is important because some Christians have mistakenly confused being filled with the Spirit with the gradual process of sanctification that takes place in our lives day by day as we seek to become more like Jesus.

So, being baptised in the Spirit is a sudden experience that’s not to be confused with regeneration[5] or with sanctification. But it’s also important to understand that it’s a supernatural experience.

It’s a supernatural experience

We only need to read Acts 2:1-4 again to see that being baptised with the Spirit is a supernatural experience. They saw supernatural tongues of fire, heard the supernatural wind of the Spirit, and spoke by supernatural power languages they had never learned. In Acts there is a clear connection between the initial experience of the baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6).

In fact, wherever there is a full description of people being baptised in Spirit, the first thing to be recorded immediately afterwards is that those who received the Spirit spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6). In Acts 10:46, for example, it was how Peter and his companions knew that the new converts in Cornelius’s household has been baptised in the Spirit.

But their experience of the Spirit was not to be limited to speaking in tongues. The baptism in the Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues was only the gateway to other mighty gifts. As we read on in Acts we see that by the same supernatural power of the Spirit they healed the sick (Chapters 3, 5, 8, 9, 14, 19, 28), cast out demons (Chapters 8, 16, 19) and even raised the dead (Chapters 9 and 20). As a result, thousands were added to the church (Acts 2:41, 4:4).

So Acts paints a picture of the baptism in the Spirit, which is in itself a supernatural experience, but which leads to further manifestations of the miraculous which confirm the preaching of the gospel and lead to the formation of churches. And these things were not just for the early disciples.

It’s available to every Christian in every generation

This is made clear in Acts 2:38-39 where Peter says to the crowd:

Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is available to all who will repent and be baptised. It was not just for those Peter was speaking to in Acts 2, but for their children and all those of future generations who would become Christians.

And, as we read on in Acts, we see this promise being fulfilled. The Spirit comes upon the Samaritans (Acts 8), on Paul (Acts 9), on the Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his household (Acts 10), and on the Ephesians (Acts 19). These all had similar experiences to the disciples on the day of Pentecost and nowhere does the New Testament suggest that they are not for today. Indeed, the experience of millions of Christians alive today confirms that it is!

But that does not mean that all have received it. In Acts the normal experience of those coming to faith in Christ was repentance followed immediately by baptism in water and baptism in the Spirit. Those who, like the Samaritans in Acts 8, did not receive the Spirit immediately after they were baptised in water, received soon after through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:17, 19:6). Today, sadly, this is far less common, even among Christians who believe in these things. The root cause of this is, I believe, lack of teaching on the part of church leaders, an issue I will be addressing in the final chapter of the book I am writing on this subject.

So, to summarise, the baptism in the Spirit was promised by Jesus in Acts 1:5, was received by the first disciples when they were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2:4, was made available to all who would repent and be baptised (Acts 2:38), and received by subsequent disciples in Acts chapters 8, 9. 10, and 19. It’s not the same as the Spirit’s work in salvation or sanctification, but is an enduement with power for service accompanied by miraculous manifestations including speaking in tongues.

In our next talk we’ll see how all this applies to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13.

[1] Acts 1:5, and Acts 11:16 where Peter quotes the words of Jesus and applies them to the experience of Cornelius

[2] I have written in more detail on this in The Holy Spirit – an Introduction. For more details, please see the books listed at the back of this book.

[3] The verb ‘filled’ is in the Aorist Tense which is ‘strictly the expression of a momentary or transient, single action’ (Analytical Greek Lexicon, Bagster).

[4] The Greek verb means ‘fell on’ rather than ‘came on’ as in NIV.

[5] Although it may, as is clearly the case with Cornelius and his household, happen on the same occasion (Acts 10).

When you come together

Talk 3 Baptism the Spirit (1)

1 Corinthians 12:13

In the introduction to this series of talks we suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives clear biblical guidelines as to what Christians should expect as they gather together in worship. We noted that these include supernatural manifestations like speaking in tongues, interpretation, and prophecy.

So in our last talk we considered the supernatural gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1-12 and concluded that all the gifts listed there are supernatural, that all these gifts are certainly for today, and that we should certainly expect to see them in evidence in churches today.

Now such manifestations would clearly be impossible if it were not for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So it’s not surprising that in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 there are no less than eight references to the Holy Spirit.

It’s only by the Holy Spirit that we can confess that Jesus is Lord (3). Although we have different gifts, it’s the same Spirit that inspires them all (4). If we have received a gift from the Spirit, it’s not for our benefit alone, but for the good of all the church (7). All these supernatural gifts are given by the same Spirit who gives them to each one, just as he determines (8-11). And in verse 13, Paul goes on to talk about being baptised in the Spirit.

It’s clear, then, that if we are to see these gifts in operation in our meetings, we need the presence and power of the Spirit moving among us. But what exactly does Paul mean in verse 13 when he talks about being baptised in the Holy Spirit?

In this chapter of my book I shall:

examine the meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:13 and explain why I believe it’s a reference to the baptism in the Holy Spirit as described in the book of Acts. outline what Acts reveals about what it means to be baptised in the Spirit consider how this relates to our understanding of 1 Corinthians 12:13 and give reasons why we should understand baptism in the Spirit to be the gateway to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

Although these three topics are contained in Chapter 2 of the book, I will devote 3 podcasts to them in order to keep each talk relatively brief and to allow time for feedback from you. So today we’ll just be talking about the meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:13. Now please be aware that this will involve consideration of the Greek text, and some listeners might find it a bit complicated. But, please, don’t switch off! I’ll try to explain it as clearly as I can.

The meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:13

The first thing we need to say is that there are several different interpretations of this verse. This arises from the fact that it’s possible to translate the text in a variety of different ways. So I’m going to begin by stating what I believe to be the best way to translate the first part of the verse, where Paul refers to being baptised in the Spirit. He says:

For we were all baptised in one Spirit for one body.

I have emphasised the two prepositions, in and for, because this highlights where my translation differs from the NIV which says:

For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body…

As we proceed I will justify my decision to translate the verse this way, but at this stage, all we need to determine is what the New Testament church believed about what it means to be baptised in the Spirit, and for our answer we turn to none other than the Lord Jesus himself.

In the first chapter of Acts we read Luke’s account of the very last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before he finally left them and ascended into Heaven. In Acts 1:4-5 Luke tells us that

On one occasion, while Jesus was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with (or in) the Holy Spirit’…

This is the same terminology as Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 12:13. The Greek preposition used in both passages is en. This can carry a variety of meanings, including by and with, but it usually means in.

This means that in Acts 1:5 Jesus is saying

You will be baptised in the Holy Spirit

and in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul is saying

We were all baptised in one Spirit…

It seems reasonable, therefore, to conclude that Paul is referring to the same experience, and since, in Acts, supernatural gifts like speaking in tongues followed the disciples being baptised in the Spirit (Acts 2:4, 10:44-46, 19:6), it’s not at all surprising that Paul mentions baptism in the Spirit in close connection with supernatural gifts.

However, this understanding is challenged by versions such as NIV which translates the first part of 1 Corinthians 12:13 as follows:

For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body…

or, in later NIV versions:

For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body…

We can deal with the translation of en very briefly.  Does it mean in or by? Although NIV translates it as by, it recognises in a footnote that in is a possible alternative. And as I have already pointed out, en usually means in, and that’s how ESV translates it here in 12:13. But, in a way, the English translation is not so important. What matters is that in the original Greek text, both Acts 1:5 and 1 Corinthians 12:13 use the word en. And that clearly suggests that what Paul is talking about is the  same experience of the Spirit as Jesus referred to in Acts 1:5.

But there’s a further problem with the NIV translation of this verse. You will have noticed from the two quotes above that the NIV translators appear to have changed their mind about the next part of the verse. Earlier versions say into one body while later versions say so as to form one body. In my view, neither of these translations is entirely satisfactory, but, to explain why, we need to look at the possible meanings of another Greek preposition – eis.

Although this can, and very often does, mean into, this is by no means its only meaning. In the New Testament it is frequently used to mean for and often conveys the idea of purpose.

The Greek expression eis polemon, for example, is used in the context of preparing for war and the phrase eis ti means ‘for what?’ or ‘why?’  

A highly significant example of this use is found in Matthew 3:11 where baptism in the Spirit is contrasted with baptism in water.  Here eis does not carry the force of ‘into’, for repentance was required before John would baptise, as the preceding verses make clear.  Accordingly NIV translates, I baptise you in water for repentance.  By analogy, the baptism in the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13 no more puts a person into the body than baptism in water puts them into repentance.

More important still, we know that Paul himself understood and used eis with this force as is demonstrated by the NIV translation of eis as ‘for’ in, for example, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Ephesians 4:30. So eis certainly can mean for the purpose of. This is supported by the fact that, as we’ve just seen, later NIV versions translate it as, so as to form which recognises the fact that eis can convey the idea of purpose.

But the NIV translation suggests that the purpose of our being baptised in the Spirit is to form one body, the body of Christ, the church. However, the words to form are not found in the Greek text, but NIV translators have clearly felt it necessary to supply some additional words to clarify the meaning of eis. However, in doing so they have, in my view, applied the meaning of eis too narrowly.

Of course, it’s possible that Paul’s meaning here is that we’re baptised in the Spirit to form the church. After all, the purpose of the disciples being baptised in the Spirit was that they might be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:5, 8) and the church was formed when they were baptised in the Spirit at Pentecost.

But in my view the context in 1 Corinthians 12 implies more than this. If the baptism in the Spirit is given for the purpose of forming the church, it is also given for the benefit of the church. The verse is set in a context where Paul is discussing the use of charismatic gifts within the context of the church. 

We know from chapter 14 that the Corinthians were using gifts like tongues for their own edification instead of seeking to edify the church (14:1-12). Paul had to teach them that spiritual gifts were not given for their own selfish benefit, but for the good of all. That’s why he says:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (12:7),

And if my understanding is correct, he seems to be saying much the same thing in 12:13, which might be paraphrased as follows:

You have been baptised in the Spirit for the good of the whole church, so that by the spiritual gifts which result from that baptism, you might edify, not just yourself, but the whole body of believers.

But do we need to choose between the NIV translation and the one I have suggested? Might not both be implicit in what Paul is saying? As we have seen, eis often carries the idea of purpose. Might there not be a twofold purpose in the baptism in the Spirit, both the formation and the edification of the church? I have argued from the context in which 1 Corinthians 12:13 is set that it’s primarily edification that Paul has in mind.

But as we shall see next time when we turn to baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts, its purpose is strongly connected with evangelism by which the church is formed. It is also invariably connected with the manifestation of supernatural gifts. Those gifts are vital as signs confirming the message of the gospel. They are no less important in strengthening those who have already come to faith in Christ. The baptism in the Spirit and the gifts that come as the result of it are for both the formation and edification of the church.

To summarise, I believe that in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul is talking about the same experience of which Jesus spoke, and examples of which we see in the book of Acts. So if we take seriously the idea that 1 Corinthians 14:26 is an indication of what we should expect when we come together to worship the Lord, we will not only recognise the importance of supernatural gifts, but also of the baptism in the Holy Spirit which is the gateway to the exercise of those gifts.

When you come together

Talk 2  Supernatural Gifts – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

As we’ve already seen from what he says in 1 Corinthians 14:26, Paul certainly expected manifestations of the supernatural in the meetings of the church. He refers to a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.  But these are by no means the only expressions of the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. In 12:8-10 Paul mentions nine gifts:

a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues.

In this chapter I will be seeking to answer three questions:

Can we be sure that all these gifts are supernatural?

To answer this question, we need to look at the immediate context in which these verses are set. In verse 1 Paul tells the Corinthians that he does not want them to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. His usual word for any gift that God may give us is charisma, something which comes from his grace (charis). But here he uses the word pneumatika. This may well indicate that the gifts he has in mind are a unique form of charisma.  All God’s gifts are charismata, but only the gifts in these verses are referred to as pneumatika. And verses 2-3 indicate that it’s supernatural gifts that Paul has in mind:

You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

Before their conversion the Corinthians were idol-worshippers. This meant that they had been involved in devil-worship. This is clear from 10:19-20 where Paul says: 

Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

The confession that JESUS IS LORD is what marks a person as a Christian. In Romans 10:9 Paul says:

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

As Christians, the people in Corinth to whom Paul was writing acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus. So there is no suggestion that they would have manifested demonic gifts, for no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit (v3). But people who were not yet believers and were still worshipping idols could come into their meetings (cf. 14:23) and might well do so.

It was therefore vitally important that Paul’s readers should understand how to distinguish between divine and devilish manifestations. And it’s just as important today. Demons do not acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, as I once experienced during an encounter with a witch in Chester[1].

Furthermore, unlike demonic manifestations, where different gifts come from different spirits, in Christian worship the different gifts all come from the same Spirit:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (vv.4-6)[2].

Paul draws attention to the many different gifts and ministries in the church and points out that they all have their origin in the same God. The reference to the Trinity in these verses is interesting. Paul seems to be suggesting that the unity and diversity in the Godhead is reflected by a similar unity in the midst of diversity in the church, a theme he is to develop later in the chapter. 

So, from the context which immediately precedes the list of gifts in verses 8-10, it seems likely that Paul intends each of these gifts as a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but he does not define them. This suggests that the Corinthians obviously knew what they were. In fact, in 1:7 we read that the Corinthians did not lack any spiritual gift. They knew what they were, but their ignorance lay in the fact that they did not use them correctly.

In the following four paragraphs I have given what I consider to be the most likely definition or description of each gift, but for a more sophisticated analysis please consult what I have said in Body Builders[3].

