Belonging to the Truth

Jesus said to Pilate: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

~John 18:37 (NRSV)

The interaction between Jesus and Pilate was filled with as much intrigue as that of the encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:1-42) and even that of the meeting with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). Jesus was such an enigma, and the Spirit proves ever-enigmatic, today.

In the process of being tried, Jesus, knowing his fate rests forlornly with the Roman governor, still clings unswervingly to right testimony; indeed, one that is rich with theological meaning, beyond even Pilate’s vague interest.

What might seem insignificant to Pilate, however, is ever more significant to us.

Those with Allegiance to Jesus...

Completing the sentence, as Jesus’ red letters attest, those with allegiance to Jesus will belong to the truth—they will, beyond shadow of a temptation, more often than not, avow the truth. The truth is more important than their comfort or reputation.

The truth is how they will be known; the truth is more important than any other fact, besides grace, which seasons the truth with the intimacy of a courageous, self-sacrificial love. But such grace doesn’t, one iota, flatter anyone and, therefore, betray the truth.

Indeed, those with allegiance to Jesus know that to worship the Lord aright is to worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).

Discerning the Truth

Jesus’ differentiation, here, is quite stark. What he may be saying is, those attuned to the truth will hear the voice of the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, and they will indeed listen to it.

They will be open to it—the vision and hearing of the truth; all manifestation.

Their minds would be piqued and their hearts, engaged. Discerning the truth is the gift of those at home with, even owned by, Truth.

At Home With, Even Owned By, Truth

Imagine for a moment being characterised by something so much that it stakes a claim within us. That is how the royal residence of Truth is portrayed, here, in John’s gospel.

We, who might reside with Truth, are, one and the same, inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

When we are saved, the gift of the indwelt Holy Spirit makes Truth abide. We both see the truth and are convicted of it; the repentant nature clings ardently because Divine surrender is now no longer an issue.

Through this newfound desire and ability to turn-back-to-God, we have blessing in tow; to redeem faith, hope, and love to enjoy miraculous differences. Now, because of the truth, we have nothing to fear; all things are ours in the Lord our God—all because we listen to Jesus’ voice and belong to Truth.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Comfort, O Comfort My People

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

~Isaiah 40:1-2 (NRSV)

For all talk of judgment there is an equally relevant other side of the Divine coin-of-balance. Our relational God is never more centrally characterised than by the redemptive nature. Our Lord seeks, always, to forgive all penitent ones.

Throughout history, and certainly biblically, God is found untiring in scooping-up a fallen humanity.

Three Voices – “Comfort,” “Speak,” and “Cry”

These three voices, captured within the first two verses of Isaiah 40, allude to the voices contained within verses 3-11. This two-verse introduction resounds with power, the desperate, timely invitation of the Lord: come back to me now; you are redeemed!

This strong presence of reassurance has the effect of an echo; it is not to be quickly dispelled. Just as through Jesus grace echoes, now, through eternity, these three voices combine in a stereophonic unison calling the people of God back to their Lord.

Yes, the people of God are never lost to the Lord. Irrefutable commitment to the covenant divinity of such relationship resounds; it is never to be forgotten.

Rationale for the Resounding Proclamation

Such a powerful word of prophecy—these two verses—hinge the entire book of Isaiah. Judgment makes way for mercy; and what a twist, given what has only just occurred in Isaiah 39—prophecy of vanquishment.

There are three reasons for the merciful proclamation: Israel had laboured hard—that hard service was now recognised; the Lord had accepted payment for her sins: and, Israel had allegedly received “double” punishment, meaning, not mathematically, but that the rod was not spared and the chosen nation had accepted such punishment, humbly.

Our penitence shares the same features.

We accept judgment as it’s been meted out; as the Holy Spirit has anointed our understanding. We stand judged by that Spirit or by the circumstance. Ultimately, though, we sense the peaceful breath of the Lord as it calms us, even beyond our understanding, from within. Hence, we are comforted. It’s a miraculous comfort.

