God's New Ways in the Crisis

 This crisis is a hard test for many. If you are doing well anyway, it is important to help those who are really suffering.

There are different reactions. Some want to complain because the strict measures seem like a dictatorship. If we were really under a dictatorship, do you think protests from a few thousand  people could liberate us ?

Someone has said of a head of government, ``He is a dictator. We must get rid of him in the next election campaign.'' The answer was clear. ``What do you know about dictatorship?''

For the Christians in the New Testament, democratic freedom was totally unknown, but they spread the good news of Jesus and expanded God's kingdom in a dramatic way.

The first church in Jerusalem had to deal with two non-democratic governments. The Roman rulers were not nice and the Jewish religious rulers wanted to abolish Christian freedom.

But God used the persecution of the church to spread the gospel.

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. Acts 11:19 NKJV

But this was only the first phase of God's plan. Then it became quite radical.

Among them were some people from Cyprus and Cyrene. They entered Antioch and began to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus also to Gentiles. Acts 11:20 CEB

Some now complain because normal worship services are not allowed, but God has also used this situation to spread the gospel.

Many churches have shared sermons and services with online streaming and You Tube. Something amazing has happened.

Before the crisis, 200 to 400 visitors were expected in our church on Sunday. But when we were only allowed to minister online, 2000 were involved.

Not only that, but God has also blessed our finances. The donations have increased dramatically.

And what has happened to the church building? It was used to distribute food for the unemployed.

“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? 

I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18–19 NKJV

Some people are upset because normal worship services are not allowed during the crisis, but God has also used this situation to spread the gospel. God is leading us in new directions.

God is Faithful

If you are faithful, you can always expect God's help. God never abandons his faithful children. How can you be more faithful than God?

David was God's faithful servant, but he was persecuted by King Saul. His life was in danger, and he had to find refuge in a cave. In his distress he prayed fervently.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by. 

I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me. Ps 57:1-3

When you are in deep distress, whether through your own fault or quite innocent like David, you need to get really serious with God.

He will never fail you.

If you fail but you are still committed to Jesus, can expect God's grace and mercy.

• God saved David again and again.

• God trained David through many hard trials, so that he became the greatest of all kings.

  Do you want to fulfil your calling from God? Then you can expect hard trials. 

  God always has a plan to get you out of any trouble.
  
  Often you do not know how to pray.
  Jesus has given you his Holy Spirit to help you in your weakness.
  
  Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
  
  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27 NKJV
  
  Paul too was often in impossible situations, but God saved him again and again and healed him from terrible wounds, otherwise he could not have continued.
  
  Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes.
  
  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 2 Corinthians 11:24–25 NLT
  
  Paul suffered so much. Nevertheless, he wrote:
  
  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 NKJV
  
  God's invincible weapons in your hands.
  

  • Speak God's word.

  • Prayer in the Spirit. The miraculous gift of God to pray in languages you have never learned.

  
  
  

God's Miracles for All

When Peter preached the first Christian sermon after the cross, he delivered a revolutionary message.

The glory of God is no longer only for prophets, kings and priests, as in the Old Testament, but for all those who believe in Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit and give free rein.

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy. Acts 2:17-18

Religious tradition has robbed us of our heritage. The spiritual gifts and manifestations of God's power and presence are severely limited or excluded in many communities.

When they are permitted, sometimes only men and not women are allowed to speak for God.
In other churches only pastors, preachers or leaders are allowed to speak for God.

But in his sermon Peter completely abolished these rules and restrictions.

But this was not only in one sermon. In the Gospel of Mark we see something similar.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17–18 NKJV

There are strange sects where people play with snakes, but this was not meant in the Bible. Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake.

But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. Acts 28:5 NLT

We should not play with poison or snakes but God promises us His protection in time of need.

I have an Arab friend who converted to Jesus from extremely fundamentalist Islam but along the way he was misled and joined the Mormons.

When God freed him from this sect, he visited many Mormons and also helped them to escape from that religion.

Then all the Muslims around him heard about his new faith and some converted.

He was not ordained but God used him with supernatural power.

An Arab once gave him food. A week later he was amazed that his  Christian countryman was still alive. He had put enough poison in the food to kill a camel.

The unsuccessful assassin converted to Jesus.

Heidi Baker is a missionary in Africa.  She saves little girls from sex slavery and little boys from forced service as soldiers.

She adopts these orphans, and they get to know Jesus well.