I have rejected Wayne Grudem’s view that, although most of the gifts in this list are miraculous, a message of wisdom and a message of knowledge are simply the ability to speak with wisdom and knowledge. It seems to me far more likely that, although we cannot be certain about exactly what Paul had in mind, he intends us to understand them as some form of supernatural revelation[4].

As far as the remaining gifts in the list are concerned, what Paul means is fairly clear.  Faith is the miracle working faith that can move mountains (cf.13:2). Gifts of healing are miraculous healings performed without medical aid. Miraculous powers are, by definition, miraculous, and probably include miracles that do not come under the category of gifts of healing.

Prophecy, which is to be distinguished from prediction on the one hand and preaching on the other, brings by inspiration of the Spirit words of edification, encouragement, and comfort to the church (14:3). Distinguishing between spirits probably refers to discerning whether a supernatural occurrence is motivated by the Holy Spirit or by an evil spirit, or detecting the presence of evil spirits where their activity might not otherwise be obvious.

Speaking in tongues is speaking a language one has never learned, as the disciples did on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), and interpretation of tongues is the ability imparted by the Spirit to interpret what has been spoken in tongues.

Assuming that these definitions are broadly correct, we see that both the contents of the list and the context in which it is set confirm the view that these gifts are all supernatural. This is further confirmed in verse 13 by Paul’s reference to the baptism in the Holy Spirit which we will consider in the next chapter. 

But whether these gifts are all supernatural or not, our contention that we should expect the supernatural in our meetings still holds good. Because, as we have seen, in 14:26 Paul mentions supernatural gifts like tongues and interpretation as part of what can be expected in our meetings. But that raises the next question. Are these gifts all for today?

Can we be sure that all these gifts are for today?

People who believe that the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are not for today are known as cessationists. Perhaps the most common version of cessationism is the view that these gifts were withdrawn once the writing of the New Testament was complete.

Obviously, if they are right about this, then my view that 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives us direction as to what should happen in church today is entirely wrong. But that would make much of what Paul says in chapters 12-14 irrelevant for the church, not only of today, but of the last nineteen centuries!

However, the cessationist view has no valid basis in scripture. The verses that are usually quoted to support their view are I Corinthians 13:8-10, where we read:  

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

Cessationists claim that gifts like prophecy and tongues have ceased because they believe that perfection (v10) came once the word of God was complete. But do they really believe that knowledge has also passed away?  And a look at the context quickly reveals that their view is misguided. This is clear from what he says in verse 12:

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Paul is looking far beyond the completion of the New Testament. Perfection will come when he sees Jesus face to face. What he sees now is only a poor reflection of what he will see then. Then he will know him completely – fully. This must surely refer to when he sees Jesus in heaven, where tongues and prophecy will not be needed, and ultimately to the return of the Lord at the end of the age. Indeed, Paul strongly implies this when he says in 1 Corinthians 1:7 that the Corinthians do not lack any spiritual gift as they eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He clearly expected the gifts to be in evidence until the second coming of Christ.

Finally, the cessationist position does not stand up in the light of present-day Christian experience. For example, there are numerous well documented cases of speaking in tongues being recognised as it was at Pentecost by hearers who recognised it as their own native language[5]. Such miracles can only spring from one of two sources – the divine or the demonic. But Christians who speak in tongues gladly acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, and that, as we have seen, is the biblical test of that which is truly divine.

Can we expect that all these gifts will happen in our church?

So far we have argued that the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are all supernatural, that they are for today, and that we should expect the supernatural in our meetings (14:26). But can we expect all these gifts? The answer to this question in any particular situation will depend on two main factors – divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

In 1 Corinthians 12:11 Paul tells us that

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

This means that the Holy Spirit decides what gifts he will give to any individual Christian. He knows what’s best for us as individuals. But he also knows what’s best for the church. And no two churches are alike. It follows, therefore, that the gifts manifested in a local church at any particular time will be distributed by the Spirit in accordance with the needs of that church, because the purpose of every gift is the good of the church:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (12:7).

This theme is picked up in 14:1-5 where Paul says that prophecy is to be preferred to speaking in tongues, because uninterpreted tongues only edifies the speaker, but prophecy edifies the church. The gifts are given to individuals, but they’re for the benefit of the whole church[6].   

So the gifts are given at the discretion of the Holy Spirit. But that does not mean that we have no responsibility in this matter. It’s our responsibility to follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts (14:1).

In some churches there is little or no desire for these gifts simply because they know little about them because their leaders never teach about them or encourage them. I will be saying more about this in the final chapter of this book, but at this stage it’s enough to note that we can’t expect these gifts in our meetings if there’s no desire for them.

But in churches where there is a desire and where the members are encouraged to be filled with the Spirit, it’s safe to assume that at least some of these gifts will be manifested. If the word of God tells us to eagerly desire spiritual gifts then we can be sure that God wants us to have them. As we have already seen, 1 Corinthians 14:26 encourages the use of gifts like tongues and interpretation in our meetings, and 14:1 especially mentions prophecy as a gift to be eagerly desired. And although it would probably be wrong to suggest that these gifts should be in evidence in every meeting, we need to remember that Paul did recommend their use when you come together (14:26)[7].

But what about other gifts like healing, for example? We certainly cannot say that they cannot be used in the context of the gathered church, for all the gifts are given for the benefit of the church (12:7). But it is evident from Mark 16 and the book of Acts that gifts like healing and miracles were very much used in evangelism which usually took place outside and not in a meeting where the church had gathered for worship.

I have no wish to be dogmatic on this matter, but in my view, although miraculous gifts like healing may well be expected in evangelistic meetings held in churches, from a New Testament perspective they would be more effective when used out on the streets, as was most often the case in the book of Acts.

If this view is correct, it’s possible that in 14:26, when talking of supernatural gifts, Paul restricts himself to mentioning those that are usually to be expected in a church meeting. So we should not be surprised if gifts like prophecy, tongues, and interpretation are the gifts that are in greater evidence in our meetings today. But that by no means precludes the possibility of other gifts being manifested as the Holy Spirit determines.

Conclusion

In this chapter we have seen that:

God does not want us to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. The gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are supernatural. Not all supernatural manifestations come from the Holy Spirit. The test that a gift has genuinely come from God is the confession that Jesus is Lord. Although there is a rich variety of supernatural gifts, each gift is given by the same Spirit. The gifts are given, as the Holy Spirit determines, to individual Christians for the benefit of the whole church. The view that these gifts were withdrawn once the writing of the New Testament was complete is entirely mistaken. These gifts are for today and we should expect them to be regularly in evidence in our meetings. Where they are not in evidence, this may well be caused by lack of desire, possibly due to a lack of teaching or encouragement on the part of church leaders (especially those who hold a cessationist view).

Finally, two more things should be added:

Although in this chapter we have stressed the supernatural, our natural gifts and talents are also important. All God’s gracious gifts are needed, whether natural or supernatural. We should not be content with the natural, but neither should we minimize its importance. However much of the supernatural we experience there will always be unanswered questions. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. Who knows why Peter was supernaturally delivered from prison while Stephen was stoned and James was beheaded? Questions like these may never be answered until that day when we know fully, even as we are fully known. Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight, and we must continue to expect the miraculous gifts of the Spirit to be manifest in our lives and in our meetings.

[1] See Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, pp,240-243.

[2] Notice also the repeated reference to the same Spirit in verses 8-11.

[3]Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, Part Two,

[4] For detailed discussion on the nature of these two gifts, see Body Builders pp. 247-269.

[5] See, for example, Harris, R.W., Spoken by the Spirit, GPH, Springfield MO, 1973. See also my personal testimony in Body Builders pp.149-151.

[6] Correctly understood, 1 Corinthians 12:13 also illustrates this principle.  See Chapter Two.

[7] It’s noteworthy that hotan, the Greek word used here for when, can also carry the sense of whenever.

When you come together - Introduction

Three books – an old one, a new one, and a future one  

I know that many of you will be familiar with my book on spiritual gifts, Body Builders – gifts to make God’s people grow. Since it was first published in 2002 it has been translated into several languages, including French, Italian, Finnish, and Amharic. I know it has been regarded by some as something of a Pentecostal classic, and for this I’m very grateful to the Lord. I’m happy to tell you that Body Builders has now been republished in English and is available from my website, www.davidpetts.org price £15.00, (296 pages). (Actually, having a copy of this book would be helpful, but by no means essaential, to refer to in the new series we’re beginning).

Now if you enjoyed my last series on how God speaks to us today, you may be interested to know that this has now been published as a book, The Voice of God – how he speaks to us today. This is now available from my website, price £12.00, (228 pages).

Interaction

We have some idea from the number of downloads my podcasts receive that I am now teaching many more people each week than I ever did in pastoral ministry or as Principal of a Bible College. Such are the wonders of modern technology. However, the amount of interaction with one’s audience is considerably less.

So I’m suggesting that if you have questions about anything I say in a podcast, or if you have any comments on how you think the book I’m writing might be improved, you contact me by email by writing to info@davidpetts.org You will have a good idea of the contents of the book as in each podcast I’ll be sharing with you what I have written, and, as usual, the text will be available on my website. So, if anything is not clear, or of you think there’s something important that I’ve left out, please let me know.    

Now I realise that not everyone will want to do this, and that’s fine, but the offer is there if you’d like to get involved.

But now it’s time to turn to the first talk in our series, When you come together – towards a biblical understanding of church – is our worship biblical?

Why I am writing this book

Church changed quite a lot during the COVID pandemic. Christians around the world were challenged by the restrictions placed upon them imposed by government, and church leaders have been asking if God is trying to show us a better way of ‘doing church’.

This in itself is a challenge, as many older Christians, like myself, have come to love many of the things we used to do, and the older you get, the harder it is to adapt to change. But it’s always appropriate to take a look at the way we do things and ask ourselves if we could do better – or, more importantly, whether what we do is actually what God would want – whether what we are doing is biblical.

This book I’m writing is based on the understanding that God’s will is revealed in his word, the Bible. It’s based on the assumption that in the Bible God has something to say about how we should worship him, and the kind of things we should expect to happen when we gather together in Jesus’ name.

It's not my intention to tell church leaders how they should do things. But I do believe that God’s word teaches us clear principles about what should happen when Christians come together, and it is those principles that I’m seeking to underline and clarify. How they are worked out in practice in any local situation will be for leaders prayerfully to consider.

INTRODUCTION

Some listeners may be surprised to know that the Bible does give us clear guidelines as to what should happen when Christians come together. In I Corinthians 14:26 the apostle Paul writes:

What then shall we say brothers and sisters? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

Now from the outset we need to make it clear that when he says, What then shall we say…? Paul is giving them an instruction, not, as some have suggested, a rebuke. This is indicated by his use of the same Greek phrase[1] in verse 15 where he is clearly encouraging the Corinthians to follow his example:

So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

Indeed, in verse 37 he tells them that the things he is writing to them are the Lord’s command:

If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.

This strong statement must surely alert the attention of every Bible believing Christian to the fact that God cares very much about what we do when we meet together. If God is worth worshipping at all – and he certainly is – shouldn’t we do all we can to be sure that we’re doing it his way?

So, verse 26 deserves our serious attention. It contains several underlying principles which are, I believe, vital for us to understand and apply to the way we do church, whatever the sociological or cultural situation in which we may find ourselves.

But, before we proceed any further, one further point needs clarifying. What does Paul mean when he says, When you come together? He is undoubtedly referring to the occasions when the Corinthians gathered as a church. This is clear from verse 23:

So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?  (cf. in church in verse 19).

Of course, he is not referring to a church building. At the time of writing the epistle (AD 53-54) there were no church buildings, and the Corinthians were almost certainly meeting in the home of one of the members. This means that the numbers in the gathering would inevitably be smaller than those in some churches today. Paul’s teaching can be made to work well in a relatively small church or in a home group, but not so easily in a larger church.

But does this mean that larger churches have nothing to learn from Paul’s teaching in this verse? By no means. The basic principles underlying Paul’s teaching are relevant to all churches, and even larger churches can and should organise smaller gatherings where that teaching can be followed more easily. But we will return to this subject later in the book, after we have considered the implications of the verse in more detail.

The first principle we find in the verse is participation. Everybody is needed. Paul says, every one of you has… Perhaps we need to ask ourselves how many people are really involved in our meetings – or is their involvement limited to joining in the singing or saying Amen to the prayers? This is clearly not what Paul had in mind.

The second principle is variety. In 1 Corinthians 12:13-30 Paul teaches that every member of the body is different from the others, but every member is important. Here in 14:26 that variety is expressed as the members meet together. One may bring a hymn, another a word of instruction, another a revelation, another a tongue, and another an interpretation.

Although these are presumably representative of the many different ways that Christians may contribute to the worship of the church, we see at least three important ingredients that Paul expects in our meetings:

In my experience of Christian worship in over 40 different countries around the world there is no lack of the musical. In many, though by no means all, there is usually adequate scope for the doctrinal. But sadly, in many there is little manifestation of the supernatural. Even some churches that profess to believe in these things make little room for the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit in their meetings.

But it’s clear that Paul expects to see the supernatural in the church. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 he teaches that the gathered church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 2:21-22 it’s a holy temple in the Lord… a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. And it’s the presence of God’s Spirit among us that makes the miraculous possible every time we meet.

The third key principle is edification. Paul says all these must be done for the strengthening of the church. In chapter 13 he has taught the Corinthians that, whatever gifts we may have, if they are not motivated by love, they are of no value at all. And if we love people we will want to bless them. We want to edify them. That is, to see them built up in their faith. Whatever takes place must be for the strengthening of the church.

So the kind of meeting Paul is envisaging is one where every member has opportunity to contribute something as they are led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. That contribution may come in a rich variety of ways, but whatever it may be, it must be motivated by love and the desire to be a blessing to others.