Our Punishment, Too, Has Been Met in Full

A wonderful truth it is that, due the simple act of faith to humble ourselves before the Lord Jesus, repenting of our erroneous way, we are freed from the consequence of otherwise just punishment.

It was not as simple for the Israelites as it is, now, for us. That fact, alone, bears suitable contemplative consideration. We have the easy way to grace, not that it should be cheapened; it cost our Saviour his life.

***

The Lord seeks to comfort every last one. Though the 99 are found, the one still lost senses not the comfort of God; that should cause us pain, because it pains God. The forgiveness of God empowers all forgiveness. To know comfort we must first experience God’s comfort. Come, enjoy that comfort, now.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General References:

Allan Harman, Isaiah: A covenant to be kept for the sake of the church – Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Scotland; Christian Focus Publications, 2005), p. 267-68.

J. Alec Moyter, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An introduction & commentary (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity press, 1993), p. 299.

The Most Important Goal of Life

“Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.”

~Psalm 25:5 (NRSV)

There is never a more urgent message. As we step back through our minds upon reaching eternity, in situ with our Judge, implicit of all enquiries will be one pervading question: Did you live for truth?

At such a question—wrapping the most important goal of life—there will be no hiding. All truth would be brought to bear, not to accuse, but to hold to account; after all, we will stand there, saved, safe in eternity by allegiance to Jesus, but we will still be called to account for failures to live for truth. The Lord may ask, “Why didn’t you live for truth at the opportunities you were given?”

Of course, we will also be rewarded for successes in living for truth.

It re-orders our perspective, doesn’t it? Of the things we think are important many are not. The primary goal of life is to live for truth in every possible, perceivable way.

Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord

The song of the same name as the subtitle, by Paul Baloche (Integrity’s Hosanna! Music, 1997), implies a prayer by a solemn heart, one desperate for vision of the Lord.

It seeks even a snippet of the truth of the Lord’s heavenly Presence. It seeks vision of a cherished heartland for worship in eternity. It seeks knowledge of what that might be like, as if to order, and perhaps re-order, the life here and now.

But as we read the lyrics of the song most of the words perhaps betray the power meant in the title, for when we are to pray “open the eyes of my heart, Lord” we are truly seeking vision of the reality we most often do not see, because of the comparative strength of our flesh, the influence of the world, and the deceit at Satan’s hand.

Yet, we do wish to see Jesus high and lifted up—in our daily lives to acknowledge the kingship of the Lord over the living of our lives; every decision, action, even over every thought. The Lord understands we fail many times—grace assures us; all is okay.

If we don’t want eternity punctuated by regret we might urgently seek the Lord to open the eyes of our hearts, now, today. We want to see the truth and we want to obey the truth.

Standing Convicted

We know we are guilty. But life, as God destines it, goes beyond guilt into the productiveness of grace. As sinners we stand convicted. Better to stand convicted now of turning back to God and turning our lives around.

Not only will we be pardoned in eternity, but Judgment may, in fact, be made more tolerable because we stood convicted of the truth each moment, as far as humanly possible, and repented at every opportunity. We chose for Judgment here and now. We allowed the Holy Spirit to judge us—by informing us unto obedience—continually. Even when we did wrong we repented of it.

We will stand convicted—and in Christ, pardoned—but we may also choose, in advance, to stand convicted for the truth, now.

***

The most important goal of life is to live for truth; to have God open the eyes of our hearts; to envision the Great Judgment and live in the light of that awesome reality, now.

May the Weak Bear the Strong

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.”

~Romans 14:13 (NRSV)

Like so many passages in the Bible, Romans 14:1–15:13, and many verses throughout, is often misconstrued. There are, of course, many valid messages apportioned to Paul’s exhortation.

The one to centre upon, though, certainly within the context of church fellowship, is the perennial argument over what is clean and unclean.

