Archives for October 2019

The second greatest command is to love our neighbour as ourself.

“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law? Jesus declared, 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.” Matthew 22:36-39

The idea of loving our neighbour was quite challenging to the Jews, even though they knew this commandment from the Old Testament writings.

“You are not to avenge, or bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you are to love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18

This command is a challenge to our selfishness. We are instinctively inclined to serve ourselves before others and think of ourselves above others. So to treat these ‘others’ as we would rather be treating ourself collides directly with our selfishness.

Indicating the challenging nature of this command to those of Jesus’ day note that one of the religious people, an expert of the law, asked for clarification as to who to treat as ‘neighbour’. It seems the religious people were looking for some kind of limitation on who would be regarded as a neighbour. Obviously it was a wider circle than family, but should it include those we don’t know, or who are foreigners to us? The expert in the law wanted to justify himself, we are told. Maybe he wanted to validate his own interpretation limiting the application of this command.

“But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbour?” Luke 10:29

Jesus answered by telling of the Good Samaritan. Note that God often communicates truth in a broader way than just by giving a list. This account of a man being assisted conveys more than might meet the eye at first glance.

Jesus tells of a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. It probably doesn’t matter where the man started from or was heading, but what this suggests is that Jesus was not making up a story, a parable, but recounting an event that actually took place, so He gave this detail.

Robbers attacked the man, stripped him and beat him leaving him half dead.

A priest came by. This was the highest order of spiritual person in the culture. He was able to perform religious duties others were forbidden to perform. He, you might think, should have been the first to display God’s character and to care for the injured man. However, he passed by, keeping his distance.

Next came a levite. This was the next highest order of spiritual person. He too should have displayed God’s care. However, he too passed by, keeping his distance.

A Samaritan came along, saw him and had compassion. This was a foreigner, from a group often despised by the Jews. This is the one most likely to not care what happened to the injured man. However he did care. He took the man to an inn and saw to his needs.

Jesus then answered the man’s question with a question.

“Which of these three, do you consider, proved to be a neighbour to the man attacked by the robbers? The man answered, The one who showed mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise.” Luke 10:36,37

Do Likewise? What does that mean?

It means we are to regard people as our neighbour without regard for the social, cultural and political elements of their life. Being a ‘neighbour’ in God’s language means being a person in some kind of need. It doesn’t matter that they don’t speak our language or don’t live in the same way or to the same beliefs as we do.
The concept of neighbour goes way beyond those in our family and neighbourhood, or of our nationality, or among anyone we would normally associate with.

Yet the idea of loving our neighbour does not mean loving everyone in the whole world at the same time. Let me explain.

That Samaritan helped the injured Jewish man because he came across him on the road. The Good Samaritan didn’t set up a team to search the hills every day for more injured people. There must have been others who were attacked by the robbers, but the only one we know the Samaritan assisted was this one man.

The Good Samaritan was a neighbour to the man in need, but not to all the people in the world. He met the need that confronted him, but did not devote himself to searching out needs everywhere they might be hidden. He went on with his life without any obsession about finding needy people.

So Christ is revealing that anyone could be our neighbour, but the act of loving our neighbour is not an obsession, driving us around the world in search of needy people. It is a matter of us living life and paying attention to the people in our neighbourhood, whether that’s along the road we travel, in the town we are visiting, among our work associates, people taking the same bus as us, or strangers who happen to turn up in front of us.

With that perspective we can balance getting on with life with Christ’s (and God’s) command that we love our neighbour as ourself.

Which neighbour are you to love? All of them. But rather than lose your life looking for neighbours, get on with your life and love all those neighbours who God puts in your path, no matter how unexpected.

God declares an aspect of His being as that He does not change. God is not capricious, being in one mind and mode one day and changing quickly to something else. God doesn’t change His mind about His plans, His purposes or His promises.