The three principles we have outlined from 1 Corinthians 14:26, participation, variety, and edification, in many ways summarise Paul’s overall teaching on public worship contained in chapters 12-14.  We see the principle of participation in his teaching on the right use of spiritual gifts in chapters 12 and 14.

The principle of variety is vividly illustrated in 12:13-30 where Paul’s theme is unity and diversity, and where he demonstrates our dependence on each other as members of the body of Christ.

And his wonderful teaching on love in chapter 13 leads us into the understanding in chapter 14 that the best way to show love is to put others first by seeking their edification, rather than just seeking a blessing for ourselves.

But underlying these principles is one that is even more important – the leading and power of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the Spirit who must enable our participation. It’s the Spirit who brings variety to our meetings. And it’s the Spirit who inspires us with words that will bring edification to the church. In I Corinthians 12:13 Paul refers to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and we’ll devote a chapter to discussing what it is and its relationship the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

To consider these themes in more detail, we’ll be exploring chapters 12-14 to gain a fuller understanding of what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 14:26.

As we do so, we’ll discover, among other things, that:

And when we’ve completed our study of these chapters we’ll conclude with a chapter on the role of church leaders in seeking to implement Paul’s teaching in the church today.

Finally, please remember that If there’s anything you’d like me to cover in these talks (and in the book) you can contact me by emailing info@davidpetts.org

[1] ti oun estin. Literally, What is it then?

Preached live at Brixham Community Church.

As we embark on a new year, let us allow God to speak to us, however uncomfortable or challenging it may be, and resolve to let saying 'no' to God never be an option.

Dr David Petts preaching on 'The Humanity and Deity of Jesus'

Dr David Petts preaches on Living in Victory!

For all podcasts visit https://www.davidpetts.org/podcast

Victory over the enemy - Lessons from the life of Benaiah

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AMEN!

How often do we say the word, ‘Amen!’?

In this sermon audio, Dr David Petts considers:

It’s meaning and use The value of saying it Things we can’t say ‘Amen’ to The greatest ‘Amen’ of all

Dr David Petts - Seven reasons for praising the Lord - sermon audio

1 Praise the Lord.[a]

Praise the Lord, my soul.

2 I will praise the Lord all my life;     I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes,     in human beings, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;     on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,     whose hope is in the Lord their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,     the sea, and everything in them –     he remains faithful for ever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed     and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, 8     the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,     the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the foreigner     and sustains the fatherless and the widow,     but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

10 The Lord reigns for ever,     your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 146:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 10

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®

How God speaks to us   Talk 22 Responding to God’s Voice (Part 2)

1 Corinthians 12:11 tells us that it’s the Holy Spirit himself who determines what gifts he should give us. But that does not mean that we cannot put ourselves in a position where we are most likely to receive them. As we draw this series to a conclusion, let me share with you five keys to receiving and using them. They are relevant, not only to spiritual gifts, but also to the whole question of letting God speak to us and through us.

Desire them eagerly

In 1 Corinthians 14:1 we are told to eagerly desire spiritual gifts. The Greek verb here is zeloō. Paul uses it three times in connection with spiritual gifts. Here, and in 1 Corinthians 12:31 where he encourages the Corinthians to eagerly desire the greater gifts by which he probably means those that are of the greatest value in building up the church. See 14:12 where he uses it again.

The verb is a really strong word – the KJV translates it covet earnestly – and is the origin of our English word zeal. You may remember that one of Jesus’ disciples was called Simon the Zealot (Matthew 10:4). The Zealots were a fanatical political group who were determined to overthrow the power of the Romans, no matter the cost. I mention this simply to emphasise the strength of the word that Paul uses to indicate what should be our attitude to spiritual gifts.

So, our starting point, if we want to be used in spiritual gifts, is to ask ourselves how eagerly we desire them. Then, the next step will be to stop making excuses.

Stop making excuses

I’m mentioning this because it’s amazing how easy it seems to be to make excuses for not doing the things we know we ought to do. Now I’m not suggesting that every listener will be making all these excuses, and it may be that you’re making none of them. But I know from experience that the things I’m going to mention are common causes of Christians not entering into some of the wonderful blessings God has in store for them.

Excuse Number 1   I’m not worthy

The first excuse is quite understandable. In fact, it sounds very spiritual. We know it’s wrong to boast, and surely, to say I’m not worthy is showing humility? But God doesn’t give us these gifts because we deserve them. They come from his grace. That’s why Paul calls them charismata (1 Corinthians 12:4) which comes from the word charis meaning grace.

In fact, everything God gives us comes from his grace. Even the gift of eternal life is a charisma. In Romans 6:23 Paul says that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And the word for gift here is charisma. We don’t receive eternal life because we deserve it, but because of God’s grace.

And the same is true of spiritual gifts. We receive them despite our unworthiness, or to put it another way, because we have already been made worthy in Christ. The Corinthians are a clear example of this principle. They were not lacking in spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7), but this was certainly not because they were particularly good Christians[1]. So we should not hold back from seeking spiritual gifts for ourselves because we are conscious of our own shortcomings.

Excuse Number 2   I’m not suitable

This covers a range of excuses – I’m not talented enough, old enough, clever enough, and so on. It’s here that another word Paul uses can help us. In 1 Corinthians 12:1 he refers to the gifts he’s about to talk about as pneumatika. The basic meaning of this word is spiritual, but in the context it’s probably better understood to mean supernatural.

As we’ve said, all God’s gifts come from his grace, so they’re all charismata.  There are natural gifts and supernatural gifts[2].  Paul refers to the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 as pneumatika because these particular gifts are supernatural. That means that there’s no limit as to the persons God may give them to. They have nothing to do with our natural talents. And they’re available to all God’s people, irrespective of age, gender, or social status (Acts 2:17ff).

Excuse Number 3   They’re beyond my reach

Sometimes we’re tempted to think that the wonderful gifts we’re talking about are somehow beyond our reach. We’re conscious of our own humanity and spiritual gifts are manifestations of the supernatural power that comes from God himself.  God is in heaven and we are on earth. Surely they’re beyond our reach? But no, they are not. Spiritual gifts do not come from God in outer space!  They come from God who lives inside you.

This is where another word Paul uses to describe these gifts will help us. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 he refers to them as a manifestation. The Greek word is phaner­osis (v7). It comes from a verb meaning to shine and has been defined as a clear display, an outward evidencing of a latent principle.  

To understand this better, please think about a lightbulb. Electricity is the power at work inside it. The light that shines from it is the evidence that the electricity is there. It’s a manifestation of the power within. Now think of yourself as the lightbulb, and the Holy Spirit as the power at work inside you, and spiritual gifts as the outward evidence of that power.

It's the Holy Spirit who gives these gifts and he lives inside you. He can manifest through you any gift he chooses. In verse 6 Paul also  calls them energemata, which literally means things worked inside. This means that potentially any of the gifts could be at work in you, because the Giver is already there! But, following our analogy of the lightbulb, it’s our responsibility to keep the electricity flowing if the light is to shine. We need to keep filled with the Spirit and the gifts will come. 

Keep filled with the Spirit

In Ephesians 5:18 we’re told to be filled with the Spirit. As we saw in an earlier talk, we can best understand what Paul means by this by looking in Acts at the descriptions given there of people being filled with the Spirit. These examples paint a clear picture for us of what Paul means when he tells us to be filled with the Spirit.

We learn from Acts that it’s a supernatural experience that is received suddenly rather than gradually and is accompanied by miraculous gifts that greatly empower our witness for Christ. Jesus’ first disciples began to exercise the gifts of the Spirit when they were first filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4)[3].  And if we want to be used in spiritual gifts it’s clear that we too need to be filled with the Spirit.

Now the fact that Paul tells us to be filled with the Spirit implies that there is something we can do about it. God’s Spirit is always available to us, but it’s our responsibility to be filled. In 2 Timothy 1:6-8 Paul says to Timothy:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord…

There can be no doubt that the ‘spirit’ referred to in these verses is the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who gives us power and produces in us fruit like love and self-discipline. He also enables us to testify about the Lord (cf. Acts 1:8). So the gift of God that Timothy received through the laying on of Paul’s hands was the gift of the Holy Spirit[4].

But what does Paul mean when he tells Timothy to fan this gift into flame? The Greek word here is anazopureo. It literally mean give life again to the fire. We have the fire of God’s Spirit within us, but it’s our responsibility to keep it burning. Or, following the analogy we gave earlier, to keep the electricity flowing. And to do that, we need to pray, not only with our mind but also with our spirit, but that’s a subject for our next section.

Pray

Talking about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14:12-15, Paul says this:

12 So it is with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.

13 For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.

14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

In verse 12 Paul acknowledges that the Corinthians are eager to have spiritual gifts, but he wants them to concentrate on gifts that build up the church. He is emphasising something he’s already said in verses 1-5 where he makes it clear that prophecy is more valuable for the church than speaking in tongues. Tongues are useful for personal edification (v4), but prophecy will edify the church. However, tongues can be a means of edifying the church, but only if it’s accompanied by the gift of interpretation (v5).

So, in verse 13 he says that anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they are saying. That way the church will be edified as well as the person speaking in tongues. And, apart from anything else, this verse shows us that, if we’re eagerly desiring a spiritual gift (v12), we should pray for it.

Paul then goes on in verses 14-15 to tell us something very important about speaking in tongues. Although, as we’ve seen, it’s of no value to the church unless it’s interpreted, it’s of great value to the individual Christian. He says that when he pray in tongues we are praying with the spirit. This is different from praying with the mind which is what we do when we pray in English (or any other language we have learned).

So if we pray in tongues we are praying with our spirit. This is not a reference to the Holy Spirit, although of course it’s the Holy Spirit who enables us to speak in tongues. When I pray in English, I understand what I’m saying, but when I pray I tongues I do not. But, even so, Paul says it edifies me (v4).

So, Paul says in verse 15:

What shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, I will also pray with my mind.

This clearly shows his determination to do both. And if we are to fan into flame the gift of the Spirit, we need to too. Like Jackie Pullinger, who testifies that speaking in tongues for fifteen minutes a day has resulted in her seeing amazing miracles among drug addicts in Hong Kong, spiritual gifts will happen in our lives as we fan into flame the gift of the Spirit within us. We need to keep filled with the Spirit by praying with our spirit (in tongues) and praying with our understanding (in English) specifically asking for spiritual gifts, as Paul encourages the Corinthians in verse 13, for example.

But how do I know what to pray for? Aren’t the gifts distributed as the Holy Spirit determines? And what if I start asking for a gift that it’s not his will for me to have? These are the kind of questions my students often asked me, and I quite understand why. But the problem is, if we don’t know what to pray for, we probably won’t pray for any of them.

As I was thinking and praying about the best way to answer these questions, I felt the Lord say to me,

Tell them to pray for whatever gift they like. I’m delighted they’re praying for any of the gifts. I will direct them as they continue to pray.

I quickly saw the Lord’s wisdom in giving that advice. All God’s gifts are good, and it’s good to pray for any of them. But if the gift we’re asking for is not for us, the Lord will move us towards the ones that are. As we said in an earlier talk, God usually guides us when we’re on the move. Remember the illustration of the SATNAV?

It's also helpful to remember that, when we don’t know what to pray for as we pray with our mind (in English), if we pray with our spirit (in tongues), not understanding what we are saying, the words we speak in tongues may well be voicing a request for the very gifts God is planning to give us.

Act in faith

So, if we’re eagerly desiring for God not only to speak to us, but also to speak through us, if we’ve stopped making excuses, if we’re keeping filled with the Spirit, and if we’re praying that God will give us these wonderful gifts, all we need to do now is act in faith.

Jesus himself said that gifts like tongues, healings and miracles would accompany those who believe (Mark 16:17-18), and the apostle Paul tells us that those who prophesy should do so in accordance with their faith (Romans 12:6). And James tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). We have to do something. If we want God to speak through us, we have to speak.

An example of this is how I began to exercise the gift of interpreting tongues, which I’ve already told you about in an earlier talk. I acted in faith, despite my doubts. Nelson Mandela once said:

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not the one who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

Similarly, faith is not the absence of doubt. It’s overcoming your doubts by trusting the Lord. He doesn’t give stones or scorpions or snakes when we ask for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:11-13) or when we ask for his gifts (Matthew 7:9-11). Trusting in these promises, we can act in faith, knowing that God will not let us down.

If you’ve enjoyed this series, you’ll want to get a copy of my new book,

The Voice of God – how he speaks to us today

Available from my website: www.davidpetts.org

228 pages containing all the teaching in the podcasts, and more.

£12.00 per copy (including postage)

[1] See 1 Corinthians 3:3, 5:1-12, 11:21.

[2] Natural gifts include hospitality, marriage, celibacy etc. For a more detailed discussion on this, please see Body Builders – gifts to make God’s people grow

[3] For more on what it means to be filled with the Spirit, please see

A New Dimension – How to be filled with the Holy Spirit

[4] Compare Acts 8:17, 19:6

How God speaks to us   Talk 21 Responding to God’s Voice (Part 1)

This series has been about how God speaks to us. In our last talk we were considering how to hear him. In this talk and the next – apologies for saying last time that this would be the last talk – we’ll be talking about how we should respond. It’s a wonderful privilege to know that the Creator of the universe has spoken to you, and our initial response may well be a mixture of surprise, disbelief, awe, excitement, gratitude, and worship. But after this initial reaction, two other things are absolutely vital. We must believe what God has said and do what he has said.