It is clear, from the outset, that Paul is saying that all things are clean. Alcohol and all foods are clean. Yet, if anything is considered unclean by any particular individual—alcohol for an alcoholic, for instance—then, that thing, for that person, is unclean. Why should anyone put a stumbling block before such a person in such a situation? That would defeat love—the Great Commandment.

Determining the Weak and the Strong

Just who is the weak and just who is strong?

It might be clear to us that the person who must, or chooses to, abstain, is the weaker one—they cannot bear the consumption of a thing; for them it is unclean. And perhaps we think that those who have no such problem, all things being clean, are strong.

In Paul’s terms we may be mistaken.

The apostle’s key theological fight was against the false teaching of the legalistic Judaism encroaching upon the gospel of grace.

One of the things that may have been destroying the First Century church, even insidiously, as it may indeed do today, was the presence of disparate judgmental views of the few taking exception to others’ expressions of life.

Again, Paul has declared free the things that were previously declared unlawful—foods for instance. A common issue in our day is alcohol in church settings. I have to declare, upfront, that I personally do not have the ability to safely consume alcohol. Like a good many in society I was proven to binge.

Does such a person as myself show a weakness in not bearing a substance, like a certain food or alcohol? Perhaps, but Paul has a bigger target in mind.

The strong, in this context, are not to prove a hindrance to the weak. But I, for one, do not have a problem with people consuming alcohol near me. Most alcoholics don’t. But if it was a problem, the mature (loving) Christian would respect my weakness and might refrain so as not to construct a stumbling block for me and others like me.

Paul’s bigger problem is with the person who either forces allowance for things or completely disallows things—remember, nothing is unclean of itself. It can only be situationally unclean, in accord with the Spirit.

The weak one in Paul’s context is someone who wants to set up rules about what is clean and unclean. They undo grace.

Unity is a Challenge for the Weak and the Strong

It may not help much to categorise people as weak or strong.

It’s probably better to understand that Paul is trying to open the church up to accept its freedom; that every Christian saved by grace—each one for which Christ died—is able to choose for him or herself what is clean and unclean; but to the church as a whole nothing is unclean.

The challenge is for unity and ever will be.

The weak may be the one who submits to the greater cause for the church, whilst the strong may be self-considered: the one weak to nothing. It’s a paradox, then, that the strong are the fatal flaw of an otherwise perfectly imperfect church, and ‘the weak’ may well need to bear them who insist on rules.

***

Unity is the challenge for the weak and strong alike; that each might bear with each other for the cause of Christ. Unity is achieved when all agree: nothing that remains in love is unclean.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

General Reference: Douglas J. Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2002), p. 197.

The Purpose for Being

“Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory.”

~Romans 11:36 (LB)

“True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one.”

~Nicholas of Cusa

We may not know it yet—and who could fully know it?—but the fullest reason for our being is eternal and it never diminishes. God wills us into creation and from the least and smallest to the largest of beings our being is never less significant than any of these.

As soon as we begin to discover the level of significance the Lord has poured into our being we will doubt faith no longer. The purpose for our being is sacrosanct in the significance of our creation.

First we are loved; ours, then, is to attempt such love.

From God, Through God, and To God – the Nature of Being

The nature of our being reveals at least three things:

1. We are proof God exists, not that God needs to prove Divine existence. No, we are from God and nothing we could do or say or believe or not believe will change that solemn fact. We came from God.

2. The agency of creation was, is, and will ever be, through God. Everything we have, everything we are, and everything we can achieve is through the Lord—for divine purpose: that, for love.

3. Notwithstanding the above two facts, we exist, to the extent of our beings, to bring glory to God. Little else matters, because in this we understand and accept that we, and everything else created, are divine inputs with a purpose for divine output for the bequest of life. Living, however trite it may be, is privilege.

Our Single-Most Purpose for Being – To Bring Glory to God

Imagine the joy we bring to God when we exist, through the action of our being, just as he designed us to exist. That is the chief goal of humankind: to understand, accept, and deliver upon the simple purpose, individual by individual, of that life in accordance the purpose spoken into that life. The vehicle is love—to devote oneself to the virtuous and definitive purpose that brings glory to God.

