God Rescues

 So many times God has stepped in to my life when I most needed help.

God is our shelter and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble. Ps 46:1 GNB

I was recovering from a very serious mental breakdown and I was teaching a class  when I was still not very well. Without warning I had a panic attack in front of my class. The students saw the distress on my face and burst out laughing. I remember one young man doubled over and laughing hilariously as he left the room. I quickly recovered my composure and told the class to take a 15 minute break.

I went into the next room and cried out to God for help. I asked Him for inspiration to teach a good lesson after the break. I immediately had a good idea and went on to teach an excellent lesson. The students calmed down and responded as if nothing had happened. At the end of the course the students showed enthusiastic appreciation.

When I met my wife, I knew that I wanted to marry her. But only a few weeks later I was made redundant and lost my job. I had no job and no income. Then I got some casual work for a few hours a week. That increased and increased and by the end of the year I was working full time again.

Two years later the teachers’ union won a court case for the teachers who had been laid off and I received $20,000 in back pay.

Then I applied for a promotion. I didn’t think I had a chance but a colleague encouraged me to apply. I spent two sleepless nights writing my application and took my draft to a secretarial service. The application was faxed at 4.55 pm, just before 5 pm, the rigid deadline. I was amazed when I got the promotion and the pay rise.

Some colleagues said my application was late but I checked at the office. The fax arrived less than one minute before the deadline.

God says, “I will save those who love me
and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD.
When they call to me, I will answer them;
when they are in trouble, I will be with them.
I will rescue them and honour them. Ps 91:14-15 GNB

Empathy for Victims of Trauma

 Children love to play. In summer, they play in the water and in winter they love to play in the snow.
But one particular Russian woman in Germany hated the snow because she spent her childhood in Siberia. Cold weather is fun, but extreme cold is torture.

Not all people who come from the same country or climate react in the same way. I know a German man in Australia who loves the tropical heat. Other Europeans love winter sports. 

There are truly devoted Christians who love Jesus and worship from the heart in church services, but there are also Christians who fulfil their religious duties for years but can hardly stay awake because of sheer boredom.

Then there are Christians who were brutally abused as children in church or school. For them, worship is torture. 

Some become mentally ill and never recover. Others commit suicide, and others become angry atheists or seek peace in yoga, Buddhism, or the occult.

Some find their way to God in evangelical churches or the Pentecostal movement. 

Normal people have a hunger for tender physical touch, but those who have been severely burned or injured cannot bear to be touched.

Those who have been harassed, abused, or humiliated in church may find church services threatening, not only in Catholic churches, but also in evangelical churches or in the charismatic movement.
 
In the Psalms, we read that we should praise and worship God with reverence and enthusiasm, but will God condemn a wounded soul if someone just wants to pray quietly?

There are also many people who experienced sexual abuse in their childhood or marriage. They are no longer fit for marriage, but they still have strong sexual feelings. 

If they want to obey God, not commit adultery, reject promiscuity, and any kind of sex outside marriage, they may seek relief in masturbation. Should we criticise this escape route when there is no mention of it in the Bible?

In Jesus' earthly life, we see God's deep compassion for wounded and rejected outsiders. Paul emphasises not the law, but the grace of God. Hopefully, we will learn how Jesus and Paul loved our fellow human beings and ourselves with God's mercy.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Rom 8:1 NRSVue

Confronting Sexual Offences in Church

The Apostle Paul planted a church in Corinth. It was a city notorious for sexual promiscuity, even by the very lax standards of pagan Greek culture. Some of the men in the church continued to visit prostitutes even after their conversion. Paul warned them and told them to repent. 

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 1 Cor 5:11 NIV

He also warned that people who continued to practise such things would not go to heaven.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Cor 6:9–10 NIV

This message is still very relevant today. In recent years, we have seen scandal after scandal in prominent evangelical churches. So many celebrity preachers have been exposed. Often we see prominent preachers accused of sexually exploiting church members. What is even more shocking is the way church leaders so often protect each other, blame the women or children and victimise the victims.

Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent— the LORD detests them both. Pr 17:15 NIV

I don’t often write messages like this. I for years I suffered under harsh judgemental preaching, but we must deal seriously with abuse and injustice in the church. There is a difference between the faults and imperfections which we all have, and cruel abuse, scandalous crimes and the offences which destroy lives. 

Nevertheless, we must not condemn even horrible evildoers without being willing to forgive and restore the offenders to faith and favour. On the other hand, I do not believe this necessarily means we should let sexual crimes go unpunished. 

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 1 Tim 3:2 NIV

If a preacher has committed sexual crimes or stained his reputation by sexually exploiting church members, it seems reasonable that his ordination should be cancelled, though he may be allowed to serve God and the church in other ways.

Perhaps the most serious sin in the Corinthian church was the scandalous behaviour of a man who was in a sexual relationship with his stepmother. 

Paul ordered that he should be excommunicated, but even then Paul was ready to forgive and show mercy.

The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. 
Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 
I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. 2 Cor 2:6–8 NIV

It can be difficult and painful to forgive people who have abused and severely damaged you. I saw a young woman on a YouTube podcast who had dealt with this very issue. Her father had treated her mother with physical and verbal cruelty. He had gone to bed with his wife’s mother, the girl’s grandmother. He then rejected the girl’s mother. The girl was brought up by her adulterous grandmother.

When the girl was 14, she saw her father having sex with her grandmother. She was completely ignorant and innocent and was shocked and confused.

Then she found a boy and had sex herself. It went from bad to worse.

When she was 19, she was trying to get her life together. She said she still loved her parents and grandmother and she had forgiven them for everything. It was not clear if she was a Christian believer at this stage, but I prayed for her to find faith in Jesus.

I was so inspired by her honest confrontation of her terrible experiences and her willingness to love and forgive.

So many people in churches have traumatic or shameful life stories. They need loving and inner healing. We must not sweep these issues under the carpet. 

Jesus Calls us to be The Salt of the Earth

When you eat at a good restaurant, we enjoy the good food. No one praises the salt, but if the salt is missing, you don’t enjoy the food.

What did Jesus say about salt?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Mt 5:13 NKJV

Salt enhances the flavour of food, but if the salt is or contaminated, it is no use. If you give food to the needy, you are serving people, but also God, because God cares for people in need. On the other hand, if you give food that is contaminated, stale, sour or tasteless, you are just a hypocrite.

Jesus said we must love our neighbour as we love ourselves. If you give food, it should be food that you would be happy to eat yourself.

There are many ways to be kind and helpful, but your kindness must be motivated by the love and truth of God. If you do good deeds to be noticed and praised, the people you help will not feel good about it.

Properly used, salt does not draw attention to itself but rather draws attention to the flavour of the food.

In the Bible, salt is a sign of a covenant. Helpful deeds and evangelism must be an expression of the love of Jesus, coming from your dedication to God.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Cor 13:2–3 NKJV

The Apostle Paul also spoke about salt.

Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Col 4:6 NKJV

Here, salt is associated with grace, unconditional love and kindness, sharing the goodness of God without being judgemental. The way we talk to people must be kind, understanding and respectful.

Salt is good, but too much salt draws attention to itself and spoils the food. This is like harsh legalistic religion and aggressive bible bashing. It can correct sin but the resulting moralistic character can be more harmful than the sins of the flesh.

We must be always be kind, understanding and respectful.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Mt 7:1–2 NIV

Death is Not the End

 I love classical music. I was listening to music on the radio when I heard the last composition of Piazolla, the great Argentinian musician. He was in his late sixties and in very poor health. He knew his end was near and this music was his sad farewell to life.

I felt the horror of approaching death with no sure hope of eternal life in heaven. I started to feel a little nausea. How terrible that would be!

My father was a super-intelligent, high achieving psychiatrist. He loved his work, and he worked a few hours a week until he was 79. 