I mentioned disbelief as part of what might well be our initial reaction, because this was certainly the experience of many of the Bible characters God spoke to – Moses, Gideon, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, for example. So, an initial reaction of disbelief, often caused by a very real sense of unworthiness or inadequacy, is quite understandable. But, if we are to do what God says, we must put disbelief behind us and trust that God knows what he’s doing! We really have no excuse. Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) and if God has spoken to us, it’s our responsibility to believe it.

But, of course, believing is only the starting point.  We must not only believe what God has said to us, we must do it. Four times in the Bible we read:

Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts[1]

which in the context relates to disobedience. If God has spoken to us we should not postpone our obedience to his voice. We should believe it and obey it today.

Of course, the specifics of what God says will be different for every one of us, but the things that God has said in his word he says to us all. And one of the great principles I see in Scripture is that God not only speaks TO us, but he also wants to speak THROUGH us. In earlier talks we showed how God can speak to us through spiritual gifts like prophecy, tongues and interpretation.  And, of course, we could have also mentioned other gifts like words of wisdom and words of knowledge. But God can also speak through us by these miraculous gifts.

We said earlier that there’s a sense in which all God’s people are ‘prophets’. This doesn’t mean that we’re all prophets in the Ephesiams 4:11 sense (i.e. like Agabus), or that we all have the spiritual gift of prophecy, but we are all called to speak for God in one way or another. The Old Testament prophets spoke to God’s people, Israel. They also spoke to the heathen nations around them. In a similar way, as God’s people today, we Christians are called to speak on behalf of God, not only to our fellow Christians, but also to those around us who do not yet know Jesus. And through the infilling of the Holy Spirit we can receive gifts that will empower us to do that. In fact, without the Holy Spirit’s help, we are powerless. And that’s why I’m going to conclude this series by explaining:

In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul lists nine supernatural gifts that are given to Christians as the Holy Spirit determines (v11). In the following verses, using the human body as an illustration of the church and the parts of the body as its members, Paul makes it clear that, though we all have different gifts, we’re all needed if the body, the church, is to function properly.

Within the context of the church, the value of these gifts is determined by the extent to which they edify and encourage the members. They are given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). And in 1 Corinthians 14:5 Paul says that the person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless they interpret, so that the church may be edified. Similarly, in Romans 1:11 we read that Paul longed to see the Romans so that he might impart some spiritual gift to make them strong (Romans 1:11).

Now in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul makes it clear that, whatever gifts God may give us, they are useless unless our motive is love. He goes on in chapter 14 to emphasise that everything we do as we gather together in church must be for the edification of our fellow Christians (v26). Quite simply, if we really love people, we will want to bless them, and perhaps the best way to do that is to prophesy – to let God speak to them through us. That’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1:

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

How glad I am for the people who allowed God to speak through them in this way that have proved such a blessing to me over the years. This has usually happened during the course of a service at church, but sometimes it happens privately. In June 2016, totally unexpectedly, Eileen suffered a severe stroke which totally paralysed the right-hand side of her body. Although she made some improvement over the first few months, despite much prayer, six years later she is still unable to walk, and, after the many miracles of healing we have seen, we naturally were asking, Where is God in all this? Why has she not been healed?

The answer came through our good friend Barrie Taylor. Barrie and Sandra are the parents of Richard, our daughter Sarah’s husband. We only see them about twice a year as they live at quite some distance from us. On one occasion, after a pleasant lunch in a restaurant near our home, Barrie said, Today I asked the Lord to give me a word for you, and he gave me this:

My Father is at work in your lives and situation, which he is using as a platform to display his sustaining grace.

It was just what we needed. Despite appearances, God was and is at work in our lives, and although we would love the Lord to heal Eileen – and I still pray that he will – we see regular evidence of his hand at work in ways that would not have been possible if she were fit and well. Each week we have some twenty different carers come into our home and with many of them we have had great opportunities to share the gospel.

But that leads us to the next reason why we should ask the Lord to speak through us prophetically. When we do so, it is not only of great value in encouraging our fellow Christians. It is also a vital component of our telling others about Jesus. And, as we shall see, the message of the gospel is best proclaimed, not only with words given to us by the Spirit, but also by miraculous deeds performed by his power.

Once we have heard and received the good news about Jesus, it’s both our privilege and our responsibility to share that good news with others. In John 3:36 Jesus himself gives this warning:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.

It’s our privilege to spread the good news that by believing in Jesus we can have eternal life, but it’s our serious responsibility to warn people of the dangers of rejecting him. Paul took this responsibility so seriously that he could say in Acts 20:26-27 that he was innocent of the blood of all men because he had not hesitated to proclaim… the whole will of God.

To use words like these, Paul must have felt his responsibility very strongly. No doubt he had in mind what God had said to Ezekiel when he told him that if he did not warn people of the danger they were in he would hold him accountable for their blood (i.e. their lives)[2]. And it’s surely right that we should take our responsibility just as seriously. If someone is lost, don’t we need to show them the way? If someone is in danger, don’t we need to warn them?

If we genuinely feel that sense of moral responsibility, we will surely want all the help we can get from God to enable us fulfil it. And once we realise that powerful spiritual gifts are available to assist us in this vital task of evangelism, we will surely want to know how to receive them and use them.

The value of spiritual gifts in evangelism is demonstrated very clearly in the Book of Acts. In Acts 2:41 we’re told that about 3000 people became Christians in a single day. This was in response to Peter’s preaching, but what had brought such a great crowd under the sound of the gospel was the miraculous gift of tongues (vv4-6).

In Acts 4:4 the number had grown to about 5000, which was the result of the healing of the man who had been lame from birth (Acts 3). In Acts 8:6 we’re told that crowds of people in Samaria paid close attention to what Philip said when they saw the miracles he performed, and as a result believed the gospel message and were baptised (v12).

Events like these were a direct fulfilment of Jesus’ promise in Mark 16:15-20 where we read:

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up Iinto heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Here Jesus promises that we can expect spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, healing, and miracles to accompany the preaching of the gospel. The Christians in the early church recognised this when they prayed in Acts 4:29-31 that God would stretch out his hand to heal and that signs and wonders might be done in the name of Jesus so that God’s servants might speak his word with boldness.

And in Romans 15:18-19 Paul could speak of what Christ had accomplished through him in leading the Gentiles to obey God, by what he had said and done

by the power of signs and miracles through the power of  the Spirit,,, So from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ

which suggests that the gospel is not ‘fully proclaimed’ unless it is attested by signs from heaven.

Illustrations from WFP Burton, Reinhard Bonnke, Aimé Cizeron.

And although the New Testament largely records miracles that were performed by apostles like Peter and Paul, we should not assume that it’s only apostles who can expect to see miracles confirming the word. In the passage we’ve already quoted, Jesus said,

These signs will accompany those who believe (Mark 16:17).

As believers we are all expected to spread the gospel and we can all expect the Lord to work with us in some way, backing up what we say. As we allow the Lord to speak through us as we tell others about Jesus, we can expect him to work with us confirming the word through whatever spiritual gifts he chooses to give us.

Next time: How to receive spiritual gifts

IF YOU’VE BEEN ENJOYING THIS SERIES, PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR MY NEW BOOK ON THE SUBJECT: The Voice of God – How he speaks to us today

I hope to make it available before Christmas. Check my website for details:

www.davidpetts.org

[1] Psalm 95:8, Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7.

[2]Ezekiel 3:17-19, cf. 33:2, 6-7

How God speaks to us       Talk 20 How to hear his voice

Throughout this series we’ve been looking at the many different ways in which God may speak to us. But now it’s important that we consider two final things:

Before we do so, however, it will be helpful to remind ourselves of what we’ve said about the various ways he speaks to us.

How God speaks – a reminder

In Talk 1 we saw that God speaks to all humankind by his creation. We said that the world we live in, and the heavens above, are clear evidence that a wonderful designer has been at work. We referred to passages like Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 1:20 to show that, as far as the Bible is concerned, we have no excuse for not believing in God. And the creation speaks eloquently, not only of God’s existence, but of his great and glorious power, his wisdom, his faithfulness, his beauty and his love.

In Talks 2-3 we saw that these divine qualities are seen much more clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom God has finally spoken to us in the person of his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). God speaks to us:

through the person of Jesus revealing what God is like

in the words of Jesus teaching us what to believe

and in the actions of Jesus showing us how to behave.

In Talk 4-9 we examined how God speaks to us through the Bible.

In Talk 4 we gave reasons why we should believe that God speaks in this way.

In Talks 5-6 we gave important guidelines on how to understand the Bible correctly.

In Talks 7-9 we discussed different ways in which God speaks through the Bible, including how to identify, understand, and receive God’s promises. But there’s more to the Bible than promises. God gives us instructions, showing us what to believe and how to behave. He does this through the person, the words and the actions of Jesus, the direct teaching found in the New Testament, and by examples from the lives of God’s people. Finally, we discussed how God sometimes directs us by bringing key verses to our attention.

In Talks 10-14 we considered how God often uses other people to speak to us, including parents, other Christians, preachers and pastors, prophets and prophecy.

In Talks 15-18 we looked at ways in which God speaks to us directly without using other people. We gave examples from the Bible and, where possible, from personal experience, of God speaking with an audible voice, through angels, by dreams and visions, supernatural signs, and by promptings, the voice of his Spirit within us.

Finally, in Talk 19, we thought about some of the ways God guides us silently. We saw that he may do so through the trend of circumstances, by opening and closing doors, and through the gifts and talents God has given us. But ultimately, if we really want to discover God’s perfect will for our lives, we must make sure that our minds are constantly being renewed so that we think like God thinks and are willing to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to him (Romans 12:1-2),

How to hear God’s voice

Although the main purpose of these talks has been to answer the question, How does God speak to us today? an equally important question is, How can we hear his voice? The answer lies in much of what we have said so far, so my purpose now is to draw together some of those things and add a few further thoughts that I hope will be helpful. We’ll begin by outlining some basic facts that we should recognise, using the Bible as our basis.

First of all, it’s clear from the examples we’ve looked at in the Bible that God has a variety of ways of speaking to different people. Some heard his audible voice, others were visited by angels, while still others had dreams and visions, and so on. God deals with each of us differently.

Why is it, for example, that African Christians seem to hear God speak through a dream or vision more often than British people do? Perhaps it has something to do with our level of expectation. We’re all different and I believe that God usually speaks to us in ways that he knows we will recognise as his voice. This may very well mean that he won’t speak to you in exactly the same ways that he has spoken to me.

Secondly, the biblical examples we have considered show that the revelations people received were often totally unexpected and in some cases were, initially at least, unwanted! Many like Moses and Gideon and Zechariah were just going about their daily business when the Lord appeared to them. God may speak to you when you’re least expecting it!

And thirdly, it’s clear that most of the cases of God speaking to people in the Bible came at a time when God was calling them to some important task for him, or at key turning points in their life or even in history. Obvious examples are:

Zechariah in Luke 1 before the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner to the Messiah

Mary in Luke 2 before the birth of Jesus, the Saviour of the world

Paul in Acts 9 at his conversion and commissioning for service and in Acts 16 preceding the expansion of the gospel into Europe

Peter in Acts 10 opening the door of salvation to the Gentiles.

Even for great servants of God like these, such events were not the sort of things that happened every day. So perhaps we should not be too surprised or disappointed if God never speaks to us in such dramatic ways, or if the times he does so are relatively infrequent.

But, of course, there are ways in which we can expect him to speak to us on a regular basis. For example:

as we read the Bible at home

through the preaching or prophetic gifts at church

by the promptings from that voice of the Spirit inside us.

So, recognising these facts, how can we hear God’s voice?

Although, as we have seen, God sometimes takes the initiative in speaking to us, there are times when he expects us to begin the conversation with him. James tells us that if we lack wisdom – if we don’t know what to do – we should ask God and he will gladly give it (James 1:5).

I have already given specific examples from my own experience of how God spoke to me when I asked him to because I urgently needed to know what to do, and I’ve told you how he wonderfully answered those prayers. On occasions like those we may well need to make time for God to speak to us, but at others a quick prayer may be all that’s needed. Although prayer is important, hearing from God does not depend on how much time we spend in prayer. What matters most is how we are developing our relationship with the Lord.

I once heard of a young man whose pastor asked him if he thought God might want him to become a missionary. Oh no, he replied, God hasn’t called me. But then the pastor asked another question:

Are you sure you’re within calling distance?

If we’ve really given our lives wholeheartedly to God, and if we’re living in close relationship to him, it will not be difficult for us to hear his voice. We’ll always be within earshot. In fact we’ll be expecting to hear him speak.

Of course, as we’ve already said, God may very well speak to us when we’re least expecting it, as he did very often in the Bible, particularly when he spoke through an angel. But does that mean that we should not expect God to speak to us, but just wait until it happens? Not at all. I believe that every time we read the Bible, or meet together with God’s people, we should both ask and expect God to speak to us in one way or another. Sometimes we can miss God’s voice because we’re not expecting to hear it. And if we’re expecting God to speak to us, we’ll certainly be listening.

Have you ever been in the middle of an important phone call when it’s been difficult to hear what the other person is saying because something or someone is distracting you? Maybe you hear a ‘ping’ alerting you to some notification you’ve received. Or someone is ringing the doorbell, or someone else has turned on the television. It happens all the time. We’re all aware of distractions that prevent us from paying attention to the person who’s speaking to us. What do we do in situations like this? Well, if you’re like me, you go into another room where it’s quiet and free from distractions and where you can listen carefully to what’s being said.

I wonder if that’s why God so often speaks to us in the night. It’s the only time he can get our attention! He wants us to listen, and to do so without distraction. And, if we want him to speak to us, we must make time and find a place when we can pay God the attention he deserves.