“I am the LORD, I change not” Malachi 3:6

“God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change– he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God.” Psalm 55:19

“He who is Israel’s Glory does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” 1Samuel 15:29

Most things in our world change in various ways over time. The social values I grew up with have been drastically altered in my lifetime. Things that were shunned as evil are now made legal and celebrated. What was once high fashion now looks silly. What was once popular is now worthless. Nations change their name and their nature, those in control are overcome and new powers emerge, those who were once revered are now scorned, and so it goes.

With all that change it can be hard to imagine that God remains relevant if He isn’t changing with the times. How can words that were once cherished in old English language be of any relevance in a world vastly different to a hundred years ago? How can we obey laws and principles given in the Bible when those values are scoffed at in modern society.

If God doesn’t change isn’t that to His disadvantage?

Certainly not!

What we see as change is simply the shifting of sands according to cultural currents. But important things are not built on sand. For all our technology and scientific advances human nature has not evolved or changed. Jealousy, pride, resentment, lust, hunger for power, greed, addiction, enslavement of heart and mind, shame, guilt, fear and a host of other powerful human realities are just the same as ever. Sin is still sin. Death is still death. Accountability before God has not changed. Love is still love, despite the various things our culture might call ‘love’. Forgiveness is still forgiveness. Being ‘born again’ is the same as it was two thousand years ago. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same amazing experience today that it was on the day of Pentecost.

I read recently a description of how judges can interpret the law almost however they want, depending on what they put emphasis on. Is it the letter of the law or the intent of the law? Is it the meaning of the common man or the specific meaning in legal terms? How does it fit with the overall purpose of the legislation and its stated intent? Is the seeming contradiction in some legislation a mistake or a deliberate provision? Which word in a sentence carries the most weight? And so on it goes.

Judges can come up with opposing decisions and opposing approaches to the same law, depending on how they want to move a particular case, or how a lawyer has influenced them.

So in the light of so much uncertainty about even the meaning of things as significant as our laws what does it mean that God does not change? Does God have ‘wriggle room’ when it comes to applying His laws?

God is absolute. He is absolutely holy. When He speaks He does not intend ambiguity. He is not covering His bases or making generalisations. When man stands before God for judgement there will be nothing capricious about God’s determinations. They will be pure and perfect in every case, consistent and sure.

God makes perfect judgement.

At the same time God’s promises and blessings are perfect, certain and without variation.

“I will give you the sure mercies of David.” Acts 13:34

The fact that God does not change does not make God obsolete, but makes God the only reliable place of stability in a world built on shifting sand. God’s absolutes are absolute. God’s promises are guaranteed. God’s love is unshakable. God’s reality is ever present. God’s care for you is relentless.

If you are distracted with the ‘newness’ of this world, and all its discoveries, scientific frontiers, new fangled innovations, fancy new styles, rising trends, changing laws, political tides and rising stars, just remember that this whole world is measured against a grid of
God’s reality and God’s unchanging holiness.

This is a moral universe, anchored irrevocably on God’s perfection. Everything in this universe of ours is measured against God’s unchangeableness. We can’t talk our way out of things, or twist the meaning of this or that. We must face God in all His perfection and immutability.

At the same time God will also not change His love for the people of this world and His offer of salvation to those who respond by faith in Jesus Christ. Sin will always be sin, even if governments make it lawful. Death will always be death, despite scientific advances. Judgement will always be judgement, despite all the philosophies that try to ignore it. Yet, too, Forgiveness, Salvation, Redemption, Love, Grace and Mercy will never change.

God’s promises are sure and you too can live in settled stability in a wildly changing world, when you stand close to your God, for He has said of Himself, “I Change Not!”

Jesus taught us that God is a Father to us, and He taught us to pray to God, calling God ‘Our Father in Heaven’.

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be revered!” Matthew 6:9

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

God as our Heavenly Father is a Bible truth many Christians fail to appreciate, especially if they were raised in church. The idea of God as ‘father’ tends to be treated as a childish nicety rather than a living truth for people young and old.

