My Song This Morning

To My Brothers and Sisters:

If I am killed
Will you please still sing
If I am butchered
Still bring your praise to the king
If I am blown up
Please make much of his name
If I should die during worship
If I am slain

Know that my death
Is not in vain
Know that God is still God
And Jesus still reigns
Know that death is still robbed
It's still lost it's sting
He is risen indeed
And our hope is in him

To our adversaries:

Know that while you still kill us
We will yet live
Know that while we forgive you
Only God can forgive
Know that there is still mercy
It's found in the name
Of this Jesus we worship
The one who once came
To die for your sin
And rose from the grave
And he alone is your hope
Only Jesus can Save.

Good Friday (Mark 15)

Good Friday (From Mark 15)

The Soldiers led him out, weary, whipped and bloodied from his beating, the mocking words of their taunt, as they struck the blindfolded man, still ringing in his ears.

“Prophecy who hit you!”

But Pontious Pilates attempt to placate the crowd had failed. He had crumbled to their demand to crucify a man he knew to be innocent and released instead a criminal held for murder and insurrection.

The basis for the charge bought against this Jesus? That he was a rabble rouser.

It now seemed like a joke that he had appeared such a threat to them just minutes ago. His thorny crown was jammed deep into the skin around his skull, slammed in by staff blows from the soldiers, the free flowing blood from his wounds already soaking through the clothes they had hastily thrown back upon him.

He cut a forlorn figure, as he staggered over to the cross that had been waiting for him his whole

life.

There he was forced to bear all the weight of it upon his back, the very thing that would soon bear all of his weight, as he bore the weight of the world, and he staggered and stumbled through the streets, where weeks ago crowds laid palm leaves at his feet, cheering then but, for the most part, jeering now.

Perhaps it was Jesus' sorry state that caused the soldiers to select Simon from the crowds (a man from the African city of Cyrene), on his way home to that place, and to compel him to carry the cross on behalf of the stumbling Messiah. He had just been passing and was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they made him haul the cross, as the crowd followed, all the way to Golgotha, the place of the skull.

When they arrived at that place Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, supposed to have a narcotic effect to dull the unimaginable pain that he was about to endure.

Jesus refused it.

Then they crucified him there, stretching out his limbs over the cross and hammering nails through his hands and feet as he was laid on top of it, and then hoisting the cross vertically until it violently dropped down, jolting into its slot, Jesus' body weight shifting with it. He was now hanging from those nails.

It was about nine o clock in the morning and the sun was gaining strength.

As he hung there the soldiers, in plain sight, cast lots for his clothes. Whatever their reasons for wanting them, the message was clear to all. He wouldn't be needing them again.

Above the head of the bloodied and stripped-down saviour was written the charge against him

“The King of the Jews”

They also crucified two rebels on either side of him. The people who passed hurled insults at him. They shook their heads in disdain and said,

‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’

and It wasn't just the crowds who mocked him. The chief priests and the teachers of the law wanted their chance too. Gleefully mocking him among themselves they said

‘He saved others,but he can’t save himself! Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’

And to add even more insult to the indignity he was suffering, even those crucified with him initially began to join in with the insults against him.

After three hours, at mid-day, the Sun arriving at its zenith, a darkness came over the whole land for a further three more hours, and then Jesus in spite of his ordeal and the respiratory torture his body was under, cried out in a loud voice.

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)

Some people in the crowd mistakenly thought he was calling for the Prophet Elijah. One man hurried to the foot of the cross with a sponge that he had filled with sour wine, and hoisted it on a stick for Jesus to drink. The wine was offered as a thirst quenching drink, in an attempt to keep him conscious a little longer. Having refused the drugged wine earlier, this wine he took.

The man then revealed his motive when he then said,

“ Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,”

 

But Elijah did not come.

Instead, there was a loud cry.

They saw the silhouette of the suffering saviour bow his head. Jesus had breathed his last.

In the temple the curtain, at least 45 feet high and 4 inches thick, was torn in two, from top to bottom.

The Centurion who was stood in front of the cross, a veteran of many crucifixions, seeing how Jesus had died said,

“Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Please Please Me Now

Just a reflection on some quiet time revelation.

I find myself yearning again for transformation. This yearning that is the reason for my current series on renewal of the mind. BE TRANSFORMED by the renewing of the mind (Rom 12:2).

I suppose it was God that asked me, during some earnest prayer, why is it that I want this so much? Why is it that I am not satisfied without it? And the answer came to me that it is worthiness that I seek. And worth is very much at the heart of that word. My sense of worth cannot come (I speak as myself and not in the name of truth) from simple acceptance. I am not good enough and I want to earn it.

But the answer to this, as to everything, is in Jesus.

God made it very clear to me, and especially this morning, that I am acceptable in his sight because he looks on Jesus' worthiness and transfers it to my account. I am not only accepted through Jesus, but I am acceptable in him.

But my first gut response to this is far from holy. It is, I am ashamed to say, an affront to my pride. I find this so hard to accept. On paper, in theory, academically and intellectually I 'agree', I almost acquiesce to it, but when I view this in place of my personal sense of needing approval, it doesn't quite cut the mustard. There is something buried deep in me, possibly from childhood, that tells me it must be deserved. And God knows I don't deserve it.

There is this thing. This thing is in me that yearns for approval and recoils from disapproval. I honestly don't know which of those is more powerful in my life, but I guess they are two sides of the same coin.

