A heart like Jesus'

Lord, give me a heart like Jesus’

To seek and save the lost

By bringing them to Calvary,

To the foot of the Cross…

Their burdens will fall

As they surrender all!

Give me a heart like Jesus’...

Lord, give me a heart like Jesus’

To lift the downtrodden and weak;

A heart of compassion and mercy,

A heart that for sinners weeps…

Lord, give me a heart like Jesus’

Who was moved by the multitudes;

Like a  lost flock of sheep

A shepherd they needed

So the Good Shepherd followed them all…

Lord, give me a heart like Jesus’

Who, perspiring in the garden, prayed;

Great drops of blood from His tired brow fell

As on Him the world’s sins were laid…

Lord, give me a heart like Jesus’

As on Calvary’s Cross He hung;

God’s Love displayed to the Universe

While the death knell of sin He rung…

Calling God a Liar?

I struggled with the title of my message this week. It seemed like such an unconventional title, one that was a jolt of lightning in my mind when it arrived in my thoughts as I pondered on what I should write about. Calling God a liar? How exactly does one accomplish that? Are we even guilty of that?

We worry about the visible sins in our lives, but what about the invisible sins, the ones no one knows about but us and God? Because no one knows about them, we often find ourselves procrastinating when it comes to dealing with them, and while we delay we condemn the same faults in others that we ourselves are guilty of.

1 John 1:10 states that if we say are without sin, we are deceiving ourselves and also calling God a liar. Cherished sins, though often hidden from the prying human eyes, do not escape the eyes of the One who searches the hearts of men and reads them like an open book (Prov 21:2).  When mixed with pride, these invisible sins are a dangerous concoction brewing in our hearts leading to denial (a state of spiritual blindness where we refuse to acknowledge our sins) which further leads to the trap of presumption which makes our hearts hard so that we cannot admit our need of a Saviour. This is a very dangerous condition which often leads to a festering wound of hypocrisy, which destroys the credibility of our witness for Christ.

There is also the other extreme, where people have committed such heinous sins that they think they don’t deserve to be forgiven or cannot be forgiven. The Bible provides many examples of people in history who experienced God’s great forgiveness regardless of the “size or seriousness of the sin” in men’s eyes. King David was forgiven for lying, adultery and murder when he confessed it to God and was able to say: “Blessed is he whose transgression is covered and whose sins are forgiven.”

Both extremes lead to the deadly sin of calling God a liar. We call God a liar when we think we have no need of His forgiveness because we refuse to admit our failures. We also call him a liar when we underestimate His redeeming love for us and His ability to save to the utmost all who call on Him. (Heb 7:25) Some of us find ourselves hemmed in by a pattern of destructive, dangerous sinful practices. It’s one thing accepting the Lord and being baptized. That only leads to a greater confrontation with sin than ever before, a spiritual battle we will wage all our lives, but praise God that with Him ALL things are possible! (Matt 19:25-26) Jesus wasn’t lying when He said this! Old habits die hard, but deliverance is ours if we claim it in faith, asking Him to transform our characters every day.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."-1 John 1:8-10

Scripture refs: 1 John 1:10, Prov 21:2, Heb 7:25, Matt 19:25-26

The Fragrance of Christ

As I write this week’s message, I can’t stop thinking about the woman who anointed the Lord with a costly ointment in the house of Simon the Pharisee. She came bearing a gift that was a representation of the love that the Lord had already shed abroad in her heart. She came recognizing that she was no better than anyone else, and in a posture of humility and deep contrition, she poured the ointment on the feet of the Saviour. She came with mixed feelings, weeping with godly sorrow for the sins in her life, but with joy that He had granted her a royal pardon. (2 Cor 7:10)

There was no judgment or condemnation in her thoughts or actions. She had forgotten about the people around her. Her eyes were on the Lord and nothing could detract from the special moment she shared with Him. Their disbelieving stares and hurtful words that ordinarily would have cut to her heart like a knife through butter had no effect on her that day. All she knew, all she remembered was the saving grace of the Lord.

Sometimes, like that woman, I find myself thinking about the Saviour. There are days when thoughts of Him fill my mind even as I go about the daily tasks of life. Those are the really good days, when the fragrance that He put in my heart bubbles over, exuding grace, serenity and beauty. This I have come to know as the fragrance of Christ, the fragrance of His Spirit. It is the same Spirit that binds us together as brothers and sisters in the family of God. It is the same Spirit who caused the Psalmist David’s cup to run over (Ps 23), who emboldened the testimony of the Apostles (Acts 4:13, 29, 31), who testifies that we’re saved by His grace and we’re nothing without Him. (John 15:5)