Our purpose for being is simple but involved.

Simplistically, it can be drawn down to love; to exist is to worship God in the manner of our being by living joyfully within the context of our purpose. We can tell that complaint doesn’t fit within such a realm. Yet, the Lord knows we are not perfect in our love yet, for such a love is perfectly devoted and could not complain. But we do. Grace understands. Still, we exist now to love. We can go beyond complaint, and sin, to love now.

***

The fact of our being is a mystery to us. We don’t know how to love God but we do have ideas—this pleases the Lord. To love God, through our devotion, is to understand and live the purpose of our being.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Isaiah 2 – Vision of the New Jerusalem

“Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths’.” ~Isaiah 2:3a-d (NRSV).

In a passage of biblical text that also appears in Micah 4:1-3, the excerpt above details a time when all peoples will be attracted, supernaturally perhaps, to the New Jerusalem: the Church.

From a multinational influx, as the nations congregate within the house of the God of Jacob, there is envisioned a unitary response that can be seen as global inclusiveness: a world, more or less, united under the banner of the Church.

This is a comprehensively magnificent vision.

The Boldest and Grandest of Visions

Even the most learned and hopeful of Christians will struggle with such a prophecy; they will sincerely wish it to be the case, but a worldly realism threatens to ambush such a belief as unworthy in our lifetime.

There is perhaps the belief, also, that a certain number of human beings, even whole nations, may miss the calling of God—it depends upon the situation and theology we use as a gauge.

But it is still a captivating and worthy vision for the Church; that entire people groups would flock under the allegiance of the Lord in order that they might be taught his ordinances and willingly walk that holy path, eternally.

Has A Vision Like This Traction For Today?

Indeed, it must. There are many thousands evangelised into the Kingdom every year, some at single crusade-like events, especially now from the remotest regions. Paradoxically, there are fewer Westernised nations featuring for revival like, for instance, Africa.

The globalisation of the planet, also, indicates that profound enemies of the Kingdom—poverty, injustice, persecution, and the thwarting of the evangelistic end—might be dealt with inside a generation or three. But, this could surely come only by the will of God and the faithful innovation of humankind to acquiesce technology such that the Kingdom purpose might prevail toward the quickening of the Parousia (Jesus’ second coming). Yet, only by the Lord’s decree!

A Vision, First, for Faithfulness

Isaiah speaks for a faithful God and, equally, against a faithless, supposedly holy nation. His vision for the future house of God is sullied by what he sees with his own eyes.

The prophet’s vision is of a unified multi-nation, properly submitted to the Lord, for the need to go his way. There is nothing of compulsion that manipulates these “many peoples.” No, this is a vision of the New Jerusalem; a vision for the Church somehow not quite completed.

As vision of the New Jerusalem is imagined, we come replete with awe, that all tribes and tongues will join together as one to worship the Lord; that day—if we can call it a day—is coming. Maranatha!

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

The Tide of Eternity

“For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found; for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.” ~Job 8:8-9 (NRSV).

That is quite a calamitous subset of Job, above, right there—in a book of calamitous subsets.

We live as if we’ll never die, and despite knowledge that death will take us suddenly or eventually, we, by our flesh-led nature, still cannot see beyond the bodily life.

Though the Lord has set eternity in our hearts—an inescapable urge to ponder the meaning of life and death, and life before and beyond life—the Almighty has also set worldly life just as deep in our hearts; even if by fashion of attachment to family, the pursuits, the longings of thought for that which grips us in the here-and-now.

The Metaphor of Tidal Movement

Think of your life in this way: one complete tidal movement—the extent and legacy of your worldly life.

Those two verses of Job above humble us enough to picture eternity, in the context of our individual lives, as a tide. Before we were conceived the tide was, for us, well out and low—impossible to see.

Then, as the actors creating us—our mothers and fathers—conceived us, acting like the moon and sun does with the sea tides, our eternal tidal mark rose at the bequest of life. We came into the world and grew through adolescence to adulthood and that tidal mark, consequently, rose more and more in flood-tide mode.

