Fri 12th June - #61. Barriers to Jesus

How difficult is it to know Jesus?
We have seen over the last couple of readings (in Mark) that tradition and religion need not be barriers to knowing Jesus. Today however, we find Jesus in a foreign land speaking to a woman who seems to be cut off from Jesus.

Lets read God’s Word to see why -

Mark 7:24-30

24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. 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 impure spirit came and fell at His feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

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 the dogs.’

28 ‘Lord,’ she replied, ‘even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’

29 Then He told her, ‘For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.’

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

The woman's nationality and gender seemed good enough reasons to be beyond Jesus. However again, we see that no one is beyond Jesus - even this woman who was for some like a dog compared to Israelites who were the children (of God).

Jesus is for everyone, whoever you are. We can so often think that some people are beyond the gospel. It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of people who have heard about Jesus like this woman this morning. It is worth noting that in the whole of Mark’s gospel she is the only person who addresses Jesus as ‘Lord’ (28).

I want to leave you with the story of a young man who on a human level had no chance of knowing Jesus for himself.

Watch the video and praise God but also pray for someone you know who you think is beyond knowing Jesus.

https://youtu.be/W1n5M9L2E

Have a good weekend

Much love

Tim

Thurs 11th June - #60. Certain

I remember that, as a little boy, we had some very long car journeys. Newport before the Severn Bridge was built… Westward Ho! Before the motorways… And the obvious cry arose from the backseat of the car as my sister and I moaned: “Are we nearly there?” “How much longer?”

I guess we can be asking the same question about lockdown? How much longer is this going on for? How much longer before we can worship together again as a fellowship on a Sunday? How much longer before social bubbles can be popped? And unlike a long car journey in which we could estimate a time of arrival, we cannot do that with the end of lockdown. It’s a waiting game.

And there is uncertainty. And uncertainty is hard to cope with. It can make us dither, feel insecure, even anxious. It can even be exhausting

So let’s restate three wonderful Bible certainties.

1. God loves us. He says to us “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31v3). And that love is certain, it will not change for it is not based on our loveliness or worthiness, but on his unchanging grace. So open up your eyes, then you'll realize he has an everlasting love; from the very start, open up your heart, be a lasting part of His everlasting love.

2. God will never leave us or forsake us. God Himself has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13v5). We know this to be true for God is as good as His word. But let it sink into your heart – GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU! Never Ever. If he left us now he would take away the biggest part of us (our hearts); but he won’t; he will be with us every day of lockdown and beyond.

3. God will receive us into his eternal kingdom. When we get to the end of the journey of life, when we leave all that we know and love here, God will, for certain, receive us into his heavenly home. The Apostle Paul writes with certainty: “For we know that if the earthly tent (our body) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor 5v1). When I die and they lay me to rest, gonna go to the place that is best!

So yes, life is uncertain at the best of times, and this lockdown is uncertain regarding the finish… but we can be sure and certain, that God loves us, He will never leave us, and he will give us a rich and warm welcome into glory.

Love from Paul

Wed 10th June - 59. GIGO?

Computer programmers have the saying - ‘GIGO’ - Garbage In, Garbage Out. In this mornings reading we will see how Jesus responds to such a principle.

Mark 7:14-23

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’

17 After He had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples asked Him about this parable. 18 ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

20 He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come— sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’

Yesterday we saw how traditions can become the main thing and not the creator who is to be the one who we should focus our worship and attention.

In todays reading Jesus wants people to be clear about what pollutes people as one Bible paraphrase puts it

“It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.” *1

The disciples didn’t get Jesus’ point and Jesus responds with an abrupt answer (Are you so dull?).

Jesus knew that food isn’t the problem but what comes from within out. So again

“He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.” *2

So this morning, remind yourself of what you are like but also remind yourself of the one who cleans up ‘all the vomit’ to make you more like him.

Confess your sin - and make 1 John 1.v8-9 your prayer -

8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts.3

Much love

Tim

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*1 Eugene Peterson - The Message

*2 Eugene Peterson - The Message

*3 New Living Translation

Tues 9th June

#58. The Cover, The Title Page, and Chapter One

The other day Kevin R sent me a Facebook post concerning a lady called Hazel K who, along with her husband David, served as a missionary with our own Margaret H. Hazel’s son Jim and his wife Connie, also served as missionaries in Niger. All of them have visited our church at Hook in the past. Sadly for the family, but gloriously for her, Hazel passed into the presence of Jesus a week or so ago.

Here, for our encouragement and inspiration, is the post that Jim wrote about his mother.

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One of (my mother’s) famous sayings was, "Life goes on!" On Wednesday, 27 May 2020 at 16:40, she came to a full understanding what it meant.

We got to spend about 20 hours with Mom before she died. Her eyes were closed and she was completely unresponsive, but we were finally able to be with her in those final hours. (And even though it's been more than a week, in some ways it feels like I'm still with her).

Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow - almost imperceptible, when Connie said, "Look at your Mom's eyes!" With her eyes closed, Mom must have "seen" something! She opened her eyes WIDE. Really, really wide. Bug eyed! Her gaze was fixed somewhere in the sky beyond the ceiling, and the expression on her face seemed to say, "WOW!! WOW!!"

Then I said, "Mom, I don't know what you're seeing, but please know that it's OK to go. We'll see you on the other side, Mom!" And she stopped breathing. Just. Like. That. - with that look of awe still frozen on her face. It was the end, but it was also the Beginning.

I quote a passage from The Last Battle by CSLewis: "But for [Hazel] it was only the beginning of the real story. All [her] life in this world and all [her] adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last [she] was beginning Chapter One of the great story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Did she see heaven? Did she see angels coming? Whatever it was, the last thing she did in life was to open her eyes to see it more clearly. Open our eyes, Lord!

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Let’s live the title page and the cover of our lives today, knowing that one day we will all begin Chapter One of the great story when every chapter of our lives will get better than the one before.

Love from Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRnG2xzzEaU

‘Christ is risen, He is risen indeed’ - Keith and Kristyn Getty

Mon 8th June

#57. Wash your hands and stay indoors - thank you baked potato

At the start of the lockdown period, one of the big sayings of the government as the Corona virus started to spread was ‘wash your hands and stay in doors’. The comedian Matt Lucas wrote a little song about it and each day on YouTube he has appeared with a special guest to sing this song, take a look at him and the song in action here. *1

In our reading today, trouble brews for the disciples and Jesus about washing their hands before they eat -

Mark 7:1-13

1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus 2 and saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’

6 He 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 merely human rules.”

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

9 And He continued, ‘You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, “Honour your father and mother,” and, “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” 11 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— 12 then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.’

How important are traditions to you? All traditions start for very good reasons and yet for many, the traditions becomes the main focus.

Tradition was at the heart today's reading. The Pharisees put more importance on the tradition rather than God’s commands.

The dispute can be seen in verse 3

The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.

In verse 7 we read about ‘Corban’.

Corban isn’t in the Bible, but was a way the Pharisees had developed of devoting a gift to God. Sounds good? The problem was that it was a human tradition, not a divine command, and it was being used as a way of getting out of following God’s orders—like an accountant finding a way for a client to get out of paying tax.

If we follow Jesus as Lord, we will accept his teaching on the nature of Scripture.

Here Jesus affirms:

the divine origin of Scripture (it comes from God, not just humans)
the supremacy of Scripture (it’s the authority against which all human rules and traditions must be judged)
the sufficiency of Scripture (nothing outside it is compulsory) *2

So this morning consider how much of your confidence and faith is based on ‘The Word’ and not the tradition.