One girl at the age of 11 became a preacher, not ordained of course. She went to a village where Islam and witchcraft were dominant. When she spoke loudly about Jesus, people started throwing big stones.

Suddenly she proclaimed healing for a deaf person among her persecutors. The man dropped his stone. He could hear and cried out loud. "I can hear."

The stones stopped flying. The crowd heard the gospel and converted to Jesus en masse.

Jesus restored Equality of Women

 When Jesus died on the cross, the innocent Son of God suffered the ultimate injustice. Through his unjust death, Jesus took upon Himself the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

The only completely innocent man of all time died an agonising death so that all guilty men and women could be delivered from God's judgement.

With his voluntary death, Jesus began to deliver people from all curses and injustices that started with original sin.  

The first injustice was prophesied by God Himself.

To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children;
 

Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Genesis 3:16

This was not God's command that men should rule over women. 

After the original sin the character of men was corrupted. The greater physical power of men was used to dominate women, which was never God's intention.

But millions of men ruled over their women. For thousands of years women have been treated as second-class human beings.

In the Bible, Jewish women were also victims of harsh discrimination, but in Christian history, and also in our own time, we see that many Christians do not yet understand that God created us for partnership and not for the subjugation of women.

In the Bible, new beginnings are of particular importance. As his first act after his resurrection, Jesus restored the equality of women.

Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus as the first person to proclaim his resurrection, not Peter or John, and not even Mary, his mother.

Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener. The first gardener was Adam, and Paul teaches us that Jesus is the last Adam. This means that Jesus is the beginning of the new humanity.

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1. Cor 15:45

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1. Cor 15:22

Adam was the first man and the father of all human beings. He was without sin until he succumbed to temptation.

Jesus came as the second man without sin, and he resisted every temptation.

Jesus came to give us all men, women and children the innocence and glory of the original creation. 

He came to create a wonderful new humanity, a humanity where men and women can fulfil their potential in equality, freedom and partnership.

When Mary Magdalene announced to the apostles that Jesus had risen from the dead, they did not believe.

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mk 16:14

But many who are first now will be last, and the last will be first.

What did Jesus want to teach us? From now on pastors and apostles must also take women seriously. The culture of domination must go.

Knowing God or knowing about God

 Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NKJV)

I have read this passage many times, but it never really impacted me until just now. I just read these words by a pastor’s son.

• “I thought I was close to God because I knew all the answers. I could answer every question small group leaders or youth pastors threw at me about relationship with God. But I had fooled myself into thinking that was the same as relationship with Jesus. I still struggle with this to a degree.” 

John Piper's son tells his story.

Then I started to dig deeper and I found these words in the New Living Translation.

… But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.
Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much.
But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognises. 1. Cor 8:1-3

I recall a story told by a well known preacher.

    A Christian goes to his pastor with a difficult question. The pastor gives an apparently wise answer and the church member goes away happy.
    Meanwhile, in Heaven the Father turns to Jesus.
“Jesus, did you hear what that pastor just said? That is a new idea to me. Did you tell him that?

Knowledge is good, but head knowledge without deep heart understanding is dangerous in some areas of life.

A child may admire his father’s knowledge, but it will no good if he doesn’t experience his father’s love.

How many Christians believe in the love of God? They learn to know more and more about God, but they have little or no experience of the love of God.

Some even criticise Christians who talk about deep spiritual experiences. They say experiences can be deceptive and feelings are unreliable. The only safe ground to stand on is biblical truth. By this they mean Bible knowledge.

But if we read Bible truth in the Bible itself, we see that the heroes of faith all personally experienced God Himself. God spoke to them and they listened and believed. 

They were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was an experienced reality, not just a doctrine.

The God of much modern conservative evangelicalism only speaks through bible verses and bible knowledge. This is not the God I see in the pages of the Bible itself.

Of course, we need Bible knowledge, but Bible knowledge without experiencing God just makes you more religious. That is very dangerous. This was the sin of the Pharisees. It is still a huge problem today.

Let God be the Judge.

Moses was a good man. He was loyal to his oppressed Hebrew compatriots, although he could have enjoyed his privileges as an Egyptian prince.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 

choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, Heb 11:24-25

He loved truth and justice. He hated cruelty and oppression.

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Exodus 2:11-12

Preachers of New Testament doctrine like to oversimplify this story. They say Moses was a murderer but God forgave him because He saves sinners.

Moses was a freedom fighter, a liberator. For him, killing the oppressor was an act of justice and mercy for the oppressed.