The meld of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual maturity—the span of those years—is our high tide mark.

Too soon, it seems, the tide regresses. No sooner is their cognisance of flood-tide, and the burgeoning hope of life, then ebb-tide takes over. We slip into states of physical regression—the ageing process accelerates—and, ultimately, the ebbing tide converts the sharp boldness of our early thinking into the grace of wisdom before those faculties, too, dissipate.

When our time is done the vision of our tide is no more—into eternity, again, we slip.

Setting Our Purpose From the Mode of Eternity

The movement of the tide is beautiful in its grace—but it’s temporary, as we’re personally concerned.

One hundred years from now we will be as those who lived one hundred years beforehand—gone several decades. Our real home awaits each of us.

This is a difficult thing to get our minds around; even for established and faith-strong Christians. Not much of what we worry about now will matter in eternity, but what will matter is our approach to life, and our approach to Jesus—the Saviour of the world.

We will say, then: Did we live for truth?

***

Knowing God is seeing life from an eternal perspective, appreciating that our lives are merely the length of one tidal movement. They are gone before we understand it. Better by far to know God by viewing life via the Lord’s unchanging ways; whether in the body, here, or away, at home.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

The Preacher’s Central Message

“Here is my fountain, and here is my cup: find fault if you please, but do drink of the water of life. I only care for this. I had rather bless the soul of the poorest crossing sweeper or rag gatherer, than please a prince of the blood and fail to convert him to God.” ~C.H. Spurgeon, All of Grace (Emphasis in original.)

Two factors persist in the preacher’s sermon: the first is the fountain—the very Water of Life. The second is the cup with which is drawn inspiration upon revelation. It is the cup that is delivered us, you and me, from which we drink; let us not forget where the water came from.

Whilst many preachers do impress, many likewise do not. They draw from the fountain, and though they may lack no revelation, they lack the inspiration of a C.H. Spurgeon to deliver a message ‘worthy’ of saving lives for Jesus (so some might say).

Yet, no message about Jesus is, therefore, insufficient; only to the judging ear and the careful eye—lost to toothpicks of truth and enigmas of eloquence.

Seeing the Forest Replete with Trees Made of Wood

If we have a cup, which is the preacher’s offering, and the fountain from which they are to draw, both in combination abounding with God’s blessing, will we now drink?

Will we see the droplets of salvation, the liquid of peace, an elixir of love, in that precious drink? Or will we find one mouthful quite tasteless in the presence of an otherwise satisfying cup?

Will we analyse that preacher’s motive, to gain insight toward the brackish?

Will we miss the vitality in the gospel message, the precious juice from the fountain, to note the smallest semblance of uninspired delivery?

Surely wood, in the context of the forest, is an indicator of the trees there present. Moreover, the preacher’s message is not, no not ever, devoid of the Spirit’s power.

Blessing the Cup That Draws from the Fountain

We can rest in this gospel truth: the Lord not only supplies the fountain, but the cup also. That message that passes into our ears and through our brains, hopefully to reside in our hearts, is anointed. This is so by what it contains. The cup is not empty, but is to be emptied; for us—the power of the Holy Spirit made known.

God blesses the cup that is the preacher’s hand; their eye for truth; their ear for empathy; their heart for love; their mind for wisdom. No one grows more than the preacher; the Spirit divides their bone and marrow with conquest for learning.

Let us be careful not to blaspheme the Lord by disparaging the preacher.

One who willingly comes, cup in hand, drawing from God’s fountain to be a procurer of salvation, is doing a most important work. Let us not look critically at the cup, but wondrously at the fountain from which it has drawn.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Psalm 2 – The Son Is Sovereign

“I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’.” ~Psalm 2:7-8 (NRSV).

As Christians, we are apt at getting worried about the vast number of injustices, little and large, that occur in our world. This is understandable to anyone with a moral conscience. But we can learn a lot about the Sovereignty of God—even in the midst of tyranny—to set the record straight.