The fragrance of Christ is what makes the world stop and take notice that He reigns, and to truly taste and see that the Lord is good, and that His mercy endures forever!(Ps 34:8) I am sure I am not alone in saying that friends sometimes ask: “What happy pills are you on today?”  Some have said: “You always say you’re okay…sometimes I think you’d say that even though the world crumbled around you…” (Ps 46) All I can say is that it is the Spirit of Christ, the Comforter, who makes all the difference. The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, to bring us to the Saviour, to bring to remembrance and fruition Christ’s teachings in our lives, to help us renounce evil and do good (Jn 16:8, 14:17).  May the Spirit of the Lord always be with you as you labour for Him, and let the fragrance of your heart be the fragrance of Christ. Though you may go about life unassumingly and quietly, let the Spirit testify of the reality of a life surrendered to the Saviour. May all the world see it and give glory to the Father! (Matt 5:16)

Scripture refs: Please read the Scripture refs quoted in this message. Also read Matt 26, Mark 14 and Luke 7 for the story of the woman who anointed the Lord in the house of the Pharisee.

A Little Piece of Heaven on earth

When the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would be established, He answered by saying to them: “The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

Even the people of the world who have not yet accepted the authority and salvation of Christ in their lives agree that we are on the cusp of something momentous. A new era will soon dawn that will change the world forever. However, no one knows the day or the hour of the coming of Christ; not even the angels in Heaven are privy to this information – it is only the Father who knows. (Matt 24:36)

So, what about the here and now? How does the coming Kingdom of God affect our lives today? Jesus indicated that the Kingdom of God, although only literally arriving in splendid glory at His Coming, already has its foundation in the heart of every believer. Christ reigns first in your heart! Your heart must be the seat of His royal throne.

It is only when we totally surrender our hearts to Him, that our lives on this earth become more meaningful and our trials easier to bear. Life may throw hard challenges at you, but with the beginnings of an eternal Kingdom in your heart, you can be an oasis of stability to others around you who are left reeling by the stresses and cares of this world. When they try to unravel the puzzle of your life, they will find Christ! When they look at you with a sense of awe and admiration, they look at Him with a sense of awe and admiration! You can become a mirror that reflects Christ to the world. When people say you’re a wonderful person, you can assert to them that they’re really calling Him wonderful!

God has put a little piece of Heaven inside the heart of each of His children and all the “sham, drudgery and broken dreams” of this world cannot crush it out of you! It is the hope of glory that will be fully revealed at His Second Coming. Do not let your soul be downcast; rather hope in God for Your Redeemer lives and you will soon see Him! (Rev 21, Job 19:25)

Religion or a saving relationship?

There are many different religions in the world today. Even Christendom has split into so many denominations that it has become difficult and confusing for a person seeking to find God’s true church.

The definition of religion according to the Oxford Dictionary is “belief in a superhuman power that controls the universe.” There are many different religions in the world today. Most, if not all of them, teach their followers very good moral values but often emphasize one aspect as being more important than others. Some are based on myths and fables, while others are grounded in the annals of historical fact. Some believe in a god, while others were created by man in order to elevate himself to the status of deity.

The very existence of these many religions means that the average person often finds himself on a lifelong quest in search of Truth and God. In most cases, it involves ritualistic practices designed to appease an angry, distant God who is aloof and out of touch with reality and the needs of his subjects. The lifelong quest goes on as man searches for the heart of God and seeks to understand Him.

The beauty of the Christian faith is that God is not distant. His hands are not too short, nor His ear deaf to the cries of His people (Is 59:1). As man searches and yearns to understand the heart of God, God seeks to understand man. How does He do this? Well, have you ever heard of the saying: “To understand someone, you must walk a mile in his shoes”? Jesus Christ, the gospel personified, represented God walking a LIFETIME in our shoes, seeking to understand us so that He could redeem us. To be a sympathetic High Priest who intercedes for us, He first had to understand us. Therefore, He took on our human frailties, frustrations, and infirmities and He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:14-15). Jesus showed us that a man can keep the commandments of God when he surrenders to God and receives the transforming Holy Spirit. Through His atoning sacrifice, we have forgiveness of sins and are brought near to the heart of God. The search then ends as we are adopted into the family of God with Christ as our High Priest, elder brother and best friend.

Other religions teach that a man must, through toil and pain, climb up the ladder to enlightenment. Christianity teaches that before man even thought to chase after God, God was already leaving His throne and running to meet him half way (Rom 5:8). Just as a man in quicksand cannot work himself out, but sinks deeper every time he tries, the religions of this world are laying heavier burdens on men every day. We need Jesus Christ. He is Jacob’s ladder- the contact point between Heaven and Earth. He is the one who holds onto the throne of God and reaches out to sinful man, saying: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest…” In Jesus Christ, man’s chasing after God ends, because God has overtaken him and overwhelmed him with love and His salvation!