It might be, too, that in western culture the relevance of a father figure is minimised and relegated to value only for younger children. Western youth pursue their desire to be individuals as soon as they can, and today’s western parents tend to support that ambition. So fathers are only really relevant to westerners in their youngest years.

The idea, then, that God is our Father seems to us a childish idea, that we might teach to young children but quickly regard as sentimental once passed childhood. 

So let’s stop and take stock of this amazing Bible truth. 

God, the God of creation, Lord of everything that exists, offers you a quality of personal relationship that is among our most meaningful connections. 

God offers Himself to you as your ‘father’.

Obviously people’s concepts of ‘father’ are affected by their experience of their human father. Some people see the word ‘father’ in a negative light, as some angry or abusive individual who anyone would want to escape. Others see ‘father’ as an irrelevant nicety, who may or may not add value to a person’s life. Yet others see ‘father’ as the almost unknown provider who has his own life and distractions. Yet others see ‘father’ as the one who abandoned them, or who they never met.

When God reveals Himself as ‘father’ He means all the very best connotations of that word. He means He is our ‘source’, since the Hebrew word for father, ‘Ab’, means source. He is also protector, provider, friend, counsellor, companion, nurturer, source of wisdom, one who creates a course into our future, encourager, mentor, guide and one who holds us in His deep affection.

God also means the kind of father to child relationship that was intended, rather than the western idea of the ‘disposable father’. In a tribal setting, away from all our modern sensibilities, the father was the anchor for the family through his whole life. He cared for, provided for, protected, guided and made wise decisions for the whole family, not just when they were children. The sons would have been apprenticed to their father and schooled to understand and value all the things the father held as values for the family.

The father, in that context, was a ‘source’ of much greater significance than in western culture.

In Bible culture a child is to have a long-term working relationship with the father. 

Note Paul’s comment about Timothy, who Paul brought to faith and took with him on his journeys. Paul talked of Timothy working with him, in the same way a son does with a father.

“You know the proof of Timothy, that, as a son with the father, he served with me in the gospel.” Philippians 2:22

I have been told that the Greek word for mature son, huios, speaks of the son who has worked with his father long enough to be as skilled at the father’s business as the father is. When that time arrives the father might declare of the son that he is a beloved son who is approved by the father, “in whom the father is well pleased”. From that time on the son is a partner in the father’s business, not an employee. The word of the son has the same value as the word of the father. Such is the depth of unity and the level of relationship between father and son.

God said this of Jesus when endorsing Jesus for His ministry at the time of His baptism.

“As soon as Jesus was baptised He walked out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Matthew 34:16,17

From that time on whatever Jesus did fully represented the Father. They were one in their ministry.

So, with those few thoughts in mind, let’s reflect on God being your Heavenly Father.

God offers Himself to you as your source, the life-long guide and protector, provider and friend, who will school you and bring you into His business, so you can do His will with His power and effectiveness.

God offers you a level of relationship where you can delight in His presence and He in being with you. Where you have free, welcome access into His throne room, not as an official, but as a much loved child. God will not abandon you or send you away, saying it’s time you fend for yourself, but will always be there for you, to coach and encourage you, guide and correct you, direct your steps and open doors ahead for you.

Above all He is delighted to embrace you, assuring you of His total commitment to you.

Consider the picture the Bible gives us through the Apostle Paul, of God’s love pouring over you like waves of the ocean, as the Holy Spirit pours God’s love onto you, from the inside out.

“Hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5

Christian, it is time to stop playing at being independent and western and to admit that we need the ongoing support and care of a father. Connect yourself afresh to the most amazing father in all eternity, your creator God. Humble yourself and admit that you will be much better off apprenticed to God than to any other source in the universe. Commune with God and be enriched by the wonderful experience of having God as your ‘Heavenly Father’.