Throughout this series we have seen many different ways in which the Lord may speak to us, but whichever way it may be, we need to check that we’re really hearing him correctly. This is because we’re fallible human beings and, although everything God says is right, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re hearing it right. Let me remind you of some of the things we’ve said in earlier talks.

When we’re reading the Bible, which is God’s word, we need to make sure that we’re understanding it correctly. We need to examine the context to be absolutely sure that the words we are reading directly apply to us. We’ve also talked about the importance of getting confirmation. In fact, no matter how God speaks to us, we should always look for confirmation that it’s really God. In 2 Corinthians 11:14 were told that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light and in Galatians 1:8 Paul says:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

These scriptures remind us that Satan is a deceiver and the only way to avoid being led astray is to test everything against the truth of the gospel as it’s revealed in the New Testament. God never contradicts himself, and nothing he says today will contradict what he’s already said in his word.

And that’s why what we’ve said already about understanding the Bible correctly is so important. It’s not enough to take a single Bible verse as confirmation that it’s God who is speaking. We must test it against the whole of Scripture. For example, let’s suppose that someone attacks you in the street and as a result you lose the sight of an eye. You’re understandably angry about this and a Bible verse comes to mind – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth[1]. Does that mean that God is telling you that you should do the same thing to them? Of course not.

There are two good reasons why you should not. First, because even under the law of Moses it is unlikely that these regulations were intended to tell people that they must take revenge. It’s far more likely that the intention was to teach proportionate vengeance. If you’ve lost an eye, don’t take more than an eye.

And secondly, and much more importantly, the Lord Jesus said:

You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you (Matthew 5:38-42).

This is a good example of how the whole Bible is to be understood through the lens of the New Testament and in particular in the light of the teaching and character of Jesus. So, if what we’re hearing is in keeping with this, then it may well be from the Lord. However, if it’s a very specific word of guidance, we need to be sure that it’s definitely for us. And, as we saw in earlier talks, further confirmation can come in various ways, including a strong inner conviction, and testing by other Christians, and by time.

So, to summarise, in seeking to hear from God, we need to:

Recognise certain facts

God may speak to you in a different way than he speaks to me.

Sometimes God speaks to us when we’re least expecting it.

He will speak most clearly at key turning points in our lives.

But we can expect him to speak to us on a regular basis

as we read the Bible at home

through the preaching or prophetic gifts at church

by the promptings from that voice of the Spirit inside us.

Ask, expect and listen

Sometimes God takes the initiative in speaking to us, but sometimes he expects us to ask him to.

If we’re living in right relationship with him, we can expect him to speak to us, especially as we read the Bible etc.

And if we’re expecting him to speak, we’ll put ourselves in a position to listen.

Check that we’re hearing his voice correctly

Satan can masquerade as an angel of light. We need to check that what we’re hearing really is the voice of God. We need to make sure that what we’re hearing is in line with Scripture and especially with the teaching and character of Jesus.

Next time, which will be the last talk in this series, we’ll talk about how we should respond when God speaks to us. He not only wants to speak TO us. He wants to speak THROUGH us.

[1] Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21

How God speaks to us Talk 19 Other ways God guides us In recent talks we have identified five ways in which God may speak to us directly without involving other people: By his audible voice By angels By dreams and visions By supernatural signs By promptings, the inner voice of his Spirit Today we’re going to consider other ways in which God may guide us. Throughout this series we’ve been discussing ways in which God may speak to us. But he sometimes guides us without speaking at all. If we have learned to live by the principles taught in Scripture, we will be guided by them into the right paths. In fact, the more we live by those principles the less we will need the promptings we were talking about in the last talk. But, of course, we need both. The principles of Scripture are the general guidelines by which we should live. The promptings of the Spirit are more specific, giving us direction as to what to do in any given situation, but of course they will never conflict with the principles taught in the Bible. One of the questions that is often asked by young Christians is, How can I know the will of God? It’s a good question, because as Christians we should certainly want to do his will. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul reminds us that we are not our own, we were bought at a price. We belong to God, and we are followers of Jesus who always did God’s will, even when it meant dying on the cross to save us from our sins So how can we find the will of God for our lives? Much of the answer to this question is to be found in some of the things we’ve already said. God’s will for our life is that we live in obedience to his word, which is a lamp for our feet and a light on our path (Psalm 119:105). And when we’re living in obedience to its teaching, we can expect God to guide us with regard to the specific details. This guidance may come through any of the ways we’ve already talked about, but the Lord may also be guiding us silently by: The trend of circumstances Open and closed doors The gifts and talents he has given us. The trend of circumstances God has a plan for our lives and is constantly working everything out in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11). He is in complete control of all the circumstances that surround us, even when things appear to be going terribly wrong. After Stephen was stoned in Acts 7 there was a great persecution of Christians, most of whom fled from Jerusalem and were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Some even travelled as far as Antioch and Cyprus. But as a result there was a revival in Samaria (Acts 8) and a very large church was planted in Antioch (Acts 11:20). Acts 16:6-10 might well be another example: 6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. In obedience to the great commission and God’s call upon his life (Acts 9:15, 26:17-18) Paul is on his second missionary journey. So he is already doing the will of God, but he’s unsure of where he should go next. Verse 6 tells us that he was kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. We’re not told how, but it might well have been through the trend of circumstances. Next, Paul tries to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit will not allow him to (v7). Then, in the night, he has a vision of a man from Macedonia saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us and Paul finally knows what he has to do. It seems that guidance possibly came in three different ways – the trend of circumstances (v6), a word from the Spirit (v7), and a vision in the night (v9). But although it’s not entirely clear how the Holy Spirit told Paul not to go to Bithynia, what’s particularly significant in this passage is that Paul gets the guidance he needs while he’s already doing what he knows God has called him to do. This reminds me of Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, who in Genesis 24 is sent to look for a wife for Isaac. He makes his way to the town of Nahor and comes to a well just outside the town. He gets his ten camels to kneel down and decides to ask the Lord for a sign. He will ask one of the young women who comes to draw water from the well to give him a drink. But if she’s the woman he’s looking for, she’s to offer to draw water for the camels as well! And, of course, that’s what happens! The story is well-known. But notice what Eliezer says in verse 27. The Lord has led me on the journey. Undoubtedly the Lord was leading him throughout his journey, but the specific guidance he needed came well after Eliezer had set out on his journey. In the same way, it’s as we get on with the job that God has already given us to do, that we get the guidance we need. Open and closed doors Another thing that results from the fact that God is in complete control of circumstances is that he sometimes directs our steps by opening and closing doors. In Revelation 3:7-8 we read: What he opens no-one can shut, and what he shuts no-one can open… See I have placed before you an open door. In my final year at Oxford I was praying about what my next step should be. I had been studying for a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and my plan was now to go to a Bible College to prepare for the ministry God had called me to. So I applied to London Bible College, fully anticipating that they would accept me for their course leading to the London University Bachelor of Divinity Degree. On the application form, which required me to include a testimony of my Christian experience, I made reference to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This led to a number of questions at the interview, and it became clear to me that they were suspicious of Pentecostals. So I wasn’t entirely surprised when, a few days later, I received a letter saying that they thought I would be happier at a Pentecostal Bible College Although I felt that their decision was unjust, I reminded myself of the injustice that Joseph had experienced at the hands of his brothers and his recognition later that God had intended it for good (Genesis 37 and 45). God, not the college faculty, had shut the door on LBC. So I considered applying to Kenley, the Assemblies of God Bible College, where Donald Gee, a world-renowned Bible teacher, was then the Principal. So I sent off for the application forms. However, people were telling me that I didn’t need to go to Bible College. I had been preaching since I was fourteen years old, and the Holy Spirit was already using me in teaching and leading others into the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In those days Assemblies of God did not require any formal training or qualifications for a person to be recognised as a minister. The evidence of one’s calling and gifting was fruit from one’s ministry. So what should I do? I decided that I would go to Kenley unless the Lord opened a door for me to minister in a Pentecostal church. But this seemed highly unlikely because, having grown up in a Baptist church, I was relatively unknown among the Pentecostals and the few churches I had preached in were mostly well provided for with regard to ministry. I told no-one about this decision and yet, a week after making it, I received a letter from the small Assemblies of God Church in Colchester, inviting me to take on the pastorate. And, as if to confirm it, the application form for Kenley that I had asked for never arrived. Much more recently, my granddaughter Emily asked me to pray for her as she was considering applying to work for Youth for Christ in Birmingham. At the time she was living in London working full time for Alpha and she was uncertain what to do. I assured her that I would pray for her and reminded her of Revelation 3:7-8. I suggested that it might be a good idea to apply for the job and trust the Lord to close or open the door according to his will. The next day, as Emily was walking in one of the London parks and praying about this, she looked up and saw something she had never seen before – AN OPEN DOOR! It was a piece of modern art, a sculpture of a doorframe with the door within it wide open. The Lord had literally placed before her an open door. Needless to say, she is now working for Youth for Christ in Birmingham. The gifts and talents God has given us Another thing that will help us discern the will of God for our lives is having a realistic understanding of the gifts and talents God has given us. In a passage where Paul mentions some of the gifts God has given to his people, he begins by saying: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you (Romans 12:3). Here the emphasis is on not having an exaggerated sense of our own importance, but it’s just as important to recognise the gifts and abilities God has given us. Humility does not mean pretending that we’re no good at things which in fact we are good at! It means gratefully acknowledging that whatever gifts we do have come from the grace of God. When Jeremiah protested that he was unsuited for the task God was calling to, God replied that before Jeremiah was born, he had formed him in his mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). Generally speaking, God’s will for our lives will be very much in line with the talents he has given us. Those who have heard me sing know very well why I have concluded that it’s not God’s will for me to be a gospel singer! Having said that, we know that God can equip a person with supernatural gifts beyond any natural talents they may possess. So, in seeking God’s will it’s good to ask ourselves what natural talents we have along with any spiritual gifts in which he is using us. But finally, the great key to finding the will of God in our lives is found in Romans 12:1-2, where Paul says: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. In these verses Paul shows us how to test what God’s perfect will for our lives is. He reminds us of God’s love in sending Jesus to die for us and, bearing that in mind, encourages us to live holy, sacrificial lives. We are not to behave as the world behaves or think as the world thinks. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We’re to learn to think like God thinks! We’re to find out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:10). If we are seeking to do this, we won’t have to worry about finding the will of God. God is perfectly capable of taking care of his own will! The only person or thing that can prevent God’s will being done in my life is me! God is all powerful and, by definition, he wants his will to be done. So as long as I want it to be done, God will make sure that it happens. In short, if we’re determined to live all out for Jesus, God will take care of the rest. Sometimes we don’t need to know what God’s will is, but if we do, he will make it plain. And very often it’s as we look back over our lives that we see how God has been guiding us all the time, even at times when his voice is silent.

Talk 18 Promptings – the voice within

In recent talks we’ve been looking at ways in which God speaks to us directly rather than through other people. We’ve considered how he may speak with an audible voice, or through angels, or by dreams and visions, or by supernatural signs. We now turn our attention to what are often called promptings, by which I mean the voice of God’s Spirit inside us.

In John 14-16 Jesus told his disciples that he was going away, but that he would not leave them without help. He would send them another helper, the Holy Spirit, who would live within them (14:17) and would teach them, remind them of what he had said (14:26), guide them, and reveal to them things about the future (16:13). 

And the same is true for us as his disciples today. Romans 8:11 tells us that God’s Spirit lives within us and Galatians 4:6 says that, because we are his sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. So we too can expect to hear the voice of God’s Spirit inside us, teaching us, reminding us, guiding us, and even revealing things to us about the future.

Let me tell you about Hilda and Edna. They were both members of our church in Basingstoke. Edna had been saved as a teenager but had backslidden and married a man who was not a believer. Although she had come back to the Lord, she often struggled because of the problems caused by being ‘unequally yoked’ to an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14). 

Hilda was a widow who had come to Christ in her sixties during a mission I was conducting in our church. She lived in a council house which was only a few minutes’ walk from a chip shop. One day, as she was walking across to the shop to get some fish and chips, a random thought came into her mind. Go and see Edna. She thought this might be from the Lord, but Edna lived over a mile away and if she went to see her the chip shop would be closed by the time she got back as the only means of getting to Edna was on foot. And anyway, she wasn’t completely sure that the thought was from God, so she thought she might go and see Edna later. 

But before Hilda had reached the chip shop the thought came again. Go and see Edna NOW. So she went. If the thought had come from God, she didn’t want to disobey him. And when she arrived she knew, as soon as she saw Edna, that the thought had indeed come from God. Edna opened the door and burst into tears. She had been overwhelmed with the thought that nobody loved her, not even God. In desperation she had prayed, Lord, if you really love me, please send someone to see me NOW. Hilda went without lunch that day, but what did that matter? She had been obedient to God and as a result had been a blessing to a fellow Christian who was struggling with her faith.

There’s no doubt that Hilda’s random thought was a prompting of the Holy Spirit. That’s often how he speaks to us – by putting thoughts into our mind. But, of course, not every thought is a prompting of the Spirit and we need to learn how to distinguish the thoughts that come from him from those that don’t. I’ll be saying more about this at the end of the talk, but first let me give you a few examples from my own experience.

In the early 1970s, while I was pastoring at Basingstoke, I began to receive invitations to minister in other countries as well as in other churches up and down the UK. I was also teaching once a fortnight in our Bible College which was then at Kenley in Surrey. But there surely had to be a limit to how many invitations I could accept? I was expected to preach three times a week in the church I was pastoring.