After a minor stroke forced him to retire, he was a lost soul. His health was not good, and his intelligence was declining. He had been an excellent chess player, but he gave up playing with me when I started to beat him easily.

When I talked to him on the phone, he would tell me he was still alive. That was all. He was just waiting to die. He had no hope in this world or the next. 

But as time passed, I began to see a shift in his thinking. When I cautiously talked to him about faith in God, he started to be a little open. When he was 85, he could no longer live at home because he would often fall over. When my wife or I visited him, we would read the bible to him and he listened with keen interest.

At 88 he was bedridden and seriously mentally impaired. One day my wife and I visited him and my wife asked him if he wanted to pray and make peace with God. When she prayed, he responded by squeezing her hand. From that day onwards, his conversation changed. The despair was gone.

He was somehow aware that death was not the end, that Jesus was there for him. He eagerly listened to us when we read the bible to him. He was happy for us to pray for him, but he was very unwell and suffering terribly. 

I hated to see him suffering and I hoped he would pass away quickly, but God was not finished with him. He lived until he was 91. 

On his ninety-first birthday, I read Psalm 91 verse 16.

With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.” Ps 91:16 NKJV

Then I prayed a very daring prayer. 

“Dear God. How would it be if my father died exactly 16 days after his 91st birthday?”

God was strangely pleased and my father passed away peacefully exactly 16 days later.

A NEW START FOR DISAPPOINTED BELIEVERS.

God is calling failures...

• Hebrews 12:2-3 (TLB)  Keep your eyes on Jesus, our leader and instructor. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterwards; and now he sits in the place of honor by the throne of God.

• If you want to keep from becoming fainthearted and weary, think about his patience as sinful men did such terrible things to him.

In this life we need courage. A life without courage can only be full of disappointment and mediocrity.

Jesus was the Lord in Heaven, the Eternal, Holy, Almighty Son of the Heavenly Father.

• He dared to come into this world as a human being, to be born as a baby boy.

• He dared to grow up in a village of small minded gossips where he was tormented because they thought he was an illegitimate child.

• He dared to preach the truth and provoke the religious leaders, knowing this would lead to his arrest and cruel execution on the cross.

• He dared to trust a small group of followers to be the founders of a new movement which would transform the world for God.

• He dared to choose you and me before the foundation of the world, so that as Christians we would be His representatives on earth.

• He knew we would often fail but in spite of that he dared to entrust us with His name and His mission.

  We must not let Him down.

But you can trust Him, that He will not let you down. He was the originator and creator of your faith, not you. He called you and you responded by receiving Him.

• John 1:12 (TLB)  But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.

Then you probably made a wonderful discovery, that the love of God was a great liberation, that you experienced a wonderful personal closeness to the Spirit of God, something you had no idea of before you knew Jesus.

But then you encountered hard tests and disappointments. You may have been badly misunderstood by friends or family or you had bad experiences in church or you experienced deep rejection from people you expected to support you.

You may have set out to do something for God but failed or other Christians let you down, perhaps even betrayed you. Perhaps you made some really bad mistakes. You may have chosen the wrong job, the wrong church to join or the wrong person to marry.

You husband or wife may have betrayed you or you were badly mistreated by you church leaders. Perhaps your parents or your children turned against you or it may be that your life is in ruins because of your own sins.

You may have struggled for years with failures and disappointments until you seriously doubted if you would make it to heaven. 

Or you may have lowered your expectations of success and fulfilment in this life while you grimly waited until the time when death would open the door to a merciful release into heaven.

But right now God wants to speak to you. He wants you to know that He still has a plan and a purpose for your life on this earth.

God wants to raise up and restore His disappointed children to a new life of blessing and breakthrough enabled by His power and perfect love.

Jesus suffered and died on the cross to save you from your disappointment. Jesus is right with you now, calling you to believe and hope again, to dare to love again.

He is calling you, as He called His beloved Peter long ago, to rise up from his shame and defeat to become the first great preacher of the Good News in the early church in Jerusalem.