Reading the book of Jeremiah reveals that God’s people could have someone bring them God’s Word, accurately and faithfully, and yet the whole nation reject that word. 

“This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this girdle, which is good for nothing.” Jeremiah 13:10

“As for the word you spoke to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!” Jeremiah 44:16

Jeremiah’s own home town, Anathoth, the city of priests, conspired against him.

The Word of the Lord was clearly presented but the hearts of the people were closed to that word. They did not like it or want it. 

Centuries later the Apostle Paul talked of how people would have ‘itching ears’ keen to hear something other than God’s Word spoken to them.

“Time will come when people will not tolerate sound teaching, but with itching ears will gather around them teachers to suit their own desires. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2Timothy 4:3,4

Refusal to hear God’s Word is not an Old Testament problem, but an abiding issue, even among those who see themselves as Christian worshippers of God.

I recall several conversations where church people were determined to believe what they wanted to believe and hear only what they want to hear. In counselling situations it is common to find people who have set ideas they will not give up. Whatever is presented to them is rejected.

The Bible talks of such people as having a stiff neck, hardened heart, ears that do not hear, eyes that do not see, a hard heart of unbelief, and so on.

The challenge for all of us is to have a tender heart that hears and responds to what God is saying to us.

However our traditional ideas and beliefs block our heart to new things. Also fear of a negative message can make us cling dearly to ideas that make us feel comfortable.

Some people resist the idea of hell because they are terrified of ever going there. Some similarly resist ideas of judgment, satan, demons, falling from grace, or anything to do with pain, discomfort or challenge, because of fear.

God’s Word covers all the various problems that might cause us to resist Bible truths, but we have to receive the word in order to receive the fulness of God’s protection and blessing, and freedom from fear.

Cultural ideas also cause us to filter out certain things in the Bible instead of seeing them for what they are. Bible truths such as covenant are not part of modern western culture so we fail to comprehend their significance in the Bible. Our sensibilities are shocked at such things as a man with multiple wives, yet in various cultures in the world it is acceptable even today. What happens when such a family comes to Christ? Can we find God’s perspective in God’s Word or will we simply react based on our cultural values? I have been challenged in my global travels when confronted with this very issue.

Hearing God’s Word means we have to have ears to hear, not just a pre-determined set of cultural or theological values we subscribe to. 

Can God be worshipped in a church with stained-glass windows? Can God be worshipped in a barn? Does worship now mean ‘music’ or are there other ways to worship God? Does the ‘unity of the faith’ mean we all must believe exactly the same doctrine on every point?

What about believing there is power in physical objects? Western Christians scoff at the idea, so they filter out any reflection on Elisha’s bones causing a dead man to come back to life (2Kings 13:21) or cloths which touched Apostle Paul taking healing virtue (Acts 19:2).

What about defining morality? If our societies make legal what was previously unlawful does that change the meaning in God’s Word?

I don’t raise these questions to confuse or alarm you, but to prompt you to consider your challenge to ‘Hear the Word of the Lord’.

Scholars apply the maxim, “Let Scripture interpret Scripture” to remind us we are to hear the word of the Lord and not impose our cultural or preferred ideas into it.

Martin Luther, back in 1517, brought about a revolution by paying attention to the Word of God and being prepared to reject things that were not supported by scripture or which contradicted it. He particularly saw the reality of us being saved by grace, not by works or payment of money. That truth was clearly in the Word of God all along, but traditional ideas were so strongly imposed on people that it took quite a lot of courage to challenge them. That challenge also created an enormous storm of strife and a revolution in the Christian world.

I don’t suggest that you are deluded, or that your leaders are beguiling you with their favoured teachings. I simply want you to be one of those who has open ears and who will hear when God speaks to you and will see what God is saying, even if what you see confronts some of your fears or your favoured ideas.

The just live by faith, and that faith is based on God’s Word. So I call on each of you to ‘Hear the Word of the Lord’.