One day, as I was praying about this, as if from nowhere the word Antioch came into my mind. Now I knew that Antioch was a place mentioned in the Book of Acts and that that was where the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). I also knew that Paul had set out from there on his first missionary journey, but I wasn’t quite sure how this might be relevant to what I was praying about, so I decided to open my Bible and see what else I could discover about Antioch, and I very quickly came to Acts 13:1-3 where I read:

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Now Barnabas had been the first leader of the church at Antioch and he had brought Saul (or Paul) alongside him to help with the ministry (Acts 11:22-25). But now the Holy Spirit was telling them both to leave Antioch for a while and start on the church planting mission to which he had called them. But how could they leave Antioch? Who would look after the church in their absence? The answer was simple. There were other prophets and teachers in the church (v1).

In giving me the word Antioch God was not only answering my question, but also showing me what was to become a key principle in the churches I have led, in the college at Mattersey Hall, and what I have since taught to church leaders around the world – the importance of team leadership. 

It may be difficult to understand today, when team leadership is normal in many churches, but, in my experience, back in the seventies churches in most denominations were led by one man, who did all the preaching and led all the meetings. In giving me the word Antioch God was clearly telling me to look for other ministries in our church which would complement my own, give others an opportunity to exercise the gifts he had given them, and free me to accept invitations to minister elsewhere as he was leading me to an increasingly international ministry.

One example of this is how I came to visit several countries in Asia in 1986. It was on a Sunday in 1985. For no apparent reason the word India came into my mind. The impression was so strong that I said to Eileen, I think the Lord is going to send me to India. But I told no one else about it. 

The following Wednesday evening Pastor Ray Belfield came to Mattersey to speak to the students about missions. After the meeting I invited him back to our house for a cup of tea before he made the journey back home to Wigan. As we prayed together before he left, I prayed that the Lord would show us more clearly how as a college we could do more about mission. As soon as I had finished speaking, Ray said to me, I’ll tell you what you can do. You can go to India. 

This resulted in a month’s trip the following January, not only to India, but also to Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Ray’s word was prophetic and came as a confirmation of what God had already begun to tell me the previous Sunday. It would have been a big decision to leave the college for a month if I had not had an excellent team of workers at Mattersey, plus the double assurance of what God wanted me to do – the inner voice of God’s Spirit confirmed by a prophetic word.

And finally, let me tell you about Ruby. It was while I was leading the church in Basingstoke. We had invited an evangelist to come and conduct a series of special meetings. I encouraged the people to pray that God would give us one outstanding miracle of healing before the evangelist came and that this would attract people to the meetings.

So we began to pray months ahead of the evangelist’s visit, which was to be in June. Then, on the Sunday after Easter, it happened! It was the evening service and I was preaching about Thomas. He was the disciple who had been absent when Jesus, three days after he was crucified, appeared to his disciples on Easter Sunday. When the other disciples told Thomas that Jesus was alive, he simply refused to believe it. It was impossible! But a week later Jesus appeared to him too and showed him the wounds in his hands and feet. I remember saying something to the effect that the same Jesus whom Thomas had been able to see and touch was present with us right now even though we could not see him.

After the sermon, as we sang a closing song, a middle-aged woman walked – I should say hobbled – to the front of the church. This was a complete surprise to me as she had never been to our church before and I had not invited people to come forward for prayer, as we sometimes do. Neither had I mentioned healing. So I went to her and asked:

Can I help you? 

She responded by saying:

If Jesus is present as you say He is, can He heal me now?

Immediately I knew that this was the miracle we had been praying for. It was as if God was saying, This is it!

He can, and he does! I said. Be healed in the name of Jesus! 

And she RAN back down the aisle, instantaneously and completely healed. Ruby and her husband both became Christians and as a result of that miracle, a number of other people came to believe in Christ and became members of our church. 

Now some people teach that we should always command healing in this way, but even Jesus only did what he saw his Father do (John 5:19). I will only command healing when I believe that’s what God is telling me to do on that occasion. Otherwise, I believe we should pray for healing rather than command it.

So how do we know that that ‘inner voice’ is in fact the voice of God? If I’ve made it sound easy, I must admit that I haven’t always found it so. Some people talk as though they’re hearing words from the Lord all the time and I’ve sometimes thought, I wish he’d talk to me like that! I’ve also wondered if those people really are hearing the voice of the Lord as much as they think they are. 

To help us get a better understanding about this we need to consider what the Bible has to say about where our thoughts come from, and as we do so we realise that some of our thoughts are not from God at all. They are temptations. The Bible shows us that in our Christian lives we are constantly fighting a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our thoughts are prompted by what we see, what we hear, and by the company we keep. So it’s possible that a thought that we imagine has come from God could in fact be prompted by any of these things. So how can we be sure?

Bearing in mind what we’ve said in previous talks about how God speaks to us by Jesus, the word of God made flesh, and through the Bible, the written word, it goes without saying that any word he speaks by his Spirit in our hearts will always be in line with the character of Jesus and the principles of Scripture. If we are spending time with Jesus and meditating on his word, the thoughts that we have are more likely to come from God than if we spend most of our time watching television for example.

Another thing to consider is the kind of ‘word’ we feel the Lord might have given us. Is it a word of encouragement or is it giving us direction, or even telling us about the future? We’ll consider each of these possibilities in turn, also taking into consideration whether we feel the word is for ourselves or someone else.

First, then, let’s suppose an encouraging thought or verse of Scripture comes to your mind. We know from verses like 1 Corinthians 14:3 that part of the Spirit’s role is to encourage us, so it would seem likely that the thought you’ve had has come from God. It might just be a line from a song that comes into your mind – something like, The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, for example. Well, that’s an easy one! It’s totally in line with the teaching of the Bible, so, whether it’s a prophetic word from the Spirit or not, it’s true! So you can believe it and receive it, and pass it on to anyone who might need it.

But what about a thought or word where it seems that God is giving you direction, where he’s telling you to do something? That’s not quite so simple. Again, the first question to ask is, Is it in line with Scripture? The better you know your Bible, the better you’ll be able to answer this question. Obviously, if it’s contrary to Scripture, it isn’t from the Lord. But what if it is in line with Scripture, but you’re not sure if it’s for you? 

For example, let’s suppose you get a feeling or thought that the Lord wants you to go to China and preach the gospel. That’s certainly in line with Scripture, as Jesus has told us to make disciples of all nations. But we’re not all called to China, and you’d need to be very sure that your thought or feeling really was from the Lord. In this case a single thought or feeling would not be enough. It needs to be confirmed. But how?

It seems that God has an infinite variety of ways of confirming his word to us. Much of what we’ve said in this series has been about the many ways God spoke and confirmed his word to his people in the past and how he continues to do so today. These have included angelic visitations, dreams and visions, supernatural signs, and prophetic words. We have also mentioned persistent repetition and apparent coincidence, when a thought or word comes repeatedly from a variety of different sources and we become convinced that it can only be God. To this we should add that, if the word you’ve received is as serious as being called to China, it would be wise to discuss it with your church leaders and see if they have any witness about it. 

And the same guidelines hold good for a situation where you feel that God has revealed to you something about the future. It’s important not to act upon it unless it’s been confirmed in the sort of ways we’ve just mentioned. And if it involves someone else, it’s vital that we have confirmation before we share it with them – and even then, it’s always best to begin by saying something like this:

I feel that God has given me a word for you. If it’s really from hm, I believe you will know in your heart that it’s for you.

But even before we do that, it would be wise to search our own hearts by asking if the word is really for others, or if it’s something that God is saying personally to us. This holds good not only when we feel the word we have is for a particular individual, but also when it comes during a meeting at church or in a home group. 

The exercise of spiritual gifts like prophecy or interpretation of tongues is a separate subject, but learning how God speaks to us and discerning whether what he’s saying is something for others or just for ourselves is clearly important if we believe that the Lord wants to use us in these gifts. In fact, I think that most of what I have learnt about recognising the inner voice of God’s Spirit has been by using these gifts.

A good example is how I started to exercise the gift of interpretation of tongues. I first spoke in tongues when I was baptised in the Holy Spirit on September 8th, 1959, just four weeks before starting my studies at Brasenose College, Oxford. I enjoyed the meetings at the church I attended and soon began to invite some of my friends from the college Christian Union to come and experience Pentecostal worship.

But there was just one problem. Although there was usually an interpretation after someone spoke in tongues, there were just one or two occasions when there was not. I was concerned that the friends I invited might get an unfavourable impression and conclude that Pentecostal worship was unscriptural. So I asked a friend, who was a Pentecostal evangelist, what I should do.

That’s easy, he said. You interpret.

But I don’t have the gift of interpretation, I replied.

Then ask for it, he said.

But how do I know God wants me to have it? I asked.

He then reminded me that we know from Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 12-14 that it’s God’s will for tongues in church to be interpreted, and he suggested that the very fact that I was concerned about it could be an indication that it was a gift God wanted me to have and that I should pray for it.

So that’s what I did. I began to pray for it, and a few weeks later after someone had spoken in tongues in the Sunday morning meeting and no one else had interpreted it, I spoke out in faith, trusting that the words that had come into my mind were from God.

For months I wondered if the gift I had received was genuine, or whether it was ‘just me’. Then, one day, at the close of a meeting in which I had interpreted, another Christian came up to me and told me that he had received word for word the interpretation which I had given.  I had exercised the gift in faith for months, but finally I had some confirmation that it was real.  

About seventeen years later, in November 1977 I was serving as Acting Principal of Mattersey Hall prior to becoming Principal in 1978. One Saturday evening we took a bus-load of about 45 students to Bethshan Tabernacle in Manchester. There were several hundred people in the meeting during which the students sang and testified, and I preached. As soon as I had finished preaching, a woman near to the back of the meeting began to speak in tongues. As I was still at the microphone, it seemed appropriate for me to interpret so that everyone present would hear and be edified. As usual I spoke out in faith what I felt the Lord had put on my heart. When I had finished, we sang a hymn and the pastor closed the meeting in prayer.

As soon as the meeting was over, one of our students, Guetawende Roamba from Burkina Faso, rushed up to me. He was clearly very excited, and when I asked him what was the matter, he told me that the woman who had spoken in tongues had been speaking his native language. Now in Burkina Faso they speak French, and because I also speak French fairly fluently, I knew that she had not been speaking French. So I wondered what language it might be. 

What language? I asked. Moré, he replied. Frankly, at that time I had never heard of it – and we found out later that the Irish lady who had spoken in tongues had never heard of it either! But I was excited that I had been present when speaking in tongues had been recognised as a real language. At the same time I was not a little concerned because I was the one who had given the interpretation! 

I had been interpreting tongues since I was a student at Oxford in 1960, but it had always been (as it always must be) ‘by faith’, and yet I still had some intellectual doubts that the gift was genuine. I had simply trusted the promise of Jesus that God gives good gifts to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11). Of course, I had no need to fear, but it’s easy to imagine how embarrassed I would have been if I had ‘got it wrong’ in the presence of one of my Bible College students!

I hardly dared ask the question, but I knew I had to. 

And what about the interpretation, Gueta? Was it accurate?

Of course, you know the answer because I wouldn’t be telling this story if the interpretation had been wrong! What an amazing thing! The Holy Spirit inspired an Irish woman to speak an African language which she had never heard, or even heard of, and then gave the interpretation to an English man who had never heard of it either! God is faithful. His word is true. And his Spirit is still at work distributing his gifts as he himself determines. The atheists – and for that matter those Christians who say that the gifts are not for today – have no answer to experiences like these!

So it’s not surprising that the devil tries to cast doubt on the genuineness of words that we receive from God. He is constantly challenging with words like, Has God said? God is more than willing to speak to us, but, if he can, Satan will distract us from listening, or cast doubt on what God has said. But as we step out in faith in what we believe he has said, we will receive confirmation that it is real and learn from experience to recognise that inner voice of God.

How God speaks to us            Talk 17 Supernatural signs

Another way God speaks to us is by supernatural signs.  In Acts 2:22 Peter refers to Jesus as a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs. And in Hebrews 2:4 we read that God testifies to our salvation by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

These three words, miracles, signs, and wonders, reveal three different aspects of the miraculous power of God. The word that is often translated as miracle literally means power. Miracles demonstrate how powerful God is, and they make us wonder. They cause amazement. They are also signs. They point the way. 

As we look at both the Old and New Testaments, we see that through signs and wonders God is speaking to us, demonstrating his power, revealing his love, confirming his promises, and giving us direction. Perhaps the best OT example of God giving direction through supernatural signs is found in the story of Gideon (Judges 6-7). In these chapters God speaks to Gideon in several different ways:

So supernatural signs are just one of several ways in which God speaks to Gideon, and, as we shall see, the signs God gives him are not so much a case of God speaking to him as a confirmation of what God has already said to him. But let’s remind ourselves of the story.

The Israelites had done evil in the sight of the Lord and as a result were being oppressed by the Midianites. But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help, he sent a prophet who reminded them of how the Lord had delivered them in the past and told them the reason for their problem – they had not listened to the Lord. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said: The Lord is with you, mighty warrior (6:12). 

When Gideon protests (v.13), the Lord says to him:

Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" (14) …I will be with you (16).

Then Gideon says: 

If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me (17).

Gideon then brings an offering to the Lord and the Lord responds by touching it with the tip of his staff. Immediately fire flares up and consumes the offering and the angel disappears (21). Gideon, realising who he’s been speaking to, fears for his life and says:

Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" (22).

But the Lord says to him:

Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die (23).

 What’s particularly noteworthy in this passage is the fact that Gideon seems to understand clearly the message he is receiving. God is with him and will use him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. But he needs reassurance because he finds it hard to believe that God would use someone like him and so he wonders if it really is God who is speaking to him (v17). So he asks for a sign. 