As we read through Psalm 2, and we re-read it, meditating over the imagery painted for us, we are reassured of the fact that the King of kings, Jesus, observes and rules over all earthly monarchies, eternally.

This psalm is commonly attributed—with Psalm 1—as part of a dual introduction to the Psalter (the complete collection of the 150 canonical psalms). It has great significance throughout the Bible, not least of which in the New Testament.

Why Do The Wicked Rulers Bother?

The psalmist commences in the mood of incredulity—‘Why on earth would the nations conspire and peoples plot in vain, against the Lord?’

It makes no sense to the psalmist. The nations’ leaders brag about their (temporary) sense of sovereignty without understanding the Lord’s eternal Sovereignty.

As we watch on, within our unique worldviews, disturbed perhaps by the corruption, inequity, and abhorrent injustice that sickens us, we must know God will have the final say. In that we rest in faith.

From this position, we can understand the plight of the psalmist; they wage war against a most powerful foe, but, though they suffer many indignities, there is the assurance of faith that a mightier force, in the Lord, will prevail—and not with delay.

The Lord Is Not Slow in Bringing About Justice

There is vision, here, of the past deeds of the Lord—the faithfulness of eternal Sovereignty. Verses 10-11 speak of such confidence and, fairly, of warning for the nations’ kings to be wise; to fear the Lord. Their revelry is short lived.

In what is a refreshingly translucent reminder of the gospel message, the kings are warned to turn from their wicked ways, for God’s “wrath is quickly kindled.” (Verse 11d)

Repentance, then, runs like a golden thread in this psalm connecting its theology to that wrought by Jesus.

***

Psalm 2 is hauntingly messianic with its echoes reverberating from a voice that’s both prophetic and revelatory. It foreshadows Jesus’ coming into the world and his coming again at the Parousia (end time).

Whenever we’re tempted to become anxious about our world, we ought to be reminded of the truth: God is Sovereign and absolutely in control; justice always comes, eventually. The Lord Jesus possesses the whole earth, even the wicked. They will soon see!

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Accepting God’s Last Word

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.” ~Romans 1:16a (NRSV).

The key test of obedience is our response when all doors—desirable or preferred—close, leaving no option but to go the way we’ve avoided all along.

Accepting God’s last Word on the matter of relevance before us right now—or on any matter of relevance—is first a decision, then, upon commitment, a process of both acting on and continually revising and reaffirming our decision.

What Can Only Be Practiced

This is where faith’s rubber hits the road.

It’s easy to live faithfully before trials occur. During the realisation of a negatively answered prayer, via the circumstances of our lives, however, we understand the task before us.

It takes a good portion of moral courage to accept things we don’t want to accept, and to move on anyway. This can only be practiced. Until then, we can promise all we like; until we have met the test and decided to go God’s way and not our own we can’t know the value of sacrifice over compromise, or the folly of compromise over sacrifice.

This is how we can know that faith is a deeply action-oriented concept.

Proof or Not That We Are Unashamed of the Gospel

Most of the time the Apostle Paul’s abovementioned verse is taken in an evangelistic setting—that we ought not to be ashamed of proclaiming the gospel of salvation.

Not only that, however, it proclaims more.

Can it be that this verse also refers to the power in faith to reconcile salvation by obedience? If we read on into verse 17 we can make that deduction.

When we “live by faith” we are essentially agreeing with the will of God, as it is truthfully discerned by us, and committing to whatever is required of us. In this, we are not ashamed. In this, we prove our commitment to God, and our faith.

***

Of all the prayers we send God’s way we have to accept those answered in the negative. The Lord is never in the practice of granting all our wishes. We prove we are unashamed of the gospel when we accept God’s last Word.

Perhaps the key to our level of spiritual maturity is this: how we respond when God says “no.” In this we demonstrate humility. In rejecting the Word of the Lord we reject the Christian way. According to our belief we must accept that Word.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.