Nevertheless, it was not God’s way. Moses’ greatest strength was his weakness. His human reaction was completely counterproductive. He had to flee the country and live as a fugitive in exile for 40 years.

Before God could use Moses to liberate his people, Moses had to become a mature character conscious of his human weaknesses.

After 40 years shepherding sheep in the wilderness, Moses was called to liberate his entire nation. By this time Moses knew his limitations. He was actually reluctant.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11

You may have a passion for truth and justice, but as long as you pursue your cause in your own way or relying on your own gifts and talents, you will not realise your dreams, even if those dreams came from God.

I know a preacher who had wonderful gifts. He was an amazing missionary and personal evangelist.  He wanted to rescue the worst sinners. He desperately longed to help rebuild broken lives.

He was sincerely ministering to dangerous sex offenders, but in his zeal he made terrible mistakes.
He failed to protect vulnerable young women in his church from extreme peril through contact with known sexual predators.

If we resolutely fight against evil, but rush into battle according to our own ideas, we will battle against one evil but in the process allow another evil to flourish.

There are preachers who are zealous to preserve Christian marriages. They will do anything to keep a family together and prevent divorce.

But this single-minded crusade for marriage can have catastrophic consequences.

There are husbands who coldbloodedly plan to entrap a woman in marriage and then systematically manipulate her to become his abject tormented slave. 

This also happens in Christian churches.
When wives protest, they may be beaten, raped or deprived of contact with friends.

When tortured wives try to assert themselves, zealous preachers blame the woman for being rebellious. If the woman leaves her husband, she may listen to sermons accusing her of breaking her marriage vows.

The wife who argues with her husband is judged as rebellious.
The woman who leaves her husband is condemned for breaking her vows.

But the man who rapes, beats and tortures his wife or criminally assaults even his own children is respected.

Tragically, all this actually happens. These abuses are widespread in Christian circles.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. Isa 55:8

 

Did Jesus Appoint Peter?

Who was the chief apostle? Who did Jesus leave in charge?

Abraham appointed Isaac; Moses appointed Joshua; Elijah appointed Elisha and David appointed Solomon but did Jesus appoint a supreme leader to take over after He returned to Heaven?

The Bible tells us about the sins and faults of the Apostles and preachers love to preach about them.

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. Lk 22:24-26 (ESV)

What were the Apostles disputing? Was each of the twelve claiming to be number one? I don't think so.

What most preachers fail to notice is this. Jesus had not conformed to the perfectly reasonable expectation of any group of leaders.

If Jesus had appointed a supreme leader, this discussion would be unthinkable.

Peter, James and John were obvious favourites, but Jesus had not named a number one man.

But who was the chosen one? Since Jesus had not told them, they did what any group of men would do. They tried to work it out themselves.

After Jesus returned to heaven, Peter seemed to take the lead in Acts chapters 1 to 3. Nevertheless, the writer of Acts emphasises the collective leadership of “The Apostles.”

In Acts 2, Peter preached the first sermon but the main emphasis is on the inspired and inspiring unity of all the disciples.

All this is not because of any neglect or forgetfulness of Jesus or the Father in Heaven.

In Galatians, we read how Paul visited the leaders in Jerusalem. He spoke of Peter, James and John “who seemed to be pillars.” (Gal 2:9)

Jesus declared a whole new approach to leadership in Matthew 23.

But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.

And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Mt 23:8-9 (ESV)

This is so radical, that most of us have not even begun to understand it. I have been a member of Pentecostal churches for 35 years and I have never heard any preacher explain this important text.

The mystery does not end here.

The first witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was not an Apostle.

It was Mary Magdalene, a woman with a sinful past and a testimony but not an ordained leader.

When she told the Apostles, they did not believe her. Then Jesus came and rebuked the men of God for not receiving her testimony!

Leadership is important but God’s idea of leadership is not always what we expect.

The founders of the first mission to the non-Jewish pagans were not Apostles, and they were not appointed or sent by the Apostles.

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Acts 11:19-21 (ESV)

These Spirit led pioneer missionaries were not ordained preachers and we don’t even know their names.

Peter emerged as the chief apostle in Jerusalem, but there was no strict hierarchy.

In the book of Acts we something new, team leadership and spontaneous initiative directed by the Holy Spirit.

What can we learn from this?

If the Holy Spirit inspires you to reach out to your neighbours, your workmates or whoever, don’t wait for a leader to give you permission.

Just do it!

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Mt 18:20