Later in the chapter we read that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and that he blew a trumpet, summoning an army to follow him (34-35). But, despite the promise and all the signs the Lord has already given him, Gideon still seeks reassurance and asks for further confirmation. In verses 36-40 we read:

Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised, 37. look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." 38. And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew – a bowlful of water. 39. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." 40. That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Now it’s important to understand this correctly, especially as some Christians today expect God to guide them by ‘putting out a fleece’. They’re not sure what God wants them to do, and so they say something like this:

Lord, if you want me to do A, let B happen. 

Which is fine, if we understand that Gideon was asking God to do something that was supernatural, something which couldn’t possibly happen unless God did it – like how God moved the shadow backwards for Hezekiah as a sign that he was extending his life for fifteen more years (2 Kings 20:1-11).

What’s more, by asking God to make the fleece wet, and then dry, Gideon was not asking God to do something that might possibly be contrary to God’s will. As an example of what I mean, consider the following. Let’s suppose I want to know if God wants me to go to London tomorrow; so I say:

Lord, if you want me to go to London tomorrow, let my cousin John come and see me today.

I hope it’s obvious that, although this fits the formula, Lord, if you want me to do A, let B happen, it’s by no means an exact parallel with what Gideon did. Why do I say this? Because, although it might be unlikely that my cousin would come and see me today, and even if I might think that it would be a miracle if he did, it might just be God’s will that my cousin does something completely different! So if God does want me to go to London tomorrow, but he doesn’t want my cousin to come and see me today, how can he possibly answer the foolish prayer I’ve just prayed?!

So please be very careful about asking God to make something happen as a sign that he wants you to do something, especially as after the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, there’s no NT example of anyone ‘putting out a fleece’. 

Furthermore, it’s worth remembering that Gideon shouldn’t have needed this sign. God had already spoken very clearly to him in several ways and God’s word should have been enough. Despite this, God graciously did what Gideon asked, as he does for us when, like Gideon, we need reassurance.

When we turn to the New Testament, we find that the main purpose of signs is to point people to Jesus. The star the wise men followed led them to Jesus (Matthew 2). Jesus himself performed signs and wonders because he knew that without them some people would not believe in him (John 4:48). The miracles he performed were signs that with the coming of Jesus the kingdom of God had come (Matthew 12:28, Luke 11:20). And Peter tells us that the miracles Jesus performed were signs that were given by God to testify who Jesus was (Acts 2:22). 

As John is nearing the end of his Gospel, having recorded amazing miracles like Jesus turning water into wine, healing a man who was born blind, feeding five thousand people, and raising Lazarus from the dead, he writes:

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

(John 20:30-31).

And God still works miracles to confirm the word of those who are preaching the good news about Jesus (Mark 16:15-20). This was the main purpose of the miracles recorded in the Book of Acts. Thousands came to faith in Jesus through the miracle of tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2:4) and the healing of the lame beggar in Acts 3 led to thousands more (Acts 4:4). In Acts 5 more and more men and women believed in the Lord as a result of the signs and wonders performed by the apostles (vv12-14). And when Philip the evangelist went to Samaria, crowds of people saw the signs he performed, believed in Jesus and were baptised (Acts 8:6-7, 12). 

So the main purpose of signs in the New Testament was to point people to Jesus. But how does this help us if we’re already Christians. How does God speak to us through signs? Part of the answer is simply that miraculous signs encourage our faith. The passage in John that we just referred to can also be translated that you may continue to believe. 

And who can deny that testimonies of miracles today encourage the faith of believers? Since the publication of my book, Signs from Heaven – why I believe, in which I record some of the miracles I have seen in my own life and ministry, people have told me how much it has encouraged their faith. But that leads me to an experience which I shared in that book and how it radically altered the direction of my life.

You may remember that in an earlier talk I told you of the impact Laurie Dixon had made on my life. Remember the story of the falling rock that just missed me on the mountainside in Switzerland and how that led to Laurie telling me about the baptism in the Holy Spirit?   That was in 1958. Now fast forward to July 1959.

Eileen, who was then my girlfriend, and I were sitting in the youth meeting at church singing from a well-known chorus book, when I happened to notice a list of books advertised on the back cover, one of which was entitled, The full blessing of Pentecost, by Dr Andrew Murray. Immediately I concluded that this book must be dealing with the subject Laurie had been talking about last year in Switzerland, and I suggested that it might be good to get it. In a few days, Eileen received a reply from the advertisers saying that the book was no longer available.

A bit disappointed, I returned home from Eileen’s to my parents’ house for lunch. As the meal was not quite ready, I went into the sitting room to wait. On entering, I happened to notice a book lying on the piano and casually picked it up - The full blessing of Pentecost by Dr Andrew Murray! But how did it get there? No one, except Eileen, knew anything of my interest in the subject. My parents did not know where the book had come from. It is true that my father had always had a large collection of books, but if it was his, he certainly had never read it, and didn’t even know that he possessed it. Anyway, why wasn’t it in the bookcase and how did it get on the piano? 

No one to this day has any idea how that book came to be there on the very day that I had thought it to be unobtainable. The answer must surely lie in the realm of the supernatural – maybe an angel? But even if you think up a natural explanation – and that’s always possible for those who don’t want to believe – how likely is it that this was just a coincidence? No, God was confirming to us that we needed to be baptised in the Spirit, and when we had read the book, and were persuaded that the experience was biblical, we were both baptised in the Spirit and began to speak in tongues.

Of course, as I just mentioned, those who are sceptical try to explain away such things as the appearance of the book as coincidences. Indeed, all answers to prayer tend to be dismissed in that way. But, as a former archbishop of Canterbury once said, I find that when I pray, coincidences happen. When I don’t pray, they don’t!

In fact, what at first sight might appear to be a coincidence may very well turn out to be a sign. When one ‘coincidence’ happens after another, we may very well conclude that what is happening is actually the activity of God. This is how God spoke to me when I desperately needed to be sure that the pathway we had embarked upon was really in the will of God.

It was at the beginning of the 1980s while I was Principal of Mattersey Hall Bible College. As the facilities at the time were, to say the least, outdated, and as the number of students was increasing rapidly, we urgently needed to provide new accommodation for them. It was estimated that we would need £600,000 to do this (which in today’s terms would be more like £6 million). But we had nothing in the bank. 

The matter was so serious that the Board of Governors referred it to the Executive Council, and the Executive Council referred it to the General Council of Assemblies of God meeting in its Annual General Conference in Minehead. 

The matter was discussed at length and, during the course of the debate, one of the pastors went to the microphone and asked me a direct question: David, have you heard from the Lord? In all honesty I had to answer, No, I just know that we need this new building. The debate drew to a close and the matter was put to the vote. To my delight, the proposition to go ahead received the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution. Now all we needed was the money!

After the vote had been carried by so large a majority, I fully expected the money to come pouring in. But very little came! Everyone seemed to be leaving it to everyone else! As the time for the signing of the contract drew near, we still had very little money, and I began to be anxious. Who has to sign the contract? What happens if the money doesn’t come in? Who goes to prison if the money doesn’t come in?! These were serious questions that were troubling my mind, and I kept remembering the question that pastor had asked me in Minehead: David, have you heard from the Lord?

Eventually, in desperation I said to Eileen: 

I need to hear from God about this. I’m going to pray all night, and if he doesn’t speak to me, I’m going to phone the Board of Governors and cancel the whole thing. 

So I began my night of prayer. After several hours, at around 2am, I began to feel like giving up. God wasn’t speaking and I really didn’t know what to do. I decided to take a break, so I sat down on the settee and picked up a copy of Redemption Tidings magazine.

As I opened it the title on the editorial page struck me forcibly: FAITH. So I began to read. Now if you have ever been in desperate need to hear from God and have been in a meeting where someone has brought a prophetic word which you have known was just for you, you will understand just how I felt as I read that editorial. Every single word of it came as Thus says the Lord to David Petts. I knew that God had spoken. I knew that we were to go ahead. I knelt down by the settee and sobbed into the cushion and asked God to forgive me for my lack of faith. Then I went to bed. From that moment I never doubted that God was behind our building project after all.

But that is not the end of the story. The next morning I went down to the College and walked into the office. Ernest Anderson, who was then a resident member of faculty, was standing there and I excitedly told him what had happened. 

That’s wonderful, David, he said, I was praying all night too. 

I thought it was strange that we had both decided independently to pray all night and I could not imagine why he had decided to do so. 

Oh, I said, What were you praying for? 

To which he replied:

I was praying for the same thing. I knew that unless you, as the Principal of the College, heard from God, the thing would never happen. 

Oh, thank you Ernest, I said, but you could have gone to bed at 2 o’clock!

I immediately telephoned Colin Whittaker, the editor of the magazine. Colin, I said, you have written the greatest editorial you will ever write, and I told him what had happened. Then he told me that he had known when he was writing the editorial that he was writing it for the College, but he had not felt able to be that explicit in print. 

Some coincidence! I knew beyond doubt that this was far more. That series of events could not possibly be coincidence and through it I received confirmation that what I had read really was a word from God, a word that gave me faith for something bigger than myself. And, of course, because it was from God, it came to pass.

But faith does not always see immediate results. It is sometimes tested, and in fact it was a few years before the building was finally complete. There was an initial response as I told the story of how the Lord has spoken to me, and we were soon able to provide new accommodation for 32 of our students, but then the flow of funds dried up and building had to be delayed. Sure that we had received a word from the Lord, the Board of Governors, of which I was a member, decided to spend a day together in prayer and fasting.

Towards the end of the day, Paul Newberry shared with us two verses that he felt the Holy Spirit had impressed upon him from Micah 7:

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light (v8).

The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries (v11).

It seemed to us that the Lord was saying that the enemy would have no reason to gloat over the present delay in our building project. Now was not God’s time for more building development, but that the time for building would surely come.

Encouraged by this I went home. Our daughter Sarah was home from college and I called to her as I entered the house. I’m up here, she said, calling from her bedroom. I went up to see her and, to my surprise, she was sitting in the dark. When I asked her why, she replied in the words of Micah 7:8. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light! What a confirmation! The same verse from two different people in two different places in the space of less than one hour. 

And, of course, the time for building did come, and at the time of preparing this talk, I’ll be back there teaching this week and I think I’ll be staying in that very building.

But now it's time to summarise what we have learned in this talk.

Next time: Promptings

Talk 16 God speaks to us directly     Part 2       Dreams and visions

I guess most Christians know that the Bible contains many references to God speaking to people through a dream or vision. The book of Genesis alone contains some 40 references to the word dream, and at least seven people are mentioned as having been spoken to in a dream or vision. These include:

And in the rest of the Old Testament there are many other references too, far too many to mention here. The most significant of these is Joel’s prophecy:

And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions… (Joel 2:28),

We’ll return to this when we come to look at dreams and visions in the New Testament, but first let’s consider three other OT passages. The first is in the book of Job which is considered to be the oldest of all the books of the Bible and in it we find Elihu saying to Job:

Why do you complain to God that he responds to no one's words? For God does speak - now one way, now another - though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears…(Job 33:13-16).

Now it’s important when reading Job to be aware that not everything Job’s friends said to him was correct, but in this case Elihu’s words are in line with what God himself says in Numbers 12:6-8: 

When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord.

Here God confirms that he does speak through dreams and visions, but also makes it clear that they are ‘riddles’ and can be open to misinterpretation. They are not as reliable as the level of revelation that God granted to Moses. They need to be interpreted, as we know from the well-known stories of Joseph and Daniel who were gifted by God in interpreting dreams. 

Finally, in Jeremiah 23 we are warned against the danger of false visions:

This is what the Lord Almighty says: Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they will fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord (v.16. Compare 14:14).

Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully for what has straw to do with grain? declares the Lord (v.28).

The context here is that God had told Jeremiah that judgment was coming on the nation, but this, of course, was an unpopular message that nobody wanted to believe. The false prophets, who were politically motivated, were only saying what they knew the king wanted to hear. Through Jeremiah God is warning these prophets to make sure that they are speaking God’s word faithfully and not prophesying visions from their own minds. And he is warning those who are listening to them not to believe them.

So the OT passages we have been looking at teach us that:

We sometimes think that God does not respond to us, but he does in one way or another, sometimes by a dream or vision (Job 33:13-16).  Even when God does speak through a dream or vision, it often needs to be interpreted (Numbers 12:6-8).  Visions and dreams need to be evaluated. What is the motivation of the person relating their dream? Are they faithful to God’s word? (Jeremiah 23:16, 28). As we see from the example of faithful Moses, there is a higher level of revelation than dreams and visions. For us, that is the teaching of Scripture. This is in harmony with what we have already seen with regard to different levels of prophecy.  

As we come now to look at the New Testament, we see that here too there are frequent references to God speaking through dreams and visions. In the Gospels we read about Joseph and the wise men in the Christmas story, and Pilate’s wife having dreams, and of Zechariah, Peter, James, and John having visions. In Acts, God (or an angel sent by God) speaks in visions to Cornelius, Peter, and Paul.

The references in Acts are particularly important for us, because, as we have explained before, we are living after Pentecost which was a turning point in human history. The gift of God’s Holy Spirit was then made available to all his people. When the crowd, composed of many different nationalities, are amazed to hear the disciples speaking their languages, they ask, What does this mean? To which Peter replies:

…this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy… 

(Acts 2:16-18).

This seems to suggest that, far from any idea that dreams and visions might become redundant after Pentecost, there should in fact be an increase in these manifestations. They are a direct result of the Spirit being made available to all. What’s more, if God spoke to Cornelius, Peter, and Paul through visions, there is no reason to suppose that he will not speak in the same way to people today, And indeed, there are increasing numbers of testimonies of Muslims around the world who have come to Christ as a result of God speaking to them through a dream or vision.