I would describe myself largely as a people pleaser. Not a particularly effective one, but none the less it forms a large part of my motivation. As a result I often agree to things I shouldn't and shy away from fights I should have. It's a fear based way of being that only offers the fruit of destruction and ironically pleases very few people, myself included.

When I prayed this morning and God asked me about my motivation, my verbal response was, in essence, that I wanted to be pleasing to him.

And then The Holy Spirit and I began to unpack that a little. The result of which was that a subtle difference in motivation was highlighted which changes everything. I wanted to be pleasing to him, but I wasn't seeking his pleasure. I was seeking his approval. To be pleasing rather than to please.

He reminded me in his grace that I am approved of, in Christ, that his delight is in me, that he is rooting for me, willing for me to succeed, but it is not necessary for his approval. I already have that. He rejoices over me with singing.

What I do I should do for love and not for pay. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. We don't work for wages, but our response is to be one of loving and life giving gratitude for the gift he has already bestowed on us. His pleasure should please us.

I am reminded of the Olympic runner Eric Liddell, about whom the film 'Chariots of Fire' was made. He said, of his sport, 'When I run I feel his pleasure'. In a kingdom sense, his pleasure should please us, and ours him. Which leads me, with synergy, back to Romans 12:2.

Do not conform 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.

We should hear that. At least I certainly should. His perfect will is good and pleasing. That's good, pleasing and perfect to and for us by the way!

Jesus said,

 ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’~Matt 11:28-30

I believe now that pleasing him is an easy yoke, and a light burden. That doesn't mean it wont mean work, but you are assured of the Father that whatever you do from love of him will bring him pleasure, and, I suspect, it should bring you some too.

Renewing The Mind (Part three): Playing Catch-Up

I have recently bought a flat. I've only been in since December. A week or so after I moved in, the previous owners, who had just moved a few miles across to the other side of town, contacted me with a text to say that one of their cats had escaped from his confinement and 'could I let them know if he turned up at my flat'. He answers, they said, to the name of Marmite.

I had all but forgotten about their text when 2 months later the cat flap that I thought I had locked on arrival was batted open with a mighty thwack, at about 11pm and nearly caused me to have a heart attack. It was dark at the time and I didn't mange to identify the culprit. I think my scream had scared him off quite effectively. It was not even until the next day that I thought that it might have been 'Marmite'.

Over the next few days though, the culprit paid several more visits. Though he wouldn't let me near him I took a picture and sent a text to the previous owner:

It was indeed Marmite. They came round to look for him but he had disappeared.

Eventually, a day or so later, armed specially with ham and Chicken Dreamies, I managed to coax Marmite into my house where he duly freaked out and did a Tasmanian Devil impression. In the next hour while I waited for his owners to arrive (presumably with heavy duty gloves, Catch Pole and/or Tranquillisers) I saw a quiet and gradual meat induced transformation take place in Marmite's mood. By the time they arrived he was sitting on my lap and taking treats directly from my hand.

I was especially pleased about Marmite being reunited with his family not least because they had 2 little girls who had been very upset at his disappearance. I had even prayed about it on their behalf because I know how hard these early experiences of loss can hit kids. And after 2 months, through all the snow we had as well, his return really felt miraculous.


Marmite's address had changed. He just hadn't learnt that yet.

And I know how easy it is to forget your new address.

On the day I moved in, I drove to the estate agents to collect my keys, and then, on pure auto pilot, I started to drive back to my old house. My address had changed too, but I hadn't learnt that yet. Fortunately it didn't take me as long as it took Marmite!


This demonstrates to me so clearly the need for renewing of the mind.

Billy Graham used to love to use a quote that he adapted from  D. L. Moody:

Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.

And I love that quote too. But, you see, the reality is that, in a sense that we sometimes struggle to comprehend, this address change, in some senses, has already taken place:

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus~ Eph 2:4-6 

Paul is very aware that we seem to experience some cognitive dissonance on this front. So much so that He asks in his epistle to the Colossians, 'Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules'. In other words 'why are you behaving as though you haven't died with Christ, as though you weren't raised with him?'

In an attempt to redress the balance he tells them in Chapter 3:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.~ Col 3:1-4

In other words, you are a citizen of heaven. You live there now! Get that into your head. Start thinking in a heavenly way and desiring heavenly things.

The rest of the chapter talks about what the outworking of that looks like.

The Cat when it is moved (and they don't naturally move) must have a period of confinement. It is an immersive treatment used to readjust their thinking about where their territory is. If this time doesn't take place they are prone to attempt to go back to their old abode. Sound familiar? It is, in a sense, a time for the cat's mind to be 'renewed'.

I don't know what your experience is, but the time when I first came to Christ was very similar to 'cat camp', in that I was immersed in scripture and teaching and church life. I was reshaping my thinking all over the place because so much of it conflicted with Christ. I think this time has set me in good stead. But it is not a complete work. Not yet.

We need to continually retrain our brains so we know where we live and who we are now. We are encouraged to delight in God's words and meditate on them day and night. Why? So we are immersed in the truth, and the truth sets us free. And so we do not forget, where we live, or who we are, or, more importantly, who HE is. We must understand these truths, that are objective and indisputable; that they are truth, but that our minds, just like Marmite's, need to play a little catch-up.