Finally, before I share a personal testimony of how God spoke to me in a dream, it’s worth noting that in Acts 2 Peter identifies the manifestation of speaking in tongues as the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy that when the Spirit was poured out in the last days all kinds of people would see dreams and visions and that they would prophesy. This may well suggest that, just as dreams and visions are a means of prophetic revelation, speaking in tongues fulfils a similar role.  It certainly did so on the Day of Pentecost and, as we have seen, when accompanied by the gift of interpretation of tongues, it can be a means of building up believers in the local church. God has spoken to me many times through these gifts, but only once has he spoken to me through a dream.   

Some years ago, my daughter, Sarah, recommended a book by Jack Deere entitled, Surprised by the Voice of God. On reading it, I was challenged by the reminder that in the Bible God often spoke through dreams, and I wondered why God had never spoken to me in a dream. So I said, almost casually, Lord, you have never spoken to me in a dream, and I would really like you to. 

I must admit that I didn’t expect an immediate answer, but a few days later I had a dream. But before I tell you what it was, I need to tell you about our family. Debbie, our oldest daughter was living in Rugby. Sarah, our second daughter, was living in Portsmouth. And Jonathan, our son, was living near Liverpool. 

About a year before I had the dream, Sarah had asked me if I knew anyone who needed a car. She had tried to sell her old one, but was offered only £300 for it and felt that she’d rather give it away than sell it for such a low price. I told her that I thought Jonathan would be grateful for it, and so she gave the car to him.

Shortly before I had the dream, we had arranged to visit Debbie on a particular weekend because we knew that Jonathan would be there too. Now I had the dream about a week before the visit to Debbie. In my dream Eileen and I went to Debbie in separate cars because we would need to give Eileen’s car to Jonathan. That was it. And even though I had asked the Lord to speak to me through a dream, I didn’t seriously think that the dream was a message from God. And so we both went to Debbie’s in my car.

Imagine my surprise when we arrived at Debbie’s and saw what looked like a brand-new car standing outside Debbie’s house. Whose is the car? I said. Oh, it belongs to the insurance company, said Jonathan. Mine is a write-off. Someone smashed into the back of it while it was parked on the road.

And it was then that I was reminded of my dream. Could God be saying that we should give Eileen’s car to Jonathan? I told her about the dream, and she readily agreed that that is what we should do. So we told Jonathan and simply asked that he would give us the insurance money when it came through, to put towards replacing the car we were giving him. We didn’t expect very much as the most Sarah had been offered for it a year before was £300.

Eileen and I agreed together that we’d leave it a few weeks and then start to look for a replacement car for her. The car she had given Jonathan was a Toyota Corolla 1600, five door executive automatic, and Eileen loved it! So I promised her that we’d look for a newer version of exactly the same model. Shortly afterwards we heard from Jonathan. The insurance company had given him £1200 for the car, for which, if you remember, a year before Sarah had been offered a mere £300.

Grateful to God that we were getting far more than we had expected, Eileen and I set off one Saturday visiting car sales companies in several nearby towns, looking for a Toyota Corolla with the same specification. It was pouring with rain all day long, and after several hours of unsuccessful searching we returned home, tired, wet, and rather discouraged. 

Then, quite suddenly, on the following Tuesday, a thought came into my mind. A few years earlier the College had bought a Toyota minibus from a Christian brother in Nottingham who had a garage with a Toyota franchise. Maybe I should try him? So I phoned him and told him what I was looking for. If he had one come in, would he please let us know? To which he replied, Will silver do? 

Now the colour of the car was about the only detail I hadn’t specified when I told him what we were looking for, but silver was just the sort of colour we wanted! Yes, that’s fine, I said. Does that mean you’ve got one? And to cut a long story short, one had come in that very day, There was just one previous owner and they had only covered 3000 miles a year from new. The price was right, and when he said, When do you want to come over and look at it? my reply was, I don’t need to. This is so obviously God, I’ll come and get it on Saturday. That’s the only time I’ve ever bought a car without looking at it, and it was just what Eileen wanted. 

Now you may think that I’ve wandered a long way from the dream I was telling you about, but if it had not been for that dream, that whole series of amazing events would never have happened. And the story is not just about a dream about a car. It’s a testimony of how God is at work in the little details of our lives, constantly working all things together for our good because he loves us and because we are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Talk 15      God speaks to us directly (Part 1)

The Bible is full of examples of God speaking very directly, often without any human involvement. Some of the ways he speaks like this include: 

We’ll look at each of these in turn, starting with some biblical examples and then illustrating wherever possible from my own experience. I say ‘wherever possible’ because I can’t honestly say that God has spoken to me in all of these ways.

An audible voice

There are many examples in the Bible where we read that the Lord spoke to someone, but it’s not always clear how he spoke. Consider the example we looked at earlier in the series. We looked at Acts 13:1-3 where we read that the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." The Holy Spirit may well have spoken with an audible voice on this occasion, but it’s just as likely that the spoke through one of the prophets who were present (v.1). 

On other occasions, however, it’s perfectly clear that God’s voice was audible. To mention just a few examples:

Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send and who will go for us?’ (Isaiah 6:8). 

When Ezekiel had a vision of the glory of the Lord, he fell face down and heard the voice of one speaking (Ezekiel 1:28).

At Jesus’ baptism a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matthew 3:17).

On the road to Damascus, Paul had a vision of Jesus, fell to the ground, and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9:4).

Peter heard his voice while praying on the rooftop in Joppa (Acts 10:13-16).

And on the isle of Patmos John heard a loud voice, the voice of the Lord, telling him to write (Revelation 1:10-12).

All these examples seem to make it perfectly clear that God sometimes speaks with an audible voice. But to be absolutely sure about this, let’s turn to the well-known story of Samuel (1 Samuel 3).

Hannah, Samuel’s mother, had been unable to have children, which, in the culture in which she lived, caused other women to despise her. But she prayed fervently to the Lord and promised that if he would give her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord’s service. So, when Samuel was born in answer to Hannah’s prayer, she took him to the temple where the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest (2:11). 

In chapter 3 we read how one night, while Samuel was lying down, the Lord called him by name. Samuel, not knowing that it was the Lord, ran to Eli and said, Here I am. You called me. But Eli replied, I did not call; go back and lie down. This happened three times, and by then Eli realised that it was God who was calling Samuel. He told him that, when the Lord called again, he should reply, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.

This was the beginning of Samuel’s ministry as a prophet and it’s very clear that God’s voice was audible. The fact that Samuel thought that it was Eli who was speaking shows that Samuel heard what was being said. From this it seems reasonable to assume that this may well have been the way that God spoke to Samuel on a regular basis.

And I have no doubt that if God could do it then, he can do it today. Having said that, although God has spoken to me in many wonderful ways, I have never heard his audible voice and I know very few people who would claim to have done so. However, rather more frequently we hear of God speaking through the ministry of angels.

Angels

As far as I know, I have never seen an angel and have never heard an angel speak to me – although we need to remember that some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2). But both Old and New Testaments show that God sometimes speaks to his people through the ministry of angels.

The word angel comes directly from the Greek word aggelos (pronounced angelos) and simply means messenger. Angels are God’s messengers. They are ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14). A good example of this is when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist and told him that his prayer had been heard and that his wife, Elizabeth, who was barren, would bear him a son. Humanly speaking, this was totally impossible because both Zechariah and Elizabeth were now far too old. I think Zechariah’s question was quite understandable:

How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years (Luke 1:18).

Gabriel’s reply in the next verse illustrates perfectly the ministry of angels: 

I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news (Luke 1:19).

Angels are God’s messengers. They stand in God’s presence and are sent to speak to us. The Gospels and Acts give us plenty of examples. About six months after his visit to Zechariah, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a virgin whose name was Mary (Luke 1:26-27). It was angels who brought the good news of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds and told them where they would find him (Luke 2:8-14). 

It was an angel that came from heaven and appeared to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, strengthening him (Luke 22:43). And it was the angel of the Lord who descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from the mouth of Jesus’ tomb and told the women who had come to anoint the body of Jesus that he was risen (Matthew 28:1:7).

In the Book of Acts, as the disciples were looking intently up into the sky, two men dressed in white stood beside them (Acts 1:10). They told them:

This same Jesus who has been taken from you into Heaven, will come back in the same way as you have seen him go into Heaven (v,11)

These men dressed in white were undoubtedly angels sent by God to remind them of Jesus’ promise that he would come again (John 14:28).

In Acts 5:19 the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and released Peter and John. In Acts 8:26 an angel told Philip the evangelist to go south to the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. This led to the conversion of a key national leader from the land of Ethiopia.

In Acts 10 it was an angel who spoke to both the apostle Peter and the Roman centurion Cornelius (verses 3, 7, 22) resulting in the conversion of Cornelius and his entire household. In Acts 12 it was the angel of the Lord who once again released Peter from prison (verses 7-11). And in Acts 27:23-24 it was an angel who stood beside Paul before the ship on which he was travelling was wrecked on the island of Malta and said:

Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you,

Now the Book of Acts was not written simply as a historical account of the beginnings of the early church. Most scholars are agreed that Luke’s intentions in writing it were not merely historical. They are theological and missional. Luke is not just teaching us how it was, but how it can and should be. And in recording the frequent activity of angels, he is surely telling us that we can at times expect angelic intervention too.

There have certainly been many anecdotal reports recently of people claiming to have experienced the presence of angels in one way or another and I see no good reason to doubt this, particularly when the testimony comes from a reliable source. As far as Eileen and I are concerned, although God has never spoken to us through an angelic messenger, I am confident that we have experienced angelic help on at least one occasion.

In 1977 I served as Acting Principal of Mattersey Hall for six months before being appointed Principal in 1978. During that time we were still living in Basingstoke although I was at Mattersey much of the time about 200 miles away from home. 

One weekend I went with about 50 of our students from Mattersey to Newport in South Wales. There was a big inter-church meeting on the Saturday night and on the Sunday the students went to different churches to sing, testify, and preach. I stayed in Newport to preach in the church there.

After Sunday lunch the pastor, Eric Dando, asked me if I would like to phone Eileen, which of course I was grateful to do. After telling her that the weekend was going well, I asked her how she was and was shocked to hear her reply.

    I’m O.K., she said, but I very nearly wasn’t!

    Oh! What’s happened? I replied.

And she told me what had happened to her on the Saturday night while I had been away preaching in Newport.

There had been a women’s missionary meeting in London and Eileen and several of the ladies from the church in Basingstoke had gone to it. They had travelled in two cars and on the way home, on the road between Reading and Basingstoke, several horses ran into the road in front of the cars. It seems that they had escaped from a nearby field.

One of the horses collided with the car in which Eileen was travelling in the front passenger seat. The impact was so great that the front of the car roof caved in to within an inch of Eileen’s head. The car was a complete write-off and, as the people from the car in front walked back to see exactly what had happened, they feared the worst. 

At this point it is important to explain that at that time the wearing of seat-belts was not compulsory in the U.K. and the car in which Eileen was travelling didn’t have any. Bearing in mind the speed at which the car had been travelling when it collided with the horse, both Eileen and the driver should have been thrown forward through the windscreen. Indeed, the woman seated behind Eileen was thrown forward so violently into the back of Eileen’s seat that it was twisted out of position.

Yet Eileen was not thrown forward, and none of those travelling in that car was seriously injured. They all walked away relatively unharmed. As she related the story afterwards Eileen told me that throughout the whole incident she was strangely conscious of something – or someone? – holding her to the back of her seat, preventing her from being thrown forward. Was it a coincidence that on that very evening I had been preaching in Newport on a subject I have rarely preached on before or since? My subject was ANGELS.

Of course, I cannot categorically state that Eileen was saved by an angel. But I am certain that Eileen’s life was spared by divine intervention of some kind – and, as we have seen, the Bible does say that angels are messengers God sometimes sends to be of help to his people.

More recently I had an experience of answered prayer which several of my friends have suggested might have been brought about by angels. It was Sunday May 9th 2021 at around 10.45am. I was travelling from Brixham, where we live, to Newton Abbot for a COVID test. This was required because I was due to go into hospital on the Tuesday for an exploratory procedure on my larynx. 

Shortly after I started my journey I noticed a gentle banging sound coming from the rear of the car. At first I wasn’t too concerned and anyway I didn’t want to stop as I didn’t want to miss the appointment for the COVID test which was at 11am. If I had missed the appointment the procedure would have had to be postponed. So I continued my journey hoping that the banging was nothing serious,

Within a few miles, however, the banging had become much louder and I was getting scared. Finally, in desperation I called out, Lord Jesus, please take care of this! No sooner had I said this than I saw in the mirror a car behind me flashing its headlights. It drew along side me and indicated that I needed to pull over into the layby that was a few yards ahead.

When I did so the problem was obvious. My nearside back wheel was coming off! Two of the five nuts that hold the wheel on were missing and the other three were loose. If I had continued like that, the consequences could have been fatal. Relieved that the other driver had pulled me over in time, I asked if he could help me, explaining the urgency of getting to the COVID appointment. This he gladly did and, when he searched in the boot for the wheel brace, he discovered that there were two spare wheel nuts there!  It took less than a minute for him to fix the wheel and he was on his way. And I reached Newton Abbot just in time for my appointment. I think I have never known such a quick and dramatic answer to prayer.

Now, of course, I cannot be sure that the man who fixed my wheel was in fact an angel, but I’m open to that possibility. But in a way it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that the Lord answered my prayer, saved my life and brought me safely through the operation. Whether or not he used an angel to do so is unimportant. As we have seen, the Bible does tell us that angels are God’s messengers and that they are sent to minister to God’s people.  I believe it because the Bible says so, not because I’ve had an experience that may or may not have involved an angel.